by Lester Holt

Good afternoon. Here's where things stand right now for tonight's broadcast of Nightly News. With General David Petraeus's report to Congress on Iraq due on Monday, and Osama bin Laden's comments on the war made public Friday, the volume level in the debate over Iraq is growing louder. NBC's Kevin Corke will report that General Petraeus is already tipping his hand on what the report will say, and on how the Democratic leadership and White House are already previewing their reaction.

There was a huge outpouring of emotion and adoration in Modena, Italy today as 50-thousand mourners bid farewell to opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti. Among the highlights of the funeral was a film of Pavarotti and his father Fernando performing the hymn Panis Angelicus. NBC's Pat Dawson will bring us the highlights of the service that was held in Pavarotti's hometown.

In health news, our Dr. Nancy Snyderman will report on a new wrinkle in the controversy over a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer. While in some places the fight has been over whether to require the vaccine be given to all pre-teen girls, Dr. Snyderman will show us a place where doctors can't seem to keep enough of it in stock, and there is a waiting list for the shot.

Tom Costello will tell us about a troubling report about the safety of air cargo in this country, and Ann Thompson takes us to Australia where severe drought has pitted man versus kangaroo in a struggle over the country's now vulnerable wine vineyards.

Thanks for checking in. See you tonight on NBC Nightly News.

Editor's note: We're starting a new feature on this blog. Every weekday, you can check out our First Person "Photo of the Day"  --  breaking news pictures and photography submitted by you.

 

Today's photo is from Kristen Headly. 

"This is a picture my husband took in Iraq. He spray-painted 'I love you Brat and GI' (my daughter's name is Gianna - we call her GI and he calls me Brat), then he e-mailed it to me when I had a rough day. It was the cutest pitcure I have ever received!"

Click here to see more Photo of the Day features.
Click FirstPerson.MSNBC.com to submit an entry.

Tell us what you think, on comments, below.

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

Sporting a newly-blackened beard, there he is again: Osama Bin Laden.  The rush is on to interpret (and attach a date to) this new piece of videotape purported to be him.  We'll have the analysis of what's on the tape and what it means.  We'll also preview Gen. Petraeus's testimony next week (which I'll be anchoring live, starting Monday, on MSNBC), and there are already rumblings tonight of a primetime address by President Bush next Thursday night.  We have a great piece of foreign reporting tonight from Lester Holt. We'll also have the story that has ignited Great Britain, as well as our Making A Difference report.

Two embarassments to note tonight: first, the new TSA report on air cargo security, and this paragraph from this morning's New York Post:

"Demolition work on the former Deutsche Bank building could be stalled for several weeks, a top state official said yesterday, as government agencies bicker over how to fix the deadly firetrap conditions inside while preventing toxic dust from escaping." 

The new tape of Bin Laden with a cheap dye job isn't the ONLY reminder out there -- that sometimes, 9-11 feels like it happened about ten minutes ago.

30 years ago today
After negotiations that spanned fourteen years and four presidencies, the United States and Panama signed treaties on September 7, 1977 to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama. The canal had been under American control since it opened in 1914. President Jimmy Carter signed for the United States, as dignitaries including former President Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, and former Secretaries of State William Rogers and Henry Kissinger looked on, along with representatives of 26 other Western Hemisphere nations. Ratified by the Senate in 1978, the treaties were hugely controversial at the time -- a reckless giveaway, according to some critics. Carter saw it differently, of course, and said the treaties "mark the commitment of the United States to the belief that fairness, and not force, should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world."

80 years ago today
Television was born - in a laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco on September 7, 1927. The lab belonged to a 21-year old inventor named Philo T. Farnsworth, who on that day successfully demonstrated for the first time that images could be electronically transmitted through the air. Accounts differ as to what that first image actually was -- a picture of a young woman, a dollar sign, or a simple straight line. However it's fair to say that all three are the very foundation of just about everything that's been on television ever since.   

This weekend I'll be with many of the living recipients of the Medal of Honor (Don't forget to read today's featured biography) as we hold our annual board meeting of the Medal of Honor Foundation. 

I hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.  Have a good weekend, and we will see you for what I know will be a big week, starting Monday.

by Aram Roston, investigative producer

Efforts to combat endemic corruption in Iraq have suffered a "disastrous" blow, American officials tell NBC News. The well regarded top anti-corruption fighter in the Iraqi government, whose investigations have exposed graft and fraud throughout the Maliki administration, has submitted his letter of resignation and is now in America. Judge Rahdi Hamza al-Rahdi ran Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity for more than three years and earned the respect of American law enforcement officials.   

Now he tells NBC Nightly News that if he returns to Iraq he believes he'll be killed because of his investigations.  He tells NBC Nightly News' Lisa Myers that while he does not believe Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki is corrupt, he believes much of his cabinet is. He says the prime minister protected his political constituents from investigation. Judge Radhi also tells NBC News he believes the U.S. government should stop supporting the Maliki government.    

The news comes at an important time, just a week before General David Petraeus is to make his long awaited report on the effectiveness of the military "surge" in Iraq.  

American officials believe Radhi will apply for political asylum in the U.S., an irony given that the U.S. is supporting the very Iraqi administration which he is seeking protection from.

Lashing back against Judge Radhi earlier this week, Prime Minister Maliki accused Judge Radhi of corruption, and an Iraqi parliamentarian tells NBC News there are 50 charges against Radhi. American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they put no credence in the Iraqi charges, and say they believe Judge Radhi in the dispute.

Radhi had opened investigations at the top levels of various ministries in Iraq, including the Ministry of Oil, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transporation, and the Ministry of Health.

by Alison Stewart, NBC contributor

The impact of Operation Happy Note is a big as the concept is simple: to provide musical instruments to servicemen and women serving overseas. 

It wasn't some big music distributor or record company that came up with the idea. It was two senior citizen music store owners in Fergus Falls, Minnesota- 25 miles from the North Dakota border.

Steve and Barb Baker raise funds. They cajole their distributors into giving them a good price on slightly blemished instruments.They convince their friends to drop by to help pack up the instruments.

The store's backroom is full of boxes of donated instruments. Steve proudly showed me some donated handmade Native American flutes, a box of harmonicas, a banjo he said "just barks!" I think that is a good thing.

At this point the bathroom has even been converted into a temporary warehouse. Barbara calls it "organized chaos.  But after watching this lady work, it was clear to me she is a mastermind. She has systems in place. She understands how to fill out all the custom forms. She answers every email.

Her husband spends time with each package trying to figure out if the person needs strings or one of his homemade guitar lesson plans. He is a music teacher too.

They were very excited to show me a book of photos, letters and thank you emails they call "The Book of Heroes."

When they leaf through it, they each tell you stories about the people in the pictures. Take for example the muscle bound African American who smiled so wide when he got his violin his friends told him he looked drunk in the picture. Or a young man who taught some Iraqis how to play a mandolin.

The Bakers talk about each servicemen as if they are old friends. Some have kept contact. Some have gone missing.

The Bakers generosity has been infectious. While were interviewing the Bakers, two women, total strangers, walked into the store and gave the Bakers a check for $375.00. The women had read about Operation Happy note so they held a concert fundraiser and drove two hours to deliver the check.

So let's see if our story tonight inspires anyone else to do a little good in the world.

Editor's note: Today and everyday through the rest of the week, we'll be posting guest blogs from the news interns who joined us this past summer. We wish them luck on their first week back at school.

by Jenna Hanchard, NBC Nightly News Intern Summer 2007, Syracuse University

Every time I heard the words, "We'll look for you right back here tomorrow night," I wished that one night I could respond by saying, "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Brian." Luckily this summer, that wish became reality. As I began to settle into the rhythm of the newsroom, my job quickly went from simply greeting the staff and blossomed into valuable hands-on experience.

Each day was as if someone held down the fast forward button on my life. It was exciting to work on different projects almost every day. The challenge of finding what worked best for each story and seeing it get on the air was thrilling. The pace of the day forced me learn how to make the best decisions in the shortest time.

One of the highlights was the daily 2:30 p.m. editorial meeting. I couldn't wait for the comical yet journalistically sound editorial contributions from Brian. But even more, I yearned to understand how each broadcast was put together. Each editorial decision, from Paris Hilton to the London car bombings, provided me with a new insight into what is newsworthy and important to the American people. 

Yet the intern interaction with the news staff wasn't limited to an observation of how they think.  I loved that we had personal and interactive time with many amazing journalists.  Brian Williams and Ann Curry both halted their busy days and put down their BlackBerries to talk with us about the extraordinary journeys that ultimately lead them to NBC.

It was great to be going through a similar experience with my peers, from whom I also learned along the way.  Sometimes a couple of the interns would go out to dinner after work to discuss the "biz," the future of it and where we could hopefully fit in. Inevitably, none of those questions had concrete answers.

One of the most interesting parts of this business is the people in it.  They have knowledge that cannot be found or taught at institutions of higher learning, and that is what made this experience, on many levels, priceless. What I have learned and taken from the experience will amount to more than any credit or course, and I am truly thankful to Nightly News for that.

Click here to read more intern posts via Internal Affairs.

by John Rutherford, NBC News producer

On the same day President Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq and most Americans were enjoying the Labor Day holiday, the Pentagon confirmed the deaths in Iraq of three Army sergeants, bringing the number of American service members killed in the war to 3,731:

Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Scheibner, nicknamed "Smoke," enjoyed working on his truck, playing golf, and going on camping trips with his wife, Ann, and 12-year-old son, Tyler. He also enjoyed being a soldier, having spent half of his 40 years in the Army. He was eligible to retire last April but extended for another year when his unit was deployed to Iraq. "He always did the right thing," his sister-in-law, Barb Badolati, told the Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle. "He was very committed." Scheibner, who also served in the 1991 Gulf War, was about to rotate into a non-combat job in Iraq with the 2nd Infantry Division, but on Aug. 30 he was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Al Noor, north of Baghdad. "It's just so awful and senseless," another sister-in-law, Kasi Scheibner, told the Detroit Free Press. "He had so much more to do."

Growing up in Moorhead, Minn., Andrew Nelson was an altar boy and an Eagle Scout. "Just a good-looking, sharp, smart kid," his scoutmaster, Ron Schneider, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. At age 17, Nelson talked his mother into letting him join the Army. "He was the type of young man who when he made up his mind to do something, he was going to do it," a family friend, Todd Taylor, told the Star-Tribune. Over the next 4 1/2 years, Nelson rose to the rank of sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Division. He served one tour in Afghanistan and was on his third tour in Iraq. "He wanted to get out and go to college and get a degree in engineering," Taylor told Minnesota Public Radio. But on Aug. 29 Nelson was killed while on a dismounted patrol in Muqdadiyah, north of Baghdad. He was 22 years old.

As a child, Jason Butkus fantasized about being a knight. Each Halloween in West Milford, N.J., he'd dress in a costume of armor. "He wanted to be a knight, and then he thought, 'Well, a soldier is the next best thing,'" his sister, Vanessa, told the Newark Star-Ledger. First, though, was Cub Scouts, making pizzas in "The Pizza Place," and high school wrestling and track. He enlisted in the Army in 1995 and deployed to Iraq in February as a staff sergeant with the 1st Infantry Division. He was killed Aug. 30 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his Humvee in Baghdad. "Our hearts are heavy with grief," his family said in a statement. "He will be deeply missed by his family and by his many friends." Butkus, 34, is survived by his 9-year-old son, Connor, who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, with Butkus' former wife, Amanda.

Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly blog on burials of service members at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

So many things to talk about today: Pavarotti, for starters.  I was so fortunate to be there for his final public performance -- from Torino, Italy, during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.  I was on the air with Bob Costas. The presence of Pavarotti before a home audience was a huge secret (shared with us so that we could be prepared) and when the curtain opened and he sang, "Nessun Dorma," he simply brought the house down.  I looked over at producer Subrata De and she was in tears.  By the end, we all were.  It was emotionally overwhelming.  We'll remember him tonight by re-playing that moment as it aired on NBC.

Who disbanded the Iraqi Army?  You know you live in a free country when you turn to the Op-Ed page of the New York Times and you read Paul Bremer's defense of his own actions ("How I Didn't Dismantle Iraq's Army") -- right next to a withering column by Roger Cohen (his second in as many outings) which reads, in part, "The fraying Bush Administration still can't work out who took the decision to disband the Iraqi Army in 2003; that's grotesque."

This "who disbanded the Iraqi Army" blame game (and the Olympian finger-pointing it has launched) had me thinking back today to our first patrol into downtown Bagdhad after the city fell. It was just two days after the first "thunder run" into the center of town, by the Army's Third Infantry Division under Col. Perkins.  We traveled the very same route as the 3rd I.D. had. I was with our dear late friend Gen. Wayne Downing, riding in the only vehicle they could offer us: a "thin-skinned" (non-armored) Humvee -- a colossally dumb, dangerous and cavalier act, in retrospect.  We had no business driving in the only non-armored vehicle in a seven-vehicle mechanized armored column. The images we saw along the way are permanently burned in my memory: the blown-apart and burned vehicles (many still containing the bloated, burned bodies of drivers and/or entire families who'd made the mistake of being on that stretch of road on that day); the U.S. soldiers stopping pedestrians and doing under-clothing searches for bombs.  Fires were burning, the smell was overpowering, there were live firefights going on in the streets -- even while the commanding generals were being briefed at one of Saddam's palaces by Col. Perkins (the reason for our mission in the first place). Everyone was a potential target.  General Downing kept calling attention to groups of young men -- he immediately identified them (in his judgement) as former members of Saddam's Republican Guard -- and noted, with his trained eye, that they had just slipped from their Army uniforms into civilian clothes.  There was something about their bearing, their haircuts, their demeanor -- that tipped off their identity to the veteran military man.  On more than one occasion, General Downing (who, while long retired, was the most senior-ranking man in our Humvee by more than four stars and by several decades) ordered the young private at the wheel to drive ahead and get out of the situation we were in, because of the crackle of tension in the air (not to mention the not-so-distant crackle of rounds being fired).  Of all the memories of that day, I remember the strong sense that I was literally watching the Iraqi Army walk off the job -- never to be re-constituted the same way again.  I'll leave it to others to debate the policy of it, but I'll never shake the memory of it.

Please also see the superb posts today by Andrea Mitchell and Chris Colvin.

We have a full newscast tonight -- I certainly hope you can join us for it.

One bit of housekeeping for our friends on the West Coast: the broadcast version of Nightly News won't be seen out West tonight because of the NFL season-opener on NBC. Our webcast will have to suffice, and it will be available tonight at a special early time: 5:30pm Pacific time (8:30pm Eastern time).

 

 

By Andrea Mitchell, NBC News

Michael Deaver's friends came together at the National Cathedral today to celebrate what his good friend Jim Baker called "the miracle of a redeemed life." There were a lot of them:  Some still powerful, some once powerful and others newly empowered -- several hundred former drug addicts whom Deaver had helped rescue from the streets of the nation's capital.

Henry Pierce spoke for them, from the pulpit where presidents and potentates are usually memorialized, to an audience that included Vice President Dick Cheney, former presidential candidate George McGovern, Nancy Reagan, Washington wise man Bob Strauss, and an army of former Reagan cabinet secretaries and White House staff.  Pierce is now the director of an organization Deaver helped keep going called Clean & Sober Streets.  As Pierce tells it, 15 years ago he was a dope addict who wandered in early one morning. A man in a baseball cap handed him a donut, a cup of coffee and a willing ear. Mike Deaver, who at his death had been sober for more than two decades, was rescuing another soul.  Hundreds of them in the congregation stood to be recognized.

Jim Baker also spoke.  He said Deaver had been afflicted by the twin Washington sins of pride and addiction, but that after his fall from grace, bitterness gave way to peace of mind.  Preoccupation with self turned into selfless caring for others -- in many ways that will never be known.

Reagan would have pardoned him for his legal difficulties, but Deaver turned down a pardon.  It might have hurt the president he loved.

Baker and Ed Meese, along with Deaver, were once known as "The Troika" -- the trio that ran the Reagan White House in the first term.  Baker had helped get Reagan elected. Meese was the keeper of the conservative flame. But Deaver was more than staff. He was a friend, and a surrogate son.

Baker told how Reagan had a favorite blue plaid suit that could only be described as "garish." Nancy wanted him to ditch it. The staff, especially those in charge of photo ops, hated it.  But Deaver was the only one who could get it done.

He went into the Oval Office and asked the President if he remembered the day in 1981 when he'd been shot. Of course, he said. And do you remember how they cut off the suit you were wearing when you got to the hospital? Yes, said Reagan.  Well, said Deaver -- the staff wishes you 'd been wearing that blue plaid suit the day you were shot. Reagan never wore it again.
 
Johnny Mathis sang "Amazing Grace," which was amazing in itself.  A soprano sang an aria from "Tosca."  The choir reached to the heavens with Faure's "Requiem."  Mike Deaver, who modestly said all he did was "do the lighting" for Reagan's greatest moments, had arranged it all.

Only days before he died of pancreatic cancer, Deaver sat on his deck in his favorite place -- California -- with his beloved wife Carolyn and told Baker "it doesn't get better than this." Always the optimist, just like the president he served.
 
Baker imagines a sweet homecoming in heaven -- Ronald Wilson Reagan trading hugs and handshakes with Mike Deaver, his very good friend.

by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer

Hi. So a Sydney newspaper reports President Bush used a good old Americanism about how the military is faring in Iraq, but new speculation about how the U.S. is now heartily embracing the Sunnis (in preparation for a conflict with Iran?) raises some alarms. And even bigger alarms raised by the question: was that "accidental" flight of 6 nuclear warheads really no accident at all? Plus, Fred Thompson, finally! More bad news on housing.. and as credit becomes harder to get, a primer on you and your FICO.

The Carpetbagger Report picks up on a report in an Australian newspaper that says the President told the Australians "We're kicking ass" in Iraq. Here's a link to the original story in Sydney's Morning Herald.

Salon's Sidney Blumenthal adds to a body of evidence that President Bush was told Iraq had no WMD before the war, and he discounted those CIA reports. Andrew Tilghman in Washington Monthly writes about the U.S. military overblowing the threat from al Qaida in Iraq.  Iraqi blogger Riverbend has resurfaced two months after disappearing.. in Syria. (Hat tip: Cursor.org)

MediaMatters Eric Boehlert reports on the curious lack of news coverage of the Iraq war over the summer, given the public's stated preference in polls that Iraq is the most important news story out there, and the one being followed most closely by the most Americans.

No, Iran. Former CIA guy Larry Johnson goes ahead and raises the question.. was that "accidental" flight of the 6 nuclear warheads last week no accident?  See previously: the Iran rollout scenario.

Oh and Syria fired on an Israeli military jet. Uh. Just a misunderstanding!

Speaking of roll-outs.. Fred Thompson is finally an actual candidate. Here's the announcement via WaPo's Balz and Shear. The LA Times' Joe Mathews has a fascinating look at Thompson's roots, and how his (former) in-laws made him the man he is today. And Fred got some needling (exactly what they wanted, no doubt) at the top of last night's GOP debate.. which was waged as Fred cracked jokes with Jay Leno yesterday. The WSJ's Mary Jacoby sums up.

Today's credit crunch news: yeah it's bad. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports foreclosures hit an all-time high in Q2. Marketwatch has it. Combine that with yesterday's horrifying numbers on pending home sales (down 12% for the MONTH of July.) Nice chart from interestrateroundup. (Hat tip: ac in Calculated Risk comments). But the head of the Atlanta Fed says problems in the housing market are contained. (Yikes, where have we heard that before?)  Speaking of (un)contained, Countrywide said it was laying off 900 workers yesterday, amid rumors of much MUCH bigger cuts to come.. as a Dallas-based mortgage blog says the company knew exactly what was coming a year ago.

This seems counterintuitive.. credit card companies have drastically increase marketing to subprime borrowers.

But Andrew Leonard at Salon picks up on this..and digs a little deeper for the answer to why this seemingly perverse practice might make sense for lender.

Jeremy Grantham an investor who's been sounding the siren about a global credit bubble for a long time, argues that even if the credit crunch doesn't morph into a full-blown catastrophe, stocks, bonds and real estate still have a long fall ahead. (hat tip: patrick.net)

And here's another set of initials we need to get familiar with: S.I.V. Specialized Investment Vehicle. The SEC is taking a look at them, now.. and here's a hint: they're the kind of "off-the-books" partnerships that sank Enron.

And finally, news you can use from those lovable Minyans. Your FICO and you.

Editor's note: Today and everyday through the rest of the week, we'll be posting guest blogs from the news interns who joined us this past summer. We wish them luck on their first week back at school.

by Joshua Clark, NBC Nightly News Intern, Summer 2007, Boston University

For all young men and women who aspire to be broadcast professionals, you would be well privileged to spend any part of your career at NBC Nightly News.  I was asked to write about the singular highlight of my intern experience this summer but I assure anyone who reads this that the aforementioned task is quite impossible.  It was all a blessing.

During my time at NBC Nightly News, I was given the opportunity to accompany producers on field shoots, submit story teases and pitches and assist with parts of segment production along with every other aspect of the broadcast.  While many tune in at 6:30 p.m. EST and watch the news for a half an hour, I was part of the chosen few who help get the news on the air.

At the age of 20 my name appeared in the upper left corner of a script that was read for national news broadcast.  I was also blessed to work with a group of young people (interns) who were as passionate and hungry for success as I was.  I established long-lasting friendships that are sure to endure the years and survive coastal divisions.

And with all due respect and deference to all those who took us under their wings, nurtured us and taught us what it really means to be journalists, the intern class of summer 2007 is going to take this industry by complete storm.  It is quite an amazing feeling knowing that one day you will rule the world while in the present, you stand atop the shoulders of giants. Not many people from my neighborhood had the opportunity to pitch their collaborative idea for a sitcom to NBC executives.  It is rare in this day an age for anyone to work closely with a person, much less a group of people they have emulated since they were old enough to pick up a microphone and pretend that a hole in a cardboard box was a television.

We, the class of summer 2007, feel we are quite rare.  But don't worry: it hasn't gone to our heads.  More than anything we thank those who took the time to teach us about the business, the good parts and the bad.

Until we meet again.

Click here to read more intern posts via Internal Affairs.

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Robert B. Nett
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Company E, 305th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division

In early 1940, seventeen-year-old Robert Nett, already in the Connecticut National Guard, petitioned to leave high school and go on active duty with the Army. The board of education gave him permission to leave school because he had sufficient credits to graduate with his class. He was sent to

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

I remember a couple of Saturdays ago, I was in a store when my pager went off -- reporting a fire at the Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan.  I jumped in the car and headed for home, assuming that I'd turn on the television and see live coverage of the fire on all the local New York stations.  But on this particular lazy summer weekend, there was nothing.  At first, it seemed like a small but smoky fire in an abandoned building. Slowly, the cable networks came on with pictures, but still not grasping the seriousness of a fire in that pathetic, torn-up and dangerous structure. One anchor asked a correspondent if the building was "under construction."  The truth is, as we've talked about here, it's an embarassment to New York that the building was still standing, six years after suffering a terminal scar when part of the collapsing World Trade Center cut a gash in the front.  The loss of two New York City firefighters in that fire was an avoidable outrage -- they were doing their jobs in a building that wouldn't have been left standing if others had done theirs.  We now know the toll that day could have been much worse. I read this today, and it is a harrowing story of the reflexive bravery among firefighters.

As we look at the stories we have to cover tonight, the busted terrorist plot in Germany tops the list -- mostly for what the alleged intended target was. We'll update the (continuing, it turns out) story of Senator Craig, the latest toy recall, and we'll have the story that is occupying all of my available time this afternoon: the first post-Soprano's interview with James Gandolfini, about his powerful new HBO Documentary, "Alive Day Memories".

50 YEARS AGO TODAY
A landmark cultural event: the publication of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" by Viking Press on September 5, 1957. As it turns out, "On The Road" and NBC Nightly News have something in common -- actually someone: a fellow named Gilbert Millstein. Gil was this broadcast's brilliant, irascible, jazz-loving news editor back in the 1970s and '80s. But before that, he was a writer for the New York Times, which fifty years ago today published his review of "On the Road." Gil loved the book, calling its publication "a historic occasion" (yes, "a," not "an" - Gil was a stickler for correct usage, as the countless NBC News correspondents, producers and writers he terrorized could attest). "On the Road" was "a major novel" and "an authentic work of art," Gil wrote; "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the Generation Kerouac himself named years ago as "beat," and whose principal avatar he is." Gil Millstein's glowing review of "On the Road" -- appearing as it did in such an influential setting as the New York Times -- gave Kerouac's unconventional new book an enormous boost, and guaranteed it a wide readership right out of the gate. Gil went on to many other things, including his years here at Nightly News. But when he died in 1999, it was that one piece of writing 50 years ago that he was most remembered for. The headline of his obituary in the Times read: "Gilbert Millstein, 83, Reviewer Who Gave Early Boost to Kerouac."

Please read today's Medal of Honor recipient biography as well.  We sure hope you will join us for tonight's NBC Nightly News.

Editor's note: Today and everyday through the rest of the week, we'll be posting guest blogs from the news interns who joined us this past summer. We wish them luck on their first week back at school.

by Alex Bregman, NBC Nightly News Summer 2007 Intern, University of Pennsylvania

As I meandered through the construction of NBC News's soon-to-be new digs at 30 Rock and finally made it to Nightly News's temporary office, the first person I met was M.L. Flynn, the senior foreign producer for the broadcast.  She heard me walk into the office, looked up from her computer and said, "You look like a new summer intern."  I guess I immediately showed my cards.  She kindly told me to grab a newspaper and take a seat.  Then the phone rang.  It was none other than NBC's chief foreign affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, calling from Mexico on her way back from a trip to Cuba.  This whole episode was pretty ironic for me considering that last summer it was the opposite.  Back then I was in Andrea's office during my internship at NBC's Washington bureau, listening to M.L.'s voice on the phone.  I suppose it was listening to those voices in New York that lured me from Washington to 30 Rock—from the center of the political world to the center of the network.

In Washington I learned how a reporter covers a beat.  In New York I have learned how all those beats come together to make a broadcast, and it is not as easy as Brian Williams may make it look.  At the end of our daily morning editorial meeting the executive producer, Alex Wallace, goes through the stories, saying, "If we had to do the broadcast at 9:30," and writes a preliminary list.  Never would that list be the same at 2:30 p.m. at our afternoon editorial meeting and, come time for the actual broadcast, that morning list would sometimes seem like last week's news. The amount of debate that went into the final list of stories, called the "rundown," which was never really final until 6:30 p.m., was one of the most interesting parts of the job this summer.

The most surprising part was probably how eager everyone was to help me out, from Brian down to the desk assistants.  Part of my job included running errands or answering phones in the newsroom, but I quickly realized how even the most basic tasks contributed to getting the broadcast on the air every night.  This summer I've done everything from getting coffee at 4 a.m. for Brian's exclusive early morning interview with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to interviewing a cat therapist in the West Village here in New York City for a Lee Cowan report about an ominous cat named Oscar, which has this uncanny ability to predict death at a nursing home in Providence, Rhode Island.  (Cowan wouldn't go anywhere near the cat.)

From helping producers get their reports done on deadline, to running scripts and wires to Brian in the studio during the broadcast, to helping senior investigative producer Bob Windrem track everything from trouble in the NBA to Al Qaeda, it was one incredible summer, and as much as I do not want my college days to end, the world of television news does not seem like a bad world to work in after those days are over.

Editor's note: Maria Menounos filed this blog entry after the moving report on the Greek fires that affected her family. Watch video of her Nightly News report here.

by Maria Menounos, NBC contributor

Saturday August 25, 2007. I was on set producing a short film when I got word from my mother that Greece was on fire. I immediately went online to seek out as many details as possible. I quickly realized the magnitude of the disaster as it was the top story all over the world. My mother frantically tried to reach family in Greece while many more calls from concerned family members in the States poured in. My Uncle Taki was visiting Greece and witnessed his and my mother's village burning. He was able to save their home but unfortunately others weren't as lucky.

I immediately knew I had to be there. Most people know me for my work in entertainment news, maybe some occasional acting roles, and my dedication to my charity work. The truth is I studied journalism because I was the girl who wanted to chase the fire trucks. My heart bleeds for people during tragedies and always has. It kills me to just watch the news on television. I want to be there to help in whatever way I can. My first job was at Channel One News. It was an unbelievable opportunity to travel the world and to cover stories that were important to the world. I visited an impoverished South Africa and covered the Aids epidemic. I visited El Salvador the day after being ravaged by a massive earthquake. There, I not only reported on it, I dug in and assisted however I could. I made sandwiches for rescue workers, and tried to comfort families who lost loved ones. Because I speak Spanish, the people of San Salvador begged me to contact their families in Miami and other places to let them know they were alive. And so I did. This is why I love what I do.

I know its tough to listen to the news. It can get depressing. I knew I could be the difference between people caring about this disaster in Greece, and them overlooking it. I knew I had an advantage being Greek and speaking the language. I also have my family there to help in any way they could.  I got the call from my Executive Producer Jim Bell and within three hours I was on a plane to Greece to cover the tragedy for "the Today Show."
                                                                                        Photo: Looking at what's left. Maria with her family in Greece after the fires. Click photo to watch video.

Read more of her post on our sister blog, allDay.

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Robert O'Malley
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

Robert O'Malley was one of four brothers, all of them two years apart in age and two years apart in joining the Marine Corps. Like his brothers, he enlisted after graduating from high school. He was stationed for a time in Okinawa, and in May 1965 went to

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

I spent my morning with actor James Gandolfini and four veterans of the Iraq war -- all of them are part of the powerful new HBO documentary called "Alive Day" (the title referring to how survivors of grievous wounds in combat refer to the day of their injury -- as many of them then have to start life all over again). The documentary premieres here in New York tonight. Tomorrow morning on Today at 8:30 EDT, we'll air the exclusive interview with Gandolfini (the host and producer) and these four amazing veterans, one rock star after another. One of them is Crystal Davis, whom we profiled several years ago on Nightly News after meeting her at Walter Reed. My only regret is that these four veterans, Dex, Dawn, Crystal and John, aren't a regular part of my life. Perhaps someday they will be.

Speaking of a unified national effort, why can't we, the land of the golden spike, do this?

Anyway, tonight begins the fall work season for all of us -- Labor Day is my least favorite day of the year because it means the end of my favorite season. Even though September is beautiful in so many places, the pressure is on and it doesn't stop until Memorial Day. Tonight's broadcast will take note of Steve Fossett -- as I write this there's a mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the courageous veteran aviator. We'll also have news concerning the president, commercial air travel, and more.

A smart friend of mine submits this political note for our consideration:

Bill's choice
Bill Clinton, out stumping for wife Hillary, has taken to saying this about her: "In my opinion, she is -- including me in 1992 -- the best qualified, best prepared, most suited-for-the-times person I ever had a chance to vote for in a presidential primary." A sweeping statement, despite the obvious qualifiers. I'm not sure when Clinton first "had a chance to vote in a presidential primary," but it wouldn't have been until 1968, when he was 21 going on 22. I haven't yet been able to determine when Arkansas even began holding presidential primaries -- whether Clinton could have voted for, say, Ted Kennedy in 1980 or Walter Mondale in 1984. All that aside, the obvious question is, What about Al Gore?

On May 23, 2000, Gore was on the ballot in the Arkansas Democratic presidential primary (though by then he had pretty much wrapped up the nomination). At the time, Gore's resume included eight years as vice president (Clinton's vice president!), eight years in the Senate, and eight years in the House. He was the son of a Senator, and had served in Vietnam. Is Hillary Clinton (seven years in the Senate, eight years as First Lady, 12 years as Arkansas First Lady, lawyer and House impeachment staffer) more qualified, prepared and suited now than Al Gore was then? Or did then-president Bill Clinton not have the chance to vote in that primary?

And now, today in history:

50 years ago today
One of the great duds in American history was introduced. On September 4, 1957, the Ford Motor Company unveiled the Edsel in 1,200 dealer showrooms across the country. It was the first new car offered by a major American automaker in 20 years, and it was backed by a massive marketing campaign. Company president Henry Ford II -- whose 40th birthday fell that September 4 -- named the new car after his late father Edsel Ford - the only child of company founder Henry Ford. The company's high hopes for the Edsel were not realized; sales were dismal, and the car and its signature vertical grillwork became synonymous with marketing failure - a flop, even a laughingstock. The Edsel was discontinued just two years later, but has been something of a perverse favorite among certain car aficionados ever since.

56 years ago today
At 10:30 p.m. on September 4, 1951, television spanned the United States for the first time, with coverage of the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, including a speech from President Harry S. Truman. Up to that point, the western limit of network television had been Omaha, Nebraska.

Remember to read today's Medal of Honor profile... and we certainly hope you can join us tonight for the Tuesday edition of NBC Nightly News.

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Thomas R. Norris
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy SEALS Advisor, Strategic Technical Directorate Assistance Team, Headquarters, U.S. Military Assistance Command

Thomas Norris graduated from the

by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer

Hi. We're back and refreshed from the unofficial last weekend of summer, and as the White House would want it, looking at Bush's fly-by-night episode to Anbar; Al Gore's first real comments on how the media treated him in 2000; lots of detail on what might be in the planning for a U.S. strike on Iran; and a critic of the U.S. way of life of late gets sanguine about the coming... ummm... disaster?

So President Bush swoops into Anbar Province and declares things going so well the U. S. might be able to draw down troops. NYT's Cloud and Myers. But a rather brutal story from the WaPo's Sudarsan Raghavan uses words like "tenuous, temporary, illusory" to describe the Surge.  And the LA Times Tina Susman uses another word: failure.  Wretchard at the Belmont Club looks at surge architect Fred Kagan's pronouncement that Bush's visit to the heavily fortified airbase in Anbar was the Iraq war's "Gettysburg."  Digby, also noting the Lincoln comparison, is at the end of her rope.  Joe Sudbay at Americablog has a problem with Bush meeting with those former insurgents. And the Boston Globe's Bombardieri reports that Democrats got an earful from constituents over the August recess, about the whole capitulating to Bush in Iraq thing.

Lots of attention today on a new book about the Bush presidency by former Texas Monthly reporter Robert (not Donald!) Draper, and right off the bat the President seems to have been caught in a rather significant fib... though there is a somewhat tortured explanation from a spokesperson that, when the president said the policy was NOT to disband the Iraqi army but that "didn't happen" all he meant was that it "couldn't happen." OK.  Slate has excerpts from the book, titled "Dead Certain."

Glenn Greenwald links to David Rosen's NYT Magazine piece about another book.. by Jack Goldsmith, former head of DoJ's Office of legal counsel. Oof. Goldsmith quotes Cheney counsel David Addington as relishing the thought that the administration was one terrorist bombing away from abolishment of the FISA court. Of course this makes Greenwald's blood pressure gauge burst.

At Salon today Alex Koppelman takes on a big sacred cow on the right.. those 2 border patrol agents in jail for shooting an unarmed drug dealer fleeing across the border. Paging Lou Dobbs.

Now to the way the press treated Al Gore during the 200 campaign. Lots has been written about this already, but Vanity Fair taps the daughter of former New Republic chief and Al Gore supporter Marty Peretz to sum up, and actually get Gore to talk about it.  And when I say a lot has been written on this subject.. spend some time wandering around Bob Somersby's Daily Howler if you want more on the wretched excesses of political coverage.

OK Iran. Is there a similar "rollout" coming.. similar to the one we so famously saw in 2002? Yes, per a "friend" of Barnett Rubin at a think tank on the right. And [RawStory] reports on a paper by two British academics pondering a U.S. air campaign. Here's a direct link to the paper. Interesting reading. More interesting reading from the (London) Telegraph. And Rupert Murdoch's Times (of London) weighs in with the "Three Day Blitz."

Now to the credit crunch and speaking of interesting papers you too can download.. the geniuses at the Economist have come up with three scenarios for the world economy going forward. Soft landing, to which they give a 60% likelihood; wicked recession that spills across the globe: 30% chance; wicked recession that becomes something worse 10%. Hmm the fact that the 10% is even on the board at this point is significant, if you asked me.  Krishna Guha writes in the FT on the credit crisis being an old-fashioned run on the bank, just not in the traditional banking sector.

 But wait, Barclay's is a giant British bank. What is going on there? And according to Marketwatch Merrill Lynch is not so bullish on banks' profitability going forward.  Oh and that huge TXU private equity deal... the king of them all? The bankers want out, according to The Times (of London).

The Fed today is "urging" lenders to help people stay in their homes. Ummm. OK. Urge away. If people bought overpriced homes that are losing value.. not sure what the urging will actually do to help.

This is funny, but raises a serious point about why it is exactly that losing money on a house is any different than losing money in a dot-com company stock. Via Business Week.. Dude Where's my bailout? Hat tip: riskcapital in Calculated Risk comments.

And the call: dude, where's my bonus, may become dude where's my job? Marketwatch says the Wall St. hiring machine has shifted to neutral.

Tanta at Calculated Risk rips Marketwatch for its consumer advice on how to get a mortgage right now.

Kunstler is weirdly peaceful with all of it today.. like he's entered the Kubler-Ross "acceptance" phase.

And speaking of acceptance, yeah I love Donald (not Robert) Draper on Mad Men, but I do still miss the Sopranos. Hat tip to FFDIC in CR comments for posting this classic.

by Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent

Everybody here seems to be talking about climate change, but when it comes to action, there are two very different responses to be seen in Australia this week. The first will be the discussions at APEC, taking place in Sydney amid intense security. The second couldn't be more different – the practical, dogged and groundbreaking work of conservationists in the country's bush.

Take APEC first. Asia Pacific leaders have started to arrive here in fortress Sydney.

The first to arrive was China's President Hu Jintao, who entered via Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and had coal on his mind. China's the most important customer for that state's big mining companies, buying up natural resources as fast as they can be dug from the ground.

President Bush came next amid the biggest security operation this country has ever seen. His harborside hotel will give him a stunning view of the Opera House – and a three-mile long, nine foot tall security fence, which the local media has dubbed the "Great Wall of Sydney," to keep protesters at bay.

For weeks, the Australian authorities have been calling this meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders the "climate change summit," hoping it might produce a concrete commitment on limiting greenhouse gases. That was always a long shot, especially now that Bush is hosting his own summit on the issue in Washington later this month and he probably won't want to be upstaged in Sydney.

Ian Williams / NBC News

Australians hope to restore the Scottsdale reserve to its original state and create a wildlife corridor up Eastern Australia.

Hu's side trip to Perth underscored his priorities – continuing to fuel China's booming (and hugely polluting) economy. Fast-growing India is also reluctant to sign up to anything that will restrict its growth.

And so Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a late convert to the cause of climate change action, is now trying to downplay his hopes for the meeting, talking more generally about "progress" on the issue.

Many Australians are skeptical about Howard's climate concerns. But, with an election due later this year, it's a testament to what an important political issue it has become; respondents in one recent poll named climate change as the single most important external threat facing the country.

That is a reflection of a new reality here, "an extraordinary sea change in public opinion," according to Brendan Mackey, Professor of Environmental Science at the Australian National University in Canberra.

"Our droughts, our floods, our fires have really made people understand just how vulnerable we are to extreme weather events."

We'd visited Professor Mackey in the capital, Canberra, on our way into the bush to witness part of a hugely ambitious conservation project, which has gained wide support – thanks to that new reality.

A sort of climate change corridor

"We know that species are at risk. If we are looking down the barrel of climate change, it's time to start preparing for that," Owen Whitaker told me, as he bumped along in his pick-up truck on the rough tracks of the Scottsdale reserve.

The reserve has been bought by Bush Heritage, a conservation group, using private and public donations. Whitaker is managing the former sheep farm, working to restore its 3,500 acres to its original form – planting native grass and restoring water sources.

Scottsdale is home to dozens of endangered species, as well kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and the majestic wedge-tailed eagle, which although still plentiful, are seeing their habitats eroded.

Scottsdale will be part of a network of habitats, a sort of climate change corridor, which will eventually stretch 1,500 miles down the length of eastern Australia, from the Alps in the south to the Atherton Tablelands in the north. The idea is to allow species to move with changes in the climate, to more easily migrate if any one habitat is threatened.

Bush Heritage believes it could save hundreds of species of plant and wildlife from extinction. This part of Australia is already into its sixth year of drought.

Some of the land in the corridor is national park already, other land will be bought or landowners will be encouraged to set aside some of their land as part of the corridor.

"We have to give animals some options of they are to survive," said Whitaker, for whom the ultimate aim is to enable fauna to stay one step ahead of climate change. He also knows that even if the leaders of APEC fail to come up with anything meaningful in Sydney, opinion in Australia has moved far enough to give his own project a good chance of success.

For more information, go to the Bush Heritage Web site.

See more of Ian Williams report from Scottsdale, Australia on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams on Tuesday evening. This blog entry also posted to the WorldBlog.

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

The President showed up in Iraq early this morning, and so we are all here on this Labor Day to cover a major news story. We're watching golf carefully -- not that we're actually following the leader board, per se -- but we're fearing a collapse of our East Coast broadcast should golf run over its allotted time.

It's always painful when a sports division event runs into a news division broadcast -- and the worst instance on my watch was the night of the Iraqi election. There we were, at 3:00 in the morning, listening to a sporting event run right into what was to have been the first live feed of Nightly News. Much of the East Coast was prevented from seeing our work that night -- and many of our personnel had risked their lives covering that story. I remember a mortar loudly landing on the steps of the U.S. Embassy, not far from our anchor location, that very night.

Our own John Yang is with the President on this trip, and so, for those of you on the East Coast, we hope to bring you his reporting from Iraq and our coverage of this surprise trip...along with the rest of the day's news, when we join you from New York on this Labor Day Monday evening.

by Lester Holt

Greetings from New York. Tonight on Nightly News we'll be covering yet another powerful hurricane churning its way across the Caribbean. "Felix" is now a category 3 storm, and like "Dean," will steer clear of the United States and take a track toward Mexico and Central America. Are we seeing a repeat of the 2006 hurricane season, where weather patterns caused each Atlantic hurricane to bypass the U.S. Gulf coast? We'll ask NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Gary Archibald who will be joining me with the latest update on "Felix."

Labor Day is the traditional kick-off of the presidential campaign season, but our Kevin Corke is talking to seasoned political experts who remind us this is not a traditional campaign season. Kevin will tell us how a compressed primary election calendar is turning this fall into what some see as the "home stretch." But are voters paying close attention yet? We'll get some insight on that question as well.

Our Jane Arraf in Baghdad has a story of a U.S. Army officer who for much of her deployment was the only female Major in her brigade, and who has seen more combat then many of her fellow soldiers. It's another example of the blurry distinction between the "front line" and "rear-area" in Iraq, that has put many women in de facto combat roles.

When I was in the 9th grade my biggest goal in life was to get to the 10th grade. But these days, more and more American high school freshman are actually being required to declare a major. NBC's Mark Potter will explain why the trend is catching on, and why some in the academic field say it's a very bad idea.

We hope you'll also stick around tonight to find out why our very own Ron Mott was the toast of the town in one community in North Dakota recently, and why he has returned with a new appreciation for, of all things, tractors.

I hope you're enjoying your holiday weekend so far. Thanks for checking-in and we'll look for you later on NBC Nightly News.

"Illulisat to Kangerlusuaq to Copenhagen to London to B'more... a very round about way to travel. Hopefully sleep will come soon."

Friday, Aug. 31, 3:06 p.m.
By Mario Garcia, NBC News Producer
KANGERLUSSUAQ, Greenland – Once our correspondent Anne Thompson managed to catch a flight, the rest of us – Bruce, Curt, and I – decided to go ahead and hike out to an ice fjord in Ilulissat. And it was a good thing because after having been on iceberg cruises and flying over ice sheets, we all agreed that the most amazing sight was the sunset last night – at 10:30 p.m.

With 20 hours of daylight in Greenland during the summer – it means long working days or long layovers when you are delayed like we are. But we were delighted to catch one more glimpse of the natural beauty Greenland has to offer.

Curt Bernstein / NBC News

So many places to go, so few planes! NBC News' Mario Garcia and Bruce Bernstein in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

Not so fast

On Friday morning we got some good news when we heard the Greenland Air strike was over.

With that, we presumed we could get from where we sat in Ilulissat to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland's major airport on the west coast.

We called Air Greenland and of course they said, "There are flights, but you're not on any of them."

However, after some back and forth and some time left on interminable hold, the agent from Air Greenland did get back to me with a flight from Ilulissat to Kangerlussuaq. I asked here when it left and she said, "When you get here."

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to read the full post on the Worldblog.