>> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> a break in the hunt for who is behind a series of bomb threats against jewish institutions. a 31-year-old man is jailed in st. louis, tonight accused of making threats against jewish centers in four states. but authorities say he's not behind the big wave of over 100 similar threats that have sent children and staff evacuating jewish institutions across the country. instead, they're calling the suspect, a copycat who was trying to settle a personal score with an ex-lover. our justice correspondent, pete williams, has more. >> reporter: for months telephone bomb threats to jewish centers and schools have alarmed the jewish community. now the fbi says this man, 31-year-old juan thompson of st. louis, made eight of those threats, copycat calls, intended to get back at a woman who broke off a romantic relationship with him eight months ago. >> law enforcement at all levels is a close friend of the jewish people in america and we're so appreciative. >> reporter: the fbi said last month he made a phone call and sent emails that named his ex-girlfriend and said she planted bombs in adl's new york office and jewish centers in dallas and san diego. and investigators said he sent email bomb threats to a museum, a school, and and jewish centers in dallas and san diego. and investigators say he sent email bomb threats to a museum, a school and a jewish center in new york and a jewish school in suburban detroit. those threats said they came from juan thompson, according to the fbi. investigators say he posted a message on twitter, saying a racist white girl he dated sent those bomb threats, trying to set him up. thompson's family was in federal court in st. louis today, where he was charged with cyberstalking. police there say they want to talk to him about headstones knocked over last month in a jewish cemetery. >> we're looking at all aspects. we've reached out to the federal bureau of investigation to interview juan thompson. >> reporter: thompson has a troubled past. an internet news site says it fired him for falsifying stories and his twitter feed is full of racist rants about white people. today's arrest doesn't solve who is behind the rest of the more than 100 bomb threats to jewish centers, schools and other facilities in 36 states in new jersey today, jewish leaders praised those who keep coming to community centers, in spite of the threat. >> they're saying we will not allow hate or intolerance to rule our behavior or shape our community. >> reporter: the fbi said it's scrambling to identify the source of the athletes. but computer software used to disguise their origin is making it hard to trace. pete williams nbc news washington. there's news tonight affecting anyone who is considering buying a home or retirees on fixed incomes. the chairwoman of the federal reserve today said the economic recovery is showing such strength with unemployment holding under 5%, that interest rates will likely start inching up again as soon as this month. nbc's tom costello tonight on what that means for families across the country. >> reporter: after a record week on wall street, today another vote of confidence in the u.s. economy. as the chairwoman of the federal reserve strongly suggested, its interest rates will rise by a quarter-point in march, with two more increases likely later in the year. >> the u.s. economy has exhibited remarkable resilience. >> reporter: despite a rate hike in december, interest rates have been holding at historic lows for nearly ten years to help the country recover from the great recession. so what does the move mean for americans considering buying a home? today the average 30-year mortgage is 4.10%. on a $200,000, 30-year mortgage. the monthly payment before taxes and insurance would be about $966. if rates go up by a quarter-point, the monthly payment would go up by $29, or $348 a year. if rates go up by half a percent, the mortgage payment would be an extra $59 a month, 708 for the year. lauren davis is a realtor in maryland. >> spring inventory is coming on nationwide and interest rates are likely on the rise. so if you're planning on buying a home, now would be an excellent time. to lock in that lower interest rate. >> reporter: but it's not just mortgage rates. a lot of americans especially retirees depend on fixed income instruments like bonds or cds or even bank accounts. for them rising interest rates are a good thing. tonight, more signs the u.s. economy is on firmer ground. tom costello, nbc news, chevy chase, maryland. we turn to new fallout from the recusal by attorney general jeff sessions. it's now been revealed that other trump advisers met last year with russia's ambassador. the same one sessions failed to disclose his own meetings with during his confirmation hearings. and now president trump is attempting to turn the tables by casting suspicions about russia on to top democrats. nbc's hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: tonight, this 13-year-old photo op back in focus for the president. trying to turn the russia spotlight to democrats. with diversionary twitter tactics. blasting old pictures, senator chuck schumer with vladimir putin. nancy pelosi with the russian ambassador in 2010. official meetings that as senator schumer points out, happen in full public view. >> and he even enjoyed a krispy kreme doughnut. >> reporter: the president demanding investigations, clearly frustrated with continued questions about his own advisors talks with the russian ambassador. some only disclosed in the last 48 hours. like carter page, a former campaign adviser, now acknowledging he did talk with the ambassador at the republican convention. reversing what he said before. >> i'm not going to deny that i talked with them. >> reporter: then there's attorney general jeff sessions who just recused himself from any campaign investigation by the justice department after not disclosing his conversation as a senator with ambassador kislyak. >> i think it was hyped beyond reason. and i think it was unfair. and i was glad to be able to address it. >> it's part cold war spy novel, part keystone cops, what's going to happen next? that's an interesting story. but for the white house it's a huge distraction. >> reporter: the white house insisting the story simply isn't one. defending the attorney general. >> he could have answered the question more clearly. but it was clearly unintentional. >> reporter: the vice president tonight on defense himself. after the "indianapolis star" reported that the personal aol account he used at times as governor may have been hacked but mike pence said he broke no laws, dismissing comparisons to hillary clinton's email controversy. >> there's no comparison whatsoever between hillary clinton's practice of having a private server, mishandling classified information. >> reporter: as for jeff sessions, some democrats want him to appear again in person on capitol hill, to clarify original testimony about his talks with the russian ambassador. but tonight, the republican chair of the senate judiciary committee is denying that request. lester? >> hallie jackson at the white house. now to an nbc news exclusive interview with a high-profile russian activist who says he survived not one, but two assassination attempts. the prominent critic of vladimir putin says he was once again poisoned with an unknown substance. and now in his first interview since emerging from his coma three weeks ago, he is speaking out to nbc's richard engel, revealing who he thinks targeted him. >> reporter: russian activist and outspoken putin critic, vladimir kara-murza is lucky to be alive. still recovering after someone about a month ago slipped him what his doctors describe as an unidentified toxic substance. in other words, poison. >> it was about 5:00 a.m. i woke up because my heart was racing. my heartbeat was just getting faster and faster. >> you woke up to this feeling. >> yeah. and then i started sweating really badly and feeling suddenly really weak. i don't think there are words to describe this. you know to describe how you feel when you're trying to breathe and you cannot. and when you just slowly feel your whole body just giving up, one organ after another. you feel like you feel like the life is going out of you. >> reporter: he knew immediately what was happening. because he says, it's the second time in two years he's been poisoned. >> as for the reason? this is what i really do have no doubt about. this is because of my involvement in the russian opposition. >> who do you think is responsible? >> i can only presume that this is, this was done by people with at least with connections to the russian special services. >> reporter: he is not the first russian opposition figure to be targeted. just the luckiest. former kgb officer alexander litvinenko drank a tea laced with radioactive plutonium. journalist anna politkovskaya was shot in an elevator. boris nemtsov was shot right next to the kremlin. none of them survived. >> do you think this is what campaign organized by the kremlin. >> there seems to be a an extremely high mortality rate of among independent journalists and political opponents of vladimir putin. >> reporter: his message for president trump? >> the only thing we ask of our colleagues and western leaders, including the united states, is that they don't help mr. putin. >> reporter: we've reached out to the kremlin to the russian embassy, and to russian police for response, so far, nothing. samples of kara-murza's hair, blood and fingernails have been sent to labs in the three countries, including here in the u.s. to try to determine which poison was used. richard, thank you. tonight, the newly released dash cam video that's raising questions about the death of a georgia teenager. sheriffs deputies in harris county pursued the 18-year-old for ten miles before he was finally stopped. but it's the arrest and subsequent death that has many asking questions. and his family filing a serious lawsuit. nbc's miguel almaguer spoke to the family and has that tape. >> reporter: the pursuit comes to an end with harris county deputies surrounding nicholas dyksma's pickup truck. the police report say the 18-year-old refused to show his hands, and tried to speed away, before he was tased, pulled from the vehicle and pinned to the ground. one deputy appears to put his knee and body weight on the back of dyksma's neck. several minutes later deputies begin cpr. nicholas dyksma's parents filed a civil lawsuit. >> we wanted people to see the wrongdoing of the officers in harris county and the way they treated my son. >> reporter: the 2015 chase began with officers responding to the call of a man sleeping in his truck. dyksma's parents acknowledge their son had drugs in his system and should not have run. the coroner lists three factors contributing to death. methamphetamine intoxication. the shock from a taser. and compression to the neck and torso. >> he wasn't perfect. but it doesn't deserve the price he had to pay or that we had to pay. this is something else could have been done. it could have been handled differently. >> reporter: the deputies being sued and the sheriffs department are declining comment. the district attorney is now reviewing the case. >> i made mistakes as a kid, we all do. but we all get a chance. he'll never have that. >> reporter: tonight these parents say there will never be justice for their son. a teenager who ran from police and died too young. miguel almaguer, nbc news. let's turn now to the weather, whiplash setting in across the country. something we're getting used to. just yesterday it was record warmth in many parts, now a bone-chilling change is on the way. al roker is here with us. you're looking at snow in the forecast? >> that's right. in fact we've had multiple car accidents in michigan, ohio, and pennsylvania because of the snow. and now we've got this arctic low coming out from hudson bay, canada. a 30-degree temperature drop across a good portion of the northeast and mid-atlantic. in the first day. and now we're looking overnight lows drop back into the teens. wind chills in the single digits. tomorrow afternoon, highs, 10 to 20 degrees below average. the core of the cold air settles in. sunday morning, but the good news is, we will start to see moderation by the early to the beginning of next week, lester. temperatures go back up above normal. so the whiplash continues. >> al, thanks very much. still ahead, detecting breast cancer. the major leap forward in mammograms that can dramatically reduce the fear, anxiety and unnecessary biopsies that can follow a false positive result. >> announcer: "nbc nightly news" is brought to you by keytruda. to learn more go to keytruda.com. back with important health news, mammograms, while necessary are far from pleasant. one of the most upsetting aspects can be false positives which happen in more than one in ten cases. increasingly, doctors are using a technology that reduces those health scares. tonight nbc's ann thompson shows us what it is. >> reporter: kathy readies for a day she postponed for too long. getting her annual mammogram a year late. because of a frightening false positive last time. >> anybody immediately goes to that picture of, the cancer patient with no hair and a bloated face. i'm not going to see my girls get married. >> reporter: kathy, an e.r. nurse didn't have cancer but did have a classic reaction to a false positive. anxiety, confusion and stress. doctors say what's most trouble is false positives cause women to put off the next screening, an average of 13 months. kathy switched imaging clinics in search of a more precise technology. 3-d mammography, it takes multiple x-rays as it moves around the breast to give radiologists a more complete picture. >> the 3-d mammogram has diminished our false positive rate, our recall rate by about 40%. >> reporter: and it's increased cancer detection by 40%. >> what every woman wants to know is, is it any less painful? >> it's the same. >> reporter: today, kathy got good news. >> everything looks great. >> wonderful. >> reporter: now available in one-third of the nation's imaging centers. 3-d mammography costs up to $75 more. not all insurers cover the costs, but medicare does, and some states are mandating coverage. >> does the 3-d give you more confidence? >> the 3-d gives us a lot more confidence when it comes to the margins. >> reporter: reassured, kathy says she'll return on schedule next year. ann thompson, nbc news, new york. up next for us here this evening, arnold schwarzenegger makes a big decision about "the apprentice" wait until you hear what he has to say about the former host. he won't be back. in a surprise announcement, arnold schwarzenegger is stepping down as the host of "celebrity apprentice." the reason he says? president donald trump's quote baggage. nbc's gabe gutierrez has the story of real-life reality tv. >> my job is -- to terminate you. >> reporter: that was quick. two months after his debut as the host of "celebrity apprentice," arnold schwarzenegger is calling it quits. citing the show's baggage. with trump being involved in the show people have a bad taste, he told empire magazine. it's a very divisive period now. and i think this show got caught up in all that division. >> you're fired. >> reporter: president trump was the show's original host. and kept an executive producer credit. the show is produced and owned by mgm, but airs on the nbc television network. viewership plummeted. the president taunted schwarzenegger at the national prayer breakfast. >> i want to just pray for arnold, if we can, for those ratings. >> i'll be back. >> reporter: the action hero did not back down. >> hey, donald, i have a great idea, why don't we switch jobs, you take over tv, because you're such an expert in ratings and i take over your job. and then people can finally sleep comfortably again. hmm? >> reporter: the feud coming months after the former california governor said he would not vote republican for the first time in decades. tonight nbc's declining to comment on his departure. the show's future uncertain. after its relationship with its new host was abruptly terminated. >> hasta la vista, baby. >> reporter: gabe gutierrez, nbc news. a touching surprise for a 10-year-old boy in iowa, he's lived his entire life with color-blindness. a camera captured the moment the world changed forever for him. when his parents granted his wish for glasses that allow him to see everything in technicolor. the glasses have a filter that blocks certain light to allow the color-blind to see color they never could before. when we come back, working at the car wash. we check back in with a father-son duo, whose story is inspiring america. finally tonight, we have an update on a story that touched a lot of our viewers, three years ago we met a father who opened a car wash as a place for people with autism can find a steady job. including his own son. now, our harry smith heads back to find that business is booming, and our inspiring america report. >> reporter: business is good at the rising tide car wash in parkland, florida. how good? really good, says the owner, tom derry. >> we moved the wash from 40,000 cars a year when we bought it to 160,000, a quadruple inside of three years. you can't do that without a great staff. >> reporter: a staff primarily comprised of people on the autism spectrum. including john derry's son, andrew. andrew and his colleagues pay meticulous attention to detail. >> their attitude is strong and nothing can beat that. speed and quality. >> reporter: what some might have called derry's folly is turning into a scaleable business. four miles down the road, a second rising tide car wash is under construction. with not an ad they have received more than 700 job applications. >> did you set out to be the johnny appleseed of autism employment? >> no. i set out to help my son and others like him. have a life. >> reporter: derry and his other son, tom are, spreading the news with a ted talk. lectures and seminars in a dozen cities and even testimony at the u.n. >> great job on the rims, jonathan. >> reporter: managing this is not easy. the learning curve is constant. >> we want to reinforce positive behavior over the course of the day. >> good job, man. >> reporter: the rewards can't begin to be measured. the guys at the car wash have formed a community. they even hang out together on friday nights. andrew is a new man. >> he's motivated. and motivation is something andrew never had. but is key to a life, right? >> reporter: and you know what they say about a rising tide? it lifts all boats. harry smith, nbc news, parkland, florida. that's going to do it for us on a friday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. right now at 6:00, a developing story affecting the evening commute. new developments on the damaged 101 overpass. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening. thanks for being with us. i'm raj mathai. >> the right hand side of the southbound lanes approaching the damaged embarcadero overpass. traffic is slow but moving. that's good news. even better news, all lanes reopened in the past 30 minutes. >> here's the problem -- take a look there. that's a dump truck. the driver of that dump truck accidentally left the truck bed up which crash into overpass. it left a huge crack in the overpass and damaged a support beam. overnight and most of the day today the left two lanes were closed there on 101 south right near the university exit. traffic was backed up forhours and slow going through palo alto for most of the day. but all lanes have reopened just in time on this friday eve zbloong just into the newsroom, two santa clara correctional deputies are on ad minute stray tiff leave after being aerrearr. in the first case, the deputy faces allegations of striking an inmate without cause. the second deputy accused of secretly recording superiors in anem

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