pope is staying for the night on manhattan's upper east side. ron allen is there. what's the scene like? >> reporter: it is quite something. there's a huge army of new york city police, you can see behind me there. the townhouse where the pope is staying is down the street 50 yards from where i am standing in the darkness over there. there was a huge police operation a few minutes ago, a large motorcade came up into the area. it is unclear whether the pope is there or not, getting back to this area, there are no crowds here at all, purely a police security operation. crowds were here earlier today. once the prayer service got under way at saint patrick's cathedral not far from here, the crowds moved back. the pope came up fifth avenue heading this direction, crowds were moved far back. purely a police operation here. scores upon scores of officers, helicopters overhead. at this point it appears the pope is very near the residence if not there already, hard to see in the darkness what's going on. lester, back to you. >> all right, ron. from our vantage point we believe he made his w

consequences. nbc's ron mott tells us more. >> reporter: 12-year-old rory dreamed of becoming a pilot. but a seemingly simple cut on his arm in gym class killed the new york city preteen leading to a blood infection that was caught too late. >> our son died and our son died despite us raising our concerns that there was something wrong. we were told over and over again that this was a stomach virus. >> a new report about the national academy of sciences engineering and medicine concludes misdiagnosis in one out of ten deaths an out of ten deaths an one in 20 americans seeking outpatient care is misdiagnosed every year. it is a wake-up call researchers say, demanding more attention. >> we found diagnostics is much neglected in health care and we need to study it more to do anything about it. >> the solution, researchers recommend changing the pay structure for doctors to emphasize the time spent consulting with patients and elevating the stature of nurses who spend the most time with patients and improving communications throughout the process. >> ask for the tests and more than the te

canceling games and disbanding teams. nbc's ron mott with the story. >> reporter: at one missouri high school, friday night lights have gone dark. game over for football. in its place, soccer. former state champions maplewood richmond heights outside of st. louis is one of several schools that has given up on america's most popular sport this season and the reason is the declines ing interest in serious injury. >> we were not getting much more interest than 12-15 students. >> reporter: the school board approved a plan to suspend the football program this fall after 15 students signed up, short of the 23 players the state's governing body recommends. >> it was a big part of the school. but now that we don't have it, it feels kind of weird. >> in maine last week a high school canceled football for the rest of the season after injuries depleted the roster. and yesterday in iowa, a junior varsity football game was canceled when 13 athletes on one team got hurt leading up to the game. >> we ended up with three concussions an a bad back. a good potential acl sprain and another lineman who is

been serving for so long, he's landed himself in the record books. here's ron mott with the scoop. >> reporter: if summer has a signature sound -- ♪ -- allan ganz is its conductor. >> here you go, pal. >> reporter: the ice cream maestro of suburban boston, serving up happy childhood memories that get kids of all ages screaming, like three generations of derosas. >> he's just part of our family. they grew up with him. >> allan's absolutely the best ice cream man ever. >> reporter: allan started 68 years ago, riding shotgun with his old man when he was just 10. guinness says no one on the planet's done it longer. >> i'm so glad they see me and they say, we know winter is over, allan's back. >> reporter: though he works just part of the year, the 78-year-old puts in full-time effort, seven days a week from sunup to sundown. what keeps you going every day? why not take a day or two off during the summer? >> 'cause it's a short season, it's seasonal and the kids, they expect me there. if i'm not there, they say, "allan, we were worried about you. where were you?" >> reporter: while t

them downstream. passengers had to be pulled to safety after raging waters over took them. nbc's ron mott is there for us.took them. nbc's ron mott is there for us. >> reporter: it happened in an in stand. >> oh, it went over the fence. >> reporter: raging floodwaters and mud ripping across a road, two vehicles filled with three families, 16 people, disappearing. swept away hundreds of yards. three survived. as did others who were trapped. rescued and able to wade away to safety in knee-high water. virginia black shot this video on her cell phone. her concern building as fast as the water rose. >> the first thought was what about the people in the vehicle, wished we could do something but started to realize we were in trouble too. >> today search crews continue their efforts to find the missing as the remains of rubber and metal were recovered, shelter for the victims one moment and a tomb the next. >> i've lived here all of my life and never seen anything like this. >> a pair of late afternoon storm cells blew over the community of hildale, utah, and colorado city, arizona. dumping

the identity of baby doe. tonight we know her name and her tragic story. nbc's ron mott reports. >> it is a case that stumped boston authorities for nearly three months. who was the little girl found dead in a trash bag in deer island in late june. today an answer. >> her name was bella. this child, whose very name means beauty, was murdered. >> murder charges have been filed against the boyfriend of bella's mother, rachelle bond, also arrested as an accessory after the fact. >> he and bond took specific steps to keep bella's death a secret and to avoid prosecution. >> reporter: the body was discovered june 25th clothed in black and white leggings and a zebra print blanket was inside of the bag. an autopsy could not determine cause of death. a computer generated image flooded tips from around the country and proved a close match to 2-year-old bella. but officials say pollen found on the clothing left them confident she was from the boston area. >> the hair looks longer in the picture but it looks like the little girl. >> acting on a tip, police executed a search warrant in the neighbor

south all the way up to new england, the first of a one-two punch hitting hard right now. nbc's ron mott with the latest. >> reporter: in maine stranded drivers, one abandoning his car for higher ground. other vehicles bathed to the hood. a day care forced to close, classes canceled, 9,000 without power. by 8:00 a.m. three to four inches of rain had fallen. three to four times as much water the drought stricken area has seen all month triggering flash flooding in streets and basements. by this afternoon totals topped half a foot. >> it's a rainy day in the neighborhood. >> reporter: in massachusetts downed trees and branches. one windshield shattered. >> i'm just waiting for aaa. >> reporter: shannon woods got stuck with three kids and had to be rescued. >> everybody's fine. we made it out safely. >> reporter: a rhode island resident captured the pounding there. the drenching region wide. a massive storm system moving through the mid-atlantic to the northeast into new england. in frederick, maryland, a collapsed roof at a construction company, no one hurt. visible beach erosion in t

ksl, out another five unaccounted for lester. >> ron mott there for us. thank you. >>> now to the other disaster in the west. the catastrophic hundreds of people out of their homes in there are a dozen large fires throughout the state but this is by far the most destructive and some who fled are returning to find nothing left. nbc's national correspondent miggalal mig air has the story. >> reporter: 600 homes in middletown, california, are suddenly gone. that is what main street used to look like. now all that is left of the two story apartment complex is two feet of ash. >> it is devastating. i've never seen anything like it. >> the homecoming for chelsea ripley is bittersweet. her house is still standing, most of her neighborhood is gone. >> it is hard to think that a plot of these people aren't going to be here any more. a lot of the town is gone and it is hard to live in a town where there is no one. >> reporter: this is winnie pugh's home saturday night and this is what it looked like today. >> i'm normally a fighter. but i can't fight any more. >> reporter: the so-called val

threatening hurricane hurricane. ron mott, nbc news, boston. >>> we turn to a story breaking late this afternoon. another apparent scandal for the secret service. this time reaching all the way to the top levels of the agency's leadership. new report finds the secret service assistant director ordered a leak of information to embarrass a congressman in retaliation for his aggressive investigations int agency misconduct. nbc's kristen welker has late details. >> reporter: a devastating report for an agency trying to make a comeback. tonight, the homeland security department's inspector general said scores of u.s. secret service employees improperly accessed ed ed agency records of congressman jason chaffetz's 2003 application to join the secret service. he applied then to become an agent and was turned down. chaffetz is the chairman of the house oversight committee and was leading the investigation into a series of recent scandals at the agency. an investigation that continues today. the report said the actions of the secret service employees could be criminal. tonight, chaffetz reacted

the night. lester? >> anne thompson, thanks. let's go to nbc's ron mott north on fifth avenue where people gathered to catch a glimpse of the motorcade. he got in that popemobile and quickly the crowd erupted. describe what it was like. >> reporter: when he went past us here, he was still in the fiat. to be honest, i think a lot of people probably missed the pope. they stood out here a couple of hours trying to get the best position. lisa smith is a native new yorker. this would have been her third pope she will have seen in person. did you actually get to see him? >> no. i was using my phone trying to take a picture and waiting for the popemobile. then all of a sudden the lady next to me said he passed. >> reporter: so it was a very quick trip, i got about two seconds. what inspired but this pope in particular? >> pope francis has a very beautiful message how we can all come together to save the environment. our environment has degraded greatly in the last 30 or 20 years. >> reporter: that clearly is an important issue to him. the closest we got up here was about 25 feet. there are