By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor

Which presumptive nominee for President would best handle the wars America is fighting?

This question will inspire even more intense debate after Barack Obama's trip to the war zones in the coming days.

Tonight, Andrea Mitchell, already in Baghdad tonight, reports on the timing and risks and reasons for his trip, and she will include rare interviews from the very men who will debrief Obama: General David Patreaus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

(Forgive me for this digression, but honestly, whenever I write Andrea Mitchell's name, I actually pause because my brain wants to write Andrea the Great, as in truth, she is.)

As you might expect, John McCain has some things to say about Obama's trip and some of those things are perhaps surprising, as we will hear from Kelly O'Donnell, on the set with us tonight.

There is also real war news today. President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have come to a hard-fought agreement on a "time horizon," but not a "timeline," for reducing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. We will have details on what this means.

Also tonight, stories with stunning pictures, including an especially cool one showing us a rare glimpse of the dark side of the moon. Bet it tickles your brain this Friday evening.

By Mark Potter, NBC News correspondent

Islamorada, Florida -- Offshore charter fishing has long been an important and colorful part of Florida's economy and its history. The lure of a day-trip to the Gulf Stream draws sportsmen and tourists from around the world and is an integral part of the local lore involving novelists Ernest Hemingway, Zane Grey and other intrepid fishermen.

As you'll see in our report tonight on NBC Nightly News, however, the charter industry in Florida and around the country is suffering economic strains, particularly because of high fuel prices. As a result, the industry is in danger at some level of pricing itself out of business.

Just five years ago, a charter trip to deep water to chase billfish, mahi mahi, snapper and other tough species cost about $900 a day. Now, in the Florida Keys, it costs an average of $1,400, mainly due to rising diesel prices.

In the Carolinas and other places where the charter captains have to make longer runs to find the fishing grounds, the trips are even more expensive.

Here's the math: A year ago a gallon of diesel cost about $3.00 a gallon. Now it's more than $5.00. On an average day, the boats burn 100 to 150 gallons on their round-trips to deep water. That's anywhere from $500 to $750 a day in fuel costs alone. Then there's the bait, ice, crew fees, and boat maintenance. Not much left at the end of the day.

What this means is that charter captains working to feed their families are feeling the pinch. Tourist bookings in the Keys are off anywhere from 15 to 40 percent. The wealthier clients are still signing up, but the average guy from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale hoping to gather his buddies for a day at sea is backing off now. Given his own economic problems, the higher charter prices are simply floating out of reach.

There's a well-known boat at Bud n' Mary's Marine in Islamorada called the Catch-22, and that's exactly where a lot of captains say they find themselves. They can't afford to eat the fuel costs, but they also know there's a limit to how high they can raise their prices. They're already suffering a drop-off in clientele.

You will hear from some of these captains tonight and from a marina owner. And we will have wonderful pictures for you that clearly illustrate the lure of the deep, a lifestyle and long-time sport now feeling the economic pain.

photos: Stephanie Himango, NBC News producer

By Ann Curry, NBC News Anchor

Ann Curry in for Brian Williams again tonight as the NBC Nightly News team assesses the significance of today's drop in oil prices.

As I write this, it is down to 130 dollars a barrel, below the mark market analysts wanted to see. But what does this mean to gas prices and how soon? If there is an answer, we will have it tonight.

Anne Thompson interviewed Al Gore today about the energy mess we are in, and we will hear his ideas tonight.

The FDA has lifted its salmonella warning on tomatoes, there is some promising news on Alzheimers, and we'll have one family's story about how we can all help our children grieve the loss of a loved one.

If I am allowed, as a regular visitor to this broadcast, I would also like to say that the fight to get it right gets passionate around here, especially when it comes to telling you what you need in this economy.

People here want very much for you to know how to protect yourself, as we all ride this wave.

By Aram Roston, NBC News Producer

The idea of last night's Nightly News story where NBC's Chief Justice Correspondent Pete Williams accompanied a Virginia sheriff as he served eviction notices was to capture the grim moment when people are forced out of the homes they think of as their own. The homes were foreclosed, the mortgages were unpaid and it is the moment when a family's American dream is taken away. The statistics of foreclosure are staggering, and each human story is a tragedy.

The people with the unhappy assignment of enforcing the court order are often deputy sheriffs. In Virginia, I rode first with Deputy Sheriff William Cenac, of the Fairfax County Sheriff's civil enforcement division, on a foreclosure eviction. "These are working people...these are working people," he said as he drove to the house.

He says his arrival is usually greeted with shock. In a sense, he says, "At this point in your life, everything that you know to be is over, your house, your yard, whatever. It's the property of the bank and you need to leave. I don't think it's any different than your house burning down. Everything's gone. All your things are placed on the public right of way. It's helplessness: Where are you gonna go? Where are you gonna take your family? And you are still going to work every day."

To listen to a sheriff's deputy who handles evictions is an eye opener. "It's very silent the way it is. You live in a development, even in my neighborhood, where I live. You see these people, you see them cut the grass. And then all of a sudden it's like, 'Hey, where'd they go?' They move out in the middle of the night, leaving whole houses. I have three foreclosures on the street where I live."

Cenac points out it's a long process. The bank must petition the court for a summons, and then there is more paperwork, and more warnings. And any homeowner who is being evicted gets a 72-hour notice posted on the door, notifying him when it will happen. Many people manage to leave their homes on time. But some don't.

"One I did in the early spring," Cenac says, "I served the document to the defendant in person. I said, 'Look, this is a 3000 square-foot townhome, you probably want to move before this happens, or at least gets together BEFORE.' But the day of the execution of this order I went out the property and the defendant is still there, and I said, 'Wow, I thought you would have been gone.' And she said, 'I don't have anywhere to go. I sent my kids to live with my sister and I'm just here and I don't know what to do."

Empty homes, changed lives
But in many cases the former owner of the home is gone by the time Cenac gets there. That's what happened this time. When we arrived at the townhome Cenac and another deputy walked in, guns drawn. The place was empty, except for some children's toys the former owner left behind.

The next week Pete Williams and I and a camera crew headed out with sheriff's deputies of Prince William County. Deputy Mark Hurd was a veteran of the eviction process, who says it gets harder as he gets older, because of the emotional trauma of evictions. "It's tough to look in somebody's face," he says on camera. "You can see the anguish in their eyes. You can see what they're going through." Deputy Hurd says when he shows up reality finally sets on the scene. "Here comes a guy wtih a gun and a uniform and he's getting ready to ask me to leave my property!"

We accompanied Hurd to a home in Manassas, Va. The man he was evicting had lived there ten years with his wife and three children. He had thought he'd retire in the three-bedroom rambler, set in the woods. He'd also had his warnings that he needed to leave but he was not ready. He cried a little in the interview, and said he felt he'd let down his family.

But the finances of this mortgage had not worked out. After refinancing the home he said, and an illness, he was stuck last year with a $4800 a month payment he could not afford. Things went downhill from there.

But the cold inevitabilty of the eviction became clear as a locksmith changed the locks.

So the man who had intended to spend his life in the home did what he could to preserve his dignity and his belongings, gathering together his possessions and bringing them outside to truck away.

by Carmen Wong Ulrich, CNBC, personal finance expert

Pictures and news are coming out of California that I never thought I'd see again: lines of people making a run on a bank—a formerly big bank—in a panic about their money. The police were called in as balances and interest disappeared and answers didn't come fast enough.

Granted, we have a ways to go when it comes to the repercussions of the mortgage lending mess, but we, as depositors, have control over one thing: where we put our money. If you have an account with FDIC insurance, you should never be in a line at the bank to pull your money. Here's a walk-through of how you can make sure your money is safe:

1) Confirm that your deposits and banking institution has FDIC insurance. If you're not sure, head to FDIC.gov and check.

2) Know that FDIC insurance is aggregate—meaning, it's not $100,000 of insurance on each your checking and savings accounts but your holdings as a whole. To find out which of your accounts is insured, and which is not, use the FDIC's EDIE tool.

3) Know the guidelines: Insured up to $100,000 = savings, checking, CDs, trusts. Insured up to $250,000 = Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) which include 401(k)s, 403(b)s and Roths. NOT insured = investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance and annuities.

Click here to read more from Carmen Wong Ulrich's blog.

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

Dr. Beverly Shaver's husband disappeared over half a century ago, and she still doesn't know what happened to him or whether he's dead or alive.

Navy pilot James Deane's VQ1 reconnaissance plane was shot down on a top-secret mission off the coast of China in 1956, three months after the college sweethearts were married at the age of 24.

"It was obviously devastating when it happened, so soon after my marriage," Dr. Shaver, now 75 and living in Arizona, said in an interview. "I was still writing thank-you notes for wedding gifts that were arriving after our wedding."

Deane is one of 127 Americans listed as missing from the Cold War. Their planes crashed or were shot down while on spy flights over China, the Soviet Union or North Korea in the 1950s and 60s.

"I think most people believe that the 'Cold' War did not involve shooting, or combat, or death, but it did, and these men are missing because of it," said Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/Missing Personnel Office.

In Deane's case, he is officially listed as missing but declared dead. Dr. Shaver, who remarried, is convinced otherwise.

"I believe he definitely was taken prisoner instead of being killed in the crash of the shootdown over water," she said.

Her efforts to uncover the truth of what happened to her husband have hit a brick wall in both Washington and Beijing.

"I am sure not all the information this government holds on this case has been released or found," she said. "I don't think it's a question of the government just holding back this information from me, deliberately. I would hope not."

As for the Chinese, Dr. Shaver hopes they will return Deane's remains if, as she suspects, he died in captivity.

"Then I would have closure," she said. "That's my hope."

The remains of 19 other Americans killed in the Cold War have been recovered and identified since 1995, according to the Pentagon's Greer:

• Robert Snoddy, a CIA pilot, was killed Nov. 29, 1952, in an ambush while trying to extract a CIA agent from China. Two covert CIA officers aboard his C-47, Richard Fecteau and John Downey, were captured by the Chinese and imprisoned until the early 1970s. Snoddy's co-pilot, Norman Schwartz, was also killed in the ambush, but his remains have not been recovered.

• Seventeen crew members of an Air Force C-130 were killed when their plane was shot down over Soviet Armenia on Sept. 2, 1958. They were buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Sept. 2, 1998.

• Air Force Capt. John Dunham was killed when his RB-29 was shot down by the Soviets over the Sea of Japan in 1954. His buried remains were recovered on one of the Kurile Islands with the help of a KGB border guard.

In addition, James B. McGovern, a.k.a. "Earthquake McGoon," was a CIA pilot who was killed in 1954 supporting the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Indochina. He was buried on May 24, 2007, at Arlington.

Greer said there are hundreds of other remains that have been recovered but not yet identified.

(Photo courtesy Dr. Beverly Shaver)

Click here to view tributes to the 285 service members killed this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following seven casualties from last week:

1. Army Spc. William McMillan III, 22, of Lexington, Ky.

2. Army Sgt. Douglas Bull, 29, of Wilkes Barre, Pa.

3. Army Sgt. 1st Class Steven Chevalier, 35, of Flint, Mich.

4. Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.

5. Army Pfc. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

6. Army Spc. Brian Guerrero, 34, of Hagatna, Guam.

7. Army Spc. Samson Mora, 28, of Dededo, Guam.

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

By Cheryl Gould, NBC News senior vice president

Every once in a while you run across people whose courage makes you ask of yourself if you would act equally heroic should you find yourself in their shoes.  That certainly was the question I kept asking myself during my recent trip to Tunisia.

I was there as part of a 2-person delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-profit organization for which I am a board member.  CPJ advocates for the freedom of expression wherever journalists are threatened, harassed, imprisoned or otherwise prevented from doing their jobs. My mission-mate Joel Campagna is a CPJ staff member whose expertise in press-freedom abuses in the Middle East (not to mention his fluency in Arabic) make him a known and respected press advocate among journalists in the Arab world.

Arriving at the Tunis-Carthage airport is a study in contrasts. On the one hand, efficiency and modernity are in full display: You could just as easily be in an airport somewhere in Europe, especially since all the announcements and signage are in French, and the duty-free shops are filled with over-priced French and Italian luxury items. But that's where the similarities end. 

In the passport-control area run by the police, I was kept waiting. On my official entry document, I perhaps stupidly, but at least truthfully, listed "journalism/news executive" as my profession. A uniformed bureaucrat who looked like he hadn't cracked a smile in 15 years asked me questions in rapid succession. What business do you have in Tunisia? Why are you traveling alone? Who is this colleague you say you're joining up with and where is he right now? What meetings do you have planned? Where will you be staying?  Do you have permission and the requisite paperwork to come here in a journalistic capacity?  What news organization are you from?  

I was there with CPJ, not NBC News, so how to explain that I was there as a journalist, but not to do "journalism"? I wasn't about to say that I was there to show solidarity with all Tunisian journalists who can't freely report the news; or that we sought to obtain the  release of a Tunisian reporter who has been languishing in prison because he dared to criticize the regime. I ended up saying something bland about participating in some conferences to discuss international journalism. By then my interrogator got bored and grumpily stamped my passport.

From the general hush of the passport control area, I was immediately thrust into the chaotic arrivals waiting area filled with the cacophony of hundreds of Tunisians waiting for relatives returning home. The call to prayer emanating from a nearby mosque competed with the honking horns, yelling taxi drivers, and Air France and Alitalia announcements.  I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

As a nation, Tunisia has so much promise. In many ways, this beautiful Mediterranean and Sahara Desert country stands out for the West as the teacher's pet in the Arab world.  Its economy has been booming.  Foreign investment has contributed to an admirable 5-6% growth rate. Construction sites are more common than mosques. There's a vibrant tourism industry, relatively modern transportation, health care, and secular education systems. Significant progress has been made for women's rights. There's an effective military, a large middle class(so fundamental to the growth of democracy.  And then there's the ultimate polished apple: The Tunisian government cooperates with the West in the fight against terrorism and even dictates what's allowed to be said in sermons at the mosques. 

While the U.S. and Europe have heaped praise on Tunisia and have encouraged it to continue to act as a bulwark against Islamist extremism, they have turned a blind eye (or at least a severely myopic one) to human rights abuses, most notably the freedom of expression. The regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, for all the progress it has made elsewhere, has jailed more journalists than any other Arab country since 2001.  And the situation is growing worse, especially as signs emerge of mounting unrest among those who are being left out of the growth benefits.

Ben Ali and his regime have in many ways gotten away with their bullying because they say it's all part of the fight against terrorism. But how does jailing a reporter who has uncovered corruption in the highest places (including within Ben Ali's family) help to fight terrorism?  "Opposition" newspapers are allowed to exist; but they cannot criticize the regime, report on official corruption or human rights abuses, or cover stories that paint the government in a bad light.  How is the war on terrorism served by shutting down the Internet connections of newspapers whose reporters believe it is their job to raise hard questions? Are we all safer when the Tunisian police remove from the newsstands magazines containing articles that detail police harassment of journalists and their families?  Is it not a problem when those yearning for democratic freedoms in the Arab world feel the need to hide their opposition magazines behind government-supported newspapers when reading in a public place?

Is the Tunisian government made more secure by blocking press coverage of uprisings over severe unemployment and rising food prices in the least developed parts of the country?  Even the most educated young people, including many we spoke with, complain they can't get jobs because they don't have the right connections at the top, or lack the palm-greasing money necessary to buy their way into a job. 

The dissident reporters we spoke with are concerned about the swelling ranks of young, disaffected men drawn to Islamic fundamentalism and willing to go to Iraq as suicide bombers. We heard about this over and over again in all our meetings, but never would you be able to read about it in the Tunisian press.   

Months before out trip, CPJ corresponded with various government agencies and bureaucrats asking for high level meetings to discuss these issues and in particular the case of journalist Slim Boukhdir, who has been imprisoned on trumped up charges since November 2007, shortly after he wrote an article critical of the regime.   CPJ's requests generally result in official meetings, even if they don't always produce the desired results.  But, Tunisia refused to grant us any such meeting, even with lower-level bureaucrats.  They knew we were there, since we called and left messages every day.   We were followed and monitored, but no one from the government bothered to reach out to us.  

Nevertheless, we accomplished an important part of our mission.  Though our efforts to visit Boukhdir in prison and obtain his release were frustrated, he did learn, through his wife and family, that we had made the two-hour trek to the prison on his behalf.   While he has suffered harsh and unsanitary conditions that have resulted in scabies, his wife Dalinda told us his spirits have soared just knowing CPJ is focusing attention on his plight and that of other Tunisian journalists.  When I asked her if she thought Bouhkhdir would go back to journalism when he is finally released, Dalinda matter-of-factly responded of course he would, she would not want him to act otherwise.

Indeed, our fact-finding revealed that the more the government tries to silence the independent press, the more emboldened these journalists become.  All of the journalists and human rights activists we talked with throughout the week told us how much our visit meant to them in their struggle for freedom of the press. 

Even though they risk imprisonment; even though their newsrooms have old, beat up computers with frequent Internet outages and e-mail that is often mysteriously wiped out; even though they have to work several jobs to support their families; even though they are routinely harassed by officials and never know when they'll be picked up by the police on spurious charges; and even though they see even bigger problems for Tunisians down the road – they keep on going. 

Such dedication encourages their fellow Tunisian reporters to follow suit.  Surely now that CPJ has conducted this mission, they reasoned, the West will be awakened, will put pressure on Ben Ali, and will actively promote freedom and democracy in a country so vital to our own self-interests.  One can always hope.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Okay, so I need to get out more. Yesterday I said the All Star parade was going down Sixth Avenue. It wasn't. Not only did I not leave the building yesterday, I didn't even look out the window. Just sloppy reporting. No excuse for it.

Today I did (go to the window, that is...still no time for fresh air). I walked to the Sixth Avenue end of the third floor, and there, rolling down a red carpet stretched down the street, were the All Stars, two to a Chevy pickup truck, having attracted a sizeable lunchtime crowd behind police barricades. The NYPD officers I saw were great about letting kids walk right up to the players for autographs, and the players appeared to be just as great about it. I clearly need a break.

I'll keep today's post short -- and hate to leave you with a bit of a bummer, but I will quote from an email I received last night from a pal who is a prominent player in the newspaper business. He's a veteran who got into the trade for the very best reasons, and is now watching the changes in the industry in horror, along with the rest of us, while loving what he gets to do for a living, every day.

Of journalism, he writes, "The work is addictive. We do have a social mission. Dirty cops don't get kicked off the force, crooked pols don't get indicted, guys don't get yanked off death row, Chinese toys with lead paint don't get recalled unless we're around."

Roll that around for a while. I'll leave you with that thought, and ask that you join us for tonight's broadcast.

l

By Ann Curry
 
Word of genocide charges  against the President of Sudan is now reaching the displaced persons camps in Sudan's Darfur region. 

And we are told people are cheering.
 
What must is be like for those long suffering, who've seen their homes attacked, their women raped and their loved ones killed, to now learn today, after 5 years of hunger and homelessness, an arrest warrant may be issued  against the man they feel is to blame? 

President Omar al-Bashir had 10 counts filed against him by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court this morning..3 of genocide, 5 of crimes against humanity and 2 of murder, on behalf of an estimated 2.5 million victims.

The court documents accuse President Bashir:

•  of masterminding systematic attacks in Darfur, causing "murder, extermination, forceable transfer of the population, torture and rape."
• of being responsible, according to the filing, for  killing and otherwise harming black African tribes of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, "to bring about their physical destruction in part."
• of waging a coverup, in part by supressing media coverage, and in statements to NBC News in an interview released last year. President Bashir said evidence villages were burned in Darfur were, "fabrications," and said, "It is not in the Sudanese culture or the people of Darfur to rape.  It doesn't exist. We don't have it."  (See link.)

Bashir is also accused of slowing down humanitarian assistance to the victims.

Prosecutor Ocampo told NBC News, "They [the perpetrators of genocide] don't need gas chambers because they have the desert. Without food and water people die."

President Bashir denies all charges and through a spokesman says even if he is  indicted when the court rules in September, he will not answer the charges because Sudan does not recognize the court. 

Ironically, some humanitarian groups worry today's filing will make it more difficult to get aid into Darfur. 

And there is already a backlash by countries that support Sudan, some arguing that the court's prosecutor is out on a limb with a flimsy case and in doing so, may be undermining the very future of the International Criminal Court itself.  Some accuse the prosecutor of being politically motivated in filing now, just weeks before the start of the Olympics on China, a nation with close economic ties to Sudan.

But in this storm of controversy, Prosecutor Ocampo remains immovable. "The victims of Darfur deserve justice," he says. "At least we must recognize the truth for these people."

A leading voice on Darfur, John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project reacted this way: "The status quo in Sudan is one of the deadliest in the world. Until there is a consequence for the commission of genocide, it will continue. This indictment introduces a cost, finally, into the equation. Bashir will use the indictment as a cover to increase his deadly destruction in Darfur. The world must stand firm against his actions, and work towards peace in all of Sudan."

Now the people in Darfur's camps wait to see what the world will stand for and against.

Click here to see more on AnnCurry.msnbc.com. Click to read more of Ann's blogs on Darfur.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

What's the definition of satire? Does artistic freedom have any limits? I'm talking about the new cover of the New Yorker magazine, which turned out to be quite incendiary. See if you agree with the points made by editor David Remnick. Whatever depictions you've seen of the cover, it's important to remember that most New Yorker readers (and all of those who see it on newsstands) "experience" the magazine by seeing only half of the artwork on the cover -- the other half is covered by the headline overleaf.

The lead story in our broadcast tonight is the financial situation -- downright scary for folks with money in affected or threatened institutions. And while life isn't the same as a Capra movie (many of us have the run on the bank in "Its a Wonderful Life" burned into our memories), and while the FDIC wasn't around back when Jimmy Stewart was a young local banker, all of us in the news media must show caution right now to only report what we know, as there is so much at stake.

As I write this, a helicopter is hovering over 30 Rock (it's a friendly -- one of ours) to take pictures of the All Star parade going down Sixth Avenue, a prelude to tomorrow night's big game at Yankee Stadium -- a great baseball shrine that is sadly being replaced -- but that's a subject for another post, another time.

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

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

We have all heard the tag line to those bank ads, "member FDIC." And most of us probably haven't given it a second thought. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is there to make sure depositors don't lose all their money if their bank goes belly up. If customers of California's IndyMac Bank didn't know what those initials stood for before, they sure do now.

Federal bank regulators who took over the insolvent Indymac on Friday are explaining in detail today what customers of the bank can expect tomorrow, and how much of their funds the government is protecting. Indymac was a big player in the sub prime mortgage market, and has now paid the price. The bigger piece to this story is the fact that it may not be the only bank in trouble. We're going to spend a lot of time on the mortgage crisis on the broadcast tonight. Both the IndyMac situation, and the jitters over the health of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant corporations who guarantee the mortgages of millions of Americans. CNBC's Jim Cramer will join me tonight to explain what we should be watching for.

The other big story we're on following for tonight is the deaths of 9 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It is the biggest loss of American lives there since 2005. In recent months, Afghanistan has become more dangerous to American troops than Iraq. NBC's Richard Engel will explain why a draw down of troops in Iraq could result in a build up of US forces in Afghanistan.

Thanks for checking in, I hope you'll tune in tonight for NBC Nightly News.

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

Though I interviewed Tony Snow a number of times via a remote link, I never met him face to face. Like a lot of journalists, however, I had tremendous respect for Tony.  As a television commentator he was a thoughtful, engaged, and passionate observer of politics. As White House press secretary, he always presented himself as someone who had great respect for the job we do as reporters, while at the same time serving as a loyal, and effective advocate for the administration's policies.

When the news of his death broke this morning just as we were coming on the air for the TODAY show, my first thought was of the interview David Gregory did with Tony Snow a year ago. Tony talked about his struggle with cancer. He also talked about how it affected his family, and tearfully recounted the words he shared with his children. "I said, look I'm going to bounce your kids on my knee. That's what I'm going to do. And that's what I want to do." But what I remember most from that interview were the simple words that left no doubt as to what was most important to Tony Snow. Words that brought a tear to my eye then, and again this morning. "It's great to love people this much."

David Gregory will be on the broadcast tonight to share more from that interview, and to look back at the life and career of Tony Snow. I hope you join us for tonight's edition of NBC Nightly News.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

It will be one of those moments in New York. In a city where summer evenings are my favorite time of day during my favorite time of year, some New Yorkers might find themselves stopping, this evening -- on a corner, in the middle of conversation -- realizing something special is taking place, while they may not realize exactly what it is.

As our beloved and long-time traveling producer Jean Harper pointed out to me in an email this morning, what happens tonight has been nicknamed "Manhattanhenge" by the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Tyson is a lot of things: an educator, a public intellectual, a scientist, an experienced astronomer...but mostly, he's a romantic. He's a City kid from the Bronx who grew up to go to Harvard and Columbia (turning down Carl Sagan's invitation to attend Cornell instead) and came back home to pursue his life's dream...studying the heavens and spreading the excitement he feels so deeply. He is a New York treasure. Among other things, he makes us aware of events like the one that is unfolding here tonight.

You see, today, in Dr. Tyson's words, is "one of only two days in the year when the Sun sets in exact alignment with the Manhattan grid, fully illuminating every single cross-street for the last fifteen minutes of daylight." Tyson points out this would happen on the Solstice, if only New York were laid out on a parallel North-South grid. Today's event owes to the city's 30-degree angle out of parallel with the poles.

So...I plan to be on one of those cross streets, looking West, after tonight's broadcast -- taking it all in, and looking for other faces in the moving crowd on a Friday night -- who just might be doing the same.

With that, we will start the weekend -- but long before then, we hope you can join us tonight for our Friday broadcast.

By Ian Sager, msnbc.com editor

There's no better proof that New York never sleeps than the 24-hour Apple store. The Fifth Avenue landmark is open all hours, 365 days a year, and is always buzzing with business. When I arrived there at 7 a.m. this morning, the storefront area was more than just buzzing. It was vibrating, ring-toning, GPS-ing, and doing everything else that the iPhone 2.0 promised to the line of excited buyers.

By 7:40 a.m., the line snaked down the block, around the corner, and only got longer as the morning progressed. But the crowd kept in good spirits. One woman, Elyannie Espinao of Manhattan, told me that she'd "accidentally" dropped her old iPhone in the toilet recently. "I'm looking to either fix my old one, or upgrade to the new model," she said. When asked which way she was leaning, Espino looked at me as if I had three heads, smirked, and said, "Leaning towards an upgrade." Another Manhattan resident, David Major, 28, confessed, "I sold my old iPhone on EBay last night. When I saw what they were going for, I decided to sell my old one to cover the cost of my new phone."

As the excitement of edging closer to the front of the line grew, entrepreneurs worked the crowd. Companies plied them with energy drinks, bottles of water, organic apples, local restaurant menus, s'mores, and free cups of coffee. People were offering free handouts of everything imaginable (but, sadly, not iPhones).

Not surprisingly, security was on hand whenever someone's iPhone excitement bubbled over. A man was not-so-subtly asked to move on after informing the crowd that their reward for a morning spent on the line would be an eternity with Satan.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

The timing was perfect. I was looking for an excuse to at least duck out of the building for ten minutes on a beautiful summer day, when I heard the call come in over the fire scanner: a basement fire at TGI Friday's at 50th and 7th, a block away from our building. So I went.

I arrived before much of the apparatus -- and because of the nature of the alarm, the FDNY rolled a lot of it: Engine 23, the Engine/Ladder combination 54 & 4 ("The Pride of Midtown"), the Battalion 9 Chief, and 21 Ladder from the nearby Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

It turned out to be a stubborn, smoldering fire beneath the sidewalk grate outside the adjacent Tad's Steaks -- more of a social get-together for members of the various firehouses. Engine 54 connected to the nearest hydrant when they rolled up on the scene, and they ended up charging a booster line (sending water from the truck to the hose) and hitting the fire with water for a few minutes to douse it.

It sure beat what I'd been planning to do at that hour: return phone calls. I pronounced the scene secure and went back to 30 Rock, ready for the next one. Some things just get in your blood.

IT'S ABOUT TIME...

Those of a certain age will remember the old pink "WHILE YOU WERE OUT" telephone message slips. They included the sole option of "MR. __— called."

The thinking, back in the Mad Men age, was, I suppose, that you'd never get a call of any consequence in the workplace from a woman. Happily, we've come a long way -- with a few exceptions.

One notable exception: the MEN AT WORK roadside warning signs that are still out there. This will tell you what they are doing about it in Atlanta. Progress.

With that...we're off to work on the broadcast for tonight.

One story to call to your attention: it's our final story tonight, about a great woman, and her story is beyond inspiring.

I hope you can join us.

By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent

There just aren't words to aptly describe what happens to a person when they encounter the likes of Deforia Lane.

I've seen it happen with school kids, adults, expectant mothers and folks fighting for their lives in a hospital bed.

I can also tell you it happened to me, and to producer Colleen Dudgeon, when we visited Cleveland's University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

Deforia Lane is a teacher, an opera singer...and a cancer survivor. She's made it her goal to bring, through her gift of music, a few rays of hope, comfort and sunshine into the lives of hospital patients. Perhaps she will sing "Lean on Me"... or a moving version of "You'll Never Walk Alone"; anything to lift sagging spirits and dispel fear.

Colleen and I followed Deforia and her little pushcart filled with musical instruments as she 'made the rounds'; and on Nightly News tonight you will have the privilege of meeting this remarkable woman for yourself.

"I can't diagnose it and make it go away", she says. "But what I bring them is what's in here (her heart), and it's music and it's love."

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

There aren't that many unprocessed, genuine moments in politics anymore -- but something very close took place this afternoon, when Ted Kennedy returned to the well of the Senate and received a spontaneous, bi-partisan standing ovation. He returned chiefly for the Medicare vote -- and the tableau of the Senate floor drove home what strange bedfellows that body of 100 members can produce. We're also watching a breaking story involving Rev. Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama. As they say...developing...

Our time is short this afternoon due to committments that many of us had that took us away from the newsroom in the middle of the day -- we're all back and about to hunker down. I heartily recommend the writing of my Washington colleague, veteran NBC News producer (and U.S. military veteran) John Rutherford. It has to do with a great American story.

We hope you can join us for the broadcast tonight.

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

Juan Casiano was smitten with Maria Ortiz from the moment he met her at an Army base in Korea.

"She had a smile that lit up a thousand stars, and that smile brought warmth and joy to everyone she touched," Juan said.

When Maria was transferred back to the States, the two lost touch with each other until he bumped into her five years later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"The first thing she asks me is, 'Are you single?,' and I say, 'Yes,'" Juan said. "We've been together ever since."

Juan and Maria planned to marry as soon as she returned from a tour in Iraq as head nurse of an intensive care ward in Baghdad.

"She was looking forward to getting married," he said. "That's why she was going to the gym as much as she could. She says, ah, 'I'll have a little surprise for you when I get home.'"

On one of Maria's trips to the gym a mortar landed in Baghdad's Green Zone, fatally wounding her on July 10, 2007. She was the first Army nurse killed in combat since the Vietnam War.

"It really hurt me, it broke my heart," Juan said. "We were so close."

Maria was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Juan drives down from Maryland every weekend to sit by her grave and read to her from the books she had with her in Iraq.

"Any weekend I miss I come on the weekdays," he told me on a recent visit to the cemetery.

Juan has invited several hundred of Maria's friends to join him at her grave Thursday afternoon to mark the anniversary of her death with prayers and songs.

"She touched many, many people," he said.

Juan paused and looked out at the rows of headstones in Arlington's fabled Section 60.

"She's at peace now," he said. "She's among her hero friends."

Click here to view tributes to the 278 service members killed this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following six casualties from last week:

1. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Radamorales, 32, of Naranjito, Puerto Rico.

2. Army Master Sgt. Shawn Simmons, 39, of Ashland, Mass.

3. Army Sgt. James Treber, 24, of Imperial Beach, Calif.

4. Army Spc. Estell Turner, 43, of Sioux Falls, S.D.

5. Army 1st Lt. Daniel Farkas, 42, of Brooklyn, N.Y.

6. Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Woodham, 37, of Rogers, Ark.

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

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I have ample occasion -- several times daily, in fact -- to count my blessings in life and feel especially lucky that I get to do this for a living. Today, as I often do, I was listening to the FDNY Manhattan scanner on my office computer as I went about my work. I just heard a Batallion Chief ask for some "brief R&R" for his men after a particularly hot and smoky roof fire on the East Side. While I so miss serving in that capacity as a volunteer, I don't miss fires like the one they just fought. And now as I write this, they've been called away to dual alarms on the third and fifth floors of a Manhattan apartment building. No rest for the weary.

Another source of fortunate feelings today was the superb piece in this morning's New York Times by a colleague of ours over at ABC News, documentary producer Michael Bicks. It has to do with life and mortality and the loss of our friend Tim Russert. For us (as I know it is for Mr. Bicks and for many of you), the loss is incredibly fresh and urgent and raw -- like yesterday. That lessons have come from it tells us that Tim has had an impact beyond his life's work. This is about life itself.

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

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I had occasion over the long weekend to pull a boat up to a fuel dock and experience the bracing thrill of filling the tank -- and watching the pump dial as the numbers went by, at $4.99.9 a gallon. It will be interesting to see if any hard auto travel numbers become available for this past July 4th holiday -- as there were many advance predictions that car travel would be at a ten-year low.

I'm guessing the sheer cost of getting around is/was a factor in the Obama campaign's selection of an aged charter jet -- which today is in the news because of the unplanned deployment, from the tail cone, of the emergency exit slide, which forced the aircraft (and the campaign) to land in St. Louis -- where the candidate delivered his basic economic speech to a room full of journalists, instead of the North Carolina ballroom he was to address today.

The ramp workers at Lambert Field seemed surprised to see him, as I'm sure the Secret Service had to scramble to come up with the infrastructure to handle an impromptu visit. That's why they have field offices.

We'll have that story tonight, and the rest of the day's news, as we all get back into work mode following the first truly sleepy weekend of the summer...puncuated by an endless tennis match in London and the A-Rod saga here in New York.

With the exception of those last two stories, we'll have it all for you tonight -- and we hope you can join us.

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

The big "Gap" fire burning near Santa Barbara is only about a quarter contained, and firefighters are working within a narrow window of opportunity. Hot, potentially record-breaking temperatures are forecasted to return to the region as early as Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 2,700 homes remain under an evacuation order and another 1,400 households have been warned they may be next. Between the fires that have consumed so much of California over the last week, and the floods that inundated parts of the Midwest last month, there have been so many homes lost and lives displaced.

The truth is, even after the flames are extinguished or the flood waters recede, the victims are still living with disaster. Tonight Peter Alexander reports from the California fire lines, but we will also turn our cameras back toward the flood zone.  City council member Brian Fagan of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, takes us on a tour of his city as it confronts rebuilding properties and resettling the thousands of residents whose lives were upended in the June floods that consumed 1,300 square blocks.

I'm glad you checked in, and hope you'll tune in later for tonight's edition of Nightly News.

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

The number of fires now burning in California has dropped to fewer than 400.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the two biggest, the Big Sur Basin fire and the Gap fire in southern California, are still out of control.  Our Peter Alexander is on the scene at the Gap fire, near Santa Barbara, and will report tonight that any progress during the day risks being undone at nightfall because of something called "sundowner" winds. He'll explain why this is such a tough one.

We will also update a story that for weeks now has been changing the eating habits of millions of Americans.  The government says there have now been over 900 reported cases of salmonella poisoning. And if you thought avoiding tomatoes would keep you safe, you may be wrong. The list of suspect produce has now expanded as health detectives try and track down the elusive source. Martin Savidge will bring us up to date.

If you decided to play tourist at home this holiday rather than hit the road and pay high air fares or gas prices, then you are among a growing number of Americans who have discovered "staycations." NBC's Tom Costello will be reporting that trend tonight.

We don't usually spend a lot of time on sports on this broadcast, but we'd be remiss not to report a pair of stories that have inspired sports fans this weekend. We'll show a little of Venus William's' victory over her sister Serena at the women's championship at Wimbledon today.  Meantime we've asked our Mike Taibbi to profile 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres, who outdistanced competitors half her age to qualify for her fifth Olympics.  
 
CNBC's Trish Regan takes us to Brazil to show us why their economy is booming despite lots of easy credit -- the very thing that has shaken the U.S. economy.

And Nightly News producer Clare Duffy steps in front of the camera tonight to bring us the story of one very lucky and beloved penguin.

I hope you can join us for tonight's NBC Nightly News.

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

Brian is off today, enjoying the holiday, so I'll be holding down the fort tonight.

On the program this evening, we will cover the death of a remarkable and controversial figure in American politics. Former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms died early this morning. As a staunch conservative, he was often at the forefront of hot button social debates, including civil rights, gay rights and public funding for the arts. Helms was often a hero to the right, and reviled by the left, so it is not surprising that there is plenty of reaction to his passing. You will hear some of it on Nightly News this evening.

In politics, as Senator John McCain takes a holiday break from the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama continues his swing out West. Lee Cowan will examine Obama's stragegy, as the campaign looks to turn some of those so-called western red states, Democratic blue in the fall.

There are fireworks over the use of fireworks in tinder-dry California this holiday. Meantime, with so much of the state on fire, Governor Schwarzenegger has ordered the call up of more National Guard troops to join the fire lines. Our George Lewis is in the Santa Barbara area, and will bring us the latest tonight.

Jim Maceda is back in Iraq where he caught up with members of Alpha Company 464, a unit of the Army's third Infantry Division which led the invasion of Iraq, five years ago. Alpha company is spending its third July 4th in Iraq since 2003. Jim first met them on a previous tour of duty, and will share with us their reflections on the ups and downs they've experienced in the war zone.

I'm glad you clicked on us today, and hope you'll catch us later. In the meantime, I wish you and your family a safe holiday weekend.

By Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

Brian is off and so I'll be in the anchor chair tonight.

It's been said before that if you're the one out of work the unemployment rate is 100%. The government posted its unemployment numbers for last month today and they won't come as a surprise to those out there pounding the pavement for a job and coming up empty. 438,000 jobs have been lost this year as May's high unemployment rate held steady last month. Employers have cut workers for six straight months. CNBC's Scott Cohn will be on the broadcast to show us exactly what job seekers are facing, and the sometimes tough choices they are forced to make.

Barack Obama is sending some interesting signals today that some believe could be a prelude to him changing his tune on when and how to exit Iraq. This all comes ahead of Obama's previously announced trip to Iraq. NBC's Lee Cowan is working the story and will have a lot more on this.

NBC's Mark Potter has learned some fascinating details of exactly how that hostage rescue was pulled off in Colombia yesterday. Call it the anatomy of a sting.

We just received word that another part of California has been placed under a state of emergency because of threatening wildfires. Things there are going from bad to worse. George Lewis will be reporting that story tonight.

I hope you can catch our story tonight on a young man from South Africa who danced his way through long held barriers and out of the townships to become one of that country's premier ballet performers. And now he is in this country. NBC's Amna Nawaz will share his journey with us.

Thanks for checking in. We'll look for you tonight on NBC Nightly News.