May 2008 - Posts
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Three soldiers receiving Purple Hearts today at Walter Reed Army Medical Center spoke about the strains on soldiers in Iraq that contributed to a record number of suicides last year in the Army.
The Army reported Thursday there were 115 suicides in 2007, the highest number since it began keeping records of suicides in 1980. So far this year, there have been 38 confirmed suicides.
"There's a lot of strain because probably a lot of people are ready to come home," said Staff Sgt. Bennie Lamb, 40, of Macon, Ga., who was on his third tour in Iraq when he was wounded March 14 by a suicide bomber.
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| NBC News/ Antoine Sanfuentes |
| Staff Sgt. Bennie Lamb receives a Purple Heart on May 30, 2008. |
The uncertainty of extended tours, Lamb said, only adds to the pressure on soldiers.
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By Alice Rhee, NBC News Producer
LAKELAND, Fla. – "Holy Spirit fall! God is here! We want more! More, more, more!"
That's what Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley yells out nearly every evening to the thousands who gather to hear him preach. The 32-year-old Bentley looks more like a biker than a minister, with body piercings and tattoos all over his arms and neck. But the crowds don't seem to mind how he looks. They just want what they believe Bentley has – the ability to heal them.
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| Courtesy Loren Brown |
| Todd Bentley at the Lakeland Convention Center in Lakeland, Fla. on May 21. |
Bentley claims that God has used him to supernaturally heal hundreds of people of diseases ranging from glaucoma to diabetes to even cancer. How to explain it?
Bentley said in an interview that he doesn't know exactly why now, why him, why Lakeland, and he does not promise that everyone who comes to him will be healed. But he does maintain a pragmatic posture toward prayer.
"I say, you have nothing to lose but your sickness. If the doctors can't help you, why wouldn't you give God a chance?"
Growing crowds
"If you want God, just come get some," he shouts on stage nearly every night.
Bentley has repeated a version of this invitation daily since April 2 when he and his team from Fresh Fire Ministries, which he founded in 1997, first arrived here from British Columbia, Canada, for what he thought would be five days of "revival" meetings in a local church. But those plans changed, he said, because "God is moving...and people know something is happening here." His meetings have been extended indefinitely.
While Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries are not part of an organized Protestant denomination, his beliefs tend to follow Pentecostal, charismatic traditions.
He claims that God has used him repeatedly before this revival to heal the sick, but added that this series of revival meetings is unprecedented in his personal experience as a minister.
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By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent
COLUMBUS, NEW MEXICO – We received some passionate reader responses to the blogs I wrote recently about American-born children who live just south of the border in Palomas, Mexico, crossing into the United States to attend American schools.
An important point of these stories was that these kids face the threat of violence, because of a vicious turf war between Mexican drug traffickers in the area. It's so bad that U.S. officials and Luna County sheriff's deputies are quite concerned about protecting the children as they come and go across the border.
While many readers expressed concern for the well-being of those children, others questioned how children living in Mexico could attend school in the United States and who pays. "They live in Mexico and should go to school in Mexico," wrote one person. "And who's paying the school taxes for these families' children to attend American schools? What a sham," said another.
VIDEO: Border town violence threatens school kids
At the U.S. Port of Entry at Columbus, New Mexico, about 400 elementary, middle school and high school students show up each day from Palomas carrying U.S. passports and birth certificates along with their text books. They were born in the United States, and are legally U.S. citizens. For a variety of reasons, mostly because of economics or the immigration status of one or more of their parents, they live in Mexico.
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
ARLINGTON, Va. – While America was enjoying the Memorial Day weekend, 15-year-old Megan Conley was learning how to cope with the death of her step-father, Army Sgt. 1st Class James Stoddard Jr., who was killed three years ago in Afghanistan.
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| Courtesy TAPS |
| Megan Conley sends up a balloon that reads "I miss you" to her step-father. |
Megan spent the weekend at the Good Grief Camp, a unique camp created 14 years ago for families trying to deal with the loss of a loved one in the military.
"I didn't want to come because I just thought it would be really boring and they'd just sit around and talk in a big circle," said Megan, a 10th grader from Crofton, Md. "I mean, they do, but only once, and you get to play and have activities and you go places and it's really fun."
The 300 children at the camp attended concerts and parades, visited Arlington National Cemetery and other memorial sites, and released balloons heavenward to their lost parent. Megan's balloon read simply, "I miss you."
But the most important thing they did was spend three days with other kids who were going through the same problems as they were.
"I made a lot of new friends, and it's good to have a lot of people who understand you because when you're at home, people say they understand, but you don't know if they really do," said Megan. "It's really a good experience. I'm coming next year."
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By Mark Potter, NBC News Correspondent
COLUMBUS, N.M. – Talking with officials in this high-desert town, it doesn't take long to understand just how concerned they are over the widespread violence south of the border, which they can't control.
From the American side of the U.S. Port of Entry in Columbus you can actually look down the streets of Palomas, Mexico – the town is that close. The problem is that Palomas, along with other Mexican cities, has fallen victim to a vicious turf war between rival Mexican drug cartels that has claimed about 4,000 lives since the start of last year. Among those assassinated are high-ranking Mexican police officials.
In tiny Palomas, some 40 people have died in drug shootouts so far this year. The residents live in fear of getting caught in the crossfire and spend much of their time indoors. Recently, all of the town's police officers resigned and the police chief sought political asylum in the United States, claiming his life was in danger. Victims shot up in Palomas are often brought to the border in the hope they'll be treated in American hospitals.
Watching all this from Columbus, Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos told us he is worried the Mexican drug war could spread. "My big concern, and the concern of most officials here, is that it's going to spill over into the United States, into this community," he said.
The mayor of Columbus, Eddie Espinoza, is also keeping a close eye on Palomas, which he used to frequent. Now he is more cautious and fears that, in retaliation for recent killings there, even more gunfire could erupt, perhaps on his side of the border.
"I believe it will get much worse than it is now," he said. "I think we haven't seen the boiling point. I think we're still waiting for that to come."
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By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
SAN ANGELO, Texas – They really do look younger.
As the first round of individual hearings for mothers from the Yearning For Zion ranch continue in San Angelo, perhaps the most interesting fact to emerge is that many women from the polygamist sect look much younger than their actual age.
More than 460 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch were shipped out of San Angelo’s Coliseum last month and scattered to foster care facilities across the state.
Officials from Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) said at least 31 of the mothers, or pregnant "girls," in state custody were underage. That number, they conceded, included 26 women/girls whose ages were "in dispute." The women told CPS officials they were adults, and claimed they had documentation to prove it, but investigators insisted that they "looked like minors," so they were kept in custody.
Fast forward to this week, where judges are holding status hearings on the cases. Unlike prior court proceedings before, when a judge considered all of the families together in one giant, chaotic hearing, these hearings are happening on a "per mother" basis. After just the first two days of hearings, the number of alleged underage mothers has dropped dramatically, from 31 down to 23, and it could keep falling.
Turns out, many of the "disputed" minors are adults after all, a point CPS hasn’t conceded until now. One of the "girls" is actually 27 years old.
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By Kevin Corke, NBC News White House Correspondent
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – We're on the road in Indiana, talking to motorists about the rising cost of gas – which according to the latest Lundberg survey is up 15 cents a gallon over the past two weeks.
At Joe's Junction, a busy gas stop in Indianapolis regular gas goes for $3.71 a gallon and diesel tops $4.04 a gallon – about 9 cents higher than the national average.
It cost us about $48 to fill up the Mean Green Machine – our satellite transmission vehicle –which is a midsize hybrid-SUV.
Down the road at a Pilot truck stop in Pendleton, Ali Wolfe has seen the prices climb quite a bit during her six years behind the counter.
"I can remember when it cost a buck a gallon," she said. "Business hasn't dropped off any, but folks gripe a little more about the price. We pay more too you know, they're not alone, I'll tell you that."
It's all relative. They could be driving in San Francisco or Honolulu where gas cost even more.
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON - The Super Bowl football heroes brought their own special hero with them to the White House for their meeting with President Bush.
Army Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who lost both legs in Iraq and later gave the New York Giants a pep talk that helped propel them to the Super Bowl, stood among the Giants players on his prosthetic legs and listened yesterday as President Bush singled him out for praise.
"I'm proud to be on the stage with this man," said the president. "He has got the Purple Heart and three Bronze Stars, and now he's got a Super Bowl ring minted for a true giant."
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| AP |
| President Bush shakes hands with Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, the New York Giants inspirational co-captain, on the White House South Lawn on April 30 as quarterback Eli Manning looks on. |
After his remarks, the president stopped and bantered for a moment with Gadson.
"He really just thanked me," Gadson told me today. "It was a genuine thanks, and he told me I was a good man and he was proud of me."
From one battleground to another
Gadson's journey from the battleground in Iraq to the South Lawn of the White House began on May 7 of last year when a roadside bomb tore apart his legs on a street in Baghdad. I first met him on September 12 while he was recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
"I've been here a little over four months," he told me at the time, "and I've been on my feet for a little bit, and I'm making steady progress, so that's all I can ask for."
Ten days later, Gadson was asked by Mike Sullivan, a former football teammate at West Point and an assistant coach for the Giants, to speak to the 0-2 team before its game against the Washington Redskins.
"I just talked to them about life," said the former Army defensive end and linebacker. "I talked to them about their obligation as professionals to do their best."
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