tom costello has more. >> reporter: for the airline and travel industry, summer 2009 is shaping up to be a bit of a washout. and with little optimism that business will pick up in the fall, hotels, resorts and airlines are discounting prices to levels we haven't seen in 13 years. >> it's going to be a wild and crazy run for the airlines. they're still losing their shirts, and they still got to fill up those planes. >> reporter: bestfares.com says if you're traveling between august 18th and november 28th, there are 12 flights to las vegas for $98 round trip. 40 cities to baltimore, washington, d.c.'s, bwi for $48. flying to europe? dallas to rome drops to nearly $1500 to $740 as of mid-august. chicago to paris drops from $1150 to $460. los angeles to barcelona drops from $1209 to $609. why mid-august? >> that's when everybody in america has to go back to work, kids are going back to school, family travel's over. the only folks out there who are going to be out there may be some retirees. >> reporter: but already, hotels are offering deep discounts now at some of the country's top desti

our own tom costello is in our washington bureau with more on this. ood evening. >> hi, brian. two new reports out say consumers know more about the water in their tap than the bottled water they pay so much more. in fact, 28 gallons per person, per year, paying hundreds times more for bottled water than for tap water. but the environmental working group looked at 200 popular brands of water and found that fewer than 2% disclose the water source. while the epa requires municipalities to report what's in the water in our taps, the fda doesn't require bottlers to tell us what is in their water or where it originates from. now, government investigators said bottlers today should be required to provide more thorough labelling. congress now looking at beefing up the labelling requirements. meanwhile, brian, researchers today said maybe bottled water should be a distant second choice for you as your water source. not a primary source. they insist tap water is usually very clean. >> tom costello from our washington bureau tonight. tom, thanks. >>> speaking of

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> can't believe it's 40 years. >> amazing. >> 5:27. 62 degrees. coming up in the next half-hour of 11 news today -- >> carbon monoxide poisoning sends nine people to the hospital in northeast baltimore. i'm jennifer franciotti. details are next. >> the taliban has now released a video of an american soldier being held hostage. the latest is coming up. >> there are some showers and storms brewing to our south. i'll let you know if that will affect us. #

nbc's tom costello standing by in our washington newsroom with more on all of it tonight. m, first things first. swine flu update. >> yep, brian, the fda wants to get a vaccine in place as quickly as possible, featuring the virus may come back with a vengeance in the fall along with the seasonal flu virus. it is going to help rush the approval process. the fda told congress it must prepare for the worst, though it will watch for adverse effects from the vaccine. the government is hoping to have 160 million doses of the swine flu vaccine in place by october. it plans to soon start testing the vaccine on people. >> m ttom, the other story, abo cloning, the question arises what could it have to do with humans? >> a big story. if they can clone a mouse by using skin cells what they have done in china they might one day be able to use human skin cells to grow human tissue without destroying an embryo. his name is tiny and what makes this chinese mouse and 26 others unique is that researchers cloned him. not from embryonic stem cells, but from another mouse's skin cells. they're

brian. >>> tom costello, national airport in washington with the story tonight. tom, thanks. >>> developments tonight in florida surrounding the case of the double-murder there, the adoptive parents of so many special needs children. an awful story. and now a new turn in the investigation tonight. police say they have seven people under arrest and they have solved this crime. but they say this story doesn't end there. our own mark potter in pensacola tonight with the latest on this. mark, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. officials say they believe they have now caught all the alleged killers of burt and melanie billings and say the home invasion in which they died was long planned. military style. >> just a few opening statements i would look to make. >> reporter: in an emotional moment today, sheriff david morgan told members of the billings family the killers of parents burt and melanie billings are now behind bars. >> we have found them and they are in custody. >> reporter: officials say they have caught all seven people, six adults, and a 16-yea

tom costello, nbc news, boston. >>> up next as "nightly news" continues this saturday, the great dividewhen it comes to race, have there been lessons learned this week? >>> and later, dance fever. why did one wedding video out of so many others become an overnight internet sensation? we've always been alike. we even both have osteoporosis. but we're active. especially when we vacation. so when i heard about reclast, the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment, i called joni. my doctor said reclast helps restrengthen our bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve whole months. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in more places: hip, spine, even other bones. (announcer) you should never take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain or if you have dental problems, as rarely, jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu-like symptoms, fever, musc

our report from tom costello. >> reporter: since angie gonzalez was a little girl, this is where she's always wanted to be. >> raise your hand if you can hear me. >> reporter: a classroom in miami teaching second grade. >> why don't you grab the paper? >> reporter: but getting here meant going back to college while juggling a job and two kids. >> i didn't want to do that to my family. i didn't want to leave them. >> reporter: angie was exactly the student 19 governors had in mind when they started western governors university 12 years ago. what "time" magazine calls the best relatively cheap university you've never heard of. at $6,000 a year, an online nonprofit fully accredited university and already among the biggest providers of math and science teachers to inner cities. we talked to the university president online. >> we have seen an increased rate of growth just in the last three, four, five months. >> reporter: in fact, the online student population has exploded from 500 students in 2003 to 14,000 today. here's what's different. rather than requiring students to physically attend

our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> we can see you coming down the ladder now. >> reporteris is how 600 million people watched neil armstrong and buzz aldrin take their first steps on the moon through grainy, distorted black and white imes, now 40 years later, this, a 21st century digital makeover of armstrong's first steps of buzz aldrin coming down the ladder before and after with far more detail and clarity. >> beautiful, beautiful. >> reporter: of planting the flag before and after the scarred surface of the moon far more vivid. >> we are men from the planet earth. >> reporter: and reading aloud the plaque on the lunar lander you can make out the astronaut's faces as they read president nixon's words. the original broadcast from the moon pushed the limits of 1969 technology. transmitted more than 200,000 miles to two tracking stations in australia, where the signal was converteto a broadcast image. sent on to sydney, then beamed to california, relayed to uston and rebroadcast to the rest of the world. >> we are very happy we were able to present any television whether i

nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: for the airline and travel industries, summer 2009 is shaping up to be a bit of a washout, and with little optimism that business will pick up in the fall, hotels, resorts, and airlines are discounting prices to levels we haven't seen in 13 years. >> it's going to be a wild and crazy run for the airlines. they're still losing their shirts, and they still got to fill up those planes. >> reporter: if you're traveling between august 18th and november 28th, there are 12 cities with flights to las vegas for just $98 round trip. 11 cities to chicago for $98, and 40 cities to baltimore, washington's bwi for $98. flying to europe? dallas to rome drops from nearly $1,500 to $740 as of mid-august. chicago to paris drops from $1,150 to $460. and los angeles to barcelona drops from $1,209 to $609. why mid-august? >> that's when everybody in america has to go either back to work, these kids are going back to school, family travel is over, and the only folks out there going to be out there maybe will be some retirees. >> reporter: but already hotels are offer

nbc's tom costello reporting.after that historic journey one of the apollo 11 men is urging americans and nasa to be bold and explore the true unknown. at a news conference earlier today buzz aldrin the second man to step on lunar soil said the best way to commemorate the 40th anniversary was not to replay the past but make new history. >> america to mars is what it ought to be, not america back to the moon. america can use our experience, great experience, and the last 40 years of experience in detailed preparation for us to go. we can share that with somebody else. let's do that. >> in an op-ed in "the new york daily news" aldrin explained the red planet can reap rich rewards. mass as our focus can electrify the public's interest in science and engineering, give young people something to stimulate educational goals and provide a rationale for global american space leadership. aldrin also argued the moon race was won 40 years ago. we've become fixated on the moon but having been there and stood on its surface i c

>> all right, tom costello this morning. m, thank you. >>> seven suspects are now in custody in the murders of byrd and melanie billings, the parents of 16 children, many with special needs. one of the suspects is just 16 years old. police believe that robbery was the primary motive, and they are still seeking a person of interest. >>> an amazing sight for beach goers in new york on tuesday when a 5,000-pound, 24-foot long basking shark washed ashore on long island. the shark had died a short time later. >>> and now here's brian williams coming up tonight on "nbc nightly news." hey, brian. >> hey, ann, thanks. and good morning. coming up tonight, our chief medical editor dr. nancy synderman sitting down with a rare one-on-one interview with president obama. they're going to talk about health care reform, the swine flu situation, even a new surgeon general. so that and more when we see you tonight on "nightly news." ann, for now, back to you. >> all right, brian, thanks a lot. it is now 8:05. time to go back outside to meredit

here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: for the airline and travel industry, summer 2009 is shaping up a bit of a washout. with little optimism that business will pick up in the fall, hotels, resorts and airlines are discounting prices to levels we haven't seen in 13 years. >> it's going to be a wild and crazy run for the airlines. they're still losing their shirts. and they still got to fill up those planes. >> reporter: if you're traveling between august 18 and november 28, there are 12 cities with flights to las vegas for just $98 round trip. 11 cities to chicago for $98. and 40 cities to baltimore-washington's bwi for $98. to europe? dallas to rome drops from $1,500 to $740 as of mid-august. chicago to paris, drops from $1,150 to $460. los angeles to barcelona, from $1,209 to $609. why in august? >> that's when everybody in america has to either go back to work, kids are going back to school, family travel's over. the only folks out there, there may be some retirees -- >> reporter: but already hotels are offering deep discounts now at some of the country's top destinations. among t

tom costello returns. >> reporter: his name is tiny. what makes this chinese mouse and 26 others unique is that researchers cloend him, not from embryonic stem cells but from another mouse's skin cells, called ips stem cells. if it works in humans, it could mean scientists could have an alternative to using human embryos to grow cells. stem cell transplant expertre george daily calls it a major break through. >> the real promise is that we could make any tissue that patient might need, yes. it could be blood cells. it cld be brain cells. >> that could mean using a patient's own cells to grow new human organ tissue damaged by parkinson's disease, even spinal cord injuries, all the while bypassing the ethical dilemma of using human stem cells. the research appears in today's journal "nature." >> no embryo destruction, no requirement for human egg donors to be involved. >> rorter: and that say bioeth sifts, is critical. >> for many americans, 'em borrow i don't destruction has been the stopping point. >> reporter: experts say cloning an en

nbc's tom costello has the details. tom, good morning to you. >> good morning. southwest airlines spent the night inspecting nearly 200 of its 737-300s after a hole opened up in this plane's skin. southwest flight 2294 took off from nashville at 4:05 eastern time on monday with 131 people on board the boeing 737-300. about 30 minutes into the flight, southwest says the plane's cabin began to lose air pressure. because of a small hole that had opened up in the plane's fuselage. the plane's onboard, jen masks then dropped as the flight was diverted and forced to make an emergency landing in charleston, west virginia. the plane landed at 6:10 without incident. ambulances were on scene to greet the plane, but no one was hurt. once on the ground, passengers shared their pictures of the hole in the plane, said to be one foot by one foot. >> all of a sudden the loudest noise i ever heard came out of nowhere. there was no mop, no creak, no explosion like noise, just a loud roar and i look up and there's the sun coming through the ceiling. >> passengers flew onto baltimo

nbc's tom costello is in washington with more. morning. >> reporter: hi, natalie, good morning. you know, bottled water is hundreds of times more expensive than tap water and there are hundreds of bottled water companies that are out there promising their water is pure and clean. some even vaguely suggest medicinal or healing powers. but it turns out most of us know less about what's in our bottled water than we do about what's in our tap water. it's a sizzling hot summer day in july. so you grab a bottle of water. but, do you know what's in it? >> my kids love to drink bottled water. they love having it around. >> i can take it. i can just drink it on the bench or whatever. >> i prefer it. it tastes better than tap water. >> reporter: well, if you think bottled water is cleaner than tap water, some environmentalists say you may be in for a surprise. >> more than half of people who drink bottled water are drinking it because they think it's healthier. safer, purer than tap water. by law, it's not required to be any of those things.

tom costello reports. >> reporter: the hole in the top of the 737-300 is 17 inches by 17 inches.intense work to make sure planes don't open newspaper flight, what happened? >> we will look for kau rowtion and cracks and going to be looking for scoring or scribe lines. we will look at the maintenance records. manufacturing records. >> we do know the plane involved is 15 years old. on monday, flight 2294 flew from nashville to baltimore, and the cabin lost pressure as the skin of the plane peeled back in front of the tail. they started to feel the effects of lack of oxygen. >> started to feel light headed. and your ears start popping, and stopping up. >> soon, the oxygen masks dropped and the plane made an emergency landing in charleston, west virginia. the location of the tear is important, because a couple weeks ago the faa required all airlines to inspect 737-300s or 400s or 500s, after a crack was found on another 737. >> i am shocked we would have this happen again. >> it was 1988 when the top of an airline pulled a flight attendant to her death during the flight when a hole o

nbc news correspondent tom costello joins us now with more. >> everyone thinks because it is in a bottle it has spring and mineral written all over it, it has really special. but we don't know what's in there. >> i ripped the label off this one. it didn't matter because the label didn't tell me where it came from, where the water come from and what is in it. that's an issue. do you know where the bottled water in your house comes from? here's what's interesting. this is a growing industry. you can say that america's thirst is unquenchable. we started at 13 gallons of bottled water per person in 1997. today we have about 28 gallons r person. but the question is nobody knows or few people know what's in here because only 2% of the bottles actually tell you where does the water come from and what is in it. so this is why congress is asking questions. >> who monitors this water? is it different from who monitors tap water? >> you must be a reporter. indeed it is. the epa watches over our city water and requires the city municipalities, water providers, to tell us every year what is in our wa

tom costello has more. >> reporter: it's a sizzling hot summer day in july.ou grab a bottle of water. but, do you know what's in it? >> my kids love to drink bottled water. they love having it around. >> i can take it to hockey, just drink it on the bench or whatever. >> i prefer it. it tastes better than tap water. >> reporter: if you think bottled water is cleaner than tap water, some environmentalists say you may be in for a surprise. >> norman half of people who drink bottled water drink it because they think it is healthier, safer, purer than tap water. by law it is not not requireded to be any of those things. >> reporter:ed a s ed it was fo less than 2% disclosed their water source. from 13 gallons per important in 1997 to more than 28 gallons per person last year, bottled water is now an $11 billion industry. but the fda doesn't require bottled water suppliers to tell consumers where their water iginates or what's in it. instead, congress heard of bottlers who brahpromise unique health benefits. >> like they can change the molecular makeup of water an

tom costello, thank you. >> police stand-off with the shooting suspect in falls church is now in its 22nd hour. scores of police and s.w.a.t. teams circle ad house near tysons corner. they say the man has been holed up inside the homes. a woman as shot yesterday evening. tracee wilkins has been following the story and is live on the scene. >> reporter: we want to stress this is a possible shooting suspect. police are not saying for sure that this is the man who shot this woman. what they are telling us is that they are watching this home very closely and will have changed since it started yesterday evening. but what has changed is that now they are communicating with someone inside of the home but at this time they won't say who. this all began last evening around 6:30 when police say a 36-year-old woman was shot on fisher drive in falls church. the witnesses reported seeing a man run from that scene and into a nearby home. that led to a stand-off, fairfax county and state police that is still ongoing. we are told that there are other people inside of this home but we don't know how

tom costello who worked with me, he stopped me in the hallway and said why would gordon liddy say what he said last night, that the mother put an advertisement in the local newspaper so he could be an american. my brain wasn't working yesterday. the kid would have been an american anyway. we have joining us right now -- bob terrell is the founder and editor in chief and a legendary name in this business of journalism in one of the most oldest conservative magazines, the american spectator. what do you think this is? people like lou dobs are saying i think he's an american, i just want to know more, i want to see more documentation. rushbo is out there having fun. bill posey, richard shelby, all kinds of people, look at what some republicans have said about president obama's birth. republican congressman bill posey of florida said i haven't looked at the evidence. it's not up to me to look at the evidence. i can't swear on a stack of bibles where he is or isn't. senator richard shellby said well his father was kenyan and they said he was born in hawaii. i haven't seen any birth. you hav

. >> tom costello live with the lait latest.well, all things appear to be under control here, but essentially what happened is one of the astronauts specifically it was chris kelly of the co 2 scrubbers, apparently weren't doing their job. they were not taking the carbon dioxide out of his suit fast enough and his co 2 levels started to rise in the middle of their procedure it replace the batteries on the far left solar array on the space station and whenever you get high co 2 levels you start to be very concerned because of course, that can eventually lead to confuse, dizziness, it can even lead to death in extreme conditions and situations. we're not talking about carbon mo oxide but carbon dioxide. if you remember from apollo 13," there was that scene where they had to find a fix to get the scrubbers to work because the levels were rise too long fast and they could have killed the crew. that's not what happened here. they're getting the astronauts inside the station because for some reason, the scrubber isn't working or isn't

and tom costello on the beat for the historic occasion. what are the day's events, tom?> later today we will have the astronauts meeting with president obama. the "apollo 11" crew will remember this moment. 40 years ago at 11:00 eastern time at night when neil armstrong first set foot on the moon, followed by buzz aldrin. and they brought back 40 pounds of lunar rocks to analyze the rocks to get a sense of what the moon is made of. last night here at the space museum, buzz aldrin made a plea to return to space, and not just space and the moon, but he made a play to go to mars. >> instead of a moon race, we can help make the moon a true steppingstone to more exciting and inhabitable place. we could venture outward to mars for america's future. >> nasa's plan right now is to return to the moon by 20/20, an then go to mars. and i talked to the administrator of nasa, and he told me if we will go to mars, we have to be able to go put people in a submarine, and submerge them for years, and then unless we can do that, it will be difficult to go to mars. >> and nasa's budget, $1

nbc's tom costello is at reagan national airport with more on this story. >> reporter: good morning.ntry are trying to mitigate the bird threat. now some are turning to bird radar. >> the wisconsin 3743, 22. >> reporter: at boston's logan airport it's a constant balancing act. >> ground point nine. >> reporter: the 400,000 flight operation each year, and the birds who stage their own flight operations. >> all right 0-4 -- >> reporter: last year boston reported 61 bird strikes and many more close encounters. it was just six months ago that a flock of canada geese took out both engines on a us airways plane, forcing it into the hudson river. and two weeks ago, 40 birds forced an emergency landing in baltimore. now, boston is testing a new technology. >> this is a standard system that we build for the military. >> reporter: sitting between runways 27 and 33 left, merlin is scanning the skies for birds. gary andrews is the ceo of detect technologies. >> we have a horizontal radar that's tracking four to six miles around the airport and a vertically scanning radar that's covering approach

nbc's tom costello a is the tisr and space museum in washington. >> reporter: good morning. at 11:00 eastern time that neil armstrong and then buzz aldrin first set foot aupon the moon. buzz aldrin coming down the ladder a few hours after neil armstrong. what they did will likely be remembered for hundreds, if not thousands of years. >> picking up some dust. >> reporter: even today, 40 years later, we seem to hold our breath when we see it. >> the eagle has landed. >> reporter: through a miracle of 1969 technology, nasa had defied the odds and landed two men on the moon. >> that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> reporter: 600 million people around the world watched live as neil armstrong and then buzz aldrin took those first steps. only 12 men ever walked on the moon. the last in 1972. the u.s. had won a key battle in the cold war. today the apollo 11 command module sits at the air and space museum in washington. >> by winning that space race, we demonstrated to our allies and potential allies, and indeed the whole world, that the united states was sec

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> a family in wisconsin is cleaning up after the oscar meyer wienermmed into their garage. police say the driver was trying to get a view of nearby lake michigan when she accidentally stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake. ouch. the wayward 27-foot sausage on wheels damaged the garage and the deck above it. no one was home at the time, and the driver was not hurt. that's because she had the whole hot dog protecting her. >> that would have been some view. >> i wonder if you have to wear a helmet when you drive that wean are mobile. >> a wiener on your head? anyway, good morning. >> hi. >> weatherwise, it's nice outside. >> certainly is. >> your forecast is coming up. ñ ♪ the art of getting dirty. the art of getting clean. new powerfully formulated wisk®... is better on tough mud stains than tide total care. wisk®. powerfully clean. perfectly priced. >>> look at that. some residents were treated to quite a show last night. they didn't have to leave their homes. what ur a seeing is video of strong lightning storms that hit the albuquerque area.

tom costello will join us with more details in a few moments.ollowing the speedy reorganizations of gm and chrysler. the head of the auto task force is stepping down to return to private life. this comes amid an investigation of an alleged kickback scheme at his former investment firm. authoritieses have said he is unlikely to face charges. >> bernie madoff is one step closer to the prison where he'll serve his 150-year sentence. the 71-year-old is being held in atlanta right now after his transfer from a new york jail cell. he'll end newspapup in a prison north carolina after being sentenced for his multibillion dollar ponzi scheme. >> the federal deficit has hit $1 trillion and it is expected to go higher as i start stut ter. they forecast it will top $1.8 trillion. trillion. here with us now, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director, chuck todd. let's start right there. that benchmark. that's a lot of money. do we have any plans in this administration to address it? >> reporter: they said they want to have the deficit b

are questioning about whether it's much more than just one perverted peeping tom that's perpetuating all of this. carol costellorning. >> all right, guys, thank you so much. >> reporter: if you didn't know who erin andrews was, you do now. seems everybody is talking about an uninvited videotaping of the espn reporter. >> erin andrews was the reporter that was secretly taped by a peeping tom in her hotel room. >> no idea there's a perv at the door. >> and nude video ended up on the internet. >> reporter: andrews' attorney is threatening legal action if anyone continues to post the videos online. but a french website persists. andrews, it seems, has lost control over who has the rights to her body. and while her attorney wants whoever took the pictures to be criminally prosecuted, others say many more are guilty. who is to blame? >> i do think we're all complicit in a culture that object mys women. >> reporter: and if you think people aren't interested in that kind of thing, google says searches on erin andrews have gone up 5,000% in the past few days. the blog sites isn't surprised. says for years there's been a