and tax season is here and so are scammers. >> stop the call. right there, that's a fake call. how to spot thieves looking to steal your money. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening, everyone, nice to have you with us. the disgrace of one-time u.s. gymnastics physician larry nassar is complete tonight. a michigan judge sentencing the doctor who molested young gymnasts for so long to prison for up to 175 years. the judge's words of disgust as severe as her sentence. >> you still think somehow you are right, that you are a doctor, that you're entitled, that you don't have to listen. and you did treatment. i wouldn't send my dogs to you, sir. >> nassar admitted to several counts of first-degree sex assault. his disgrace can never be felt as deeply as the emotional pain suffered by the 156 young women who bravely shared with the court their harrowing stories of abuse at his hands. some of those who came forward as victims were medal winning olympians. our kate snow has details. >> i just signed your death warrant. >> reporter: judge rosemarie aquilina told 54-year-old larry nassar he doesn't deserve to walk outside of prison ever again. tearing down the once esteemed olympic doctor. >> it's my honor and privilege to sentence you. >> reporter: and repeatedly praising the survivors of his abuse calling them sisters. >> justice requires action and a voice and that is what has happened here in this court. in addition -- >> reporter: incredulously, she read again from a letter nassar had written to the court asking to be spared from having to listen to one gymnast after another. >> hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. >> reporter: nassar himself made a brief statement. >> an acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write. >> larry sought out and took pleasure in little girls and women being sexually injured and violated. because he liked it. >> reporter: rachel doenhollander was the first gymnast to go public against nassar in the "indianapolis star" and last to speak today. over the past week and a half, 156 survivors told their stories, including some of the most recognizable names in gymnastics. >> i love this sport and that love is stronger than the evil that resides in you, in those that enabled you to hurt many people. >> reporter: some saying their own parents didn't believe them. >> they didn't believe me because my sister had been going to him for years. >> little girls don't stay little forever. they grow into strong women that return to destroy your world. >> reporter: today, usa gymnastics and michigan state university where nassar was a doctor applauded the sentencing, but both institutions were repeatedly accused here of ignoring reports about nassar for years. >> had msu and usag taken the reports of larry's abuse seriously from any number of the women who came forward, all those years ago, i would never have walked through his doors. >> late tonight usa gymnastics now saying they support an independent investigation into how the abuse could have gone on for so long. the ncaa, meantime, is looking into potential violations at michigan state, the university has said the evidence will show that no official there believed nassar committed sexual abuse prior to newspaper reports in 2016. still, there's a lot of pressure on michigan state's president to resign. lester? >> kate snow starting us off tonight. kate, thank you. now to the breaking news in the russian election meddling investigation. president trump telling reporters this evening that he would speak under oath to special counsel robert mueller. nbc news has uncovered exclusive new details about former national security adviser michael flynn and secrets he kept from the white house and president after talking to the fbi. we get it all from nbc white house correspondent kristen welker. >> reporter: after publicly expressing reservations about sitting for an interview with the special counsel, tonight president trump told reporters he's willing to testify under oath. >> i would do it under oath. >> you would? >> absolutely. >> reporter: the president says no date has been set yet, but told reporters his lawyers have told him it will likely happen in the next few weeks. >> i'm looking forward to it, actually. >> reporter: exactly a year to the day, after the fbi interviewed then-national security adviser michael flynn in his west wing office, tonight, nbc news has learned exclusively flynn took that meeting without alerting the president or the white house and without an attorney present, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. those sources tell nbc news no one in the white house found out about the interview for two days until then-acting attorney general sally yates informed the legal team. but even after that revelation, flynn wasn't fired for another three weeks. for lying about his contacts with russian officials. >> the interview set off a chain of events in in which key administration officials were fired and the president took steps that could potentially be seen as trying to obstruct justice. >> reporter: flynn pleaded guilty last month to lying to investigators during that meeting about his conversations with russia's ambassador, and is now cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. tonight, the white house pressed on flynn keeping the president in the dark. >> the special counsel. >> frustrated by that? >> i haven't spoken to him about that specific issue. >> last time he spoke with michael flynn? >> i'm not sure. >> reporter: nbc news also learned mueller is casting a wide net, interviewing former fbi director james comey and attorney general jeff sessions. that list also includes mr. trump's intelligence chiefs, director of national intelligence, director of the nsa and cia director. a source familiar with the matter tells nbc news mueller also wants to interview the president's former top strategist steve bannon by the end of the month. so when will the investigation end? >> it's getting closer to the white house and to the time when they will have to interview the president. how much time is left in this? we don't know yet. there's lots of work to be done. >> reporter: and on the russia probe, the president, again, said there was no collusion and said he's listening to the authorities in kentucky today announced plans to charge the student accused of opening fire at a high school as an adult. it was the 11th shooting at an american school already this year and this one left two teenagers dead. tonight, the parents of one of those victims are speaking out to us in an emotional exclusive interview. nbc's gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: bailey holt was just 15 years old. she loved music, art, and wanted to be a nurse. >> i miss everything about her already. she was just so beautiful and perfect. she had her future planned. >> reporter: bailey and preston cope were the two teenagers who died tuesday. when police say another student barged into kentucky's marshall county high school and opened fire. >> i know that she would have been the shooter's friend in a heartbeat if she knew that he needed someone to talk to. she was so beautiful and smart and perfect. and just such a loving, big-hearted person. >> reporter: today the assistant county attorney said he plans to try the 15-year-old suspected shooter as an adult, charging him with murder and assault. investigators have not yet publicly identified him. eyewitnesss say he was a member of the school's band. are you looking at bullying as a possible motive here? >> i won't go into that. >> you think he was targeting the popular kids? >> i do. i truly do think that he was targeting a group of people. >> reporter: these four students were inside the school as the bloodshed began. ethan phelps said the bullets came in his direction. >> worried about getting out alive, and i was just knew that i just needed to run. >> reporter: in the chaos, authorities urged parents to head to a nearby middle school and await to be reunited with their loved ones. >> went to north marshall middle school cafeteria and waited for those buses to come. she never came. she never came. >> reporter: tonight, this family is still waiting. waiting for the answers that may never come. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, benton, kentucky. officials in one major american city are taking desperate and controversial measures to combat the opioid crisis. philadelphia plans to become the first u.s. city to open so-called safe injection sites for addicts. other cities have similar proposals but they've not been open. nbc's anne thompson has more on our continuing coverage of this deadly epidemic. >> reporter: this is the bleak reality of philadelphia's opioid crisis where there were four times more overdose deaths than murders last year. now city officials backing what was once unthinkable, safe injection sites for addicts. supervised by medical personnel. but aren't you encouraging the behavior you want to discourage? >> we haven't made any progress by just saying don't do that. >> reporter: these are the scenes officials want to stop. >> wake up, dude. >> got to get to the other nostril. >> reporter: a librarian saving an addict in a city park. the task force points to canadian cities like vancouver where safe injection sites exist. in 2016 they saved nearly 1,800 people from overdosing. advocates say the sites would eliminate encampments like this where opioids are used out in the open and syringes and the paraphernalia litter the streets. here, christopher russell, a father and former construction worker, says he shoots up to five to six times a day. if there was a safe injection site, would you go use it? >> yes. >> reporter: why? >> well, for one, safety is very important out here because a lot of danger comes in places that is unseen sometimes, you know? >> reporter: would safe injection sites solve the problems here in your district? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: councilwoman maria quinones sanchez wants more access to treatment. >> vancouver provides health care for all. we don't have a system that is accessible to everyone. >> reporter: looking for new ideas to break the deadly grip of addiction. anne thompson, nbc news, philadelphia. tonight, we're learning more about the future for those 13 children who authorities say were tortured and confined in their home by their own parents. it's a story that shocked the nation, creating an outpouring from so many people who want to help those kids. nbc's miguel almaguer reports tonight here from california where those parents had another day in court. >> you must have no personal, electronic, telephone, or written contact -- >> reporter: in court a judge is blocking david and louise turpin from communicating with their 13 children. the victims investigators say of beatings, starvation and years of confinement. >> you must not harass, strike, threaten -- >> reporter: we now know the seven adult victims will be placed in assisted living. the six minors wards of the state, are headed to foster care. with none of the extended turpin family requesting to adopt them, say officials, the children could be separated. >> it's going to be something that they struggle with for the rest of their life. >> reporter: a former third grade classmate remembers one of the turpin children was often teased because her clothes would sometimes look as though they had been dragged through mud. neighbors say the family was reclusive. >> they wouldn't tell us their names. we had to guess their names. >> reporter: after moving from texas, deplorable, filthy conditions were also discovered inside the turpin's old homes including a photo of a rope tied to a bed. tonight, david and louise turpin are headed to trial while prosecutors say their children survived an unimaginable nightmare. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. overseas tonight, isis has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on an aid agency in afghanistan. it began with a suicide car bombing outside the jalalabad offices of save the children. gunmen then stormed the building killing at least four people. more than 40 others survived by hiding in a safe room. this comes just days after a taliban attack at a hotel in kabul that killed 22 people including 4 americans. as we said at the top of the broadcast, there's major health news tonight about surviving a stroke which affects some 700,000 people in this country every year. doctors say they're now able to save people who were once left for dead or permanently disabled. nbc news medical correspondent dr. john torres has the details for us. >> reporter: a simple walk with her dog is a miracle for cynthia dodd. less than a year ago the 46-year-old suffered a massive stroke in her sleep. >> i would have died and if i did live, i would be complete vegetable. >> reporter: by the time she was found in the morning, it had been more than six hours, which had been considered too late to remove the brain clot and save the patient. but now new guidelines from the american stroke and heart associations say doctors have up to 24 hours to use clot-busting devices like this thin wire. >> it's a massive game changer. we've had these devices now for a period of time. now we've expanded the window that we can intervene and act on patients. >> reporter: that's the life-saving part. >> life-saving and improving their recoveries. >> reporter: one study found expanding the window of time to even 16 hours cut in half the number of deaths and severe disability. >> with these treatments you more than double the chances of someone being independent in the time after their stroke rather than being severely disabled. >> reporter: it's still crucial to get to the e.r. right away. luckily cynthia dodd was sent to stanford hospital already testing this approach. >> i knew i was lucky to be alive but when you see your brain up on your computer, you're like, that was me, like, how am i even sitting here? >> reporter: now this mother appreciates even the simplest of moments thanks to radical change giving doctors more time to treat. dr. john torres, nbc news, new york. we've got a lot more to tell you about tonight including tax season is back. so are tax scams. how criminals are using confusion over the new tax laws to try to rip you off. also another music legend saying he's retiring from the stage. we'll tell you more about that when we come back. stage. we'll tell you more about that when we come back. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor and i came up with a plan. it includes preservision. only preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd backed by 15 years of clinical studies. that's why i fight. because it's my vision. 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with mucus, making it hard to breathe. can i catch it from a pneumococcal vaccination? no. the vaccines do not contain live bacteria. talk to your doctor or pharmacist about how to help protect yourself. >> we're back now with a new warning as tax season gets under way. scammers are getting ready to try and steal your money with phone calls that sure sound legit unless you know what to listen for. nbc national investigative correspondent jeff rossen has tips to keep you from getting scammed in tonight's "rossen reports." >> there was a lawsuit filed against you by the internal revenue service. >> reporter: the calls are aggressive. >> your accounts will be frozen. >> reporter: this man even recording it. >> you have to pay the money to the irs. $10,500. >> reporter: some of the scammers so sophisticated they can even make the caller i.d. say irs. now, the real irs is issuing a new warning. >> you know, you work during the day, i work during the day, they work at this during the day. they'll never stop. >> reporter: jim robnett is special agent in charge of criminal investigations in new york for the irs. he says there are dead giveaways that a call is a fraud. i have some phone calls here. some real scam phone calls, people claiming to be from the irs. i want to play them for you. >> sure. >> next one hour we're going to send out a legal team with local sheriff county officers of the city. they're going to put you into custody. >> okay. stop the call. >> right there. >> right there. first of all, that's a fake call. >> why? >> irs won't threaten you on these calls. they will not threaten you at all. >> even if you owe them money, they won't threaten you. >> that's correct. >> reporter: the scammers often demanding money on the spot. okay. here's another call. >> do you know moneygram, moneygram is this very easy process. >> that call is so bogus. we're not going to tell you to pay by moneygram. in fact, the urgency with which they're asking you to pay is the way that they victimize taxpayers. >> reporter: but the number-one indicator that a phone call is a scam? >> you will have to face hard and unwanted legal consequences. >> reporter: the irs' first contact is never by phone. >> never by phone first. always by letter. when you get a call like this, hang up the phone. >> reporter: because, he says, the longer you stay on, the better chance they'll steal your money. jeff rossen, nbc news, new york. coming up, as we continue tonight, hippo hoopla. the beloved star of the cincinnati zoo celebrating a major milestone. the beloved star of the cincinnati zoo celebrating a major milestone. is lost! oh thanks! clearly my whitening toothpaste is not cutting it. time for whitestrips. crest glamorous white whitestrips are the only ada-accepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. they work below the enamel surface to whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. hey, nice smile! thanks! i crushed the tissue test! yeah you did! 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can be brilliant. francisco sidewalk. next at 6: why the driver told the judge his van is to blame. plus heavy rain now hitting - - - - - - i )m tracking the e by minute for your evening finally tonight, she was gravely injured in the worst mass shooting in u.s. history in las vegas. doctors gave her little chance of survival, but amazingly, she defied the odds. nbc's joe fryer has more in tonight's "inspiring america" report. >> reporter: four months after jovanna calzadillas was shot in the brain, doctors say her progress is nothing short of miraculous. >> even though i will not be the same old jovanna, i will come back stronger. >> reporter: she was at that now infamous country music festival in las vegas where a gunman opened fire. doctors offered her husband, frank, a grim prognosis. >> they all told me the same thing, there was nothing they could do for jovanna. >> reporter: frank says there was even talk of removing jovanna from life support. >> i had a dream that jovanna visited me, she hugged me, kissed me and she said everything is going to be okay. i called her mom, said we're keeping jovanna alive, she's going to be all right. >> reporter: nearly three weeks later she was moved to the barrow neurological institute in phoenix where slowly she improved and now -- >> i feel strong and positive. >> reporter: she's talking about her family -- >> my kids and my family, i will not quit on them and i will not quit on myself. >> reporter: and the gunman -- >> we will not let people like him win. and we will not live in fear. >> reporter: as she prepares to leave the hospital tomorrow, she's offering these words of encouragement. >> si se puede. >> reporter: yes, we can. she's certainly proven she can. joe fryer, nbc news. >> what an amazing lady. we wish her well in her recovery. we appreciate you spending part of your evening with us. this is "nightly news" for this wednesday night. i'm lester holt. from all of us at nbc news, microclimate weather alert. good evening and thanks for the news at 6:00 starts with a microclimate weather alert. good evening, thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang. >> i'm roger matthai. how intense will it get tonight and what happens tomorrow? let's get to chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. >> we're seeing the heaviest rain move through with this storm system that we'll see overall. as we take a look at the doppler radar and satellite radar combined, the orange and yellow are heavier pockets still impacting the east bay and the peninsula. most of it is moving out of the north bay as it pushes south and east. if you're going to be heading out in the next hour or so, so you know where it's the worst, we're looking at heavy rain developing throughout berkeley. it's going to continue into lafayette at 6:19, concord 6:37. the south peninsula, we're looking at a good clip of rain from san francisco to burlingame. this is also moving east. in dublin, you'll continue with this through 6:52 tonight. the peninsula and parts of the south bay getting in on this, palo alto at 6:27, fremont by 6:51. we have had rainfall in san jose. it's more of a light to moderate activity. but all of this out here, this eventually will be moving in as we head throughout the next one to two hours. we're tracking more on this tonight, plus details on