it comes as brutal heat refuses to let up. 65 million on alert. and in new mexico the massive dust storms and deadly wildfires burning out of control. also tonight the manhunt for a suspect wanted for multiple murders in two states. where he was caught today. the close call for a southwest plane triggering urgent warnings after descending at just 500 feet over a suburb. why was it so low? the train chaos in the north east. why amtrak service was suspended from philadelphia to connecticut. the first debate just one week away. new details on the biden-trump showdown, where they'll be positioned on stage, and who will get the last word. remembering donald sutherland whose acting career spanned six decades. from mash to thehuer games. the warning about popular weight loss drugs, the dangerous counter-foots on the market. and saving the whale. the nearly 3,000-mile mission to rescue two majestic belugas from ukraine's war zone. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. good evening and welcome, everyone. the broiling heat in the east, a flooded texas coast, and now the potential for new tropical weather threats forming on the distant horizon all making for a volatile start to summer. after several days that heat dome sitting over the north east is still making life miserable for 65 million people from the ohio valley to new england. temperatures once again climbing into the upper 90s and challenging record highs. while some 1,800 miles away residents of southeast texas are trying to dry out from a brush with what was tropical storm alberto. the storm turned deadly after striking mexico while high tides and onshore winds are still causing coastal flooding. but there is no rest for the weary. weather watchers tracking two more areas of possible storm development including one that could take aim at that same part of texas by early next week. sam brock is there. and sam, what's the situation right now? >> reporter: yeah, lester, the situation right now a flood advisory is still in effect here for another day even as the water has receded, lester, tremendously. and yet look at all that is left here on street. it spans the entire thing covering properties on both sides as those who live here are just waiting for a reprieve. on the first day of summer, it's fire and rain across america with surfside beach, texas, still soaked from the far sweep of tropical storm alberto, which made landfall in new mexico earlier today. >> really weird looking out your living room window and just seeing water. >> everywhere. >> everywhere. >> reporter: driving around this texas town you see palm trees protruding from pools of water and vacationers perched on decks like erica fine waiting to retrieve her car. >> we're waiting for high tide to go through. >> so current status is trapped? >> yeah, yeah, we're just a little bit stranded. >> reporter: the storm leaving a wake of damage along texas' coastline with a tornado ripping this roof in rockport. >> it was all over the place. >> reporter: while flood waters remain in surfside beach. >> we thought everything was going to be clearing up pretty good this morning, but about 5:30 high tide hit and storm surge came back in, and we were right back to where we were yesterday. >> reporter: record breaking heat elsewhere in the u.s. living up to the term summer solstice. >> brutal. very, very hot. >> reporter: some schools have had to postpone classes as 65 million bake in high 90s and triple digit temps. in bangor, maine the heat index climbing to 106. tonight the white house declaring a major disaster declaration. now with rain on the way, flooding concerns around the burn scars. the country's patience for trying conditions being tested even as some take solstice with how neighbors and community comes together. >> this community stays in touch in times of need like this. >> reporter: sam brock, nbc news, surfside beach, texas. >> let's bring in al roker. al, you're looking at severe weather also concerns in the tropics. >> absolutely, lester. we've got two areas we're watching but we're most concerned about this development zone in the gulf coast where we could see more heavy rain bringing to that area another 3 to 5 inches of rain in southern texas causing more flooding. this evening 15 million people at risk from the rockies to the north east, strong storms firing up. could see isolated tornados, winds, and hail. and the heat continues. if you're south of this front washington, pittsburgh, cincinnati, triple digits possible whereas green bay, buffalo, burlington into the weekend, and boston will see much cooler temperatures with lower humidity. lester? >> all right, al, thank you. a multi-state man-hunt is over tonight with the man of interest in a string of murders under arrest in arkansas. priya sridhar has late details. >> reporter: tonight a convicted felon and suspected killer is in custody after evading law enforcement in multiple states for weeks. >> if you look at his criminal history, he was continuously escalating his violent behavior. >> reporter: before being arrested today, police say 50-year-old stacy lee drake was last seen on surveillance video tuesday outside of an arkansas motel 6. arkansas state police who were leading the investigation, say drake is connected to crimes across several states. in oklahoma police say he's a person of interest in last week's murder and carjacking of philip emerson. >> be advised at least two people have been shot. >> reporter: he's also wanted in connection to two murders at a gas station about 200 miles away. in alabama the tuscaloosa county sheriff is now revealing drake is a suspect in a murder they, too, are investigating. they say he was there for a few weeks using a fake name when he shot and killed russell andrews last month. his son, russell jr., says he was beloved. >> very kind and passionate person. he was very selfless. >> reporter: drake has an extensive criminal history spanning decades in multiple states that include convictions for robberies, carjackings, and assault. tonight he's off the streets and behind bars. >> i could sleep better at night knowing that, you know, he's not going to hurt anybody else. >> reporter: priya sridhar, nbc news. tonight, the faa is investigating why a southwest airlines plane flew very low over a suburb of oklahoma city, triggering low altitude alerts in the control tower. tom costello covers aviation for us. tom, do we understand what happened here? >> it's starting to become clear. flight 4069 from las vegas was approaching oklahoma city airport at about 12:30 a.m. local time, but at 8 miles out flight aware and flight radar 24 show the plane at an altitude of just 525 feet, flying over the top of yukon, oklahoma, with some people there thinking the plane would hit their homes. it triggered a low altitude warning in the control tower. the tower radioed the pilot asking if everything was okay. he replied yes, then aborted the landing, went around, and safely landed on a different runway. but nbc news aviation experts say this plane was very low and very slow. southwest tells nbc it's in contact with the faa to understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft's approach to the airport, insisting safety is southwest's top priority. lester? >> all right, tom costello with that, thank you. and a major disruption of rail service in one of the busiest travel hubs. brian cheung at penn station tonight. what's the latest there? >> reporter: lester, hundreds of thousands of passengers pass through penn station daily. it's one of the busiest hubs in the world, but this afternoon two key suspended, new jersey transit and amtrak due to power issues for the second time this week. both amtrak and new jersey transit say service has now resumed, but the outage which amtrak says was due to a malfunctioning circuit breaker and exacerbated by a brush fire in new jersey that impacted wire repairs highlights the sensitivity of the infrastructure system here. as you can see there are still massive delays listed on the board here. canceled, canceled, canceled. and the high temperatures is also a factor. amtrak says the extreme heat is forcing trains to operate more slowly on the tracks. >> brian cheung, thank you. now to the race to the white house and battle over viral videos intensifying one week from the first debate. and there are new details about that debate. gabe gutierrez joins us now. gabe, what do we know? >> reporter: hey there, lester. after winning a coin toss, president biden picked the podium on rige st and we now know former president trump will deliver the final closing statement. and it comes after both campaigns are already doing battle online. the video went viral faster than usual. president biden at the g7 summit in italy surrounded by world leaders appearing to wander off before being pulled back to the group by the italian prime minister. in reality another camera angle showed the president was actually trying to greet skydivers who just finished a demonstration. but the republican national committee and conservative media quickly amplified the first angle, falsely claiming the president was meandering. the biden campaign is calling it a, quote, cheap fake. what is a cheap fake? >> cheap fakes are these, you know, deceptively edited videos, and they're a huge part of donald trump's campaign strategy. >> reporter: rob flaherty is biden's deputy campaign manager, who's overseeing the escalating digital war and slamming the trump campaign, saying it's increasingly taking videos out of context. >> we have to be more aggressive about monitoring, about intervene, taking action against it because it's going to be such a center piece of how he's communicating. >> reporter: that g7 video is among a string of clips some republicans say raises concerns about president biden's age and ability. today the trump campaign saying there's nothing wrong with highlighting videos not digitally altered like this clip of president biden standstill for several seconds on stage until former president obama leads him offstage and another where he also stood still as people danced around him during a juneteenth celebration. the white house says the president did not freeze in these incidents but was enjoying the moments. tonight the trump team telling us -- >> the biden campaign is trying to convince the american public not to believe their own eyes. we are simply posting these videos for the world to see and to come to their own conclusion on, which the american public has. >> reporter: the trump campaign argues the biden team has taken the former president's words out of context. >> we're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line. now, if i don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath. >> reporter: by claiming that comment referred to political violence instead of economic pain. >> then he said if he loses, there's going to bea bloodbath. >> it's called the bloodbath hoax, taking my words completely out of context. >> reporter: there's always been misinformation during campaigns, but this election cycle cyber experts expect much more of it including a.i. generated deep fakes. former and current officials tell nbc news that the fbi and department of homeland security have no firm plan to alert the public about deep fakes or other false information during the 2024 election unless it's clearly coming from a foreign actor and poses a sufficiently grave threat. a digital battlefield raising questions about free speech, censorship, and partisan politics. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, wilmington, delaware. hollywood has lost a legend. actor donald sutherland, whose versatile career spanned six decades, has died at 88. joe friar with a touching tribute tonight. >> reporter: donald sutherland could not be confined by a single genre from drama. anhing except in termow it affects you? >> reporter: to comedy -- >> i'm not joking. this is my job. >> reporter: to thrillers. >> the one at elizabeth's place was duplicating her. >> i don't play nice or bad or good. i just play the fellah, so i can find something in everybody to play. >> reporter: his big break came in 1967 with "the dirty dozen." >> i'd rather be a civilian. >> reporter: with hawkeye pierce in the movie "mash." >> i've seen you somewhere before. i don't know your name, stranger, but your face is familiar. >> reporter: then opposite jane fonda. >> maybe i can bring you some friends. i've got some terrific friends. >> no, thank you. >> reporter: later he ventured into tv winning an emmy for citizen x before introducing himself to a new audience on the big screen in "the hunger games." >> and may the odds be ever in your favor. >> reporter: in the 2016 western "foresaken" he played father son with his real life son kiefer. >> he's someone i wanted to work with for my entire career. >> reporter: today kaefer called his dad one of the most important actors in the "the list"ry of film, never daunted by a role, good, bad, or ugly. from ron howard who directed southerland in back draft one of the most interesting and engrossing actors of all-time. a body of work that led to an honorary academy award in 2017. >> thank you for putting my name on this. >> reporter: sealing his sweeping legacy. joe friar, nbc news. in 60 seconds, new warnings about fake ozempic and other hugely popular weight loss drugs. .. even with statins and a healthy diet... listen to your heart. talk to your doctor about repatha. repatha plus a statin lowers ldl-c (bad cholesterol) by 63%, and drops the risk of having a heart attack. do not take repatha if you are allergic to it. repatha can cause serious allergic reactions. signs include trouble breathing or swallowing or swelling of the face. most common side effects include runny nose, sore throat, common cold symptoms, flu or flu-like symptoms, back pain, high blood sugar, and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site. talk to your doctor about repatha. with cascade platinum plus, i have upped my dish game auntie, in that dishwasher? watch me platinum plus gives you the highest standard of clean, even in your machine. clean enough for you? yeah! scrape. load. done. cascade platinum plus. a health alert tonight involving those popular weight loss drugs. officials warning some on the market may be dangerous counterfeits. here's anne thompson. >> reporter: weight loss drugs are now a global phenomenon. >> i went down four pant sizes. >> reporter: this country accounting for 71% of semaglutide sales, the active ingredient in wegovy and ozempic, a diabetes drug. but high demand breeds counterfeits that could jeopardize your health. the world health organization warning tonight it found fake batches of ozempic in the u.s., u.k., and brazil last year. uc professor tim macky and team of researchers bought counterfeits of semaglutide online to find out what's being sold. >> when we purchased six of these products three were scammers and the other sent us products that had questionable safety issues associated with them. >> if anyone had taken these drugs could they have ended up in the hospital or ill from the drugs? >> yeah, so patients, one, could have been scammed out of thousands of dollars. and two, they could have taken a product that had too much semaglutide in them and could have been injured from that as well. >> reporter: lily also warning tonight about fake versions of the active ingredient in mounjaro and zepbound, its diabetes and weight loss drugs. lily says it does not sell these drugs on social media and warns illegal online pharmacies selling fakes puts people at risk. now, the makers of these drugs stress they are the only manufacturers and there are no generics. to make sure you're getting the real thing get a prescription from a licensed doctor and get it filled at a licensed pharmacy. lester? >> okay, anne, thank you. up next for us tonight smooth sailing or rough seas? what we can learn about the economy aboard a working schooner. -was that after i texted the age to screen was now 45? 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