While most of the nation was sleeping, Wilma blew up from a category 2 storm to a category 5. More than that: it set a new record for pressure at the core... and more than that: this storm is on a mission. They are predicting that this will now run SO fast through two peninsulas (Yucatan and Florida) that it will reach Cape Cod by Monday. Put another way: by the time we start a new week's broadcasts, this storm that is just now entering our sphere of interest will be in the rear view mirror. The good news: it will NOT make U.S. landfall at anything close to its present, freakish strength. There's a whole lot of distance to travel first, so we're dusting off the "Projected Paths" graphic, Max Mayfield's bio... the whole nine yards.

We'll obviously cover Saddam's day in court, including some of the atmospherics that were not obvious to a viewing audience dependent on translation and pool pictures... the body language between the former maximum leader and some of his old cronies who he saw in court for the first time in several years. For the record, he entered a plea of "not guilty."

Bush met with Bono today over lunch. The White House has released a photo. This photo must find its way into the broadcast tonight. Don't know of any plans for The Edge to meet with Vice President Cheney. Just a thought.

We have a medical story tonight that if read in a vacuum would present entirely differently than we know the reality to be. The wire story (correctly and appropriately) mentions "cancer" and "cure" in the lead paragraph. It's about the great success Herceptin has brought to the fight against breast cancer, especially the early detection of a virulent form. The trouble with reporting this story is: we've done it before... while notable and life-saving, it's not NEW. It was broken in April (front page New York Times, and carried on this broadcast and here on MSNBC.com), but is now being published in a medical journal and getting the commensurate attention. In a very strange twist, the story per se is embargoed until 5 p.m. ET, so we can't show you yet or link to it by rights. But those in need of this information presumably already know it. While the passage of time does not diminish its breakthrough status (or the good news this represents for millions of women), explaining the fact that it's an "old breakthrough" with greater care than I'm exhibiting here is a bit of a conundrum.  We'll have Robert Bazell's help... let's see how we do.

We have a story tonight on the FEMA response to New Orleans which may make blood boil in those who are easily transported back to how that week in America made them feel. It's a wonderful piece of work by Senior Investigative Correspondent Lisa Myers and her producers and the the e-mails we will share with the audience make it all too real.

Intriguing atmospherics are emerging from the Plame Grand Jury... my favorite of the day: the judge allowed courtroom artists and journalists in today to look around (and sketch their "baseline" backgrounds) of the room where the testimony has been gathered in this case by Mr. Fitzgerald. Speculation has reached a fever pitch.  No one is making any plans for Friday. A reminder: the Grand Jury meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. While the web has indeed gone wild this week (the rumor repeated yesterday on U.S. News' Web site of a possible Cheney resignation? Vice President Rice? Flipping witnesses?) JustOneMinute is today and remains a worthwhile stop for the Zeitgeist on this story that, by my count, is understood fully by about a half dozen American adults.

On second thought....

First, about yesterday's posting: I obviously misspoke and it made it past our crack editorial team. I said that the terror threat led to the closure of Baltimore BRIDGES when obviously it was TUNNELS.  That I wrote it while watching live pictures of the closure increases the embarrassment of the error that a few of you brought to our attention.  Secondly: I note that one reader (seeing a reference to a speech I gave this week) asked if I accepted money for speaking. The answer is an unequivocal NO... never have, never will.  My reasons? I'm well compensated...and I never want to be conflicted should a story come before us involving an organization that has contributed to my bank account. Some organizations insist on an outlay of the money because it's been budgeted that way, so in those cases, I merely suggest a charity. I do accept offers of transportation to a speech location, but as a practical matter Nightly News keeps me busy and I do not accept that many engagements. I do NOT judge others who accept speaking fees, but have simply never thought that anything I have to say is worth so much as a nickel. I have family members who can confirm that.

Back to tonight: I hope you'll join us.

Pentagon officials say preparations are well underway for the military and National Guard to respond if needed to Hurricane Wilma.

A Defense Emergency Operations Center will be established at Tallahassee, Fla. by tomorrow. The Pentagon has named a Defense Coordinating officer, who will serve as a liaison between state and federal agencies, the National Guard and NORTHCOM, the command in charge of homeland defense.

Homestead Air Force Base in South Florida will serve as the FEMA Mobilization Center. The Corps of Engineers has pre-positioned units in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.

Plans are being made to relocate the 21st Combat Support hospital, a portable medical facility, from Louisiana where it was used to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina to Florida if needed.

Giving advice is in my blood, professionally and personally. (You can ask my colleagues. Or my younger sisters.) And I especially enjoy talking with young people who are contemplating a professional life in journalism. In particular, I attract students who are struggling between the fourth estate and the law. 

These uncertain students have come to the right place. I was a reporter before (and during) law school, then gave legal advice to journalists before returning to the newsroom for my job in broadcast standards. My days are spent working through policy and ethics questions with journalists and, at times, our own NBC lawyers. 

In the course of my work, I think I've heard almost every possible solution to the law-journalism career dilemma. They range from the local anchor I once interviewed who decided to leave the studio and go to law school, to my friend Adam Liptak, a former lawyer for The New York Times who is now a reporter there, taking on the paper's toughest in-house stories. (Link: Adam's reporting from Oct. 16 about Judy Miller, NYTimes.com login required) 

Of course, I have lawyer-journalist company here, including Dan Abrams and Nightly writer and fellow Daily Nightly blogger Barbara Raab. And sometimes reporters who cover law do it so well it just seems they have a law degree (Pete Williams comes to mind).

It's a good bet many of my colleagues are helping others answer the same important question: which is the smartest, most rewarding career choice, law or journalism?

Here are my two cents:  I never discourage anyone from attending law school, even if they are not sure it's their heart's desire. I went, and am glad I did. But I have a warning for cub reporters contemplating the law: your passion for news will be hard to ignore. In the years ahead, we'll need people with the talents that lawyers also depend on -- intelligence, analytic skills and a concern about justice -- to navigate our own turbulent world of journalism, and help our audience make sense of the day's events.

So, if I haven't heard from you yet, and you are thinking about what to do next, I say: join us. Follow your passion. You can always dole out the tuition payments later.

P.S.  In the next couple of weeks, I'll be on the road lecturing at some universities, including my alma mater (scroll down to Nov. 5).  I'm sure to meet some smart, inquisitive students, and I expect to field some challenging questions. Please check back for some notes from the front.

Beating the biological clock... careers, health problems and disappointing romances can all delay a woman's decision to start a family. But now women can put fertility on ice. We'll have a report on egg freezing -- it carries a big price tag and big risks, but it's the hottest thing in the fertility business.

Carl Quintanilla and I are preparing a story for the broadcast concerning Jefferson Parish, which adjoins New Orleans on the west. The Parish president, Aaron Broussard, made the painful decision the day before Katrina hit to shut down the pump houses in the parish, and evacuate the operators to safety. Those of us not from the New Orleans area are quickly learning how important the massive and complex system of pumps and canals are to survival and well being. We're all below or at sea level when we arrive here. If you don't pump out the water, you flood. It's just that simple.

Broussard told us today, "No parish president should have to make the decisions that I had to make during Katrina, where you choose between different values. In this instance, I chose life over property. That was a good decision."

Broussard also told us the head of the National Hurricane Center called his office and flatly said, "This is the big one, get your people out or they will die."

A Hobson's choice: flood the parish, or put your employees in mortal danger. Like so many things we've seen during the past seven weeks, a tough and unavoidable choice.

The stories in tonight's broadcast may pertain in equal measure to events that have yet to take place... and events we're covering in past tense.

Its been an interesting day to watch the cable nets: dividing their time between the dam in Taunton, Mass. that won't break... and the tunnel in Baltimore that was closed for a time. Of those two stories, the latter creates an opening for us: a chance to trot out the now well-worn phrase "the new normal" and talk about how local authorities, with concurrence from the Feds or not, may now shut down, seal off, fortify or blow up pretty much anything they deem a threat. Tunnels, subways, backpacks... you name it... this is the stuff of our times, and if you were waiting for an express delivery or even a pair of grandparents to arrive today along the I-95 corridor, blame the folks who, acting on a tip (said to be a foreign caller) closed BOTH bridges beneath Baltimore harbor. It will be the focus of a piece high in our broadcast tonight, with or without concurrence from the Feds.

Also on our docket tonight: a primer/preview of what to expect from Mr. Fitzgerald as the expiration of the Grand Jury in Washington approaches. As I said in a speech to a group of executives last night: I've yet to meet a single American who understands every aspect of the Valerie Plame story. Some of it is just not knowable and may NOT be even after it's all over. As was pointed out at our editorial meeting this afternoon, there's nothing to keep large parts of this investigation from remaining a total mystery after it's over.

We'll preview the Saddam trial, which begins tomorrow. Expect a posting soon from Richard Engel on the extraordinary security in place to protect the courtroom environment. We'll look at exactly what they plan to try the former dictator on, including some tape that we've acquired, a North American exclusive, according to our Senior Producer for foreign coverage, M.L. Flynn.

Watching a handwriting analyst examine the signature of Harriett Miers on MSNBC as I write this reminds me: I was told recently that a prominent figure in Hollywood screened a copy of the film Network for a group of students, and was amazed at the LACK of reaction from the group. It seems too much of Chayefsky's once outlandish screenplay (and this is spoken, full disclosure, as a seven-year-veteran of cable) has slowly morphed into the realm of everyday stuff, from shouting anchors to Sybil The Soothsayer-like segments. Trust me: it was really satirical once.

Also on the broadcast tonight: our health segment on the dangers of weight-reduction surgery for the obese, and a look at another of the continuing after-effects of Katrina: the Vietnamese segment of the shrimping industry in the Gulf.

Briefly, on our recommended reading list: the piece by Melvin Laird in Foreign Affairs and the piece on Doris Kearns Goodwin in the current issue of Atlantic Monthly.

As always, our broadcast is recommended viewing, and we hope you'll join us tonight.

Weight loss surgery... tens of thousands of Americans are turning to it and shedding pounds they thought they'd never lose. But at what risk? New research shows many wind up back in the hospital with serious complications. We'll tell you what patients should know.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, N.Y., says Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers told him today "no one knows how I will rule on Roe v Wade." According to Schumer, Miers said she didn't recall talking about Roe v Wade with any administration officials.

But Schumer said when he asked Miers directly if she talked with Karl Rove about how she might rule on the case, she refused to discuss any details of her conversations. Schumer says Miers also declined to discuss hardly any issues she worked on as White House counsel.

Schumer, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, appeared disappointed after his meeting with Miers. He said his first meeting with then-SCOTUS nominee John Roberts was "far more illuminating." 

As for the timing of the hearings, Schumer told reporters Republicans were planning to start confirmation hearings the week of November 7, though Democrats had not signed off on the date. Schumer wants the hearings to start much later, saying he needs more time to learn about her after little substantial information emerged from his meeting today.

I just got off the telephone with Richard Engel in Baghdad... and received his always-fascinating view of developments on the ground. While his predictions regarding the future and his personal assessment of the situation were relayed to me as a colleague and in confidence -- as I've said in this space before, he is of a type -- I don't think I've ever heard my young friend as energized to be there, covering this story, in all the years he's lived in Baghdad. While he never suffers from a lack of energy, he's extremely energized at the thought of covering the events yet to unfold.

If broadcasts like ours merely mirrored the talk of the newsroom, we would lead with Judy Miller of the New York Times. The articles in the Times this weekend (and her own story, which continues to evolve) combined with the independent reporting on the Plame case are the talk of newsrooms in New York, Washington and elsewhere. Alas, what's good for the newsroom isn't always best for a national audience. We will know all we need to know in due time, as Mr. Fitzgerald's deadline nears. We'll have an update from Kelly O'Donnell at the White House.

General Motors will figure prominently in the broadcast tonight. It is a company at or near the top of the list of "legacy" employers in this country (our own parent company, after all, General Electric is the only remaining original member of the Dow Industrials) and we'll have a report on whether in the context of this UAW deal "so goes the nation." 

Our friend Mr. Engel will report on the election results in Iraq tonight. Keith Miller will update the bird flu situation from Europe...where the news concerns an apparent spread to Greece. And tonight we debut a special series produced in conjunction with Newsweek magazine on women in the American workforce.

The members of our workforce hope you can join us this evening.

Officials from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon say they have no idea what New York Times reporter Judith Miller was talking about in her published claim over the weekend that she was given a "security clearance" when she was embedded with a WMD military team in Iraq.

According to the officials, they know of no instance or circumstance when a reporter has been or would be granted a security clearance for any reason, and don't know that she was given one when she was embedded with the U.S. Army's 75th Exploitation Unit that was tasked with finding Iraqi WMD immediately following the end of major conflict in the spring of 2003.

Normally it takes at least three months of background checks, etc. before anyone is granted a "SECRET" clearance. There are cases where someone is granted a temporary short-term clearance, for a day, for example, but that is usually extended only to military, DOD or civilian contractors who need to be cleared for specific information on a specific project. Miller had indicated she thought her "security clearance" may still have been in effect during a meeting with Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Scooter Libby after she had returned to Washington.

While embedded reporters are often granted access to classified briefings on the grounds that the information can not be reported, Pentagon officials say no military commander or officer has the individual authority to grant a security clearance.

Pentagon officials say they are continuing to check whether Miller had been granted a security clearance of any kind.

The first deliveries of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of international relief are beginning to reach Pakistan's remote villages, if only just. On the op-ed pages, Pakistan's intellectuals are debating why so much devastation could befall a country known to straddle one of the Earth's main fault lines. The trickle of relief agents has become a steady stream of visits by UN, Western and Asian dignitaries, all seeking to be seen waving their organization's flag high over the miserable ruins.

It's called 'Week Two.' The breaking story is out of the news rundowns, and the world's media starts to reassess its presence. Many journalists, including this reporter, headed home. But quite a few of us, it seems, are still scratching our collective heads, sensing we've just covered something unique-even those of us who 'do' disasters for a living--but not yet able to nail down what made it so.

Hence, this blog posting.

In the past week our NBC News team camped out in the heart of the quake zone (there were no roofs safe enough to sleep under), filing stories for Nightly News along the way. In that time we got an up-close, ground-level look at the 80 percent destroyed city of Muzaffarabad, a view very different from what helicopter flights will give you. We drove along a long part of the quake's axis, some 80 miles, from Muzaffarabad to Ghari Hajibullah to Manserha to Islamabad. And once the road was cleared, we made it up to what had been inaccessible mountain villages, like Danna, high above the Jehlum River Valley. It was still a just a snapshot of the total picture -- even the long drive was a fraction of the 1,500-mile Himalayan fault line that convulsed in at least three South Asian nations. But it's certainly enough to convince me that I've never seen anything quite like this kind of concentrated devastation before, not even in Mexico City back in 1985, when an 8.3 monster quake destroyed thousands of buildings and killed more than 20,000.

Walking through Muzaffarabad, just eight days ago the thriving capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, was like moving through a German town in WWII after a Dresden-like firebombing, except there were no bomb craters. No carbonized bodies. Only building after building spewing out their bricks. Sometimes whole city blocks were pancaked just like the homes of Muslims and Croats, after Serb demolition experts systematically blew them up during the 'ethnic cleansing' of Yugoslavia's civil war. But again, THIS felt unique. It looked, and smelled, like a war zone just after battle. But the people were still HERE, amassed and dazed, in the streets. It was as if, warned of impending house-to-house combat, 100,000 of Muzaffarabad's city folk chose to stay and watch, rather than run for their lives.

Take the New Orleans death toll and multiply it by 50. This kind of catastrophe, we all know, usually happens in poor, backward countries like Afghanistan, where towns molded from baked mud fold like so many sand castles hit by a huge wave. But a WHOLE city --think of it. A regional capital full of hospitals and schools and government offices is now a city-full of rubble. Whatever the causes behind this catastrophe, be it shoddy construction, endemic corruption, or just plain denial, its aftermath, for me, had all the elements of a nightmare: I think of the medical staff in Muzaffarabad's main hospital- 90 percent destroyed and trying desperately to save patients in a makeshift M.A.S.H. on the hospital grounds even while, within earshot, their own family members were screaming for help from beneath the rubble. I think of all those first responders, like the ones the media beat to the Gulf Coast calamity. Those in charge of emergencies here -- the Pakistani Army, the police, local government officials, ambulance drivers and fire fighters -- most of them were killed within seconds of the tremor. 

So it wasn't difficult for us to beat those first responders to places like Danna, the village some 6,000 feet up in the Kashmir Mountains. Old men, their faces still caked with blood and their wounds beginning to fester, approached us, seeking help. We were the first 'Westerners' they had seen since the quake and of course they assumed we were aid workers. Nassem Khan, an elderly man who spoke good English after years of work in Saudi Arabia, seemed to sum up the anger in Danna:

''Where are our commanders?'' he screamed at us. ''Where is the aid? You come up, why can't they come up and help?'' The short answer (unlike in New Orleans): many of them were dead.

I'll take away numerous images from this assignment, but one will haunt me for a long time to come: a little, nameless Kashmiri boy on a stretcher, just choppered into Muzaffarabad's sports stadium that served as a field hospital. A beautiful boy, no more than three years old, with large hazel eyes and hardly any skin left on his small battered face. He lay there and stared at me with those eyes, already beyond pain, beyond tears. No doubt in shock, but, somehow, beyond that, too. He just stared, expressionless. Motionless. And I looked back, helpless.

Forget the old boys' club... a new generation of women is making its own rules. Tonight, Rehema Ellis reports on how they are changing the traditional business world and choosing paths to success with greater control. For more on this story, check out Newsweek's cover story, "Leadership for the 21st Century."

I see on several Web sites that we are taking incoming fire for our decision to lead the broadcast with the media event at the White House yesterday. On the other hand, I noticed a few Web sites who seemed critical of the event itself. I will continue my stated practice of reading every incoming e-mail (even if we can't answer every one), and this story generated a lot. There may, in fact, be time for little else this weekend. I've already read a slew of comments and accusations. The only recurring inference that should be corrected immediately is this: Thanks in part to the time I have spent with them in Iraq, and with their families here in the states, I yield to no one else (as a review of our coverage from the region would indicate) in my attitude toward the work our soldiers do and the task they face. And a question may be in order here: as long as the coverage is balanced in its political context, would anyone really want us to cover this White House by a different set of standards than we have others in the past?

We'll keep reading... and reacting... and asking the right questions... and I'm confident our viewers will keep up their end of the deal: they will keep responding.

When we ask people to e-mail us and share their opinions of the broadcast (or of this blog), we mean it. We've learned today there is no shortage of opinion on our decision to begin the broadcast with yesterday's media event at the White House...and after reading all comments received to date, perhaps we'll do a few words on that topic in this space at a later time.

Tonight, the economy has our attention. The damage done by Katrina is staggering... and we'll explain this evening how, beyond the pictures of the physical damage, this storm will eventually make its way into all of our homes. Kelly O'Donnell will lay out the state of play at the White House, Jim Maceda will update us on the ongoing misery in the quake zone. We'll also have coverage of the week-long rains in the Northeast and the damage the waters are causing tonight. We'll also have a report from Campbell Brown who is with troops in Iraq as they prepare for hopefully secure elections. And we'll look at two aspects of the past in the South that have both been forced to accept changing times. We hope you'll join us and have a good weekend.

Editor's note: To comment on this post or any other, just click the "Discuss" link below the post and follow the instructions.

Saddam seems to be planning to pull a Milosevic and use his first day in court, Oct. 19, and the trial itself, to put America and the war on trial instead of himself.

I have been trying to get in touch with Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Duleimi for days. The guy is like a ghost. He rarely answers his phones, keeps changing numbers and is always vague about where he is as he moves between Amman, Baghdad and Fallujah. Today we finally got him on the phone and I was able to speak with him (over a terrible satellite line) for about 20 minutes. It was obvious Saddam will try to play on Iraqi dissatisfaction with the American occupation and international opposition to the war to divert attention from himself and de-legitimize the court.

But this is just one of the stories we're trying to follow. Tomorrow is referendum day and all of the reporters here in Baghdad are struggling to figure out how to cover it during a total lock down, when no cars can travel on the roads because of U.S. and Iraqi military orders. My favorite solution has been that of APTN which has given seven of its local reporters/cameramen bicycles so they can move around the city and shuttle tapes back and forth. I wish them luck and energy (not easy, especially as they may also be fasting).

Areas to watch tomorrow: Ninewa and Diala. These are the two swing provinces. If two-thirds of people in either one of these regions vote 'no' to the constitution it will likely fail, adding another six months to a year to the U.S.-guided political road map for Iraq and most likely to the time U.S. troops will have to be here to protect it.

Editor's note: Richard wrote a longer analysis for MSNBC.com. You can read it here.

BAGHDAD - The U.S.-brokered compromise here this week to make Iraq's constitution flexible may have saved this country from collapsing into civil war — or at least postponed it a few months.

But it is a deeply flawed document, peppered with religious slogans, and leaves plenty of room for Shiites and Kurds to govern themselves. Iraqis vote Saturday in a referendum on the constitution, which has been the cause of rancorous debate here since it was written.

Secular Iraqis, women's groups and Arab Sunnis — who had almost no say in drafting the constitution — have been complaining that the constitution is a formula for dividing Iraq into three pieces, with the Sunnis getting the worst slice: a triangle of desert without known oil reserves. Critics also say the draft constitution gives too much authority to Shiite religious leaders friendly to the regime in Iran.

Editor's note: Richard wrote this analysis piece for MSNBC.com. You can read the rest of it here.

Tougher bankruptcy laws are on the horizon, and for many, that means it's a race against time. Americans in debt are filing for bankruptcy in record numbers -- between 1-2,000 applicants each day -- but what about those who don't make it? Chief Financial Correspondent Anne Thompson reports on how the new laws will affect families nationwide.

My day, at least editorially, started just after I'd chosen a spot on the couch for the 9:30 a.m. editorial daily planning meeting. I arrived early and was finishing up the newspapers when an e-mail came into my BlackBerry -- it was from a producer in our control room, watching the incoming feed from Iraq. The President was minutes away from what was billed to us as a "give and take...a back and forth" with soldiers on the ground in Iraq. The e-mail said they were rehearsing their answers to the President's questions. It went on to say they were receiving coaching from yet-unnamed government officials on HOW to deliver their lines once the President appeared.

We've all been party to media events and blatant photo ops. Members of the media have known full well when events in the past have been thoroughly scripted to bring about the desired response. While this kind of thing gets reported when germane, it's a given in political campaigns, just as it was a given during the series of town meetings this President held, the guests were invited and questions were at very minimum strongly encouraged by subject manner, if not outwardly planted. It's what the home team gets to do. It's part of politics and both parties have made it something of an art form. In this case, however, the advance billing and final execution were at odds. And what we witnessed -- the comments first rehearsed then repeated verbatim with minor deviations once the President entered the discussion -- was rather stunning to see on television, as viewers will see on our air tonight.

The story developed steam as the day wore on, and as more in the media realized what they'd just witnessed, and the White House briefing reflected it. Press Secretary Scott McClellan has since admitted to our own Kelly O'Donnell that he did NOT know the extent of the situation and how it played on television when he answered reporters'  questions about it today from the podium. Beyond that, I'll let the reporting of Andrea Mitchell speak for itself on tonight's broadcast. 

We also have solid reporting tonight on the run-up to the Iraq elections, the flooding here in the Northeast and the continued suffering in South Asia. And since the suffering continues in the South...two terrific bits of reporting on what people are doing for shelter having lost all in Katrina. For now, duty calls...off to a story conference, and we hope you can join us tonight.

I've been very closely following the dispatches of our friends and colleagues in Pakistan: Correspondents Ned Colt and Jim Maceda. Having done what they're doing now gives me great sympathy for how they are living and what they are witnessing. I hope it goes without saying that all of us routinely point out that we are mere visitors... reporters and observers... in a land where so many are gone, so many have lost so much and so many are sad. At least our folks have their health, families, homes, possessions and lives to return to.

Having said that, though, it's easy to envision so many aspects of their current trip: the smell, sound and vibrations of a long hop in a Chinook helicopter, the taste of the MREs (the military meals that become, in a disaster setting, one's sole source of nourishment... and we're glad to have them) and the sight of our London and New York-based technical wizards arriving to set up shop. I can easily visualize all of their faces, right there, in the rugged and awful context of where they have landed.  They are the best in the world at what they do -- setting up a live TV signal from the side of a mountain in the middle of nowhere, using the contents of the equipment cases they carry -- and I am constantly in awe of their knowledge, talent and work ethic when serving with them in the field. It's hard work, tough duty and emotionally so draining.

Those of us who visited both Banda Aceh and New Orleans (as perverse as that sounds) in the space of the last year have been left with indelible images that often appear when we close our eyes at night. Ditto anyone who has visited a live-fire situation in Iraq or any other war zone. And as is the nature of our work, after bringing the story of a far-off (or not so far-off) tragedy to the viewers, we come home, where we are expected to seamlessly merge back into our normal, fortunate lives. In terms of the losses they continue to suffer, the people of South Asia yield to no one on earth.

But for our friends who are there recording their sad stories... there is great respect and empathy back home among co-workers watching their hard work. As a great man once said: "This is the business we have chosen." We leave these kinds of places wishing only that we could make better the plight of those we meet on the ground, and bring back those being mourned by the survivors whose lives are suddenly so empty.

Editor's note: Correspondent Jim Maceda filed this reporter's notebook with MSNBC.com this morning from Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.

Federal authorities today opened a criminal investigation into who wrote e-mails apparently sent to private citizens in advance of New York City's decision to issue a public alert last week involving its subways.

Investigators are looking at the e-mails, which appear to be based on statements by government officials with knowledge of the potential threat information, which was subsequently discredited.

Earlier today a federal official said it was not clear whether the e-mails were written by government employees or by people who overheard discussion of the potential threat. But now, the fact there is a criminal investigation would indicate an interest in finding out whether government officials in possession of classified information were somehow involved in the unauthorized e-mail.

Editor's note: Pete made some calls checking into this story, as reported in The New York Daily News.

There are a few people, and I must say, just a few, that we have seen dressed in what reasonable people would say are normal clothes. Shoes, a button-down shirt, a suit jacket. Most people here, regardless of income level, race, or previous job, are dressing in "survival" mode. This consists of boots, cargo pants or shorts, leather work gloves stuffed in one back pocket, with a respirator mask shoved into the other. They also typically have a case of water and several MREs in the back seat of their vehicle, and rubber boots and a shovel on the floor. What is most astounding about this "survival mode" is who it affects. Waiters, doctors, lawyers, ditch diggers, truck drivers, bankers, all economic and social levels, all races, all ages. Driving through the CBD (Central Business District), the Garden District and the French Quarter, you can almost convince yourself things are getting back to normal, that it's just a missed trash pickup day, or a good sized construction project in the neighborhood.

But drive out Tulane Avenue, or any major street towards the lake from downtown, and the scene is like something out of a movie. Flooded cars and buildings covered with a chalk white film, left when the waters receded. All plants... grass, shrubs, small trees... dead after being submerged for a month in a toxic soup. The water line is still visible, and will be for months, five feet up on most buildings. Trash is everywhere, stacked up in front of houses, businesses and office buildings, just now beginning to dry out. There are flies swarming everywhere. Power is out, water is out. Two-story buildings show a bottom floor gutted to the bare wood frame, and mold covers everything else.

Citizens are starting to come back, but what are they coming back to?

One hurricane, one house, five bedrooms and 44 people. We'll tell you the story of how one family managed in the wake of Katrina as our cameras documented their struggles and joy.

Regular readers have no doubt noticed that we redesigned this blog late yesterday.  "The Daily Nightly" is now produced using TypePad, a web-based blogging service.  What's that mean for you?  Hopefully, a page that's easier to navigate, easier to link to, and easier to post comments. I reserve the right to edit comments for readability and profanity. 

The mission of the blog remains the same... it's a place for you to learn more about the reporting and decision making that happens every day as we prepare the broadcast for air.

... they always make for short editorial meetings. Not that it's been raining for an excessively long time here in New York, but I did see animals walking by 30 Rock in pairs earlier today. I've never been one of those who says "oh, but we NEED it." It's grim, damp and dark and has been for days. It may actually be an office efficiency tool (by cutting down on outdoor distractions, including any desire to look out the window) as today we all noted how swiftly our editorial meeting flew by. We rocketed through it. A record 19 minutes to agree to, lay out and explain the running order... INCLUDING the often Knesset-like procedure of selecting the "ribbon" graphics that appear as titles on the bottom of the screen during our reports from correspondents.

Seeing Jon Stewart at an event in New York last night (and remarking to someone in the print press that those of us in television who dwell in the "actual news" realm are merely his content providers/pinatas) reminded me to welcome a superb practitioner in the parody community: we are all excited to see Stephen Colbert's new show when it debuts. Stephen is better at fake news than many are at the real thing. This morning's New York Times nicely previewed the extent to which the steak knives are being sharpened for all of us... a welcome system of checks and balances to keep us honest.

To tonight's actual broadcast: the President's words on religion as it pertains to his White House counsel attracted broad interest in our newsroom and others today. We'll obviously update the situation in South Asia, and look at the storm zone in Louisiana where this was a day for residents of the Lower Ninth Ward to return to their homes. There's a thoroughly unpleasant and rather horrifying development concerning abuse from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles today... and we'll take on the emotional and tricky topic of child care and raising children... our report from Janet Shamlian will round out the broadcast.

For months, high energy costs have been the talk in the newspapers and on television. Everyone from the suppliers to the government to President Bush has warned Americans that keeping warm this winter may be more expensive than ever before. Hurricane Katrina and Rita's devastation of the industry infrastructure added to an already major problem. Today, the Department of Energy put it in terms everyone can understand. If you heat with oil, expect to pay $378 more this winter, propane $325 more and natural gas $350 more.

Tonight, NBC Correspondent Tom Costello will introduce you to a Philadelphia resident named JoAnn Baker. Living with a disability and on a fixed income, she is STILL trying to pay off the hundreds of dollars she owes from last winter's energy bill. Like many others in this country, she will struggle this winter to decide whether to eat, take her medicine or turn the thermostat up to keep warm. You'll also hear from a booming segment of the heating business, the wood stove industry, which has seen business double since last winter as people look for ways to save money.

This is our second story on heating prices in as many weeks. It touches everyone who owns or rents... homes and businesses. Last week, we gave you some tips on how to make sure your heat isn't escaping the house and how to make sure the frigid cold of winter doesn't get in. You can also go to www.energysavers.gov for more helpful hints.

It's been an unsettling early fall for the country and, consequentially, a tough one for President Bush... two major hurricanes, one of which inflicted some political damage on Bush, and the other which didn't provide him with a chance to recover... soaring energy prices are causing pain at the pump and angst about home heating costs this winter... the war in Iraq and escalating violence leading up to the October 15 constitutional referendum... scandals involving key figures in the administration and GOP leadership on Capitol Hill.

A second Supreme Court vacancy gave the President a chance to reassert control over the national political debate. But his choice of Harriet Miers split his party (not bad public positioning, we'd note, for the nominee to replace the Court's swing vote), which is also divided over government spending on hurricane relief and whether or not to offset that spending with budget cuts in popular social programs.

Not that Democrats are offering the public positive alternatives, appearing to take a "lesser of two evils" approach to winning the middle's hearts and minds. They also remain hamstrung over how to talk about the war.

So with the Miers announcement behind us and the Iraq referendum looming, we figured it was time to take the public's temperature again. The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll will be released tonight on Nightly News and in tomorrow's Journal.