possible attacks on trains in the u.s. on the tenth anniversary of the september 11th attacks. intelligence officials are still sorting through all of this data from hard drives and al qaeda documents. and president obama now minutes away from landing at ft. campbell in kentucky. he's expected to meet with troops that are recently back from afghanistan as well as some of the members of the special ops team who went inside the compound during the operation in pakistan. our coverage begins with msnbc chief washington correspondent norah o'donnell. she's live in ft. campbell, kentucky. norah, all that private sector job growth that was the focus of the conversation earlier in the day still exists but now we have the president shifting his focus to the attention of our men and women in uniform, including some of the very service members who were involved in the mission to kill osama bin laden. so how many people is the audience going to have there with the president today? >> reporter: yeah, good day to you, thomas. we're at a hangar here in ft. campbell, kentucky. more than 2,000 expected to pack

this hangar to hear not only the president but the vice president is going to join president obama. ft. campbell, kentucky, is home of the 121st airborne division and there's no division that has probably served so much in afghanistan as the 101st. this is also the home of the knight stalkers, the 160th. those are the guys that helped fly in the navy s.e.a.l.s in that nighttime raid to kill osama bin laden. so as soon as the president and vice president get here, they will go directly to meet privately with some of these spreti special operators who were involved in that operation to kill osama bin laden. it's been an hour-long meeting. and then the president is going to come here and the troops are waiting for him here. the president's press secretary says this is not about gloating. they don't want to spike the football. you can get the sense there's a very different feel here with these troops than yesterday. yesterday was about remembranced a ground zero.

this has more the feel of a rally. thomas? >> norah, look around, is there a mission accomplished banner anywhere hanging up? >> reporter: no, there's a job well done sign, there's a ft. campbell sign, home of the screaming eagles, and there's a band, and there's a band. so you can see there's much more sort of a celebratory mood here, and, you know, thomas, most of the soldiers that are here today, they just have gotten back from afghanistan this year. so they've been serving multiple tours. this is really a victory in many ways to know that osama bin laden is now dead, and i think the president is going to acknowledge that and we've heard from white house officials though that the president will also make clear that even though bin laden is dead, the war is not over and the fight still goes on. thomas? >> norah o'donnell for us in ft. campbell. thank you so much. appreciate it. we are getting a much clearer picture of osama bin laden's role in the day-to-day operations of al qaeda. u.s. intelligence officials tell nbc news that bin laden was not retired or even isolated and was, quote, fully engaged to

carry out other 9/11 attacks. what kind of terror attacks were they planning? the u.s. train system seems to have been an area of particular interest. al qaeda leaders were looking into derailing passenger trains near major cities. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has been watching this also. pete, what do we know about these plans, especially about what they were discussing surrounding the anniversary, the ten-year anniversary, of september 11th? >> reporter: right, an attack on trains around that anniversary or some other significant date, christmas day, new year's day. they hadn't put a plot in motion. what intelligence officials say is that there was some planning involved, but that it's at least a year old. they found this in a handwritten notebook that in february of 2010 al qaeda was talking about trying to loosen the rails or interfere with the rails so a train would tip when it was going through a valley or over the bridge in the hopes the train would fall off the tracks.

although apparently they were discussing this among themselves saying maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. more modern trains have brakes. it indicates it was something they were discussing. the fact it was found in bin laden's house, the department of homeland security decided to take no chances and notified the rail industry and local governments about this and urged more vigilance along railroad tracks looking for anollys, packages left along the railroad tracks, spikes that are loosened, pay more attention to that even though they stress there was no actual plan and for that reason still no word of any credible threat and that's why they're not changing the terror alert level, thomas. they simply say this was something on their minds, something that was a word we've heard a lot, aspirational, something they'd like to do but no signs they had actually put that into motion. chief justice correspondent pete williams. thank you. appreciate it. >> you bet. more now on the statement from al qaeda that we told you about at the top of the hour.

that it's founder and long-time leader is confirmed dead in their estimation. we get that from stephanie gosk who is outside the bin laden compound in abbottabad, pakistan. >> reporter: this statement from al qaeda is really a rallying cry and a call to arms for al qaeda supporters. they want muslims around the world to avenge bin laden's death. they want to continue attacks against the united states. they also specifically call on pakistanis to rise up here in this country, and we have seen over the last couple of days a growing anger here over this raid. there have been a number of protests today, including one here in abbottabad, about 400 to 500 people. it was organized by a radical islamic group and the people on the ground are saying the same thing, the same two things, that their sovereignty was violated by that raid and also the government here is really just a puppet to the united states. now, there have been some other developments here on the ground in abbottabad. the compound itself was sealed

off by security forces earlier today. we're told that there was a high-profile visit from the head of the military as well as the head of intelligence services. at the compound the house itself has been cleared. it's been scrubbed, and it has now been sealed. later after that visit we received a visit ourselves here at our guest house from intelligence services telling us that we were no longer welcome here in this town and that we had to leave. that the story was actually over. thomas? >> nbc's stephanie gosk in pakistan for us. stephanie, thank you. new details emerging on the american woman detained in iran and accused of espionage. sarah shourd was released in september after spending more than a year in an iranian prison. she says she will not return to iran for the trial next week because she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. she was arrested in 2009 along with her fiance and friend after hiking in iraq near the iran border. the two men arrested with her have now been in custody for 21

months. i'm joined by norah showered, sarah's mother. i want to find out the reaction that iranian authorities have had to share raf's arah's decis go back. >> thank you, thomas. that's been interesting question. so far we haven't seen anything in the media about their reaction to her decision. usually that's where we get our information. you know, we don't really have any direct contact with the iranian officials. >> norah, i think a lot of people would be sitting at home right now scratching their heads thinking, well, why in the heck would she think to go back at all anyway? how long was sarah considered to be going back? when did they make this decision, i just can't do it, i'm not strong enough? >> this has been a very, very hard decision for her. you know, we support her in this decision, the families and myself. of course, i support her. i have seen her, you know,

burdened by the fact that she's out and shane and josh are still in. there's a part of her, you know, her heart would like very much to be with them to support them, but it's too traumatic for her. she just cannot do it. it's not safe and it would be too traumatizing for her. even though it would be good to be there with shane and josh. shane and josh would not want her to be there either. >> norah, i would say as we hear this story, our hearts go out to what she's been through, but also the guilt that she has to feel that she's putting on herself because of her fiance, shane bauer, her friend, josh fattal, still in prison there for 21 months now. is sarah still able to communicate with these gentlemen in any way? >> no, that doesn't happen. actually no one has seen shane and josh at all for more than five months, going on six months now, and that includes the swiss who are there on the ground, that includes their lawyer who has not been able to see them at all or had any access to them.

so, no, they don't know what's going on, which is part of the isolation that they have to endure and have to suffer. we're very worried about them. >> but, norah, if sarah's trial was to start next week, would that draw a conclusion that the other gentlemen, that their trial was going to start at the same time? were they all three supposed to be in court together? >> yeah, they're supposed to be in court together, but iranian law covers, you know, trying someone in be a sten shabstenci. >> thank you for coming on today. please send our best to your daughter. we'll continue to follow this story and we look forward to talking to you again. >> thank you. we want to bring you up to speed about some breaking news in tennessee. the coast guard closing off boat traffic on part of the mississippi river and police are urging residents to get out of their homes, do so as fast as they can. this is ahead of what could be a near record flood. plus, has the release of

president obama's long form birth certificate done anything to quiet the birth movement? we're going to have some eye-opening results of a new poll. al qaeda, taliban, all the names you here. just terrorists basically. >> a waiter at new york's famed waldorf-astoria hotel says he was forced to wear a different name tag so guests wouldn't be frightened by his real name. that server, mohammed kotb joins me next. ♪

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in today's money minute a better than expected jobs report. the labor department says 244,000 jobs were added last month. that's the most in five years.

still, unemployment rose slightly to 9% last month. that's up from 8.8% in march. now, there were significant rises in the jobless rate for the african-american and hispanic communities. experts say the jobless rate is up because more americans are feeling more confident and are looking for jobs. let's take a look though at the market, see how the boards are doing today. as you can see, we have green arrows across the boards with the dow jones industrials up almost by 81 points. breaking news, it was just a short time ago that the u.s. coast guard in memphis decided to close down a portion of the swelling mississippi river to stop those raging waters from rising above a floodwall in nearby missouri. memphis officials are going door to door urging residents to evacuate as fast as they can. the mississippi is up over 45 feet right now. expected to crest at 48 feet in memphis next week. officials are warning that the river could stay above flood level through the first of june. nbc's jay gray joins me now live from memphis to explain what they're seeing.

so, jay, in memphis it's getting much more dire. tell us about the closing along the mississippi and also how large of an impact, jay, does it have on the situation there? >> reporter: a tough go right now. i understand whenever they close a section of the mississippi, thomas, that's going to affect things up and down the river economically. what they've done is shut the river down to barge traffic for a significant portion because they say the wake from those barges is pushing water up and over floodwalls in communities that line the river. look behind me. we're standing along a riverside park. you can see the trees there. the park you'rely extends we ll extends well out into that area. now it's all water. you're looking out at mud island now. many of the businesses there have closed down. a lot of the residents are packing up and preparing to move to higher ground. not so much for fear that water is going to get into their homes, though in some it may, but they're also afraid that as this water continues to come up,

there's only two ways in and out of that island, and they could be isolated there for days. so officials are telling them, look, you need to move to a safer place until we see exactly where this water is going to go. already it's going into areas where it's never been before or at least not in decades. you talked about the peak of this cresting at 48 feet. the record is 48.7. if it gets to 48, there are going to be some catastrophic consequences here, thomas. >> it really has to be scary. jay gray in memphis for us. thanks so much. so what's in a name? and arab waiter at the famed waldorf-astoria hotel here in new york city is suing because he says he was forced to wear different name tags to keep from frightening guests. mohammed kotb says he was forced to wear a name tag with a name like john or edgar because guests would be wary of a server named mohammed. he's suing for religious and racial discrimination. mohammed and his attorney joseph

joint me now in studio. it's good to have you here. i want to start with you, mohammed. tell us about the discrimination you say you were suffered to face while you were working there. >> right after 9/11 i actually was -- it was september 13, all the business had died after 9/11, a lot of events were canceled of course. on september 13 we had a memorial for bear ascertaistern. my boss came up to me with a different name. he takes my name off and puts the name on john. he said we need to get some business and this is the waldorf. done mess this up. you're going to wear that. >> what was your reaction? >> i was in shock. i couldn't believe what he just said and what he put on me. it's like, okay, you go back on the floor, don't talk. so i did. i was in shock.

this is my job, i love my job. i have been there all my life, the only job i ever had. what's amazing here, the guests from bear stearns, they lost loved ones, they were so positive. i introduced myself as mohamed. some went so far as we apologize -- the guests, they give me positive reaction. i just continued with that. next day we had another event and i came down with mohamed he said you're going to be terminated for it. >> hilton hotels wouldn't comment on this case however the waldorf has more than 1,600 employees representing six continents around the world and operates a nondiscrimination hiring policy. so, joseph, that's the statement about a nondiscrimination hiring policy. what policy do they have for

discrimination in the workplace when you're employed by them? >> well, we're not arguing that their hiring policy is discriminatory. what we're saying is since he's been here since 9/11, this is a loyal employee with over two decades of service, he's gone through the appropriate channels, he's made the prit complaints, that his complaints have falling on deaf ears. that no action was ever done. that essentially he was a man on an island alone. they thought in their minds i guess they have the god given power to essentially reach down and erase his personality. if someone came to you and said, you know, we like you, you do a fantastic job, your show is fantastic, but we would feel better and our viewers would like it better if we changed your to something that we view as more pleasing. >> you're talking about tv so you know that probably happens a lot more often than people want to admit to, but what are you asking for? what are the damages that you want? >> well, he wants to be treated as a human being. he wants people to be tolerant.

listen, this is -- >> does that mean you want to go back to working there? >> i want to get a message out since the first broadcast and since the post broke, this story had so many people from my hotel that came and said thank you for doing that because they have been dealing with stuff, muslim and nonmuslim. i want to get the message out and hopefully they stop this abuse. your union can give you phone numbers so you can go for help. that's what we want to get out there and i want this to stop for me. i love my job and i have been that all my love. my customers love me, my guests love me. especially when we have a kosher event and i'm friends with rabbi for decades. we exchange gifts. telling me not to wear that, for example we had the prime minister barack and his defense minister and they really -- that's what just tipped me off like one of my managers, we were

missing name tags and he's like without a name tag and i understand that. he got four name tags for the ones that were missing including me and he came down with all the right names except mine and i got edgar. i said that's not my name and we have an issue for a while. >> we see you have the edgar name badge. >> we wish you the best of luck. obviously you're very passionate, passionate about the work you've done and the life you've committed to the waldorf so we wish you gentlemen the best. thanks for coming on and sharing your story. >> thank you. >> president obama just arrived at ft. campbell where he's going to meet with some of the navy s.e.a.l.s involved in the killing of osama bin laden. i will talk with a commander about what kind of intense training goes into a top secret nation. and a campaign against childhood obesity under fire in georgia. critics say the ads are doing more harm than good. the details straight ahead. [ male announcer ] this is charlie whose morning flight

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in today's education nation report, it's a battle of perception versus reality for today's high school students. when asked 92% said they expect to graduate diploma in hand. sadly, just 7 in 10 make it to their graduation day. a new program aimed at improving our nation's high school graduation rate hopes to nudge that reality closer to students' expectations of themselves. it's call american graduate and it focuses on reaching students in middle school. that's a crucial time when kids most often lose interest in their schoolwork. earlier this week my colleague tamron hall spoke with activist and actor hill harper about that very program. >> let me ask you, obviously there are many ways to reach students but when you look at this number, 92% say they expect to graduate, it seems they know the importance of graduating but the numbers don't match what we're seeing. 7 in 10, that's a lot of kids we're somehow losing. what do you believe is the

problem? >> well, obviously there's a systemic problem in public education. we have approximately 98,000 public schools in this country and only 2,000 of them create 75% of the dropouts. so we can focus on where the problem areas are, where the problem schools are, but it starts very early. that's why i'm so proud to support public media in this initiative in their american graduate program to deal with the dropout crisis because that's what it is, it's a crisis. >> we did education nation together on msnbc and i know you were really in the trenches firsthand talking to young kids both boys and girls. what do you hear from them? what is the problem they see every day in school? >> well, through my foundation, the manifest your destiny foundation, i started a program called summer empowerment academy. we take eighth graders and do a whole summer empowerment session with them. it was so interesting, i found that the students that are true

want, they're not truaant all day. what you start to find if you really talk to the kids, they'll show up for one or two or three classes where they think they'll get something out of it but they don't show up for the classes where they don't get anything out of it. the question we have to ask is are we competing for the attention of our students? are we teaching them in an effective way that engages them? i don't want to point the finger and say it's the teacher's fault or administration's fault. we know there are so many and the vast majority of teachers are committed and doing a great job, but we still have to take a look. it's a dropout crisis and we have to say to ourselves now, america used to be number one globally in terms of college grads. we recently have slipped to number 12 globally. so something is going on and we can't have college grads if we don't have high school grads. something is going on in the country and we have to take this crisis seriously. >> you made a difference in so many lives. i know this program will certainly, i hope, and i know

that's your desire, make a change or help in this process as we try to make a change in the education system and improve it. thank you, hill, and we'll see you soon. >> thanks, tamron. and be sure to logon owe educationnation.msnbc.com and you can check out the scorecard for schools. you find out how it rates against the rest of the schools in the district and the state. stay with us. we're back with much more right here on "news nation." [ male announcer ] beatrice earned her masters in education at a university with 20 years of experience combining classroom and online teaching. and a 15 to 1 student to faculty ratio... to make learning more... personal. today, she runs a thriving tutoring company that offers kids the same individualized attention she had. my name is beatrice hair, i teach hundreds of kids one on one, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] learn more about the college of education at phoenix.edu.

♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ ♪ i like it, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ ♪ i like it [ male announcer ] introducing mio -- a revolutionary liquid water enhancer. add a little. add a lot. ♪ for a drink that's just the way you like it. ♪ i like it, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ [ male announcer ] make it yours. make it mio. ♪ welcome back. "news nation" bringing you some pictures from ft. campbell, kentucky. air force one just landing there a little while ago with president obama. he is in ft. campbell which is home to the army unit that transported the navy s.e.a.l.s in and out of osama bin laden's compound. the president will meet and thank some of the s.e.a.l.s involved in the killing of bin laden and then he'll address

2,000 service members who have recently returned from deployment overseas. so the s.e.a.l.s who will meet with president obama are just a small group of an elite unit that americans who endure very intense, very physical, and very mental training to become the operatives trusted enough to carry out such high value missions crucial to our national security. george worthington is a retired rear admiral with the u.s. navy. he's also a former navy s.e.a.l. sir, it's nice to have you on with us. i first want to tlk to you about the most elite within the elite itself, the soldiers who participated in the raid to kill osama bin laden referred to as s.e.a.l. team six. so how is that kind of team put together and are all of their missions at that high of a level? >> most are, yes, indeed. i'd like to make one ground rule here, last monday.commander of the naval special warfare command put a message out to everybody to not discuss details and how would i know them anyway, but the s.e.a.l. team

six, quote, unquote, is usually referred to as the naval special warfare development group. their training is intense, it's very selective. they go through psychological testing. >> we had heard about the trial runs this group went through before the raid. so in your estimation how intense are they? how real are they? and how much information on each mission do s.e.a.l.s absorb before they are then sent in and it's actually in the moment realtime? >> they are very, very strongly briefed into what the specifics are. it's almost like a bank robbery, if you will. everybody knows his job and some of the positions are interchangeable. they go through basic underwater demolition training and s.e.a.l. qualification training. the entire course takes 55 weeks. they learn scuba, military free fall and they do an awful lot of

shooting. in one week they can put per man 10,000 rounds down range. >> i want to finish with how some of these men and their families have to cope, especially when these people are on such high value target missions and they know what's going on and they have certainly loved ones in their life they want to share things with. how taxing is it on a person to have this level of secrecy in your life about your job? >> it's intense, and it's stressful, and the families aren't allowed to know and the operational security is very tight. they don't learn -- in fact, the guys are a lot of times away from home 260 days a year during their training. it's a hard task. >> well, we might not know a lot about them but we sure do appreciate them. thanks for spending some of your afternoon with us. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> we have all assumed that osama bin laden was hiding in a cave somewhere removed from the day-to-day operations of the operation of al qaeda, but more a symbolic figurehead than tyme the leader in the thick of it,

but today as u.s. intelligence officials comb through the massive amounts of data they pulled out from the bin laden compound, that picture is being turned on its head. evan coleman is nbc's terrorism analyst and joins me now. so evan what are we learning about how involved osama bin laden actually was in these day-to-day operations? >> well, there were these popular means out there that bin laden was hiding in a cave and that he had no contact with other al qaeda operatives or al qaeda leaders and that all of al qaeda's operations were being taken care of by lower level figures, and in reality that's not what was happening. bin laden continued to play an operational role according to the information that's been discovered even up to the last couple days. he wasn't planning out this person should board this flight or that flight. he may not have known the names of the operatives but he had an idea about what these people were going to do, and, in fact, what's most interesting is he was coming up with ideas that they should do, ideas for spectacular terrorist plots that al qaeda could engage in thatco

arranging the minute details. he was still familiar with the idea of attacks against the united states and was spurring those attacks. >> i think a lot of people are surprised and wonder how in the heck was he able to build a pakistani mcmansion and no one not know anything? >> this is a very, very frustrating point and it's very frustrating especially when you see what's going on in pakistan right now where you have people that are -- the heads of the pakistani military, senior officials within the pakistani government, instead of saying, oh, we're sorry we didn't find him or capture him. they are calling the raid unacceptable. i think what's unacceptable is the pakistanis are not taking any responsibility for the fact that the worlds most wanted terrorist was found not just in pakistan, but in the backyard of the senior officials in the pakistani military. these are very serious questions. the pakistanis need to decide if they want to be an ally of the

united states, if they want to receive money which is approved by congress, they better change their attitude very quickly because regardless of what they think of the united states or osama bin laden, it's a simple issue of money. congress will not approve the money that they depend on, not just their military, their economy, so they're going to have to make a very important decision here about literally whether they're with us or against us. >> evan, real quickly because we have to bust out of here, but you just put in a hot note about the medications that were recovered, nothing that indicates that he had any type of kidney failure or was on dialysis. >> no kidney medication, nothing like that, though a lot of medications relating to stomach ulcers and problems. apparently beingle head of al qaeda is more stressful than maybe we give him credit for. >> i don't see tums on your list, some more strongly noted things here. thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you. we have new developments to pass along in the you rutgers spying case. a judge has placed molly wei in

a probation program. they would avoid any jail time if she cooperates, completes community service. she's accused on spying of tyler clemente's relations with another man. sony is trying to make it up to customers. sony's president offering users one year of free identity theft protection and a $1 million insurance policy per user. and the fbi is investigating more suspicious letters found at schools. this is similar to the letters delivered a day before which contained a white powdery substance but was not hazardous. one congressman's argument has turned into an internet sensation. applause broke out when democrat steve simon took a page from gay

marriage opponents and brought god into the discussion of why same-sex marriage should be allowed. >> ask yourself if it's true that sexual orientation is innate, god given, then what does it mean to the moral force of your argument? i guess to put it in the vernacular what i would ask is how many more gay people does god have to create before we ask ourselves whether or not god actually wants them around? [ applause ] >> minnesota state representative steve simon joins me now. sir, it's good fof you on now. that speech has been viewed on youtube when we put this segment together at a rate of 180,000 times. are you surprised or did you hope to become an internet sensation so that other people in other states would hear your message? >> completely shocked, i have to tell you. i had no idea when i said those words that it would spread like this. i'm gratified not so much personally because everyone will forget my name in a few days. the important thing is the underlying message and i hope that helps not only in minnesota

but nationwide. >> sir, you are a straight ally for what this cause is but we've heard that outside religious groups have been donating money to make a constitutional gay marriage ban a reality in your state. how much impact is that having and do you know the dollar figures of the money that's being funneled into minnesota? >> that's a good question. we don't know in part because of some of our loose campaign finance laws and i don't think we really will know for a while. i know one national group, national association for marriage, that's pushing this discriminatory ban is promising to spend up to $4 million in minnesota which in our state is a whole lot of money. we're going to have to counter that, we who believe in inclusion and fairness and openness are going to have to counter that. i'm confident we can. i'm just hoping that episodes like this educate people and we can really make a difference when it comes to folks in minnesota doing the right thing when, as i suspect, this goes on the ballot. >> since you made that spement, have you talked with any other representatives to find out what they feel about their concept of

this, those on the other side of the aisle? have they changed their minds? >> i can't say that anyone has changed their mind yet. there are only a few people on that committee where i actually testified and said those words. it remains to be seen. we don't even know whether this measure is going to be brought up this year or next year on the larger minnesota house floor, but i do think and i hope at least -- i have given them cause to think about the moral force of the arguments here and really give this issue a second look. one thing that i have been real clear on, thomas, is i don't think we can come out swinging and start calling people names. as one friend of mine said, you can't expect people to make a u-turn unless you give them room to turn. and you don't do that by boxing them in right away. i think it's all about letting folks see that this is an issue about tolerance and inflution and abo -- inclusion, and it may be the case being gay is not a choice, it is innate, and it is god given. >> steve simon, thank you for joining us today. we appreciate your time.

>> thank you. a same-sex couple from new jersey has gotten a helping hand from attorney general eric holder. he's asking an immigration panel to reconsider the case of one of the men who faces deportation to ireland for being an illegal immigrant. judges had ruled paul wilson dorman's civil union did not make him eligible to stay in the country because the defense of marriage act defines marriage as between a man and a woman. the obama administration has since decided it will no longer defend that law in court. holder's decision may have helped another couple in a similar situation. in the past hour henry's deportation to venezuela was put on hold. henry legally married u.s. citizen josh vander veer in connecticut. the couple's lawyer used the holder ruling to argue the couple should get the same rights as heterosexual couples who under federal law would not face the same immigration problem. coming up on "news nation" -- >> did you kill your wife, sir? >> no.

>> nbc's dennis murphy gets an exclusive interview with the man who went to trial three different times for the mysterious murder of his young wife who was found dead in their bathtub. but before we do that, there is a lot going on today and here are some of the things we thought you should know. since president obama released his long form birth certificate last week, more americans believe he was born in the u.s. 70% of americans believe the president was born in honolulu. just one year ago the same poll found only 48% believed hawaii was the president's birth place. tommy lee jones has joined the cast of "lincoln" biopick. jones is in negotiations to play thaddeus stevens, a republican congressman from pennsylvania who supported emancipation. also on board for this film, daniel day-lewis and sally field will take the role of mary todd lincoln. and those are the things we just thought you should know.

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miami martin bashir. coming up at the top of the hour we stand watch as the president prepares to address the brave men and women at ft. campbell. the highly anticipated speech in our hour at the conclusion of an important week for the commander in chief and america's armed services. we'll bring it all to you live. tonight dateline nbc explores the mysterious death of a young woman who drowned in her own bathtub. after three murder trials her husband of less than four months, ryan, still adamantly denies killing his wife. dateline nbc's dennis murphy joins me now in studio with a

preview. dennis, tell us about how this conversation with ryan went, your impressions. >> when we do these mystery stories, we like there to be an element of ambiguity about what really happened. the husband here, ryan, in the course of three trials had never taken the stand. that's his right to tell his story. but he greed to taagreed to tal prison. he denied killing his wife and i think it's the first time he's told his story. this is ryan widmer's story as he tells it. we talked to him in prison where he denied drowning his wife. he were watching the ball game, went upstairs, and found her in a bad situation. >> yeah. >> and you don't know why she died? >> no. >> ryan remembers a loving relationship with his wife, sarah. >> we hit it off perfect. >> was there any fraction? >> no, perfect, perfect. >> the first officer arrived at the house just minutes after the

911 call was answered. >> the oks of the arriving officer, what do we have here? why is this woman's hair damp and is her body dry? >> well, it doesn't make sense. >> i understand that. >> how do you explain it? >> how do i ex pla init? i left the house and there were cops there by thepz and they came up with the story they wanted to come up with. >> did you kill your wife? >> no, i did not. i couldn't hurt sarah emotionally yet alone physically. >> but prosecutors say they're certain of his guilt. >> do you believe that he actually did this thing? >> absolutely. >> of course. >> she was murdered. >> widmer's defense team stands behind him 100%. >> absolutely believe him. no doubt in my mind. >> and he's appealing. >> i'm going to fight this until it's made right. >> but whatever happened that evening and it will be argued both ways for years to come, ryan widmer won't appear before a parole board for more than 14 years. >> this has been a very big case throughout ohio, the greater

cincinnati area, thomas. i think a lot of people are going to be surprised to realize that ryan widmer is in a relationship with a new woman also named sarah and they together have a son who is going to be a year old this summer. that's tonight in our two-hour broadcast. >> i think from that little piece we can all draw our own conclusions and i will keep it to myself until i watch the entire piece tonight at 9:00 p.m./8:00 central on nbc. thanks so much. today's "news nation" gut check is coming up next. >> i like to play video games. i'm really good at it. ad campa is under fire. what does your gut tell you? ♪ got brass in pocket...

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it's time for today's "news nation" gut check.

campaign against childhood obesity is creating controversy in georgia. some say the new ads are harming the kids they are supposed to be helping. blain alexander from our affiliate wxia in atlanta explains for us. >> i don't want to be outside because all the kids, they always pick on me. >> reporter: emotional testimony from a child who's not even in high school. part of a new initiative from the georgia children's health alliance called stop childhood obesity. >> we felt it would take some drastic measures. >> reporter: some say too drastic. they're ruffling feathers across the country. >> they're doing more harm than they are good. they're stigmatizing the children, making them believe that there's something wrong with them, that they're doing something wrong. >> reporter: the push to get kids to think healthy has gained national attention in recent years. in fact, the city of san francisco has even banned

mcdonald's from putting toys in some of their happy meals and they're opening other cities will do the same thing. >> the white house is on board. michelle obama has traveled the you don't push healthy eating, even coming to georgia. ♪ move your body >> and even beyonce is jumping on the bandwagon with this latest video. georgia has the second highest child obesity rates in the country. he wants the ads to reach parents, many he says are in denial. >> it's not just parents who see these billboards, it's the children as well. children who are not blind and children who are old enough to read. >> reporter: they say there are more phases to come but for now he believes it's working. >> we've heard from more kids who have raised their hand and said can you help me. >> what does your gut tell you? does this new childhood obesity campaign do nor harm than it does good? you can go to newsnation

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good afternoon. it's friday, may the 6th, and what a week it's been. right now at the u.s. army's ft. campbell base in kentucky president obama is set to address the troops this afternoon. troops at ft. campbell have carried a heavy burden fighting in each of the wars that this nation has fought since 9/11. 393 soldiers from that outpost have given their lives since al qaeda unleashed its attacks on american soil. the base is home to the 101st airborne division, the screaming eagles, and the 160th special operations aviation regiment, the night stalkers. a group that prides itself on its ability to strike any target anywhere in the world in the