mike taibbi here with us. an american car guy myself, raised in an american car family. it's hard to see anything negative, but we should probably remind folks of the numbers. what did gm get from the federal government? how much has been given back? and how much of gm do we all still own? >> they got a lot. gm got $40.5 million. they paid back $24.1 brl. a little less than a half. but the u.s. treasury, meaning all of us, still owns 500 million shares of stock in the reconstituted gm. that's about 12 to $13 billion right now. we're on the hook, the u.s. treasury is on the hook for about 12 billion or $13 billion now and they don't expect further payment from gm. that's still an area of debate. no debate that gm is back on the rebound. we all have as the number one vehiclemaker in the world right now. >> mike taibbi, welcome back. great reporting out there at the plant in flint. >>> coming up later, a unique look inside another american business where, if they don't work the night shift, you don't get what you're expecting the next day. we went down to memphis to show yo

mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. ♪ thank you, thank you i love you!st on a monday night. thank you for being here with us as we start off a new week. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >>> i'm raj mathai. >>> for so many people, pets are family members. a man mourning the brutal attack on his dog. the small dog was stomped to death. happened in broad daylight and san jose police are searching for clues. it happened at winchester and colonial. in s j

we get the story from mike taibbi. >> reporter: mary louise picard sat in today as her twin daughtersdriving lesson. >> to keep them safe. it's really important. sorry. >> reporter: mom knows and wants emily and grace to know about the lethal dangers of distracted driving. cell phone calls and texting. music and conversations in the car full of kids. reaching for anything behind the wheel. >> it's frightening. >> reporter: frightening too is for the first time in eight years, teen road deaths are up 11% in the first six months of 2011, according to the governor's highway safety administration. >> it's a wake-up call, because in the past few years in particular, teen deaths have really been declining markedly. >> reporter: in fact, they plummeted from 6,100 in 2002 to 2,800 in 2009. largely due to education programs like this one sponsored by the aaa. a dad saving a daughter from an accident. >> whoa, stop, hit your brakes. >> what were they doing? >> they completely ran a red light. >> reporter: and all 50 states have restrictions on night driving and number of passengers, for example

mike taibbi, nbc news, hollywood. >>> that's our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening, thanks for being with us on this thursday. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. what did they know and when did they know it? san jose city councilmembers are demanding answers after an investigation revealed the mariuszed an inflated pension projection to help sell a fiscal emergency. retirement costs could reach $650 million by 2015. even though city officials reveal to nbc bay area, the mayor was told not to use that padded number. jenna cisco broke the story. she joins us from the newsroom with the latest. >> five city councilmembers filed this memo just two hours ago. they want the city manager and the finance director to tell them where they got the number 650, how it was calculated and if it was off the top of someone's head. it's the latest in our ongoing i

it's where we begin here tonight with nbc's mike taibbi in los angeles. >> reporter: crying children. children and their parents, hugged for the teachers they won't see for a while. and their school with 1,500 students, shut down for two days. the school superintendent announced the unprecedented measures including the transfer of all of the school's 150 teachers and staff. >> clearly several individuals have violated the most sacred trust we have, which is to take care of students when they're given to us. >> don't tell me that! >> reporter: there have been escalating protests by parents since two veteran teachers were charged with lewd acts against children. 49-year-old martin springer for allegedly fondling two third graders and 61-year-old mark berndt who is alleged to have photographed lewd acts with at least 23 children with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape. one source involved in the case confirmed for abc news in addition to photograph, prosecutors have dna evidence against berndt, dna evidence in alleged acts involving children as young as 7 years old. expe

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mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. >> now we turn to presidential politics and a major reversal from president obama who's now embracing those new super pacs made possible by a supreme court decision, the same super pacs that been spending a fortune jamming the airwaves with commercials during the gop primary season. our political director chief white house correspondent chuck todd is with us from our washington news room tonight with more on this. chuck, good evening. >> good evening, brian. as you know, super pacs have now become short hand for big money in politics. the decision today by the president's campaign to essentially flip flop and go down the super pac road means more money will flow even faster. >> how can we trust him? think you know mitt? >> they've been seeing a lot of this in the republican primary and caucus states. >> he raised our hopes. he seemed to understand. >> reporter: nonstop negative tv ads from super pacs, big money groups, outside the campaigns, loosely affiliated with the candidates. >> winning our future is responsible for the content of this ad. >>.

mike taibbi, nbc news, hollywood. >>> that's our broadcast on a thursday night.u for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we of course, hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

with more, here's nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: whitney elizabeth houston was the soloist in a newarkw jersey, baptist church choir at age 11. but while the word star is overused and a lot of r&b singers got their start singing gospel, she was a star, right away. a prodigy knenurtured by her mor cissy and deoionne warwick. her gift of a voice was in full flower. but it wasn't just her voice that made her a star. she was as beautiful as a model, a crossover dream girl who was among first african-americans to grace the cover of "seventeen" magazine. the public flocked to her concerts and bought her albums in record numbers. she once had seven number one singles in a row, more than elvis or the beatles. she reached a top of the music world, six grammys, 22 american music awards, and with clive davis who discovered her paving the way, an historic recording contract. always beyond her beauty and girl next door charm, she had that voice with such range and purity, she could hold an emotion to make you believe it. ♪ where do broken hearts go ♪ >> reporter: she said she knew there was no easy

mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. ♪ thank you, thank you i love you!ay night. thank you for being here with us as we start off a new week. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

mike taibbi just visited with workers. and he joins me now.go to do the graveyard shift to check it out. >> two nights of it. >> lucky you. what did we learn? >> this is a pretty good news story. it's not proof -- you said it's a sign. it is a sign of a turnaround. it's not proof of it. but gm has put on the graveyard shift at five of its plants. this one matters in flint because this is the truck assembly plant where they make high-end trucks that top out at about $70,000. when they put the third shift on here, 750 jobs at the plant plus three times that many jobs in support industries, that's a real sign that gm is betting that they've really turned the corner and they're on the way back. >> gm would not have made a commitment to a third shift unless the money guys figured this is going to stick. >> i think the flint assembly plant and the heavy-duty trucks here are a real economic indicator of where we're going. people are going back to work. companies are starting to buy pick-up trucks for their businesses. this is all great news. >> repor

mike taibbi spends time with the workers on the grave yard shift. that's tonight, "rock center." >>> president obama was in the midwest today visiting a master lock plant that brought overseas jobs back to the united states. the president pitched his ideas for tax cuts for manufacturing businesses and penalties for companies that move jobs out of the country. tonight, he's on a fund-raising tour of the west coast, eight separate events from l.a. to seattle. >>> the fcc in washington today announced new rules aimed cutting down from automated calls from telemarketers known as robocalls that interrupted a whole lot of evenings in this country. tom costello with more on this. >> reporter: hi, brian. despite rules already in place to prevent unwanted marketing calls, too many are getting through pitching everything from insurance offers to mortgage re-fis. the new rules will require telemarketers to obtain written consent from customers before placing a robocall for them, even if they already have an existing business relationship with the person they a

mike taibbi has more on the world's reaction to this loss. porter: good morning, matt. for the most part those commenting publically aren't fixated on whitney houston's long decline or speculation about how exactly she died. they're talking about her legacy, the once in a lifetime voice that's now been silenced. ♪ i will always love you >> reporter: it's the one song even the most casual whitney houston fan can sing along to. "i will always love you," written by dolly parton and the center piece of houston's sound track for her debut movie "the bodyguard kwchlts bodyguard." in dubai, the fountains were synch ro niezed to the song. and one fan was moved to tears before singing his rendition of the song. actress viola davis said she has every one of houston's songs on her ipod. >> they all mean something special to me. even the star-spangled banner. >> reporter: not the words but by whitney houston's voice. that voice made a pop version of her anthem sung before the super bowl. the voice of such range and purity she could hold an emotion and m

nbc's mike taibbi has the latest from los angeles. >> reporter: the coroner's office has not listed an't happen until the results of toxicology tests come back weeks from now. but late this week subpoenas were issued for whitney houston's medical and prescription drug records. >> if she's been under the care of a private physician for something, then they would want to know and talk with him about what was he treating her for. >> reporter: two days before her death, houston sang publicly for the last time during a pre-grammy's party. but afterward she looked disheveled, and witnesses said seemed disoriented, leaving many to question in the aftermath of her death whether she resumed her long struggle with substance abuse. the core nr's office confirmed prescription pill bottles were found in her hotel sweet but not in amounts that by themselves would amount to her death. >> sources are tells us they included antianxiety medication and sleeping pills. we just don't know the combinations of thing. look. she could have had an underlying medical condition that together with the injection o

nbc's mike taibbi has more from hollywood. >> reporter: there are always arguments on oscar night and about the fashions. how can the silent surprise "the artist" be the best picture favored of many critics with 28 million in domestic ticket sales when franchise blockbusters from "the transformers" and "harry potter" and "twilight" drew turn away crowds and earned $281 million, $381 million, $352 million just in the u.s. and didn't even make the best picture nomination cut? >> i could love a movie and you could hate it. you wouldn't be right and i wouldn't be wrong. >> reporter: but the other argument is about who actually votes for the stars and studios and people on oscar night? "the l.a. times" had the most detailed answer yet reaching more than 5,000 voting academy members. >> the academy is 94% white and 77% male. and the median age is 62. >> reporter: other notable numbers? 9 98% of the academy screenwriters are white and 97% of the cinematographers are men. not a huge surprise given the origin and history of hollywood and the oscars, change is slow. so could a superb old style

>> nbc's mike taibbi joins us now from los angeles.some new information regarding the case. >> reporter: yeah, thomas, there's a lot of new information about a case like this and this particular case because that's what happens at this stage of it when there's been an explosion of interest in it. the charges on their face are scandalous. the only word that really is appropriate. right now there is some discussion that has been in the media about potentially a third teacher being implicated in the alleged crimes by one of the two teachers who has already been jailed. we know the information, we know her name. we're not going to pass it along at this point because it's only a story that's been provided by a plaintiff's attorney who represents the families of several of the girls who have been directly connected as victims, alleged victims, in this scandal. this other teacher allegedly was implicit in some way participated in the activities by mark berndt. we're not getting any information from the l.a. county sheriff's department or the

. >> mike taibbi joins me now from los angeles. do we notes if police are investigating this l.a. times report that there is a third staffer who may have done something inappropriate? >> reporter: well is, actually, tamron, the d.a.'s office confirms the investigation is continuing on several fronts involving in their words several individuals at the school who may have information about or have been a participant in some way in some of the alled acts that have happened. so far, an as you pointed out, only two teachers have been arrested and charged. one of them just one charge, three charges involving one alleged victim. that individual martin singer is being held on $300,000 bail, could go to jail for 12 years. the more serious and the one that equates to a scandal involves mark berndt, 61 years old. he is being held on $23 million bail because of allegations that he victimized 23 of his own students in his own classroom over the years. and these are allegations of activities which for which there is dna evidence. that's what has a lot of people really scared about where this is