harry smith is a correspondent. it is so breathtaking.e first time. how could she not know? >> there are lots of questions that are difficult to answer. we pressed dr. hall on that question over and over and over again. what seems clear to me, though srks that once we started working on the story last summer, we found that incidents like this have been popping up all over the country. teachers are so motivated to get their scores up because of no child left behind, because of other structures that have been put in place. schools are punished if the schools don't perform well enough. and a lot of schoolteachers and principals have given up on the kids and said we oar going to cheat our way to success. >> if the federal dollars go to the schools where tests show improvement, how do you get around that? do you have to change the whole system? if we can't trust our teachers and principals to care about the kids then where do we go? who do we trust? >> what is interesting here is there is a lot of success to be looked at in atlanta. and perhap

>> harry smith in the studio. do you think he's more honest than most big-time politicians we've seen lately or is he better as seeming more honest? >> i think one of the things that's most revealing is that business about dance. he's disciplined and knows when to let the lieon out a little bit and bring it back in. >> when he talks about the inner city and hopes and dreams, that sounded unusual for our times, especially in these times when it's about austerity and cutting and everything else, he so wants to lengthen that school day and give those kids especially in those neighborhoods every opportunity possible. it is interesting to watch him, because there are all those things that he was famous for in the white house, but there seems to be more to him now. >> he did admit to an interview for a while wanted to be the first jewish speaker of the house. his brother ari on "entourage" and his brother zeke is a famous physician. >> down at the university of pennsylvania. this is a very interesting guy. i did a lot o

they think it could be even more. >> harry smith, thank you, pal.'re under way. >> appreciate it. >> when we come back, richard engel has now gone where most western journalists cannot go and are prevented from going. tonight his trip into syria, and the man who has bravely ventured to where we make the real news n y joarstewret heth i jon ewrearhetht n ud iste io with us tonight. st >>> as the arab spring we witnessed quickly turns into winter, the middle east is littered with deposed dictators, dead and alive. now, all eyes are on syria and president assad who remains defiant and in power for now. he has killed thousands trying to crush the rebellion, and he's tried mightily hard to hide the killing and the torture by keeping western journalists out of there. but our own chief foreign correspondent richard engel got in at great risk to tell the story of the ongoing revolution inside syria. >> it's the arab spring's most stubborn revolution. and it's kept alive by graphic videos like these, recorded in secret in syria. the syrian regime has kept mo

we found one harry smith ever so happy to field all incoming questions.st of all, the first thing we got that night was, okay, who do i, how do i, where do i go, there is a website? >> the websites, the phones rang off the hook in williston, north dakota, the mayor's office, the chamber of commerce. >> you must be a popular man. >> i might be able to run for office. everybody was inundated. the one place in particular we mentioned, hospital has 60 openings, there are $25 million expansion, they were flooded with applications. and they were really pleased. because we helped grow their pool of applicants. they've hired at least six people who they've said as soon as we find you a place to live, you can come to work for us. >> now, a big deal that we did not have time to immerse ourselves in, this is fracking, hydro-fracking, and it's proving so controversial and environmentally damaging in other parts of the country, yet people keep referring to it to the answer to our needs. how is it different? >> let me give you a track of what trackfracking looks like.

and harry smith went there to find out how it is so many adults are flunking the test. >> reporter: fordecade the city of atlanta one of its biggest problems. in a stunning and celebrated reversal the long-struggling school system was finally making the grade. >> now i get it. >> reporter: katim served on the school board eight years. >> as scores started to go up in the atlanta school system what was your thought? >> hm. i think much like everyone else in the city. i wanted to believe that atlanta was defying the odds. >> reporter: much of the credit for defying those odds went to dr. beverly hall, named the 2009 national school superintendent of the year. >> what kind of shape were the schools in when you got here? >> i found there were a lot of low expectations for the children. and for the success of the school district. and so there was a need for a complete transformation. >> reporter: year after year, that transformation took place. and the proof? rising math and reading scores in grades 1 through 8. but with the scores came warnings. red flags that the scores on standardized tes

here is harry smith. >>> this is an nbc news special report. here is harry smith. >>> the verdict is in in the trial of dr. conrad myrrhry. he's accused of involuntary manslaughter. >> to everybody, good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury, i am advised the jury has reached a verdict. who is the floor person? >> i am, your honor. >> chair three. >> you have reached a verdict? >> yes, sir. >> have they signed the appropriate verdict form? >> yes, sir. >> do you have all the verdict forms with you? >> yes. >> could you provide the verdict forms to deputy jones who will then present them to me. thank you. court has reviewed the verdict form and ladies and gentlemen, there was a typo in terms of the date of the alleged incident. it was written june 9, 2009. number three, you have corrected that to june 25 and put squigglies after that? >> yes. >> thank you. >> i have reviewed the form. i will pass it to the court recorder. she will publish the verdict. >> superior court of california, los angeles county. the people of

huge basketball fan, the president plays pickup games often, seen here with the cbs early show's harry smith. townsend could have used an extra player. >> we were thinking about putting him in the game. >> reporter: president obama took pictures on the court with the townsend football team at halftime, adding to an already historic day. >> i just can't remember anything being this big. >> and the obamas stayed for the entire game and even afterward to shake hands with several people. everyone got a good and rare glimpse of the first family. we're live at townsend university, wjz eyewitness news. >> you wonder did they grab anything to eat or did they book it back to washington? >> they had a chopper so i think they booked it back. they were snacking here. >> good to know. thanks so much. as she mentioned, the u.s. secretary of education arnie duncan was sitting with the obamas. he is a former basketball player, also a friend of the president's from their time in chicago. >>> well, in other news tonight, a couple has been shot while driving in charles village. police say a man and a woman wer

long form stories from correspondents both with nbc news and elsewhere including ted koppel and harry smith. "rock center with brian williams" premieres tonight on nbc bay area. >>> soldiers could come home to stricter grooming rules. they want to see less ink on soldiers especially on the hands and neck. it was relaxed in the height of fighting in iraq and afghanistan. and tattoos were allowed there. now new requirements could ban certain tattoos, earrings, and frenchman cures for women. it could also mandate shorter hair for men. >>> well, that didn't last long. kim kardashian has filed for divorce. filed for divorce today just 72 days after tying the not with her basketball-playing husband kris humphries. and the marriage was quick. but it did earn them a lot of cash. they took in $15 million for their four-hour, two-part wedding special which you might have seen on the e network. "people" magazine played $2 million for the exclusive photos. and rather than paying for the champagne and the parties, the reality star and her husband earned a million dollars to pay those bills. we crunch th

and people are going there from all over, including our own harry smith. in a story debuting tonight on "rock center," tonight he gives us just a glimpse of williston, north dakota, where the jobs are. >> reporter: it's a town perhaps unlike any other in america today. everywhere you look, companies are hiring. >> the big issue these days is job creation. we have jobs. we're just a small community. we have 2,000 to 3,000 job openings here and more come on the scene every day. >> reporter: in williston, north dakota, help wanted doesn't even begin to describe it. $15 an hour for fast food workers. $80,000 a year or more if you can turn a wrench or drive a truck. the reason? oil. new technologies are bringing billions of barrels to the surface. and with the oil come jobs of all kinds. grace and miles krugman moved from colorado. after grace, an unemployed teacher for more than a year, found work with the williston schools. >> what was the feeling when they called up and said, yes, we have a job for you? >> i was so excited. it was like -- i don't know how to

you'll miss harry smith's story on the largest cheating scandal.t wasn't the students doing wrong, it was the adults, the teachers and administrators. you would miss a special guest joining me on the couch here in the studio. join us tonight for those stories and more. "rock center" 10:00, 9:00 central here on nbc. >>> zebras on the loose. people in the area who got a shock looking out their window today. >>> the ten commandments moving forward in virginia but not without a lot of controversy. >>> what happens when you play in front of 70,000 fans and you have to go to the bathroom? you can't hold it any longer. you don't want to miss that, tonight. >> i'm not sure i want to know how that turns out, that story. >> the possibilities. >> let's change the subject. >> fantastic weather we had today. comes to an end tomorrow. 63 degrees tomorrow then falling temperatures. 100% chance of rain tomorrow. take the umbrellas and cooler for the rest of the week. i'll be here at 11:00. >> me, too. >> me, too. i have no choice. >>> a few years back, engineers u

we have harry smith who came out of the box with that report on where the jobs are. the discovery of oil shale and this boom town in north dakota. we had a number of questions and comment that is came out of that. we are having him back to talk about it. on our couch tonight will be tina fey. probably the leading woman right now in the entertainment business in terms of television and in terms of the movie business. she's now a mother of two. we'll talk to her especially about the similarity of the names of the two shows. >> you and tina can be funny together. are you going to be funny tonight? >> i, you know, if she forces me to. i'm generally sober. >> i know. and she strong arms you a lot. we're going to be watching and we better be laughing, brian. all right? see you at 10:00. >> nice to see you at work, by the way. >> i try to stop in from time-to-time. brian williams, we're going to see him tonight on nbc "nightly news" at 7:00. then at 10:00, "rock center" with more on the verdict. he's got a big show and he's got tina fey. it should be fun. >> jon stewart las

the problem i had with it geo e journalistically is that the kate snow piece on the babies and harry smith'sce on boomtown usa in north dakota had been done by the "times" among other sources a while ago. so as far as original journalism, i was a little disappointed. journalistically, i thought richard engle's piece while daring was about richard engle. and i didn't see much news value there. i give them major credit for trying to be different, however, by having two live segments at the end with jon stewart. unfortunately -- >> we'll get to that in a moment. we'll get adam buckman to jump in. >> okay. >> are there any stories that stood out? television often does stories that -- anything that stood out as being just terrific journalism? >> well, i had not -- i had not seen the stories that gail referenced that the show apparently repeated or followed up on. so to me, the stories that she mentions were very interesting. i had not heard about birth tourism before. the story about boom times in western north dakota was interesting to me. i thought the quality was very high and drew about four

if you haven't seen harry smith on "rock center" you can do so tonight at 10:00 p.m. >>> cyndi lauper knows how to have fun and knows how to help people that need it most. the singer joins me in the studio with more on how she's helps lgbt youth this holiday season. there's miss cyndi now. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ ♪ i come home in the morning light ♪ ♪ my mother says when you going to live your life right ♪ >> so who can forget that adorable redhead in the funky dress dancing down the street in that famous video in the 1980s. the iconic dress could be yours. today it went on display at julianne's auction house where it will go on sale december 1st. we are curious to see how

others in their class, are considering a lawsuit. >> smith: let me ask you about these nursing students at corinthian. we talked about the nurses with harrisiller. they have $30,000 in debt. >> right. >> smith: what can they do? >> well, the government can basically wipe that out. i mean, the government has the ability to... if these allegations are correct, and these students were misled, the government can do a lot of things if they're true. >> smith: we asked secretary duncan about the nurses' claims and what miller hasaid. he said if they determine that the allegations are correct, the government can wipe out their debt. is that true? >> i don't know if we have the ability to wipe out their debt. and again, that's the wrong answer. the right answer is to stop that bad practice. >> smith: well, clearly, that would be a good idea to stop that, but i was surprised to hear from the chief lobbyist to sort of pass this off and say, "well, the government can wipe that out." you can't wipe that out. >> no, sir. >> we are very concerned about the amount of debt that students are taking on, whether that be federal student loans as well as privat

jaclyn smith christmas trees are all 25% off... and harryter and the deathly hallows part 2 dvd is $14.99 blu-ray combo $19.99. now that's kmart smart. [ coughs ] what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. wgn evening news legislation to allow speed cameras in chicago passes in springfield allowing the city to use cameras to issue tickets to speeders in school and park zones and the bill on its way to gov. quinn also the issue of expanded gambling for chicago that one failed. in springfield with the latest joining us live. >> mayor rahm emmanuel adding 500 in springfield today you might say but this a stunning defeat although inevitable the governor did not like the bill and harsh words from the head of the state gaming commission. they have been the final nail in the coffin. >> the bill before you today takes a good bill passed in may and makes it better >> skokie democratic lou lang came out swinging on the house fl

. >> harris: i'm hairs faulkner in from shepard smith. first from fox this friday night. the suspect of the disappearance of an american woman in aruba about to walk free. judge ordering release of the man police call their prime suspect 35-year-old robyn gardner went missing since august. she was in aruba with jerry giordano the owner of an employment agency. ocean current swept gardner out to sea while they were snorkeling he claims. investigators don't buy that now the court says he can walk out of jail and leave that island next week. our steve harrigan is live in our south florida newsroom. steve, do we know what triggered these latest new developments. >> harris, the judge said there is simply not enough evidence to keep on holding giordano. he has been in detention in aruba for four months and with no body and no murder weapon, it's really been an uphill battle for the prosecution. they are waiting for information from giordano's laptop and phone to come back from netherlands they are stuck. they have issued an appeal. by the time the appeal is heard on wednesday.

haters hairs i'm harris faulkner in tonight for shepard smith. this is the fox report.ld abuse candle scandal and another major assistant coach in the hot seat. this is bernie heim. there for 35 years. two former ball boys telling espn he sexually abused them beginning in the 1970s, tonight, fine calling those allegations, quote, patently false in every aspect. the university has placed him on administrative leave while police look into the accusers' claims. listen to what one alleged victim told espn. >> i remember feeling disgusted like laying in bed what am i doing? why is this happening? he just always would keep coming back. i would always think it's not going to happen again. >> harris: but according to that accuser, it did happen again, hundreds of times until he was 27 years old. and he says the syracuse head coach, jim bayheim knew what was going on. bayheim playing aggressive defense telling espn it's quote a bunch of a thousand lies he has told. only one side of the story, is he lying. chancellor saying accuser first contacted syracuse in 2005 saying he alrea

i'm harris faulkner in tonight for shepard smith. the u.s. embassy in damascus urging all americans to leave syria immediately while flights are still available. the u.s. ambassador already gone, citing fear for his safety. there is word from washington he won't be going back as planned. this as the syrian government's bloody crack down rages on. the united nations estimating some 3500 people have been killed in clashes between ashare's government forces and his citizens. now the league giving 24 hours to allow observers to enter that nation or face economic punishment. james rosen from our d.c. newsroom. james, just a few minutes ago a french news agency reporting that syria's rebel army calling for air strikes inside his own country to speed up the government's fall. >> harris, good evening, this chief of the syrian rebel's nassant military wing in turkey. strategic strikes without foreign boots on the ground. tonight evidence that western officials remain reluctant to adopt that strategy. we start with the arab league who symbolled it migh

smith: i love it. i wish we had an hour long show. ed harris>> heilemann: yes. >> smith: julianne moore is sarah palin. >> heilemann: yes. >> smith: woody harrelson is steve schmidt. >> heilemann: yes. >> smith: .mccain's consultant. who's playing obama? >> heilemann: there's no barack obama. >> smith: he's not even in there? you didn't do will smith,,i mean.? >> heilemann: no, i think, they decided the, the guy jay roach, the director, and danny strong the screenwriter. they did, did the ilm for us. they mmde the decision that in a two hour movie, they needed a tellscope on something. and they were very attracted tooreally telling the sarah palin story. and so the movie is really about palin and mccain and the 60 ays between her selection as vice president. >> smith: right. >> heilemann: .as the vicee3 president nominee on the republican side and the election day 2012. so there's no john edwards, there's no hillary clinton, there's no barack obama. i mean they appear. joe bbden appears in like news footage and, and stuff. but in terms of the a

. >> i'm harris faulkner in for shepard smith.begin with new developments in the child abuse sex scandal. the football game about to play the first game since the scandal broke and the university took action against another coach. several hours ago, penn state interim president saying assistant coach mike mcquary is now on administrative leave. the school announcing earlier mcqueary would miss tomorrow's game because of what it called multiple threats against him. critics blaming mcqueary for not doing more after he said he witnessed former defensive coordinator sandusky assaulting a young boy in the locker room showers. sandusky accused of molesting eight boys many say he met through a charity he founded. now an interview surfaced in which sandusky talks about his work with children. >> it's been an opportunity, it's an opportunity for me to have been touched by great people who vollen tire their time and energy -- volunteer their time and energy and opportunity to see young people overcome challenges in their life and lead a lif

jaclyn smith christmas trees are all 25% off... and harryand the deathly hallows part 2 dvd is $14.99, blu-ray combo $19.99. now that's kmart smart. >>> time to check "the pulse," the stories you'll be talking about today. billy crystal is returning to the oscar-holding duties for the ninth time. crystal was chosen after eddie murphy pulled out earlier this week. >> he tweeted he's coming back to the oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking me my name when i'm picking up my prescriptions. >>> check the calendar. look at it very closely. you see that today is november 11th. >> that's right. 11/11/11. and those seem to be lucky numbers for the thousands of couples who are getting married today in las vegas. it's been so busy at the marriage bureau that they had to add staff. >> and now in ohio the state's pick four lottery sold out. you can't buy any more pick fours of 1, 1, 1, 1. we're told the pick 3 version using 1, 1, 1, that's still available. >>> now, to a home where the buffalo roam, literally. a canadian man, the prou

jaclyn smith christmas trees are all 25% off... and harryvd is $14.99, blu-ray combo $19.99. now that's kmart smart. >>> time to check "the pulse," the stories you'll be talking about today. billy crystal is returning to the oscar-holding duties for the ninth time. crystal was chosen after eddie murphy pulled out earlier this week. >> he tweeted he's coming back to the oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking me my name when i'm picking up my prescriptions. >>> check the calendar. look at it very closely. you see that today is november 11th. >> that's right. 11/11/11. and those seem to be lucky numbers for the thousands of couples who are getting married today in las vegas. it's been so busy at the marriage bureau that they had to add staff. >> and now in ohio the state's pick four lottery sold out. you can't buy any more pick fours of 1, 1, 1, 1. we're told the pick 3 version using 1, 1, 1, that's still available. >>> now, to a home where the buffalo roam, literally. a canadian man, the proud owner of one of the largest ho

smith, es encontrado culpable, enfrenta la pena de muerte. stop open roll open cu ---en el corazon latino de la mision, estuvo hoy la fiscal general de california, kamala harris---de primera mano escuch la lucha de la gente por salvar sus casas del embargo hipotecario. ---pilar niÑo nos cuenta lo que le pidieron algunos de ellos. take pkg take pkg mas de media docena de testimonios escucho hoy la procuradora estatal kamala harris. historias de dolor de propietarios de casa que narraron sus odiseas para no perder lo que con esfuerzo y sudor lograron. rolando pena/ya perdio su casa 41:40 pusimos 150 mil dolares de down y vivimos por siete anos...... y perdio la casa? y se perdio todo 41:50 rolando y otros contaron como nunca lograron que sus bancos modificaran los prestamos...el ademas perdio siete mil quinientos dolares que pago a la gente que le ofrecio ayudarle a hacer dicha modificacion. 42:55 buscamos dos personas que trataran de hacerlo lo unico que hicieron fue robarnos el dinero 42:59 elizabeth dice que sin saber, le alteraron el nivel de sus ingresos en su solicitud de prestamo. elizabeth moron/en proceso de embargo 37:05 el doble, me pusieron que teni

jaclyn smith christmas trees are all 25% off... and harrydea of working the park is a tad different. >> i think so. >> tad. ♪ we're going at it tonight ♪ there's a party on the roof top on top of the world ♪ >> welcome to universal orlando. we have stuff planned for you guys today. >> like what? >> you're going to be universal employees for the day. >> we're going to work here? >> it's going to be kind of a challenge. you guys ready to do it? ♪ sexy and i know it >> ladies, you look fantastic. >> don't say one thing. >> you're going to be greeters. the ride right over here where they will experience getting wet. >> wet? >> that's right. >> i can't go near that. >> go ahead. you're in. >> hey, don't cause my trouble. >> what do you think? >> yes. he can go. not this one. trouble with a capital "t." >> i think you guys look horrible. that's only because i'm dressed the same way. >> whoa! >> all right, ladies. next job, there you go. >> what are we doing? >> this is not for me. >> i've never seen garbage like this. >> someone just dumped the pa

richard norton smith stole my thunder about the 1956 convention and jack kennedy. one of my favorite comments was something that harry about adlai stevenson, that is spent more time thinking about what he was going to do rather than doing it. he spent a lot more time talking to college presidents that he did to cabdrivers. anyway, 1956, richard norton smith made a comment to adlai stevenson doing something unprecedented in, opening the conviction -- the convention to picking a vice presidential nominee. very few people really know -- there were two other candidates in contention for that position. hubert humphrey and al gore sr. seeing as how jack kennedy was out of it, would that tickets have been a little bit better had it have been al gore sr. or hubert humphrey? also, i guess what i was going to say -- >> let's leave it there. that is a lot of questions. >> certainly, kefauver did not help. i think what richardson about kennedy was exactly correct. the opportunity to be at the convention and to be seen as a vice presidential possibility introduced jack kennedy to the country. i remember a few years later, i saw h

richard norton smith stole my thunder about the 1956 convention and jack kennedy. one of my favorite comments was something that harrybout adlai stevenson, that he spent more time thinking about what he was going to do rather than doing it. he spent a lot more time talking to college presidents than he did to cabdrivers. anyway, 1956, richard norton smith made a comment to adlai stevenson doing something unprecedented in, opening the convention to picking a vice presidential nominee. very few people really know there were two other candidates in contention for that position. hubert humphrey and al gore, sr. seeing as how jack kennedy was out of it, would that ticket have been a little bit better had it have been al gore, sr. or hubert humphrey? also, i guess what i was going to say -- >> let's leave it there. that is a lot of questions. >> certainly, kefauver did not help. i think what richardson about kennedy was exactly correct. the opportunity to be at the convention and to be seen as a vice presidential possibility introduced jack kennedy to the country. i remember a few years later, i saw him at a dinner and i s

1944 it was the naacp and thurgood marshal that took smith versus alright and won that case that eliminated the white primaries in the county of harris. in 1953 the naacp had to go back to eliminate the white pre-primaries that eliminated the jay birds. even though we eliminated the white primaries, the white pre-primaries, in 1965, the faces were those of the marchers at the bridge on what we now know as bloody sunday. they were beaten back to the church where they started the actual march. the faces of those marchers happens to include the honorable john lewis, member of congress. 1965, the face was that of l.b.j., president of the united states of america. he had the opportunity and did sign the voting rights act of 1965. the faces changed, but the fight was still the same. we had to have a voting rights act, notwithstanding all of the amendments to the constitution and notwithstanding the two supreme court cases. 2006, the faces changed, george bush, president of the united states of america, re-authorizes the voting rights act because we still find that there are cases of discrimination when it comes to voting in the united stat