Fire watch

Posted: Saturday, July 05, 2008 5:50 PM by Cynthia.Joyce@msnbc.com

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

The number of fires now burning in California has dropped to fewer than 400. That's the good news. The bad news is that the two biggest, the Big Sur Basin fire and the Gap fire in southern California, are still out of control. Our Peter Alexander is on the scene at the Gap fire, near Santa Barbara, and will report tonight that any progress during the day risks being undone at nightfall because of something called "sundowner" winds. He'll explain why this is such a tough one.

We will also update a story that for weeks now has been changing the eating habits of millions of Americans. The government says there have now been over 900 reported cases of salmonella poisoning. And if you thought avoiding tomatoes would keep you safe, you may be wrong. The list of suspect produce has now expanded as health detectives try and track down the elusive source. Martin Savidge will bring us up to date.

If you decided to play tourist at home this holiday rather than hit the road and pay high air fares or gas prices, then you are among a growing number of Americans who have discovered "staycations." NBC's Tom Costello will be reporting that trend tonight.

We don't usually spend a lot of time on sports on this broadcast, but we'd be remiss not to report a pair of stories that have inspired sports fans this weekend. We'll show a little of Venus William's' victory over her sister Serena at the women's championship at Wimbledon today. Meantime we've asked our Mike Taibbi to profile 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres, who outdistanced competitors half her age to qualify for her fifth Olympics.

CNBC's Trish Regan takes us to Brazil to show us why their economy is booming despite lots of easy credit -- the very thing that has shaken the U.S. economy.

And Nightly News producer Clare Duffy steps in front of the camera tonight to bring us the story of one very lucky and beloved penguin.

I hope you can join us for tonight's NBC Nightly News.

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Comments

Good Evening Mr.Holt, A fine broadcast this evening. First of all the report by Mr.Alexander in California concerning the wildfires. With all the areas that have been burned already I hope the firefighters can get the upper hand on the blazes. Especially the most heavily effected areas. The report by Mr.Savidge about the cause of the outbreak of salmonella was disturbing because the FDA doesn't seem to know what the cause may be. Alot of the vegetables mentioned are in salsa and I love salsa. I am going to be very careful when buying fresh salsa now. People can have a hard time remembering what they ate and when. I certainly hope they find the cause very soon. The report by Mr.Costello showed how people are really trying to save money on travel by staying at home and spending time in their own cities. It looked like alot of fun for the family to see that humpback whale swimming in the ocean. One doesn't have to travel far to learn much from right where one lives. Finally, the piece by Clare Duffy about that baby penguin was so nice. That baby penguin was so cute and the people at the New England Aquarium are taking such good care. It was funny to see her bring the penguin home in a cooler at then see all the other pets she had at home. The dog and cats must have wondered why this penguin was sharing their home. Quite the menagerie of animals. Seeing the baby penguin swimming was so cute too! I hope he or she can join the other full grown penguins in the exhibit soon. So very cute! Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Holt! Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Celine,Claudia,Anna and Matt!
Be Well Always!
XOXO

Lisa McNeil,Alpharetta,Georgia (Sent Saturday, July 05, 2008 7:19 PM)

Mr. Holt,

It was good to see you anchoring during the week. I wanted to say how amazing the story was that Mrs. Curry reported on last night. I imagine it was a great honor for her to be able to share and tell the story of that woman and her child. I'm looking forward to the day where the broadcast will have nothing but positive stories, though I can't foresee that in the near future. Looking forward to the broadcast.

Matt, 20, San Diego (Sent Saturday, July 05, 2008 8:13 PM)

I WISH YOU WERE ON EVERY NIGHT LIKE YOU HAVE
BEEN SINCE THURSDAY NIGHT AS YOU ARE AN
AWESOME ANCHOR, AND I AM A NEWS JUNKIE.

PHYLLIS KUNZ

PHYLLIS KUNZ LOUISVILLE KY (Sent Sunday, July 06, 2008 8:18 AM)

Good Sunday Morning to all!

Lester, that exercise segment was too cute this morning! What did you say, it takes two women to work you out!! I will not go there. (Chuckles)

@ All:

Don't forget Richard's new documentary is on MSBN tonight at 7PM.

Also Dr. Gupta on CNN has a new documentary about children around the world at 8PM.

Finally CNN re-ran an HBO doc this weekend on Ingrid Betancourt. If it comes on again, I would highly recommend it. I think my takeaway from the production was that Mrs. Betancourt much like Mrs. Bhutto is a woman of strong conviction for democracy and social justice. According to the film, 4,500 Columbians are kidnapped every year.

Hum....makes me wonder how many of us regulars are strong woman with strong convictions? If one woman can change Pakistan or Columbia, I know woman can change the face of America in our own communities.

@ Celine: Thanks for the information about Emma on DVD. I missed that. I am still hanging with Fanny this weekend.

@ Matt: Remember.... "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt Never stop dreaming. A bright future is yours.

Bests to all!

Anna (Sent Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:33 AM)

BRIAN WILLIAMS,EVERY SINGLE YEAR WE HEAR ABOUT THE PROBLEMS CONTROLLING THOSE CALIFORNIA FIRES.THOSE BRILLIANT MINDS IN GOVERNMENT NEED TO SERIOUSLY RETHINK THIER STRATEGY ON THIS.FIGHTING 100' FOREST FIRE FLAMES WITH PICKS AND SHOVELS IS LIKE PUTTING OUT A HOUSE FIRE WITH A BUCKET 100 YEARS AGO.IT'S NOT WORKING!WHILE MILLIONS OF ACERS AND 100'S OF HOMES ARE BEING LOST.EINSTIEN ONCE SAID THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT.SETTING BACK FIRES TO CUT DOWN THE MAIN FIRE IS INSANITY TOO.A SOLUTION;WE NEED A NATIONAL INFRUSTRUCTURE FOR FIGHTING THESE FIRES.I DON'T THINK THE NATIONAL GUARD IS TRAINED PROPERLY FOR THIS TYPE OF WORK.JUST LIKE THE ARMY CORE OF ENGINEERS WE NEED A NATIONAL ARMY CORE OF FIREFIGHTERS.1000'S AND 1000'S OF WELL TRAINED ARMY RECRUITS,100'S OF PLANES AND CHOPPERS{NOT 3 OR 4}ON CALL READY TO BE DEPLOYED ON A MOMENTS NOTICE.AND HIT THESE FIRES QUICKLY AND VERY HARD. IF YOU READ THIS AND AGREE TELL YOUR STATE GOVERNMENT LEADERS-WE NEED TO SET UP AN ARMY CORE OF FIREFIGHTERS ASAP.THANKS

LARRY (Sent Sunday, July 06, 2008 1:12 PM)

The main problem with the fires out here in California is that the developers and their well greased enablers in local government, are developing in areas which are fire hazard zones, as well as landslide areas which are curiously "overlooked" by geologists. These fires are a natural occurance (most of the time) due to dry lightning strikes. A study of all of these disasters with the exception of the Topanga and Belaire fires in the sixties, will show that as recent as forty years ago most burn areas were able to burn to the sea, with no worries of loss of human lives, luxury homes and cookie cutter developements needing to be saved because they were not there! Lives and tens of millions of dollars could be saved if people would realize that nature will always have it's way, and to develope homes in safe areas. The main problem is that we have run out of places to build. Perhaps they need to the realize the time has come to end this out of control development which not only has cost human life, and taxpayer dollars, but has also has drained already severely strained water and energy recources all over the state.

Derek H. Muyskens (Sent Wednesday, July 09, 2008 3:09 AM)

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