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increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking ) when business travel leaves you drained, re-charge with comfort suites. spacious rooms, free hi-speed internet, and free hot breakfast. comfort suites. power up. now stay two separate times with comfort suites... or any choice hotel and earn a free night. book at choicehotels.com. i'm tamron hall right now on msnbc news live. new details about allegations pope benedict did nothing to punish a pedophile priest in the '90s. how will this impact the

catholic church and this pope? >> i i believe somebody should be punished for this. his innocence was stole frighten him, his childhood. with health care signed, sealed and delivered, president obama wants to help families who are about to lose their homes. plus it is reunion time almost two years after john mccain plucked her from obscurity in alaska, sarah palin is returning the favor lending her star power to the fight to keep his senate seat. and their 15 minutes of fame not over by the least. why? we will all be watching much more of the white house party crashers. we want to bring you breaking news in the last hour. president obama speaking about the nuclear arms reduction treaty to russia. it sends a signal the world's nuclear powers intend to lend global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons. those are the president's word.

1,550 warheads each. in the white house briefing room, we just saw it there. president obama said by upholding commitments to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, u.s. and russia are strengthening global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure other countries meet their own responsibilities. again, the president speaking a short time ago. we also heard from secretary of state hillary clinton in that big briefing from both of those leaders. we'll have much more on this announcement coming up just a little bit later. again, the president making the big announcement he had spoken with russian president medvedev and a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to russia sends a big signal to the world's nuclear powers. we're following the other story, new disturbing questions surrounding how much pope benedict new about cases of sex abuse involving priests when he was in a position to do something about it. this morning's new york times reports back in 1980 when the pope was archbishop of munich,

he received a memo a german priest undergoing therapy for pedophilia would be working again with children. the future pope himself had approved that priest's psychiatric treatment. yesterday the "times" revealed in 1998, top vatican officials including then cardinal ratzinger did not defrock a wisconsin priest who admitted to molesting as many as 200 deaf boys. nbc live from the london bureau. jim, let's start off with the vatican's response to these allegations. >> hi, tamron. not surprisingly the vatican is defending the pope's actions. in a full page editorial in the vatican's own newspaper in rome, it quite quickly and directly responded to the "new york times" story, the one you referred to, that suggests benedict turned a blind eye to child sex abuse charges in wisconsin. the vatican calling it an evident and ig noble intent to

hurt benedict and his closest advisers at any cost. meanwhile the archdiocese in munich, referring to the german story of potentially pedophilia is talking tough. they issued a statement saying the latest "new york times" article about the german priest offers nothing new in the case and suggested that archbishop ratzinger or anyone who does suggest archbishop ratzinger was reinstating the accused pedophile priest is simply and purely speculation. that's a quote. reaction from one of reverend murphy's victims, however, now 61 years of age was very different. he spoke yesterday at a press conference in milwaukee. he was one of the 200 deaf victims. he seemed to sum up in many ways what critics are increasingly saying, tamron, the pope knew about this. he was, in fact, charged. he handled the sexual abuse cases in the vatican. he should be accountable and he

did nothing. it's a charge we're hearing increasingly now, not only in america but also in his own home of munich. back to you. >> thank you, jim. democratic leaders are celebrating today. this morning house speaker nancy pelosi announced the health care fix it bill is ready for the president to sign into law. the house passed the bill last night. today the speaker gave specific credit to her caucus. >> what happens now is the result of the work of many people. you've heard me sing the praises of our leadership over and over again. and of course the president of the united states. but the victory that we have is largely attributed to our newest members of congress. >> mark whittaker, nbc news washington bureau chief. mark, it is a victory but one the president and leaders in the democratic party know they still have to sell, hence, the reason he was in iowa. what can we expect now from the president and his pitch to america? >> tamron, i think what you're actually going to see from the

white house in the next few days is an attempt to turn the page and focus on other issues. they are relieved they finally have this vote behind them. they want to focus on economic issues at home, foreclosure crisis, financial regulation, which i think will be the next big issue on the president's agenda and of course foreign policy where today we saw the announcement of an agreement on nuclear weapons, the president going to prague. again, i think they want to show there are other things on his plate and they are ready to move on from health care. >> another thing, at least one on the list, remains midterm elections, the president bringing this up knowing when it comes time to vote even though he plans to work on issues you outlined, folks will be thinking about health care. listen to what he said. >> my attitude is go for it. if they want to have that fight, we can have it. because i don't believe the american people will put the

insurance industry back in the driver's seat. we've already been there. we're not going back. this country is moving forward. >> mark, what are we to make of the president's go for it line. >> reporter: if there were martial art into into the midterm elections, i think it would be jujitsu. what the white house and the president will do is wait to see how aggressive republicans are in taking on this health care bill. i think there is a political risk, frankly, for republicans right now in focusing first of all too much on health care when i think a lot of americans want the focus to be on jobs and on continuing to paint, perhaps, what democrats would see as a caricature picture of the health care bill. republicans seem to suggest they are going it make that the main issue, the president will wait to see what they say and then turn around as he suggested at his speech and say, really, after all of this.

look at the good provisions in the bill. do the republicans really want to take that away from the american people. >> mark, thank you very much. greatly appreciate it. lawmakers are considering holding hearings to investigate threats against democratic and republican lawmakers following the controversial health care reform vote. meanwhile the new york district office of congressman anthony weiner remains closed today this after his office in queens new york received an envelope with white powder and threatening vote complaining about his yes vote. the powder turned out to be harmless. nine staffers were isolated and decontaminated. jean schmidt from ohio released a threatening e-mail she released. listen to is. >> you and boehner [ bleep ], mitch mcconnell, all you racist republicans, why don't you change your name to racist. nbc white house correspondent, that's an awful call, pete.

the law enforcement have to separate ugly, mean calls to something that could be a more serious threat of violence. >> reporter: precisely, what the fbi says is the actual number of serious death threats here is quite small. the view on the hill among law enforcement that this is probably going to dissipate as members of congress go back to their districts for two weeks. there have been a few more incidents, republicans in a county republican office near the charlottesville, virginia, area say bricks were thrown through their office. but this does seem to be dying down. the powder, as you say in congressman wiener's office turns out to be negative. many tea party groups around the country have been issuing statements saying they condemn the violence. no one should jump to conclusions it's their members trying to do this. and the republicans yesterday put out a statement there, the republican leader in the house john boehner condemning the violence as well. >> we ought to be respectful of

each other. i have said countless times there's a way to disagree without being disagreeable. >> reporter: this has been a bit of a partisan issue because the republicans say they think it's wrong to try to turn this into a partisan issue. they say they have also been the victims of some of these attacks. not only the telephone message to the congresswoman but a shot fired into the air that hit a window at the office of representative eric cantor of virginia. although, the richmond police department said they doubt the shot was directed at his office. no one can be certain, tamron. >> all right, pete. thank you very much. arizona senator john mccain is facing his toughes re-election battle over and pulling out, you might say, all the stops, including sarah palin. we'll join senator mccain later today in tucson. it's the first time they campaigned together since the 2008 election. joining me live to talk about it andy barr, reporter for

politico. interesting last time people noted last time they shared a speech was john mccain conceding and sarah palin was not allowed to giveler big speech. what will the atmosphere be like today where she is the superstar. >> reporter: that's right. they are going back to the hotel. she's holding a high-dollar fund-raiser at the biltmore. they are going to phoenix, the same high school, where president obama was at to pitch some of his housing legislation. the audience today is going to be similar to what we saw on the campaign. even though john mccain is a fairly big draw, everyone will be out to see palin. they are excited about her. this cuts to the core of j.d. hayworth audience. the same crowd that likes him loves palin. this undercuts. >> what about the relationship?

we know sharp words from the campaign. there seemed to be no love lost from the two sides. john mccain always stood by her but it seems like an aukward story line. >> it's different between staffers and mccain and palin. those two continue to say they are close. mccain is the one person in the republican party sarah palin feels like she owes anything to. she disrnt have any friends in d.c., except john mccain. she never says a negative word about john mccain. >> we'll be excited to see what happens there today. thank you. >> thanks. >> breaking news from kentucky, at least 11 people dead after a crash involving a tractor-trailer and a van, it happened 5:30 local time half hour north of bowling green. stretch of 65 shut down in both directions. we'll bring you the latest details on this story. a very bad accident there. investigators will try to determine what caused a fire at

an historic north carolina courthouse. this morning firefighters are still putting out hot spots. a sex tape that formerly shows john edwards and his mistress rielle hunter. they are held in a vault outside the courthouse. florida police in about an hour plan to release new details in the murder case of this seven-year-old little girl. we've been following this and nbc's kerry sanders will join me live. within the hour we expect the results of iraq's most recent election. the latest. ann curry joins us with an emotional story of a small town that pulls together to help a family in need. a nice story this friday. it's all next. , it's almost tee. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze,

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welcome back. we're following breaking news out of chile where another earthquake has been reported. this one preliminarily 6.2 magnitude. that's the preliminary magnitude we're getting. this happened in chile. the 6.2 preliminary magnitude of this quake in ata krchlataca ma. in 45 minutes we're expecting authorities in florida to announce a major development in the sommer thompson investigation.

she was abducted on the way home from school. her body was found in a landfill in georgia. kerry sanders covering the story from our miami bureau. i'm curious. does this have something to do with the person of interest authorities have had for several weeks now. >> reporter: indeed, that person who has been the person of interest, his name is gerald harrell, he's going to be the one charged. we believe based on the florida times union, he's already been charged with her murder. but the jail is not saying what charges other than the fact he's already in jail on other charges. he was picked up by federal authorities and charged with trafficking with internet child pornography, expedited back to clay county. he's held there in jail. if the authorities charge him with murder, and we believe they

have, they didn't haveing to too far to find him. what led them to the conclusion to actually charge him with murder, we'll find out at the news conference in jacksonville. this has been a terrifying ordeal for families in the area, other relatives. quite frankly, nobody was in custody and the fear was there was somebody else out there who might attack again. >> for background on the person of interest, his family lived near where the girl disappeared. >> right around the corner. >> thank you very much. we'll see what authorities make official here shortly. thank you. gambling on march madness. you will not believe how much money people are betting on this year's ncaa tournament. i should say illegally betting. plus why sarah palin and tea partiers are teaming up to target the town of searchlight, nevada.

they are worried. we'll tell you what they are up to. more trouble for the embattled prime minister of italy. the latest corruption allegations ahead. this is msnbc. if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix. protection that helps save lives. people with stomach ulcers or other conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, may affect how plavix works. tell your doctor all the medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops,

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welcome back. take a look at this. tens of house of people of miami crowded the streets to send a message. gloria estefan led the protest, mothers in white for dissidents jailed. they marched through the streets of havana. hundreds of government supporters surrounded the women as they made their way through the city. in about a half hour we're expecting the results from iraq's recent election. some 12 million voters turned out for the nationwide election on november -- march 7.

right now unexpectedly tight race between nuri al maliki and the former interim prime minister. richard engel, nbc correspondent in the studio with me today. always good to have you in here with us. >> reporter: a pleasure. >> already this result is disputed even though it's not the final result. >> what we've had so far are partial results. 95% of results have been put out on the stable. they show nuri al maliki and former prime minister allawi are dead even. both sides claiming victory. both sides say they won. both control newspapers and television stations or have favorable television stations. each of their media mouth pieces are also claiming victory. there's quite a bit of tension on the streets. for the last 48 hours or so we've been seeing people in baghdad. i just got off the phone in

baghdad now stocking up on food, some shops closing early. the interior minister who himself is a candidate, had asked for these results not to be announced today because of fears they could be disputed and lead to increased tension on the streets. >> could lead to extreme violence. >> not extreme but could be violent. this is a very volatile period for iraq. if there is this political deadlock, that leads to a political vacuum. no one is in charge. that ultimately is very bad news for american troops, because the americans need a stable, strong government in place soon so that the withdrawal timetable with continue on schedule. >> we know the situation now with the current prime minister. but if the results case allawi is the winner, does it change anything? >> it changes a lot. it's a parliamentary system. four main players, a kurdish

bloc, allawi's bloc and an islamist bloc. this will determine which is in the position. after that it will be up to all the parties to form a gloch government. the leader of this bloc, the winner, so to speak, gets the first opportunity to form a government. so if maliki even wins by one vote, then he gets the first chance to form a government. if he fails, then allawi will get a chance to form a government. it still could take several months for this to happen. winning this, giving you -- by even a one-vote advantage, you get the first crack at form ag government, therefore the momentum in your direction. >> expecting results a half hour. thank you very much, richard. i know we'll see you again. >> my pleasure. new plans from the white

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line near or north of baltimore. it happened off of route 895. you see officials there. but that train derailment happened north of baltimore. it's a cargo csx cargo train. we're waiting to hear on any possible injuries. hopefully everyone and the folks working on the train are okay. president obama is pivoting from health care reform tackling the foreclosure crisis. the white house is expected to unveil a new plan today to help unemployed homeowners and millions of others who owe more on their homes than those homes are worth. mike viqueira at the white house. we know the president and white house already had a plan it launched this year but one that has not been successful so far. >> hasn't worked out. you're absolutely right. in the face of still high unemployment and still sinking rate of the value of many people's homes around the country particularly in hard hit areas, for example, las vegas, southern california, phoenix area where they have seen home

prices plummet. what is the administration doing, coming out and offering more or less incentives for lenders to help people under water with mortgage or out of a job, to help them incentivize writing down mortgages until people figure a way out u for those unemployment, help them lower mortgage, lower monthly payment or eliminate their monthly payment for a period of three to six months. for those under water in their homes, those making payments or struggling, but the value of their home is lower than the mortgage on the house. offering incentives to get together with borrowers to write that down. all comes out of t.a.r.p. money, between $14 and $35 billion coming out of t.a.r.p. to help pay for this program. they consider it only temporary until the economy and home prices are out of the woods and have recovered somewhat. you're right.

they had a lar program last year. it was poorly subscribed. not a lot of people participated in it. they hope it's different this time tamron. >> what fuels the hope? what would make the difference this time around? the last program only 170,000 borrowers sought out that help out of the 3 to 4 million people the president wanted to aid. >> this is providing more incentive for lenners to sit down with those homeowners under water or unemployed to write down the value of those mortgages or help people, if you're unemployed, for example, keep the payments coming by reducing those payments or even eliminating those payments for three to six months until you either get a new job or you move out of your house or able to sell your house, whatever. they are careful to say, our administration officials, that this is not for everybody. this is not for people in houses they couldn't afford to begin w the 12 to 14 million foreclosures expected over the next three years, they are hope to trim that number by 3 to 4

million with this program, tamron. >> all right, mike. thank you remuch. new drama in a courtroom in italy where silvio berlusconi's trial resumed after a month. other investigations, sex scandal and italy's lingering economic crisis berlusconi faces a significant test in elections this weekend. joining us from london italian "politico" analyst that just finished a documentary on berlusconi. thank you for joining me. >> reporter: hello, hi. any documentary on berlusconi would be fascinating, his life to even being injured in that attack. but he's facing a serious ballots here. what are we expecting to see this weekend from him, at least his political future? >> reporter: well, this weekend we have the regional election in italy, which is not as important as the political election for the parliament. but what is happening, berlusconi is under attack from

pretty much all courts. the media, trying to censor the media, currently we do not have current affairs program was berlusconi and his party decided no -- has to be held before the election. berlusconi also under investigation for a series of scandals, initially the stanls started last summer, recently for the media. he has been the conversation, influencing news editors and very much influencing the media circuit in italy. have you to remember berlusconi owns half of the medias in italy as well as controlling politically the public broadcasters. recently, today, today's news is that the high court, berlusconi is tried for bribes. that is a scandal regards mills.

the high court decided mills, the british lawyer, is guilty, though decided he cannot be sentenced because it was too long time. it happened ten years ago. berlusconi is going to be tried in a court. what happened today, the defendants, his lawyer has asked for 73 defendants to come to court and the judge said, no, i'm going to allow you to have only 12. that means probably the trial will happen and berlusconi will turn up in court. >> marco, is he popular with the people? could he be re-elected? >> well, berlusconi is very popular. with this documentary called berlusconi show, most of the people we interviewed said we like berlusconi. he likes girls. he's a funny girl. part italian, a good proportion of italian do like berlusconi. we'll have to see where all the scandal will come bo affect. we might see this in the regional election or this coming weekend. >> very interesting man, very interesting story.

thank you, marco, greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. this morning students at florida national university are being urged to keep their doors locked after a football player was taking back our neighborhoods to death there last night. 22-year-old running back was found fatally wounded on campus. police trying to find the killer. witnesses saw two men arguing outside the rec center at 9:00 at night and one stabbed the other. an attorney for the woman who has accused ben roethlisberger for sexual assault says his client has not stopped cooperating with police. a local station said she declined to meet with them since the vault. she claims he reportedly attacked her in a night clab. a friend said roethlisberger entourage blocked the entrance during the alleged incident. more sordid details involving sandra bullock's jesse james. he's the talk of the tabloids and gossip magazines.

the couple, in fact, made the cover of us weekly. courtney hazlett is out but getting our scoop from us weekly erika sutter. marital monster? >> very clear jesse james is leading a double wife. he was the supporting husband to sandra bullock but in reality he carried on several affairs. >> are these confirmed at this point? what kind of proof are we offering? up to four, gloria allred describing a woman described as a beautiful model and businesswoman. >> we know we're in trouble when she steps up for a mistress, just ask tiger. >> something he's done many times over. he put an ad for hot biker chick with big books he wanted to model for his shop west coast bikers. he wanted to meet them and start

a relationship. >> is this like tiger, the women have e-mails, tkt messages and proof. >> they do. >> how does this affect sandra bullock's career? she's worked so hard, at the top of her game. how does this affect her in hollywood? is she the victim? >> yes. she's the woman that doesn't want to play the victim. she's been in exclusion since the news brochlt itke. it's hard for her. >> happy news, beyonce pregnant? is this true? >> people have said she is pregnant. it's going to be one of those things, we're going to have to watch the bump, watch it grow. they are very in love. >> they are married. >> had she said anything in the past about wanting children? is she on tour? >> she's wrapping up a world

tour. she has said she loves kids. she has a neff ux, seen her sister. it is something she wants. >> it's hard because just confirmed her father fathered a child before her mom. >> it's a weird time for the family but not going to include her and jay-z to go on to have a family. >> last but not least, salahis, white house party crashers, they say they were invited. >> part of the housewives of d.c., a huge star making show for bravo. they will take center stage. they are -- the alleged gate crashing scenario put them in the forefront. >> is it all about their lifestyle? >> there will be other housewives. no power brokers, you won't see senator's wives, congressmen's wives but you'll see people part of the hip d.c. scene and they will take center stage. >> how do they juggle this.

a lot of their fame is infamy right now. >> it is. everyone will be watching to see just what this couple is about. we're hoping to see behind the scenes of how they got into the white house. >> there may be tape. >> we hope so. >> you're always fantastic. thank you for filling in for courtney. the cover of "us weekly" has sandra bullock and details. for the latest scoop logon to scoop.msnbc.com. there are some things considered news in this world. you can stay for this ericka. there are things that make us say -- >> no way! >> a dog attack, a bull dauk with a bone to pick with a police car. the officer had to stop to file a report when he felt his car shaking. turns out you see the dog determined to remove the front bumper from the vehicle. you don't give my owner a ticket, that's what the dog was saying. he apparently started out

chomping on the police car. this is bad. police used pepper spray and a taser but the dog wouldn't let up. other dogs even got in on the action. he called in his posse. animal staffers finally showed up. they captured the dog. they cited the owner of the nearby welding shop where the dogs escaped. that is unreal. that is funny. if you're betting on the ncaa tournament, you are in good company. according to estimates, more than $7 billion will be gambled illegally worldwide on march madness games. officials in washington and idaho threatened legal action against unlawful betting. that apparently has not stopped a lot of people. if you're on the -- if you're a betting man or woman, the website wallet pop.com suggests keeping wages small and winnings to yourself. specifically with the upsets so far that we've seen in the tournament and there have been a lot of upsets. good stuff. coming up, "dateline nbc's" ann

curry has the inspiring story of a smalltown family helped by a circle of friends and neighbors. sarah palin headed to nevada this weekend. she's not going to vegas, though. tell you why the former governor of alaska has harry reid on her mind. this is msnbc, the place for politics. it's a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up... and help this one go down. v8. what's your number? to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm.

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welcome back. three-time nba all-star point guard gilbert arenas. the judge will decide jail time or probation. he pleaded guilty to bringing four unloaded guns to his team's locker room as part of what he called a misguided prank on his teammates. in central texas, after chasing the suspect 14 miles at speeds topping 100 miles, they finally caught him. he was a 12-year-old boy. seems the boy was upset with his father and wanted to go live

with his mom. he's now being held in a juvenile detention center. also in texas police busted an elaborate indoor marijuana growing operation in austin. look at that. more than 1400 high-grade marijuana plants seized with more than 200 pounds of loose pot. authorities estimate it had a street value of $7 million. two people were arrested. i don't know if that's like news out of texas block, i'm from there, trying to disparage my state or what. anyway, stay with us, coming up, voters in california have a decision to make this november, should the state legalize marijuana for recreational use. a debate on both sides 2:00 eastern time on msnbc. a little more than three hours, john mccain and sarah palin will team up once again for a campaign rally in tucson, arizona. palin is supporting senator mccain as he faces the toughest re-election battle of his senate career.

palin heads to nevada. tea party members invited her to attend a rally in searchlight, the hometown of majority leader harry reid. nbc's lee cowan is there and spoke with tea party organizers about what they hope is a big event. >> reporter: searchlight, nevada, doesn't even have a stoplight. it's picturesque but desolate area. but valuable because it's home to senate majority leader harry reid. >> he's done a lot of things americans are upset about. why not start in his backyard. >> reporter: diane kendall helped organize searchlight area, featured speaker sarah palin, hoping to bring people

out. >> is there anger? >> yes. >> reporter: he's one of them, drove all the way from montana in his t-bird. >> anything specific to the health care that was passed. >> nothing you can print. >> searchlight's rv lots are full and the town's only motel has been booked for weeks. house boats on the nearby lake are rented out as rooms. still, those who consider reid a neighbor, even a distant neighbor, even if they disagree with politics think having the tea party came co-to his hometown is impolite. >> why in the world do they want to come here? they don't know him. >> the great-grandson of the man who founded searchlight agrees. >> i'm not really gleeful that somebody is going to come here specifically to knock on my friend. >> reporter: all politics may be local. but this weekend, conservative anger has a very specific

hometown address. lee cowan, nbc news, certain searchlight, nevada. more talk about sarah palin when she campaigns with john mccain later. more video about this dog attacking a news cruiser. one tweet saying, in a way, it's sad they don't have funding for cruisers that are stronger. the dog is awesome. >> as long as you're inside the vehicle. let us know what you think about anything, including the tea party rally in searchlight over the weekend. also mccain and palin teaming up later today. love to pick out a tweet of the day from you. washington's famous cherry blossoms starting to bloom. how beautiful. the city's annual cherry blossom festival expected. it's the 98th year for the festival which celebrates the gift of cherry trees to washington in 1912. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] introducing carefree® ultra protection™ liners.

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it is a very special, modern day, good samaritan story of a town that pulls together in an extraordinary way to help a family in need. we have ann curry. i can quote you when you said, this story is off the hook. it's a five hanky show that all of us can learn. >> it says something about the american grit that is what we need to rise through this recession. all across the country, people are suffering. in wisconsin, we see a family in such need that a town full of unemployed people, they step up to help her and discover something about themselves. >> reporter: life hasn't been kind to karen longoria.

a single mom struggling to raise triplets in wisconsin. first came the devastating news that two of her kids had a potentially deadly disease that would confine them to wheelchairs. then two months later, karen found out she had breast cancer. >> i said, i can't have it. i'm too busy. but i did. >> reporter: what kept her going was seeing her children confront their disease with courage and determination. >> you know, i sometimes think that god gave me cancer just so i could -- feel what they feel every day. >> reporter: one of the family's greatest challenges became their house. small and compact, it wasn't suited for children in wheelchairs. >> mom, we're stuck. >> reporter: jim, a local business man, heard about the family and wanted to completely renovate their house to make it

completely wheelchair accessible, but he needed money and volunteers and the town had been slammed with a recession. >> let's bring the whole community together. >> reporter: it became a rallying cry and they rose to the challenge. >> what you're going to see on sunday night are the people who step up, tamron. we're talking about a man, one of many people, who lost his job as a bank manager, then lost his home. our cameras are following -- we followed people in this town for almost two years. we follow him as he's moving into his sister's spare bedroom, and yet, he's picking up a hammer to help this family and in so doing, he's discovering a reward in himself. he's feeling good about himself and he's able to move on and it's amazing, you see one after another. a couple that's lost their business and yet they're feeding

the volunteers. when i see these people and i watch these people and our team has, we've just been slayed. it's not just about graffton. this hour shows us what is possible during these tough times. >> beautiful way to put it. you don't want to miss this special edition of "dateline." sunday, 7:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 central. only on nbc. thank you so much, ann. what a great way to have something on sunday to sit under the covers and watch that. that does it for me. i will see you back here at 2:00 eastern time. we'll have keith morrison on. a story of dramatic undercover operations to save a wife and mother who had no idea she was ever in any danger. the entire mission was secretly recorded by the fbi. we'll have more on that. contessa picks up things at the top of the next hour and she's got with her, nicholas christof.

also ahead, new developments in the murder of summer thompson, the girl whose body was found in landfill last october. plus, the reunion we're talk about. sarah palin, john mccain together again. can she help mr. mccain win? [ female announcer ] sometimes you need tomorrow to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between,