kerry sanders, nbc news, sarasota, florida. >> that's our broadcast on a thursday night.g with us. i'm brian williams. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> right now it's 6:00, and why saving energy could cost pg&e customers a whole lot more. >> i fire up captain was arrested in the bay area. we have the disturbing allegations. >> an nbc bay area follow-up, a hit and run victim's struggle going back to being a normal team.

in sarasota, i'm

in sarasota, i'm martin savidge. >>> and, again, this reminder, our barbara starr is at the pentagongence officials are holding a background briefing right now on that raid that ultimately killed osama bin laden. we're hoping to hear from barbara shortly on the details being revealed. >>> and a mother accused of child abuse for allegedly telling her child to get up and fight. what do our legal guys think about that? [ bob ] i'd love to build bird houses for the rest of my life. so i've got to take care of my heart. for me cheerios is a good place to start. [ male announcer ] to keep doing what you love, take care of your heart with cheerios. the whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. love your heart so you can do what you love. we get double miles on every purchase, so me and the boys earned a trip to dc twice as fast! oh hi! we get double miles every time we use our card. and since double miles add up fast... one more chariot please. ...we can bring the whole gang! i cannot tell a lie. he did it. right... it's hard to beat double miles! read my lips -- no new axes! [ male anno

an annual ranking puts sarasota, florida's fiesta beach as the best in the nation. the wide slice of brilliant white sand and cool emerald water was runner-up the past two years and placed third in 2008. one caveat, the rankings were done by florida international university, so there might be a bit of a bias there, terrell, i'm not sure. but still it looked good to me and it's called fiesta beach. >> so what could go wrong. i'm writing down right now, i need to put in for my vacation this summer right now. >> fiesta beach, right on. >> ashley morrison here in new york. ashley, good to see you this morning. have a great weekend. >> you, too. >>> coming up on this friday morning, we'll do weather. and then in sports the big heat. miami battled the bulls in chicago. they are on their way to the nba finals. we'll be right back. ♪ you've got one of a kind eyes, so individualize with exact eyelights eye brightening mascara, liner, and shadow collections from covergirl. find your custom colors with light-reflecting metallics and say hello to brighter eyes! ♪ green eyes --

we moved to sarasota, florida, from san francisco after we testified. we have had three attempted murders on our lives here they found out about who we are through our sun's divorce. his wife ran her mouth off about our suit against the government and we are out about $600,000. my question to the general is why is there such a vast difference of us still being up for the constitution and being treated very differently under the civil asset forfeiture law. guest: thank you, carl. general? guest: you know, i do not have much expertise in this area, but i thank you for your service. you're welcome to stand up for what you think is right. if i could just for a second, i want to talk about something that we have seen here over the years with respect to democracy. this is an important thing for all of us to learn from. i think as a typical american, i have taken over the years the responsibilities that democracy brings as well as the rights -- i have had a tendency overtime to take it for granted. but when you see it start from ground zero like we have in ira

i grew up in sarasota, florida. i lived on siesta key a few blocks from the beach on this beautiful water in the gulf of mexico. i dug in those waters and fixed -- fish in those waters and had a deep and abiding love and this order thhorror that this black oil was flowing into the gulf of mexico really got to me but what john conrad said to my agent was people are missing the story because they can't understand what happened here or what it meant. this very unique and very special culture of offshore drilling. the first thing he said that caught my attention was this is and any kind of platform. the deepwater horizon was one of the most expensive and technologically advanced industrial machines ever built. it cost half a billion dollars ten years ago and would cost $1 billion to build one now. it was actually shipped. he was a captain and went to a maritime college to learn . he was a captain and went to a maritime college to learna ship. he was a captain and went to a maritime college to learn. he was a captain and

seems like a solution a 12-year-old might come up with, and it was just, you know, i grew up in sarasota, florida, i lived a few blocks from the beach, these crystal white sands on the beautiful water in the gulf of mexico. i dove in the waters, fished in those waters. you know, i had a deep and abiding love for it, and just this horror that this black river of oil was flowing into the gulf of mexico really bothered me and got to me, but what john conrad was saying in his letter to my agent was people are missing the story because can't possibly understand what happened here or what it meant unless they understand this very unique and very special culture of gasp shore drilling, and the first thing that he said that caught my attention was this was not any kind of platform we're talking about. the deepwater horizon was one of the most exceptive and technology advanced industrial machined ever built. it cost a half billion dollars to build back ten years ago, and it would cost a billion dollars to build one now, and it was actually a ship. he was the captain and went to a maritime college

and the best beach in america -- we don't have a drum roll -- siesta beach in sarasota, florida. >>> some hotels are sewing small washable microchips into towels, sheets and bathrobes so if you accidentally, quote, unquote, walk off with one, you're charged for it. material a tech expert gave me the lowdown on these microchips as well as the 411 on gadgets you may want to travel with this summer. >> if you walk off with that luxurious bathrobe or bath towel, chances are hotels are imbedding an rfd tag right inside there. it will track that you have taken it. you might be saying, that's kind of cheap on the hotel's part, right? get this. one of those towels can cost around $8 to $9 apiece. and one hotel that's implemented this tracking technology has actually went from 4,000 towels that were taken a month down to 750, saving them $16,000. so that's a lot of money when we talk about linens that people are walking off with. so think twice because you might be being tracked. >> yeah. that's pretty interesting stuff. but once they start keeping all their towels, i wonder if they're go

on that horrible day almost ten years ago, president george bush sat in a sarasota, florida, third gradethe children read a book about a pet goat. the chief of staff interrupted. >> when i saw the assistant whisper in his ear, his e expression changed immediately. >> reporter: he remembers that moment with clarity unusual for a second grader but a moment in history that shaped his childhood. >> i want to be a leader. i want to travel the world and see different perspectives of the world and different cultures. >> you think you can trace that back to that day sitting there with the president? >> absolutely. >> reporter: also in class that day, a 7 year old who is now 16. >> i remember how there was a happy moment to a serious moment. >> reporter: many american teenagers don't remember the attack. they view it as an assignment in history books. for the 16 kids in class that day, some say being with the president handed them a life-long responsibility to make sure the facts of that moment are preserved. today that classroom here is a media room. among the books here, the year book with pict

sarasota. he is traveling with the president. wendell goler, what's the reaction from the president? >> john, the president is here promoting a reading initiative on the second day of a two-day trip to florida. he just finished reading to some children at the emma booker elementary school and was asked about the incident. he said he was aware of it and that he would have something to say about it later. >> i'm going to dye. >> no, no, no. ma'am, say your prayers. >> i'm going to die. >> think positive. you have to help each other get off the floor. >> i'm going to die. i don't want to die. >> you are doing a good job. >> it's so hot. i'm burning up. >> jumpers. >> be advised battalion 2 be advised we have jumpers from the world trade center. >> it's beyond belief. both towers of the world trade center are burning. both have apparently been hit by aircraft. >> my first reaction was to get down to the scene as fast as i could. as i was driving down, emergency vehicles were going, obviously, flying down to the scene. and i jumped be

that we finally got the drum roll, that would be white sands of see's ta beach on see's ta key in sarasota today in a bus, starts her one nation tour in washington and will head up to new england. palin has not yet said whether she plans on running for president in 2012 but this bus tour could be an indicator, joining me now from washington is republican strategist ford o'connell. ford, you worked with mccain/palin. is there anything we can add from this one nation tour? >> i think the big question out there, is this a publicity stunt. with sarah, every time we talk about sarah, satellite links light up. if she sees it, if the bus tour is well received she may enter the race. she's looking to remain politically relevant, she is a tremendous political talent, 47 years old and has a political future ahead of it. >> today is rolling thunder in washington, d.c., she is in town and apparently participating in the rally, there you see some of the motorcycle riders, some receipt vans and controversy about whether she ought to be doing that. number one is this the kind of thing she might do to get

coronado beach in san diego and top beach in america, that would be white sands in sarasota, florida,headed to the beach. memorial day weekend car sales average about 40% higher than nonholiday weekends in may. this year could be different. very different. dealers are scrambling to cope with a new car shortage some call unprecedented. >> reporter: two car dealerships and one problem. >> i've never seen anything like this. >> i've never experienced this before. >> reporter: the devastating earthquake struck japan more than two months ago but some of the effects are just now hitting american soil. automakers aren't operating at full speed and that means we could see a car shortage this summer. >> we're probably going to get about in round numbers 70 cars a month. about 30% down for the normal numbers that we normally get for this time of year. it's not great. >> typical month you could earn anywhere between 140 to 200 vehicles per month, right? now we're in a situation where we are seeing that we are earning anywhere between 40 vehicles a month. that's a drastic reduction. >> reporter:

we moved to sarasota, florida, from san francisco after we testified. we have had three attempted murders on our lives here they found out about who we are through our sun's divorce. his wife ran her mouth off about our suit against the government and we are out about $600,000. my question to the general is why is there such a vast difference of us still being up for the constitution and being treated very differently under the civil asset forfeiture law. guest: thank you, carl. general? guest: you know, i do not have much expertise in this area, but i thank you for your service. you're welcome to stand up for what you think is right. if i could just for a second, i want to talk about something that we have seen here over the years with respect to democracy. this is an important thing for all of us to learn from. i think as a typical american, i have taken over the years the responsibilities that democracy brings as well as the rights -- i have had a tendency overtime to take it for granted. but when you see it start from ground zero like we have in ira

sarasota's siesta beach. stretch of sand say it's the finest in the world and dr. beach agrees. here at siesta beach, just the name tells you it's a place to check out. it just might be the right time to lay out onand take a nap. back to you. >> thank you very much. >>> where's your ring? >> here, matt. >> where's yours? >> do you have one? >> put it somewhere. there you go. >> i have to be careful about that. when we come back, we've got rihanna live in concert much to the delight of these people here. we're back in a moment right after these messages. rs >>> good morning to you. a secret stash of guns stolen in a home invasion back in safe hands this morning. check it out. sheriff's deputies seized 20 handguns and 40 rifles from a west san jose apartment this week. six men are accused of trying -- tying, rather, up 59-year-old gilroy man in february and torturing him before stealing his guns from his home. qu> right now,ant oakakickk ick break. it is 8:26 right now. weather and traffic after this. >>> good

and number one, apparently, siesta beach, in sarasota, florida, which claims to have the whitest sande world. here's your top five. from honolulu to the hamp tons. abc.com has all the rankings. i will say, as a native californian, and a visitor to the great state of hawaii, no. >> come on. >> no, no. sorry. >> you don't mention miami beach. and the heat come from behind, double-digits in the second half to make it into the finals. you don't mention that? >> down 12? >> you don't mention that. >> i remember the former life of mine. we have ourselves an nba final. >> to mend your espn card. >>> let's get to sam, now, with the weather. sam? >> good morning. happy friday, by the way. on this holiday weekend, one of us will be spending time on pensacola beach, that i would put on the top list. we know the storms are sliding east. let's talk about how much rain will be involved. they weaken as they move east. they've been a problem all week. but 2 1/2 inches of rain, from syracuse, inland. it runs on the mountain top ridges where the heavier rain will be. but there's plenty of heat. and i t

cnn's martin savidge went to sarasota to find out. >> carol, this is a story about a story that beginso, a g mostly 7-year-old students gathered to read a story to the president of the united states, george w. bush. the event was famously interrupted as lenard rivers remembers. >> he started reading us to and told us he had to leave. >> reporter: she was also there. >> it was scary. >> reporter: and that was when the president was told about 9/11. ever since, these students have had a unique connection to the life and death of osama bin laden. that seat to history had a profound effect. ♪ ♪ >> it helped me realize and be a little bit more serious and learn how to deal with certain things more firsthand at a younger age. >> reporter: her mother noticed the change almost immediately, a daughter growing up faster than moto. >> she's an achiever. i think it has to do because of the impact on those kids when they were there. i think they see the world differently. >> reporter: today, chantal is an honor student at sart military academy and regular visit to ground zero. for all three student

host: who is your representative in sarasota? caller: [unintelligible] host: ok.l the performance of congress affect whether or not he is reelected in november? caller that -- caller: a stronger presence there, i do not know if more people pay attention to the news, and do they know what these people are trying to do? they would see that the income deficits of the average citizen benefits the rich corporations. host: john, asheboro, go ahead. caller: my family has always been republican. predominantly republican. i have to say, over the last several years, since we have received internet, i have received neighbors and co- workers that have encouraged me to do research. i find out that the people that we voted for have run up terrible deficits. where does host: some one. and out to me -- someone -- caller: someone pointed out to me, vice president cheney, it looks like bill clinton was the last person to get the budget under control. in rethinking this whole thing. -- i am rethinking this whole thing. the very, very wealthy people need to be paying their fair share

that stretches down to sarasota. tampa is a working city. it's a poort city.have a great research university here. tourism is one economic driver. we have agriculture. hillsborough county is the largest producer of tropical fish in the country. we have our industrial and business environment in the downtown area. not only is it our origins, which obviously, florida -- the spanish came and tracked through florida, oftentimes losing their lives in the process. the native americans were here already pre we have a long, colorful history, long before many people think of america being settled. many of the journeys throughout florida started here in the tampa bay. they thought there was gold here. obviously, there is not prevented not stop them from coming. we've been influenced from many different cultures. our predominant m&a group has been cuba's, italians, spanish, not to mention americans of african descent who came here unwillingly. the mix in this community is unlike any i've ever lived in. host: the mayor of tampa talking about his city's roots. american his

siesta key in sarasota, florida. that's according to dr. beach. and dr.e sugar. beautiful. >>> you're caught up on the day's headlines. after the break, job breaks for our veterans. "american morning" is back in 60 seconds. >>> on this memorial day, more than 2,500 boy scouts paying tribute to those who died fighting for our freedom. over the weekend, they placed an american flag at each of the 138,000 grave sites at the golden gate national cemetery in san francisco. >> this morning, there are new calls to help veterans suffering from ptsd, posttraumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries. and of course, there are a lot of them out of work and looking for work. peter key relly says the number of soldiers with mental health issues has jumped from 30% to 65% in just the past 2 1/2 years. and on cnn's "state of the union," he along with washington senator patty murray stressed the importance of making sure these veterans are taken care of. >> if we don't make sure that we help those men and women who are coming home today get a job, help with the

that stretches down to sarasota. tampa is a working city. it's a poort city. we have a great research university here. tourism is one economic driver. we have agriculture. hillsborough county is the largest producer of tropical fish in the country. we have our industrial and business environment in the downtown area. not only is it our orins, which obviously, florida -- the spanish came and tracked through florida, oftentimes losing their lives in the process. the native americans were here already pre we have a long, colorful history, long before many people think of america beg settled. many of the journeys throughout florida started here in the tampa bay. they thought there was gold here. obviously, there is not prevented not stop them from coming. we've been influenced from many different cultures. our predominant m&a group has been cuba's, italians, spanish, not to mention americans of african descent who came here unwillingly. the mix in this community is unlike any i've ever lived in. host: the mayor of tampa talking about his city's roots. american his