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

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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.

House (and hunger) for the holidays: families struggle to feed children during the school holidays

Erreur lors de deserialisation du corps du message de réponse pour l' opération «Translate». Greatness du maximum quota pour longueur du contenu de Chaîne (8192) lors de données XML lecture. EC quota peut être augmenté in amending the MaxStringContentLength Propriété sur l'objet XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas utilise pendant la création du lecteur XML. Ligne 1, position 8833. Jonathan Adams / for NBC NewsMichael Taylor, Jr., 12, of Abingdon, VA., gives thanks with his brothers and grandmother, Elizabeth Salyers, for the meal they received at a local food pantry.By Nona Willis Aronowitz, NBC News contributorThe snow was blowing sideways in New York City last Saturday, but parents still streamed in to New York Common Pantry, some leading as many as four or five children by the hand while they sat with volunteers and chose their food on an iPad."I'm here to stock up," said pantry client Theresa Garcia. In one week, Garcia's three children, who attend public school, would be home for an eight-day holiday break, a long stretch of going without the two free meals they eat in school every day.The East Harlem pantry was Garcia's second stop for supplies that day; She already visited a food bank near the shelter where her family is staying in East New York, more than an hour away on the subway. "I also had to give my church when heads up that these next weeks I'll need extra help," she said. "You hit it from all angles."Garcia's kids are among 24 million American children who qualify for free or reduced lunch and breakfast at school-48 percent of all public school students. For many kids, those meals are the only ones they will eat all day. That all changes during school holidays, when the burden falls on low - income parents to provide three meals a day. The United States Department of Agriculture provides food assistance to many families during summer break, but there's no similar infrastructure in place for the end-of-year holidays, when kids are home for up to two weeks.And they have healthy appetites."Especially with boys, they're never, ever full," says Elizabeth Salyers, who's raising her three young grandsons in Abingdon, Va. Salyers had been getting by on social security and the spousal benefits from her late husband, a disabled veteran, when the kids came to live with her in 2009. But four years later, she says her "funds are slowly dissolving." She has had to rely on the Abingdon Soup Kitchen and other programs around town in order to feed the kids. It'll be doubly difficult to keep the boys' bellies full until January 8th, when they go back to school.Jonathan Adams / for NBC NewsElizabeth Salyers, 71, looks through a box of vegetables at the Harvest Home Kitchen in Abingdon, VA., with grandchildren Dashaun and Ector Taylor."You just take what's available, and you can stretch it 50 different ways if you have to," Salyers said. She prepares hearty dishes that "expand when you cook ' em," like oatmeal and spaghetti. On days the boys sleep late, she breathes a sigh of relief; She can get away with serving them breakfast, snack, and supper.Kathy Underhill, the executive director of Hunger Free Colorado, is well aware of this annual problem facing low - income families of school-aged children. "What the holidays mean is that families already on a razor-thin margin have to struggle even further," she said. In her state, 10 percent of households-about 511,000 families - are currently on SNAP benefits, and another 390,000 more are eligible.Mildred Floyd of Golden, Colo., is the head of one of those families. Even with just one teenage are at home during break, "the impact on my budget is astronomical," she said. "[My son] is in his comfort zone, sitting in front of the TV, so sometimes he eats even a little more than usual."For Floyd, who is unemployed, it's not just the money that poses a problem but the logistics."During the holidays, you have to be able to get to whatever site that's giving food," she said. "You have to get creative." "You have to drive all over town." During school breaks, filling the gap of school meals becomes an elaborate dance of research, transportation, and sign-up sheets."Families start mixing and matching with other community resources when they don't have school lunch, but with overworked parents and bus routes being cut, this isn't always possible," said Peggy Halderman, founder of the Golden Backpack Program, which tries to simplify parents' holiday juggling acts.Every week, the program sends 588 local students-including Floyd's son home from school with enough food to feed a child over the weekend. During the holidays, students get a "double backpack", stocked with supplies for four days. This year, another group at the Rotary Club of Golden, of which Halderman is a member, 80 boxes packed for a similar Holiday Food Box Project and dropped them off at the local elementary school.Jonathan Adams / for NBC NewsEctor Taylor, 9, checks to see how he measures up to his grandmother, who often worries if she can provide enough for three growing boys.Some programs across the country go a step further and maintain children's school meal routines during the holiday season. Kids Unlimited in Medford, ore., which runs an academics-focused afterschool program during the school year, offers a 10-hour-a-day enrichment program for elementary-, middle-, and high school students during holiday breaks, on site at the students' schools. The holiday program includes meals through Sodexo, which gets reimbursed by the USDA, said Tom Cole, director of Kids Unlimited."Being able to feed kids is part of creating a level playing field, because kids can't learn or focus when they re hungry," Cole said. "We keep that going [during holidays] to take the pressure off families."These programs strive to make a difference, yet some who staff them are indignant that the government and public schools aren't doing more to help. Kathy Underhill points out that the SNAP program, or food stamps, usually picks up the slack when kids are out of school, but with cuts that kicked in November 1, lots of families are "waiting for the other shoe to drop."Cole says our country's education system "hasn't thought outside the box about social service issues they can help with. "Most schools don't have an infrastructure in place to support kids outside the normal school days." They don't have partnerships with community organizations like Kids Unlimited, he says, or aren't willing to open schools during breaks for outside programming.As for parents, they say they work hard to maintain the holiday spirit despite the added stress-but it's not easy. "I force a smile sometimes," Floyd said. "It's overwhelming." "You not only have those three meals a day, but you have to put something in that Christmas stocking."Education coverage for NBCNews.com is supported by a grant from the Gates Foundation.Related:This story was originally published on Tue Dec 24, 2013 5:35 PM EST

Vegas cabbie, wanting 'to do the right thing,' turns in $300,000 left behind by gambler

   John Getter / NBC NewsGerardo Gamboa, a Las Vegas taxi driver, returned $300,000 to a passenger. By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsA big-time card shark has an honest cabbie to thank for the return of $300,000 he left in a Las Vegas taxi.The man — whom Las Vegas police wouldn't identify other than to describe him as a well-known poker player — left the money behind in a brown case when Gerardo Gamboa dropped him off Monday morning at the $500-a-night Palms Place hotel and spa.Cabdriver Gerardo Gamboa tells NBC station KSNV of Las Vegas that he had no interest in making off with any of the $300,000 a mysterious gambler left behind in his cab Monday,Gamboa — who's driven Yellow Checker Star cabs in Vegas for 13 years — immediately called his dispatcher and asked his next passenger to witness that he hadn't taken anything, he told NBC station KSNV on Tuesday."Why? Because it [doesn't] belong to me," the honest driver said. "I just want to do the right thing."When the doorman at Gamboa's next stop alerted him to the bag, Gamboa opened it up and pulled out a wad of about $50,000 in cash."It's all hundred-dollar bills. I said: 'Oh, my God! That's a lot of money in here!'" he said. "So I put back the money, and I called dispatch right away."Gamboa said he knew nothing about his mystery passenger, other than that when they arrived at the Palms Place, "he paid me $20 for a $9.90 trip and he asked for $5 change, so [it was] a $5 tip.""I appreciated that," he said. "That's 50 percent."As for the stash of cash he turned in, he said he'd never seen that much money before in his life — "in a movie only."The taxi company immediately named Gamboa its Driver of the Year and rewarded him with $1,000 and dinner for two at a pricey restaurant, The Las Vegas Sun reported.

Father Francisco offers his first Christmas homily

Gregorio Borgia / APFather Francisco kissing a statue of the child Jesus as the Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, celebrates it on December 24.By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC NewsThe faithful flocked to St. Peter's Basilica for midnight on the eve of the first Christmas dad Francisco mass, in which the Pontiff preached once again the importance of humility, and acceptance qualities has continuously demonstrated in its first nine months as head of the Catholic Church."The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light," Francis began, citing Isaiah prophesied a book of the Bible that includes heralding the birth of Jesus.Father Francisco offered a traditional lesson of light and love during his first Christmas Eve midnight mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Martin Fletcher, NBC reports.Jesus brought light and grace to the world, and that grace "possible salvation for the whole human race," said Francis, choosing to highlight a writing of the biblical Book of Titus.While Jesus embodied light and love, said Francis, who hate to walk in the "dark"."" If we love God and our brothers and sisters, walk in the light. ""But if our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, selfishness, then drops the darkness within us and our around, said the Pontiff.Francis, who celebrated the mass with more than 300 Cardinals, bishops and priests, urged the people not be afraid of approaching God - echoing the words of the biblical angel give news of the birth of Jesus."Do not fear! Our father is patient, loves us, gives us Jesus to guide us on the road that leads to the promised land. Jesus is the light that illuminates the darkness. "He is our peace, he said.Francis has tried to change the image of the Catholic Church as judgmental, pompous, inflexible institution since his election in March.Of homosexual priests, I have been asked, "who am I to judge?" It has washed the feet of the prisoners, they refused to move to the papal Palace and celebrated his recent breakfast birthday with three homeless men. On Monday, made a Christmas visit to the Emeritus Pope Benedicto XVI and asked him to pray for him."(It) is to bring a new era in the Church, a church that is more focused on the poor and that is more austere, more lively, a church that cares about everyone," said Dolores Di Benedetto, who traveled from the homeland of the Pope, Argentina to hear him speak."I thought it would be great to hear the words of this Pope close and see how people feel overwhelmed by it," said Giacchino Sabello, one of the more than 10,000 people who filled St. Peter's Basilica or outside watching the ceremony on mega-screens.At the Christmas Eve mass, Francis reiterated the importance of the oppressed, with the shepherds who were the first to learn about the birth of Jesus as an example. "They were the first because they were among the last, the marginalized," he said."Bless you, Lord God most high, who fell to yourself for our sake. You is immense, and did you small; You're rich and you did poor; you are Almighty and you made vulnerable,"said Francis in thanks to God and also a clear indication of humility encourages his flock to emulate.Ettore Ferrari / EPAFather Francisco leads the midnight Christmas mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 24.In his speech to the administrators of the Vatican on Saturday, Francis said Holiness was a practice of "deep humility and fraternal charity in our relationships with our coworkers," urged the Cardinals, bishops and priests to avoid gossip.Before the mass, Francis inspired more humility, when personally a baby Jesus doll on a replica of a manger, a custom usually performed by a support.The 2 1/2 hour mass was the first of many services Francis will lead during the holidays. On Christmas day, will deliver a "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message from the balcony of the Basilica overlooking the square St. Peter.He also held mass on new year's Eve and new year and another on 6 January for the feast of the Epiphany or "' day of Kings," celebrating the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus.Reuters contributed to this report.Related:

Nevada gunman told patients to flee before killing, 911 tapes reveal

  By Scott Sonner, The Associated PressRENO, Nev. — Newly released 911 tapes paint a scene of panic and terror inside a Reno medical building where dozens of callers hid in bathrooms and exam rooms from a suicidal gunman who killed one doctor and shot another at a urology clinic where he said he'd had a vasectomy that ruined his life. Callers included a woman hiding under a desk in an exam room and another who whispered "Oh, my God" and "he's going to ... kill us" as apparent gunshots can be heard in the background on the tapes released Tuesday. Alan Oliver Frazier, 51, told patients to leave or he'd shoot them after he entered the Urology Nevada office last week and soon began firing a pistol-grip, 12-gauge shotgun. The shooter from Northern California said he was angry because "he had a vasectomy here and they ruined his life," a male witness told a dispatcher from a locked bathroom where he and about 10 others hid. "He says, 'As long as you're a patient, you can leave. Otherwise I'm going to shoot you,'" the man said. The bathroom was just outside the urology office where the shooting occurred. A woman hiding under a desk was talking so softly she could barely be heard. "I hear gunshots outside my office," the woman said. "I just heard another one. ... He's going to (expletive) kill us." "Oh, my God. ... He's outside my door," she said. Among the 50 calls police said they received just after 2 p.m. on Dec. 17 while Frazier still was considered an active shooter was a woman in a locked office, gasping for breath between sentences. "He's in the middle of the office," she said. "We think he shot one of our doctors." Police began arriving at the scene within minutes, and entered Urology Nevada while some callers still were on the phone. Police confirmed Tuesday Frazier had been a patient at the facility, and complained about a botched surgery in 2010. The unemployed former power plant worker made it clear in a suicide note that he planned the attack and that his focus was on the physicians at Urology Nevada, police said. Authorities have not said who operated on Frazier, who lived near Lake Almanor, about 130 miles north of Reno. Detectives are "actively looking into" Frazier's involvement in an Internet chat room where he reportedly complained about complications from the surgery, city spokeswoman Sharon Spangler said. She confirmed investigators are interviewing a former fiancee of Frazier's who told The Associated Press he took medication for depression when they were together in the mid-1990s. They're also talking to a neighbor who said Frazier told him the day of the shooting that he was leaving and not coming back. Police haven't determined if Frazier had a history of mental illness. But Spangler said detectives are in contact with the ex-fiancee, who told the AP he was a different person when he didn't take his medication for depression and was suicidal at least once during the 18 months they were together. Spangler also acknowledged investigators talked to the neighbor, Mike Hawthorne, who told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Frazier said the day of the shooting he wouldn't be back. Citing a neighbor, the Gazette-Journal first reported that Frazier sometimes ranted in a Yahoo group about vasectomy pain that he was still suffering more than two years after what he claimed was a botched surgery. Witnesses told investigators that Frazier said during the attack that he was looking for physicians. He used the shotgun to kill Dr. Charles G. Gholdoian, 46, president of Urology Nevada. He also critically wounded Dr. Christine Lajeunesse and seriously injured Shantae Spears, who was accompanying a relative on an office visit. Frazier then turned the gun on himself. Related:© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Utah headed to Supreme Court after appeals court refuses to stop same-sex weddings

  Jim Urquhart/ReutersJax Collins and Heather Collins were married Monday at the Salt Lake County Government Building after a federal judge Robert Shelby upheld his own order making same-sex marriage legal in Utah.By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsUtah officials were busy Tuesday night planning an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court denied their request to stop same-sex marriages while they try to overturn a judge's ruling legalizing them.In a two-page order (.pdf) entered late Tuesday in Denver, two judges on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to grant Gov. Gary Herbert's request for a stay halting the marriages while Utah pursues its appeal. Herbert's office didn't return a call for comment, but the state attorney general's office — which filed the motion on his behalf — said it would seek an emergency stay with the Supreme Court as early as Thursday. That motion would be heard by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has jurisdiction over the 10th Circuit.Herbert asked for a stay Monday after U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby upheld his own ruling that Utah's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.The appeals judges, Robert E. Bacharach and Jerome A. Holmes, fast-tracked Utah's appeal, but they said they wouldn't stop the marriages in the meantime, writing that the state would have a tough time proving that letting the marriages go ahead would cause "irreparable harm" or that it had a good shot at winning its appeal.Bacharach was appointed to the court by President Barack Obama; Holmes was appointed by President George W. Bush. While it prepares its Supreme Court motion,  the attorney general's office issued an advisory opinion telling county clerks that they could be held in contempt of court if they refused to issue marriage licenses. And Herbert's chief of staff sent a message telling state agencies that "where no conflicting laws exist you should conduct business in compliance with the federal judge's ruling until such time that the current district court decision is addressed by the 10th Circuit Court."The state Workforce Services Department said it would recognize the marriages as establishing eligibility for food stamps and other benefits.Hundreds of same-sex couples raced to county clerks' offices to get wedding licenses after Shelby's ruling Monday. Salt Lake County alone issued 353 licenses Monday, NBC station KSL of Salt Lake City reported — 4½ times its previous single-day record for marriage licenses.The Rev. Curtis Price was waiting in the lobby of the Salt Lake County Government Building to marry Shauna Griffen and Brooke Shepherd, who'd spent the night waiting in line wearing matching shirts proclaiming "Love conquers hate.""It was a long night. We were worried," Griffen told KSL. "I had faith in Salt Lake County — they came through."Watch the top videos on NBCNews.comThis story was originally published on Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:44 PM EST

Mayor of NYC-choose daughter opens up about depression, drug abuse

19-Year-old mayor elected Bill de Blasio daughter admitted in a YouTube video had published Christmas Eve that she has struggled with depression and substance abuse.Chiara de Blasio says in the video of almost five minutes that had been suffering from clinical depression since his teens and used alcohol to deal with the sadness and anxiety. He said that he sought treatment for their diseases and hopes that by sharing her story, will inspire others to do the same.De Blasio said he thought that their problems would be solved to fly 3,000 miles to attend University, but he felt a physical insecurity with their environment that inhibits their ability to connect with colleagues and to curb their addictive behavior."Only I kept thinking and using this argument really fake that it justified so could continue to do this and be like, 'Oh, don't drink,'" and then you would just smoking marijuana, and then it's like, 'Oh, am not going to smoke marijuana,' and then he would only drink, "said de Blasio.Only it was the barter for equally bad results".After years of struggle, de Blasio said her therapist recommended outpatient treatment in New York program. Working with professionals and people of your age who suffered from depression and anxiety, as he did, de Blasio says that he was able to work through many of its problems--and sober."Extract substances of my life, has opened many doors for me," said de Blasio, adding that being able to participate in the campaign for mayor of his father was a highlight of his sober life.He said that his parents still committed to help her improve throughout its ups and downs, and being able to be honest with them - and others - about their trials was instrumental in overcoming of the.People suffer and die from these diseases each day, de Blasio said,Not "really can do something as a society to help people until we started talking about it."No one can make sobriety on its own, he said.In a statement, Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane described her daughter's decision to share his story "brave" and said that the holidays can be especially difficult for people with difficulties with subjects did."As parents, it has been our instinct to protect our daughter and help her in private through a very personal struggle," said the Blasios of. "But has not only pledged to Chiara to his own health, it is also committed to helping young people everywhere who are facing similar challenges."-NBCNewYork.com

Freedom puts an end to the career of Texas prison Zapatero

Jon Herskovitz / ReutersInmate Arnold Darby was one of the most prodigious bootmakers in the Texas prison system, resulting in more than 1,000 pairs for the police, agents of the FBI and the office of the Governor.HUNTSVILLE, Texas - agents would come from everything Texas Let's go a few kilometres from the boots made by inmate Arnold Darby.Darby, 64, soft-spoken, bespectacled and tattooed, was one of the most prodigious bootmakers in the Texas prison system, resulting more than 1,000 pairs of shoes tailored for police, agents of the FBI and the office of the Governor, said that prison officials.But freedom in putting an end to that.After 37 years behind bars, serving a sentence for robbery and murder, Darby went on probation in 2011.I was looking for highly skilled Shoemaker to open his own business in a State that loves its boots. But lack of money, he settled for the manufacture of boxes at a food processing plant.After a year abroad, Darby violated probation for driving intoxicated and was sent to prison.This time, however, it has not been in the new unit long enough to win what is considered a privileged position in a workshop, and the zapatero-alardeada jail not sure if ever will make boots again."I was working six or seven days a week, and I started to drink a little. That is what brought me back, "said Darby in an interview from the Goree prison unit in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston.The Texas Parole Board said in a statement sent by e-mail: "Mr. Darby was overturned on August 29, 2012, when he renounced his audience for DWI, failure to stop and render information and violation of the GPS monitor".Its next review of parole is in March 2015, and Darby does not expect to be in a Bank of bootmaking until then."Once was a model prisoner and made boots for everyone," said Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman from long ago by the Texas Department of Justice Criminal, who has since retired."You have to be to work in the workshop of handicraft - because they are surrounded by weapons of all kinds," he said.Fitzgerald has three pairs of boots of Darby.Darby went to prison in 1974 for aggravated robbery. It later received life imprisonment for killing two fellow prisoners in the gang violence. There was also an escape attempt on the road, where he was shot in the head."What more lament of all was getting in the game," said Darby.In prison for 14 years, Darby met Zapatero who taught him the trade. It started small, but soon discovered that it was made to be a shoemaker.The work had softened to Darby and turned out a lot of boots.Accomplished clients dating sizing of start-up of the unit on walls in Huntsville, the prison where Texas implemented the death penalty. They met Darby in a cell reserved for visits which was also near the House of death.Buyers had to sign a contract with the State for the use of prison labor, for which Texas received a cut and Darby a smaller cut. The money was paid into a fund because Darby was not allowed directly receive cash or speculator.However Darby was spending about $2,000 a year from the Fund to buy goods at the police station, burning money almost as fast as it came.Financial planning was not a priority for Darby, who was serving sentences and had already been rejected for parole 22 times.23 Time was the charm and Darby was put on probation - with background was mostly depleted, said.If Darby again, he plans to sit down with his ex-wife and enjoy life in a small town in Texas and perhaps do the pair of thigh high boots red inlaid butterfly has always wanted.After decades of estrangement, ex-wife of Darby saw a story about it in the True West magazine and contacted the man who was last seen in the 1970s.Their romance has been revived during probation and pledged to stay together when you leave again.Considering your age and your record Darby are not sure if you ever can get the funds to open a store. But you already have the sign - in cut-glass - made by one of fellow prisoners in a workshop."Manufacture of boots has made me happy," said Darby. "It was something that I could see and could be proud of."Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.