nbc's leanne gregg has the story. >> governor, are you concerned about what's to come, governor? >> reporter: rod blagojevich, back home and greeted with celebrity fanfare after a jury's decision on his alleged political corruption crime spree. after two weeks of deliberations on 24 charges, a mistrial on all but one count. >> this jury just shows you that notwithstanding the fact that the government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me, that on every count except for one, on every charge except for one, they could not prove that i did anything wrong. >> reporter: the jury did find blagojevich guilty of lying to the fbi. >> i did not lie to the fbi. i've told the truth from the very beginning. this is a persecution. >> reporter: among the charges the jury failed to agree on, that blagojevich tried to sell the senate seat vacated by obama. u.s. attorney patrick fitzgerald says there will be another trial. >> we are in the mode of being close to jury selection for a retrial. >> reporter: blagojevich didn't testify as promised at the beginning of the trial, but the jury did h

as leanne gregg reports, a high-profile nasa official was also on board. >> reporter: 86-year-old ted stevens was on a fishing trip with eight others when their small plane crashed in a remote area in alaska. stephens and four others died. >> it's with deep sadness that i acknowledge the loss of senator ted stevens. >>. >> also on board, former nasa murder trial, shawn o'keefe. he and his son are reportedly among four survivors now being treated. a team from the national transportation safety board is en route to investigate the cause of the crash. >> >> and the weather is less than a 100 foot ceiling. >> there's high terrain to the north of ain't and that's a concern. >> stephens was o'keefe's bong-time mentor on capitol hill where stevens was powerful senate appropriation's committee. he survived a plane crash that killed his first wife and his career was ended when he was convicted on corruption speech. >> my motto has been, to hell with politics." just do what's right for alaska. >> is charges were dropped six months later by misconduct by the prosecution. and now, a tragic end fo

nbc's leanne gregg has more. >> reporter: john mccain one step closer to his fifth term in the u.s. senate after winning tuesday's primary. mccain spent more than $20 million to successfully fend off former congressman j.d. hayworth. >> i promise you, i take nothing for granted, i'll fight with every ounce of strength and conviction i possess to make the case for my continued service in the senate. >> reporter: critics arguing the senator has lost his conservative roots with his stand on immigration, a key issue, but mccain still able to win heading into the november election. in florida, four-term congressman kendrick meek showing his gratitude after elected as the democratic senate nominee. meek, the establishment candidate, beat self-funded real estate mogul jeff greene, who made millions betting against the subprime mortgage market. >> there are those that counted us out, but you counted us in, and i want to thank florida for doing that. >> reporter: in november, meek will face republican marco rubio and florida's governor, republican-turned-independent charlie crist. the vote p

nbc's leanne gregg has more. >> reporter: this morning, the search for what caused this plane to crash, killing former u.s. senator ted stevens, the longest serving republican in history. >> for he built alaska and he stood for alaska, and he fought for alaskans. >> reporter: stevens and four others were killed traveling to and from fishing lodges when their small plane crashed in a remote area near dillingham, alaska. four survived the crash, including former nasa administrator sean o'keefe and his teenage son kevin. the cause of the crash is under investigation. >> we're looking to see whether or not there were any pilot reports, distress signals, whether there was any signals from an emergency locater. >> reporter: in a twist of fate, stevens survived a plane crash in 1978 that killed five people, including his first wife. and now more than 30 years later, another crash would take his life along with the lives of four others. leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> well, predictions of doom for establishment candidates this november are being put to the test. in colorado yesterday, incumbent se

leanne gregg shows us what you need to know the next time you hit the mall. >> reporter: if you plan to buy a gift card you may want to wait until sunday. a new law slides into the scene governing the gift card industry. >> under these new rules, gift cards will last longer, and some credit card fees won't be quite as brutal. >> reporter: the cards will no longer be allowed to expire before at least five years. each time you reload the card, the five-year clock starts again on the amount you add. consumers will also be shielded from annoying hidden fees like service or non-use charges. >> that's good news. >> there is one big exception. a fee can be charged if you don't use your card in 12 months. >> we hear complaints from consumers who give gift cards but find throughout is a lot less money on them when they go to use them. >> reporter: which is why the consumers union applauds the changes. the rules apply to store cards along with mastercard, visa, american express and discover branded gift cards. and soon more user friendly than ever. leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> coming up on the

leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> well, running with humans. the show we're going to show you amazing video of a bull jumping out of the ring and right to where the people are. >>> and back-to-school blues. the bay area teacher who lost her car and all the supplies she had bought in the span of a few seconds. >>> and a wild chase right onto the runway. >>> and good evening, i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. plenty of 70s right now across the bay area, especially in the south bay, with 77 from sunnyvale to san jose. tonight in the east bay we'll look at temperatures dropping into the 50s. more on your cooling weekend forecast coming up. os >>> go to nbcbayarea.com and search the tillman story to read a review on thetomoow about the who went from football star to u.s. patriot. to >>> well, more aid is being promised to help pakistan recover from disastrous flooding. nbc's stephanie gosk reports from islamabad. >> reporter: amazingly the numbers of people affected in this country continue to grow. the united nations today announced that eight