March 2008 - Posts
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
These days I'm living a dual life. I came to work today from Sesame Street, where I reported first thing in the morning to shoot an episode for the upcoming fall season. Since raising two children on Sesame Street (and, my wife and I hope, actual parenting) its been something of a dream to appear on the show. I'm so happy to report that the cast and crew and producers and writers are just as smart, creative, happy and welcoming as you'd want them to be. I had a blast today, hanging with Elmo, Ernie, Bob and others -- and can't wait to go back to that familiar Street tomorrow. It is truly a joy.
One note from history: 40 years ago today (while it's hard to describe just how impactful it was for its time and place), President Lyndon Johnson stunned the world by announcing that he would neither seek nor accept his party's nomination for another term as President. It was a closely-guarded secret within the White House until the moment of the announcement. At least one witness said he glanced over at his wife Lady Bird, who was present for the speech in the Oval Office, before he read the actual words that had been added to his speech on the TelePrompTer. It was a huge story. No one had any way of knowing, of course, that just days later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be assasinated in Memphis.
It's not too early to tell you that we'll be live at the National Civil Rights Museum (just beneath the balcony of the Lorraine Motel) in Memphis for Friday's broadcast. We have some special coverage planned, and I urge you to join us -- as I do for tonight's broadcast as well.
By Hoda Kotb, NBC News Anchor
Greetings from sunny Manhattan. Lester Holt (the hardest working man in television) is off today, enjoying some much deserved time with his family. I'm Hoda Kotb and I'll be filling in for Lester this evening. With regards to my name, it's HOE-duh KOT-bee (imagine being me during elementary school roll call).
We are following several stories this afternoon, among them the economy. It is so tough for so many Americans right now. In response, the federal government is announcing some sweeping changes in the way it regulates financial markets. Savannah Guthrie will join us to iron out the details.
Along with the economy, we're hot on the political trail this weekend. As you very well know, no one rests in the world of politics. Ron Allen is with Hillary Clinton while Lee Cowan is with Barack Obama. Each will join with updates from the campaign trail.
Finally, one piece you won't want to miss. Skateboarding, often frowned upon, even forbidden in some places, is beginning to show up in school gymnasiums. I hope you'll join me tonight.
Brian Williams answers your Newsvine questions on how the Nightly News team puts together the newscast. How much of the show does he write? And how do they pick correspondents for each political candidate?
Watch the clip, below.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Having lost more than one family member to cancer, the segment/interview we aired with Senator Specter was something I found so meaningful to work on -- I was so gratified today to see the viewer response was largely the same. Thanks for enjoying it as much as I did working on it.
I want to slip off into the weekend having called your attention to several things -- several of them under one umbrella. Our friends at Slate have a confluence of riches posted on their site at this moment: the excerpted feature on "The New Censorship," the Hillary Clinton campaign watch they've set up, and a great slide show on the life and extraordinary works of Edward Hopper.
The blindingly smart George Packer has done a great bit of satiric writing on the state of this campaign, and Josh Green (who has some history with the Clinton campaign) is out to prove that religion can, I guess, cut both ways.
This current national "discussion" we're having argues, I believe, for watching the superb "John Adams" series on HBO. Each frame of it is a lesson in how issues like religion were dealt with by the Framers.
We've also uncovered an incredible Time magazine cover story from 1967 -- about the union of two people, shocking in its time -- and related to a present-day storyline.
One last thing: bravo to the TSA for recognizing a clear and present danger to aviation safety. Sheesh.
My thanks to Skip for his post to this blog (see yesterday's comments) -- about the nicest kind to recieve in this line of work. Now I'm off to answer some questions from Newsvine folks, and to start that weekend I mentioned. I hope you all have a safe and restful weekend, unless you have other plans! We'lll see you back here Monday night. My friend Hoda Kotb is filling in for my buddy Lester this weekend, so do try to join her both nights.
By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent
To understand why Colombian forces crossed into Ecuador earlier this month to kill the second in command of the Colombian rebel group know as the FARC, along with 25 others at the guerilla camp, it helps to know that the government here and the FARC have been battling for four decades. Along the way thousands of Colombians from all walks of life have been kidnapped and held for ransom or political exchanges by those guerillas and others. Polls and recent anti-FARC demonstrations show that most Colombians are fed up with their tactics.
Kidnapping is a horrible act which often affects the families more than it does the actual victim. Colombia's current Vice-President, Francisco Santos, who was kidnapped for eight months by drug traffickers, says at least the victims are concentrating on survival and know the details of their situation. The families, he points out, are left in a painful vacuum, distraught in their lack of knowledge, fearing the worst. His own father, Santos says, aged 10 years during their eight-month ordeal.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
For the first time in over a month, I had an actual lunch in an actual restaurant, with actual utensils, instead of my usual lunch at my desk. And the episode taught me why I never go out for lunch: I've been behind on my work all day since.
We just broke from the editorial meeting and while several stories are "on the bubble" (meaning the best piece wins, and the correspondents involved have been so advised) we know the basic template for tonight: health care, Iraq, Tibet, politics, and a special interview I've conducted for air tonight...with a man who decided to live with cancer, and treatment, out in the open as a public figure.
My thanks to PFC Fritch for writing back. What a great honor to be with the Old Guard -- and again, thank you for your service.
I sincerely hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent
The email from the office Tuesday afternoon was a heads-up: my colleague Robert Bazell, NBC's chief science correspondent, was going to have a report on that night's NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams about a medical controversy I'd want to know about...allegations that a study about a procedure for the early detection of lung cancer had been partly funded by tobacco companies. And, the email went on, Bob's report would include a reference to me since I'd volunteered for the medical procedure at the heart of that controversy.
Ironically, just the day before, I'd kept a doctor’s appointment I’d cancelled and rescheduled twice before that procedure-- actually a follow-up CT (Computer Tomography) Scan for lung cancer-- as part of an ongoing study by Dr. Claudia Henschke at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. I’d had my initial scan in November 2006, a decision I’d made after thinking hard about it and reading as much as I could about Dr. Henschke’s research.
For 40 years I’d smoked a pack of unfiltered cigarettes a day, finally quitting when my former colleague Peter Jennings died and I looked with fully open eyes for the first time at the unquestioned connections between lung cancer and cigarette smoking. My decision to submit to the one test that seemed to screen effectively for lung cancer was based on a simple conclusion I’d taken another year to reach: I wanted to know (and not simply wonder and worry) if my decades of smoking had set a time bomb in my chest that was about to go off… or already had.< CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
For everyone of these sent to the blog...
There's one of these:
I was thrilled to hear from a serviceman who was part of yesterday's ceremony at Arlington. Private Fritch, if you're still out there, please write back! Are you with the Old Guard? Was that not a breathtaking event at Arlington? Which of my friends, the Recipients, did you meet and escort? Private, please know I admire what you do for a living and thank you for your service. I thought it was notable yesterday that there were just three audible sounds recurring during yesterday's ceremony -- aircraft departing on a northern route from National Airport, the birds in the trees above us, and the click of the steel-plated heels of the soldiers guarding the tomb.
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery are always sad, but the burial of Army Staff Sgt. Collin Bowen was especially so.
Bowen, 38, died last month of burns suffered in Afghanistan and was buried Tuesday before a large group of mourners that included his wife and three young daughters.
Bowen was on the final day of his final mission near the Pakistani border on Jan. 2 when he was critically burned on his head and limbs by a roadside bomb. Evacuated to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, he survived for 10 weeks before succumbing on March 14.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Just down the white marble steps from the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery at 8:30 this morning, I called a news conference to order (with apologies delivered from the podium for fellow members of the press) in my capacity as a member of the Medal of Honor Foundation Board.
Before me in the audience: 34 recipients of the Medal of Honor. With me on stage: Retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, whom I introduced to help with today's honors: the first-ever recognition of civilians -- the three national finalists for the "Above and Beyond Honors". (Read about the winners here, here, and here.)
This is National Medal of Honor Day, and this is the first time the recipients have done this -- putting the full weight of the honor bestowed upon them, behind an honor given out to others.
We'll feature today's news conference at the end of our broadcast tonight, but I'm just enormously proud of these men who have become my friends -- these 105 living recipients. One among them, Vietnam Veteran Paul Bucha, came up with the idea of the Honors and today's ceremony. I cannot express what an honor it is, of all the people I've been lucky enough to know in my life -- to stand at that podium this morning and look out at their faces -- and receive smiles of friendship back from them.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
It is tempting for the media -- for all of us -- to move on after the news story that dominated our coverage for much of last week: the Midwest flooding. But the saddest image of the day might just be the weather radar over that region right now (more rain) and the predictions that rivers have yet to crest from last week. They don't need this.
We have quite a broadcast planned for you tonight, now that we're back after the Easter Weekend. Tonight, Nightly News is offered with limited commercial interruption -- a very simple equation: fewer commercials, more news. We'll try to put our extra time to good use. Something tells me politics will come up.
We're glad to have you with us.
By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent
Anyone who's reported from Iraq -- and I've done four substantial reporting assignments from the war, from 14 weeks at the start to a month-long embedded assignment with producer John Zito last spring with a company of the Third Infantry Division -- follows the news from the war zone with a special interest. So I knew in recent weeks we were creeping up on the next somber milestone: 4,000 American troops killed in battle.
John and I spoke several times in the past few months about how we might report that story, when the milestone was reached, and one idea came together. We'd both covered the war from the beginning, and had revisited story subjects we'd come to know along the way.
One subject, a 35-year old raw-boned Oklahoma tough guy named Daniel "Bill" Scates had been killed late last summer along with four fellow soldiers when they walked into a booby-trapped house in southern Baghdad. I knew Scates; had met him in the first weeks of the war on a day when he was struggling to come to grips with a tragic mistake: his company had survived the costly but triumphant march from the south to Baghdad, but, once there, they'd set up a roadblock where they were billeted and when an innocent Iraqi family drove through it, panicking, Scates watched as the security detail mistakenly opened fire. A father and his daughter were killed, his wife the only survivor.
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By Amy Robach, NBC News Anchor
On this Easter Sunday many along the Meramec River in Missouri are breathing a sigh of relief. Even though homes and lives have been lost and the water not yet receded, most knew it could have been worse. NBC's Ron Mott will give us the latest update on how those in the Midwest are faring on this Sunday.
Throughout the country, many are not faring well when it comes to their finances. Tonight, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo will walk us through a wild week on Wall Street. In addition, she'll offer her take on what to expect this week, as well as the potential impact on consumers' pockets.
And finally, a sign of the times: KFC plans to unveil grilled chicken at some of its restaurants in an effort to see if the grilled variety will bring health conscience consumers back through its doors. I hope you can join me this evening.
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Unlike so many natural disasters, flooding almost seems to take place in slow motion. Long after the heavy rain passed, residents in Missouri, Arkansas, and Ohio have watched rivers crest, claiming homes and communities. NBC's Ron Mott is watching right along with them, and will tell us whether the worst has passed. Another key member of our NBC team working the coverage from the flood zone is freelance sound man Ron Hartle who's own home, in Eureka, Missouri, is now under water. Ron and his wife were able to salvage what they could ahead of the flood waters, but like so many, they are now homeless. Ron will share his personal reflections on our program tonight. In the meantime we are keeping Ron, Diane and all those whose lives have been affected by the flood in our thoughts tonight. CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I'll be brief today -- in devoting this space to my friend and colleague Richard Engel. Several of you wrote in and mentioned the honor bestowed upon him. I've posted the announcement, and we've posted the segment that earned him this honor. I also have to believe that as the longest-serving broadcast journalist currently covering this war, Richard's body of work speaks for itself. His courage, his fairness and pursuit of the story have set him apart. No one has been more deserving of a civilian or journalistic honor for bravery. We all salute our friend Richard, who we know takes to heart the frequent good wishes and concern for his safety that are expressed in this space.
I hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast -- we have a good one planned. I hope you all enjoy the upcoming weekend, as many prepare to gather with family and friends. As the guy on TV says, we'll look for you right back here on Monday night.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I didn't want to let this week pass without pointing out an honor that was bestowed on two friends of mine -- two real-life American heroes -- one of them a member of our NBC News immediate family.
Retired U.S. Army Colonel Jack Jacobs (far right in the photo below), a recipient of the Medal of Honor and an NBC News Military Analyst, and former Navy Seal Mike Thornton (far left) -- both men, recipients of the Medal of Honor -- this week officially opened two buildings named after them.
The facility is on the grounds of Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Its part of a new network of housing for wounded warriors and their families. They will forever bear the names of these two great Vietnam Veterans. Two men who feel so fortunate to have survived that conflict -- two men given their nation's highest military honor for saving the lives of others -- will now be forever associated with a place that puts the wounded back together.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
On this five-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, I'm thinking of my friend, the late retired Army four-star General Wayne Downing. Wayne and I, assigned to cover the start of the war on MSNBC, were in Kuwait for eight weeks, prior to the initial invasion. I had just gone down the for night in my hotel room when producer Jean Harper came banging on the door. Jean knew she had to make a lot of noise, because I'd installed a white noise generator to drown out the air-raid sirens during the frequent Scud missle attacks.
In retrospect, this probably wasn't the smartest thing I ever did -- one of them, a Sparrow missile as I recall, believed to have been fired from the Al Faw Penninsula, came close to where we were staying and busted up part of a shopping mall nearby. Each hotel room had what became known as the "talking credenza" -- a hidden speaker that would broadcast the voice of the heavily-accented hotel manager, telling all hotel guests to head to the bomb shelter in the basement with each new incoming missile. While we always had our gasmasks and chem suits and antidote injections with us, we only headed to the shelters twice, as I recall: the first time we heard the warning, and after the close impact (a lot of good that did us) at the nearby mall.
I remember listening at night to the "pop-boom" pattern in the skies not far away: the sounds represented the launch of a Patriot missile and the destruction of the incoming Scud. It's important to remember now that the Scuds (according to a background briefing I received from the two-star in charge of pre-war intel) were the number-one danger, and the number one security priority, early-on, among advancing U.S. forces. No one had yet heard of or seen an "insurgent".
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By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
At our afternoon Nightly News editorial meeting, I pointed out that the scientist in my report tonight who studies the brains of psychopathic criminals, Dr. Keith Kiehl of the University of New Mexico, emphasizes that not every criminal is a psychopath – or even close.
Our executive producer, Alex Wallace, suggested that I put up a list of just how a psychopath is defined. I have to emphasize this diagnosis can only be administered by a trained professional. If you see characteristics of people you know on the list, don’t be alarmed. Every psychological test has parts that overlap with behavior we see in ourselves or others from time to time. To be classified as a psychopath the prisoner volunteers must score very highly in most of these categories. For example someone would usually be classified as having behavioral problems as a child, only if their behavior was so severe they were taken from their parents.
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
Army casualty assistance officers fanned out across America last week to notify the families of 13 soldiers that their loved ones had been killed in Iraq.
Larry West was met at the front door of his Green Springs, W.Va., home and told of the death of his son, Army Staff Sgt. Laurent West. Victor Verdugo of Douglas, Ariz., learned his kid brother, Army Staff Sgt. Ernesto Cimarrusti, had also been killed.
"I just got out of work and I got a phone call from his wife," Verdugo told KVOA Tucson. "She told me the news that he had been killed. It's hard for us right now."
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I arrived home last night to find a box, shipped Fed Ex, no note -- just a layer of styrofoam peanuts...covering up a case of peanut butter. The jars are marked: BUCKLEY'S BEST PEANUT BUTTER -- from the Red Wing Peanut Butter company in Fredonia, New York. It is the very same gift William F. Buckley sent me after our first meeting over 15-years ago, as chronicled here, now arriving again anonymously, after his death.
I had to laugh at the thought: after his departure from this earth, we are still enjoying, in his name, the product which bears the inscription on the label: "It is quite simply incomparable" -- below which is the reproduced signature of William F. Buckley. I'm aggressively checking into our corporate policy on accepting gifts of peanut butter. Could this be a corporate attempt to buy my favor? No way. I'm already in the tank for Red Wing. Bill Buckley stood for a lot over the course of his lifetime. His critics will tell you he was wrong as often as he was right...but he sure was right about really good peanut butter.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
Tonight as we continue the series “Mind Matters” we report on exciting research that raises the hope that people who suffer loss of vision from strokes or brain injury can recover it from a treatment that looks like an early stage video game, but is backed by solid science. For a long time doctors have known that some people could recover the use of limbs or speech parallelized by brain injury or stroke through repetitive physical therapy. But the belief was that eyesight could not be re-wired. The initial results with this technology shows it may be possible for some people -- with an enormous amount of hard work to get some of their vision back.
To get more information on Visual Restoration Therapy click here.
The company that makes the device also puts up a free, five-minute, interactive online vision test for stroke and brain injury survivors who wish to learn if a vision deficit exists as a result of their injuries.
Also I would like to give a nod to the people at a rehabilitation facility called Living Resources in Albany, NY who proved enormously helpful to Bart Goldstein, the young man we profile – and to us in preparing the report.
By Maria Menounos, NBC News contributing correspondent
When you hear of the sacrifices that our servicemen and women make during times of war -- both of life and, quite literally, limb -- you often think of the families that are forced to cope with these losses and others like them. There are programs to help spouses and parents cope but, astonishingly, the children of these courageous men and women may be overlooked.
I had the opportunity to observe this firsthand when I sat down with the Kraima family. Naomi Kraima had served in Iraq during the height of the war in 2003 and narrowly escaped an explosion that took the life of her friend. The explosion and the war proved to injure the entire Kraima family. The sacrifices that were made during the war were grand in gesture and in number. And these sacrifices were not merely offered by the mother but by the family as a whole. And, together, the family continues to pay for them. We would all like to think that when our soldiers and marines return home, that their portion of the war is truly over -- they made it home “safe and sound”after all. But, sadly, that’s not the case. Their next battle begins when they get home: the battle for normalcy and for a healthy family existence.
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By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice correspondent
Not once in the history of the United States has the Supreme Court ever said what the Second Amendment means. That surprising fact is one reason why the case the justices are hearing today is likely to produce the most important ruling ever on gun rights.
The amendment itself is just 27 words long, interrupted three times by the punctuation fashionable at the time of the nation's founding: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
To Dick Heller of Washington, DC, who wants to keep a handgun at home for personal protection, the words guarantee a personal, individual right to own a gun. His lawyers argue that the key phrase is "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms." The amendment's first words, dealing with a well regulated militia, state only one of many purposes for establishing that right, they argue, and do not limit its protections.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
While caring for my elderly father in the hospital, I had the opportunity many nights last week to act as an "ordinary" Nightly News viewer -- and so it is with great sincerity and appreciation that I thank my pal Ann Curry for filling in. While her kindness, honesty, empathy and concern come shining right through the camera lens, most of you will never have the pleasure of knowing her as we do around here. She's an astounding person to have as a friend, and it is just a great relief to know she's in the chair every night and working with our great staff by day.
I see from the writing of Craig Wilson, and from the newspaper in Fredonia, New York -- that our remembrance of William F. Buckley continues to have some resonance -- of all his many legacies, I can think of no better way to remember him than to devote ourselves to quality peanut butter.
What a day to return to work. Covering the economy is job #1 for us tonight, and we have a comprehensive package of coverage ready for you tonight. As I continue to get my sea legs in the newsroom where I've been absent for so long, we look forward to you joining us for tonight's broadcast.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
I am privileged because my job allows me to cover so many things that I find utterly fascinating. But even by those standards, the story that airs tonight on a man with exceptional memory stands out. It is the first of a weeklong series on the brain called 'Mind Matters.'
Brad Williams, who is 51, is an announcer at an AM radio station in La Crosse, Wisconsin. At first he seems like a perfectly pleasant, ordinary man until you start to test his memory. Brad can remember details from the events that occurred during most of his lifetime.
Usually scientists study memory by observing people with Alzheimer’s and other conditions that cause memory loss. But as a research subject Brad is offering a chance to study how memory might be enhanced
I asked Brad what made headlines on October 22, 1975. He replied that it was a Wednesday and Boston and Cincinnati were playing the final game of the World Series. Brad can go on and on like that with details from TV shows he has seen to people he has met over decades.
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By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
After a busy news week, I allowed myself to hope that today might be a quiet last day sitting in for the vacationing Brian Williams.
No such luck.
Today, the nation's fifth biggest bank lost nearly half its value in a matter of minutes, and had to plead for a bailout to prevent it from collapsing. Experts are predicting that other big banks might soon be in trouble as well, and that the nation's credit crisis is worsening.
This is rattling people. Stocks took a beating and both the President and Fed Chairman were publicly trying to calm worries.
Our team is aggressively pursing this story, and tonight we are going to ask CNBC’s David Faber where is the safest place to put your money.
The other major story of the day is the biggest uprising in Tibet in 20 years. China is cracking down hard, and blaming the Dalai Lama, who is denying any involvement. Like Burma, Buddhist monks are taking to the streets, and also like Burma, covering this story will be difficult.
We also have strong reporting tonight about Barack Obama's childhood years in Indonesia. The crack team of Ian Williams and Kyle Eppler found Obama's old classmates, who knew Barack as "Barry."
It was a sincere pleasure to fill in for Brian this week. Brian is exactly as he seems, a man of sterling character, who takes this job of informing you very seriously.
Every time I sit in, I get a new glimpse at how beloved Brian is by the ace producers on his Nightly news team. It's an honor, really, to welcome him back to the chair.
By Al Henkel, NBC News producer
The past couple of days fall in that "Boy, do I have a great job" category.
I've been out shooting a story deep in Cajun country about Louisiana crawfish farmers. Down in the bayous there's a fight going on over Procambus Clarkii, the tasty little devils know as mudbugs.
Crawfish farming is a $100 million dollar business in south Louisiana, but a risky business. Unlike just about every other agricultural commodity, there's no safety net, "No nothin," says David Savoy, a crawfisherman. "We've come up with, on our own, a way to make a living with no government subsidies, with no insurance, everything on our own backs, it's the ideal sign of the independent businessman."
Wholesale price for crawfish is about a dollar a pound, which is exactly what it costs to produce a pound. Farmers are scrambling to make a living, and are trying to regulate the price as best they can by limiting their harvesting days. Think OPEC on a much smaller scale.
Don Teague and I will bring you that story tonight on the broadcast.
On a personal note, I love crawfish. I wish we could bring you smell-a-vision.
(photos by Al Henkel, NBC News)
By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
In for Brian Williams again tonight, and want to note today is the last day NBC News will benefit from the talents of Tyrone Couch.
An 18-year veteran of NBC News' hard working Washington Bureau, he's video edited thousands of stories you've seen on Nightly News, many for the likes of Jim Miklaszewski and Andrea Mitchell.
Listen, as remarkable as our correspondents are, the REAL talents of NBC News are our editors, producers, writers and camera crews behind the scenes. Without them we would not be worth watching.
Tyrone, aka Ty, worked 67 straight days in 2003, editing stories during those important early months of the war in Iraq.
Once a combat photographer in the Air Force, he's also the guy who has consistently helped us to get the military hardware right, in first Fred Francis' and now Jim Miklaszewski's reports from the Pentagon. Jim says, "Tyrone never once lost his cool or missed a shot. If the military had performed with such professionalism and precision, both wars would have long been over by now. He's got a top spot in my personal Hall of Heroes."
Washington producer Doug Adams calls him one of NBC's best editors for "crashes" (television lingo for day-of stories). "His stories always moved. You had to keep one step ahead of him because he was moving a mile a minute."
Tyrone's last spots were of course last minute crashes, including the story on the sudden resignation of Centcom Commander, Admiral Fallon, and the rate of STD's among the nations teenagers.
He is also, according to producer Antoine Sanfuentes, "a photographer at heart and an accomplished keyboardist. In fact no day goes by without some style of music playing in his edit room. He edits to his mood groove. He's a really nice guy and a pleasure to be around ... always."
After tonight Ty gets to spend more time with his grand-daughter, Zakira and enjoy the life after TV news, the rest of us here can only imagine.
Maybe when you are no longer racing against the clock and stressing about which pictures and sound to use with the facts on the page Tyrone, you will realize your work informing the American people was useful.
Oh, we do hope you feel that.
(photo by Jim Kreitner, NBC News)
By Stephanie Himango, NBC News p
roducer
Watch the segment
They are an unlikely pair.
Property developer Bobby Ginn and Audubon of Florida created a partnership to protect the habitat of a family of bald eagles. Now on the success of this union, environmentalists hope this kind of cooperation will become the norm - a new balance between development and conservation.
When Bobby Ginn realized his 1,400-acre Tesoro deluxe development in Port Saint Lucie was already home to two bald eagles, he halted construction and consulted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Audubon of Florida. Even though Ginn's vocation is property development, that did not preclude him from being a friend of nature -- perhaps not surprising since his childhood years were spent in rural South Carolina.
Preserving the eagles' habitat meant significantly modifying the development plan. "He literally designed the development around the moving eagles. He changed the location of the clubhouse, the location of golf courses, the location of a major element of what was going to be his waterfront development...to create a preserve for these birds," said Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon of Florida.
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By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
Brian Williams, who has the week off, is keeping a close watch on the Eliot Spitzer news, which had a moment reminiscent of the OJ Simpson Bronco chase, when news helicopters followed Spitzer's excruciatingly slow drive to his resignation.
Though it appeared his motorcade hit every red light, it was hard not to be riveted.
Tonight Mike Taibbi, who has not slept much since this stunning story broke, again brings his thoughtful writing to the final chapter in the public life of an anti-corruption crusader.
Also tonight, Andrea Mitchell on Barack Obama's first major discussion of race in the campaign. He has made a point not to run as a "black candidate" but appears to have been pushed by Geraldine Ferraro's recent comments.
Ferraro confirmed today that she is not backing down from her quoted comments that "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position."
Meantime new NBC News Wall Street Journal Poll numbers brings Tim Russert to our broadcast tonight.
A lot to tell you tonight and we are racing to finalize the rundown for tonight's broadcast.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
There's a very moving ceremony at the Pentagon honoring soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, but few people know about it, and for good reason.
About 10 times a year wounded soldiers are brought down a Pentagon corridor lined with their Army colleagues, who cheer and applaud and shake their hands as they pass by.
A friend sent me a column by Joseph Galloway of McClatchy Newspapers in which Lt. Col. Robert Bateman describes the ceremony.
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By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
First an apology. Completely forgot to blog last night in the shock that rippled through our newsroom as the facts about the Elliot Spitzer investigation unfolded.
This place where Brian Williams usually sits is surrounded by some of the world's most seasoned newswriters and producers, not the sort to drop their jaws when a story breaks, but not even they saw this coming.
That the New York governor, who has been called "The Crusader," and "Mr. Clean," because of his righteous investigations of wrongdoings, could fall so hard from grace reminds us all that everything is not always as it seems.
Today, as the investigation broadens, Mike Taibbi is gathering still more surprising details for his report tonight.
Lee Cowan has news from the Obama campaign on this primary day in Mississippi, and Kelly O'Donnell from the McCain campaign, and we also expect to have an update on the US position on Darfur. The State Department is now calling "horrific" Sudan's human rights record in the region, because of "torture, beatings, and rape by government security forces and their proxy militia in Darfur."
There are more signs the situation there is worsening still. The U.N. is halving its emergency food deliveries to Darfur because of a surge in attacks on its convoys. The World Food Program reports 45 trucks have already been hijacked this year.
There is also news on stem cells and Alzheimer's, and on a much lighter note
President Bush's singing debut in white tie and cowboy hat to bring you tonight. The truth is we have too much to tell you to fit our newscast, so we will not waste a word.
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Behind the real drama, twists and turns of the Clinton-Obama race for the Democratic nomination, is some real mind-numbing detail concerning party rules and procedures that determine how big a delegate prize the candidates get in each state contest. It's exciting to track the delegate counts, but to be perfectly honest, it is difficult at times to understand how those delegates are awarded.
This past Tuesday, I was allowed to attend a democratic caucus in Houston. In preparation, I spent the afternoon poring over the Texas Democratic Party rules--everything from how to elect a caucus chairman and secretary, to how to determine if the threshold to form a caucus has been met. The party even provides something they call the E-Z Math Precinct Delegate form that walks you through a number of calculations that ultimately answer the question of the night: how many delegates does each candidate get? After an hour of going over the rules, those IRS forms I used to grumble over suddenly seemed downright simple.
CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
It is pouring rain for a second straight day outside our Manhattan studios, and amid the usual chorus of grumbling, I have heard more than a few people remark, "at least it's not snow!" We certainly don't have to look far to see how close we came to shoveling today instead of wading. The Ohio Valley in particular is suffering under heavy snow that has accompanied two storm systems that have been felt from Arkansas to the Great Lakes. Since mid week there have been numerous deaths, power outages, and airport disruptions. NBC's Rehema Ellis will wrap it all up for us on Nightly News tonight.
Who would have thought two months into the primary season we'd be anxiously anticipating the outcome of the Wyoming Democratic Caucuses? Twelve delegates are at stake, but as we all have come to understand in this race, twelve delegates is a lot. We'll tell you how things went there today.
Next time you pass a truck on the interstate, take a glance in the rear view mirror and check out who's behind the wheel of that big-rig. Chances are it won't be whom you expect. Don Teague has a fascinating story on the shortage of big-rig drivers, and how it is changing the image of truckers.
Finally, if you caught the end of the TODAY show this morning, you saw my colleagues surprise me with birthday cupcakes. My NIGHTLY NEWS co-workers, not to be outdone, surprised me with both chocolate and carrot layer cakes during our afternoon rundown meeting. And something tells me there is yet another cake waiting for me when I get home this evening. I tell you this so you can look for the new and larger (and slightly sugar shocked) Lester Holt on tomorrow night's broadcast. Seriously, it's been a great day and I appreciate all the well wishes. If March 8th also happens to be your birthday, I hope you too are having a great one!
As always, thanks for checking out the blog. I hope you can join us for the Saturday edition of NBC Nightly News.
Every week, Brian Williams answers questions sent in by Nightly News viewers and Newsvine members.
This Friday, he answered a handful of questions from the serious to the mundane: What about media bias in political reporting? Where does he get his ties? And was it really tense on Jon Stewart’s show?
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
A coming event in the national calendar has us thinking of one of our favorite people: retired NBC News Executive Vice President Bill Wheatley. Often called the conscience of the News Division while he was here, a while back he had a burst of good sense and left this life behind for the joys of retirement and his life in New York and New England. I mention Bill because of his twice-a-year memo, which became the stuff of folklore here. This is one of his better versions, from a few years ago:
Bill secretly loved this part of his job -- and of course we remember the lesson of the memo to this day. We miss Bill around here -- I think of him constantly (and I don't call him as often as I should -- he's such good company and always has sound judgement) and on days like today our affection for Bill becomes especially acute.
We have a full broadcast planned for tonight. We hope you can join us. Have a great weekend.
By Ron Mott, NBC News correspondent
Many school bus rides offer a mix of sleeping students, others horsing around and, perhaps, a few with their heads in books.
In tonight’s "Making a Difference" report we'll introduce you to the kids who ride Bus No. 46 in the small, impoverished town of Grapevine, Ark., an hour south of Little Rock. They’re quickly becoming math and science wizards during their long trek to and from campus on what they call the "magic" school bus.
They’re part of a experimental program called Aspirnauts (aspire, seek, achieve) that connects them to advanced online courses through donated laptops, connected to the Web while on the move. Younger students are engaged with high-tech podcasts through video iPods.
The experimental program was started by Vanderbilt University medical scientist Billy Hudson, who was looking for a unique way to give back to his village, as he refers to his hometown. One day he tagged along for the bus ride - upwards of an hour and a half each way - and realized a lot of time was not being utilized.
"I said, ‘Wait a minute. There has to be a better way’," Hudson says.
As soon as the kids plop themselves down on the padded brown seats, they reach for their laptop or iPod.
CONTINUED >>
By Rehema Ellis, NBC News correspondent
Now's the time when high school kids start looking anxiously at the mailbox for precious college acceptance letters. Anxiety about how to pay for college is also high.
When we took a crew with camera and lights into the home of Steve and Eileen Chao, in Virginia, we got a glimpse of how one family is handling soaring college costs. It's a family affair.
The Chaos are first-generation immigrants from China. Both Steve and Eileen came to the United States as youngsters. He didn't speak any English. For years, before they met and got married, they both worked small jobs. They washed dishes in restaurants, worked in gas stations or delivered newspapers. They never complained because they were working with a specific purpose in mind: their family's future. The hard work paid off and led them to college and a better life in the middle class.
Today, they are insurance agents, with two daughters -- one is in college and the other one is on her way.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
First, the inspiration: we had a fantastic day here -- our senior staff spent four hours (an extended editorial board meeting and lunch) with five of the most influential African-American pastors in this country: we welcomed Bishop T. D. Jakes, Bishop Charles Blake, Bishop Sedgwick Daniels, Rev. A. R. Bernard and Pastor John Borders to NBC News -- for a discussion of faith and politics and much more. We have an active program of visitors here, which can only make our work better.
Also, I recommend an article in the New York Times on a big change in Lower Manhattan at Ground Zero. A relic is about to be moved. I feel the same way about it as I did the removal of the last dramatic charred shards of the towers -- which many of us believe would have been the most stark, effective and meaningful memorial to the awful loss on 9-11. All it takes is a little imagination in the design and construction of the memorials that become our most meaningful public architecture. After all, I'm writing this from Rockefeller Plaza -- a huge, sprawling complex of buildings that was built around a diminutive corner restaurant and bar(a holdout in the 1930's who didn't want to sell, a watering role still known to us veterans as "Hurley's" even though it has changed hands a few times), and if that can be the case with a midtown office complex...surely our more meaningful structures and reminders can, with a little imagination and some leadership...be incorporated into bigger plans.
We hope you'll join us for tonight's broadcast.
By John Yang, NBC News correspondent
Covering the White House, I've had the opportunity to meet world leaders, business executives, sports stars and, of course, to interact with the President of the United States. But with all due respect to all of them, I've never had an experience like the one I had this morning when I sat down with 107-year-old Frank Buckles, the last living U.S. veteran of World War I.
Mr. Buckles had come to Washington from his 330-acre cattle farm near Charles Town, W.Va., to meet President Bush in the Oval Office--which hadn't even been built when he was born--for the unveiling of his portrait as part of an exhibit at the Pentagon. We sat down with him for an exclusive interview in the Map Room of the White House, where President Franklin Roosevelt plotted the progress of World War II.
He was sharp and alert and his memory crisp. He was quick with anecdotes. When he heard my last name, he asked if was related to a family he had known in China. I worried about taxing Buckles's energy and tried to end the interview at one point. But he'd have none of that--he wanted to talk.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
One of the stories that might have gotten lost this past weekend was the christening of the USS New York, the ship that contains 24 tons of steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center in its hull. It's striking looking: boxy, angular, geometric -- part of the new San Antonio class of warships. The most bizarre aspect of its naming might just might be this: the shipyard workers who built the last Navy vessel to bear the name USS New York laid its keel on September 11, 1911 -- exactly 90 years prior to the attacks on the United States.
It struck me looking at videotape of the grand ship and its christening: the steel she will now carry around the world is an embedded reminder of a horrible event in our nation's history. Similarly, commuters in New York -- and visiting tourists on their way to the city from the airport -- probably have no idea they are passing over an embedded reminder of another horrible time, each time they use the FDR Drive on Manhattan's East River. Formerly called the East River Drive, portions of the roadway were built upon rubble that was collected from the hulls of ships from Great Britain, and used as fill to create the massive superstructure of the highway along the river. The rubble came from the wreckage of buildings in London following the Nazi blitz, and was used as ballast in ship's hulls. Its now part of the skeletal structure of the City of New York, just as the Trade Center is now a part of an awesome new floating symbol of the United States.
Tonight we'll do our best to sort out exactly what happened last night. We also have some unique feature reporting from China, the Grand Canyon, and the North Portico of the White House. We hope you can join us.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
Army Sgt. Michael Minard, 26, of Grand Junction, Colo., was on his third tour in Iraq when tragedy struck.
"1 October we were out on a recon just a couple clicks north of Sadr City in Baghdad and on the way we got hit by a [roadside bomb]," he said. "It tore through our Stryker and stripped my legs apart."
Sgt. Minard lost both of his legs. He's been recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for the past five months.
CONTINUED >>
By Joo Lee, Nightly News producer
It's a journey that began with a letter from a teacher in Tibet to an adventurer in the U.S. Both are blind.
Erik Weihenmayer was the first blind man ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2001. Sabriye Tenberken opened the first school for the blind in Tibet and co-founded an organization called Braille Without Borders.
Sabriye had told her teenage students stories of how Erik had climbed the highest mountains on all of the seven continents. The students could hardly believe it. How was that possible for a blind person? In Tibet, many blind people live in shame. There, it's commonly believed that blindness is punishment for something a person has done wrong in a previous life.
In the letter to Erik, Sabriye writes: "They try to hide their canes to walk invisible and convenient on the arm of the sighted. And at this day when I ended your story by saying, 'this man, who is blind like you climbed the top of the world, not by holding the arm of a sighted friend, but with the help of some strings and two canes,' they all proudly decided to walk on their own."
Sabriye invited Erik to visit but Erik had bigger ideas for these teens. He dreamed up an extraordinary adventure that's now been chronicled in the documentary BLINDSIGHT. Mark Mullen will have this story tonight.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Maybe it's because I was overwhelmed by the response from our wonderful blog readers to my remembrance of William F. Buckley -- maybe it's because it's the cover topic in Newsweek this week -- but I've been dwelling on the loss of WFB and what it means -- what his life meant -- to this country and our political climate. I feel compelled to recommend a great piece of writing from the Op-Ed page of the New York Times on March 2nd. It's by Michael Kinsley -- a Buckley acolyte and loyalist -- if not a fellow traveler in the conservative cause. I've been thinking of Michael these days in the wake of such a force in his life, and he's brilliantly expressed his feelings here.
I am also thinking about today's date. March 4th has loomed large on our political calendar because of the four contests we will be covering tonight. But it also has another role in the recent history of our still-young country: it was the day of FDR's first inauguration -- the last time a President was sworn in on that day, in fact. (Watch video) What a time it was for our country: we were in the grip of depression -- and we could not know then that American troops would, in just a few years (and despite FDR's promises to the contrary), be heading off to fight a global war, sparked by an attack on the United States. Jonathan Alter writes beautifully about the significance of this day, "With the U.S. financial system in meltdown, FDR's bipartisan bank-rescue plan passed the House on a voice vote with its provisions scrawled on a napkin." It was an historic day. So is March 4th, 2008.
Tomorrow night, we have one of our limited commercial interruption broadcasts. Tonight we'll have some superb political coverage -- well into the night as we do five separate, live feeds of Nightly News before Tim Russert and I swing over and join our colleagues on MSNBC. We hope you can join us. Thanks for watching, reading and writing!
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
We have all seen cash strapped school districts forced to cut music and other arts education programs. We have heard the complaints about how “NoChild Left Behind” and other programs increasingly force a “teach to the test” mentality that emphasizes measures of reading and math scores over a broader education. But what influence does teaching the music and the arts really have on a child’s ability to learn other things?
The Dana Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports brain research and education among other projects, commissioned some of the nation's top neuroscientists to take a deep look at the question. You can see the report out today on the Foundation’s website. There are many fascinating findings -- many pieces in a big puzzle that is far from solved. But it is clear there is a powerful connection between the arts and ability to learn many subjects
The Dana report includes work from many researchers. For Nightly News tonight we focus only on the work of Dr. Elizabeth Spelke in the Laboratory for Developmental Studies at Harvard. Most of Dr. Spelke’s time is spent studying babies but this project she looked at young people and found that those who intensively study music have an easier time with tasks that measure aptitude for geometry. Now she and her team are looking at the babies again to see how early in life this connection is established.
Yesterday a representative from the National Association for Music Education noticed the promotions for tonight’s story and called my attention to a recent Harris poll on the importance of music education to a child’s future.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
There's nothing like a quick tour of world news today to put a number of things in perspective. Read about what's brewing in South America -- today a person in a position to know indicated to us that we'd be well-counseled to keep a close eye on the situation, just as the U.S. government is doing. There are the election results in Russia, the rockets coming from Gaza, the U.S. action in Somalia, and the Iran situation. It's all sobering, and it does tend to frame what we're going through and talking about (or NOT talking about) as a nation.
Joe Klein of TIME magazine attributes so much of what we're seeing in the campaign to sheer exhaustion -- and I agree with him. The candidates are almost sleep-walking through their final stops prior to the vote tomorrow. They make mistakes, and they say things that perhaps they normally would not -- even though it might seem like a good idea at the time. And as ugly as it gets in public, it's sometimes much worse behind the scenes.
Today's required reading: Evan Thomas's Newsweek cover story on William F. Buckley, and Lauren Collins' profile of Michelle Obama in the New Yorker.
We are busy and running hard. We have a good broadcast planned for tonight, as we gear up for yet another big vote tomorrow. thanks for watching.
by Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
On Nightly News tonight, we will tee up this week's primary contests in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont, which collectively offer 370 democratic delegates. We'll also be reporting the new MSNBC-McClatchy poll numbers that show Ohio and Texas to be very tight races. NBC's Lee Cowan is telling us the Obama campaign has been spending heavily on TV ads, hoping to deliver a knockout punch to Clinton on Tuesday. Yet, mindful of the polls, they are trying to guard against seeming over confident. Ron Allen is in Ohio covering Hillary Clinton. Her campaign is under no illusions as to what losses on Tuesday will mean to the future of her candidacy. In his report tonight, Ron will include a little of Clinton's cameo on last night's Saturday Night Live, where she engaged in some self-deprecating humor. Tom Brokaw will also be a part of our campaign coverage, as he looks at how Texas now finds itself in the rare position of having real political influence during a primary season.
The heavy snow seen in many parts of the country has resulted in a dangerous avalanche season. NBC's Peter Alexander has a terrific piece tonight on what may be your best chance for a successful rescue if you ever find yourself buried in snow. CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Good day from New York. It is another big weekend before another big primary week. When you look at how the polls have gravitated in Texas and Ohio over the last several weeks you have to wonder, is Hillary Clinton competing as much against the clock as she is competing again Barack Obama? Those big leads she held in Texas and Ohio are now distant memories, and Tuesday's contests look to be very close. This weekend the New York Senator is continuing to speak on the theme of national security experience which was the subject of a much talked about ad her campaign debuted in Texas this week. Barack Obama, meantime is in Rhode Island today, which also holds its contest on Tuesday. It's a state where support for Clinton has remained strong, but where Obama may now see an opening. NBC's Ron Allen and Lee Cowan are covering the democratic candidates and will wrap-up the day for us on Nightly News.
CONTINUED >>
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