• 'I'm sorry I let 'em down': Jesse Jackson Jr. and wife plead guilty to fraud

    Gary Cameron / Reuters

    Former Chicago congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. enters the U.S. District Federal Courthouse in Washington on Wednesday.

    Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News writes

    Former Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday morning to misusing more than $750,000 in campaign cash on private expenses -- including a $43,000 Rolex, Blu-ray players, health clubs, lavish vacations, furs, and a slew of luxury goods.


    Jackson, who resigned three months ago to reportedly get treatment for bipolar disorder and clinical depression, will face time behind bars when he is sentenced this summer.

    "For years I lived off my campaign," Jackson said in court as he fought back tears. "I used money that should have been for campaign purposes for personal purposes."

    Jackson accepted charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and false statements. The embattled Democratic lawmaker reportedly agreed to a negotiated plea recommending a sentence of between 46 and 57 months and a fine in the $10,000 to $100,000 range. But prosecutors reserve the right to argue for a harsher punishment, including the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

    All parties agree that Jackson would not be eligible for probation when he is sentenced June 28.

    "I'm not bound by the sentencing guidelines," Judge Robert Wilkins said. "The sentencing guidelines are advisory and they are something I am bound to consider."

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    By way of explaining his decision to plead guilty, Jackson said, "I have no interest in wasting the taxpayers' time or their money."

    "I'm guilty, your honor," a visibly emotional Jackson said.

    Admitting that he took money received in political contributions, former Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., pleaded guilty in federal court to misusing campaign cash for personal expenses. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    Jackson and his wife siphoned off $580,000 from the campaign war chest for a wide range of credit card transactions, including $60,857.04 at restaurants and lounges and $31,700.79 for airfare.

    The bevvy of pricey goods Jackson allegedly bought with campaign funds also include a $4,600 fedora from Michael Jackson's collection, a $1,500 cashmere cape, and a pair of mounted elk heads from a Montana taxidermist priced at $8,000.

    According to the court filing, other purchases included "high-end electronic items, collector's items, clothing, food and supplies for daily consumption, movie tickets, health club dues, personal travel and personal dining expenses."

    As he exited the courtroom, Jackson, who left office last November after 17 years in his post, opened up to a reporter.

    "Tell everybody back home I'm sorry I let 'em down, OK?" he reportedly said.

    Jackson's attorney, Reid Weingarten, told the judge that he plans to make the case at this summer's sentencing hearing that his client's mental health conditions might be mitigating factors.

    "That's not an excuse. That's just a fact," Weingarten said outside the Washington, D.C., courtroom, adding that he anticipates Jackson will rebound and have "another day," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

    Jackson's wife, Sandi Jackson, pleaded guilty three hours after her husband's hearing to a single charge for filing false tax returns and reporting less income than she accrued. The charge comes with a maximum prison sentence of three years.

    But Sandi Jackson's lawyer, Tom Kirsch, said a negotiated plea recommends a more lenient punishment, according to NBC Chicago. Her case Wednesday afternoon was heard by the same judge who presided over her husband's hearing.

    Sandi Jackson resigned in January from her post as Chicago's 7th Ward alderman.

    The couple was joined in court by Jackson's father, civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson; his brothers, Jonathan and Yusef; his sister, Santita; and Sandi sister, Tina.

    Rev. Jackson on Monday said his son still struggles with mental illness and remains under "tight medical supervision."

    "During this difficult and painful ordeal, our family has felt the impact of your prayers and calls," Rev. Jackson said. "So many ministers have reached out to us, and we thank you. The hurt in this valley is indescribable."

    Jackson's guilty plea caps off a dramatic downfall. At the apex of his political career, Jackson was a leading figure in the Democratic Party establishment, serving as a national co-chairman of President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and as a surrogate for other high-profile politicians.

    This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:08 PM EST

  • Holiday travel alert: Central US storm brings flight disruptions, deadly blizzard, and a tornado

    The powerful storm made for dicey driving conditions in Iowa, causing a 25-car pileup. In Wisconsin, the governor declared a state of emergency. And in the South, several tornadoes spawned from the same weather system. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    Miguel Llanos writes

    The first major wintry storm of the season hammered the Midwest on Thursday, causing a pileup in blizzard conditions that killed three people, dumping a foot of snow in some areas and creating travel problems during one of the busiest periods of the year. Those travel woes could extend into the Northeast, with high winds and rain expected there Friday.


    Nearly 600 flights were canceled at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Thursday, according to FlightStats, and an additional 700 were grounded at Kansas City International, Midway (Chicago), Detroit Metropolitan, Minneapolis-St. Paul International and other Midwest airports.

    Southwest Airlines canceled all flights at Midway starting at 4:30 p.m. local time, NBCChicago.com reported.

    Full coverage of the storm at The Weather Channel

    The storm system also spawned a tornado that flipped vehicles in Mobile, Ala., and cut power to 400,000 homes and businesses. Some 130,000 were still without power Thursday afternoon. 

    At least six deaths were tied to the snowstorms: In Iowa, three people died Thursday in a pileup involving more than 30 vehicles on Interstate 35, NBC affiliate WHO-TV reported; in Wisconsin, slick road conditions led to two fatalities; and in Utah, a woman who tried to walk for help after her car became stuck in snow was found dead, officials said late Wednesday. Search and rescue crews on snowmobiles found her buried in the snow just a few miles from her car.

    Snow, whipped by 50 mph wind gusts, have been causing white outs and leaving residents in the dark. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.

    Blizzard or winter storm warnings were issued for 16 states on Thursday, Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel told TODAY.

    Northeast cities can expect rain and high winds from the system Friday morning, said NBC meteorologist Bill Karins. Most of the snow should move into Canada Friday night.

    A foot of snow fell on Des Moines, Iowa, by early Thursday and residents across the state were urged to stay off the roads.

    "Because of the wind, travel is pretty treacherous, especially into Iowa, as the storm moves east," National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Dergan said.

    The snow cover will drag temperatures much lower in Iowa and Nebraska, he added. "We're talking single digits. We may even see some sub-zero temperatures in Nebraska. This cold weather will stick around for several days, maybe until the day after Christmas. So we're definitely going to have a white Christmas."

    Iowa State Police

    Some of the vehicles involved in a pileup on Interstate 35 in Iowa are seen Thursday.

    Blowing snow led to school closures in parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. All state government offices also closed in Iowa. Storms in those four states left around 130,000 homes without power. 

    "Thundersnow" was reported in Iowa Wednesday night, as thunder and lightning accompanied the storm as it trekked across the state. 

    Dietra Tate / NBC 15

    This vehicle at a car dealership was flipped over by a storm in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, Dec. 20.

    In Alabama, a tornado peeled the roofs off homes and buildings and toppled vehicles in Mobile, but caused no serious injuries, Al.com reported. Arkansas also saw damage from high winds.

    The storm system earlier delivered heavy snow and strong winds to parts of the West, where trucks tangled on icy roads on the Oregon and California state line.

    Snowstorm prompts state of emergency in Wisconsin

    In West Texas, winds from the same system kicked up a dust storm Wednesday that caused accidents along Interstate 27, resulting in one death and more than a dozen injuries, NBC affiliate KCBD reported.

    At Dallas-Fort Worth airport, American Airlines said it canceled about 120 flights Wednesday night due to the storm. 

    In Nebraska, snow blowing sideways on Wednesday night forced the closure of a 146-mile stretch of Interstate 80, a major east-west highway. 

    Much of the nation is dealing with a big blast of winter as a massive snowstorm barrels from the Rockies to the Midwest, with some parts of Colorado buried under more than a foot of snow. NBC's Mike Seidel reports.

    In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency on Wednesday. Schools were canceled in advance of heavy snowfall and the University of Wisconsin-Madison postponed Thursday’s final exams.

    Before the storm, several Midwest cities had broken records for the number of consecutive days without measurable snow.

    In Chicago, people made a run on snow shovels and salt ahead of what should be the first snow to hit the city in 290 days (the record is 296). 

    The storm has package delivery companies nervously checking the weather forecast during this busy time of year. "We’re closely monitoring the storm," FedEx spokesman Scott Fiedler told NBC News. "We have a team of 15 meteorologists who track the weather around the world every day."

    Related: UPS, FedEx weather experts work on timely deliveries
    Related: Chicago braces for 'thundersnow'
    Related: Bad in US? Try Russia, where some parts as low as 50 below
    Related: Slideshow of wintry scenes around the world

    Along the East Coast, the I-95 corridor isn't expected to see much, if any, snow.

    "Snow may make it as close to New York City as Western Connecticut but right now, other than a few flurries Friday night, I think New York City through Boston will be mostly snow-free," Tom Niziol, the winter weather expert at The Weather Channel, told NBC News.

    "Areas to the southeast of the Great Lakes, from Cleveland through Syracuse will get heavier snowfall," he added. "Higher elevations from the Adirondacks through the western slopes of the Central Appalachians will also get snow."

    NBC News' Isolde Raftery and A. Pawlowski, as well as The Associated Press and Reuters, contributed to this report.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Chicago strike reveals a broken system

    The Chicago Teachers Union agreed on Tuesday to end its strike, allowing 350,000 students to return to classes on Wednesday and ending a tense standoff. However, the contract still requires ratification by the union's 26,000 members. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.

    Rehema Ellis writes

    NEWS ANALYSIS 

    CHICAGO – Now that the Chicago teachers strike has ended, it is inevitable that people will try to figure out who won and who lost. But more might be gained if we went beyond that.

    What if more time were spent thinking about what students and the country gained from this strike, because it focused attention on the debate over teacher evaluations, the weight that is given to standardized tests and the growing demand for education reform?

    Broken system
    A lot has been said about the need to get rid of bad teachers and the union that protects them. The truth is union leaders will tell you they don’t like bad teachers, either. But the union would argue that it’s not their job to weed out bad teachers. Rather, they say, school leaders should do a better job identifying bad teachers and weeding them out.

    In Chicago, according to a 2009 report by the New Teachers Project, 91 percent of teachers were rated “superior” or “excellent” by school principals. Out of the nearly 30,000 teachers in the city public school system, only a small fraction received an “unsatisfactory” rating. But with student achievement at such a low level, clearly something must be wrong with how the evaluations were being done.

    So this is a good time to consider who’s responsible, in addition to teachers, for what happens in school. I spoke with several teachers on the picket line over the past few days who were concerned that they didn’t have books to start the school year. Why isn’t everyone up in arms about that? 

    Other teachers told me that they were assigned to classrooms outside of their area of expertise. One woman on the picket line told me she had taught English last year but she was trained to be a gym teacher. “I just tried to help out where there was a need,” she said. 

    Biggest losers of Chicago's teachers strike? The students, critic says

    Does anyone really believe she is the best English teacher for Chicago kids?  


    Should those students and that teacher be judged on how well she’s able to prepare them to take a standardized test?

    And don’t think this is an isolated, one-of-a-kind situation.  It’s not.  You will find similar stories in schools all across this nation.

    In Finland, where students far out perform American kids, they don’t take standardized tests at all. Students are measured by how well they do on their classroom work and drills.

    There is a collective national will in Finland to educate all students, and there’s a plan to succeed. Finland starts by hiring the best and the brightest to teach. Finnish teachers are required to have a master’s degree and teachers come from the top 10 percent of college graduates. Compare that to the U.S., where 47 percent of America’s teachers come from the bottom third of their class, according to a 2010 McKinsey report.

    Chicago teachers agree to end strike, classes to resume Wednesday

    Big issue: poverty
    Then there’s the issue of poverty and safety and how it affects teaching and learning.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to court this week seeking an injunction to force an end to the strike claiming, in part, the walkout was a threat to “public health and safety.”

    As many as 87 percent of the public school children come from low-income families, according to figures from Chicago Public Schools.   

    More than 90 percent of them qualify for the free or reduced breakfast and lunch program.  For many, school is where they go, not just for an education, but for food. 

    It’s also where many children go to feel safe in a city stricken by far too much violence.

    The teachers hit the picket line demanding money, a fair evaluation system and job security but, they also wanted more social workers in the schools to help them help children who have been traumatized living in broken homes and broken neighborhoods.

    According to the Chicago Public Schools Employee Roster, there are 382 social workers in the school district that serves 350,000 students.  If my math is correct, that amounts to about one social worker for every 916 students. 

    “That means social workers are doing paper work because they don’t have time to do much of anything else,” said Lorraine Forte of Catalyst Chicago, an independent newsmagazine dedicated to reporting on urban education.  

    Education Nation: Get involved in our 2012 summit, Sept. 23-25

    Not unique
    Chicago’s school problems are not unique.  Poverty, crime and lack of resources affect schools all across the country.

    Experts are quick to point out that none of these issues should be used as an excuse for failing to educate America’s children. Teachers, city leaders, policy makers and education reform advocates all agree that these factors also shouldn’t be left out of the conversation. And in fact, they aren’t – but real solutions need to be found.

    Chicago has presented an opportunity for the nation to take a closer, more thoughtful look at a multitude of reasons why schools and test scores and graduation rates are lacking.  It might also inspire us to look at schools that are working to see if they could be replicated. 

    That’s what we will be doing starting this Sunday when NBC launches its Third Annual Education Nation Summit.  But what’s wrong with America’s schools won’t be fixed if too much time is spent adding up winners and losers from one strike.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Chicago parents ask: How long will strike go on?

    As Chicago teachers enter day two of their massive strike, parents and students are struggling with unexpected days off. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    Kevin Tibbles writes

    CHICAGO – Felicia O’Connor, a young mother with a child in tow, approached the picket line. She asked the picketing teachers if they “know how long this thing will be going on?”


    She leaves for work each day before the sun comes up and said she was unaware of the late night Sunday decision by the Chicago teachers’ union to hit the bricks. 

    Now she is stuck with trying to sort out childcare for her 6- year-old daughter, Michaela. She didn’t get an answer to her question from the teachers.

    “They don’t know anything. I don’t know anything. We’re just out here blank and I have to go to work,” O’Connor said.

    She wound up leaving her daughter in good hands at a local Boys and Girls Club for a few hours while she went out, in vain, in search of a day care. She’s already missed one day of work and hopes her employers will show some understanding.

    “Education is important. If my child is not in school, getting the education she needs, you know what… I don’t know, it is just irritating right now," she said. 

    Parents in Chicago, like Felicia O'Connor seen above, scrambled to find accommodations for their kids after 26,000 teachers and support staff walked out in the nation's third-largest school district. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    Picking sides
    Two days into this work stoppage by the city’s third largest school district, and one finds folks starting to choose sides.

    Chicago teachers strike day two: Talks stuck on evaluations

    “I haven’t had a raise in seven years,” said one middle-aged woman who walked past me as I stood watching teachers march outside the headquarters of the Chicago School Board. “They’re already making more money than I am.”

    “I support the teachers because I support my kids,” said a young mother who stood and watched teachers march for a few minutes. “My daughter was in a class with more than 35 kids last year; this year it is up to 41.”

    About 26,000 teachers and support staff launched a strike on Monday morning – all dressed in bright red t-shirts and carrying placards – demanding a new contract between the teacher’s union and the city’s school district.

    Other parents complained about a lack of school supplies or decent air conditioning for their kids on sweltering Chicago days.

    One can likely assume the longer this thing drags on, the more entrenched each side is going to get. “Day One” of the strike came with a bit of a party atmosphere. By “Day Two” on Tuesday, teachers had already started fingering the mayor and chanting, “Hey Hey Ho Ho Rahm Emanuel has got to go.”

    NBC Chicago's LIVE Blog: Chicago Teachers Strike

    In Chicago, 26,000 teachers and support staff walked out in the nation's third-largest school district after a weekend of unsuccessful eleventh-hour contract negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago's public schools. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.

    Bigger city issues
    Parents also have other concerns that are more a reflection of the city we live in. This has been a particularly deadly year on the streets of Chicago, with the homicide rate up about 30 percent from what it was a year ago. The overwhelming majority of the dead are young minorities. To give kids a "safe haven" during the strike, several churches have opened their doors. 

    “There's so much violence skyrocketing in the city of Chicago. We want our kids to be in a safe place,” said Sergio Ramirez, who runs a “safe haven” in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. 

    Some 80 percent of kids in Chicago’s schools are provided with breakfast and lunch at school because they come from impoverished backgrounds. The job of teaching here, and administering an education system, has many more challenges than just ensuring kids are learning the 3Rs.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

     

     

     

  • Chocolate dipped with sprinkles

    Lester Holt

    NBC News' Clare Kim and Anne Wallace enjoy their ice cream (and the air conditioning) on an sweltering day in New York.

    With the heat index in Manhattan at 100 degrees, I declared an ice cream break this afternoon. A group of us bugged out of the newsroom a little while ago to hit the Mister Softee truck at the corner of 49th Street and 6th Avenue. It not only satisfied our collective craving for something cool, but hopefully also provided a shot to the local economy.

    There was an item in the New York Times reporting that sales of Mister Softee ice cream are actually down this summer. In case you're not familiar with them, Mister Softee trucks are a ubiquitous part of the Manhattan landscape, and operate primarily in the Northeast. However the prolonged heat wave may have gotten the best of them this year. According to the man who manages Mister Softee distribution, it's been too hot this summer for New Yorkers to venture out. Can you believe it, too hot for ice cream? He speculates folks are either holed-up in their air conditioned homes or at the pool. Apparently other ice cream companies are also reporting a slump in sales. On behalf of the Weekend Nightly News staff let me simply say we stand ready to do our part to help the ice cream industry stay afloat (did somebody say ice cream float?).

    The weather, on several fronts is our big story today. First, former Tropical Storm Bonnie has weakened, allowing containment vessels and personnel to start returning to the oil operation in the Gulf. The storm may have fizzled but it still cost them valuable time in their efforts to "kill" the well. Then there is the oppressive heat gripping not just the Northeast, but parts of the South and Midwest. On top of that the Midwest has been clobbered by violent storms that dumped more than seven inches of rain in the Chicago area and triggered severe flooding.

    We've also got a update to a story we first reported here last Saturday about the surge in pets being turned into Louisiana animal shelters by owners who have landed on hard times because of the oil disaster. I think you'll like how this is turning out.

    I hope where ever you are you are staying cool today. Thanks for checking in and we'll see you tonight on NBC Nightly News.