that's it. "nightly news" coming up next. on the broadcast tonight -- in enemy hands. new fears for an american soldier held by the taliban. tonight, they're watching closely in his hometown. battle lines over health care -- the president takes a swing at his critics in the fight over politics and the price tag. full moon -- 40 years later, some prominent americans remember where they were when everything changed. strike the set -- hard times in hollywood, a big star of the industry is out of the picture. and hope floats -- the women who are making waves to keep summer accessible and they're making a difference. summer accessible and they're making a difference. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. tonight, we believe an american soldier is still being held by the taliban and the story is complicated by the fact that this soldier apparently chose to leave his base without his weapon and that's when he ended up in enemy hands. a rather tragic piece of videotape came out over the weekend. on it, private first class bergdahl talks about his circumstances. while the folks back home in idaho were happy to see him alive and happy to know the pentagon is work hard to get him back there. is deep worry nonetheless. george lewis is in hailey, idaho to start us off. good evening. >> good evening, it's a measure of how close knit this community is. when people here first learned that bowe bergdahl was the solar c captured in afghanistan they kept quiet about it out of

concern for his safety. the silence ended when bergdahl appeared in that taliban propaganda video. this morning, some people in hailey were putting up yellow ribbons and signs calling for his safe return. >> we love him and the whole family. he's going to come back. >> reporter: this after the release of the video showing bergdahl obviously under duress being prompted by his captors to talk about how he misses his family. >> i miss them every day that i'm gone. i miss them. >> reporter: the capture of bergdahl and the video drew a strong reactn from the pentagon. >> my personal reaction was one of disgust at the exploitation of this young man. >> reporter: pentagon sources tell nbc's jim miklaszewski that bergdahl vanished under mysterious circumstances in afghanistan close to the pakistan border. military officials tell us that on june 30th, bergdahl came off patrol, dropped off his weapon and body armor and gathered up a couple of water bottle, a

compass and a knife, and left the base alone to meet some afghans he had befriended. that's when the taliban grabbed him. military intelligence says he's still being held somewhere in eastern afghanistan. >> here in hailey, his family remained in seclusion as the sheriff read a statement thanking the public for its, quote, overwhelming support. >> we would like to remind all of you that our sole focus is seeing our beloved son bowe safely home. >> reporter: reporter dana dugan has known private bergdahl for many years. >> bowe is a classic hailey, idaho guy. he's sweet, unassuming, a little shy. he's a very nice lovely guy. >> reporter: a classic hailey, idaho, guy, who has his hometown pretty worried right now. bergdahl's capture reminds us there are many small towns across america whose sons and daughters are serving in harm's way in places like iraq and

afghanistan. brian? >> george lewis out in hailey, idaho, for us, thanks. on this day when four americans were killed by a roadside bomb in afghanistan, defense secretary robert gates, we saw him earlier, announced today the size of the u.s. army will be increased temporarily by 22,000 soldiers. that's a jump of about 4% to meet the demands of this nation's dual wars in afghanistan and iraq. >> now to washington, health care reform and how to pay f it. the obama administration said it is delaying its misyear update until the middle of next month. they insist they're not trying to hide anything but but republicans cite the cost of a health care bill on top of an already massive deficit as a main reason to oppose it. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd has more tonight on this fight. good evening. >> good evening, brian. as you know, theresident is mark his six month anniversary in office. today, on that health care fight, he put it on more

comfortable ground. he's back in campaign mode. faced with the public and a congress growing more skeptical about the pace and scope of his health care reform goals, president obama today embraced the political fight. >> now there's some in this town who are content to perpetuate the status quo. are in fact fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests. rests. >> reporter: and mr. obama specifically took issue with what one republican critic, south carolina senator jim demint, said last week f. we're >> if we're able to stop obama on this. it will be his waterloo. it will break him. >> it will be his waterloo. it will break him. think about that. this isn't about me. this isn't about politics. this is about a health care system that is breaking america's families. >> reporter: republicans believe

they have the president on the political ropes and there's even a republican health care play book that michael steele spoke from nearly verbatim today. >> the barack obama experiment with america is a risk our country can't afford. it's too much, too fast, too soon. >> reporter: another difficulty for the president, explaining to the majority of americans who have insurance how the lack of reform costs them money. and so he's on yet another media blitz. here with nbc's meredith vieira. >> people know the system isn't working right now, but i also think that it's very easy to scare people that it's that going to get even worse and they think well, maybe the devil i know is the better than the devil i don't. >> reporter: meanwhile all eyes on the senate finance committee where chairman matt bachus met with team members to hammer out a man. >> we have about a $200 billion hole that we to plug. >> reporter: brian, two important details to add to that surtax you heard about from millionaires to pay for the health care plan. that appears to be all but dead if you talk to the u.s. senate.

and second, the august deadline to get the bills passed in the house and senate, that appears to have more flexibility from the white house. they may let it slide. >> we'll stay on it all. chuck todd from the white house tonight. thanks. another big priority for the president is that economic stimulus package, something everyone is not aware of is getting high-speed internet service to rural areas of america. but the question is why it's being handled by an agency with a reputation for waste and incompetence. our report on that tonight from our senior correspondent lisa myers. >> reporter: dave fucci, a frustrated farmer in rural north carolina has been calling his phone company for years, asking for better internet service. >> they go, oh, we're sorry. it's not available in your area yet. >> reporter: he is among the 62% of americans with no access to affordable hh-speed broadband

internet service. when we were there, it took 20 minutes to dial up the internet on his phone line and service was excruciatingly slow. he says this hurts his business and his daughter's education. >> we've been left behind. and it's unfair and it puts her at a disadvantage at school. >> reporter: the good news is that the obama stimulus package dedicates almost $3 billion to get broadband to rural areas. the bad news is that the money is being handled by the rural utility service, an agency which critics say has a history of mismanagement and incompetence in this area. >> over the last seven years this agency has a legacy of spending money inappropriately, being slow to get money out the door to places that need it. >> reporter: in 2005, government investigators found that one-quarter of the loans issued by the rural utilities service were not used as intended or at all. a third of the loans went to communities near cities instead of rural areas. including $46 million to wire upscale suburbs of houston.

and $137 million in loans were approved without applications even being complete. then in march of this year, another report revealed that 92% of loans issued after the 2005 report had gone to areas that already had broadband service. the 2009 report questioned whether this agency was up to handling the stimulus money. but an obama administration official says he's not worried. why should an agency with this kind of record be entrusted with billions more in taxpayer money? >> well, number one is this is a different program. we have acknowledged there were some problems with it, but those are all fixable with the right focus and right vision. >> reporter: in north carolina, fucci is still waiting. >> we don't have that accessibility to be able to get with the modern world. >> reporter: lisa myers, nbc news, washington. this was a big day for nasa,

40 years after its biggest day ever after landing on the moon. the crew on the space shuttle "endeavour" marked the day with a space walk. continuing their work on the international space station. back here on earth the crew of "apollo 11" paid a visit to the oval office. buzz all driven, michael colin, neil armstrong. they were young men back then, they all turn 80 next year, meeting a president who was just about two weeks shy of his 8th birthday when "apollo 11" landed on the moon. at a news conference earlier today, some astronauts of the apollo program were sharply critical of the space station. one said it's an to become a white elephant. they made a pitch for a manned mission to mars. a bit later in this broadcast we'll have memories of that remarkable day 40 years ago. when "nightly news" continues on a monday night, these are tough times in hollywood, it's really stuff for the keepers of the stuff they use in all those movies. and what happened when they tried to take away one of the big pleasures of summer?

our making a difference report. laeshs of s summer? our making a difference report.

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here's another indicator of what's going on here's another indicator of what's going on in the economy, one of hollywood's biggest suppliers of movie props is shutting its door, the latest victim in a rapidly changing business. nbc's lee cowan has our report tonight. >> reporter: it's a menagerie of the miscellaneous. everything from egyptian pharaohs to a full-scale submarine. herbie schwartz is the skipper of 20th century props. >> from floor to ceiling. >> repter: a 2,000 square foot warehouse that's like hollywood's attic. >> don't go see a movie with me because i'll go that's mine, that's mine. >> reporter: his props have been rented out to everything from "l.a. confidential" to "spiderman." but the big studios aren't calling anymore. last years writers strike and a

threatened actors' strike hit the business hard. then when the economy tanked, that really put the prop business on ice. so harvey is bringing the curtain down on a business he's had for 40 years. it's all going on the auction block. >> i'm very sad about it. it's a real heartbreaker. >> reporter: the problem is the business is changing. in television, reality shows are taking over. they hardly need lavish sets and hollywood isn't shooting movies in hollywood anymore because it's cheaper to shoot them elsewhere. at least 40 states have offered tax incentives to lure movie business away from tinseltown. >> 2008 was the worst year for filming and the first quarter of 2009 is even worse than that. >> reporter: they're called runaway productions like "the proposal" shot in massachusetts. "year one" was filmed in louisiana, which leaves a lot of people in hollywood including like big-time set decorators like jay hart shopping

elseere. >> the industry as a who is just contracting in l.a. we don't know where that's going to stop. >> reporter: for harvey, it stops here. the caretaker of movie artifacts has become an artifact himself. lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. frank mccourt has died. he was born in america but in many ways he was america's irishman which was a good thing because he left us one of the greatest memoirs of all time. >> when i look back on my childhood, i wonder how i survived at all. it was a miserable childhood. a happy childhood is hardly worth your while. worse than a miserable childhood is the miserable irish catholic childhood. >> frank mccourt was born in brooklyn but his irish born parents took the family back to ireland. his father was an abusive drunk and his family lived in a slum

infested with vermin and filled with disease. he lost three siblings as a young boy. quit school at 14. somehow made it to a new york on a ship at 19. somehow enrolled at nyu, got his masters at brooklyn college, taught writing at new york state stuyvesant high school. then somehow managed to write about his upbringing in the book that became "angela's ashes." is his grim view of his irish childhood angered those back home. was almost too painful for many of us irish-americans to read and quickly won him the pulitzer prize. other books followed including "teacher man" but frank mccourt had already taught us so much about life and love and hate and survival. frank america court died here in new york. he was 76 years old. when our broadcast continue, reflections on man's first step s on the moon now 40 years later. ♪ well it's a marvelous night for a moon dance ♪ ♪ well it's a marvelous night

for a moon dance ♪ the associated press

the associated press reported today that most americans alive today have never known a world where man hasn't been to the moon. put a little differently, most americans alive today were born after the moon landing 40 years ago. those of us who were around for it, we all remember where we were and so to mark the 40th anniversary, we asked a few prominent americans that same question.

>> it was about a year and a half after the actual event because i wainrison in hanoi. >> i was at the ranch with lbj that night and he was so excited about watching the moonwalk. >> roger. we confirm. >> i was a 9-year-old kid. big afro, small whitk tv and there was the first fuzzy images. >> the eagle has landed. >> anything bad that happened, they told us immediately. small event like moon landing escaped their attention or certainly they didn't think it was worthy of notifying us. >> stand by to land now. >> at that time, the cold war was going on, there was a real fear that if russia were to get into space before us, get to the moon before us, that maybe the moon launch could have been used in a weapon way or a war way. >> i remember seeing it on the small black and white television.

and the fuzzy images, but no one was complaining that they were fuzzy because you're experiencing a moment in history. >> whew, boy. >> we're going to be busy for a minute. >> i believe they're setting up the flag now. >> i remember president johnson telling me when sputnik happened and he wound his ranch and ctoked up at that alien ob shees, he was afraid the skies would never seem as s fr alyeynds th had once been and that was partlwhddat pros ed him to getasa going and get that space program launched. >> for every american, this has to be the proudest day of our lives. >> the civil rights movement was in full swing. so i and my family were basically disenfranchised. in that decade, we embarked upon the greatest epic adventure this species has ever undertaken. and the juxtaposition of those two, it's a remarkable thing. >> we came in peace for all mankind.

>> the exaltation that rippled throughout the prison camp was impossible to describe. it was an affirmation that the united states of america could do and achieve whatever it wanted to if we exerted the will and the resources. >> 38-year-old american standing on the surface of the moon. >> some prominent americans on where they were when man first p walked on the moon and of course those last few words there belonged to walter cronkite who died since we last saw you on friday night. much was said about the great cbs news anchorman over this past weekend, but there is no way to overstate his presence alongside the great events in this nation's history in the latter half of the last century. he taught everyone how this job should be done and then some. and we will strive constantly to live up to the standard he set and we will miss him every day. we're back with more right after this. (cacophony of sounds)

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in our "making a difference" report this monday night, some extraordinary women who found it unacceptable a staple of summer was being shut down just because of budget cuts. so they made a difference and tonight children are right back in the water where they belong. amy robach has their story tonight from alexandria, indiana. >> reporter: from big cities like philadelphia --

>> we want our pool! >> reporter: -- to small towns like elyria, ohio, and alexandria, indiana, the ripple effects of our economy have forced some tough institutions on an institution of summer, the community pool. alexandria mayor jack wood said he had no choice when he learned he had to cut $600,000 from his budget. >> we had to look at things that were not essential to keep the city running and the pool was one of them. it evolved a lot of repairs. >> reporter: but when three local women heard this summer's staple for 70 years would close for the season they said -- >> i sid the pool is a necessity mainly because of the children in this town. we don't have a va lot options here. >> it's been a part of our community for lot of years. you talk to someone who's 8 or  someone who's 70, they have memories of the pool. >> save our pool! >> reporter: so the pool ladies as they've been affectionately named went to work raising awareness and enough money to keep kids swimming. did you think they could do it? >> no, i did not.

>> how much money were we talking about? >> $43,000. >> reporter: that's significant. >> yes, it is. >> reporter: it was truly a community effort to save this pool. school children sold cookies, stuffed coin boxes from a 16 cent donation to $10,000 gift, nearly every resident gave something. >> we did not do this. the town did this. the community did this. we were just that voice that said, hey, let's all get together and do something. >> reporter: by the time the pool opened in june, a new liner her been installed, lifeguards had been hired and summer was saved. >> when you look out at a beautiful day like this and see the kids playing, what are your thoughts? >> oh, it's the best. >> keeping watch over a tradition this community hopes will stay afloat for summers to come. amy robach, nbc news, alexandria, indiana. and that's our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night.

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