November 2009 - Posts
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
With the president apparently poised to announce his new Afghanistan strategy next week—likely tens of thousands of additional troops—we are going to examine what it means to American servicemen and women and their families, the political risks, and we'll get the view from the ground on what those additional forces will be facing.
A lot of you have been hearing about a massive safety recall of certain baby cribs. We will have a full report tonight with the information you need to know.
We will also preview tonight's lavish White House State Dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It's the first such dinner for the Obama's and is bringing together an impressive list of guests, including our own Brian Williams. I'm sitting in for Brian on the broadcast tonight. I hope you can join us.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I was in Buffalo last night for the last concert of the current two-year-long tour of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Indeed, last night's over-the-top show, almost 3-and-a-half hours long, was a singular experience, even for veterans of this band and this tour. Thoughts of Tim and his dad, Big Russ, were heavy in the air, and Luke Russert was there with us in the audience. I don't have much voice left, and my entire body hurts: both positive signs that we had a great time in Buffalo.
Now to the sad news over the weekend: we lost another Medal of Honor recipient. Do me a favor and read the story of Alejandro Ruiz and his extraordinary life and service to this country.
We're back for another week. We hope, knowing families are gathering for Thanksgiving week, that you can still join us as much as possible this week. We make for great after-meal viewing, and Nightly News contains no Tryptophan!
We hope you can join us tonight.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Some new fuel has been added to the fire of the health care debate. Today, lawmakers were not only reacting to last night's Senate vote to begin consideration of a health care reform bill, they were also sounding off on the government's controversial new recommendations for breast cancer screening.
Republicans are quickly making those suggested mammogram guidelines central to their opposition to the Democratic health care plans, saying they could result in limits on mammograms and a rationing of care. We'll hear some of those voices on tonight's broadcast and report on the difficult days ahead for Democrats as they try and find unity on a health care reform bill.
If you're staying home for Thanksgiving this year, NBC's Tom Costello will explain why you'll have plenty of company this year. Tom is looking at the holiday travel picture for us tonight.
Jeff Corwin will preview his fascinating msnbc documentary "100 Heartbeats," on animals facing the threat of extinction.
We will also tell you about a U.S. astronaut who is over the moon about some news he got last night from back here on Earth.
I hope you can join us later for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
The road to health care reform approaches a shaky bridge tonight. Democratic leaders will test the strength of the underpinnings of that bridge – their 60 seat majority in the US Senate – in a vote over whether to allow debate on a health care bill. It will mark the second Saturday night this month that critical votes on health care have taken place on Capitol Hill.
Although tonight's vote is strictly procedural, as GOP Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire told me this morning on TODAY, as far as Republicans are concerned "the gun is loaded," meaning they consider a vote in favor of allowing debate, likely a vote in favor of the bill itself. No Republican is expected to vote yes. At this writing, Democrats believe they have secured all 60 votes they need to open debate. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is on the hill and will update where things stand when we come on the air.
On tonight's broadcast we will also show you an anguished plea for help by a British couple hijacked at sea by Somali pirates. Their captors have released video of the couple speaking on camera as menacing young men surround them with guns. Of course the pirate's intent is to raise pressure on British authorities to pay ransom for their release. We'll get reaction from London.
Walking through Manhattan's famous shopping districts these days, two things stand out. Holiday decorations are up, and the number of empty store fronts has exploded since last Christmas season. With that said, NBC's Rehema Ellis will report tonight that retailers may be turning the tables on shoppers who be thinking they can once again cash in on bloated store inventories.
Thanks for reading the blog. Please join me later for NBC Nightly News.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
It struck us as fundamentally wrong that the Postal Service would no longer accept or deliver letters from kids written to Santa at the North Pole—but we, along with others, reported last night that the program was being halted. Apparently the good folks in North Pole, Alaska (Santa's helpers...the good people of that town who have been volunteering since 1954 to read and answer children's letters) have met to alleviate the crisis, and we will read their response on the air tonight. Believe me, when stories involve Santa (or similar topics), I automatically switch to parent mode—and I try mightily not to ever say anything during Nightly News that I would not have wanted my own young children to hear. You will often hear me warning viewers of a particularly tough topic—fair warning to hit mute, turn the TV off or escort the kids out of the kitchen—because there's nothing more annoying than getting caught without warning when something awful comes on the television when little ones are in the room.
As I say, we'll re-visit this topic tonight—and hopefully, we'll clear all this up. As someone who worked long and hard on letters to Santa as a child... and sent them off while trying to picture him reading them—I firmly believe that experience should be available forever.
We hope you can join us tonight! Have a good weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
Our own Andy Franklin did some digging and came up with this, from the last time mammograms were in the news this heavily. It’s fascinating viewing, and we'll air a portion of it tonight.
My thanks to everyone at the Walter Cronkite School at Arizona State, and at our NBC Station KPNX-TV in Phoenix -- I am honored beyond my ability to express it. It’s the greatest honor of my professional life.
We're back in New York and I hope you'll be watching tonight.
By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today the independent panel that made the new breast cancer screening recommendations "do not set federal policy" and that "our policies remain unchanged...my message to women is simple. Mammograms have always been an important life-saving tool..keep doing what you have been doing for years."
Her statement appeared to fly in the face of the panel's dramatic recommendations this week delaying when women are advised to start getting regular mammograms to 50, and questioning the usefulness of self-exams.
Just a few moments ago, I asked Secretary Sebelius to explain why she's stepping back from the recommendations and sending a mixed message to the American people--and whether, because of the fallout, this was a case of politics trumping science.
Nancy Snyderman also helps sort through the mixed messages, which understandably have a lot of women confused today.
We'll also hear from President Obama, who talked to Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, and Anne Thompson has a pretty darn cool story—from my hometown, it turns out. Dear old Ashland, Oregon gives us a surprise about what can go green.
On a personal note, all this running around has caused a run in my stockings. Bet Brian never has this problem.
By Anne Thompson, NBC News chief environmental affairs correspondent
Growing up, motorcycles always seemed so cool. They looked like the ultimate expression of motorized freedom. My mother thought they were frightening. I had a romantic vision of seeing the world from a bike, the wind blowing through my hair. She saw broken bones, trips to the hospital and worse. In high school, a lot of the guys had bikes, but I could never ride with them. Mum said no. I obeyed and never rode… until this story.
Producer Kelly Venardos heard about electric motorcycles and got intrigued. A clean motorcycle? Talk about counterintuitive. Aren't they supposed to be all about power and smoke and that loud rumbling sound? We had to check it out.
We traveled to Ashland, Oregon, just north of the California border where Brammo builds electric motorcycles. Brammo is run by Craig Bramscher, not a tree-hugger by anyone's definition. He made his money in computer software. Tired of the fast lane in Malibu, he moved his family to Ashland to start a new life and a new business. He made quite an impression at first. As he says, he rode into this liberal city in a Hummer with a Bush sticker on the bumper.
Not only that, but he came to build high end sports cars for big guys like him. As his company built those cars, he watched the price of gas go up and became curious about electric cars. Tesla was already in the market and struggling, so Bramscher thought is there another way to go? The owner of gas motorcycles and an enthusiastic rider, he decided to build an electric motorcycle.
Light, quiet, no emissions, Bramscher thinks of the bike as more as a gadget like your iPod, Flip camera, or Blackberry. In other words, a gadget that makes a statement and a gadget you don't want to live without.
The BRAMMO Enertia
So of course, Kelly and I had to try out the bikes. Kelly got on and rode like she had been doing it all her life. Me? Not so much. When you see the standup in tonight's story, I look pretty comfortable. If you could only see what it took to get me there! The guys at Brammo gave me a crash course in how to ride a motorcycle. Unfortunately, I took the "crash" part to heart. I fell off the bike three times just trying to ride. I would lose my balance and go over on the side. Eventually, I got the hang of it and shot the standup.
Yes, I know I am not wearing a helmet. We made that decision because otherwise I would have looked like Darth Vader. I never left the parking lot, never hit the open road without a helmet. And after my lesson, I know why wearing a helmet is always a good idea. No bones were broken in the shooting of this standup, but I came away with quite the collection of bruises.
Riding a motorcycle is trickier than I ever anticipated but even on my very short ride, it was a blast. Sorry, Mum!
Video: Green bikes, born to be mild
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
If it’s Tuesday, it must be Phoenix. We are here on the campus of Arizona State University for an awards ceremony—I had a great time with journalism students this morning, and there's more planned for later in the day. It’s an emotional experience being here, at an institution that bears the name of Walter Cronkite.
My email is getting flooded with the personal stories of women, many of them our viewers between ages 40 and 50—telling their personal stories. We are going to take on the breast cancer guidelines again tonight…and having lost my only sister to this disease, I have my own motivation and feelings concerning this development.
We hope you can join us—and we hope you will continue telling us what's important to you. We'll see you tonight from Phoenix.
By Albert Oetgen, Managing Editor NBC News Washington
Washington -- Sarah Palin's book, which feels like it came out a month ago, finally arrived at bookstores just today. Six days of exposure to leaks and provocative teases from big-name interviewers has this town on the verge of exhaustion. With the president in China, there's a celebrity vacuum here. As usual, Ms. Palin's timing is impeccable.
The problem with this book, as Andrea Mitchell reported last week, is it has no index. And that's a huge problem here in the nation's capital.
You see, Washington is not a town full of people who read books. But it's a town full of people who write books.
Washington also is a town full of egotists who love to see their names in print.
Thus, the importance of the index.
Every non-reader who writes a book in and about Washington, all of the in-the-know establishmentarians who grace us with the stories of their lives-up-to-this-point, also help their non-reading colleagues out. They publish indexes. That way, the non-readers can look up their own names, see where they are mentioned, and throw the book in the the pile of other books they never read.
Enter Sarah Palin, famous for her professed disdain for everything Washington. Her indexless book, Going Rogue, attacks the city at its very core. Washington is aghast.
Mark Whitaker, our Washington Bureau Chief, suggested this morning that desperate Washingtonians can buy an electronic copy of the book, secure a wireless reading device like the Amazon Kindle, and use the search function to find their names.
The idea of actually reading the book? How very un-Washington. Going Rogue, indeed.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
Not much time to post today. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice we're in our Los Angeles bureau tonight–a remote broadcast necessitated by a visit we must pay to Arizona later this week. We apparently just had a 4.6 earthquake here in Southern California, but no one here felt it. Our lead story tonight is a major medical story, about a new Federal guideline which I'm afraid might result in a lot of confusion for millions of Americans. So—welcome back for another week, and we hope you can join us for the broadcast tonight, from Los Angeles.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
The American approach to Islamic terror is changing on many levels. Tonight we'll show you what may soon become the American prison for Guantanamo Bay detainees, on a day there was more sharp reaction over the 9/11 terror trials to be held in New York.
Our chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is in Afghanistan, and he will have the latest from the battlefield on this evening's broadcast. Meantime, White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie is traveling with the president in Shanghai. She'll tell us about the changing dynamic between the U.S. and China, as well as the decision still hanging over the president about the way forward in Afghanistan.
I recently spent a terrific day over in Queens, New York with singer Tony Bennett and his wife Susan. They toured me through a new school of the arts they founded. It's a New York public high school that demands excellence on not only the stage and in the studio, but in the classroom. We'll have some of my conversation with Tony about the school and his career tonight on NBC Nightly News. I hope can join us.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
We have just gotten hold of a copy of Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue," thanks to the dogged and resourceful work of our Nightly News interns and production assistants.
The book is not being released until Tuesday, and copies have been very hard to come by. That of course hasn't stopped endless speculation about what's in it. We'll be speed reading through it here in the newsroom this afternoon, and will have more about it, along with the endless fascination with Palin, on tonight's program.
Also this evening we'll bring you up to speed on the deal President Obama is trying to forge with Russia's President Medvedev over nuclear arms. They're both in Singapore at a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders. As the president focuses on one of the major hold over issues from the Cold War, a decision on what to do about the current war in Afghanistan looms large. NBC's Savannah Guthrie will have more from Singapore this evening.
For a guy who a lot of people love to hate, convicted swindler Bernie Madoff is drawing a lot of interest from memorabilia seekers. Jeff Rossen will report on a government auction of Bernie and Ruth Madoff's belongings, and the stunning amounts of cash it’s generating on everything from his New York Mets jacket to his wife's jewelry.
I hope you can join us tonight for NBC Nightly News.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
My favorite headline today, hands down, is on the New York Times website: "Water Found on Moon, Scientists Say." For some reason, it made me think of Walter Cronkite. We've become so blasé about space travel—and worlds other than ours (and we spotted sending human missions to other places, aside from the International Space Station) that it’s not even the lead story at this hour.
And yet, for those of us who were alive during the "space race," and those decades when we simply could not learn enough—fast enough—about places like the moon...this is shocking news. I expect a Page One headline more along the lines of the Times' famous "MAN WALKS ON MOON." Alas, it’s a different time. It’s only water. It’s only the moon, after all. It’s only one of several editorial decisions facing us as we prioritize today's news for tonight's broadcast.
I hope you've enjoyed this week's superb "Making A Difference" series of reports -- if you missed any one of them, you can catch up with them here.
We hope you can join us tonight. Please have a good weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.
By Lauren Selsky, Washington DC desk assistant and Shannon Urtnowski, Burbank production assistant
Living on opposite ends of the country, we talk often about the differences of each coast, ranging from weather to pace of life. But, being in the early stages of our careers and concerned with the current state of the nation, something more important has been on our minds lately; an unfortunate trend spanning coast to coast - "unemployment."
It was disheartening to hear the recent statistics showing payrolls fell by 190,000 workers last month and the U.S. unemployment rate climbed to 10.2 percent. These numbers have been creeping up for some time now, and families nationwide are hurting from lost jobs, lost benefits, and lost sense of self. There had to be something different - something better - that could be done.
Though we knew we weren't the first to tackle this challenge, we decided to use the skills we had - researching. One program in particular stuck out - work sharing. Simply put, work sharing is mutually beneficial to both employers and employees - a win/win situation. Employers reduce workers' weekly hours and pay, and the workers collect unemployment from the state in lieu of being laid off.
With guidance from Producer John Cheang and Correspondent Chris Jansing we found the program has been a saving grace for a company in Washington. Chris and John went up to Seattle and saw this first-hand.
For all the good this work share program does, having already saved 150,000 jobs this year alone, only 17 states have adopted the program. There are those who believe even more can and should be done. For example, economist Mark Zandi wrote a Nov. 2nd op-ed in the New York Times proposing Congress provide financing to expand work share programs nationwide. With unemployment continuing to rise, it seems unlikely Zandi is alone in his views.
Joo Lee, NBC News producer
BATON ROUGE, La. – In his trademark black cowboy hat and worn blue jeans, country music star Tim McGraw is right at home under the hot stage lights. But on a recent night outside Pittsburgh, he was turning the spotlight away from himself and raising money for a good cause.
"This goes to the Neighbor's Keeper fund. Mine and my wife's charity that we started a while back," McGraw said to the audience.
McGraw calls his benefit concerts "bread and water" shows. "Typically when we do these shows, it'll cost you $100 for the Neighbor's Keeper to do a request. But if it's really bad, it costs you $200 for us to stop," he said with a laugh.
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| Larry Busacca / Getty Images |
| Singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw at the 2009 MusiCares event in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 2009. |
Asked how much money these concerts can raise, McGraw responded, "Playing badly, we can raise a lot!"
McGraw and his wife, country singer Faith Hill, founded the Neighbor's Keeper Fund in 2004 to strengthen communities in need, particularly by contributing to projects that support children’s initiatives. The non-profit organization contributes to diverse projects. They've raised money for Habitat for Humanity in Nashville and supported a youth baseball league in Rayville, La.
Between 2005-2007 Neighbor’s Keeper Fund raised more than $2.5 million, according to public charity tax records.
For McGraw, the idea was simple, "You know, you got to look out for your neighbor. And Faith and I both came from families like that," said McGraw. "If somebody was in trouble, the neighbors were there to help."
The idea of Neighbor’s Keeper is to be able to target funds directly to a problem, often by donating to charitable groups that are already doing good work in an area. "Without any red tape. Without any overhead. Without any committee. We can just identify something and go straight to it," he explained.
CONTINUED >>
By Tim McGraw, country music artist
The Neighbor’s Keeper Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee is a charitable organization that my wife, Faith, and I founded in 2004 to help people in need and encourage the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors. It seeks to strengthen communities throughout the United States by contributing to diverse projects, with primary emphasis on children's initiatives.
Faith and I chose the name "Neighbor’s Keeper" because we felt it really summed up the responsibility each of us has to one another. We were both raised in small Southern towns where people were always willing to lend a helping hand, and we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to do the same through Neighbor’s Keeper.
When I was growing up in Start, Louisiana, one of my greatest heroes was my basketball coach, Larry Butler. Not only was he a terrific coach, he made sure that we learned what it meant to be part of a team off the court, too. When it flooded – which it did every year – Coach Butler would load up his players in the back of his truck and take us to the local cotton gin where there was a huge pile of sand. We would fill sand bags, load them in the truck and bring them to people’s yards and anywhere else they might be needed. It was Coach Butler’s way of teaching us how to give back to our community, a premise that is central to The Neighbor’s Keeper Fund.
When news breaks about a pressing need, Neighbor’s Keeper moves quickly to identify how its resources can have the greatest impact in the shortest amount of time. Then we find the local organization that is best suited to the task – and we give them the funds they need to get the job done.
Every day you can make a difference in the lives of the people around you. I encourage you to seek out ways to strengthen your own community. And if you’d like to join us in our mission at The Neighbor’s Keeper Fund, please check out our website at http://timmcgraw.com/neighbors-keeper.html. Together we can accomplish great things!
Video: 'Katrina really hit close to home'
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I guess because of my recent immersion in the military and the attention on veterans over these last few days, today I'd like you to read someone else's work.
While in Kabul, I had dinner with David Ignatius of the Washington Post, and this piece was brought to my attention too late yesterday to post it here, but he gets it. He has spent a lot of time around the military, and this piece he wrote spoke to the details I've always noticed when around them. So...please read and enjoy. It's important.
We hope you can join us tonight.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
A few minutes after 1pm, I put on my coat and walked to the corner of 5th Avenue and 50th Street. From my office, I could see bits and pieces of the Veteran's Day Parade passing up 5th Avenue, and I wanted to see it up close. I was gratified to find people standing 8 deep along Fifth Avenue.
Seniors, parents with children, a smattering of normally-scurrying office workers out for a mid-day errand...all stopping behind the barricades to watch a bit of the parade pass by. What thrilled me was to see and hear spontaneous applause break out. With each passing float, each collection of veterans, I watched as people started to clap...with enthusiasm...up and down the Avenue. The bagpipes, as always (God Bless the FDNY Emerald Society -- you guys sounded great today) put us over the top. It put a lump in my throat. I was fortunate enough to host a big dinner for Veterans here in New York last night, so it’s been a great 24 hours on that front.
As I walked back to 30 Rock, I witnessed an incredible moment: As I watched, the tree platform was being lowered into place, directly over the logo on the sidewalk that shows off-season tourists where the legendary tree stands each holiday season. What a great moment to witness -- in all, quite a day here in Midtown Manhattan, considering it was a 20-minute outing from start to finish.
I sure hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast. I'm off to greet a visiting group of female military veterans. And I couldn't be happier.
By Anne Thompson, NBC News chief environmental affairs correspondent
If something goes wrong with your body... you break a bone, get the flu, or something more serious, sympathy and help abounds. But what if something goes wrong with your brain?
Mental illness affects one in six Americans and yet it is still an illness people are reluctant to talk about, let alone admit that they have.
Tonight, we will show you how actress Glenn Close is working to change the perception of mental illness and erase the stigma that all too often attaches. She is operating on two levels. The first and most public is the one we are most familiar with, Close is the force behind a new public service announcement with the slogan "Bring Change To Mind." She convinced Oscar winning director Ron Howard of "A Beautiful Mind" (the story of Nobel Prize winner Dr. John Nash and his struggle with mental illness) to direct the 30 second spot. It is shot in New York's Grand Central Terminal and set to John Mayer's song "Say." It is beautiful, moving and packs a punch as you meet people with mental illness and their families, including Jessie Close and her sister Glenn.
Video: My sister is 'my hero'
That's the second level. This is a cause that is personal for Glenn. The daughters of a physician, Glenn says there was no vocabulary in her family for mental illness, even though she says Jessie showed signs of obsessive behavior as a child. The youngest, Jessie lived for years swinging from mania and depression until she was finally diagnosed as bipolar at age 47. Now age 56, Jessie is living with mental illness. "I take care of my illness," Jessie says. "My illness doesn't take care of me." Jessie is a writer with three children. She's just finished her first book, co-authored with her son Calen who also has a mental illness.
What they both hope to achieve with this PSA is to remove the stigma that accompanies mental illness. It is not a character flaw. It is an illness and they want people to understand that those afflicted can live very productive lives if they get the right treatment and medications. They hope that one day society realizes people with mental illness can recover and live the same way that people do with cancer, diabetes and addictions.
Glenn volunteers at Fountain House here in New York. Fountain House is a place where those with mental illness can find support and resources to get housing and jobs. Glenn says she did not want to be a celebrity in a ball gown showing up at a charity event. Instead she wanted to "dig deep," to understand and to figure out what she could do to help. After a couple of years of volunteering, she came up with the PSA and it was shot this summer.
Glenn says Jessie is her hero. Jessie says Glenn is a great woman. Watch tonight and you will see why.
Full interview: I wanted to 'dig deep'
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I was proud of the fact that we offered live coverage on both the NBC Television Network and MSNBC today of the sad memorial service in front of the massive III Corps Headquarters at Ft. Hood, Texas. Just think: III Corps has lost over 450 souls in two overseas wars...and now 13 on base.
One aspect of the day that I wasn't able to mention on the air: at the end, while the President and Mrs. Obama paid their final respects before the stark boots-and-rifle-and-helmet memorials of each of the 13, the President left something at each of the displays.
It was the Presidential "challenge" coin--which can only be handed out by the Commander in Chief. This is the one the President gave out today:
We did a segment on challenge coins (which featured my own collection, now easily 25 percent bigger than it was) a few months back and received a huge response. They are a great military tradition. Now those families will have at least one tangible token of the President's visit. We are thinking of them and praying for them after this wrenching day.
We hope you can join us tonight.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
Twenty years ago tonight, I was sharing a cherry picker with Dan Rather. I was working for WCBS-TV in New York, doing reports from the Berlin Wall for the CBS Television Stations. Dan had flown there to join Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings -- covering the biggest night any of us had ever seen. We were all using rented cherry pickers, hoisted above the party with a clear view of the wall behind us. I will never forget it -- or the scene the next day, as the East Germans (as they were still called) streamed into the West on foot and in small Eastern Bloc automobiles. Competitively, the other two networks were behind NBC on the story -- Tom and his team opted to fly in early on a hunch, and they were right. Its nice to now be on the same team, as we look back 20-years tonight!
The thesis behind our popular "Making A Difference" series of reports has been: ordinary folks doing extraordinary things. We've done stories on incredible people. The only problem is, we've left out famous people who are ALSO doing extraordinary things.
This week, we fix that. Starting tonight, with my profile of Jon Bon Jovi...we will chronicle one notable American each day who is helping out and giving back. Let us know what you think. I hope you had a good weekend, and I hope you can join us here this week...starting with tonight's broadcast.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
My apologies for skipping the blog on Saturday. I was making my way back to New York after covering the shooting at Fort Hood, and didn't arrive in the newsroom until shortly before last night's newscast.
We are of course following up on the latest developments from Fort Hood on tonight's broadcast.
We're also tracking the progress of Hurricane Ida, which looks like it could hit the Gulf Coast sometime this week. In fact, Louisiana Governor Jindal has just declared a state of emergency. We'll get a live update from our colleagues at The Weather Channel on our broadcast this evening.
The big story out of Washington is the passage last night of a health care reform bill by the House of Representatives. It's a big deal for Democrats, and the president, but all roads now lead through the U.S. Senate. We're going to break it all down.
Thanks for checking in. We'll look for you tonight on NBC Nightly News.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
The awful Ft. Hood shooting incident has saddened everyone -- and we're feeling it acutely perhaps because we just spent a week with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. I've often said that one of the great blessings of my job (as someone who didn't serve) is the exposure it has given me to our superb all-volunteer force. I have been to Ft. Hood, and cannot imagine the shattering effect this will have on that post and community. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the dead and wounded -- and we hope you can join us tonight as we attempt to further de-construct what happened there.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
We are covering an awful breaking story at Ft. Hood in Texas. Not only is it the single largest military installation in the country, this makes for the single largest loss of life in a single day domestically in some time. It’s an awful story, and there's a lot we don't know at this hour. We'll try to compile the very best reporting for tonight's broadcast, and we hope you can join us.
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I'm simply writing today to say thank you -- and to express my ongoing appreciation at the amazing generosity of our viewers. Last night we did a follow-up on the orphanage in Afghanistan. I was only home from work for a few hours when we learned they had already received 500 e-mails from Nightly News viewers -- many of them offering donations and pledges to sponsor a child. It is immensely gratifying, and I'm beyond words in expressing my thanks and appreciation on behalf of the lovely children we met over there. Thank you.
We hope you can join us tonight.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
How to help:
Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO) is an Afghan non-profit organization based in Kabul, founded by a group of volunteers in 2001. They are working with international partners in the United States, Italy, and Australia on projects that benefit Afghan children.
If you would like to sponsor an Afghan child or make a donation online, please visit: www.charityhelp.org/afceco
AFCECO
P.O. Box 5820
Kabul, Afghanistan
info@afceco.org
www.afceco.org
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
I'd like to make a special plea for your attention: tonight we are doing a follow-up Making a Difference report. It's actually a report on the generosity of our viewers. Last Friday from Afghanistan, we first aired the story of an orphanage on Nightly News. It is the home to 67 girls and several boys -- and it is an infectiously happy place. We aired the story, along with information on how our viewers could contribute. In the time it took us to fly home to New York, our viewers had donated more than $50,000 -- and since we've been back, we sent a camera crew back to the orphanage to measure how this segment has assisted them.
So please watch tonight's follow-up along with us -- and most importantly: thank you for your generosity, thank you for not letting me down...and thank you for what you have done for those wonderful children. I'm told that adoption from Afghanistan is virtually impossible... and yes, I wanted to take them all home. I hope you can join us for the entire broadcast this evening.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
How to help:
Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO) is an Afghan non-profit organization based in Kabul, founded by a group of volunteers in 2001. They are working with international partners in the United States, Italy, and Australia on projects that benefit Afghan children.
If you would like to sponsor an Afghan child or make a donation online, please visit: www.charityhelp.org/afceco
AFCECO
P.O. Box 5820
Kabul, Afghanistan
info@afceco.org
www.afceco.org
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
Our last moments in Kabul left an indelible impression, and I'm afraid not a good one. While we were at the airport, waiting in the parking lot to be "processed," two SUV's full of American contractors arrived: all wearing visible body armor, many with thigh-mounted ankle holsters for their 9mm handguns, and still others with conspicuous automatic weapons held across their chests. They are not alone -- this kind of thing is now ubiquitous there.
There is a dynamic developing in Kabul which is reminiscent of Baghdad: Highly visible American security contractors, operating aggressively in Afghanistan. They are aggressive in traffic, they are threatening-looking in public (which they will admittedly tell you is by design, to protect their charge). Many of these firms are the same ones we all came to know in Iraq -- the security structure in Afghanistan has become a massive industry. It also works hand in glove with the deep corruption in that country: I watched as two gatekeepers at the airport were handed cash to allow admittance to the parking lots, and I watched as two passport workers were handed cash to facilitate a departure. Corruption is pervasive -- and it all can make for a rather toxic backdrop against which we now consider Afghanistan's future, and America's role in that. We were handed a whole new set of circumstances with the de facto dissolution of the election this morning, and we'll have to wait and see how (and if) that affects the security environment there.
One more thing: I transited home through Dubai. I opened a copy of GQ magazine on the plane, only to find many of the pages stuck together. After pulling several pages apart, I found that someone (I later learned it was the Government) had gone through every magazine with a heavy black liquid magic marker and blotted out any sensitive or provocative body parts. To be more blunt: if there was a nipple visible through a t-shirt, if too much of a derriere was visible, it was hidden behind a huge splotch of black ink.
I've now travelled through Dubai many times, and have spent a fair amount of time there. It's a confusing place: they advertise good times, while a conservative government and culture place limits on popular culture and discourse. As a friend who lives there points out constantly, "It is not a free society." As long as you know that going in.
As long as you don't mind knowing your magazine's been read before you opened it
--and portions of it have been turned black.
As always, it's good to be home.
We hope you can join us tonight from New York.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
All day I've been thinking about what happened to that extra hour we supposedly got this morning. I actually used mine, plus an additional 90 minutes staying up to watch some of the rain-delayed World Series game last night. So in reality I'm an hour and a half in the hole.
Every year I manage to rationalize the time change to the point of getting less sleep, not more. Isn't it too bad they can't just surprise us with the return to standard time? Maybe magically set our clocks back an hour as we sleep on some random fall night so we really do get to benefit from that extra sack time?
On the broadcast tonight we're covering the fallout in Washington from the aborted runoff election in Afghanistan that leaves Hamid Karzai as president for the next five years. The White House had been holding off a decision on whether to commit more troops there until after the Afghan election was decided. So what happens now? We'll get reports from Kabul and the White House on tonight's Nightly News.
There's new information about the bodies found in the home of a Cleveland sex offender, and how they died. We'll have the latest on that.
We'll also hear from the skipper of that American cargo ship who was held by Somali pirates earlier this year. I spoke to Captain Richard Phillips earlier today about the British couple who were captured at sea more than a week ago, and what they may be facing.
I hope you'll join us tonight for NBC Nightly News.
