what will it take for a successful mission to the moon? and blistering temperatures and dangerous wildfires. 40 million people under heat alerts, the latest on the scorching temps and when we can expect some relief. and an urgent warning from the dea over rainbow-colored fentanyl being used to target young americans by drug cartels. it is sunday, september 4th, thank you so much for waking up with us. good morning to you, boris. happy holiday weekend. hopefully you have some plans after the show today. great to be with you, amara. we got to tell you about this strange story. it was weird and we cover a lot of weird stuff. an airport contractor in mississippi is in custody today, charged with stealing a plane and threatening to crash it into a walmart. this bizarre incident played out as the suspect was circling the skies over tupelo, mississippi, and people on the ground watched the whole thing in disbelief. he right on top of our house. he literally flew over every
incredible. just gives you goosebumps, all the feels, what a loss, and what a way to honor his dad. a special moment from the foo fighters. good morning to you, everyone. welcome to your new day. i m amara walker. i m boris sanchez. there was a bizarre scare in the sky, a man stealing a plane threatening to crash it over a small town in mississippi, even posting a good-bye on facebook. what we re learning about the pilot and how the situation was ultimately resolved. and for a second time, nasa is forced to call off the launch of the artemis i rocket. this time because of an hydrogen leak. how long will it take to fix the issue and when will they try to launch again? plus, over 40 million people under heat alerts today amid dangerous temperatures. we re going to tell you which cities could potentially break records and what it means for the rest of your labor day weekend. and troubling news in the classroom. testing scores plummeting across the country after t
with lester holt good evening americans feeling the heat tonight in ways and places they maybe never have where they live as high temperature records are expected to fall across much of the country. it is where we begin tonight. 38 million people across 20 states from california to the mississippi river right now living under heat alerts. record highs in the forecast today from cheyenne, wyoming where the forecast high is 99 to dallas/ft. worth airport which could reach 109. between now and wednesday nearly three dozen new record highs could be set the heat wave working its way to the east tonight, leaving the most vulnerable in its path at considerable risk experts are warning it is not summer as usual but rather another global gut check moment from a changing climate just as we face new obstacles in dealing with it. we ll get to that and the forecast from our team standing by in just a moment. let s start with miguel almaguer. reporter: shattering records and threatenin
we re there as families and communities grapple with the worst news possible extraordinary, in depth look at how gun violence is destroying communities and plaguing our country this is one night in one city, in the richest country in the world. how can this make any sense? this is a special edition of nbc nightly news with kate snow. one night in america. good evening. we have new information tonight about the mass shooting in uvalde, texas, that a total of 400 officers were on the scene that day a new report detailing failure after failure. but we re going to begin by focusing on the overwhelming amount of gun violence happening every single day in america more than 40,000 people are killed each year by guns and while we tend to focus on mass shootings, far more americans are killed in smaller incidents so tonight, we re going to chronicle gun violence across one night in america specifically, last night in america we had teams embedded in communities across the c
as well as a new video showing the police response to that massacre. a texas house committee investigating this may 24th shooting at robb elementary released a preliminary report on what it has learned so far. saying it found, quote, systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making. those systemic failures including three exterior doors that were unlocked, a classroom door with a faulty lock that nobody dealt with, wi-fi that was not working properly, and a force of nearly 400 law enforcement officers larger than the garrison that defended the alamo that did not have clear leadership, basic communication, significant urgency to take down this gunman. uvalde s mayor responding to the report by putting the city s acting police chief on administrative leave and releasing body cam footage showing the horror in the hallways and outside the school as well. i want to warn you, some of these images you re about to see, they are incredibly disturbing. [ gunshots ] am i green,