captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. before we get along with the broadcast tonight, instead we are going to begin with late word of a breaking news story. for that we'll go to our los angeles bureao start things off with a report on the very latest details. >> i'm george lewis in los angeles. apple announced steve jobs has died at the age of 56. here's a look back at his career. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: he was the father

of the iphone, the ipod and the apple mac computer. turning electronic gadgets into objects of desire. >> i think if you do something and it turns out pretty good then you should go do something else wonderful. >> reporter: as he was fond of saying, wait, there's more. >> today, apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> reporter: and people did wait -- in long lines for the first iphones in 2007. and then three years later, they lined up for the ipad, changing the way people consume media. >> design plus function equals the right lifestyle and that's what he filled. >> reporter: in 1976, jobs cofounded apple computer and within a few years was worth $100 million. in 1984 he was showing off his new pride and joy, the m macintosh. >> and it has turned out insanely great. >> reporter: jobs was on the losing end of a power struggle

at his company and left apple a year later. he went into computer animation acquiring pixar studios and striking pay dirt with a string of hit movies starting with kwoez t"to story". >> to infinity and beyond. >> reporter: jobs began reinventing the mac, dressing it up in a variety of colors. >> they look so good you kind of want to lick them. >> reporter: concerns about the health of steve jobs began in 2004 when he underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. a year later he spoke about that during a commencement speech at stanford university. >> this is the closest i've been to facing death and i hope it's the closest i get for a few more decades. >> reporter: jobs kept reporters at bay saying his health was nobody's business. >> guys, done. >> reporter: jobs was losing weight, something revealed in photos taken in 2007 and 2008. in april 2009 he underwent a

liver transplant. five months later, back on the job at apple, he expressed his gratitu gratitude. >> i now have the liver of a mid 20s person who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs. i wouldn't be here without such generosity. >> reporter: on august 24 of this year, he stepped down as apple ceo. back in 2005 he offered this bit of advice to the stanford university grads. >> your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. >> reporter: steve jobs, a man whose own inner voice led him to create some of the most visionary products of the internet era. jobs leaves behind a wife and four children. george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. steve jobs is being mourned

tonight in california where my colleague janet shamlian joins us now. janet? >> reporter: george, here at the head quarters of apple, the birthplace of so much of the technology that steve jobs created and that the world uses, the campus is in mourning. you can see the flags behind me flying at half staff. and online at apple.com, simply a picture of steve jobs and the dates of his birth and death. apple has just released a statement that says, we are deeply saddened to announce that steve jobs passed away today. steve's brilliance, passion and energy for the source of countless innovations that improve all of our lives. the world is immeasurably better because of steve. it is a statement millions of his users, his fans all over the world would agree with. george? >> thank you, janet. once again, steve jobs, the man who gave the world the macintosh computer, the ipod, the iphone and the ipad dead at 56.

now back to brian williams. we begin tonight with what has become by any measure a pretty massive protest movement. while it goes by the official name occupy wall street it has spread steadily and far beyond wall street. it could well turn out to be the protest of this current era. the lyric from 45 years ago in the buffalo springfield song "for what it's worth" could also describe this current movement right now. once again, there is something happening here. what it is ain't exactly clear but it encompasses a lot of things. anger, frustration, disenfranchisement, income disparity, unaccountability and general upheaval and dissatisfaction. again today, thousands took to the streets of the city. they are in the streets of other cities as well. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's mara schiavocampo in lower manhattan. mara, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. today the demonstrators got a boost of manpower joined by thousands of new protesters including many from labor unions. [ chanting ]

>> reporter: for the 19th day in a row, crowds took to the streets of new york. >> this is the beginning of the people's revolution. >> reporter: thousands marching through downtown new york, the largest crowd yet and more varied in age and background. >> i came by here on day three and saw this and of course i joined. >> reporter: the group has not yet come together on what their message is. >> we got sold out! >> reporter: union leaders who had thrown their support behind the protesters say they understand. >> they have all got different kinds of issues. there are students who can't get a job. there are industrial workers whose factories have been moved to china who can't get a job. there are people who lost their homes and can't find a place to live. people are saying, like that movie, hell, no, i'm not taking this anymore. >> reporter: today's union backing drew out people like leeann nakitovich, a single mother from new york. >> i work more than ever in order just to live and keep the basics up.

i don't see a future really. i don't know how i'm going to retire. >> reporter: protests popped up all over the country. in l.a., even soggy weather couldn't keep people away. >> you can't rain out an idea. >> reporter: in chicago, anger at a sign in the windows of the chicago board of trade, we are the 1%, mocking the protesters' call that they are the 99%, the vast majority of ordinary americans who have been pummelled by the recession. the movement has drawn the attention of those in washington. >> they blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess and they are dissatisfied with the policy response here in washington. at some level, i can't blame them. >> reporter: experts say though still largely undefined, the movement has a lot of potential. >> just as a show of support, to have thousands of people out on the streets agreeing with the fundamental demand at issue that the protesters are raising, i think, means they have already won.

>> reporter: despite a heavy police presence, today's march was orderly and there were few arrests. a departure from last weekend when 700 were taken into custody in a single day. brian? >> mara schiavocampo starting us off in lower manhattan tonight. thanks. there is a lot of this going around. in greece today, just about the entire country was shut down by protests over their ongoing debt crisis. protesters clashed with police as a 24-hour general strike closed all government operations including schools, mass transit, courts, air traffic control, even hospitals. they are protesting tax increases, pay cuts aimed at lowering greece's budget deficit which is a condition for any more international bailout money, by the way. without it, greece will default on its debt. a possibility that has hit the american stock market hard in recent months. in this country there is fresh and stark evidence tonight about another divide. the gap between the all volunteer military that fights

this nation's wars and the civilians who don't. after ten years of war in iraq and afghanistan, a study out from the pugh research center asks veterans how they feel about their sacrifice. we get more from our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: it's another startling sign that ten years and two wars have taken a tremendous toll on america's servicemen and women. in the survey conducted by the pugh research center, only 34% of combat veterans said the wars in iraq and afghanistan were worth fighting. nearly just as many, an alarming 33%, said the wars were not worth it. the survey dug deeper into the personal impact of the wars. the terrible hardships suffered by the troops and their families. nearly half said the wars put a strain on their lives at home. nearly half said they frequently

feel irritable or angry. 37% said they suffer post traumatic stress. the economy also weighs heavily on their minds. 28% said they enlisted in part because they couldn't find a job in the public sector. two months ago, the economy was the top concern when joint chiefs chairman mike mullen visited soldiers and marines in afghanistan. instead of asking about the war, they were more worried about budget cuts and losing their jobs. >> we're going to have to tighten our belts. we're going to have to prioritize. we're going to have to make some hard decisions. >> reporter: there is also a dramatic disconnect between american service members and the rest of the country. 8 out of 10 of the veterans believe the american public has no idea of the problems they face in the service. and only 25% of civilians surveyed said they even pay any attention to the wars. after ten years of war, senior military officials here are not surprised by the negative responses in this survey and point out that nearly 90% of the veterans are still proud of their military service. 82% would still recommend that

others enlist. brian? >> interesting numbers. jim miklaszewski from the pentagon. jim, thanks. one piece of political news just out tonight. as soon as chris christie said he was not running for president at that news conference yesterday, questions swung around to whether sarah palin would try to get in and try for the gop nomination, even at this late stage. those questions lasted exactly one day. tonight she is saying in a radio interview she will not get into the race. in los angeles, another dramatic day in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. today, the jury and television viewers heard more from michael jackson himself from autd odio recordings before his death. nbc's jeff rossen is outside the courthouse in downtown l.a., jeff, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. that tape is chilling when you hear it. prosecutors played part of it in court and it really shocked the entire courtroom including jackson's own family sitting right there in the first rows.

they played the full recording today and as you are about to hear, michael jackson sounds drugged. he's slurring his words. he has a deep voice and he had plenty to say about children and his own pain as a child. dr. conrad murray sat in court today listening to the recording he made of his star patient, michael jackson. >> i didn't have a childhood. i had no childhood. i feel their pain. i feel their hurt. ♪ >> reporter: jackson was talking about his upcoming tour and seems focused on raising money for a children's hospital. >> my performance will be up there helping my children and always be my dream. i love them. >> reporter: dr. conrad murray recorded the pop star. it was just six weeks before jackson's death. prosecutors say even with jackson in that conviction, dr. murray pumped him with more drugs and a deadly dose of propofol.

>> it really humanized michael jackson, made the jury see him as a real person and also demonstrates that dr. murray was on notice that michael jackson needed help. >> you okay? >> i am asleep. >> reporter: there is another audio tape that could make news this week -- this one of dr. conrad murray himself. prosecutors plan to play for the jury his police interrogation in the days after michael jackson's death. >> jeff rossen in los angeles. jeff, thanks. and we're back with more right after this. lace. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil

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>> reporter: when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, rebecca friedman got an additional scary piece of news. >> it was her-2 positive which i had certainly not heard of before. >> reporter: but she soon learned that her-2 cancers have a certain protein on their cells which can make them more aggressive. she was especially concerned because her daughter hannah was just a baby. >> good job. >> she was too little to really understand what was going on. but she was very supportive of me in her own way. >> reporter: a drug called herceptin targets the her-2 protein and can be very effective. but the way it is given with a chemotherapy agent called adriamycin increases the risk of heart failure. the study out today in which friedman volunteers showed if doctors use it with a different theme chemotherapy, carboplatin, the risk of heart failure drops by five fold while overall heart function improves. >> we can do away with one major

problem the herceptin drug has when used with adriamycin which is increased heart toxicity. >> reporter: there is a drawback. women getting the new combination had slightly more cancer recurrences. the increase is not statistically significant, but it is enough for many doctors to say they will not immediately change the drugs they give to all patients. what does it mean for you in your practice? >> in our everyday practice it really means that we have another option without increasing the risk for some of these very serious long-term complications. >> all right. this is exciting. >> reporter: experts agree more options are needed for the 200,000 women a year like rebecca friedman diagnosed with breast cancer. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, the labor threat that they are saying could end a television institution. nd a television institution. ugh, my feet are killin' me. well, we're here to get you custom orthotic inserts.

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discussions under way surrounding one of the longest running shows on tv. the bottom line here is "the simpsons" may have to come to an end because of a contract dispute. 20th century fox television says it can't produce any future seasons under the current financial model. that means pay cuts for the show's six main voice actors, the producers reportedly want to cut their multi-million dollar salaries in half. we have a couple of departures to note tonight, all happen to be members of the greatest generation. let's begin with a number. this broadcast was seen by 7.649 million viewers last night, or so we think, give or take at least according to the only measurement we have -- the nielsen ratings. the brain child of a.c. nielsen who has died at the age of 92. he was a world war ii vet from winetka. he embraced computers early on, built a company to measure the tv audience minute by minute and going back to 1950 it's still the only game in town. the reverend fred

shuttlesworth has died. as the associated press put it today, he was, quote, bombed, beaten and arrested in the fight for civil rights. dr. king called him a courageous freedom fighter. he was a truck driver who studied religion in night school before becoming pastor of bethel baptist in birmingham. he was in the fight every day until his death. reverend fred shuttlesworth was 89. and kenneth dollberg has died. while his name became associated with water gate as a fund-raiser for president nixon, his early achievement came in world war ii. he was an ace who shot down four enemy planes in one single day. many more aside from that. he was shot down three times himself during the war and was a p.o.w. he thrived in business as the manufacturer of miracle ear hearing aids. kenneth dollberg was 94 years old. and an unfriendly business development for friendly's ice cream chain.

they are filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. they were caught by rising food prices just when fewer people can afford to eat out. they employ 10,000 people in over 400 restaurants, mostly here in the east. they will stay open while they financially restructure. up next here tonight, a reunion of world war ii vets unlike any other. please stay with us for that. vets unlike any other. please stay with us for that. the seal i get with the super poligrip free keeps the seeds from getting up underneath. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. a lot of things going on in my life and the last thing i want to be thinking about is my dentures. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. it's bring your happiness to work day. campbell's microwavable soups. in three minutes -- the deliciousness that brings a smile to any monday. campbell's -- it's amazing what soup can do.

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as we all say good-bye to as we all say good-bye to members of the greatest generation and, remember, we lose 1,200 of them every day, it's always a good time to honor their titanic accomplishments, especially during the war and including what became the first real integration of the u.s. armed forces. as we learn tonight it might never have happened except for one big snowstorm. our story tonight from nbc's george lewis. >> reporter: there's never been of world war two vets quite like this one. black veterans and their white counterparts reliving an incident that brought them together as brothers in arms. >> i feel very privileged that it snowed on our field. >> reporter: the black vets were members of the legendary tuskegee airmen. >> i don't recognize the markings. he's colored. >> reporter: fighter pilots whose heroism is the subject of the movie "red tape" coming

out next january. >> to the last man, we fight! >> we fight! >> we fight! >> reporter: first, they had to fight washington to get into the war and prove themselves equal to or better than the white flyers. tuskegee airmen flew p-51 mustang fighter planes with their tails painted a distinctive red. the bomber crews that they escorted knew that when they saw the red tails they were well protected. the flyers of the 485th bomb group had never met any of the tuskegee airmen until a heavy snowstorm forced them to make an emergency landing at the red tail field in ramatelli, italy, where they remained for five days. >> to have them on our base, it made a coming together that i guess was incidental, accidental and eventful. >> reporter: they soon got beyond racial stereotypes. >> we started talking about flying.

flying became the common ground. >> you can be judged based upon your abilities rather than the color of your skin. >> reporter: in that snowy, wartime winter, a group of black men and a group of white men in a segregated military overcame their differences. >> there is such a significant impact on me personally and the other people that i have talked to. >> reporter: and formed a bond that has endured for all these years. george lewis, nbc news, san diego. how about that? that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

right now at 6:00, we're following two major developing stories. you see the video here. an intense manhunt in the south bay continues after a mass shooting. police are searching for the shooter street by street, house by house. >> but first, sad news in the tech world, especially for apple fans. steve jobs has died. good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >> a