The actor and director, 82, has sparked jokes, imitators, and more after his "invisible guest" speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention. Here's a selection of the reactions online to Clint Eastwood.

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As Isaac lingered outside her door, Connie Uddo was busy Wednesday calling elderly friends in her neighborhood to make sure they were holding up. She, like the majority of New Orleans residents, had no power.

“It’s just a tedious, long, arduous storm,” she said.

Storms are a big part of life in New Orleans. They always have been. There are records of hurricanes hitting the Crescent City as far back as the 1700s.

But things changed when Hurricane Katrina struck seven years ago — especially for Uddo.

“Our neighborhood, it was condemned, uninhabitable and unsafe. You had to have a pass to get in,” she said.

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That is something she never wants to live through again — she doesn’t think she could handle it. As Isaac was bearing down, she felt a familiar mixture of dread and anxiety.

“The wind had me a little freaked out at points last night because our house was shaking a lot and the windows were rattling,” she said.

Related: Isaac loses steam, but brings flooding, power outages
Related: 'They were screaming away': Louisiana man recounts rescue 

Uddo and her kids had evacuated just before Katrina hit. In October of 2005, when she returned to her 90-year-old wood and plaster home, she found a mold-infested mess. The first floor, which they had renovated as rental units, had been under eight feet of water, which took a month to drain out. 

“It was horrific. It was shocking. It was something that I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime ... everything was gray.," she said. "It literally looked like a nuclear disaster. There were no birds, insects, squirrels. The silence was just deafening.”

Uddo thought about leaving for good. She cried — a lot.

“It wasn’t just the physical loss,” she said. “It was the emotional loss of your community, your social network, your children’s friends.”

But Uddo decided to move back and rebuild. In January 2006, her family was the first of 10 families in her neighborhood to have electricity.

Lakeview, she said, was a “green dot” on a city planning map — a place that some planners thought would become nothing but green space with no residential homes. 

She wouldn't hear of it. "We’re a hundred-year-old neighborhood. You don’t tell a hundred-year-old neighborhood that."

So she rebuilt, and she convinced others to do the same. Uddo would walk around the neighborhood asking plumbers, roofers, builders and other tradespeople for their phone numbers. Since phone books no longer worked, she compiled a list. She counseled her neighbors at her dining room table. She recruited teen-aged volunteers to come to the neighborhood and clean up the front yards so that returning residents wouldn't be as shocked as she had been when she first drove in.

Eventually, Uddo opened St. Paul’s Homecoming Center, which still operates and helps residents who fled Katrina. The center has coordinated more than 50,000 volunteers.

As soon as Isaac lets up enough, probably on Thursday, Uddo plans to go back to the Center and start the cleanup. So far, she hasn’t seen any major flooding in her neighborhood. On a walk earlier Wednesday she checked on the trees she recently planted. They’re tattered, but still standing. The elderly neighbors she called are doing all right too. And for that, she’s thankful.

“Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be back in action,” she said.

Wednesday was spent napping, having tea, catching up on laundry and house chores.

“I really feel blessed. I don’t want to jinx it. It’s not over. But it could’ve been worse.  So many things could’ve happened.”

Uddo thinks a storm like Isaac solidifies her community.

“Once again we’re a stronger, more unified community because of it. And that’s the silver lining. You come out stronger."

One of the biggest lessons of Katrina, Uddo said, is that neighbors have to look out for each other. Before Katrina, they never would have coordinated before a storm. On Tuesday night, before the power went out, Uddo and her husband went up the block for a neighborhood gathering. They made plans together about what they would do if the water rose on their streets.

“At the end of the day, all we have is each other,” she said.

To contact Uddo's organization, St. Paul's Homecoming Center, please visit their website, or call: 504-644-4125.

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By Chelsea Clinton, NBC News Special Correspondent

KAMPALA, Uganda – For more than 30 years, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe and the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have worked to help victims of the long Sudanese Civil War and Ugandans seeking refuge from the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Kony’s LRA has conscripted tens of thousands of boys and girls as soldiers and sex slaves and murdered tens of thousands of people.  Sister Rosemary is arguably the person who has done the most to help Kony’s victims recover and rebuild their lives.

In 2002, Sister Rosemary founded the St. Monica’s School and Tailoring Centre in Gulu, Uganda, her hometown, to teach literacy and vocational skills, such as tailoring.  Since opening, St. Monica’s has trained more than 2,000 girls who have escaped from the LRA and Kony. She said a major goal of the school is to give the girls and young women back the “dignity” and “self-respect” that Kony and the LRA took away.   

Now Sister Rosemary has turned her attention to another goal: helping people in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan hear with the help of Starkey Hearing Foundation.

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Due to a combination of factors, including a limited awareness that deafness can be treated and a lack of sufficient medical care, there are millions of people in the developing world and thousands in Uganda alone, with hearing problems that go untreated, but who could be helped by simple hearing aids.  Sister Rosemary says she knows hundreds of people in Northern Uganda and thousands throughout Uganda and South Sudan who struggle with hearing loss.    

“These are people who have resigned. They think they can never hear again and people have put them aside,” Sister Rosemary told me. She said helping them get hearing aids “brings them hope and helps them have a better future.”

Hearing aids
I recently met Sister Rosemary in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. She had brought more than 100 men, women and children from Northern Uganda to Kampala to see Bill Austin, founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, and his team. 

Starkey Hearing Technologies is a U.S.-based hearing aid company started in 1967 and currently one of the world’s largest suppliers of hearing aids around the globe. Austin launched the foundation in 1984 with the mission to ensure that people everywhere, particularly children, are properly diagnosed and appropriately treated for their hearing loss.  

Hearing loss challenges more than 60 million children around the world, according to the Starkey Foundation, most of whom do not have access to the hearing devices and care that can help them lead healthy, productive lives. The Starkey Hearing Foundation fits and gives more than 100,000 hearing aids annually.

Austin explained how his company gave root to his foundation, “I did the business side so we could provide hearing aids to the people who could afford it -- so that we would have the leverage and the ability to give hearing to the people who couldn't.”

The foundation’s work goes beyond handing out hearing aid devices to treating ear diseases. “I couldn’t stand to send these kids away with sick ears. So, we started giving medicine to all these kids, showing them how to use it, talking to their families and their school about it,” Austin explained. He added that they’ve also started sending more speech therapists out into the field all over the world.

Power of a smile
It was remarkable to watch Starkey give the gift of hearing for the first time to young children, as well as men and women of all ages. It was equally remarkable watching Sister Rosemary talk to everyone she brought with her with such calm reassurance, in at least six different languages during that one day in Kampala, and to listen to her talk about her work with such joy and conviction.  

A smile “is a great weapon,” she said as she laughed. She said that she can, “never imagine being done” with her work because there will always be more to help. She added that Kony and others are still “trying to keep people – especially – girls, down and afraid.”

For Austin’s part, he explained the rewards of their work.

“It's like giving someone a birthright when you give them hearing. It's like connecting them to life itself when you see the smile come across their face when they hear sound,” said Austin. “To hear their mother’s voice, to hear someone say I love you, just to hear words. A lot of the children have no vocabulary because they haven't heard, they have to develop speech. This is what helps them be all they can be.”

The smiles I saw in Kampala were a clear testament to Austin’s mission and to Sister Rosemary’s determination. And, as Sister Rosemary said, a smile is a good weapon against the LRA and others who want a different, bleaker future for Uganda.

Chelsea Clinton is an NBC News Special Correspondent. She recently traveled with her father, former President Bill Clinton, to Uganda as part of their work with the Starkey Hearing Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. As a member of CGI, the Starkey Hearing Foundation has pledged to give 1 million hearing aids to people and children in need in the developing world by 2020.

See more of Clinton's reporting: 

• Elephant population dwindles as demand for ivory grows
• Cell phones could 'completely change the livelihood of many Kenyans'
• 'Building Tomorrow' - one school at a time in Uganda
• College program inspires young inmates

 

Dear delegates to the Republican National Convention and visitors:

Welcome to Florida and Isaac.

I've covered hurricanes for 30 years, from as far south as El Salvador to the tip of Long Island at Montauk Point.

So if you are from a landlocked state or one far from the hurricane zone, a few tips that you won't see on most lists:

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*Pack some zip-lock bags. You will need them to protect so much -- from your phone to a pair of socks you put in your pocket or purse.

*Bring shoes that you can walk in water with.

Since you don't want boots, as those won't work well headed to the convention hall, try Crocs. Put your shoes in your hand, roll up your pants, slog thru the water and dry off. Crocs dry easily and are weightless -- you can stuff them in your bag/purse.

Trust me, you can't escape the puddles, and those odd-colored Crocs are just fun enough to make people smile in the misery.

Want to skip Crocs? Get some bread bags and rubber bands to cover your shoes. It's ugly but works.

*Get a tiny pin flashlight that goes on your key chain. You won't need it here with all the auxiliary power, but it's nice peace of mind.

*Grab a baseball cap to protect your hair from the rain.

*Umbellas are a pain. They blow inside out. You need a very light rain coat. (It's hot during a hurricane/tropical storm, and you don't want a coat that makes you perspire or worse: sweat!)

*Finally, don't focus on the category of the storm. I've seen tropical storms create more havoc than a category 2 storm.

Inside the forum, you won't even know there's a storm. And if you're a guest at the beach while your loved one is busy with politics, bring a book, and if the weather doesn't clear up by Wednesday, consider a drive inland. Orlando and the theme parks are only twohours or so away. Just check weather.com to see of the skies are sunny nearby.

Enjoy!

Kerry Sanders is a Miami-based correspondent for NBC News

As Floridians wait to see what Tropical Storm Isaac will do, they're also remembering a storm that changed lives 20 years ago today.

Hurricane Andrew blasted onto the Florida coast on Aug. 24, 1992, and in the days that followed, the storm left 26 dead, 126,000 homes damaged or destroyed, and $26.5 billion in total damage. The toll was so great that it forced Florida to strengthen its building codes and enforce them more rigorously. Some who lived through the hurricane are still in awe of its power.

"Just to see what that kind of a storm can do, and how it can totally displace your life ... it's just amazing," said Stacy Linfors, who weathered the storm with her neighbors in the Miami area.

---

Today, researchers can model the force of Category 5 hurricanes like Andrew using research tools such as the "Wall of Wind" at Florida International University's International Hurricane Research Center. At the center's hangar-sized facility, 12 giant fans can whip up winds measuring up to 157 mph, blasting away the roof of a house that's built to pre-Andrew standards.

"The nation is better off" thanks to the lessons learned from Andrew, said Erik Salna, the center's associate director.

Where in the Cosmos
To mark the Hurricane Andrew anniversary, we featured a composite image showing the storm's passage over Florida as today's "Where in the Cosmos" picture puzzle on the Cosmic Log Facebook page. This picture shows the storm's position on Aug. 23, 24 and 25, 1992, as seen from orbit by the GOES-7 satellite.

Twenty years since Andrew hit, meteorologists can get a much better picture of a storm's expected route, not only because of enhanced satellite capabilities, but also because of more extensive data-collection networks and more sophisticated computer modeling for weather phenomena. Such tools indicate that Isaac is highly unlikely to become as destructive as Andrew was.

It didn't take long for Shawn Harness, Deena Perleberg and Darron Sands to recognize the satellite imagery as Andrew's track. They're eligible to receive 3-D glasses in the mail, courtesy of Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope project, in recognition fo their quick wits and fast typing fingers. Those red-blue specs will come in handy for looking at 3-D images of Hurricane Andrew and other storm imagery.

Click the "like" button for the Cosmic Log Facebook page and get ready for next Friday's "Where in the Cosmos" contest.

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

A "salute" to oil baron David Koch. A fete bankrolled by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.  And gala  bashes for GOP super PAC donors and bundlers featuring rock stars like Kid Rock and ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder.

Those are only a handful of the big parties planned for Republican delegates, lawmakers and donors in Tampa starting this weekend.  While some of the events are well advertised and open to the public,  private schedules, prepared for GOP fundraisers  and obtained by NBC News, show that this year's convention will once again provide a unique opportunity for lobbyists and big dollar donors to wine and dine lawmakers --  and press their agendas.

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 "It's a mega-fundraising, lobbying extravaganza. Everybody is in one place at one time," says Jack Abramoff, the onetime kingpin lobbyist whose 2006 conviction for corruption led to reforms aimed at cracking down on lobbyist influence peddling. 

 Abramoff, who was released from prison last year and will be attending this year's GOP convention as a commentator for "Inside Edition," said that, as far as he can see, lobbyists and their lawyers have  merely figured out creative new ways to skirt the rules --  a point underscored by the dizzying array of parties all week in Tampa. "Nothing has really changed," he said.

Storm warnings notwithstanding, the action begins in earnest Sunday at 5:30 p.m.  when one of Washington's biggest lobbying firms, Williams and Jensen (whose current clients include the American Bankers Association, Pfizer and Comcast, which owns NBC) hosts a kick-off reception  and dinner for GOP delegates at a local eatery called Bern's Steakhouse.

Just a half hour later, another big D.C. lobbying powerhouse -- Fierce, Isakowitz and Blalock (current clients: the American Gaming Association, Ford Motor, J.P. Morgan and Time Warner Cable)  -- hosts a dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee at the Tampa Museum of Art. 

Then later in the evening, oil giant Chevron and Aflac, the insurance firm, are co-hosts of a "Two Step, Soul and Rock 'N Roll" party at the Historic Cuban Club;  AT& T throws a competing party at Armani's Grand Hyatt; and the American Action Network, an "issues advocacy group" headed by former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman, teams up with Citizens United  for a bash at Liberty Plaza.

But delegates may have to pace themselves. On Monday night, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce joins the Distilled Spirits Council for a "Celebrate the Spirit of Tampa" party at the Tampa Aquarium. On Tuesday, Barbour Griffith and Rogers, another of Washington's biggest lobbying firms (among its current clients: Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline and the country of Qatar) hosts the delegates at Stump's Supper Club with a party honoring its founding partner, Haley Barbour, who, after serving as governor of Mississippi and toying with the idea of running for president, has rejoined the firm.

The next morning, Restore Our Future, the Romney super PAC, offers a private briefing for its mega donors by Sen. Marco Rubio. And that afternoon, the Republican Jewish Coalition throws a "Salute to Pro-Israel Elected  Officials at the Crowne Plaza, where the coalition's major bankroller, casino kingpin Adelson, is expected to make a grand appearance. (That's not the only Adelson presence at the convention. According to a report in Yahoo News on Friday, the YG Network -- named for House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor's Young Guns -- has named a "Woman Up!" pavilion for Miriam Adelson, the mogul's Israeli-born wife.)

Craig Holman, a lawyer  for Public Citizen, a campaign watchdog group that plans to "bird dog" the parties , says that this year's convention is showcasing new ways that lobbyists are bypassing  ethics rules. Those rules -- enacted in 2007 after the Abramoff scandal -- barred lobbyists from throwing parties honoring "a member of Congress." So this year's parties don't honor individual members; they honor groups of members such as "A Salute to the House and Senate Energy and Commerce Committees" being thrown by a new consulting firm called GOP Convention Strategies at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. ("It's a Home Run!" reads the invite.)      

But perhaps the most conspicuous honoree is not any member or delegate: It's David Koch, the billionaire oil man who helps run energy giant Koch Industries. Along with his brother, Charles, Koch has emerged as one of the biggest and most controversial financiers of conservative advocacy groups that gave rise to the Tea Party and other GOP causes. On Thursday, Americans for Prosperity -- one of the Koch-backed groups that has announced it plans to spend $151 million on this year's campaign, including a new blitz of TV ads attacking President Barack Obama  -- will sponsor "A Salute to Entrepreneurs Building America."

There will be two men honored at the event: Art Pope, the group's chairman, and Koch.

 

 

Updated at 9:45 p.m. ET: A disgruntled former employee shot and killed an ex-coworker before being shot dead outside the Empire State Building by police, who sources said wounded nine bystanders as bullets sprayed across the crowded street during Friday’s morning rush.

The suspected gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, 58, who was laid off a year ago, approached a former co-worker on the street and shot him three times, killing him, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Johnson's victim was identified, but as Steve Ercolino, 41, a vice president at Hazan Imports, where Johnson had worked until last year.

---

A police report from last year said that on April 27, 2011, Johnson threatened Ercolino, saying, "I am going to kill you."

Man accused of NYC gun attack was apparel designer, cat lover

A construction worker who witnessed the shooting incident Friday at 10 W. 33rd Street followed Johnson as he walked away and turned north on Fifth Avenue, Kelly said. The construction worker alerted police, who confronted Johnson.

Johnson was walking along the curb in front of the Empire State Building when he turned his .45-caliber pistol on the officers and was killed as they opened fire, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Police fired at least 14 times, Kelly said.

More coverage at NBCNewYork.com

Kelly said that some of those injured in the incident may have been hit by police bullets, adding that the injured are expected to survive.

Those hit with police bullets likely suffered ricochet and graze wounds, mostly to the lower extremeties, said Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, told NBC News later Friday.

Six of the nine bystanders injured in the shooting were treated and released on Friday, NBC News reported, while three were admitted to hospital for non-life threatening injuries, including one for elevated blood pressure.

Kelly said Johnson was a designer of women's accessories at Hazan Imports until he was laid off in a downsizing.

Johnson bought the .45-caliber gun used in the shooting in 1991 in Florida, two law enforcement souces told NBC News. He was not licensed to carry arms in New York, they said.

He was wearing a gray suit and carrying a briefecase when he gunned down Ercolino, officials said.

Ercolino, who lived in Warwick, N.Y., was the father of a young boy, neighbors there told NBC News.

Zoraida Mora, a co-worker of Ercolino, told NBC News, “Out of respect for the family I only can say he was (a) wonderful friend (and) coworker and it was a pleasure working with him and he surely will be missed!!!”

When asked her if she had anything to say about Johnson, Mora said she did not. 

Through photos and tweets, witnesses show chaos outside Empire State Building 

 

Witnesses described a chaotic scene Friday morning on streets crowded with tourists and commuters alike.

"People were yelling 'Get down! Get down!", said Marc Engel, an accountant who was on a bus in the area when he heard the shots. "It took about 15 seconds, a lot of 'pop, pop, pop, pop, one shot after the other."

Fatal workplace attacks rare, getting rarer

"I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, and I ran back into my offices,” Gloria Walker, another witness, told NBC News. "I ran, I ran, I ran."

The brother of a woman who was shot in the leg told reporters she had been heading to Dunkin' Donuts when she heard the gunfire. While trying to decide whether she should duck or run, she was struck, her brother said.

"She's fine -- just a little shook up," he said. "Other than that, she's fine."

Those hurt ranged in age from 20 to 56. A tourist from North Carolina was among them.

The FDNY told NBC News they responded to a call about the shooting at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street at 9:07 a.m. Friday and arrived at 9:13 a.m. The body of the gunman remained on the street, under a white sheet, in front of Heartland Brewery until it was taken to the city medical examiner's office around noon.

The Empire State Building operators said the building was not involved in the shooting and remained open.

NBC News' Miranda Leitsinger, Andrew Mach and Jim Gold also contributed to this report.

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What legal consequences could a former U.S. Navy SEAL face for writing a book about the still-classified 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden?  

Legal experts say the author could face trouble on two fronts -- a civil lawsuit for not seeking a military review before the book was published and possible criminal prosecution for revealing classified information.

But a former Justice Department national security lawyer, Pat Rowan, said the government might be reluctant to prosecute a man who helped kill America's No. 1 terrorist enemy, unless the book reveals highly valuable and sensitive intelligence secrets.

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 "What's more, if the government did decide to prosecute, the author's lawyer would be entitled to dig into the information that was disclosed by the White House and other officials, in both sanctioned and unsanctioned leaks," Rowan said.

Rowan was referring to the fact that President Barack Obama and other administration officials have been accused by Republicans of leaking details of the bin Laden raid for political gain. 

Dutton, a subsidiary of Penguin Group USA, announced on Wednesday that the book, titled "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden," would go on sale on Sept. 11. The author, who will be identified only by a pseudonym, “was one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist leader’s hideout and was present at his death,” it said in a statement.

A similar case arose in the 1970s, when a former CIA officer named Frank Snepp published a book about his activities in Vietnam.

The U.S. government sued on the grounds that he did not seek pre-publication review -- as he was obligated to do under an agreement he signed as a condition of employment -- and lower courts agreed to a demand that all the profits from the book be turned over to the government. By a vote of 6-3, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, even though the government never claimed the book revealed classified information.

"When a former agent relies on his own judgment about what information is detrimental, he may reveal information that the CIA -- with its broader understanding of what may expose classified information and confidential sources -- could have identified as harmful," the court said.

These days, said former Homeland Security official Stewart Baker, most government non-disclosure agreements say that if pre-publication review isn't sought, the profits must be forfeited. Legal experts doubt, however, that the government could stop publication of the book.

The author could also be charged with violating federal laws that make it a crime for government employees to reveal classified information.  Anyone given a security clearance is bound for life by its non-disclosure terms, so the fact that the former SEAL is no longer in the military would not free him from the obligation to keep government secrets to himself.

A DOJ official who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity on Thursday said he knew of no legal action against the former SEAL. That process would most likely start with a request from the Defense Department and, so far as the official knew, none had been made. DOD would have to verify that the book revealed government secrets before making such a request, the official said.

NASA's Curiosity rover made its first drive on Mars today, more than two weeks after its high-stakes landing on the Red Planet. To celebrate the day, as well as what would have been the late science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury's 92nd birthday, NASA said the rover's landing site would be forever known as Bradbury Landing.

The raw images, displayed on the Mars Science Laboratory mission's Web portal, showed the tracks of the rover's wheels curling around and backing up, in accordance with the driving plan that was sent up overnight.

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Today's drive amounted to only about 23 feet (7 meters) of maneuvers, but it represented the first step in a $2.5 billion, two-year trek that's expected to go at least 12 miles (20 kilometers) and take in a commanding view from the flanks of a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain within 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) Gale Crater.

The mission's project manager, Peter Theisinger, said the drive "couldn't be more important."

"We built a rover," he told reporters during today's briefing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "So unless the rover roves, we couldn't really accomplish anything. It's a big moment."

The drive also marked a transition for the Curiosity team — from the entry, descent and landing phase of the mission, known as EDL, to surface operations and rover mobility. "Wheel tracks on Mars. The EDL team is finally done. :) Congrats to the mobility and surface teams!" Allen Chen, the mission's EDL operations and flight dynamics lead, declared in a Twitter update.

Lead rover driver Matt Heverly said that today's drive started at 7:17 a.m. PT (10:17 a.m. ET) and lasted roughly 16 minutes. "The majority of that time was spent taking images," he said. The rover rolled out 15 feet (4.5 meters), made a 120-degree turn in place, and then backed up 8 feet (2.5 meters) to a new spot for scientific observations.

First trek will follow checkouts
Since the rover's landing on the night of Aug. 5, Curiosity has been going through a series of checkouts and taking pictures of its immediate surroundings. Nearly all of the systems are working as planned — with the sole exception of wind sensors on one of the booms connected to the rover's weather station. Scientists speculate that the circuit boards for those sensors were probably damaged by small rocks that were thrown up onto the rover during landing. Despite the damage, the weather station will be able to gather wind speed data using other sensors.

Curiosity's first destination will be a spot known as Glenelg, about a quarter-mile (400 meters) from the landing site, where three types of geological formations come together. That months-long trek could begin in about a week, deputy project scientist Joy Crisp said today. The rover's first scoop sample could be taken on the route between Bradbury Landing and Glenelg, she said, but the first drilling sample would probably be extracted at Glenelg.

By the end of the year, the nuclear-powered rover is expected to retrace its route and head toward the mountain, known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. The layers of rock along the mountainside are thought to preserve a geological record going back billions of years.

The primary goal of Curiosity's mission is to look for geological and chemical evidence that could reveal how habitable Mars might have been over eons of geological time. To take on that challenge, the 1-ton, car-sized rover has been equipped with a bevy of scientific instruments — including high-resolution color cameras, two onboard chemical labs, an X-ray spectrometer and a rock-zapping laser.

Theisinger said Curiosity was making "excellent progress" at Bradbury Landing, 16 days into a mission that could last far longer than its scheduled duration of nearly two Earth years. "We've got a long way to go before this mission reaches its full potential," he said. "But the fact that we haven't had any early problems is fantastic."

In memoriam
Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, announced the naming of the landing site at the start of today's news briefing. He began by airing a clip of Bradbury discussing Mars with Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan and other luminaries, just before NASA's Mariner 9 probe entered the Red Planet's orbit in 1971. During that session, Bradbury read a short poem titled "If Only We Had Taller Been."

Bradbury, best known for science-fiction tales such as "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451," passed away in June at the age of 91. "Today would have been Ray Bradbury's 92nd birthday, but he's already reached immortality in his short stories and books," Meyer observed. In his honor, Meyer said the landing site would "forever be known as Bradbury Landing."

In a statement issued by NASA, Meyer said deciding on the name "was not a difficult choice for the science team."

"Many of us, and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars," he said.

Today's christening adds to NASA's list of Martian landing sites named after VIPs, including:

• Mutch Memorial Station, the Viking 1 lander site, named after Thomas Mutch, former NASA associate administrator and Viking team member.
• Soffen Memorial Station, the Viking 2 lander site, named after Gerald Soffen, NASA scientist and leader of the Viking mission.
• Sagan Memorial Station, the Mars Pathfinder landing site, named after astrophysicist Carl Sagan.
• Challenger Memorial Station, the Opportunity rover landing site, named in honor of the shuttle Challenger's fallen crew.
• Columbia Memorial Station, the Spirit rover landing site, named in honor of the shuttle Columbia's fallen crew.

More about Mars:

• 3-D adds depth to tracks on Mars
• Watch the rover fall to Mars ... in HD!
• Where's Curiosity going? Arm points the way
• Mars mega-rover wiggles its wheels
• Mars Curiosity rover flexes arm for first time
• Curiosity shoots at rock with its laser
• Britney Spears to Mars rover: What's new?
• Rover reveals more of Martian peak
• Mars rover team faces the masses
• Mars fans make viral video
• Panoramas add spin to Mars
• Mars rover survives its 'brain transplant'
• Mars orbiter gets a long look at Curiosity rover
• Reprogrammed rover getting ready to roll
• Obama tells rover team: Watch out for Martians
• Search for life to shape future Mars missions
• Why the rover has such a dinky camera and computer
• How to build your own Mars rover with Lego blocks
• The Puff on Mars: Photo mystery solved!
• Panorama reveals a colorful Mars
• NBC video: Panorama featured on 'Nightly News'
• Curiosity reveals a Martian Mojave
• Tour the Martian Mojave in 3-D
• Flying saucer spotted over Mars
• First 3-D pictures sent by Curiosity
• Orbital photo spots rover and its trash
• Curiosity sends color snapshot from Mars
• Rover video looks down on Mars during landing
• Mars orbiter spots rover in midair
• NASA's Mohawk Guy marvels at his fame
• Curiosity rover scores touchdown on Mars

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This report was last updated at 5 p.m. ET.

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

By Pete Williams, NBC News justice correspondent

In his new book about how judges should decide difficult legal issues, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says many go about it the wrong way.

"You will see recited in opinions all the way back that the object of interpretation is to determine the intent of the drafter.  I don't believe that.  We're not governed by the drafter's intent. We're governed by laws," he told NBC News in an interview at the court.

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In the book, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, Scalia and co-author Bryan Garner explain that a textualist, like Scalia, is someone who believes that the Constitution and laws must be read on the basis of the fairest meaning of the text.

"Judges should not be using such extrinsic factors as, ‘What is the general purpose of the statute?’ Or ‘What did the Senate committee say when the statute was enacted?’" he said.

But he rejects the notion that such an approach will tend to produce a conservative outcome.

"I ought to be the pinup of the criminal defense bar, because I've written some opinions vindicating the right to trial by jury and the right to confront witnesses.  I'm a law-and-order conservative socially. I wouldn't come out that way if I were king. But that's not my job," he said.

Asked if his views on textualism have influenced his Supreme Court colleagues, he replied, "If so, they've hidden it very well.  All my colleagues had their basic judicial philosophy fixed long before they met me."

Some liberal members of the court have advocated a broader view, notably Stephen Breyer, arguing that judges should pay attention to a provision's purpose when the language is not clear.  "Over-emphasis on text can lead courts astray, divorcing law from life," Breyer has written.

Scalia says the passion in his opinions, especially in his dissents, reflect his view that "there's no sin in caring passionately about doing the right thing.  I care very much about changes to the Constitution that are simply not justified."

But, he says, some people wrongly believe strong words cause hard feelings on the bench.

"I don't translate the hostility to bad decisions into hostility towards the people who are expounding those ideas. And if you cannot do the one without the other, you ought to look for another job.  It's a very unhappy place if you're personally antagonistic to the people whom you disagree with."

As for his future, Justice Scalia, at age 76 the court's longest-serving member, says he intends to remain "as long as I think I'm doing it well."

“I’m very much enjoying what I do.  This is a wonderful job. I like thinking about the law. I like figuring the right answer to legal programs.  And it’s sort of the top of the heap for a lawyer who has those interests.”

 

 

 

Updated at 12:00 p.m. ET: Russia rebuffed President Barack Obama's threat of unilateral action against Syria Tuesday, as officials said 2,500 refugees fled across the border into Turkey in just 24 hours – one of the highest daily refugee flows of recent weeks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking after meeting China's top diplomat, said Moscow and Beijing were committed to "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law ... and not to allow their violation".

Obama draws 'red line' for Syria on chemical and biological weapons

Obama on Monday threatened "enormous consequences" if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way.

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The president used some of his strongest language yet to warn Assad not to use chemical or biological weapons – after Syria acknowledged for the first time that it had such weapons and could use them if foreign countries attacked it.

"We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is (if) we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized," he said. "That would change my calculus."

Syria 'ready to discuss' Assad's resignation, deputy PM says

"We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people," Obama said, perhaps referring to Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group, an Iranian-backed ally of Assad, or to Islamist militants.

Turkey's foreign minister has warned it can accommodate no more than 100,000 refugees and that the United Nations may need to create a "safe zone" within Syria to shelter any beyond that number.

Thousands of refugees
A Turkish official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 2,500 people fleeing violence in Syria had entered Turkey in the preceding 24 hours, most of them entering the southeastern Turkish province of Hatay.

Turkish journalist Mahir Zeynalov reported on Twitter that four Syrian colonels and two captains crossed the border early Wednesday.

PhotoBlog: Clashes over Syrian conflict in Lebanon leave ten dead

Turkey is now sheltering close to 70,000 Syrian refugees and is struggling to accommodate the influx, which rose after a bomb attack near the border killed eight, spreading panic.

In Lebanon, street battles between Sunnis and Alawites continued for a second night running, fueled by conflicting loyalties in the conflict across the border. The BBC reported that seven were killed and more than 70 wounded in the country's second-largest city, Tripoli.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, an Alawite, is battling largely Sunni opposition fighters. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, himself a Sunni, appealed to both sides to end the "absurd battle" in Tripoli.

In Syria itself, the army deployed tanks on a ring road surrounding Damascus on Wednesday and shelled southern neighborhoods where rebels operate, in the heaviest bombardment on the capital since the army reasserted control last month, residents said.

At least eight people were killed in the shelling, which was accompanied by an aerial bombardment, on the Kfar Souseh, Daraya, Qadam and Nahr Aisheh neighborhoods, they told Reuters.

Regional news channel Al-Jazeera reported that at least 24 people were killed across the country on Tuesday, among them women and children in Aleppo - the city over which the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) claims two-thirds control, and where a Japanese journalist was killed on Monday.

Activists: Japanese journalist killed in Aleppo

"We now control more than 60 per cent of the city of Aleppo, and each day we take control of new districts," said Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, a colonel with the FSA. He went on to list some 30 districts which he claimed were under FSA control, including about half of the embattled neighborhood of Salaheddin.

But a security source in Damascus rejected the claims, according to the AFP news agency, calling them "completely false".

Likened to Iraq invasion
Syrian soldiers killed a journalist sympathetic to the rebels during a raid in Damascus on Wednesday. Mosaab al-Odaallah, who worked for the state-run Tishreen newspaper, was shot at point-blank range at his home by troops conducting house-to-house raids in the southern Nahr Eisha district of the capital, opposition activists said.

Massoud Akko, head of the public freedoms committee at the underground Syrian Journalists Association, said Odaallah's death brought to 54 the number of Syrian journalists, bloggers and writers killed by security forces during the uprising.

"Most have been killed with shots to the head. The regime appears to have adopted a systematic policy of killing journalists and social media activists," Akko told Reuters by telephone from Berlin.

Earlier, Syria's deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said Obama's talk of action against Syria was media fodder.

Speaking after the news conference held by Russia's Lavrov, Jamil said the West was seeking an excuse to intervene, likening the focus on Syria's chemical weapons with the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led forces and the focus on what proved to be groundless suspicions that Saddam Hussein was concealing weapons of mass destruction.

"Direct military intervention in Syria is impossible because whoever thinks about it ... is heading towards a confrontation wider than Syria's borders," he told a news conference in Damascus.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported the concerns of Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Syria's population. It said Christians fleeing the fighting have detected an increasingly radicalized Islamist strain among the rebels that makes them fear for their future.

Reuters contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

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• Anti-tanning 'Facekinis' cause stir on China beach
• Reports: Kim Jong Un will travel to Iran
• Slideshow: Migration in the Americas
• Reports: Olympic sprinter drowned when migrant boat sank
• With wife's conviction, what is next for China's Bo Xilai?

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

On Christmas Day in 2009, Vermont National Guard Capt. Zachariah Fike received a gift from his mother, Joyce — a Purple Heart medal that she found in an old antique store.

But instead of displaying the medal in his home, Zac, who collects antiques, immediately took to the Internet. He began researching the name engraved in the brass finish — Corrado Piccoli — in hopes of returning the medal to its rightful owner.

“[For] a lot of these families, it’s closure,” Fike says of the Purple Heart medal. “It’s the only tangible thing that the families received after their loved one died. It’s something you can touch, that you can hold, that you can look at. And that’s all they have of him. It’s probably the most important thing in their lives.”

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Using the Internet — along with documents found at a local high school and library, — Fike obtained information about the medal’s recipient, including his draft out of junior college and the mission liberating a French village during World War II, that would ultimately lead to his death.

The amateur investigator eventually found Piccoli’s surviving relatives — including his sister, Adeline Rockko of Watertown, N.Y., to whom he placed a call.

Through the research, Fike says, he got to know the family so well that upon making contact, he reminded Adeline of things she’d forgotten and was able to even share things about her brother she’d never known.

“I had the conversation with Zac and it was like opening a door in a closet that’s full of secrets — memories and everything just floats out,” Adeline said. “And the memories came back, they were very vivid.”

The connection has become the foundation for a close relationship between the two families, and set the groundwork for a first-ever Piccoli family reunion back in 2011, when dozens came together for a formal presentation of Corrado Piccoli’s Purple Heart.

“I felt throughout the process that [Piccoli] was communicating with me,” Fike said. I really felt like I was the messenger in the return, and in essence, it brought his family back together. So, I feel that I am a part of him and his family. And I do consider him a brother in arms again. I consider them a second family.”

A third-generation soldier, Fike is well aware of the sentimental significance of the Purple Heart medal. Since 1932, it has been presented to families of soldiers who lost their lives in combat, as well as to soldiers who have been wounded in action — as was the case with Zac, who was wounded in Afghanistan on Sept. 11, 2010.

“I’m just glad to be here,” Fike said. “I’m glad I can be on a wall of honor in my mom’s home. And I would hope one day, if my medal was lost, that somebody would do the same thing that I do.”

Since the return of Piccoli’s medal, Fike has returned five more. He acquires them in a variety of places, including Craigslist and nursing homes — he even was given one from a landfill. He’s working on returning half a dozen others — and says he comes across more every week. Through word of mouth, Fike has become the go-to resource for tracking and returning lost medals.  

“People from that generation ... are passing by the day, he said. “Unfortunately [the medals] are misplaced during moves over the years. They’re sold by family members that don’t either understand or appreciate the value of them…so they end up in antique shops and things of that nature.”

In fact, Fike’s mother originally picked up the valuable artifact at the antique shop because she thought her son would appreciate the addition to his collection. Fike, quite the antique aficionado, has been collecting memorabilia for years — including photographs and record players.

Joyce knew her son would appreciate the medal — but had no idea the extent to which he’d go to return it.

“I thought he was going to keep it in his collection, so it surprised me that he has done this and it’s taken off the way it has,” she said. “I’m very proud of him for doing it. When I met these families and heard their stories, he’s done the right thing instead of keeping them in his collection.”

As for Fike, he is committed to continuing to his own mission of restoring these lost medals.

“I’ve always had that passion … even before, you know, I was wounded. I just grew up in a military family and I learned to appreciate military service and sacrifice. I think it adds to the allure of the story, absolutely. But I don’t think it makes me any more inclined to do what I do.” 

Those who need help returning medals can email PurpleHeartsReunited@hotmail.com or call 315-523-3609.

On Wednesday "Nightly News" aired a report from special correspondent Chelsea Clinton featuring naturalist Daphne Sheldrick (above), who has been working for decades to preserve Kenya's wildlife. The final piece in Clinton's two-part series (below) aired Thursday, and it explains how baby elephants orphaned by poachers are being rescued and raised.

Below, find out how to help Sheldrick's charity, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and why ivory remains such a precious commodity. 

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Daphne Sheldrick writes:

With the illegal ivory priced as it is today, driven by the demand in the Far East (particularly China), saving the African elephant is now the responsibility of the international community through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). It is beyond the capability of the elephant range states to control the poaching driven by this demand. 

The sale of all ivory, be it legal or illegal, must be banned totally with those countries that destroy their ivory stockpiles compensated, and those that don't, punished. 

The elephant is an iconic species sharing with us humans many of the same emotions -- the same sense of family and the same sense of death. To kill such an animal for a trinket made from its tooth is an abomination that should be punished severely, particularly in this, the 21st century, when humankind should have at least understood that all species benefit the Earth as a whole and that the Earth does not exist solely for us humans, but is home to many other species who have evolved along with it, and are necessary to its well-being. 

People must persuade political representatives who will be making such decisions at CITES to vote to save the elephants rather than being influenced by trade.

From the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust:

Established 35 years ago by Dame Daphne Sheldrick in memory of her late husband David Sheldrick, the founder warden of Kenya’s giant Tsavo National Park, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) is dedicated to the protection and conservation of wildlife and habitats in Kenya.  The charity is best known for its pioneering work with orphaned elephants. Daphne Sheldrick has been living alongside elephants for 50 years and she was the first person to successfully hand-rear a milk-dependent newborn elephant. 

Today the charity has successfully returned 91 elephant orphans to the wild, with another 53 currently reliant on their care. There are 22 baby elephants ages 2 years and under at the DSWT Nursery in Nairobi and another 31 adolescents, graduates of the Nursery, at their two reintegration centres in Tsavo East National Park.

Increasingly the animals the DSWT is called to rescue are ivory orphans; their mothers murdered before their eyes for their tusks; while climate change, drought, a burgeoning human population and livestock place further pressure on land and elephant populations. Already in 2012, the DSWT has been called to 17 baby elephant rescues.

Elephants are under threat. These intelligent, gentle and social animals known as Africa’s Gardeners -- for the role they play in clearing new paths in the bush and dispersing seeds -- are being killed for their ivory at the worst levels since the 1980s. 2011 was the worst year for ivory seizures since the international ivory ban went into effect in 1989. During 2011, authorities seized more than 23 tons of ivory, which represented about 2,500 individual elephants killed. Given that customs search approximately 5 percent of shipments, it is accepted that significantly more ivory will have been successfully smuggled out of Africa. 

Today there are around 450,000 elephants in Africa, down from 1.3 million in 1979. It is estimated by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)  that up to 38,000 elephants are killed annually for their tusks. Left unchecked this could see the population of African Elephants wiped out in under 20 years.

Demand for ivory is rising, fueled by an increasingly affluent middle class in China and the Far East where ivory is seen as a symbol of wealth, status and power. Through the elephant orphans project, mobile veterinary units, eight mobile anti-poaching teams, and aerial surveillance and community outreach; the DSWT is working on the front lines, in the field, to protect elephants, treat and rescue victims of the ivory trade and educate local people as to the importance of protecting their wildlife heritage. 

You can learn more about the Trust’s lifesaving conservation projects at http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

Foster an elephant

 The elephants rescued by the DSWT are reliant upon them for up to 10 years, before they choose to return to the wild. Each elephant requires a stockade, the care of specialist keepers who stay with the orphans 24 hours a day, milk formula every three hours and additional nutrients and medicines where necessary.  You can foster a baby elephant and become part of the elephant’s extended human family, with your donation of $50 a year, contributing much-needed funds to the DSWT Orphans Project. Foster parents receive a personalized certificate, monthly email update of their elephant, photographs and more.  Visit: http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/foster

Make a tax-deductible donation

 U.S. supporters of the DSWT’s charitable mission can choose to make a tax-deductible contribution to U.S. Friends of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a 501(c)(3) organization. Please contact infous@sheldrickwildlifetrust.org or visit https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/html/help_USA.html

“Normally they begin in July and go through the middle of August, but this year they started in June. So we've had an extraordinary amount of heat and lack of water."

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack designated all of Missouri’s 114 counties as disaster areas, enabling farmers to access federal assistance, in mid-July.  As much as 93 percent of the state is suffering through extreme drought conditions.  

David Franscka said it's the worst his family has seen in more than 50 years of dairy farming.

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Paying more for feed than getting for milk
"This year, with the intense heat we've had and the lack of rain, we've had only two measurable rains since April 30,” said Franscka.

Ponds have dried up, forcing his family to haul as much as 8,000 gallons of water each day to the cattle herd. Pastures aren't producing any hay or grass for grazing either, leaving many farmers, like Franscka, with no choice but to buy feed – which right now costs more than the milk he's producing.

"'We've spent in excess of $150,000 over the last three months just on the added costs,” he said. “Anytime you're getting less for your milk than you're paying for your feed – it's not going to come out.”

“That's what's discouraging, knowing you’re going in the hole everyday money-wise,” he said. “But you have to keep hoping and holding on, thinking it's going to change."

Some smaller farms have been forced to close down – selling-off their cattle for slaughter.

Franscka said he's sold 60 out of the 1,000 head of cattle he had at the start of the summer – to help pay the bills and keep the milk flowing until the rain does.

"You persevere day to day, and just try to do what you can do today to make it till tomorrow. Just keep praying to the good Lord that he's going to send some rain,” he said.

It’s a prayer that continues to echo across Missouri, and the entire Midwest. 

More coverage of the drought: 

Drought sends Mississippi into ‘uncharted territory’ 

‘Best year ever’ for some farmers outside drought region    

Drought expected to take toll at checkout

Americans tell their story of #Drought2012 

In drought-stricken Wisconsin, farmers helping farmers  

Emergency well drilling brings relief to farmers stricken by drought

Have you been affected by the worst drought in more than 50 years? Share your photos with us on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter with the tag #Drought2012. You can also upload your photos in the box below. 

ABOARD THE DREDGE JADWIN IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER – The drought of 2012 has humbled the mighty Mississippi River.

A year after near-historic flooding, the river’s water levels are at near-historic lows from Cairo, Ill., where the Ohio River empties into it, to New Orleans, just north of its endpoint at the Gulf of Mexico.

In July, water levels in Cairo, Memphis, Tenn., and Vicksburg, Miss., dipped below those of the historic drought of 1988. That’s affecting everything from commerce on the maritime superhighway to recreation to the drinking water in Louisiana.

The biggest impact may be on shipping. “It’s getting near critical,” said Austin Golding, a third-generation co-owner of Vicksburg, Miss.-based Golding Barge Lines. “Without more rain, we’re heading into uncharted territory.”

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About $180 billion worth of goods move up and down the river on barges, 500 million tons of the basic ingredients for much of the U.S. economy, according to the American Waterways Operators, a trade group. It carries 60 percent of the nation’s grain, 22 percent of the oil and gas and 20 percent of the coal, according to American Waterways Operators. It would take 60 trailer trucks to carry the cargo in just one barge, 144 18-wheeler tankers to carry the oil and gas in one petroleum barge.

The low water levels mean that barge companies have to lighten their load by about 25 percent so the barges ride higher in the water, reducing what’s known as the barges’ “draught.”

That means each tow boat is moving less cargo than usual even though “it takes up the same amount of fuel to burn and the same amount of manpower,” said Ed Henleben, senior operations manager for Ingram Barge Co. in St. Louis.

Already this summer, there are been 15 to 20 cases of barges running aground, according to Steve Jones, the Army Corps of Engineer’s Mississippi River navigation manager. Some cases have stalled river traffic for as much at three days. At this point in an average summer, there’d be only about eight or 10, Jones said.

And as the water drops, the river channel narrows. In some places, the Mississippi is a one-way river as barges heading north have to wait for traffic headed south, adding to the costly delays.

The result: Millions of dollars in higher shipping costs.

“The products we tow, that product costs more,” said Golding. “Somebody’s got to come up with that cost.”

Economists say ultimately, it will be the consumer.  “Some markets such as spot markets for agricultural products will be immediately impacted by increased transportation costs,” said Donald Sweeney of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The navigational hazards of the low water levels are compounded by last year’s flooding, which resulted in a great deal of soil and silt being washed into the river, altering and raising the riverbed.

Because of that sediment in a flood, “as the ceiling rises, so does the floor,” said Golding. “We’ve just dealt with a historic flood, then the water drops.… We have some 50-year guys who’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s a completely different river than anybody’s ever seen.”

As the Army Corps of Engineers’ navigation manager, Jones spend eight to 10 hours a day directing dredges to keep a navigable channel from St. Louis south at least nine feet deep (a system of locks and dams manages the water depth north of St. Louis). So far, the government has spent about $60 million in the effort.

The low water levels in the Mississippi are also resulting in a wedge of salt water creeping upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the drinking water supply in New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to begin work this week on a $5.8 million underwater barrier to block the saltwater’s advance.

The river’s low levels are the result of a combination of the mild winter in the Upper Midwest, which resulted in very little snow melt to feed the river, and the dry spring and summer in the tributaries to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

What will it take to get the Mississippi back to normal? Says Jones: “Rainfall – which will occur, it’s just a question of when.”

More coverage of the drought: 

‘Best year ever’ for some farmers outside drought region   

Forced to sell cattle during drought, dairy farmers ‘just keep praying’ for rain

Drought expected to take toll at checkout

Americans tell their story of #Drought2012 

In drought-stricken Wisconsin, farmers helping farmers  

Emergency well drilling brings relief to farmers stricken by drought

Have you been affected by the worst drought in more than 50 years? Share your photos with us on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter with the tag #Drought2012. You can also upload your photos in the box below. 

 

 

By Diana Alvear, NBC News correspondent

SEATTLE, Wash. -- Samantha Paul was supposed to be planning her daughter Rachel Beckwith's birthday party. Instead, she was in Tigray, Ethiopia, pumping water from the wells built in Rachel’s memory. It was the dream her little girl never got the chance to see come true.

"She wouldn't believe it, she'd be like awestruck," Paul told NBC News via Skype from Tigray.  The Seattle mom herself was awestruck, after seeing the new wells, the exultant smiles, and feeling the love the villagers had for her Rachel.

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It began one Sunday after church. Rachel excitedly told her mom about a man from charity:water who had visited her Sunday school class. He told them how he’d given up his birthday celebration. Instead, he’d asked his friends and family to donate to his charity that provided clean drinking water to people in Africa. Rachel wanted to do the same.

"No party, no big presents,” Paul recalled. “She just wanted people to donate to her charity water campaign."

Click here to learn more about Rachel's campaign for safe drinking water. 

Her sacrifice came as no surprise to Paul. This was the same girl who’d cut off her long hair to donate to Locks of Love when she was merely 5 years old. She planned to do it again as soon as her hair was long enough.

So when Rachel heard that there were kids in Africa without access to clean water she set a goal of $300 and got to work spreading the word. By the time she turned 9, she’d raised $280. She vowed to do better the next year. But next year never came.

A few weeks later, Rachel was in a car accident. Doctors said her prognosis was grim. As she lay in her hospital bed, Samantha and her family were astonished to discover word of her accident had spread, and that her charity:water campaign had blown past its $300 goal.

“We were just so excited, refreshing the screen and seeing all the new donations and reading the comments and being able to read them to her and letting her know all of these cool people that were thinking about her and donating -- that she was reaching her goal, and then more, and then thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, said Paul.

Below, watch a 2011 "Nightly News" report about Rachel's cause.

Rachel, who did not live to see her modest campaign succeed beyond her wildest dreams, ultimately raised $1.26 million dollars. That was enough to fund 149 wells in several communities in Ethiopia.

A year after her daughter’s death, Paul travelled to those very communities, to see for herself the results of her daughter’s sacrifice. She could not believe her eyes when she arrived at the first village.

“There were parades and signs and they had made special food for us,” she recalled. “They knew Rachel's story and they had pictures of her. They had been praying for her and praying for me.”

Everywhere she went, Rachel was there. Her smiling face was on shirts, posters, on a marble plaque dedicating a new park in her name, on an altar at a church.

“Everybody seemed to know about it, everyone in the countryside knew about this 9-year-old girl from Seattle, Washington that cared about them,” said Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water.  “And you know, that floored them. It brought them to tears.”

One mother approached Samantha, hugging her and grieving her loss.

“She was in tears, she had a daughter of her own,” Paul said. “She kept telling me how sorry she was and how wonderful that my little girl was and how she hoped that her little girl would have the same values that Rachel did.”

Rachel’s simple birthday wish meant so much to the people of Ethiopia. Their children often walked for hours to collect water, water often filled with dirt, leeches and disease. Now these same children drank safe, clean water. Paul drank it with them, drinking in their smiles and happiness as well, all thanks to her little girl.

"I always knew that she was special,” she said. “It's amazing that now other people can feel how special she was."

Samantha said seeing the wells and meeting the people whose lives have changed thanks to her daughter’s compassion have helped heal her tremendous loss.  Her one regret is that her beloved little girl did not get to see her birthday wish come true.

"I really miss Rachel and I wish that … she could still be here, especially to see all the kids and the people that are going to benefit from her wish."

 

 

By Thanh Truong, NBC News

WARREN COUNTY, Mo. --  There's a desperate search for water under way throughout Missouri where 95 percent of the state is enduring extreme levels of drought.  In the rural area of Truxton, farmer Rusty Lee estimates he'll likely lose 40 percent of his crops.

We walked through his withering fields where rows of yellow squash lay shriveled under the sun.  Lee said he's been trying to explain the severity of the drought to his 6–year-old son William.

"I try not to talk about our losses money-wise, economic-wise, but I want him to understand that this drought … will go down in history and that he probably won't see something like this in his lifetime," Lee said.

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He is one of more than 3,700 farmers and ranchers in Missouri who have been approved for emergency well drilling.  Gov. Jay Nixon issued an executive order last month for the state to pay up to 90 percent of the cost to dig new or deeper wells for farmers severely impacted by the drought.  The farmers will pay the remainder of that cost.  So far, the state has set aside more than $18 million to dig these new wells.

"We've been praying for rain, you don't know how much these wells help us," said long-time cattle rancher Michele Christopherson.

Early Thursday morning, her farm was bustling with noise.  A two-person crew, equipped with heavy drilling equipment, started digging the 540 feet necessary to hit fresh water.  Christopherson's current well doesn't have enough capacity to keep her 100 head of cattle hydrated.  She's had several die from the heat and several others have lost their calves.  Between the $10,000 she's already had to pay for hay and the estimated $12,000 she'll have to pay for the new well, Christopherson said this year will be one of losses.

"We're tough, that's how you got be when you're doing this kind of business, but nobody can sit there and say they can handle that kind of hit.  We certainly can't," said Christopherson.

By noon, the crew hit pay dirt.  Water gushed out of the ground.  Christopherson stood near her fence, smiling at the sight.

A few miles down the road, fellow cattle rancher Peggy Ebbesmeyer was eagerly waiting her turn.  The pond that usually serves as the main watering hole for cows is drying up and the little water left in it is warm and green.

"My cows lose five pounds a day by drinking this water.  There's not much I can do without rain," said Ebbesmeyer.

To supplement the rancid water, she's been hauling water from a town 12 miles away to her farm.  That's been a daily trip for two months.  Ebbesemeyer figures she's lost between $40,000-$50,000 after several head of cattle died and others were sold early.  

But for now, she will likely have to wait until the end of August -- along with thousands of other farmers -- for the drills to arrive.  

Have you been affected by the worst drought in more than 50 years? Share your photos with us on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter with the tag #Drought2012. You can also upload your photos in the box below. 

 

 

NEWS ANALYSIS

Richard Engel, NBC News' chief foreign correspondent, has just left Syria after spending three weeks reporting on rebel forces in the north of the war-torn country.  Based on his three weeks of reporting, he offers an analysis of what could happen if the international community does not intervene in the conflict.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Al-Qaida units are already entering Syria. 

Pickup trucks waving their black flags and carrying hard-looking men are increasingly evident on Syrian country roads. 

It wasn't like this just a few weeks ago.  A year-and-a-half ago, Syrian rebels started the fight to topple President Bashar Assad’s corrupt police state and end four decades of sectarian favoritism. The majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims but they have been ruled by Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. 

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Rebel forces claim to have downed a Syrian fighter jet

The rebels have watched Russia arm the government. They have seen Shiite Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah send fighters and military advisors to help Assad. 

They have also watched the United Nations send observers without authority, and the United States make what seem to many appear to be toothless condemnations. 

So al-Qaida, the world’s most extremist Sunni group, is offering itself as a solution, a savior of the revolution.  It is arriving flush with money and weapons, as I reported last week.

I have spoken with rebel units who told me they were offered large amounts of money, in exchange for pledging allegiance to al-Qaida. But it comes with a caveat: they can not leave. One rebel commander told me that one of his relatives had joined al-Qaida and tried to leave – but was executed for his apparent treason. 

Still others are taking up the opportunity.

"I will go to [al-Qaida], and raise their flag if they give me support," one rebel told me. 

"I'd take money from al-Qaida.  What choice do I have?  I can't defend myself or my family," another rebel commander said.  "I'll take the al-Qaida support, and then deal with them later.  Otherwise there won't be a later." 

He's the most secular Syrian I know.  He hates al-Qaida, but feels he may have to deal with the devil to save his family and village.

Even the most secular rebel groups say they're tempted, and no wonder.  I've seen rebels at checkpoints with empty magazines in the rifles.  They have homemade grenades in pipes and shaving cream cans. 

It's easy to forget that without international support, the rebels in Libya would have lost the war and been massacred.  And the Syrian rebels are asking for much less than what was given to Libya.  They don't want ground troops, although they would take a no-fly zone, if offered.  All they’re really asking for is ammunition and a few hundred anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets.  

Violence intensifying in Syria: the battle continues in Aleppo

Meanwhile, the United States says it doesn't know who to arm, and that it doesn’t want to give weapons to the wrong people. 

While Saudi Arabia and Qatar are believed to be arming Syrian rebels, and the United States and Britain pledged to step up non-lethal assistance to Assad's opponents, many say this is far from enough.

The United States, rebels say, is paralyzed because of the upcoming presidential elections.  Washington can’t take decisive action because of November’s vote, many rebels contend.

US, Turkey explore no-fly zones over Syria

So while the vast majority of rebels hate the idea of an al-Qaida base in Syria, they also don't want Assad to stay in power and continue his killing spree.  And international inaction may give the United States' worst enemy a gift that it has always wanted – a base at the heart of the Middle East. 

And this would be a danger to Syria, its neighbors, and the United States.

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