musicians banding together and inspiring america in a powerful tribute. here s kate snow. reporter: on the friday before thanksgiving, a bus carrying the andrews high school band to a playoff football game in texas was hit head-on, injuring about half the students and killing their band leader and driver. it shook us to the core. reporter: 100 miles away, music store assistant manager chris wheeler heard the band had lost their instruments and might not be able to play in their annual holiday parade. my idea was to have kids from our region, you know, come in, march the parade, you know, for them. reporter: did you think you would just get a handful? honestly, yes. reporter: instead about 1,200 band kids showed up from texas a high school donated instruments to the andrews players and without ever rehearsing together, they all played jingle bell rock. band kids do what
band kids do they just did their thing. reporter: lauren settle came from more than an hour away to play french horn i kind of expected it to be a somber thing, but it was really a celebration of family and life and music. reporter: does it make you emotional it does it does. i mean, this was the right thing to do. you know, to try to help them know that, hey, life goes on. we still have purpose and what better way to do it than through music and unity, you know reporter: unity that allowed the band to play on kate snow, nbc news. and that s nightly news for this thursday. thank you for watching i m lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night
russian advance. they could be tested with about 100,000 russian troops, tanks and artillery massed along three sides of the ukrainian border and by pro-russian militias already inside ukraine this is the most dangerous flash point. ukrainian troops occupy these trenches 24/7 and russian soldiers are only 50 yards away according to the ukrainian soldiers here those russian backed troops fire on them almost every day. and it wouldn t take much for an escalation here to trigger a much wider war. when some side start that attacking, it s it have casualties no matter what they do. reporter: lieutenant evan showed us his front line position, a rubber factory devastated by an eight-year war with pro-russian separatists that now has the potential to trigger the biggest conflict in europe since world war ii
capitol. and after a tragedy how one community is helping the band play on. this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. a verdict as we come on the air in the closely watched jussie smollett trial a chicago jury tonight finding the former empire actor guilty on five of six counts related to lying to police about being the victim of a hate-driven attack in 2019 the verdict coming on the second day of deliberations. rehema ellis has the breaking news for us. rehema reporter: lester, jussie smollett stood with his arms crossed and he was stoic as the jury read the verdict. as you point out, he was found guilty of five of six counts not guilty on a charge of reporting a false aggravated battery to police but it was nearly three years ago that he was facing six felony counts of reporting a fake, anti-gay and racist attack against himself and lying to police
from a nurse in arkansas i m tired of it us nurses, other coworkers, respiratory therapists, all the medical team, we are tired. reporter: to doctors in colorado. another day, another shift with no beds here in colorado. reporter: and indiana. our number of covid patients doubled over the weekend. our icu is full. reporter: heather, a critical care nurse in uw swedish american hospital in rockford, illinois. we have young people we have old people i m easily taking care of people my age and definitely younger than me. reporter: the situation so serious in the northeast the governors of new york, new hampshire and maine are sending national guard troops to help in the hospitals. our hospitals are being stretched thin health care is jeopardized for those who need it and our health care workers, as heroic as they are, are more exhausted than ever before we re at a tipping point. reporter: december 2021 feeling a lot like december 2020