Lester Holt
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
The deaths of 8 Americans in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan is raising the stakes both on the battlefield, and in Washington, over the question – what now?
With American casualties mounting, and the administration weighing whether to deploy tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan, we'll have firsthand accounts of the situation on the ground. Our Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski will join me live from Kabul this evening after touring the region where the attack occurred. In addition, our veteran war correspondent Richard Engel is just back from Afghanistan, and will be with me in studio to offer his perspective on what American troops and their commanders are facing.
We're also covering the imminent release (slightly ahead of schedule) of the H1N1 flu vaccine. We'll tell you who is slated to get the first doses.
We will look at what's on the Supreme Court's calendar as they prepare to begin their fall term, as well as examine the extreme lengths an Illinois man is accused of going to in order to stalk and secretly videotape ESPN reporter Erin Andrews.
I hope you can join me later for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
It's been an unsettling couple of days--from Iran's admission it has a secret nuclear facility under construction and suspicions in the West that it may be for weapons production--to a series of unrelated terror plots here at home.
Tonight we'll be reporting on developments from both fronts, including President Obama's new message to Iran, and new pieces of a plot a terror suspect may have been planning to unleash in New York city.
Plenty of American couples have to turned to in-vitro fertilization in order to have children, but two stories in the news are raising serious questions about how frozen embryos are handled. Tonight we'll tell you about a Louisiana clinic that has apparently mixed up several embryos. It follows on the heels of an Ohio woman who was accidentally implanted with another couples' embryo.
Thanks for checking in. I hope you will join us for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Happy Labor Day. Brian is off today and I'll be with you this evening.
This has not been a quiet holiday weekend on the political front as President Barack Obama is well aware. After taking it on the chin on everything from health care to a planned speech to school kids, he seemed to be drawing battle lines with renewed vigor at a speech today. Chuck Todd will preview what is shaping up to be a big week to watch in Washington.
We're watching that around-the-clock effort to re-open the Bay Bridge in San Francisco in time for the morning rush after an inspection revealed a nasty surprise.
There's a great sports story playing out over at the US Open in Queens, New York. A lot of people are suddenly asking, who is that 17-year-old girl from Georgia methodically taking down her better known opponents? We'll have her story and a lot more when we see you tonight for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I hope you're having a good holiday weekend. We're back on the air tonight with the story of mounting political headaches for President Obama as he returns from vacation.
Overnight, one of his special advisors on the environment submitted his resignation after his incendiary statements about Republicans and association with a fringe 9/11 conspiracy movement became public. An attack from the right over the president's planned speech to the nation's school kids is also kicking up dust, just as he tries to refocus the nation on his vision for health care reform.
We'll also be reporting on a suspected swine flu outbreak that has already sidelined as many 2,000 students at a major West Coast university, and on efforts to control that major wildfire outside Los Angeles.
Plus, there are some big changes in the Internet search engine business to tell you about.
I hope you'll join us tonight for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
That big fire burning north of Los Angeles has almost doubled in size since our report on last night's broadcast. Thousands of homes are now under evacuation orders. We'll be going to live to the scene this evening for the very latest.
We also have an amazing survivor's story to report involving 3 fishermen who were missing for over a week in the Gulf of Mexico – so long that active search efforts had virtually been suspended. Our Peter Alexander has just spoken to one of the men who explained what happened to them and how they were rescued.
Suspicions are growing today over what other crimes Philip Garrido, the accused kidnapper of Jaycee Dugard, may be linked to. Those suspicions have now caused police to rope off part of a yard next to Garrido's as a crime scene. George Lewis brings us the new developments from Antioch, California.
Plus, we'll tell you about why hard times in the lobster catching business have tempers boiling on a tiny island off the coast of Maine.
Thanks for checking in. I hope you'll catch us later for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
The remarkable life journey of Senator Edward Kennedy has been colorfully and poignantly told these last four days. His family, friends, Senate colleagues, and today, President Obama in his eulogy, have helped complete the portrait of a man who had already left an indelible imprint on American politics and history. This evening the journey ends with Senator Kennedy's interment at Arlington National Cemetery, near his brothers John and Bobby. We plan full coverage of this morning's stirring funeral in Boston, and his burial in Arlington on tonight's newscast.
There is also news out of California on the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping horror, as well as on the race to save threatened neighborhoods from a Los Angeles area wildfire.
I hope you'll join me tonight for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Good afternoon. We're back from Boston, and in New York for tonight's broadcast. The skies are stormy here, and we spent some time in a holding pattern before we could land. Much of the East Coast is bracing for a nasty weekend as tropical storm Danny moves northward. We'll have the latest on its strength and where it's headed.
Meanwhile there's a lot of other news breaking today, including a frank admission from a California Sheriff that "we missed an opportunity" to capture the suspected kidnapper of Jaycee Dugard some three years ago. She's the now 29-year-old who was kidnapped 18 years ago. That Sheriff is not the only one talking about this case. So is the accused kidnapper from his jail cell. Our George Lewis is going to have a lot more for us on this stunning story.
Another grim milestone was passed in Afghanistan today when this August became the deadliest month for American troops so far in the almost 8-year-long war. We have also learned an American radio journalist was badly injured in an attack there today.
Finally, as I left the John F. Kennedy library after last night's broadcast, I consciously searched for the end of the line of mourners who were waiting to pay their respects to Senator Edward Kennedy. I never did spot it. We did learn today, however, that 25,000 people filed past the Senator's casket by 2 o'clock this morning. We're covering the ongoing tributes, including tonight's private memorial for Senator Edward Kennedy.
Brian is off again tonight, but I hope you'll join for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
I've made my way to Boston, and the JFK Presidential Library where people have already begun arriving to pay their respects to Senator Edward Kennedy. He'll lie in repose here until Saturday morning.
It's hard to describe how deeply Kennedy was ingrained in the fabric of this state. The guy who drove me in from the airport told me, "He was like your uncle." The crowds that lined the 72-mile procession route from Hyannis Port to Boston today spoke volumes about how well he was regarded here. Brian is off tonight, and I'll be leading our coverage of Edward Kennedy's farewell.
From California tonight we also have the amazing story of a girl, kidnapped 18 years ago at the age of 11, who walked into a police station on her own today and identified herself to officers. George Lewis will tell us what police have learned about her long ordeal.
Thanks for checking in. I hope can join us later for NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
Can a president of the United States ever find true seclusion? Probably not, but President Barack Obama and his family are giving it a try.
They arrived on Martha's Vineyard this afternoon to start their vacation, with no public events on their calendar. That is not, however, dampening the excitement among locals and other vacationers on the island. Our Ron Allen, who himself is a frequent Martha's Vineyard visitor, will tell us more about the first family's trip on Nightly News tonight.
We're also covering two more cases of airline passengers being trapped on the tarmac for hours on end. Michelle Franzen is looking into the question of what rights passengers have in such circumstances.
Large parts of Greece are on fire tonight. There have been 90 wildfires there since yesterday, with a major one now burning in the northern suburbs of Athens near 2 ancient temples. We'll have the latest on that as well.
I hope you will join us later for the Sunday edition of NBC Nightly News.
By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor
There's been a lot of complaining about what a strange summer this has been on the East Coast. It was unusually cool in June and July, and we've also had a lot of rain.
To add insult to injury, now that it has finally warmed up, a lot of beach goers are finding out this weekend that their favorite beaches are closed for Hurricane Bill. The storm won't make landfall here, but it is close enough to kick up high surf and dangerous rip currents that can pull even strong swimmers out to sea. We'll have the latest on Nightly News tonight.
We've also got the latest on the deeply disturbing story of a track and field athlete whose amazing finish among a field of women in a recent race has officials openly questioning whether she is really a woman. What's more, experts say in some cases it is not as easy a question to answer as most of us might think.
Driving across Interstate 10 through Marana, Arizona is a site that I'm sure has caused more than one motorists to do a double take. There in the distance, across the open desert are scores of commercial airliners – everything from small DC-9's to giant 747's. The number of jets parked in this open air storage facility has swelled over the last few months. I took a journey there recently and I'll tell you what it's all about, and what happens to those planes when I see you later for the Saturday edition of NBC Nightly News.
