Nightly news begins right now. Announcer s from nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening. What a wild day it has been, one of the most dramatic and intense days of this president ial campaign so far. Hours after mocking, ridiculing and challenging donald trump on the debate stage, a rejuvenated marco rubio struck again today and then donald trump struck back with a surprise jersey governor Chris Christie. It was all part of a nasty back and forth war of words between trump and rubio on the trail just four days before super tuesday. Nbcs katy tur starts off our coverage. Katy,hat a day. Reporter lester, they say everything is bigger in texas, and this endorsement certainly came as a big surprise. Less than a month after he dropped out and just four days to go until super tuesday, Chris Christie is getting behind donald trump and trying to lay waste to marco rubio. Ladies and honor and my privilege toto introduce the next president of the United States, donald trump reporter donal
The west. Highs will only be in chances of light snow and flurries. Ill have that forecast for you in a few minutes. Our top story this hour. Right now convicted felons are not allowed to vote. But the Iowa Supreme Court may soon be making changes to that policy. Kwwls Amanda Gilbert has been digging into the topic for us and joins us live in the newsroom. Some closure may soon be coming. For a long time theres been confusion on which of iowas thousands of former offenders are eligible to vote. Right now the only way felons rights are restored by the governor. Several civil Rights Groups are speaking out. Saying the court should change this. And restore felons Voting Rights before the 2016 president ial election. Iowa is one of just three state with lifetime voting bans for felons. Kentucky and florida are the others. Theres been a lot of disagreement about this on our facebook page. Some say there shouldnt be any change. The law is now is fair and works fine. Others say this isnt righ
Battered and bruised. A corrections officer is recovering from an incident inside the mitchellville womens prison. This man was one of four two had to seek treatment outside the prison. The Union Representing the officers says the incident. Described as a fight involving multiple inmates and staff. Could have been prevented or descalated had more staff been on duty. It also says staff should be able to carry pepper spray. And here they got the pepper spray locked up in the captains office and ya gotta run back and get permission to get it and by the time thats don the incidents over. Somebody is hurt. An inmate could be killed. An inmate could be dead. An officer could be killed. A Statement Issued by the department of corrections says quote the department of corrections is committed to operating safe and secure facilities and will continue to work to improve our operations for the department of corrections declined to explain why the officers are not allowed to carry pepper spray. Tod
But the union says that its not just a staffing issue, its also an equipment issue. Corrections officers here dont carry pepper spray. They had nothing but brute force to use in this situation because at this particular prison the warden wont allow pepper spray which is a tool that every other correctional officer in the state of iowa has to use homan says that not having immediate access to pepper spray is a recipe for disaster. They got the pepper spray locked up in the captains office and ya gotta run back and get permission to get it and by the time thats don the incidents over. Somebody is hurt. An inmate could be killed. An inmate could be dead. An officer could be killed. And as far as any other less than lethal weapons. Homan says theres no need butt to butt to the department of corrections statement goes on to say quote the department of corrections is committed to operating safe and secure facilities and will continue to work to improve our operations for the safety of all. I
To drop, as well. We are starting to see more Single Digits and low teens. Winds are starting to pick up from the northwest and will be 1020 mph, gusting higher today. We also have some clouds tracking in and these may have a few snow showers or flurries with them, too. They will be off and on through the day, but shouldnt add up to much, if anything. We have seen our highs. Temps will continue to drop today. It will be bitterly cold this weekend with dangerous wind chills returning to the forecast. Which ill have in a few minutes. We begin this hour with countdown to caucus coverage. The republican candidates take their messages from the campaign kwwls amanda gilbet joins us live in our newsroomm amanda, a night. Weve been hearing a lot about whether senator ted cruz is elligible to run for prsident, since he was born in canada. Its an attack donald trump used trumps own words against him cruz saying trum himself supporred cruz months ago, and nce then, the constitution hasnt changed.