nbc's tom costello is standing by in our d.c. bureau with more on this. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. this is, in fact, a late-breaking story with the associated press moving this throughout the afternoon. it talks about the fact that this is an unprecedented breach and that it impacts the activities of the a.p., the primary news wire for the united states. this centers around an investigation into who leaked information to the a.p. in may of 2012 about a cia operative in yemen who helped prevent an al qaeda plot to bring down a u.s.-bound airliner with a bomb. the obama administration was furious about that leak,

i know the same tom costello piece talked about bureaucracy involved.nk it is important to understand, if you need the peace of mind, if you want the shelter, you can get one. ef-5 tornadoes, ef-4 tornadoes, really represent only about 1% of the thousand pltornadoes we e every year in this area. so you can tie the walls to the foundation for less intense wind storms they will see a lot more of. >> in tom's piece, city officials thought the chances of another ef-4 after one in 1999 seemed to be slim to none. we know they certainly beat those odds. that's why we are here at this situation. the larger issue is what to do in rebuilding. will this be the water shed moment? not just for oklahoma, but maybe other cities. texas and others, in the so-called tornado alleys as we are seeing the incredible tornadoes and forces of nature. >> well, it would be nice if that's the case. you mentioned florida, the state that i live in in florida we learned a lot from hurricane andrew and put great codes and enforced those codes. after katrina hit the gulf coast, louisia

>> tom costello in our washington bureau tonight. tom, thanks. >>> chuck todd is our chief white house correspondent and political director with us tonight from the north lawn. so, chuck, benghazi continues to blow up around them. it's not like the irs has a lot of fans already. people do not like hearing the whiff of it being used for political purposes. >> reporter: no. it harkens back to a nixonian-type political tactic in the white house. obviously realizing, particularly on a day like this that it looks doubly bad when they are already taking a lot of incoming political fire. they insist that this was rogue agents, if you will, in one office potentially. and that an investigation will come clear. i can tell you, brian, republicans spent more time beating up the white house today on the irs actually than they did on benghazi. but the point on the benghazi thing and the political fallout on this, it is clear. this is still hitting the state department and more specifically hillary clinton's state department. obviously somebody that

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> incredible. >>> let's gather around the water cool per.ve the top baby names for 2012. classic and sweet, still in for the girls top picks, emma, isabella and olivia. and the top name for the second year in a row is sophia. for a boys, it's a mix of the old and new. mason, ethan and william are top picks. if you want the kids to have the same name as five of his friends, jacob topped the boys list for the last 12 years in a row. the most regal expectations are what the william and kate will name their little baby. >>> would you take a one-way trip to mars to be forever remembered to be the first human to reach the red planet? 80,000 applied to become so-called pioneers with mars 1. since the nonprofits application process began last month, it plans to land four people on the red planet in 2023 as permanent columnists. this is a one-way ticket. you're never coming back. mars 1 hopes to pay the tab by making it a global reality tv event and then funeral. >>> do you think celebrities are too busy to read the tweets about them? they read them

>> tom costello with all things fda related from washington tonight. tom, thanks. >>> new numbers out tonight about home prices. the highest annual jump in nearly seven years. 9.3% according to one closely watched index. and that's in all 20 of the biggest cities in this country. one reason prices are rising so fast? inventory, pure and simple. there is very little out there to buy. with fewer new listings than we see, especially during this time of year. >>> still ahead for us as we continue tonight, taking down historic churches to put up a new stadium. it's a wrenching problem involving big money and progress and the wrecking ball. >>> and later, what happened today to the eternal flame at the jfk burial site. >>> we are back with a classic urban battle about the past and the future and the cost of giving way and letting development come through. it's going on in one of our biggest cities with its own unique history. it is pitting churches against a fancy new sports stadium. there are millions of dollars at stake. the story tonight from nbc's ron al

our report from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: in the bahamas a badly charred royal caribbean grandeur of the seas in port after a harrowing ordeal. early monday morning passengers donned life vests after crews battled a fierce fire. >> smelled smoke down the hall. >> i was nervous, i was scared. >> reporter: amazingly all 3,000 people walked off the ship safely. >> we're very sorry that we disrupted so many vacations of so many people. >> reporter: it's the most recent in a string of cruise ship mishaps. in february, the carnival "triumph" floated dead in the gulf of mexico for four days. passengers went out air conditioning, lighting and working toilets. in march the carnival "dream" lost power in the caribbean. in january 2012 the "costa concordia" sank off the coast of italy, 32 people died. month later" costa allegra" floated without power in the indian ocean and in 2010 had to be towed to the u.s.. 17 million people will take cruises this year on ships that are registered in small countries like the bahamas, panama, or malta. >> cruise ships use convenience because to avoid regul

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> when we come back here tonight, why one of the great names in rock and roll won't buy an ipod. >>> it was ten years ago today, an event known forever for two problematic words. on the deck of the aircraft carrier "abraham lincoln" off san diego, a day the bush white house would regret, the banner behind the president read "mission accomplished." it was not. the iraq war dragged on and changed shape for years to come. president bush started that day in a flight suit making a carrier landing on the deck. today, ten years later to the day, a notable day as well for the former president because his new presidential library opened to the public for the first time on the smu campus. >>> there aren't that many genuine cathedrals of baseball left. fenway is one of them. wrigley field is another. it's old school baseball, the brick, ivy. no lights until 1988. so far at least it has gotten by without one of those truly giant video walls. the current chairman of the cubs says if he doesn't get modern improvements, electronics, signage, what have you, he wi

here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: from death valley to glacier, yellowstone to the everglades,ces hold the nation's imagination and awe like its national parks. >> especially getting young kids to come. >> yes. >> and make sure they know how important it is. >> reporter: lying between maine and hawaii, 401 parks and monuments, battlefields, volcanos, protected coasts make up the national park system. this year they will host some 280 million visitors but park advocates say for years the parks have been underfunded. now some are in trouble. superintendent dan kimball runs everglades national park. >> i'm very concerned about sustaining the effort to restore this place. that's our number one mission. >> reporter: despite rising costs the parks service budget has been flat for several years and now has lost another $153 million in the sequester. across the entire parks system the backlog of work that needs to be done to maintain the parks now totals $11 billion. to make ends meet, 900 park service jobs have gone unfilled including rangers. another 1,000 seasonal jobs have been cut

nbc's tom costello is standing by in our d.c. bureau with more on this. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. this is, in fact, a late-breaking story with the associated press moving this throughout the afternoon. it talks about the fact that this is an unprecedented breach and that it impacts the activities of the a.p., the primary news wire for the united states. this centers around an investigation into who leaked information to the a.p. in may of 2012 about a cia operative in yemen who helped prevent an al qaeda plot to bring down a u.s.-bound airliner with a bomb. the obama administration was furious about that leak, claiming it jeopardized national security. to find out who might have been the leaker, the a.p. claims the justice department obtained lists of incoming and outgoing phone calls from a.p. editors and reporters as well as reporters' personal phone numbers over a two-month period. normally justice department rules require that to be personally approved by the attorney general. in a letter to attorney general holder today the president

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> now to an nbc exclusive tonight. after weeks of debate, growing concern about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the assad regime in syria. tonight one of the most important figures in the region says chemical weapons were, in fact, used. he says he has proof of it. and the world, including the u.s., he says, isn't paying nearly enough attention. nbc's ann curry is with us now live from istanbul in turkey with details. ann, good evening. >> reporter: brian, that's right. turkish prime minister erdogan, a longtime u.s. ally, told us syria's government has crossed president obama's red line on chemical weapons, and he challenged the u.s. and the world to end the war just across his border. >> translator: it's clear that the regime has used chemical weapons and missiles. they used about 200 missiles according to our intelligence. and it can be even more, but not less. >> reporter: what evidence do you have? >> we have the remainders of these missiles. there are pictures and there are intelligence reports. and there

tom costello, nbc news, san francisco. >>> it's a big plane, very visible. it has running lights and there is a way to track the flight via gps on our website especially for those who may live beneath its path and want to try to catch a glimpse as it goes by. for us, for now that's our broadcast on a friday night and for this week. thank you for being with us. don't forget. we're back on the air tonight with an all new "rock center." that's 10/9 central. i'm brian williams. we'll look for you right back here on monday evening. in the meantime, have a good weekend. in the meantime, have a good weekend. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening. i'm jessica aguirre ri. >> they're saying game on. politicians in florida couldn't get it done tonight and that means the 2016 super bowl will likely be awarded to santa clara but nothing is final yet. the bay area is competing with miami but within the last two hours the florida legislature failed to approve public money to renovate the stadium. we're joined with the new details. damian, you'r

tom costello, nbc news, san francisco. >> the solar impulse only goes journey across the u.s. will be done in a couple of legs. >>> rob joins us now. you surprised me in the newsroom talking about tomorrow's forecast. i hope you're enjoying the heat while you have it. >> i don't want to hear it. >> we had a week's worth of the weather. we had the hot, dry conditions which really ramped up the fire danger this week with those north winds. now all of that is starting to change. around san francisco, 61. but this looks like a summertime micro climate weather pattern. 50s and 60s on the coast. notice the 24-hour temperature change. the areas in purple now dropping 15 degrees cooler than at this hour yesterday. a sign the sea breeze is fanning out across the bay and a good, strong push of marine air into morgan hill. winds out of the south at 13 miles per hour. so those onshore wins will continue to cool us off. good news for fire danger, humidity levels are coming up around san francisco, oakland, eventually into the south bay, livermore and fairfield in the teens here, quite dry

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> we're back in a moment tonight with a high honor for one man who witnessed two of the darkest days in modern u.s. history. >>> major tom has returned to ground control. space station commander chris hadfield, who we profiled, the canadian astronaut with the huge internet following is back on earth, landing in kazhakstan after five months in space. next up, it's back home to canada. >>> a big award from the dallas pd today, a lifetime commendation to retired detective jim lavelle, the big man in the cowboy hat in the pulitzer prize winning photograph who was handcuffed to jfk assassin lee harvey oswald when he was shot by jack ruby. lavelle survived pearl harbor, joined the dallas pb in 1950. he is 92 years old. >>> show of hands, how many people still know how to change a fan belt? new numbers show a 60-year driving boom in this country is over. driving among members of the millennial generation is down 23%. it's due we're told to a generational preference for walking or public transportation, especially in urban areas, not to mention the price

tom costello, nbc news. >>> a lot of tough questions being asked here today. and we'll be back with more from here right after this. for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created... a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more.. low and no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know... exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks... with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories... america's beverage companies are delivering. >>> back here in moore, oklahoma, let's spend a moment talking about the true first responders, the rescue teams, the national guard. remember, when they walk through areas like this, they're walking through home. their story tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: on a soggy, miserable afternoon in oklahoma, the search for survivors hit home. >> words can't describe everything we have seen right now. >> reporter: this is the oklahoma national guard, more than 200 soldiers and a

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> when we come back here tonight, why one of the great names inock and roll won't buy an ipod. s in rock and roll won'y an ipod. the only thing we'd ever grown together was a record collection. no. there was that fuzzy stuff on the gouda. [ both ] ugh! when it came to our plants... we were so confused. how much is too much water? too little? until we got miracle-gro moisture control. it does what basic soils don't by absorbing more water, so it's there when plants need it. yeah, they're bigger and more beautiful. guaranteed. in pots. in the ground. in a ukulele. are you kidding me? that was my idea. with the right soil... everyone grows with miracle-gro. with the right soil... trust your instincts to make the call. to treat my low testosterone, my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children sho

she also seemed somewhat confused during a recent interview with nbc's tom costello. >> so you are saying a quarter of the 300 were associated with tea party or republican issue, correct? >> no. i said that about a quarter of the cases that were selected for full development had either "tea party" or "patriot" in their name. >> okay. so. sorry, thank you for the clarification, but that would be a quarter of the 300, though, so we're talking 75 or so? >> that's correct s. that a kwarter? that's correct. thank you, i'm not good at math. >> are you with the irs. >> i am a lawyer. i am not an accounttant, sorry. >> good for tom for calling her on that one. also, president obama has ordered the justice department to review its guidelines when it comes to investigations involving reporters. it comes, of course, amid new revelations attorney general eric holder signed off on a search warrant to seize personal e-mails. a federal affidavit said roens quote solicited a source to release intelligence information. it all related to north korea's nuclear program. the search warrant for lerner's xhooun

tom costello reports. >> reporter: investigators say it was a highly sophisticated global bank heistters and the internet in terms of guns and masks. in the end the u.s. attorney says a global criminal conspiracy got away with $45 million in a coordinated attack on atms worldwide. >> moving literally at the speed of the internet. the organization made its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of new york, as well as major cities around the world. >> how did they do it? investigators believed the suspects hacked into global financial institutions, then stole prepaid debit card numbers and eliminated the maximum withdrawal limits. that stolen data was then transmitted around the world where an army of suspects and more than two dozen countries encoded the data on to magnetic strips. than began withdrawing money from atms. >> they become a virtual criminal flash mob. going from machine to machine, drawing as much money as they can before these accounts are shut down. >> on december 21st, they hit 4,500 atms, stealing $5 million. then on february neen

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tom costello covers nasa for us. he has more now from our washington bureau. tom, good morning. >> hi, lester. the international space station we hasten to add is operating normally right now but without one coolant lube. the concern is if they lose another one they could start to power down some of these nonessential systems. take a look at the video again. we want to show you those flakes coming out. this is what the astronauts noticed and this is what the mission control folks noticed. these flakes of ammonia look very carefully. you'll see them dripping out. that's what caught their attention. so the spacewalk today is about replacing the pump that will hopefully fix the ammonia leak. controllers noticed this on thursday. this is all part of the far port trust, the back bone of the international space station. this is as we said a coolant loop, something to keep the critical systems cool onboard the international space station. this device where this is located contains mechanical systems that drive the cooling functions up and down the truss. they get unde

. >> let me play a clip a lot of reporters including our tom costello was on a conference call where lois lerner, director of the irs's exempt organization's division, the one that would oversee this, talked to reporters. here it is. >> a quarter of the 300, then, so we're talking 75 or so? >> that's correct. is that a quarter? that's correct. thank you. i'm not good at math. that's correct. >> you're with the irs. thank you. >> but i'm a lawyer. i'm not an accountant. >> i mean, it's fodder, obviously, ron, for people like jon stewart who, you know, made a pretty funny joke about it. but it's not very funny, is it? >> well, i would say that is a side show. she's not someone who does our taxes. she's someone who's supposed to be running the agency. what is the real issue here is -- >> but do you want someone who's supposed to be running the agency that is in charge of calculating your taxes -- >> no, no, no. her job is not to do our taxes. her job is to make sure what that agency does is fair and impartial. her job is to make sure when he tells congress and tells the public that they

she also seemed somewhat confused while responding to a question from nbc tom costello.ake a listen. >> reporter: you're saying a quarter of the 300 were associated with tea party or republican issues, correct? >> no. i said that about a quarter of the cases that were selected for full development had either tea party or patriot in their name. >> reporter: okay. so just -- sorry. thank you for the clarification. but that would be a quarter of the 300 they. so we are talking 75 or so? >> that's correct. is that a quarter? that's right. thank you! i'm not good at math! that's correct. >> reporter: you're with the irs. thank you. >> i'm not an accountant. sorry. >> okay. i had asked our team to find that clip of you saying why are they not moving faster. i want to bring in robert gibbs. robert, we have been talking about the white house's handling of a lot of these problems. the irs problem and justice department problem and a.p. problem and we are going to get into eric holder and what he knew and didn't know about these leak investigations later. but it seems to me that l

nbc's tom costello that has store. >> reporter: investigators say a highly sophisticated global bankd internet in place of guns' masks in the end the district attorney says a conspiracy got away with $45 million in a coordinated attack on atms worldwide. >> moving literally speak speed of the internet the organization meated its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of new york, as well as major cities around the world. >> reporter: how did they do it? investigators believe the suspects hacked into global financial institutions, then stole prepaid debit card numbers and eliminated the maximum withdrawal limits and that stolen data was transmitted around the world where an army of suspects and more than two dozen countries encoded the data on to magnetic strips and began withdrawing money from atms. >> they become a virtual criminal flash mob going from machine-to-machine, drawing as much money as they can before these accounts are shutdown. >> our financial systems are so interconnected you can lilt commit a crime halfway around the world and get

nbc's tom costello has the latest on what some are calling swarmageddon. ood morning. >> reporter: yeah, they're everywhere. this is what you're up against right there. this is actual size. >> if they get that big, i'm moving to another country. >> reporter: no, it's about this size, actually. not to freak you out too much. the bottom line, depending on where you live in the country, the ground under your feet could start to sound a little crunchy. it's late may 2013 and the cicada orchestra is just warming up, and no one could be happier than the self-professed bug guy. he insists this is going to be a great show. >> this is going to be like a drama. there's going to be birth, there's going to be death, there's going to be romance, there's going to be sex. >> reporter: and best of all, no one will get hurt. the bugs don't bite and pose little danger to plants. but if you've noticed holes suddenly appearing in the ground, get ready the cicadas are coming out of a 17-year hibernation. they're expected from north carolina up to new york and parts of new jerse

. >> tom costello. they don't know math too well at the irs.er ff weekend. >> get to the other headlines and tell you what else is happening. preliminary test confirm that aerial castro is the father of that 6-year-old girl rescued from that cleveland house of horrors earlier this week. the mother amanda bury was held for a decade along with two other women gina dejesus and michelle knight. the fbi says its did not recover human remains in its search of the home. investigators are done, they say, processing the property. we have also learned that the last victim, michelle knight has been released from hospital. it is not exactly clear where she has gone. but she has asked for privacy during this very tough time. police say a fight between neighbors led toe a man terrorizing a suburb on a bulldozer. took the massive machine and aimed it right at a home pushing it 50 feet off its foundation into another house rubbing over a pickup truck in the process. a power line was also snapped in half cutting electricity to homes as far as 20 miles away. for

nbc's tom costello has details on that, good morning. >> the peer pressure on kids to drink can be enormousyoung as 9. studies show 10 million kids under the age of 21 drank in the past month and this campaign to get parents involved at a far younger age than most of us ever thought necessary. at 20 years old, johnny huber wasn't supposed to be drinking and wasn't supposed to die in a car crash along with two of his closest friends. >> i thought he knew better than to get in a car with someone that was probably drunker than he was. >> reporter: for any parent the statistics are sobering, a 2009 study found 42% of high school students drank within the past 30 days. 24% binge drank. another study found while 70% of high school seniors had tried alcohol at some point, so had 33% of eighth graders. >> i've been meaning to ask you, is there any drinking going on in this crowd? >> no. >> reporter: now a new national campaign urges parents to talk to kids about drinking when they're as young as 9 years old. >> any of your buddies pressure you to take a drink tell them you promised your dad you wou

here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: they wind themselves through the very fabric of the americanland. from the geysers and canyons of yellowstone to the depths of the grand canyon, from glacier national park to the florida everglades -- >> they're beautiful, and this is nature that we need to preserve because it's unique. only the united states has this. >> reporter: 401 parks, battlefields, monuments, seashores, volcanos and deserts make up the national parks system. and americans have been flocking to them since teddy roosevelt took up the cause. today 280 million visitors each year. >> we just hope that our son is going to be able to enjoy this as much as we have with his own family. >> reporter: but the parks and their future are under stress. >> the parks are beautiful. >> reporter: john jarvis is the director of the national parks service. >> but to just maintain it, we need twice as much money as we currently get. >> reporter: just to maintain a building like that. >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: the budget hasn't changed since 2006, yet most of its costs have only gone u

as tom costello reports, they are raising new questions about how they can better prepare for potentialople are asking why aren't there more basements where people need them most. many who managed to get underground survived. >> it ripped open the door and just ghasz and debris. we thought we were dead. >> the soil heavy with cla i and water makes everything prone to flooding and mold. most homes are build on concrete and can only with stand 90 mile per hour winds and not 200. >> we don't design homes the same as o long the coast. >> a residential tornado safe room can be installed in the ground or the home itself. a reinforced box like a bank vault built to fema standards. they are $8,000 to $10,000 each and last year 500 homeowners were chosen out of 1600 ap canne cants. the city complained that the program was delayed because fema standards were a constantly changing target. they are looking into what caused the delay. why weren't schools better prepared? >> it raised a lot of questions with people, why don't they have storm shelters? >> 100 do have safe rooms, but they are expensive

tom costello covers aviation for us. good morning. >> reporter: hi, savannah. york airport one of the nation's busiest. last night one plane headed to nashville, one to oslo, norway, got too close on the runway. according to the faa, at about 7:30 last night, express jet flight 4226 was taxiing to the runway with standinavian airlines flight -- scandinavian airlines flight 908 behind it. when the airbus headed to a different taxiway, its wing clipped the express jet's tail. in january, two boeing 777s clipped wings at washington's dulles airport. two years ago, an air france operated a-380 super jumbo jet, the biggest commercial airliner in the world, clipped the tail of a regional jet at jfk airport, spinning the smaller plane like a toy. no one was injured in either collision. >> it's the inability of the pilot to accurately judge the distance all the way out to the wing tip. pilots taxi airplanes frequently, but when you have a lot of airplanes and it's at night, it's hard to judge something that far from you. >> reporter: scandinavian air released a stateme

here's nbc's tom costello. >> what an amazing time to be talking about hope with everything that's happeningorter: there are a few stories as harrowing as jaycee dugard. she was 11 when she was kidnapped in 1991. for 18 years she lived in the backyard of her abductors, philip and nancy garrido, giving birth to two daughters fathered by garrido. today she is resilient. >> i'd like all of us to remember to just ask yourself to care. >> reporter: elizabeth smart was just 14 when she was kidnapped from her home in salt lake city. for nine months she was held and sexually abused by a drifter and his wife. >> i felt crushed. who could want me now? i felt so dirty and so filthy. i understand so easily all too well why someone wouldn't run, because of that alone. >> reporter: last week she talked about the fear that kept her from trying to escape. >> i'd watched them abuse me for so long, what was going to stop them from killing me? what was going to stop them from killing my family? >> reporter: and shawn hornbeck was only 11 when he was kidnapped, rescued four years later when his abductor took an