costume contest. the proceeds go to animals. cool event, nbc news is coming up next and then right after that join us for nbc bay area news at 6:00. see you then. on this saturday night, desperate search after a controversial u.s. military aircraft crashes in the ocean off australia. while dozens were rescued, three u.s. marines are missing. squeezing north korea. the u.n. security council imposes tough new sanctions trying to rein in the regime and force it back to the bargaining table. murder mystery. a northwestern university professor and another man are under arrest for a brutal stabbing in chicago. fizzling out. why the country is losing the love for its soft drinks. and the world's fastest man in the final solo run of his career. was it good enough for one more gold? "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new

york, this is "nbc nightly news" with jose diaz-balart. good evening. at this hour, a frantic search is underway in the waters off australia's eastern coast. three american marines were tossed into the sea north of brisbane after the aircraft they were on crashed while attempting to land on a ship. the plane they were on, an osprey tilter aircraft plagued by deadly crashes since it started flying in the 1980s. steve patterson brings us the latest on the search. >> reporter: tonight, the navy is scouring the sea for survivors. a full rescue operation under way for three u.s. marines lost at sea after a military aircraft crashed during regularly scheduled operations. military officials say the osprey heli-plane like this one, hit the flight deck of a transport ship during landing and then crashed into the bay. an hour later, 23 marines rescued, including one with an

injury who had to be medevacked to safety. the marine corps released a statement about the search saying small boats and aircraft are conducting search and rescue operations. >> military training operations and combat operations, it's not just enemy fire and action, it's also the complexity and peril of the operations themselves. >> reporter: the military unit was in australia as part of a joint military exercise since june. the massive war games exhibition featured 33,000 australian and u.s. troops alongside more than 200 aircraft. this is the second major marine craft crash in less than a month. in july, 16 service members were killed when a kc-130 crashed in mississippi.

boeing's tilt rotor aircraft is able to fly like a plane and land like a helicopter but it's had a controversial history. >> it took 25 years, $22 billion and 30 deaths and crashes before the plane went into service. >> reporter: now rescue crews are holding out hope for the lives of every marine as every critical moment ticks by. no word yet on the exact circumstances that led to the crash. right now, it is morning in australia so crews engaged in that rescue overnight are finally getting daylight to aid in their search. meanwhile, the families of the three missing marines have been notified and earlier today we learned president trump was briefed on the situation. jose? >> steve patterson, thank you very much. the u.n. security council put strong pressure on north korea approving sanctions aimed at cutting exports by north korea and reducing the flow of cash into the country. the aim is to force the regime to return to negotiations over its nuclear anti-missile programs. nbc's kelly o'donnell has the details. >> reporter: a stern

new message for north korea. >> today you're going to see action. >> reporter: a saturday session at the united nations where the u.s. led the way. >> for those in favor of the draft resolution -- >> reporter: winning unanimous support, notably with russia and china on board, to tighten economic screws on the kim jong-un regime. >> these sanctions will cut deep and in doing so will give the north korean leadership a taste of the deprivation they have chosen to inflict on the north korean

people. >> reporter: the price of provocation. for north korea's test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the u.s., potentially with a nuclear payload. the sanctions ban range from coal to seafood valued at $1 billion a year for north korea and limits the regime's ability to send laborers abroad. >> time is short but today we have taken one step in the right direction. >> reporter: consider the toughest penalties in a decade for the unpredictable young dictator. >> let us once again call on north korea to halt and reverse its nuclear and missile development programs. >> reporter: also today, secretary of state rex tillerson is in the philippines for an asian security conference that will include north korea's representative. national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. >> the president has been very clear about it. he says he's not going to tolerate north korea being able to threaten the united states. >> reporter: meanwhile, the white house is a construction zone.

long planned renovations and systems upgrades required the oval office to be emptied and the president and his staff to leave for two weeks. the president will spend the time in new jersey where social media posts showed a smiling president trump enjoying what aides call a working vacation. and the president's chief of staff john kelly just one week on the job is here along with other senior and national security advisers. the president is expected to invite lawmakers to bedminister for meetings and to put the work in a working vacation. jose? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. tomorrow on "meet the press," jerry brown and jeff flake of arizona will be among chuck todd's guests. the hamlet of bedminister, new jersey, population just over 8,000, will be somewhat more populated for the next couple of weeks now that the president is working at the property there. the township was split during the presidential election. president trump won only by 40 votes. stephanie gosk reports on the town and the trump effect. >> reporter: the best way to appreciate the beauty of bedminister, new jersey, is in the sky. >> just about a thousand feet so you can get a really good view of the golf course itself. >> reporter: right there in the middle sits trump national, which is now the summer white house. >> if president trump

was there, we wouldn't be able to do this, right? >> no. this is within the ten-mile no-fly zone. so no one is able to fly over here at that time. >> reporter: bedminister residents value the serenity here. just far enough outside of new york city to feel like an escape. but their most famous neighbor, the president of the united states, has put this sleepy hamlet on the map. >> probably our biggest danger is that we will lose our status as one of the better kept secrets. >> reporter: the mayor also worries about the cost. >> as much as $300,000 for seven visits. >> reporter: for a small town like this, that's a lot of money. the police chief is not in charge of the president's security. that falls on the shoulders of the secret service. >> we have 16 total including myself. >> reporter: so it's not a big police department? >> no, it's not. >> reporter: but still has to understand and contribute to the

operation. >> after the election, i knew my job just became a little bit more difficult. >> reporter: a little bit or a lot more difficult? >> a lot more difficult. >> reporter: hello. >> hello. >> reporter: this man's job gets tougher, too. >> i'm told this is the best sandwich in town. >> absolutely. >> reporter: the secret service loves his deli. >> they go for the roast beef and bigger sandwiches. >> reporter: what was it like when he was in town last time? >> sheer mayhem. >> reporter: president trump bought his bedminister property in 2002. >> the process went very well. >> reporter: the former mayor worked directly with trump during the development. >> certain amount of pride that the president thinks bedminister is a good place to come. i hate to say it but the biggest complaint is all of the news crews. >> reporter: and on that, the president and the town of bedminister just might agree. stephanie gosk, bedminister, new jersey. a bizarre murder mystery is unfolding tonight after a brutal killing in chicago and the arrests of two men, one of them a professor at a leading university. nbc's anne thompson has been following it for us and has the latest. >> reporter: news came in a tweet overnight. wyndham lathem and andrew warren turning

themselves in the san francisco area. both employees at prestigious universities. one at northwestern and andrew warren at oxford university as a payroll employee. the victim is 26-year-old trenton cornell found savagely stabbed multiple times in the upscale apartment july 27th. police discovered two knives at the blood-soaked scene, one with a broken blade. they believe lathem and cornell-duranleau had a personal relationship, but tonight police have not released a motive. >> it's kind of weird that there's a professor here that, you know, would do something like that. >> reporter: lathem is a well regarded microbiologist. traveling to lecture on the plague in this american society podcast. >> it's the primary form of plague. >> reporter: trenton cornell was a hairdresser and had recently moved to chicago from michigan. he was seen on security video leaving the apartment building with lathem. warren came to the u.s. for the first time just three days before the murder traveling without telling family and friends. there are other strange twists, too. like the $1,000 cash donation one of the suspects made to the lake geneva public library on the day of the murder 80 miles from chicago. the money given in cornell-duranleau's name. >> i've never seen where suspects in a homicide would make a donation in the victim's name. >> reporter: and police say lathem made a video in which he apologizes for his

involvement, calling it "the biggest mistake of my life." even though lathem and warren work for prominent universities, chicago police say they had no professional affiliation and neither man had a record of violence. police believe they drove to the west coast. the two will be in court in california next week before being extradited to illinois. they are expected to face murder charges. >> odd story. >> bizarre. >> thank you very much.

president trump has often claimed without citing evidence that millions voted illegally. it's part of his reason for the immigration crackdown. tonight, we have a follow-up story on some one who actually admits she voted illegally, though she says it was a terrible mistake. as nbc's gabe gutierrez reports, for her, it turned out to be a life-changing vote. >> reporter: surrounded by family, including her 2-week-old grandson, margarita fitzpatrick is savoring this dinner. it's her last with her three daughters and the country she loves. >> leaving them behind is heartbreaking. there are no words to describe this. >> reporter: she came to the u.s. legally from peru in 2001.

a registered nurse, she applied for an illinois driver's license in 2005, presenting her peruvian passport and green card. she says the clerk asked her if she wanted to register to vote. when she asked if she was supposed to, the clerk told her it was up to her. >> noncitizens should not be asked this question, period. >> reporter: on this form, she checked the "yes" box next to "are you a u.s. citizen." she said she thought that was the closest thing to her status, legal permanent resident. then she voted in two elections. it wasn't until 2007 that she learned those votes were illegal. the government soon began efforts to deport her. what would you say to people who look at your story and think you broke the law? >> the first thing that i would say is that i was misled. >> reporter: federal law says driver's license clerks can't discourage anyone from registering to vote. >> asking noncitizens if they would like to

register to vote is not just. but it is the law. in a way, it's saying that entrapment is okay and that is not just. >> i am not a criminal. i am a nurse. i am a grandma and i am a mother. >> reporter: in ten years of legal battles, the courts have all ruled against her. >> like everyone else caught making a mistake that is actually a crime, they have the ability to tell it to the judge and if someone doesn't buy it, that's the way the system works. >> reporter: so this week, margarita packed her belongings, left her daughter's home in kansas and arrived at the airport for the moment she had been dreading. >> i never expected to be in this situation. >> reporter: saying good-bye to that new grandson. the distance from this terminal to lima, peru, is nearly 4,000 miles. tonight, from margarita fitzpatrick, it feels much farther. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, kansas city, missouri. still ahead tonight, why more and more americans are losing their taste for sugary drinks. we'll look at what's behind the continuing decline. also, we'll catch

up with the world's fastest man in the final solo sprint of his career.

we are back with a big headline among those who follow what we drink. the consumption of soda has been the lowest in three decades as americans turn to healthier choices. and as catie beck reports, there may be something else discouraging people from choosing sugary drinks.

>> reporter: america's love of soda is going flat. >> it's not a drink you're going to drink all day anymore. it's a drink you indulge in when it makes sense. >> reporter: new data shows soda consumption in the u.s. is the lowest since the firm started keeping records back in 1985. >> there's a growing number of consumers who want to control their sugar intake. >> reporter: a choice about health for many also becoming a matter of money for some. just this week, chicagoland's cook county became the sixth metro area in the u.s. to enact a so-called soda tax. the levy, a penny per fluid ounce of naturally or artificially sweetened beverage. the tax should bring in around $70 million for cook county, illinois. if rolled out nationally, it would mean more than $50 in tax for the average american soda drinker. >> i don't know what the sales drop will be. it's going to be tough on us. >> reporter: a drop in

sales likely won't hurt companies like coca-cola around responding to a high demand for low-calorie alternatives like sparkling water. so with soda taxes bubbling up in other cities, what's next for big soda? >> ultimately the soft drink companies have to follow consumers. >> reporter: who are leading to healthier choices. catie beck, nbc news, atlanta. when we come back, we'll take you down into a secret underground railroad that played a vital role as war raged above ground.

the scene at the world championships in london as usain bolt tried for one more gold in the 100-meter final. the last solo sprint of his career. the jamaican legend who is known as the world's fastest man came up short finishing short behind americans justin gatlin and christian coleman. bolt has one final race on his schedule, a relay next weekend, before he retires. and we have another story from london tonight, this one from underground involving a fascinating part of that city's history that was largely a secret. nbc's matt bradley takes a look. >> reporter: a journey back in time where snail mail meets rail mail. this little known network once delivered more than 4 million letters every day on tiny driverless trains but also served as a secret chamber to safeguard precious artifacts from the wars racing above

ground. >> this was the best kept secret because most people didn't know it was here. >> reporter: a new museum is shining fresh light on these 90-year-old tunnels and giving visitors a chance to uncover the secrets for themselves. >> you're in an object and in a heritage, you can smell it, you can get dust from it on your clothes and ride through it. >> reporter: a short ride through a part of the mail rail's 6 1/2 miles of track offers a spooky glimpse of the city's underground history. it wasn't so long ago that london's mail used to race along these tracks but these tunnels also held some of the city's more closely guarded secrets. during world war i, londoners hid works of arts in these tunnels protecting them from bombs dropped from german blimps. it gave sanctuary to the rosetta stone, the tablet that unlocked

the ancient hieroglyphics. but it wasn't always so safe. during world war ii, a rocket flooded one of the tunnels. today, the tunnels look just as they did when they were sealed up a decade and a half ago. >> there was the danger that it would pass into history and be forgotten about. >> reporter: it's a tribute to the unsung heroes who always kept calm and carried on and delivered the royal mail. matt bradley, nbc news, london. when we come back, they may be retired, but these doctors are still providing a vital service to those in need.

finally tonight, as the national debate over health insurance drags on, many wonder how they'll be paying for that next doctor's visit. for hundreds of thousands of low-income patients, a 20-year-old programmer began in south carolina as a solution and the doctors and nurses are doing it for the love of the work and the chance to give back. nbc's tammy leitner explains. >> good to see you. come on in. >> reporter: they are not your typical

doctors and nurses. most of them are retirees. >> it gives us something to keep our brains alive, keep us reading medicine, keeps us involved in medical care. >> reporter: and none of them get paid. >> we're caring for some of the most medley underserved people in the country. and when you go home at night, you really feel good about that. >> reporter: the free clinic is called volunteers and medicine located on hilton head island. one of the wealthiest communities in the country. nestled among the high-end resorts and championship golf courses is a community of people without medical insurance. >> how you doing? >> reporter: the clinic for low-income patients was the brain child of dr. jack mcconnell who moved here to play golf more than 20 years ago. but he found retirement boring so he recruited his fellow golf buddies who also happen to be doctors to help him at the clinic.

today there are 222 volunteer physicians and nurses. >> just want to feel your neck, make sure it feels okay in there. >> reporter: they work here as much or as little as they want. the free clinic financed by private foundations has been so successful that there are now 88 across the country. hundreds of thousands of patients have walked through their doors. this woman comes to the clinic every three months after she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. >> they actually saved my life. >> reporter: many of the patients would not have any health care without these retired doctors. how long have you been coming here? >> maybe like six or seven years. >> reporter: there will always be a need to take care of millions of people in this country who will not have access to care. >> reporter: this care coming from doctors and nurses using their golden years to care

for a new generation. nbc news, tammy leitner, hilton head, south carolina. that's all for tonight. tomorrow, it's known as molar city. it draws thousands of people searching for affordable dental car. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. good night. area. right now at 6:00 an oakland a's player spunned for yelling a gay slur at a fan. his apology and also reaction from the team. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening to you and thank you for joining us on saturday night. terry mcsweeney has night off it's a suspension catching a lot

of attention for me oakland a's out fooleder mat joyce is speaking out and apologizes. the a's are known to support the gay community process they host a lgbt night but the a's on are damage control. sergio joining from the castro district and fans reacting of course to the news. >> reporter: peggy, the game starting here in a few minute. a few of the people i talked here with here in the castro district they agree with the suspension and they hope that joyce learns a lesson from the mistake. in all happened during the eighth inning of last night's game according to associated press photographer, matt joyce was walking to the dugout and shouted the gay slur at the fan and challenged him to a fight. joyce admitted what he said and immediately apologized. foeft most of the fancy talked with say what he said was bad but his apology is more important. >>