the covid crisis and the major u.s. city enacting one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation. could there be criminal charges? our exclusive with the american who survived the 2015 isis terror attacks in paris. what happened in court today when she faced down the suspects. her chilling testimony. and the housing crunch the tricks companies are using to price would-be buyers out of their dream homes. >> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening with the country barreling toward a financial cliff tonight, republicans may be blinking and ready to help avert catastrophe with a new offer to democrats providing an off-ramp in the showdown of raising the $28.4 trillion debt ceiling. tonight the clock is ticking. less than two weeks until the u.s. will either have to raise

the borrowing limit to pay past bills or face the chilling prospect of default and potential economic disaster senate minority leader mitch mcconnell now saying he will support an extension of the debt ceiling to allow >> reporter: tonight, what could be a new short-term solution to the looming fiscal disaster top republican mitch mcconnell offering democrats a deal to allow the government to extend its ability to borrow money to pay its bills for another two months >> we view that as a victory. we view that as a temporary victory, though, with more work to do. >> reporter: democrats have been blasting republicans for refusing to join them to cut spending by both parties, an effort democrats say has always been bipartisan president biden earlier today accusing republicans of playing a dangerous game >> doesn't have to be this way our republican friends need to stop playing russian roulette with

the u.s. economy. >> reporter: but republicans argue democrats have rushed to pass trillions of dollars in new spending without gop support, so democrats, they say, should raise the debt ceiling on their own, and that their offer gives them more time to do it >> i'm not going to support this craziness that my -- president biden and his new wokely the country's credit card limit, now set at just about $28 trillion if it is not raised before october 28th, according to the treasury department, the u.s. will run out of cash and for the first time ever default on its bills >> we would likely experience a recession. millions of jobs would be lost and the pain would endure well past the resolution of the crisis >> reporter: the impact affecting most americans from plunging stock markets to rising credit card and mortgage rates nearly 50 million seniors could stop

receiving social security checks. members of the military could go unpaid and child tax credits for millions of families could be delayed. >> peter, this deal is done it's a temporary fix we'd be right back in the same place later this year. >> that's right. republicans and democrats still at odds over how to resolve this issue for a longer period of time, so it does take a little pressure off right now. but it means congress will face the threat of default again in december just before christmas. lester >> peter alexander at the white house. thank you. sadly, school shootings are never far from mind, and today horror played out once again, this time in arlington, texas. at least four people, students and adults, were injured after a classroom fight turned to gunfire and then an intense manhunt. officials immediately declaring this was not a random act of violence our sam brock is there. >> reporter: from above, the picture of horror at a texas high school officers running across school grounds

with long guns as students barricaded inside classrooms. >> it was just, like, bam, bam, bam, and there were three shots. i feel like i'm going to have to go to school fearing that i'm going to get shot. >> reporter: the calls coming into arlington police around 9:15 in the morning, immediately sparking concerns of an active shooter. tonight, 18-year-old timothy simpkins is in police custody after turning himself in, but not before an hours' long manhunt >> it orter: arlington pd says simpkins shot several people after an in-class altercation. in total, four people injured, including a 15-year-old boy fighting for his life after surgery and a 25-year-old man in good condition heart-stopping moments for parents watching the situation unfold at the school of 1,700 students >> he's just like, mama, where are you? just make sure you're here. >> not knowing if your kid is safe or one that's been shot is

the worst feeling. >> reporter: once the school was cleared and the lockdown lifted, students were bussed to a nearby reunification center authorities warning parents to check their kids' social media accounts after finding some students posted inaccurate information and false threats. >> if they're putting out threats on their schools, they're going to be arrested and prosecuted. >> reporter: questions tonight also mounting about how simpkins brought a firearm to school in the first place. >> our agents won't sleep working with our partners here to figure out how he got this weapon in his hand to come into this school and cause the tragedy today. >> sam, what charges does the suspect face tonight? >> reporter: lester, he's charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon tonight the school district here is re-evaluating its policy of no mandatory metal detectors. it does have a law enforcement officer, lester, on every single school campus back to you. >> sam brock, thank you. troubling new questions tonight about the response of that oil pipeline leak that caused an environmental disaster in southern

california would the size of the spill had been smaller if the company had acted at the first signs of trouble here's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: tonight the massive spill and the missteps as authorities pinpoint the cause for this still-unfolding disaster we now have a clear time line of what went wrong. according to federal documents obtained by nbc news, beta offshore received a low-pressure alarm on its massive underwater pipeline at 2:30 a.m. saturday but investigators say it took more than three hours for the company to shut the leak down. it was more than six hours after the initial alarm before beta offshore reported the incident to the national response center federal officials were in the dark for hours as oil spewed from the cracked pipeline five miles off the coast at a depth of 98 feet government documents also show the first reports of a possible spill came in friday

night, roughly 12 hours before the pipeline was shut down >> we're not aware of any spill until 8:59 a.m. saturday morning. i promise you, if we were aware of something on friday night, i promise you we would have immediately stopped all operation. >> reporter: with a 13-mile oil sheen spotted by the coast guard, authorities quickly found oil slicked marine life and dead fish. operating in federal waters off southern california's coast, the rig at the center of the spill has an oil pipeline that runs about 15 miles back to shore. that pipeline and this rig are more than 40 years old. closing in on a cause for the rupture, federal officials are investigating if a cargo ship's massive anchor like this one may have accidentally dragged and split the pipeline open. what we do know is the damage to the environment and its wildlife could be catastrophic, a disaster that perhaps could have and should have been

stopped hours earlier. lester, there could be criminal charges if investigators determine there was negligence involved with the spill, but that investigation into what happened here and along the pipeline could take weeks, even months lester >> miguel almaguer off the california coast tonight, thanks. the city of los angeles today approved one of the most sweeping covid vaccine mandates requiring shots for anyone entering indoor public spaces, including restaurants, bars, gyms, and sports arenas this comes as covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are trending downward but what about the future here's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: this is scene in an arkansas hospital back in mid-july just as the summer covid surge was taking hold. >> we hit the floor running and all of us are working extra hours. >> reporter: at its busiest, the hospital had 70 covid patients. today there are eight. >> wait and see. but it does feel

better it does feel much better as far as there's a lot more hope. >> reporter: it's not just arkansas. covid case numbers are dropping fast in other hard-hit southern states like louisiana and florida. nationwide, the numbers are down nearly 40% since september 1st. can we be hopeful maybe there won't be a surge this fall or winter >> so there are no guarantees by any means. i'm quite encouraged by the decline in cases we're seeing because many have been infected, unfortunately, and now have natural immunity. also we know that vaccinations are increasing. >> reporter: and could go higher when 30 million children between the ages of 5 and 11 become eligible, possibly in the coming weeks is it reasonable to expect that we will reach a point with this virus where it feels less like a deadly pandemic and more like the flu? >> i do think so i think as we view the vaccines, we're taming the virus and taking off the table its ability to put people in the hospital and kill us.

>> reporter: a lot of people want to know, when are we going to stop wearing masks on planes when are we going to stop sending our kids to school with masks on do we have any better sense of that? >> well, we don't. that's why i've called on the administration to develop a covid control strategy that defines our end point, defines what we're working towards. >> reporter: what most health experts agree on is that the country is not there yet >> there's still a lot of people who are unnecessarily winding up in the hospital and experiencing deaths that could have been prevented. >> stephanie, we talk a lot about vaccinations let's talk about testing for a moment the administration is investing $1 billion into home testing kits >> the epidemiologist i spoke with says she has real concerns about the affordability and accessibility of tests. this investment could help because testing remains the only way to truly track the virus. stephanie, good to have you thank you. in just 60 seconds, our exclusive interview with an american survivor of

the deadliest isis attack in europe as she testifies against the suspects. and could fbi agents now face prosecution for their handling of a notorious case of sexual abuse

we're back now with a dramatic and emotional testimony today in a paris courtroom. an american survivor of the deadly isis terrorist attacks in 2015 coming face to face with the accused suspects kelly cobiella talked with her exclusively >> reporter: it was the deadliest isis terror attack in europe, and today survivors of that nightmare were in court facing the suspects accused of unleashing it. how did you feel being in that room >> it was really, really hard. >> reporter: american helen wilson from l.a. was in the bataclan theater when gunmen stormed in shooting. back in september, she told us what she saw. >> the doors flew open and people were running inside panicked

>> reporter: in court today, with tears in her eyes, recountings for our brothers in syria, and describing the moments that she was shot and her friend, nick alexander, died. >> i just held him because that's what i needed to do that's what i still need to do he's still here and i'm still holding him. >> reporter: the 2015 attacks at the theater, sidewalk cafes, and the national stadium where two isis suicide bombers struck left 131 dead and more than 400 injured. the main defendant, french national salah abdeslam, described himself as a soldier for isis on the trial's opening day last month investigators say he's the lone surviving attacker >> reporter: is this closure? >> i don't know that we'll ever truly get closure from a lot of things i think that things modify, but that they

always stay with us. >> reporter: helen and another witness said today they both saw four attackers inside the bataclan investigators have asking other witnesses how many terrorists they saw lester >> kelly cobiella, thank you. the fbi is facing new scrutiny over its handling of the sexual abuse investigation into former usa gymnastics doctor, larry nassar the justice department now reviewing the decision not to charge agents who lied about how they investigated the case here's anne thompson. >> reporter: from the deputy attorney general, an apology and promise of action to the senate judiciary committee and the women gymnasts sexually abused by dr. larry nassar. >> i do want the committee, and, frankly, i want the survivors to understand how exceptionally seriously we take this issue. >> reporter: citing

new information that has come to light, the justice department taking a second lookagents fot how they initially handled the complaints against nassar one is retired the other, fired maggie nichols is one of nassar's victims. >> do you finally feel heard? >> most definitely i feel like us four, we all felt very heard when we got to speak front of the u.s. senate. >> reporter: nichols, one of four gymnasts, including simone biles who told the senate the fbi failed them >> it truly feels like the fbi turned a blind eye to us. >> what is the point of reporting abuse if our own fbi agents are going to take it upon themselves to bury that report in a drawer >> i remember sitting there with the fbi agent and him trying to convince me that it wasn't that bad. >> reporter: the justice department insists it is on it. >> you can be assured there is a sense of urgency and gravity with the work that needs to be done. >> reporter: urgency

and gravity that the women say is six years and many victims too late anne thompson, nbc news. up next, a big money competition making it so hard for so many americans to buy a home

with home prices soaring to record highs, there are mounting questions about the billions of dollars big financial firms are pouring into the market and pricing out some would-be buyers gabe gutierrez with more in our series, "the great divide.

>> living room here. >> reporter: for toni carr, the dance had become all too familiar. see a house -- >> i love this kitchen. >> reporter: fall in love, make an offer. >> and then my offer was declined. >> reporter: the navy veteran was pre-approved with a loan hoping to move to gwinnett county, georgia, to be closer to her mother. >> reporter: how many offers did you put down >> 30. >> reporter: she was offering full asking price if not more, but kept losing out to all-cash offers. while toni doesn't know who the buyers were, the atlanta area is one of the hottest markets for large financial firms, often backed by private equity that buy up and rent out single-family homes. >> they're very aggressive their offers come in, all cash they come in sight unseen, so as soon as the house hits the market, you can get an offer from them. and they're ready to close within a few days. >> reporter: this atlanta real estate agent says half the listings are going to

the investment companies. that companies typically us computer algorithms to identify desirable properties so they can bid quickly. one of them is invitation homes, which owns more than 12,000 single-family houses in the atlanta area and nationwide more than 81,000 the company points to the country's current rental housing shortage and says it provides choice and flexibility to a growing segment of americans across all generations who are opting to rent instead of own three other large firms own more than 100,000 homes combined one of them just announced a $5 billion fund to buy more. >> the pandemic has really accelerated this business. >> reporter: ryan has been following this housing trend for years and says for buyers there are few legal options when they're competing with investors with deep pockets. >> people start to think, what if i want to sell to one of them what if an investor pays the highest price for my house when it's time to sell and people don't -- when they get to thinking about it, they don't want to

restrict their market. >> there's about 25% to 35% of the houses in this neighborhood are owned by wall street landlords >> reporter: it's why in places like this suburb outside nashville investors can build up huge inventory says hennessy state university professor, ken shilton. >> this is private equity coming in and mining equity out of communities and sending it back to people who are already wealthy. >> reporter: is this the american dream >> no. >> reporter: after 30 offers, toni carr finally closed on a house by going farther away from where she hoped to be. >> everybody can't just walk in the door with $250,000 cash to buy a house. so my dream house i can't have because i don't have $250,000 cash >> reporter: she may not, but big investment firms have billions gabe gutierrez, nbc news, gwinnett county, georgia. up next, what's driving one of the hottest trends in television

it's the show everyone is talking about. joe fryer now on netflix's surprise mega hit and how it may usher in a whole new era for streaming. >> reporter: you'd be forgiven if yo thought a show called "squid game" was a reality cooking competition. you would also be very wrong. the series is, in fact, a korean thriller, a violent dystopian tale about people deep in debt playing a bunch of children's games hoping to win millions of dollars in losing a game, they lose their lives

so popular, netflix recently said there's a very good chance it's going to be our biggest show ever. >> it has familiarized and brought a lot of attention to koreans and the korean culture in a very tangible way. >> reporter: it's also proof netflix's big investment in global entertainment is paying off it's not just korea. netflix has really invested in a lot ofatnal con. why is that? local culture and does has made shows in 40 countries. 97% of its u.s. subscribers watch at least one non-english title in the last year, something many needed during the pandemic. >> having the opportunity to watch shows like "lupin" out of france and "squid game" out of korea is sort of like traveling around the world a bit, right you get to experience another culture from your living room >> reporter: other streaming services are following suit, producing their own

international shows, putting the globe on the tv map joe fryer, nbc news. that's "nightly news" for this wednesday. thank you for watching, everyone i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night ♪ ♪ ♪♪ sometimes the snow comes down in june ♪

♪ sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon ♪ ♪ i see the passion in your eyes ♪ ♪ sometimes it's all a big surprise ♪ ♪ cause there was a time when all i did was wish ♪ ♪ you'd tell me this was love ♪ ♪ it's not the way i hoped or how i planned ♪ ♪ but somehow it's enough ♪ ♪ but now we're standing face to face ♪ ♪ isn't this world a crazy place? ♪ ♪ just when i thought our chance had passed ♪ ♪ you go and save the best for last ♪

♪ sometimes the very thing ♪ ♪ you're looking for ♪ ♪ is the one thing you can't see ♪ ♪ sometimes the snow comes down in june ♪ ♪ sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon ♪ ♪ just when i thought our chance had passed ♪ ♪ you went and saved the best for last ♪♪ [cheers and applause] >> kelly: all right, everybody! welcome to

"the kelly clarkson show"! give it up for my band y'all! that was "save the best for last" by vanessa williams. what is your connection to that song, d? >> kelly, thank you so much for singing that song. i have always loved it and it has become more special to me now because i truly saved my best for last and i have my wife for ten years with me now. >> kelly: oh, wow. that's a long time. >> and we were recently best with our first baby boy. >> kelly: congratulations! what's his name? >> his name is dawson. >> kelly: i love the name dawson. that's a beautiful name. i love that song. i've not heard it in years. forever. thanks so much, d, everybody you are in for a really good time today. from the breakthrough -- breakthrough netflix theory "you're right people" we have marque richardson and logan browning. and on the real housewives of atlanta for a decade,

cynthia bailey is here to mix us up the perfect halloween cocktail. love a cocktail. plus from the nbc new series zyra gorecki is here. and you will see a performance from the corporation duo two cellos. i promise it is like nothing you have ever seen before. let's get started with our first guest, making 13 platinum albums and has won a tony, grammy, and two emmy's. we don't spread kindness enough, he was very kind to me years ago and wrote the sweetest letter and it was very kind. so what you can see him now his residency at the westgate las vegas resort and casino from the hottest spot north of havana, say hello to barry manilow! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪

>> kelly: hi! >> kelly: have a seat! i know. >> barry: i would have given you such a big hug. it's been on the hug thing is so hard for me. >> barry: everybody is doing elbows. >> kelly: we will get shut down, so they make me, it's very hard for me because i am such a physical touch person. i give my kids like way more hugs than i should. i'm not getting any of it. unlike just told me. i did mention, i don't know if you remember this, it was years ago, but you wrote me this letter as i was going through a hard time coming and i am like 15 years ago, but you wrote me this note and it was really quick and sweet and i kept it, i have this keepsake box and that's one of the things i kept in it because it was so kind and you did not know me, but thank you. was years ago, very nice. people don't hear about that stuff coming out? they always hear the negative stuff. >> barry: speaking of a million years ago, i sent your people a picture that i found a 4:00 in the morning because i never sleep -- >> kelly: with me and justin,

i remember. >> barry: at the grammy party, right? >> kelly: look at us babies, we are babies. >> barry: you are at least paired >> kelly: that curly hair, i was not letting anybody touch those ringlets. but i hear you have a serious history with "america idol" and i did not know this. >> barry: oh, yeah. >> kelly:? tell everyone this. i did not know. >> barry: they asked me to do "america idol" and i said to you know what i would like to do is give each one of the people on "american idol" a new arrangement of the song they pick, they want to do all of my songs, and i said, okay, you can do that but i knew that everybody was going to ruin them. >> kelly: [laughs] >> barry: i worked with each one of them for a week and i gave them all different arrangements, the way that they wanted it. and they were great. every one of them was great. and one of them was jennifer hudson. and she got bumped off that week. >> kelly: that's the week that

she did it -- >> barry: she did a great rendition of "weekend in new england." >> kelly: i think it's cool that you let them, because sometimes they don't like to be an artist. i think it's cool that you let them cater to them who they are as artists. >> barry: i spent hours with them. >> kelly: that's really kind not coming from that world and living in that world, not everybody does that. so it's really kind. >> barry: "i made it through the rain" on the piano and they just sang the way that the piano player would play it, and i said no, let me help you, what do you want to say? and little by little we would arrange the song for each artist. >> kelly: i think that so special, taken the time. that's so nice. did you talk to jennifer after that? >> barry: after that she got bumped off that weekend i was do to do the ryan seacrest outdoor show, and i took her with me. and it was supposed to do two songs. i said you do the second song, jennifer. and i played the piano for her

on ryan's show. >> kelly: that's s n