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Waiting in Boulder

The waiting.  Oftentimes, it's the hardest thing a journalist endures.  After 72 hours in Boulder covering the resurrected JonBenet mystery, the waiting has been the most fatiguing aspect of this story.  Never mind that we -- and by we I mean news crews from Tokyo to New York City -- have been camped out in front of the Boulder Criminal Justice Center like an invading army armed with hulking satellite trucks and cameras mounted on tripods like machine guns. It's the waiting. Waiting for word -- word of Karr getting on a plane from Thailand. Word about any long lost friends who may have received e-mails or gotten taped conversations from Karr. Waiting for interviews to come through.  In the meantime, we do our best to piece together what little facts we have and try to extrapolate conclusions as best we can from experts who I call the "JonBenet-ists"-- anyone associated with the last trial/investigation. And then the logistics -- making sure our four crews are on the correct shoots.  Do we have a good satellite connection? Where are we going to get food? Pizza -- well, do they deliver and take credit cards?  Bathroom -- either smile your way into the Justice Center or use one of the port-a-potties which don't stink too badly yet.  And the weather -- seems to alternate between steaming hot and rainy cold.  And all the while we wait. Maybe I can get some sleep tonight.

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A Twisted Tale

The strange story of John Mark Karr, a suspect in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, gets stranger by the day.  Tomorrow, he will be flown from Thailand to the U.S.  But tonight there are more questions than answers about the man who reportedly confessed to killing the little girl.  NBC's Mike Taibbi is following the story for us tonight.

There is new concern about terrorism in Europe today.  Authorities say they arrested one of two men who were allegedly involved in a bomb plot.  NBC's Charles Sabine reports.

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Friday's lineup

Tonight the top of the broadcast will focus on two stories. One domestic and one foreign -- the announcement today of big cuts in production by Ford Motor Co.; and Hezbollah handing out bags of cash to war victims in Southern Lebanon. They are stories that on the surface seem unrelated, yet are inextricably linked (see Tom Friedman's column today in The New York Times for the best explanation).

First to Detroit. Ford says it is cutting production by 21 percent or 168,000 vehicles. That puts production at its lowest level in more than 20 years. Ford has been struggling, with year-to-date sales down nearly 10 percent over last year. The Ford brass say they are not happy about the cuts but have no choice. The main reason? You probably guessed it -- high gas prices. Ford is taking a real hit on gas guzzling trucks and SUVs. Chief Financial Correspondent Anne Thompson will have all the details for us tonight.

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Reaction to NSA wiretap ruling

Legal scholars, both liberal and conservative, say they are disappointed with yesterday's ruling by the federal judge who held the NSA warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional. Though they disagree on whether her conclusion was the right one, they generally agree that her legal reasoning left a great deal to be desired -- especially in a case of such national importance -- and probably won't be given much weight by the federal appeals courts that take up the controversy.

The ruling, though it offers a thorough review of how previous courts have handled similar issues in the past, is unusually thin on legal analysis in deciding this case.

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Documenting the destruction

Photographer David Burnett recently returned to New Orleans' Ninth Ward months after his first visit for National Geographic. Photo by Steve Majors.

"So many things change... but in the photograph, it will live forever. That image is frozen in time."
David Burnett
Photographer

I met David Burnett while researching a story for Nightly News on Burnett's haunting photos of the post-Katrina landscape along the Gulf Coast. I found the motivation behind each picture just as important as the photo itself. Burnett told me he had mixed emotions about seeing part of the ward finally cleared of debris. He hopes his photographs will serve as a reminder to everyone of the scope of the devastation.

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Early Nightly is up

Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory does the Early Nightly honors today from Washington. The economy is shaping up to be tonight's top story. Click the link to the right (below the advertisement) to find out why. Campbell Brown anchors the Friday edition of Nightly News from New York.

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Thursday's rundown

If you have been checking the Internet, listening to the radio or watching cable news, then you already know that prosecutors are treating this arrest in connection with the JonBenet Ramsey case with caution... urging the public, as AP reports, not to "jump to conclusions." As we reported earlier, a school teacher is in custody in Thailand and says that he accidentally killed the girl. But now some are suggesting that parts of the story just don't add up. The suspect spoke to reporters in what seemed to be a highly unusual perp walk/press conference. We recognize there is enormous interest in the story and we are covering it from all angles tonight.

But there is other news to report beyond developments in the Ramsey case. And important news at that. Richard Engel is in Southern Lebanon where the Lebanese army arrived to take positions today even though its mandate is still unclear. The Lebanese army apparently will not be disarming Hezbollah and there is still confusion about what countries will participate in the U.N. peacekeeping force.

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Early Nightly is up

Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory does the honors today from NBC's Washington, D.C., newsroom. Campbell Brown will anchor the broadcast from New York. Click the link to the right (below the advertisement) to watch.

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Quiet class!

So we're neatly moved into our new digs at the White House Conference Center across the street from the White House. The booths and furniture are squeaky clean -- give it a week or so though - the space is a millimeter or so larger than our previous home, but there are some problems.

The briefing room where Press Secretary Tony Snow does his daily session with reporters is slightly bigger, but acoustically it's noisier. So today -- twice during his Q&A -- Snow abruptly stopped in mid-sentence, gazed to the back of the room toward the area where camera crews are positioned, and above the banter asked, "Guys, can you hold it down?"

Nothing was said about points off for lack of class participation.

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The wild one

President Bush waves after starting the engine on a Harley while touring Harley Davidson Vehicle Operations in York, Pa. The man applauding, right, is Harley Davidson President and CEO Jim Ziemer. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS. 

Maybe it's the speed, the leather or the vroom factor, but there's a certain attraction between recent presidents and Harley Davidson motorcycles. Both Reagan and Clinton visited this factory in York, Pa., and today it was President George W. Bush's turn.

The congressman representing this district, Todd Platts, R-York Co., explained to a local newspaper that the White House wanted to do this event. "They raised it with us about two weeks ago, that they were looking to do an economic event in York... and were looking at Harley-Davidson," Platts said. 

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