April 2008 - Posts
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I had a 2-hour outing (rare, as I hardly ever leave the building during the day) to attend a luncheon and moderate a panel discussion at the American Society of Magazine Editors gathering at the impressive Hearst headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan -- and since we just broke from our delayed afternoon editorial meeting, and since I'm now screening an incoming interview for air tonight and must start writing for the broadcast -- while it pains me not to join in on the boisterous debate on our blog these days, today time just won't permit it.
Over time, we'll try to get to as much of it as we can. We may change lead stories tonight at the last minute -- we're still debating over what should be at the top of the broadcast, but we'll certainly cover the economy and politics up high -- along with Iraq, infrastructure, and health. I'm trying to concentrate on work despite the fact that its beautiful outside, and I have Chris Rock tickets for later this week. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
The B-24J Liberators of the 492nd Bomb Group might as well have been flying over Germany in the summer of 1944 with giant bull's-eyes on their wings. That's because they were the first bombers to be unpainted and silver-colored to cut costs and reduce weight.
"The silver planes were like flying giant mirrors into enemy territory," historian Paul Arnett said. "The reflecting sunlight made it easier for the Luftwaffe to establish and maintain visual contact."
On one day alone, July 7, 1944, 12 bombers and 67 men were lost, including the McMurray Crew, which dropped out of formation after dropping its bombs on an aircraft factory in Bernberg, Germany, and was never seen or heard from again.
Captured records revealed the crippled bomber - swarmed by German fighters - had crashed in an area of eastern Germany that fell under Communist control until 1990.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
So, in this space yesterday, I had a little fun with the New York Times. I hope it's obvious to our frequent readers that the Times’s news pages are normally my first journalistic stop every morning -- for all the arguments over ideology, the paper's depth and breadth are often without parallel. In fact, it is quoted here more than any other publication, for good reason.
A few of you correctly noted I’ve yet to respond to the recent Times front-page article on the military analysts employed by the television networks, including this one.
I read the article with great interest. I've worked with two men since I've had this job -- both retired, heavily-decorated U.S. Army four-star Generals -- Wayne Downing and Barry McCaffrey. As I'm sure is obvious to even a casual viewer, I quickly entered into a close friendship with both men. I wish Wayne were alive today to respond to the article himself.
I made four trips to Iraq with Wayne. We were together, in close quarters, for over two months at the start of the war and survived at least one harrowing adventure. I won't attempt to respond on Wayne’s behalf, and I know Barry McCaffrey has his own response to the article.
All I can say is this: these two guys never gave what I considered to be the party line. They were tough, honest critics of the U.S. military effort in Iraq. If you've had any exposure to retired officers of that rank (and we've not had any five-star Generals in the modern era) then you know: these men are passionate patriots. In my dealings with them, they were also honest brokers. I knew full well whenever either man went on a fact-finding mission or went for high-level briefings. They never came back spun, and never attempted a conversion. They are warriors-turned-analysts, not lobbyists or politicians.
As far as Wayne was concerned, he was an NBC News employee, and while he would never do anything to diminish his decades of extraordinary service (nor would we expect him to), we all marveled at how quickly he took to the notion of being a journalist -- taking a good, hard, critical look at the Pentagon as an entity, the way "analysts" do.
And about General McCaffrey: I was among those who fielded complaint calls -- from the Pentagon, from the White House, from the highest levels of the Administration -- protesting his harsh criticism of the Rumsfeld Pentagon and the war effort. General Downing and I (during some unscheduled "down time" in the Iraqi desert at the height of the invasion) watched the U.S. military supply line in the distance, driving through the darkness, undefended. Because he viewed it as a result of fighting the "war on the cheap," he was infuriated by it, and said so. General McCaffrey's criticisms were too numerous to mention, but here’s a particular favorite from Nightly News on August 3, 2006:
"Well, I think some of the debate over civil war is absolutely nonsense. It's been a civil war for a couple of years. Thousands are being killed and wounded. It is clearly a struggle between the Shia, the Sunni and to some extent the Kurds. Secretary Rumsfeld, in my judgment, is increasingly going to become irrelevant to this debate. The ambassador on the ground, Khalilzad, General George Casey, General John Abizaid and the White House are going to have to sort this out. It's a very bad situation, and it's getting worse."
Another man deserves mention here: Jack Jacobs is a familiar face to MSNBC and NBC News audiences. We have employed Jack as an analyst for years. He is also a personal friend. Most important: he's among 105 living recipients of the Medal of Honor. I serve on the Board of the Medal of Honor Foundation -- our job is to raise awareness and funds for the recipients, as I've done rather unabashedly in this space over the past two years. Jack, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, travels often to embark on tours of the combat zone, and I've always regarded his analysis as rock-solid... and he has never hesitated to take a whack at the Pentagon brass.
I think it's fair, of course, to hold us to account for the military analysts we employ, inasmuch as we can ever fully know the "off-duty" actions of anyone employed on an "of counsel" basis by us. I can only account for the men I know best. The Times article was about the whole lot of them -- including instances involving other networks and other experts, who can answer for themselves. At no time did our analysts, on my watch or to my knowledge, attempt to push a rosy Pentagon agenda before our viewers. I think they are better men than that, and I believe our news division is better than that.
By Tom Costello, NBC News correspondent
About a week ago, my producer and I got a sneaking suspicion that we were about to take a train trip.
Brian Williams had just blogged about his ride next to the engineer on the front end of an Acela express train from Washington to New York. Top speed: 135 miles per hour.
Brian mentioned that he'd probably soon be asking for a story about the state of the nation's rail infrastructure and high speed trains.
Since my producer, Jay Blackman, and I do the bulk of transportation reporting for NBC News, we had a feeling he was talking about us. Sure enough, it took only a few hours before the first e-mail hit.
Yesterday, Jay and I were able to experience what Brian had experienced....and then some!
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I read that the New York Times Sunday (and weekday) circulation is down. I must admit that on Sundays it becomes a tough paper to figure out. While this week's paper featured an op-ed piece by Elizabeth Edwards bemoaning the lack of serious, in-depth coverage of the political race, it's tough to figure out exactly what readers the paper is speaking to, or seeking.
Consider this: the Sunday Styles section lead story on April 13th was "Scavengers on the Urban Savannah" (people buy things at flea markets!), and promoted on Page One was "A Sex Chair Becomes A Battlefield." Alrighty then.
This Sunday's lead story was "Through Sickness, Health, Sex Change..." in a section that included the essay, "Was I On A Date Or Baby-Sitting?," and "Let's Say You Want To Date A Hog Farmer" (and who among us hasn't?).
The magazine cover story this week was "The Newlywed Gays!" (happy gay men in Massachusetts who are married outdoor grilling enthusiasts!), and another feature story profiled a man who "lives and paints" in New Mexico (one of those states west of New Jersey) and has an old-fashioned typewriter!
This week's restaurant/bar review featured a place in Brooklyn that features (tragically-hip/quaint alert!) "old-time cocktails and cheeses" (it strikes me: so did my Mom, at home in Jersey) and the so-called "big box" featured wedding was a classic: the groom wore the obligatory sneakers with his tux, the bride was a "spitfire" with a "wide and ready Julia Roberts smile." Per usual, bride and groom are both free-spirited, with strong opinions.
The lead story in the Travel Section? The rise of vacation resorts catering to nudists. It did occur to me that I haven't been getting out a lot on weekends. Is it just me?
On the other hand, one sparkling piece of journalism (which touched on a lot of themes frequent readers of this space will recognize) was by Peggy Noonan in this weekend's Wall Street Journal. Curl up with this one and give it the quality time it deserves. I'll say it again: Peggy is doing the work of her career and must be considered an early favorite for next cycle's Pulitzer for commentary.
A mea culpa and a thank you to the sharp-eyed Newsviners who wrote us (along with others) to tell us we had used file tape of penguins in a piece on the North Pole! There are no penguins on the North Pole. I must admit I was watching from home, and muted the sound to talk to a family member. Something registered, and I'd like to think I'm smart enough to have noticed. It was the visual equivalent of a kangaroo bouncing through Central Park.
Also, to Joan: I did not attend the Correspondent's Dinner this weekend, though sampled some of the festivities on C-Span (I thought the President was very good). I have attended those dinners for 26 years or so, and on occasion I opt for home and hearth. I saw the first 50 laps of Talladega, however, from the comfort of my kitchen. You were nice to ask.
We hope you had a good weekend. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent
Even though I am writing this from Chicago, I bet there are a lot of you out there who can feel the pain....
There is construction virtually EVERYWHERE. The 'City of Big Shoulders' is being renamed the 'City of Big Boulders' as work crews scramble to clean up fallen chunks of concrete and fill up Buick-eating potholes.
Americans drive an average of 3 trillion miles each year, on a road system that is beginning to show its age. It causes delays, boosts stress levels and makes getting behind the wheel anything but pleasant.
"You know", says Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, "A lot of the roads in our nation today are like some of us...they are about half a century old!".
That's a mid-life crisis we can all do without.
That combination of heavy traffic and heavy wear and tear is being blamed for everything from flat tires to more accidents to increased air pollution.
Of America's 600 thousand bridges, some 70 thousand of them are considered "deficient'. And, while a suspected design flaw is being looked into as the cause of that deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August, the bridge had been inspected just a few months prior.
Some might go so far as to say our infrastructure is falling apart'. I'll have that report tonight on Nightly News with Brian Williams, that is if I'm not stuck in traffic.
By Justin Balding, NBC News producer
Editor's note: Ann Curry's report on saving the Congo's gorillas airs tonight on the broadcast.
"My director died immediately," he recalled.
During his 17 years as a park ranger in eastern DR Congo's Virunga National Park, Pierre Kakule had many close calls, but none as close as the time he was riding with his boss. Their car hit a land-mine, and though Kakule survived, his forehead is still decorated with scars caused by the blast. In other instances he was involved in gun battles. And he has lost many friends and relatives.
Some 120 park rangers in the last 10 years have been killed trying to keep the war-torn Virunga National Park safe from poachers and armed groups looking to make money out of killing animals. Antelopes, buffaloes and elephants are all routinely slaughtered, their "bushmeat" sold in nearby towns and villages. But most sickening of all to Kakule is the killing of gorillas.
The gorilla is not just an iconic living ancestor to him, but a part of the human family tree nearing extiction. In the last two decades the worldwide gorilla population has been cut in half -- mainly by by deforestation and disease. In eastern Congo, the gorillas' plight is complicated by a 10-year war which has left hundreds of thousands of people displaced and desperate for money and food.
CONTINUED >>
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Good afternoon. We're watching a story develop in Southern California that is the kind of thing we're more used to seeing in summer and early fall. A brush fire is raging out of control just east of Pasadena, roughly 15 miles from Los Angeles. They've already evacuated hundreds of homes, and officials are telling us that this one is days away from containment. It's been very hot in Southern California recently, and folks there are hoping we are not witnessing the start of an early fire season. Our NBC team in Los Angeles, led by correspondent Janet Shamlian, are working the story, and we will hear from Janet on our broadcast tonight.
There are a lot of spinning wheels on the politics front. While Hillary Clinton was campaigning in North Carolina, Barack Obama was rejecting her call for another debate, moderated or not, before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. In a television interview, Obama also downplayed the role of race in the run for the White House. However, his controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, spoke publicly in Texas today, and his remarks will likely ensure race remains a hot topic with regard to the Democratic contest. NBC’s Ron Allen and Andrea Mitchell will help us put it all in perspective.
CONTINUED >>
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Hello from New York. On this evening’s broadcast, we are going to look at the hand-wringing going on among some influential Democrats over just where the protracted contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will leave the party when all is said and done. Hillary Clinton had a new challenge for Obama today, while Obama nursed his tired body from some late night basketball and worked on re-casting his image. Ron Allen and Lee Cowan are covering the candidates for us, and will update us on the battle for Indiana.
We'll also double-team the economy tonight with Mike Taibbi focusing on those stimulus checks many Americans are about to receive and why many Americans will be putting them to other than their intended use. CNBC's Trish Regan will then offer a report on the things many air travelers used to take for granted, like getting a window or aisle seat, that are now raising the cost of flying.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
U.S. Army Lt. John Fernandez (Ret.) didn't wear shorts to his interview with us here at 30 Rock today -- he wore long pants -- so there was no way the folks who passed us in the hallway would ever know that John's lower legs are made of titanium. But those who come out to watch the former West Point lacrosse Captain in this weekend's Army/Navy alumni lacrosse match will see how he gets around...and will no doubt marvel at it. But if you ask him, in the classic swagger of a soft-spoken military combat veteran, he'll tell you, "I was never that quick on my feet anyway..."
John's injuries were caused when an American F-15 dropped a bomb on his position. He was the commander of a missile battery -- they're called MLRS's -- and if they weren't instruments of war they'd be beautiful things to watch. As I told him today, I was stranded with General Downing during that stage of the war, and the MLRS launches we were watching at night could easily have been from John's position.
These days, John is working for the Wounded Warrior Project. He's a native of Long Island -- married, father of two with one on the way. He is a great guy, and in a few days we'll air portions of our interview with him, and we'll put all of it on the website.
By the way: my favorite story of the day? Right here.
We have a great broadcast planned to cap off what I think has been a great week. Have a great weekend, and I hope you can come back to join us on Monday night.
By Janet Shamlian, NBC News correspondent
I spend a lot of time on planes, but the flight I took from Dayton to D.C. last Saturday will be hard to top. The seats were filled with American heroes, seventy World War II veterans traveling to their memorial aboard an Honor Flight. The Greatest Generation is moving a little slower these days, and more than a few initially feared the trip was beyond their reach.
82-year-old Robert Huesing of Hamilton, Ohio was my seatmate. I am now fully briefed in the antics of a navy cook aboard a Landing Ship Tank in 1944. It was great stuff, and I couldn't help wonder about the stories in the seats all around me. 
Most of the veterans aboard didn't know Earl Morse, which suited him just fine. Earl is a retired Air Force Captain whose passion for flying is surpassed only by his love of country. During a stint at the VA, he was struck by veterans who told him they physically or financially couldn't swing a trip to see their newly completed memorial. Earl refused to accept that, and Honor Flight was born.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
If you measure life's occurrences through the prism of our newsroom -- our daily editorial meetings and the broadcasts we air each night -- I'm not sure what it says about our world. A few days ago no one in the national media was giving much thought to rice -- except perhaps those who do the family shopping and had reason to know its price had risen globally 140% over the past year. Ditto the housing market, in that it only got to where it is now over the last few months.
We have some interesting stories tonight -- including a high-interest story on lasik surgery (if you're considering it or if you've had it, you'll want to see this) and a strange occurrence (what is it about strange occurrences this week?) in Alaska, which is my personal favorite story of the day. We also have a revealing interview with John McCain -- and right now I'm watching some supercell storms roll through parts of Texas and the upper Plains.
So we'll put it all together in some manageable fashion for your approval tonight. I continue to read all posts -- and wish I had the time to respond to all.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
Tomorrow I’m going to try something new. I will be answering questions online about LASIK vision surgery or any other health and science issue I have covered recently, including plastic bottles, Please send them in and I will answer as many as possible tomorrow from noon to 2pm Eastern.
Meanwhile for people who are interested now in more information about tonight’s story on the complication rate from LASIK, laser vision correction surgery, check out the FDA’s website.
And Matt Kotsovolos, the man we profile who suffered complications with LASIK has started a website to communicate with others who have had difficulties.
By Mark Potter, NBC News correspondent
Editor's note: Mark Potter's report airs tonight on the broadcast.
Arriving on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico recently, it was clear we had come to an extraordinarily beautiful place. The beaches are gorgeous, the water is crystal clear, the tourist hotels and restaurants are laid-back and the tropical vegetation and terrain are stunning, especially in the fiery light of sundown.
Looking below the surface here, though, we found a lingering and ugly controversy involving allegations of environmental contamination by the U.S. military and elevated health risks to long-time residents. In the words of a lawsuit filed by more than 7,000 plaintiffs against the U.S. government, "residents of Vieques experience a 30% higher rate of cancer, a 381% higher rate of hypertension, a 99% higher rate of cirrhosis of the liver and a 41% higher rate of diabetes than the rest of Puerto Rico."
CONTINUED >>
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
Editor's note: Ian Williams's report airs tonight on the broadcast. Watch a preview here.
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand--Andrew Hewett fished a small fragment of coral from a bucket of water and held it between his fingers.
"It's been knocked off, broken by an anchor or somebody standing on it," he said, explaining that while the devastating 2004 tsunami caused a lot of damage to the area's coral reefs, the bigger threat to the reefs comes not from nature, but from man.
He then showed how to drill a small hole in the fragment and attach it to a metal rack (see photo, right). Moments later, a production line was up and running on the deck of the dive boat, students threading hundreds of fragments and pulling them tightly to the racks.
"If I can't pull it off, then a fish certainly can't," said Nichole Niewald, a biology major at the University of Missouri.
The fragments had been collected from the ocean floor, the remains of a badly damaged reef.
"Day by day people are walking on the reef, not paying enough attention, and not treating the coral like the animals they actually are," said Steve Monson, who studies food science at Mizzou.
Eighteen students and staff traveled from Missouri to the Phi Phi islands in Thailand to take part in a pioneering coral rehabilitation project. Their trip was organized by Bob Sites, Professor of Entomology at Mizzou's Division of Plant Sciences, a regular visitor to the Kingdom. It's the second year he's brought students to the coral project. All the students are from Mizzou's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. (Photo, left: NBC cameraman Kyle Eppler videotapes as Andrew Hewett and the students examine coral fragments.)< CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Today's announcement about the change in this nation's combatant commanders was extraordinary, for several reasons.
To review: Gen. David Petraeus (photo: Petraeus with Brian in Iraq in March 2007) goes from Iraq to Central Command (with command over the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then some). Importantly for the General (and his wife and two children), this will bring him home (Tampa, Florida) after over a total of four years overseas.
He'll be replaced by Lt. General Ray Odierno (photo: Odierno with Brian in Iraq in March 2007), a New Jersey native whose son lost an arm while fighting in Iraq. Odierno is just home for two months and had been nominated to become the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.
That nomination will now go to Lt. General Peter Chiarelli (in photo, left, with Brian in Jan. 2005), the gregarious and well-liked three-star long-rumored to be in line to replace Petraeus.
I was struck by how personal Defense Secretary Gates's remarks were: much talk about the families of these General officers, appropriate recognition of their various moves, overseas service and towering sacrifice. As I watched the news conference this morning, I also felt privileged to have spent time with all three Generals during our various journeys to Iraq.
CONTINUED >>
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
Marine Lt. Col. William Hall of Seattle had two loves in his life: the Marine Corps and his family.
"He was very proud to be a Marine," his cousin told KING. "He ate, lived and breathed the Marine Corps. He was even excited about going to serve in Iraq."
Hall deployed to Iraq in February and sent his family and friends an e-mail in March.
"Please don't think that I am trying to paint the picture of this country as a rose garden, because it isn't," he wrote. "It's still a very dangerous place, and people are dying here every day. I am doing fine, I am safe, and will wrote again soon."
Hall died the next day of wounds suffered in a roadside bombing in Fallujah. He was 38 years old.
"I can't tell you how fine this young man was - the finest husband, father, son, Marine, individual - warm, gracious, just our very best," a friend told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
CONTINUED >>
Editor's note: Anne Thompson's full report from Costa Rica airs tonight on the broadcast.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
While somewhat hard to believe, and while tonight's results might be moot in the scope of the fight for the Democratic nomination, the Pennsylvania primary is here.
We had a great hour of coverage on MSNBC at noon -- per usual, Subrata De produced it for me with backup from Megan Marcus -- and we got to work with the very talented team at MSNBC. I'm continually in awe of the volume of coverage they put on the air every day.
We are awaiting the "first wave" exit poll results -- the first indication we will get of any emerging trend. Sometimes they are noteworthy, sometimes they end up being wrong.
Tonight we'll do continuous updates of Nightly News for all time zones, and then we'll drop by and visit the MSNBC studios as part of their coverage. Either way, barring a major defeat for Clinton tonight (it was Tim Russert who said on Nightly News last night: if she loses Pennsylvania, her campaign is "over") it's on to Indiana and North Carolina and beyond. There are 10 contests left.
We'll have it all for you tonight, along with stories featuring some amazing stats: did you know fully 28 percent of all the grain produced in the U.S. this year will go to ethanol production? Did you know the U.S. has fallen to 42nd in the world in terms of life expectancy? Those two stats fall in two separate stories in what we think is a very interesting Tuesday night broadcast. Don't forget UFO's in Arizona! And Florida! It will only have an impact if you're there to watch it! Thanks from all of us.
Espionage charges revealed Tuesday against a former US Army civilian engineer shed new light on one of the most notorious spy cases in modern US history, one which remains a sore point between the United States and Israel.
Federal prosecutors charged a New Jersey man, Ben-Ami Kadish, with providing dozens of classified documents to the Israeli government while he worked at the US Army's Picatinny Arsenal from 1979 through 1985. Investigators say he provided closely guarded secrets involving nuclear weapons design, details of the US F-15 fighter jet, and information about the US Patriot missile defense system. The materials were sought by a secretive Israeli nuclear spy organization called the LAKAM, since disbanded.
"Kadish believed that providing classified documents would help Israel," court documents say. Kadish is a US citizen, born in Connecticut, prosecutors say. According to local newspaper accounts in New Jersey, Kadish served in both the US and British militaries during World War II, then joined the Haganah, an underground military organization, during Israel's struggle for freedom.
Investigators say Kadish provided the materials to his handler, who worked for the Israeli government at its consulate in New York City. That same handler, prosecutors say, directed another spy -- Jonathan Pollard, convicted in 1986 of providing a trove of US defense secrets to Israel during the 1980's. Pollard, who worked as a US Navy intelligence analyst, is the only American ever sentenced to life in prison for spying for a US ally. Israel has repeatedly sought his release from prison, but several US presidents have refused to do so, acting on the recommendations of their CIA Directors.
Court documents say Kadish received a wish list from his handler and would bring classified documents home with him at night so they could be photographed. The contact for both Kadish and Pollard, Yosef Yagur, fled the US shortly after Pollard was arrested.
But court documents say Yagur continued to maintain contact with Kadish, by phone and e-mail, and that Kadish visited Yagur in Israel in 2004. Law enforcement officials say Kadish has been under investigation for the past three years, and phone calls between the two men have been carefully monitored.
After FBI agents interviewed Kadish at his home last month, investigators say, the two men talked by phone again. Court documents quote Yagur advising Kadish not to admit anything: "Let them say whatever they want. You didn't ... do anything. What happened 25 years ago? You don't remember anything."
The man who prosecuted Pollard, Washington, DC lawyer Joseph di Genova, told NBC News on Tuesday that the new information about Yagur's conduct shows was "brazen, further proof that the Israelis were running several spies in the US, as we thought at the time."
Investigators say Kadish was never paid for his spying. Instead, Yagur gave him small gifts and occasionally bought him and his family dinner at a Bronx restaurant.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
After a classic parenting experience yesterday -- an hour-long drive with my wife to see our son pitch at an away game -- which he did not (he's been starting this year, and was rumored to on the bubble to come in in relief yesterday, alas) -- we are back at work on a surprisingly nice Monday in New York.
The talk of the staff meetings today was the Pope's surprising visit (a huge media tour de force, by most reviews here in New York and elsewhere), and tomorrow's vote in Pennsylvania. The expectations management is something to watch carefully. I'll be doing the noon ET hour on MSNBC tomorrow afternoon, just eight hours before the polls close! Tim and I will do Nightly News from here and will have updates on the NBC Television Network and on MSNBC all evening long.
We're thinking of Richard Engel -- we miss having him in the newsroom during his extended "shore leave" -- and he's now headed back overseas and back to work. I've always found it to be an endearing feature of our blog community -- the large number of our readers who express an almost-maternal concern for his safety and love of his work. Please know our feelings for him are even more intense, and we do our level best to make sure he's safe and surrounded by the best professionals in the business.
We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Some in the Democratic party are beginning to grumble about what happens when political candidates have too much time on their hands.
The six-week gap between primaries has reduced much of the presidential debate to questions of who has been more negative. We saw some of that when the respective campaign strategists for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton squared off on "Meet the Press" this morning. Finally, the voters get back in the drivers seat of this race on Tuesday for the Pennsylvania primary. Our Lee Cowan and Ron Allen are with the candidates as they make their final push, and we will have their reports on tonight's newscast, including the potentially uncomfortable moment for Obama at an unannounced campaign stop earlier today. As I sit in the newsroom, a wall of TV monitors, all tuned to different channels and networks are showing the same picture: the papal mass at Yankees Stadium in New York. Three years ago yesterday I was in Rome to cover the papal election, and vividly recall the emotional scene as Benedict XVI made his very first appearance as pope before the crowds that swelled into St. Peter's Square. This trip to America is in many ways very similar, in that American Catholics are seeing him, and greeting him for the first time. NBC's Rehema Ellis will tell us about the pope's final day in the United States, and how during this trip he may have exceeded expectations and shattered some perceptions. In an NBC investigation, Lisa Myers takes a closer look at some industrial plants recognized by the EPA for their outstanding environmental records. It turns out, however, that some of those companies have amassed significant violations of environmental standards. She'll tell us how that happened.
A quick thanks to my colleague Natalie Morales for covering for me last night while I tried to get the upper hand on a nasty cold I've been fighting. I am happy to report I'm feeling much better, even though I suspect some of my colleagues here are giving me wide berth in the hallways. :) See you later for NBC Nightly News.
by Natalie Morales, NBC News Anchor
Lester Holt is a little under the weather today, so I will be filling in. We are starting this evening with Pope Benedict XVI celebrating an historic mass at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral today – the first papal mass at the Cathedral. Speaking to mostly 3,000 clergy, he again returned to the clergy sex abuse scandal calling for purification and healing. And this afternoon, thousands of seminarians are holding a youth rally to greet the pope.
We turn next to politics, on this final and critical weekend before the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday. The Democratic candidates are in full force campaign mode, firing away at each other. Obama is casting Clinton as a game player using "slash and burn" tactics. Clinton is telling voters to look beyond "whoop-dee-do" speechmaking, and calling for voters to look for substance in who can best handle the nation's problems.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I read on one of our industry websites this morning that our ABC News colleague Cynthia McFadden fell down the steps yesterday at Penn Station in New York -- she is thankfully on the mend, and apparently not seriously injured. While knowing next to nothing about her accident, it reminded me of something I did not say in yesterday's post about my Amtrak experience: it has to do with a current obsession of mine, (more like a constant rant that my friends and family are probably sick of hearing) having to do with our infrastructure.
Some days, in this city especially, it can seem as if we just reached a decision a few years ago to give up, to stop building, stop improving. It's as if we decided that we, the nation that saved the free world in the 1940's, entered the Cold War in the 1950's, made it to the moon in the 1960's... and so on... had built enough, improved enough to declare we were finished.
Upon arriving in New York on the Acela train yesterday, we exited on to the dank, dark train platform, and passed by no fewer than four idle, frozen escalators for the long trek to the main level to the station. It was like a scene from "The Land That Time Forgot." It is a daily reality for millions of daily commuters. I watched as senior citizens, laden with luggage, hoisted it up the long flight of stairs, some of them pausing to rest and catch their breath on the landing or with each individual step. CONTINUED >>
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
We have more today on plastic bottles. My blog Thursday on this subject, which you can see below behind a couple of Brian’s entries, generated an unusually large number of responses. I’ll try to answer to some of your questions. That blog has a lot of the basics of this issue and links to sites where you can find more information. Please refer to it, I won’t repeat all that.
Today’s news is that the Canadian government is banning baby bottles that might give off the chemical Bisphenol A (known as BPA). The Canadian Health Minister said he was acting out of an abundance of caution for babies and emphasized he did not think there was any danger to adults from the wide variety of plastic containers that give off tiny amounts of BPA. You can read about the Canadian decision here.
Also Wal-Mart has announced it is removing baby bottles with BPA from its shelves in both the US and Canada. Nalgene, a major manufacturer of water bottles said it would stop using plastic containing BPA.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Today's train ride from Washington back to New York was far from ordinary. I spent much of the journey in the "head end," as they refer to the cockpit in the train business. I was in the single passenger seat, alongside the locomotive engineer, a very friendly 39-year-old Amtrak veteran from Long Island. In front of me was a wraparound dashboard of guages. Central among them is the speedometer, which for a lot of our trip registered 130 mph. It's a great way to travel, along the same track bed first established in the early 1800's, alongside track that FDR travelled, back and forth between Washington and his beloved boyhood home in Hyde Park.
I had to wear safety goggles (the occasional thrown rock has in the past breached both layers of thick safety glass), but otherwise it felt like a bouncy, vaguely floating ride in a Captain's chair. Amtrak officials know that I'm planning to commission a story for Nightly News on the status of high-speed passenger rail in this country -- especially along the vital Northeast Corridor. It's difficult to ride on France's exquisite TGV high-speed rail (averaging more than 200 mph) and not wonder why the nation of the Iron Horse isn't able to offer travel at the same level of speed, stability and comfort... if not better. It's quite a juxtaposition -- rumbling at a crawl in a sleek, Canadian-made train through the old, leaky, stone-lined Baltimore tunnel, "1870" carved in the archway above. But it was a great experience today and did a lot for my understanding of the issues along the rails from Washington to New York.
So it's back to New York with senior members of our team -- back to our editorial meeting and an actual template of the broadcast heading into tonight. Always the producer, our Executive Producer Alex Wallace has already scratched out a rough outline of the major stories and their placement in the broadcast while on the train... and as I write this, we're about to pull into Penn Station.
We'll see what the staff has cooked up for us at 30 Rock, and we hope you'll tune in for the final product tonight.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
For the past few days we have been covering an issue that is generating a lot of concern. Certain types of plastic containers can leech a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA). The chemical can mimic the female hormone estrogen. Given to animals at high doses it can cause all sorts of health problems ranging from infertility and obesity to several types of cancer.
There is no question that Americans are exposed to the chemical. A study by the CDC estimated that 92.6 percent of Americans age 6 and above had measurable BPA in their bodies.
The chemical industry has maintained for years that the high dose animal experiments do not show any human effects and the FDA, which would regulate the chemicals, has said there is no danger. Many scientists have continued to look for possible danger in both animal and human studies.
On Tuesday, the National Toxicology Program, a division of the National Institutes of Health issued an alarm The agency said there was a possibility BPA could be causing brain problems in fetuses and children and prostate and breast problems in adults.
The actual quote from the draft report concluded “there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures. The NTP also has some concern for bisphenol A exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females.”
The designation of “some” concern is equivalent to 3 on a danger scale of 1 to 5. You can see the report itself here. A few members of Congress have issued calls for the FDA to ban the plastics. So far the FDA has not responded.
If you want to avoid bottles with BPA look on the bottom for very tiny numbers enclosed in arrows that look like this. The number 7 indicates BPA. The numbers 3 and 6 indicates the presence of similar chemicals that some scientists and environmentalists believe could be cause for concern.
By Al Henkel, NBC News producer
Putting aside all the legal issues, what's going on inside Courtroom "A" of the Tom Green County Courthouse is a huge clash of cultures.
FLDS church members who marched to the courthouse steps this morning are talking solely about their children.
"We hope they 'll give them back to us," a male church member, who declined to give his name, told us.
The FLDS church members, rarely seen outside their ranch near Eldorado, Texas, are immediately recognized. Their clothes, their manner, their soft spoken demeanor are out of another century. The answers given to questions by church women are so quiet as to be hard to understand.
"We would just love to get our children back," says one.
"Our children need us," says another.
Lawyers, many of whom have only a passing knowledge of their clients, are trying to ensure modern due process, to a culture mired in the 1800's.
Legal Aid attorney Roger Jacobsen says his goal is simple, just "trying to see that the women get due process so they get all the rights that they are entitled to."
A man comes out of the courthouse after the first few minutes of the hearing, displaying a photograph of his five children.
"These children are all happy, they're smiling. But they're not happy out there," he says, referring to the San Angelo Coliseum. "Happy sweet children," he mutters as he walks away.
His children, and more than 400 others are caught right now in a clash of cultures, their futures yet to be decided.
By Christina Brown, NBC News correspondent
Editor's note: Christina Brown's report airs tonight on the broadcast.
The Two Trials of Emily LeVan is not only a story of determination and courage, but infinite love -- the kind of love that makes the impossible seem possible and sparks the kind of motivation that makes doubters think twice about their own limitations.
Emily LeVan hoped in 2004 she might be able to compete in the Olympics, but she and her husband, Brad, welcomed their baby girl Maddie into the world. Plans to compete for a slot on the Olympic marathon team were pushed to the back burner and the focus turned to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Things were going as planned. Emily returned to marathon training and started racking up first place finishes in long distance races. In the spring of 2006, she secured a chance to compete in next week’s Olympic marathon trials in Boston. But plans, as we all know, change when life steps in and gets in the way. Last November, doctors diagnosed Maddie with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or A.L.L.
I cannot imagine the heartache these young parents must have felt and the uncertainty they faced after seeing their once vibrant, bright-eyed, beautiful little girl fight for every breath. It reminds me of something I once heard many years ago: it’s during the worst of times, that we find the best in ourselves and others.
The love Emily and Brad have for one another and their daughter can teach us a lot about what we are capable of doing in life. Emily didn’t think twice about giving up her Olympic dream and cutting back her hours working as an ER nurse, to care for Maddie. This was not only what she thought she needed to do, but also wanted to do. Doing so, though, in the eyes of her husband and daughter meant giving up on something they too also longed for, to see Emily at her best.
When I asked Brad whether it had been worth it -- taking on this monumental feat and supporting Emily’s Olympic journey at a time when the couple also faced the real possibility of losing their child -- his answer was simple, yet so profound: yes, he said, and then added that being in a relationship means figuring out what you can to do to make the other person’s life easier, fulfilling, happy. His love gives Emily strength when she’s tired, broken and hurt, but their love provides little Maddie the courage to fight against a disease that knocks grown men and women off their feet.
The family’s love for one another and their community inspired them to launch a fundraiser so other families dealing with childhood cancer can get help.
Maddie’s doctor told me her prognosis looks good. She has what’s considered low risk A.L.L., with an 85 to 90 percent survival rate. Mother and daughter are focused on the finish line, but can teach us all a little something about perserverance along the way.
By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent
The other evening, after our story on the internet computer game 'Freerice.com" aired on Nightly News, someone near and dear to me said, "You know, that is the first time in a long time I have seen a story about the internet that is actually positive!".
It now appears many of Nightly's viewers either agreed, or were curious enough to find out for themselves. The 'freerice' website has virtually exploded with people logging on to play the game, learn a few new words and, most importantly, donate rice to the world's needy.
Now, before I get too far down the track... here's what freerice.com is.
It's a little computer game invented by Bloomington, Indiana programmer John Breen. Breen was thinking of ways to help his son expand his vocabulary and study for his SAT's. But, as a quiet spoken fellow with a social conscience, Breen didn't let it end at that. So, voila 'freerice' was born.
You log on to the site...the game offers you a word, and then four definitions.
If you pick the correct definition 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN's World Food Program. In the six months the game has been up and running, enough rice to feed one million people for a day has been donated. The game costs nothing to play, and all the rice is paid for by the websites advertisers. For me, I found the whole concept so simple, it was brilliant.
Now, that is enough of a feat in itself to be worthy of a Nightly News spot!
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
We're back in Washington today -- I've taken Amtrak so much lately, I chatted up all three employees on our train car this morning, having last seen them last just a few days ago.
All three are from Boston (where the New York-Washington Acela originates) so I was careful not to mention baseball. I didn't want to get thrown out on the platform in Wilmington without my bags.
While I borrowed Savannah Guthrie's office during my last visit (and left her a detailed critique of the, shall we say, absence of any feng shui -- or even furnishings), I'm now typing this from Pete Williams's office. Pete is as kind, smart, able and popular as anybody I know in this news division. As our Justice Correspondent, he knows his stuff -- and while I may fancy myself a Supreme Court "buff," I learned long ago not to tangle with Pete on any debate on matters of the court. You'll lose. He knows his stuff backwards and forwards. His office is great: a direct reflection of the man. The decor is equal parts Andy Rooney and Earl Warren. I said on the conference call just now that I feel like I'm "in chambers" -- as the office is lined with leather-bound volumes of the U.S. Code... along with artwork from Pete's beloved home state of Wyoming. Right now he's doing what he does best: he's hard at work covering the Supreme Court.
Tonight many of us are to gather at the annual Radio & Television Correspondents' Assocation 64th Annual Dinner -- then it's back to New York tomorrow. We've laid out a good broadcast (most of our senior staff migrated here for the day) and we'll see you from our Washington Bureau tonight.
By Michelle Kosinski, NBC News correspondent
It would be almost impossible to walk onto the Virginia Tech campus, past the fresh flower beds and perfect grey stone buildings, up to that semi-circle of 32 stones, to see those names-- and not have some of that emotion from one year ago come rushing back. It takes your breath away for a moment.
There have been changes to security and mental health policy on campuses around the country; there have been tributes made and donations sent; apologies rendered and goodbyes wrenched from this community; but for so many here, the emotion remains strong, and just beneath the surface.
Some survivors told us about having sudden, unexpected reactions to loud noises. And fear of unlocked doors.
But there is another reaction too, that isn't only evident because we tend to look for something "uplifting" after an act so unspeakably cold and violent: the desire of so many survivors to DO something positive to make the world a less violent, or just less unfeeling, place.
Lily Habtu, 23 years old, was the first person in her family to go to college; she was born in Sudan, her parents fled decades of violence in Eritrea to give her a better life, "to work hard, and come to America," she said. "And I get attacked, I almost die, in a classroom..." Her voice trails off into tears. She had been shot in the jaw in German class that day, and says she feels the pain and fear every day of her life-- and probably always will.
But one year later, the once extremely shy psychology major has become an activist for stricter gun laws. She spent this grim anniversary on Capitol Hill, lobbying and demonstrating.
So did many other survivors, and family members of those who did not live past class that day. You can see Lily at work in our story that is on the website tonight.
Colin Goddard, shot three times, insisted on volunteering in Africa last summer-- two months after leaving the hospital.
The Cloyd family, who lost their daughter Austin, have started a group that rehabilitates homes for people who can't afford it.
Students of French teacher Jocelyne Couture-Nowak have created a program to teach her beloved language to elementary school children. Tonight, that's where they'll be.
The group VT Engage challenged members of this close community to spend 10 hours in service -- adding up to hundreds of thousands of hours, helping other people in some simple but meaningful way.
It was a difficult day, people here not wanting to remember-- but not wanting to forget those names and faces either. Ever.
Friends of Ryan Clark wrote a note they left by his stone, telling him they miss his help in physics class. And for Leslie Sherman, a celebration of her 21st birtday, complete with a tiara on her memorial stone, and a pair of purple sparkly earrings. Those little pieces of life, symbols of youth and fun, are perhaps the most upsetting to see.
But students here have moved on, in many ways. Wanting to make something of all this, if it's impossible to make any real sense of it.
Those 32 names may hold silent witness on that drillfield, forever.
And students and parents and professors touched by this, do their good work, and build their good lives, in THEIR names.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
The baby-faced soldier in the photo below went off to war in 1950 and never returned. This Friday Army Sgt. Virgil Phillips will be laid to rest in Goodwill Cemetery in his hometown of Loogootee, Ind., nearly 60 years after he was killed on a frozen battlefield of America's "forgotten war" in Korea.
"We want him to come home and be placed alongside his son," Phillips' grandson told the Columbus (Ind.) Republic.
In June 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea, Phillips was 24 years old, married, and living in southern Indiana. Recalled to active duty, he shipped out in September for Korea.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Bob Curry has died at the age of 78. Our viewers know him best as Ann Curry's father. I had the great pleasure of meeting and getting to know Bob, who bore a striking resemblance to the actor Bert Lahr. Mr. Curry was a career Navy man -- a great man, larger than life.
As Ann so lovingly wrote about her own dad while profiling him a year ago on Nightly News: he was a candystriper at a local hospital, a teacher of Tai Chi, a lover of poetry and ballroom dancing. He loved his daughter and she loved him. We will note his passing on the broadcast tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with our dear friend Ann and the extended family. May he rest in peace.
At this hour, I'm watching the sparkling arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington -- the President, to our knowledge, has never driven out to the base to greet a visiting dignitary until today: the arrival of the Pope, who will celebrate his 81st birthday on American soil tomorrow. Tonight we'll begin our coverage of his visit as part of the broadcast we're compiling right now. Thanks so much for joining us and sharing your thoughts with us each night.
Editor's note - you can leave a messsage for Ann Curry here.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
editor's note - for more information on Kevin Tibbles' report on free rice - please click here.
I've been heartened and overjoyed at the response to our Town Hall on Race at Howard University in Washington this past Friday night. A number of you have posted such kind emails -- on top of what we're hearing from viewers -- it's great. I was hoping, even if it had somehow gone poorly, to at least get credit for trying. I think we did more than that.
Back to work this Monday: we have politics, intrigue, the environment and food safety to cover tonight. We'll get to it if you promise to join us. Thanks so very much.
By David A. Wilson
editor's note - David Wilson was featured in "Meeting David Wilson" which aired Friday night on MSNBC.
First, allow me to express my deepest gratitude to MSNBC for having aired Meeting David Wilson and following it with the inviting live conversation on race. We appreciate the support of all those who made that night happen from the executives, the producers, the editors, the panel members and viewers. While it must be said that no one broadcast will be able to "get everything right" for everyone, nor should we expect to correct a centuries-old complex issue in one night of dialogue, it's important to start somewhere. For their commitment and efforts, I give a great deal of credit to the people of NBC News.
I find that the main reason people enjoy Meeting David Wilson is that they see themselves in the film. Many black folks identify with myself just as a great portion of white Middle America can relate to David B. Wilson. I think it's very important to have the race conversation begin on a personal level. This is why my partners and I didn't create a film overflowing with facts and figures, nor did we include commentary from pundits and experts. Our attempt was to make a film that did not simply appeal to the academic elite, but to the undeniable humanity that exists in the hearts of all Americans. The conversation between David Wilson and myself doesn't come from years of research but from our own vivid life experiences. These experiences are those that help shape our values, our character, and ultimately, our actions.
CONTINUED >>
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
The Sunday morning talk shows offered plenty of insight into Barack Obama's recent remarks about small town America, guns, religion and “bitter” voters. As I pointed out during last night's broadcast, the controversy hinges on whether Obama was identifying with many Americans, or, as his critics believe, was belittling them. Tonight, we'll have more on the fallout, the potential backlash against Hillary Clinton, and whether or not this controversy will have any staying power.
This is another one of those "perception" moments that have defined so much of this campaign season, sometimes at the expense of policy issues. What remains to be seen is whether this one will dominate in the short amount of time before the important Pennsylvania primary.
CONTINUED >>
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
The ping-pong-like exercise of "he said, she said" in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination lands in Barack Obama's court today over remarks he made about "frustrated" and "bitter" blue collar Americans. Both Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate John McCain have pounced on the remarks as "elitist." Obama is playing both defense and offense, acknowledging his choice of words was poor, while defending the point he tried to make. The story has gotten play all day on the cable news channels and political blogs. We will let you hear the remarks for yourself on our newscast tonight, and NBC's Lee Cowan will show us how each candidate is spinning them.
Not far from the shores of America is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Most people in Haiti live on less than $2 a day, making the soaring price of food much more than an inconvenience. This week there have been deadly protests and looting as Haitians demand relief. NBC Nightly News digital correspondent Mara Schiavocampo is in Haiti to offer a first hand account of the crisis. Mara has also posted a blog entry about what she has seen and experienced on the ground.
CONTINUED >>
By Mara Schiavocampo, NBC Nightly News digital correspondent
Yesterday morning a woman approached me on the street here in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, begging. She lifted her shirt, revealing a gaunt stomach, and repeated the word "Clorox," over and over. She was referring to an expression here, "eating bleach," that people use to describe burning hunger pains.
This week Haiti descended into chaos. Thousands took to the streets, looting, smashing windows and burning tires. The gates of the Presidential Palace were stormed. At least five were killed and 20 injured. "We are hungry," said one woman I spoke to.
Haiti is ground zero of a possible emerging food crisis. It's the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and the price of food has risen 50 percent in the last year. People are going hungry because they simply can't afford to buy food.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I thought I'd subsidize Amtrak today and took the train to Washington -- my second trip here in two days, where tonight we're hosting an important special on race that we are enormously proud of. It starts at 9p Eastern on MSNBC and live on the web -- it features the documentary "Meeting David Wilson," and then our live discussion with a fascinating group of guests we've assembled for tonight's broadcast from Howard University. Please let us know what you think.
I will admit: today's economic news is a punch in the gut on several fronts. That will dominate the news tonight. We'll also have our Making a Difference segment, and Ann Curry has gone and outdone herself tonight: a worldwide exclusive television interview with the Dalai Lama. Not your usual night around here -- let us know what you think of all of it.
We'll see you tonight from our Washington Bureau. Have a wonderful weekend and please come back on Monday night.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Just returned from our return shuttle flight from Washington after the Petraeus interview. It was good having time with Richard Engel and his producer, the great Madeleine Haeringer, who were in Washington with me for the interview. We sat three rows away from my friend Katie Couric and her production team, which several passengers in the rear of the aircraft found interesting. It also occured to me I was on two MD-80's already today.
This morning, Richard Engel sent the final chapter of his next book manuscript to the publisher, which means we'll all be able to buy it in a few months. Something tells me you'll hear more about it in this space.
The airline mess reached crisis proportions a long time ago, and today only worsened. The big fear now is a daisy-chain effect of inspections, rolling from one airline to the next. Question: when does it become a de facto national security matter, when our carriers can no longer carry passengers, cargo and mail? Where's the ingenuity to solve this in a way that lessens the impact to the traveling public -- or "customers" as they used to be called? Are there not enough jets idle or available via either lend-lease from other carriers or so-called "wet-lease" from other vendors to fill some of the gaps in missing passenger seats? Solving the outage will, I'm afraid, take some outrage.
We have some really interesting stories on the broadcast tonight -- we hope you can join us.
By Marisa Buchanan, Nightly News Producer
I understand duty to one's country - I've had military in my family for several generations now. It's an incredible personal and proud sacrifice to serve no matter what the outcome. I understand, too, duty manifests itself in other ways as well even though so often we forget to acknowledge it. That's why this story, which you'll see reported tonight by Ann Curry, resonated with me.
Andi Parhamovich didn't have to go to war. She didn't even agree with the war. She went, though -- fearless and committed -- and maybe that's what made Baghdad seem not as dangerous as it surely was on the day her convoy was targeted.
Over 1,000 American civilians have died in Iraq since the war started. I Lost my Love in Baghdad -- the book that tonight's story is based on -- celebrates an American life that wasn't bound by any military duty but "served" in Iraq anyway. You might assume a security guard, or a contractor, but this was a young idealist. She was there for an American NGO -- teaching and advising Iraqis about democratic elections, creating civil institutions, and political accountability, all at the grassroots level -- and in a place crippled by bloodshed. It would have surprised anyone to see her in Baghdad, not just because she was a cheerful blonde-haired woman. She was pure of heart -- to hear her fiancé describe her -- and her loss through his eyes and those of her family is a story of young love, bold hope and, for those that are left behind, survival. CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Today I'm remembering where I was five years ago: watching the statue fall in Baghdad -- on television, along with the late Ret. General Wayne Downing. We were in a hotel room in Kuwait, covering the start of the war and waiting, impatiently, for the opportunity to fly into Baghdad with the U.S. military. We got in on our second try, about 24 hours after the statue was torn down (it was a harrowing flight with U.S. Special Forces that I was told not to remember). And in our newsroom today is a man who was there -- standing at the base of the statue to watch it all unfold. Tonight we'll ask Richard Engel what that was like.
Thanks to Ben Clammer for a great post. First, Ben, you're right: recipients of the Medal of Honor are never to be referred to as "winners" of the Medal. As they will tell you, in gently (some not so gently) correcting that mistake, they didn't "win" anything. Quite the opposite -- so many of them lost their very best friends. While I heard at least one network make that mistake last night, the distinction is drilled into my mind. I'll tell you something else: I am, indeed, in an enviable position. I get to hang out with some of the best men this country has ever produced. The time I get to spend with Medal of Honor recipients is so wonderful, so empowering and such an honor...I count my blessings often that I get to simply inhale the same air. I call them all rock stars. I told that exact same thing to one of the 105 living recipients yesterday -- who, with characteristic modesty, waved away my comment like a fly. But I meant it. Thanks for what you said, Ben.
For all of you with travel plans on American Airlines, my condolences. We'll cover that story and the rest of the day's news tonight. We look forward to having you join us, and we appreciate your business.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
The Army's Old Guard buried one of its own this week. Staff Sgt. Christopher Hake, 26, of Enid, Okla., began his military career eight years ago with the elite ceremonial regiment, burying the dead and guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
He went on to serve in Iraq with the Third Infantry Division and met and married Kelli Short along the way. She gave birth 18 months ago to their son, Gage, and soon afterward Hake faced another deployment to Iraq.
CONTINUED >>
editor's note - After the documentary and live discussion on race aired on MSNBC on Friday, April 11, both David Wilson answered questiosn from viewers. The responses, which they gave separately are here.
This Friday at 9 p.m. ET, MSNBC will premiere Meeting David Wilson, the story of a young man's reconciliation with his ancestors' history as slaves. Immediately following at 10:30 p.m. on MSNBC, NBC News will present A Live Conversation About Race. The 90-minute live discussion, which will be broadcast from Howard University's Washington campus and stream simultaneously on msnbc.com, will focus on racial themes in America. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will moderate the event.
Joining Williams as panelists for A Live Conversation About Race are some of America's more important voices on issues facing our nation including radio host Tom Joyner, author Michael Eric Dyson, entrepreneur Malaak Compton-Rock, screenwriter Kriss Turner, writer Kevin Powell, and columnist Mike Barnicle. Tim Wise, the Director of the Association for White Anti-Racist Education (AWARE) and Rev. Buster Soaries will also be featured panelists.
We invite you to submit questions for the discussion in the comment section of this blog.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Great traffic on the blog -- and as we anticipated, a huge response to Richard Engel's story last night. Who among us -- with all the blessings we enjoy and all that we have -- could watch his story last night and not come away wanting to take those girls out of that awful environment and give them a better life and a loving environment? Absent being able to do that (adoptions from Iraq are "impossible," according to Richard) we can at least help financially, and tonight, on our Nightly News website, Richard answers some of your specific questions about how to help.
A few notes from the postings over the last 24 hours:
To Jeff: On top of all that went on in Memphis on Friday, would you believe I never got one morsel of barbeque? I would not have eaten at all had someone not thrown a McDonald's double cheeseburger on my desk while I was writing for the broadcast late in the afternoon. I will crawl across cut glass for pulled pork, crunchy slaw and cornbread.
CONTINUED >>
By Richard Engel, Middle East bureau chief
Watch Richard's story from Nightly News.
I have been humbled, overjoyed and, at times, brought to tears by their ability to cope, even smile and play, despite their tragedy. For the past two years, we have followed the lives of the Hussein sisters, Marwa, Aliya and Sora, orphaned and institutionalized after their parents were murdered in front of them northeast of Baghdad. When we returned last month to the Baghdad orphanage where they now live, my first impression was that the girls are stuck in time. I saw them in the same dining room eating the same lunch (rice with a little chicken and yogurt), playing the same games (basketball and ring around the rosy) in the same yard surrounded by (new) barred windows. But after visiting Marwa, Aliya and Sora for several days, it was clear their future is as uncertain as Iraq. Marwa has become a victim of her growing beauty. She's only fifteen, but has matured physically and been forced to move to an orphanage for older girls. Now men are trying to marry her. Even her teachers are trying to set her up, believing it’s a good option – a future, a degree of stability -- for an orphaned girl. In Iraqi culture orphans are often ostracized. Once they turn18, orphans sometimes end up on the streets. The younger Hussein girls, Sora and Aliya, miss their sister. She used to take care of them. They still have nightmares.
Our previous story about the Hussein sisters and Iraqi orphans have generated an enormous outpouring from generous NBC News viewers. Some have even offered to open their own homes. Unfortunately, it is illegal under Iraqi law for foreigners to adopt Iraqi children, even Iraqi-Americans. There are, however, several charities working to help children like Marwa, Aliya and Sora. One is the International Rescue Committee. The group accepts donations. Please also feel free to ask questions or comment directly on this blog. There are many causalities in Iraq – not least of which are the American soldiers and Iraqi civilians -- but at times children are most vulnerable to the unpredictable vicissitudes of these violent and changing times of war.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Tonight we'll (briefly) address Friday's audio debacle. The e-mails seemed to arrive (by the hundreds, rather instantly) in three basic groups: those beginning with "how dare you...", those beginning with "shame on you..." and those who correctly identified the situation -- amplified speeches blaring over loudspeakers located just behind us and beyond our control -- a complete surprise to our network, and nothing like the quiet "candlelight vigil" that event planners had promised. I guess the most amazing e-mails are the ones alleging it was bias at work somehow -- the argument, as I understand it, goes something like this: in order to show favoritism to the Democrats, we somehow arranged for our own live interview with John McCain (and the lead segment of Nightly News) to be drowned out by the loudspeakers. On the other hand, the positive e-mails from understanding viewers -- about the perils of live television, and thanking us for going to Memphis in the first place -- were so completely gratifying to read. I can't thank those of you who posted them quite enough. It's been a day of post-mortems around here, and I'm happy to say there is other news to cover.
Richard Engel is on home leave for a while -- he's with us here in New York, a visit to the U.S. designed to coincide with the Petraeus testimony. It has been great spending time with him in the newsroom today. Richard has filed an amazing, poignant and personal story for tonight -- you'll all be seeing a lot more of him this week.
And a mea culpa in advance: while we have promoted the fact that this will be a solid week of "Making A Difference" features (the idea was that the pieces are so positive, so uplifting, why wait 'til Friday each week?) we have to go back on our promise just for tonight, because of a fascinating story from out West.
So we sure hope that all the folks who e-mailed us (after the Friday debacle) to say "I'm never watching NBC News again!" have thought better of that decision and will give us another chance, we hope you'll all tune in for the broadcast tonight. We have fixed the problem, and you should be able to hear me this time!
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
After the tragic end to a siege at a religious compound in Waco, Texas in 1993, the words "compound" and "standoff" immediately spark feelings of dread and fears of a horrible ending. Many of those fears have been talked about openly at the site of a polygamist compound raided by law enforcement in Eldorado, Texas on Thursday. Police were responding to a call from a 16-year-old girl reporting she had been abused. NBC's Don Teague is near the compound and reports tensions have eased after authorities were able to peacefully enter a temple in search of the girl. There were concerns over whether members of the religious community would try and forcibly stop police from entering the sacred temple. Almost 200 women and children have been removed from the compound, which was built by followers of polygamist leader Warren Jeff. On Nightly News tonight Don will update us on the search for the girl, and what authorities believe may have been going on inside the closed community.
We've been following a violent day in Iraq, in the days before a progress report on the war is to be presented to Congress by General David Petraeus and American Ambassador Ryan Crocker. At least 3 American soldiers were killed in a shelling attack in Baghdad's Green Zone, and more than 20 people died in fighting between Shiite fighters and American backed Iraqi soldiers. From Washington, Kevin Corke will preview what Petraeus and Crocker are expected to tell Congress about the surge, and where they would like to see troops levels go after the surge ends. CONTINUED >>
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Good day from New York. It's great to be back after a week off enjoying the ski slopes of Utah. I'm one of those once-a-year skiers who never quite mastered the sport, so I'm always happy to be back without any broken bones.
Watching the headlines of the last several days I should also feel lucky the airline we flew remained in business. Three other airlines this week declared bankruptcy and ceased flying. All of them cite the soaring price of jet fuel as a major factor. Tonight, NBC's Mike Taibbi will look at what is happening to the airline industry and the economy in general, against the backdrop of new and higher unemployment numbers.
There are big cleanups underway in parts of the South today following a series of nasty spring storms yesterday. Kerry Sanders is working that story for us.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
On the first feed of the broadcast tonight, a promised candlelight vigil became a series of hyper-amplified speeches, 50 yards behind us while we were on live television. From the very first plans we made to do the broadcast live from a grassy hillside across from the Lorraine Motel, we were promised (by event organizers) in no uncertain terms that it would be quiet -- if anything, there were concerns expressed early on, that if we made too much noise, we risked appearing disrespectful. It turned out silence wasn't the problem. Quite the opposite. Making it worse: we were interviewing Sen. John McCain on live television. The noise was deafening. The speeches started a few minutes before we went on the air, and as I write this, almost two hours after our first broadcast began, the speeches are still going on. While the Senator and I were struggling to hear each other, we assumed the audience could hear us. Senator McCain and I were equipped with only the standard lapel microphones -- and while I was later given a directional, noise-filtering hand-held microphone for later segments, the damage was done to our broadcast, to our massive commitment to cover a solemn event, to Senator McCain and the points he was making in responding to my questions, on our air. Sometimes in this business, the air product (what people are watching at home) isn't as bad as it seems to us in the field. In this case, it was worse. Because I was at the center of it, and I could not know how bad a viewing experience it was, I did not know to apologize while it was happening -- and I believe in apologizing immediately and forthrightly for mistakes we make. Had I known how bad it was, I would have moved heaven and earth to fix it. I would have moved the entire broadcast, on live television, inside the quiet confines of the Civil Rights museum. The McCain folks are angry, justifiably so. So are we.
At least I can apologize now. To our audience, and to Senator McCain, who went to great lengths to be with us for the live broadcast. We will endeavor to set things right with the Senator, and offer him airtime -- the quiet kind -- to allow him to be heard.
Brian Williams
Memphis, Tennessee
April 4, 2008
To our viewers:
We apologize for the unexpected audio problems at the top of the 6:30 ET broadcast. Sen. John McCain was kind enough to stay and speak with Brian again during our 7pm ET edition and you can see that interview here.
For those viewers who wrote to us asking why the interviews with Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama in the 6:30ET edition were perfectly audible when the one with Sen. McCain was not: the interviews with Clinton and Obama, as Brian mentioned during the newscast, were recorded earlier in the day.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I write this within view of the sad balcony -- where the ever-present wreath marks the place where the bullet struck its target 40-years ago tonight. Dr. King had apparently just finished watching the network evening news, when he stepped outside to depart for dinner. He was 39 years old.
By now perhaps you know that we have secured, for tonight's broadcast, interviews with all three Presidential candidates -- I filed a video blog from here earlier today -- and I'm proud of our news division for making the commitment to anchor the Today program and Nightly News from this hallowed spot on this important day.
All that is left is for you to watch our broadcast tonight. If you missed last night, I strongly suggest you see the 5-minute-long story that ended our Thursday broadcast, because it features color film of Dr. King that has never aired before.
We'll see you on the broadcast tonight. Have a good weekend. We'll see you again on Monday night.
By Ron Mott, NBC News correspondent
MEMPHIS -- It's a day of reflection. It's also a day of projection.
As thousands gather under rainy, cloudy skies at the former Lorraine Motel (now the National Civil Rights Museum), where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down 40 years ago today, people remember with fondness the hope he inspired and say they'll rededicate themselves to restoring the hope of his dream for the future.
There have been scores of events across the city throughout the week, featuring religious and civic leaders, eager to connect Dr. King's dream to a dramatically different world.
The plight of the city's striking sanitation workers is what brought Dr. King to this city four decades ago. On this day, sanitation workers marched again -- for him, for progress.
"We're still trying to get ahead," one marcher said.
Another explained: "We are still faced with a number of the same issues that we had in 1968."
Rev. Al Sharpton led what he called a "Reconciliation" march and rally, an attempt, he said, at updating Dr. King's dream for a series of new socioeconomic challenges confronting the country, particularly poverty.
Several of Dr. King's closest aides and confidantes are here, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Samuel "Billy" Kyles -- both of whom were with him the night he died.
Rev. Kyles said he didn't have any feelings to express then or now about how the murder of his friend and mentor affected him, adding, "You can kill the dreamer, but you absolutely cannot kill the dream."
By Lee Cowan, NBC News correspondent
FT. WAYNE, IN. Memphis is in mourning again today. The Lorraine Motel will be lit up by cameras and lights in ways eerily similar to that grim day 40 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King lay dead or dying on that simple balcony.
All the presidential candidates will be in Memphis to offer condolences today, save one; Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator chose to speak in Indiana today instead – a long way from the civil rights struggles of the 60’s. But in his absence, intended or not, may be a lesson.
It was in Indianapolis on this very day that Robert Kennedy - campaigning for the Democratic nomination himself – was dealt the task of having to inform a stunned crowd that Dr. King was gone.
In the midst of the grief, Kennedy begged for calm – as Dr. King surely would have himself. And as cities across the nation were beset with violence in the wake of the King assassination, Indianapolis remained quiet.
It was that moment that Barack Obama commemorated today. Not the shot that rang out, but how some responded in the wake of it. There will be talk of whether his choice was appropriate. Whether the first African American to have a serious shot at the White House should have visited the spot where a generation was changed.
But in the end, the unfinished business of Dr. King still reaches into every corner and every balcony in the country. What that night in Indiana 40 years ago showed, is that it’s sentiment that counts, not geography.
Editor's note: To share your story of where you were when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and to read others' accounts, click here.
By Jeff Gralnick, former Executive Producer, NBC Nightly News
There are moments in the life of the news and the nation that you never forget or forget where you were when they happened.
Today is one of those days.
I know exactly where I was when Dr. King was shot and it may have been the only place on the planet where it seemed not to matter: I Corps, South Vietnam, about 8 miles below the so-called demilitarized zone. I was out with my CBS News film crew and a Marine unit in search of combat when the news from Memphis reached us and we went instantly into "news reactive mode."
We chased reaction. White grunts. Black grunts. And asked, What do you think? What does it mean? And of course: How do you feel? CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
In response to a post last night, I wanted to assure everyone that we will indeed air a profile of Master-At-Arms 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor, U.S. Navy Seal, the newly-named recipient of the Medal of Honor. He recieved the Medal posthumously, for an action in Ramadi, Iraq, in September of 2006. On that day, Monsoor's team came under sudden attack, during a mission to provide covering fire for other U.S. forces. A grenade was thrown at Monsoor's position; he covered the blast, and in doing so, saved the members of his team. Members of his family spoke today. President Bush will present the medal to his family at the White House on April 8th, when we will air his profile on Nightly News.
As retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey likes to point out, we have never, in our nation's history, had a more battle-hardened U.S. military force. As he puts it, "courage (34,000 killed or wounded), leadership, initiative, intelligence, discipline, civic action." I believe its important for citizens to know stories like Monsoor's -- stories like those we chronicled on this blog for over 100 straight weekdays (always available here). As we mourn the recipients who are not with us to accept our thanks, we honor those who are.
And Dear Joan: I don't know why anyone would waste a minute of their time on my neckwear. Doesn't it seem especially silly given topics like the one I've discussed above? I've never understood it...but I'm always flattered that people chose to watch -- and they (most of them) certainly mean well!
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
America paused, sighed and resumed its ways without even learning the names of the four soldiers whose deaths pushed the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 4,000.
But the grief has just begun for the families of Jose Rubio, Chris Hake, George Delgado and Andy Habsieger, all members of the Third Infantry Division who died of injuries suffered in a roadside bombing on Easter Sunday near Baghdad.
In Mission, Texas, just this side of the Mexican border, Jennifer Rubio read about the fatal blast in a local newspaper but had no idea her husband was among the dead until Army officials arrived at the couple's small apartment behind City Bride & Flower Shop.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Wow, what a day where tempers are concerned. It’s getting hot out there. First, there's the story (as written up by my old friend Dave Statter in Washington) of the guy who wasn't allowed to take a picture at a ball game. I'll leave it to others to argue it out, and without taking sides, I'm reminded that photographers covering FDR were more than once told "cameras down" when the President was being hoisted out of his car, or from his wheelchair to a standing position.
Then there's the account of Bill Clinton's burst of temper. And then there's the guy who wanted a photo with Obama. Again, without taking sides, I actually discussed this very topic with Sen. Obama a few months back... as I have with other politicians. We were talking about the dynamic -- new to this election cycle -- of ubiquitous personal photography at campaign events. It’s striking to see when covering them: at times it seems as though EVERYONE who comes to see the candidate is armed with some sort of camera -- happy-snap disposable, digital, a camera on their PDA or cell phone. Obama finds this vexing -- as does just about anyone in public life -- and he has more than once said, "If you stop for one, you have to stop for everyone."
CONTINUED >>
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
My mother and her identical twin smoked enormous numbers of cigarettes from their teenage years until their deaths – my mother at age 90 and my aunt at 91. Neither developed lung cancer. But lest anyone think this is a recommendation for smoking, they both endured years of misery from emphysema and my mother (and probably my aunt) died from kidney cancer which is linked to smoking.
The point here is something that has long been known. While 80 to 90 percent of people who develop lung cancer are smokers or former smokers, only 15 percent of people who smoke significant amounts get the disease. The assumption has always been that genetics provided the explanation –and the case of the twins so important to my life provide a tiny piece of evidence.
But now the knowledge from the human genome project is starting to provide specific information that fills in the blanks. Three large groups of researchers found an area of genetic variability on chromosome 15 that increases the risk of lung cancer in smokers. While the three groups worked independently they came to remarkably similar conclusions. You can read the original research here AND here AND here.
CONTINUED >>
By Libby Leist, NBC News State Department producer
Anyone who has ever made "getting fit" a goal knows that the excuses not to work out are endless and that finding the time can be a challenge. But, imagine you are the Secretary of State of the United States.
You wake up every morning to face a punishing schedule of back-to-back meetings, lunches, dinners, speeches, ceremonies and phone calls, not to mention more travel than any other member of the President's cabinet and rarely a day off. Sounds insane, right?
Well, the May issue of Fitness Magazine offers a glimpse of how Condoleezza Rice, our 66th Secretary of State, stays fit -- both mentally and physically -- in order to keep up with the demands of her job.
In a series of photos that will be published by the magazine next week, and made available today to Nightly News and MSNBC.com, a sweaty and determined looking Secretary Rice shows off her toned physique and killer moves.
Photos by David Y. Lee for Fitness Magazine
Rice tells the magazine that she does cardio six days a week, works out with a trainer at least once a week and treats herself to a bagel on the weekends -- (yes, time to feel guilty here).
Rice gets up at 4:30 a.m. every day to work out, including on her diplomatic missions overseas, but she says its not always easy, "I'm not an automaton. I don't wakeup every morning thinking, 'Oh yeah, let's go!' I have to push myself just like anybody else."
Rice has been working on her core muscles with her trainer in order to improve her golf game, the magazine reports.
The full article hits newstands on April 8th. Check out the link to Rice's "No Excuses" workout.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Apologies for a cramped calendar and little time to post. I spent five hours on the set of Sesame Street today. We wrapped filming and the episode will air in August. I'll post an air date when I know it. Until then, I'll be mum about details... though if Elmo talks, that's something I can't control.
Right now we have just broken from our editorial meeting, which morphed into a planning meeting for our Martin Luther King assasination anniversary coverage. We have a group of visiting journalists from Saudi Arabia who I must now go speak to.
About the posts over the past 24-hours, there are two conspiracy theories to knock down: first, that I would ever utter a bad word about our "regulars" -- the folks who make this blog go, and give me energy each day. I love knowing you're reading, and watching, and your loyalty means more to me than you could know. So I can't imagine ever posting a comment which would have been in any way negative. Second: I have no idea which companies make which pharmaceuticals. In my job, I have to know a lot -- and I generally like carrying around a lot of information. The parent companies of pharmaceutical products advertised on Nightly News? Not a chance.
I hope you can all join us for tonight's broadcast. I get to welcome Tom Brokaw back to the Nightly News set, to talk about a project he's justifiably enormously proud of. We'll look for you then.
