The Daily Nightly began on May 31, 2005. As Brian wrote in his first post it aims to provide a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News. Brian weighs in every weekday and NBC News correspondents and producers post regularly.
Brian Williams became the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004. Read his full biography.
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A brief follow-up to an ongoing story I've covered on these pages. In an entry last week, I reported that in the month since the National Guard was called in to provide backup to New Orleans police, the murder and crime rate had dropped. It was welcome news for residents concerned about their safety and community leaders concerned about the city's image.
Then this weekend came news that six people were murdered in 24 hours; four died in one shooting alone. Up to this point, city leaders dismissed any notion of a crime wave by explaining that the incidents were not random. They called them "drug-related" and "isolated and retaliatory." Residents would take comfort by saying that they were only happening "in that neighborhood."
But things have changed.
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Link to thisI left New Orleans last week for an out-of-town trip. Each night I sat glued to the TV watching the situation in the Mideast unfold on Nightly News. But back home I was missing news as well. You see, on a normal day living here, it's impossible to pick up a paper, turn on the radio or just listen to folks gossip without hearing something that makes you shake your head in wonder or nod in understanding. Here are just a few of the stories that I missed and that you might be interested in hearing about as well:
New Orleans on guard
New Orleans made front-page and network news a month ago when the National Guard was called in following a spike in murders that was capped by the shooting of five young men on June 17. Folks called it good for the battered city, but bad for its already tattered image. So what's happened?
Discuss (4 comments) Email this | Link to thisThey are New Orleans' bravest. They have to be. They're fighting fires in a city filled with abandoned homes. Water pressure is low city-wide. Co-workers are quitting, retiring or taking jobs out of town. Oh, and then there's the pay. On average, a New Orleans firefighters makes between $8-10 dollars an hour.
But driver Jason Martin and the platoon on Engine 27 aren't giving in or giving up."Most of the guys love what they do, it's not about the money," he told me. It was a point I heard again and again when I followed them for half their 24-hour tour of duty. That sentiment was fresh in their minds, given that last week the department signed a new five-year contract with the city that included no salary increase. I'd planned the ride-along before that, just to see what kinds of challenges they were facing almost 11 months after Katrina. Although I knew about their heroic role as rescuers during the storm, I soon discovered that the firefighters themselves were now in need of a rescue.
Photo caption: New Orleans firefighter Jason Martin
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Laura Maloney and one of the pups she rescued after Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Steve Majors
They are the lost victims of Katrina -- dogs, cats and even birds who had no shelter from the storm. Ten months later, they are still being found on the streets of New Orleans -- some are filthy, emaciated, and starved for human contact. The woman whose staff and volunteers have rescued thousands of them is Laura Maloney. I met her recently while researching a different story on custody disputes over pets. She informed me, though, that there's a much bigger story to be told about the fate of pets and their owners since Katrina.
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Teacher Jenny Rious receives a plaque from her students. Image: Dwaine Scott, NBC News
Everyone probably remembers that certain teacher from high school -- the one who was young, cool and bursting with new ideas. The one who wanted to make a difference and did.
Kids at New Orleans' Warren Easton High will one day remember Jenny Rious as that teacher, especially the class of 2006. I met her recently while producing a story about Warren Easton. But her story deserves telling all on its own.
You see, Mrs. Rious started with the class of 2006 four years ago. She taught them world history as freshmen and now is prepared to see "her kids" graduate as seniors. But then Katrina washed their senior year away -- that and most of the first floor of the school. In some classrooms, all that remained were the assignments written on the board the Friday before the storm.
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The Coliseum Baptist Church as it burned early Thursday. Photo by Steve Majors.
Sirens wailing throughout our house at 2 a.m. Flashing lights flickering across the bedroom ceiling. My oldest daughter crying herself awake. It's only three weeks into our year-long stint here in New Orleans, and for the first time, we're scared. Our first instinct was that perhaps it was crime; another murder or shooting that have brought national attention and the National Guard to this city. It actually was something potentially more dangerous to us: A fire, a massive one.
Discuss (10 comments) Email this | Link to thisKatrina highlighted what many pundits called a racial divide in this city (though some residents bristled at that suggestion). Well, this past weekend, my daughters and I got our first lesson in the racial politics of New Orleans' playgrounds. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on my newly adopted hometown. I've lived here only a few weeks. Nor do I claim to be a student of the city's complex racial history. But I can write from a unique position, having been a keen observer of race and class all my life.
You see, I'm biracial. My mom was black, but people tell me I look "completely white," whatever that's supposed to mean. My daughters are both adopted. The oldest is African-American. Her half-sister is half-black, though her skin and hair make her look Latina. You would think we'd fit in perfectly with the exotic racial gumbo of this city. And we do, for the most part.
Discuss (2 comments) Email this | Link to thisThere's been a lot of talk about preserving the flavor of this great city; its food, culture and music. But this past week, I stumbled upon another New Orleans tradition; the Sno-Ball. Now, I grew up in Western New York and remember plenty of brain-freezes and purple tongues caused by Sno-Cones at the county fair. 
But the Sno-Ball is something else. It's a finely shaved ice concoction steeped in exotic syrups like Cream of Nectar. A great one melts in your mouth almost like ice cream. They make them all over New Orleans, but locals say there's only one worth talking about. They're made by Hansen's Sno-Bliz.
The business was started in 1939 by Mary and Ernest Hansen. Ernest shaved the ice with a homemade (and patented) machine. His wife made the syrups. Each one was a work of art. They tended the store dutifully for more than 60 years and even opened the Saturday before Katrina hit. Sadly, Mary died in September at 95 years of age, after being evacuated. Ernest followed his partner in life and business this past March. He was 94. The shop lay shuttered.
Discuss (33 comments) Email this | Link to thisGood Morning. I'm flattered to begin offering my voice to the Daily Nightly. For the next year or so, I'll be offering dispatches from New Orleans and other areas along the Gulf Coast while working as a producer here at NBC's New Orleans bureau.
My family, including my two-year-old and one-year-old daughters, has moved here for the duration of the assignment. So we'll have a vested interest in the recovery and relief efforts of our newly adopted hometown. I'll be joining a cadre of veteran journalists in the bureau, many of whom have been here since before the storm. I only hope I can contribute as much as they have already.
In the few days I've been here, I've been struck by the number of people who have thanked NBC for continuing to focus attention on this story. I'm aware that there are a few folks in other parts of the country who may be fatigued by our coverage. Their eyes glaze over at the mention of the word levee or the pictures of blue tarps and FEMA trailers.
Discuss (23 comments) Email this | Link to thisAnother hurricane season, that is. And tonight will find us back in the Lower Ninth Ward. Behind us will be the dichotomy of New Orleans: a gleaming new flood wall alongside (and protecting) a total wasteland. Because of legal trouble, the Ninth Ward will be the last area of land cleaned up... so it will look like this for some time. Obviously, our coverage tonight will focus largely on the Army Corps of Engineers -- the report out today lays the blame for the Katrina flooding rather squarely on their shoulders. On the other hand, they have been handed a huge challenge here, POST-Katrina, and have compressed the work of many years into the work of several months.
We will take a look at flood protection around the city, and we will hear from the Corps and its critics. This was also Inauguration Day here in New Orleans... Mayor Ray Nagin traveled the parade route to the Convention Center (talk about storm icons) in a horse-driven wagon. Tonight we'll pursue the story so many of you have asked for: a regional look at how ready they are in Florida, Mississippi and Texas for this new hurricane season.
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