senator daniel brewster. this is john's fourth book. having previously coauthored the autobiography of former u.s. senator joseph de tydings and former governor harry hughes. having written a book on maryland's controversial land use policy known as smart growth. john graduate from the college of william and mary in virginia and was honorably as a first lieutenant in the us army in 71. john is former reporter at maryland statehouse bureau chief of the baltimore sun and united press international. he also covered the virginia assembly in richmond for upi and was editor, reporter and for the reston times, a weekly newspaper in fairfax. john later worked on staff of the governor of maryland at a university of maryland academic research center and, is director of the smart growth office in the u.s. environmental protection agency. in the obama administration, john is married to the children's book. priscilla cummings, who with us tonight. and they have two grown children. well and hannah, two grandsons and two cats who are not with us tonig

none of this would be possible if you had not done an incredible job writing the daniel brewster story so i want you to know how grateful the entire burster family is to you, john. thank you, all. [ applause ] >> thank you, gerry. i'd like to give a few brief reflections about the book and about how i got involved in this and why am sitting up here. i got reacquainted with gerry a year ago at a fundraiser at delegate michelle guyton's house. and we had known each other casually in high school and we had a mutual interest in maryland and american political history, and of course the burster book project came up. i was intrigued and when gary told me about it i thought, it's really nice and probably a wonderful treatment of his father, his father's career and i remembered i heard in high school i remember something about ireland and that's about all i really remembered at that time. so gerry sent me a copy of the book and i read it. i read it last fall on an airplane to paris and by the time we landed i finished it. it kept me up on the plane and what i found, really, was about research

brewster, thank you. >>> breaking news in the trial of daniel penny where the jury appears to be dead locked.ordan neely into a deadly choke hold on a subway last year. penny has pleaded not guilty to second degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. the jury told the judge they cannot reach a unanimous verdict on the manslaughter charge. let's get to nbc news correspondent rehema ellis outside the courthouse and also with us legal analyst angela cendella back with us. what's happening right now? they told the judge they can't come to an agreement. now what? >> reporter: well, they're taking a break, kate. what the judge has asked the attorneys to do is look at case law to determine whether or not they can put aside the first count against daniel penny and that is the count on manslaughter in the second degree. the prosecution is not in favor of doing that. the defense on the other hand says, once again, the judge should call for a mistrial in all of this because the jurors are deadlocked. they said since this morning they cannot come to an agreement. the judge sent them back on w