it is an understatement to say nerves are on edge. >> george lewis in southern california, george, thanks for that. >>> now to the child abuse charges that have rattled the catholic church to its foundations. late today an accusation from the recent past and the priest who so far has not answered for it. nbc's ann thompson has the story from rome tonight. ank, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. most of the cases involved in this crisis are decades old. this one allegedly happened six years ago and involves a priest who was still working. half a world away from where the abuse allegedly occurred. today pope benedict greeted the faithful, retreated after a pressure-packed holy week. the easter celebrations clouded by allegations vatican officials, perhaps the pope himself, helped cover up child abuse by priests. and tonight another salvo, this time from minnesota where two teenage girls say they were raped by a priest in 2004 and 2005. authorities in minnesota are trying to extradite the father from southern india where he now serves with what attorneys say is the approval of t

i love george lewis i think he does a great job. how do you go from sarah palin giving a speech to saying did she rile up the people too much and then talk about death threats? i think that kind of reporting really is what drives people crazy about the dinosaur media. >> well, there have been some people who say that some of her comments and some of her graphics that she's used over the last couple of weeks have perhaps incited some people and maybe. >> yeah, i know they say that. >> and maybe misrepresented her thoughts and she cleared it up herself why wouldn't you connect the two. >> for the same reason that the media didn't connect the film the aassassination of george bush to any threats against the president. look, free speech is supposed to be alive and well in the united states of america, condemning violence-- >> it is. >> condemning vandalism we all do, but to say that sarah palin and the tea party movement is responsible for vandalism or threats is just a way to dismiss the american people and just dissatisfaction with th

nbc's george lewis has our report from los angeles. >> reporter: in manhattan, new yorkers are alreadyin line at the apple store waiting for the ipads to go on sale at 9:00 tomorrow morning. jeannie mullen arrived at 5:00 a.m. >> i wanted to would be one of the first people to get it in their hands and experience it. i didn't want to wait for ups. >> can't apple invent something that will wait in line for me? >> reporter: david letterman got in a few comedic licks last night, literally. as did steven colbert. >> you've got the e-mail, the web browsing, music video, you can shield your eyes from the sun. and just look how quickly it makes delicious salsa. bam! >> reporter: and in the mother of product placements, the latest "modern family" episode revolved around the ad as a birthday gift. >> not so hard, but touch it. touch it, but don't touch it. >> reporter: starting at 500 bucks, the ipad is not a heavy-duty computer. there are a lot of tasks it won't do. if your thing is web surfing, getting e-mails, playing music, video or games, many tech writers say it's perfect. >> i'm really i

nbc's george lewis. >> from the l.a. area -- to the streets of new york. >> three, two, one!reporter: the stampede began this morning as apple stores opened for business. and the mobs were there for just one thing. >> ipad. >> reporter: some people had camped out for days for the privilege of being first to get their hands on one. and in chicago, they waited in the rain. >> it's my wife's birthday. >> reporter: tech blogger robert scobel was first to emerge from the apple store in palo alto, california. >> pretty nice. it's very, very light. >> reporter: the hype has been going on for more than two months now. >> we call it the ipad. >> reporter: since late january when apple's ceo steve jobs made that announcement, bloggers have written nonstop about the ipad. but almost mediately, the jokes began. some saying the ipad was nothing more than an ipod touch on steroids. the ipad is not a heavy duty computer, but rather a device designed for users to consume digital media. books, newspapers, music, photos, videos, the internet, all at the swipe of a finger. and then there are th

here's george lewis. >> reporter: so if you are a parent, here's the question.let your kid climb this? mt. everest, 29,035 feet high. >> three, two, one. >> reporter: 13-year-old jordan romero is confident he can do it. having climbed the climbest peaks on five other continents. >> officially tackled mt. carson. >> reporter: he was just 11 when he made it to the top of alaska's mt. mckinley, tallest peak in north america. and an extremely tricky climb. he's aiming to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents. when he's not climbing mountains, jordan lives with his mom in big bear lake, california. >> for jordan, our life has always been outdoors. and hiking and biking and an outdoor lifestyle. climbing a mountain doesn't seem as shocking to our family as it would for another. >> reporter: everest, with the high altitude, thin air, treacherous weather, presents a unique challenge for any climber. let alone a 13-year-old. todd burleson, highly experienced climber and guide who knows everest well is the president of am pine ascents in seattle. >> if anyth

just like all those people lined up this morning, for today, george lewis, nbc news, santa monica. >> like that, george. all right, so what's the early review on the new ipad? "wired" magazine's jeff pruitt is here. tell us about what the overall review is. it's been duped revolutionary. is that a good word to use for this? >> we won't actually know yet. it's an extremely good device for surfing the web, what we don't know is whether it's going to replace your lap top, whether it's going to be functional enough to do all the things that we do with our computers. it feels good, it looks good, a lot of peoplere going to buy it. is it going to revolutionize everything? we're not sure yet. >> it's superthin. >> it's superthin. >> my lap top, i feel like it's got a cover, so it's okay. what if you drop this? what is the battery life like? those are some of the concerns about his superthin design. >> the battery is goingo last 10 to 11 hours, that separates it from other tablets that have come on the market or will come on the market soon. if we drop it once it will probly be all right, but

george lewis was there and reports that some homes have collapsed, roofs fallen on to the ground.aling with a serious situation on that side of the border. here in calexico, they've shut down about six blocks. the main, downtown area. these buildings are not structurally sound. this area remains closed for the most part to pedestrians, but in the background, you'll hear some clean-up going on. building inspectors have left some folks back on their property, but most are not safe. >> miguel, thanks so much for that report. we're obviously following that very closely. what an -- a large 7.2 magnitude shock down there and we'll be following all of that. >>> executive pay, speaking of shocks. it's down 15% among top earners of the banks and firms who took the most government bailout money. that includes a 33% cut in cash salaries. here with us now, ken fineberg. who can be monitored, regulated and who can't and where we go from here. you are in charge of those firms that took the t.a.r.p. money, but not those still in bankruptcy. that's why gm is exempt from it? >> no, no, gm is inclu

lewis c. brill. like georgeaclaurin, activist citizens are the men and women who helped make the system great because they believed in their country more than their country believe in them. and they joined with charles hamilton houston and thurgood marshall and together they defeated staggering odds. so sometimes when i hear this talk about activist judges i think it's scary the judges a little too much credit. the structural beauty of the strategy that hamilton and marshall put into place was is false modesty its vain to patients. they chipped away at the doctrine of separate but equal by asking only that the doctrine of separate but equal been forced. because they knew it couldn't, they knew that separate could never be equal. and history, time and justice has proven them right. al there's an airport that is named in baltimore after a thurgood marshall and there are a number of schools named after charles hamilton houston. but the true monuments of their labor are the lives that you nie are able to leave each

george has "the morning mix." stay with us. sailed the ocean blue... christopher colus in 14 hundred and 92. nice! follow me, the missouri river is this way! lewision of 1804. oh, he'll never get this. magellan, 1520. awww, my 8 layers must've given it away. help keep your kid full and focused with 8 filling layers... of whole grain fiber found in kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal. this is one giant leap for mini-kind. keeps 'em full. keeps 'em focused. hoo hooo! i have missed you. pollen in the air kept hunter cooped up itching his eyes and sneezing. but now i found zyrtec®. it's #1 allergist recommended. with children's zyrtec® he can get 24-hour allergy relief indoors and outdoors. ♪ now he can run wild... with the rest of the pack. with children's zyrtec®, he can love the air®. and now try children's zyrtec® perfect measure®. a premeasured spoon. just twist squeeze and go™. i'm ed whitacre, from general motors. a lot of americans didn't agree with giving gm a second chance. quite frankly, i can respect that. we want to make this a company all americans can be proud of again. that's why i'm here to announce we have repaid our government lo