for all of us here at nbc news, good night.

chris pallone, nbc news. >>> former president george h.w. bush took a turn for the worse last night. he's developed a fever and will be spending christmas in the hospital. his doctors now say they are cautiously optimistic that mr. bush who is 88 will recover. he has been hospitalized since thanksgiving suffering from bronchitis. >>> well, as members of congress spend christmas at home they are hearing from their constituents about guns. for and against further restrictions. it is shaping up to be one of the next year's biggest battles. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> few things illustrate the nation's divide over guns as sharply as this. the debate over high capacity magazines that can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. on the website of brownell's, the world's biggest supplier of gun schizo, 20 and 30-round magazines are featured stocking suffers. the company's president says sales in one 72 hour period equalled what's usually sold in 3 1/2 years. connecticut state police say adam lanza used several 30-ro

"nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening, i'm natalie morales in tonight for brian. it is down to the wire now with about 80 hours until the fiscal cliff deadline. and on what is a holiday weekend for many, that is not the case for congressional leaders in washington. there was a sense of urgency today as the president met with house and senate leaders along with the treasury secretary and vice president a short while ago at the white house to try and forge a last-minute deal. the president says he is optimistic, but at this hour, the fiscal cliff still looms. we begin our coverage with nbc's white house correspondent, peter alexander who has been watching the developments all day. peter, good evening to you. >> reporter: natalie, good evening to you. after his first meeting with all of the top four congressional lawmakers since before thanksgiving, the president marched into the briefing room here at the white house and he said the time for immediate action is now. he called for a bipa

mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. >>> that's nbc "nightly news" for this saturday. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today" and right back here tomorrow evening. we leave you tonight with a look at the rockefeller center christmas tree and a lot of folks enjoying this evening. have a great night, everyone. >>> good evening. i'm diane dwyer. we are tracking another storm headed our way. experts say it could be the strongest of the storms to hit this wokthis week. as you can see the roads are wet. the biggest concern in most areas is flooding. we begin tonight with anthony slaughter in our weather center with a look at when this next storm is supposed to hit. hello, anthony. >> hey, diane. it's been quite a week across the bay area. we are starting to see the impacts of our next storm system make its way across the bay area. from the bay bridge toll plaza there is a bit of water on those lenses. we still have the flash flood watch in effect against the coast. now that flood warning for napa county primarily becauseth

>> erica hill, nbc news, new york. >> oh, that is so sweet. well, coming up next, britain's queen elizabeth goes 3-d for her holiday message, plus go behind the scenes to see what it takes to decorate the nation's most famous residence. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. initiated. neural speeds increasing to 4g lte. brain upgrading to a quad-core processor. predictive intelligence with google now complete. introducing droid dna by htc. it's not an upgrade to your phone. it's an upgrade to yourself. be trading if dasher and dancer for a dumbo? elephants dressed in festive gear visited a group of school children to hand out holiday gifts. students jumped to catch presents and pet the reindeer who also danced for the audience. the visit was especially heartwarming as many locals lost their homes and belongings to a flood earlier this year. >>> here is your first look at some of the other news going around now. at homes, streets and churches were dotted with tens of thousands of luminaries christmas eve burning rightly in remembrance of the m

kristen dahlgren, nbc news, hollywood. >>> is she or isn't she? jessica simpson finally addressed weeks of rumors of whether she's expecting a second child or not. the 32-year-old singer who gave birth to her daughter maxwell seven months ago found a way to let the cat out of the bag. she tweeted a photo saying "big sis" in sand. simpson and eric johnson have been engaged since 2010. i'm richard lui and this is "early today." just for first stop of the day on your nbc station. >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> after that surprise on christmas, it looks like more wintry weather is on the way. look at the rain and snow that is starting to build back into the state. this is all migrating up towards the east and it will cause some slippery conditions across the state of maryland. we will break that all down when we come back in the full forecast. >> 4:56. >> a christmas shooting investigation. >> it involves an intruder into a business. >> getting back to business. president obama is catch

nbc news, new york. >>> and that is nbc nightly news for this saturday. hope to see you right back here again tomorrow. good night.

the vatican says it will help him find a new job outside the church. >>> still ahead as nbc nightly news continues the heated debate over guns in schools. the nra wants armed guards to protect kids but at least one school district is already arming the teachers. >>> later, something else going on in schools. the sound of music. ♪ very sore looking kinda blistery. like somebody had set a bag of hot charcoal on my neck. i was a firefighter for 24 years. but, i have never encountered such a burning sensation until i had the shingles. i remember it well. i was in the back yard doing yard work. i had this irritation going on in my lower neck. i changed shirts because i thought there was something in the collar of the shirt irritating my neck. and i couldn't figure out what was going on. i had no idea it came from chickenpox. i always thought shingles was associated with people... a lot older than myself. i can tell you from experience, it is bad. it's something you never want to encounter. for more of the inside story, visit shinglesinfo.com tomato, obviously. haha. there's more than that t

this just coming in, nbc news, the suspect from new jersey and a parent, one parent according to nbc news of the suspect has now been found dead in their home in new jersey. that is all the information we have on that, but a parent of the suspect also found dead in their home in new jersey. >> wow. that's a tragedy. >> it's basically impossible to go from the story we're talking about to the deal, but that's what we do so we're going to do it, right? this is tough and we know how hard it is today, so let's just do it, right? any progress on the fiscal cliff? >> no signs of it. if there's progress, it's been completely obscured. john boehner went to the white house yesterday afternoon, met with the president for 50 minutes. one of his aids told me as we discussed yesterday on air, that the speaker thought there was a need to shake up the talks but if there was a shakeup, it is completely been kept out of public view because all the signs we have is speaker boehner is headed home for the weekend. there are no talks scheduled for today. that we simply haven't had any movement on the sti

"nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >> good evening, i'm natalie morales in tonight for brian. and we begin with serious winter weather that is moving east. rain, snow and wind that is snarling a lot of travel plans for those trying to make it home from holiday travels. it is the same storm system that is responsible for at least three deaths and spawned record-setting tornadoes in the south over the past 24 hours. we have it all covered, and we begin with the experts who are always out in the middle of these storms. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is just outside buffalo, new york. good evening to you, mike. >> hey, natalie. in buffalo, they're known for the snow. they average 8 feet of snowfall a season. but so far this year, they've only had 6 1/2 inches, leaving many to wonder, where's the white? that's all changing this evening. a major snowstorm has dumped over a foot of snow across parts of the midwest. indiana got hit hard. high winds adding to the misery there. >> it's a lot bett

that is "nbc nightly news" for this sunday night. up next, sunday night football, redskins and the cowboys. i'm kate snow reporting from new york. for all of us here at nbc news, have a great night.

kristen dahlgren, nbc news, hollywood. >>> call it the nightmare before christmas. a lot of folks hoping to kick back and relax with a movie at home on christmas eve were out of luck thanks to a netflix outage that had lots of unhappy customers taking to social media to vent their frustration. >>> up next, our making a difference report for christmas day. that huge unexpected wave of goodwill that began from a simple idea. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. to the best vacation sp(all) the gulf! it doesn't matter which of our great states folks visit. mississippi, alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible. thanks, karen. love your mississippi outdoors. i vote for your florida beaches, dawn. bill, this l

"nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >> good evening, i'm kate snow in tonight for brian, and on this new year's eve, lawmakers may be watching the ball drop from their offices at the u.s. capitol. it has been a day of twists and turns in washington, both procedural and political as the white house and congress tried to find a way to avert those automatic tax and spending measures that kick in midnight tonight. the bottom line at this hour, we are headed over the proverbial fiscal cliff. we say that because the senate hasn't voted on any kind of deal. you see it there live. and the house has said even if there is a deal, they're not going to bring any bill to a vote on this new year's eve. so the big question tonight, what impact will it have on every american? we have all of it covered, and we begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell for the latest from capitol hill. kelly? >> reporter: good evening, kate. well, congress is out of time, and frustrations are really running over. and while democrats and repu

our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. despite calls to run for president, pleas in some cases, secretary clinton would not commit in a brand-new interview. >> i really don't believe that that's something i will do again f. >> you know your husband wants to you in 2016 what do you say to him? >> he want mess to do what i want to do and he has made that very clear around some of what i want to do is just kick back. >> joining me now, nbc political analyst and former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell. once again with us, chris kofinis, democratic strategist. governor, thanks for joining us. we don't expect secretary clinton to say anything other than what she has at this point. but dare i ask this question, what do you believe will happen here? i hate it because i feel like we are still dealing with so many issues. the woman needs break. give her a chance to relax and everyone is already chiming in. here we go, what do you think? >> i genuinely believe what she said is the truth, if you injected her is sodium pentothal and a

tonight, pentagon sources are telling nbc news syria is preparing chemical weapons for their possible use against the syrian people in the form of aerial bombs. it is believed this specific intelligence is the reason why president obama took a hard line against syria just a few days ago, warning them there would be consequences if these weapons were used. let's begin here tonight with the very latest. >> reporter: good evening, brian, u.s. officials tell us that the syrian military is poised tonight to use chemical weapons against its own people. and all it would take is the final order from syrian president assad. as the fighting grows more intense and syrian rebels close in on damascus, the syrian regime has turned very desperate. u.s. officials tell nbc news the syrian military has now loaded the pre cursor for bombs, that could be dropped from dozens of fighter bombers. this week, u.s. intelligence detected a flurry of activity here, near homes. today, while u.s. officials confirm the precursor chemicals are loaded, they must still be mixed together to create the deadly gas. the a

ron mott, nbc news. become hellish for traders. as fiscal cliff talks drag into the 11th hour with $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts due to kick in early next year, lawmakers will get back to the table later this week after house speaker john boehner's plan b failed to get enough republican support for a vote last week. >>> still, the market has been resilient. despite friday's decline, the s&p 500 posted its best week in four. and with just five trading sessions left in 2012, the dow has advanced 8% while the s&p 500 climbed 13. the nasdaq has jumped 16%. >>> reports are due this week on pending home sales. sales of new homes and a look at home prices in the nation's 20 largest cities. >>> are you still not sure what to get for the person who has everything? new retail numbers show footwear was the fifth most popular gift on shoppers' lists on black friday. a year ago, shoes didn't even make it into the top ten gifts for the season. >>> good news for hollywood. attendance by moviegoers is up more than 5.5% so far this ye

"nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening. the wave of sadness and national reflection continues tonight as reality set in a bit today in newtown, connecticut, a town that laid two 6-year-old boys to rest today after the president's visit there last night. while we learn more today about these victims and sadly more information about the gunman, his possible plans and schemes and this awful thing he carried out. and so to start off our reporting on a monday night after such a sad weekend in this country, we go back to the town that remains the saddest spot in our country, nbc's anne thompson is in newtown for us tonight. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. i'm actually in the center of the borough of sandy hook. every day brings new details about what happened inside that school. and today we learn that not one, but two people were injured in the attack. welcome news about survivors on a day when the funerals began. old enough to know, too young to understand. the heartbreaki

michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. >>> and now for a look at your holiday travel forecast we turn to nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. so did you get your christmas shopping done? >> i got most of it done. there's a part of my family i won't see until after christmas so, you know, i did decide to push that off. then i'll hit up all the after-christmas sales. >> so you're excused. >> right. >> you're going to save some money after. >> we just moved. we're surrounded by boxes right now. it's been a little overwhelming but, hey, at least it is christmas time. the music is playing all over the radio and it certainly gets you into the spirit. and, in fact, oklahoma will get into the christmas spirit when you wake up to a bunch of snow on the ground tomorrow morning. there is the chance we could end up with some areas in oklahoma and northern arkansas picking up five to six inches of snow. it hasn't snowed on christmas day in little rock, arkansas, since 1926. so certainly a nice thing for the kids to wake up to tomorrow morning. the storm is actually still out here. we are in the meantim

nbc news. >>> and now for a look at your holiday travel forecast, here's nbc's dylan dreyer. it makes me -- i'm watching that and thinking it's all men saying, yeah, whatever, did it the last minute. that's every year. it's nothing new. >> true, but all men and me. i have a whole bunch of my family -- >> really? >> that i won't see on christmas. so i've been pushing it off because we were moving at the same time. >> i'm surprised. >> i know. normally i'm on top of things ahead of time. but i still have more christmas shopping to do. if you're out and about shopping or traveling today, we aren't seeing too many problems in the northeast and south. but the southeast, that's where we have heavier rain moving into tennessee, the western carolinas and georgia. eventually we're going to see some heavier rain, as well. you see the activity across the west coast, this is a storm that's going to move into the oklahoma area as we go into christmas day. it is still far away. but the area of low pressure is going to track eastward. and eventually we are going to see that snow take hold i

nbc nbc news corporate den richard engel is speaking for the first time since syrian kidnappers released him and his production team. bullets were flying as they made their escape overght in the middle of a fire fight along the northwestern boarder with turkey. this started last thursday when the news team crossed into syria from turkey. engel says at least a dozen gunmen jumped out of the reese and captured them. engel believes the kidnappers were part of syrian president al assad's regime which has been struggling to stay in power in the face of a rebel uprising twins 2011. engel described what happened after the ambush. >> reporter: they kept us blindfolded, bound, we weren't physically beaten orator toured. it was lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed, the -- kidnappers saw this checkpoint, started -- a gunfight and two of the kidnappers were killed. we climbed out of the vehicle and the rebels took us. >> my family, my brother, my parents, my wife. when we were preede yesterday, rescued by the rebels, one of the happiest moments of my life. >> nbc news says it had no

mark potter, nbc news, charleston. >>> that's nbc nightly news on this sunday. brian williams will be up tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from los angeles for all of us at nbc news, good night.

mark potter, nbc news, charleston. >>> that's nbc nightly news on this sunday. brian williams will be up tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from los angeles for all of us at nbc news, good night. ♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement.

our new nbc news-wall street journal poll says people are fed up with the deadlock. today speaker boehner points the finger of blame at president obama. >> i have been pushing all year for us to address this problem, but here we are at the 11th hour, and the president still isn't serious about dealing with this issue right here. it's this issue. spending. >>> only 19 days left until the fiscal cliff. why are republicans letting congress go home? >> once again having a two-day workweek in the congress of the united states. you have to ask the question why are we going home instead of working very hard to forge an agreement to avoid that fiscal cliff? >> hillary clinton heads to capitol hill next week to testify about the benghazi terror attack armed with poll numbers that make her the envy of the political world. does that mean she'll run four years from now? listen to her response to barbara walters. >> what would it take to convince you to run in -- >> that's all hypothetical because right now i have no intention of running. sfoo right now at least. and a might of 1

nbc news is reporting as many as 27 people may be dead from that shooting which broke out this morning shortly after 9:30. that's when police were called. as many as 17 to 18 of the victims are children. 7 to 8 adults including the gunman who authorities described to nbc news as a 20-year-old connecticut man who was dressed in black and was carrying two handguns. connecticut state police are set to begin a briefing at this hour. danbury officials and hospital officials tell nbc news that at least three people have been transported to the hospital. again, to as many as 27 people killed. we will bring you more details as they become available. back to you. >> thank you very much, bertha. we'll keep checking back with you and monitoring the situation. obviously an incredibly tragic situation still unfolding in newtown, connecticut. we will keep you up to date as new information does become available, but right now we turn our attention to what we do here at cnbc. our focus is the markets. we will be following the other story that is unfolding in connecticut. we're going to look at the eco

"nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >> good evening, i'm natalie morales in for brian. just how bad is the situation in washington with only five days left before we reach the fiscal cliff? in a highly unusual move, lawmakers are being called back to work during this holiday week. but if today was any indication, it doesn't appear congressional leaders are ready to play nice, as they continue to play the blame game and point fingers at each other. meanwhile, many americans are feeling high anxiety, knowing those automatic spending cuts and tax hikes will impact every single one of us if there is still no deal by monday night. we begin our coverage with nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, natalie. the mood here really feels like resignation, that the fiscal cliff deadline will come and go, and no agreement reached. democrats and republicans say they want progress, but there is nothing to report. but there are plenty of recriminations abou

nbc news will provide live coverage of today's moment of silence with a special report at 9:30 eastern. today, the national rifle association will hold a news conference later this morning addressing the massacre. the nra has been largely silent since the shooting. >>> yesterday a private funeral was held in new hampshire for nancy lanza, the woman who was murdered by her son adam before he drove to sandy hook elementary school and killed 20 children and himself. >>> now here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. nbc news has confirmed that former south carolina governor mark sanford is planning to run for the house seat that congressman tim scott will be vacating when he becomes the state's new senator in january. sanford's ex-wife jenny is considering a run of her own against her former husband and she plans to make a decision after consulting with her family over the holidays. that could get interesting. >>> conservative republican congressman dan burton of indiana said if a fiscal cliff deal is not reached, the gop would be forced to accept higher tax rate

pentagon sources tell nbc news that syria is preparing chemical weapons for the possible use against the military people in the form of aerial bombs. jim miklaszewski reports. >> reporter: as the fighting grows more intense and syrian rebels close in on damascus, the syrian regime has turned increasingly desperate. u.s. officials tell nbc news the syrian military loaded the precursor chemicals for sarn nerve gas into aerial bombs. that could be dropped from dozens of syrian fighter bombers. this week u.s. intelligence detected a flurry of activity at chemical weapons sites like this one. while u.s. officials confirm the precursor chemicals are loaded, they must still be mixed together to create the deadly sarin gas. the development shook the world. president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton issued strong warnings to syria's president assad that there would be serious consequences if he used chemical weapons. >> it's the point of no return. they're going to lose any sort of backing that they had from the chinese and russians in terms of blocking the u.n. vote. and it's my

nbc news chief foreign correspondent. what we're told from him is that he was actually crossing from syria into turkey when they were abducted. they were thrown into a truck and blindfolded and held at an undisclosed locationment engel coming out and saying thank you to everyone, these have been tough days and he's going to speak in the days ahead. i'm angie goff at the news 4 live desk. back to you. >> angie, thank you. he's no santa claus but a man in san francisco had to be rescued after he got stuck in a chimney. it happened early monday morning. he was stuck in the chimney of his apartment building which is seven stories high. firefighters had to break some of the chimney bricks to free him. it took about an hour. so far, not clear exactly why he was in the chimney but there's a report that he may have been trying o hide there. >>> looks like this scary scene outside a california mall may have been a stress reliever. police arrested marcos gurrola after he fired 50 rounds in a mall parking lot over the weekend. gurro

news for a special report. >> this is an nbc news special report. here's brian williams. >> good day. we are coming on the air right now to break exclusive word that the united states ambassador to the united nations, ambassador susan rice, has transmitted word to the president of the united states that she is withdrawing her own name from any future consideration for nomination to become perhaps the next secretary of state following hillary rodham clinton. in the letter to the president, and ambassador rice has subsequently spoke tonight president, "i'm highly honored to be kbird you for appoint as secretary of state. the position of secretary of state" is she goes on to say, "should never be poll lit side. i'm sanded we have reached this point even before you have decided whom to nominate." those all direct quotes from her letter to the president. we are joined in our washington bureau by the moderator of "meet the press," david greglism goes back, follows a chain of event these starts on 9/11 of this year. u.s. con sur late and benghazi, the kill

for "today," miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> hard to play a football game in the midst of all of that. >>> in london we're learning more about the nurse who died just days after receiving a prank phone call about the duchess of cambridge. anabel roberts is outside the church where she worked. >> reporter: good morning, erica. in the last few minutes a letter from the chairman of the radio company in australia has been released, sent to the chief executive of this hospital, where the nurse works and in it the chairman says that "we are all deeply saddened by the tragic events of the last few days" and that the company will fully cooperate with all investigations. meanwhile prince william has attended his first event since the news of kate's pregnancy broke. the flash bulbs popped to prince william as he arrived at a gala fund-raiser but for once they were directed only at him, not his wife, who is still at home resting. shaking hands is part and parcel of his job but this father-to-be has more on his mind than most. surrounded by titans from the world of tennis, he seemed relaxed. but f

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that's the box office preview, raphael seth, nbc news. >> now for another look at the weather, here is meteorologist dil condition drier. where was the jud apatow movie? >> you're so bummed about that, right? >> i was planning my mom to see it. >> i'm sure it's still out there. >> i didn't get to see the review you. >> make the review, veronica.

nbc news is still going through it at this hour. but this independent panel that has been investigating the attack in benghazi appears to be placing most of the blame tonight squarely on the u.s. state department. please stay tuned. [ boy ] there i was. another holiday stuck at the kids table again. then it happened. every boy's dream. i got called up to the big leagues. i was finally a man... on my way to shaving, driving and staying up past midnight. [ whoosh ] [ whoosh ] [ whoosh ] being an adult is overrated. [ male announcer ] holidays aren't the same without the real cream of reddi-wip. the sound of reddi-wip [ whoosh ] is the sound of joy. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just c

today, nbc news confirmed that worker is free and "said to be in good condition." doctors will evaluate him when he gets to turkey and all of the nbc news team now safe thankfully out of syria. >> armed. dangerous. a couple of bank robbers escaping prison from 20 stories up in the air. there is video. we will show you how they pulled this off. >>shepard: a horrible scene in pakistan, gunman have shot and killed eight humanitarian workers in the last couple of days according to officials in pakistan. those workers were vaccinating people against the crippling disease polio. militants say they cannot continue unless the united states quits the drone strikes. they claim the united nations program is actually an attempt to sterilize must hims. and a cover for espionage. the shootings have forced the united nations to suspend the program in parts of pakistan and pull workers off the streets. the world health organization reports the polio epidemic is a problem in three nations: afghanistan, nigeria and pakistan. the united nations reports 50 cases of the disease across

this is "early today" on nbc. >>> welcome back. stories making news this morning. "the new york times" reports that the u.s. secretly gave its blessing to armed shipments to rebel groups in libya during the fight against moammar gadhafi, but officials became alarmed that some of the weapons sent from qatar may have been turned over to islamic militants. >>> a new congressional report shows waistful spending of tax money that was intended for counter terrorism purposes. some of the most head shaking examples include the homeland security security department paid for a hog catcher? texas, a fish tank in a small texas town, and an underwater robot in a midwest city with no major rivers or lakes nearby. >>> john mcafee, the eccentric software tycoon, was arrested in guatemala. he has been a fugitive from police in belize after the murder of his neighbor. >>> in philippines the death toll has increased to 350 and almost 400 people are missing so that number will go even higher. >>> and in new york city, a homeless man is facing charges of second degree murder in the dea

law enforcement sources tell nbc news two guns found on adam lanza had been purchased legally by his mother in january of this year. and back in 2010. they also tell nbc there's no evidence of lanza visiting the gun range in the past six months. jay gray has more now from newtown. >> reporter: good evening. it has been another rough day here as you might imagine. first graders from sandy hook elementary school, again, gathering today to bury two more of their classmates. that while students from other schools here actually went back to class for the first time since the tragedy. they are there with extra security and grief counselors on hand to help them with the transition of coming back to school here. thousands continue to pour into the small town. driven here by grief, they say, and just the need to be here and to try to help in some way, memorials are growing in this small town. so is the sentiment that they will get through this. everyone beginning to understand just how long that is going to take and just how difficult it is going to be. getting back to normal, don't talk abou

it was nbc news who first broke the news today about susan rice. joining us now with the latest is nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. andrea, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you. good to be with you, rachel. >> the white house released a statement this afternoon praising susan rice but also condemning the political attacks that caused her to remove her name from consideration. is this what the white house was hoping for? do we know if they wanted susan rice to bow out? >> i think they expected her to. i don't think she was pressured to. but it was a very uncomfortable situation. the conclusion was that this was too painful and it was a distraction. as she wrote, she has an op-ed that she's already posted, has been posted by the "washington post" for tomorrow, and saying that it had become a distraction, that she wants to focus on her work and that clearly was not possible the way this had proceeded. i think that no one asked her to withdraw but they were unable, since she had not been nominated and the pres