- just appeared behind that tugboat, but a boat loose in the harbor can cause damage -- >> nbc's ron allen, we may have lost his connection. we've got the visuals there. ron has been that you coulding about the potential loss of a boat possibly losing its mooring and -- he says it's a protected harbor. he make the point it's not protected right now from either the winds or the rains. bill karins, if you're standing by, let's talk about where ron allen is in new bedford. where is that relative to the tropical storm irene. is that getting hard? >> that's what's interesting about the storm, alex, it's actually pretty far away. the center of the storm is still near new york city, but far away, the winds in both evan right now sustained at 33. let me just change my graphic. in the gusts right now in boston are up to 40. so the strongest winds are well away from the center of this storm. that's what we're going to be continuing to track on the radar. you can see the bright yellows are where the strongest winds are. the highest winds are heading to the north. the danger from the winds is mostly c

nbc's ron allen, i know we'll check in with you again. ron, there was that bridge that was in your line of sight. if you were there, it will be off to your left. are there cars going over that bridge? as you know, some bridges in this area have been shut down. >> reporter: yeah, i see a car turning around in the middle of the bridge and going in the opposite direction. i can see a police car blocking the bridge tess other end. that road seems to lead out to the harbor, to the other side of the harbor. you're very observant in the tv studio, you can pick that up. it seems to be a road that is blocked off. >> here's my standard line to that -- i'm brighter than i look. >> reporter: you get creative when sitting there hour after hour. we have a lot going on down here. >> we do. >> reporter: thanks for your help. i appreciate that. >>> hey i was just talking with ron about the bridges. i got a tweet from governor chris christie'sie, who says the george washington bridge of which the lower deck had been shut down due to the high ones, that has

nbc's ron allen covering tonight has more for us, ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. yes, this case has been falling apart for several weeks now. through it all dominique strauss-kahn has maintained his innocence all along, ever since he was arrested and pulled off a plane back in may. he has one more appearance in court tomorrow and he's expected to become a free man after that. the problem is the accuser, the housekeeper and her credibility. prosecutors today in their court filings say they just don't know what to believe about what she says happened in that hotel room that day, whether any sexual relations were forceded or were they consensual. they said that during the investigation she has told them so many conflicting stories about what happened today. the bottom line is they don't think they can convince a jury that she is telling the truth. the woman's attorney insists that she is still the innocent victim of a violent sexual attack, he wants a special prosecutor to take over the case, but legal experts that we talked to said that is very unlikely to h

nbc's ron allen has our report tonight from central falls, cc1: rhode island. >> reporter: it is the smallest city in the country's smallest state. 19,000 people tucked in a single square mile, crushed by massive debt. >> we were left with no other practical option. >> reporter: central falls declared bankruptcy after years of cutting services and raising taxes, up 20% last year, yet it's still swamped by $80 million in pension costs for cc: city workers, nearly five times the annual budget, and nothing but red ink in sight. >> i'm nearly 65. i don't have time for a do-over. >> reporter: deputy chief jerry conoyer says he gave his all fo: 35 years.cc1: now he and other retirees may only get half the pensions they were promised. as a bankruptcy court balances the city's books. >> the american dream is being : pulled out from under us. cc1: >> reporter: it is a problem in cities across the country, millions owed to teachers, police, public employees past and present, and falling behind on the payments. >> if a municipality runs into bankruptcy problems, that can spread in terms of redu

ron allen, nbc news, new york. >>> when nightly news continues on this saturday evening, after a week of flat-out depressing economic news, a bright spot in an unlikely place. >>> later, for some the single life can be kind of rough. but the dating game got a bit easier. >>> we're back now with a focus on economy after a roller coaster week on wall street and continued grim news about jobs and consumer confidence. any good news about the economy can be awfully hard to find. but tonight, our own reporter may have found just that in an unlikely place. >> reporter: wall street this week, unprecedented volatility. >> ugly day for stock prices today. >> the losses are severe. >> the market is holding on to a powerful rally. up 560 points. >> following a credit rating downgrade. >> they don't have a grip on what's going on. >> right now, i'm pretty scared. >> amidst the uncertainty, a glimmer of hope. this week, news that the pain at the pump is finally easing. >> gas prices coming down. >> very good news. >> in the past week, gas prices have dropped about ten cents to $3.60 a gallon down f

nbc's ron allen in new bedford, mass, tonight. ron, what's it like? >> reporter: well, brian, it's still a bit blustery up here. we're expecting wind gusts up to about 50 miles per hour into the evening. we've been monitoring this harbor all day. one of the safest on the east coast. those commercial fishing boats back there have been rock solid all day. but if you look over here, you can see a couple of sailboats tucked against that tug boat. they shouldn't be there. earlier today they were out in the harbor loose from their moorings, floating around, bobbing around. the coast guard, a number of other dockworkers had to go out there and rescue the boats, bring them in and tie them down. the last thing you want out in this harbor where these boats have come for safety are sailboats bouncing around like it's a pinball machine. some of the most interesting pictures, however, come from even farther north up in vermont. bratle borough, vermont. these scenes of a river running through the heart of downtown bratleborough, vermont. certainly not the kind of p

nbc's ron allen has more. >> reporter: irene left a wake of destruction in a mountainous land-locked state so far north, many never dreamed a tropical storm would strike. torrents of rain turned babbling brooks into raging rivers. >> fortunately we were spared the heavy winds from the hurricane. but this type of damage right here has got to be far more devastating in the long run. >> here it comes. oh my god. >> reporter: cars were sucked downstream. this trailer home was shoved under a railroad bridge. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: an iconic covered bridge disappeared into a swollen river, washing away a century of history. dean hamilton has worked his family's farm all his 58 years. >> this is something that's never happened in my lifetime. >> how is it going in there? >> reporter: vermont's governor called it the state's worst flooding, perhaps, ever. >> we are convinced there are further challenges ahead, there will be more loss of life. >> reporter: at least two people already have died in the floodwaters. officials say several small communities, hundreds of people are still cut o

. >> that was jim cantore in vermont where we actually find our nbc's ron allen. get us up to date on the rescue and recovery efforts. i understand that emergency management officials have been using national guard helicopters to airlift food and supplies. >> reporter: exactly. there are about a dozen towns in vermont that are essentially cut off. so many places in this state are linked by a seasoningle road or bridge and there are over 250 bridges and roads that have been essentially washed out, severely damaged across the state. this area that i'm in now is about as bad as it gets. this pile of mud has been brought here by a front end loader from the backyards of the homes over there. they don't have it nearly as bad as this particular house here which is as you can see about to fall into this river. the entire first floor of it, the corner of it here was completely ripped away by this water. and when you think about this, this water shouldn't be here. this used be a babbling brook that was over in that direction about 100 yards or so, but the river has literall

let me go to ron allen at the federal courthouse in new york. ron, real quick though, i hear that union station in d.c. has been evacuated. just getting the word that union station has been evacuated in washington, d.c., and ron allen, you are at the federal courthouse in new york and what are you seeing and hearing there? >> well, this building has been evacuated, too, tamron, as well as many other parts of new york city. if you can pan the camera around, there are hundreds of people standing out on the streets in the public park here looking back to wonder what to do next. when the ground shook, the building was evacuated immediately, and the district attorney here was about to have a press conference here about the dominique strauss-kahn case and the dismissal and all of the sudden he left the room. one person told us that they heard debris falling somewhere in the building, and that is a report that has not been confirmed and we can see that the police have cordoned off the area, and you can see them perhaps on the steps in front of the build

. >> reporter: ron allen says caltrans will next demolish the skate park under the elevated portion of. >> the sad part now is it's now gone. it was not based on any place to do drugs, just a place to ride a skateboard. >> reporter: u.s. senator barbara boxer stepped in at the time and gave her support for keeping the park open. so the city of oakland then decided to lease the land from the state and the cate boarders were allowed to stay. >> the bottom line is, it was built illegally. without permission on state right of way. >> reporter: the former oakland city administrator sent a city saying it failed to renew the lease. >> if somebody is injured, there's a certain amount of liability that we'd have to face. >> reporter: for ron allen and his friends they say it is a dark day for them and the community. >> for it to be something that is shut down, it shows in america we need to figure out what we're going to do to help our kids. >> reporter: and we asked the city why it declined to renew the lease and by days end a spokeswoman said she could not find an answer. caltrans says it wil

there you see our ron allen. he's standing by as well. the name of the boat is "distant dream" i don't know what to make of that, but it looks like they're towing it in. ron, what is the latest other than the owners of "distant dream" not having a good day. >> reporter: well, they may be having a day where they're saved. let's take a look at the boat out there. they just towed it in from way out in the harbor. there have been at least a half dozen or so boats that have come loose. this is a protected harbor. we've got watching this happen all day. earlier another one was loose and floating around sort of like a pinball machine, but there have been a couple guys out in boats like this that have been trying to secure various -- trying to take care of things, because the last thing you want is a loose boat. those are pleasure crafts that are -- >> it looks like we've lost our connection to ron allen's live short in new bedford, massachusetts. earlier you could see the wind whipping up. i think one of you back, ron. are you there? >> reporter:

ron allen is live outside the courthouse to bring us up to speed. ron, how fast do we anticipate all this action? >> i would think it would go quickly, tom. the prosecutors filed the paperwork asking the judge to dismiss the charges. what more do you need if you are the judge to do that. as you said, dsk walked into the courtroom here about ten minutes ago accompanied by his wife and attorneys. i couldn't see the look on his face, but i have the feeling he is feeling confident about himself. the attorneys maintained that he is incident throughout the entire time and now he'll be vindicated by the judge. the noise you hear in the background is a small group of demonstrators here demonstrating in support of the former hotel. they claim that the dna as one of their signs says tells the story. that a jury should decide this will case. i can tell you from reading the prosecutor's statement to the court. it is really a scathing -- over the course of several interviews over the last few months, they say she admitted lying to them, he or she lied to the gran

we want to start this morning in vermont with nbc's ron allen, who's in brattleboro. ron, with over 250 roads that are washed out, explain how rescuers are doing what they can to reach these flood victims. >> reporter: well, the short answer is they're using every helicopter available, thomas. there are so many places where the roads are washed out. bridges have been knocked out. that's what vermont is. it's a collection of communities spread out across the state connectsed by roads and bridges. it it's hard to get to places because there's been so much damage. i want to show you the damage we're looking at here. it's some of the worst we've seen. this building used to be home for a number of artists. it's a three-story building, you can see. the first floor has been, the corner of the building has been completely washed away by the flood. keep in mind this river here used to be a creek. it used to be up there in that direction. it came down the hill with such force that it tore out this part of the land here, ripping out all that, which supported that building. now th

ron allen in vermont, we appreciate it. thank you. >>> right now, at least six people dead in north carolina. the massive cleanup is well under way as coastal residents return hoping to find their homes the way they left them. mark potter is live in duck, north carolina and joins us now. mark? >> reporter: well, hi, veronica. we are at a roadblock just south of the town of duck. if we turn the camera here, we can see these officers are checking the i.d.s of people coming in to make sure that only residents and business owners come in right now. the reason for the concern is that down this road here, there are problems still, part of the road was washed away by the back of the hurricane pushing water on to the road. there are some work crews down there. they expect to get the visitors in here tomorrow. right now, they are just making sure that only the residents an the business people and workers go in right now. the big push here is to get the outer banks ready for labor day. they lost this weekend. this is the end of their

hunker down, ron allen, thank you for that. >>> joining me on the phone is cory booker, the mayor of -- good morning, mr. mayor. >> we've seen a tremendous amount of flooding. we've had to pull on the zodiac boats and recent attitude ten people. so we've asking people to understand that high water obscure a live power line. there are open manhole covers that have been swept away where you might hit toss hazards. this is a time to stay off the streets and let our crews address the issues. we've got a number of areas in our city dealing with blackouts right now. i'm hoping people won't be looking outside and thinks it's not so bad, i'm going to go out. that's not the thing to do. >> same with your colleagues in hoboken. officials have said the same thing. the power lines can electrify those puddles. if there's any debris around them, is that good advice? >> that's great advice. if you go outside you're inviting danger. debris is still falling, loose branches, and again those power lines down all over our city. it's a dangerous thing to do. this is a great day to stay inside, take the d

nbc's ron allen joins us from new york. what's the latest, ron?> reporter: we're expecting strauss-kahn to be here with his attorneys around 11:30 eastern time. there's a huge crowd of media around, there's a small crowd of demonstrators that you can't see behind the camera man who are in support of the hotel maid. they are holding signs that say stop blaming the victim and give her a fair trial. the problem is this 25 page court document the prosecution filed with the court yesterday outlining the reasons why they want to dismiss the charges. it's essentially a scathing indictment of the hotel maid. it says in part, for example, in summary, the physical, scientific and other evidence establishes that strauss-kahn engaged in a hurried sexual encounter with the hotel maid but it does not independently establish her claim of a forcible, nonconsensual encounter. if you read beyond this, the prosecutors are saying that during the course of a number of interviews, she has told them so many conflicting, inconsistent stories that they just don't believe

ron allen is in massachusetts where the rush is on to protect and rescue boats in that harbor.ing one of those rescues earlier. they were towing in this boat that was having some trouble there. >> reporter: yeah, "distant dream" is doing fine right now. if you look out there, this harbor stretches about a half mile. you can see it's choppy out there. there's a marker out there that's been bobbing and weaving in the distance there. you can see more sailboats out there. that's where the boats have been coming loose and coming into this harbor, the coast guard has been on duty trying to round them up and secure them into better places. the last thing you want in a harbor is for a boat to be bouncing around like in a pinball machine. we are getting heavy winds here now. the rain is pretty much over, but it's still windy. the gusts in the state have been as high as 80 miles per hour. 70 miles per hour. you mentioned the flooding problem. much of that is happening in western massachusetts. in central massachusetts they are watching the rivers side. here, again, there's still a lot of

ron allen, we'll see you again.u have any pictures or videos that you'd like to send us of the storm preparations or damage after irene passes you can email them, but above all stay safe if you get out there and take any of those pictures. hurricane irene pounding morehead, north carolina, right now. you can see it fr yourself right there. we're going to talk with someone who's an expert on storms in that state and right now he's in the thick of it. free access to chase atm's wherever you are. that's a step forward. chase customers can avoid atm fees with over 16,000 nationwide. take a step forward and chase what matters. and i was a pack-a-day smoker for 25 years. i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i'm like, "oh, promise mommy you'll never ever pick up a cigarette." i had to quit. ♪ my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge

. >> ron allen in brolt bore, vermont, thanks very much.elievable scene there the power of mother nature. >>> talks are reportedly underway between rebel forces in libya and the remaining fighters still loyal to muammar gadhafi. it's happening in the former dictator's hometown. where an opposition invasion could be just days away. stephanie gosk is live for us in tripoli. do we ne where gadhafi himself is? >> reporter: we don't, chuck. at this point the best guesses are these pockets where there are still loyalist fighters. there may be people that live in these cities that aren't going to take a reward. they aren't going to be bought with promises of amnesty that they're going to protect him. that's another city about an hour or two southeast of us here and right now they're issuing an ultimatum in both of those cities. the held of the national transitional council say they have until saturday to basically surrender their cities or they'll face rebel forces going in and attacking. chuck? >> stephanie gosk in tripoli for us. thanks very muc

nbc's ron allen is at the courthouse in new york. here with me in the studio defense attorney michael jones. ron, let me begin with you, how did this all come about to where we were in court today? >> reporter: well, the entire court proceeding took about ten minutes. it was very, very brief. an assistant district attorney basically said that the complaint nant, the woman who claims she was attacked by dominique strauss-kahn has been untruthful in just about every interview that they conducted with her on matters great and small as they put it. they released a 25-page document yesterday that was essentially a scathing indictment of this woman and her voracity and her credibility. especially from the -- essent l essentially from the beginning she told multiple stories. she told multiple stories about her asylum application to get into this country several years ago. and most damning she told them an emotional story of being a victim of a gang rape in her country several years ago. emotional details about how her 2-year-old daughter was

despite vk people get off the cape, we have ron allen right there on the cape for us right there on theouthern coast. it looks like it's getting a little worse. we saw you a couple of hours ago, and it didn't look so bad. it seems like irene is being felt where you are now. >> reporter: well, we've got a lot of fog, alex, and it's daunting watching mark and mike down in nags head. that will happen here in 24 hours. we're in a narrow beach facing south. the concern here is that the tides are high, astronomically high for in season. that will make the effect of the storm that much more serious here. in this direction you can see there's a beachfront hotel down there that they've been pulling the plastic chairs in just a little while ago, and you can see there's not a lot of protection. there's a dune there, there's a sea wall there, and it's about 20 feet before the storm surge would push this water up into that hotel, and there's a harbor behind it. over here we'll ask the camera to pan around to your right. the island queen is a boat going out to martha's vineyard. turn the other way, i

but still facing dozens of protesters shouting at him. >> nbc's ron allen reporting there.ple once in a while and you might -- your own people might be extradited or might be sent back. roman polanski was one of the reasons he was yanked off the first class cabin and taken away in chains because we believed -- i bet our law enforcement people believed based on the fact that the french refused to extradite a convicted child molester back to the united states that if dominique strauss-khan went back to france that would be the last anybody saw of him in america. and i -- so there's a lot of lessons here and i think the attorney did a fine job, innocent until proven guilty and all that. but you ought to think twice about what you're -- the problems you're setting up for your own citizens when you don't do the right thing in the extradition cases. >> also something to be learned about marching people in front of the camera. >> i'm not a big fan of that kind of stuff. other countries don't do it and i don't think we ought to do it either. that's part of the consequences of elect

ron allen has more detail. >> reporter: it all began with this dramatic, dominique strauss-kahn would, his chances of becoming president of france apparently gone. but while he kept a low profile, free on bail and paying tense of thousands of dollars to live in this luxury townhouse, the case against him began to unravel. o thousands of dollars to live in this luxury townhouse, the case against him began to unravel. his accuser stood silent moments after prosecutors told them they would drop the case. >> manhattan district attorney cyrus vance has denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case. >> reporter: in court papers, prosecutors said diallo has provided shifting an inconsistent versions of the events. that in virtually every interview, she has not been truthful on matters great and small. and that it is impossible to resolve the question of what actually happened in strauss-kahn's suite. legal experts say prosecutors had little choice. >> the reality is the district attorney has to rely on the credibility of his witnesses. >> reporter: prosecutors say diallo's falseh

ron allen did a story about a town in rhode island that declared bankruptcy.d so much debt, it was cutting firefighters. the fire chief's salary was cut in half. this was going to happen in bigger and bigger cities. it's a snapshot of a small town. how to pay out pensions and health benefits for city workers. they can't run up more debt. you are going to see that in bigger and bigger cities. >> it's much more like grease and other countries in europe. they are going bankrupt when you talk about it. >> i'm going to sound completely out of touch with reality, political reality, ignorance truly is bliss, michael steele. >> yeah. >> the past couple days have felt different to me. the days after the shooting of gabby giffords. i felt something was going to change in the media world and it did. it really did. i really think the crisis we are facing now is going to weigh down a double dip recession is going to weigh down washington so much you are going to see democrats and republicans, the president and congress starting to work together. we are getting -- we are ge

. >> nbc's rod allen is in brattleboro, vermont, which has seen some of of the worst flooding. ron, i saw the shot earlier today and it is unbelievable to see from a larger vantage point where you are standing right now. >> it is, tamron. this is about as bad as it gets. let me show everybody what i'm talking about. in in direction this water is a river now that has rushed through here and torn apart the corn over this three-story house. it was an artist colony where several artists used to work and live. the important thing is that this water was not here. this was dry land. the house was built on a street. on a roadway. the water was about 50 feet in that direction that was a babbling brook, and now you see what mother nature has done here. earlier we talked the one of the artists who worked here naomi goldie and this is what she had to say about her experience with this. >> this was actually a beautiful sculpture park twoday days ago then i got a call from my child who is 15 who said, mom, the back half of your studio just ripped away. >> reporter: nobody in vermont expected any

allen gave me a preview this morning. >> already the candidates are setting up villages here. they call them tents, but they're really pavilions. ron paul has a city over there with a separate food tent, a press tent, a ticket registration tent. they have a separate play land for kids. a separate place for hot dogs. he's giving out pocket constitutions, declarations of independence. he's made himself a founding father. he's written the introduction. across the way in tim pawlenty land, it already smells good. famous dave's barbecue has 40 racks going. he's going to have a christian band. the michele bachmann bus will have three country bands and she also is going to have food and goodies for all her people. she's doing a fair food theme complete with funnel cakes. >> that's a little bit of heartburn right there. texas governor rick perry is looking to take the momentum out of the iowa central poll this afternoon. he's expected to formally announce his candidacy for president. last night he spoke to voters in alabama. >> what we're doing is we're experiencing now what happens when a country founded on the tenants of individual liber

ron paul as your candidate? caller: i kind of like -- rick perry reminds me of allen west. or allen west reminds me of rick perry in a way. i think they are men of core values, and i think when the man speaks, he means what he says. host: all right, but why not ron paul? caller: ron paul, i like a lot about what he says but i do not think it is practical, some of the things, like with the military and things like that. i think he is just too -- i do not think it is practical application. i do not think it is doable, some of the things he is dododoa bit, actually. host: all right. on the fed policy, "the new york times" writes this -- host: a side story in "the new york times" about what another call a previously brought up finishingpaul's second place in host: we will go next to texas. jeff is joining us from amarillo, texas. caller: good morning. i was thinking that mr. perry should not apologize for anything that he honestly believes. if that is how he feels. we do not hear obama apologizing. we do not hear ronald reagan apologizing when he was president. there's not any