June 2009 - Posts
By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent
Tonight's "Making a Difference" report doesn't come with bells and whistles. And, in my opinion, that is what makes it so special. It is a straightforward story about two longtime friends who grew up "without" on the streets of Chicago.
"I don't remember a time when I didn't know Charlie," says George Maltezos, a mental health counselor.
Maltezos and Dr. Charles Martinez are both in their seventies, both retired and both working harder than ever. That is, in part, because this inseparable pair never forgot what it was like growing up in households that could not afford healthcare. "Charlie" even tells the story of suffering a football injury as a kid and worrying about how his folks were going to pay for fixing him up. Sixty-odd years later that story still resonates.
So, after building successful careers in healthcare, neither one wanted to hang it in retirement. Instead, they've opened a tiny community clinic in a working class neighborhood. They treat patients in need, cajole specialists into donating services and badger the drug companies for low-cost prescriptions. And it doesn’t cost the folks who come to see them a dime. Thanks to George and Charlie, some four hundred people, who otherwise would likely go without any medical attention, are looked after. Getting a clean bill of health, without the bill.
For more information on the Old Irving Park Community Clinic, go to http://www.oipcc.org/
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Last weekend, I attended Mass at the same church in Rhode Island where John F. Kennedy was married. Having read about the family and the event for years, it was a thrill to sit beneath those old timbers, to inhale the atmosphere and see the interior and exterior, largely unchanged since that day when the young couple exited to huge waiting crowds. As a history buff, "tactile" history is what I love best: holding a letter signed by FDR, running your finger over the signature and realizing that's as close as you may get to some of our great historical figures. So: my favorite story in the morning papers -- all of the morning papers -- was this story in the New York Times -- about the places some of us pass by every day that played a role in history. I recently took a drive through London looking for known bullet and explosion pockmarks from WWII -- while it's not for everyone, it's great if it's what you're into.
Right now we're well into preparations for the broadcast. We hope you can join us. Tonight: Part two of Richard Engel's great reporting, and a Making A Difference report.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Slate magazine over the weekend posted a terrific remembrance of Michael Jackson and another on the death of Kodachrome. There's a dark take on life in New York magazine's blog -- some of the quirks of timing through history where celebrity deaths are concerned.
We're also remembering one of my favorites as a veteran talk-show viewer from the '60s and '70s -- Fred Travalena.
Otherwise, we hope you can join us for our Monday broadcast -- as we start another week.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
We've lost a lot of famous names over the past week: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson – and today we were surprised to hear another household name has died, TV pitchman Billy Mays. Like “The King of Pop,” he was just 50 years old.
Billy Mays certainly didn't travel in the show business circles of the others, make movies or records, but he had taken his rightful place as a cultural icon. If you've spent any time in front of the television the last few years, you've probably seen his commercials, pitching everything from cleaning products to kitchen knives. Even if the name isn't familiar, chances are his distinctive loud voice is. We'll tell you more about him, as well as a rough commercial airline flight he was on yesterday that could be connected to his death.
We're also reporting new developments in the investigation into Michael Jackson's death. In addition, we’ll have my conversation with one of the victims who will speak at tomorrow's sentencing of crooked financier Bernie Madoff.
I hope you will join us for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I've covered plenty of celebrity deaths – some of them were people I truly admired, and whose deaths filled me with sadness.
The death of Michael Jackson however, has somehow felt more personal. I never met him, and for all the accounts of his kindness and gentleness that friends and associates have spoken of, like many of you, I could never ignore some of the more troubling aspects of his life.
What I cannot ignore, however, is that I grew up with the entertainer Michael Jackson. We are seven months apart in age. The first 45 record I ever owned was the Jackson's Five's "I Want You Back." I remember the night in 1969 when my family and I watched the Jackson Five's debut on the Ed Sullivan show. I danced around the house to his music – I knew the lyrics, and like a lot of ten-year-old boys at the time, I wanted a little of what he had.
My life moved on, and while I remained a fan, over the years I didn't think a lot about Michael Jackson, but his music was always there. When his songs came on the car radio my hand would instinctively reach to turn up the volume. And 40 years later, his music was still on my iPod on the day he died. Music connects us all in ways often hard to define. Michael Jackson's music became a series of mile posts in my own life, and it's sad to know those markers can only now be viewed in the rear view mirror.
Our coverage of Michael Jackson, and the day's other top stories, continues tonight on NBC Nightly News. I hope you'll join me.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
That was the title of Robert Dallek's towering biography of Lyndon Johnson -- but as titles go, it keeps ringing in my head as a way of describing the loss we've been covering, and the life and talent of Michael Jackson. I thought this was as good a review of his artistry as I've seen today (balanced, maybe a tad passionless) and thanks to Andrew Sullivan's blog, may I suggest this as the best way to remember who Michael Jackson once was.
Our coverage continues tonight. We hope you can join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
After a long absence due to my workload and travel, I'll soon be updating my music site. Today here at 30 Rock, I interviewed Tony Dekker, the founder and ongoing heart and soul of Great Lake Swimmers. Their music has been described as earnest, airy, sensitive, delicate and restrained. In a word: mellow. But also thoughtful, interesting and carefully crafted.
My favorite song of theirs is a beautiful song called "Everything is Moving So Fast."
He talks about the song, his life and his music in the discussion we will post early next week.
Photo by Subrata De
On the broadcast tonight, we'll look at a surprising Supreme Court decision of interest to so many of us with children of school age. We'll also look back at the life and work of Farrah Fawcett, and much more. We hope you can join us.
By Summer Suleiman, NBC Nightly News intern
The emotion that pours from their faces seems to be filled with years of life experience. Although they haven’t yet been seasoned with life’s trials, the fifth graders in the now nationally recognized PS 22 Chorus sing with a stirring passion. Watching and listening to them perform, it’s nearly impossible not to crave their energy.
The group, named after their Staten Island elementary school, gained internet fame when Ashton Kutcher tweeted about them and Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton posted a video of them on his Web site, garnering the kids more than five million views.
The interaction with Mr. B, their chorus instructor and musical inspiration, is a testament to the importance of teaching. After performing for Tori Amos and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others, and being featured on a Billboard Top 100 hit with band Passion Pit, it’s not hard to see why these kids brought tears to the eyes of stars who watched. As they sing hits like Cold Play's "Viva La Vida" and Journey's "Don’t Stop Believing," it’s hard not to tap your feet to the tunes.
If you’re not convinced yet, you will be when you hear what they had to say when asked by producer Jennifer Mulreany about what music has done for their lives. Check out PS 22 online and you’ll see why I couldn’t stop myself from bursting out in song and dance while they did their smashing rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance.”
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
To read the New England Journal of Medicine article and accompanying editorial about a new drug development that has shown spectacular results against certain breast and ovarian cancers, click on the below:
Original Article: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0900212
Editorial: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMe0903044
The new drugs, called PARP inhibitors, are not yet approved for sale. But people interested in clinical trials of the drugs should know that all clinical trials in the U.S. must be registered on the government website http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. The specific search that yields results for PARP inhibitors is
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=parp+inhibitorhttp://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=parp+inhibitor
If people cannot find what they are looking for on the web, they can phone the National Cancer Institute's Information service line: 1-800-422-6237.
Astra Zeneca, which makes one of the drug's, also has an information line: 1-877-400-4656
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
While today's news features a story of a politician who got in trouble straying a bit far outside the protective "bubble," I witnessed a unique scene last night in Midtown Manhattan.
Following his invitation-only appearance at a question-and-answer session with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair exited the venue and walked out onto the sidewalk, to discover a beautiful Manhattan early-Summer evening. Even though his security detail and waiting motorcade were apparently expecting to drive him the two-block distance to dinner, he clearly relished the opportunity to get some air... and perhaps a brief exposure to the wider world. Accompanied by the magazine editor, Blair took off down the sidewalk.. from my vantage point, I could see pedestrians pass him in the crosswalk -- and a large percentage of them recognized the man who led the U.K. for a decade. He loosened his tie and seemed to be enjoying the brief stroll, while two follow-on security agents with lapel pins and earpieces were seen hoofing after him at a brisk rate of speed (Blair had a team of men flanking him already) and the motorcade vehicles, strobes flashing, "shadowed" him, creeping along the street adjacent to where Blair was walking. It was almost a normal walk down the sidewalk.
We have a lot of news tonight -- really important medical news, an astounding political story from South Carolina and big word out of Hollywood. We hope you can join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
My boss sent me an email early this morning so I'd hear the news before I saw it on the Today Show. Ed McMahon had lost his battle to bone cancer and other related illnesses. I last spoke with Ed by phone not too long ago -- it was an "arranged" call -- his assistant called me in advance to say that Ed wanted to pass along a compliment about a segment he'd seen on Nightly News, and she wanted to be sure I'd be around to take the call. Ed knew I'd "attended" (however briefly and unsuccessfully) Catholic University in Washington, where he went to college, and we obviously shared the NBC family tie. He was a sweet man, and a legend around here -- as he was in millions of American homes. In talking to friends and co-workers today, everyone reminisced about their own favorite memory of Ed. Chuck Todd wanted to be sure we remembered the years he put in at Jerry Lewis' side on the MD Telethon every Labor Day weekend.
Others just remembered Ed's voice as the "gateway" to late night television each weeknight -- in an era where there were few choices and the Tonight Show was the dominant program in the time period, and held huge sway over the national zeitgeist. Ed was a pro, a great broadcaster and a great sidekick. He played a role, and he knew it. He relished it, he studied his own performance and he perfected it. He was the best straight man there ever was, and Ed became great in his own right, oddly, by realizing it was always about Johnny.
My own children only saw the Ed of later life -- the toastmaster and pitchman, the guy in the Super Bowl commercial who was clearly struggling with old age and illness. Today, however, I was happy to be my age -- because it meant my TV viewing years intersected with the golden age of Ed McMahon. He was 86, and he lives on in our hearts and prayers. Please leave me a post on your favorite Ed McMahon memory, if you have one. And please join us for the broadcast tonight.
By Albert Oetgen, Managing Editor NBC News Washington
The Chesapeake Bay occupies a vital spot in the fabric of American history and folklore. Twenty-five years ago, in a State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan dubbed the Bay a “national treasure.”
Its strategic position has been the objective of warring nations; its native bounty mesmerized naturalists long before the first Europeans set foot on its shores; its complex social and economic life is the inspiration for passionate essayists and critical novelists.
But the Bay is in trouble, and it has been for years.
The physical degradation of the giant estuary, the sources of which are spread haphazardly throughout a 64,000-square-mile watershed, has horrified two generations of Americans who have grown up with the modern environmental movement.
In 1980, responding to 13 years of prodding by the private Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the states in the Bay watershed formed a commission with the federal government to clean up the waterway and its tributaries. Public officials and private activists spent the next few years forging an agreement that outlined specific goals. A pact was in place by the mid-80s.
But 25 years later, by many measures, the Bay is worse off than it was when the agreement was put in place, primarily because the scores of local, state and federal boards and agencies involved in the cleanup have failed to coordinate their efforts effectively.
In May, the Obama administration launched a new effort “to restore the health, heritage, natural resources and social and economic value” of the Bay.
Mr. Obama signed an executive order on May 12, and representatives from the affected states met at Mt. Vernon, on the Potomac, to begin the cleanup anew. The order established a multi-agency Federal Leadership Committee, and instructed officials at seven federal agencies to submit preliminary cleanup plans by September 12.
NBC News will follow the cleanup effort and prepare reports between now and September that outline how things got the way they are, with emphasis on specific state, local and federal decisions that have contributed to Bay pollution in the 25 years since the official cleanup effort began. Other reports will focus on cleanup techniques that have achieved varying degrees of success in that same period, and innovative ideas that promise to make things better in the future.
VIDEO: "Saving the Chesapeake Bay": In the first part of our series, NBC's Wendy Reiger reports on the mixed results of 30 years of rescue efforts.
There is no shortage of commitment to the Bay cleanup. Whether the political will to sustain the cleanup is different in 2009 than it was in 1980 is a question left to another generation to answer.
But today, a larger issue looms over Bay restoration, and the entire planet: Global Warming. Mr. Obama’s order requires federal officials to assess the negative effect that climate change has had on the Bay environment, and develop a strategy to reduce that effect.
Climate change was not part of the Bay cleanup calculus in 1980. A generation ago, worldwide environmentalists had not marshaled the effort that now exists to reverse the effects of global warming. The renewed Chesapeake Bay cleanup can serve as a guide to that larger global campaign.
The shortfalls of the first Bay cleanup campaign contain vital lessons for the worldwide community. Without cooperation, coordination and sustained commitment, any environmental cleanup effort will falter and ultimately fail.
For the activists who successfully lobbied for the new Chesapeake cleanup campaign, saving the Bay, this time around, is a model for saving the earth itself.
VIDEO: Author and environmental activist Tom Horton discusses the science and cultural issues involved in saving the Chesapeake Bay.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
This story caught my eye today: The Governor of a major Eastern Seaboard State, a big name in American politics, has disappeared. His wife has no idea where he is. He has put the Lt. Governor in charge, and taken off. At some level, you have to admire that (or is that just a guy thing?) -- but mostly, I'm amazed. He is said to be off "writing" something, but its just unusual. Now...if you don't mind, I'm going to ask my boss who, exactly, my Lt. Governor is. Kidding. If no one around the Governor is concerned, I guess we shouldn't be.
Many of you have expressed an interest in my music site and thank you for it. Sadly, starting with the White House special, I've been neglecting it and hope to get back into it with some fresh selections and playlists very soon. It's not as if there's a shortage of good, new emerging music or artists.
We have a great broadcast planned for you tonight. We hope to see you then.
UPDATES from NBC News:
Frank Adams, a deputy director in the South Carolina Lt. Governor's Office on Aging, tells NBC News that Governor Mark Sanford's chief of staff called over to the Lt. Governor's office within the past hour to say that the Governor's chief of staff has been in touch with Gov. Sanford and that he is fine. He provided no additional information.
In a later email to NBC News, spokesman to Gov. Mark Sanford, Joel Sawyer, elaborated:
"The governor put in a lot of time during this last legislative session, and after the session winds down it's not uncommon for him to go out of pocket for a few days at a time to clear his head. Obviously, that's going to be somewhat out of the question this time given the attention this particular absence has gotten. Before leaving last week, he let staff know his whereabouts and that he'd be difficult to reach. Should any emergencies arise between the times in which he checks in, our staff would obviously be in contact with other state officials as the situation warrants before making any decisions."
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
It seemed nearly every person I met during a brief visit to Seattle this week felt it necessary to tell me they had gone 27 days without rain. My reply was, "that's ok, I know where your rain went." While Seattle residents have been enjoying a break from their infamous moisture, we here in New York have been treated to an almost daily dose of rain these last few weeks (which, by the way is why they're playing catch up at the U.S. Open golf tournament on Long Island today). Of course New Yorkers, not usually given to complaining, have pretty much had their fill. However, it looks like fortunes have now changed on both coasts. Today, Seattle's dry streak officially ended at 29 days, while here in New York, we haven't seen a drop all day. In fact as I write this the sun just began shining through the window, which drew a chorus of comments across the newsroom. Sorry Seattle.
Brian is off tonight, and I'll be in the anchor chair with today's big development out of Iran. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned protestors – angry over the re-election of president Ahmadinejad – that if they do not halt their rallies and protests they would be "responsible for bloodshed." NBC's Ali Arouzi was there for Khamenei’s remarks at Friday prayers, and will have the latest. In addition, Richard Engel will tell us about the possible implications of today's hard line statement.
Thanks for checking in. We'll look for you for the Friday edition of NBC Nightly News.
By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent
I heard about Harry Horgan from a mutual friend, Richard Fucci, a pilot who's paralyzed and who for years has passed along his love of flight to others who are physically challenged. Fooch in turn had shared the helm of a sailboat with Harry during a race series in Newport, Rhode Island. They'd won – the two of them just a touch competitive – but where they really were a match was in their equivalent belief that with the right motivation, and just enough mechanical ingenuity about the craft of choice, a so-called handicapped person could pursue his or her passions as fervently as anyone else. For both Fooch and Harry, if they could do it, they could teach it.
Harry was paralyzed in a car accident just after graduating college, and when he struggled in rehab and would mope and feel sorry for himself his folks would get on him: 'Hey Harry, snap out of it, shake a leg…there's plenty to do!" Hence, Shake-A-Leg, his amazing non-profit on Miami's Biscayne Bay. Every summer he draws hundreds of kids – kids who are economically, physically or developmentally challenged – and gives them a shot at the healing and life-affirming power of water, specifically, salt water. In modified kayaks and sailboats, he and his staff, and a small army of volunteers, provide an environment of stunning possibilities and inviting independence. Wheelchair-bound kids who can hold fast to a kayak pontoon and, helped by the buoyancy of salt water, "stand" on their own two feet: children who struggle with the most basic of life's daily tasks, taking a real sailboat through tack after tack, riding the wind and current and getting from here to there on their own.
CONTINUED >>
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
If you've been following the Iran coverage...and you didn't know what Twitter was before...you've received a Master's degree in it over the last few days. It's been a valuable mode of communication during this crisis. To be fair, life on Twitter goes on -- the ruminations and daily machinations of thousands of users, (including a lot of friends of mine, while I've been able to resist thus far) one of whom wondered aloud to his "followers" yesterday, while ordering a bagel in New York: "I still wonder how they get the cream cheese in those small tubes." So it's not all foreign policy. But I digress. Twitter users, those who have signed up to follow the tweets of others, are quick to pounce when they see fresh material. Here is one such instance. While I make no value judgments about the sender or what set them off, there's some truly inventive material here to be admired.
This is an aside. We continue to cover Iran (we'll hear from Ali Arouzi again tonight from Tehran, and Richard Engel in New York, wanting badly to be in Tehran) and wait for the next developments like everyone else. We have a Making A Difference report tonight, as well as reporting on the mid-air tragedy on today's Continental trans-Atlantic flight. We hope you can join us.
By Lee Cowan, NBC News correspondent
Tim Lewis made a lot of mistakes in his life. And his new-found publicity is forcing him to face some of those mistakes head-on. There's no hiding from them anymore, whether he's on the street or not. But what is remarkable about him is his determination to turn his life around. And there seems to be a glimmer of hope in his eyes that this time, it just might work.
Tim is the first to recognize that no amount of apologies will repair the damaged relationships he has with his several children. It won't get him his job back as a surgical tech. It won't erase his drug or alcohol abuse.
But what he's managed to do is to find something positive he can build his life around, and at the same time, help shape the lives of the young people in his neighborhood. And in the end, that's really all any of us can hope for; that we make ourselves better people than we were last week, or the week before.
Tim's struggles aren't over to be sure. But he's picked himself up, and is moving forward with a strength and introspection we all should strive for, everyday.
Watch Lee Cowan's related report Thursday on Nightly News.
Editor's Note: Since NBC News first aired its "Making A Difference" story on Compton Little League coach, Tim Lewis, we've been flooded with requests from viewers expressing an interest in helping him. Unfortunately, because Tim is homeless, there's no address or institution that NBC News can independently vouch for, but Tim has suggested anyone wishing to get in touch with him, can best do so through a family friend.
Ms. Clotilde Sanchez
1202 W. 130th Street,
Compton, CA, 90222
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
A number of you have written to us to complain about the name "Swine Flu." I could make an argument that the domestic pork industry, back when this name entered our lexicon, missed a huge and vital opportunity to change it, to "brand" it differently, and to insist on it. While H1N1 exists as the alternative, our own Chief Science Correspondent Robert Bazell noted at an editorial meeting that the U.S. government was referring to it as "Swine Flu," and now it seems hopelessly attached to the illness as a matter of branding.
While we all know it can't be transmitted via pork or pork products -- and while many of us have visited pork producers over the years and appreciate the contribution they make to the American economy -- this is an unfortunate episode. There was, however, a period of several days (I remember making this point, loudly, in our newsroom) when the industry, along with its friends in Congress, could have insisted on calling it something else.
Interesting writing today about Twitter, the challenger in Iran, Bill Clinton, and some good dogs. That should hold you over for a while.
We hope to see you for tonight's broadcast: presented with limited commercial interruption.
By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent
On Tuesday night we'll report on a research project that is literally allowing blind people to see again. Even though the project has been in progress for two decades, supported by the Department of Energy--first at Johns Hopkins now at the University of Southern California--the results have been limited. But given the enormous challenges, they are still impressive.
People who were totally blind could at first perceive dots of light that allowed them to avoid bumping into objects. Now, as the system is progressing, they can begin to make out the outlines of faces and other large objects.
The system works by taking the signal from a tiny camera on a pair of sunglasses, which then runs through wires that are implanted on the surface of the retina. These electrodes stimulate the retinal cells to send signals to the brain that are perceived as light.
You can read about the project in detail including diagrams of how it works here: http://www.doheny.org/research/pdfs/arnvol1no1.pdf
As Dr. Mark Humayan, the project leader, explained to me, the challenges involve both software and hardware. Even though we often use metaphors of physical objects like video cameras and computers to try to understand how body parts like eyes and brains work, the "software" code is very different for our body than it is for electronics. Matching the codes has taken almost two decades.
The hardware problem is that electronics are dry, while our bodies are moist and salty. Getting the electric leads to work in the eye is "like throwing a cell phone in the ocean," according to Humayan.
For now, the patient must turn so that the camera faces whatever he or she is trying to see. But Armand R. Tanguay, Jr., an electronics engineer, has designed a tiny video camera that will literally fit into the front lens of the eye, allowing the person to just move their eyes to see.
Currently the project treats only people with the blinding condition retinitis pigmentosa. In the future, the researchers plan to move on to other conditions, including macular degeneration. The waiting list for those wishing to become research subjects is long, but anyone interested should call: (818) 833-5000.
More info on "bionic eyes":
http://bmes-erc.usc.edu/research
http://artificialretina.energy.gov/
http://www.usc.edu/schools/medicine/departments/ophthalmology/index.html
http://www.doheny.org/
http://www.2-sight.com/
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I realize I'm on an aviation kick this week, but please check this out especially if you THINK you fly a lot. Additionally, there's this website in case you've ever wondered what it's like to live on board an aircraft. Occasionally in my aviation magazines, I'll see a case where someone has converted a fuselage to a functioning home or restaurant -- but I've found it's better to have...an actual home or restaurant.
Two more things: We'll remember Bob Bogle tonight and perhaps this would be interesting to look at, given what's going on in Iran. It's from the good folks at the Committee to Protect Journalists, where I am proud to sit on the board.
We hope you can join us for our broadcast tonight.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Sometimes while sitting on airplanes -- especially during long ramp delays or long trans-continental or international flights -- we passengers have a lot of time to think about the environment: so many people sharing space (and so little true comfort) on board an aluminum tube speeding (when all works correctly) through the air to a common destination. Relationships are formed, germs are spread, and invariably relaxation suffers -- too often by design.
This article caught my eye today because of its novelty and because it's a great example of American innovation -- taking an existing design and trying to make it better. This would be a revolutionary concept -- isn't it worth trying on a test aircraft or two?
We're happy to be back to start a new week, and we hope you can join us tonight.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
We've been monitoring contrasting images out of Iran today. Cheering throngs welcomed President Ahmadinejad in one part of Tehran, while in others, there was unrest and violent clashes, as angry supporters of rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi demanded a new election.
Complicating all this is an Iranian government crackdown on the media, and many communications links to the outside world. Richard Engel, who was in the middle of yesterday's bloody demonstrations, will join me tonight to talk about what it was like. We'll also let you hear what Vice President Joe Biden told David Gregory about the disputed election on "Meet the Press" this morning.
I hope you can join me tonight for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I found myself in one of those "where were you?" conversations today. You know, the kind we so often have on the anniversaries of major events. In this case, I was with NBC News colleagues discussing how we each learned of, and reacted to, the news that our colleague Tim Russert had died.
While our individual whereabouts on June 13th, 2008 varied widely, we all agreed there was a shared moment of disbelief when we heard the news, and that it is still with us on this one-year anniversary. Tim remains an awfully big presence in our organization, and whenever a particularly juicy political story pops onto the radar, if we're not saying it outloud, one of us is likely thinking it: Tim would have loved getting a piece of this story.
We do have a big political story on the program tonight, but this one is focused on Iran, were anger over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's apparent re-election has sent supporters of rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi rioting in the streets.
Tonight, a great deal of the communication out of Tehran has been cut off, and in a speech to the nation, Ahmadinejad accused the foreign media of instigating trouble. Our chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has just left Iran, but not before filing a report on today's violence. We'll have it for you on the program tonight.
I hope you can join us.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Newsrooms aren't like a normal workplace. While we have friends and co-workers who help us function and buy supplies, it would never occur to most of us to have any "systems" in place. So it's rather amazing, in a business known for short institutional/collective memories, that we have so consistently and diligently covered all of the "Making a Difference" stories that have come our way. In doing so, and in the day-to-day effort of getting the broadcast on the air, we've forgotten to ask for more nominations! So consider this another formal request -- ask the folks you know to nominate their stories of those who are making a difference in the lives of others, and post them here, please. I can't tell you how much we get out of reading, covering and airing these stories. And we have another one for you tonight -- we'll see you then.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I know my friend Richard Engel well enough not to worry when we hear, during our afternoon editorial meeting, that "we haven't heard from Richard in several hours." The problem is: Richard is in Iran, covering today's election.
What concern there was in this newsroom was quickly dashed when we learned the reason: the Iranian Government had today disabled all cell phones, pagers, and a lot of web service. It was not a surprising development. During our last trip to Tehran, we were "given" a cell phone to use during our stay (I kept my conversations very simple) and while half of the websites I went to on my laptop were rendered useless by a huge red "X" across the screen -- blocked by Government internet providers -- we...found a way to get to the web, just as Richard found a way to get in touch this afternoon and will headline our reporting on this important story.
We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast. Have a great weekend.
By Mara Schiavocampo, NBC News correspondent
I'm sure many of you have been following Detroit's problems. Of course there's the restructuring of the auto industry, with Chrysler and GM going through bankruptcy. The city also faces some grim statistics with some of the highest crime and unemployment rates in the nation, and more than a third of residents living in poverty. It's also a shrinking city; in the 1950s Detroit was the fifth largest city in America, today it's the 11th.
Amid all of those gloomy statistics is a ray of hope: political change. Last month the city elected its third Mayor in eight months. The previously elected mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, resigned in shame and served prison time after a scandal involving an affair with a staffer. To replace him, the city held its first special election in almost 80 years. The new Mayor, Dave Bing, couldn't be more different than Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick was the city's youngest Mayor ever at 31. Bing is the oldest at 65. Kilpatrick was flashy. Bing is modest. Kilpatrick was accused of misusing city funds. Bing is doing the job for free. That's right, he's not getting paid a dime.
Bing has led a remarkably interesting life. A childhood injury permanently damaged vision in one eye. Despite that he went on to become an NBA legend and eventual Hall of Famer with the Detroit Pistons in the 60s and 70s (an interesting tidbit he shared with me: as a first round draft pick and Rookie of the Year, his salary in 1966 was $15,000). After the NBA he started a steel company and would go on
to make millions as a businessman. Now he's entering the world of politics to see if he can bring some of that success to the city of Detroit.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I'm fortunate to have a lot of hobbies and interests, among them Presidential history -- and among the many sub-sets of that, the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. He was the first President that I was truly aware of, and perhaps because of his physical size and bearing -- I grew up thinking he was the archetypical President -- and of course there's no such thing. He was just one of them (one of eleven in my lifetime thus far) but Johnson was such a fascinating creature. The historian Robert Dallek might have chosen the perfect two-word book title to sum up LBJ, "Flawed Giant."
I've made it my goal, starting years ago, to listen to all of the recorded phone calls -- hundreds of hours of them -- released over time by the LBJ Library. Just this morning I listened to several, dating back to the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. President Johnson calls, among others, Ted Sorenson and Ted Kennedy, to offer condolences and help. He calls the head of the Secret Service and orders that all candidates for office be given a security detail -- this notion, commonplace today, was unheard of back then. In fact, there were so few available Secret Service agents, the Government has to scramble and improvise -- in some cases, MP's were used, in other cases, FBI Agents and Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol and Tax Control are dispatched to protect various politicians and their families. At one point someone mentions that an ailing former President Eisenhower is flying into town, and officials plan "to have a man with him."
The tapes are fascinating and transporting. President Johnson initially wanted to wait 50 -- as many as 100 years after his death before releasing them, or portions of them. But he was overruled in death by his widow, the late Lady Bird, and by former LBJ Library director Harry Middleton. As Johnson Biographer Michael Beschloss put it in his superb first volume accompanying selected tapes, the only thing worse than the possibility of someone hearing something they didn't like from the mouth of the former President -- would have been for LBJ to be forgotten entirely. No chance of that.
We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Yesterday a bomb went off outside a hotel in Peshawar in Pakistan. It may say a lot about our world, our culture or our business that the story merited only a scant few seconds on our broadcast last night. We reported the basic facts, the number of deaths and injuries and the suspected perpetrators. What we didn't say is the obvious, which bears repeating: every life lost leaves behind loved ones who are crushed by it, and every life lost was a rich existence.
I wanted to take this opportunity to ask you to read this about one of them. She was there on business, but she was hardly in business for herself. She wasn't getting rich--quite the opposite--she helped the poor for a living. If you've ever collected money for UNICEF, if you've ever given money to UNICEF...even if you're not familiar with their good works, let's honor her memory by reading about her work. The vast majority of those helped by her will never know her name, but we should.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
It was a tremendous honor to be a part of last night's gathering at Lincoln Center for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, started and led by Paul Newman. It just seemed so unfair that Paul Newman wasn't there. There were video clips, and testimonials -- there were great entertainers and wonderful campers, but there was no Paul. Instead, we have his great legacy. While he loved his work and felt honored by the support of the fans over the years, it really is true that he wanted to be known for what he did for others, and what he gave away. Fortunately, that legacy is safe and growing. It was a lovely night of relentless entertainment, generous thanks and living reminders that some of us, for a while at least, got to share the planet with the great Paul Newman.
We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
As regular readers and viewers know, I'm an aviation buff to the point of obsession. I read all the books, visit all the websites and subscribe to all the magazines. I began to study toward my pilot's license as a young man living in Washington...but promptly ran out of money, and have not revisited that goal since becoming a married father of two.
Obviously, any fatal incident focuses our attention on the individual aircraft, and so it is with the Air France crash. It's so terribly disturbing and so sad -- wondering about how those lives ended -- wondering how we are to prevent this from happening again. That the French pilots did what they did today is extraordinary. This is going to require an investigation that allows no room for holes or conspiracy theories -- it will require the best technology our combined nations can muster. If there are items on the sea floor to be found, the U.S. Navy will find them -- they are the best in the business -- but the clock is ticking.
In the meantime, our prayers are with the families of those souls lost on board this flight in this terrible tragedy.
By Contessa Brewer, NBC News anchor
I really love the taste of fresh tomatoes, the ones you pick right off the vine. Their particular scent reminds me of summer vacations at Grandma's, those thick slices, a sprinkling of salt, and slurping the juices right off the plate.
Living in Manhattan, I can buy those kind of tomatoes, at the farmers' markets and gourmet groceries, but it's not the same as picking them right off the vine.
So last year, I decided to try my hand at "urban farming," which really means growing your own food, even if you live in the city. I started with a basil plant and used its leaves twice before it died.
In my quest to change a brown thumb for green, I learned all kinds of things about urban farming. You can grow vertical gardens that take up less space, than traditional vegetable gardens.
You can build a salad just from the plants grown in containers on your window sill. Next came gardening bibles and subscriptions to "Mother Earth" and trips to the hardware store for a spade and shovel.
Then my husband and I bought a little land, and I embarked on my most ambitious project to date... building a compost bin. (Watch can my "Fun with Compost" YouTube video here.)
I cart my kitchen "scraps" to my compost bin and hopefully that pays off in some organic compost to use on my next project, a vegetable garden of my own.
For my Grandma and many others of her generation, growing fruit and vegetables at home was a necessity. Now, for most Americans, it seems like a luxury. After all, who has time to devote to gardening, or the know-how or the money? Turning your yard into a farmer's field of dreams can be an expensive proposition, unless you have help. But, Common Good City Farm in Washington, DC is helping neighbors overhaul their yard, teaching would-be city farmers that it's ok to start small. It's ok to grow a few vegetables or herbs wherever you can find a little sunlight.
It's ok to kill a couple basil plants in the process of learning to keep them alive. Maybe that's the point. Time and effort make it all taste sweeter. I think my Grandma knew that all along.
Watch the Nightly News report: "It you plant it, they will come."
By Natalie Morales, NBC News anchor
Good Evening, I'm Natalie Morales in for Lester Holt, who's enjoying a few days off. Tonight we begin with President Obama's week ahead following his historic visit to the Middle East and Europe. With barely time to recover from his 6 day 4 nation trip, this week his top priorities: Healthcare reform and implementing his $787 Billion economic stimulus package. We'll talk with CNBC'S Chief Washington Correspondent about what it will take to get both Democrats and Republicans to come to terms in a biapartisan bill.
Also, more bodies were recovered today from AF Flight 447... but without recovering the black boxes, it will be difficult to determine the exact cause of the crash. But lessons and technology from past air tragedies, like TWA Flight 800, may yield answers. NBC's Tom Costello shows us what it may take to locate the missing black boxes.
If you're in the market to buy a car... now may be the perfect time. With the US's struggling car industry and the impending sale of Chrysler to Fiat, many are looking for deals. Does the buyer have more room to negotiate? We'll talk to car experts.
Hope you'll join us tonight.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I was in Paris earlier this week covering the Air France disaster, including a memorial service for families of the victims at Notre Dame Cathedral. Their grief was compounded by the fact that no one knew where their loved ones were. Outside the cathedral, Yvonne Lazouett told us, "I don't know where my husband is," and she explained that was why it was so important for the families to all be together.
I thought of Yvonne, and the rest of those families this afternoon when we learned the bodies of two male passengers had been recovered from the ocean, along with a briefcase and boarding pass from the flight. After several frustrating false leads in the search for signs of the doomed flight, it appears searchers are finally on the right track. Hopefully all of the families of the 228 victims will soon find closure in knowing for certain the fate of their loved ones. We're covering today's discovery at sea, as well as the puzzling electronic trail the doomed Airbus left in its final minutes, and what those automated messages may tell investigators about the crash.
We’ll also be covering the 65th anniversary of D-Day. We'll have the president's message to veterans of the invasion, including the poignant story of a survivor who made one last trip to Omaha beach this week – but won't be coming home.
I hope you'll join us tonight for NBC Nightly News.
By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
In for Brian who deserves a day off after this week, and the economy, with today's new jump in the unemployment rate, appears to be our lead story.
The rate is now 9.4 percent the highest it's been in more than 25 years..but the economic picture is actually more layered than the numbers because there are also hopeful signs the recovery has indeed started.
President Obama talked about Middle East peace today, and made an emotional tour of the Buchenwald concentration camp with Elie Weisel, whose father died there.
Tom Brokaw there too, files more of his interview today with the President on our broadcast tonight.
Tom Costello will have the latest on the tough news that the Air France crash investigators are back to square one, after debris found in recent days turns not to be from flight 447. Remember the batteries on the black boxes that would explain the crash last just 30 days.
There is more including a piece from me on women pushing for change in Iran, where President Ahmadinejad faces a strong challenge in elections next week.
Dare I mention our hour special "Inside Iran," airs sunday night at 7? Be prepared to be completely surprised.
Brian's back monday.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Now we're compiling all of our Inside the Obama White House material into a 2-hour special (airing Friday night at 8pmET on NBC) and we're adding original material into that broadcast.
So the work continues -- while it's been so interesting to read the coverage of the work we did. We hope you can join us tonight for Nightly News as we begin...to end...a long week.
By Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent
As summer brings countless visitors to the US Capitol, they will get to see the newly unveiled statue of Ronald Reagan but few will know that it took an Act of Congress and the expulsion of an obscure figure to give Reagan a permanent home in the Rotunda.
Each state is limited to only two statues displayed in the Capitol to represent its citizens. California legislators decided Reagan should be there but that wasn't easy. Thomas Starr King would have to go. Who? Since 1931, a bronze of King was one of California's two statues. The history books say he was a noted orator and minister praised by Lincoln during the Civil War. This week, King was sent to Sacramento.
For just the second time in the nation's history, a state was allowed to replace one figure with another. Urged to change the rules, Congress passed a special law in 2000 after Kansas was determined to find room for Dwight Eisenhower in the Capitol collection. Inspired by that lead, California was dreaming of a monument for President Reagan.
Today the Rotunda was packed with dignitaries, friends and many familiar faces from the Reagan era. Nearly 88 years old and making a rare high profile appearance, Nancy Reagan seemed moved and pleased. She called the statue "a wonderful likeness of Ronnie." Perhaps no one was more delighted to hear that review than sculptor Chas Fagan.
Fagan worked from his North Carolina studio and even the basement of the Reagan Library where he could find easy access to inspiration. With a series of models he crafted and some old fashioned trial and error, Fagan tried to artfully discover a way to capture Reagan in one pose. During the process he learned that despite his study of photos and video, he had missed details that mattered to Mrs. Reagan. Fagan "broke the mold" so to speak and revised his work to more accurately depict Reagan's taste in suits. He removed two buttons from the sleeves, eliminated the vent in the back of the jacket and shortened the pants.
Most challenging of all was finding the right expression. Fagan decided that a full smile was too much and no smile missed the mark. "Decoding" the former president's patterns, the sculptor locked on to a momentary expression that typically appeared on Reagan's face just before he delivered a funny or powerful line.
Beyond appearance, Fagan hoped to note an accomplishment. Many remember how Reagan told the Soviets to "tear down that wall." Chas Fagan chose to incorporate crumbled pieces of the Berlin Wall in the statue's base to ground the piece in history.
By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
In for Brian, who's preparing for tonight's part 2 of "Inside the Obama White House," as White House officials react to a new audiotape message Osama Bin Laden aired today on Al Jazeera
They say it's proof Al Qaeda feels threatened by the President's outreach to the Muslim world.
It does specifically mention the President's trip to Egypt where tomorrow he is to give a major address that is to reach out to the Muslim world.
We are expecting to get a preview of the President's speech tonight from NBC's Chuck Todd.
It is possible that an open hand from the U.S. is making it tougher for terrorists to keep their fists clenched?
Either way, it's an important moment it seems in a world wavering between war and peace.
Tom Aspell will report about the anticipation in Cairo, where Muslims are awaiting to see if the President will say what they want to hear.
Lots of buzz here by the way about last night's "Inside the Obama White House." What are your thoughts about it?
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Tonight's broadcast will be the first network evening newscast to originate from the East Room of the White House. Inside the Cabinet Room earlier today, I conducted our second formal interview with the President in the past five days -- all of it in preparation for tonight's prime time special, the first of two hours this week. We are now in a temporary workspace in the Old Executive Office Building next door to the West Wing, and are about to go into the NBC booth in the press room to record more of tonight's special. Then it's back out to the lawn for an interview or two, then into the East Room for Nightly News ... then out to the South Portico to start the special. It's aerobic television, but the material is worth it.
We can report that the atmosphere in this White House today was all business: the President was hours away from departing on the most important trip of his Presidency thus far, and his calendar is crowded ... it includes a visit by Nancy Reagan this afternoon.
Again, we're so excited to bring you this new material tonight. There's never been quite this intimate a look inside the working West Wing. We hope you can join us ... first for Nightly News, and later for our prime time special at 9pm eastern time, tonight and tomorrow night.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I've been at the office Saturday, Sunday and all day today -- and I hasten to add: of all the members of our production team, I may have worked the fewest hours. We are trying to distill 155 hours of videotape from 32 cameras down to two hours of television: 9pm ET Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
I can promise you this: We will show more of the inner-workings of the White House than ever before. Yes, it will be the view the Obama Administration wanted us to see -- but they didn't get to control all that we recorded, and I'm anxious for our viewers to make their own judgements on what they see.
Photo by Subrata De
I do want to say publicly that the process, within NBC News, has been nothing short of astonishing. Just about the entire 5th floor of 30 Rock is humming along on this one project--producers and videotape editors, all working on their individual segments--they are amazing to watch and a thrill to work with. So after tonight's broadcast, it's off to Washington again, where we will originate Nightly News from the White House tomorrow night prior to our first prime-time hour. We hope you can join us tonight...and all week.
