Nine killed in Kentucky house fire, authorities say

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Oklahoma teacher names son after student killed in tornado

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Sue Ogrocki / AP

Jennifer Rogers, left, and her husband Nyle Rogers, right, smile as they hold their baby Jack Nicolas Rogers, in their home in Edmond, Okla., Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014.

By Kristi Eaton, The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — The school's wall collapsed onto Jennifer Doan Rogers as she desperately tried to protect her third-grade students as a tornado ripped through their Oklahoma community. The young teacher had laid one of her hands on Nicolas McCabe, a 9-year-old with an infectious grin.

But it wasn't enough to protect him.

The monstrous tornado leveled part of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, killing six of her students — including Nicolas — last spring. Rogers, who was eight weeks pregnant at the time, lay buried under the rubble with a broken back.

"He was actually the closest one to me, that I had my hand on, that didn't make it," she said.

Seven months later, Rogers gave birth to a boy. She named him after Nicolas.

Rogers, 31, said she had been thinking about it for some time. She was unsure if it would bring her more sadness to name her own son after her former student, a little boy who loved riding his go-kart and, according to his father, never met a stranger. He also was very close to his mother.

Ultimately, Rogers said, she and her husband decided on Jack Nicolas.

The new mother hoped her infant son, who was born in December, would help in her recovery from the injuries — both physical and emotional — that she suffered during the storm. The top-tier EF5 tornado, with winds exceeding 200 mph, ripped a 17-mile path of devastation through the Oklahoma City suburb on May 20. The storm killed 24 people and destroyed dozens of homes and buildings, including two elementary schools.

Nicolas' father, Scott McCabe, struggles to talk about losing his only son. But he said that Nicolas, regardless of someone's age or gender, would befriend them. He often shared his lunches with his friends.

Learning that Nicolas' teacher was naming her own son after his brought a wave of emotions, McCabe said.

"It's real hard. He was my only son. I mean I'm honored, yes, but she was the last one to touch Nicolas," McCabe said as he broke down in tears. "I don't know how to put it, she was the last one to see my little boy. And it's still kind of hard."

Rogers, too, is still recovering. She suffered a fractured spine and sternum. She refused pain medication for fear it would harm her baby, and she wore a back brace for several weeks.

"It was a lot harder than my other pregnancies, for sure," said Rogers, who also has two daughters, ages 6 and 3. "I was so limited. I couldn't do a whole lot. For a while after everything happened I was in a full brace and carrying him and it just, I mean, it was rough."

But she is determined to complete the necessary work to go back into the classroom. Though she knows it will be tough, she said she hopes to get approval to return to teaching next school year — at Plaza Towers.

The school is being rebuilt, this time with reinforced safe rooms that can withstand powerful storms.

"I just feel like there's a lot of me in there still," Rogers said. "I would think it's hard at the same time, but it'll be a new year and a new building."

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

'Absolute cop-out': Heated forecasters blow back at Ga. officials' weather blame game

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"There was plenty of time to make those adjustments for any kind of snow removal" in Atlanta, NBC's Al Roker said.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Under fire from Georgia government officials caught flatfooted by the winter storm that socked the South this week, weather forecasters are mad as heck and want them know: They're not going to take it anymore.

With the capital city, Atlanta, paralyzed by less than 3 inches of snow, Georgia officials complained that they weren't warned what was on the way Tuesday:

"We have been confronted with an unexpected storm that hit the metropolitan area," Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said Tuesday night.Wednesday, he said, "There's not anybody in this room who could have predicted to the degree and magnitude the problem that developed."Later Wednesday, he said: "If we closed the city of Atlanta and our interstate system based on maybes, then we would not be a very productive government or a city. We can't do it based on the maybes."Asked why the city didn't deploy sanders and plows until eight hours after the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning early Tuesday, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called such criticisms "Monday morning quarterbacking."

The National Weather Service wouldn't comment, but other experts were quick to leap to its defense.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong," Marshall Shepherd, president of the American Meteorological Society, said of critics who alleged that the weather service botched its forecasts. 

In a post on a blog he set up Wednesday specifically to defend the performance of forecasting services this week, Shepherd pointed out that the weather service issued watches and warnings well before the storm arrived, providing plenty of time for Georgia officials to make the right decisions.

"Yet, as soon as I saw what was unfolding with kids being stranded in schools, 6+ hour commutes, and other horror stories, I knew it was coming, I knew it. Some in the public, social medial or decision-making positions would 'blame' the  meteorologists," Shepherd wrote in a post titled "An Open Thank You to Meteorologists in Atlanta."

NBC News meteorologist Al Roker agreed.

"The mayor and the governor got on TV yesterday  and said all this wasn't expected, and that's not true," Roker said Wednesday on TODAY.

Roker and other meteorologists pointed out that the weather service issued its warning for metro Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. Tuesday — meaning "they were warned about it, and they should have been prepared for it," Roker said. "It's a shame. It really is."

Scrolling through the weather service's reports for the last few days reveals that its forecasters were sounding the alarm of possible "widespread ice accumulations" across the South as early as Saturday — "expanding into the Southeast U.S. Tuesday into Wednesday":

National Weather Service

Which is exactly what happened.

On Monday — a day before the first snowflake fell — the weather service warned of snow and possible heavy snow right across north Georgia:

National Weather Service

Which is also exactly what happened.

At 3:22 p.m. Monday, the weather service issued an advisory that specifically there was a potential "for 2 inches of snow and up to a half-inch of sleet from Atlanta to Athens."

Once again: exactly what happened.

"It absolutely breaks my heart," said Jim Cantore, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

"There are certainly chances that you take with this inexact science of forecasting a winter storm warning," Cantore said Wednesday. But this time, "the National Weather Service was absolutely spot-on with this."

"It's just an absolute cop-out," he said, telling Georgia officials: 

"Admit you're wrong. Admit you took a chance to save some money and you blew it. You blew it. And now, people are suffering, unfortunately, in the city of Atlanta."

Nine fear dead, inluding 8 children, in Kentucky house fire

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Gridlock baby, dangerous waits, Candy Crush: Stories from the South's epic snow jam

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Tim Dougherty

Stalled traffic on Interstate 285 outside Atlanta on Thursday morning.

By Erik Ortiz, Erin McClam and Lou Dubois, NBC News

A rare winter storm hatched a nightmare traffic jam that paralyzed parts of the South — especially the city of Atlanta — that was ongoing nearly 24 hours after it began.

Here are some stories from the stranded:

'I didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was'

Almost 24 hours after she left work, Jennifer Wilkins was finally close to her Atlanta area home Wednesday afternoon.

Jennifer Wilkins has been stranded in her car for more than 20 hours because of the snow and ice in the South. She tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell about it.

She had at least one steep hill left to navigate and figured that she might just hike the final quarter-mile.

She left work at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. For about 12 hours, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., she was "parked on the interstate," she said.

The gas tank worried her. She said she turned the car off for 15 to 30 minutes at a time, "depending on how long I could stand it before I was too cold. Then I would turn it on for 15 minutes to warm up."

But the worst part was a stretch Tuesday afternoon. Wilkins thought her daughter, who is 10, had been sent home from school, but her son reported that she never showed up. It was five hours later when Wilkins learned that the girl had been dropped off safely at a local middle school.

"I didn't know where she was," Wilkins said, breaking down in tears in an interview from her car on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports." "From 1:45 in the afternoon until 6:45 last night, I didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was."

'Just praying we get home safe'

Vontana Atkins, a wellness coordinator with United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia, said she had been stuck on Interstate 285, near the suburb of Marietta, since 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

She was driving five men to their group home, a trip that should have taken 40 minutes. The men suffer various mental and physical disabilities, she said. They didn't all have their medications with them, and they've been without food and water.

"They're tired and they're hungry, but so far, so good," Atkins said. "I've been talking to them and encouraging them that we're getting there."

Traffic was at a standstill Wednesday morning. Atkins did have a cellphone charger with her and was able to call her office and relatives of the men to let them know how they're faring.

"I called 911 several times, too, but they've been busy," she said. "We're just praying we get home safe."

They've been biding their time watching videos on Atkins' iPad and listening to gospel and country music. One thing Atkins hasn't gotten — sleep.

"I can't. I need to make sure everyone's OK," she said.

Starving and biding time

Tim Dougherty left downtown Atlanta for his home in the suburbs about 3 p.m. Tuesday. He didn't make it home for 26 hours.

The trip normally takes half an hour.

"Taillights. I just see taillights," Dougherty told NBC News by phone from I-285 earlier in the morning. "I have not moved an inch in 15 hours."

Dougherty has lived in the Atlanta area for 17 years but grew up in Indiana, so he's used to ice storms and blizzards.

"But I've never seen anything like this," he said. "I've got to say for a city, this is an epic failure."

By morning, a few people were walking down the interstate offering snacks and water. Dougherty was lucky enough to start with a full tank of gas, although he said he was down to half a tank and idling. He also had a phone charger — and "I am dominating Candy Crush."

Born into gridlock

Nick and Amy Anderson

A baby born on the side of the road in Sandy Springs, Ga., to parents Nick and Amy Anderson.

Tim Sheffield, a police officer in Sandy Springs, Ga., was on his way to check out a traffic accident when he saw a car on the side of the road. The occupants didn't look like they were stuck. He pulled over to check on them.

"I asked the dad: 'Are y'all broke down?' He goes, 'No, we're having a baby,'" Sheffield said.

It was a couple on their way to the hospital. The man was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. The woman was in labor.

Sheffield said he talked them through the delivery of a girl. The woman "did about 99 percent of it, and the father did a lot," he recalled.

"I had time to get the gloves," he said Wednesday in an interview on TODAY. "The father started to pull. I said, 'No, don't pull,' and the baby came out and just happened quick. It was beautiful, and it was on my birthday."

He said the new mother kept her cool the whole time.

"She was a trouper," he said. "She didn't have any anesthesia or anything, any medication or anything. It was 100 percent natural, but she did amazing. She really did."

Journey of peril

Friends Robert Warthen Jr. and James Hunt, both 52, left Atlanta at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and were heading home to Smyrna when they got stuck in the monster gridlock. The drive should have taken 30 minutes.

Warthen said his car's battery died, and they remained stuck on the side of the road along State Route 401 on Wednesday morning.

"We're freezing to death. I'm shaking. I can't feel my feet," Warthen said, his voice choked with emotion.

Earlier in the night, the friends went to a hotel in Marietta, but they didn't have the $159 for a room. Warthen said he saw people smashing windows of parked cars and stealing items, and they decided to leave.

After getting stranded, they repeatedly called AAA but couldn't get through.

"They could pick up the phone and say something!" Warthen said. "Not treat us like we're trash. The government's going to have a lot to answer for."

Stranded trucker: Never seen anything like it

Joe Schmitz, a trucker, was driving from Miami to Atlanta and was almost there when he got stuck at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. More than 20 hours later, he said he hadn't moved.

"I've been driving a truck for 14 years, and I've never with my own eyes witnessed something like this," he told NBC News by phone.

He said that he knew of at least one baby who was stuck in a car without diapers — although Schmitz said he found one for her — and that truckers were taking people in to keep them warm. A truck can run for days on idle, he said.

"There are some people who are really kind of scared," he said, but he added that nobody had a bad attitude.

About 2 a.m., he said, he walked two miles to a gas station, filled five or six bags with food and drinks, walked back and gave them to the stranded.

He said he had been told by authorities that the crisis could stretch through a second night.

Finally to school — and then stuck there

Katie Ganske, a psychologist who works in the city, got an email from E. Rivers Elementary School about 2 p.m. Tuesday. After-school classes were canceled. She got in her car to retrieve her child.

"I looked it up later — it was seven miles, and it took me 8½ hours," she told NBC station WXIA of Atlanta.

By the time she arrived, just before 11 p.m., she decided to stay the night with the roughly 100 kids who were stranded at the elementary school. Her car had spun out on the drive over.

Brave rescue

Neighbors, churches and grocery stores took in strangers. And Chipper Jones, the Atlanta Braves' retired and beloved third baseman, took to his 4-wheeler and rescued a former teammate who was stranded.

It started Tuesday afternoon, when Freddie Freeman, the Braves' current first baseman, tweeted that he was stuck in the brutal jam:

Going on 5 and a half hours in this traffic! Atlanta traffic is the worst but then you add snow...woah!!

— Freddie Freeman (@FreddieFreeman5) January 28, 2014

By late Tuesday night, Jones' girlfriend decided to send him on a rescue mission:

The cavalry arrived:

The rescue was a success:

A memorable night for both of them:

Read more at NBC Sports' HardballTalk.

Out of traffic and jumping in to help

Sheneka Adams of Atlanta was stuck in the traffic Tuesday for four hours.

Even though she was tired, she woke up Wednesday and rushed out the door. Adams, an actress and socialite, volunteers every Wednesday with the group Kashi Atlanta to help out at a homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets.

With the winter storm bearing down, she realized there would be an influx of people looking for food and warmth. She was right. There were 500 people, including children, needing a meal.

Adams and her boyfriend, Jacob York, jumped into his Jeep Cherokee and drove to Publix, where they filled an entire cart with water, bologna, cheese and bread.

"I would say we bought out the whole aisle of bread," she told NBC News.

There were so many people that Adams made a second trip to the grocery store.

"Obviously, people have a lot of things going on today," Adams said. "But I couldn't just sit home. There are people out there who still need help."

Nadia Sikander of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:55 AM EST

Ask Federal penalty of death against the bomber accused Boston Tsarnaev

FBI via Reuters

Suspect in bombing of Marathon Boston Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is pictured in a photo without date of alms from the FBI.

By Pete Williams, NBC News correspondent justice

The Justice Department has notified a federal judge he intends to seek the death penalty if a jury convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of bombings last April at the Boston Marathon.

Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that he and his brother built and put two pumps of pot to pressure that killed three people and injured at least 260 people. He is also accused of killing a police officer in the MIT campus.

Liz Norden, the mother of Boston bombing victims, responding to the news that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if they condemn it.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement: "after consideration of the relevant facts, applicable standards and the proposals made by the counsel for the accused, have determined that United States will seek the death penalty in this case. The nature of the conduct in question and the damage forcing this decision."

Among the factors listed by the Government were that the murders were intentional, as a result of acts calculated to cause severe risks to public safety and were committed in a cruel manner. And prosecutors said that the defendant has not demonstrated any remorse.

"One way or another, based on the evidence, Tsarnaev to die in jail," Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement. "At every milestone of this case - the announcement of today, judgment, and every other important step in the process of Justice - people hurt by the bombing of Marathon and the rest of us as surprised by what will relive this tragedy." The best thing we can do is to remind one that we are a community that is stronger than ever, and that nothing can break that spirit."

Liz Norden, the mother of two men who lost her legs in the attack, praised the decision.

"You know, it makes me feel relieved that the Attorney general believes that it was a terrorist attack or the death penalty, and we support the decision," said Norden Craig Melvin of MSNBC.

He said officials of the Department of Justice spoke with relatives of the victims before making the decision.

While most legal experts predicted that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty, the decision will be somewhat controversial.

A survey conducted in September by the Boston Globe found that 57 percent of respondents favored a sentence of life without parole if Tsarnaev should be condemned, while 33 percent believed that death would be appropriate for the Government to seek punishment.

Dan Lampariello / Reuters

Explosion in the Boston Marathon, on April 15, 2013.

The executions in the federal system are rare.  In the modern era of the death penalty, since the United States Supreme Court forced a change in sentencing laws in the mid-1970s, the federal Government has carried out three executions.

Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death in 2001 for his role in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The most recent federal execution was more than one decade ago.

The federal system has placed on hold by a battle in court the combination of drugs used to administer a lethal injection. One of the drugs is no longer available, forcing the Bureau of prisons to consider alternatives.

In the event of a conviction and a recommendation of a death sentence, the execution by lethal injection would be held in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana

A trial date has not been established for Tsarnaev. His next hearing is on February 12.

Legal experts have said seeking the death penalty against Tsarnaev could give an incentive to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

This story was originally posted on Thu January 30, 2014 3:21 PM EST

Bug-ridden cruise ship returns to port — with sick bay overflowing

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John Makely / NBC News

Passengers look out from the Explorers of the Sea as it returns to port.

John Makely / NBC News

The Explorer of the Seas heads to port in Bayonne, N.J. on Wednesday.

By Henry Austin and Hasani Gittens, NBC News

They made it.

An illness-ridden cruise ship returned home Wednesday, an abbreviated end to a brutal voyage in which 600 passengers and crew were struck down by a fast-moving stomach bug.

The Royal Caribbean liner The Explorer of the Seas pulled into port in Bayonne, N.J., just after 1 p.m. The 10-day cruise was cut short after suspected norovirus left passengers and workers stricken with vomiting and diarrhea.

One woman aboard the ship yelled, "We made it!" as the ship docked. Other passengers, with blankets wrapped around them, stood on deck to watch the ship pull in. 

A Royal Caribbean cruise packed with sick passengers is due back in a N.J. port today. The cruise was cut short after more than 600 passengers and crew members fell ill. Experts believe it could be the Norovirus.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the ship during its port call in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate the illness but tests have not yet confirmed the cause. The cruise line said its doctors reported symptoms were consistent with norovirus.

The ship carrying 3,050 passengers and 1,165 crew members departed Tuesday from Cape Liberty, N.J. and had planned to stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Some people on the ship recovered after illnesses in the first days of the cruise, but Royal Caribbean Cruise Line officials said Sunday that the disruptions caused by the wave of sickness meant they were “unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting,” and consultation with medical experts prompted an early return.

CNBC's Simon Hobbs speaks with Royal Caribbean Cruises Chairman & CEO Richard Fain about how he keeps his business afloat amid controversy.

Cruise officials said they will sanitize the ship again and that guests scheduled for the next trip on Explorer of the Seas could be confident that all measures had been taken to prevent future illness.  No one will be allowed aboard for a period of more than 24 hours as an extra precaution, the cruise line said.

The CDC said it recommended to Royal Caribbean that people who still have symptoms be housed in nearby hotels or seen at medical facilities before traveling home.

The cruise line said it is providing all guests a 50 percent refund of their cruise fares and an additional 50 percent future cruise credit. It's also reimbursing airline change fees and accommodations for guests who had to change plans for traveling home. 

The CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Richard Fain told CNBC in a Monday interview that it was “a very unfortunate incident,” adding their people had responded quickly and aggressively to the outbreak.

“We screen our passengers as best we can,” he said.  

Norovirus — once known as Norwalk virus — is highly contagious. It can be picked up from an infected person, contaminated food or water or by touching contaminated surfaces. Sometimes mistaken for the stomach flu, the virus causes bouts of vomiting and diarrhea for a few days. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Related: 

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:59 PM EST

California man arrested after 300 snakes found in his home

Television reporters Bobby DeCastro of FOX11, and Wendy Burch of KTLA 5 try to stave off the stench emanating from a house containing hundreds of snakes, many of them dead or decaying, in Santa Ana, Calif. At left, Sondra Berg, an animal services supervisor for Santa Ana police, holds an albino ball python that was one of the survivors.

By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

An elementary school teacher was arrested Wednesday after police found at least 300 pythons slithering around inside his Southern California home -- and many more snakes dead.

Police and animal control officers served a search warrant Wednesday at 7 a.m. PT on the Santa Ana residence after neighbors complained of a foul odor coming from the house. Inside, they found hundreds of snakes, all believed to be pythons — some of which were dead.

William Fredrick Buchman, a teacher at Mariners Elementary School in Newport Beach, was detained on charges of animal cruelty, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

The snakes were "mostly alive, but there were some dead ones, along with some mice and rats. I don't know if that's what they fed them," said Santa Ana Police Department Watch Commander Bill Nimmo.

Some of the snakes were caged, he said.

Police did not say whether other people lived in the home.

Reporters outside the house held their noses against the stench as plastic trays containing snakes were brought out and placed on a sidewalk.

"There are all forms of decay," said Sondra Berg, an animal services supervisor at the Santa Ana Police Department. "From skeletons to just dead in the last few days. There is an infestation of rats and mice. They are running loose all over the house. There are rats and mice in plastic storage tubs that are actually canabalizing each other." 

Officials said the house's front four rooms were packed floor to ceiling with snake cages, NBC Los Angeles reported. They said Buchman was breeding ball pythons to sell them.

Officials said the surviving snakes were being taken to a veterinary hospital for medication and feeding. 

Bruce Chambers / AP

Mass transit attack seen as top Super Bowl security risk

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Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters

An NYPD Security camera sign is posted along Superbowl Blvd. ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII in New York January 29, 2014.

NEW YORK — Bomb attacks of the kind that tore through mass transit sites in Russia ahead of the upcoming Sochi Olympics are a top concern of security officials preparing for Sunday's Super Bowl, the head of the New Jersey State Police said on Wednesday.

While law enforcement officials said they were not aware of any specific threats targeting the February 2 NFL championship in East Rutherford, New Jersey, attacks like those that killed 34 people in two days in Russia late last year are their biggest worry.

"Of particular concern to us is what was going on overseas in Volgograd in regard to the Sochi Olympics. As you know both of those bombings were targeting mass transit," Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, told reporters. "That is a concern with the mass transit, we've prepared ourselves for it."

Officials have sharply limited parking at MetLife Stadium, where Sunday's game will be played, and expect as many as 30,000 people to arrive by bus or rail.

New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said that while officials were focused on a mass transit type of attack, they were not aware of any specific plans to target the game or surrounding events.

"We are keeping an eye on activities around the world, but certainly at this time there are no threats directed at this event that we're aware of," Bratton said.

The stadium is located about 10 miles west of New York City, the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks. It has been locked down all week and authorities are scanning all vehicles that go in, a practice that will continue on game day, officials said.

Bratton noted that New York police were using extensive intelligence-gathering operations developed since the World Trade Center attack to watch for possible threats.

About 400,000 people are estimated to have traveled into the region for events surrounding the game, though only about 80,000 fans will get to see the Seattle Seahawks-Denver Broncos matchup in person.

Some 4,000 security officers will be on hand for the Sunday game, and fans will be prohibited from bringing bags into the stadium unless they are transparent and no larger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches, with women's purses limited to 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches.

The contained nature of the game makes it easier to secure than public events, such as the Boston Marathon, where two pressure-cooker bombs were detonated among a finish line crowd of thousands of spectators, volunteers and athletes on April 15, killing three people and injuring 264.

'LONE WOLF' A WORRY

 But the "Super Bowl Boulevard" street fair, along a 3/4-mile stretch of New York's Broadway, presents a different challenge, as it will be wide open with up to 1 million people expected to visit attractions including the Super Bowl trophy and a towering toboggan run.

Large numbers of police officers have been assigned to the event, and organizers have taken steps such as removing trash bins along the route and replacing them with clear plastic bags that can be easily visually inspected.

In planning for the event, Bratton said New York police had prepared to respond to a variety of attacks.

"There was a lot of focus on the lone wolf, the 'backpack left unsecured' scenarios, so we're prepared," Bratton said.

The Boston bombers left their homemade explosives along the course in black backpacks.

Related: Super Bowl security net cast wide to protect game, related events

Fans who visited the street fair on Wednesday said they were confident due to the large police presence.

"I can see cops all over, so I feel like it's pretty safe," said Steven Ferraro, 18, of New York's Brooklyn borough. "Anything can happen anywhere, but I think it's safe."

Additional reporting by David Jones in East Rutherford, New Jersey

Copyright 2014 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Some survivors of the Boston Marathon support death penalty decision

Liz Norden, the mother of Boston bombing victims, responding to the news that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if they condemn it.

By Miranda Leitsinger, writer, NBC News

The decision of the federal Government to seek the death penalty against the man accused of setting off two bombs with his brother in the Boston Marathon last year, killing three people and injuring other 275, was received with support on Thursday for some survivors and their families, but also let others, who continue to recover, in a "loss for words".

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that he and his brother, Tamerlane, built and put the pot pressure pumps at the finish line of the Marathon on April 15. Tamerlane died in the subsequent Chase for the pair.

Liz Norden, whose children Paul and J.P. both lost a leg in the bombing, said he made the decision, announced by Attorney General Eric Holder.

"I felt that it was very important that all options are on the table for the members of the jury decide, so I support him," said MSNBC.

But Rebeca Gregory, aged 26, who wounded seriously in the attack along with her son, her boyfriend and her sister, told NBC News that he was a "loss for words" by the decision.

Gregory, of Richmond, Texas, has been struggling to keep his left leg since the attack.

"I don't know how I feel on the matter. We have not tried to participate in it as much as possible because I feel that it has already taken enough of our time as it is. I don't know what is justice in this situation. No matter if you are alive or dead, that changes nothing for us,"he said, adding later:"He will get his trial on the day of the trial, that's what I feel".

Norden said that their children had declined to meet with the Justice Department about the attacks last summer.

"Their sole focus and main focus was in his recovery." They do not feel that you whatever pass is going to change what happened,"she said, noting that"come to terms"with what happened and"later".

"Fully pursue themselves ever better", said. "They are very strong."

Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Campbell, 29 and China national Lu Lingzi, 23, were killed in the attacks. Tsarnaev is also accused of the shooting death of the MIT campus police, Sean Collier, 27 official.

The family of a Richard spokesman said that the family did not want to comment. Messages seeking reaction of several survivors of the left were not immediately returned.

Among the factors listed by the Government in its decision were the killings were intentional, as a result of acts calculated to cause severe risks to public safety and were committed in a cruel manner. And prosecutors said that the defendant has not demonstrated any remorse.

While most legal experts predicted that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty, the decision is expected to be somewhat controversial.

The ACLU of Massachusetts, said was "disappointed" with the decision.

Executive Director of the group, Carol Rose, "The ACLU opposes the death penalty in all cases, because it is discriminatory and arbitrary, and because it inherently violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment", said in a statement.

"In this case, it is important to note that the people of Massachusetts, through their elected representatives, repeatedly has rejected the death penalty. Even shortly after the Boston Marathon horrible attack, a survey by the Boston Globe found that Boston people said that they would prefer a sentence of life without freedom conditional for Tsarnaev, two-to-one if they condemn him".

A survey conducted in September by the Boston Globe found that 57 percent of respondents favored a sentence of life without parole if Tsarnaev should be condemned, while 33 percent believed that death would be appropriate for the Government to seek punishment.

NBC News Pete Williams contributed to this report.

Nine dead, including 8 children, in fire in Kentucky

WFIE

Nine people died early Thursday, January 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children died when a fire ignited by an electric heater shattered a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine years of an 11-member family were found dead in the fire that broke out in a home Muhlenberg County in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in an apartment house, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and murdered eight children: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped from the fire and were transferred to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 kilometers away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a spokesman for the Vanderbilt Medical Center, said 11, Chad Watson, 36 and Kylie Watson, both were in critical but stable condition.

The researchers determined that a baseboard heater electric on a combustible material accidentally is very close to the source of heat, more than 12 hours after the fire, Recke said.

The temperature in the Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree at night, while the region is accustomed to temperatures of 35 degrees in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

"Normally don't have time," said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors from the devastated House. "They say that when trying to put out the fire, the water was turning to ice," he added.

Bennett said that the House had no more than three bedrooms and eleven members of the family were "stacked" in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was "a nice young family."

"Everyone loved the children," said McElvain.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

The members of the office of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall look over the remains of a fire in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, Thursday, January 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at home on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

"He went home, and then 10 hours later it's gone."

A neighbor called firefighters around 2 in the morning of Thursday, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the House was "totally engulfed" when arriving minutes later.

Teams of extinguish the fire within an hour, Recke said. Still, "as I am faced with the House, the right side of the House is basically," he added.

Recke said that no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

The Senator Mitch McConnell, R - KY, expressed its condolences to the family and community from the floor of the Senate on Thursday afternoon. "The entire community stands beside the Muhlenberg County now and we do our utmost to help you recover from this terrible loss."

They feared that nine people, including eight children, died after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. Reports from NBC News French Kuo.

This story was originally posted at Thu 30 January 2014 4:24 PM EST

Happy Meal 'toy' was heroin sold at McDonald's drive-through, police say

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AppId is over the quota
WPXI TV

Police says heroin was sold in a McDonald's Happy Meal at a Pittsburgh-area store.

By Gil Aegerter, Staff Writer, NBC News

A McDonald’s worker is accused of putting a little extra something in Happy Meals sold at a Pittsburgh drive-through: heroin.

Police said they arrested the 26-year-old woman Wednesday after buying the drugs at a McDonald’s in the East Liberty neighborhood, NBC station WPXI of Pittsburgh reported.

Here’s how the operation worked, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office told WPXI:

A customer who wanted to buy heroin would go to the drive-through speaker and say, “I’d like to order a toy.”The customer would then stop at the first window, pay and get a Happy Meal box containing heroin in small bags.The customer would leave without stopping at the second window.

Detectives said they did just that, and arrested Shania Dennis of East Pittsburgh. The DA’s office said detectives got 10 bags of heroin in the Happy Meal box and found Dennis with 50 more.

WPXI said it had a chance to ask Dennis if she was selling the heroin. Her response? “No, I was not.”

The station reported that it was unclear whether this case is related to the arrest earlier this month of another McDonald’s worker accused of selling heroin in a restaurant parking lot in Murrysville, Pa.

Supreme Court green lights Missouri lethal injection after delay

By Pete Williams and Tracy Connor, NBC News

A convicted murderer was executed with a controversial lethal injection in Missouri on Wednesday night after a day-long reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Herbert Smulls, 56, who was on death row for murdering a St. Louis jeweler during a 1991 heist, was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. central time -- less than two hours before his execution warrant would have expired.

Smull was scheduled to die nearly 24 hours earlier, but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay while the full court weighed two petitions filed by defense lawyers.

The high court later denied the petitions and removed the stay -- and then vacated a stay issued by a lower court -- and last-minute motions by the defense could not stop the execution.

The defense had challenged Missouri's current method of lethal injection, which relies on a loosely regulated, out-of-state compounding pharmacy for the drug it uses.

Smulls' lawyers also argued he did not get a fair trial because prosecutors improperly removed a black woman from the jury pool, resulting in an all-white jury.

The condemned man waited out the legal maneuvering with a mix of dread and optimism, his legal team said.

"Our client is having a very difficult day," lawyer Cheryl Pilate said several hours before the execution.

"He's trying to remain hopeful while at the same time the people who want to execute him are hovering outside his door."

After the execution, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement saying that his "thoughts and prayers" were with the widow, friends and family of victim Stephen Honickman.

Smulls'  execution focused fresh attention on prisons' controversial use of compounding pharmacies for drugs used in lethal injections.

With many drug manufacturers refusing to sell their products for executions, death-penalty states have increasingly turned to customer-order specialty pharmacies.

James A. Finley / AP

A 2005 photo of the death chamber at the Missouri Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.

In Smulls' case, his lawyer argued that the state must disclose in court papers the name of the pharmacy that sold the pentobarbital so that it can investigate it and ensure the integrity and sterility of the drug.

His defense team has also argued that pentobarbital could cause extreme pain and cited the Jan. 9 execution of convicted killer Michael Lee Wilson in Oklahoma.

His final words were, "I feel my whole body burning," but he showed no signs of physical distress, according to a media witness.

In a motion filed with the Supreme Court opposing a stay of execution, Missouri noted that Smulls lost numerous challenges to his conviction and sentence in state and federal courts in the 21 years before Tuesday's 11th hour bid for a delay.

"The time for enforcement of Missouri’s criminal judgment against Herbert Smulls is long overdue," state lawyers wrote.

Scores of condemned prisoners across the nation have filed legal challenges to new lethal-injection protocols put in place as the old drugs have become unavailable.

In Ohio, convicted murderer Dennis McGuire failed to win a reprieve by arguing that an untried two-drug compound could trigger an agonizing phenomenon called "air starvation" before death, violating the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

When McGuire was executed Jan. 16, it took him 25 minutes to die and witnesses reported that he repeatedly gasped for air. Three prison guards filed incident reports claiming he said his lawyer told him to put on "a big show," but an investigation by the public defender's office found no evidence of that.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:58 PM EST

Crewman lost overboard from cruise ship

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AppId is over the quota

The Coast Guard is searching for a crew member of a cruise ship who fell overboard off the eastern coast of Mexico.

The crewman, identified as Inyoman Bagiada, 45, went overboard from the Celebrity Constellation at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. 

The Constellation, a 965-foot ship with the capacity to host more than 2,100 passengers, was returning from Cozumel, Mexico, to Port Everglades, Fla., after a five-day cruise. The incident occurred in the Yucatan Channel, between Mexico and Cuba.

The Coast Guard launched an HC-130 maritime search and rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Fla., and the Charles David Jr., a 154-foot fast response cutter based in Key West, Fla., to lead the search.

Parched: California's drought woes worsen

 Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A pipe emerges from dried and cracked earth that used to be the bottom of the Almaden Reservoir Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.

By Alessandra Malito, NBC News

Nearly 9 percent of California is experiencing "exceptional drought," officials reported Thursday, the first time since the measure has been kept that conditions have reached the highest level of alarm.

The 2013 calendar year was the driest in 119 years of record-keeping. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency this month, saying it was “perhaps the worst drought California has ever seen.”

Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Drought Monitor ratcheted up the concern, designating parts of nine counties throughout the state's Central Valley as "D4: Exceptional." More than 94 percent of the state is at least in some level of drought.

The new figures come just a day after water officials warned that 17 communities in the state are set to run dry in as little as a hundred days.

The withering drought has left the Golden State with dried-up wells, fallowing lands and little to no grass for cattle to graze on. 

January and February are often among the wettest months in California, but this month has been parched. The Bay Area has seen less than 10 percent of the rainfall it ordinarily sees by this point in the season, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. It would have to rain every day through May to bring conditions back to normal, the paper quoted forecasters as saying.

Mountain snow, which normally melts to feed the state's waterways and reservoirs, is at 20 percent of its normal level. A snowstorm hitting the Sierras this week may bring some relief but is not expected to move the needle significantly.

The $45 billion agriculture business is also at risk. The California Department of Public Health is working to relieve some of the problems from the drought by constructing more wells, identifying additional sources such as nearby water systems or hauled water, and implementing other methods of water conservations.  

Brown will be in Los Angeles on Thursday to meet with more than a dozen water leaders from across Southern California to discuss the the problem and urge water conservation. 

Fugitive ecoterrorist sentenced to read Malcolm Gladwell book

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AppId is over the quota
AP file

Rebecca Rubin, in an undated law enforcement photo, turned herself in at the Canada-Washington border in November 2012 after a decade as a fugitive.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

As part of her sentence for helping the Earth Liberation Front burn $40 million worth of property, Rebecca Rubin will also have some homework to do: A federal judge ordered her to read two books, including one by famed social sciences author Malcolm Gladwell.

Rubin, 40, who evaded capture for a decade before she turned herself in in 2012, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy and arson for her role with the extremist ecoterrorism group from 1996 to 2001.

She was sentenced Monday in Portland, Ore., to five years in prison and ordered to pay $13 million in restitution.

That was the minimum sentence available to U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who rejected prosecutors' request for a 7½-year sentence.

Aiken was strongly impressed by a heartfelt letter of apology Rubin submitted to the court (.pdf), in which she wrote that while "at the time I believed my only motivation was my deep love for the earth, I now understand that impatience, anger, egotism and self-righteousness were also involved."

"I thoughtlessly disregarded the adverse emotional and psychological impact that would result from my actions," she wrote.

Aiken called the letter a "thoughtful, well-stated, honest, unvarnished apology/explanation," adding: "I understand more than you know when you work in a democracy that all things look like they're black and white when you're young. And there are so many shades of gray."

In addition to lightening Rubin's sentence, the judge ordered Rubin to read "David and Goliath," the latest book by New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell, which traces how the little guy can beat the establishment by alternative means.

Aiken also put "Nature's Trust" by environmental law expert Mary Christina Wood, on Rubin's reading list.

The New York Times has called Gladwell's book "breathtaking and thought-provoking" but "deeply repetitive and a bewildering sprawl."

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

Snow storm chaos: Divers urged not to rescue abandoned cars as South begins recovery

by fellow troops as they help people get their stranded cars out of the snow in Atlanta, Georgia January 29, 2014. A rare ice storm turned Atlanta into a slippery mess on Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on frozen roadways and raising questions about how city leaders prepared for and handled the cold snap that slammed the U.S. South.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday took responsibility Thursday for the state’s slow response to a snowstorm that left people stranded for more than 24 hours on gridlocked interstates, and his top emergency management official said flatly: “I got this one wrong.”

Deal pledged to reporters that the state would be more aggressive in responding to future weather threats.

“I’m not going to look for a scapegoat,” he said. “I am the governor. The buck stops with me. I accept the responsibility for it, but I also accept the responsibility of being able to make corrective actions as they come into the future.”

He added: “We will take those weather warnings more seriously.”

Facing criticism over the city's response to an unusual winter storm, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said that while they did not have the experience to deal with the unusual weather, their efforts have made 80 percent of the city's roads passable.

Charley English, head of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said he had made a mistake by activating the state’s emergency response center six hours too late, long after the National Weather Service upgraded its winter storm alert for Atlanta on Tuesday morning.

“I made a terrible mistake, and I put the governor in an awful position,” he said.

Thousands of people were stuck, without food and water, on the interstates in and around Atlanta after the storm struck on Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of schoolchildren were also marooned overnight in their schools or on buses trapped on the road.

In Atlanta on Thursday, the National Guard helped people retrieve abandoned cars that littered the Atlanta interstates. Meanwhile, the mayor and governor struggled with the political fallout.

Mayor Kasim Reed assured people on Tuesday, in a message on Twitter before the snow began to fall: “Atlanta, we are ready for the snow.”

On Thursday, he acknowledged that authorities made a mistake by not staggering their orders for people to go home — schools first, then private businesses, then government employees. Instead, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the interstates at the same time.

But Reed suggested, in a pair of interviews on NBC’s TODAY and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” that he was being unfairly blamed for traffic that clogged highways outside the city limits.

“I think we need to work much harder on coordination,” he said on MSNBC. But he stressed: “The highways are not the responsibility of the city.”

It was the latest episode of finger-pointing after the storm. On Wednesday, the governor infuriated meteorologists by calling the storm “unexpected” and saying that nobody “could have predicted “the degree and magnitude of the problem.”

In fact, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic set in.

Daniel Shirey / Getty Images

Atlanta student David Hunter and his mother Demetra Dobbins walk up an exit ramp along I-75 North on Wednesday.

Cities in the North are much more accustomed to snowstorms, and in places like New York, powerful mayors have the single-handed authority to order salt-spreaders and plows onto the streets.

But the Atlanta area, as frustrated experts pointed out, is a patchwork of regional governments that often don’t get along with each other.

It also has a deeply ingrained car culture and a mass transit system that serves only a fraction of the metro area’s 5.5 million people. In 2012 voters across the region defeated a one-penny sales tax that would have strengthened regional transit.

After a snowstorm hobbled Atlanta in 2011, Reed, the Atlanta mayor, wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had learned an important lesson about collaboration and cooperation.

“We will work faster and smarter to deliver the kind of response that our residents demand and deserve,” he wrote.

Asked on “Morning Joe” why authorities had not worked better together this time, he said: “I think that we all have responsibility.”

Related:

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:46 PM EST

8-year-old hero who saved six declared honorary firefighter at funeral

Tyler Doohan was credited with saving the lives of six of his family members when their mobile home went up in flames last week.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

The 8-year-old New York state boy who died while saving the lives of six people in a roaring trailer fire was laid to rest Wednesday — complete with his own fireman's helmet and the title of honorary firefighter.

Mourners from across the country flocked to Fairport, near Rochester, to honor Tyler Doohan, a fourth-grader at East Rochester Elementary School.

Tyler raced through his grandfather's trailer home in suburban Penfield early on the morning of Jan. 20, alerting friends and family to a raging fire.

He was crediting with saving the lives of six people — including two other kids, ages 4 and 6.

But then he went back in to the inferno to try to rescue his grandfather, who used a wheelchair because he'd lost part of a leg. They never made it out. They were buried Wednesday with a third victim, his step-great-grandfather.

"Compassion has no end, and community has no boundaries," said Phil Buderic, basketball coach at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family, who traveled with his team all the way from Manitowoc, Wis., to serve as pallbearers at Tyler's funeral after being touched by the story.

Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer declared Tyler an honorary firefighter, presenting a personal fire helmet during the service at St. John of Rochester Catholic Church, NBC station WHEC of Rochester reported.

"Tyler needed to be honored in a way that would reflect what he did that morning," Ebmeyer said, marveling at the "courage (and) heroism he displayed for such a young individual, at 8 years of age."

"Tyler proved there is good in everybody,” the chief said.

Fire companies cross the country also added Tyler's name to their duty rosters in tribute Wednesday, the photos scrolling for page after page on the Facebook account of Firefighters Worldwide, an international firefighters community based in Mechanicsville, Va.

But Denise Alfieri, Tyler's fourth-grade teacher, said she would remember him as "the quiet boy who sat in the front row” and loved math and drawing.

"Tyler, I will miss you every day," Alfieri said. "To be honest, I still look for you to walk through those doors, just to see you smile one more time."

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

92 oficiales de misiles nucleares implicados en trampas de escándalo, dice que la fuerza aérea

By Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube and Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News

The air force has skyrocketed the number of official launch of nuclear missiles under investigation allegations of traps to 92, said Thursday.

The new total is nearly three times the initial 34 officers who were involved in the scandal and nearly one-fifth of the force. Officers have taken their missile wing duties during research on infidelity, which occurred during a discussion of key competition, Deborah Lee James air force Secretary said at a Pentagon news conference.

92, 40 Are suspected of cheating in fact obtaining answers before the test; the remaining 52 were allegedly aware of the pitfalls, but it could not inform superiors.

"The situation is still unacceptable," James told reporters.

Officials have insisted that there has been no change in the global nuclear mission and without degradation of the nuclear capability of the United States.

"This is a lack of integrity, not a failure of the mission," James said Thursday.

The official original of the probe, all assigned to the 341st Air Base Wing do missile Malmstrom in Montana, are accused of apparently text messaging answers to another, or knew that fraud was going on and not report it, according to officials.

The monthly review had proven knowledge of missile systems officers. It was administered in August and September, 2013.

Air Force Chief of staff General Mark Welsh said earlier this month that officials shared the test "electronically". Text messages were involved, he said. It would not expand the exact circumstances of alleged infidelity, citing an ongoing investigation.

Research on cheating ring was announced on 15 January by the air force.

341St wing do missile provides security for 150 nuclear Minuteman 3 Intercontinental ballistic missiles, one-third of the entire ICBM force. There is no evidence of similar deceptions in the other two nuclear missile bases, F.E. Warren in Wyoming and Minot, North Dakota, said James.

Only two days ago, a United States military officer said that NBC News the number of officers under allegations had almost doubled.

James, who is senior civil service, said Thursday that the systemic micromanagement in the nuclear force has created "an undue stress and fear", and that situation at Malmstrom was "is not a healthy environment."

She has said that the alleged deception in Malmstrom was discovered during a previously announced probe of drug possession by 11 officers at several bases. Initially, the probe included only 10 officers.

Previous reports:

This story was originally posted on Thu January 30, 2014 3:25 PM EST

'The boss with me': Georgia gov assumes no responsibility for snowstorm response

Christopher As'aluka Berry / Christopher As'aluka Berry / Reuters

Georgia National Guardsman command sergeant major friend Grisham c joins fellow soldiers who help people out of their cars stranded snow in Atlanta, Georgia on January 29, 2014. A rare storm of ice turned Atlanta into a slippery mess Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on frozen roads and raise questions about how he prepared for city leaders and handle the cold spell that hit the southern United States.

By Erin McClam, writer, NBC News

The Governor of Georgia Nathan Deal on Thursday blamed on Thursday because the State's slow response to a snowstorm that left stranded for more than 24 hours on interstate highways would prevent people, and their senior emergency management officer, said flatly: "I have a bad".

Deal pledged to reporters that the State would be more aggressive in responding to the threats of the future time.

"I'm not going to look for a scapegoat," he said. "I am the Governor. It ended up with me. I accept responsibility for it, but I also accept the responsibility of being able to take the corrective actions that come in the future."

He added: "we will take those weather warnings more seriously."

Facing criticism for the response of the city an unusual winter storm, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said that while they didn't have the experience to deal with the unusual weather, their efforts have made 80 percent of the city passable roads.

Charley English, head of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said that it had made a mistake to activate state emergency response center six hours later, much once the national weather service upgraded its Atlanta winter storm alert on Tuesday morning.

"I made a terrible mistake, and put the Governor in a difficult situation," he said.

Thousands of people were stuck, without any food or water on interstate highways in the vicinity of Atlanta after the storm struck on Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of schoolchildren were also abandoned overnight in their schools or on a bus trapped in the road.

In Atlanta on Thursday, the people of the National Guard helped to recover abandoned cars that littered the Interstate from Atlanta. Meanwhile, the Mayor and the Governor struggled with the political consequences.

Mayor Kasim Reed said people until the snow began to fall on Tuesday, in a message on Twitter: "Atlanta, ready for snow".

On Thursday, acknowledged that the authorities made a mistake by not wobble your orders for people to go home - the companies first, then private schools, then the Government employees. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of people pour on interstate highways at the same time.

But Reed suggests, in a couple of interviews of MSNBC NBC and today morning Joe, "that she was being unfairly blamed for traffic that clogged the roads out of the city limits.

"I think that we have to work much harder in coordination," he told MSNBC. But stressed: "roads are not the responsibility of the city".

It was the last episode of finger-pointing after the storm. "On Wednesday, the Governor enraged meteorologists calling the storm"unexpected"and saying that no-one"could have predicted"the extent and the magnitude of the problem".

In fact, the national weather service issued a winter for Atlanta storm alert on 3:38 on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic.

Daniel Shirey / Getty Images

Atlanta student David Hunter and his mother Demetra Dobbins go up a ramp to exit along the North-75 on Wednesday.

Cities in the North are more accustomed to snow storms, and in places like New York, powerful mayors have the lone authority for sal-orden spreaders and plows on the streets.

But the Atlanta area, as noted frustrated experts, is a mosaic of regional Governments that often do not get along with others.

It also has a deeply entrenched car culture and a mass transit system that serves only a fraction of people 5.5 million of the metropolitan area. Voters across the region defeated a sales tax of a penny that would have strengthened regional transit in 2012.

After a snowstorm limping Atlanta in 2011, Reed, the Mayor of Atlanta, wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he had learned an important lesson about the collaboration and cooperation.

"We will work faster and smarter to offer the kind of response that our residents require and deserve," he wrote.

"Morning Joe" asked why authorities not had worked better together this time, he said: "I think we all have responsibility".

Related:

This story was originally posted at Thu 30 January 2014 2:46 PM EST

South struggles back to normal as officials point fingers after snowstorm

Christopher Aluka Berry / Christopher Aluka Berry / Reuters

Georgia National Guardsman Command Sgt. Maj. Buddy Grisham (C) is joined by fellow troops as they help people get their stranded cars out of the snow in Atlanta, Georgia January 29, 2014. A rare ice storm turned Atlanta into a slippery mess on Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on frozen roadways and raising questions about how city leaders prepared for and handled the cold snap that slammed the U.S. South.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday took responsibility Thursday for the state’s slow response to a snowstorm that left people stranded for more than 24 hours on gridlocked interstates, and his top emergency management official said flatly: “I got this one wrong.”

Deal pledged to reporters that the state would be more aggressive in responding to future weather threats.

“I’m not going to look for a scapegoat,” he said. “I am the governor. The buck stops with me. I accept the responsibility for it, but I also accept the responsibility of being able to make corrective actions as they come into the future.”

He added: “We will take those weather warnings more seriously.”

Facing criticism over the city's response to an unusual winter storm, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said that while they did not have the experience to deal with the unusual weather, their efforts have made 80 percent of the city's roads passable.

Charley English, head of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said he had made a mistake by activating the state’s emergency response center six hours too late, long after the National Weather Service upgraded its winter storm alert for Atlanta on Tuesday morning.

“I made a terrible mistake, and I put the governor in an awful position,” he said.

Thousands of people were stuck, without food and water, on the interstates in and around Atlanta after the storm struck on Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of schoolchildren were also marooned overnight in their schools or on buses trapped on the road.

In Atlanta on Thursday, the National Guard helped people retrieve abandoned cars that littered the Atlanta interstates. Meanwhile, the mayor and governor struggled with the political fallout.

Mayor Kasim Reed assured people on Tuesday, in a message on Twitter before the snow began to fall: “Atlanta, we are ready for the snow.”

On Thursday, he acknowledged that authorities made a mistake by not staggering their orders for people to go home — schools first, then private businesses, then government employees. Instead, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the interstates at the same time.

But Reed suggested, in a pair of interviews on NBC’s TODAY and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” that he was being unfairly blamed for traffic that clogged highways outside the city limits.

“I think we need to work much harder on coordination,” he said on MSNBC. But he stressed: “The highways are not the responsibility of the city.”

It was the latest episode of finger-pointing after the storm. On Wednesday, the governor infuriated meteorologists by calling the storm “unexpected” and saying that nobody “could have predicted “the degree and magnitude of the problem.”

In fact, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic set in.

Daniel Shirey / Getty Images

Atlanta student David Hunter and his mother Demetra Dobbins walk up an exit ramp along I-75 North on Wednesday.

Cities in the North are much more accustomed to snowstorms, and in places like New York, powerful mayors have the single-handed authority to order salt-spreaders and plows onto the streets.

But the Atlanta area, as frustrated experts pointed out, is a patchwork of regional governments that often don’t get along with each other.

It also has a deeply ingrained car culture and a mass transit system that serves only a fraction of the metro area’s 5.5 million people. In 2012 voters across the region defeated a one-penny sales tax that would have strengthened regional transit.

After a snowstorm hobbled Atlanta in 2011, Reed, the Atlanta mayor, wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had learned an important lesson about collaboration and cooperation.

“We will work faster and smarter to deliver the kind of response that our residents demand and deserve,” he wrote.

Asked on “Morning Joe” why authorities had not worked better together this time, he said: “I think that we all have responsibility.”

Related:

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:46 PM EST

Maryland mall gunman wrote of killing people

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Jose Luis Magana / AP

Kathren Cameron places a teddy bear at the mall after it was reopened to the public, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Columbia, Md.

By Hasani Gittens, News Editor, NBC News

The young man who killed two skate store employees and then shot himself inside a shopping mall wrote about killing people in his journal and said he was ready to die, Maryland police revealed Wednesday.

Howard County police released the details of Darion Aguilar's journal through their Twitter account.

Investigators say the 19-year-old Aguilar killed  Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park, Md., and Tyler Johnson, 25, of Mount Airy, Md., in a Zumiez skate store at the Mall in Columbia and then took his own life. Detectives have been trying to determine a motive.

Police now say Aguilar wrote in general terms in his journal about killing people — but did not mention targeting specific people or locations. Police say the journal "expresses a general hatred of others" and a willingness to die.

They said it showed he "knew he was having mental health issues." 

Handout / Reuters

Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, of College Park, Maryland, identified by police as the gunman in Saturday's Columbia Mall shooting, is seen in an undated photo released by the Howard County Police Department.

He also apologized to his family for what he was planning to do, they said.

Cops on Wednesday also detailed how Aguilar assembled the shotgun before the rampage.

Aguilar carried the disassembled 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun into the mall in a backpack, the Howard County Police Department said on its Twitter feed.

Aguilar, who also lived in College Park, Maryland, put the shotgun together in a dressing room at the Zumiez skateboard store.

Then, police "believe Aguilar exited the Zumiez dressing room, shot the two victims and then himself," they said. Earlier, investigators had said that Aguilar had spent at least an hour in the mall before initiating the spree.

The skate store itself had no video cameras so there is no footage of the shootings, it said. Police have said Aguilar fired six to eight shots.

At one point, he stepped out of the store and wounded a woman who was struck in the foot, police said.

Aguilar was dead when officers arrived less than two minutes after the first 911 call, police said.

Investigators have not given a motive for the shootings. Police have said they have not turned up any relationship between the shop employees and Aguilar.

Police believe Aguilar legally bought the shotgun last month. The attack was the latest in a spate of U.S. shootings that has renewed questions about the vulnerability of public places in the United States.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Nine feared dead, including 8 children, in fire in Kentucky

Nine people died early Thursday, January 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children died when a fire ignited by an electric heater shattered a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine years of an 11-member family were found dead in the fire that broke out in a home Muhlenberg County in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in an apartment house, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and murdered eight children: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped from the fire and were transferred to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 kilometers away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a spokesman for the Vanderbilt Medical Center, said 11, Chad Watson, 36 and Kylie Watson, both were in critical but stable condition.

The researchers determined that a baseboard heater electric on a combustible material accidentally is very close to the source of heat, more than 12 hours after the fire, Recke said.

The temperature in the Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree at night, while the region is accustomed to temperatures of 35 degrees in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

"Normally don't have time," said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors from the devastated House. "They say that when trying to put out the fire, the water was turning to ice," he added.

Bennett said that the House had no more than three bedrooms and eleven members of the family were "stacked" in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was "a nice young family."

"Everyone loved the children," said McElvain.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

The members of the office of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall look over the remains of a fire in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, Thursday, January 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at home on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

"He went home, and then 10 hours later it's gone."

A neighbor called firefighters around 2 in the morning of Thursday, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the House was "totally engulfed" when arriving minutes later.

Teams of extinguish the fire within an hour, Recke said. Still, "as I am faced with the House, the right side of the House is basically," he added.

Recke said that no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

The Senator Mitch McConnell, R - KY, expressed its condolences to the family and community from the floor of the Senate on Thursday afternoon. "The entire community stands beside the Muhlenberg County now and we do our utmost to help you recover from this terrible loss."

They feared that nine people, including eight children, died after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. Reports from NBC News French Kuo.

This story was originally posted at Thu 30 January 2014 4:24 PM EST

Nine feared dead, inluding 8 children, in Kentucky house fire

WFIE

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Reports: Lunches seized from Utah schoolkids because of unpaid bills

Dozens of children at a Utah school had their lunches seized and thrown away because they did not have enough money in their accounts, prompting an angry response from parents, it was reported.

"She took my lunch away and said, 'Go get a milk,’” Sophia Isom, a fifth-grader at Salt Lake City’s Uintah Elementary School, told NBC affiliate KSL.com. "I came back and asked, 'What's going on?' Then she handed me an orange. She said, 'You don't have any money in your account so you can't get lunch.’”

Up to 40 kids suffered similar treatment, given fruit and milk as their lunches were thrown away, the station reported.  

Isom's mom Erica Lukes called the move “traumatic and humiliating” and told the Salt Lake Tribune she was all paid up.

"I think it’s despicable," she said. "These are young children that shouldn’t be punished or humiliated for something the parents obviously need to clear up."

Salt Lake City District Spokesperson Jason Olsen told the Tribune that parents had been notified about negative balances on Monday and a child nutrition manager had decided to withhold lunches to deal with the issue. They were thrown away because once food is served to one student it can’t be served to another, he explained.

Girl's letter to Santa a gift from heaven for grieving San Diego man

  By R. Stickney, NBCSanDiego.comA little girl's letter to Santa launched by a red balloon was found miles away by a stranger who, sensing a connection with its author, wanted to find her and make her Christmas wish come true.Joie, 5, had written the letter, tied it to a balloon and set it free last week along with the rest of her kindergarten class in Chula Vista, just south of San Diego.“Dear Santa, I would like to have a mermaid doll with a bow for Christmas. Thank you, Love, Joie,” the letter read.Defense contract negotiator Terry Hardin was leaving work on Dec. 17 when he noticed a red balloon with something tied to it floating down from the sky.He watched it travel to the ground and into the parking lot. It took three to five minutes, he said.“I walked over, so interested and intrigued as to what it was,” he recalled.He said when he noticed the name of the child at the end of the letter, he paused. His mother, Joie Britt, had passed away in August 2012.“It put a chill up my spine,” Hardin said.He and his mother weren’t on the best of terms at the time of her death. He now admits he was very angry with her.Now, he believes that in some way the kindergartner’s letter was meant for him.“This literally came from Heaven to make things right,” he said.Hardin’s wife, Angel, went to work trying to track down the little girl so the couple could fulfill the wish.She sent emails to news organizations, including NBC 7 San Diego, asking for help."We don't know who this girl is or how this balloon got to be over downtown, but somehow I feel like I really want this girl to get her doll,” she wrote.San Diego-area talk show host Mike Slater enlisted the help of his listeners and soon, the author of the letter was found.On Thursday, Hardin met Joie face to face in her classroom at St. Rose of Lima. He handed her the gift – a "Little Mermaid" doll complete with bow. Joie was shy, but with encouragement from her classmates, she quickly unwrapped the gift.She and her family later posed for a picture with Hardin, who said he is enjoying the enthusiasm the story has generated around the U.S. and even overseas.

First-class stamps to cost 49 cents as of Jan. 26

   Andrew Burton / Getty Images fileStamps bought at a United States Post Office (USPS) are seen in September in New York City. By Bradley Klapper, The Associated PressMailing a letter is about to get a little more expensive. Regulators on Tuesday approved a temporary price hike of 3 cents for a first-class stamp, bringing the charge to 49 cents a letter in an effort to help the Postal Service recover from severe mail decreases brought on by the 2008 economic downturn. Many consumers won't feel the price increase immediately. Forever stamps, good for first-class postage whatever the future rate, can be purchased at the lower price until the new rate is effective Jan. 26. The higher rate will last no more than two years, allowing the Postal Service to recoup $2.8 billion in losses. By a 2-1 vote, the independent Postal Regulatory Commission rejected a request to make the price hike permanent, though inflation over the next 24 months may make it so.  The surcharge "will last just long enough to recover the loss," Commission Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway said.  Bulk mail, periodicals and package service rates will rise 6 percent, a decision that drew immediate consternation from the mail industry. Its groups have opposed any price increase beyond the current 1.7 percent rate of inflation, saying charities using mass mailings and bookstores competing with online retailer Amazon would be among those who suffer. Greeting card companies also have criticized the plans. "This is a counterproductive decision," said Mary G. Berner, president of the Association of Magazine Media. "It will drive more customers away from using the Postal Service and will have ripple effects through our economy — hurting consumers, forcing layoffs and impacting businesses." Berner said her organization will consider appealing the decision before the U.S. Court of Appeals. For consumers who have cut back on their use of mail for correspondence, the rate increase may have little impact on their pocketbooks. "I don't know a whole lot of people who truly, with the exception of packages, really use snail mail anymore," said Kristin Johnson, a Green Bay, Wis., resident who was shopping in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, while visiting relatives and friends. "It's just so rare that I actually mail anything at this point." The Postal Service is an independent agency that does not depend on tax money for its operations but is subject to congressional control. Under federal law, it can't raise prices more than the rate of inflation without approval from the commission. The service says it lost $5 billion in the last fiscal year and has been trying to get Congress to pass legislation to help with its financial woes, including an end to Saturday mail delivery and reduced payments on retiree health benefits. The figures through Sept. 30 were actually an improvement for the agency from a $15.9 billion loss in 2012. The post office has struggled for years with declining mail volume as a result of growing Internet use and a 2006 congressional requirement that it make annual $5.6 billion payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees. It has defaulted on three of those payments. The regulators Tuesday stopped short of making the price increases permanent, saying the Postal Service had conflated losses it suffered as a result of Internet competition with business lost because of the Great Recession. They ordered the agency to develop a plan to phase out the higher rates once the lost revenue is recouped. It's unclear where that would take rates for first-class postage in 2016. The regular, inflation-adjusted price would have been 47 cents next year. If inflation rates average 2 percent over the next two years, regulators could deem 49 cents an acceptable price going forward. The Postal Service has only twice lowered the price of a stamp: in the mid-19th century from 3 cents to 2 cents, and again after the end of World War I. In neither case was the higher price the result of a temporary authorization. The new price of a postcard stamp, raised by a penny to 34 cents in November, also is effective next month. The last price increase for stamps was in January, when the cost of sending a letter rose by a penny to 46 cents. A post card also increased by one cent to 33 cents. 

NSA leaker Snowden urges US to 'end mass surveillance'

  Edward Snowden, who revealed extensive details of global electronic surveillance by American and British spy agencies, warns of the dangers posed by mass surveillance in an "alternative" Christmas message broadcast in the UK.By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributorLONDON — NSA leaker Edward Snowden urged the United States and other world powers to "end mass surveillance" Wednesday in his first televised interview since arriving in Russia to avoid prosecution by authorities.The whistle-blower compared modern surveillance techniques to George Orwell’s novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and said that "a child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all."The pre-recorded interview was broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 for its annual "Alternative Christmas Message" to coincide with the queen’s formal Christmas Day public address.It was filmed by Laura Poitras, who along with journalist Glenn Greenwald first published documents leaked by Snowden in May 2013."The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it," Snowden said in clips pre-released by Channel 4."Together we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel asking is always cheaper than spying."Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker who set off a worldwide debate about government surveillance, is speaking out in a rare interview with the Washington Post. NBC's Pete Williams reports.The interview comes days after Snowden told the Washington Post that his mission was "already accomplished. I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don't realize it," he added.In Channel 4's interview, Snowden compares the clandestine surveillance techniques revealed in National Security Agency (NSA) documents he leaked six months ago to Orwell’s signature book.The novel, first published in 1949, portrays a dystopian future in which an authoritarian regime keeps track of the population through the omniscient Big Brother character."Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information," Snowden said. "The types of collection in the book -- microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us -- are nothing compared to what we have available today."We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person."A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalysed thought. And that’s a problem because privacy matters, privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be."Related:

Man dressed as Santa Claus robs Bank of Florida

By Erik Ortiz, writer, NBC NewsThis Santa is no Saint.Police in Port Orange, Florida, looking for a man who robbed a SunTrust Bank on Monday wearing a red Santa Claus hat, a white, long beard and shades before with an undisclosed amount of cash.Port Orange Police DepartmentA robber dressed as Santa Claus stole a bank SunTrust in Port Orange, Florida, on December 23, 2013.The bad Santa took a package wrapped in the Bank on 15:13 and passed a note to a teller demanding money. He hinted that the package was detrimental, said the Deputy Police Chief Wayne Miller.After getting the money, the suspect left the package on the counter and left. He was seen fleeing in a dark-colored vehicle.The Bank was immediately evacuated and the bomb of the Volusia County determined that the package was an explosive device, said Miller.Holiday attire is that the first Miller said that he saw a thief of wear."We usually see costumes worn during Halloween, but I've been here 29 years and I can't remember something like this," he added.Santa-like suits have been used as holiday costumes in other theft across the country. This month, an armed robber who wore a hat with Santa and tones stormed a Bank of United States in Dundee, Mich., while a dirty gray beard Man robbed a PNC Bank on Saturday in Laurel, Maryland.PNC ATM described him as a criminal, Kris Kringle, although local police said it could have disguised as someone from the reality show, "Duck dynasty".SunTrust Bank suspect is described as a white male, 6 feet, with an average height. Someone have any information is asked to call 386-506-5895 to Port Orange detectives.