January 2009 - Posts
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
In the aftermath of a hurricane or tornado, the scale of suffering is easy to understand; the destruction is plainly visible. Such is not always the case after an ice storm, but what citizens from Missouri to West Virginia are going through is no less traumatic.
Many have been without power for days, and others have no heat. In some cases it may be weeks before electricity is restored. In addition, more than 40 people have died as a result of the storm. NBC's Rehema Ellis will report the latest tonight, including the unprecedented reaction of Kentucky's National Guard.
We'll have details of what President Barack Obama said today about his plan to help Americans struggling with their mortgages, along with his administration's work to free up the credit market.
Richard Engel will recap today's election in Iraq, and Tom Costello will report on big questions about the future of NASA as it's space shuttle program nears an end.
I hope you'll join me later for NBC Nightly News.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Because my team, the New York Giants, is not in this year's Super Bowl, it holds far less magic in our household. My son and I will be watching nonetheless -- especially to see Bruce at halftime. The folks at NBC Sports were nice enough to ask me to record my thoughts about Bruce, (specifically my first encounter with him growing up on the Jersey Shore) which will air during the pre-game show tomorrow. I'm also a sucker for the commercials. I'll be rooting for the Steelers for old time's sake. I was a huge Jack Lambert fan in the old days -- he's why I wanted to play linebacker in High School, and I wish I could have played it better. I loved Dwight White and L.C. Greenwood and the entire team of that era. I love the City of Pittsburgh, and was once told that of all the NFL markets, more televisions are tuned to Steelers games in Pittsburgh by percentage than the percentage watching the home team in any other NFL City. They love their team and I like their chances, even against Warner and the formidable Cardinals. Did I mention, like a good politician, that I also love Arizona...and all birds?
We've got a lot of news to cover before we can begin thinking about the game. I hope you can join us tonight, and have a great weekend.
by Jeff Rossen, NBC News Correspondent
His laugh is infectious. His spirit...awe-inspiring. And when you hear his story on tonight's Making a Difference, you'll wonder why the rest of us don't smile more often. Jacob Massaquoi has little to smile about, frankly. He's a Liberian refugee...with a story that would make many cry. Jacob was forced to flee his home in Liberia when rebels killed his brother, and tried to kill him. He landed on Staten Island, New York. Without a penny to his name, Jacob didn't whine, or complain, or ask for a handout. Instead, he stuck HIS hand out, to help others.
Jacob opened the African Refuge, a community center in his new neighborhood. Somehow (and I'm still not sure how he did it), Jacob convinced nurses to volunteer their services for those without health insurance....he convinced immigration lawyers to swing by once a week, for refugees trying to get American citizenship. He finds jobs for the unemployed, and flashes a warm smile when people need them most.
Jacob's center is open to anyone who needs it. He's already helped more than 1,000 people...and now he wants to expand to other locations.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
A lot of talk today about the New York Times story this morning regarding the "new style" in the West Wing in the Obama Administration. Specifically: it was that early photo of President Obama in shirtsleeves that got tongues wagging in detail-obsessed Washington. He wasn't wearing a jacket.
Obama's counselor explains to the Times that the heat was cranked up in the Oval Office, and thus the President removed his jacket. It was considered news ... because of the stated Bush policy (not always followed) of jackets-only for men visiting the Oval Office. President Bush, it was said, occasionally stopped non-jacket-wearing visitors from entering the Oval.
I do recall that it was rather explicitly pointed out to reporters at the time that the Bush policy was a direct reaction to the discomfort they felt watching television news pictures of President Clinton in sweaty jogging clothes in the Oval Office.
While it is "the People's House," one person gets to decide the dress code. Folklore has it that President Hoover dressed in formal attire for dinner upstairs at the White House each night. Look where it got him.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
First of all, as we have done all along while reporting on this outbreak, we urge anyone who is concerned about a peanut flavored product to check the FDA’s website for a list of recalled products.
If you are concerned about a product containing peanuts that is not on the list, the FDA advises you go on the website of the company or to call the toll-free number that can be found on most packages.
Today as this story continued to unfold, we learned a lot about how the system we have for food inspection is severely strained. Ultimately, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration is responsible for the safety of most non-meat food manufacturing facilities. But as an FDA official explained to me, the agency has only 4,000 to
5,000 inspectors for the entire country, so it often contracts to states to carry out the inspections.
In the case of the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, Georgia, the Department of Agriculture got paid for the task. And today at a news conference, the deputy commissioner Oscar Garrison said his agency’s inspections could only be "snapshots," because the agency has only 60 inspectors to check out 16,000
manufacturing facilities in the state.
Perhaps that explains the horrible mess the FDA found in the plant when it inspected the facility in the past few weeks. You can view the details of the FDA’s
inspection here. The inspection reported, among other things, "mold was observed on the ceiling," "rain water has been leaking into the firm," a sink was used "interchangeably as a point for cleaning hands and utensils and washing out mops," there was a "slimy, black-brown residue" on a conveyor belt and "a live roach and several dead roaches."
It is difficult to understand how ten visits in three years could have not found at least some of that.
Click here to view Robert Bazell's Jan. 29 report, "Dirty secrets: Lax food safety exposed."
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
A few odds and ends that otherwise may get by us: first, the astounding story of the 17-year conference call. For those of us who came to know the principals by covering the Clinton White House, this was a fascinating piece of work. From the same source, and just as entertaining, is a treatise on our national attention span these days, and the pace of change. Tonight we will remember James Brady who wrote a lot of our contemporary history during his career in journalism. I happen to think his greatest contribution was his work on the Korean War. James was a First Lieutenant, rifle platoon commander (Bronze Star recipient) who I believe told the gritty story of combat in Korea as well as Paul Fussell did with World War II or Michael Herr did with Vietnam.
Speaking of all things military, some after we aired our story on "challenge coins", and I showed off my own collection, proudly gathered from years of covering the military, I continue to receive coins from some very nice viewers. While I note that the Marine Corps is so far in the lead among all branches of the services, I want to thank the kind and generous folks who have thought of me.
We have a lot of ground to cover tonight and we hope you can join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
John Updike has died. We'll remember him on the broadcast tonight, but already one of the interesting things I've heard said about him was an old quote from Norman Mailer, who, along with Philip Roth, was a member of Updike's "graduating class" of American novelists--all three men never missed an opportunity to stress their manliness. Mailer said Updike was "the kind of author appreciated by readers who knew nothing about writing." Faint praise?
Word of Updike's death, from lung cancer at the age of 76, brought all kinds of praise for the author today. I found the word "erudite" in the first two obituaries I read this afternoon. Updike was a member of our national upper crust--Harvard and tweed blazers--but was fascinated by the American middle class of the nylon jacket, and the post-War America that gave rise to their lives.
The Associated Press remembers him as the "tall" and "hawk-nosed" author who was "prolific, even compulsive" about releasing new works. He was a two-time Pulitzer winner for his "Rabbit" series, and as long as I live I could identify, from a great distance, the stripes on the dust jacket of "Rabbit Redux," which was considered the least of the series in terms of literary value. I remember the artwork on the binding of the book because it sat on the shelf of our living room when I was growing up. Updike had a similar presence in millions of American homes and lives.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
We received several thoughtful responses to last night’s report on Duke University’s experiments to enhance their health care system. (You can find them below my blog post from yesterday.)
The Duke researchers began their experiments by talking to people who were using the emergency room for non-emergency purposes. They then used their stories about the medical system in general for ideas on how to improve Duke's--and some of North Carolina’s--health care delivery system, including Duke's family practice
offices.
In tonight's report, we describe how the Duke team makes house calls to people who have difficulty making it to the doctor, and how the team has set up satellite clinics in neighborhoods as well, including inside some high schools where they provide care for adolescents.
One complaint about last night’s report came in an e-mail to me from a spokeswoman for the American College of Emergency Physicians. It questioned
the assumption that care in the ER (or ED, for emergency department) of a hospital is more expensive or inefficient than care in a doctor’s office. Instead of getting into that argument, which is multi-layered, I offered to do more future reports about the current state of emergency medicine in the country.
But one statistic from that email exchange stands out to me: Out of America’s annual expenditure of $2.1 trillion for health care, $37.5 billion–-or 1.8 percent--goes toward emergency medicine. The ER is truly our health care lifeline, the backup if all else fails. The medical staff who work in those facilities often put in long hours for far less pay than those in other specialties.
Just because the Duke researchers began their research in the ER does not imply an opinion on their part--or mine--that the staff in the ER is doing anything wrong.
I hope you find the second part of this two-part report enlightening. And again, I repeat, no one knows what health care reform will look like in the U.S., but it is useful to see the experiments already underway to try and improve health care delivery.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
With all the celebrities assembled in Washington for the Inauguration, it was nice to see some of the attention go to another promient visitor: "Sully," the Captain of US Airways fame, roundly regarded as a hero among us for saving the lives of 155 souls.
Sully (who got to meet the new president at the Congressional lunch) was spotted at a Washington restaurant with his wife and two daughters on the eve of the Inauguration. The name of the restaurant? Hudson.
You'd think he would have had enough of anything named Hudson.
It's the start of a new week, and we sure hope you can join us tonight.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
Almost no one talks about health care reform without mentioning the need to contain costs. Tonight we begin a two-part series about a collection of experiments run by Duke University that set out to rein in the price of medicine by actually improving care for patients with private insurance, those enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, and those with no insurance at all. You can get descriptions of the various programs here: http://communityhealth.mc.duke.edu/quicklinks.
How can you improve care AND cut costs?
As Dr. J. Lloyd Michener, Professor and Chair of the Department of Community and
Family Medicine, told me, "What's really interesting is, everything we've tried has worked. Some things work better than others, but U.S. healthcare is so complex now, we spend so much money and get such poor results that it's not hard to make things better."
In these experiments, the Duke researchers started in the emergency room. Everyone knows that the ER is the most expensive and inefficient place to provide medical care for people who do not have true emergencies. Yet many people go there even if they have access to a family physician they can afford. What's worse, by time they are in the ER, they are often very sick with a condition that could have been lessened or prevented with a visit to the doctor.
The Duke researchers interviewed people who are using the ER inappropriately and asked them what it would take to get them to doctors. As a result of those interviews, the Duke program set out to make its doctors offices more user friendly (more on that in tonight’s report), and set up satellite clinics in neighborhoods, including in high schools, and reinstituted the old fashioned home visit for those who have trouble getting to the doctor. So far the results are good.
As we continue reporting on efforts to reform health care this year, it is important to remember that no one knows what reform will look like if it ever comes, but it is fascinating to see what different experiments are underway.
Click here to see related reports:
Jan. 6: Can America afford to heal its healthcare?
Jan. 12: Massachusetts a template for healthy states
Jan. 13: Health care for all comes at high cost
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
The new administration is about to enter its first full working week, and as is often the case, the Sunday morning TV interview circuit offered a glimpse of what the week may hold. Key Democrats and Republicans spent their mornings making the rounds, framing the upcoming debate over the economic stimulus. It's potentially shaping up to be President Obama's first showdown with Congress. NBC’s John Yang will lay out the battle lines for us tonight.
While Washington searches for consensus on a way out of this mess, CNBC's Steve Liesman will join me to discuss the current state of the economy, as well as the week ahead on Wall Street.
On the weekend before his impeachment trial, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is defending himself in an exclusive interview with NBC News. My colleague Amy Robach sat down with the lawmaker yesterday, and she’ll join us tonight with some insights from the conversation.
We'll look at a specific kind of danger on America's football fields that has killed more young players than you might imagine, and has led to criminal charges being filed against a high school coach.
Plus, we have a fascinating look at a “growing” business in Northern California: Marijuana.
I hope you will join us tonight for NBC Nightly News.
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Our John Yang is reporting that today, it "looks like a weekday" at the White House, where President Obama is putting in a busy Saturday, meeting with his economic advisors and pushing his economic stimulus bill. On the heels of Tuesday's marathon of inaugural duties and celebrations, it's hard to imagine when he'll get some rest. On the other hand, with the nation's economy still shrinking, rest may have to wait. John will have the latest on the new president's first weekend in office.
We're also covering the potential impact of President Obama's decision to close the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Pete Williams is working that story.
We’re also covering the first public comments of the captain who guided his crippled jet to a safe ditching in New York's Hudson River last week. Chesley Sullenberger is being celebrated by the people of his hometown, Danville, California today.
We'll look for you later on NBC Nightly News.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Continuing on a theme this week: you've probably seen the promos for the National Geographic documentary on Air Force One -- it includes new video of Obama that has been incorrectly labeled on some news reports as his "first flight on Air Force One." That is wrong. Obama, as President-elect, flew on one of the smaller, single-aisle 757's in the President's Air Wing. There was a Nat Geo film crew on board, and it appears they have added fresh Obama pictures to their existing documentary about Air Force One: but President Obama has yet to fly on Air Force One -- the 747 designated for his use. He has yet to fly...on anything...as President. Yesterday he toured the press briefing room with limited success -- and each day, we presume, the first family make another discovery about their new digs. But his first flight on the big plane (or the fancy green chopper) awaits.
We'll end the week the way we started it: with a lot of news. We hope you can join us, and I hope you have a good weekend.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
It is with profound sadness that I note the death of someone who was a model for what health activism could accomplish, as well as a reliable source for many stories for me and other reporters.
Martin Delaney died this morning in San Francisco of liver cancer. His activism began in the late 1970s when he realized how few resources were available for someone suffering hepatitis B, as he was. When HIV/AIDS appeared, he took on the battle against that scourge and founded an organization called Project Inform.
He worked to provide the best information to those who suffered and to prod the government and drug companies to find better treatments. With great
bravery, he faced down the forces of ignorance who wanted to deny that HIV is the cause of AIDS. Early on in the epidemic, many top researchers acknowledged that Marty, who had no formal science training, knew far more about the details of the disease than they did.
Marty’s knowledge and activism led him to seats on the panels of government that made key decisions about AIDS drugs. Last week, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious disease presented him with the director’s special recognition award.
"Millions of people are now receiving life-saving antiretroviral medications from a treatment pipeline that Marty Delaney played a key role in opening
and expanding," said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "Without his tireless work and vision, many more people would have perished from HIV/AIDS."
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I was told by a jealous former Clinton White House staffer that President Bush got a perk of departure that President Clinton was never granted. President Bush went to Midland, Texas after leaving Washington. He flew on SAM28000, the 747 that served as Air Force One while he was President (and will again for President Obama's first trip). Former President Bush's plans then called for him to travel to Crawford -- which this former White House staffer was assuming would be the first travel leg that the former President would have to arrange on his own. Instead, it appears the Government took care of both legs: he once again boarded SAM28000 and flew it to Waco, where the HMX air wing had a "whitetop" helicopter to take him the rest of the way on his journey, to his ranch in Crawford.
Donna Mcwilliam | AP
Former President George W. Bush, left, and his wife, Laura Bush, along with his parents Barbara Bush and former President George H.W. Bush, right, arrive on Special Air Mission 28000, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 in Midland, Texas for a welcome home rally. The plane is called Special Air Mission 28000 instead of Air Force One since Bush no longer was president.
This former staffer was watching closely because President Clinton was given but a one-leg ticket out of Washington, in effect, from Andrews Air Force Base to JFK. President Clinton traveled on a non-Government jet from JFK. We should just as quickly mention that Presidents extend the courtesy of air travel to each other frequently -- you'll recall one of the 757s from the President's air wing brought President-elect Obama to Washington from Chicago. The moral of the story is: there are people out there watching every move, and comparing notes.
Back to business: so much news again today. Some of it broke when we were leaving Washington last night. We just reached National Airport when we received word that the President had re-taken the oath of office. We'll report on that today, on the Administrations actions today, and on the economic news: both tragic and outrageous. We hope you can join us tonight from our home studio in New York.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
As America gets used to the photos of Barack Obama in the Oval Office, we're still recovering from yesterday's broadcast marathon. We were on the air for over 7 hours straight yesterday afternoon, then another hour for our special edition of Nightly News, then another in prime time.
From the looks of the incoming e-mail, the mistakes I'd like to have back are these:
1) Misidentifying Craig Robinson as my friend Reggie Love, the new assistant to the President. It's ridiculous and maddening, of course, because I know better... but I was distracted and made a mistake.
2) Misidentifying the Punahou School marching band from Hawaii in the Inaugural Parade -- a nice viewer named Nathan has corrected us that the band we showed was actually from Iowa. Their music was good enough to make the First Couple get up out of their seats and dance.
3) An anecdote I told about young Congressman Abe Lincoln losing his top hat at the coat check at an Inaugural Ball. I got the administration wrong (and stumped Michael Beschloss in the process...which is hard to do) and the correct answer was: President Zachary Taylor's Inaugural Ball.
I'm sure I made other errors over 9 hours of live broadcasting (more if you count West Coast updates for Nightly News feeds) but so far, those are the big three. We'll originate tonight's broadcast from our Capitol Hill studios before heading home tomorrow -- as Washington gets used to a new President and a new First Family -- and they get used to their new surroundings. We hope you can join us tonight.
By Mara Schiavocampo, NBC Nightly News digital correspondent
If anything can make you grumpy, it’s standing in the freezing cold for hours. Add to that large crowds and tons of walking, and you have all the ingredients for a major mood swing. So how did inauguration crowds on the National Mall respond to all of these things? By doing the electric slide.
I was one of the estimated two million people at the mall today, covering President Obama’s inauguration for Nightly News online. Let me tell you, it wasn’t all pretty. The morning started at 4 a.m. with a two-hour walk to the mall. On a normal day it would have taken 30 minutes. But with all of the closures and crowds and detours it took four times as long. The weather was absolutely freezing. Around 6 a.m. it was 22 degrees. I comforted myself with the hope that the sun would warm things up. An hour and a half and one sunrise later, the temperature was 19 degrees – three degrees lower! (So much for the sun warming the earth.) And then there were the crowds. With an estimated two million people attending, you can imagine there wasn’t a lot of elbow room.
CONTINUED >>
By Rehema Ellis, NBC News correspondent
It was an amazing day.
While standing at the West Front of the Capitol I was surrounded by nearly 30,000 ticketed spectators who had seats.
210,000 others had tickets but they had to stand for the inauguration. To no surprise however, none of them seemed to care.
This was all about the moment and the power of history to draw witnesses.
All eyes where fixed on the podium and the jumbo screens to catch every aspect of the inauguration.
One after another, people I spoke with shared stories about what this day meant to them. Nearly all said this day was about unity.
There was an older African-American woman who traveled to Washington by train. In between tears and smiles she told the story of struggling with her suitcase. Much to her surprise she said, a white man touched her on the shoulder and offered to carry her bag. "We're all going in the same direction", he said. "Let me help you".
A young white man told me he had been blogging but had to stop because he was crying so much during the ceremony. "It's not what I expected to happen", he said. "I knew this would be important and emotional momentum, but I didn't expect it to move me like this".
Then there was a conversation I had with John Harrison, Major U.S. Air force, retired. He's 86 years old and one of the original Tuskegee Airmen who defied all expectations as the first black military airmen. When he saw Michelle Obama walk onto the Capitol platform he said, "my heart skipped a beat". This is what I was fighting for. That from a man who lived through blatant racism and who flew daring missions during World War I I.
But a brief interview I did with a white couple who came here from Florida with their three young children may indeed sum up what today was all about.
After President Obama's inaugural address, I asked the mother her thoughts as she was holding her three-year old son in her arms, sheltering him from the cold.
She said, "I woke my children after the election of Obama and said, 'babies while you were sleeping Martin Luther King's dream came true".
She went on to say, " My feet are so cold, my toes are frozen, but I wouldn't be anywhere else right now".
by Jeff Gralnick, NBC News Special Consultant
If it gets asked one more time today, we know we will all flinch, but it is true. Who would have believed that we would see a January 20th on which an African-American would be inaugurated as President of these United States?
Not me. Not this once-upon-a-time young field reporter for CBS News who, based in New Orleans in the early 1960s, experienced life in one of America's most hide bound and segregated cities. And from there I went out to cover what we were beginning to understand was a revolution.
Memories and datelines of the time in no particular order:
· Saint Augustine, Florida. Dr. King being arrested. His aide Andy Young being beaten to the ground at all four corners of the city's centerpiece--The Old Slave Market, which it was. 50 long days and nights in St. Augustine but out of it came something called The Voting Rights Act. It was a town where if the bartender didn't like your reporting, you didn't get a drink.
· Selma, Alabama. Dr. King again, this time fighting for those voting rights in one of the most benighted and scruffy towns in the Deep South. It was a place you didn't stay but drove out of each night hoping to reach the relative safety of Montgomery, Alabama.
· Jackson, Mississippi. The Jackson hospital late at night and the press scrum covering the arrival of three body bags containing the remains of three young men who had gone south to push for those voting rights.
· Bogalusa, Louisiana. Where, you might ask? Just some little lumber mining, paper manufacturing town in the heart of reddest neck Louisiana that James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (and who today remembers either?) had picked as a target for a voting rights march. The memory: Marchers outnumbered by Louisiana state cops, each armed with a Thompson submachine gun and the concern that if trouble came, who would they shoot first?
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Washington is all about Barack Obama right now, and so it's easy to forget that this period represents the ending for the Bush Presidency, and his 8 years as a D.C. resident. Last night the president and Mrs. Bush, who only seldom go out for dinner, climbed into a small and discreet motorcade to go to dinner at Secretary Rice's apartment at the Watergate. Later, the president dropped by a staff farewell party. The famously early-to-bed president still got to bed early, and tonight the Bush's, surrounded by extended family, spend their last night in the White House. Today the White House released a photo of the President. We're told he's making farewell calls to world leaders, but it could be anyone on the phone.
Handout image provided by the White House
What most people will notice is the look in his eye, the room in his shirt collar, the gray in his hair -- and how vastly different this man looked when he arrived here. There is already speculation about how much the job will age the new president. A living example of that is about to depart from the scene.
So begins an incredible week here, as we continue the inaugural festivities. We'll have all of it for you, starting tonight. We hope you can join us. I will come on the air tomorrow morning toward the end of the Today Show, and we'll stay on until the local news hour begins on the East Coast. We'll then be back for a one-hour edition of Nightly News with limited commercial interruptions, and later live primetime special. We hope you can be with us for all of it.
By Les Kretman, NBC News White House producer
As one White House spokesman put it today in a note paraphrasing a Peter, Paul and Mary song "my bags are packed I'm ready to go."
Getting out of town after long, long days and nights they're going home, turning the house keys over to the next family and the work space to new fresh faces who guaranteed will quickly morph into tired faces in a month or so.
The President on Monday was racking up a big phone bill contacting President Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev of Russia, President Peres of Israel, President Lula da Silva of Brazil, former President Fox of Mexico, Prime Minister Aso of Japan, Prime Minister Brown of the United Kingdom, President Saakashvili of Georgia, President Lee of South Korea, Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark and Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy.
CONTINUED >>
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I’m blogging from my BlackBerry on the ride from Reagan National Airport to our Washington studio. It's normally a 15-minute ride – but not today. Several bridges from Virginia into Washington, D.C. are already closed, and we're getting our first taste of the security and safety net that has fallen over Washington in advance of Tuesday's inauguration. The driver is not amused as we sit in traffic.
Across the river I see the tents and port-a-potties set up for the big concert at the Lincoln Memorial. I just heard from a Chicago friend who has already staked out her seat for the show. She's "just sitting in the cold waiting." In the airport and on the plane there was almost giddy excitement among those making the trip here for the inauguration.
Al Roker and I – who happened to be on the same flight – posed for a few pictures with passengers. I'll be anchoring tonight's program just across from the Capitol. Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd will join me tonight to set the scene for this historic week, and to tell us about the President elect's day. I hope you'll join me later (assuming we ever get across this bridge) for NBC Nightly News.
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I've been watching MSNBC and its coverage of the people coming out to greet President-elect Obama on his train journey from Philadelphia to Washington. The crowds – especially in Baltimore – are huge, and folks are truly in a celebratory mood. Obama and VP-elect Joe Biden seem to be taking it all in. It is a vivid reminder of the deep well of goodwill and support they will enjoy as they chart their political course. NBC's Chuck Todd is on board that train and will check in with us, as we kick off our inauguration coverage on Nightly News this evening.
We're also keeping a close eye on efforts to lift that US Airways A320 from New York's Hudson River. For all the praise over that remarkable river landing, something tells me lifting the jet out of the water will be a major feat itself. I've covered many plane accidents, including one that at the time, some labeled "a miracle;" the 1989 crash landing of a United DC-10 in Sioux City after the plane lost all three of its hydraulic systems. Back then the hero was a pilot named Al Haynes who nearly managed to successfully land the jet with virtually all of the plane's steering mechanisms crippled. Thinking back on that accident, and what we witnessed here in New York on Thursday, I can't help but think that while fate and good fortune were certainly on the side of both crews, so too were training and experience. Sharp instincts, judgment, and skill are rarely an accident.
Thanks for checking the blog. I hope you'll join me later for NBC Nightly News.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Yesterday afternoon in the newsroom we received a single line of text over the computer: "small plane down in Hudson River." I went on to the website of the FDNY Manhattan fire radio frequency and heard the dispatcher send Rescue One to the same cross street as the Air Craft Carrier Intrepid. We then heard him say the words, "we have a commercial aircraft in the water." With that, I grabbed my earpiece and headed to the studio.
The most positive sight amid the confusion in the water was yellow: I realized the specks of yellow that I could see on the long-distance shot of the people around the plane -- was the yellow of their life vests. That sight meant: passengers, alive, after a commercial jet had gone down in the Hudson River. Remarkable.
Luckily, on Friday nights here, we have a segment (popular with a number of you) called "Making a Difference." Tonight, the pilot everyone knows as "Sully" is our nominee. If you were going to choose one pilot to be on duty at the controls of that jet yesterday, he'd be the guy. All those souls on board are alive today because of his actions. What a 24 hours this City has been through -- and now we prepare to travel to Washington for the Inauguration. We'll see you from there, starting on Monday. Have a good weekend, and thank you for watching and being with us for another week.
By Les Kretman, NBC News White House producer
The labyrinth of heavy steel barriers on Pennsylvania Avenue is impossible to maneuver -- all for security and there's a big white tent now that blocks the entrance of Blair House. Today, the Obama family makes the two block journey from the Hay Adams to their new temporary home...the Blair House. Then, on Inauguration Day their bags are packed once again and they venture across the street ---- and move in to the White House.
The Blair House was built in 1824. It was originally the home of Joseph Lovell who was the first Surgeon General of the United States. Twelve years later it was bought by newspaper publisher Francis Preston Blair.
In 1942 it was purchased by the U.S. government. Today, it's the official residence for guests of the President. The list of VIPS is long. Queen Elizabeth stayed there during her visit to Washington....so did former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. President Harry Truman stayed there for most of his presidency while the White House was undergoing renovations. And while he was there there was some drama...two Puerto Rican nationalists made an assassination attempt. One assailant was killed by a uniformed officer who was shot too --- and he, too, died. A plaque in front of the building honors his deed.
As for Blair House initial looks would deceive you. From the outside it resembles a moderate sized row house in a Georgetown neighborhood, but it's much more than that. With 119 rooms and a total area of 70,000 square feet it's actually bigger than the White House...complete with a flower shop...an exercise facility, a dry cleaning shop and a hair salon. Oh, and 35 bathrooms for heads of state and their families....and plenty of room for the Obama daughters to explore before the big move across the street.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
editor's note: we had some technical problems with yesterday's post - so we included portions of it in today's.
Today please allow me to call attention to the writing of others, beginning with two pieces from The Root, on Michelle Obama and daughter Malia -- and a piece from Parade written by their father, and a piece about their father. I know it hardly seems like an honest day's work on the blog, there's some good writing there. There's some good stuff on our broadcast tonight...and we hope you can join us.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
Ever since 1999 when the Institute of Medicine's landmark report estimated that almost 100,000 Americans die every year from medical errors, efforts have been underway to reduce the toll. One technique that has been adopted by many hospitals during surgery is a series of procedures modeled after an airline pilot's safety checklist. The surgery team introduce themselves to each other and go over the plan for that operation. Next they take a "time out" to make a final review of the checklist. This sounds logical but does it work?
Tonight we report on a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at hospitals in the U.S. and seven other countries. It found that after hospitals adopted the surgical safety list, post-surgical deaths and complications dropped by 36 percent. We have video of a team undertaking the procedure in tonight's report.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Today please allow me to call attention to the writing of others, beginning with two pieces from The Root, on Michelle Obama and daughter Malia -- and a piece from Politico . I know it hardly seems like an honest day's work on the blog, there's some good writing there. There's some good stuff on our broadcast tonight...and we hope you can join us.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
The blog I wrote yesterday about the first of two reports on Massachusetts' health care reform effort generated a large number of clicks and many thoughtful responses online. Some of the comments came from people in the bay state who said the system was not working, while others form Massachusetts and elsewhere praised it.
As I pointed out, the officials in Massachusetts see their effort as an experiment. It is notable because that state has done far more than any other to get more people covered. Anyone thinking about reforming health care, as the Obama team and many in Congress have promised, has to look at the Massachusetts experience, whether they adopt its provisions or not.
Starting with FDR, presidents have attempted and failed to bring health coverage to all Americans. They failed in the early days because of fierce opposition from the American Medical Association and more recently because of the large number of special interest groups, including insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers, that profit from health care.
For all of its problems, some of which we highlight in tonight's report, the Massachusetts plan intrigued me because many of those involved pointed out that the plan came about through serious compromise. In the past, many people hoping to reform health care have demanded to do it their way--whether that was a single government-run program for all or a totally free-market system where everyone pays out of pocket. If the reformers did not get their way, the result was that the status quo remained--and it did.
But we know that today, even though many Americans are satisfied with their health care, the system overall costs way more than we as a nation can afford and leaves too many people with inadequate care. The status quo is frightening option.
In Massachusetts, the plan that ultimately emerged was no one’s first choice. But many people came together and accepted their second or third choice.
In another recent report I noted that many experts see a very narrow window for national health reform from the Obama inauguration before politicians start to focus on the next mid-term election. Drew Altman, head of the Kaiser Family Foundation, pointed out that "There is a very special moment right now, and the question is whether the President and the Congress will be able to take advantage of that moment of opportunity or whether we'll miss the window of opportunity once again."
In an upcoming article on health reform in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Victor Fuchs of Stanford offers a quote by Niccolo Machiavelli from 1513: "There is nothing more difficult to manage, more dubious to accomplish, not more doubtful of success,” Machiavelli wrote, “than to initiate a new order of things. The reformer has enemies in all those who profit from the old order and only lukewarm defenders from those who would profit from the new order.”
Those words still apply to the efforts to reform health care in Massachusetts and elsewhere today. It will not be easy.
Click here to watch the related video report from NBC's Robert Bazell.
By Rehema Ellis, NBC News correspondent
As the upcoming inauguration is historic for the nation it's monumental for a group of students from New York City. Twenty-six kids from Harlem have been invited to play their violins at the Children's Inaugural Ball. That's right, they're from Harlem, a part of the world that people don't think about when they think of violins and classical music.
To say that these young people and their parents are thrilled is an understatement. Ten-year old Nadifa Kargbo's father, Abdul, who immigrated here from Sierra Leone 24 years ago says, "I've achieved the American dream".
Fourth grader Nicholas Maya, says he's practicing, "at least 40 minutes every day", because he wants to do his best to honor, "the first American Black president and it's going to be really cool".
What's also really cool is that Opus 118 Harlem School of Music exists at all and is providing these youngsters an opportunity of expression that challenges and defies many stereotypes.
It's not easy. Organizers say they're working right up to the last minute to raise funds to make the trip to Washington possible.
Fundraising is a constant challenge for a school like this. But, the director and co-founder, Roberta Guaspari, is committed to make this music school in Harlem a success. Thankfully, she's got a staff that shares her passion. And of course, when you see the kids, and hear the music they make it becomes clear why the children love what they're doing and why Guaspari is determined to keep giving Harlem kids a place to learn how to play.
To learn more about the school visit their web site www.opus118.org
Click here to watch the related video report from NBC's Rehema Ellis.
Editor's note: Are you headed to D.C. for the inauguration? Share stories and photos of your preparations and your trip with msnbc.com's FirstPerson.
By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent
While reporting on the vicious drug war inside Mexico, which claimed more than 5,000 lives there last year, we were shown a U.S. map that really put us on alert.
The map showed all the United States cities where federal law enforcement officials believe Mexican traffickers have set up smuggling operations. Each of these American cities was marked in red and together they filled the country, from South to North, West Coast to East Coast.
As one official put it, when it comes to drugs, weapons and violence, "Our southwest border has now moved to Chicago, Atlanta and New York."
For many people, Atlanta is the real shocker. News that Mexican traffickers have spilled over into Phoenix, El Paso and other border towns is more easily understood, given their locations. But drug agents talking about Atlanta becoming a major illicit drug distribution hub for Mexican cartels supplying the entire U.S. eastern seaboard is a different story.
Slowly, the traffickers moved into Atlanta and other towns in recent years by hiding among the already established immigrant communities. The drug trafficking business model they put together is quite sophisticated and hard to crack.
Smugglers work in cells to ensure security, answer directly to the drug cartel leadership in Mexico and use the same trucks which bring cocaine, methamphetamines, marijuana and heroin into the United States to sneak billions of dollars in cash from drug sales back into Mexico.
In a radical departure from legitimate business practices, the cartels establish loyalty and efficiency among suppliers and distributors through the use of threats and violence. (Atlanta and other cities are seeing a rise now in drug-related kidnappings, torture and murders.)
Tonight on NBC Nightly News we'll take a look at this serious problem and hear from some of the officials at the DEA and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who are trying to fight it.
And as you watch, remember what officials from President Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to agents and police on the mean streets have all pointed out. The buyers of all those narcotics who are sending $11-billion a year to Mexican drug lords are American citizens. Almost all the powerful weapons the traffickers use also come from the United States.
As an ATF official told us, "This is a problem not just in Mexico. This is our problem."
Click here to watch the related video report from NBC's Mark Potter.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
In President Bush's wide-ranging news conference today, some people listening to what he said about Katrina (and I'll leave the substance of his remarks for others to analyze) might have thought he made a mistake. He talked about the "chopper drivers" of Coast Guard helicopters. Its actually an old aviation term, often used by military types, used to describe pilots. You will often hear a first officer or weapons officer ask each other, "Who's your driver?" Meaning, "Who is piloting your aircraft?
Those looking for a FACTUAL error in the President's answer on Katrina will find it in the figure he used concerning rooftop rescues. He put the number at 30,000 -- which was the total number of people rescued. The actual number of people plucked off rooftops was vastly lower.
And finally I'll leave you with a quote from Joe the Plumber, who inexplicably is in Israel...where yesterday he said, "I think the media should be abolished from reporting." Back to you, Joe.
We hope to see you for our Monday night broadcast.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News Chief science correspondent
If the Obama Administration and Congress attempt to bring America closer to full health care coverage as promised, the conversation inevitably will focus on Massachusetts, the state that has made the boldest effort in the country toward that goal.
On Nightly News tonight we begin a two-part series on the Massachusetts experiment. And we must emphasize that it is indeed an experiment. No one can predict whether it will succeed. But according to a recent Harvard poll, the residents of the state are overwhelmingly satisfied.
As I noted in a report last week on the Obama plans, the details of health care reform can be mind-numbingly complex, but Americans want something simple: freedom from worry that they either lack good health coverage or might lose the coverage they have.
The Massachusetts program has already managed to lower the rate of uninsured in the state to 3.3 percent compared to the national average of 16 percent. Since it began two years ago, 440,000 formerly uninsured residents out of a total population of about 6.4 million have gained health care coverage.
The program managed to get passed in 2006 because then Republican Governor Mitt Romney and the Democratic legislature worked together to make it happen. It builds on the systems that were already in place, and rests on an concept of "shared responsibility." Employers with more than 10 workers must pay the state about $300 per worker if they don't offer health insurance and residents must pay a fine--up to $900 a year--if they don’t get some kind of health insurance.
To make it easier to buy private health insurance, Massachusetts expanded the Medicaid program, which in most places is available only to the poorest of the poor, and to those with low paying jobs on a sliding scale. Private insurance is easier to buy because of laws in the state standardizing health plans and prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage because of preexisting conditions. Insurance companies are generally supportive of the law because it requires young, healthy people to buy health insurance along with everyone else. As a result, the companies are not just insuring the older, sicker population.
In my opinion, the main reason the Massachusetts experiment has succeeded as well as it has is that the Governor and the legislature hammered out the broad outline of the plan and its budget and then left the details to a board called the “Connector” (http://www.mahealthconnector.org/portal/site/connector/). The 10-member board has representatives from government, business, labor unions, insurance and other interests. Its job is to wade through the swamp of complicated decisions that are necessary to make the program function. If the Massachusetts government had tried to write every contingency into law, the plan would have failed. Interestingly President-elect Obama and future HHS Secretary Tom Daschle, who will head his health care reform effort, have both called for similar national boards to reform health care nationally. As I said, the details can be mind-numbingly complex. But the public’s need is very simple.
Click here to watch the related video report from NBC's Robert Bazell.
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Good afternoon from New York. It's nice to be back after a quick trip to Las Vegas to cover the Consumer Electronics Show. A broken airplane and snow on the East Coast kept me from making it to 30 Rock in time to anchor last night's broadcast. A big thanks to Amy Robach for sticking around to cover for me.
On tonight's newscast: The battle lines are being drawn over Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan, as Washington readies for next week's inauguration. John Yang is covering that, and will also show us today's inauguration dress rehearsal, including news of who took the place of the President-elect.
All signs point to a new – possibly more intense – phase of Israel's assault on Gaza. On a day Israeli forces made their deepest penetration into Gaza, correspondent Richard Engel will tell us what may lie ahead for the conflict.
Finally, we’ll explain the royal flap going on over what Britain's Prince Harry was caught saying on a video tape he shot almost three years ago. Please join us for tonight's NBC Nightly News.
By Amy Robach, NBC News anchor
As we wait to see if Lester Holt makes it back in time for the evening broadcast, it seems appropriate that we're doing a story on the first major winter storm of the year. The system is bringing snow, ice and rain to a large portion of the country. Lester is dutifully trying to get back to 30 Rock from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and we wish him well!
Also tonight, with unemployment levels at a 16-year high, NBC’s John Yang will examine President-elect Obama's plan to create jobs and stimulate the economy. In addition, we have a heartbreaking story out of a Houston suburb where an aspiring professional baseball player was shot by police in his own front yard. Twenty-three year-old Robbie Tolan is in the hospital with a bullet in his liver, and his family believes racial profiling played a role, an accusation the police deny.
Finally, we’ll close tonight with a story on auto dealers offering just about anything to get you to buy, including free cars, free gas, even a return policy. We hope you'll join us this evening.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
There's a striking sight -- maybe just to me -- when visiting Washington these days. The machinery of security has been so thoroughly "baked in" to life there -- my friends who live there don't see it as much (because its been phased in incrementally) as the occasional visitor from New York. Metropolitan Police cruisers (many of them, at least) now drive around the City with their roof-mounted strobes on and flashing, the way they do in Israel and parts of Europe (apparently that's exactly where the idea came from, after a former D.C. police chief returned from an overseas trip). Federal Protection Service/Homeland Security SUV's are now ubiquitous on the Streets. Street closures (often for no apparent reason) are now in the "part of life" category. The area around the Hay Adams Hotel (the temporary home of the Obama Family) looks like the main gate at Fort Bragg, North Carolina...right in the middle of Washington. All of it, obviously, is part of our post-9-11 world and our new reality. It will be interesting to see if it changes in any way with a new Administration and a new policy outlook. It was interesting as well today to read the comments from Secretary Chertoff about the security situation surrounding the President-elect. Yesterday a friend of mine who's been a Washington journalist for several decades called security "the elephant in the room" where the upcoming Inauguration is concerned. Driving through downtown D.C. yesterday, the elephant was huge.
We're back in our New York studio tonight. I hope you can join us.
By Anthony Galloway, NBC News producer
Our journey to Bolivia began almost six months ago, with a tip from cameraman Geoff Nelson. Correspondent Chris Jansing and I had just worked with Nelson, reporting another story for the Nightly News “Making a Difference” series, when he alerted me to the story of Leon McLaughlin. On a recent vacation to Mexico, McLaughlin was personally impacted after learning about the growing number of people who lacked access to clean drinking water. He decided to start a water purification system distribution company and a foundation designed to bring clean water to needy people in the developing world. More than one billion people worldwide have no access to clean drinking water.
McLaughlin is not a wealthy man. He shines shoes in one of Seattle’s most prominent business towers. With help from non-profit World Vision, McLaughlin arranged to put six water purification machines to work in a poverty-stricken town near Trinidad, Bolivia, a part of the country plagued recently by civil unrest and widespread flooding.
With approval from our executive producer and after a security review by NBC, we started making arrangements to travel to Bolivia with McLaughlin. He expected to spend a week meeting the people benefiting from his purification systems and those who would be part of his next project. Our travel date was set for September 10. However, when Chris Jansing and I arrived at the airport and attempted to check in for our flight we were surprised. Our flight was canceled. The American Airlines representative told us many parts of Bolivia had erupted into violence (a disagreement over gas profits being redistributed from the wealthy to the poor) and there were fears the country could devolve into civil war.
We called McLaughlin and reached him on his cell phone, already on a layover in St. Louis en route to Bolivia. Following an afternoon in the air, he had to turn around and return to Seattle. He was disappointed but not deterred. McLaughlin went back to work at his shoeshine stand and we stayed in touch over the months that followed. Finally, in December, we got word that it was safe to travel to Bolivia. Our flight plan lasted 26 hours and took us from New York to Miami to La Paz and, ultimately, our final destination: Trinidad, Bolivia. A quick car ride the next morning brought us to the town of La Nina. At 8:00am the town’s residents were already waiting and eager to meet McLaughlin. They welcomed him with hugs, kisses, and tears. It was clear this unlikely philanthropist had made an immeasurable impact in their community. “Now we can eat, we can cook, we can take baths,” one young girl told us. “It’s incredible.”
Many of the “shoeshine boys” in Bolivia wear masks to cover their faces, embarrassed that they have to shine shoes to provide for themselves and their families. At the airport, on the way home, McLaughlin stopped to have his shoes shined. He left the young man a significant gratuity. It was an appreciated gesture of support and understanding from one shoe shiner to another.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
We're in Washington tonight -- we'll be spending a lot more time here in the days and weeks to come -- where we will originate the broadcast from our NBC News Washington Bureau. Among other things, I will tonight attend the retirement party of my friend Brit Hume. When I replaced Andrea Mitchell as White House correspondent back in 1993, Brit helped to show me the ropes. As I constantly pointed out to him, because of the vast gulf between our ages, he had many more years of on-air experience than I did. He was always decent and fair, and he was a fantastic and easy traveling partner in a job that required a lot of miles in tight quarters. Back then, of course, Brit was ABC's White House Correspondent. Wolf Blitzer was there for CNN and Rita Braver was in the CBS News booth next door. It was a great working relationship, competition aside. At the party tonight we hope to take a reunion photo of the four of us. Only Brit looks younger than he did back then.
We've got a lot of news for you tonight, and we hope you can join us from Washington.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
One of the almost-daily tasks when I was White House Correspondent was the "Oval Office Pool Spray" or photo-op. While it involved neither a pool nor water, it meant the members of that day's press pool would be ushered in to "spray" the room for pictures of whatever gathering was going on, whichever visitor the President was hosting.
Traditionally, the President was prepared to make remarks, take a question or two, and when he was done, a press aide would yell "Lights!," and that would signal an end to the proceedings, and we'd be escorted out. Well, it happened today, and the outcome wasn't optimal. The problem was: the guests in the Oval Office were far from "ordinary" visiting dignitaries. They were: the current President, the future President, and all the living former Presidents. So, out of force of habit, when President Bush concluded his brief remarks, when it appeared that the talking was over, the press aide yelled, "Lights!", and the camera lights went out on cue. The problem? The President-elect had yet to speak... which he did, in the dark (or relative darkness of the natural light coming from behind the five men on a gloomy morning in Washington). Once it was clear what was going on, the lights came back on and it ended well. It is also true that nothing could have marred the visual: such a display of power and personalities -- the most exclusive club in the country -- the men who have known (and one who is about to know) the awesome power and responsibility of that office. Everyone I watched it with noted the body language -- especially the position of President Carter off to the right side -- and the White House actually explained that the standing order was by design, beginning with President-elect Obama in the "traditional position of honor," to the President's right.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
It was quite a scene, and we'll spend a moment on it tonight. Again this evening, we have a host of stories to cover, and we hope you can join us.
by Les Kretman, NBC News White House producer
In the Washington drizzle, the motorcades of the presidents rumbled onto the White House grounds one after one... Obama... Clinton... Bush 41... and Jimmy Carter -- all for lunch.
This was one of those moments at the White House where you really began to feel that Inauguration Day is very near. They all posed for pictures in the Oval Office and there were brief remarks from the main players:
Bush 43: "One message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed. Whether we are a Democrat or a Republican, we care deeply about his country. To the extent we can, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. All of us who have served in this office understand that the office itself transcends the individual. We wish you all the very best. And so does the country."
Obama: "I just want to thank the president, just want to thank the president for hosting us. This is an extraordinary gathering. All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office. And for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel, and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary. And I am very grateful to all of them. But again, thank you Mr. President for hosting us."
Outside the White House northwest gate were final touches to the reviewing stands. And, more than normal perimeter security too.
And this morning the first lady was displaying new rugs and china that the next first family will be using.
Less than two weeks to go.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
The talented people at The Onion have beautifully peeled off a layer of the business of technological innovation--specifically by producing this brilliant parody of the newest Apple product:
Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
It was a brief, humorous diversion from the news of the day, which is heavily Gaza, and a lot of politics and economy from Washington. We're closing the broadcast tonight with a story of great interest to those living along the Pacific Coast in California, where something is happening to the amazing pelicans who can normally be seen dive-bombing for fish by day...sadly, many of them have been found dead or dying along the coast, and it's an urgent environmental mystery we thought worthy of your attention tonight. We hope you can join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I want to thank my friends Ann Curry, Amy Robach and Lester Holt for filling in for me these past two weeks. Most importantly, my family thanks them...and you...for letting me take some time off to be together. In 26 years on the job, I've never, ever taken two weeks off at once--but given the year we just witnessed in 2008, and given the holiday season, I thought it was time. As of today, time's up...and here we are again. My typing is a little slow, my senses are dulled a bit...an after-effect of my time away...but its great to be back with my friends.
And what a load of news we have to cover tonight. Thanks for being with us, and we hope you can join us tonight for Nightly News. Happy New Year to all of you...and one more thing: While I was away, NBC issued a press release containing the news that we ended the year as the top-rated evening newscast in the nation. We have you to thank for that, and we'll work as hard as we know how in 2009 to remain your choice each day, and to remain your trusted news source. Thanks for watching...tonight and every night.
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
On the very day Barack Obama and his family make their move to Washington, the president-elect is experiencing the first public derailment of his transition. NBC's Andrea Mitchell broke the news this afternoon that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name as Commerce secretary nominee.
Richardson is the subject of a grand jury "pay to play" investigation involving a state contractor and says it would likely force "an untenable delay in the confirmation process." Andrea continues to work the story and will join me on Nightly News tonight to talk about the timing of this story, and how Obama plans to handle it.
NBC's Richard Engel will lead our coverage of the ground war in Gaza. After a weeklong air assault, Israeli troops and tanks began advancing into Gaza last night. We'll also hear from our veteran Middle East correspondent Martin Fletcher, who talks to Israelis living under periodic rocket attacks from Gaza.
Thanks for checking out the blog. I'll look for you this evening on NBC Nightly News.
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
The phone rings, you answer and on the other end a voice tells you your building is about to be targeted in an aerial bomb attack and that you have just 10 minutes to leave. The practice goes by the benign sounding name "door knocking," and the Israeli military has apparently made several such calls during its 7-day bombardment of Gaza.
Tonight on Nightly News, correspondent Martin Fletcher will show us the result of one of those calls as it happens. Confusion and fear among a group of civilians as they flee moments before their building is destroyed. Martin will also tell us the latest on the build-up for a ground invasion, and the Hamas reaction to the death of one of their top leaders.
We'll also look at a growing crime trend in this country: bank robberies. They are way up in some parts of the country. Also, if you are a parent who has ever relocated for a job in the middle of the school year (and the new house isn't ready), you'll have some appreciation for what the Obamas are going through as they head to Washington. Tom Costello will show us the family's new temporary digs.
Brian will be back on Monday, but once again I'll be sitting in for him this evening. Thanks for checking in. I'll look for you tonight on NBC Nightly News.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
2008 was not a good year for parents in China. And 2009 might not be much of an improvement.
Last May’s earthquake in Sichuan saw the collapse of some 7,000 classrooms, killing thousands of students.
Four months later, news surfaced that a major brand of infant formula contained melamine, an industrial chemical that was added to help artificially boost the protein levels in watered-down milk. At least six babies have died and more than a quarter million more fallen ill from drinking the tainted formula.
Compensation will be available to families of victims in both instances. The government has offered $8,823 for each killed child to the quake parents. The China Dairy Association this week confirmed a compensation plan was in the works for the milk parents. Some reports have said families could receive up to $29,000 if their children died, but the details are still unclear.
But parents in both cases are outraged.
Many quake parents say they want answers, and some have taken legal action against local officials, construction companies, and school authorities--all of whom they believe are responsible for allowing the shoddy construction of school buildings that collapsed in the earthquake. A pay-out is not going to silence their demands for justice. And, as my colleague Gu Bo reports, these 58 families remain steadfast--and courageous--in the face of relentless pressure from local officials to give up their lawsuit.
Similarly, in the milk scandal, many parents are criticizing the dairy association for not giving details immediately about the compensation plan. Lan Juanxian, young mother of twin boys aged 14 months old, traveled all the way from Guangxi province in the far southwest to join a group of ten parents in western Beijing to protest the proposed compensation.
"Has [the fund] started? How does it work? I don't know where the fund will be set up," she said. "Is it in Beijing? I'm far from Beijing…How do I find it?"
But Lan did say she was told that parents of sick babies with less severe symptoms would receive just under $300 (2,000 yuan) for compensation.
"When our kids grow up, if they have kidney failure or other illnesses, they’d say, When I had trouble, you took that 2,000 yuan. You bought my whole life for 2,000? No!'" said Lan, crying angrily.
Click here to watch an interview with Lan Juanxian
Dozens of parents have opted to file lawsuits against Sanlu Group, the dairy company at the centre of the melamine-contaminated milk scandal.
Although the company declared bankruptcy last month, victims’ families across China say Sanlu--and 21 other dairy companies also guilty of selling milk products containing melamine--should be held accountable. But a court has yet to hear a case filed by parents of victims in the milk scandal.
"What about the pain my children had to suffer?" asked Lan. "They are so small, what do they know? All they can do is cry helplessly."
by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Bowl games, plunges into icy waters, and for the first time ever professional ice hockey in Wrigley Field are all a part of activities that mark this New Year. But some interesting new laws took effect today as well, and the ongoing Israeli attack on Gaza has resulted in the death a top Hamas leader. We're covering those stories, along with a look at Cuba 50 years after the revolution, and the drug wars that have turned Mexican border towns like Tijuana into killing grounds.
Brian is still enjoying the holiday week off. I'll be sitting in for him again tonight. I hope to see you later on NBC Nightly News.
by Bo Gu, NBC News editorial assistant
Xiong Yonghao looks old and weary when we see him 6 months later in Mianzhu, a town devastated by the 8.0 magnitude earthquake last May. Xiong’s only child, an 11-year-old girl, died under the collapsed school building in the quake. “I am so tired, really, so tired. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, never.” Xiong’s bloodshot eyes and repeating sighs make it hard for me to connect this young man with the same guy we met 6 months ago.
It was in late June when we first met Xiong, along with about 100 other parents by the rubble of school buildings at Fuxin No. 2 Elementary School in Mianzhu, Sichuan. Parents of 126 deceased children gathered together on that day demanding a thorough investigation of the building quality of the classrooms, which they suspected fell apart due to shoddy construction.
Xiong was one of the parent representatives who started the demand for an investigation. He was calm, expressive and affirmative. Parents did not receive any investigation results on that day as they had been promised by local government. When I asked Xiong what they were going to do after that, he answered with a very composed but confirmatory tone: “We will not give up. Imagine if you lost your only child, what would you do? We’re not going appeal because Olympics is coming soon and we don’t want to cause the government any trouble. But after Olympics we’ll keep pursuing justice and find out whoever responsible for the school building’s collapse.”
CONTINUED >>
