lee cowan, nbc news, flint, michigan. >> do your best. she's right. >>> that's our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we'll be back on the air at 8:00 p.m. eastern time for the president's address on iraq. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening as well. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> a firestorm of controversy tonight over firefighter layoffs in the south bay. good evening, everyone. >> san jose firefighters igniting a four-alarm fight tonight with city hall claiming that they have audiotapes that prove that city leaders kept crucial safety information from residents. information about the potential life and death consequences of

our own lee cowan has our report tonight from anchorage. >> reporter: the last frontier is perhaps the last place you'd think republicans would still be midterm squabbling. but senator lisa murkowski is getting boos from her gop colleagues for relaunching her senate bid after she already lost. >> i'm not splitting the ticket here, i'm going to leave the ticket. i believe as so many alaskans believe, that i will win this race. >> reporter: her opponent is joe miller. a fairbanks lawyer who came out of nowhere last month to beat the freshman senator. >> he painted her as a liberal, too liberal for alaska and scored some points and her response was pretty weak to inept. >> reporter: miller got a lot of money from the tea party express and the endorsement of sarah palin, who told voters in a new national ad this week, races like his are sweeping the nation. >> forcing both parties to change the way that they're doing business. >> reporter: miller's message is ultraconservative, campaigning to end what he called the welfare state by phasing out social security and medicare. views murkowski

lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >>> hurdling along to the east coast now, hurricane igor, thousands of miles out to sea, and that's a good thing, because it's a category 4 so far, second most powerful storm there is. sustained winds of 150 miles an hour at the core. nasa has an incredible view of it from space tonight. this is a monster with a well defined eye. big enough storm that it would stretch from dallas, texas, to washington, d.c. it could strengthen to a category 5, but may skirt bermuda with strong winds. it's expected so far to stay well away from the u.s. coast. again, however, whipping up waves along the east coast. trical storm julia has formed, behind igor, part of that daisy chain across the atlantic. not nearly as strong with winds of about 50 miles an hour. also not posing a threat, they don't believe to the u.s. we can't remember a sitting justice on the u.s. supreme court ever stopping by our studios here, but it happened today. we spent some time with justice steven breyer, appointed by president clinton. and residing on the liberal side of the court. he's out w

lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >>> that's "nbc nightly news."y night "football night in america" is coming up next followed by the jets versus the dolphins. thanks for watching, everyone. dolphins. thanks for watching, everyone. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and the 60-day handshake lives on, [ male announcer ] it's ram truck season. that five-finger bond that communicates trust, honor, follow-through, and follow-up. it's a promise that says go ahead and buy a ram 1500 or a heavy duty without a payment for 60 days. and if it doesn't do everything you ask it to do... bring it back. ram.

lee cowan, nbc news.nt lay, alaska. >> that's our broadcast for this monday night as we start off a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> right now at 6:00, pg&e reese leased more than 20 pages of documents detailing the most high-risk pipelines here in california. i'm lisa kim. >> i'm tom sink co-visit. it has been one of the most asked questions in the wake of the san bruno explosion where are the high-risk pipelines located? in a surprised revelation, the pipeline in san

lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >>> that's "nbc nightly news."y night "football night in america" is coming up next followed by the jets versus the dolphins. thanks for watching, everyone. dolphins. thanks for watching, everyone. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

lee cowan, nbc news.nt lay, alaska. >> that's our broadcast for this monday night as we start off a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million?

we begin with lee cowan in los angeles with more on these numbers and the people behind them. lee, good evening. >> reporter: brian, just to put these numbers in perspective, it means 1 out of 7 americans is living in poverty tonight and as high as that number is, experts say it could have been even higher. it's a snapshot that doesn't discriminate. the poverty rate rose for all races and ethnicities, a quarter of the nation's african-american population is in poverty. same is true for hispanics. among the hardest hit are children. 1 in 5 are now estimated to be growing up poor in the richest nation in the world. >> numbers five and six. >> reporter: at food pantries like this one in los angeles, the new face of the poor isn't what you might expect. take elma, a professional mother of two who never thought she would be depending on others for a meal. >> we get bread, sometimes we get seafood, sometimes we get chicken. >> reporter: across town at the local mission, we found a college graduate who is now homeless. >> i never ever really disclosed this to my family because it's em

our own lee cowan has the story of the child who beat the odds. >> reporter: it was supposed to be a fun fourth of july vacation, way up in the colorado mountains. but when their 2-year-old son, gore, wandered away, everything changed. >> absolute panic. i was -- i was crying so hard i couldn't even run anymore. >> reporter: just a few hundred yards from the cabin was an irrigation ditch and inside they found little girl. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> i have a little boy that's drowned. >> reporter: gore had been under water for almost half an hour. his grandfather, a refired orthopedic surgeon, started cpr. ten more minutes passed and still nothing. >> he was just pale, like somebody -- frankly somebody that's dead and that's what he was. >> reporter: after nearly an hour, doctors got gore's heart going again. but that was it. that water was unrelenting. but there is one element that the colorado rockies give to almost every drop of water that rolls out of them that in this case was potentially life saving. the water was cold. gore's temperature had dropped to just 87 degrees.

nbc's lee cowan has more. >> reporter: it's a snapshot of the nation's poor that doesn't discriminatethe poverty rate rose for nearly all races and all ethnicities. a quarter of the nation's african-american population is in poverty. same is true for hispanics. among the hardest hit are children. 1 in 5 are now estimated to be growing up poor in the richest nation in the world. at food pantries like this one in los angeles, the new face of the poor isn't what you might expect. take alma, a professional mother of two who never thought she'd be depending on others for a meal. >> we get bread. sometimes we get seafood. sometimes we get chicken. >> reporter: across town at the local mission we found shivan, a college graduate who is now homeless. >> i have never, ever really disclosed this to my family because it's embarrassing. i'm expected to do well. >> there's norma. she's worked since she was 13. but lost her job last year. >> when you see that you don't have nothing at home to cook or to offer what we're going to have, it makes it tough. >> reporter: she can't afford foote food, let

♪ god bless america ♪ my home sweet home >> reporter: lee cowan, nbc news, pearl harbor. >> that is whyously called them the greatest generation. they were indeed. that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you, as always, for being with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening when we are >>> new information on what may have set off a killing spree across the bay area. >> now the question, was it an ambush? that set off the man accused of

our own lee cowan made his way to the remot village of point lay on alaska's north slope, where the walrus congregating. >> reporter: the midnight sun is finay setting here in the arctic. but as the summer wanes and the dark winter month approach, something isn't right. >> it should have been snow on the ground. >> reporter: jim has lived here most of his life and thought he'd seen everything the arctic had to offer. until he saw this. those are all walrus? >> yeah. >> reporte tens of thousands of walruses rting on the beach instead of their traditional ice fls. a warning signs that the walrus' icy environmt is warming up fast. >> they prefer to use the ice offshore if they can, but if it's gone, they don't have any choice but to come to shore. >> reporr: a report out this month shows it's the third lowest arctic ice level in 30 years. >> we're seeing an arctic in the midst of a very rapid change, and right now there seems to be no signs that it's stopping. >> reporter: and for the natives, that's frightening. >> scientists say there's global warming going on. >> reporter: do you believe t

nbc's lee cowan reports. >> reporter: the love the game hits early a so does its realities.urbank vikings loss 20-0 this weekend. that didn't deter number 66. he's just the kind of minifan the nfl is counting on, notust because his play on the field but the play off it. adam is one of 2 million kid now playing with the nfl online. >> it's just fine. you don't have work and you get to play it. >> reporter: the nfl kicked off rush zone, an online fantasy game, two years ago to broaden the fan base instead of taking its youngest fans for granted. >> what we tried to do is not expect the kids would come to the nfl and the game woulde handed down to them, but they could find the nfl in all the places where they're spending time. >> reporter: this season rush zone the game became rush zone the cartoon. >> let's do this. >> reporter:he hero is a 10-year-old charger fan named ish. >> whoa. no turner coach of the san diego argers. >> reporter: it's all for young fans. in his age group he and his friends have a lot of competing interests. >> they have this spongebob, cartoon network a

. >> reporter: lee cowan, nbc news, hartford. >>> that's "nbc nightly news" for this sunday. stay tuned for "dateline." i'm lester holt reporting from new york. from all of us here at nbc news, good night.

lee cowan is in alaska. good morning. >> reporter: we're about 300 miles above the arctic circle this morning and this is where the walrus are gathering, some 20,000 of them at one point over the course of the summer and scientists are saying this is a gathering that is so large and so unusual that scientists are now worried about the walrus's safety. it's the end of summer along the north slope of alaska and in the tiny village of point lay, they wait for the ice to return. the tundra is usually already frozen by now. but instead, children are playing in the lagoon bare not. innocently oblivious to what it all may mean. >> scientists tell us that there's global warming going on. >> reporter: do you believe them? >> yeah, i believe them. >> reporter: leo ferrera, the tribal president here is worried that the -- they worry about the most recent resident who is need the ice to survive. the pacific walrus, who normally rest on ice sheets floating out at sea. they're unable to find refuge even on a small piece o

. >> lee cowan is joining us live. it's a name that's well-known in alaska. >> reporter: it is. she's defending this, continuing with this campaign even though she knows it is an uphill battle. nobody has done it since strom thurmond in the '50s. she still has a chance here. she's got a lot of money and she does, like you said, have that name. tough to spell, but a lot of people recognize, which is a start. as for her opponent, joe miller, he's not worried about this. he campaigned successfully getting backed by the tea party express as well as endorsed by sarah palin. he campaigned on things like trying to phase out essential security. face out medicare. even said that unemployment insurance was unconstitutional. those are the kinds of views that murkowski says are extreme. now, she wants a second chance to try to do it. >> very early. 5:00 a.m. in anchorage, alaska. thanks for that early morning duty for us. >>> still ahead, my interview with lisa murkowski. is her write-in campaign ignoring the wishes of voters in her own party? >>> plus, christine o'donnell in delaware says

lee cowan, nbc news. >> still to come a heartbreaking murder trial until connecticut. survivor faces the man accused of killing his wife and children. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> still to come on "today," how some of the biggest stars of the '70s and '80s are with standing the test of time. >>> a bit of a chill this morning as we look out over the nation's capital but it's going to be a beautiful weekend. details are coming up. first good morning. it is saturday, september 18th, 2010. 7:26. i'm gil don't be alarmed if you see smoke and a lot of emergency vehicles near ronald reagan washington national airport. it's only a drill. thewashington metropolitan airports authority will start a drill. helicopters and fire. the chr should be wrapped up by 11:00 a.m. and won't affect airport travel. two bridges are closed all this weekend for repairs. the frederick douglas bridge which goes across the anacostia closed last night and rescheduled topen at 5:00 on monday morning opinion chain bridge closed last night and reopen by 5:00 monday morning. your forecast is co

. >> nbc's lee cowan is in anchorage following all the political drama there. fending this decision, chris, even though it upset a lot of republicans who wished instead she would go back and back the republican joe miller who won the primary here. she knows this is still a real long shot. there are those who think it may work. she has a lot of money and name recognition and she told chuck todd the reason she's doing it is because the voters here didn't have a choice. >> 85% of the people, the electorate did not participate in selecting the two nominees going forward. democrat scott mcadams, nice, nice guy, but really unelectable. joe miller represents some views that here in alaska most people feel are outside in that main stream. >> now, joe miller, her opponent was backed by the tea party and got endorsed by sarah palin. murkowski says those are extreme views that she didn't fight back hard on in the primary and now she wants another chance to do it. >> thanks, lee. >>> sarah palin's daughter, bristol, lives to dance another day. the verdict is in on "dancing

lee cowan, nbc news. >> still to come a heartbreaking murder trial until connecticut.he survivor faces the man accused of killing his wife and children. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> still to come on "today," how some of the biggest stars of the '70s and '80s are with standing the test of time. >> good morning, i'm jennifer franciotti. it is 7:26. here's a look at some of our top stories for you. in baltimore city, a fight between two family members turned deadly. officers were called just before 8:00 last night to the 1000 block of north stricker street in west baltimore for a fight between her aunt and her niece. the injuries to the aunt were so bad she was taken to the hospital where she later died. police are still investigating this case. >> three people are recovering after being stabbed onboard an m.t.a. bus. it happened around 2:30 at liberty heights in northwest avenue near the mall. a fight broke out on bus number 51 which left three people with stab wounds. >> the bus driver brought the bus to rest here outside the mall. there were people here sched

lee cowan, nbc news. >> still to come a heartbreaking murder trial until connecticut.he survivor faces the man accused of killing his wife and children. but first, this is "today" on nbc. this is unlike any car you've ever seen before. this is power with efficiency. this is an interior that exceeds even the promise of the exterior. this is the all-new jaguar xj. the stunning result of taking a very different road. our state is in a real mess. and i'm not going to give you any phony plans or snappy slogans that don't go anywhere. we have to make some tough decisions. h weto eave th lwiur onsinea. miv we have got to take the power from the state capitol and move it down to the local level, closer to the people. and no new taxes, without voter approval. we have got to pull together not as republicans or as democrats but as californians first. at this stage in my life, i'm prepared to do exactly that. >>> still to come on "today," how some of the biggest stars of the '70s and '80s are with standing the test of time. >>> good morning. it is 5:26. are you wondering what the

lee cowan has the story of a little boy who beat all the odds. >> reporter: he was supposed to be a funn wandered away, everything changed. >> absolute 4[ghch#9ñ i was -- i was crying so hard, i couldn't even run any more. >> reporter: just a few hundred yards from the family cabin is an irrigation ditch and inside they found the boy. >> what is your emergency? >> yes, a little boy that's drowned. >> reporter: he had been underwater almost half an hour. >> i think we're too late. >> reporter: his grandfather, a retired orthopedic surgeon frantically started cpr. ten more minutes passed and still nothing. >> he was just pale. >> reporter: after an hour, they got his heart going again. that water was unrelenting. but there's one element that the colorado rks give to almost every drop of water that rolls out of them that in this case was potentially life saving. the water was cold. his temperature had dropped to just 87 degrees. in a last ditch effort doctorséc stone cold, in hopes of protecting his brain. >> so they pumped ice cold fluids into him. they put him on a cooling ring. >> repor

nbc's lee cowan is in anchorage with the latest. lee good morning to you. >> reporter: yeah, a lot of senator murkowski's colleagues not only in washington but among the party as a whole including those here in alaska are really frustrated by the fact that she's continuing to push this write in campaign. murkowski insists that it was her backer who is wanted her to give this one more shot. it's just before dawn at the local diner in anchorage and just as a fresh pot of coffee is being brewed, embattled senator lisa murkowski is brewing a fresh campaign. alaska's senate race was turned on its head when murkowski lost the gop primaries to a lawyer named joe miller, a tea party favorite. miller's victory should have been the nail in murkowski's incumbency, it wasn't. she stunned her vo. >> they tell me you cannot do it. alaskans can't figure out how to fill in an oval and spell m-u-r-k-o-w-s-k-y. >> a write in candidate who some republican leaders are now characterizing as a sore loser. >> i'm more concerned about what the people of ala

lee cowan in anchorage for us this morning. lee, thanks very much. senator lisa murkowski is also in anchorage this morning. senator, thanks for waking up early. good morning. >> you bet. thank you, matt. >> so when i read the books on politics, the system worked like this. candidate loses primary, candidate endorses winner in primary, candidate works hard for that other candidate, even for the greater good of the party, and then candidate rides off into the sunset. you read a different book, apparently? >> well, we're writing the book, at this point in time. i'll tell you, what is going on here in alaska is about providing -- providing alaskans a choice in this election. i did not prevail in that primary, but what happened after that primary was an uprising. from the people in the state of alaska saying, lisa, you cannot end this. please stay in this race. please give us a choice. it was an outpouring of thousands of alaskans from all over the stays. and in response to that, what do you do? >> but all candidates have staunch backers, but the people

lee cowan, nbc news, denver. >> and the family is with us exclusively, dave and amy along with gore andbrother and sister, ryan and kerry, good morning to all of you. a look at gore now, it's truly amazing to me. it must be to you as well. he seems absolutely fine. he's been wandering all over the set. >> he's absolutely perfectly the same little boy that he was the morning of july 6 before the accident. >> does he have any memory of it at all? >> no. >> nothing? >> no. all he wanted to do is go back and get in the irrigation ditch when we went back to the cabin. >> take us back, this was july 5? >> july 6. >> that moment when the panic set in for you, you had been bathing the other two children and you look and he's not there, he's not in the house. >> i had bathed all three, and put his pajama shirt on and maybe walked back in to get his pants or something and walked back out and said where's gore? and within a few minutes, ran to the porch and saw that the screen door had been unlatched and knew he had left the cabin and i just went into an absolute panic and started looking for him

first here's lee cowan. >> reporter: a little under two years old.ay is next week, almost never made it. on a fourth of july family vacation in colorado, gore's terrible twos struck early in terrible fashion. he wandered away unseen. >> absolute panic. i was crying so hardy couldn't even run anymore. >> a few hundred yards from the family cabin was an irrigation ditch, where the worst fears came true. >> i have a little boy that -- >> a relative found gore pinned to the rocky bottom. he had been under water almost a half hour. his grandfather, a retired orthopedic surgeon started cpr, ten more minutes passed and nothing. >> he was pale like frankly like somebody is dead. >> reporter: after nearly an hour, they finally got his heartbeating again. by the time he was flown to children's hospital, doctors gave him less than a 1% chance. >> he was as close as they come. >> reporter: the water was unrelenting, there is one element they give to every drop that was potentially lifesaving. it was cold. >> take your breath away. >> reporter: gore's temperature

for "today," lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. and now let's get a check from al roker. >> we have got some moos from minnesota, and you've got your christmas ornaments on. let's check your weather and see what's happening, we'll show you, could this be nicole? we're watching the tropics, 30% chance of development, this thing right around the eastern caribbean, we are looking to see, it may actually work its way up into the gulf, across florida and then along the eastern seaboard. we'll see. week ahead, it's going to be wet in the eastern third of the country. for the midweek period, above normal in new england, much of the western thirds of the country, with more wet weather along the eastern seaboard, and then as we move toward the latter part of the week, more rain on the east coast, we have had a drought, so we could use the rain, above normal >> we are off to a wet start this morning. the rain will be with us off and on. there will be breaks in the precipitation, but >> and don't forget you can check your weather any time of

for "today," lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >> and erin wood is with us now.mpathies to you. thank you for sharing your story with us this morning. before i ask you about anything else -- >> thank you very much. >> -- can you tell us is everything okay with your pregnancy? what have the doctors told you? >> yes. after the accident, all the doctors that saw me were very careful to monitor the baby. and although there were some early contractions and concern about that, the excellent care i received made sure that the baby is safe. >> it's -- your baby is due november 5th, so you're in the last couple of months here. how are you feeling? >> well, i was feeling good before the accident. physically, i'm still doing well. starting to slow down, just like anyone in their third trimester. but, yeah, physically, i'm doing pretty well. >> take me back to the night of the accident. there's this out-of-control chevy blazer. it's heading right for you. what do you remember about that moment? you've described it as almost being dream-like. >> yeah. i was actually dozing a

for "today," lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. and now let's get a check from al roker. >> we have got some moos from minnesota, and you've got your christmas ornaments on. let's check your weather and see what's happening, we'll show >>> good morning. welcome, needed rain has been moving through the metro area nce yesterday. it continues on this monday morning. where you see the moving color, we're getting some light to moderate showers in the shenandoah valley and panlds of west virginia but farther to the east much of the rain has dissipated at least temporarily. temperatures are in the 60s generally except near the bay and eastern shore in the lower 70s. highs today in the low 70s with occasional showers. some severe storms possible later today. >> and don't fort you can check your weather any time of the day or night, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. >> a right, al, thanks. >>> now to the scandal that has rocked one of the country's biggest megachurches. eddie long vowed to fight allegations at he coe

for "today," lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >>> and now let's get a check of the weather from al roker. hey, al. >> thanks a lot, ann. we've got our friends out here, raining. we've got some moos from minnesota. my golly. you got your christmas ornaments and everything? >> we're ready. we're ready. >> it's like moosele-toe all over again. could this be nicole? we're watching the tropics, 30% chance of development. this thing right around the eastern caribbean. we're looking to see, it may actually work its way up into the gulf across florida and along the eastern seaboard. we'll see. week ahead, we've got above-normal temperatures along the east coast, but it will be wet in the eastern third of the country. much above-normal temperatures out west. much of the western two-thirds of the country with more wet weather along the eastern seaboard. as we move toward the latter part of the week, more rain along the east coast, but we've had a bit of a drought, so we could use the rain. above-normal temperatures in the western half of the u.s. >>> well above average for us today with a hot fore