By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

These days I'm living a dual life. I came to work today from Sesame Street, where I reported first thing in the morning to shoot an episode for the upcoming fall season. Since raising two children on Sesame Street (and, my wife and I hope, actual parenting) its been something of a dream to appear on the show. I'm so happy to report that the cast and crew and producers and writers are just as smart, creative, happy and welcoming as you'd want them to be. I had a blast today, hanging with Elmo, Ernie, Bob and others -- and can't wait to go back to that familiar Street tomorrow. It is truly a joy.

One note from history: 40 years ago today (while it's hard to describe just how impactful it was for its time and place), President Lyndon Johnson stunned the world by announcing that he would neither seek nor accept his party's nomination for another term as President. It was a closely-guarded secret within the White House until the moment of the announcement. At least one witness said he glanced over at his wife Lady Bird, who was present for the speech in the Oval Office, before he read the actual words that had been added to his speech on the TelePrompTer. It was a huge story. No one had any way of knowing, of course, that just days later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be assasinated in Memphis.

It's not too early to tell you that we'll be live at the National Civil Rights Museum (just beneath the balcony of the Lorraine Motel) in Memphis for Friday's broadcast. We have some special coverage planned, and I urge you to join us -- as I do for tonight's broadcast as well.

Brian Williams answers your Newsvine questions on how the Nightly News team puts together the newscast. How much of the show does he write? And how do they pick correspondents for each political candidate?

Watch the clip, below.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Having lost more than one family member to cancer, the segment/interview we aired with Senator Specter was something I found so meaningful to work on -- I was so gratified today to see the viewer response was largely the same. Thanks for enjoying it as much as I did working on it.

I want to slip off into the weekend having called your attention to several things -- several of them under one umbrella. Our friends at Slate have a confluence of riches posted on their site at this moment: the excerpted feature on "The New Censorship," the Hillary Clinton campaign watch they've set up, and a great slide show on the life and extraordinary works of Edward Hopper.

The blindingly smart George Packer has done a great bit of satiric writing on the state of this campaign, and Josh Green (who has some history with the Clinton campaign) is out to prove that religion can, I guess, cut both ways.

This current national "discussion" we're having argues, I believe, for watching the superb "John Adams" series on HBO. Each frame of it is a lesson in how issues like religion were dealt with by the Framers.

We've also uncovered an incredible Time magazine cover story from 1967 -- about the union of two people, shocking in its time -- and related to a present-day storyline.

One last thing: bravo to the TSA for recognizing a clear and present danger to aviation safety. Sheesh.

My thanks to Skip for his post to this blog (see yesterday's comments) -- about the nicest kind to recieve in this line of work. Now I'm off to answer some questions from Newsvine folks, and to start that weekend I mentioned. I hope you all have a safe and restful weekend, unless you have other plans! We'lll see you back here Monday night. My friend Hoda Kotb is filling in for my buddy Lester this weekend, so do try to join her both nights.

By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent

To understand why Colombian forces crossed into Ecuador earlier this month to kill the second in command of the Colombian rebel group know as the FARC, along with 25 others at the guerilla camp, it helps to know that the government here and the FARC have been battling for four decades. Along the way thousands of Colombians from all walks of life have been kidnapped and held for ransom or political exchanges by those guerillas and others. Polls and recent anti-FARC demonstrations show that most Colombians are fed up with their tactics.

Kidnapping is a horrible act which often affects the families more than it does the actual victim. Colombia's current Vice-President, Francisco Santos, who was kidnapped for eight months by drug traffickers, says at least the victims are concentrating on survival and know the details of their situation. The families, he points out, are left in a painful vacuum, distraught in their lack of knowledge, fearing the worst. His own father, Santos says, aged 10 years during their eight-month ordeal.

In the first government of popular Colombian President Alvaro Uribe (he's now halfway into his second term), many of the leaders had personal experiences with kidnapping. The President's father was killed in a botched kidnapping, the Vice-president was kidnapped, the father of the Minister of Interior was kidnapped, the Minister of Culture's aunt was kidnapped and the Minister of Education's two brothers were killed in a FARC kidnapping and her mother was also seized.

"In the last 7 years there are 700 persons kidnapped by the FARC, they are unaccounted for. Most of them are probably dead now," said Santos. "And I have no doubt that kidnapping played a huge role in the psyche of Colombian society."

Caught in the middle of all this are three American defense contractors whose small plane crashed in FARC territory during a drug surveillance mission. Thomas Howes, Mark Gonsalves and Keith Stansell have been held for five years now, and their families are enduring the same agonies as those in Colombia. For our report tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, we visited with parents Gene and Lynne Stansell, who have fought tirelessly for the release of those men.

The Stansells have visited with the Colombian and Venezuelan presidents, urging a negotiated hostage release. They have also written letters to President Bush, Secretary of State Rice and House Speaker Pelosi. When asked what response they got from those American leaders, Lynne Stansell said firmly, "Nothing. Absolutely no response whatsoever."

The Stansells believe the three men, all military veterans, all working for the U.S. government at the time of their capture, are being ignored. "That made me discouraged to be an American citizen," said Gene Stansell.

The Stansells hope a settlement can somehow be reached between the FARC and perhaps a third party such as the Venezuelan or French governments, although they fear Colombia's attack on the rebel camp in Ecuador may have hampered any future negotiations. Colombia's Vice-President Santos is even less hopeful, arguing that perhaps the only option to free the Americans is a surgical military strike--an idea the families reject, fearing the rebels would then kill the hostages.

In the meantime, the men and all their Colombian counterparts, including the highest-profile Colombian hostage, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, continue to languish in the jungles somewhere. And their families endure their frightened vigils.

Here in the United States it's hard to imagine so many kidnap victims in one country. But, they're not that far away and come from one of America's strongest allies in Latin America. Joining them are three Americans and their families who fear that in the passing years they have all been forgotten.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

For the first time in over a month, I had an actual lunch in an actual restaurant, with actual utensils, instead of my usual lunch at my desk. And the episode taught me why I never go out for lunch: I've been behind on my work all day since.

We just broke from the editorial meeting and while several stories are "on the bubble" (meaning the best piece wins, and the correspondents involved have been so advised) we know the basic template for tonight: health care, Iraq, Tibet, politics, and a special interview I've conducted for air tonight...with a man who decided to live with cancer, and treatment, out in the open as a public figure.

My thanks to PFC Fritch for writing back. What a great honor to be with the Old Guard -- and again, thank you for your service.

I sincerely hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent

The email from the office Tuesday afternoon was a heads-up:  my colleague Robert Bazell, NBC's chief science correspondent, was going to have a report on that night's NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams about a medical controversy I'd want to know about...allegations that a study about a procedure for the early detection of lung cancer had been partly funded by tobacco companies.  And, the email went on, Bob's report would include a reference to me since I'd volunteered for the medical procedure at the heart of that controversy.

Ironically, just the day before, I'd kept a doctor's appointment I'd cancelled and rescheduled twice before that procedure-- actually a follow-up CT (Computer Tomography) Scan for lung cancer--  as part of an ongoing study by Dr. Claudia Henschke at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan.  I'd had my initial scan in November 2006, a decision I'd made after thinking hard about it and reading as much as I could about Dr. Henschke's research. 

For 40 years I'd smoked a pack of unfiltered cigarettes a day, finally quitting when my former colleague Peter Jennings died and I looked with fully open eyes for the first time at the unquestioned connections between lung cancer and cigarette smoking.  My decision to submit to the one test that seemed to screen effectively for lung cancer was based on a simple conclusion I'd taken another year to reach:  I wanted to know (and not simply wonder and worry) if my decades of smoking had set a time bomb in my chest that was about to go off… or already had.

I was nervous before that first scan but I came out clear.  No nodules, no hint of emphysema or arterial plaque.   Dr. Henschke explained that a decade of experience with these state-of-the-art scans had taught experts such as herself to identify those lesions that were most likely to be aggressive and dangerous and worth the risks of biopsy or other surgical intervention.  Since I was doing a story about my own test for NBC's Nightly News I solicited the opposing view, from another cancer expert, that Dr. Henschke's research, lacking a blind study for comparison purposes, had not proven her premise.

But personally I considered that early detection had proved a dramatic benefit in the mortality rates from breast and prostate cancers;  why wouldn't it prove equally beneficial in detecting lung cancer in its early stages?  So I took the test, accepted those first healthy results as only being a baseline for future tests, and agreed to return this year (and every year as part of my annual physical).

"No change," Dr. Henschke said, slightly out of breath after leaving a meeting to go over my scan results with me.  "The same good news as last time…"  She said something about some other issues she was wrestling with and I mumbled something about having heard or read about continuing criticisms of her research program.  She said something back that I didn't quite pick up… I was already reaching for my coat to leave…but all I'd really wanted to hear were those first words she'd spoken to me:  "Good news.  No change…"  I thanked her and returned to work.

So imagine my surprise when I opened the paper the next morning to learn the "other issues" Dr. Henschke was dealing with on the day I'd gotten my second scan had to do with dramatic allegations that millions in funding for her project had been provided by a cigarette manufacturer, and that she and others had set up a foundation through which those funds were paid as a way of making the financial support for her project less than transparent.

The press accounts of the controversy included suggestions by critics that the mere fact that funding had been provided by cigarette makers suggested those tobacco interests had a dark motive:  to imply for smokers that they could simply keep smoking until regular scans showed a problem was beginning, at which point they could nip it in the bud.  Both Dr. Henschke and her colleagues and the spokesman for the cigarette groups insisted vehemently that those groups "had no control or influence over the research."

My colleague  Bob Bazell's report on the controversy on last night's edition of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams did in fact make an appropriate reference that I'd volunteered to be scanned last year.  Fair play, and so is a full examination of the connection between cigarette makers who provided millions in funding and the work of an esteemed researcher who has worked for years to reduce the horrendous mortality rates from lung cancer. 

For my part… I'm a man in my 50s who smoked for four decades, and I want to live as long as I can.  I know that male smokers are 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than are male non-smokers.  I know they live an average of 14 years less than non-smokers.   I know the 5-year survival rate for diagnosed lung cancer patients remains abysmal, the treatment options limited and largely ineffective.

So, yes, I'll be curious to see how the controversy over the screening program plays out;  but the early detection provided by the screening technology is picking up support around the country and around the world.  Once a year, unless I'm convinced there's no benefit, I'll slide into the machine again and hope that afterward Dr. Henschke or some other expert will look at the images and repeat those words:  "Good news.  No change…"

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

For everyone of these sent to the blog...

There's one of these:

I was thrilled to hear from a serviceman who was part of yesterday's ceremony at Arlington. Private Fritch, if you're still out there, please write back! Are you with the Old Guard? Was that not a breathtaking event at Arlington? Which of my friends, the Recipients, did you meet and escort? Private, please know I admire what you do for a living and thank you for your service. I thought it was notable yesterday that there were just three audible sounds recurring during yesterday's ceremony -- aircraft departing on a northern route from National Airport, the birds in the trees above us, and the click of the steel-plated heels of the soldiers guarding the tomb.

About the email that references G.E.: try as I might, I don't think I'll ever convince a skeptical audience that there is not some hot line (or for that matter, even a phone call) from our corporate offices in Connecticut into our newsroom, telling us what stories to cover and what stories not to cover. It's just not how it works. When a story includes anything related to G.E. (as is often the case, given their diversified businesses; as is the case today with a potential story involving CT- scans) we point it out on the air. We call their P.R. folks for statements and quotations as we call all those involved in stories we cover.

And a tip of the hat to David McCullough for tipping his hat to us. David was on Charlie Rose a few days back when he mentioned a great moment we witnessed together. I interviewed David after the release of his book 1776. We strolled across the Brooklyn Bridge on a sparkling day while cameras rolled. We happened upon a class of school children from New York, who'd been assigned to sketch their impressions of the bridge as they walked. What made it special was that the teachers and parents along on the trip...an obviously literate bunch...knew McCollough on sight: the fluffy white hair, that iconic voice. He signed the sketch of one lucky young man, and we moved on. During his discussion with Charlie about the teaching of history through physical examples, David remembered that encounter, and I'm grateful. I regard David David McCullough as a national treasure, and his collected works -- all of which I'm proud to say I've read -- as a lasting, towering chronicle of the American experience...beginning with his wonderful work on the Brooklyn Bridge itself, The Great Bridge.

We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

Burials at Arlington National Cemetery are always sad, but the burial of Army Staff Sgt. Collin Bowen was especially so.

Bowen, 38, died last month of burns suffered in Afghanistan and was buried Tuesday before a large group of mourners that included his wife and three young daughters.

Bowen was on the final day of his final mission near the Pakistani border on Jan. 2 when he was critically burned on his head and limbs by a roadside bomb. Evacuated to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, he survived for 10 weeks before succumbing on March 14.

"Collin passed away peacefully," his brother wrote in an online journal, "with his family holding his hands at his bedside. May he rest in peace."

Bowen grew up in Marion, Ind., and spent most of his adult life in the Baltimore area. He met his wife, Ursala, while taking her Spanish class at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

"He called her mi corazon, and she called him mi amor," a neighbor told Capital News Service.

Their family included a daughter, Gabriela, 3, and his two daughters from a previous marriage, Katelyn, 10, and Erin, 13.

"He was your typical patriotic dude, very much into his family and his country," the neighbor said. "He was a very fulfilled man."

Bowen volunteered to serve in Afghanistan with the Maryland National Guard and volunteered for his final, 10-day mission. He was only six miles from base when the bomb exploded.

He was the 487th U.S. fatality of the war in Afghanistan.

Click here to view tributes to the 106 service members who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following 11 casualties from last week:

1. Army Spc. Lerando Brown, 27, of Gulfport, Miss.

2. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Elledge, 41, of Colorado Springs, Colo.

3. Army Spc. Christopher Simpson, 23, of Hampton, Va.

4. Army Sgt. Gregory Unruh, 28, of Dickinson, Texas.

5. Army Pfc. Antione Robinson, 20, of Detroit, Mich.

6. Army Pvt. Tyler Smith, 22, of Bethel, Maine.

7. Army Staff Sgt. William Neil Jr., 38, of Holmden, N.J.

8. Air Force Tech. Sgt. William Jefferson Jr., 34, of Norfolk, Va.

9. Army Sgt. Thomas Ray II, 40, of Weaversville, N.C.

10. Army Spc. David Stelmat, 27, of Littleton, N.H.

11. Army Sgt. David Williams, 26, of Tarboro, N.C.

Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He also posts stories on the military at www.fieldnotes.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories") and at http://john-rutherford.newsvine.com/. The tribute gallery can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22802019/.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Just down the white marble steps from the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery at 8:30 this morning, I called a news conference to order (with apologies delivered from the podium for fellow members of the press) in my capacity as a member of the Medal of Honor Foundation Board.

Before me in the audience: 34 recipients of the Medal of Honor. With me on stage: Retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, whom I introduced to help with today's honors: the first-ever recognition of civilians -- the three national finalists for the "Above and Beyond Honors". (Read about the winners here, here, and here.)

This is National Medal of Honor Day, and this is the first time the recipients have done this -- putting the full weight of the honor bestowed upon them, behind an honor given out to others.

We'll feature today's news conference at the end of our broadcast tonight, but I'm just enormously proud of these men who have become my friends -- these 105 living recipients. One among them, Vietnam Veteran Paul Bucha, came up with the idea of the Honors and today's ceremony. I cannot express what an honor it is, of all the people I've been lucky enough to know in my life -- to stand at that podium this morning and look out at their faces -- and receive smiles of friendship back from them.

That they allow me in their company is an honor in itself. In our age of endorsements, these men could probably get rich on the honor their nation has placed around their necks. Instead, they are sharing it with others. I'm not surprised.

I hope you will join us for tonight's broadcast.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

It is tempting for the media -- for all of us -- to move on after the news story that dominated our coverage for much of last week: the Midwest flooding. But the saddest image of the day might just be the weather radar over that region right now (more rain) and the predictions that rivers have yet to crest from last week. They don't need this.

We have quite a broadcast planned for you tonight, now that we're back after the Easter Weekend. Tonight, Nightly News is offered with limited commercial interruption -- a very simple equation: fewer commercials, more news. We'll try to put our extra time to good use. Something tells me politics will come up.

We're glad to have you with us.

By Mike Taibbi, NBC News correspondent

Anyone who's reported from Iraq -- and I've done four substantial reporting assignments from the war, from 14 weeks at the start to a month-long embedded assignment with producer John Zito last spring with a company of the Third Infantry Division -- follows the news from the war zone with a special interest.  So I knew in recent weeks we were creeping up on the next somber milestone: 4,000 American troops killed in battle. 

John and I spoke several times in the past few months about how we might report that story, when the milestone was reached, and one idea came together.  We'd both covered the war from the beginning, and had revisited story subjects we'd come to know along the way.  

One subject, a 35-year old raw-boned Oklahoma tough guy named Daniel "Bill" Scates had been killed late last summer along with four fellow soldiers when they walked into a booby-trapped house in southern Baghdad.  I knew Scates; had met him in the first weeks of the war on a day when he was struggling to come to grips with a tragic mistake:  his company had survived the costly but triumphant march from the south to Baghdad, but, once there, they'd set up a roadblock where they were billeted and when an innocent Iraqi family drove through it, panicking, Scates watched as the security detail mistakenly opened fire.  A father and his daughter were killed, his wife the only survivor. 

Scates had come face to face with the woman and, in a story we reported from Baghdad about combat traumatic stresses, he'd said in a debriefing session "I had to look her in the eyes, and I felt so horrible for her...I'm becoming more and more pissed with time over (the incident)...it gets me so frustrated, more and more I want to choke somebody... constantly!" 

Scates was a professional soldier, though, and dealt with his anger in as straightforward a way as he'd spoken to us.  He re-upped not once but twice after his first tour.  He didn't make it back from his third tour, telling his wife Raquel before he left that he'd had dreams about not surviving this time.  But he repeated to Raquel what he'd told us several times, "I'm a soldier, this is my job.  It's what I do."

And now, John Zito and I and Producer Sue Kroll knew, his wife and two young daughters would have to start a life without him and that's the story we would tell.  We'd gone to El Paso and covered Scates's funeral, and though we interviewed his wife and older daughter, we never put a separate story together on their struggle after Bill's death.  Now, with the new milestone approaching, would be the time to do it; to explore the struggles unique in this "friends and family" war... a war so under-the-radar for many Americans now, that in a Pew Research survey earlier this month a paltry 28% of those polled knew to the nearest thousand how many American military dead the war had claimed. 

We would touch on a few other recent deaths of troops in Iraq but returned, in the end, to the Scates family story.  Raquel, after a rough patch in their marriage, had smoothed things out with her husband in the months before his final deployment;  "We were even thinking of having a third (child)," she says. Then, last August 11th, Raquel heard a car door slam from the street in front of her house, and peeked through the small window in her front door to see a two-man uniformed detail approaching.  

"I was already crying before I opened the door," she told us. Three combat tours in Iraq certainly upped the odds of a bad result.  She was devastated, but not shocked.

By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor

Unlike so many natural disasters, flooding almost seems to take place in slow motion. Long after the heavy rain passed, residents in

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I'll be brief today -- in devoting this space to my friend and colleague Richard Engel. Several of you wrote in and mentioned the honor bestowed upon him. I've posted the announcement, and we've posted the segment that earned him this honor. I also have to believe that as the longest-serving broadcast journalist currently covering this war, Richard's body of work speaks for itself. His courage, his fairness and pursuit of the story have set him apart. No one has been more deserving of a civilian or journalistic honor for bravery. We all salute our friend Richard, who we know takes to heart the frequent good wishes and concern for his safety that are expressed in this space.

I hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast -- we have a good one planned. I hope you all enjoy the upcoming weekend, as many prepare to gather with family and friends. As the guy on TV says, we'll look for you right back here on Monday night.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I didn't want to let this week pass without pointing out an honor that was bestowed on two friends of mine -- two real-life American heroes -- one of them a member of our NBC News immediate family.

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Jack Jacobs (far right in the photo below), a recipient of the Medal of Honor and an NBC News Military Analyst, and former Navy Seal Mike Thornton (far left) -- both men, recipients of the Medal of Honor -- this week officially opened two buildings named after them.

The facility is on the grounds of Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Its part of a new network of housing for wounded warriors and their families. They will forever bear the names of these two great Vietnam Veterans. Two men who feel so fortunate to have survived that conflict -- two men given their nation's highest military honor for saving the lives of others -- will now be forever associated with a place that puts the wounded back together.

Jack Jacobs may be a modest and diminutive man -- but he's all you'll ever need with you in a battle. Jack has become a close friend over the years I've known him. Mike Thornton is a mountain of a man who prefers rib-crushing bear hugs to handshakes. A good thing, too: his hands are the size of hubcaps. As a Seal, he was a trained killer -- and yet he is a man who's emotions come so readily to the surface. He's patriotic, dedicated, deeply sentimental--and tough as nails when he needs to be. Nobody says "no" to Mike Thornton. Its a great trait to have when he's out fundraising for our organization.

May I suggest you read the brief stories of both Jack and Mike. We have profiled both of them, along with all the living recipients, in the series we ran here on the blog. The profiles come from the book, MEDAL OF HONOR, which I've given as a gift to countless friends and family members. It comes with the following guarantee: read one of their stories...read several...and you'll never have a bad day again.

Thanks for indulging me on behalf of these guys -- I'm duty bound to mention my seat on the board of the Medal of Honor Society Foundation -- and we learned this week we are down to 105 living recipients. One hundred and five living, breathing national treasures--all of whom wear the medal on behalf of those we'll never meet.

We hope you can join us tonight.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

On this five-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, I'm thinking of my friend, the late retired Army four-star General Wayne Downing. Wayne and I, assigned to cover the start of the war on MSNBC, were in Kuwait for eight weeks, prior to the initial invasion. I had just gone down the for night in my hotel room when producer Jean Harper came banging on the door. Jean knew she had to make a lot of noise, because I'd installed a white noise generator to drown out the air-raid sirens during the frequent Scud missle attacks.

In retrospect, this probably wasn't the smartest thing I ever did -- one of them, a Sparrow missile as I recall, believed to have been fired from the Al Faw Penninsula, came close to where we were staying and busted up part of a shopping mall nearby. Each hotel room had what became known as the "talking credenza" -- a hidden speaker that would broadcast the voice of the heavily-accented hotel manager, telling all hotel guests to head to the bomb shelter in the basement with each new incoming missile. While we always had our gasmasks and chem suits and antidote injections with us, we only headed to the shelters twice, as I recall: the first time we heard the warning, and after the close impact (a lot of good that did us) at the nearby mall.

I remember listening at night to the "pop-boom" pattern in the skies not far away: the sounds represented the launch of a Patriot missile and the destruction of the incoming Scud. It's important to remember now that the Scuds (according to a background briefing I received from the two-star in charge of pre-war intel) were the number-one danger, and the number one security priority, early-on, among advancing U.S. forces. No one had yet heard of or seen an "insurgent".

So there we were (after mustering to the roof of the hotel, our anchor location), five years ago tonight in Kuwait, standing by to go on the air when the first bombs and cruise missiles reached their targets. Wayne was great company, a steady presence on the air and off. We did not know then that we would both reach Bagdhad two weeks later (one of several adventures together with U.S. Forces, and the first of several trips there as partners) and would go on to develop a close friendship forged by some tight scrapes that we lived to tell about.

Today I'm thinking about Wayne, and all of the men and women in uniform (and the civilians who support them) that I've come in contact with over the five years of this conflict. Not all of them are around today -- and it's in their memory that so many others remain on the job tonight, as we mark five years since the start of the conflict.

We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent

At our afternoon Nightly News editorial meeting, I pointed out that the scientist in my report tonight who studies the brains of psychopathic criminals, Dr. Keith Kiehl of the University of New Mexico, emphasizes that not every criminal is a psychopath – or even close.

Our executive producer, Alex Wallace, suggested that I put up a list of just how a psychopath is defined.  I have to emphasize this diagnosis can only be administered by a trained professional.  If you see characteristics of people you know on the list,  don't be alarmed.  Every psychological test has parts that overlap with behavior we see in ourselves or others from time to time.  To be classified as a psychopath the prisoner volunteers must score very highly in most of these categories.  For example someone would usually be classified as having behavioral problems as a child, only if their behavior was so severe they were taken from their parents.

So with that disclaimer here is the list of behaviors used to diagnosis a psychopath

1) Glib/superficial
2) Grandiose
3) Pathological liar
4) Cunning/manipulative
5) Lack of Remorse/Guilt
6) Shallow affect
7) Callous/lacks empathy
8) Lack of realistic long term plans
9) Failure to accept consequences of actions
10) Irresponsibility
11)Need for stimulation
12) Parasitic lifestyle
13) Impulsivity
14 Sexual Promiscuity
15) Many marital relations
16) Poor behavioral controls
17 Early behavioral problems
18) Juvenile delinquency
19) Recidivist
20) Criminal versatility

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

Army casualty assistance officers fanned out across America last week to notify the families of 13 soldiers that their loved ones had been killed in Iraq.

Larry West was met at the front door of his Green Springs, W.Va., home and told of the death of his son, Army Staff Sgt. Laurent West. Victor Verdugo of Douglas, Ariz., learned his kid brother, Army Staff Sgt. Ernesto Cimarrusti, had also been killed.

"I just got out of work and I got a phone call from his wife," Verdugo told KVOA Tucson. "She told me the news that he had been killed. It's hard for us right now."

Moses Mallard Jr. of Anniston, Ala., was devastated to learn of the death of his grandson, Army Capt. Torre Mallard.

"It broke my heart when I heard it," he told The Oklahoman. "I was so proud of him."

The 13 soldiers - eight of whom died in one day - are among nearly 4,000 American service members killed in Iraq since the war began exactly five years ago today.

And there is no end in sight.

Click here to read tributes to the 95 service members who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan since Jan. 1, including the following 14 casualties from last week:

1. Army Sgt. Phillip Anderson, 28, of Everett, Wash.

2. Army Spc. Donald Burkett, 24, of Comanche, Texas.

3. Army Capt. Torre Mallard, 27, of Slidell, La.

4. Army Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Suzch, 32, of Hilltown, Pa.

5. Army Staff Sgt. Ernesto Cimarrusti, 25, of Douglas, Ariz.

6. Army Staff Sgt. David Julian, 31, of Evanston, Wyo.

7. Army Cpl. Robert McDavid, 29, of Starkville, Miss.

8. Army Cpl. Scott McIntosh, 26, of Houston.

9. Army Staff Sgt. Laurent West, 32, of Raleigh, N.C.

10. Army Staff Sgt. Juantrea Bradley, 28, of Greenville, N.C.

11. Army Spc. Dustin Jackson, 21, of Arlington, Texas.

12. Army Pfc. Tenzin Samten, 33, of Prescott, Ariz.

13. Army Staff Sgt. Collin Bowen, 38, of Millersville, Md.

14. Army Spc. William O'Brien, 19, of Rice, Texas.

Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He also posts stories on the military at www.fieldnotes.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories") and at http://john-rutherford.newsvine.com/. The tribute gallery can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22802019/.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I arrived home last night to find a box, shipped Fed Ex, no note -- just a layer of styrofoam peanuts...covering up a case of peanut butter. The jars are marked: BUCKLEY'S BEST PEANUT BUTTER -- from the Red Wing Peanut Butter company in Fredonia, New York. It is the very same gift William F. Buckley sent me after our first meeting over 15-years ago, as chronicled here, now arriving again anonymously, after his death.

I had to laugh at the thought: after his departure from this earth, we are still enjoying, in his name, the product which bears the inscription on the label: "It is quite simply incomparable" -- below which is the reproduced signature of William F. Buckley. I'm aggressively checking into our corporate policy on accepting gifts of peanut butter. Could this be a corporate attempt to buy my favor? No way. I'm already in the tank for Red Wing. Bill Buckley stood for a lot over the course of his lifetime. His critics will tell you he was wrong as often as he was right...but he sure was right about really good peanut butter.

By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent

By Maria Menounos, NBC News contributing correspondent

When you hear of the sacrifices that our servicemen and women make during times of war -- both of life and, quite literally, limb -- you often think of the families that are forced to cope with these losses and others like them. There are programs to help spouses and parents cope but, astonishingly, the children of these courageous men and women may be overlooked.

I had the opportunity to observe this firsthand when I sat down with the Kraima family. Naomi Kraima had served in Iraq during the height of the war in 2003 and narrowly escaped an explosion that took the life of her friend. The explosion and the war proved to injure the entire Kraima family. The sacrifices that were made during the war were grand in gesture and in number. And these sacrifices were not merely offered by the mother but by the family as a whole. And, together, the family continues to pay for them. We would all like to think that when our soldiers and marines return home, that their portion of the war is truly over -- they made it home "safe and sound"after all. But, sadly, that's not the case. Their next battle begins when they get home: the battle for normalcy and for a healthy family existence.

When Naomi Kraima came home to the States she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. In addition to her PTSD, Naomi lives with immense physical pain from other service-related injuries. She is on six or more medications.

All in all, Naomi's health woes have taken quite the toll on her children, as the mother they once knew now seems drastically different. When Naomi returned, she had difficulty reconnecting with her children.

"My middle child was still a baby pretty much but my oldest…I really had a hard time showing any emotion towards her or towards anything," she says. An emotional Naomi assured me that she was happy to see her children again and that she loved them. Yet, as she said, "There was just something that wasn't allowing me to be Mom. It was different and I have no doubt that the PTSD had something to do with it. No doubt."

Interestingly enough, Naomi also told me that while she was deployed she attempted to exercise everything in her power to not think about her children, going so far as to avoid looking at their photos. 

"If I thought about my family too much, there was no way my head would've been able to stay in the mission," she told me.  So, along with being a caring mother, Naomi was and remained a dedicated soldier as well.

Her children, Carmen, 13, Sabrine, 8, and Daniel, 1, are what she calls "the silent victims." The children have had difficulties at school, grades have suffered, and newfound responsibilities at home have taken priority. All the while the girls are happy to have their mom alive, even if she does have PTSD. For these two girls to be so strong, I am left only to surmise through reason how strong their mother must have been and must still be.  If it is difficult for these strong women to deal with all of this, what must it be like for other soldiers and their families who may not be so strong or for those who experienced worse hardships, i.e., the previously mentioned loss of life and limb?  And how do they provide for their families in the midst of it all?

I was inspired by Naomi and her family on many levels.  Mainly, I hope reporting on them, and their journey, inspires others, even in the minutest of ways, to consider the full and ongoing price that is paid by our servicemen and women. 

Editor's note: Click here to watch the report.
Click here for more information on the camp mentioned in the piece

By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice correspondent

Not once in the history of the United States has the Supreme Court ever said what the Second Amendment means. That surprising fact is one reason why the case the justices are hearing today is likely to produce the most important ruling ever on gun rights.

The amendment itself is just 27 words long, interrupted three times by the punctuation fashionable at the time of the nation's founding: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

To Dick Heller of Washington, DC, who wants to keep a handgun at home for personal protection, the words guarantee a personal, individual right to own a gun. His lawyers argue that the key phrase is "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms." The amendment's first words, dealing with a well regulated militia, state only one of many purposes for establishing that right, they argue, and do not limit its protections.

Heller sued after the city denied his application for a handgun permit. And though a trial judge ruled against him, finding as virtually every other court has that the Second Amendment's guarantee is limited to purposes of militias, the federal appeals court in Washington ruled 2-1 in his favor and struck down the city's handgun ban, the nation's strictest gun control law.

But the city of Washington argues that the first part of the amendment states the founders' only purpose, to protect the states from having their militias disarmed by a hostile and distant federal government.

"The amendment does not encompass having a gun for personal purposes," says Walter Dellinger, who represents the city. For that reason, the city says it did not violate the Constitution when it banned handguns in 1976, after concluding that existing laws did not adequately reduce gun violence.

The two sides each claim to find support in the history of the Bill of Rights and the writings of the founders. The city argues that the word "arms" means weapons and that the phrase "bear arms" refers to using them in a military context. "One does not bear arms against a rabbit or an intruder," Washington's legal brief argues.

But Heller's lawyers claim that the phrase was not solely a military one and that state constitutions drafted in the late 1700's guaranteed a right of citizens to "bear arms" in self defense. Besides, they say, militias were ad hoc, come-as-you-are organizations that had no central weapons stock. "In order for people to act as militias, they had to have their own weapons that they bring with them," says Alan Gura, arguing the case for Heller.

The legal showdown has generated intense interest. From Congress, 229 Republicans and 66 Democrats filed a brief supporting Heller. Vice President Dick Cheney took the highly unusual step of signing on in his capacity as President of the Senate. That put him at odds with the Bush Administration's formal position filed by the Justice Department, which argues that the amendment provides an individual right. But the government claims that the appeals court ruling is so sweeping that, if upheld, it could jeopardize federal gun laws.

A ruling that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to gun ownership, say gun control advocates, would instantly launch new challenges to gun restrictions nationwide. Heller's lawyer, Alan Gura, believes the impact would be more modest.

"Commonsense laws banning felons from owning guns or requiring background checks would be allowed. But it would take prohibition off the table," he says.

A contrary ruling, that gun ownership is constitutionally protected only for service in militias, would give state and local governments more authority to regulate firearm ownership, though many state constitutions would limit such restrictions.

"It would leave to the democratic process in each city and state to decide what level of regulation to have on guns," says Walter Dellinger, the city's lawyer.

A decision is expected by late June, but it's difficult to handicap how the court may rule, since the justices have never confronted the issue directly. The court's only relevant gun control case, in 1939, upheld a federal ban on sawed-off shotguns, but it did not squarely address what the Second Amendment means.

Editor's note: Pete Williams' report aired Tuesday on NBC Nightly News. Click here to watch.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

While caring for my elderly father in the hospital, I had the opportunity many nights last week to act as an "ordinary" Nightly News viewer -- and so it is with great sincerity and appreciation that I thank my pal Ann Curry for filling in. While her kindness, honesty, empathy and concern come shining right through the camera lens, most of you will never have the pleasure of knowing her as we do around here. She's an astounding person to have as a friend, and it is just a great relief to know she's in the chair every night and working with our great staff by day.

I see from the writing of Craig Wilson, and from the newspaper in Fredonia, New York -- that our remembrance of William F. Buckley continues to have some resonance -- of all his many legacies, I can think of no better way to remember him than to devote ourselves to quality peanut butter.

What a day to return to work. Covering the economy is job #1 for us tonight, and we have a comprehensive package of coverage ready for you tonight. As I continue to get my sea legs in the newsroom where I've been absent for so long, we look forward to you joining us for tonight's broadcast.