breaking news tonight, frantic rescues. families on rooftops clinging to trees. homes suddenly destroyed as historic floods rage for millions, states of dangerous. violence and vulgar ree erupt at another trump rally. tensions boil over. a man dragged away bloody and trump's campaign manager under fire as a reporter charges him of assault. a stunning twist. was a member of putin's inner circle murdered in america? airport nightmare. just in time for vacations, why the tsa lines are suddenly getting a lot longer.

farewell to nancy reagan. presidents and prime ministers and stars honor the first lady as she is laid to rest. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt reporting tonight from simi valley, california. good evening. from a rain-soaked california as we're here to bring you the final farewell to former first lady nancy reagan. we're going to get to that star-studded gathering in just a moment. first, to an increasingly dangerous and developing situation, another major storm system. this one in the south triggering states of emergency and over 1,000 high-water rescues. families have been pulled from rooftops, some from trees as police and the national guard move in amid historic floodwaters raging. millions of people being warned of flash floods. that's where we begin

shamlian in the storm zone. >> reporter: desperation as the waters rise in louisiana. six of the people rescued were found clinging to trees. ang anxious families were rushed to safety in the dark of night. >> my little son was asleep so we had to hurry to get him together really, really quick. it was a little scary. well, a lot scary, really. >> reporter: 1300 rescues and counting. hundreds of homes have suffered water damage. in monroe, already more than 20 inches of rain. this boat crashed into a bridge, a result of rising water. across five states, 12 million people are under flash flood watches and warnings, including tennessee. this woman had to be rescued from her home. >> i thought we had enough time for us to leave. you know, if the water come all the way up, i lost everything i worked for for 20 years. >> reporter: in mississippi, flash flooding covered three-quarters of the state, conditions so dangerous, a police

what do you think when you see this happening to your town? >> it's horrible. water is everywhere. the amount of rainfall we received in a 40-hour period is epidemic. >> reporter: the mayor of greenville knows at least 100 homes with feet of standing water inside. in this neighborhood, some of the homes did stay dry but because water filled every street in the subdivision, they are effectively trapped here. they can't get out. life-long residents are shocked. >> this is as bad as ever. >> reporter: tonight, at least 50 streets here in greenville are flooded just like this one and searchers are out not far from here looking for two men who went fishing and now are missing along the mississippi. lester, back to you. >> all right. janet shamlian, thank you. back here in california, nancy reagan called the presidential library the shining city on the hill that her husband ronald reagan

is here atop the city of simi valley where nancy reagan will be laid to rest. it broad together a broad spectrum of former faces, a current and three former first ladies to well-known faces from hollywood and the media. nbc's andrea mitchell attended the funeral and has details. >> reporter: the final farewell drawing political heavyweights and hollywood stars, like a time capsule back to the 1980s when ronald reagan was president, nancy reagan right at his side. >> a woman without whom ronald wilson reagan never would have become the 40th president of the united states or succeeded as well as he did. >> reporter: representatives of ten white house families on hand led by michelle obama, president and mrs. bush, caroline kennedy. the service all planned by nancy reagan herself, down

on her casket. >> occasionally i thought that even god might not have the guts to argue with nancy reagan. >> reporter: and tom brokaw. >> so god bless nancy. this is ronald reagan, first lady and the unlikely friend of a reporter, thank you, nancy. >> reporter: before the service, hillary clinton on reagan support for stem cell research. >> it was very brave of her to take a political stand on behalf of research that she thought might help prevent or cure alzheimer's. >> reporter: but above all, what so many celebrated today, the enduring love affair. >> my parents were two halves of a circle. no one truly crossed the boundary into the space they held as theirs. >> reporter: ronnie and nancy, the couple that met in a hollywood restaurant all those years ago, now together again for eternity. >> she will once again lay down beside the

of her life. the one she loved to the end of her days. resting in each other's arms, only each other's arms until the end of time. >> reporter: as her son ron said, nancy reagan did love a party and she would want today's gathering to be a party, a celebration of her life and her legacy. as ronald reagan's partner in the white house. lester? >> andrea mitchell, thanks. tom brokaw first met nancy reagan during her husband's governor run in the '60s. calm tom, looking across that room, there were a lot of faces we haven't seen for a very long time. what time did it take you back to? >> well, it took me back to the very beginning when people said, this actor is running for governor? it was one of the greatest magss in politics, two terms as president of the united states and now he's remembered in

arguments wherever you go and she was, as everyone said, his partner. i think in the context of what we're going through now, that the dignity of the reagan years was really quite remarkable. everybody felt that they were a part of something larger going on. >> all right. tom brokaw, great to have you here. >> great to be here. >> thank you very much. new concerns raised about the level of violence and vulgarity in and around donald trump's rallies. fresh squirmishes today and disturbing scenes in st. louis as trump's campaign manager is under fire. a reporter now filing a criminal complaint against him, accusing him of misdemeanor battery. nbc's katy tur has the latest. >> reporter: donald trump once again greeted by protesters where at least one protester was led away bloodied and inside. >> it would be so nice. i won't say what's on my mind, folks. >> reporter: all of it

trump supporter was arrested for sucker punching a protester in the face. >> he's an impassioned person and i guess he didn't like what he was seeing. certainly you don't condone it. we don't like it and it. >> reporter: meanwhile, tonight, trump's own campaign manager is being investigated for misdemeanor battery by florida police after michelle fields of breitbart formally filed charges against the top aide. she claims corey lewandowski yanked her away from a security line. she says these are bruises that lewandowski left on her arm. these pictures show fields and lewandowski around the moment in question, although the alleged grab is not seen, including in this nbc news video where fields' arm can be seen moving backwards before she drops out of frame. a source close to the campaign telling nbc news, we've known

anger could be a crossed our fingers that something over the top like this would not happen. lewandowski has repeatedly denied the allegation and accused fields of being an attention seeker. if it comes to light that something did happen, are you going to do something about it? will there be some sort of punishment? >> supposing it comes happened. are you going to apologize for what you're doing? >> reporter: now, the white house weighed in today. white house press secretary josh earnest said they've been worried about the taunting of reporters at trump rallies, adding that there's no excuse or justification for violence against the reporter at a political event. lester? >> all right. katy tur, thank you. >> new mexico authorities are on a massive manhunt for two dangerous escaped prisoners, one of them a convicted murderer. the other a man with a history of violence. they haven't been accounted for since wednesday night. but as nbc's joe fryer

leaving a trail behind them. >> reporter: police across new mexico are hunting for two violent inmates who were being moved from one prison to another. >> they are violent. they shot at law enforcement, murdered people. we have to find them. >> reporter: on wednesday, the state was driving five inmates from roswell to another prisoner. 32-year-old joes he self cruz and 29-year-old lionel clah were no longer in the van. yesterday they were seen on cameras in albuquerque no longer wearing their prison jump suits. one was spotted in a nearby neighborhood. police combed the area but the convicts could not be found. cruz is serving a life sentence for murder while kl clah has a violent history of

he led police on a high-speed chase and a another person jumped from the car while it was going 95 miles an hour. the pursuit ended with a rapid exchange of gunfire. somehow, despite the close range, everyone survived. officers who were there fear a repeat as a hunt for clah continues. >> he's going to have more of a reason to run or fight or possibly harm other people in his way. >> reporter: a desperate search for two escaped inmates who continue to slip away. joe fryer, nbc news. scandal has rocked the wounded warrior project. they help wounded warriors as well as their families but now the top two executives have been fired amid of lavish and wasteful spending habits. we get more from nbc's erica hill. >> we won't leave one warrior behind. >> reporter: it's one of america's largest and most well-known

raising $342 million last year. over seven years, fred cane, father of two veterans, proudly raised $325,000. >> the mission is too important to forget. >> reporter: last month, he canceled his annual benefit amid reports of questionable spending at the charity. late thursday, the wounded warrior project fired ceo steve nardizzi and the ceo al giordano following an independent investigation, which found, according to a statement, some policies, procedures and controls are in need of strengthening. >> it's a culture that was created by these guys and i think that that culture is systemic and they are going to need to change a lot more. >> while the money was pouring in, it was also flowing out. >> reporter: that culture came to light in a cbs news investigation, which claimed the wounded warrior project spent lavishly on travel and overhead, allocated a

of its donations to veterans programs. connie chapman worked there for two years and says she was fired in a restructuring. >> i went to new york for less than 24 hours for a meeting of one of the chief executives. it was a lot, a lot of spending. >> reporter: the fired executives declined nbc news request for comment. the charity found that more than 80% of donations were spent on programming. >> i think it's damaging for all charities involved with veterans. people are just not going to give money. >> reporter: a harsh reality for the nation's more than 20 million veterans. erica hill, nbc news, new york. still ahead tonight, passengers losing patience. why those security checkpoint lines at our airports have been getting so long recently and the reason it may only get worse. also, the new twist in the mysterious death of a former vladimir putin aide on u.s. soil. thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. so we asked them...

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. just in time for spring break, many of the biggest airports across the country are reporting long lines at security check points. staffing problem. and with a record increase in travelers, the tsa says it doesn't have the staff to move everyone through fast enough. that's led to passengers missing flights and cause for the tsa chief to fix the problem immediately. here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it's

nationwide. agonizing long, slow lines to get through tsa. >> do you have a boarding pass for me today? >> reporter: in seattle today, backups, delays and mounting frustration. >> i missed my flight on wednesday. more than two hours i couldn't get through that. >> reporter: same story in chicago and atlanta. >> they are long. >> reporter: dallas and newark. >> they sent us from one line to another. >> reporter: meanwhile, at some airports, closed checkpoints. the tsa chief on the defensive in minneapolis today. >> it's no different than if you were to go to disney world at the peek period of the year, you are going to expect to stand in some lines. >> reporter: what's the problem? a record surge in passengers. 140 million expected to travel this spring alone. the tsa says passenger volume nationwide is up 7% over last year. some passengers are carrying on more to avoid baggage fees creating choke points at the scanners.

weapons after failing high-profile audits. a record 2600 guns were confiscated last year. the tsa is at its lowest staffing level in five years and now it's trying to staff up, training 192 officers each week. in minneapolis, some improvement but it's only a start. >> i don't think we can ever be satisfied until things get back to a place where people feel really good about coming through the airport. >> reporter: the advice this spring break, get to the airport very early and brace yourself for the tsa chief predicts could be a very intense summer. tom costello, nbc news, reagan national airport. when we come back, a question many may ask when they lose that hour of sleep this weekend, is it time to move i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled

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was found dead in the washington d.c., hotel room, authorities say he died from blunt-force trauma, not a heart attack as first thought. we get details from nbc's pete williams. >> reporter: for his aggressive control of russian media, mikheil lesin. now, new information about his death in a washington, d.c., hotel is raising questions about a man putin publicly praised when he died late last year and had an apparent falling out associates and stepped down from running a media empire. four months after lesin's death, the medical examiner and police say he died of "blunt-force trauma to his head and neck and legs." it was thought he died of a heart attack. police say surveillance video shows him entering the hotel the night he died looking disheveled.

had been drinking heavily. but the suspicious death raises concern. another man was poisoned possibly on orders of putin. boris was shot and killed in moscow shortly before he was to lead a protest. even so, a top russian spy says that lesin met a similar end. >> there were no political assassinations ever committed by the soviets or the russians on the territory of the united states anywhere, any other country but the united states. >> reporter: for now, d.c. police say they are not even sure lesin was murdered but his death has become an international mystery. pete williams, nbc news, washington. and a reminder as you start your weekend, it's that time of year to spring forward and set the clocks one hour ahead saturday night before you turn in. as americans prepare to deal with one hour less of sleep, lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are looking to do away with changes the clocks altogether

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the tribute to nancy reagan from the community she and her husband called home. california is where they met, where they married and where today the former first lady was buried next to the man she loved. our miguel almaguer has more on the reagan's special california connection. >> reporter: tonight, the reagans are back together but for many this final good-bye isn't any easier. >> i absolutely loved them and adored them. they were part of a golden era. >> reporter: for two days, the line stretched. 9,000 waited for hours to spend just a few minutes with the former first lady. >> from what i understand, she was the boss. >> reporter: the public admiration for this public couple is deeply rooted here. the reagans met in hollywood, married in studio city, lived in

>> my wife nancy. >> reporter: -- and she was california's first lady. they loved coming home to santa barbara's western white house. >> the ocean and the islands were so clear and so pretty. >> reporter: comfortable in a suit and gown, the first couple seemed most at ease in flannel and denim. after washington's beltway, it was back to california's bel-air, the same home they would live and die in. >> she has a lot of love in her heart to do all of the things that she's done, especially for her husband, to be with him. >> reporter: crowds lined the ronald reagan freeway for her final salute. the hearse traveling into the hills of simi valley reaching the presidential library they deeply loved. >> it's bittersweet but now that they are together, they can enjoy life together again. >> reporter: they chose this place for the view where the nation now remembers them both. the end of a golden era in life and now

miguel almaguer, nbc news, simi valley, california. and that will do it for us on this friday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. @ @ going, going, gone. @johnny manziel is no longer a @cleveland brown. @what this means for the team. @ the hunting techniques that

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