w white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. tonight, the battle to become the next house speaker after kevin mccarthy is ousted in a historic vote. the house paralyzed a day after mccarthy was removed in a vote forced by his fellow republicans. the first challengers announcing their bids to succeed him.

can any of them get the votes they need in a deeply divided party? some in the gop floating another name, donald trump. what he said about the possibility before walking out of his new york fraud trial. also tonight, the largest health care strike in u.s. history. more than 75,000 kaiser permanente workers walking off the job. how it could affect your medical care. the mass shooting at baltimore's morgan state university. five wounded. the suspect or suspects still at large. severe storms on the move in the south, and tracking storm phillippe. could it hit the east coast? a plane falling out of the sky, crashing into a home in oregon, two killed. what we're learning. opening statements in the trial of sam bankman-fried. the one-time crypto king now accused of billions in fraud. the suspect arrested in the 1996 killing of tupac shakur in court for the first time. the new evidence shown to the grand jury. making history.

simone biles leading team usa to a seventh straight victory on the world stage. good evening and welcome. if you've been wondering who would want to become speaker of the house after kevin mccarthy was unceremoniously shoved aside yesterday with a push from members of his own party, the answer has come quickly. two republicans officially stepping forward today saying they will compete for the speaker's gavel, setting off a scramble to gather support and votes from within a splintered republican caucus that's governing with a slim majority. uncertainty over the next speaker rendering congress paralyzed tonight at a critical moment. a new threat of a government shutdown looms on the not-too-distant horizon. a vote on a successor to mccarthy is at least a week away. and there are concerns tonight over the real-world impact if the process goes longer than that. we start tonight with ryan nobles.

>> reporter: tonight, the republican scramble to find a speaker. with the house now at a standstill. >> i think the view from the outside is that the house is paralyzed? >> that's a good description. the house is largely paralyzed. >> reporter: the house won't return to vote on a new leader until next week. already jumping into the race, current number two republican steve scalise. >> this is really important that we get this right. >> reporter: conservative firebrand jim jordan. >> i feel like i can unite conservative voters. >> reporter: overnight, former president trump posting, why is it republicans are always fighting among themselves? why aren't they fighting the radical-left democrats? some lawmakers floating his name for the job. >> a lot of people have been calling me about speaker. i'll do whatever it is to help. but my focus, my total focus, is being president. >> reporter: until there's a speaker, critical work is left to languish. including another potential shutdown showdown just 44 days away.

and tonight, president biden concerned about funding for ukraine, speaking to nbc's peter alexander. >> it does worry me. but i know there are a majority of members of the house and senate, both parties, who have said that they support funding ukraine. >> reporter: all of it after that historic move yesterday. eight republican hardliners joining with every democrat to remove speaker kevin mccarthy. that handful of republican holdouts upset after mccarthy worked with democrats to avoid a government shutdown and empowered by a new rule allowing just one lawmaker to call a vote to remove the speaker. >> i don't regret standing up for choosing governance over grievance. >> reporter: those conservative hardliners are not backing away. >> i just want someone who's going to keep their word to us and everyone they do deals with. >> reporter: and gop moderates are pleading to change the process. >> i think no speaker should ever have a proverbial gun to their head at the threat and the whim of one or, in this case, eight members.

>> reporter: right now, republican resentment running high against those conservative rebels. >> i think if we hung around here right now, you would probably see some folks breaking out into fistfights, and i'd love to say i'm kidding. >> ryan, we should remind folks, it took speaker mccarthy 15 rounds of voting to get the job last time. we won't see a new vote for speaker until next week? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, lester. house republicans will gather on tuesday for an internal competition for the job, but the earliest we'd see a vote on the house floor would be wednesday. only that happens after there is a candidate who's secured enough votes to become the next speaker of the house. lester? >> ryan nobles, thank you. let me bring in senior washington correspondent hallie jackson. even when a new speaker is chosen, we're still going to see this divide between the majority of republicans and this small group of holdouts? >> reporter: we are. that's a vision that you're talking about, that's the reality for the next speaker of the house there. especially if they keep this rule that lets just one member call for a vote to kick the

speaker out. these so-called republican rebels politically, they don't have much to lose. these are people you're seeing in solidly safe republican seats. but some of their gop colleagues are a lot more vulnerable in swing districts with margins that are a lot closer. if the next speaker ends up pulling the house too far to the right to placate those hardliners, those vulnerable republicans could be at risk come 2024. that means, of course, gop control of the house could be at risk. they don't have a lot of wiggle room, as we know. the longer this drags on, the more real-world impact you're going to see. a week without a speaker, okay, probably not make or break. you talk three weeks, four weeks without a speaker? it is a different story, especially when you think about that government shutdown deadline that's now just 40-plus days away. you talk about uncertainty, that could spook the markets, which is something else to watch, lester. the bottom line, a lot of questions and very few answers, lester? >> a lot of moving parts, hallie, thanks. let's turn to what may be the biggest health care strike in history.

after their contract expired, tens of thousands of kaiser permanente workers walking off the job for three days, demanding better pay and more staff. here's tom costello. >> reporter: walking the picket lines from virginia to california, colorado to the pacific northwest, pharmacists, optometrists, vocational nurses, x-ray and lab technicians demanding more pay and more staff. 75,000 kaiser permanente employees, the biggest health care strike in history. the union says many of kaiser's 13 million patients often wait months to see a doc. >> the wait times at e.r. have skyrocketed. people are in there for six, eight hours, just before they can even get seen. that's not quality health care. >> reporter: most doctors and rns are not on strike. kaiser's e.r.s and hospitals remain open. though it's now delaying some elective procedures. in california, tiffany young's 17-month-old son, kadin, was supposed to have tubes placed in his ears tomorrow to relieve

chronic ear infections and severe pain. it's been postponed until december. >> he's just in pain. it's horrible to see him. i know it's a minor surgery, but to a parent and seeing your baby hold his ears and crying, it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: kaiser says it's working on its staffing crisis, but pay remains the biggest sticking point. >> what our union partners are asking for is exponentially larger than what we are able to commit to do to be good stewards to our members and to the dollars. >> reporter: in virginia, pharmacist david houghwa says inflation is affecting everyone's lives. >> we're living in a more expensive world. for that, we need better compensation. >> reporter: the pandemic only exacerbated staffing shortages that have been building for years. now they believe they have the leverage to demand change. lester? >> tom costello, thank you. another college campus has been shaken by a mass shooting.

this time at morgan state, a historically black university in baltimore, where five young people were shot and wounded during homecoming celebrations. nbc's ken dilanian is there. >> reporter: chaos on a college campus with heavily armed police pointing rifles at frightened students in their dorm rooms. >> turn around. >> reporter: while searching door to door after a shooting at baltimore's morgan state university late last night. >> they were just, like, basically pointing the guns at anybody that they seen first. it was kind of scary. >> reporter: students packing up and heading home today as the university canceled classes and homecoming events. even postponing its football game. >> we're all going home. going home to safety. all our parents are not letting us stay. >> reporter: five people, four of them students, were shot and wounded. >> she's hit. >> reporter: when gunmen opened fire in the direction of a crowd in front of a campus dorm. treated in the hospital for nonlife-threatening injuries, police saying they were unintended targets in a dispute

between two groups and that the gunfire came from more than one shooter. >> it was crazy. just seeing people that you see around every day, just being shot. >> multiple windows shattered, shattered and made our officers believe possibly we had an active shooter. >> reporter: police initially responded by locking down campus for hours before concluding there was no active shooter. university president david k. wilson called the shooting a senseless act of violence and vowed the college will keep moving on. but this was the third year in a row that morgan state's homecoming week was marred by a shooting incident. some students' parents, fed up. >> academically, morgan has some great programs. but it's a wash if we don't feel secure enough with our students walking around the campus. >> ken, are police any closer tonight to arresting or even naming a suspect? >> reporter: unclear, lester. baltimore police have not said whether they have any leads, and students told us that makes them more reluctant to be here on

campus. lester? >> ken dilanian, thank you. watching for dangerous weather tonight in the southern plains with severe thunderstorms possible in parts of texas and southern oklahoma. dallas and oklahoma city are in the risk area for large hail, strong winds, and isolated tornados. some areas could see as much as 5 or 6 inches of rain and possible flooding. in the atlantic, we're watching tropical storm philippe. it's moving north and could brush northern new england, especially maine, with heavy rain this weekend. caught on camera in oregon, a deadly plane crash. the small aircraft seen plunging out of the sky and crashing through the roof of a home about 25 miles outside of portland. authorities say two people on the plane, a flight instructor and student pilot, were killed. a third was injured. all are in their 20s. those inside the home got out safely. here in new york, opening statements today in the trial of sam bankman-fried, the former

cryptocurrency ceo accused of orchestrating one of the biggest financial frauds in history. cnbc's kate rooney was in court today. >> reporter: a year ago, sam bankman-fried was running a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency empire. today he sat in a manhattan courtroom as opening statements began in his criminal fraud trial. the once floppy-haired billionaire, known for wearing cargo shorts and tube socks, in a gray suit and tie with noticeably shorter hair after nearly two months awaiting trial in federal custody. >> i'm getting into crypto with ftx, you in? >> reporter: the 31-year-old founded and ran ftx, endorsed by several a-list celebrities which at its peak was one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges. but the company imploded late last year. today the government describing that empire as a house of cards. prosecutors alleging bankman-fried funneled billions of customer funds from ftx and used them to buy penthouses in the bahamas, make political

donations, and bail out bad bets at his hedge fund. prosecutors told the jury he knowingly lied to customers and tried to cover up the scheme. >> prosecutors know they probably won't be able to explain cryptocurrency completely to this jury. so instead, they're going to distill it down to a simple case of fraud. >> reporter: bankman-fried has pleaded not guilty to seven criminal counts of fraud and conspiracy. his lawyers today painted him as a hard-working nerd who was acting in good faith and made what he thought were fair business decisions, adding that it's not a crime to run a company into bankruptcy or to pay tom brady to be in your commercials. >> i didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone. i didn't knowingly commingle funds. >> reporter: last year after ftx fell apart but before his arrest, bankman-fried sat down with nbc. >> i made a lot of mistakes, things i would give anything to be able to do over again. >> kate joining us now. who are the key witnesses expected to testify in this trial?

>> reporter: lester, we expect to hear from some of the company insiders that lived with bankman-fried in the bahamas. that includes caroline ellison. she's the ex-ceo of his hedge fund and his former girlfriend. potentially also his parents and his brother. but one of the biggest questions is whether bankman-fried himself will take the stand. lester? >> kate rooney, thank you. in 60 seconds, today's court appearance for the suspect of the killer of rapper tupac shakur. the never before seen evidence in the case and what shakur's brother is saying right after this. it hasn't been easy. now, i'm staying ahead of it. dupixent helps heal your skin from within. so, you can clearer skin and noticeably less itch serious allergic reactions can occur, that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pains, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent

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two weeks when he'll enter a plea and have a trial date set. duane davis says prominent attorney, edi faal, will represent him. with no comment from faal, the confessed gangster is accused of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed the famed rapper on the vegas strip in 1996. >> it's been lingering for 27 years. but i felt there was sufficient, legally admissible evidence. >> reporter: for the first time, we are now seeing the evidence prosecutors used to secure their indictment, including photos of tupac's bullet-riddled car and surveillance video of him leaving a casino. the grand jury also heard from davis himself, who in published interviews also admitted, after his nephew was attacked by tupac, he was inside the car when his nephew opened fire.

>> he leaned over, rolled down the window, pop. >> reporter: tonight, tupac's family has mixed emotions. >> i mean, the feeling was, really? there was a wow. 27 years is a long time. >> reporter: as the only man still alive in the car that night, prosecutors say davis is left to blame for one of the most infamous cold cases in u.s. history. miguel almaguer, nbc news. next for us tonight, the lasting impact of slavery and how the tale of two families is echoing throughout history.

we have a follow-up tonight to a story we first brought you over the summer. in june, reuters revealed that many of america's political leaders are descended from slaveholders. tonight, blayne alexander brings us more with a woman stunned to learn the history one of those lawmakers has with her own family. >> reporter: in the sprawling fields of rural tennessee where thousands of black americans were once enslaved, lucretia johnson flash feels living history. >> my people are buried here. >> reporter: as head of diversity and inclusion at a college, she's spent years working against slavery's lasting impact. today, a typical white family in the u.s. is eight times wealthier than a typical black family. >> the dynamics are still very much present with us. >> reporter: a recent investigation by reuters found five living u.s. presidents and at least 100 members of the last congress are all direct descendents of slaveholders.

what does that say to you about the legacy of slavery in this country? >> it says that power is passed down intergenerationally. it's not to demonize anyone for the past, but things get passed down. >> reporter: through the reuters investigation, lucretia discovered her ancestors were enslaved by families whose direct descendent is republican congressman brett guthrie of kentucky. nbc news made repeated attempts to speak with the congressman. he did not respond. >> i come from a legacy of teachers and farmers. and i think education is an incredible legacy. but that doesn't necessarily come with vast amounts of economic power, political power. >> reporter: after emancipation, while both families did face their share of struggles and successes, reuters' analysis of thousands of pages of public records shows that for lucretia's family, the craigs, often a hard-won advance was

followed by a devastating setback. when the great depression left both families in debt, the guthries found protection in bankruptcy, an option not available to many black families at the time. the craigs were forced to sell land to the state. decades later, in nashville, it happened again. lucretia's cousin, ronnie miller, lives in what was once a vibrant business district run by black families. his was one of them. >> they had a grocery store. they had a restaurant. they had an ice cream parlor. they had a whole block, just about. >> reporter: the city claimed that land to make room for new businesses and the construction of an interstate. >> for them it was devastating. >> reporter: that highway helped birth the guthrie family's multimillion-dollar auto parts company in kentucky. both ronnie and lucretia say they don't fault anyone today for actions of those long gone. >> but i would ask, how are you making sense of what you're learning? how will this shape your decisions going forward?

>> reporter: lucretia says that work still has a long way to go, in the classroom and in congress. blayne alexander, nbc news, linden, tennessee. coming up, as we continue tonight, team usa gymnasts soaring at the world championships. we're there tonight as they make your flu shot? huh. two things at once. two things at once! ♪ two things at once. i'll have the... ...two things at once, please. now back to two things at once. ♪ two things at once. that's not two things at once. moooom! travis? ask about getting this season's covid-19 shot when getting your flu shot. ( ♪ ♪ ) start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand.

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megan fitzgerald is there. >> reporter: tonight, the incredible streak continues. >> gold medalists! >> reporter: u.s. women's gymnastics team making history, clinching their seventh straight world championship title. >> it was one of my personal goals, to come back and to see what i'm capable of. so every day in the gym, it's not easy with the girls and the team and the coaches make it worth it. >> reporter: brazil taking silver, making the podium at worlds for the first time. france thrilled to take home bronze. simone biles leading the way for team usa. >> great work. >> reporter: stunning on floor. nailing her vault. >> that was nearly perfect. >> reporter: while this vault, the most difficult in women's gymnastics -- was just named for biles after she landed it during competition earlier this week. it all comes following a two-year hiatus for the 26-year-old, but she's now competing like she never missed a day in the gym. the day got off to a rough start for team usa.

17-year-old jocelyn robertson was injured during warmups and had to pull out of the competition. >> i'm really proud of the fight the team put together out there. >> reporter: but her teammates stepped up. 21-year-old shilese jones shining bright. >> this is looking smooth. >> reporter: landing a monster routine on the uneven bars. >> i felt like we had a lot of nerves, but we handled it pretty well. >> reporter: tonight, team usa looking unbeatable with just nine months to go until the paris olympics. megan fitzgerald, nbc news, antwerp, belgium. and that is "nightly news" for this wednesday. thank you for watching. i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night.

right now at 4:30, dianne feinstein lying in state at san francisco city hall. mourners are filing in to pay their respects ahead of the late senator's