Nightly news. Reporting tonight, lester holt. Good evening. The halls of power in washington, d. C. Were without power for a time today, as the lights blinked out from the white house to the capitol. And well beyond. Given the times we live in a lot of people briefly wondering if there was some kind of attack. For some it lasted moments, others were without power for quite some time. There were parts of the government left to carry on in the dark while elsewhere, forcing evacuations at some of the citys famous museums. All of it raising a lot of questions about how prepared the government really is for a bigger emergency. Chris jan sing is on e story for us tonight. Reporter the lights went out at the state department right in the middle of the daily briefing. Correct. Second thing reporter they finished using the lights fro even the Energy Department lost power. So did the white house. Though the backup generator kicked right in. The president did not notice. Reporter Oprah Winfrey speaking at an event kept talking. No doubt about it. Reporter but darkened halls at some of the worlds most popular museums meant evacuations, including from the smithsonians air and space. Theres a possibility that we might have some terrorist activity. It was scary. Reporter the university of maryland closed offices cleared out, and traffic backed u adding to the problem, a certain randomness from where im standing i can see three sets of traffic lights. Right here theyre out. What happened . The Power Company says all this caused by this a transmission line fell off its foundation a relatively small thing pointing to a big problem. Even acknowledged by pentagon brass. Its just because we really dont know the true vulnerabilities. Reporter we know the u. S. Electric grid loses power three times more often than it did in 1984. Much more than any other industrialized nation. In the northeast u. S. 214 minutes according to a university offof minnesota analysis. It just keeps getting worse. The main reasons . Aging infrastructure and increased demand from hotter summers. Now experts worry about the growing cyber threat. We should have started work on toughening the grid yesterday. Reporter theres widespread agreement the power grid has to be updated and protected from cyber attacks. The problem, as it often is in washington is money. Experts put the price tag anywhere from several billion to hundreds of billions of dollars to update a system so old, some of it is based on technology dating back to thomas edison. Chris jan sing thanks. Lets stay in washington for a moment. A cyber hacking at the white house we first told you about last october. Andrea mitchell is monitoring this from our d. C. Newsroom. What have i learned . U. S. Officials learned it was white house that hacked the white house last year. It contained the president s private unpublished schedule. Putin was in an intense showdown with the white house over we reported it looked suspiciously like russia was the perpetrator. A subsequent investigation proved it was russia. Launching that attack. They say russia got into the White House Computers through vulnerabilities of the state departments computer networks. They said no classified information was breached. Wild weather is lighting up the radar tonight. Severe storms pushing across the country, dumping hail. A dangerous multistate outbreak in the forecast over the next 48 hours. Nbc meteorologist dylan drier has our report. Reporter across the st. Louis area today, a fastmoving storm dumped 3 1 2 inches of rain in 40 minutes. It was overflowing storm drains. Hail the size of golf balls battered a large area looking more like snow in some parts. Residents in Northern Kentucky are bracing for more rain while scrambling to clean up from fridays ferocious storms. Crews are trying to fix roads from all that water. Franklin county sheriff pat melton was hit by a mudslide. Trees were cracking rocks were rolling. Ive never heard anything like it. Reporter thick fog may have been a factor in a plane crash that killed all seven people aboard. The group was returning from the ncaa basketball title game in indianapolis. Including Illinois StateUniversity Associate basketball coach torey ward who tweeted before the crash, my ride to the game wasnt bad. In michigans upper peninsula, five inches of snow had the snow blowers out again. In the west a funnel cloud near sacramento. Ice everywhere. Reporter and in Central California lodi, an unusual spring hailstorm heres the setup thats going to create more storms tonight, wednesday and thursday. You have warm air clashing with cold air, and just enough energy for some of these storms to be severe. Add in moisture from the gulf of mexico and flash flooding is also a possibility. Essentially wednesday afternoon into wednesday evening, from tulsa, oklahoma right up into quincy illinois. We could also see very large hail and also damaging wind gusts along with isolated tornadoes. On thursday the threat spreads especially into eastern missouri and most of illinois. We could see a line of storms develop that could produce widespread damage and more tornadoes, especially thursday and thursday afternoon. Lester . Doesnt look good. Dylan drier, thank you. Another major entry into the president ial race tonight. Republican senator rand paul of kentucky getting a raucous reception as he kicked off his campaign in louisville. Reporter a louisville kentucky ball room teeming with supporters. Today senator rand paul launched his president ial campaign. Government should be restrained and freedom should be maximized. Reporter paul offers himself as a different kind of republican. If we nominate a candidate who is simply democrat light, whats the point . Reporter listed by the Tea Party Movement and his father former congressman ron pauls libertarian grass roots followers. Senator paul Kelly Odonnell from nbc. Can you be in washington and run against washington sir . Rand paul is shaping and revising his own political brand. From aggressive merchandising, tshirts turned into campaign cash. Were selling a ton reporter to his message, paul opposes most foreign aid and military intervention. But threats like isis made him adjust. I will do whatever it takes to defend america from these haters of mankind. Reporter pauls stand against government appeals to a college crowd. Why are young people interested in rand paul . I think the civil liberties. Reporter paul is also courting minority communities. On issues from jobs to sentencing reform. There needs to be a credible White Conservative talking about these things. Reporter the republican partys old guard is wary of rand paul. For now, that works for his. Kelly odonnell, nbc news louisville. A program note Savannah Guthrie will interview senator rand paul tomorrow morning. The story that was breaking as we were coming on the air last night. Unspeakable tragedy for one maryland family. A father and his seven children all killed by Carbon Monoxide from a generator they were using because they may have fallen on hard times. Nbc National Correspondent peter reporter the news today was crushing. Ive seen a lot of things but not Something Like this because of this. To have eight people in one place like that you know reporter authorities in princess ann, maryland confirmed Carbon Monoxide from a generator left running in the kitchen of this home killed this father and his seven children between the ages of 6 and 16. The children were all in bed and appeared they were sleeping. Reporter the victims were discovered monday nine days after they were last seen when overnight temperatures hovered below freezing. Police say the todd family moved into the home last november but Delmarva Power said it never received a request for service adding it did not disconnect the electric service for nonpayment. They found a stolen electric meter was used at the home and disconnected that meter. He had his kids for three years, by himself. And he did the best he could. With what he had. Reporter just days ago, three members of another family died of Carbon Monoxide poisoning due to a generator inside this home in tennessee. The cdc says Carbon Monoxide is to blame for roughly 400 deaths and more than 20,000 injuries each year. It can also come from faulty gas furnaces fireplaces and water heaters. A deadly odorless gas responsible for too many terrible tragedies. Peter alexander, nbc news washington. There is breaking news tonight from South Carolina where a Police Officer has charged with murder in the death of a man after a traffic stop. Video of the incident was posted late today on the website of the new york times. We want to warn you, it is disturbing. The incident happened over the weekend. In the video, you can see the man appear to run away from the officer, who then points his weapon and fires several times, killing him. The video was apparently taken by a bystander. The officer reportedly said he feared for his life before he fired. Much more on this developing story tomorrow morning on today. In boston today, no verdict after the first day of deliberations by the jury in the bombing trial of dzhokhar tsarnaev. One page for each of the counts of the indictment. The jury will be back in the courthouse again tomorrow morning. In california february was the worst month for Water Conservation since the state started tracking those efforts last summer. In the middle of the severe drought, water wasters could face hefty fines. As Miguel Almaguer reports, authorities have to catch them first, and theres a lot of dry ground to cover. Reporter the oasis in the desert palm springs, where lawns are lush fountains cascade, and water is plentiful. 27 holes of championship golf. Reporter the region promotes deep green surrounded by desert brown. Landscape that guzzles water in a devastating drought. When you drive through palm springs you see lush greenery like this. Is it a symbol of waste . This is how the city was built year and years ago. Reporter city manager david reddy said palm springs needs to change. The golf course uses reclaimed water, others dont. The city spending millions to replace waterthirsty grass with rocks and desert plants. These things cant happen overnight. For one, theres a significant infrastructure cost. Reporter the view from above is stunning. But in palm springs, residents consume three times more water than the state average. In the middle of the desert this entire region draws its water from deep underground. From aquifers. With steady growth and more neighborhoods like this one continuing to pop up that water supply is vanishing. Stephanie is the water police. All alone covering 1,000 square miles, and 100,000 homes. Are you overwhelmed with how much you must control . Im very busy yes. Reporter this is what she finds every palm springs is a symbol of the waste, but also a symbol of the opportunity. Historically in california green, lush lawns were the ideal. But we need to reevaluate reexamine that ideal. Reporter in this desert community, to save water, they must now draw a line in the sand. Miguel almaguer nbc news palm springs. Still ahead here tonight, how do you live to be 100 . From the five places in the word where people live longer than anywhere else. And the American City racing to follow their le and later, the teen who just got accepted to every Ivy League School there is. An amazing story. 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Nbcs Cynthia Mcfadden takes us there. Reporter ft. Worth mayor, betsy price, is on a roll. Youre a biker . Im a cyclists. Bikers wear leather. Reporter she wants to revolutionize her city. This isnt about living longer this is about having more life in your years. Reporter to do it shes teaming up with National Geographic who located the five places on earth where people live longer and healthier than anyplace else. The longest lived man on the planet lived around here. Reporter he dubbed them the blue zone and revealed the common secrets in his new book. We joined him on the italian island of sardinia. A place that produces more 100yearold men than anywhere else on people here are constantly on the. Eat meat rarely but have beans almost every day. What youve learned is there is no silver bullet. I call it silver buck shot actually. Its 20 or 30 Little Things. But theyre Little Things that you can transport from places and have them work for you. Reporter can they transform a city nicknamed cow town . A beefobsessed place with high obesity rates and stressedout commuters. You guys are on life support here. Were really way down there. Reporter the mayor thinks they can change that over the next five years. About 80 of chronic disease, cancer dementia Heart Disease and diabetes is avoidable. What these people are doing better than us are avoiding the diseases that shorten our lives. And theyre doing that in ways that we can imitate. And you dont even have to think about it. The adjective is the healthy choice. Nobody wants the healthy choice. So changing the adjective from the healthy salad to the crispy italian salad, the orders go up. Reporter hes already implemented these ideas and many others in 22 smaller cities. After two or three years, we see obesity dropping by double digits. You see smoking rates drop by as much as 30 . You see healthier eating, more physical. Reporter mayor price believes ft. Worth can do it too. There are those who would say government should keep its nose out of this. Im not in any state. Were not passing any ordinary napses. Im very conservative. Im the last person would say you have to do this. This is about making better choices. If youre use the to eeding beef six days a week maybe you eat it four days a week. Reporter Cynthia Mcfadden, nbc news ft. Worth. Were back in a moment with a big unveiling today by the first lady and oprah. And questions about the origin of a hey, girl. Is it crazy that your soccer trophy is talking to you right now . It kinda is. Its as crazy as you not rolling over your old 401k. Cue the horns. Just harness the confidence it took you to win me and call td ameritrades rollover consultants. Theyll help with the hassle by guiding you through the whole process step by step. And theyll even call your old provider. Its easy. Even she could do it. Whatever, janet. For all the confidence you need td ameritrade. 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