>> good to have her back on nbc. tonight, a boiling point hits the capitol. 48 hours from the federal government running out of money. the clock is ticking on a government shutdown. a cliffhanger over d.r.e.a.m.ers. what does steve bannon know? nbc news has learned bannon will tell all to special counsel robert mueller after being served with a subpoena. states of emergency across the south. where cities are paralyzed by snow and black ice. wipeouts, massive backups and airport chaos. this lethal flu outbreak killing a 10-year-old boy and a mother of three. tonight, how to best protect your family. an nbc news exclusive, facebook responds after our report, top tech insiders accusing the company of turning a blind eye to warnings before the election. and it's not what

you eat. it's when you eat. >> the pounds were just melting away. i -- i was really surprised. >> dieters and doctors say it works. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening, to our viewers in the west. one could call the game of showdown in washington the game of chicken except there are hundreds of thousands of families for whom this is no game. at issue, d.r.e.a.m.ers. young people brought to this country illegally as small children now at risk of deportation if congress doesn't address their immigration status soon. emotions spilled out on capitol hill today as protesters demanded democrats to use the action they rarely hold. pressuring democrats to use some rare leverage they suddenly hold against a republican-controlled congress. the urgent question tonight is will all this come to a government shutdown? kasie hunt covers capitol hill for us and has the latest. >> reporter: on capitol hill today, dozens of arrests and jasmine gonzalez is

terrified. >> i have four u.s. citizen children that afraid to take to mexico country that i don't even remember. >> reporter: she's here trying to convince democrats to take a stand and refuse to back the republican spending plan to keep the government open unless there's a deal to help the 800,000 d.r.e.a.m.ers who are protected by the daca program. do you have enough republican votes to keep the government open this week? >> we've been very clear, we want to see a daca solution, but a daca solution has got to be a balanced solution. it makes no sense for democrats to try and bring us to a shutdown. >> reporter: the president's aides trying to convince conservatives in the house not to sink the plan. >> no one in our caucus wants a shutdown. >> reporter: president trump himself -- is there any daca rule you're willing to sign? >> we're working on it. we're working on it. >> reporter: adding to the confusion. >> i'm looking for something that president trump supports. and he's not yet indicated what measure he's willing to sign. >> reporter: both sides playing the blame game. republicans control congress and the white

house but they need democratic votes in the senate to keep government running. like senator joe manchin whose state voted overwhelmingly for president trump. >> i'm here because of west virginia. i'm going to represent west virginia. >> if that means you vote to keep the government open, so be it? >> i'm voting for west virginia. >> reporter: outside the beltway, time is running out for hundreds of thousands of d.r.e.a.m.ers. like hermin martinez garcia, a police officer outside fairmont city, illinois. >> there can't be any negative thoughts in my mind because then i'm not -- it doesn't allow me to do my job. >> reporter: still working for his community. waiting and hoping he'll be allowed to stay. tonight a republican aide telling nbc news they're confident they have the votes to get this through the house as soon as tomorrow. but without a daca deal it could easily fail in the senate and that makes a government shutdown a very real possibility tonight. lester? >> kasie hunt at the capitol. thank you. now to a significant new twist in the russia investigation. after the house intelligence committee questioned the

president's former chief strategist steve bannon. we're now learning bannon plans to talk to the special counsel's investigators and hold nothing back. nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson with details. >> reporter: just one week before this moment on capitol hill, steve bannon leaving a marathon meeting -- >> great day. >> reporter: -- a more dramatic one in washington. with the fbi showing up at bannon's d.c. home last tuesday intent on serving a subpoena for the special counsel according to someone familiar with the proceedings. that order means he could come face-to-face with robert mueller's team by the end of the month. a source close to bannon tells nbc news, adding "bannon plans to tell all." quote, he'll answer any questions mueller has. it would make bannon among the highest profile officials to meet with mueller just weeks after a new book published his explosive comments. later slammed by the president with their relationship on the rocks. >> if there's nothing to hide, then the president should hope that mr. mueller speaks to everybody

who was around him. >> is the white house afraid of what steve bannon might say in these interviews? >> not that i'm aware of. >> reporter: bannon like others who spent time in the president's inner circle is being questioned in multiple russia investigations, not just mueller's. there's inquiries on capitol hill, too. that's where bannon spent nearly ten hours with the house intelligence committee yesterday. the former chief strategist refused to answer questions about his time inside the white house. because he says the white house told him not to citing the potential for executive privilege. that privilege allows confidential conversations with the president to stay that way. >> executive privilege is something that goes back decades because it's something that needs to be protected. >> reporter: bottom line, the russia investigations are not over yet, as the shadow of the special counsel creeps closer to the oval office. and another familiar face to donald trump is also speaking with house investigators. former campaign chair corey lewandowski. tonight the top democrat on the intelligence committee says lewandowski was uncooperative and

unwilling to answer even basic questions about the president. lester? >> all right. hallie jackson at the white house. thanks. tonight there are states of emergency across the south where they're not used to dealing with the kind of snow and ice pummeling a number of big cities from austin to charlotte. crippling highways, triggering chaos at the airports and leaving a lot of parents scrambling with schools closed. nbc's blake mccoy is in the storm zone. >> reporter: parts of the south crippled tonight as rare southern snow combines with record-breaking cold. black ice startling drivers in mississippi. georgia, too. a crash on i-85 backing up traffic for miles. snow in shreveport. >> very, very slippery. >> reporter: shocking even veteran weather watchers. >> this is the farthest south i've ever covered snow in 26 years. it's still on the ground. >> reporter: many southern cities also gripped by record cold, just 7 in memphis. 15 in austin. 20 in new orleans. those ill-prepared forced to improvise.

even places used to wintery weather seeing a messy commute today. you're off school? school canceled in worcester, massachusetts, for the third day this month. how hard was it to get him out of the house today? >> wasn't as hard as it normally is. >> reporter: planes spent the day de-icing. thousands of flights delayed or canceled nationwide. the combination of snow and cold air has north carolina tonight under a state of emergency. >> tomorrow morning's commute will be dangerous. >> reporter: a word of warning with at least three deaths across the south blamed on this storm already. blake mccoy, nbc news. the deadly flu emergency gripping nearly the entire country has claimed another young life. a 10-year-old boy from connecticut who reportedly died from flu-related complications while he was in buffalo for a hockey tournament. the latest tragedy in one of the worst flu seasons we've seen in years. nbc's gabe gutierrez now with some potentially life-saving advice.

>> killing it already. >> reporter: the potillo family felt like they were under attack. how bad was it? >> it was pretty bad. our 11-year-old got it first and then two days later our 2-year-old got it and then two days later i got it. >> reporter: so you dropped like dominos. >> drop like dominos. >> reporter: amy and her husband frantically wiping down surfaces to stop the flu. >> it was really frightening because when my 2-year-old's fever got really high, i was afraid he might have a seizure. >> reporter: it's gotten so bad in alabama the governor's declared a public health emergency. last week this school closed. >> it's been a bad year. >> reporter: and children's of alabama had to divert patients from its packed e.r. >> right now, one-quarter of more of all the patients in our pediatric intensive care unit have influenza or influenza-associated complications. >> reporter: this year's outbreak now widespread in every state but hawaii, taking the life of this 10-year-old in connecticut and this mother of three in california. >> from the time we took her to the

hospital, to the time she passed, was about 18 hours. >> reporter: m.i.t. researchers have found the smallest droplets from a cough or sneeze can land up to 26 feet away. the virus can live on some hard surfaces for up to 24 hours and you can infect others starting a day before you even see symptoms and up to a week after getting sick. >> she was very proactive. >> reporter: tonight amy potillo's husband and two other children hope they're not next. >> that's right. >> reporter: gabe gutierrez, nbc news, birmingham, alabama. overseas tonight, an olympic surprise after months of after months of rising nuclear tensions, there's word that north and south korea will come together for the games in pyeongchang next month at the opening ceremony and on the field of play. but does it raise hopes for diplomacy outside the games? nbc's bill neely is in seoul for us tonight. >> reporter: an olympic first tonight for north and south korea.

they'll not just march together under a joint flag as they last did 12 years ago, they'll play together. a united women's hockey team. the south's coach will pick the players, with 230 north koreans cheering them on. southern skiers will even train on the north slopes. south korea's president said today a joint team will help reconcile old enemies. while many here in south korea welcome a united team, elsewhere, there's skepticism about what japan calls north korea's charm offensive. its nuclear threat not forgotten at this summit to tighten sanctions. >> we will not accept a nuclear-armed north korea. >> reporter: a united front here that north korea can play olympic games but not nuclear games with the world. bill neely, nbc news, seoul. let's turn now to an effort to crack down on drunk driving and the question at the center of it, how much is too much to drink before you can legally get behind the wheel?

a new report is recommending sweeping changes including lowering the blood alcohol level in all 50 states. nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer has the details. >> reporter: on the way to see his mom, 24-year-old anthony thompson was killed. hit head-on by a suspected drunk driver. one of the more than 10,000 alcohol-impaired fatalities that happen on the road every year in the u.s. ottawa cureton is a sheriff's deputy and thompson's mother. >> what i'm going through is indescribable. it's devastating. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: a third of all traffic deaths are connected to drinking. now a new study recommends the blood alcohol level for all drivers should be lowered from .08 to .05. impairment begins at levels actually far below .05.

it's difficult for people to detect what their level of impairment is and to realize they are driving while impaired. >> reporter: the report from the national academy of sciences, engineering and medicine also urges changes on how liquor is bought and how much it costs. researchers say higher taxes could reduce the number of fatal crashes. the report also suggests the number of outlets that sell liquor like supermarkets, bars, and restaurants, should be restricted. >> if god took one life and i can save a million, that's what i'm going to do. >> reporter: tonight, a sobering reality, and a drive for change on the road. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. tonight, we have a follow-up to our nbc news exclusive on facebook. last night, we heard from three tech insiders who accused facebook of ignoring warnings before the 2016 election that foreign governments could exploit the social network for malicious purposes. tonight, facebook is responding exclusively to us.

nbc business correspondent jo ling ntkeas h that. >> reporter: tonight, facebook responding to charges it did too little to stop a russian disinformation campaign against american voters through targeted ads in 2016. >> we have seen conduct that should not have been on our platform, things we should have caught earlier and we're sorry that happened. >> reporter: facebook executive, monika bickert, speaking out after our exclusive interview with three silicon valley insiders tuesday. >> facebook is a living, breathing crime scene for what happened in the 2016 election. >> what's your response to that? >> this is a really large community. whatever people saw during the 2016 election that was from these russian accounts that we've now removed, it was unacceptable. >> reporter: bickert said many of the problems came from fake accounts. >> these are the sorts of accounts we're investing in technology to get better at detecting. we have made significant strides since the 2016 election. >> reporter: then there's the question of how facebook posts

are reviewed. sarah katz was part of a team that examined posts flagged by users in 2016. and katz says she was not instructed to look for disinformation. >> as long as these stories didn't contain anything pornographic or incredibly violent, they're going to be left alone. >> reporter: facebook says 7,500 people now review questionable content. can you guarantee that a misinformation campaign will not happen again in 2018? >> our job is to try to stay on top of how abuse is changing and make sure that our policies, our technology, our tools, are all evolving with that. >> reporter: and the clock is ticking with another election just ten months away. jo ling kent, nbc news, washington. there's a lot more to tell you about tonight, including the new trend in weight loss. the diet that's all about counting time, not calories. also the mysterious sight in the sky that was powerful enough to shake the earth below. what was it? stay with us.

we're back now with a new strategy a lot of people are now trying in the battle of the bulge. a growing number of researchers say it's not so much what you eat, it's also pretty important when you eat it in order to lose weight. nbc's catie beck explains the new approach. >> reporter: life wasn't always this lively for lorna shelton. >> here we go. >> reporter: not long ago, she weighed close to 250 pounds. >> i had to have both knees replaced. >> reporter: a healthier diet helped her lose weight but not enough. >> after i'd gotten 40 pounds off, the next 10 pounds seemed to take forever. i needed to do something different. >> reporter: shifting focus from what she was eating to when she was eating it. she ate meals earlier and over less time, eating only from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. she took off another 50 pounds. >> the pounds were just melting away. >> reporter: she got the idea from a study at the university of alabama in birmingham. testing something called time-restricted feeding. >> eating in a narrow

time period and then having an extended daily fast each day. >> reporter: limiting eating to just eight hours and starting early. >> we found that the early time-restricted feeding help improves fat burning. >> reporter: meals take three to five hours to digest. by shifting eating earlier, food is metabolized by bedtime leaving stored fat to burn. burning while you're sleeping? >> correct. in fact, that's when we find the fat burning is highest. >> reporter: results also show reduced blood pressure and better insulin processing. while the diet doesn't make you cut calories or entire food groups, experts say avoid junk food and bingeing and during fasting hours only drinks with zero calories like black coffee or water. lorna's results, life changing. >> i feel like i've added years to my life. >> reporter: thanks to a simple shift in time. catie beck, nbc news, atlanta. coming up, let there be light. the powerful moment these schoolkids have waited nearly four months for.

and twice the joy for a family that needed a double miracle. and finally got it.

a ray of hope in puerto rico still struggling mightily after hurricane maria decimated the island over 100 days ago. this is the reaction of students and teachers when the power finally came back on at one school in san juan. kids jumping up and down with excitement. nice to see in a place that has experienced so much heartache. and a lot of places still waiting for the power to come back on, but we wanted to share these images with you. he's a world war ii veteran, a longtime senator and former presidential candidate. and today bob dole was honored for his many contributions to the country. with a congressional gold medal. the highest civilian honor bestowed by congress. speaking at the event, president trump called dole a true american hero. a grateful dole said he's extremely honored. and check out the

moment night turned to day in michigan. a meteor caught on camera suddenly lighting up the night sky. and as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared breaking apart while moving at 28,000 miles an hour. and get this, it caused a small earthquake, magnitude 2.0. when we come back here tonight, the twin sisters each getting a second chance thanks to life-saving gifts. >> announcer: nbc "nightly news" is brought to you by pacific life. protecting generations of families for 150 years. that's the power of pacific. windows. frayed nerves.

how an attack on tech buses is changing the way apple and google employees get to work. plus, i )m tracking a new storm. who will have the wettest commute. finally tonight, life-saving gifts. organ transplants hit

an all-time high in the u.s. last year. and when the family you're about to meet was hit with a double whammy, donors came through not once, but twice. our rehema ellis has the story. >> reporter: for twin sisters sofia and stefany atencio -- >> this is a miracle. >> reporter: just walking a few blocks with their mom a year ago was nearly impossible. >> i used to stop over here, take a seat. >> reporter: by 7, sofia was diagnosed with severe lung disease. she struggled to breathe. then worse news. stefany got the same diagnosis. to survive, both girls needed a double lung transplant. >> i didn't want to think -- i don't want to show them, you know, how hard it was for me. >> reporter: the wait for donors was frightening. >> couldn't run. couldn't go in the snow. i couldn't go to recess at school no more. >> reporter: finally after two long years, two donors came

through. so shortly after the transplant surgery, sofia, you wanted to get out of bed. >> i wanted just to walking and running and just playing. >> reporter: both girls on a treadmill in just days. now at 13, they're unstoppable. despite wearing masks at school to protect against illness. together, how strong are the both of you? >> maybe we can knock down mt. rushmore. >> mt. rushmore? >> yeah. >> we were blessed twice and we have a second chance of life. >> reporter: a second chance times two. rehema ellis, nbc news, netcong, new jersey. >> we appreciate you spending part of your evening with us. that is "nightly news" for this wednesday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching. and good night. is it a silicon valley backlash?

tech buses are being targeted. the freeway attacks on the right now, 6:00. it's a silicon valley backlash. tech buses are being targeted. the freeway attacks on the peninsula and how apple is responding. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening and thanks for being with us. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessicain aguirre. the california highway patrol says someone targeted buses carrying apple employees. investigators say there's a good chance some kind of a gun was used in those attacks. nbc bay area's marianne favro is

live in cupertino with the developments. what a concern for people riding those buses. >> reporter: jess, we saw three of those commuter buses leave apple a few minutes ago. tech workers here have often come under attack in the past, because there are -- [ inaudible ] this photo from an anonymous apple employee shows a shattered window on the one of the buses. the chp says yesterday the windows of four buses carrying apple employees were hit. >> the glass shattered and went into the bus. there are no injuries at this point that have been reported. >> reporter: the attacks happened during the morning and evening commutes on both directions of highway 280. sources tell us all of the buses hit were double deckers. chp officers haven't confirmed exactly what hit the buses. buty