jon stewart a late night superstar directing his wit at politicians t media and pop culture. now he is taking on hollywood in a very different way. he ll tell us why as he joins us live wednesday, november 12, 2014. announcer: from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. welcome to today on a wednesday morning. nice to have jon stewart coming back after a while. it s been a while. that s right. he s been busy. he took a summer off. now we re going to find out what he was doing in his free time. it wasn t all that free. it wasn t. a directing debut. we ll get started with our top story. amazing feat attempted deep in space a sign tipss trying to land a spacecraft on a speeding comet. good morning. reporter: savannah, good morning. space is the place to think big. they are doing that here. this comet, 2.5 miles wide has taken almost a decade to reach and it is tense right now. t
wit at politicians, the immediate ra and pop culture. now he s taking on holiday in a very different way. he will tell us why, as he joins us live in our studio today, wednesday, november 12th, 2014. announcer: from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. welcome to today on a wednesday morning. nice to have jon stewart coming back to the studio after a while. it s been a while. we haven t seen him. that s right. and he has been busy. remember he took that time off from his show? he took a summer off? now we re going to find out exactly what he was doing in his free time. it wasn t all that free. no, it wasn t. a direct orrial debut for him in a moment. first, our top story, scientists are trying to land a spacecraft on a speeding comet. keir simmons has the latest on that. keir, good morning. savannah, good morning. this comet, 2.5 miles wide has taken almost a decade to
i m dara brown. breaking overnight, our st. louis affiliate ksdk is reporting the ferguson police department could release the name of the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old michael brown as soon as today. what a difference 24 hours makes. this was the scene last night in ferguson missouri. cars finally able to drive-thru the streets as demonstrators chanted and marched along side them and for the first time since protests began this weekend there s fewer police and no tear gas, barricades or tanks. throughout the country supporters held vigils and rallies in cities including portland, chicago, miami, and here in new york city. nbc s jay gray has the latest from ferguson for us. jay, good morning. hi, good morning, dara. maybe it was a hang in strategy and leadership by police on the ground, or maybe the pleas for an end to the violence from the governor and president yesterday. whatever the case, it was much different here overnight. reporter: for the first time this w
is nbc nightly news with brian williams. good evening. i m lester holt sitting in tonight for brian. there has been a flurry of headlines today stemming from the violence and unrest in ferguson, missouri. last night s jarring images of police clad in military gear and firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters on the streets of an american suburb as reverberated across this country including to the obamas vacation residence where the president called for peace and calm and lashed out at both violence against police and excessive force by police. this after a fourth night of violent protests stemming from a shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old man by a police officer. tonight, the town of ferguson is back on edge as officials hope a change of strategy will help cool things off. we have two reports tonight from ferguson starting with nbc s ron allen. reporter: good evening, lester. police are calling this town a powder keg. protesters are gathered again. you ca
shot 18-year-old michael brown as soon as today. what a difference 24 hours makes. this was the scene last night in ferguson. cars finally able to drive through the street as demonstrators chanted and marched alongside them. for the first time since protests began there are fewer police and no tear gas, barricades, or tanks. throughout the country supporters of the slain teen held vigils and rallies in cities including portland, chicago, miami, and new york city. jay grey is in ferguson for us now. good morning. reporter: good morning. maybe it was the change in strategy and leadership from police on the ground. maybe the calls for into the violence from the governor and president yesterday whatever the case, things were much different overnight. for the first time this week, ferguson was calm overnight. by no means quiet. hundreds prof testers spilled out into the streets. and police still stood guard. but this time it was a march. not the melee that played out before.