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tv   NBC Nightly News  NBC  March 22, 2011 5:30pm-6:00pm PDT

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on the broadcast tonight, attack on libya, an american jet goes down. gadhafi vows to fight till the end, and we have it all covered tonight. disaster in japan, the heartbreaking story of a family torn apart by the continuing nuclear crisis at the fukushima nuclear plant. we the people, big news tonight for some of the largest cities in america, and what it says about all of us. and "making a difference." a woman on a mission to fight the battle of the bulge, one entire town at a time. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television
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good evening, with cruise missiles and air strikes reigning down on his country, moammar gadhafi has not only survived any of the strikes that might have landed near him, tonight he appeared on libyan tv in front of a crowd of supporters in tripoli, vowing to be victorious in the end. the u.s. lost a jet there today, an older fighter jet, mechanical failure they say, and not a shootdown. both pilots are okay. but it could have ended much differently. and in the beginning stages still of this so far u.s.-led attack, a lot of people are wondering how this ends. we begin tonight with our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, good evening? >> reporter: good evening, brian. for american air crews, this is about as tense as it gets. and it took more than 12 hours to safely recover both of the downed airmen. what's left of the american fighter jet was scattered across the libyan desert. the air force f-15 was on a
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bombing mission when it developed engine trouble. the two americans ejected as the plane went down. two marine harrier jets soon located the downed pilot not far from the wreckage, and he was flown to safety. in the process, marine officials say one of the jets dropped two bombs. another may have strafed the area with gunfire. six civilians were wounded but surprisingly bore no grudge against the americans. >> translator: if they just stopped shooting, we would have escorted the pilots to safety, this man said. we were trying to have a celebration for him. >> reporter: it took another 12 hours to locate and rescue the second crewmember. local farmers greeted him with open arms. >> the first man who greeted him walked up to him and hugged him. these people were desperate to show their support for america. >> reporter: armed rebels took the american to a hotel in benghazi. from there the airmen telephoned american forces who sent a helicopter to pick him up.
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meanwhile, u.s. and coalition forces continued their bombing campaign against libyan anti-aircraft offenses. and in moscow today, the russian defense minister lectured u.s. defense secretary robert gates over libyan reports that u.s. air strikes had killed civilians. gates fired back. >> it's perfectly evident that the vast majority, if not nearly all, of civilian casualties have been inflicted by gadhafi. >> reporter: the u.s. military is also scrambling tonight to meet president obama's deadline to turn over this no fly mission to coalition allies within days instead of bombing american warplanes, will provide overhead surveillance, radio jamming and refuelling. brian? >> all right, jim miklaszewski starting us off from the pentagon. let's go to our team on the ground inside libya, first to tripoli and jim maceda, who had a chance today to go out and inspect some of the bomb damage
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there. jim, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. that's right, we did get a chance to break the routine of one controlled media event after the next. and actually talked to people in the street of our own choosing. and if anyone worried about rebellion, you would never know it. a naval warehouse the size of two football fields turned into a mass of smoldering metal. the six cruise missiles struck late last night and triggered this wave of anti-aircraft fire in the skies over tripoli. but the damage was already done. the roof blown away, the floor cratered. nothing here escaped destruction. the target, these four large multiple rocket launchers, capable of firing surface to air missiles and taking down nato planes. but our libyan government handlers were determined to prove otherwise. >> this is just for school, people training here and everything is empty. why is it broken? why did they destroy this building? >> reporter: the coalition tells
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us this is a legitimate target, but the libyans tell us this will only increase their resolve to fight. choosing a coffee shop at random, we met a construction manager who said he's getting used to the air strikes. his moral is high. when they start to fight against us, they just make the tribe stronger, not weaker, he said. in tripoli's old market, moammar gadhafi rules. on a first name basis, god willing we will win says this resident ali omar. god, moammar, libya, nothing else. the people we ran into who don't protest or shoot weapons told us over and over, let the rebels try to come all the way here to tripoli. and if they do make it, then those who backed him will see the mistake they made. >> jim maceda, thanks. everyone's asking when are the rebels going to start their offensive? they're getting a huge assist from above.
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let's go to the east, the city of benghazi which, as you may know, has become the headquarter city of those anti-gadhafi rebel forces. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is there. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. that hotel where the rebels took the downed pilot was actually very close to here. and witnesses tell us the rebels actually put him up in a suite before he was collected by the americans. now, the rebels themselves are starting to realize that without significant outside help and more discipline and determination and organization, they are not going to make any advances against gadhafi's forces. they are now wanting outside military advisers. either from europe or the united states and say they are willing to hire them professionally from the open market. but the rebels do have what is, perhaps, the most important thing, men who are willing to fight and die. and a new video that emerged today shows just how willing they are to fight.
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it shows that one of gadhafi's tanks during the battle for benghazi over the weekend actually got right to the center of benghazi. the rebels attacked the tank, they were firing on it with pistols and rpg's and if that air strike hadn't begun just a few hours later, this city may very likely have been lost. >> all right. richard engel in the rebel headquarters city of benghazi. richard, thanks. president obama is trying to shore up his support for the mission in the u.s. while pointing out today during his trip to central america that the u.s. is in this because the arab league and others asked for it. more on that angle of this story from our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell in our washington newsroom. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president tried to reassure americans tonight that the u.s. will turn over the lead on libya in the coming days to an allied coalition. today he did speak to both britain's prime minister cameron
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and france's president sarkozy, trying to work around objections from turkey, arab countries to have nato be in charge. instead, nato will support the operation, but it will be led by an ad-hoc coalition. the president also argues the intervention has already saved lives just by stopping the gadhafi forces from advancing on benghazi. and he said it's in america's national interest to prevent a humanitarian disaster, when working as part of a coalition, and when the costs are outweighed by the benefits. that seems to be what you might call an obama doctrine for using force. to deal with all this, chuck todd is reporting that the president will cut his trip short by about two hours tomorrow and return to washington. brian? >> andrea mitchell rounding out our libya coverage. now we turn to our ongoing coverage of the disaster in japan. the aftereffects of the quake, the tsunami, the continuing nuclear crisis. it's hard to believe, but air measurement devices here in the u.s. have detected trace amounts of radiation in the air, minuscule amounts to be sure.
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nothing that could harm anyone. it came ashore first on the west coast where it was picked up in seattle and the canadian coast. now it's been measured in the eastern u.s. in japan, radiation has now been found in the sea water near the nuclear plant as well as milk and vegetables from that region. at the fukushima nuclear plant power cables have been attached to six reactors. but it could take days or even weeks of safety checks before the water cooling systems are back up in operation. meanwhile, the human suffering from the crisis at that plant continues. chief science correspondent robert bazell reports again tonight from tokyo on one family that's been torn apart by this. >> reporter: 190 miles south of the fukushima reactors is a super arena. usually home to hockey, volleyball and tennis. now just home. a refuge for people like june and her son. she wears a mask not to protect against radiation, but from
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catching a cold. the morning after the quake, they fled their home with nothing. >> translator: as i did not expect to be in the situation i'm in now, i did not bring anything with me. >> reporter: the bigger worry, she had to leave her husband behind because he works at the fukushima facility. she's worried, but also proud of his bravery. >> translator: i asked my son to do his best. as his father, who is working at the nuclear plant, is doing his best to deal with the current crisis. >> reporter: about 2,300 people are camped out here. some to escape the dangers of radiation, others who lost their homes in the earthquake and tsunami. there are bins with the items for every day living. toothbrushes, linens, diapers. the kinds of things people don't remember they've left behind until they need them. some in the arena are not here to get help, but to give it. so many volunteers are showing up, they can't take any more, they've reached their limit for the day. this woman says she couldn't watch and do nothing.
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>> translator: i felt the urge to want to help. i felt i was going to go mad if i did not do anything. >> reporter: junko's son has made friends. while she can't call her husband, he calls her every day. >> translator: confirming each other's safety. >> reporter: safe for now, but uncertain of what the future holds. she hopes some day to go home, but fears she won't be able to stay for good. robert bazell, nbc news, japan. and new tonight for our viewers in the west, as officials continue to show great caution, the fda halting import of dairy and produce from that affected region in japan. and now let's bring it back here, at the scene of last year's huge environmental disaster in this country, well, it's back in the news tonight. fresh signs of oil in the waters off louisiana. the first report surfaced along with a sheen on the water over the weekend. now there's more evidence and a bigger response and the search
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for the culprit. nbc's tom costello is back in grand isle, louisiana for us tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: brian, that's the big question, who is responsible for this? the coast guard says it is definitely gulf crude, but is it from the bp spill or is there another well that may have sprung a leak? in an area of the louisiana coast among the hardest hit by the bp oil spill, oil is once again coming ashore. cleanup crews once again trying to contain it. and from the air, evidence the oil isn't limited to this beach. large areas of water are covered in an oily sheen. trevor dean blanchard has 1,400 fishermen working for him and says many are reporting in. >> i had one guy say it looked like there was 40 to 50 miles. another guy told me he thought it was close to 100 miles. >> reporter: 100 miles of oil? >> he said he was in it for ten hours. >> reporter: along the cost, the affected area stretches from caminada boy to port fouchon, 15
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to 30 miles of coastline. for the people of louisiana hoping they had turned the corner after last year's bp oil spill, the site of boom on the beach is really stomach turning. >> sunday morning when i got there at 6:30, i just put my head down and said, you can't be doing this. this can't be happening. >> reporter: grand isle mayor showed us garden isle beach, it's clean and was packed with tourists this weekend. he's worried a new spill could once again be threatening the louisiana coast. the costs guard, the fishermen in the area, the town, they're all conducting independent lab tests to try to figure out if they could find a fingerprint to the oil to figure out where it's coming again. but brian, those tests won't be back until later in the week. back to you, brian. >> tom, i can't believe we're looking at all of this all over again. tom costello, grand isle, louisiana. where this is the last thing they need. when we come back here tonight, new numbers are just out showing america's cities are changing, and what's behind a big move and where so many
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families are headed. and later, "making a difference" by convincing an entire town to lighten up.
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there is more hard evidence tonight that many of america's cities are changing rapidly as a growing number of african-americans are leaving. northern cities have been most affected, as families look for economic opportunities outside the so-called rust belt. but there are other factors at play here as well. our report from nbc's kristen welker. >> hey, guys, we're home. >> reporter: meet the new modern family, the campbells. like many other middle class african-americans, they traded the city for suburbia, seeking a new life for their children. >> i wanted my girls to be able to have the diversity of
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different cultures and a better way of living, and have better schools. >> well, i think the suburbs represents to a lot of people getting that brass ring. >> reporter: william frye, who crunched the latest census numbers, found that over the past decade there's been an exodus of african-americans leaving major cities. >> when we look at the cities that have the highest concentrations of african-americans, more than half of them are showing declines in the populations of those african-americans. >> reporter: the cities with the sharpest drops, traditional black strongholds including detroit, chicago, oakland, cleveland and atlanta. detroit lost a quarter of its entire population. one resident left every 22 minutes. >> a lot of our middle class african-americans have moved out of the city into the suburbs. >> reporter: another finding, blacks are moving from the north to the south, reversing a trend from the early 20th century, when hundreds of thousands of blacks were moving in the
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opposite direction to escape racism and find work. experts say today's south is more welcoming. >> it's a kind of mainstreaming of a group that had been marginalized for so long in our history. >> hey, sweetie. >> reporter: families like the walkers now call the suburbs of atlanta home. they are recent transplants from ann arbor, michigan. >> this is like "leave it to beaver" the black version. >> reporter: and it's not just the young who are moving. experts say the boomers are also finding new roots. >> some of them are older, and they are in some ways bringing part of the north back to the south. >> reporter: black families exploring new choices as color lines blend together in an increasingly diverse america. kristen welker, nbc news, los angeles. >> by the way, there's more information on this story, including the census numbers just out, and what they're telling us. we've put it all on our website tonight, nightly.msnbc.com. up next here tonight, america's former presidents all in one place for a good cause.
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♪ this was the scene at the kennedy center in d.c. last night. all of this nation's former presidents together to honor one of them, george h.w. bush. the tribute was in honor of his years of volunteer efforts, including his points of light institute. in the last few years, of course, he's teamed up with former rival bill clinton to raise money for the victims of the indonesian tsunami and hurricane katrina. the former president described
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how that has brought them together in a very personal way. >> this man, whom i'd always liked and respected, and then run against in a painful campaign in some ways, i literally came to love. and i realized all over again how much energy we waste fighting with each other over things that don't matter. >> the current president could not make last evening's event because he's traveling in south and central america. he sent a videotape greeting. last night was the first time all the former presidents have been together since the obama inauguration. by the way, you'll be able to see the broadcast this coming monday march 28th here on nbc. wall street traders had the chance to look up the balcony and see genuine heroes this afternoon. as recipients of the medal of honor sounded the closing bell. about 30 of the 85 living
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recipients of the medal are here in new york this week, for an annual gathering. they spent some time here with us today. the actual numbers, the dow lost a bit of ground, finishing down just under 18 points at day's end. when we come back here tonight, how about with all this oppressively bad news lately, we take some time to celebrate someone "making a difference" for other people.
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good evening. next at 6:00, we're tracking two different storm systems. rain already moving in. i'll have where are timeline, coming up. also. more than 500 military families returning to the u.s.eirothotem. their emotl na s mingme ne xtnext finally tonight, a lot of you for understandable reasons have been asking that we return to our "making a difference" reports, because with all we've been covering, it wouldn't hurt to feel good about something or someone right about now. message received. and by the way, we feel the same way. tonight a woman who is single handedly trying to get an entire town, her own, to shape up and slim down. not an easy mission. especially where she lives, in what is ranked as, shall we say, the heaviest state in the nation. she's on it, as we hear now from nbc's ron mott in vicksburg, mississippi. >> look at the sweat. we got a little sweat going on. >> reporter: 13-year-old kayla
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o'neill has type ii diabetes and a lot of weight to lose. >> it feels good. i'm making a big change. >> reporter: linda, entrepreneur, grandmother, all around inspirational dynamo, plans to nudge kayla every step of the way toward good health. >> we must wake up. what we have been doing is not working. >> reporter: especially in mississippi, which tips the scales unlike any state in america. >> i want to pass this heavyweight title on to someone else. i don't want it any more. we do not want it for this state. mississippi is going to move forward. >> reporter: two years ago, with her late sister's struggles with obesity moving her to act, she started shape up vicksburg. organizing neighborhood walking clubs, grocery store shopping trips. even opening her lady's only gym every saturday for free. the results are clear, 20,000 pounds gone.
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this is what she envisions for her hometown. two thirds of the people here are overweight or obese, she's motivated thousands of them now off to a running start. people like ebony fisher, whose dropped 50 pounds and counting after what she calls a shocking doctor's visit. no, it wasn't diabetes, it was her weight. >> nobody should weigh 325 pounds. my small frame can't carry that. >> reporter: for one of her gymmates, carrying diabetes isn't the burden it once was. >> it's really in a way one of the best things that ever happened to me. oddly enough. since i wasn't going to prevent it, i didn't choose that. i waited until something bad happened, and i said, now i have motivation. >> reporter: motivation to shape up. >> i will jump up for joy if we're known for our hospitality, our great smiles and our good healthy cooking. >> reporter: lifting the heavyweight of an unwanted reputation. >> you did fantastic. >> reporter: ron mott, nbc news, vicksburg, mississippi. tomorrow night in our "making a difference" report, a woman who's bringing healing to a small community. that's right here tomorrow evening.
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for us, for now, that's our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we sure hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, get ready for more rain. how long this next soaker is expected to last. plus, navigating a rock slide. the struggle for dozens of families trying to reach their homes. and police on the peninsula releasing a sketch in an attempted abduction. and a happy homecoming for military families fleeing japan after the devastation there. the news at 6:00 starts right now.

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