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The mystery of 'Dice-K'

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The City of Palms is electric with talk about the kid from Japan. Twenty-six-year-old Daisuke Matsuzaka, better known as “Dice-K,” is wowing the fans and non-fans alike as the biggest baseball mystery in a decade.

I joined the 150-plus credentialed Japanese reporters to get a glimpse of the $103 million dollar pitcher (that’s what it cost the Red Sox to talk to his team in Japan, and then acquire his services for the Red Sox). The sports world has qualified him as “a phenom.”

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The genesis of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

As Yogi Berra would say, it's deja vu all over again. Watching the unfolding debate over Gen. Peter Pace's comments on gays in the military, I started thinking of how President Bill Clinton was first pressured to formulate the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy - a policy Hillary Clinton has now said should be repealed. (While campaigning in Iowa on Jan. 27.)

The issue had been simmering throughout the first Clinton campaign, but it came to a head on Nov. 11, 1992 -- Veterans' Day. I was on duty in Little Rock. Clinton had just been elected and was formulating his cabinet, but he was still governor of Arkansas. In the hopes of asking the president-elect about his campaign commitment to gays in the military, I went over to the State House to watch him salute the armed forces.

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Campbell's vlog...

With just two hours until the first feed, Campbell delivers her daily dispatch today via vlog only.

Click here for her preview of what you'll see on tonight's broadcast.

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Sick of New Orleans?

I've been covering New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on a regular basis since Katrina. That's about 19 months. Whenever one of my stories makes Nightly, I get two very different reactions. Locally, people say "Thank you" to me and NBC for continuing to keep the city's plight before the eyes of the nation... from that nation I get, "Enough already! I am sick of hearing about New Orleans!"

Outside New Orleans the rest of the country has Katrina fatigue. Understandable, but if you think you're sick of it, then you can just imagine how the folks here are sick of living it. But there is little choice. Moving is not an option when you can't sell a house that's gone and still have to pay the bank back.

Experts here say instead of thinking of New Orleans as a national pain in the backside, Americans should realize there are great lessons to be learned, because it could happen somewhere else. If not a hurricane into a major city, how about an earthquake, or a massive terrorist attack that leaves a city and its society in ruins?

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'Operation Streamline' on the border

Ask just about any U.S. Border Patrol agent what the most frustrating part of their job is, and they’ll tell you it’s the long-standing policy of “Catch and Release.” 

In a nutshell, most undocumented immigrants caught crossing the border from Mexico are simply sent back across the border. Agents sometimes catch the same people two or three times within the span of a week, and there’s little to discourage the undocumented immigrants from trying again, until they reach their destinations within the U.S.

Along one stretch of border near Eagle Pass, Texas, the policy has changed. It’s a pilot program for the Border Patrol called “Operation Streamline.” When illegal aliens (that’s the officials Border Patrol term) are caught in the Del Rio Sector, which includes some 200 miles of border, they are charged with misdemeanors and prosecuted under existing law.

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Witnessing what works

Often, when you go into a pediatrician's office the toys get all the attention.  But I saw a different and exciting reality at Boston Medical Center's pediatric clinic. The waiting room looks a lot like children's hour at a library with a volunteer reading to kids who are six months to five years old.

It's part of a literacy program designed by doctors working primarily with low-income patients who don't have money to buy books for their children.

My producer, Christina Jamison, and I recently spent a day at the clinic in preparation for a story airing tonight on NBC Nightly News, in a series called "What Works."

This program, called Reach Out and Read, works -- promoting early childhood literacy. Studies show kids in the program score 4 to 8 points higher on vocabulary tests.

It was absolutely wonderful to watch the children, parents, volunteers and doctors interacting around the books. Without lollipops or stickers, or toys, kids were smiling during a doctor's visit and the energy was generated all around the books, parents and learning.

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In the mix this Monday

It is the latest shoe to drop. The Army's top medical officer quit today, or more accurately, was forced to quit. The fallout over the scandal at Walter Reed shows no signs of letting up and there could be more bad news for the Army before the day is out. Late today we are expecting a report from the Inspector General. It's a wide review that looks at the dramatic increase in the number of soldiers being cared for at the facility -- a hospital overwhelmed by casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan. We'll have the latest on the report and the change in leadership. Related to this, Bob Bazell has a piece tonight about the growing number of reported cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the long waiting lists now for treatment at VA hospitals around the country.

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Early Nightly is up

Brian Williams is on vacation, so Campbell Brown anchors the broadcast tonight, and previews in today's vlog some of the stories we're working on.

Click here or on the image to watch.

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Cooper's Town

At 6'4" and 235 pounds, Cooper Brannan is both strong and athletic. As he strode out of the San Diego Padres' clubhouse to meet our crew, he just looks like a guy who belongs in a baseball uniform. Still, it's the last uniform Cooper wore that, to this point, has defined his life and makes his experience so unique.

Corporal Cooper Brannan of the U.S. Marine Corps is just sixteen months removed from two tours in Iraq. On the front lines in Fallujah, he survived a series of firefights with insurgents. Many of his friends were hurt or killed. "It's pretty scary out there," he told me. "Anyone who says it's not is lying." At times, Cooper gets uncomfortable speaking about his experiences in combat. He still has both emotional and physical scars from his service. In November 2005, a flash bang grenade, used to stun enemy fighters, exploded in his left hand as he reached into his flak jacket to grab it. Three operations later, his hand survived, but he lost his little finger. Still, Cooper has a great sense of humor about it: "I was diagnosed with a little bit of short-term memory loss since my accident, so [the coaches] keep telling me, 'you're the greatest pitcher. To forget something that just happened (say, a home run) is awesome.'" We both laughed.

Peter Alexander sits down to interview Cooper Brannan.

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Re-Surge

On the day after a multinational conference aimed at trying to stop the violence in Iraq... there was more violence today... at least 20 killed in two separate attacks.  It comes just as President Bush plans to send 4 thousand more U.S. troops to Iraq... that's in addition to the 21-thousand troop surge.  NBC's Tom Aspell reports from Baghdad.  NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with the President in Colombia where Mr. Bush's visit prompted protests and tight security. And NBC's John Yang reports tonight on the new Republicans who are thinking about running for President.

Also, the baby that was kidnapped from a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, was found today in Clovis, New Mexico.  The baby girl has now been reunited with her mother in Texas.  NBC's Charles Hadlock reports.

You may have seen the video of professional hockey player Chris Simon of the New York Islanders... using his stick to hit New York Ranger Ryan Hollweg.  Today, the NHL suspended Simon for 25 games... the toughest punishment yet handed out by the league.  NBC's Dawn Fratangelo has that story.

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