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Subscribe to RSSI was craving an omelet and there were 3 eggs left in the refrigerator this morning, but the carton they originally came in was nowhere to be seen. What to do? Toss 'em, or eat 'em? Thankfully my wife assured me they came from a farm here in the Northeast, which is not a source of the salmonella contaminated eggs identified in the widening egg recall. But no one should reach for an egg right now without first checking to see where it came from. The number of eggs recalled over possible salmonella contamination now tops half a billion, and over a thousand people have been sickened by tainted eggs. We've listed the brands in question here on the Nightly News website. We've also invited a government doctor from the FDA to come on with me the broadcast tonight to answer the questions many of you have about this outbreak.
We're also following the strange legal turn of events surrounding the man behind WikiLeaks, the web site that recently published secret U.S. government documents about the war in Afghanistan. He was accused of rape today by Swedish authorities, who quickly turned around and declared there was no basis for the charge. He's still not out of legal hot water, however, and there are questions about the timing of the legal scrutiny given his web site may be about to release more secret war documents. We'll have a lot more on this tonight.
The mention of bed bugs sparks a shudder among many of us, especially here in New York where the biting critters are showing up in more and more places. But we're not alone. NBC's Tom Costello takes a look at how bed bug outbreaks are popping up across the country.
Finally a note of thanks to my colleague Kate Snow for filling in for me last weekend while I enjoyed some vacation time with my family.
It's nice to be back. I'll look for you tonight on NBC Nightly News.
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Good Evening Mr.Holt, A fine broadcast this Saturday evening. Hope you had a wonderful vacation last weekend with your family. Glad to see you back!
Now on to the broadcast. First of all the report by Stephanie Gosk from Pakistan concerning the massive floods that have engulfed the region. It is so very heartbreaking to see the people struggling to survive and losing everything they own. The repsonse for relief seems to have increased although much more is needed. So very difficult for the US Marines to get the necessary supplies to the people in certain areas. One hopes the rains will cease and the waters will recede.
The report by Michelle Franzen about the huge recall of eggs is alarming since it affects so many States. Hopefully, the source of the outbreak can be pinpointed, but for now one should be cautious. Cooking the eggs thoroughly is definitely a must to make sure one stays well.
The report by Mr.Costello about the "bed bug" invasion was disturbing news since these bugs are so hard to get rid of in ones home or business. They appear to just latch onto people and cause extreme discomfort. At least they don't carry and diseases. Hopefully, this infestation will be stopped soon.
The "Making A Difference" segment by Mr.Alexander about the New York Yankees and how their HOPE Week in giving back was so touching. Certainly put smiles on many people! What a great program!
Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Holt. See you on Sunday! Peace to You and to All!
Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Claudia,Celine,Anna,Lori,Cary and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard!
Take Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!
XOXO
Lisa
Lester,
Missed your broadcast because my husband and I attended a wedding but I did see the Today Show
and found the segment on interfaith marriages interesting. St. Paul in the New Testament says
an unenqually yoke marriage is doomed, but I am an eternal optimist and believe true love conquers all.
Phyllis
Yeah buddy it's Recovery Summer. .........Hello my name is ___________— and I'm an Obamaholic.
Lester;
That was an interesting comment by your wife and the farm in the Northeast. I think, but hope not, that she was making reference to DeCoster Egg Farms in, or close to Lewiston, Maine. Nightly News mentioned them briefly at the start of reporting- In a time frame that goes back maybe 10 years, the owner of this operation was cited and convicted of multiple offenses including unsanitary conditions for both animals and workers, improper farming techniques, refusing to comply with orders to correct the operation.
The story has been kind of buried for some reason- it's going a long way back in my memory, but you might want to do some research and maybe look into some Cheerios :-)
Roger
My husband worked for "Uncle Jack" Decoster 37 years ago as a maintenance man on his egg farms in Turner, ME. The farms already had a bad reputation then. My husband was hired as a trainee and was promised a 10 cent an hour raise when he learned his job. The man he who was training him quit and my husband was THE maintenance man on duty so he asked for his raise and was fired. That was the best thing that ever happened to my husband and the only time he was ever fired.
Housing conditions were deplorable for the workers on the farm. They lived in trailers with no heat, no running water, and backed up toilets. My husband was there one day when Jack Decoster beat up one of his own employees and that wasn't the first or last time. There were lots of newspaper stories about the inhumane conditions.
The birds on the farm were treated just as poorly as the employees. When they culled the just hatched chicks because only the egg producing hens were kept, the baby roosters were put into a garbage can alive with the ones on the bottom eventually crushed and suffocated. All the males were disposed of inhumanely, but were probably the luckiest with their short lives. The egg laying females were sadly mistreated during their production time.
The Lewiston Daily Sun and other local papers at the time were full of stories about the Turner Egg Farms. It was all common knowledge in the area and there were stories in the papers every week about violations, fines, etc. for Jack Decoster and the farms.
As far as I'm concerned, the salmonella outbreak is no surprise to anyone who knows anything about Decoster's time in Maine. I just want to know where the government regulators and protectors were in those 37 plus years. Our government is as much to blame in this situation as anyone else. It was all just festering and waiting to happen. It would be interesting to see some news outlet go back to the very beginning and chronicle the WHOLE story.
hi, lester,
back when i got richard engel's book, 'war journal', i opened it randomly as i am sometimes wont to do and found myself reading about saddam hussein's capture and richard's report of the small house where they found him. the kitchen was a mess and there were broken eggs there, he mentioned. i was spooked about 20 minutes later when i went in to the fridge to get my lemon wrapped in saran wrap for my tea. a piece of the saran wrap had vacuumed to the eggs and two of them came out with that piece of it and fell on the floor and broke. it was a mess because i had a small kitchen rug in front of the refrigerator. what a weird deja vu. it was kind of like when i was reading michael crichton's 'timeline', finally, years after it was published, and i got to the part about where they found the professor's glasses. i had to make a quick run to wally world and when i did, the thin plastic string that was holding one of my lenses in place broke and the lens dropped into my lap. so, i'm wondering what all of those tainted eggs mean for our country . . . . maybe they took the mushroom cloud that was meant for the u.s., do you put mushrooms in your omelette? oh, and i was thinking, for ann curry, that if we moved the wormhole over just a teeny-weeny bit, the jerks that are using it illegally, the outer perimeter of it, will crash into the 'rim' and that will be the end of that. i moved around some things in my living room and 2nd bedroom that is the workroom yesterday and realized that i was moving things over just a bit, in two rooms, actually. that's when i 'saw' the 'rim' moving. i put my asu alumn electrical engineering son on the altar for iraq's power grid. he works for a semi-conductor company in mesa, az., and he was the only one in his unit to get a raise the other week. he has a patent out there, i have no clue what it is except that it's electrical. so, this is how things go when you live in a little 2-bedroom trailer and only go out beyond the garden 2-3 times a month to run errands . . . . . i even forgot to get my mail last week, i am over capacity and got a notice to go pick up my mail at the post office, i hope i can make it out before 5:00 p.m. one day this week with my crazy sleeping schedule. have a very good sunday, best, anna martina
Lester: I can understand why you were hesitant before eating those eggs from the fridge. Allof us should keep eggs in the carton to determine where they originated from. This salmonella problem is taking on the scale of an epidemic! Federal and state inspections must be conducted at evey egg farm across the nation.
The conflicts continue between BP and the Federal Government about the oil spill. These two entities must come together and resolve their disagreements, and determine the exact cause of the event.
I enjoined the making a difference segment last night. It showed that professional sports teams can really make a difference in people's lives! I'll catch you on tonight's broadcast.
Lester, A word play. BP invasion -- Bay of Pigs invasion: Gives bad eggs a whole new meaning.Phyllis
ATTENTION PRODUCERS: Ok. We've got salmonella eggs. Are we at risk of defective or even deadly flu vaccine if tainted eggs were used in the production of flu vaccine?