university hospital, says it is preparing to receive a patient with the ebola virus air-lifted to this country from africa while in isolation. this outbreak is now surging out of control. new numbers out today show over 1,300 cases, 729 deaths reported. in this country the cdc has issued what they call a level 3 travel warning, that's their highest level. so far it concerns those americans headed to the infection region in western africa. this while u.s. hospitals have been put on notice, all of them, to be alert for patients who may have the symptoms after returning from that part of the world especially. it's where we begin again tonight here with our chief medical correspondent dr. nancy snyderman. nancy, good evening. >> good evening, brian. the news today from emory university hospital saying that it is preparing a special isolation unit to receive a patient with ebola within the next few days. which patient will be treated? we are not sure. but in the meantime, two american lives are hanging in the balance. the relief agency, samaritan's purse, said today the conditions of two of their american volunteers in liberia, dr. kent brantly and nancy writebol are deteriorating. yesterday an experimental serum arrived in liberia but only one dose. >> dr. brantly heard that, he asked that it would be given to nancy and not to be given to him. >> reporter: franklin graham is head of the relief organization. >> he's a tremendous individual. >> reporter: however, dr. brantly did get some help, a blood transfusion from a 14-year-old ebola survivor, one of the many people dr. brantly has saved. >> this is the toughest ebola outbreak we've ever had to face, and ebola itself is a dreadful and merciless virus. >> reporter: and to date the centers for disease control issued a level 3 travel alert for americans urging them to avoid all nonessential travel to guinea, sierra leone and liberia. so what was your tipping point to raise the travel advisory today? >> we were concerned that if you traveled there for a nonessential reason and had to go to the hospital, that might be a problem. >> reporter: in brooklyn park, minnesota, home to america's largest liberian community, officials are discussing added precautions because so many residents travel back and forth. >> our community has a significant amount of concern and, quite frankly, fear over what's going on and the likelihood or possibility that the virus could be introduced into our community. >> reporter: the situation is so dire in western africa, the peace corps is bringing home 340 volunteers. sharayan yun left guinea last week. >> your first reaction is sort of to freak out, to be afraid. we've all heard about ebola. we all know it's a horrible way to die. >> i don't have to tell you that americans are worried. >> we should be able to be very rational about this. you can't catch ebola from someone who is not sick and very sick with it, and you can't catch it by casual contact. it requires really intense contact where there's exposure to body fluids. >> in the meantime, the world health organization has announced a $100 million response plan, and tonight there is a global call for doctors, nurses and epidemiologists to bring your expertise and supplies into the affected areas in western africa, brian. >> and the feds still believe we'll be able to avoid this process of taking people off planes who may be sick, checking people at our incoming airports? >> people are infectious if they are symptomatic. if you look at this outbreak right now in western africa think of it like a wildfire that is raging out of control. if there are isolated sparks of affected patients, those patients need to be isolated. that's how you ultimately shut this down, but it's going to be months, not weeks. and in the meantime, the patient that's coming to the united states is going to get the expertise and very sophisticated medical system and will not be putting other people at risk. >> all right. what a scary illness, however. dr. nancy snyderman starting us off. thank you, as always. overseas tonight, some hopeful news just late tonight between israel and hamas. secretary of state john kerry traveling in indiana announced a 72-hour cease-fire to begin friday morning and he said israeli and palestinian negotiators will head immediately to cairo for further talks. one thing that hasn't changed in this, earlier today, the israeli prime, minister benjamin netanyahu, vowed to destroy the network of tunnels that hamas uses to terrorize israel, something he said would be done "with or without a cease-fire." israelis living near the gaza border live in constant fear of tunnel attacks from beneath their homes and towns and farms. our veteran middle east correspondent martin fletcher tonight gets a rare firsthand look. >> reporter: attack tunnels, hamas' secret passages for the fighters to penetrate israel and to kill and kidnap israelis. here, three days ago they surprised soldiers at an army post and killed five, dug through clay and sand, the tunnels are hard to find. 45 feet deep down here. concrete arches, electricity, telephones, almost six feet high, more than two feet wide. hamas has built dozens of them. the army wants time to destroy them all. 32 found so far. so this tunnel in this direction goes one mile, more than a mile into gaza. to the town of ha. yunis. in this direction only a few more hundred yards israel, it comes up inside an israeli kibbutz in the farming land. israel was this close to another tragedy. >> i feel sick really like wanting to throw up from anxiety. >> reporter: this woman lives a mile from gaza. >> people say okay we kcan live with the shelling but not with the threat of tunnels. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> reporter: her friend came back last night after three weeks in the north sheltering from the rockets, terrified of the tunnels, but her kids missed home. >> exciting with lots of fear. you know, it's not easy. >> reporter: this morning trying to make it easy for the kids who stayed, but there's always fear of rockets. and now the tunnels, will hamas fighters suddenly pop out of the ground? and the boom of israeli guns firing into gaza. >> so people ask me how you raise your children here in that place. so i tell them, it's my house. oh, my god. oh, see. to come back to this, i don't like. this is -- ah but we get used to it. >> reporter: but the guns may fall silent in the morning. hamas spokespeople say that hamas has accepted the latest cease-fire proposal to last 72 hours from tomorrow 8:00 a.m. local time and it appears that israel has accepted too. so the two sides should meet in cairo tomorrow. brian. >> what an incredible scene during that interview. martin fletcher from tel aviv for us tonight. martin, thanks. tonight, at least one u.s. senator is calling for the cia director to resign after the agency admitted today to spying, not on a foreign government, but on our own congress improperly finding their way into u.s. senate computers during an investigation into the cia's interrogation techniques after 9/11. we get details tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: for months the cia has denied spying on the senate, hacking into computers spying on senate investigators looking into alleged cia torture of prisoners after 9/11. the cia director was emphatic in march. >> the cia went into their computers and took documents out and were attempting to block their own investigation. >> the facts will come out, but let me assure you that the cia in no way was spying on the senate. >> reporter: at issue a suspect cia cover-up of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques during the bush years. the senate chair had demands. >> i have grave concerns that the cia search may well have violates the powers and principles embodied in the united states constitution. >> reporter: today, the cia's own watchdog, the inspector general said she was right. five agency employees including two attorneys improperly accessed the computers launching a keyword search and a review of some of the e-mail of democratic staff members. >> who authorized the search? we need to know why they thought it was legal, and we need to know how that person is going to be held accountable. >> reporter: other senators are demanding that the cia director, john brennan, one of the president's closest advisors, be fired. this as that five-year-long torture investigation is about to be released any day now. brian. >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom. andrea, thanks. during our time with edward snowden back in moscow back in may, he indicated that he didn't have much choice to live anywhere other than moscow. he said he doesn't want to come home and face the music legally because he believes hwon't receive a fair trial. well, today his temporary asylum was to have run out in russia. he applied to stay quite some tonight snowden's attorney tells nbc news the russians have said, in effect he can stay there permanently if he wishes to. he told us in the interview he misses home. there's been some talk of a possible deal to return him to the u.s. with punishment, but for now he remains there in russia. in this country a rough day on wall street. stocks saw their worst one-day drop since february. blamed on a variety of factors including weak corporate earnings announced. the dow was down 317 points, nasdaq, s&p down, as well. a drastic change just this week from extreme to even worse, if that's possible, as california suffers through an unprecedented drought that we've been covering. over half the state now facing the most severe conditions. one of the hardest hit areas is lake piru in california. nbc's joe fryer is there for us tonight. joe, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. hard to believe this is lake piru. we're actually standing at the boat launch. clearly no boats going in the water. in fact, you can't even see water from where we're standing. lake levels here are at 25% of what's considered normal, all thanks to a drought that's causing some to take drastic measures. on a parched citrus farm in central california, it has come to this. a bulldozer is ripping out a third of sean stevenson's orange trees. there's just not enough water to keep everything alive. >> when these trees are gone, they're not going to use any more water, so i can put that water on another crop. >> reporter: already he's laid off some of his staff, a fourth generation farm facing a once-in-a-lifetime dry spell. >> if we have another year as dry as this last one, we'll probably be just about entirely out of business. >> reporter: take a look at california's drought map. this is what it looked like last week, and here it is this week, exceptional drought in dark red now covers 58% of the state, up from 36% just seven days ago. >> it doesn't impact just the state of california. it impacts everyone in the nation and internationally. >> reporter: what didn't help, tuesday's water main break, which flooded ucla with 20 million gallons of water. starting this week, california is issuing $500 fines to water wasters, like those dousing driveways and sidewalks. brown lawns are now a surprisingly common sight in the wealthy celebrity enclave of montecito, which has been rationing water since february. >> if it does rain next year shgs, everyone will be rationing in the state. >> reporter: a new study says this year's drought will cost california $2.2 billion, a huge blow to the nation's top agriculture state and to farmers like sean stevenson. in addition to shallow lakes, california's reservoirs are incredibly low. most of the major ones in the state now below 50% capacity. brian. >> joe fryer live for us in what remains at least of lake piru in california. tonight, joe, thanks. still ahead on this thursday evening, scandal explodes for a man once mentioned as a possible presidential contender. the bombshell trial about cash, cars and a hidden romantic crush. and later one of the most shared videotapes of the week. big surprises at the bank. the reasons for the shocked look on the faces of so many atm customers. in virginia tonight, a blockbuster trial is under way involving a big-name politician. so far revealed in this case, cash, cars and a romantic hidden crush. at the center of it all is a former republican governor once mentioned as a potential future presidential candidate and his wife. we get our report tonight from nbc's peter alexander. >> reporter: the fate of former virginia governor bob mcdonnell and his wife, maureen, hinges largely on the testimony of colorful businessman jonnie williams. prosecutors say the mcdonnells accepted more than $165,000 in secret gifts, luxury vacations and cash from williams in exchange for promoting his line of dietary supplements. among them, a trip aboard williams' private jet to his virginia vacation home plus use of his ferrari. during a manhattan shopping spree prosecutors say williams, who's been given legal immunity, bought virginia's former first lady nearly $11,000 in oscar de la renta dresses and spent another $5,000 on gifts from louboutin. in addition to a rolex for the governor williams spent $15,000 to indicator their daughter's wedding. in court today williams was asked whether he thought the mcdonnells would have hosted a launch party for his supplements company here at the governor's mansion. if not for all those gifts, his answer, no, i didn't. williams said he had a simple reason for giving to the first family, because they're helping me. the mcdonnells were not my personal friends, williams testified. i thought it was good for my company. attorneys for the mcdonnells say the couple is innocent laying out an unusual defense insisting the mcdonnells couldn't have been conspiring to use the office because their marriage had broken down and barely on speaking terms. just months after defending themselves side by side, they arrived in court separately all week. >> this is a marathon. it's not going to be decided in a day. >> reporter: maureen mcdonnell's attorney acknowledges the former washington redskins cheerleader had a crush on williams but argued she wasn't a public official so she couldn't have been bribed. >> i can't talk about her testimony. >> reporter: the governor's attorney say there's nothing wrong with promoting a virginia business, that it's exactly what governors do. peter alexander, nbc news, richmond, virginia. and we're back in a moment with a chilling piece of audio from the day before 9/11 not heard until now. sky news in australia has aired some chilling audio of former president bill clinton speaking in melbourne on september 10th of 2001. it's chilling because of the subject matter, osama bin laden, and what no one could have known was about to happen no more than ten hours after bill clinton spoke these words. >> and i'm just saying, you know, if i were osama bin laden, he's a very smart guy, i've spent a lot of time thinking about him, and i nearly got him once. i nearly got him, and i could've gotten -- i could've killed him, but i would have had to destroy a little town called kandahar in afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then i would have been no better than him, and so i didn't do it. >> bill clinton on september 10th, one day before the world changed, and sure enough, the 9/11 commission report says a missile strike was canceled back in '98 due to a large number of probable civilian casualties. back in 2010 when they were building the foundation of the world trade center site in lower manhattan, they found what appeared to be a 32-foot-long section of a sailing vessel. scientists tested the wood by counting the rings on the wood and determining the age. in the journal called "tree ring research," and yes, there is such a journal, they say they've traced the white oak to a forest in the philadelphia area putting the ship's age at pre-revolutionary war. some freakishly cold temperatures being reported for late july in the great lakes. parts of lake superior dropped to 38 degrees while it was 41 degrees in the water in another region of lake michigan. the kinds of numbers we usually see during the great ice melt in april. it happened virtually overnight this past monday when water at the bottom of the lakes rose to the surface. forecasters call it upwelling. water temperatures dropped by 30 degrees accompanied by dense fog. this whole baseball season has been one big farewell, justifiably so, for yankee captain and walk-in hall of famer derek jeter. well last night at a texas rangers game he was surprised and honored by former president george w. bush, who himself just happens to be at the center of a slew of new rumors that he could be a potential successor to baseball commissioner bud selig. "sharknado 2" premiered last night on our sister network sci-fi. we don't know what it says about the future of our republic that 4 million people watched it. it's about the highly likely possibility that sharks would become one with a tornado. it was a star-studded or at least person-studded cast. it would be easier to list the performers who didn't do cameos, but it was a rich and diverse bunch starting with judd hirsch and robert klein, our own stalwarts matt and al and kelly ripa of salt-n-pepa. up next tonight, the huge surprise waiting at the atm. finally tonight, think about how you feel about your bank. now, perhaps with that in mind, one bank has done something crafty, even emotional, and it played out on video when some of their customers went to visit the atm. we get our report on it tonight from nbc's harry smith. >> hi. >> hi. >> reporter: imagine your surprise. >> hello there. >> reporter: if your atm knew your name. >> hi, michael. >> hi. >> reporter: or knew your favorite team. >> it's awesome. >> reporter: what if your atm said thank you? >> never in all my life. that's such a beautiful surprise. >> reporter: a lot of people in canada got that shock recently when the t.d. banks there started a customer appreciation campaign. as publicity stunts go, this is pretty close to genius. for in an age when we view so many banks as impersonal monoliths of greed, this one seems downright neighborhood. t.d. tellers nominated the customers who got the biggest thank-yous like dorothy mcnabb who has been sending money to her cancer-stricken daughter. >> and those are tickets to trinidad. >> are you serious? >> i am serious. you're going to go see your daughter in trinidad. >> thank you. >> hi, christine. >> reporter: and christine todd a widowed mother of two. the bank gave them a trip and money to start a college fund. >> i've never been able to take my kids anywhere. >> ah. >> you don't expect a thank you at all. you wake up every day doing what's natural, striving to be the absolute best parent i can be. there are no expectations. [ applause ] >> reporter: where t.d. bank didn't have talking atms, employees handed out envelopes with $20 bills. >> there you go. >> thank you. >> reporter: if you're in the boardroom of another bank, this kind of thing would make you crazy, maybe even make you do t.d. bank one better. i think we all agree, go ahead and try. harry smith, nbc news. >> results may vary at your atm. that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. in the harbor that is killing thousands of fish. good evening and thanks for being with us. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. harbor emergency in santa cruz. the problem, dead fish. tons of them. hundreds and thousands of dead anchovies are floating to the surface of the harbor. michelle rop berts michelle roberts is live. do we know what is killing the fish? >> reporter: we do. now they are underwater as you can see the birds are enjoying this. they have been feasting all day long. but in about a day, these fish will start to rot and smell. the birds will likely leave but that smell will remain. dead anchovies. you can't avoid the smell and it's only going to get worse in the next couple of days. >> the harbor seals are gorging themselves right now. >> reporter: this is the worst fish kill since the 1980s. so what is a fish skill? >> they actually deplete the oxygen in the water and they be they start to die in mass. >> reporter: a massive school of anchovies swam in last night. even with aerators pumps oxygen into the harbor it was not enough to help them survive. >> we net some