>> roger white: six-, eight-foot chain link fence. >> cathy white: we both flew over it. >> roger white ourselves on the ramp with him. shaun, are you all right? it's your dad. shaun? >> cathy white: it was the scariest moment in my life. i thought we lost him. >> simon: shaun suffered a fractured skull and broken bones and told his mother he wanted to call it quits. >> cathy white: i think, deep down, he was afraid. but i kept taking him to the y. >> simon: you kept taking him to the y? >> cathy white: yeah. >> simon: you didn't lock him up in a room? >> cathy white: god, no. >> shaun white: and i'm like, "i hate you," and i ended up learning a new trick because i stayed. and it just exploded from there. >> simon: the kid who says he was built for the board grew up to dominate two professional sports. far away from the snow, on the southern california coast, where he owns this house... i see there are some trophies up there. ...the spoils of victory were literally everywhere. >> shaun white: espy awards that are up at the top. this is x games summer. there's one right there. >> simon:

associate curator roger white calls them the poster children for car safety in the '80s and '90s. >>e finally accepting seat belts after decades of resisting them. >> reporter: in the 13 years the campaign ran, seat belt use jumped from 14% to 79% saving some 85,000 lives. today, david strickland runs the national highway traffic safety administration. >> these two dummies made a huge difference in every american's life in terms of how you approach traffic safety and wearing your belt. >> reporter: seat belt use today has risen to 84%. >> thousands die every year in car accidents because they don't buckle up. >> vince, we're dummies. we don't wear safety belts. >> reporter: not a bad contribution for a couple of dummies. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> and that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

white farmers in sherrod's story agree. and credit her with saving their farm. roger and eloise spooner from iron city, georgia, consider sherrod a friend. >> if it hadn't of been for her, it wasn't a matter of a few months and we would have lost it. >> reporter: the naacp was applauding secretary vilsack's decision to seek sherrod's resignation. then, they changed their minds and wanted sherrod reinstated. jake tapper, the white house. >>> there's new reports from the agriculture department overnight. agriculture secretary tom vilsack says he will consider additional facts before making a final decision. we'll get shirley sherrod's reaction to these developments later today on "good morning america." >>> a panel of medical advisers has delivered a major setback to a top-selling cancer drug. they decided that avastin should no longer be recommended to women with advanced breast cancer because it does more harm than good. the fda may agree and withdrawal the. >>> lindsay lohan is waking up in jail this morning. the troubled actress appeared in court yesterday, to begin

white farmers in sherrod's story agree. and credit her with saving their farm. roger and eloise spooner from iron city, georgia, consider sherrod a friend. >> if it had ntd of been for her, it wasn't a matter of a few months and we would have lost it. >> reporter: and diane, earlier today, the naacp was applauding secretary vilsack's decision, but just a few minutes ago, they reversed course, saying they were snookered by conservative media. wanted sherrod reinstated. secretary vilsack is standing by his decision. diane? >> quite a tv drama today. thank you, jake tapper. >>> and still ahead, the letter carrier who saves lives while delivering the mail and delivering people to safety. a three-time hero.pe 2 diabetes, you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood suga

. >> reporter: the white farmers in sherrod's story, roger and eloise spooner of georgia, say she helped them save their farm. and they consider her their friend. >> she needs her job back. i would give her her job back in a minute. >> reporter: the naacp originally condemned sherrod and supported vilsack's position. but the group has done an about-face. >> until indeed, that tape had been maliciously edited. and indeed, what they presented to us then, was not even close to being accurate. >> reporter: george, as you mentioned, white house officials got on the phone with secretary vilsack and urged him to also review the tape. and we'll see if she gets her job offer back. george? >> okay. thanks, jake. >>> we're joined by the official in the middle of all this, shirley sherrod. thank you for getting up so early this morning, ms. sherrod. >> oh, thank you. >> we learned that agriculture secretary vilsack was reconsidering the decision to have you leave the department a little bit before 2:00 a.m. when did you find out? >> this morning about 5:30. >> how did they tell you? >> the statement

. >> reporter: the white farmers in sherrod's story agree, and credit her with saving their farm. rogerooner from iron city, georgia, consider sherrod a friend. >> if it hadn't been for her, we'd -- wasn't ever just a matter of a few months, we'd have lost it. >> reporter: t.j. winick, abc news, washington. >>> democratic lawmakers are set to approve an extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed today. they broke through a stubborn republican filibuster yesterday, with the help of the newest senator from west virginia. carte goodwin was sworn in to succeed robert byrd, who died last month. republicans had argued the benefits would add too much to the national debt. >>> the government's oil spill chief says five small leaks seen bubbling around the underwater containment cap are nothing to worry about. admiral thad allen says the cap is holding firm. bp now wants to try a new way to stop that leak for go chance they have of succeeding and ending this thing quickly? >> well, i think it's a good way to hedge bets. >> all right, let her rip. >> reporter: in the static kill demonstra

white house contacted me about this at all. >> reporter: but in this growing controversy, this much is clear: shirley sherrod, now out of a job, helped roger and eloise spoonier. >> she saved our farm, 400 something acres, almost 500 acres. she saved our farm. >> reporter: while secretary vilsack said this issue is closed, the cable is having a field day and the blogs anything but done, the secretary may be in for a surprise. katie? >> couric: jan, i know the n.a.a.c.p. initially condemned sherrod's remarks but now that organization has put out a new statement. >> reporter: katie, they just released a statement. they said they were snookered by these initial reports, they were completely changing course on this. they're urging the secretary to reconsider firing her and they said the speech was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias. >> couric: all right, jan crawford in washington. jan, thanks very much. in other news, the meltdown in the housing market and the financial crisis that followed. congress is slowly peeling back the layers as it investigates who's to blame. new documents reveal a cozy tie between two ke

roger is a smart guy. a smart guy. i have not read his article. but i thought the white house really miss that opportunity. they held their own mini jobs summit last week. and the chamber of commerce was criticizing them. so, this business-white house war continues. i don't know why. bill clinton was in that meeting. i don't know why they didn't come out with a more constructive statements saying, look, we hear business, we hear them on taxes, we hear them on regulations, we hear them on spending and we hear them on deficits. the opinion polls show that business is really just saying what ordinary voters are saying. so, i don't know why they could not have more constructive policy oriented instead of saying we wish we would not fight, which i hear way -- they are saying. sending this letter that they are distressed about the battle. deal with the substance. quit playing politics. and business and the white house have to sit down together and hammer out some new, constructive policies that will grow the economy faster and will create jobs faster. that is what we need to do. the public, i think, is really un

guest: roger altman is a friend, he is also a good guy and a smart guy. i have not read his article. but i thought the white house really miss that opportunity. they held their own mini jobs summit last week. and the chamber of commerce was criticizing them. so, this business-white house war continues. i don't know why. bill clinton was in that meeting. i don't know why they didn't come out with a more constructive statements saying, look, we hear business, we hear them on taxes, we hear them on regulations, we hear them on spending and we hear them on deficits. the opinion polls show that business is really just saying what ordinary voters are saying. so, i don't know why they could not have more constructive policy oriented instead of saying we wish we would not fight, which i hear way -- they are saying. sending this letter that they are distressed about the battle. deal with the substance. quit playing politics. and business and the white house have to sit down together and hammer out some new, constructive policies that will grow the economy faster and will create jobs faster. that is what we need to d