come. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening. just as health officials and others have warned, homegrown desk ca in florida has now popped up outside the known infection zones. today five new florida cases reported include one infected hours away on the other side of the state. tonight as officials try to get ahead of the spread, they are reminding anxious residents that zika infections can be prevented. nbc's kerry sanders is in florida again tonight with the latest. >> reporter: on florida's gulf coast in pinellas county, mosquito control teams today picked up their fight. florida's governor is not declaring a new zika zone just yet. have local transmissions. >> reporter: active transition still in the declared zika zone. today adding four new case. six miles away on miami beach, no additional cases. now authorities are trying to figure out how one zika case turned up more than 250 miles away on florida's west coast. to date, 42 homegrown zika cases in the state. at breath of life here in pinellas county, anxious calls to midwives from mothers to be. to be informed. >> reporter: jenna is due in three weeks and says labor can't come soon enough. >> i was very worried about the fact that i couldn't have deli meat and i couldn't have sushi. but now there's a whole other level. >> reporter: this new study in radiology shows the range of destruction to the rain, defect beyond microcephaly. >> for people where it this is scaiest thing since polio. >> reporter: but unlike the earlier days of polio, dr. charles lockwood, ob/gyn says pregnant women now know how to protect themselves. >> i don't think this is going to be confined to florida. on the other hand it also tells us that our surveillance methods work, we can identify these outbreaks very, very early. >> reporter: tonight in this tourism hot spot, the unanswered question, where might the zika mosquitoes be. 1/4 the popular beaches here including clearwater jrks businesses now fear visitors may choose to go on vacation someplace else. lester? >> kerry sanders tonight. thank you, kerry. to presidential politics and donald trump calling for a special prosecutor to investigate hillary clinton. amid new questions about the clinton foundation's power brokers and how much access they got to hillary clinton while she was secretary of state. nbc's andrea mitchell has new details. >> reporter: tonight the drip, drip, drip of the clinton campaign as many as 15,000 the election, and now donald trump calling for a special prosecutor. >> the amounts involved, the favors done and the significant number of times it was done require an expedited investigation. >> reporter: hillary clinton trying to laugh it off with jimmy kimmel. >> have you considered using face-time instead of email? >> actually i think that's really good advice. >> good idea. >> not a bad idea, it's a good idea. tonight, according to state department calendars being reviewed by the associated press, more than half the people outside the government who met or called hillary clinton while she was secretary of state gave money to the clinton foundation. tonight, the clinton campaign responding saying the story relies on utterly flawed data. it cherry picked a limited suset of clinton's e-mail and comes amid whether in one email, noting good friend of ours. a few days later, abedin arranges a meeting after his goes through his diplomatic channels. this would not necessarily violate laws or ethical agreements the clintons signed. >> it's a huge new target for the trump campaign to dive on top of and a huge new bunch of targets for the clinton campaign to have to defend. >> reporter: a headache for the clinton campaign that could last until the election and be. news, washington. donald trump meanwhile is coming under fire for the way he's attempted to appeal african-american voters. anybody's kristen welker looks at why critics say that appeal is falling flat. >> reporter: tonight donald trump raising eyebrows with his new pitch to african-american voters. >> what do you have to lose? >> reporter: trump's arguments, democrats take black voters for granted, he can do better. >> you'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. right now you walk >> reporter: but that has some african-americans bristling. >> that is condescending at best, and bigoted at worse. >> reporter: arguing trump is delivering his message to predominantly white audiences. >> he's talking to those suburban white women who may want to vote for him but afraid they'll be voting for a racist, a bigot. >> all that giing the clinton campaign fodder, pointing to past questions of the president's citizenship. >> this is someone who is the origina african-american president. >> reporter: a trump surrogate firing back tonight. >> we have been at the bottom of the totem pole for the last 50, 60 years, have voted for democrats and what do we have to show for it. >> reporter: but there have also been gains, over 50% of african-americans over 25 have attended college and incomes are growing. a recent poll shows just 8% of blacks back trump. vp nominee mike pence. >> by 2020, he's going >> well, that's donald trump. >> reporter: tonight, trump's team stressing it's an ongoing conversation. kristen welker, nbc news, washington. now to the west where there is an urgent battle being waged against wildfires burning in more than half a dozen states scorching hundreds of thousands of acres and there is no end in sight. nbc's steve patterson has details. >> reporter: from border to border, the west is on fire, a relentless march of flames and smoke, more than across eight states. in southern california a river patrol into the mouth of the chimney fire, crews trying to choke the flames that swallowed at least 36 homes. the fire briefly threatened the famous hurst castle. and in nearly two weeks since the fire sparked, it's only 35% contained. outside spokane, duelling fires fueled by high winds destroyed dozens of to evacuate. this man returned to find his home in ruins. >> when the real thing hits, you can't run fast enough. >> reporter: and the cost of the firefight is piling up. u.s. forestry service has spent $1.2 billion this year, but for the boots on the ground, the cost is even higher. >> firefighters have been on for more than 30 days and does it take a toll? absolutely. >> reporter: a toll that keeps climbing, with no end in sight. steve patterson, nbc news. from fire to the ongoing flood disaster in louisiana. president obama surveyed the where thousands remain in shelters. his visit comes after donald trump's and criticism from some republicans he should have cut his vacation short and been there earlier. we get details from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: with homes in shambles and thousands still in shelters, today, president obama toured the devastation. >> i'm asking every american to do what you can to help get families and local businesses back on donald trump and michael pens visited the flood zone and they tweeted president obama was too little too late. >> reporter: has the federal response been adequate? >> there's been i believe unprecedented cooperation and collaboration. and we're getting what we're asking for. >> reporter: lleyton rigs is the president of livingston parish, where 400 homes took on water, including his own. >> like so manot have flood insurance. >> reporter: joanne eagan moved here after the flooding from hurricane katrina. tonight she's trying to salvage any memories from her late husband. >> i lost everything we saved and what little things i had left. >> reporter: there are more than 100,000 people like her applying for federal aid. it has been a summer of heart break for this region. today the president also met with the family of alton sterling who was killed in a shooting last month and the relatives of officers targeted in a separate shooting weeks later. investigation into the clinton connection into the controversial for profit university. hillary clinton has slammed some of these schools as predatory. but as nbc news senior investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden found that husband, bill clinton, made millions from one such school. >> reporter: since announcing for president, hillary clinton has been a vocal critic of for profit universities in general. >> we will crack down on predatory schools. university in particular. >> he is trying to scam america the way he scammed all those people at trump u. >> reporter: but it isn't just donald trump who's profited. for five years, bill clinton was the honorary chancellor of the biggest for profit education company in the world, laureate education, ink. while trump university is not accredited was paid an enormous fee. $17.6 million over five years. visiting 19 campuses in 14 countries. the clinton foundation also got between 1 and $5 million from laureate. >> i admire laureate's dedication to educating the next world leaders. >> stepping down only 12 days before his wife launched her run for the presidency. >> there are students who take out loans to pay for an expensive degree from a fo institution, only to find little support once they actually enroll. >> reporter: but as secretary of state, she praised laureate, writing to her staff, the founder doug becker is someone who bill likes a lot and that laureate should be included in a state department dinner. they were. over the last three months, nbc news has taken a closer look at laureate's u.s. flagship, walden university. more than two dozen students tell us the school misled them, trapping them in a staggering amounts of student represent a million dollars of student debt sitting here. >> yes. >> that's a lot of money. >> you have taken me from a successful career to poverty. >> reporter: these five phd students claim that walden's constant chunk of faculty and standards caused them to go further and further in debt. while raking in profits for the university. they're part of a group of 80 students who hope to file a class-action lawsuit. >> i had five committee members over the six years. >> reporter: so they kept changing? the scam that we're talking about. >> reporter: laureate tells us that their program is high quality, vigorous and challenging. and a 2012 senate report says walden was perhaps the best of any company examined. laureate and walden declined to give us graduation rates for their phd candidates but pointed us to three students who said they were satisfied with their experiences, one who got his phd on a full scholarship. is it possible that >> even then, they should have told us. you don't keep me here. you could have told me, you're not cut out for this, have a nice life. >> i have lost everything, i have nothing else to lose. >> reporter: what would you like bill clinton to know? >> that he can forgive our loans. he can do that, because i don't think he would want to be representative of something that is basically unfair or unethical. he can't give us back our years, but he can give us back our dignity. >> reporter: bill and hillary comment on these students allegations, but a spokesman for bill clinton says he was pleased to support laureate's mission for higher education. and a spokesman for hillary clinton said that all for profit institutions should be held to the same standards and that she intends to clamp down on bad actors. nbc news, new york. we have a lot more to tell you about here tonight. growing wake up a lifesaver, as prices go up, so has pay for the company's executives, by more we're back now with the outrage over a drug company's dramatic price increase for a life saving medication. epipens are used in emergencies to treat people often children who experience a sudden and potentially deadly allergic reaction. but the company that makes the epipen has raised the 400% over the past eight years and is now being accused of price gouging. >> reporter: it's a life saving drug for patients with potentially deadly allergies. 43 million americans keep an epipen close at hand. among them nine-year-old joshua hernandez allergic to nuts. since 2008, the price pharmacies pay for an epipen two pack has shot up from $100 to $600. the pens must be >> i have to protect to provide life-saving medications for my child. and at the current trend, i worry how i'm going to pay for it in the future. >> reporter: amy now gets her epee pens from a pharmacy that orders it from canada for a third of the price. >> i consider it gouging because what happens is they now control by some estimates 85% of this market. >> reporter: the company that pharmaceuticals tells nbc news that the price change better reflects certain product features and the value the product provides and it provides coupons to help those with high insurance deductibles that don't cover the price. they aren't talking about executive compensation. while raiing epee pen prices by more than 400%, top company executives saw their total compensation jump by more than 600%. >> reporter: there is an alternative. in an emergency, it's not ideal. >> the medicine itself auto injecting part that's expensive. you can learn to do it yourself with a syringe, but you have to know how to do it correctly. >> reporter: tonight another major drug company under fire for hiing prices and profits. tom costello, nbc news, washington. we're back in a moment with a teacher's letter going viral for eliminating an often dreaded a dire warning from a top u.n. official about what he horror in syria. he says convoys have been unable to travel into aleppo to bring relief to thousands cut off from food, water and supplies. nbc news has much more from this city under siege in our new digital feature, "aleppo: children of war" on our website. tonight, after a fairly quiet hurricane season thus far, things starting to fire up in the tropics. tropical storm gaston has formed, but it's not expected to be a threat to land. hurricane center is monitoring. impacts for the u.s. are uncertain as of now, but folks along the southeast coast should be keeping a pretty good eye on it. a dallas teacher is now a viral sensation after sending home a note to parents declaring a no home work policy for her second grade class. she claims home work isn't proven to improve student performance, so she says she won't assign it regularly. instead she urges families to spend their evenings reading, playing outside and eating cord with so many of you and the progress he's made in the year since we finally tonight, it's been a year since we met a becoming the first child to receive a double hand transplant. his story has touched so many of our viewers. now he's back to show the world how far he has come. rehema ellis who first brought us zion's story as his next chapter. >> when we first met zion harvey last year, at 8 years old, he was unstoppable even though he had lost both his hands and legs to an infection as a toddler. >> keep monitoring things. ground breaking surgery to attach new hands, his energy was drained, but not his determination. and take a look at him now. oh, my goodness! his new hands are growing with him. >> when i got my hands, it's like here's a piece of my life that was missing. now it's here. now my life is complete. >> reporter: now he color and play, beating me at jenga. you are not giving up. he can do nearly all the things most kids take for granted. he cuddled up to his mother patty, his hands can feel hers. >> like right now, her hands are cold and sometimes they're warm. sometimes they're hot. >> reporter: it's taken a year of grueling rehabilitation. communicate with his new hands. >> there you go. >> reporter: chief surgeon dr. scott levin says that zion's success has inspired the teams at the children's hospital of philadelphia and penn medicine. >> we have learned so much, we are grateful to him and our whole team now is energized. >> reporter: zion's mom is relieved her son has a new freedom. >> one of the major concerns that i had for him was certain things and have that independence and not need me forever. >> but i need you, without you i wouldn't remember to do everything, that's why i have you. >> reporter: this afternoon, zion talked about his hopes for the future. >> convince mom to let me play football. >> i knew that was coming. >> reporter: one remarkable boy -- >> before qu give up, try everything first. >> reporter: learning to grab hold of his world and sending a message to the rest of us. rehema ellis, nbc news, philadelphia. >> leave it to a little boy to help us put life's challenges in perspective. that's going to do it for us on a tuesday night. i'm lester holt, for all of us at nbc news, thank you for right now on ne ws 3 live at 6:00, he was a father of three and the sole survivor for the family. what we're learning about the man killed in the scaffolding accident at tivoli village. and a family's treasured photos actioned off in a storage unit mixup. tonight, the mother's desperate plea to help get he was the one working. you know, he was -- he was the main head here. >> that's the widow of the father of three who died in the scaffolding collapse yesterday at tivoli village. good evening. i'm jim snyder. >> i'm marie mortera. he was the sole provider for his wife and children and workers gave away yesterday. it's our top story. news 3's antonio castelan joins us live near lake mead and fifth where a candlelight vigil is planned for tonight. antonio, what does the family say about what happened? >> reporter: marie, they tell us the accident should not have happened of the family holds the company at fault. the widow says she can't believe he >> reporter: he fought for everything he wanted. that's how jackie moreno will remember her husband, richard bautista. he died yesterday while taking down scaffolding. >> i received a call and they told me he had an accident. >> reporter: she said her husband worked hard labor construction jobs seven days a week to provide for the family. on this day, she asked him. >> i said don't go.