good evening. the whole idea of spies seems a little dated, going back to when russia was the ussr and was the arch cold war enemy of the u.s. but there they were, those russian spies arrested a few days back, discovered living in america, having blended into american society. tonight they are en route out of here and they are part of a spy swap, ten of them being exchanged for people in russia accused of spying for the u.s. we start off tonight with our justice correspondent pete williams in our washington newsroom. pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, there's never been anything quite like this. from arrest to guilty plea to expulsion from the country in just 11 days. it's the legal system driven to hyper speed by a u.s. desire to improve relations with russia. assembled quickly in a federal courthouse in new york city, all ten admitted that while they pretended to be just the folks next door, they were actually sent here to be secret agents for russia. one by one, they spoke their true russian names, then pleaded guilty to being unregistered foreign agents. the government dropped a second charge of money laundering. the judge accepted their pleas and sentenced them to time served -- less than two weeks -- freeing the government to send them to russia in a cold war-style prisoner exchange. all ten accused of spying for the u.s. the lawyer for anna chapman said it is a good deal for her. >> she's happy to be out of jail. the thought that she would have continued under conditions of confinement for six months or more while awaiting a trial was something that she was not prepared to do. >> reporter: and a good deal for the u.s. government, says the attorney general. >> we wanted to make sure that we did this as quickly as we could so that we didn't have any kind of ongoing negative impact between the good relationship that is developing between the united states and russia. >> reporter: the u.s. was willing to make the swap, officials say, because the ten did not steal any valuable secrets, so prosecutors could not push for harsh punishment with long prison sentences. a former counterintelligence official says it's a plus to get people like igor sutyagin, a russian accused of spying for the u.s. and sentenced to 14 years in a russian prison camp. >> we have demonstrated to these individuals who may have worked for us on the other side that we take care of our people if they are going to do that for us. >> reporter: some intelligence experts consider it a good trade, getting something valuable in return for expelling ten imposters. >> what do you do with anna chapman who's like a character out of "from russia with love" a james bond film? throwing them in jail may not be an advantage with relations with washington and moscow. >> reporter: u.s. officials plan to fly all ten out of the country by the end of the day and they expect that the six minor children of four of the russian couples would leave with just like that.rian. pete williams in our washington newsroom. pete, thanks. we turn again now to the mess in the gulf on day 80. here's where we are. oil has come ashore along 507 miles of coastline in all five gulf states and there is oil now north of new orleans. the primary relief well, one of two of them, said to be the best hope of stopping the leak, is now, quote, within a couple hundred feet of the gusher. bp says that in a perfect world they could be, quote, ready to stop the well between july 20 and july 27. that, by the way, would be day 99 of this mess. just how they do that in a moment. let's start with our chief environmental correspondent anne thompson who remains in venice, louisiana. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. there has been nothing perfect in this story. after a week and a half of battling mother nature and the oil, there is a break in the weather. today, federal officials demanded bp come up with a plan to take advantage of this lull between storms. with clearing skies and calming seas, bp's prediction that it could kill the gushing well by july 27, the same day it reports second quarter earnings, today did not win the endorsement of the government's man in charge. >> i have been around you long enough to know we need to underpromise and overdeliver. so allen is at august. >> reporter: today, allen gave bp 24 hours to come up with a timeline for action, specifically to see if it could get the helix producer online to capture an additional 25,000 barrels of oil a day from the leaking well while replacing the current containment cap with a better fitting one. >> there is a particularly good weather window in the next seven to ten days to try and accomplish change out of the containment cap. >> reporter: the newest weapon to fight the oil is an old technology. the navy blimp able to stay aloft longer than other aircraft will help spot the path of the oil. across the gulf coast, thousands of workers in five states continue the tedious and costly work of cleaning tar balls from beaches. but some scientists question if all this effort is worth it. >> once it's under an inch of sand or six inches of sand it will presumably continue to biodegrade. it may take a longer time, but the inhabitants of the beach there on a regular timeframe are not the most critical in the eco-system. >> reporter: the tides that carry in the oil also bury it in the sand. the bigger and stronger the waves, the deeper the oil sinks in. the exception, louisiana's grand isle. this beach is closest to the spill site. scientists say the oil that washes ashore here could be fresher and potentially more toxic. but at florida's pensacola beach where beauty draws tourists and their money, looks matter. >> if they ever stop the gusher out in the gulf and if they ever get enough skimmers to stop it coming ashore, then we're going to come in here and we're going to sift down about eight inches. >> reporter: hoping to remove the scars left by the summer of oil. anne thompson, nbc news, venice, louisiana. >> reporter: this is tom costello. 18,000 feet below these platforms, the best hope for plugging the gushing well is drilling through heavy rock, aiming for a pipe only seven inches in diameter. already the first of two relief wells is within several hundred feet of its target. >> the path is not going to come in and try to hit it like this because it would be very easy to miss it. the path is going to come in like this and then go parallel to it. >> reporter: experts describe the relief well as a kind of noodle. actually, long sections of piping that extend from the surface of the ocean, a mile down to the ocean floor and then another two miles through hard rock. near the diamond drill bit, sensors monitor the angle. magnetometers hone in on the casing for the well. using constant mathematical calculations, engineers confirm their course and steer the pipe with pressurized hydraulic pads on the sides. much of the technology is made at this baker-hughes facility in houston. mathias schlect is the vice president of drilling operations. >> reporter: ultimately the relief well will cut into the bad well at 18,000 feet below the ocean's surface, then fill the pipe with mud and cement, capping it close to the bottom of the well. >> i would say on the first try, once they start doing the cement pumping, it should be at least a 95% chance of success. >> reporter: engineers expect the mud and cement will hold because the pressure at the bottom of the well is far less than at the top where oil is gushing like a fire hose. once the well is finally plugged it should be sealed forever. if bp ever wants to tap that oil reservoir again, it could try using one of those relief wells or may have to start drilling all over again. tom costello, nbc news, miami. there is more bad weather to report tonight coming out of the gulf of mexico. again, right smack into laredo, texas, where four inches of rain have sent the rio grande into one of its highest levels in memory. it's not over yet. more could be coming over the next three to four hours. mike sidell is in laredo for us. it's good for the spill site that the storms have taken a left but it's bad for texas. >> reporter: it is. along the rio grande, we are just amazed. the water was only three feet deep on july 4th. it's now come up over 40 feet. the river was 50 yards wide, now a quarter mile wide. it's expected to top out tonight and then slowly fall. the reason, hurricane alex and its aftermath last week into the weekend dumping 20 to 25 inches of rain upstream. in mexico they are watching their dams, protecting them and release ago lot of water into the rio grande. behind me, one of four bridges clos closed including the one behind me will be closed well into the weekend. many on both sides of the borderlined up amazed at how deep and wide the river is. 200 mandatory evacuations on this side. thousands of the mexican side left their homes because of the risks of dams failing. the water treatment plant has been hit by the flood. it's okay. drinking water is fine. a glimmer of hope tonight, brian. the gauge is starting to show a crest, but more rain from the dregs on the way in. >> our thanks, as always. now to california where a verdict has been reached in the trial of a transit police officer in the bay area rapid transit system, b.a.r.t. the officer is charged with murdering an unarmed man on new year's day. our own george lewis with the latest. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. it's been a racially charged trial, a white police officer accused of murdering a black man. tonight, the jury came in with the verdict. guilty of involuntary manslaughter. [ gunshots ] >> reporter: new year's day, 2009. in a scene captured from five different angles by witnesses with cell phone cameras, transit police at an oakland, california, rail station are arguing and scuffling with a group of young black men they have detained after a fight on one of the trains. one of those young men is 22-year-old oscar grant who works at a butcher shop. grant, unarmed, is lying face down, not resisting. suddenly, officer meserle pulls his pistol and shoots grant in the back. [ gunshot ] >> reporter: grant later dies. charged with murder, meserle says it was all a horrible mistake, that he meant to go for his taser to stun grant with a jolt of electricity, but somehow grabbed his pistol instead. grant's family said it was, indeed, cold-blooded murder. >> he was killed for nothing. there was more officers there. if he was doing anything, they could have called other officers. for god's sake they could have beat him like they beat rodney king, but, no, he killed him. >> reporter: many business owners expecting problem. tonight, community leaders are calling for people to remain calm. the involuntary manslaughter charge will probably bring a sentence of two to four years. a lot of people, including demonstrators behind me, are not happy about that. brian? >> a terrible story in california. george, thank thanks. when "nightly news" continues in a moment, the global outcry over the sentence one woman is facing. and making a difference, helping kids express themselves at the crest of a new movement. 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(announcer) to get one month free, plus more tips and recipes, visit boniva.com or call 1-800-4-boniva. fair warning. this next story is tough to watch. it's about a tough subject that is not for any children who may be in the room. it's about international outcry over an ancient and brutal form of punishment, one you might think had vanished from the modern world. a woman in iran, convicted of adultery, scheduled to be stoned to death. her own son is risking his life to save hers. it's a story that's captured attention around the world. our report tonight from nbc's donna friesen. >> reporter: her name is sakineh mohammadi ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two sentenced in iran to be stoned to death. in online campaigns and petitions, thousands are demanding iran stop the stoning. these pictures are from 1994, two people shrouded, partially buried in holes, surrounded by men armed with stones. their final moments, too gruesome to air. >> she has exhausted her appeals. >> reporter: she's suffered 99 lashes after being convicted of adultery, a crime she's always denied. >> there is no hard evidence in this case to claim that she did actually commit the crime of adultery. >> reporter: human rights campaigners are organizing protests. western governments have voiced their outrage. >> stoning as a means of execution is tantamount to torture. it's barbaric and an abhorrent act. >> reporter: her son issued a letter. my mother and i are asking the people of the world to help us, he writes. there is no justice in this country. stoning in iran is less common than it once was. amnesty international knows of just six cases since 2006. when it does happen, men are buried to their waists, women to their breasts. if they manage to struggle free, the death sentence is commuted. women, buried more deeply, rarely do. >> i think it is being used as a weapon to terrorize the population, to intimidate them, specifically to put women in their places. >> reporter: tonight it appears iran may have bowed to pressure. in a statement, the embassy in london said she will not be executed by stoning punishment. human rights groups are cautiously optimistic. will she now be freed or executed by other means? and how many other women in iran face the same fate before the barbarous act of stoning is finally outlawed? donna friesen, nbc news, london. in this country, a new political skirmish in washington over health care. it's about an appointment president obama made while congress was out for the july 4th break. the so-called recess appointment naming harvard professor dr. donald berwick to manage medicare and medicaid skipping the usual senate confirmation process. republicans are angry, claiming it is antagonistic. one top democrat called the recess appointment troubling. but the administration fired back saying this s one of many appointments being blocked by the senate. berwick has spoken about the need to ration medical care to control costs. republican national committee chairman michael steele scoffed at calls for his resignation today, telling an audience in colorado, quote, i ain't going anywhere. steele has been under fire since last week when he called the war in afghanistan, "a war of obama's choosing that is not something the u.s. has wanted to engage in." he later said he was only trying to question president obama's strategy for winning the war. when we come back here tonight, the guessing game is coming to an end. decision day for nba superstar lebron james. nba superstar lebron james. 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[ female announcer ] there's a full serving of vegetables in every bowl of chef boyardee big beef ravioli. that's the third time that's happened today. [ female announcer ] just don't tell them. shh. she was the daughter of kentucky coal country during the great depression and she rose to the highest heights of government service in this country. juanita kreps has died. she was this nation's first ever female commerce secretary, nominated by president jimmy carter. she served three years in that post. a well-respected economist, she was credited with helping open up trade with china. juanita morris kreps was 89 years old. the emmy nominations are in. we have put them on the website. but the headlines are these. "glee" leads the way in its category with 19 nominations. "mad men," "30 rock" and several hbo shows wracked up multiples. hbo's "pacific" series got two dozen. "saturday night live" picked up 12 nominations. that's 126 of them in its 35-year history, making it the most nominated show in television history. also, national public radio is joining the ranks of kfc, nbc and at&t. they are to be known in the future as npr, dropping the more formal proper name on the air. where will lebron james play next? as you may have heard, this is decision day for the nba superstar, now a free agent. a lot of fans in places like chicago and cleveland and new york and miami are hoping he will choose them. he has turned the announcement into a media event. it's broadcast tonight live on espn from greenwich, connecticut, a new york suburb. but who knows? when we continue in just a moment, catching a wave and making a difference. continue in just a moment, catching a wave and making a difference. zegerid otc is the first 24-hour treatment ever with two active ingredients: prescription-strength medicine plus a protective ingredient that shields the medicine from stomach acid so it's effectively absorbed. just one zegerid otc capsule a day can relieve your heartburn all day and all night. if you have frequent heartburn, try dual-ingredient zegerid otc. heartburn solved. sweet & salty nut bars... they're made from whole roasted nuts and dipped in creamy peanut butter, making your craving for a sweet & salty bar irresistible, by nature valley. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspiriregimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. ta to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. finally tonight, our making a difference report is about autism and the constant search for a way in to those who have it and the effort to find new ways in which to excel. tonight, a new wave of thinking, a kind of hydrotherapy that, like so much in life, may not be easily explainable, but it seems to work. our report from nbc's kerry sanders in deerfield beach, florida. >> reporter: children with autism can appear to be locked in their own world. >> want to do some surfing? >> yeah! >> reporter: somehow out there in the surf, 11-year-old kailey elwell's symptoms disappear, at least momentarily. she's not alone. >> one would never know that child has autism. >> reporter: along our nation's coast, parents are taking their autistic children to the ocean and discovering something no one can really explain. >> what do you see? >> just an amazing change. she's so quiet on the beach. you get her out and you can see, she's a fish in the water, so to speak. [ cheers ] >> reporter: carrie elwell says these moments are a long way from the early days when her daughter ran in circles and couldn't talk and nothing seemed to break the cycle. >> we were told she would never talk, would never say "i love you," would never know her parents, and would probably be in an institution for the rest of her life. >> ready? i need to paddle. >> reporter: time and time again, it's the same thing. >> the parents of autistic children say the one thing they notice is their kids go from a closed world to a world that they share with others. right, austin? >> uh-huh. reporter: ready to go? uh-huh. >> reporter: here we go, ready. federal health officials estimate one in 110 american children are born with some form of autism. >> way to go! >> reporter: for don ryan, that's so many more kids than there are surfboards. if we never figure out why this works, does that matter? >> not at all. are you kidding? i mean, look at this kid coming in right here. watch his face. that doesn't happen. it just doesn't happen outside this environment. >> reporter: surfing with autism. a mystery as complex as autism itself. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: kerry sanders, nbc news, deerfield beach, florida. and that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you, as always, for being with us. i'm brian williams. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com