From nbc news World Headquarters in new york this is nbc nightly news. Reporting tonight, lester holt. Good evening. We begin with breaking news. The federal indictment announced of a man who was once one of most powerful politicians in this country. Former speaker of the house Dennis Hastert charged in connection with a scheme to pay more than 3 million of apparent hush money to someone and then lying to the fbi about the cash. The burning questions who is he paying and why . Our justice correspondent Pete Williams has late details. Reporter the charges are a bolt from the blue involving Dennis Hastert, a public official for more than 25 years an house speaker, the long serving republican in the house. The chair reporter since 2008 hes been a lobbyist here in washington. But prosecutors say for the past four years he has paid 1. 7 million in apparent hush money. Court payments say the payments went to someone identified only as individual a from illinois. The papers say he agreed to p
it is wednesday, september 19, 2012. this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. good morning. welcome to today on wednesday morning. i am matt lauer. i am savannah guthrie. i go to bed at 8:00 p.m., huge storms in new york city. you didn t hear the storms? i didn t hear a thing. there were intense downpours. damage stretches up and down the east coast. in georgia, conditions so bad a corporate jet hydroplaned and crashed after landing on a rain soaked runway. al has more on the storms straight ahead. and new concerns over the safety of rice products, including baby cereal. do they have dangerous levels of arsenic? we will reveal testing from consumer reports and the fda that some experts call troubling. and a little later on, how is giuliana rancic adjusting to life as a mom following her long and trying journey to parent hood. she will be here since the arrival. let us begin with politics and fallout f
kplanltsz from mitt romney and his insistence the president back off his attacks on bain. despite a driving rain outside richmond, supporters turned out to hear a drenched president obama renew his attack on bain capitol. he invested in companies that have been called pioneers of outsourcing. i don t want a pioneer in outsourcing, i want insourcing. i want to bring companies back. this less than 24 hours after romney condemned the attacks and called for an apology from the president. the president s campaign has been outrageous in making the kind of charges they have. i think the kinds of attacks are beneath the dignity of the presidency. reporter: but today, no let up. the obama campaign upped the stakes attacking romney in a new ad. oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain romney did not campaign in public today. spending time at his lakeside home in new hampshire. rahm emanuel romney says he has no control of those and he said he refused to
beverly hills hotel room. how she died remains a mystery the latest in minute. s. hundreds and thousands of fans paying tribute. we ll bring you some of their moving thoughts. and the young whitney houston, we re going to take you back to where it all began. the story of how she reached superstardom starting in a new jersey church. good morning everyone. welcome to weekends with alex witt. it s a somer 10:00 a.m. here in the east, 7:00 a.m. out west. the death of legendary singer whitney houston. she possessed one of the most awe-inspiring voices. in her short 48 years, she saw troubled times also. her sudden and sad passing remains a mystery today. here is new individual yes from this morning. the l.a. county coroner leaving the beverly hilton with the body of whitney houston. she was discovered saturday in the late afternoon west coast time. nbc s kristen dahlgren is live with the latest. good morning, kristen. reporter: good morning, alex. houston s death came on the e
beverly hills hotel room. how she died remains a mystery the latest in minute. s. hundreds and thousands of fans paying tribute. we ll bring you some of their moving thoughts. and the young whitney houston, we re going to take you back to where it all began. the story of how she reached superstardom starting in a new jersey church. good morning everyone. welcome to weekends with alex witt. it s a somer 10:00 a.m. here in the east, 7:00 a.m. out west. the death of legendary singer whitney houston. she possessed one of the most awe-inspiring voices. in her short 48 years, she saw troubled times also. her sudden and sad passing remains a mystery today. here is new individual yes from this morning. the l.a. county coroner leaving the beverly hilton with the body of whitney houston. she was discovered saturday in the late afternoon west coast time. nbc s kristen dahlgren is live with the latest. good morning, kristen. reporter: good morning, alex. houston s death came on the e