• Americans head north for affordable college degrees

     

    Rehema Ellis and Jeff Black, NBC News writes

    MONTREAL, Canada -- Eric Andreasen is a college student from Portland, Maine, who has his sights set on a career working for a lawmaker in the nation’s capital.

    But even though the political science major plans to go straight to Capitol Hill when he graduates this spring, he will have a degree from a Canadian college -- McGill University in Montreal.

    NBC News

    Eric Andreasen, 23, from Portland, Maine, is studying political science at McGill University in Montreal.

    Back when Andreasen, 23, was deciding where to go to college, he applied to a dozen U.S. schools. When it came time to choose, he narrowed it down to either George Washington in D.C. or McGill just north of the border.

    Leah Ott, 20, from Houston, Texas, is a physiology major at McGill University.

    McGill offered him a full undergraduate university education for what it would have cost for just one year at G.W.
    “When the financial packages came in, it was a no-brainer for me,” Andreasen said.

    Indeed, with strained family budgets and the soaring cost of tuition at American schools, the coveted university degree often comes with just too much debt for many students.

    About one in six people who owe money on their student loans is in default. Such a debt load is a harsh reality that is forcing a growing number of young people to look north to Canada for an education they can better afford.

    Six percent of McGill’s student body is American, and the ranks are growing. The number of U.S. students at Canadian colleges rose 50 percent in a decade, and now about 10,000 Americans attend Canadian colleges, according to the Institute for College Access & Success.

    That institute also says graduates from an American university can expect, on average, to carry more than $26,000 in debt. And about 9 percent of those grads default on student loans within two years.

    The largest cost of going to school in the United States is the tuition, which is astronomical compared to Canada. At schools such as the University of Chicago and New York University, the annual tuition tops $40,000, far above their Canadian counterparts, which benefit from a tradition of robust government support.

    According to each university, here is what it costs for a year of undergraduate tuition at a select group of U.S. and Canadian universities:
    • University of Chicago - $45,945
    • George Washington - $45,780
    • Stanford - $41,250
    • McMaster (Hamilton, Ontario) - $20,966
    • McGill - $14,561
    • University of Winnipeg - $11,115

    For Leah Ott, the financial differences were hard to ignore.

    Students on the campus of McGill University in Montreal.

    “There are three girls in our family and we’re all attending university now,” said Ott, 20, a physiology major from Houston who said she was impressed with the academic reputation of McGill. “Money is definitely a factor.”

    Not only are the costs of tuition lower, but American students can even use college savings plans, U.S. student loans and apply for scholarships at some schools in Canada.

    And according to the students, the application process is simpler, with Canadian universities typically putting less emphasis on essays, recommendations and interviews.

    Said Kathleen Massey, registrar at McGill, “It is the grades and the SAT scores, that combination is what we consider when we look at an applicant’s file.”

    A bachelor's degree from a Canadian university meets a global standard, said Paul Davidson, President of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

    “Undergraduate students that complete in Canada have tremendous access to the best graduate programs right around the world,” he said. “So, if you're a student that wants to pursue graduate studies, a Canadian degree will serve you very well, indeed…. They also are a passport to good jobs.”

    Which, along with the price, makes it all the easier for American students to head north.

    “I’m coming out with minimal debt,” said Andreasen. ”It brightens up the prospect of the future for me.”

  • Saving abandoned animals, one ride at a time

    The nonprofit Operation Roger is matching truck drivers with abandoned animals, transporting them to families that are willing to adopt. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

    By Erika Angulo, Producer, NBC News

    For former trucker Sue Wiese, obstacles don’t get in the way of her drive to save pets’ lives.  

    The 69-year-old Texas grandmother is the founder of Operation Roger, a group of volunteer truck drivers who transport animals from kill shelters and rescue groups to families willing to adopt them.  

    “We’re a ragtag group of pet lovers who want to help pets who already have a home to go to, give them some T.L.C., and a hitchhike to get there,” she said. 

    Now retired, Wiese started the nonprofit, named after her late Manchester Terrier, Roger, after listening to grim stories coming out of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in August 2005.  As she drove one night, Wiese said she prayed for guidance on how to help the pets stranded by the storm. 

    She says she remembered saying, “Lord, I am just a truck driver, is there anything I can do to help?”

    Then it came to her: transportation.

    At the advice of loved ones, Wiese called into Bill Mack’s XM Satellite talk show, a favorite with truckers, to ask for support to transport abandoned pets. 

    Courtesy of Toni Bowser

    Toni Bowser, one of the coordinators for Operation Roger, helped rescue several dogs from a crowded shed in Oklahoma.

    She described her idea on the air -- and although no one volunteered right away, by the end of the program her phone had voicemails from a dozen other truckers wanting to participate.

    Finding their 'forever family'

    Almost eight years later, Operation Roger has 50 truck drivers. Their two coordinators locate a driver who will be traveling near the pet’s destination, or they locate a series of truckers who can do a relay to move the rescued animal from one state to the other until finally arriving at the home of the adoptive family.

    “Dogs, cats, ferrets, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, anything a driver can put in the cab of their truck they will take,” said Wiese.

    Chihuahua owner and trucker Tony Hamilton said the drivers treat the dogs like they are family, carrying one animal at a time. 

    “We’re all pet lovers,” he said.

    Pekingese Shelby is the 692nd pet to “hitchhike” to his "forever family." He lived under a tin shed crowded with some other 30 dogs and at least two dozen cats in Buffalo, Okla., for years until the local sheriff stepped in and labeled it a hoarding situation.

    Courtesy: David Binz

    Washington State-based truck driver David Binz transported this rescue dog named Shelby to his new family in Alaska, a nine-day journey from Oklahoma.

    Rescue groups Furever Friends and W.O.O.F. Pet Rescue took in the pets. 

    “The feces and the urine were inches thick,” said Melba Shawn Evans of Furever Friends.   

    Alaska family adopts Shelby

    Then a family in Tok, Alaska spotted dog Shelby on a pet rescue website and decided to adopt him. Operation Roger coordinator Toni Bowser found Washington State-based driver David Binz who had been assigned to pick up goods in Texas bound for Alaska. 

    As a volunteer for the group, Binz has transported nine dogs and one cat since he joined Operation Roger.   

    “It's a good way that truck drivers in America can give back to society because we're not home a lot,” he said. “We can't do a lot of volunteer projects, but this is something that we can do.”

    For nine days Shelby rode with Binz and his own dog Izzy for 4,579 miles. Saturday they arrived in Tok, Alaska, where the Kern family anxiously awaited Shelby's arrival. Morgan, 11, and her twin sister Madison met the Pekingese with big smiles and hugs. 

    “I’m very excited,” Morgan said.

    NBC News

    The Kern family poses with their new dog, Shelby, who was rescued from Oklahoma.

    Shelby’s new dad said the family is proud of being able to provide a good home for the dog.

    “He was in a bad situation and it was just our duty to do something like that, to give him a good home,” said Todd Kern.

    Operation Roger drivers are not just transporting pets, said Bowser, they are also helping the animals heal from abuse and abandonment trauma. 

    “They’re being loved on during the ride, the drivers try to meet the pets’ needs” she said.  

    To this day, Wiese is surprised and impressed at how many people have joined her cause.

    “I feel in awe," she said. "It’s been a whirlwind." 

  • Search of Tsarnaevs' phones, computers finds no indication of accomplice, source says

    The two brothers accused of setting off bombs at the Boston Marathon are believed to have acted entirely on their own, using instructions for bomb making from an online magazine. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    Michael Isikoff, Pete Williams and Erin McClam, NBC News writes

    A preliminary examination of the cellphones and computers used by the Tsarnaev brothers has found no indication of an accomplice in the Boston Marathon bombing, according to a U.S. counter-terrorism source briefed on the FBI investigation.

    The source stressed that the investigation is ongoing, but bureau officials at this point appear increasingly confident that “nobody else was involved,” said the source.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told investigators he and his brother acted alone, learned to build the pressure-cooker bombs over the Internet and were motivated by a desire to defend Islam because of "the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said the source, who has received multiple briefings on the probe.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has also told investigators that he and his brother got instructions on building bombs from an online magazine published by al Qaeda, federal law enforcement officials told NBC News.


    He told investigators that the brothers read the instructions in Inspire, an online, English-language magazine that terror monitoring groups say al Qaeda began publishing in 2010.

    The magazine has twice included articles on building bombs with kitchen pressure cookers — the method investigators say Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, used in the Boston attack.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested Friday after a manhunt that shut down Boston and its suburbs. He was interrogated in a Boston hospital bed, where he is recovering from injuries sustained in shootouts during the hunt. His condition was upgraded Tuesday to fair from serious, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said.

    Federal authorities charged him Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction, which could carry the death penalty. State officials said they expected to charge him in the death of a campus patrol officer as part of the shootout that authorities say the brothers carried out early Friday, NBC affiliate WHDH reported.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators that he and Tamerlan, who was killed after the shootout with police in the Boston suburb of Watertown, were motivated by religious fervor but were not in touch with overseas terrorists or terror groups, officials said.

    Several officials familiar with the interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described his behavior as cooperative.

    A fireworks store in Seabrook, N.H., confirmed Tuesday that the older brother bought two large pyrotechnic kits there Feb. 6.

    Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought two “good-size” mortar kits, consisting of tubes and shells, and black powder, said William Weimer, vice president of the store, Phantom. He said Tsarnaev paid $199.99 under a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

    Weimer said he had Tsarnaev’s driver’s license on file, and said the FBI was at the store Friday or Saturday.

    From his hospital room, the younger brother, in what was officially his first court appearance, communicated mostly by shaking his head. He spoke once, when asked whether he could afford a lawyer. He said, “No.” He was assigned three federal public defenders.

    The White House said Monday that Tsarnaev will be tried in civilian court. Some Republicans have called for him to be treated as an enemy combatant, and tried in a military commission. 

    Tsarnaev, 19, is a naturalized American citizen of Chechen origin. White House press secretary Jay Carney said that American citizens cannot under law be tried in military commissions. He also noted that “hundreds of terrorists” have been convicted and imprisoned since Sept. 11, 2001, under the civilian court system.

    In the hospital, Tsarnaev was advised of his rights and charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in the U.S. and one count of malicious destruction of property with an explosive device.

    The suspect agreed to “voluntary detention” but declined to answer questions about bail, according to a court record. A probable cause hearing was set for May 30.

    The twin blasts near the marathon finish line killed three people and injured more than 170. On Tuesday, there were still 45 victims in Boston hospitals, one in critical condition. Boston Children’s Hospital said that a 7-year-old girl with leg injuries had been upgraded to serious condition from critical.

    Investigators want to speak with Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, who converted to Islam after she met her future husband at a nightclub. She dropped out of college, got married and had a baby three years ago.

    Her lawyer told The Associated Press that he was trying to work out an interview. He said his client worked up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tamerlan watched their daughter. He said she did not suspect he was plotting something.

    He said she last saw her husband at home on Thursday morning, hours before he and his younger brother allegedly executed the campus police officer, carjacked an SUV and led police on a wild bomb-tossing chase that ended in a 200-bullet gunbattle.

     

    Related:

    Officials: Bombing suspect says he and brother motivated by religion

    Slain MIT officer's family: Losing him is 'nightmare come true'

    Survivor: 'I want my Boston back'

    This story was originally published on Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:52 PM EDT

  • Officials: Hospitalized bombing suspect says he and brother acted alone, motivated by religion

    NBC's Pete Williams explains the preliminary charges filed against Boston bombing suspect Dahokhar Tsarnaev.

    Pete Williams, Michael Iskoff, Tom Winter and Tracy Connor, NBC News writes

    The hospitalized Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction has told investigators that he and his brother were motivated by religion but were not in contact with overseas terrorists or groups, officials said.

    Several officials familiar with the initial interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described his behavior during questioning as cooperative.

    A senior government official said Tsarnaev has told investigators —  by writing some answers down, and by nodding yes or shaking his head no to others — that he and his brother were not in touch with any overseas terrorists or groups.

    Tsarnaev, who has injuries to his tongue preventing him from speaking properly, also indicated that he and his brother conceived the bombing attack on their own, and were motivated by religious fervor. 

    They got their instructions on how to make bombs from the Internet, he said, according to these officials.

    Earlier on Monday, the White House said he will be tried in a civilian court.

    FBI Photo

    Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing.

    “He will not be treated as an enemy combatant. We will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

    “Under U.S. law, United States citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. And it is important to remember that since 9/11 we have used the federal court system to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists.”

    Tsarnaev, 19, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chechen origin, made his initial court appearance at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical  Center, where he was listed in serious condition.

    He was advised of his rights and charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in the U.S. and one count of malicious destruction of property with an explosive device.

    He was assigned three federal public defenders. The charges could carry the death penalty.

    The suspect agreed to "voluntary detention," but declined to answer questions about bail, according to a court record. A probable cause hearing was set for May 30.

    "Today's charges bring a successful end to a tragic week for the city of Boston and for our country," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

    "We will hold those who are responsible for these heinous acts accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

    A criminal complaint laid out some of the evidence against Tsarnaev, who was arrested Friday after a daylong manhunt, and his brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a firefight with police.

    A black jacket and white hat, matching the ones worn by "Suspect No. 2" in surveillance video, were found in the younger brother's dorm room, along with green strands of fuse like those used in the marathon explosives that killed three and wounded more than 170.

    The video also captured the suspect making a cellphone call seconds before the first bomb exploded on the east end of Boylston St. during last Monday's race, and his utter calm in the face of spreading panic, the complaint said. The footage showed him hurrying away from his knapsack just 10 seconds before a blast erupted where he left it.

    Tsarnaev was brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the head, neck, leg and hand. He had been communicating with investigators in writing because he couldn't speak, federal officials told NBC News. 

    The FBI has not officially revealed a motive for the attack last Monday that killed three people -- one of whom, Krystle Campbell, was laid to rest in Medford on Monday. Investigators are still probing whether the brothers received assistance from others, officials said.

    7 biggest unanswered questions in Boston bombing

    The feds have asked to speak with Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, who converted to Islam after she met her future husband at a nightclub. She dropped out of college, got married and had a baby three years ago.

    William Farrington / Polaris

    The FBI would like to speak to Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, seen here leaving the Cambridge house where she lived with husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev, her lawyer says.

    Her lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told The Associated Press he was trying to work out the details of an interview.

    His client, he said, worked up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tamerlan watched their daughter. He said she didn't have any suspicions he might be plotting something.

    He said she last saw her husband at home on Thursday morning, hours before he and his younger brother allegedly executed a campus police officer, pulled off the carjacking, and led police on a wild bomb-tossing chase that ended in a 200-bullet gun battle.

    The carjacking victim told police his abductor asked if he'd heard of the marathon bombing and then said "I did that." 

    The man, who has asked that his identity not be revealed, told NBC News that he managed to escape and called his captors “brutal and cautious.”

    The victim told police the two men said they "would not kill him because he wasn’t American," according to a police report obtained by NBC News.

    Boston's top police official said Monday that while there are many unanswered questions, the city can rest easy.

    "We're satisfied the two main actors, the people that were committing the damage out there, have been either captured or killed," Police Commissioner Ed Davis said on TODAY.

    "There is still an open question as to exactly what happened in this investigation," he said. "We can't say with 100 percent certainty...anything, actually, at this point."

    Among the mysteries Tsarnaev could solve is what his brother did when he traveled to Russia last year and who he met.

    Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Meet the Press” that trip could be when Tamerlan "got that final radicalization to push him to commit acts of violence and where he may have received training." 

    FBI, Homeland Security and counterterrorism officials on Tuesday will provide a classified briefing to members of Congress on the Boston Marathon bombings.

    Authorities are also trying to figure out where the suspects got their bomb-making supplies and guns. Cambridge Police said neither one had the necessary permits to carry firearms.

    Immigration officials have arrested two of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's friends on immigration violations, days after they were detained and questioned by police in New Bedford, Mass.

    In another development on Monday, the FBI turned the street where the bombings occurred – Boylston Street -- back over to the city of Boston, which will begin a cleanup and decontamination process before it is reopened to the public. A specific date has not been set.

    As part of a handover ceremony, the FBI presented Mayor Thomas Menino with an American flag that flew at half-staff over the Boston Marathon finish line.

    NBC News staff writer Jeff Black contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Classmates of bomb suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev suggest 'brainwashing' by brother

    Terrorists may leave 'digital breadcrumbs' for investigators

    Boston nurses tell of bloody aftermath

     

    This story was originally published on Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:18 AM EDT

  • 'He'd do it again': family of Dallas firefighter who died in Texas blast shares his story

    Courtesy the Harris family

    Capt. Kenny Luckey Harris, right, poses with his son, Jud Harris, who also became a firefighter.

    By Gabe Gutierrez, Nery Ynclan, and Christina Caron, NBC News

    WEST, TEXAS – In the small, close-knit town of West, if you slow down and pull over, the driver behind you will ask if you need help or directions.

    So it’s no surprise that when off-duty Dallas firefighter Capt. Kenny Luckey Harris found out smoke was rising from the West Fertilizer Co., he rushed over to help his hometown.

    "He was worried the volunteer guys wouldn't be safe on a chemical fire," said Ronnie Janek, a fellow Dallas firefighter, and close friend of Harris. "He said he had to help them stay safe."

    But Harris, 52, had only been at the West Fertilizer Co., for about five minutes when the plant exploded Wednesday, generating a blast so strong people felt their homes rock 90 miles away.

    Several blocks away, Harris’ wife, Holly Harris, felt the impact. “It was almost like more a pressure from the bottom up and the windows and the glass just blew, and then all the ceiling fell in on us and stuff was everywhere and you just start running,” she said. “That's the only thing you know to do.”

    She started calling her husband’s phone. It kept ringing. 

    “He's busy,” she thought. “He's helping people.”

    But as time went by, she said, “I knew that he would call me if he could.”

    The next day, she found out he had died. One firefighter friend stayed with his body all night until it was cleared to be removed from the horrific scene.

    In an exclusive interview with NBC News, the family and friends closest to Harris shared their grief, and the legacy of Kenny Harris, who went by his middle name, Luckey.

    “He was my best friend,” said Holly, 49, her voice strained as she held back tears. “We did everything together…We were at the time of our life now where our boys are grown and they're on their own. And we had so many plans and things we wanted to do. … We won't be able to do that now.”

    Of the 14 people who died in the West, Texas, explosion, five were firefighters and four were medics. Investigators have determined where the explosion occurred, but have not yet released any information about what triggered it.

    Dallas firefighter Capt. Kenny Luckey Harris, who lived in West, Texas, died in the fertilizer explosion that killed 13 others. His wife and their three sons share their story, and Harris' legacy in an exclusive interview with NBC News.

    Harris' son Jud also a firefighter

    Kenny Luckey Harris had fought fires for 31 years, and there was never a day when he didn’t want to go to work, Holly said.

    “He loved it. He loved the excitement, but he was very careful,” she recalled. “He took all the precautions to be safe and keep people safe.”

    His enthusiasm for the job was infectious, and inspired the oldest of his three sons, Jud Harris, 25, to become a Dallas firefighter too.

    “He taught me a lot about the fire department,” said Jud, who has been on the job for about four years. “He taught me a lot of stuff about working hard, you know, doing stuff for other people.”

    Now, Jud said, he’s going to try to live up to his father’s standard.

    “There's not a station that I walk into that when I meet 'em, they're not like, ‘Hey! Jud Harris, you Captain Harris' boy?’…. And they go on, and tell stories about what a great captain he is,” Jud said.  “He's just very well liked and loved up there.”

    ‘The best, toughest man I know’

     Luckey’s son, Jarrod Harris, 22, who found out about the blast while he was in New Mexico, jumped in his car and started driving to Texas, “praying the whole way home. … Honestly I thought that man was too strong to die, really. Because he's the best, toughest man I know.”

    When he found out his father didn’t make it out alive, he said, his heart sank.

    “It crushed me then, but now it just I dunno … it doesn’t seem real at all,” Jarrod said.

    On Saturday, outside the Harris’ immaculate West ranch that Luckey built himself, fellow firefighters who had driven two hours from Dallas helped mow the lawn Saturday, one small way they aimed to help Holly Harris and her three sons.

    Some of the firefighters were arguing over who was Kenny Luckey Harris’ best friend.

    He was best friends with all of us, said Janek.

    ‘He’d do it again’

     Kenny Luckey Harris was off-duty at the time of the fertilizer plant fire, but he went there hoping to save a life, his family said.

    “He just wants to help,” said Jarrod. “He'd do it again.”

    He was an inspiration to everyone around him, said family friend Mary Ellison.

    “Luckey made our husbands better husbands, fathers, friends and men in general,” she said.  

    Fun-loving and adventurous, his family said Luckey was always keeping busy – one of his favorite activities was going on fishing trips with his sons.

    “We had a fishing trip planned next weekend on his boat and I was excited, and I just couldn't wait til next weekend,” said the youngest son, Heath Harris, 20. “If I got a weekend off that's the first thing I thought to do was tell dad to get the fishing trip planned. … Being on his boat, being out on the ocean -- he just loved it.”

    Everything he knew about boating was self-taught, Holly said.

    “Even if he didn't know how to do it, he would find out how to do it. He would learn it, and just teach himself how to do what it was,” she said. “He was always the life of the party wherever we went. And he never met a stranger, he could talk to anybody.”

    Kenny Luckey Harris’ visitation and funeral will be held at St. Mary’s Assumption Church. The visitation is on Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the funeral is on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

    A memorial service for all who died in the blast is scheduled for Thursday, April 25 at 2 p.m. at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

    Following an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, police on Friday allowed some residents to return to the blast area. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.

    Related links:

  • Badly wounded Boston Marathon bombing suspect responding to questions

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is beginning to respond in writing to questions from federal interrogators, though plenty of questions still remain. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    Pete Williams, John Schoen and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News writes

    Despite a serious throat wound preventing him from speaking, the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect is beginning to respond to questions from investigators, federal officials tell NBC News.

    Nearly 48 hours after he was taken into custody following an intense gun battle and manhunt, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was communicating with a special team of federal investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. He was responding to questions mostly in writing because of the throat wound, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The suspect remains in serious condition. 

    The throat wound may be the result of a suicide attempt, investigators said.

    Officials are hoping to glean more information about the twin blasts Monday at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured more than 170,  and determine whether Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a firefight with police after a wild chase into the Boston suburb of Watertown on Thursday night, received assistance from others.

    Word that the wounded suspect is able to communicate with authorities came as a surprise, especially after details about the severity of his injuries began to emerge earlier in the day. 

    Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told an interviewer that “we don’t know if we’ll ever be able to question the individual."

    Law enforcement sources had said earlier they were putting the final touches on charges against Tsarnaev and would announce them Sunday. However, Justice Department officials said late in the day that charges would not be announced until Monday at the earliest. They did not give a reason for the delay.

    Authorities have told NBC News that a special high value detainee interrogation team will question Tsarnaev without advising him of his Miranda rights. A “public safety exemption” allows investigators to question a suspect without being informed of his right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning when it is thought that he or she might have vital information about a threat to public safety.

    Other details on the Tsarnaevs emerged Sunday.

    NBC News contacted the driver of an SUV who allegedly was carjacked by the brothers hours before the shootout. The driver, who asked that his identity not be revealed, said he escaped after the brothers drove his car to a gas station in Watertown. He described them as “brutal and cautious.” 

    Also on Sunday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said that surveillance video clearly puts Tsarnaev at the scene of the attack, acting suspiciously.

    Slideshow: Boston’s week : mayhem, manhunt … and a takedown

    John Tlumacki / Boston Globe / Getty Images Contributor

    Police officers with their guns drawn hear the second explosion down the street. The first explosion knocked down a runner at the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon.

    Launch slideshow

    "It does seem to be pretty clear that this suspect took the backpack off, put it down, did not react when the first explosion went off and then moved away from the backpack in time for the second explosion," Patrick said on “Meet the Press.” "It's pretty clear about his involvement and pretty chilling, frankly."

    Patrick noted that while he had not personally viewed the video recordings, he was briefed by law enforcement on their contents.

    More details about the Thursday night chase surfaced over the weekend.

    The brothers hurled a pressure-cooker bomb similar to the two that went off at the marathon during the firefight, Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau said on Saturday. The men were in two cars when confronted by a lone police officer, Deveau said, and later threw four grenade-like explosives at pursuing officers.

    Still, much remained unknown on Sunday about what might have driven the two suspects to violence. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said on “Meet the Press” that Tamerlan may have traveled under an alias when he took a trip to Russia in 2012.

    That trip may have been when Tamerlan, who the FBI identified as Suspect 1, “got that final radicalization to push him to commit acts of violence and where he may have received training,” said committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.

    Also, crime scene units returned to the scene of Monday’s twin explosions that brought an annual springtime rite to an end in screams and smoke. Debris and trash not far from the bomb site on Boylston Street were taken away in garbage trucks on Sunday after being sifted for evidence.

    Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Sunday he has not seen evidence to link the bombings to any militant or terrorist group, and declined to speculate on whether or not Tsarnaev could be sent to Guantanamo Bay.

    “We just don’t have the facts, and until we get the facts, then it will be the responsibility of law enforcement, DOJ, and other institutions to make some determination as to how that individual should be treated, detained, charged, and all that goes with it,” Hagel said. “But right now we just don’t know enough about it.”

    Investigators are taking a look at Tsarnaev’s behavior after he returned to the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth after the Monday bombings, Gov. Patrick said Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

    “There is evidence of some frankly kind of normal student behavior in those ensuing days, which when you consider the enormity of what he was responsible for certainly raises a lot of questions in my mind and as I say more to the point in the minds of law enforcement as well,” Patrick said. “Those are the kinds of leads that still have to be pursued and run to ground.”

    Classmates of suspected bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev suggest 'brainwashing' by older brother

    In Boston, the hunt for the suspected perpetrators gave way to a time to mourn a week after the attacks. A funeral for marathon victim Krystle Campbell, 29, a restaurant manager, is scheduled for Monday at St. Joseph Church in her home town of Medford, Mass.

    Menino and Patrick along with the central charitable One Fund Boston called for a minute of silence at 2:50 p.m. Monday to mark a week since the bombings. Bells will ring throughout the city and Massachusetts after the minute’s passage, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.

    One person injured in the marathon blast was released from the hospital on Sunday, though 52 are still receiving treatment in Boston hospitals, with three in critical condition.

    About 36,000 runners participated in the London Marathon on Sunday amid heightened security, many of them wearing black ribbons to commemorate the victims in Boston or carrying “For Boston” signs.

    NBC News’ Tom Winter, Michael Isikoff and Jeff Black contributed to this report.

    Related: 

    This story was originally published on Sun Apr 21, 2013 10:53 AM EDT

  • New Hampshire's all-female congressional delegation reflects on breaking new ground

    New Hampshire, a state known for its self-reliance and independence, is the first state in the nation to have an all-female delegation in Congress as well as a woman governor. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.

    By Kelly O'Donnell, Capitol Hill Correspondent, NBC News

    New Hampshire takes great pride in its “first in the nation” status when it comes to the presidential primary, and this year claimed another kind of political bragging right: the governor and the entire congressional delegation are women.  No other state has done that and many have yet to send even one woman to the Senate.

    Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is familiar with breaking new ground.  Shaheen, a Democrat, is the only woman to ever serve as both a state’s governor and senator.  In Congress, she is joined by Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, and House members Ann McLane Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter.

    When asked why she thinks New Hampshire was first, Shaheen said, “I think we've had a really great history in New Hampshire of having very accomplished women serve at all levels of government and so we've had that history and that's led the way that's allowed each of us to be in the positions that we're in.”

    Gender was not a campaign issue but the impact of this glass-ceiling breakthrough matters, said Ayotte.

    “The great thing about this is that future generations of young women in New Hampshire across the country look and say, 'You know what, they did that. I can do that.'"

    At a time when political dysfunction and Washington’s reputation for gridlock are easy targets, Rep. Ann McLane Kuster says women bring a particular kind of life experience to the table.

    "If you've raised teenagers and toddlers, you know how to get to yes," she said. "So I think we all have experience in our delegation."

    But as mothers, the work-life balance is not easy. Ayotte’s children are the youngest of the group at 5 and 8 years old and remain in New Hampshire with her husband and extended family while she spends work weeks in Washington.  Asked if she experiences “mom guilt” Ayotte quickly responded, “Absolutely.”

    For her it was a family decision. “I've been able to juggle it -- first of all, I have a great husband who's been supportive of me.”

    Shea-Porter and McLane Kuster, who won their seats last November, say many constituents at the time did not realize that history could be made with an all-female congressional delegation.  

    Shea-Porter says it’s in the state’s blood.

    "Being a primary state, politics is our state sport so people are acutely aware and involved, and I think that helps too," she said.

  • 'We got him!': Boston bombing suspect captured alive

    Residents who have been holed up in their homes, media and law enforcement officials who have been engaged in a day-long manhunt for the at-large suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing let out a cheers after it was confirmed that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been apprehended.

    Pete Williams, Richard Esposito, Michael Isikoff and Tracy Connor, NBC News writes

    The Boston Marathon bombing suspect was captured alive but wounded Friday night — after holing up in a boat in a suburban backyard following a bloody rampage that left a cop dead and a daylong manhunt that shut down the city.

    The arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and the earlier death of his brother during a firefight with cops, ended five days of terror sowed by the double bombing at the marathon finish line, which killed three people, wounded 176 and left the city of Boston on edge.

    "We got him," Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted.

    "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won," the Boston Police Department said on its Twitter account.

    Cops cheered as the suspect was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., just before 9 p.m. Later, the people of Watertown flooded the streets, cheering every passing police car and armored vehicle in an impromptu parade. Chants of "USA! USA!" broke out. In Boston, people danced in the streets outside Fenway Park.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, has been apprehended after a day-long manhunt in a Massachusetts neighborhood. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Police cornered Tsarnaev -- a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chechen origin -- around 7 p.m., less than an hour after police lifted a stay-indoors order for the city and its suburbs.

    A resident had gone outside to smoke and noticed a tarp on the boat was flapping, a relative told NBC News. When he went to investigate, he saw what looked like a curled-up person and bloody clothes.

    The man "freaked out," ran into the house and called police, the relative said.

    Thermal imaging from helicopters confirmed there was a person in the boat, officials said.

    Over the course of two hours, several bursts of gunfire could be heard. The police exchanged fire with Tsarnaev, threw flash-bang grenades designed to disorient him and brought a negotiator to the scene as night fell, officials said.

    Just before 9 p.m., the wounded Tsarnaev was taken into custody. "He sustained significant blood loss," a law enforcement official at the scene said.

    As an ambulance took the suspect to Boston Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital — where he was in serious condition — people lining the streets applauded in joy and relief.

    “We are so grateful to be here right now, so grateful to able to bring justice and closure to this case,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Alben said at a briefing. “We’re exhausted, folks, but we have a victory here.”

    President Barack Obama praised the outcomes but said many questions remained. Among them, he said: “Why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence?”

    Who is bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? Former classmate Dylan Whitaker and former neighbors Susan Musinsky and "Emily" described the person they once knew to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.

    Authorities are also not sure of a motive or whether the suspects had help. Even as the standoff took place in Watertown, the FBI was taking three people in for questioning in New Bedford, Mass., who were believed to be former roommates of Tsarnaev.

    "No one was detained. No one was arrested," a spokesman with the Massachusetts FBI office later said, once the two men and one woman questioned in connection with Tsarnaev were released.

    But the president declared: “Whatever hateful agenda drove these men to such heinous acts will not, cannot, prevail. Whatever they thought they could achieve, they’ve already failed.”

    Tsarnaev will be questioned by a federal team called the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which includes officials of the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department, an Obama administration official said.

    His apprehension capped a manhunt that had the city of Boston and its suburbs on total lockdown after the execution of a college campus patrol officer, a carjacking and the death of Tsarnaev's 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, during a 200-bullet confrontation with cops.

    The overnight violence had triggered an extraordinary shutdown of transportation, schools and businesses in Boston and its suburbs, with police warning more than a million people to hunker down behind locked doors while SWAT teams fanned out and bomb squads collected seven homemade explosive devices.

    The brothers' bloody last stand began about five hours after the FBI released surveillance photos of two "extremely dangerous" men suspected of planting two bombs near the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding 176.

    Read more: Who are the brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombing?

    Police are at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, haven't yet entered the building, suspecting it may be booby-trapped. NBC's Ron Allen reports.

    Tips about the identity of the suspects were still pouring in when the Tsarnaev brothers fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier, 26, in his vehicle at 10:20 p.m., law enforcement officials said.

    The brothers then carjacked a Mercedes SUV, holding the driver captive for a half-hour while they tried to use his cash card to get money from three ATM's, a source said. At the first, they put in the wrong number; at the second, they took out $800 and at the third, they were told they had exceeded the withdrawal limit, the source said.

    The carjacking victim was released unharmed at a gas station in Cambridge, sources said. He told police the brothers said they were the marathon bombers and had just killed a campus officer.

    As the duo sped in his car toward Watertown, a police chase ensued and they tossed explosive devices out the window, officials said.

    There was a long exchange of gunfire, according to Andrew Kitzenberg of Watertown, who took photos of the clash from his window and shared them via social media.

    “They were also utilizing bombs, which sounded and looked like grenades, while engaging in the gunfight,” he told NBC News in an interview. “They also had what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb.

    “I saw them light this bomb. They threw it towards the officers,” he said. “There was smoke that covered our entire street.”

    A transit officer, identified as Richard H. Donahue, 33, was seriously injured during the pursuit. Authorities said he underwent surgery at Mount Auburn Hospital.

    Kitzenberg said he saw the firefight end when Tamerlan Tsarnaev ran toward the officers and ultimately fell to the ground.

    Tamerlan -- the man in the black hat from FBI photos released six hours earlier -- had an improvised explosive device strapped to his chest, law enforcement officials said.


    Dzhokhar -- the brother who was wearing a white hat in the surveillance photos from the marathon -- got away when he drove the SUV through a line of police officers at the end of the street, Kitzenberg said.

    Law enforcement sources told NBC News that blood found at the scene suggested Dzhokhar may have been wounded in the gun battle.

    During the lockdown, subways and buses were shut down, Amtrak service to Boston was cut, and college campuses were closed. The Red Sox and Boston Bruins' home games were canceled.

    Watertown was the epicenter of the search. Frightened residents were trapped inside as convoys of heavily armed officers and troops arrived by the hour and snipers perched on rooftops and in backyards.

    When police finally gave residents the OK to venture outside, some cheered as they stepped outside, only to be swept back inside when shots rang out, and police converged on Tsarnaev's hideout.

    An administration official said Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights and could be questioned without them for up to 48 hours under a special legal exception used in cases where public safety is at stake.

    In a statement late Friday, The FBI said they interviewed Tamerlan in early 2011, following a tip from "a foreign government" that he was "a follower of radical Islam" and was preparing to leave the United States to join underground organizations.

    The FBI said its interview two years ago of Tsarnaev and his family, along with checks of travel records, Internet activity and personal associations, "did not find any terrorism activity" at the time.

    NBC News' Jonathan Dienst and Kasie Hunt contributed to this story.

    Slideshow: Search for suspects in Boston Marathon bombings

    Dominic Chavez / EPA

    A tense night of police activity that left a university officer dead on campus just days after the Boston Marathon bombings and amid a hunt for two suspects caused officers to converge on a neighborhood outside Boston, where residents heard gunfire and explosions.

    Launch slideshow

    Related:

    Who are the brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombing? 

     Chechen insurgents deny any link to marathon bombing

    What we know: Timeline of terror hunt

    ‘Dedicated officer’ gunned down by Boston Marathon suspects at MIT

    Slideshow: Bombings at Boston Marathon

    Boston bombing spurs Senate debate on tighter immigration screening 

    Tweeting police chatter creates confusion over Boston suspect

    Missing student's family staggered by false accusation

    This story was originally published on Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:35 AM EDT

  • Texas explosion tragedy: How to help

    Mike Stone / Reuters

    Ronald Tanner of Jonesboro, Texas carries supplies to be delivered to residents of West displaced by the massive explosion of a fertilizer plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas April 18, 2013. Rescuers worked in cold rain on Thursday to find survivors amid the rubble of houses destroyed in a fiery explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant filled with hazardous chemical tanks.

    By Devin Coldewey, Contributing Writer, NBCNews.com

    Charity and medical organizations have been mobilizing since Wednesday night when the massive explosion of a West, Texas fertilizer facility that killed as many as 15 people and injured at least 150 more.

    While rescuers and emergency workers pick through the rubble of homes and buildings destroyed by the blast, aid organizations like the American Red Cross and Salvation Army have been providing food and shelter to the displaced and injured.

    In addition to the cost of medical care and emergency services, the recovery and rebuilding of the area surrounding the plant will take both time and money. If you would like to contribute, here are some organizations that are working to help survivors and to rebuild:

    American Red Cross of Central Texas
    The Red Cross is providing water and other immediate needs to survivors. There's a Web page here with some numbers and addresses for further information on the organization's work relating to the West explosion, as well as how to donate. You can donate to the Red Cross's efforts in general by texting REDCROSS to 90999, or visit the website to see how you can provide more localized help.

    The Salvation Army
    The Salvation Army     mobilized five emergency mobile kitchens to the Texas area to help provide displaced residents with food. The group is also distributing warm clothes and blankets to people whose homes have been destroyed. You can donate directly to the Salvation Army's efforts using this online form.

    The Blood Center of Central Texas
    With so many injured, blood will be in high demand at hospitals and emergency stations. The Blood Center helps organize blood drives. You can join one of those efforts, or support the center by donating money via a link at its donation page. The demand for blood will continue to be high over the next several weeks, so also consider making an appointment to give later in the month.

    Catholic Charities, Central Texas
    This Catholic aid organization works with the Red Cross and handles more long-term case management. Monetary donations can be made here, and the organization asks that items be donated to the local St Vincent de Paul centers.

    Scott & White Healthcare
    The non-profit health care organization, also the principal clinical research and education campus for The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, is handling the treatment of more than two dozen of the residents injured by the explosion. Scott & White is also organizing blood drives over the next week.

    West Independent School District
    West's schools and other critical community infrastructure will likely be stressed by lack of resources over the months to come. You can donate directly to the district by filling out and mailing, or faxing in, this form (PDF).

    Limbs for Life Foundation
    Explosions like this one often result in serious limb trauma, leading to expensive rehabilitation and prosthetics. Limbs For Life helps people who need prosthetic care but can't afford it.

  • FBI releases new photos of suspects in Boston Marathon bombing

    FBI.gov

    The FBI released this image of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing case early on Friday.

    Pete Williams, Erin McClam and Tracy Connor, NBC News writes

    The FBI released new photos of two "armed and extremely dangerous" suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing early Friday.

    The pair — who were armed with explosives and guns — battled authorities in a Boston suburb until cops took one of the men into custody, and the other fled, sources said. Officials later said the the suspect taken into custody died.

    The suspect seen wearing the white baseball cap in the photos was still on the run, according to officials.

    Earlier, Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers asked for tips, adding: "Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members,"

    "Though it may be difficult, the nation is counting on those with information to come forward and provide it to us.

    "We consider them to be armed and extremely dangerous," DesLauriers added. "No one should approach them...If you see these men, contact law enforcement."

    The FBI is asking the public's help to identify two suspects: one wearing a dark hat, and another wearing a white hat, who were both spotted carrying black backpacks near the scene of the bombing. One was observed setting down a backpack at the site of the second blast. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    The images showed two men in baseball caps and dark jackets who were seen walking together through the crowd at Monday's iconic race. New headshots were released by the FBI at 2 a.m. ET on Friday.

    Law enforcement sources tell NBC News that unreleased portions of the surveillance video show the suspect in the white hat working his way out of the crowd, then raising his arm to apparently lift the backpack off his shoulder, but the view is obstructed by others. He sets the backpack down, working his way out of the crowd, then pausing briefly just before the first bomb explodes. 

    He then calmly begins to work his way away from the second device, sources said. Seconds later, the second bomb explodes, and a terrible scene of carnage is apparent.

    Seconds after that explosion, a photograph now in hands of the FBI appears to show the suspect in the white hat moving away amid the smoke rising midway down the block behind him.

    Two sources said they are looking for repeat names amid the flood of calls to the investigators’ tip line to give them leads on who the suspects are.

    FBI.gov

    This image, which was released by the FBI early Friday, shows two Boston Marathon bombing suspects together.

    The man in the dark cap with a black backpack is being called Suspect No. 1. The other man, Suspect No. 2, is wearing a white cap backward and carrying a lighter-colored backpack.

    The public was asked to call a hotline, 1-800-CALL-FBI, with tips or visit the bureau's website, bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov.

    "No bit of information, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, is too small for us to see," DesLauriers said. "Each piece moves us forward toward justice."

    Following the release of the photos, people had already started calling in names.

    Investigators zeroed in on one of the men within the last day or so, he said. By examining photos and videos of the marathon crowd, they were able to identify a second suspect.

    FBI

    These are among the photos of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing released by the FBI.

    "They appear to be associated," he said.

    Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick echoed the FBI's call for the public to help. "Pass along to law enforcement any information about the suspects that you may have," he said.

    The FBI released no other information about the probe, including the motive for the bombing, which killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and wounded 176.

    Investigators are casting a wide net for clues. The FBI was canvassing hobby stores in the Boston area to determine whether electrical components in the bombs were bought there, NBC News learned.

    Forensic work from the blast zone has helped authorities identify major components of the bombs.

    They were housed in metal containers — at least one an everyday kitchen pressure cooker — and studded with metal, including fine nails or brads, to make the devices more lethal. A battery pack typically used on toy cars and a circuit board were also recovered.

    FBI

    The FBI is looking for these two men, identified as suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.

    But the videos are the biggest break in the case yet. They were unveiled hours after President Obama attended an interfaith prayer service to reassure both the injured and the city.

    “You will run again,” he declared at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, less than a mile from the finish line. “Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed this heinous act.”

    As of Thursday morning, 56 patients were still being treated in hospitals. That was down from 65 on Wednesday.

    “In general, people are getting better, and we are happy with their progress,” Dr. Peter Burke, chief of trauma at Boston Medical Center, told reporters early Thursday.

    The three people killed in the attack were Lingzi Lu, a Boston University graduate student; 8-year-old Martin Richard of Boston; and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell of Medford, a Boston suburb.

    A trauma surgeon said that doctors have pulled fragments as large as 2 inches, including pieces of wood, concrete and plastic, from the bodies of the injured, in addition to metal shrapnel from the bombs.

    NBC News’ John Bailey, Richard Esposito and Michael Isikoff contributed to this report.

    NBC's Brian Williams and Pete Williams report on the FBI's release of images of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.

    Related:

    This story was originally published on Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:50 PM EDT

  • Bush-era torture use 'indisputable,' Guantanamo must close, task force finds

    An independent task force is asking President Obama to close the Guantanamo detention camp in a 577-page report critiquing interrogation methods used since 9/11 under President George W. Bush. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Matt Spetalnick and Jane Sutton, Reuters writes

    An independent task force issued a damning review of Bush-era interrogation practices on Tuesday, saying the highest U.S. officials bore ultimate responsibility for the "indisputable" use of torture, and it urged President Barack Obama to close the Guantanamo detention camp by the end of 2014.

    In one of the most comprehensive studies of U.S. treatment of terrorism suspects, the panel concluded that never before had there been "the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody."

    "It is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture," the 11-member task force, assembled by the nonpartisan Constitution Project think tank, said in their 577-page report.

    The scathing critique of methods used under the Republican administration of former President George W. Bush also sharpened the focus on the plight of inmates at Guantanamo, which Bush opened and his Democratic successor has failed to close.

    Obama banned abusive interrogation techniques such as waterboarding when he took office in early 2009, but the widely condemned military prison at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba has remained an object of condemnation by human rights advocates.

    A clash between guards and prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay camp last weekend and the release of harrowing accounts by inmates about force-feeding of hunger strikers threw a harsh spotlight on the predicament of the inmates, many held without charge or trial for more than decade.

    The task force called the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo "abhorrent and intolerable" and called for it to be closed by the end of 2014 when NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan is due to end and most U.S. troops will leave.

    By then, the 166 Guantanamo prisoners should be tried in civilian or military courts, repatriated or transferred to countries that would not torture them, or moved to U.S. jails, the task force's majority recommended.

    But the 2014 goal will be hard to achieve because of legal, legislative and political obstacles Obama faces. While the White House says he remains committed to shutting Guantanamo, he has offered no new path to doing so in his second term.

    The release of the encyclopedic report comes in the midst of the latest round of allegations of abuse at Guantanamo - which has become an enduring symbol of widely criticized Bush-era counterterrorism practices - where military officials say 43 prisoners are currently on a hunger strike.

    "TRUTH COMMISSION"

    Members of the task force described themselves as the closest thing to a "truth commission" since Obama decided early in his presidency against convening a national commission to investigate post-9/11 practices.

    The panel, which included leading politicians from both parties, two U.S. retired generals and legal and ethics scholars, spent two years examining the U.S. treatment of suspected militants detained after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

    Panel members interviewed former Clinton, Bush and Obama administration officials, military officers and former prisoners, and the investigation looked at U.S. practices at Guantanamo, in Afghanistan and Iraq and at the CIA's former secret prisons overseas.

    The task force was chaired by Asa Hutchinson, a Republican former congressman and undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security during the George W. Bush administration, and James Jones, a Democratic former congressman who served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

    In a finding the panel said was its most notable and was reached "without reservation," the report said, "Torture occurred in many instances and across a wide range of theaters."

    But the panel concluded there was "no firm or persuasive evidence" that the use of such techniques yielded "significant information of value."

    "The nation's highest officials bear some responsibility for allowing and contributing to the spread of torture," the report said, though it did not name names.

    The task force, while concluding that U.S. and international laws were violated, did not recommend legal action against any of those involved but it did press for tighter rules to prevent a recurrence of torture.

    "We as a nation have to get this right," Hutchinson told a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

    The panel urged the U.S. government to release as much classified information as possible to help understand what went wrong and cope better with the next crisis.

    "Publicly acknowledging this grave error, however belatedly, may mitigate some of those consequences and help undo some of the damage to our reputation at home and abroad," the report said.

    The sweeping report cataloged abusive interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation and chaining prisoners in painful positions.

    The task force also concluded that force-feeding hunger striking detainees is a form of abuse and should end. "But at the same time the United States has a legitimate interest in preventing detainees from starving to death," the panel said.

    The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross last week expressed opposition to the force-feeding of prisoners and said he urged Obama to do more to resolve the "untenable" legal plight of inmates held there.

    The hunger strike began in February to protest the seizure of personal items from detainees' cells. About a dozen are being force-fed liquid meals through tubes.

    Guards swept through communal cell blocks at the camp on Saturday and moved the prisoners into one-man cells.

    "The action was taken to ensure the health and safety of the detainees not to 'break' the hunger strike," said Navy Captain Robert Durand, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention center.

    Related:

  • Boston bombing aftermath: How you can help

    The gentle golden retrievers are lending a "helping paw," visiting the injured victims of the Boston Marathon bombings to offer companionship, comfort and compassion.  NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.

    By Suzanne Choney, Contributing Writer, NBCNews.com

    Since Monday, both traditional and new organizations have offered help and support to those hurt physically and emotionally by the deadly blasts at the Boston Marathon.

    The American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts says it's served 5,000 meals and snacks. A new group, The One Fund, announced by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino, has been set up to get money to the families of those killed and most severely wounded.

    Three people died in the explosions: 8-year-old Martin Richard, and Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, both of Massachusetts; and Lingzi Lu, a Boston University graduate student from China, and 176 were injured.

    As reported by NBC News Wednesday, the total medical cost to help those requiring rehabilitation, additional surgeries and treatment to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder may reach or surpass $9 million.

    You can help. Here's how:

    The American Red Cross, Eastern Massachusetts
    Since Monday, the Red Cross has "provided about 500 units of blood and blood products to hospitals in the Boston area," the organization says on its website. "Blood supplies are currently sufficient to meet patient needs and people who want to give blood are strongly encouraged to schedule a donation appointment in the days and weeks ahead."

    The One Fund Boston
    The fund will act as a central repository to "receive much needed financial support," Gov. Patrick said Tuesday in a statement. "At moments like this, we are one state, one city and one people."

    Within an hour of the explosions, Mayor Menino said in a statement he had calls from business leaders and philanthropists "who, like me, were heartbroken by the impact this hideous tragedy" had on individuals and families, and wanted to do something about it.

    As of Wednesday, officials said, more than $7 million has been pledged to The One Fund by corporate partners and individuals. Individuals have contributed more than $500,000 so far.

    The John Hancock company has pledged $1 million, and there are other commitments for contributions from the Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox and Bain Capital.

    On April 20, AT&T said customers who want to support One Fund can text the word BOSTON to 80108 to donate $10. The donation will be reflected on customers' monthly AT&T bill.

    The Amputee Coalition
    Members from this national organization are working with Boston hospitals that are treating patients. The coalition works regularly to raise awareness about amputees, create peer mentorship programs and has a summer program for children with limb differences. To learn more, visit the coalition's main website here.

    Challenged Athletes Foundation
    This foundation is also working with those injured Monday. The group says its mission is to help those with physical disabilities pursue "active lifestyles," and provide funding for adaptive equipment, hold clinics to build confidence and sponsor mentorship programs.

    Limbs for Life Foundation
    The Oklahoma City-based group provides prosthetic care for those who otherwise can't afford it.

    And a note of caution ...
    If you are looking to donate money, heed what Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Wednesday: Watch out for scammers. Potential donors, she said, need to "protect themselves from fundraising scams claiming to benefit those affected by this week's tragedy." You can read more here.

    The Federal Trade Commission also issued some guidance about donations. You can find more information here and additional guidance here.

    Additional reporting by Courtney Hazlett and Melissa Dahl 

    Related:

     

    This story was originally published on Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:44 PM EDT

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