Drop today brings losses for the first four trading days of the new year to 911 points or more than 5 . If it has us asking if chinas woes can trigger those kind of losses in this country, what does it say about the health of our economy . Nbcs Anne Thompson finds out. Reporter another bungee jump for the nations stock market. The dow plummeting more than 300 points at the open, bouncing back in the late morning, only to plunge again by early afternoon. What has traders and investors grabbing fistfuls is the slowing growth in china, the worlds second largest economy. Today trading on chinas stock market halted for the second time this week after a major selloff. I think its premature to be overly concerned. Financial markets are fickle. I think in the end, fundamentals are really what matters for the u. S. Economy. Our fundamentals are rock solid. Reporter economists point to the improving jobs and still the chaos in china is fueling the u. S. s markets worst start to a year ever shrinking the 401 k by 2 today, losing about 4,000 this week. January is a barometer for the future. Predicting with 87 accuracy what the market will do the rest of the year. One more reason main street needs to watch wall street. Anne thompson, nbc news, new york. Jim cramer is the host of cnbcs mad money. Markets go up and down. People feeling nervous right now. Some on the verge of panic. What do you tell them . Panic never made anybody a dime. Its not a strategy. I totally understand why people would be concerned. China is a huge economy. A lot of the United States is good but our companies that do a lot of business in china, particularly manufacturing arent doing well. I think there are some stocks that are not good to have. Im not in a hurry to commit new capital to this market. Jim cramer tonight, thanks. Unleashed an attack on hillary and bill clinton. The clintons are refusing to hit back. Tonight in vermont, tens of thousands are expected at a trump rally at a venue that can only hold 1,400. Katy tur has more. Donald trump flexing his muscle in the unlikeliest of places, burlington, vermont. Bernie sanders country. Giving out 20,000 free tickets to a 1,400 capacity seater, 163 steps away from sanders own campaign headquarters. If this was a Different Event like a phish concert what would you do . We would cancel it. Reporter trying to prove his crossover appeal even in the bluest of states while attacking the democratic frontrunner. I want to start focusing on hillary. John releasing this instagram ad insinuating Hillary Clinton isnt a supporter of women. Womens rightare human rights. Reporter Kristen Clinton in iowa. Donald trump is again today making an issue of your past transgressions. Do you want to respd . Are you worried your past could hurt your wifes campaign . I dont have any response. If he wins the nomination, well have plenty of time to talk about it. Reporter trump kept raising birther doubts about ted cruz eligibility. Tweeting free legal advice to get a declaratory judgment. John mccain is agreeing. I think there is a im not a constitutional scholar but i think its worth looking into. Reporter cruz comments came as no surprise. Im not going to take legal advice from donald trump. Reporter in vermont, the trump show is drawing a big crowd, but not necessarily a loyal one. We want trump out of our town. Reporter first in line at 4 30 this morning when it was only 15 degrees out, mark conrad, a supporter of, you guessed it, Bernie Sanders. First in line to see donald trump. I expected people to be here. Reporter so why is donald trump here . The state votes on march 1st. You can say look at the massive crowd i can draw here right under Bernie Sanders nose. Vermont used to be a reliably red state, only voting for a democrat once since the 1850s. In 1992, they voted for bill clinton and its been blue ever since. Katy, thank you. Tonight families across the country sit down to dinner, there is new controversy over the american diet. The government is out with new guidelines, the first update in five years over what we should eat and what we should avoid this year there is a big push for all of us to cut back on americas sugar addiction. As tom costello reports, not everyone is happy about surprises left off the warning list. Reporter with a registered dietician in the home, they are already focused on eating the right a little bit of beans. Reporter today the governments Top Health Experts said most americans can do better. Among the dietary recommendations, cut way back on sugar. Hidden in everything from prepackaged soups to salad dressing to pasta sauce. Can contain the equivalent of a candy bar in sugar. When youre cooking at home, you can control sodium and it is important to help reduce sugar intake as much as possible. Dietary guidelines call for sugar to make up no more than 10 of our daily calories. All of us have to Pay Attention to labels. The governments my plate nutrition guide sounds familiar, more fruits and veggies, lean protein, whole grains and lowfat dairy. A lot less salt. You should think about what you should do to eat and prevent diseases and also to Save Health Care costs. Reporter critics say the guidelines dont go far enough. Based on new science, the government is dropping its recommendation to and foods high in cholesterol, and is declined to spear people away from red meat. People away from red meat. T people away from red meat. E people away from red meat. E people away from red meat. R people away from red meat. The American Institute for Cancer Research saying it was dismayed that lobbying efforts superseded scientific evidence. Has the food lobby had an oversized role setting these guidelines . I think we have a strong set of recommendations that are not impacted in any undue way but listened to all the voices. Reporter the sugar industry criticized the recommendations to cut sugar consumption. What is your favorite vegetable . Reporter a healthier diet, one plate at a time. Tom costello, nbc news, washington. A state of emergency has been declared in a Los Angeles Suburb where a natural gas leak has been releasing tons of methane gas into the air every day for months now. It could be months more until its finally fixed. As joe fryar reports, the danger has driven thousands of people from their homes. Reporter its an affluent los angeles neighborhood, but it town. At least 2,500 people moved out. Lives and health disrupted by a gas leak that started in october. My eyes were burning and it was watering and itching. It was to the point that my vision was getting bad. Reporter this family has been living in a hotel for four weeks now. The first week i would be crying every single day because it was such a hard experience on me. Reporter angry homeowners, some wearing gas masks held protests. California gas company says there are no longterm health effects. There are clearly shortterm impacts for some people sensitive to odors. Reporter the company is drilling relief wells hoping to stop the leak which comes from a giant gas field buried deep in the ground. Now californias a state of emergency, stepping up the company should well do whatever it takes to protect storage. Reporter two schools recently relocated. The faa ordered a nofly zone over the neighborhood and famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich is Holding Community meetings. This is the biggest air contamination ive ever seen. That i have ever the magnitude is almost overwhelming. Reporter last month lawyers suing released timelapsed infrared video showing methane descending on porter ranch saying it is releasing 7,600 tons of methane gas into the air daily, about 25 of the methane emitted in all of california each month. An invisible invader with a visible impact. So cal gas is paying to relocate people and the company says it has reduced the amount of gas released and hopes to have the leak stopped by late february or march. In paris on the terror attack on charlie hebdo, a man wielding a butcher knife was shot and killed outside a police station. He had a fake explosive device and a piece of paper with an image of the isis flag and a claim of responsibility for the attack he was carrying to try to carry out. It is unclear if he is actually connected to isis. The war in syria has been raging for nearly five years now, but it has not lost its power to shock. Last fall the images of this drowned 3yearold boy focused International Attention on the syrian refugee crisis and its young victims. New images surfaced from inside syria. We warn you, they are difficult to watch. Scenes of starvation. Many of the victims are children. Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel reports on this latest atrocity. Reporter these are not images from a concentration camp. They are from this week in syria. Hasnt eaten for seven days. He was filmed by a nurse from the village of media, who smuggled out many images and finally got the worlds attention. We spoke to the nurse by phone today. He said hes also hungry and that 40 of his neighbors starved to death since december because the Syrian Government wont allow people out or food in. Media was once a summer resort. Now its more than one of a dozen villages in syria, besieged and starving. Its people forced to eat leaves and grass, but even thats hard to come by in winter. Both sides in this war are using starvation, both guilty of war crimes. Against International Humanitarian law, starvation has been used as a tactic of war. Reporter the medicine. Some children havent eaten for two weeks. You can just look at the pictures. As a doctor, im looking at children with sunken eyes, all the telltale signs of malnutrition. Reporter the Syrian Government is starving media because the rebels have besieged two progovernment villages, tit for tat starvation. The u. N. Said today an agreement had been reached to allow some aid into all three, but doctors say it could be too late for some of these children. Richard engel, nbc news, london. Still ahead tonight, we are flying with a chopper crew on alert to the most dangerous kind of rescue, pulling people out of the raging flood waters from el nino. Also, headsup, the infamous bridge in one American City sheering the tops off trucks. To fix it . Its being described as the godzilla el nino. Its fueling storms in the west coast. Massive waves, 27 to 40 feet high in some areas. Park. In san diego, high flood waters trapped several cars. For emergency crews, swift water rescues are some of the most dangerous rescue missions. Jacob rascon takes us up in the air with one brave chopper crew ready to be put to the test by the waters of el nino. Reporter high above every calamity, a different kind of first responder. In l. A. County, they call this the fire hawk, a military blackhawk with upgrades. Their plane was made to go in harms way and come back. When these go some where they are going to help man. Reporter marty martin and his teammates ready for their next assignment, a threat not seen here in nearly two decades. Hold on to the ropes reporter the deadly 1997 98 el nino event cost half a billion dollars in waterways fill up, front end of the el nino, people are not acclimated to the dangers involved with water. Reporter los eight helicopters, largely for fighting fires. The most difficult thing they do is this. Swift water rescues. The target is moving, the channel is narrow. But this is a drill. The actual rescue far more complicated. The thing about these swift water rescues is the water is relentless. Predicted to be Even Stronger than the 97 98 event. A major threat for millions. Another mission for the saviors in the sky. Jacob rascon, nbc news, los angeles. We are back in a moment with 17 miners trapped hundreds of feet underground and rescue them. With a nailbiting drama that played out for 11 hours hundreds of feet below ground. 17 miners trapped in an elevator shaft and a major operation to save them. Rehema ellis takes us to the scene of the rescue in upstate new york. Reporter after ten hours trapped below ground, the ordeal ended as everyone had hoped. 17 workers in an upstate new york salt mine were rescued after huddling together in an elevator shaft in freezing temperatures. They did what they could do to keep each other warm and spirits up. Reporter overnight, blankets, water, heating pads and food were lowered to the men and shared with rescue workers in this tightknit community. Everyone knows someone working there. Or is related to somebody that works there. Reporter working in the deepest salt mine in north america, 2,300 feet into the earth. The men were stuck in the elevator about 900 feet down. More than the height of the world famous 30 rockefeller center. A special crane with a basket was brought in and pulled the miners here at the Lansing Fire Department just the mine, firefighters are specifically trained for just this type of crisis. Safe. It was a huge success. Reporter tonight, the nearly 100yearold mine remains closed as figure out what caused the accident. News, lansing, new york. A hollywood passing to note tonight. Pat Harrington Jr died. The actor comedian was best known for playing the part of super Dwayne Schneider on the sitcom one day at a time, becoming a favorite of so many viewers and winning an emmy. Harringtons manager says he passed away in los angeles from complications of alzheimers disease. He was 86 years old. 700 million. Thats how much money is up for grabs. The Powerball Jackpot now the largest in American History after no one matched all the winning numbers last night. If you win the next and choose the lump sum payout, its estimated youll get 428 million and a pretty awesome saturday night. When we come back, dozens of high trucks versus one low bridge. The bridge wins every all caught on tape. Finally tonight, you know what people say. Its like a car crash where you cant take your eyes off it . We mean it literally. Millions glued to videos of truck after truck slamming into the same small bridge in North Carolina. Now over 100 of them caught on camera, including one today while our team was there. Why does it keep happening . Thats what nbcs Gabe Gutierrez went to find out. Reporter they call it the can opener. Its insane. Reporter in durham, North Carolina ive seen as many as three in one day. Reporter at gregson and peabody, its perhaps the most unforgiving bridge in america. More than 100 crashes here since 2008. No major injuries, just winceworthy frustration over and over and over again. Webcams. All thanks to this man. I sit at my desk working peacefully. All of a sudden there is this massive crash out there. I almost fall out of my chair. Reporter his videos draw millions of hits on youtubes. Even collects the debris and sells it as crash art. Sure enough, just after we finished speaking with him, hard to believe, but this happened. The driver rattled but okay. I thought i had enough clear. Reporter the bridge was built for trains 75 years ago, the clearance 118, about two feet lower than usual. Locals know that, but many rental Truck Drivers dont. 95 to 98 are following a gps. Reporter the states put in lights and signs, but drivers either dont see them or ignore them. Why not raise the bridge . Looking at significant costs to lower the road or raise the grade of the railroad. Reporter instead the state is planning to install more sophisticated warning sensors. They hope it might make these crashes a thing of the past. Or better yet, water under the bridge. Gabe gutierrez, nbc news, durham, North Carolina. Its true. You cant look away. Thats going to do it for us on a thursday night. Im lester holt. For all of us here at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. Right now on news 3 at 6 00, and man accused of we will hear exclusively from the woman he is accused of shooting in the face. A former pastor accused of sexually assaulting girls in his congregation. Today, victims testify that sex was a central theme of the sunday sermon. And your health and the next generation of technology. They are coming together at the consumers electronic show. News 3 at six starts right now. Live from las vegas, this is news 3. Metro police foil a suspected murder for hire plot. Now the person accused in the scheme is sitting in jail. The mastermind is accused of shooting a Subway Restaurant employee in the face at pointblank range. Good evening, thank you for joining us tonight. Im just more. And i am jim snyder. Executors say 25yearold erin ware said that he wanted the only witness kill. We are live down at the county jail. Antonio, how do detectives find