September 2007 - Posts
by Lester Holt
Greetings from New York. We'll be taking a close look at food safety on tonight's edition of Nightly News. This weekend, in the face of an E. coli scare that has already sickened more than a dozen people, Topps Meat expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties to include over 21 million pounds of ground beef. Like many of you, we wondered - is it our imaginations - or have there been more food recalls lately? NBC's Dawn Fratangelo puts it all in perspective for us tonight.
Ian Williams continues his reporting on the crisis on Myanmar. He'll report on a very tense calm in the former capital of Yangon, enforced by government troops with all sides waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Pete Williams previews the big cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as it prepares to begin its fall term. On a related note, Pete last night brought us the story of Justice Clarence Thomas's soon to be released autobiography in which he breaks his silence on the sexual harassment allegations that nearly derailed his confirmation to the court. In the book he describes his accuser, Anita Hill, as "a left-winger, a mediocre employee, and someone who was touchy and apt to over react." I sat down with Anita Hill a few weeks ago, and tonight we will air that interview which includes her thoughts on Justice Thomas and the Senate hearings 16 years ago that changed both of their lives. CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt
Good afternoon from New York. General David Petraeus, who emerged relatively unscathed from the political battles in Washington over war policy, is back on a more familiar battlefield. In an NBC News television exclusive, our Richard Engel will report tonight on his tour of a Baghdad neighborhood with the General, who underscoring his testimony to congress, showed Richard what he says are concrete signs the security situation is improving.
From Afghanistan we will report on President Hamid Karzai's offer to the Taliban amid continuing violence there. CONTINUED >>
By Rehema Ellis, NBC News correspondent
He raps, he dances, and he goes headfirst down the two-story tubular slide in the school's atrium. He's not a student; he's Ron Clark, co-founder, head master, and math teacher of the new non-profit, private middle school in Atlanta that bears his name. We profile him tonight on NBC Nightly News because he's a teacher who's making a difference in kids’ lives-- most of whom are African-American, some of them with troubled backgrounds.
The thing that I found so wonderful about this new school is not just that Clark has a high-energy, even wacky approach to education but that he's brought together so many like-minded people to help him realize his goal. There are the generous donors whose support is critical to keep this non-profit enterprise going. And, of course there are the teachers. With their help Clark is restructuring the educational model so that it's more in tune with what's happening in today's world.
I'm not just talking about the high-tech hardware that graces this school and gives it a twenty-first century look. I'm talking about the approach to education that, quite frankly, is kind of old fashioned. There is a balance of manners, respect, and discipline. This is all because the school has a very rigorous curriculum that the students have to master. And as Clark says, there's not time to spare.
His right-hand partner in this venture is co-founder, and language arts teacher, Kim Beardon. Like Clark she is also an award-winning teacher. Beardon says their students will achieve high marks in the classroom because time isn't wasted on discipline issues. "They (the students) are behaving, they are listening, they are paying attention". Mix into this equation talented, smart, creative, and entertaining teachers who the kids say, make it all worthwhile and fun. The result is learning of the highest caliber.
Another thing about Clark Academy -- that I've found to be true at other top notch alternative schools I've visited -- there really is a sense of family. It's not just a cliché. The kids feel it. There's a genuine notion that everyone in the school cares about each and every one of the students. And these kids have found out that when someone cares about you, believes in you, and come hell-or -high water, refuses to let you fail, you don't fail.
Student after student said things like, "I love my teachers. They're strict but it's worth it". Another student said, "The work is hard but, I know I can do it". And with tears running down her checks an eleven-year old said, because of Clark Academy, " I'm gonna grow up and be somebody".
In just the few short weeks this new school has been open in Atlanta, kids aren't just imaging a future anymore, they're charting a road map to get there.
Find out more about Ron Clark Academy.
By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
Until President Bush spoke about it Tuesday before the United Nations General Assembly, most Americans did not know the depth of human rights abuses there. Though in less than four days, the struggle of these people in what some still refer to as Burma, has rocketed to the front pages of our newspapers, and evening newscasts, thanks to images sent out through the internet.
They show peaceful people, including Buddhist monks being chased, beaten and shot in a government crackdown.
The tragedy of Myanmar is not new, but these images, captured and sent at great risk, have brought it home. Much the same way as the images of the civil rights movement in America's south outraged the rest of the country. What we are now seeing in Myanmar violates our fundamental belief in that all humans deserve fairness and dignity.
Now tonight comes word the government is cutting off the internet, to stop the world from seeing what is happening.
On our Nightly News broadcast, where I am sitting in for Brian, you may be seeing some of the last images sent out through the internet.
Look at them. And hope that even if there is no way found for the images to get out, news organizations will find a way to report what seems an assault on decency.
By John Rutherford, NBC News producer, Washington
How much strain have extended troop deployments put on American soldiers in Iraq? I asked several Purple Heart recipients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and received a mix of opinions.
"You get a little too familiar with your surroundings, and 15 months to be over there is a long time for a person, and I wish they could come home sooner," Sgt. Jeffrey Wray, 29, of Chesapeake, Va., said. Wray was wounded by a roadside bomb in Tikrit.
Pfc. William Goodman, 23, of Concord, N.C., took a "grit and bear it" attitude to Army deployments being extended from 12 months to 15 months. (Marine deployments remain at seven months.)
"Everybody knows they have to do what they have to do, so you just have to tough it out," he said. "You gotta do your job, that's all." Goodman was injured in an ambush while on patrol in Baghdad.
First Lt. Juan Guerrero, 36, of Miami, who was wounded by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, felt the soldiers' families have had the toughest time with the longer tours.
"The families, because of the length of the deployment, the extended length, they tend to pay a higher price," Guerrero said.
Army Secretary Pete Geren acknowledged the problem but passed the buck to his field commanders.
"We moved from 12-month deployments to 15-month deployments," he told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, "to meet combatant commanders' needs in the field."
Geren made no mention of President Bush, whose decision to order a troop surge triggered the extended deployments in the first place.
Do you have an opinion? If so, we'd like to hear it. Send us your comments.
Video: Army 1st Lt. Juan Guerrero, accompanied by his 9-year-old son, Mark, speaks after being awarded a Purple Heart today at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly tribute to service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Editor's note: It's our third week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Wendi Weidner provides this photo for the Autumn In America gallery.:
"Moulton Farmstand, Gilford, N.H."
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.James L. Stone
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Company E, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division
On November 21, 1951, Lieutenant James Stone, a month away from his twenty-ninth birthday, was trying to keep warm in a desolate hilltop outpost above the Imjin River near Sokkogae. That morning his platoon, part of the 1st Cavalry, had relieved another American unit at an outpost facing the Chinese Communist forces on an opposing hill. During the day, the enemy fired white phosphorus shells at the Americans. Stone knew that this meant they were marking his position for an artillery barrage and probable assault later on.
Around 9:00 p.m., the Chinese unleashed a ferocious artillery and mortar attack. After the barrage ended, Stone radioed U.S. gunners to send up flares. When they burst high in the sky and illuminated the nightscape, he could see hundreds of enemy troops—roughly a battalion—scrambling up the hill to attack. Within minutes, the Chinese were nearly on top of Stone’s platoon. The Americans repelled this assault and five others over the next three hours. CONTINUED >>
By Subrata De, NBC News senior producer
I continue to receive regular updates from my friend in Yangon (Rangoon). He still wishes to remain anonymous on this blog. This e-mail came in late last night. With the government shutting down public access to the internet, it'll probably be the last note we see for a while.
"People are sheltering monks in their houses, at great personal risk. The monks are taking off their robes and leaving the monasteries to avoid being arrested. Several people in our neighbourhood sheltered monks last night. A lot of monasteries are empty and shuttered at the moment. There is going to be another big monks' march today. People are really, really angry, and I think that they're determined to stare down the soldiers. "
And this from one of his friends who heard there has been some resistance from the military:
"Good news! No.33 Army force refuse to shoot the people officially. So, Government ordered to No.33 Army for move out from Mandalay but they are not following the order. We need to pray for our people and real Myanmar Soldiers."
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
One of the great gentlemanly travel writers of a bygone era, Norman Lewis, once observed that “the lives of the people of the Far East are lived in public…. The street is the extension of the house and there is no sharp dividing line between the two.”
Here in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, the street is the river.
And the people’s lives are played out on the muddy waters of the world’s ninth longest river system.
One afternoon, off the River Can Tho, everywhere we looked there was human activity. An elderly man with a caved-in chest was washing his neck. A woman swung in a hammock hooked up inside a boat cabin. Teenage girls, fresh from a meal at a nearby hawker stall, rinsed their feet and hands in the water. A young man squatting on a makeshift dock was sorting eggs. Thin long boats cruised the canals, more than a few of them sporting a potted green shrub and the day’s washing. On some, dogs or cats lounged in the shade - one even sported a rooster pecking around the deck.
Further along the river, the pace stepped up. A lone fisherman gathered his net from the water, the skeleton of a new bridge (one of two in the immediate area) looming over him. We chanced upon a crane unloading loose rock and gravel from a barge onto a construction site by the riverbank. Not far, on another barge, four men sifted slowly through a pile of wood logs a dozen feet tall.
THE RIVER IS THE ROAD
Seeing all the cargo shuttled about, we begin to appreciate that here the rivers are roads.
Puttering along the water, narrow long boats and cargo ships criss-cross the Mekong’s tributaries and canals all day long -- ferrying people and goods. Lots of goods.
In Ben Tre province, we were transfixed by the sight of four men in a longboat tossing coconuts several feet UP to fellow workmen standing on a huge freighter. On a second ship moored not more than a few hundred feet away, groups of men stacked large bales of straw on top of one another.
At the early morning floating market -- a defining feature of Vietnam’s Delta region -- we filmed tradesmen plying regular and potential customers with lychees, pineapples, coconuts, limes, in fact, all manner of tropical fruits from boats bursting with locally-grown produce.
Later, as the light fell, and the sky behind us erupted into a mixture of pink and orange, the riverbank was dotted with the day’s last bit of activity. We smelled - rather than saw - cooking. Even at the widest point of one canal, fried garlic and baked bread (no joke; to the western palate, the Vietnamese baguette ranks among the finest bread in Asia) wafted out to our longboat zipping down the middle of the water.
Men of all ages - shirtless and gaunt -- washed their torsos with river water. Strips of fluorescent lighting dotted the landscape before us as families gathered for a meal. Teenagers took a last dip as the rain began to come down.
It was hard not to summon Norman Lewis once again. Although his description below from A Dragon Apparent comes from Saigon in the 1950s, it seems befitting of the Mekong Delta in the 2000s:
“Here it was the diversity of occupation that was so remarkable. There must have been many hundreds of people in sight, all busily living their own lives and most of them independently of the actions of others in their immediate neighbourhood.”
view photos from along the journey
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
We gathered today at West Point for a farewell to Gen. Wayne Downing, with full military honors. Posted below is what I wrote following Wayne's death. Today we gave our friend a fitting military tribute, accompanied by some great and heroic warriors. Following his burial, after the sound of 17 cannon rounds were fired out over the Hudson River Valley, the stillness of the gravesite was broken only by the sound of a passing train -- on the very same tracks that carried Wayne Downing here for the first time on June 6th, 1958.
We hope you can join us for our broadcast tonight, from the grounds of the U. S. Military Academy.
The following is Brian's blog entry about his friend Wayne Downing from July 19, 2007
There's a long list of people who say they are alive today thanks to retired U.S. Army four-star General Wayne A. Downing, and my name's on it.
When his mighty heart stopped beating early Wednesday morning, America lost a warrior, a patriot and a public servant. I lost a traveling companion, teacher, protector and friend.
Word of his death unleashed a torrent of emotion from the ranks of the normally stoic community of warriors. Within minutes, postings to our blog started coming in, from members of the military and civilians alike, from men who had served with him and people who had never met him. To read them is to be inspired, truly, by the power and sway one individual can have over American life. Hour after hour, our electronic gathering place has become the guest book for those who feel the need to talk about a man of so many facets: a diminutive giant, gregarious yet discreet, a soldier who taught us so much about humanity. It’s not so much a testament to the power of the Internet as it is to the power of a life in service to this country.
CONTINUED >>
By Anne Thompson, NBC News chief environmental affairs correspondent
We've all heard a lot about our "carbon footprint." Tonight, on Nightly News we are going to take a look at our "water footprint." I know, you're thinking this is going to be about low-flow toilets and drip irrigation systems. That is part of the story, but the bigger part is learning about how Americans use water. It impacts almost every aspect of our lives in large and small ways. Do you have any idea how much water it takes to produce the food you'll eat today? How about where Americans use the most water? Is it inside our homes or outside? As a country, are we using more or less water today than a couple of decades ago?
As you ponder those questions, think about Phoenix, Arizona. This desert metropolis is in the second decade of a drought, yet there are no water restrictions. Though desert landscaping is becoming more and more popular, producer Clare Duffy and I saw some people there watering their very green lawns in the middle of the day when the temperature topped 100 degrees! Clare's mom and my brother, who live about a mile apart in the coastal town of Hingham, Massachusetts would be envious. They are under water restrictions and they can't water their lawns at all.
Conservation is a hot topic in Phoenix. (Please feel free to groan at the pun) The area's water is imported. And with projections that the population will double by 2040, concerned citizens and entrepreneurs are trying to find smarter ways to use this precious resource. Growth is a big part of the economy, but Phoenix can't grow without water.
One of the most ingenious things we saw concerns pools. In Phoenix, pools are almost as plentiful as cacti. How else would you survive temperatures that top 100 degrees? But pools take a lot of water... some 16-thousand gallons on average. That water is hard, filled with minerals, and only becomes "harder" as it evaporates, leaving the minerals behind that can aggravate your skin, hair and ruin the filters and machinery needed to keep pools clean. To change the water, homeowners would have to use some 32-thousand gallons. So what's a pool owner, who doesn't want to waste water to do?
There's a company that can change the water without wasting a drop. Calsaway patented a process that does just that. Watch how it works. It is truly a fascinating process. We will also show you how one developer in Phoenix is conserving water with style. And we will answer those questions I raised at the start. I think the answers will surprise you.
Hi. Last night's debate on MSNBC has a lot of people using the words "Hillary" and "Inevitability..." but remember what the Sage of Montana Tom Brokaw always, always says about politics: UFO! the UnForseen will Occur! Also: looking back and forward on Iran, and the housing meltdown gets worse.. punctuated by a news report from Miami that's acheived instant icon status on the internet.
Salon's Tim Grieve lays out the moment where he thinks Hillary really turned into the front-runner (which included her endorsement of the Israeli strike on the alleged Syrian-North Korean nuclear facility. At least she "thinks" she knows that's what it was.) By the way, Senator Clinton also "thought she knew" Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and a nuclear weapons program back in 2002. Just sayin'. (and P.S. not "everybody" believed that stuff at the time.) Hugh Hewitt looked at the same exchange Tim Grieve looked at and pronounces Clinton "feckless." Powerline makes an argument heard in several places this morning: Clinton is running out the clock. But Andrew Sullivan thinks the perception of Clinton as Bionic Woman Who Cannot Be Stopped is overblown. Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters thinks the reason the Democrats wouldn't commit to leaving Iraq by-- gulp-- 2013 is because of... General Peteraus. And Blackfive points to a poll showing Americans disapprove of the General Betray-Us ad and tells the "haters on the anti team" to talk to the hand.
CONTINUED >>
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief health and science correspondent
Tonight we report on the latest study showing an increased risk for breast cancer among women who drink alcohol. One reason to pay attention to this study by the Kaiser Permanente Health Group is its size. It looked at more than 70,000 women over an approximately 20-year period. If confirms what may other studies have shown, but when it comes to these kind of associations, the more studies there are the more believable the association becomes.
Women who consume about one drink of alcohol a day have about a 10 per cent increased risk of breast dancer. Those who drink about 3 drinks a day have a 30 per cent increase. One of the study’s main conclusions is that it is the alcohol alone that is responsible. It does not matter if the woman drinks wine, beer or spirits. Scientists suspect that alcohol increases production of the female hormone estrogen, which can account for the increased risk of breast cancer (and also for the fact that women who drink moderately have a DECREASED risk of heart disease.)
Should women be concerned? To put these findings in perceptive it is useful to understand that women who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day have about a 2000 per cent increase in their risk for lung cancer, and while the 30 per cent increase is tiny by comparison, it is comparable to the increased breast cancer risk for woman who take long term hormone replacement (HRT)
One reason to pay attention to these relatively low risk increases is that most factors that influence breast cancer risk cannot be controlled. These include age, family history, whether a woman has children and at what age, and the age of onset of her first period. But it is also crucial to understand that these are always numbers for the general population, not for an individual. Lots of women drink heavily and never get breast cancer while the disease often strikes women who never had a drink in their lives.
One of the best guide to understanding breast cancer risk factors comes from the advocacy group: the National Breast Cancer Coalition .
There is a similar guide from the federal government’s National Cancer Institute.
But the government guide uses the word “prevention”. Unfortunately nothing is known that prevents breast cancer and we should always keep that in mind.
By John Rutherford, NBC News producer, Washington
Last week, while Congress debated whether to rein in President Bush's Iraq policy, 15 U.S. soldiers died in the war, bringing the total to 3,793 through Sept. 22. Eight of the 15 were non-combat deaths.
"These deaths [are] often caused by accidents, illness, or in a growing number of cases, suicide," according to editorandpublisher.com. "There has been an epidemic of them in recent days."
What follows is a brief tribute to each of last week's 15 casualties:
1. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Townes, 29, of Las Vegas died Sept. 16 in Balad from an undisclosed illness. He joined the Army in October 1999 as a wheeled vehicle mechanic and deployed to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division in September 2006. "The Nellis community has truly lost one of its own," the Hopper family wrote in legacy.com.
2. Army Spc. Joseph Landry III, 23, of Pensacola, Fla., had to lose 40 pounds to join the Army, so he strapped a 50-pound pack on his back and walked two miles back and forth to work at Taco Bell until he lost the weight. "He was always interested in serving, even as a child," his father told the Pensacola News Journal. Landry was one of three members of the 2nd Infantry Division killed Sept. 18 by a roadside bomb in Muqdadiyah.
3. Army Spc. Nicholas Olson, 22, of Novato, Calif., loved motorcycles, horseback riding, and skiing. He also loved his wife, Nicole, and their one-year-old daughter, Melody. Olson died in the same blast that killed Landry. "It just isn't right," a student at Olson's former high school told the Marin Independent Journal. "I hope the next person who becomes president cleans it up."
4. Army Spc. Donald Valentine III, 21, of Orange Park, Fla., married his wife, Lucia, on Sept. 22 of last year. He wrote her from Iraq about starting a family. "I'm still thinking about what to do after Iraq," he wrote in July, according to the Florida Times-Union. "If we do have a kid, I'm going to reclass to another job." Valentine was the third casualty of the Sept. 18 bombing in Muqdadiyah.
CONTINUED >>
Editor's note: It's our third week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
A late entry for Wednesday's photo of the day, Colleen Rathnapala submitted this photo last night.:
"This is the tallest Buddha in the world! 160 ft tall! This was taken in Dambulla, Sri Lanka."
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
James M. Sprayberry
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Company D, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
James Sprayberry was born in Georgia and grew up on a family farm in Alabama. He was attending college in 1966 when he decided that he needed more excitement in his life and enlisted in the Army. After basic training he went to Officer Candidate School, graduating early in 1967 as a second lieutenant. Assigned to an armor battalion at Fort Benning, Sprayberry wanted to be in action and volunteered for Vietnam.
In the spring of 1968, Lieutenant Sprayberry was in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam, serving as an executive officer with a company of the 7th Cavalry. Late in the afternoon of April 25, the day after his twenty-first birthday, his company was ambushed by a large North Vietnamese force. Within minutes, Sprayberry knew that this enemy force was more disciplined than any he had yet seen—fully controlling the forbidding terrain of mountains and heavy undergrowth, and carefully targeting the Americans with interlocking fields offire from well-protected bunkers. CONTINUED >>
By Subrata De, NBC News senior producer
I received this e-mail today from a friend living in Myanmar. He's in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and would like to remain anonymous, at least for now. It seems everyone there is clinging to the lifeline that technology has given them.
It's eerily quiet here in Yangon. It's 10:30 and the streets have been empty and more silent than I've ever heard them, ever since the curfew hour of 6 pm. The schools have been closed down until the situation normalizes. I met a student tonight who was at Shwedagon Pagoda when the riot police charged; he thinks that 2 of the monks he saw being beaten died of their injuries. Later this afternoon he saw a sit-in of monks downtown shame a cordon of riot police into giving way and letting the monks pass. Moments of horror, moments of slight hope.
My Burmese friends are sending me messages on GoogleTalk; their status messages reflect their states of mind. "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." Martin Luther King,Jr "Buddha + Suu Kyi + Students + People - Army = Democracy under Suu Kyi"
We huddle inside, listening obsessively to the BBC and checking the internet. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Rumours swirl: Than Shwe's family have fled the country, Aung San Suu Kyi has been taken to prison, 1 or 3 or 5 or more monks have been shot dead.
It has been a few days of extreme emotion here, both for us foreigners and for our Burmese friends and colleagues. After the euphoria of Saturday, Sunday and especially Monday, the menace yesterday and the violence today has deeply depressed people. We have seen the faint hope of progress and decency and good government badly damaged today, although not completely extinguished. Today as we said goodbye, perhaps forever, to my Burmese boss (our organization has closed down indefinitely), there wasn't a dry eye in the room as we realized that all our efforts to give Burmese people a brighter future may simply evaporate over the next few weeks and months.
In a country so intimately connected to George Orwell's life and work, perhaps it's appropriate to close with a quote from 1984: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face --for ever." I hope that events prove this prediction wrong, but I fear that the Burmese people will continue to live out an Orwellian nightmare for the foreseeable future, barring a miracle."
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
It was kind of a thrill, as a college dropout from the Jersey Shore, to read this morning that a gathering I attended in New York last night is getting some attention. I was part of a huge dinner in New York last night at which the president of Iran listened to and then addressed various media types, academics and think-tankers. We heard his views on love and life, human nature and Adolf Hitler, George Bush and the war in Iraq. It was equal parts delusion, attempted charm, faux humility and bluster.
To the present moment: we exited today's editorial meeting with more individual items -- more news stories to tell (that were hand-written on our pre-printed rundown of what we planned to have in the broadcast) -- than I can ever remember. It's a matter of an active number of stories around the world, a lot of our own exclusive reporting, and a ton of items that our audience needs to know about. We'll see.
Face to Face
There has been no shortage of presidential debates this year -- starting in April, a full year and a half before Election Day. The latest matchup happens tonight: the Democrats at Dartmouth, with Tim Russert. As it turns out, this is the 47th anniversary of the Great Debate that started it all: the first Kennedy-Nixon debate, broadcast nationwide from WBBM-TV in Chicago on September 26, 1960. It marked the beginning of the modern era of televised presidential politics, and John F. Kennedy’s polished performance that night gave him an edge over Richard Nixon in what turned out to be a very close election. Political pundits have been dissecting that showdown ever since -- but what did the participants themselves think? Just four days after the debate, Kennedy was asked about it in an interview with NBC’s Chet Huntley and David Brinkley:
BRINKLEY: Senator, you mentioned the debate. I think every other person in the United States has expressed an opinion about it. What is yours? What did you think of it?
KENNEDY: I thought it was very useful. We could get up and talk and give our views and make a speech, and give the arguments. But it’s like a lawyer in a court; unless you have the two lawyers together, presenting their arguments to each side, how can any judge or any jury give a verdict? … I think it does give a flavor that you could not possibly get any other way. I think it’s going to change campaigning. …
BRINKLEY: One more question about the debate. How did you think you came out?
KENNEDY: Well, I think we held our own. However, it’s like playing Ohio State. You have to play three more Saturdays.
HUNTLEY: During the next day or two after the debate, or even that night after you went to bed, did a couple dozen things go though your head, did you say to yourself, “Why didn’t I say this or that”?
KENNEDY: No, I thought that you can always improve, afterwards. But I would settle for the way it went, and it’s a -- I thought it was all right.
And Richard Nixon? 18 years and several political lifetimes later, he wrote this in his memoirs:
“It was a devastating commentary on the nature of television as a political medium that what hurt me the most in the first debate was not the substance of the encounter between Kennedy and me, but the disadvantageous contrast in our physical appearances. After the program ended, callers, including my mother, wanted to know if anything was wrong, because I did not look well.”
After his loss in 1960, Richard Nixon ran again for president -- twice -- and won both times. But he never again participated in a debate.
Please take a moment to read today's Medal of Honor biography. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Robert Bazell, NBC Chief science correspondent
The possible connection between thimerosal, a mercury preservative that was widely used in childhood vaccines through the 1990s, and autism, the common developmental disorder, is a difficult story to report. Autism leaves many children unable to communicate with the world, including their parents. Often the children are disabled in many ways. Caring for an autistic child is one of the greatest burdens any parent could face. Because mercury can indeed be a poison to the nerves and because children are often diagnosed at the time they get vaccinated, it is easy to understand why many parents would make the connection.
A federal study, out today in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at the connection between a mercury-based preservative and children’s vaccine. It does not directly concern autism, but it is very closely related to the ongoing dispute. Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control headed the effort where 1,047 children, aged 7 to 10 years, underwent a battery of tests measuring language, verbal skills, intelligence and fine motor coordination. Because the children were enrolled in large health insurance groups the scientists had good data on how much themerosal they had been exposed to earlier in life. For the vast majority of measurements the scientists did not find any correlations between thimerosal exposure and these neurophysiologic outcomes.
Many scientists outside the study say it would be difficult to see how thimerosal could cause something as severe as autism without causing huge changes in these measurable parameters.
You can see the study itself at content.nejm.org.
Two things to note: This is certainly not the end of this argument. Until researchers truly understand the cause of autism, no hypothesis can be ruled out. And parents who are now getting their children immunized should realize that, with the exception of some formulations of flu vaccine, there is no more than the smallest trace amounts in thimerosal remaining in any childhood vaccine
By Peter Alexander, NBC News correspondent
The irony is impossible to miss. Until he's sentenced on November 20, Warren Jeffs, the convicted leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamous sect, will be behind bars at Purgatory Correctional Facility here in Hurricane, Utah.
In fact, in the mid-1850's, pioneers named this part of southwestern Utah "Purgatory Flats." Not far from the spectacular scenery of Zion National Park, this area is known for its red rock and giant bluffs. Anticipating Jeffs might find sympathetic residents in this part of the country, not far from the isolated towns along the Utah-Arizona border where most of his 7,500 followers live, I was surprised to find so many of those here ecstatic about his conviction. Just 120 miles outside Las Vegas, this is one of the fastest-growing communities in the West. Years ago, settlers here thought these were the Badlands, today, developers and retirees are more likely to view them as the "Good Lands."
Following Tuesday's verdict -- where police spotters and snipers surrounded the courthouse in St. George, Utah -- security remains tight. Before our live reports this morning on TODAY and MSNBC, we contacted the Washington County, Utah Sheriff Kirk Smith for permission to be outside the jail. He agreed, but wanted specific details about where we would be and what time we would be there. "We're still a little on edge," he said, adding that authorities didn't know what to expect from the FLDS.
Although Jeffs could face life in prison, it's unclear how his conviction will affect his standing within the FLDS. To his followers, Jeffs is a living prophet, who speaks directly with God and delivers the word of God. Being behind bars does not change his stature. While Jeffs no longer runs the FLDS' day-to-day operations, it's believed he is trying to continue to lead from behind bars.
CONTINUED >>
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Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Robert E. Simanek
Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division
Like other young men who grew up in the Detroit area, Robert Simanek went to work in the auto industry after high school. He was employed by General Motors when war broke out in Korea. Having two uncles who had served in the Marines during World War II helped him decide to become a Marine himself.
Private First Class Simanek became a radio operator. He had been in Korea for about six months when his unit encountered Chinese troops in mid-August 1952, at a place called the Hook, near Panmunjom. The Marines had been occupying a forward observation post called Irene on high ground during the day, when they had air support, and relinquishing it to the enemy during the night. On the morning of August 17, a sixteen-man patrol was sent to reclaim the post for the daylight hours, with Simanek as their radioman. The platoon sergeant happened to take a new route to the position, and that kept them from walking right into the company of Chinese troops waiting in ambush. As they reached the post, however, the enemy opened fire with mortars and machine guns. CONTINUED >>
By Martin Fletcher, NBC News correspondent
You hear a lot these days about sustainable resources, forest degradation, sensitive ecosystems and water-borne disease. So much that it all begins to fade into incomprehensible eco-jargon. A bit like the war of the Bosnian-Herzogovians against the Serbo-Croats, which one writer described as a war of the unspellables against the unpronounceables. It all seems a long way away. What’s it got to do with me?
But up close and personal, it’s different. In a clinic near the Masai Mara in Kenya, the smallest unit of the Kenyan health system, my NBC News team and I crammed into the tiny room of surgical officer Richard Lemiso, and watched as a stream of worried mothers entered carrying their sick babies. Most had walked miles to visit this last beacon of hope, the man in the white coat.
Fever, diaorreah, stomach cramps, vomiting, sweating. The tiny faces either serene in sleep, or contorted in pain. The mood – resigned. The cause was almost always the same – dirty water. The diagnosis – typhoid, dysentery, dehydration, all potential killers.
This is the process, put very simply: trees have been cut for firewood, or died from disease, or been broken by large animals like elephants near the water springs. This allows other animals and cattle to approach and their feces and germs to enter the water source. That changes the balance between water for animals and water for people, dirtying the water available for villagers.
In other words, forest degradation harms the sensitive ecosystem, which reduces sustainable resources and leads to water-borne disease.
And so twelve-year-old Patrick sits in front of Nursing Officer Richard Lemiso and hears the verdict – typhoid. Again. He’s suffered from one water-borne disease or another every year of his life. His father James says it wasn’t always like this. Once his Masai village drank water from the same spring and nobody fell sick.
“So what’s changed?” I asked.
“Too many people today, too many animals, the water gets dirty.” he answered. Population growth, increased herd sizes, and all competing for declining amounts of water, because more is used for agriculture, which is expanding.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
The helicopter that just flew over 30 Rock heralded the approach of yet another motorcade past our building on 6th Avenue a short time ago. This was a big one -- not the President, but the next level down -- possibly Ahmadinejad, on the way to his United Nations speech. I looked out my window and saw a menacing sight, familiar from my days covering the White House: the agents in the back of the black Suburban following the lead car, their feet propping the rear passenger doors open slightly, their fingers at the trigger of automatic weapons on their laps, at the ready.
New Yorkers wishing to travel by air this Thanksgiving are being warned to leave for the airport now. The gridlock is awful here -- and with President Bush in town, it's worse.
We took home two Emmys last night. I am enormously proud of this team. That the awards were both for foreign news coverage says something great about this broadcast, I think. I'm blessed to be surrounded by the best in the business, every day.
CONTINUED >>
By Robert Bazell, NBC's chief science correspondent
On tonight’s show we tell another segment of Shams’ story, and if people want to help her and other children like her there is information below
When we first saw the a five year old Iraqi girl rushed by an American patrol into the 28th Combat Support in Baghdad she was a bundle of bloody rags. A U.S. platoon on patrol found her just after an insurgent’s mortar exploded where she was playing. Her leg was severed. Her arm was shattered an she had shrapnel in her abdomen.
The doctors of the 28th were at first doubtful she could be saved. But they performed their typical heroics and she made it. He next day her mother Najet made her way into the hospital in the Baghdad’s Green Zone. I cried when I watched their reunion.
Sham’s recovered but there were big questions. She still had her arm but without intensive treatment it could not be saved In Iraq there is no such thing as rehabilitation. Where would she go?
While we were there a military unit that specializes in such cases contacted Dan McFerrin, a contractor who runs the Iraqi operations for ECC, a huge contractor. McFerrin generously offered to arrange for the transpiration. And Shriners a group of 22 hospitals in North America that magnificently treats children with burns and severe orthopedic problems free of charge offered to care for her.
CONTINUED >>
By Lee Cowan, NBC News correspondent
Along our journey, our production crew Christiana Arvetis, Ray Farmer, Dennis Frye and I sought the perfect spot to capture the essence of this remote area for my standup.
There are few better places to show just how beautifully desolate the Great Basin valley is than along parts of I-93 between Baker and Castleton. The Wilson Creek mountains rise up off the flat desert floor into picture perfect blue skies. There are nothing but jack rabbits, crows and sage brush that seems to stop crowing when it gets about knee high. Even the clouds here look different here. If you're looking for a place to be truly alone -- whether to think, whether to camp, whether to just go for a long dive. This place is it. Just bring your own water and a full tank of gas. Rest stops are few and far between.
By Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC News chief medical editor
This week the American Cancer Society published a review of Breast Cancer Facts and Figures for 2007-2008. The report gives us an in-depth look at how well we are doing in the on-going battle against breast cancer. Some of the numbers are known to us: 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer in her lifetime. But other than that statistic, you have to look deeper and realize that this cancer is affecting white women and women of color quite differently.
White women are more likely to get breast cancer AFTER the age of 40. In contrast Black women have a higher chance of getting breast cancer BEFORE the age of 40. Even more striking is the fact that Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer at every age. They are 36% more likely to die from their cancer than White women. The reasons cited include lack of health insurance, access to mammography, late stage cancer at the time of diagnosis, and limited access to cutting edge treatment. Tumor biology, making tumors more aggressive, may also play a role.
The multiple causes of these disturbing numbers may be numerous and a motivation for all of us to re-focus our collective energies.
These numbers are sobering - and remind us all once again that early detection is part of the problem but addressing disparities in the healthcare system is just as important.
Dr. Snyderman will have more on NBC Nightly News
Editor's note: It's our third week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo of note is from John Pickens:
"Here are some pictures of the April Sound Country Club fire."
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Hi. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Manhattan adventure culminates today at the U.N., after yesterday's rather rude welcome at Columbia (denying the existence of stuff like the Holocaust and homosexuality doesn't really play, does it?) but amid all the sound and fury, new signs that the "new product rollout" (war with Iran) is proceeding apace. A tale from Syria that gets curiouser and curiouser seems to be related, at least tangentially. An effort to explain a "Bent Spear" incident -- unauthorized flying nukes -- raises more questions.
And AP previews Ahmadinejad's UN speech. Salon's Koppelman and Herbaugh capture the mood of yesterday's visit to Columbia with the log-line: we're so glad you're here so we can tell you you're an a**hole. Hugh Hewitt still thinks Columbia disgraced itself. And if you really want to drill down into the argument that no one has been helped more by the war in Iraq than Iran, read Peter Galbraith's NY Review of books piece (via Salon) "Mission Accomplished." And re: President Bush's U.N. speech: a swipe or two at the U.N. on the freedom agenda. But hey, one of these things is not like the others: North Korea, Iran, Syria, Belarus.
So maybe the answer to that dilemma is to attack Iran then, right? Rupert Murdoch's The Times (of London) reports that a team has been assembled to "think outside the box" to make the coming attack effective. More from the (London) Guardian. Newsweek's Ephron and Hosenball think Israel will be the Decider. Jim Lobe at IPS looks at a recent Op Ed and sees an explanation for the case for war: Bush as Dissident President. Oh, and there's a Sense of the Senate resolution (co-sponsored by Senator Lieberman of Connecticut) authorizing war with Iran in the Defense Appropriations Bill -- nice catch Leslie at No Quarter.
Now to that mysterious air attack on Syria by Israel two and a half weeks ago. The NYT's Mazzetti and Sanger only go so far as to say it "raises questions" about whether North Korea is helping Syria develop nuclear weapons. But others are going much further than that. Once again the Times (of London) and Sarah Baxter -- the same reporter who briefed us above on preps for the coming war with Iran. It turns out the air raid on Syria wasn't just an air raid. According to Baxter's sources, Israeli commandoes snuck into Syria disguised as Syrian military personnel, infiltrated the nuclear weapons facility, STOLE the nuclear material, tucked it away, and high-tailed it back to Israel. THEN they called in the air strike. And whattya know, Israeli scientists confirmed that the nuclear material was indeed from North Korea. I don't know about you, but I don't even think Tom Cruise would buy that. And apparently I'm not alone in that assessment. Nonproliferation expert (and Iraq war opponent) Joseph Cirincione. And an update: Aussie blogger lataan. Noobster sees a familiar cast of characters at work. ArmsControlWonk says the Syrian target was plain old SCUD missiles and for good measure throws cold water on speculation about Syrians using existing technology for nuclear weapons. And RawStory has the first challenge to a nuclear connection by "unnamed intel officials" and a former Bush 41 counterterror chief. (Hat tip: Cursor.org) And here's yet another theory.. what the Israelis "snatched" wasn't nuclear material but nuclear scientists.
OK so why would "sources" circulate a story that would simultaneously create a new axis of evil (Iran-North Korea-Syria) and reestablish Israel's military supremacy (not to mention their place as masters of unrivaled derring-do, not the guys who fought the goons from Hezbollah to a draw last year). Here's a possibility: the rollout.
Pivoting now to that story about nuclear weapons being loaded onto a B-52 and flown across the country. The Washington Post's Warrick and Pincus try to explain what in military parlance is called a "Bent Spear" incident, hewing to the official line that it was a bad accident. Larry Johnson notes several holes in the story and generally isn't buying it. And SpookInTheMachine puts more meat on the criticism of the WaPo. (Hat Tip GR3 in No Quarter comments.)
Politics: Roger Simon of Pajamas Media writes about how the ad rate given to MoveOn.org by the NYT exposes the Times' "institutional bias" (maybe he's not familiar with Judith Miller). But the Carpetbagger Report picks up on MSNBC's David Schuster's revealing question to a Tennessee GOP Congresswoman. Rep. Marsha Blackburn showed in an interview that she'd been thoroughly briefed on such things as New York Times ad rate sheet, stock price and recent layoffs, but had no idea who the last soldier from her district to be killed in Iraq was.
TalkingPointsMemo looks at a remark from the White House that Barack Obama is intellectually "lazy" combined with a follow-up email from the RNC on Obama's "Razzle Dazzle" and sees ugly code words. Here's the email.
Mortgage meltdown and the bad news just keeps on coming: existing home sales fell to the lowest level in five years last month. The WSJ has the news. And as you'd expect, prices fell too -- as the WSJ's economics blog points out. (But probably not enough yet, if you look at months of supply, which was 10 in August. Six months is seen as healthy, normal inventory.) Minyanville's Kevin Depew puts some perspective on all the numbers. And adds some pithy commentary on the UAW stike as well.
And some food for thought on what caused the 1987 stock market crash via Matthew Rees in The American. (Hat tip: Bimmerrat at Tickerforum).
And if a lot of the above stuff makes you feel vaguely nauseated... well you've got company, according to the second-most watched video on YouTube right now. (The most-watched is a Halo 3 preview.. and on that one, I admit I am completely and totally stumped.)
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Clarence E. Sasser
Private First Class, U.S. Army Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division
When Clarence Sasser was drafted in 1967, he assumed that he would be just another GI. After a battery of tests indicated he should be trained as a medical aidman, he was surprised that the Army thought he might have the ability to save lives.
By the fall of 1967, Sasser was in Vietnam with the Army’s 9th Infantry Division. He didn’t experience a heavy firefight until January 10, 1968. Early that morning, his company was flown out toward the Mekong Delta on a reconnaissance-in-force operation to check out reports of enemy forces in the area. At about 10:00 a.m., the dozen helicopters carrying the undermanned company of slightly more than one hundred soldiers swooped down onto a large rice paddy near where the Vietcong had already been sighted. As the formation descended, the U-shaped wooded area nearly enclosing the landing zone erupted with small arms, recoilless rifle, machine-gun, and rocket fire. The mission might have been aborted, but the lead helicopter was hit and crashed, so the others immediately followed to protect it. CONTINUED >>
By Margie Lehrman NBC News Senior Producer
I've been watching with great interest and a sense of deja vu the turmoil surrounding the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University today.
I'm doubly interested because (a) I'm a graduate of Columbia (the Graduate School of Journalism); and (b) Columbia's president Lee Bollinger and I attended the University of Oregon at the same time back in the (ahem) '60s. Even then, Lee was a BMOC.
During our time at Oregon (UO), Lee and I were touched by the Civil Rights Movement, the Free-Speech movement, the Vietnam War, the John F. Kennedy assassination, and other consciousness-raising events.
One in particular is pertinent here -- when the UO invited U.S. Communist Party secretary Gus Hall to speak on campus. For anyone who didn't live through the Cold War, the sheer evil of just the word "communist" can't be overemphasized. Gus Hall was the personification of Evil.
Campus was in an uproar. Faculty debated faculty. Students debated students. And most parents were totally freaked out (which of course made us want to hear what Gus Hall had to say even more).
When the evening finally arrived, more than 11,000 people went to hear the communist, Gus Hall. (We had fewer than 10,000 students enrolled at the time.) Well, guess what. The following morning, students did NOT rush out to join the Communist Party.
In fact, Evil had passed through Eugene, Oregon, and the sky hadn't fallen. Gus Hall still was the hot topic on campus, but now with a bit of derision. Oz had come and gone.
What everyone had feared leading up to the Gus Hall visit was, simply, the unknown. What would Gus Hall say? Would he corrupt our young people?
That single event was one of the most enduring lessons I took away from the UO. We might not like what someone has to say, but that person has the consitutional right to say it. In fact, in our listening, we learn and we become wiser and stronger.
That Lee Bollinger led the institution that invited President Ahmadinejad is no surprise. Bollinger, the young man from eastern Oregon, graduated from the UO and went on to attend Columbia's Law School, Clerk for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, teach law, become Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, president of Michigan, and along the way, one of the pre-eminent scholars in free speech and the First Amendment.
Today he put his money where his mouth is. My guess is: Eugene, Oregon understands.
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
Correspondents Kevin Tibbles, Don Teague and Mark Potter were all spotted in our newsroom today -- representing our outposts in Chicago, Dallas and Miami, respectively. That can only mean one thing: it's News Emmy night tonight in New York. On top of the criss-crossing motorcades of the U.N. gathering, there will be crazed journalists on the road this evening. A recipe for disaster. Telltale sign that staff members are heading for a formal dinner tonight after work? Everybody's hair looks really good. That and the garment bags hanging in the closet.
All the excitement today was uptown from here, at Columbia -- Andrea Mitchell will cover the speech and the reaction. We've got Detroit covered tonight, and we begin a series we're excited about, concerning a valuable resource on this planet.
Finally, who says the internet isn't a tool for education, social change and community? Over 1.5 million people have visited this website.
Please take time to read today's Medal of Honor biography, and we sure hope to see you for tonight's broadcast.
By Robert Windrem, Investigative producer for special projects
One battle line not discussed in the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama fight for the 2008 presidential nomination is the battle between Yale and Harvard. Sen. Clinton has a degree from Yale Law School. Sen. Obama has a degree from Harvard Law.
If Clinton becomes president, she would be the sixth US president with a degree from Yale, and the fourth consecutive. If he goes all the way, he would become the eighth and the second straight to have a degree from Harvard. George W. Bush has degrees from Yale (B.A.) and Harvard (M.B.A.), the only president with degrees from both.
Bush is the fifth US president with a degree from Yale, the fourth of the last six and the third consecutive.
The Yale presidents:
27. William H. Taft BA 1878
38. Gerald Ford Law 1941
41. George H. W. Bush BA economics 1948
42. William Clinton Law 1973
43. George W. Bush BA history 1968
In fact since 1972, at least one Yale graduate has run for either president or vice president on the Democratic and/or Republican tickets.
The Yale contenders:
1972 - Sargent Shriver
1976 - Gerald Ford
1980 - George H. W. Bush
1984 - George H. W. Bush
1988 - George H. W. Bush
1992 - George H. W. Bush and William Clinton
1996 - William Clinton
2000 - George W. Bush and Joseph Lieberman
2004 - George W. Bush and John Kerry
And that list doesn't include Dick Cheney, a Yale dropout. Bush is also the third president who was a member of Skull and Bones while at Yale, following Taft and his father George H.W. Bush.
Yale is second only to Harvard in the number of alumni who have achieved the presidency. Seven US presidents have earned degrees from Harvard although, as noted, President Bush counts twice.
CONTINUED >>
Editor's note: It's our third week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo of note is from Marilyn Nagy:
"Storm on its way in Naples, Florida. From the depression that started on the East Coast. Had rain on and off all day."
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
George T. Sakato
Private, U.S. Army Company E, 442nd Regimental Combat Team
In 1942, George Sakato’s family moved from California to Arizona, to avoid being sent to an internment camp for Japanese Americans. The twenty-one-year-old Sakato tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps but was rejected because of his draft status—4-C, undesirable alien. Then in 1943, because of the exploits of Japanese Americans in the Hawaiian National Guard’s 100th Infantry Battalion in battles at Salerno, Montecassino, and Anzio, the government allowed other Japanese Americans in the service. Sakato enlisted in the Army, joining his older brother, Henry, who had volunteered before Pearl Harbor. After finishing basic training in the summer of 1944, the brothers were sent to Naples as replacements for the “Go for Broke” Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated American unit in the war.
CONTINUED >>
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
I heard the squelch of Anil’s feet on the waterlogged path well before he arrived at the door of my hut.
“Problem with boat,” he announced in a very matter-of-fact way.
“Problem?” I asked groggily, having just emerged from under my thick mosquito net.
“Yes,” he replied. “Boat sank. You want tea?”
All night the heavy rain had pounded our huts. It came in intense waves, the wind rattling doors and window frames, and by morning the village was sitting in a mud soup, the bloated river lapping high against protective dirt walls.
Our small boat had been among several moored in what the night before had been a protected inlet, and several young boys were now working with old pans and leaking buckets to bail them out and pull them further up the receding river bank. They chatted and laughed, slipping and falling in the mud. But with the rain still falling it seemed like a hopeless task.
For Anil, our taciturn Bengali host – a man who could coolly describe the latest cobra attacks or the tiger tracks he’d found in the village – the tropical storm sweeping from the Bay of Bengal was little more than an annoyance.
Within two hours he’d rustled up a bigger boat – “this one will make it,” he told us in an attempt to reassure - and the mud-splattered NBC team, guided by the helping hands of scores of amused villagers, was soon making its way gingerly across a thin plank and onboard the bobbing vessel for the five-hour river and road journey back to Calcutta.
The village in which we’d spent the night was on a small island in the Sundarbans, which lie at the mouth of the River Ganges, where India’s most revered river empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The monsoon rains here are intense, and being caught in the middle of it does leave you wondering how India could possibly have a water shortage.
CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt
Good afternoon from New York. The annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations is always sure to get New Yorkers grumbling. It's usually not over foreign policy, but rather something more immediate: traffic. Parts of the city will be in virtual lock down as dignitaries are shuttled to and from events. For the rest of us it means gridlock and street closures. There is, however grumbling of a more serious nature over the visit here of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This IS over foreign policy, as well as his statements about Israel, and his country's support of terrorism. He's arriving this evening amid great controversy over an appearance at Columbia University Monday night. The University is under pressure from some students as well as some New York politicians to cancel the speech. Tonight NBC's Rehema Ellis will report on the outcry over Ahmadinejad's visit, and the reception he's expected to get at the United Nations. CONTINUED >>
by Martin Savidge, NBC Correspondent
JENA, La.-- More accurately what's a tree stump worth?
Calvin Hardy was wondering that very same thing when I found him leaning on his old red pick-up truck a block from the Jena courthouse...
The stump was the so called "White tree" the tree that used to offer shade at the local high school under which, so the story goes, only whites could sit beneath. The same tree from whose branches 3 nooses were hung when an African American student asked to share its shade.
"Is that the tree?" I asked. Hardy pulled out the copy of his receipt showing how the Lasalle parish school board paid him $500 to take it down and get rid of it. "They said it was causing contention and they wanted it gone."
Hardy said, "They didn't say what the problem was."
So in just three hours on July 23rd, Hardy cut down the live oak that he said looked to have stood about 35 years.
"It was a good tree... There was nothing wrong with it," Hardy said.
He took the tree to his cousin's house and dumped down a slope to keep the soil from slipping.
Time passed and though the tree was dead it's impact continued to grow...
Altercations followed, the school burned, 6 black teens beat a white classmate. Charges were filed. A trial was held. And the shadow of a tree began to be felt across a nation.
CONTINUED >>
by Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief Science Correspondent
Tonight, we report the latest in research into possibly prolonging life by drastically restricting caloric intake. For more than 70 years scientists have known that the one thing that makes lab animals --from worms and fruit flies to rats and mice -- live longer is to put them on a calorie-restricted diet.
Today we focus on the latest studies involving rhesus monkeys at the University of Wisconsin Regional Primate Center. It is important to note that this research does not involve the equivalent of a person going on a diet to lose weight. In the studies, animals get about three quarters of the amount of calories that would normally be necessary to maintain body weight but with nutritional supplements so they do not suffer from vitamin deficiencies or other problems that can come with an inadequate amount of food.
The monkeys on the calorie restricted diet so far have less diabetes, heart disease and other health problems. The experiment began in 1989 and so the monkeys are approaching the end of their normal lifespan and soon the longevity data will be in.
Already there is a small group of people who so believe in the calorie restricted diet they are trying it themselves. In our piece tonight we feature a couple Meredith Averil and Paul McGlothin who have been on the diet for 14 years. They have a book called "The CR Way" coming out in the spring and you can checkout their Website. We have far more video of our interview with the couple here.
Most Americans would find it difficult to eat so little for so long for an uncertain result.
CONTINUED >>
by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
People I know who are normally NOT given to conspiracy theories are having a field day with this week’s dual, rare occurrences.
Two cabs went up in flames, days apart, both in Midtown Manhattan, both of them parked outside the headquarters of major media outlets, NBC and the New York Times. A friend of mine in law enforcement today did admit these dual incidents set off “alarm bells” with him, though he says the cab driver in the NBC incident tells a story that “sounded at first as if it checked out.” Thankfully, both fires were among the most photographed in recent memory, as we streamed out of our headquarters building, cameras ready to shoot...as did our friends at the Times. With the massive U.N. gathering next week, a friend says the “tempo has been upped” in Midtown in terms of security, both visible and invisible. Step away from this situation and think of what 9-11 continues to do to us. While cabs don’t customarily burst into flames while on their daily rounds, and while it’s probable that this was an odd coincidence... that shadow of a doubt... is a relatively new dynamic in this City and in this country.
In the same conspiratorial vein (though this one’s harmless) some are having a field day on YouTube with the fact that Rudy Giuliani has now been interrupted TWICE... while giving a major speech... by a cell phone call from his wife.
Today, I can officially leak some special coverage we’re planning: look for Nightly News to take an expanded role soon in honoring the men I serve in a volunteer capacity: the recipients of the Medal of Honor. Speaking of whom, please don’t miss today's biography.
We have a good broadcast planned for tonight, with some first-rate reporting—and since its Friday, our popular Making A Difference segment, which never disappoints. Thanks to all those who wrote me/us this week—we continue to enjoy your emails (okay, well, except 1 or 2 now and then) and obviously we read and reflect on all of them.
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here (as the man says) on Monday night. I hope you can join us for tonight’s Friday edition of Nightly News.
by Vicky Bernal, NBC producer
Last Friday, three families who lost loved ones to the 9/11 attacks came to our studios to share with us memories-memories of a mother, of a husband and of a son. It was a tough day. Six years later their pain is still so real, and still so great. As you heard them tell their stories your heart couldn't help but break. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.
They brought pictures, they brought quilts, but it was the everyday items that these people touched and used that really tells the story of who they were. There's the ring that was recovered from the 9/11 rubble that belonged to Rosemary Smith. Rosemary bought that ring for herself after surviving the bombing of the World Trade Center in '93 and she was wearing it on that fateful September day.
Brian already shared with you how the Voices of September 11th Living Memorials are documenting these stories and artifacts in a digital archive. But we wanted to make the extended interviews with these families available because six years later, twenty years later, a hundred years later, it's these memories of who these people were, the lives that they touched that we want to keep alive. (WATCH VIDEO)
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Alejandro R. Ruiz
Private First Class, U.S. Army 165th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division
Alejandro Renteria Ruiz was born and raised in New Mexico, the son of a Mexican immigrant who had been an officer in Pancho Villa’s army. In 1944, twenty-year-old Ruiz was driving to Texas to see his girlfriend when he got into a legal scrape. He went before a judge who gave him a choice between the Army and jail. Ruiz enlisted.
After training at Fort Bliss and Fort Ord, Private First Class Ruiz shipped out with the 165th Infantry. His unit landed on Okinawa in April 1945. On April 28, his company, exhausted from a series of engagements with Japanese troops in heavily fortified positions, was moving down into a deep ravine. The Japanese let his unit pass by a well-camouflaged pillbox before opening fire and lobbing grenades. As the Americans tried to find cover while Japanese grenades rained down on them, Ruiz saw his comrades falling all around him; after just a few minutes, only he and his squad leader had escaped injury.
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Editor's note: It's our second week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
The best photo received today is from Sloane Chen from La Jolla, Calif.:
"Andy MacDonald, professional skateboarder, Action Sports Tour in San Diego, CA, Sept. 14, 2007."
Happy Friday everyone!
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Nineteen U.S. soldiers and Marines died in Iraq last week, Aug. 9-15, pushing the war's total up to then to 3,773. Here are the names and faces behind the statistics:
1. Army Sgt. Alexander Gagalac, 28, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, was suppose to come home from Iraq today. "His plan was to get out of the Army, maybe take a break, and go to school," his twin brother, Alexis, told the Honolulu Advertiser. But Gagalac was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his Humvee in Hawijah, Iraq, on Sept. 9. He was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division.
2. Army Staff Sgt. Courtney Hollinsworth, 26, of Yonkers, N.Y., served in Afghanistan in 2002, participated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and returned in February for a second tour in Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division. "He just loved the Army," his uncle told the New York Daily News. "I think that's what he was born to be." Hollinsworth was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Sept. 9. He leaves behind a new wife and stepchild.
3. Army Pfc. Sammie Phillips, 19, of Cecilia, Ky., joined the Kentucky National Guard last year and left for Iraq last month. "He was one of our best gunners, the absolute cream of the crop," his commander wrote from Iraq. "He was always ready to go." Phillips died in a vehicle rollover in Rustamiyah, Iraq, on Sept. 10. He is survived by his 19-year-old widow, Ashley Marie.
4, Marine Cpl. Carlos Gilorozco, 23, of San Jose, Calif., had a 3-month-old son, Kenny, who was born after he deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Marine Division. "I miss u my chiquito," he wrote Kenny. "I can't wait until me and u go get a hair cut together and go in a green grass and play ball." His letter arrived the day after he was killed on Sept. 10 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province.
5. Marine Lance Cpl. Jon Hicks, 20, of Atco, N.J., was killed in the same incident as Gilorozco. Hicks had joined the Marines in 2006 to become a cop. "He wanted to be a policeman badly, and he believed if you've been in the Marines, you'd be the first chosen to be on the force," his grandmother told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Hicks would have turned 21 next month. "Only 20," his neighbor told the Newark Star Ledger. "Such a terrible loss."
The following seven members of the 82nd Airborne Division were killed Sept. 10 when their truck rolled over in Baghdad:
6. Army Staff Sgt. Yance Gray, 26, of Ismay, Mont., was one of five members of his high school graduating class of 18 to join the military. "My son was a soldier in his heart from the age of 5," his mother told the New York Times. He was also one of the authors of an Aug. 19 op-ed piece in the Times critical of the U.S. war effort. "We operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies," Yance and five other soldiers wrote. Yance leaves a widow, Jessica, and a daughter, Ava, born in April.
7. Army Staff Sgt. Gregory Rivera-Santiago, 26, of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, was on his third tour in Iraq. "He had been gone on deployment so often," his widow, Brooke, told the Virgin Islands Daily News. "He promised that when he got back this time, we would go on actual dates." His survivors include their three children, Ayani, 4, Gregory Jr., 2, and Xiomara, 7 months. "Ayani just asked, 'Who will be my daddy now?" Brooke said in the Daily News.
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By Alison Stewart, NBC News contributor
40 is not the new 30 when it comes to a woman's fertility.
This was the topic of discussion between me and a friend over a glass of wine. She confided in me the lengths she was going to with the hopes of getting pregnant. She suggested I pitch the story.
I think for those of us born after the Kennedy assassination but before Watergate the notion of a biological clock seemed somehow tinged with sexism. However the reality is your fertility declines dramatically as you get older. End of story.
So what to do? Curse out mother nature? Find a time machine. Not likely. The answer-get a financial plan. Educate yourself about your options. Seek out a reputable fertility clinic and hopefully you'll find as compassionate a doctor as Dr. Richard Scott from Reproductive Medicine Associates with whom I spoke for this story.
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I watched something play out at the President's news conference today that, as I recall it, had its beginnings at the lunch for television journalists at the White House last week. The discussion turned towards why there "weren't any Nelson Mandelas in Iraq..." (meaning, of course, a powerful, charismatic force for peace among the population, rising up to lead). The point was made that perhaps Saddam Hussein had long ago suppressed or exterminated all possible candidates for that role. Today it resulted in the President's soundbite (as it will be excerpted) "Mandela's dead!" when of course Nelson Mandela is alive and well and living in South Africa.
It was an interesting press conference in terms of the President's demeanor and the interpersonal dynamic on display, to say nothing (actually, tonight, we will say a lot) about his answers to various questions -- including, but not limited to, the MoveOn.org ad aimed at General Petraeus and the incident (and David Gregory's question) involving the Israeli military and Iran. As we reported here last week, the President reacted violently to the MoveOn.org ad last week in that background lunch session -- and since word of that sort of thing gets around quickly, there was every reason to believe that a question along those lines today would have mined a similar response. It did.
On the subject of Iran, I came across a fascinating blog post today -- which, readers should be reminded is NOT a pitch for a major motion picture.
We will have extensive reporting tonight on Jena, Louisiana -- a story that has lit up the internet and energized many people to mobilize.
Please take time to read today's Medal of Honor biography.
Please join us for tonight's broadcast.
Editor's note: It's our second week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
The best photo received today is from Matthew Carpentier:
"This picture was taken by my wife, Alexis. It's the last kiss I gave my son, Devlin, before I left for the AOR (area of operations). I love you, Devlin Bailey. I love you, Alexis. Thank you for being there for me when I need you the most."
It's an interesting photograph to feature today, as the war debates rage on... and as Senate Republicans yesterday rejected the Webb amendment, a proposal to lengthen the home leaves of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click here to see more photos of troop homecomings and departures.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Hi. Lots to catch up on today.. including a Presidential Q&A, the counter-argument on criticizing General Petraeus, and lots of assurances that the econmy is A-OK.. except if you're talking about the value of the dollar. First a quick apology for the unplanned hiatus from this space. Last week it was 4 1/2 hours of work vanishing into a blog black hole (who knew you could time-out of a session with no warning? Ummm.. Not me.) And Tuesday it was every family's nightmare: the sick nanny. Thank you Dale F. from Cambridge for taking note.
So the President led off his newser this morning with an attack on Democrats over the children's health insurance program known as S-CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program). Congress has already passed a bill that would expand the program to cover more children, funded by a hike in tobacco taxes. Read down in the NYT's take to see that many influential Republicans are not on the President's side on this one. John Kerry answers via the Democratic Daily. TownHall has the Bush angle. And reaching back a bit, cyber-buddy N=1 at UniversalHealth posted a thorough state of play on S-CHIP via the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report.
More health care news: Joe Conason writes today at RealClearPolitics about how Hillary Clinton's health care plan is helped by the fact that she's co-opting everyone else's good ideas.. including those of right-wing think tanks.
Iraq: So what's the tab? The Congressional Research Service listened to President Bush talk about Iraq last week, did some figurin' and says keeping the U.S. going in Iraq will cost trillions. Kos links to the study. And BarbinMD at DailyKos posts on how the benchmark of turning over security in the provinces to Iraqis has been pushed back, again.
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By Martin Savidge, NBC News correspondent
Jena is in gridlock. The number of buses leaving Alexandria 40 miles away is said to look like a hurricane evacuation. Cell phone service is overloaded. Local officials have declared a state of emergency. Schools and businesses are closed and security has beefed up. Protest leaders stress this is a peaceful protest. The crowd size had to measure with people, cars and busses, which stalled in the street. The Reverend Al Sharpton proclaimed to a crowd in front of the courthouse, "this is the start of the civil rights movement for the 21st century!"
There are signs in the crowd in front of the courthouse read... "Stop racism now" "Free the Jena 6" "justice includes us". "Mychael Bell could have been my son" - "why cut down the tree?" "Blacks protest N justice".
Riders on the buses are abandoning them due to stalled traffic. They are moving on foot -some hold banners and signs, others have cameras - recording it all. One older African-American woman told a younger man, "you will be able to tell others you were here this day." On the sidewalk vendors do a brisk trade selling t-shirts for $10. They read "justice for the Jena 6."
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Donald E. Rudolf
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army Company E, 20th Infantry, 6th Infantry Division
In February 1941, Donald Rudolph volunteered with the 6th Infantry Division—known as “the Sight-Seeing Sixth” because it had marched to several battles in World War I only to find the fighting over before it arrived. Rudolph thought he had enlisted for a year, but Pearl Harbor made it indefinite. The 6th trained in Yuma, Arizona, for desert fighting in North Africa. Then orders changed, and the division began training for jungle fighting in the Pacific.
Rudolph’s unit saw action in New Guinea. Then came the Philippines. By this time a technical sergeant, Rudolph had seen so much combat on the island of Luzon in late 1944 that he was taken off the front lines. But while tending the wounded, he saw several GIs from his unit and returned to the front lines, without waiting for orders, to be with his men.
On February 3, 1945, he took over the unit after the platoon leader was evacuated. Two days later, the unit was raked by fire from enemy troops dug into well-fortified positions in an area that wasn’t thought to be strongly defended. Kneeling down to administer first aid to one of his men, Technical Sergeant Rudolph noticed that some of the heaviest enemy fire was coming from a nearby culvert. He crawled to it and with his rifle and grenades killed three Japanese soldiers hidden there.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
To use a Ratherism to describe today's rather shocking Rather story, as first reported in the New York Times: CBS corporate counsel may be as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. As one of our senior producers (and like many of us a CBS alum) put it: "Dan's stickin' it to the Man." Another senior producer answered, "I thought he WAS the Man..." Newsroom talk.
We're on the toy hearing in Washington, the Blackwater story out of Iraq, we have an urgent and interesting feature on concussions in high school football (and what we now know about the dangers of what my coach used to call "getting your bell rung") and a great story on diversity in an unusual form.
Please take time to read today's Medal of Honor biography, and please join us for our broadcast tonight.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief Science Correspondent
Tonight we report on the problem of concussions in high school sports. As football season gets underway there is once again attention to problem of brain injury in young athletes. New research shows that the younger a person, the more susceptible the growing brain is to the trauma of concussion. The only treatment is for the young athlete's brain to rest, certainly from sports that can risk further injury and often even from strains of other kinds such as school work. Some of the best sources of information come from the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It includes information for parents, coaches and students.
Editor's note: It's our second week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
The best photo received today is from Shaun Spalding of Gainsville, Fla.
Members of the University of Florida student body protested the arrest of Andrew Meyer (who was shot with a Taser by police on campus at the end of a John Kerry speech). Organized by Facebook, the protestors met and marched to the University Police Department headquarters.
Here is Nightly's report on the Taser incident yesterday.
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
by George Lewis, NBC correspondent
I'm sending this blog from my BlackBerry inside the Las Vegas court where O.J. Simpson is being arraigned on ten felony counts. Those charges include kidnapping with the use of a deadly weapon, something that could carry a sentence of 15 years to life.
Here in the press section, I see many familiar faces from the first two O.J. trials in Los Angeles. Marcia Clark, one of the prosecutors in Simpson's murder trial, is sitting two rows in front of me. She's now a commentator for Court TV.
Also in the courtroom, Simpson's daughter Arnelle and his sister, Shirley.
Simpson's defense team, Miami-based lawyer Yale Galanter and his co-counsel, Gabriel Grasso, based here in Las Vegas, shake hands with District Attorney David Roger and head for a private conference in the chambers of the judge. There's a last minute switch of judges. Joe Bonaventure, a veteran of many high profile cases, is substituted for Judge Ann Zimmerman.
A court spokesman, who earlier told us things would start on time, counsels patience.
25 minutes after the scheduled start time for the arraignment, O.J. Simpson is brought into the courtroom, in shackles and standard dark blue prison garb.
Simpson is ordered to post $125,000 bail and surrender his passport so he can't travel outside the United States.
It's all over in a few minutes.
O.J.'s lawyer has said his client will be on a plane to his home in Miami before the end of the day. He'll return to court October 22.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Tibor Rubin
Corporal, U.S. Army Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division
Tibor “Ted” Rubin was thirteen in 1943 when the Nazis began to round up the Jews of his native Hungary. Rubin was sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria; the rest of his family, he learned later, was sent to Auschwitz. His father was eventually transferred to Buchenwald and never heard from again. His older sister survived Auschwitz, but his mother and younger sister did not.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and Managing Editor
A good friend of mine reminded me today that all I ever need to do is read the e-mails our viewers post on this site. They are the best, most loyal group I could ever ask for, and a week without hearing from some of them seems somehow like members of the family are missing from the table.
In other news, both of my personal worlds collided around noon today when we heard sirens and then saw smoke wafting down 6th Avenue outside. First reports were that the adjacent building in the Rockefeller Center complex was on fire. Competing urges -- as journalist and firefighter -- made me run out the door (though luckily carrying the press pass I keep in my briefcase and not the old helmet I keep in my office) and I arrived in time to see a yellow cab completely engulfed in flames outside our 50th Street marquee and the entrance to the Top of the Rock. No one was hurt, thankfully, and no building was on fire. Emergency over.
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By Charles Hadlock, NBC News Producer
If you have to navigate the urban jungle of crowded freeways, Houston may be the place to do it while still keeping your sanity. Houston, with a population approaching six million people in the metro area, is notorious for traffic jams. In the early 1980's, the city had the nation's second-worst traffic congestion. But a surge of road building --along with new technology -- helped get the traffic flowing again. Houston is now ranked seventh in the latest Urban Mobility Report. Not perfect, but better than it used to be.
There are several things Houston is doing that other congested cities can only dream about.
At any given time, you can log onto http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/ and instantly see traffic conditions in Houston on a colorful map. Hopefully, you'll see lots of green, which means traffic is moving at posted speeds. Click on a freeway segment and you can learn the actual speed traffic is moving. Click on the camera icons and see images from hundreds of cameras mounted along the freeways.
According to the Urban Mobility Report, Houston is seeing a lot more yellows and reds during rush hour. But at least now you can verify what your commute will be like before you leave home or the office and make decisions about alternate routes or simply stay in place and wait it out.
If you're already on the road, giant electronic message boards keep drivers posted on traffic conditions and travel times ahead. Newer GPS devices tap into this data and alert drivers on their dashboards. The information is also available on cell phones and PDA's. Radio and TV stations broadcast traffic reports, of course, but nothing is as fast and accurate as seeing traffic information in real time.
In 1994, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began building a network of electronic sensors along busy freeways. Today, the system monitors more than 700 miles of freeway (in each direction). By taking advantage of the of the area's 1.5 million toll tags (transponders), the system determines travel speeds by calculating the time it takes a vehicle equipped with a toll tag to travel the distance between sensors along the roadway.
The technology won't prevent traffic congestion, of course, but at least now you'll instantly know why you're stuck and how long it will take to drive out of it.
By Anne Thompson, NBC News Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent
After two days camping on Greenland's ice sheet, exploring melt rivers and peering into a giant moulin, I thought nothing else on this island could amaze me. And then we went with photographer Jim Balog to check his time lapse cameras at 4 glaciers.
It was a trip every bit as breathtaking and fascinating as our time on the ice sheet. Much of that has to do with the passion Balog has for his work. This photographer with a masters in geomorphology (land movement) says he was one of the initial doubters about global warming. But as the science moved from climate models to hard evidence he became persuaded. Now his mission is to record what he believes is an important moment in the history of the earth. He is doing that with time lapse cameras placed at glaciers in Alaska, the Alps, Iceland and Greenland. The project is dubbed "Extreme Ice Survey" but as you will see tonight, it looks more like an episode of the reality show "The Amazing Race."
We set out by chopper to visit the cameras. It is a dangerous trip over the ocean and in between mountains. Often our chopper was pushed around by swirling winds. At the insistance of his insurance company and wife, Jim travelled in a yellow neoprene survival suit. No one insisted Mario, Bruce, Curt or I wear such gear. Hmmmmm.
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Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo is from Ricardo Estrada of Las Vegas, Nevada:
"Obama shakes a mans hand and smiles..."
Last night on the broadcast, we featured an interview with the Senator. Click here to see the full interview.
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Ronald E. Rosser
Corporal, U.S. Army Heavy Mortar Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division
As the oldest of seventeen children, Ronald Rosser always looked out for his brothers and sisters. He joined the Army right after turning seventeen in 1946 and served for three years. In 1951, he reenlisted because his kid brother was killed early in the Korean conflict and he was bent on revenge. When he was sent to Japan instead of the combat zone, he complained to his commanding officer and was reassigned to a heavy mortar company in the 38th Infantry in Korea.
On January 12, 1952, Corporal Rosser was a forward observer directing U.S. mortar fire while his infantry company assaulted a snow-covered hill held by a Chinese battalion near the town of Ponggilli. Seeing hundreds of enemy troops swarming over the area,
he called in mortar fire, but the Americans continued to take heavy casualties—by the time they reached a point about a hundred yards below the crest of the hill, only 35 of the 170 who had begun the battle were still able-bodied. When the commanding officer, badly wounded, used Rosser’s radio to call headquarters for instructions, he was ordered to try once again to take the hill. Seeing that the officer was in no condition to carry out the order, Rosser volunteered to organize the remaining men and lead the charge.
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By Kat Keeney, NBC Producer
A unique approach to kidney donations is widening the available pool of donors for more then 72,000 people currently waiting for a kidney. In traditional donations, patients reach out to a circle of family and friends to find a match. When no suitable match is available, kidney patients typically wait years on a transplant list -- with thousands dying each year -- before receiving a kidney.
NBC's Jennifer London reports on a groundbreaking program developed at the University of Toledo called "paired donations." The first one started in Phoenix, Ariz., when an altruistic donor gave his kidney to woman in need. Her husband was not a match but donated his kidney to a woman in Ohio who was. That patients mother donated her kidney to the next patient and the chain is continuing.
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by Anne Thompson, chief environmental affairs correspondent
Tonight, we will take you to Greenland's vast and forbidding ice sheet. Some 300 miles wide and 1200 miles long, it is the poster child if you will, for global warming. Here you can see the melting first hand. (WATCH ANNE'S VIDEO BLOG FROM GREENLAND)
Spontaneous rivers and streams that occur in the annual summer thaw... but getting bigger and faster every year as the temperature rises.
We went to the ice sheet with Konrad Steffen, a climatologist from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a rock star in the world of global warming. At our hotel in Ilulissat, he would hold court in the lobby and dining room. The Hotel Hvide Falk (white falcon) is the choice for scientists and Steffen is the magnet. Young researchers literally sat at his knee to hear his insights about what's happening to the ice.
Steffen has been coming to Greenland for 18 years, longer than anyone else. The Danish Meterological Center in Denmark says the summer of 2007 was the second warmest since records started being kept in 1962.
This towering Swiss-born scientist is a charismatic loner... revelling in the solitude of the ice sheet.
Since 1990, his base has been Swiss Camp, a group of three tent buildings on a platform plus a sauna. He chose the spot because the melt and snowfall are the same so the ice never changes. But it did this year. He saw record melt there losing about 4 feet of snow and 3 feet of ice. The melting now threatens the buildings.
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by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I'm writing this while listening on the Web to my son's first-ever live radio broadcast for his high school radio station. It is thrilling and nerve-wracking and very entertaining. It's a football show -- sports is my son's area of expertise -- co-hosted with his good buddy, and apparently accomplished with a single microphone. It's great.
Was it something I said? After a broadcast on Friday that featured the heroics of the Emergency Room doctors in Bagdhad, and the effort to catalog all those affected by the 9/11 attacks, this email arrived. Always a warm feeling to be called out on your love of country.
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Editor's note: It's our second week of a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
The best photo received today is from Scott Pigeon, of Suttersville, Pa. He attended the anti-war protest in D.C. last Saturday:
"While back stage, I was standing around meeting other IVAW [Iraq Veterans Against the War] members, when I saw a reporter talking to a lady. It then hit me, I was standing next to Cindy Sheehan for 10 minutes and didn't even know it. I didn't know if I should thank her for her diligence, tell her I'm sorry for her loss, or ask for her autograph."
Here is Nightly's report on the protest from last Saturday's broadcast: 'War activists duel in D.C.'
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Gordon R. Roberts
Specialist fourth Class, U.S. Army Company B, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division
His two older brothers were already in the Navy when Gordon Roberts enlisted in the Army three days after graduating from high school in 1968. He became part of the 101st Airborne, the same unit his father had served in during World War II.
Specialist Fourth Class Roberts arrived in Vietnam in May 1969, and a few days later found himself in the middle of the battle for Hamburger Hill, a week-and-a-half-long battle with North Vietnamese Army troops in the A Shau Valley. For the next several weeks, his battalion attempted to block the enemy’s main resupply route from Laos.
At midday on July 11, Roberts heard the sound of heavy fighting about three and a half miles away, where another U.S. infantry company, badly outnumbered, had lost its battalion commander and was surrounded by the NVA. Roberts’s company boarded helicopters and went to relieve them.
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by Lester Holt
Good day from New York, where we are busy preparing tonight's edition of NBC Nightly News. The big story of the day is a plane crash in Phuket, Thailand. At this writing, 88 people are confirmed dead, and 42 others have been injured. The American built MD-88 skidded off a runway and broke in two pieces while landing in driving wind and rain. There are plenty of eyewitness accounts and lots of speculation over the cause, but experience tells us the first assumptions in aircraft accidents are usually wrong. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team to assist in the investigation. Our Michelle Kosinksi is working the story and will have the latest.
Also, we will be reporting on today's arrest of O.J. Simpson by Las Vegas police in connection with a hotel room break-in. CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt
Good afternoon from New York. Among the stories we will be reporting tonight, is an advance look at Alan Greenspan's soon to be published memoir in which the former Federal Reserve Chairman offers a harsh view of some of the economic policies of his fellow Republicans, and in particular, takes both Presidents Bush to task. As NBC's John Yang will report, some of Greenspan's highest praise in the book is actually directed at former President Clinton.
The war debate raging in the halls of Congress this week became somewhat of a "people's" debate today. NBC's Patty Culhane will tell us what happened when an anti-war march on Capitol Hill came up against a rally of people supporting U.S. involvement in Iraq. CONTINUED >>
We featured this organization in tonight's "Making a Difference." To go to their Website, click here or http://www.911livingmemorial.org/
by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
We are fortunate to have what I believe are the smartest and most engaged viewers (and emailers) in our business, and upon seeing the reaction to yesterday's post-lunch post, I thought I should explain a few things. The ground rules on meetings between the press the president have followed the same general parameters going back to the time of FDR. Presidents customarily are not to be quoted directly in such private gatherings unless that is specifically allowed. Background sessions between presidents and the journalists who cover them are designed for journalists to get a handle on the president's thinking and beliefs. Lunches like the one we attended yesterday have actually become more and more common in this administration. I find them enormously helpful. We're all grown-ups and have been doing this many years -- meaning we know spin when we see and hear it. But often the private person can differ from the public persona, and so these sessions can provide insight. It helps us to get to know the president in office, and it helps most presidents to find out about the character (or occasionally the complete lack of it) of those in the press.
Selfishly, as my hobby is presidential history, it's wonderful to have been exposed to the last few occupants of that office -- just to observe how they work and deal with people in those surroundings. It makes me feel very fortunate. My role yesterday was as guest, questioner and note-taker. The notes I transcribed in this space were a careful recitation of what we talked about. I've since read that other participants in the lunch found it as helpful as I did. I find "off-the-record" comments made by the president to be much trickier. By nature, presidents make news (or have the capacity to) just about every time they open their mouths. Being present for extended off-the-record presidential remarks can leave journalists conflicted -- knowing more than they can report. I recall at least one instance, while covering President Clinton, when we members of the traveling press pool turned down a visit by the president to the press cabin in the rear of the aircraft during a long flight home from Europe. We were told he had a lot on his mind and wanted to come back and "visit" for a while. We protested, respectfully, that we would have to insist on retaining the right to report any real news that he uttered. President Clinton liked to talk, and still does, and he genuinely tried to find something to like about all of those who covered his administration. But in this instance -- and there were others -- we had to say no. The standoff ended with the President remaining in his quarters in the front of the plane, playing a game of hearts with his senior staff. We'll never know what we might have learned on that night flight home, but the dangers of too much coziness are clear. I think I speak for all in attendance when I say: nothing uttered at yesterday's lunch left any of the participants conflicted over having attended.
We have a great broadcast planned for tonight, including what many consider the story of the day, subtitled, "Say it ain't so, Bill!" If you're read into the story, you may enjoy reading what happened to New England Patriot's owner Bob Kraft while he was in a house of worship today.
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Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo is from Jennifer Aaron-Faridi, taken before Hurricane Humberto hit Texas:
"The calm before the storm... Houston, Tx 7/12/07 7:30 p.m.... Tropical Storm Humberto should be coming soon. The sky looks just like it did the night before Hurricane Rita rolled in."
(Humberto grew faster than any storm on record from tropical depression to full-scale hurricane.)
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click here to see more photos people sent in of Humberto's havoc.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Ronald E. Ray
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Company A, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division
Ronald Ray was one of five brothers, three of whom served in the military. In 1959, he left high school to enlist in the Army. Discharged after serving three years, he came home for two months, then reenlisted in the Special Forces. There he excelled in training activities such as HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) parachute jumps, which involved diving out of a plane at such high altitudes that oxygen was required and free-falling to 1,500 feet before opening the chute. His battalion commander recommended him for Officer Candidate School.
On June 19, 1966, two weeks after arriving in Vietnam, Lieutenant Ray was in charge of a platoon of the 35th Infantry in the Ia Drang Valley, part of an operation to cut off elements of the North Vietnamese Army entering Vietnam from Cambodia. A few days earlier, his company commander had split the unit into two parts, ordering Ray’s platoon to cover a large area where enemy troops might try to infiltrate. Ray located a knoll to use as a base of operations and set up listening posts near approaches he thought the North Vietnamese might use.
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by John Rutherford, NBC producer
Three soldiers who fought and died together in Iraq were buried together this week at Arlington National Cemetery. Staff Sgt. Harrison Brown, Pfc. David Neil Simmons, and Sgt. Todd Singleton were killed Easter Sunday by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Their remains were interred in a single casket in section 60, gravesite 8058 of the cemetery. Members of each of their families attended the brief graveside service. CONTINUED >>
by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
A number of television journalists gathered for lunch with the president at the White House today -- a practice becoming more and more common when this president has a major speech to deliver. The following is a review of my notes, and is offered here under the ground rules established by the assembled White House senior aides. Vice President Cheney attended but did not speak.
As we now know, the speech tonight will amount to a full embrace of General Petraeus' recommendations. President Bush strongly insisted there was no White House guidance given to the General before he made his findings known. The president will announce the first of the troop withdrawals starting immediately (just over 2,000 Marines) though as a practical matter such things take time.
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By Robert Bazell, NBC News' Chief Science and Health Correspondent
As I have written here before the men and women who provide the medical care for U.S. and Iraqi wounded do a fantastic job. But on this trip I can see the strain brought on by the prolonged deployment, the extra five months.
I’m in the Ibn Sina hospital in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a decent facility built by Saddam Hussein for friends and family. The 28th Combat Support Hospital (CSH or "cash" in military speak), out of Ft. Bragg, N.C., currently staffs it. Combat Support Hospitals are like other numbered Army units with a home base. When this group leaves, the hospital will have a different number when the next CSH takes over.
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... seriously.
Chris Colvin was working on her Thursday post... when, on the last step of posting, all the text and embedded links disappeared into the ether.
We regret to tell you that it wasn't saved anywhere, and due to extreme trauma -- can't be recreated.
We hope you check back Tuesday for the next installment.
Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Yesterday, as part of our "Secrets to Her Success" series, we asked viewers why friendships are important to health and well-being. Here's one of the submissions from Nancy Ellis, of Louisville, Miss. Her story is below:
Six of our seven members pose at a wedding reception at The Columns on St. Charles in New Orleans before Katrina.
"Six years ago, we 'organized' ourselves into a monthly bookclub. We've read about 60 major novels--from Austen and Faulkner to best sellers such as The Kite Runner -- had lots of weekend getaways, attended theater and art events, and celebrated our children's weddings and the arrival of grandchildren. Regardless of how tired we are when we arrive at one of our meetings, we can count on leaving feeling infinitely better about almost everything and deeply grateful for our friendships."
Click here to see more First Person best girl friend photos and stories.
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Nicholas Oresko
Master Sergeant, U.S. Army Company C, 302nd Infantry, 94th Infantry Division
Nicholas Oresko, a platoon leader with the 302nd Infantry, landed in France in August 1944, two months after the Normandy invasion. There were still pockets of German troops in northern France that had been bypassed by the swift Allied advance after D-Day, and Master Sergeant Oresko’s unit spent several weeks working to contain them. In December, his unit was suddenly rushed to support American troops that had been forced to retreat during the Battle of the Bulge.
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Sept. 13: NBC's Sue Herera previews her story for this evening's Nightly News with Brian Williams. For young women, the idea of investing financially is tough to think about. But it doesn't have to be. Click here to watch.
by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
The test of a writer is the ability to paint a picture in the absence of one. I'm going to attempt to describe what I saw last night -- which may indeed defy simple description, because it bordered on the spiritual.
Producer Subrata De and I boarded the 8:30 p.m. Shuttle to Washington after Nightly News. A few minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia, after we had climbed out to 10,000 feet and had reached our initial leveling-off on a southern heading, the flight attentant on the sparsely-populated plane called my attention to the window next to me, on the left side of the aircraft. It was a stunning sight.
The two powerful beams of blue light, switched on each year at nightfall on September 11th, marked the spot amid the twinkling lights down below, in Lower Manhattan, where the towers once stood. They sliced open the sky -- brilliant, powerful poles that shot up past our aircraft through the humid, boisterous air over the city. The only impediment to their skyward progress up to the heavens was a passing cloud about 5,000 feet above us as we passed by. The cloud caught the light and trapped it -- gathering up the powerful upshot of blue and absorbing it completely, until it moved on, yielding that spot in the sky, and clearing the way for the beam to shoot up, past a point where the human eye could follow it.
I lost sight of the blue beams as our aircraft made its unsentimental progress above the Jersey Shore, heading south to Washington. We could feel the acceleration as the pilots pushed the throttles forward, having received permission to step up to our given cruising altitude. I looked back at the blue light until I couldn't anymore. I was a bit surprised that the pilots hadn't brought it to the attention to those on board. I looked forward and saw them all sitting in the dark, unaware. I wanted to tell everyone on the aircraft what they were missing, but common sense took over, and I assumed that such a mission (going from seat to seat to inform my 20-or-so fellow passengers of a striking sight out the window) would violate one of the many in-flight rules instituted after the very same attack that the blue lights were meant to commemorate. The aviation rules we now live under are the least of what has happened in the name of that attack. Our pilots last night were all business. So were the National Guardsmen who watched me go through security. It all goes back to the blue lights.
Subrata and I talked about what we had just witnessed. The flight attendants crammed around the window in the row behind us, discussing the same thing. Soon, the process the airlines euphemistically call "beverage and snack service" was underway, and before too long, we were landing in Washington. During the ride to the hotel, past the fortified monuments and the police cars that now stand watch outside places like the Department of Agriculture, I thought about what I had seen on the plane.
Six years later, many of us consider it an embarassment that there's no memorial to 9-11 inside the sad, tragic expanse of Ground Zero -- just a commuter train station and a lot of construction equipment. What we saw from the air was a towering memorial.
The arrival of September 11th each year is always a setback for many of us who live and work in New York. While some of us were affected by the attack more than others, we all deal with it in our own way. In my experience, the day always feels sullen and heavy, and the evening hours begin to bring a sense of coming relief, when the clock and calender both approach "12." That was not the case last night. More than any other event during the day -- the tolling bells, the long list of names, the wreaths and roses and the steady rain -- the two blue towers of light visible off the left wing of our aircraft were as impactful in the darkness of evening as anything in a long day of remembrances. Exactly as they were intended to be.
Questioning the General
We're in Washington today to interview General Petraeus. While he's had no shortage of television exposure this week, this was the day scheduled for interviews with the network television anchors. Our order was determined by lottery, and so -- to paraphrase a well-worn expression -- when Charlie Gibson stood up, I sat down. And Katie after me. I had last seen the General over dinner in his quarters in the former Saddam Hussein palace he (and the U.S. Command structure) now occupies in Bagdhad.
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Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo is from Linda Pribble of Davenport, Iowa. She captures the Clintons on the campaign trail:
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Richard A. Pittman
Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps Company I, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (reinforced) FMF
Richard Pittman was fifteen years old when he heard John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech and decided that he would do something for his country when he got out of school. After graduating from high school in 1963, he tried to enlist in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, but he was turned down by each because he was legally blind in one eye. However, he managed to get accepted by the Marine Reserve. Then, at one meeting during his Marine recruit training, an officer asked if anyone present wanted to go on active duty. Pittman immediately raised his hand.
In the spring of 1966 Lance Corporal Pittman went to Vietnam as part of the 5th Marines. By midsummer, his unit was involved in search-and-destroy operations in the northern part of South Vietnam near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separated the South from the North. On July 24, Pittman was at the rear of his company column near the DMZ when heavy gunfire erupted ahead. His company had been ambushed by elements of the North Vietnamese Army in one of its first major incursions into South Vietnam.
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By Robin Skolnick, NBC Nightly News Producer
Much like Tina Heany, who is profiled in tonight's Rehema Ellis spot I have a flexible work schedule. I share my job on Nightly News with my friend and colleague Anne Binford Allen.
Anne and I knew we wanted to job share years ago... we first pitched the idea and were turned down without discussion. Sometime later, a wonderfully creative and supportive woman who became an executive in the front office, made the job share happen for us. We were given a 6-month trial period and told if anyone we worked for was unhappy, the job share could be canceled without explanation. That was 14 years ago.
When Anne and I are asked how to pitch a job share, we always say the first step is to find a partner - someone you work well with and want to share a job with. Most important: remember it's not up to the company to make it work, it is up to you and your partner.
I work Monday, Tuesday and every other Wednesday. For me, the schedule has been a gift. I've have been able to work in a job I love and be home with my family. Job sharing has allowed me to have that elusive balance between home and work. I have been home for school plays, ball games and sore throats... our standing family joke is my kids are not allowed to get sick on days I work! Job sharing has also given me the freedom to try my hand at being a den mother (possibly the world's worst), a softball coach and an intramural basketball commissioner.
I love what I do and the schedule in which I do it... but I've been lucky -- my company and my boss (thanks, Brian!) have been extremely supportive. When people ask if I worry I've damaged my career by working "flex" time, I say to the contrary -- I'm confident I'll be given the same enthusiastic support in the next phase of my career as I have been given in this one.
Read more on our special series, 'Secret to Her Success' here.
By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I can't remember the last time I missed a post, but it happened yesterday. Apologies. The truth is: it took my wife to remind me that there was nothing there -- that's how busy I was yesterday. Having anchored the Petraeus testimony from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern, I then immersed myself in Nightly News until airtime. And while I would have had all of 30 available seconds to post something, I didn't intend to leave the space blank. The day started with a memorial service for our friend and former Senior Producer Eric Wishnie. So frankly, we weren't right all day -- and it got worse from there.
Today isn't much improved -- time is at a premium. We've just emerged from our editorial meeting. This is of course the 6th anniversary of the hole that was blown in our city and in our national psyche, and the lives that were lost. That it rained for a good part of this day here in New York is, I guess, appropriate. In past years, sunny days on this anniversary have only reminded us how gorgeous a morning it was before the attack.
We have some fine reporting for tonight -- on what has happened to our nation and world since that day -- on one of the players back then, and what has happened to this city. Also tonight: our special series "The Secret to Her Success" continues with a stab at "having it all." Tomorrow I'll get a chance to spend some time with General Petraeus, and we'll air that conversation tomorrow night.
Please remember to read today's Medal of Honor profile. We hope you can join us for this evening's broadcast of Nightly News.
By Clare Duffy, NBC Nightly News Producer
My own answer to the "Where were you when...?" question is, I think, typical of many New Yorkers. I was riding the bus to work, in my case down Fifth Avenue toward Rockefeller Center after an early morning appointment. Someone on the bus said they had heard a small plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers, and another said it was probably a stunt gone wrong, like that idiot that had tried to BASE jump off a downtown building a few weeks earlier. That idea seemed to make perfect sense and was somehow comforting. But as those of us seated in the front of the bus peered out of the windshield downtown, the ominous black smoke pouring out of lower Manhattan gave the lie to that story. Everyone stared wide-eyed out the window, feeling more trapped by the minute as traffic slowed to a halt, drivers dumbfounded by what they were looking at. I got off at my stop at a dead run, eager to get into the office and knowing it would be a very bad day indeed. One of my fellow passengers said, "You take care" - not something you normally hear from a total stranger. Not in this town.
Six years later, I was riding the bus again this morning - this time heading crosstown. It was raining and the bus was packed, which puts no one in a good mood. Suddenly, the driver lurched to the curb between stops, shut down the engine, the air conditioning, everything. And just sat. Everyone looked around quizzically, and one very irritated guy said, "Why have we stopped?" Another woman said, "Look at the time, it's 8:46a" - the exact time when the first plane hit the tower. Our driver apparently chose to observe a moment of silence, as did many people all over town. Many, but not all. Irritated Guy let out an exasperated sigh and said "I KNOW what day it is, I have to get to work!"
You take care.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Robert M. Patterson
Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army 3rd Platoon, Troop b, 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry
When he was a senior in high school in 1966, Robert Patterson had an argument with his girlfriend and decided to get even by joining the Army. After basic training, he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. However, in December 1967 he got orders to go to Vietnam and was transferred to the 17th Cavalry. After being stationed at a former rubber plantation in Song Bay for several months, Patterson’s unit moved to Hue.
Early on the morning of May 6, 1968, Patterson and his fellow soldiers were moved to La Chu, a farming area of rice paddies and hedgerows, where they were sent on a mission to sweep out what they were told was a small force of Vietcong. The men had just finished eating lunch and were starting to move out when they came under fire—not by a few Vietcong, but by a battalion-size force of North Vietnamese Army regulars that outnumbered them three to one.
Specialist Fourth Class Patterson, a fire-team leader, saw that another squad of his platoon was pinned down by heavy small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. With two of his men, he moved toward the enemy’s left flank, but they couldn’t make any headway. As bullets churned the ground around him, Patterson climbed up to the second floor of a pagoda and used that vantage point to take out two North Vietnamese bunkers with grenades and his machine gun.
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By Joe Alicastro, NBC Producer and former Rome Bureau Chief
Editors Note - this entry first appeared on last year's Daily Nightly.
I had been the Rome Bureau Chief for NBC News from 1989 till 1992. On September 10, 2001, I returned to Rome with my wife for a long overdue vacation to the city that we both love. On 9/11 we had a wonderful lunch at Ristorante Mario in Piazza del Grillo, where we had eaten so many times before and where we were still greeted with hugs and kisses.
Upon returning to our pensione, the phone rang. A friend from the Italian news service, ANSA, was on the phone.
“Pack your bags, you are going home,” he said.
I told him to stop the joking and we’d meet him at the Enoteca (wine bar) that evening. He said that I had better turn on the TV. We watched in horror as the second plane hit the World Trade Center followed by the fall of the North and South Towers.
In the following days, as we waited for U.S. air space to open for our immediate return to New York, our friends in Rome could not have been more gracious as they shared in the horror of what had happened to our great city. Each day another invitation would come to share dinner or lunch, to not be the Americans left alone.
We stood outside the American Embassy on the via Veneto for Rome’s moment of silence in tribute to our fallen. That evening, RAI -TV broadcast a story of the citizens of the southern city of Gaeta who marched to the port where the U.S. 6th Fleet is based. They were defiantly carrying signs high above their heads which read: “Siamo tutti Americani adesso”...”We are all Americans now.”
By Rehema Ellis, NBC News Correspondent
Editors Note - this entry first appeared on last year's Daily Nightly.
It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since September 11, 2001, because I remember the day as if it were yesterday. As an NBC News correspondent I raced to lower Manhattan that bright, crystal clear morning, and, like so many others, I struggled to stay in control of my emotions in order to do the job of reporting on what had happened.
After the Twin Towers crumbled I remember being at Ground Zero and there was ash falling from the sky like a blanket of rain. I picked up a handful of it and asked a fire captain, “What is this?” And he said it’s “pulverized concrete from the Twin Towers”.
I shuddered at the thought. If buildings of brick and mortar and concrete had been crushed to dust how on earth could any one who had been in those towers possibly survive?
While the first responders talked hopefully of their determination to rescue victims, even the sounds around Ground Zero suggested it would not be.
There was no sound. The silence was frightening and telling. I’ll never forget it.
by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer
Hi. It's a short entry today, but with some interesting stuff about the Petraeus and Crocker Show, the Fox "exclusive" with the boyz last night, and an interesting take on what in the world Osama binb Laden was talking about when he mentioned mortgages and taxes in his latest tape.
DeYoung and Ricks in the WaPo sum up yesterday's P&C testimony as an exercise in "kicking the can down the road." Expected, yeah.. and also as expected, the General and the Ambassador came under much more vigorous questioning before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees today than they did yesterday in the House. The New York Times' "Lede" Blog is liveblogging today and has some highlights. See the Hagel and Kerry section for the first real shots fired across Petreaus' bow. And Salon's Tim Grieve saw Senator Russ Fiengold asking the right questions on 9/11.
If you saw Nightly News last night, you saw and heard New York Times reporter Damien Cave's pre-testimony look at what he actually sees on the ground in Iraq. Today, Cave wrote a news analysis after watching yesterday's testimony.. and finds some understatement of trouble and overstatement of gains.
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Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo is from Melody Campbell taken in New York City during the Deutsche Bank tower fire:
The photo wasn't taken today, but we considered it to be newsy on the sixth anniversary of 9/11.
As anchor Brian Williams writes on these blog entries:
Aug. 20: "The sad, protracted saga of the Deutsche Bank building took a crushing, pathetic turn when we learned that two of the city’s bravest had given their lives inside that sorry, broken structure. It was a strange feeling when I saw the first television pictures of the fire on Saturday. I didn’t want to give the 9-11 planners or sympathizers the satisfaction of knowing that the hell they unleashed on this city continues to take lives—in this case a result of the serially-delayed dismantling of a building that long ago became toxic and dangerous."
Sept. 7: "Sometimes, 9-11 feels like it happened about ten minutes ago."
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
by Rehema Ellis, NBC correspondent
Walking around the office areas of the Johnson Storage and Moving company in Denver Colorado I was struck by the fact that there were so many empty desks and offices. It was mid-morning in the middle of the week. I wondered, where is everybody?
Turns out no one was missing. Many people were just working from home and almost all of them women who are assigned to various paper-oriented tasks. Of course, this doesn't work for the receptionist or the moving truck drivers or warehouse staff.
But for those jobs that can be done on a flexible schedule, visiting the Johnson Storage and Moving Company provides a dramatic example of how efficiently it can work. It also made me start to think this might be what the office of the future will look like. I wouldn't be surprised if women, especially working mothers, lead the way in bringing about a revolution in the workplace that could really be beneficial to everyone and bring some balance back to peoples lives.
It is a new world with nearly as many women working today as men. Sure, everyone's working longer hours but, women and working moms get the double whammy -- long hours on the job, then long hours at home, cooking, cleaning, shopping, taking care of kids and increasingly an aging parent. Balancing work with life is difficult to say the least.
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by Les Kretman, NBC News producer, White House
YESTERDAY -- a Tuesday with a deep blue sky, one of those unusual Washington days without humidity. The President, new to the job, in office for just nine months was out of town in Florida. Just a week before the first State Dinner with Mexican President Vicente Fox. Mr. Bush was getting used to the ceremony of office.
TODAY -- a Tuesday with a gray overcast sky occasionally providing rain on a city which has gone through a summer drought.
YESTERDAY -- People running out of the White House - staff aides, cooks - administration officials - the press urgently moving toward across the street to Lafayette Park and then even further north.
TODAY -- the President wearing a dark black suit and a muted blue tie, with his Cabinet along with others who work at the White House standing on the South Lawn -- M marine band and navy chorus providing a somber "America," from sea to shining sea
YESTERDAY - - the horror of the day just beginning to reach Americans on their way to work --- to school or at home. The country had been attacked.
TODAY -- at exactly 8:45 a.m., military honor guard walked out of the Diplomatic Entrance followed right after by the President, First Lady, Vice-President Dick Cheney and Lynn Cheney. Silence and then bells tolling. Heads bowed... and the chorus sings "God Bless America" Then the slow walk back into the White House. For 2007, the ceremony had ended.
TOMORROW...
by John Rutherford, NBC producer
Army Sgt. 1st Class David Heringes was due home to Tampa in August, and his parents had planned to celebrate by taking him and his two children to Orlando and Disney World.
But Heringes' tour in Iraq was extended by three months, and his parents decided to make the trip themselves to collect brochures for his eventual return.
While watching a show at Sea World, his father's cellphone went off. He was told his only son had been gravely wounded by a roadside bomb near Tikrit. Heringes died later that day.
"God, it was terrible," his father told the St. Petersburg Times. "You keep wanting to hear that it was a mistake."
Heringes' death devastated his family, especially his young son, Logan.
"Logan knows his dad is gone, but how do you explain death to a 5-year-old?" Heringes' father asked in the Times. "He won't take off his little military fatigues."
Heringes' family and friends gathered Monday at Arlington National Cemetery to pay their final respects to the 36-year-old career soldier. Logan, his 9-year-old stepsister, Cheyenne, and their mother, Shannan, led the procession of mourners to Heringes' graveside service.
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Editor's note: Brian Williams had a busy day today, including anchoring on MSNBC cable during the Petraeus hearing... so there isn't a Daily Nightly entry from him today...
He'll be back on the blog tomorrow.
Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day" -- breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.
Today's photo is from Kristen Headly.
"This is a picture my husband took in Iraq. He spray-painted 'I love you Brat and GI' (my daughter's name is Gianna - we call her GI and he calls me Brat), then he e-mailed it to me when I had a rough day. It was the cutest pitcure I have ever received!"
Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.
Tell us what you think, on comments, below.
by Lester Holt
Good afternoon from New York. There has been so much build-up and anticipation to the Iraq progress report by General David Petraeus, yet on the eve of that report being delivered to congress, it would seem both sides in the war debate will use it to harden their resolve. NBC's John Yang will lead our coverage tonight with what we know about Petraeus's conclusions, what the advanced reaction has been from Democratic opponents of the war, and what the President's next move will be. He'll also pass along a snapshot of what the American public thinks about all this.
Speaking of snapshots, that is often how this war is viewed on the ground. There are glimpses of progress as well as glimpses of setbacks to be had depending upon which corner, neighborhood, or province you happen to be watching from. NBC's Jim Maceda will take us inside one Sunni neighborhood, once considered too dangerous to visit, for one such perspective. Jim will explain how a big U.S. presence has dramatically improved security, but at a price of turning it into an island beyond which many residents are no longer able to travel. CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt
Good afternoon. Here's where things stand right now for tonight's broadcast of Nightly News. With General David Petraeus's report to Congress on Iraq due on Monday, and Osama bin Laden's comments on the war made public Friday, the volume level in the debate over Iraq is growing louder. NBC's Kevin Corke will report that General Petraeus is already tipping his hand on what the report will say, and on how the Democratic leadership and White House are already previewing their reaction.
There was a huge outpouring of emotion and adoration in Modena, Italy today as 50-thousand mourners bid farewell to opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti. Among the highlights of the funeral was a film of Pavarotti and his father Fernando performing the hymn Panis Angelicus. NBC's Pat Dawson will bring us the highlights of the service that was held in Pavarotti's hometown. CONTINUED >>
by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
Sporting a newly-blackened beard, there he is again: Osama Bin Laden. The rush is on to interpret (and attach a date to) this new piece of videotape purported to be him. We'll have the analysis of what's on the tape and what it means. We'll also preview Gen. Petraeus's testimony next week (which I'll be anchoring live, starting Monday, on MSNBC), and there are already rumblings tonight of a primetime address by President Bush next Thursday night. We have a great piece of foreign reporting tonight from Lester Holt. We'll also have the story that has ignited Great Britain, as well as our Making A Difference report.
Two embarassments to note tonight: first, the new TSA report on air cargo security, and this paragraph from this morning's New York Post:
"Demolition work on the former Deutsche Bank building could be stalled for several weeks, a top state official said yesterday, as government agencies bicker over how to fix the deadly firetrap conditions inside while preventing toxic dust from escaping."
The new tape of Bin Laden with a cheap dye job isn't the ONLY reminder out there -- that sometimes, 9-11 feels like it happened about ten minutes ago.
30 years ago today
After negotiations that spanned fourteen years and four presidencies, the United States and Panama signed treaties on September 7, 1977 to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama. The canal had been under American control since it opened in 1914. President Jimmy Carter signed for the United States, as dignitaries including former President Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, and former Secretaries of State William Rogers and Henry Kissinger looked on, along with representatives of 26 other Western Hemisphere nations. Ratified by the Senate in 1978, the treaties were hugely controversial at the time -- a reckless giveaway, according to some critics. Carter saw it differently, of course, and said the treaties “mark the commitment of the United States to the belief that fairness, and not force, should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world.”
80 years ago today
Television was born - in a laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco on September 7, 1927. The lab belonged to a 21-year old inventor named Philo T. Farnsworth, who on that day successfully demonstrated for the first time that images could be electronically transmitted through the air. Accounts differ as to what that first image actually was -- a picture of a young woman, a dollar sign, or a simple straight line. However it’s fair to say that all three are the very foundation of just about everything that’s been on television ever since.
This weekend I'll be with many of the living recipients of the Medal of Honor (Don't forget to read today's featured biography) as we hold our annual board meeting of the Medal of Honor Foundation.
I hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast. Have a good weekend, and we will see you for what I know will be a big week, starting Monday.
by Aram Roston, investigative producer
Efforts to combat endemic corruption in Iraq have suffered a "disastrous" blow, American officials tell NBC News. The well regarded top anti-corruption fighter in the Iraqi government, whose investigations have exposed graft and fraud throughout the Maliki administration, has submitted his letter of resignation and is now in America. Judge Rahdi Hamza al-Rahdi ran Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity for more than three years and earned the respect of American law enforcement officials.
Now he tells NBC Nightly News that if he returns to Iraq he believes he'll be killed because of his investigations. He tells NBC Nightly News' Lisa Myers that while he does not believe Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki is corrupt, he believes much of his cabinet is. He says the prime minister protected his political constituents from investigation. Judge Radhi also tells NBC News he believes the U.S. government should stop supporting the Maliki government.
The news comes at an important time, just a week before General David Petraeus is to make his long awaited report on the effectiveness of the military "surge" in Iraq.
American officials believe Radhi will apply for political asylum in the U.S., an irony given that the U.S. is supporting the very Iraqi administration which he is seeking protection from.
Lashing back against Judge Radhi earlier this week, Prime Minister Maliki accused Judge Radhi of corruption, and an Iraqi parliamentarian tells NBC News there are 50 charges against Radhi. American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they put no credence in the Iraqi charges, and say they believe Judge Radhi in the dispute.
Radhi had opened investigations at the top levels of various ministries in Iraq, including the Ministry of Oil, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transporation, and the Ministry of Health.
by Alison Stewart, NBC contributor
The impact of Operation Happy Note is a big as the concept is simple; provide musical instruments to servicemen and women serving overseas.
It wasn’t some big music distributor or record company that came up with the idea. It was two senior citizen music store owners in Fergus Falls, Minnesota- 25 miles from the North Dakota border.
Steve and Barb Baker raise funds. They cajole their distributors into giving them a good price on slightly blemished instruments.
They convince their friends to drop by to help pack up the instruments.
The store’s backroom is full of boxes of donated instruments. Steve proudly showed me some donated handmade Native American flutes, a box of harmonicas, a banjo he said “just barks!” I think that is a good thing,
At this point the bathroom has even been converted into a temporary warehouse. Barbara calls it “organized chaos”. But after watching this lady work, it was clear to me she is a mastermind. She has systems in place. She understands how to fill out all the custom forms. She answers every email.
Her husband spends time with each package trying to figure out if the person needs strings or one of his homemade guitar lesson plans.
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Editor's note: Today and everyday through the rest of the week, we'll be posting guest blogs from the news interns who joined us this past summer. We wish them luck on their first week back at school.
by Jenna Hanchard, NBC Nightly News Intern Summer 2007, Syracuse University
Every time I heard the words, “We’ll look for you right back here tomorrow night,” I wished that one night I could respond by saying, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Brian.” Luckily this summer, that wish became reality. As I began to settle into the rhythm of the newsroom, my job quickly went from simply greeting the staff and blossomed into valuable hands-on experience.
Each day was as if someone held down the fast forward button on my life. It was exciting to work on different projects almost every day. The challenge of finding what worked best for each story and seeing it get on the air was thrilling. The pace of the day forced me learn how to make the best decisions in the shortest time.
One of the highlights was the daily 2:30 p.m. editorial meeting. I couldn’t wait for the comical yet journalistically sound editorial contributions from Brian. But even more, I yearned to understand how each broadcast was put together. Each editorial decision, from Paris Hilton to the London car bombings, provided me with a new insight into what is newsworthy and important to the American people.
Yet the intern interaction with the news staff wasn’t limited to an observation of how they think. I loved that we had personal and interactive time with many amazing journalists. Brian Williams and Ann Curry both halted their busy days and put down their BlackBerries to talk with us about the extraordinary journeys that ultimately lead them to NBC.
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by John Rutherford, NBC News producer
On the same day President Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq and most Americans were enjoying the Labor Day holiday, the Pentagon confirmed the deaths in Iraq of three Army sergeants, bringing the number of American service members killed in the war to 3,731:
Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Scheibner, nicknamed "Smoke," enjoyed working on his truck, playing golf, and going on camping trips with his wife, Ann, and 12-year-old son, Tyler. He also enjoyed being a soldier, having spent half of his 40 years in the Army. He was eligible to retire last April but extended for another year when his unit was deployed to Iraq. "He always did the right thing," his sister-in-law, Barb Badolati, told the Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle. "He was very committed." Scheibner, who also served in the 1991 Gulf War, was about to rotate into a non-combat job in Iraq with the 2nd Infantry Division, but on Aug. 30 he was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Al Noor, north of Baghdad. "It's just so awful and senseless," another sister-in-law, Kasi Scheibner, told the Detroit Free Press. "He had so much more to do."
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Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Charles P. Murray, Jr.
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Company C, 30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division
Because he had already finished three years at the University of North Carolina when he was drafted into the Army in the fall of 1942, Charles Murray was selected for Officer Candidate School. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the spring of 1943 and was sent to England in the summer of 1944 as a replacement officer. After landing on Omaha Beach several weeks after D-Day, he was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division.
As the division fought through the Vosges Mountains and reached the Rhine River at Strasbourg, Lieutenant Murray served as rifle platoon leader and company executive officer before he was put in command of the company. Early on the morning of December 16, Murray’s battalion slipped through the outskirts of the town of Kaysersberg to occupy positions on a commanding hill to the south. Lieutenant Murray decided to accompany one of his platoons down a narrow, winding mountain trail leading to the valley below in an attempt to deny that route to the enemy.
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by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
So many things to talk about today: Pavarotti, for starters. I was so fortunate to be there for his final public performance -- from Torino, Italy, during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I was on the air with Bob Costas. The presence of Pavarotti before a home audience was a huge secret (shared with us so that we could be prepared) and when the curtain opened and he sang, "Nessun Dorma," he simply brought the house down. I looked over at producer Subrata De and she was in tears. By the end, we all were. It was emotionally overwhelming. We'll remember him tonight by re-playing that moment as it aired on NBC.
Who disbanded the Iraqi Army? You know you live in a free country when you turn to the Op-Ed page of the New York Times and you read Paul Bremer's defense of his own actions ("How I Didn't Dismantle Iraq's Army") -- right next to a withering column by Roger Cohen (his second in as many outings) which reads, in part, "The fraying Bush Administration still can't work out who took the decision to disband the Iraqi Army in 2003; that's grotesque."
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By Andrea Mitchell, NBC News
Michael Deaver's friends came together at the National Cathedral today to celebrate what his good friend Jim Baker called "the miracle of a redeemed life." There were a lot of them: Some still powerful, some once powerful and others newly empowered -- several hundred former drug addicts whom Deaver had helped rescue from the streets of the nation's capital.
Henry Pierce spoke for them, from the pulpit where presidents and potentates are usually memorialized, to an audience that included Vice President Dick Cheney, former presidential candidate George McGovern, Nancy Reagan, Washington wise man Bob Strauss, and an army of former Reagan cabinet secretaries and White House staff. Pierce is now the director of an organization Deaver helped keep going called Clean & Sober Streets. As Pierce tells it, 15 years ago he was a dope addict who wandered in early one morning. A man in a baseball cap handed him a donut, a cup of coffee and a willing ear. Mike Deaver, who at his death had been sober for more than two decades, was rescuing another soul. Hundreds of them in the congregation stood to be recognized.
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by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer
Hi. So a Sydney newspaper reports President Bush used a good old Americanism about how the military is faring in Iraq, but new speculation about how the U.S. is now heartily embracing the Sunnis (in preparation for a conflict with Iran?) raises some alarms. And even bigger alarms raised by the question: was that "accidental" flight of 6 nuclear warheads really no accident at all? Plus, Fred Thompson, finally! More bad news on housing.. and as credit becomes harder to get, a primer on you and your FICO.
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Editor's note: Today and everyday through the rest of the week, we'll be posting guest blogs from the news interns who joined us this past summer. We wish them luck on their first week back at school.
by Joshua Clark, NBC Nightly News Intern, Summer 2007, Boston University
For all young men and women who aspire to be broadcast professionals, you would be well privileged to spend any part of your career at NBC Nightly News. I was asked to write about the singular highlight of my intern experience this summer but I assure anyone who reads this that the aforementioned task is quite impossible. It was all a blessing.
During my time at NBC Nightly News, I was given the opportunity to accompany producers on field shoots, submit story teases and pitches and assist with parts of segment production along with every other aspect of the broadcast. While many tune in at 6:30 p.m. EST and watch the news for a half an hour, I was part of the chosen few who help get the news on the air.
Click here to read more intern posts via Internal Affairs.
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by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I remember a couple of Saturdays ago, I was in a store when my pager went off -- reporting a fire at the Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan. I jumped in the car and headed for home, assuming that I'd turn on the television and see live coverage of the fire on all the local New York stations. But on this particular lazy summer weekend, there was nothing. At first, it seemed like a small but smoky fire in an abandoned building. Slowly, the cable networks came on with pictures, but still not grasping the seriousness of a fire in that pathetic, torn-up and dangerous structure. One anchor asked a correspondent if the building was "under construction." The truth is, as we've talked about here, it's an embarassment to New York that the building was still standing, six years after suffering a terminal scar when part of the collapsing World Trade Center cut a gash in the front. The loss of two New York City firefighters in that fire was an avoidable outrage -- they were doing their jobs in a building that wouldn't have been left standing if others had done theirs. We now know the toll that day could have been much worse. I read this today, and it is a harrowing story of the reflexive bravery among firefighters.
As we look at the stories we have to cover tonight, the busted terrorist plot in Germany tops the list -- mostly for what the alleged intended target was. We'll update the (continuing, it turns out) story of Senator Craig, the latest toy recall, and we'll have the story that is occupying all of my available time this afternoon: the first post-Soprano's interview with James Gandolfini, about his powerful new HBO Documentary, "Alive Day Memories".
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Editor's note: Today and everyday through the rest of the week, we'll be posting guest blogs from the news interns who joined us this past summer. We wish them luck on their first week back at school.
by Alex Bregman, NBC Nightly News Summer 2007 Intern, University of Pennsylvania
As I meandered through the construction of NBC News’s soon-to-be new digs at 30 Rock and finally made it to Nightly News’s temporary office, the first person I met was M.L. Flynn, the senior foreign producer for the broadcast. She heard me walk into the office, looked up from her computer and said, “You look like a new summer intern.” I guess I immediately showed my cards. She kindly told me to grab a newspaper and take a seat. Then the phone rang. It was none other than NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, calling from Mexico on her way back from a trip to Cuba. This whole episode was pretty ironic for me considering that last summer it was the opposite. Back then I was in Andrea’s office during my internship at NBC’s Washington bureau, listening to M.L.’s voice on the phone. I suppose it was listening to those voices in New York that lured me from Washington to 30 Rock—from the center of the political world to the center of the network.
In Washington I learned how a reporter covers a beat. In New York I have learned how all those beats come together to make a broadcast, and it is not as easy as Brian Williams may make it look. At the end of our daily morning editorial meeting the executive producer, Alex Wallace, goes through the stories, saying, “If we had to do the broadcast at 9:30,” and writes a preliminary list. Never would that list be the same at 2:30 p.m. at our afternoon editorial meeting and, come time for the actual broadcast, that morning list would sometimes seem like last week’s news. The amount of debate that went into the final list of stories, called the “rundown,” which was never really final until 6:30 p.m., was one of the most interesting parts of the job this summer.
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Editor's note: Maria Menounos filed this blog entry after the moving report on the Greek fires that affected her family. Watch video of her Nightly News report here.
by Maria Menounos, NBC contributor
Saturday August 25, 2007. I was on set producing a short film when I got word from my mother that Greece was on fire. I immediately went online to seek out as many details as possible. I quickly realized the magnitude of the disaster as it was the top story all over the world. My mother frantically tried to reach family in Greece while many more calls from concerned family members in the States poured in. My Uncle Taki was visiting Greece and witnessed his and my mother's village burning. He was able to save their home but unfortunately others weren’t as lucky.
I immediately knew I had to be there. Most people know me for my work in entertainment news, maybe some occasional acting roles, and my dedication to my charity work. The truth is I studied journalism because I was the girl who wanted to chase the fire trucks. My heart bleeds for people during tragedies and always has. It kills me to just watch the news on television. I want to be there to help in whatever way I can. My first job was at Channel One News. It was an unbelievable opportunity to travel the world and to cover stories that were important to the world. I visited an impoverished South Africa and covered the Aids epidemic. I visited El Salvador the day after being ravaged by a massive earthquake. There, I not only reported on it, I dug in and assisted however I could. I made sandwiches for rescue workers, and tried to comfort families who lost loved ones. Because I speak Spanish, the people of San Salvador begged me to contact their families in Miami and other places to let them know they were alive. And so I did. This is why I love what I do.
I know its tough to listen to the news. It can get depressing. I knew I could be the difference between people caring about this disaster in Greece, and them overlooking it. I knew I had an advantage being Greek and speaking the language. I also have my family there to help in any way they could. I got the call from my Executive Producer Jim Bell and within three hours I was on a plane to Greece to cover the tragedy for “the Today Show.”
Photo: Looking at what's left. Maria with her family in Greece after the fires. Click photo to watch video.
Read more of her post on our sister blog, allDay.
Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Robert O'Malley
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division
Robert O’Malley was one of four brothers, all of them two years apart in age and two years apart in joining the Marine Corps. Like his brothers, he enlisted after graduating from high school. He was stationed for a time in Okinawa, and in May 1965 went to Vietnam with the 3rd Marine Division.
Late in the summer, U.S. intelligence learned that the Vietcong was planning an attack on the American base at Chu Lai. The Marines designed Operation Starlight, an offensive in which three Marine battalions would block the assault. It was the first major engagement between the Americans and the Vietcong, and the Marines weren’t yet familiar with the enemy’s guerrilla tactics.
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by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I spent my morning with actor James Gandolfini and four veterans of the Iraq war -- all of them are part of the powerful new HBO documentary called "Alive Day" (the title referring to how survivors of grievous wounds in combat refer to the day of their injury -- as many of them then have to start life all over again). The documentary premieres here in New York tonight. Tomorrow morning on Today at 8:30 EDT, we'll air the exclusive interview with Gandolfini (the host and producer) and these four amazing veterans, one rock star after another. One of them is Crystal Davis, whom we profiled several years ago on Nightly News after meeting her at Walter Reed. My only regret is that these four veterans, Dex, Dawn, Crystal and John, aren't a regular part of my life. Perhaps someday they will be.
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Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
Thomas R. Norris
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy SEALS Advisor, Strategic Technical Directorate Assistance Team, Headquarters, U.S. Military Assistance Command
Thomas Norris graduated from the University of Maryland in 1967. He had studied criminology with the hope of joining the FBI, but knowing that he had to satisfy his military obligation, he enlisted in the Navy, eventually joining the SEALs.
On April 2, 1972, a U.S. electronic surveillance aircraft was downed by an enemy surface-to-air missile. Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton was the sole crew member to eject safely—but he parachuted into the middle of some thirty thousand North Vietnamese troops. Over the next several days, during an extensive rescue effort, four aircraft were downed, ten Americans were killed, two were captured, and another two were trapped behind enemy lines.
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by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer
Hi. We're back and refreshed from the unofficial last weekend of summer, and as the White House would want it, looking at Bush's fly-by-night episode to Anbar; Al Gore's first real comments on how the media treated him in 2000; lots of detail on what might be in the planning for a U.S. strike on Iran; and a critic of the U.S. way of life of late gets sanguine about the coming... ummm... disaster?
So President Bush swoops into Anbar Province and declares things going so well the U. S. might be able to draw down troops. NYT's Cloud and Myers. But a rather brutal story from the WaPo's Sudarsan Raghavan uses words like "tenuous, temporary, illusory" to describe the Surge. And the LA Times Tina Susman uses another word: failure. Wretchard at the Belmont Club looks at surge architect Fred Kagan's pronouncement that Bush's visit to the heavily fortified airbase in Anbar was the Iraq war's "Gettysburg." Digby, also noting the Lincoln comparison, is at the end of her rope. Joe Sudbay at Americablog has a problem with Bush meeting with those former insurgents. And the Boston Globe's Bombardieri reports that Democrats got an earful from constituents over the August recess, about the whole capitulating to Bush in Iraq thing.
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by Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
Everybody here seems to be talking about climate change, but when it comes to action, there are two very different responses to be seen in Australia this week. The first will be the discussions at APEC, taking place in Sydney amid intense security. The second couldn't be more different – the practical, dogged and groundbreaking work of conservationists in the country's bush.
Take APEC first. Asia Pacific leaders have started to arrive here in fortress Sydney.
The first to arrive was China’s President Hu Jintao, who entered via Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and had coal on his mind. China’s the most important customer for that state’s big mining companies, buying up natural resources as fast as they can be dug from the ground.
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by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
The President showed up in Iraq early this morning, and so we are all here on this Labor Day to cover a major news story. We're watching golf carefully -- not that we're actually following the leader board, per se -- but we're fearing a collapse of our East Coast broadcast should golf run over its allotted time.
It's always painful when a sports division event runs into a news division broadcast -- and the worst instance on my watch was the night of the Iraqi election. There we were, at 3:00 in the morning, listening to a sporting event run right into what was to have been the first live feed of Nightly News. Much of the East Coast was prevented from seeing our work that night -- and many of our personnel had risked their lives covering that story. I remember a mortar loudly landing on the steps of the U.S. Embassy, not far from our anchor location, that very night. CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt
Greetings from New York. Tonight on Nightly News we'll be covering yet another powerful hurricane churning its way across the Caribbean. "Felix" is now a category 3 storm, and like "Dean," will steer clear of the United States and take a track toward Mexico and Central America. Are we seeing a repeat of the 2006 hurricane season, where weather patterns caused each Atlantic hurricane to bypass the U.S. Gulf coast? We'll ask NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Gary Archibald who will be joining me with the latest update on "Felix."
Labor Day is the traditional kick-off of the presidential campaign season, but our Kevin Corke is talking to seasoned political experts who remind us this is not a traditional campaign season. Kevin will tell us how a compressed primary election calendar is turning this fall into what some see as the "home stretch." But are voters paying close attention yet? We'll get some insight on that question as well. CONTINUED >>
Editor’s Note: NBC News Anne Thompson and her crew were on assignment in Greenland, but due to a strike by Air Greenland, flights have been few and far between. Anne managed to get out of town on Thursday evening, but her crew – producer Mario Garcia, photographer Bruce Bernstein and his son and soundman, Curt Bernstein were not so lucky. Click here for Mario's update on the Worldblog as of Friday afternoon. Since then, Mario has e-mailed us to tell us that after some unnecessary confusion in Copenhagen , he made his way to London and is now headed to the city of his birth, Baltimore.
"Illulisat to Kangerlusuaq to Copenhagen to London to B'more... a very round about way to travel. Hopefully sleep will come soon."
Friday, Aug. 31, 3:06 p.m.
By Mario Garcia, NBC News Producer
KANGERLUSSUAQ, Greenland – Once our correspondent Anne Thompson managed to catch a flight, the rest of us – Bruce, Curt, and I – decided to go ahead and hike out to an ice fjord in Ilulissat. And it was a good thing because after having been on iceberg cruises and flying over ice sheets, we all agreed that the most amazing sight was the sunset last night – at 10:30 p.m.
With 20 hours of daylight in Greenland during the summer – it means long working days or long layovers when you are delayed like we are. But we were delighted to catch one more glimpse of the natural beauty Greenland has to offer.
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| Curt Bernstein / NBC News |
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So many places to go, so few planes! NBC News’ Mario Garcia and Bruce Bernstein in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
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Not so fast
On Friday morning we got some good news when we heard the Greenland Air strike was over.
With that, we presumed we could get from where we sat in Ilulissat to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland’s major airport on the west coast.
We called Air Greenland and of course they said, "There are flights, but you’re not on any of them."
However, after some back and forth and some time left on interminable hold, the agent from Air Greenland did get back to me with a flight from Ilulissat to Kangerlussuaq. I asked here when it left and she said, "When you get here."
Click here to read the full post on the Worldblog.
