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Potential advance in treating lung cancer

Tonight we report on a potential advance in the treatment of lung cancer — a test to see who can benefit from chemotherapy immediately after surgery to remove early stage lung cancer. I say potential advance because this is about a test that is not yet on the market. It requires a large trial to prove its true worth, and that won’t be finished for a few years. You can read an abstract of the actual research from the New England Journal of Medicine.

We chose to publicize this early finding because lung cancer is by far the leading cancer killer and treatment advances have lagged far behind other cancers. This is about to change. A screening test that finds cancer at its earliest stages has just completed a 10-year trial. Those results have not been published, but many experts widely expect they will show that former and current smokers can benefit from screening to find early, small cancers that can be removed easily with surgery. 

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Buckeye state of mind

If it's Wednesday, it must be Columbus. What a life-affirming, sparkling Fall day this is here in Ohio -- it is proof that you can leave New York and land in America in time for lunch at Bun's restaurant in Delaware, Ohio -- where we met up with Sen. Mike DeWine earlier this morning. Without fail and without exception, every person we have met all day has been kind and welcoming. My only frustration was that we could not sit down to lunch at Bun's (duty called), and so we were forced to do the next best thing: we bought their fudge cake (6 lbs., $6) to take with us on the plane home.

Photos by Nightly News Producer Subrata De

I'm hoping the TSA doesn't declare it a liquid. Lunch today was the drive-up window at Arby's. All I will say is this: I ordered from memory, without looking at the board. It was a first for Executive Producer John Reiss, who had the chicken. I don't think John will ever be quite the same after this trip.

Updated, 4:00 p.m. ET: John Reiss has corrected me, for the record, and indeed, says he has eaten at Arby's, but he admits that was in college, and thus the unfamiliarity with the menu.

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Early Nightly: White House edition

Brian anchors the broadcast from Columbus, Ohio, tonight and will report on the Senate race in that state. While Brian is in the field, Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory handles the Early Nightly today, focusing on President Bush's news conference.

Click here for David's analysis in the vlog.

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Faces from the gulf: Joe Yurt

"Rats are survivors. Rats are people animals. They follow us. We support rats."
-- Joe Yurt, Director of Rodent Control for New Orleans, aka "The Pied Piper"

I spoke with Yurt recently while researching a potential story about the rodent problem emerging in the city in the year since Katrina. Rats are only one part of the problem. Snakes, squirrels, raccoons and armadillos are among a number of wild animals that moved into parts of the city when people moved out following the storm. However, Yurt explained to me that as people returned to their homes, they encountered new neighbors who have been waiting for a steady food supply. The only good news in all of this? Business is booming at private pest and rodent control companies.

Photo caption: One of the rats captured by Rodent Control. Yes, it was as big as a rabbit. Photo by Steve Majors.

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Boy, girl, boy, girl

Yesterday the Department of Education announced the biggest change in public education in more than 30 years, the first time in an entire generation that public schools will have the right to teach boys and girls separately. This new rule under Title IX gives school districts unprecedented latitude to create all-girl or all-boy educational settings.   

Under the new rules, which go into effect on Nov. 24, public schools can now separate boys and girls by grade, by subject, or even entire schools. Your child’s participation would be voluntary.   

Tonight, correspondent Martin Savidge will report from Ascension Parish in Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. They decided to try the single-sex model last year. Martin will tell you how it's worked out so far.

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Hard news Tuesday

Hard news all around, again tonight. Today's announcement on the next set of time triggers in Iraq has people asking some very serious questions about timing and who's calling the shots. Chief among the questions I've heard today: How can an Iraq government, which has proved all but incapable of governing, suddenly find the justification (or enforcement power) to name a new set of deadlines for the future? We'll report what we know tonight, from the Pentagon to Iraq, where Richard Engel will run the story down for us. We'll also drop in on David Gregory at the White House.

Chip Reid will have our report on Speaker Hastert's drop-by today on the Hill, and Andrea Mitchell will take a look at the political ads getting all the ink in this campaign. We continue our series on housing (tonight, those tricky mortgages), talk about health -- and if our lineup times out correctly -- we'll get off the air with a cultural touchstone of sorts from Josh Mankiewicz in our Los Angeles bureau... though it strikes me he reported the piece in question from Dallas.

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'Early Nightly' is up

Iraq will, unfortunately, be at or near the top of our broadcast tonight -- more violence, more death, and at least one missing U.S. soldier in Baghdad. Brian Williams outlines that and other key stories we're watching for you.

Click here to watch the vlog.

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THE TOP OF THE WEEK

CNBC's Maria Bartoromo has just interviewed President Bush at the White House. Beyond his comments on oil and the economy and CEO compensation, I was fascinated by one question she asked him: Do you ever use Google?

The President answers, in part: "Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps... I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite, like I kind of like to look at the ranch... reminds me of where I want to be sometimes."

The President went on to talk about e-mail, and why he doesn't send or receive them. We'll have a portion of the interview tonight.

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Real to Reel: Cuban missile crisis

On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed the American public on national television, announcing that U.S. spy planes had discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba, just 90 miles off the U.S. coastline. The sites were nearing completion when discovered and housed missiles that could have hit numerous major cities in the Southeast and Central United States.
In his address, Kennedy announced that he had ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and that he would remedy the situation through military force if necessary.

Watch the opening of President Kennedy's speech

Watch NBC's special coverage of the crisis

NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell was still a teenager when the crisis took place, but remembers it clearly and covered the 40th anniversary of the event from Cuba in 2002.
Here, Andrea shares her recollections:

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Early Nightly is up

Iraq, Barack, bad-attitude fines and a milestone for i-Pod -- all are story contenders for tonight's broadcast, and in today's Early Nightly, Brian outlines why they are.

Click here to watch the vlog.

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