thank you. >> thank you, contessa. >>> that wraps up this hour from me. i'm contessa brewer.p next, andrea mitchell reports with much more on the path of irene. >>> i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel update. no effects on business travel today from irene. we don't have to worry about that quite yet. we are going to see a strong cold front coming through new england and the mid-atlantic with storms coming through boston, new york, and d.c. before those storms arrive, it will be pretty warm. talk about heat, dallas up to 107. phoenix up to 114. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to d

i'm contessa brewer. rom new york city.new york harborer a beautiful shot of the statue of liberty. the boats are still out. we're not seeing much of the high, rough surf coming into new york harbor yet. but norfolk, virginia, that may be changing. we know it's changing in north carolina. here is norfolk, virginia, right now. looks like a gorgeous day at the beach. the governor has ordered the state offices in coastal areas to close today at 3:00 p.m. it's an encouraging private employers to do the same thing. they want people to be taking very seriously the threat of this hurricane. in fact, let's show you the weather channel map to give you an idea of why it needs to be taken so seriously. the threat level here from wind, rain, waves and especially storm surge up and down the northeast corridor. at water's edge now we're being told this threat the catastrophic, potentially deadly. hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect from south carolina up to new jersey. by the way, with most of the impact as you can see it

hi, andrea. >>> hi, contessa. great to see you.> up next on "andrea mitchell reports," gadhafi's power crumbles in libya, but the fight isn't over. we'll hear from richard engel who's on the ground in tripoli. plus, what lies ahead for the u.s. and nato with william cohen and house intelligence chair mike rogers. and congressman and civil rights pioneer john lewis reflects on the new multimillion dollar tribute to martin luther king's dream. "andrea mitchell reports" next on msnbc. in a business like ours, personal connections are so important. we use our american express open gold card to further those connections. last year we took dozens of trips using membership rewards points to meet with farmers that grow our sweet potatoes and merchants that sell our product. vo: get the card built for business spending. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, lau

i'm contessa brewer.bi says it has potential evidence in the case of missing 3-year-old breeann rodriguez. investigators in minnesota are searching for a white cargo van. >>> the u.s. coast guard rescued the crew of a marine corps fighter jet that crashed off the california coast. the two marines are in stable condition. >>> kolton harris moore, the barefoot bandit, just signed a $1 million plus movie deal. the money will go to pay the victims of his two year long crime spree. >>> according to a new poll, casey anthony is the most hated person in america. beating out reality star spencer pratt, octomom and o.j. simpson. >>> we just got in some political news now. nancy pelosi has just announced her super committee members, her choices to go in and try to tackle america's debt and spending. she announced that she's appointed here the assistant democratic leader, james clyburn, caucus chair xavier bucera and chris van hollen. let me bring in nbc's deputy political director, mark murray. there are the choice

i'm contessa brewer. we have breaking news from orlando. a florida junge stepping down from his case after he ordered casey anthony to turn herself in to a probation officer by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. a few more hours than she was originally given. last month a jury acquitted the florida mother of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. she hasn't been seen since leaving prison. this week judge strickland says anthony has to begin serving a year probation for a separate check fraud case. moments ago the department of corrections announced another deadline. >> we have told her attorneys that she needs to be here by no later than 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. if she does not check in by 10:00 tomorrow, we will notify the court. >> nbc's kerry sanders is live in orlando. now she's getting the demand from several different avenues get back here. what's likely to happen? >> well, it appears that her attorneys are working on many different fronts. specifically in court where they are trying to get a change to th

i'm contessa brewer. i'll see you back here tomorrow.reports." >>> good monday, here's your business travel forecast. i'm meteorologist bill karins. we're plagued by a lot of showers and thunderstorms. it's going to be hit and miss showers in many spots like boston even possibly an isolated shower in new york, d.c., atlanta same for detroit. out west, the heat is the big story in texas 106 in dallas. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthri

>> well, contessa it's interesting. one of the things that president obama has been calling for is a balanced approach, entitlement reform, tax reform. it will be interesting to see if this committee can get that. we're seeing those republicans that you just put up on the senate side, senator john kyle, senate too maniy, senator portman and then on the house side, when sarling, camp and upton. camp says on the ways and means committee. so he's been dealing with tax reform for quite a while. a lot of people wondering is this an admission by republicans that they know that tax reform will in fact need to be on the table here. having said that, all six of these picks signed that pledge by grover norquist not to increase taxes. so we'll to have see how that plays out. again, the president expected to put his own proposal forward here, contessa. as you say democrats feel he's not doing enough. they are focused on the proposal. we haven't heard from the white house when the proposal will be releesd or exactly what it's going

i'm contessa brewer.s with some of the 9/11 family members about the phone hacking scandal this afternoon. the families requested the meeting. >>> dominique strauss-kahn is considering filing a countercivil lawsuit against the maid who filed charges of criminal assault. >>> the post office might have figured out a way to save $1.5 billion by slowing delivery speeds for first class and priority mail. >>> and according to reports sprint will start selling the iphone 5 when it's reportedly released in mid october. >>> officials at the national hurricane center now say irene could hug america's eastern coastline this weekend potentially becoming a big threat to new epg land on sunday. let's get the latest from eric fisher. >> reporter: good afternoon, contessa. the bottom line here is we're still a couple of days away from east coast impacts. we're inside the 48 hour window, once you're there, you have to think about where gour doing to go, if you're going to get money out of the bank, stock up on food and wa

contes contessa? >> thank you.r man shuttle will talk at 11:00 a.m. >>> let's take a look right now at the dow jones industrials off by 56 points on a troubling report on consumer spending dropped for the first time in nearly two years. nicole lap inis here. it seems for several weeks we were so focused on the debt deal. even beginning yesterday we saw a manufacturing report and consumer confidence. >> we are back to basics now. and yet we're almost very add in terms of what's moving our money now. we were so focused on this debt tkaoefplt we have europe to deal with. our own economy to deal with. this is as the stimulus is retreating. the fed had our back. >> the fact that the gdp has grown so slowly. >> right. >> are we looking at a slowdown in our recovery? >> absolutely. and we're looking specifically at the jobs every single week we almost hold our breath. tomorrow jobless claims aren't coming out. that's expected to not do very much. >> a couple weeks ago we were talking about this fake apple store in asia. n

contes contessa?>> all across the country, cities are scrambling to balance their budgets as they deal with the aftermath of the recession. in central falls, rhode island, it's too late. the one square mile town is buried in debt and has filed for bankruptcy protection, hanging in the balance, city services, taxes and pension and benefits for city workers and retirees. i'm joined by rhode island governor lincoln chaffey. good to see you today. >> good afternoon. >> why did it get to this point for this particular town? to get to the point where they have to file for bankruptcy protection? >> well, at one time central falls, although it's only one square mile, was a very prosperous community. that economy has changed, as you said in your lead-in. the crash of '08 really just exacerbated the financial problems and the revenues are not meeting expenditures anymore so we have to file for bankruptcy. the end goal is to get central falls in some way either merged with another community or shared services to

>> absolutely not, contessa. a lot of the frustration you're probably hearing right now from democrats during this summer of discontent is the fact that there won't really be a primary challenge. if you're angry at one reason or the other this is a cathartic moment where everyone's getting upset, but looking at people that might have the viability to challenge president obama. someone like howard dean, russ fine gold. they've all said no. the incumbent president won't have a serious primary challenger. that's the situation heading into november 2012. >> good to talk with you. appreciate that. with me on the phone is the mayor of piasta, iowa, population 1300. it sits behind cedar rapids and madison. mayor, good to talk to you today. >> yes. >> do you think the president can do anything for your town without the cooperation of congress? >> i don't think if he can do anything for our town. we've got -- we're pretty much established right now. our economy is good and our housing is good. right now we've got 14 house

. >> thank you, contessa. nice to be here. >> we're watching for this fed meeting at 2:15 eastern time. what tools does the fed have left to help turn this economy around? >> qe 2.1. qe stands for quantitative easing. this is the main tool that the federal reserve has right now because the interest rate that they control, their other main tool is bumping around zero, you can't bring that down any further. quantitate v easing a couple of fancy words that basically mean inject more liquidity, more cash, basically into markets in the hopes of bringing down interest rates. in this case we're talking about interest rates for longer term bonds, the long end of the yield curve as we say. and the idea is that if interest rates are lower, investors who are kind of at the margins trying to decide what to do, might take the plunge. >> and the president is getting a lot of the blame for what's happening on wall street right now. and the gdp. there are even columnists tieing the 400-point slide yesterday after his speech t

i'm contessa brewer. updating you on the breaking news out of tampa, florida.foiled a serious high school bomb plot. we have pictures into us from the st. petersburg times. 17-year-old expelled student jared canno is under arrest. he's accused of planning to detonate a bomb at freedom high school in north tampa. >> they indeed found a manifesto written by jared that outlined minute by minute what his actions were going to be on the first day of school. he also mentioned his desire to cause more casualties than were suffered at columbine. >> i'm joined by nbc analyst and former fbi criminal profiler clint van zant. 17 years old, he'd been expelled from school, he'd been writing some concerning messages on facebook. now we're seeing the pictures of this kid who the reporter who was in the courtroom said that his -- he couldn't even say whether to expect his parents there to show up in his support. what do you make of all this? >> this is a challenge, contessa just like we've looked at flash mobs within the last few months. here's one individual. but again, the qu

i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." you see a crime unfolding before your very eyes. the law breakers are armed, so what do you do? run for help? call 911? or would you try to stop the bad guys yourself? it's one thing to get involved if you are young and able. but in the story you are about to see, one of the unlikeliest of people says, "not on my watch." northampton, england. it's a bold and brash robbery in broad daylight as three sledgehammer-wielding thugs wail away at this jewelry store front. and three getaway drivers on mopeds rev their engines. it appears no one can stop these helmeted hooligans from their brazen afternoon heist. that is, no one except for super granny. >> i am exceedingly feisty. i know how to smack your hand if it's in the wrong place. >> her name is ann timson. and cloaked in red, flying down the street with the greatest of ease, the 71-year-old british granny vigilante decides to take justice into her own hands. beating the armed bandits with the only weapon she has, her handbag. >> it was

>> reporter: we just heard from the president, contessa. he was in southwest washington in washington's navy yard. basically he says we are going to get through this america. things are going to get better. he act senuated the positive. there was again positive job growth in the private sector. the 17th month, the president pointed out of private sector job growth. 2.5 million jobs were added in the course of the last year and a half. as he's pointed out on a lot of first fridays when there is an incremental change in the downward side to the unemployment rate as there was today. the president once again act senuating the fact when he got into office, the country was hemorrhaging jobs. there were eight million jobs lost over the cost of the recession. the president said it's good news that we're adding jobs at this point. he called for a lot of policy initiatives to pass through congress the pay agreements an extension of the payroll tax cut. an infrastructure bank to ewe towards bidding highways a lot of construction jobs around the countr

thank you. >>> i'm contessa brewer. that wraps up this hour for me.re tomorrow noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. we'll keep our eyes on wall street and see if we see a rebound of the markets here. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." savannah guthrie filling in. i know you're keeping your eyes on the markets too. >> we are. coming up, the wild ride returns to wall street. what is spooking investors this time? we will ask ron insana. >>> plus the economy, jobs, what it means for 2012. former democratic party chair howard dean and "washington post" columnist michael gercin will join us. that, plus "time" magazine's joe kline introduces us to war veterans making a difference on the home front. "andrea mitchell reports" coming up next. announcer ] anan anthis...is the netwo. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broad

i'm contessa brewer. the u.s.service say it's considering cutting 20% of its workforce. 120,000 jobs to an effort to avoid bankruptcy. the agency wants to move retired workers out of federal health and retirement programs and set up its own benefit systems. >>> some much needed rain came to north texas. with the good came the bad. several neighborhoods were flooded. >>> startling numbers about high school dropouts in california. a new report shows almost one in five students in the state eats projected class of 2010 dropped out before graduation day. >>> a new study shows smoking increases the risks more of a heart attack in women more than men. it showed a 25% difference in increased risks. researchers aren't sure why that is. >>> stocks are higher today following a strong retail sales report this morning. the dow jones is up 145 points. the s&p is up by 11. the nasdaq has popped up 22. let's go to melissa francis who is joining me live. when we're looking at these reports, it looks like a glimmer of good news he

i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." police officers have a lot of equipment to help them fight crime. guns, tasers, cuffs. but many departments also have another powerful tool. the dashboard cameras installed in police cruisers. as you'll see, they are often the silent partner that can speak volumes. a cop battles for his life in a roadside rumble. >> he was out to kill me. all bets were off. >> until he finds help from an unexpected source. >> december 11th, 2010, dayton, ohio. veteran police officer jonathan seiter pulls over 64-year-old otto coleman for a headlight violation. >> let me see your driver's license. >> what's the concern? >> the concern is that your headlights are out, sir. >> he started off being defensive with his responses. he was adamant that he had both headlights working. however, they were not. >> i had my headlights on. >> see your high beams were on. that's the problem there buddy. >> the officer soon discovers another problem. >> i suspected after he might have been a drunk driver because i did

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast. we begin this hour with breaking news beyond our borders. out of libya are the last gadhafi stronghold could be falling as we speak. we're getting reports that hundreds of rebels have stormed mo mar gadhafi's compound. it's believed there are some reports that gadhafi is hiding there. we just got news from the pentagon that says that they just believe the libyan leader is somewhere still in libya and fierce gunfights have been breaking out through the the day there. in fact, you can see the thick smoke here billowing in the sky above the compound. but gadhafi loyalists continue to put up fights throughout tripoli. earlier today snipers had rebels taking shelter near central green square. nbc news chief pentagon correspondent joins me now. are they getting good updates from the ground? >> reporter: no. they are following the news reports reich everybody else. not only at pentagon, but at nato because they don't have boots and eyes on the ground. they have to gend in large part on what

. >> i'm contessa brewer thank you for watching today. president's bus tour taking him to iowa.e'll talk about that. here you can see live pictures of the crowd out there in minnesota. people clapping, waiting to hear from president obama himself. andrea mitchell has more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. kicking off his town hall meeting. this is the beginning of his three-day bus tour. president obama has all the marks of a political campaign. >> keith ellison. we've got the secretary of the department of agriculture tom vilsack is here. and i want to thank the mayo

i'm contessa brewer.t ruled that the confessed killer of 77 people in norway has to spend at least four more weeks in isolation. investigators worry he might tamper with evidence or contact possible accomplices. families and survivors returned to the crime scene for memorial. >>> a piece of evidence in the casey anthony murder trial has been destroyed. her car, the white pontiac sun fire her dad took it to the junkyard yesterday. >>> hewlett-packard is pulling the plug on the touch pad, the come computer tablet. it was widely criticized and only been for sale for two months. if you bought one, you're regretting it now. >>> former president bill clinton turns 65 today. he's celebrating at home in new york. >>> congressional republicans are pleading with rick perry cut it with the crazy talk. according to politico lawmakers worry about sharing a ballot with a guy with loose lips who suggested the fed chairman is treason ous. even ron paul who criticized the fed for years thought that was over the top. don't

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i'm contessa brewer. covering the big news from coast to coast.e're watching right now. roll on. president obama takes on congress and gets jabbed by the republican presidential hopefuls as hi heart land bus tour heads into day two. on day one of his

contessa brewer is picking things up next. >> why are you leaving me over here by myself?ng friends and standing together? you leave me standing on this box, oh, wait, okay. it's about time somebody did something right over here. >> contessa brewer has things in the next hour. >>> another watch in the casey anthony front. >> this is much better with him standing here. i don't feel so alone. >> this proves i didn't wear shorts today. >> is she going to go back to court. and breaking news on the judge handling her check fraud case. she's supposed to be back by 5:00 p.m. today. >>> also what the debt deal means for job creation and itsz affect on some cities across the country. the mayor of washington, d.c. joins me live. and new clues in one of the oldest fbi cold cases. d.b. cooper's 1971 hijacking mystery. we've got the family who now claim it was their relative who did it. we'll tell you all about the report that abc is coming forward with coming up after a forward with coming up after a break.ion handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 m

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast.e're watching right now, fear, fatigue, freefall. main street losing faith as politicians bicker, leading to all this volatility on wall street. >> stocks charging right out of the gate into the green this morning thanks to a bit of good news on the jobs front. it's been a wild ride on wall street this week. a market driven in part by rumors and by fears. yesterday the dow closed down more than 500 points. >> the debt crisis, the s & p downgrade or something about some bank in europe, each is another headline that's like the nail in the coffin. >> in just under three weeks, we've lost 2,000 points on the dow. the wealth construction we've had is the equivalent of one-fifth of the annual output of the u.s. economy. >> on capitol hill, lawmakers on the so-called super committee are about to get to work to find ways to cut america's spending and debt. republicans picked mostly hard liners.

i'm contessa brewer following the big news coast to coast. right now breaking news out of

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news from coast to coast.t now, double dip. president obama fails to calm jittery markets and today fed chair ben bernanke tries to give it a go. here's how stocks are shaping up so far. looks like we're doing well in positive territory today up 226 points. again, above the 11,000 mark. they were buying again on wall street this morning. >> the the panic in the market is now over. >> what a difference is day makes. yesterday investors in a rush to sell sent stocks tumbling. the worst day on wall street in two years. president obama tried to calm fears. >> this is the united states of america. no matter what some agency may say, kwef always been an always will be a aaa country. >> as he was speaking the slide got even worse. thdo

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast. the big story we're watching right now, a tiny silver lining in a kbloomy economic cloud. president obama reacting this morning to the jobs report. the labor department announcing 117,000 jobs created in july. and the jobless rate actually dropped .1% to a little more than 9%. >> my concern right now, my singular focus is the american people getting the unemployed back on the job, lifting their wages, rebuilding that sense of skaurt, the middle class has felt slipping away for years. >> we've got a problem on our hands now, though, the market once again is taking a nosedive. down 206

contessa brewer is going to pick things up next on msnbc. don't go anywhere.d. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] with beats audio and flash, you can experience richer music and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad with webos. >>> good monday, i'm contessa brewer covering big news from coast to coast the big story right now, credibility. here's what's happening on wall street. the first day of trading after the s&p cut america's stirling credit rating down to aa plus. look at that, the dow jones industrials off by almost 300 points. the s&p down 38. the nasdaq composite down 83 points. it's the first credit down

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news from coast to coast.atching right now, nose dive. the markets take a tumble and wall street's getting squeezed. right now, the dow jones industrials is down, way down at this hour. the s & p is off by 44 points. wow. look at the nasdaq down more than 100 points. all this as the president's leaving the white house for martha's vineyard later today. surely looking for a break from this pressure cooker that is s his. stocks opening way down this morning as investors worry about predictions for a slower global economy. >> the world is in a situation where the new normal is extraordinarily low growth. >> there's no reason why we shouldn't put americans back to work all across the country rebuilding america. >> president obama says he's got a plan to get the u.s. economy moving again, that includes tax cuts, budget cuts and a second stimulus. but for specifics, you'll have to wait until after labor day. >> why doesn't he tell us today? >> a lot of people want answers. approval for the president's handling of th

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast.aking news from overseas around the world countries are beginning formally to recognize libya's national transitional council and the end of muammar gadhafi's regime in libya. rebels are in control of the capital, and reportedly taken other state tv, but still unanswered, where's gadhafi? the celebrations began almost immediately. >> finally libya is free. for 42 years we've been suffering. >> from just outside the white house to the streets of tripoli. >> we are free. we are now free. >> the civil war that's gripped libya for six months reaches a dramatic conclusion with rebel troops pushi

i'm contessa brewer covering the big news from coast to coast.ast coast and the path of irene. it's a category two storm. the latest forecast shows irene weakening, but not getting smaller. its outer bands are lashing north carolina's coast with heavy rain and 105 miles per hour winds are kicking up nine-foot waves. >> this is a serious hurricane.

contessa brewer is now here to pick things up.e wine and the generator combo. >> she made it sound like she was going to use the wine and cheese to fuel the generator as well as during the fuel. what about you, are you making preparations? >> i need to make plans later today. >> if you're in the path of irene anywhere on the eastern coastline, don't forget too about your paperwork action the documents you have, deed to your house, rental agreements, things like that, all very important to have. >> birth certificates, all very important. >>> so 50 million people affected by this historic storm. we have you covered from the carolina coastline to new england. by the way, coming up next hour, rick perry catapulting to the top of the gop polls in just a week. does that put mitt romney on alert? just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] philli

and you can tweet at contessa brewer who is up next. that's it? >>> i got in early.n early. get your name. don't let anybody else take it. >> i'm late to the party, always. >>> we're ramping up for more coverage of the iowa straw poll this weekend. and how the candidates performed at the debate. michele bachmann here she's pulling out her own thesaurus on what submissive really means to be a submissive wife. and what about rick perry? how his entry in the race should shake things up. >>> a california congressman's grandchildren abducted nearly four years ago found. four years ago found. more ahead. phillips' colon heah probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipati, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do mo

contessa brewer in the peanut gallery next to me. >> i don't know why you didn't let me just participateould have. >> you know what the east coast has that the west coast doesn't have yet? hurricanes. and hurricane irene could be a good one. >> in hurricanes? >> these are the guys complaining about carmagaddeno. >> where are you from, canada? >> oh, for sure. hurricane irene more on this ahead. a look at rick perry's unusual campaigning methods as well. she has a lot of people working for him. could it pay off in the end. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪ geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. and i was a pack-a-day smoker for 25 years. i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i'm like, "oh, promise mommy you'll never ever pick up a cigarette." i had to quit. ♪ my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces t

. >>> coming up here at noon, contessa brewer will speak with faa administrator, randy babbitt. >>> the world's largest human tragedy is only getting worse. first, today's trivia question. in honor of the president's birthday, how many american presidents have turned 50 while in office? tweet us @daily rundown with the answer. the answer and much more coming up on "the daily rundown." stay with us. >>> there doesn't seem to be yet a global recognition of how severe this crisis is. we're seeing just a fraction of the engagement and the level of resources after the haiti earthquake, for example. despite the fact the number of people at risk now exceeds the total population of haiti. >> that was testimony during yesterday's senate hearing on africa's growing famine. the crisis is only getting worse. the united nations has now declared three new regions in somalia famine zones and suggested that the crisis will spread to all of southern somalia in the next several weeks. nbc's intrepid kate snow joins us from ken gentlemyakenya. i understand you were just some somalia and are now back in ke

my colleague contessa brewer takes over for the next hour.buy v8 juice. five bucks. that's a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us. all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

i'm contessa brewer. anyone who watches the news knows iraq is a dangerous place.irefights are daily threats to u.s. troops and iraqi civilians. it's no surprise, then, that some of the most dramatic video we have comes from that war-torn country. hershey bypass, iraq, september 9th, 2007. a group of soldiers from the 144th military police company, a michigan army national guard unit, are traveling from tikrit to mosul. as they often do throughout the deployment, they videotape the journey. specialist ron dickinson is driving the armored humvee. it's a trip he'll never forget. >> nobody would believe us if we didn't have it on tape. >> three other members of his unit are inside the vehicle, including sergeant jason daw. >> if you slack off and don't pay attention, that's when they get you. >> they've been in the country for several months and seen their fair share of improvised explosive devices, or ieds. >> ieds are the number one threat as far as i'm concerned because you don't know where they're going to be, what they look like or when they're going to go off. >

one student told my colleague contessa brewer how they're holding up. >> people here, we understand, we are hokeys. everyone's in pretty good spirits. just waiting. >> joining me live is scott lehman from our affiliate. what's the situation there? >> reporter: occasionally you see officers driving by on patrol. there are some buses not far from our position here where we've seen officers taking a look at, making sure people aren't trying to get on those bus, certain things like that. now around 9:00 is when this group of teenagers saw this man on campus. this is burriss hall, the main administrative tall here at virginia tech. about a four or five-minute walk over to the dining hall where they reported seeing that man. as you said, he had the gun supposedly covered up. and that's about all we've heard so far from campus officials. we expect more a little later. as you said, they've released the composite drawing of what they believe this man looked like. we haven't heard the exact word "lockdown" mentioned here on campus. but they have been pretty specific about encouraging people to

coming up in the next hour, contessa brewer will take things over on msnbc.n on the updates coming to us from virginia tech and much more in the world of financial news. stay with us. ♪ yes! ha ha! ♪ [ clicking ] dad, what happened? power went out, want a hot dog? [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% pure beef and have no artificial preservatives. they're a great way to re-connect with your family. dad, how come the nelsons' lights are on? ♪ it doesn't get better than this ♪ a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.