By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

 

I'm a football fan. It turns out I'm better at watching it on TV than I was as outside linebacker or offensive end. When he was in the game, John Madden was known as a "player's coach." When he was talking us through a game, he was a "fan's announcer." I understand his reasoning. At 73, he wants to spend time on the important stuff. He was married the year I was born, and is now finally ready to spend concentrated amounts of time with his wife and family and grandchildren. His famous bus, a consequence of terrible claustrophobia and the inability to fly, will stay with him and point the way into retirement. There are already kind remembrances in print today but the best tribute to the great, big man will be how much we miss him...when the big game comes on and his face and voice aren't there.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

 

An Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal may come closest to describing the backdrop for today's tax-related goings-on around the country, while on Politico, Arizona State has fully rolled over and admitted they screwed up royally in their handling of the Honorary Degree for the President of the United States. I'll put it this way: I'm a college dropout and I have about 8 or 9 honorary degrees -- I'm looking at three of them in my office, from Tulane, Ohio State and Villanova, for starters.

And finally, the reason every player in the major leagues is wearing a "42" on their uniforms, regardless of their individual number.  This is Jackie Robinson Day – the 62nd anniversary of the great man's first day in the Majors.  Because the changes in language are fascinating and tell us a lot about ourselves and our society, I thought it was useful to print the following – the words of sportswriter Arthur Daley from the New York Times, April 16th of 1947.  For the context of the time, remember: Harry Truman is President, World War II is over, and the post-war American machine is starting to hum – societal change was coming quickly, and note how he wrote:

THE ROBINSON DEBUT

The muscular Negro minds his own business and shrewdly makes no effort to push himself. He speaks quietly and intelligently when spoken to and already has made a strong impression. "I was nervous in the first play of my first game at Ebbets Field," he said with his ready grin, "but nothing has bothered me since." A veteran Dodger said of him, "Having Jackie on the team is still a little strange, just like anything else that's new. We just don't know how to act with him. But he'll be accepted in time. You can be sure of that. Other sports have had Negroes. Why not baseball? I'm for him, if he can win games. That's the only test I ask." And that seems to be the general opinion.

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

 

 

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

 

This story, brought to my attention by Garrett Haake of our staff, struck quite a chord when I read it after the broadcast last night. If you've read the book "The Lone Survivor," this story will have special resonance... but I'm pretty sure it will resonate just the same. It's sad, poignant and disturbing.

The video clip getting the most forwards and circulation these days comes from one of the many talent-search shows out there, this one in the U.K. We will reference it on the air tonight, and ask people to watch it on our web site. It requires no advance explanation or set-up, and it left a few people in tears in our newsroom today.

 

We'll have the news of the day--the economy, the pirates, some of your e-mails, and yes...the DOG...when we see you tonight.  We sure hope you can join us.

by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

We came on the air much earlier than we had planned, with a special report just after 1:30 ET; just minutes after Jim Miklaszewski confirmed that the Navy had successfully rescued kidnapped American sea captain Richard Phillips from his Somali captors. 

by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

The word "pirates" conjures up all kinds of images in my mind – admittedly from countless movies and books – but none that fits the breed of kidnappers and extortionists terrorizing mariners in the waters off the East African coast. This is organized crime, which by some estimates has netted kidnappers and their syndicates up to $80,000,000 last year alone.

We learned this afternoon that the thugs who are bobbing along in a lifeboat with the captain of the Maersk Alabama have fired on a Navy vessel, and drifted within 20 miles of the Somali coast. These developments raise the stakes in the standoff, and increase the pressure to secure Captain Richard Phillip's release before his captors can hide him ashore. 

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Our friends at WSMV-TV in Nashville, one of the finest local television stations in the country, are having a tough day. I've been watching their live, streaming coverage in my office all afternoon as tornados roared through their area. Their coverage has been nothing short of excellent. I should add something here: All of our colleagues in Nashville are working through great pain and sadness.  Just a few days ago, longtime anchorman Dan Miller died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 67. Dan was a giant – the dominant, driving force on the air in Nashville for as long as I can remember. He was synonymous with our NBC Station. We spoke via satellite not long ago and had met several times. He was a local institution, he loved the news business and he loved breaking news coverage.  So perhaps it is the vivid memory of Dan – and honoring Dan's memory – that is driving our friends today at WSMV in Nashville, where nature has again taken a terrible toll.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I don't usually wade into these waters, but two pieces of video making the rounds on the web are unusually interesting for vastly different reasons. The first one has to do with a celebrity interview -- shocking for the behavior on display. Of note here isn't the fact that a celebrity is behaving badly, but the restraint and class on the part of the Canadian radio and TV host conducting the interview.

On the other side of the coin is our friend Keith Olbermann's poignant remembrance of his mother, who died last weekend. Several of our colleagues attended the memorial service north of the city this afternoon, and Keith took some time a few nights back to give his mom a proper tribute. As I say: notable for entirely different reasons.

Right now we're following a fire in an apartment building a few blocks from here (the two of us in the newsroom who listen to the fire scanner). We're doing further reporting on the pirate standoff off Somalia, and have an extraordinary and uplifting Making A Difference report to bring you tonight. We hope you can join us.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

We've noted here today that the Maersk Alabama has been taken down from the usual GPS-based ship-tracking software we've used in the past.  We just spoke to Jim Miklaszewski at the Pentagon who warns us its a "fluid" situation -- that may be putting it lightly -- but what a yarn.

I took some time today to go over some of the emails sent to the blog -- thanks to those of you who sent congratulations and kind words, and thanks to my young fellow music fan out there.  Along those same lines, we have a great Making A Difference report tonight.

We will also be remembering a Medal of Honor Recipient who passed away this week.  Allow me to synopsize the story of Russell Dunham, in addition to linking to the complete story. Battle of the Bulge, France, 1945: despite being shot in the back, he took out four machine gun nests and killed 9 Germans. He was captured, and when the Germans found his cigarettes, they fought over them. They didn't find the pistol in a shoulder holster, which he used to kill his captor. He escaped, froze his feet and ears, and was awarded the Medal of Honor in the field in 1945.  What a great American. His death leaves us with 97 living Recipients.  Our condolences to the Dunham family. 

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

By Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent

With all the power plays and big time personalities, it's easy to miss that Capitol Hill can be a place where real people's lives can change.

A new program is small but ambitious and aimed at helping battle-scarred young veterans find a way back to an unexpected civilian life.

We met Iraq and Afghanistan vets who sacrificed a great deal during their service. They suffered life-altering injuries and medical problems while at war. Now at home, they struggled to find jobs in what is already a tough economy for everyone.

The vets explained to me that they had a hard time translating their military experience into the skills that would attract employers. Some said they even felt a kind of stigma and suspected some employers hesitated to consider hiring an amputee.

The guys I met knew they had much to offer but spent months looking for work with nothing but frustration to show for it. But for about 25 injured veterans that has changed in a way no one expected. One vet smiled and chuckled when I asked if he ever thought he'd be a "Hill staffer." But that turned out to be his open door.

Members of the House of Representatives, from both parties, have hired these injured veterans for two-year paid fellowships. For some that may lead to a permanent congressional staff job or perhaps serve as a transition giving them practical workplace experience.

Members of Congress say these are "real" positions serving district constituents' needs and supporting House members in their offices. We'll show you a glimpse of the long recovery and personal reinvention these vets have endured on their way to a new chapter.

By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent

Since most of us want to lose weight, there is an enormous audience for books, articles and broadcasts about anything to do with diet and fat. So it can be hard to know when something comes along that is actually a new and important piece of information.

 

Three new reports published in the New England Journal of Medicine about the discovery of "brown fat" in adult humans are indeed significant.
 
Will it lead to new methods of weight loss?  It will take years of study to answer that question and the odds are, the answer will be no. Anytime scientists try to manipulate metabolism, it can have unforeseen consequences, and until big, careful studies in people show that a drug that affects "brown fat" is safe and effective, we have to be cautious.
 
Nevertheless, the research is fascinating.  What is brown fat?  As opposed to the white fat that makes bellies big as it stores extra calories, brown fat actually burns calories and make the body warmer. Scientists have long known that human babies and many animals have brown fat. Because babies have a much smaller surface area than adults, they need more mechanisms to control their body temperature.  So they keep some brown fat and burn it if they start to get cold.
 
Doctors had always assumed that adults had no brown fat because it doesn't show up during autopsies. But the relatively new technology of PET scanning shows there are traces. PET scans combine a CT X-ray scan with the measurement of every organism's metabolism after an injection of radioactive glucose.  PET scans are usually used to determine how much cancer has spread in the body.  But a re-analysis of PET scans has shown that adults maintain at least a tiny amount of brown fat.
 
At the same time, research with mice has revealed a drug that can make the animal store extra calories as brown fat instead of white fat.  Studies in people are just beginning. They could end up working.  But don't stop exercising or start eating more in anticipation of the results.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

So we switch today from music to sports -- and history and society. Two pieces I came across today -- one about a trend  and the other about a giant.

If you were watching the morning shows, then you saw today's surprise development: the President paid a visit to Baghdad. Because this is sand storm season, the closing weather forced him to stay on the ground (Camp Victory is on the grounds of the airport), where he spoke to hundreds of military personnel at a place our travelling team knows well: the Al Faw palace, built by Sadaam and now occupied by the U.S. military. On one of our last visits there, I had dinner with General Petraeus in his office in the palace. It's not uncommon for visiting journalists (who plan to do short-term embeds with soldiers) to stay in cinder-block "guest houses" along the man-made lake on the property -- the whole complex originally built as a "conference center" for the Baath party under Saddam. 

A confession: I marked the territory when I was there last...with a Dale Earnhardt "3" sticker that I had in my bag.  As far as I know, it's still there, on the outside wall of one of the structures on the bank of the lake.  I figured it's about time the Iraqis knew about the greatest driver in NASCAR history.

             
                                                                        Photo by Subrata De

Back to the news: We have the president's side trip, the violent aftershocks in Italy, a great profile of swimmer Dara Torres, and a great moment in Boston today. We hope you can join us tonight.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

My thanks to Ann Curry for allowing me to travel back from London and rid myself of much of the jet lag from our week's trip. Back in New York today, where the following got my attention:

Correction of the day

This is a verbatim quote from today's New York Times corrections: "The Basics column on Tuesday about using quantitative reasoning to find an approximate answer to complex problems, misstated the number of utilities in a game of Monopoly. It is two, not four." Brilliant. Bravo.

New music of the day

While overwrought music writing always sounds like overwrought wine reviews, ("a hint of plum and accents of oak, with a woody finish...") the song "Kingdom of Rust" by the Doves is interesting for the influences that you can hear on just one listen: the Moody Blues, The Edge, the E-Street Band (keyboard and glockenspiel, for starters) not to mention the Chris Martin-esque vocals.  In the mellow category, another nice new one is "Everything Is Moving So Fast" by the Great Lakes Swimmers...their song "Palmistry" is also good. And longtime Leonard Cohen fans and followers may be surprised at the banter and humor on his new live recording.  I was. Especially strong are "The Future" and "Tower of Song." And it's been a while, so it deserves another mention: the great song "Dirty Dishes" by the Rhode Island bar band called Deer Tick. I've received a few emails from fellow fans...I notice they are getting a bit more traction. The new single by the 17-year-old Australian phenom Gabriella Cilmi "Sweet About Me" is hooky and great, and for something heavier, try "To Lose My Life" by White Lies...a couple of Brits who sound a lot like Interpol. And that's today in music.

Back to our day jobs: tragedy in Italy, three awful shootings in three days here in the U.S. The President continues overseas, and we'll end the broadcast with a Making A Difference report tonight. We're glad to be back at home base, and we hope you'll join us. 

by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

If U.S. intelligence is correct, North Korea has upped the ante in its quest to become a nuclear player.  American experts believe the long-range missile fired overnight – which North Korea argues was delivering a satellite into space – was really a test of a way to launch nuclear warheads.

by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

Years ago, when I was just starting out as a reporter at a California radio station, an editor rejected a piece of my news copy about a local crime. He instructed me to write it again, and take out the phrase "senseless murder."  As he handed it back to me he simply said, "Have you ever heard a murder that made sense?"

By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor

Before the Nightly meeting, Executive Producer Bob Epstein just accused me of being like the guy in the Li'l Abner cartoons, who walks around with a dark cloud over his head.

He says when I fill in for Brian, the chance of news breaking seems to go up.

That is not really a compliment, given the tragedy of today's breaking news, big enough for a NBC News special report.  As many as 13 were killed in shooting at an immigrant center in upstate New York. No motive yet, but NBC's Ron Allen is working on finding one. The White house is expected to make a statement about it.

Then there is the news about just how many people in America the government says are out of work. It's up to 8.5 percent the highest since 1983, and means 663,000 more people have lost their jobs. Two of them are members of my own family, but then is there a family in America that is still immune?

We will also address North Korea's missile launch..and Obama-mania in France, but the story I can't wait to see will reveal photos hidden from public view for decades, of the scene of Martin Luther King's last moments of life. The photographer got intimate access to that infamous hotel room in Memphis, and shows us even MLK's open briefcase, and tells us why the pictures are only now being made public.

He knew the world had changed in those moments he pressed the shutter. Boy has it.

By Janet Shamlian, NBC News correspondent

It was an impulse buy. A few minutes too many at Reagan National, and I drifted into the airport equivalent of a mini-mart. Determined to resist the call of Reese's, I opted for Runner's World magazine instead. It's there I read about the young woman you'll meet in tonight's Making a Difference report.

 

It started as a small gesture between strangers. A simple wave. The guys at the shelter were curious about the petite blond who ran past each day before dawn. This was one of those so-called transitional neighborhoods. She was tiny and alone and they worried about her. In the days to follow they would call out warnings, 'be careful' and 'stay safe.' She'd smile and nod and continue on.

 

One morning, Anne Mahlum didn't run past as usual. She stopped. It's a day that changed her life and, in the time since, has changed hundreds of others. Her decision has even saved a few lives, like that of James Singletary -- a man who thought he lost it all until he found Anne and the group she founded, Back on My Feet.

 

Anne jumped off the pages of the magazine. I had to meet her. Tonight, you will, too.

 

Photo caption: Janet Shamlian and NBC Producer Victor Limjoco with James Singletary (middle), a recovering drug addict now training for his first marathon

 

Back on My Feet
www.backonmyfeet.org

                                              

 

 

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Marine One just departed the "Red Bull Landing Zone" adjacent to the ExCel Centre and flew just past us, taking President Obama back to the U.S. Ambassador's Residence, built ages ago with money from the Woolworth retailing fortune. All agreed he looked tired at his news conference, and he has every right to be. It was a classy gesture to offer his condolences to our friend Chip Reid, who just lost his father.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

As a kid, I simply had no reason to think I would ever see London...or, for that matter, any of the other extraordinary places I've been able to travel during an adult life spent in the news business. It was a rare, sunny and breezy and generally extraordinary April day here -- this morning, awaiting a live report on Today, I stood with Keith Miller outside Buckingham Palace (and old friends Bill Plante and Chip Reid who were manning CBS's camera position adjacent to ours) and took in the scene along with several visiting American tourists. The big local news story (which on our sister network ITN knocked the Summit out of its lead story position) is the helicopter crash in the North Sea. Since my niece's husband does the same thing (piloting a chopper all day from the mainland to an oil platform to ferry the workers) in Louisiana, I've been especially interested. What's going unspoken in much of the coverage is: the North Sea is a tough place to try to survive for too long. Local news in general here is fascinating to watch this week. The Obamas have put in a marathon day -- and I'm guessing the highlight must have been the private time with the Queen and Prince Phillip. Someone on the web tonight (an American) asks an interesting if not irreverent question: why does the Queen carry a handbag at a reception in her own home?

We will join you again tonight from our NBC News London Bureau...and we hope to see you then.

Links related to reports are listed by air date: 

April 29, 2010

For more information on the new drug for prostate cancer   

msnbc.com story
Q+A on prostate cancer
Dendreon.com
Provenge.com
Dendreon ON Call at 877-336-3736

March 23, 2010

What health care reform might mean to your family
Fact-checking health reform claims

Women and weight gain

Making a Difference: Guardian Angel for Soldiers' Pets

March 18, 2010

Obesity Study from Kaiser Permanente

March 17, 2010

Lorraine Melgosa making a difference
LA Times: A horse, a hearse, and a sense of duty

March 16, 2010
Travel warnings to Mexico

State Department travel warnings re Mexico http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4755.html

Spring Break in Mexico: Know before you go
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/spring_break_mexico/spring_break_mexico_2812.html

January 21, 2010

HAITIAN ADOPTION RESOURCES

U.S. State Department: Adopting parents can send their information, including the names of their children and orphanages, to AskCI@state.gov, so the State Department has a good way to contact parents. For more on the adoption process in Haiti, click here, or for general information about international adoptions, click here.

U.S. Embassy in Haiti: For information on the welfare of loved ones and other U.S. citizens in Haiti, please click here.

For people interested in adopting a Haitian child, the State Department issued the following statement on the issue:

The State Department has received calls from Americans offering to open their homes and adopt Haitian children in need.

It is extremely difficult in circumstances such as this to determine whether children who appear to be orphans are eligible for adoption. Children may be temporarily separated from parents and other family. It is particularly difficult to fulfill the U.S. and local requirements for legal adoption when civil authority is handicapped in its ability ensure the best interests of children and their families have been protected.

For now, U.S. citizens can best help the children of Haiti through financial contribution to the relief effort. Information on making donations can be found at WhiteHouse.gov. 

In a press release from the USCIS:  

USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) encourages U.S. citizens with pending adoption cases in Haiti to send us detailed information about their cases to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov.

Please visit the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov and the U.S. Department of State website at www.adoption.state.gov for more information and updates.

For Haiti Adoption alerts: http://adoption.state.gov/news/Haiti.html

December 21, 2009

Making a Difference: The Giving Store
To find out more, go to: http://www.Flaglervolunteer.org and specify that your inquiry or donation is to be directed to The Giving Store.

December 14, 2009

CT scans and radiation

Archive of Internal Medicine Abstract:
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/169/22/2071

Editorial
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/169/22/2049

UCSF/Smith-Bindman:
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/169/22/2078

December 9, 2009

Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation for Sickle Cell Disease http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/24/2309?ijkey=hJM1ruKWwTjWA&keytype=ref&siteid=nejm

Apr. 1: Brian Williams, reporting on the G20 summit in London, talks about the gorgeous weather, protests, and the pressure on G20 leaders.  WATCH THE VIDEO BLOG