February 2008 - Posts
By NBC News’ Melinda Ryan
ATLANTA – While kissing a frog may not fit into your Leap Day celebration plans, you might find yourself visiting some in the near future.
More than 200 zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens across the country, including the Atlanta Botanical Garden, are showcasing special exhibits in honor of the 2008 leap year, declaring it the Year of the Frog.
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| Ron Holt / Atlanta Botanical Gar |
| The Granular Glass Frog. |
And even if you’re not kissing them, frogs and their cousins do need a little love. According to the Amphibian Ark organization, one third of the 6,000 amphibian species – frogs, toads, newts, salamanders - around the world are in decline or threatened.
Amphibians, say the organization, are an essential part of the global ecosystem and key indicators of overall health of the environment. Threats to these vulnerable creatures include habitat loss, climate change, pollution and disease.
When frog populations die off, it causes a disharmony in that ecosystem that disrupts the delicate balance of plants and animals. Amphibian Ark was formed to help protect the most critically endangered species through breeding programs.
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By George Lewis, NBC News Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – New York has the Statue of Liberty, San Francisco the Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood has that sign up in the hills overlooking Tinseltown.
It was constructed in 1923 as an advertisement for a real estate subdivision called "Hollywoodland." Later, the sign fell into disrepair and was acquired by the city. In 1949, when it was being renovated, the last four letters were removed, leaving the present-day Hollywood sign.
Now, fans of the sign are up in arms about plans by a group of Chicago investors to develop 138 acres of nearby land as lots for luxury homes. Promotional material touts the property as a perfect spot for multi-million dollar mansions with spectacular 360-degree views of Los Angeles. But one city official claims if those plans were carried out, the result would be huge eyesore.
"It's a crazy idea," said Los Angeles City Council Member Tom LaBonge, "I'm not going to let it happen. The city is not going to let it happen."
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By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News Correspondent
DEKALB, Ill. – I arrived on the campus of Northern Illinois University in the dark. It wasn't until sunup, a little before 7 a.m. this morning, as the flags fluttered at half-staff and clanged against their poles, that I saw them.
And the drops of blood. The sidewalks here are spattered with them, clearly left by injured students fleeing the horror.
One student, who was in the lecture hall where the shooting occurred that left five dead, said he saw a man, dressed in black, enter the room; and then, "Boom." It was like a movie, he said. Some of the students, so used to seeing this sort of behavior IN movies, at first thought it was a joke, or a drill.
But the blood, frozen on the pathways of this campus, heading away from Cole Hall in all directions, is very real.
Today this college community is having a difficult time dealing with that.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON – This is a story with a heartwarming beginning, a very sad middle and a happy ending.
It started when two stray dogs were adopted off the streets of Baghdad by a soldier named Peter Neesley. Peter fed them, built them a dog house and loved them dearly. He named them Boris and Mama.
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By Carrie Dann
NBC News producer
JACKSON, Tenn. -- Politics, for the most part, is about subtlety. Political journalists live for intimations, veiled attacks, shadow-boxing and crafty word choice. An adjective can be newsworthy, a verb can be cataclysmic.
There's nothing subtle about flattened cars and roofless homes.
That was my first thought when I arrived in Jackson, the tornado-ravaged town that woke up yesterday morning to mangled dormitories and wrecked neighborhoods.
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By Tom Junod, NBC News Producer
Forget Super Tuesday. In New Orleans, it’s Fat Tuesday - Mardi Gras.
The holiday falls early this year due to the religious calendar; in fact, it’s the earliest it’s been since 1913. With such an early date, it seems to have taken a little time for the revelry to ramp up. But now, things are definitely in full swing.
There's a certain point in each Carnival season when you can feel a vibe, an electric pulse throughout the city. This year, it seemed to take hold last Friday with the start of the weekend. There seems to have been a noticeable feeling of joy in the air since then. It all culminates today as hundreds of thousands of people take to the street across the area.
Despite the overplayed images of debauchery and bawdiness, Mardi Gras really is above all else a family affair. That often shocks people who think of the celebration as an adult’s only party.
The rowdiness of Bourbon Street is just one aspect of the day, and it is one place you won't normally find a lot of locals. They leave that to the tourists.
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON – Every month Walter Reed Army Medical Center holds a Purple Heart ceremony for its patients wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A general usually makes brief remarks, the soldiers come forward with their families to receive their medals, and everyone sings a rousing rendition of "The Army Song."
(Things have come a long way since I was wounded in Vietnam and a soldier tossed a Purple Heart on my bed at a field hospital in An Khe. That was the Army's idea of a Purple Heart ceremony in 1970.)
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| Mark Wilson / Getty Images |
| U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jeremy Murphy wears a Purple Heart he just received during a ceremony at Walter Reed Medical Center on Feb. 1 in Washington, DC. |
After Walter Reed's ceremony, reporters are allowed to interview the Purple Heart recipients who agree to talk. I love interviewing soldiers because they speak from the gut. No spin. No BS. I ask a question; they answer it, sir.
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