arch and the maryland jobs it provides. it's not just the future. it's life. mystery solved. he was the first casualty of the first gulf war. but no one knew what happened to him until now. captured. the latest tonight on three american tourists being held in iran. workers wanted. in a troubled economy, one business that'still hiring. and c'est la vie, why a treasured tradition in france and c'est la vie, why a treasured tradition in france could be coming to an end.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening, everyone. as the american troop presence in iraq slowly winds down, there was stunning news today that may write the final chapter to operation desert storm. that was the first gulf war in 1991. it took just six weeks for american and allied forces to drive iraqi forces out of occupied kuwait at a loss of 148 american lives. but for 18 years the fate of one naval aviator who never returned from the war's opening salvo has hung in limbo amid questions of whether he was killed or captured. tonight the mystery of what happened to lieutenant commander michael scott speicher is solved, and for his family the anguish of not knowing is over. our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has the extraordinary story.

>> reporter: in the hours of the first gulf war january 17th, 1991, navy lieutenant commander scot speier was shot down. at the pentagon defense secretary dick cheney declared spiker dead. >> as of 0900 this morning washington time there's been a single american aircraft lost. >> reporter: but the u.s. military never found speicher's body until now. last week iraqi civilians led u.s. marines to speicher's remains. one iraqi said bedouins found him dead near the crash site shortly after his jet went down and then buried him nearby. military pathologists have now positively identified the remains as of this speicher. it's been an agonizer ordeal for his wife and their who children. senator bill nelson said initially the military gave up on speicher too soon. >> when a pilot goes out in harm's way, that pilot knows for sure that if he has to eject,

that there's a search and rescue mission that's coming after him, and sadly that did not occur in the case of scott speicher. >> reporter: although speicher was declared dead, some evidence suggested he survived the crash and was captured alive. his flight suit was recovered intact, and there were reports he may have been held prisoner by the iraqis. so in 2001 the navy changed his status from killed in action to missing captured. then at the start of the second iraq war a more tantalizing clue. his initials, mss, were found scratched into the wall of an iraqi prison cell. but after an exhaustive surch the military found no evidence that he survived the crash and was ready to close the case again. >> you might recall that the family fought very hard to keep this file open saying that it could be resolved this year, we just needed the initiative and the desire to do so. >> reporter: then finally last week after 18 years, speicher's

family and the military got the break they've been waiting for. and late tonight, lester, the speicher family in jackson, florida, issued this statement saying the news that speicher has died on iraqi soil after ejecting from his aircraft has been difficult for the family, but his actions in combat and the search for him will forever remain in their hearts and minds, lester. >> does this answer all the questions now? >> reporter: not by a long shot. in fact, a family spokesman tells nbc tonight that the very language in this statement indicates the family is still not convinced that speicher was killed in the crash of his fighter jet, and they say they're willing to wait a while longer to make sure that this time the military gets it right. >> all right, jim miklaszewski in washington for us tonight. thanks. tonight, swiss diplomats on behalf of the united states are trying to learn more about the status of three american tourists who were seized by iranian guards on friday. meantime, we're learning more about who those americans are and why they were in the region.

nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in turkey where their journey began. he has the latest for us. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. from downtown istanbul, turkey. behind me is the city's famous blue mosque. it's still unclear if the americans knew that they had actually crossed into iran, but today kurdish officials said they were warned not to stray too close to the sensitive border. it was in these mountains in kurt stan where three americans went hiking last week before according to iranian media they strayed over the border into iran and were arrested. kurdish officials confirm their identifies as shane bauer, sarah shord, and josh fatall. they were apparently on a trip to learn more about the middle east. bauer is a freelance journalist and photographer living in and specializing in the arab world.

he's a fluent arabic speaker. he has a degree in arabic and peace and conflict studies. bauer's facebook page says he is in a relationship with share raf shourd, the ohm woman in the group, also an aspiring journalist. on her website she describes herself as a teacher, writer, and activist living in the middle east. josh said he was also looking forward to traveling to iraq and kurdistan. apparently of arab origin, he said he was getting in touch with his roots between the tie gres and euphrates valleys. today his mother in elkins park, pennsylvania, issued a statement saying my husband and i are only concerned with the health and welfare of josh, shane, and sarah. the u.s. state department today said we have been in touch with and are assisting the family members of the missing three americans. iran has long been suspicious of

any activity in the border region, particularly the goings on in kurdistan. it has been used by militants to smuggle weapons and drugs across the border. even the cia had an outpost there to plot attacks against saddam hussein. i myself was picked up and arrested in that border region a few years ago while reporting there. i fortunate natalie was taken in by kurdish officials. the kurds are very pro-american. i was let go after just a few hours. the iranians would not have been nearly that forgiving. >> richard engel in istanbul for us tonight. back in this country now, the obama administration is feeling increasingly bullish about the future of the american economy. but he's also now beginning to speak candidly about what all this is costing the country and now we're going to pay the bills. mike viqueira joins me from the white house. hi, mike. >> good evening, lester. the theed administration continues tout the good news. this morning a top

administration official refused to rule out a tax hike to help to cover it. the president today returning to washington from an overnight at camp david. after sending his top aides out across the air waves this morning, touting the latest economic numbers. >> we're certainly starting to see a turnaround. >> reporter: and crediting the stimulus package. >> we're only five months into the program. we absolutely do feel it is working. >> reporter: even though many outside the administration share a sense of optimism about the economy. >> i'm pretty sure we've already seen the bottom. >> reporter: both a matter of policy and politics, officials are being careful to rein in public expectations. >> i want to emphasize the basic reality still that unemployment is very high in this country. >> reporter: also today, a renewed focus on the deficit, now at a whopping $1.8 trillion. a level that most consider a serious threat to the long-term economy. but giving white house advisers

a new sales pitch for the president's top priority, tying health care reform to a healthy economy. >> it's the thing that's most important for businesses' competitiveness and for workers' take home 35i. >> reporter: but that might not be enough. and this morning the treasury secretary would not rule out a tax hike to help close the gap. >> i think what the country needs to do is understand we're going to have to do what it takes. we're going to do what's necessary. >> reporter: the republicans applaud the good economic news. >> slowing the rate of dissent is encouraging, i'm sure, to millions of americans, but i really believe that it's in spite of the proscriptions of washington, d.c. >> reporter: and, lester, with unemployment insurance set to run out at the end of the year for more than a million americans, there's one thing in washington both republicans and democrats can agree on, they will vote to extend those benefits by the end of the year. lester? >> all right, mike. thank you.

for more on the future of the economy, we're joined by cnbc's senior economics reporter steve liesman. steve, how much of the economic improvement can be credited to the government intervention? >> lester, most economists think that the government added several percentage points to the second quarter growth, which as you know was minus 1%. so the think something it would have been quite a bit worse without government deficit spending. the stimulus was only a small part that's been spent so far, but more of if is to come as well as government doing other deficit spending that's helping the economy out right now. of course, the dark side of that is going to be the deficits that were mentioned in mike's piece which are high and rising into the future. >> and then friday's gdp numbers, the drop was smaller than predicted. that offered a glimmer of hope. what's the forecast for this quarter and beyond? >> we did a quick survey at cnbc last year. we talked to a bunch of economists. they've raised their forecasts for the third quarter by half a percentage point to 2.1% for the third quarter. so it is ramping up. a little bit more optimism when it comes to the growth for the third and fourth quarter. >> steve liesman, steve, thank you very much for being here

tonight. while much of the northwest has been uncharacteristically hot and dry, things couldn't be different among the east coast where it has been cool and wet. too wet. storms producing wind and heavy rain today caused flading from maryland to pennsylvania leaving a lot of people to ask just where is summer? nbc's lee cowan has more. >> reporter: it was anything but brother love out philadelphia, torrential rain drowned highways and sent motorists scrambling for high ground. >> we'll be looking at more of the same. another big cool down for the middle of next week. >> reporter: it's just another soggy summer weekend. on friday the weather was so bad in massachusetts that residents actually thought they saw the unthinkable. >> it got darker and darker and darker. you could see a wall of rain like wind behind it. it's like, oh, my god, this is a tornado. >> reporter: if you're asking where summer has gone, well, it may have just moved west.

places like seattle and portland that are usual lly nice and coo were sweltering while the midwest was having trouble breaking 90. record lows have been set from kansas to wisconsin. international falls, minnesota, this morning was only 43 degrees. >> if we get our fair share of cold fronts during the summer months, but this has been a conveyor belt of cold fronts. >> reporter: and that means rain, a lot of it. in new york this is not the kind of water fun residents were hoping for. in maryland pool parties meant cleaning them out. and some of the newest summer convertibles on the road are the ones mother nature made that way, by accident. those wizard of oz kind of skies seem to be screening up more and more this summer. bad enough in the spring but even more unsettling when the calendar tells us not to expect it. lee cowan, nbc news. when "nightly news" continues this sunday, shopping

for jobs. a look tonight at who is hiring even in hard times. and later, making a difference, one woman's inspiring idea, turning excess into progress for tens of thousands of children in need.

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literature. >> reporter: but in this economy a steady job at a grocery store trumps no job in teaching. >> there's something that's more fun and more simple about a job that you clock in at 9:00 and leave at 5:00. >> reporter: grossers have not only weathered the recession better than most, they have the two words millions are looking for, now hiring. public 600 jobs. 800 at whole foods. wegman's 2,000 jobs. and walmart, 22,000 jobs this year. >> the phone is ringing off the hook. >> reporter: the grosser's bottom line is improved as people go out less. >> people still need to eat. we continue to service more customers. >> reporter: and that's been a boom in cheaper private label brands. with its own dairy, publix is creating jobs competing head-to-head with name brands and guaranteeing savings of 10% to 30%. whole foods says its private 365 label is cutting organic prices.

that now hiring sign is also attracting better educated and more knowledgeable workers, but jim's degree in automotive didn't train him to look for a job. >> they're out there. you just have to look really hard for them. >> reporter: let's face it, no one is going to get rich with an entry level $8 to $10 an hour grocery store job, but paying the mortgage does save the house. at one of the grosser's yesterday's bagger is today's president. steady work with benefits and advancement is keeping them longer. professor pfeifer says while he's not teaching 18-year-olds about great literature, he is educating the 30 somethings about fine wines. still teaching with a ph.d. roger o'neil, nbc news, tampa. we're hearing more from the harvard professor arrested at

his cambridge home. they met for beer last week n his first public appearance, gates today told an audience at a book festival on martha's vine yard he's received numerous there's. >> a lot of death threats, a lot of bomb threats. i have been -- the university has encouraged me to move. so i have to make that decision. >> the professor also struck a lighter know though when he spoke of his next meeting with sergeant crowley. >> i asked him if he would have lunch with me one-on-one. i asked him maybe we could go to a red sox game together, maybe go to a celtics game together. maybe we could have dinner with our families, you know. why not? you know, i offered to get his kids into harvard. if he doesn't arrest me ever again. >> henry louis gates today on martha's vineyard. known for the good life, but

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had to personally intervene so u.s. first lady michelle obama could shop for children's clothes on sunday during a recent visit. the issue has split the country right down the middle. >> the french have a very good quality of life. families have a collective day together. all cultures have one collective day of rest. >> reporter: the catholic church calls sunday sacred. so do the unions, and politicians from all the political parties. >> they're terribly afraid if they start doing it like the americans, start doing it like the british, they'll stop being french, and that means the end of everything. that means you don't eat cam mom bare cheese anymore. you don't go on six, eight week vacations anymore per year. >> reporter: the french already enjoy the shortest workweek in europe, 35 hours. parliament passed the open sunday law but it was no victory for sarkozy because it applies to some shops in a limited number of cities.

but the arguments about the future of the french way of life continues seven days a week with many economists predicting france will have to work more to stay competitive. but the debate will have to wait until september because france shuts down in august to allow workers to take their annual one-month vacation. keith miller, nbc news, paris. in turkey an effort to implode a building went terribly wrong. engineers knew they were in trouble when instead of falling straight down the old flower factory started to tip over. but no one ever expected the building to wind up upside down. fortunately, there were no reports of injuries, but demolition crews certainly have their work cut out for them to clear the way for a new mall. we're back with our making a difference report after this. new total blueberry pomegranate cereal gives you 100% of the daily value "making a difference" report after this. .

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finally tonight, turning surplus into success. you're about to meet a woman who has found a new purpose for tons of unwanted goods, and as we hear from nbc's peter alexander, her efforts are making a difference to children in need around the world. >> reporter: this is a packing party with a purpose.

children's clothes, toys, school supplies by the thousands. some irregular or outdated. all of which might easily have been tossed out. >> eight packages of colored pencils. >> reporter: if not for melissa cusher in. she founded goods for good. an organization that takes unwanted products from u.s. companies and sends them overseas to school children in malawi. >> when a child receivesing in new they know somebody cares about them, that they matter, that their life is important. >> reporter: in 2004 melissa was invited to visit malawi. she didn't want to go empty-handed. so on that first trip five years ago, melissa began asking for donations. she wound up with two tons of children's toys and clothing. it's been growing ever since. to date more than 100 tons of goods have been donated and delivered. >> the kids are always so excited. they see our truck coming, and they recognize it, and they shout goods, goods, goods because they know that this is

what's coming. >> reporter: mislabeled shoes to children, for some their first pair, overstocked clothing to orphans. even yards of fabric for a sewing program that makes skul uniforms. and justs a important, pens, paper, and notebooks for classrooms with next to together. >> we are able to assign work that they can do at their homes. because they have a pen. >> reporter: attendance has shot up 30% in the living room schools where goods for good operation. ? malawi 54,000 children are benefiting. turning excess at home into progress over seas. >> we can change the world on a small scale, and i think everybody can do their part, and together we can make a big difference. >> reporter: a big difference one child at a time. nearly 8,000 miles from honl.