Lawyer: Morsy willing to amend decree

NEW: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy willing to change constitutional decree, an attorney says NEW: Constitutional declaration will be issued in the coming hours, state news reports Islamic Alliance rejects any postponement in December 15 constitutional referendum An opposition leader has called for a boycott of the talks Read a version of this story in Arabic. Cairo (CNN) -- Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy is pushing forward with talks Saturday in an attempt to end a political crisis that threatens Egypt's stability, despite calls by the opposition to boycott the meeting. Morsy's call for talks is an attempt to end a political divide that has spilled into the streets, pitting the president's supporters and opponents against one another and raising questions about his ability to lead the fragile democracy. Egyptian authorities said at least six people were killed in violent clashes in recent days, while the Muslim Brotherhood -- the group that backs Morsy -- has said eight of its members have been killed. The crisis erupted in late November when Morsy issued an edict allowing himself to run the country unchecked until a new constitution is drafted, a move that sat uncomfortably with many Egyptians who said it reminded them of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak's rule. Morsy said the powers are necessary and temporary until a new constitution is adopted. But that promise has done little to quiet the opposition. On Saturday, the president said he would be willing to "change and amend clauses" in the controversial constitutional decree, according to Egyptian attorney Montasser el-Zayatm, who attended a meeting with Morsy at the presidential palace. A follow-up meeting was scheduled to hammer out the details, said el-Zayatm. Also Saturday, state-run Nile TV reported that Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said it is likely a constitutional declaration will be issued in the coming hours. Anger at Morsy's move led to protesters reoccupying Tahrir Square, the scene of the Arab Spring uprising that saw Mubarak ousted in 2011. Thousands later protested outside the palace, where the opposition clashed with the Muslim Brotherhood. The anger only grew when the Islamist-dominated Constitutional Assembly pushed through a draft despite the objections of the secular opposition, including some members who walked out in protest. Morsy said a constitutional referendum will be held on December 15. Following the announcement, tens of thousands of protesters -- for and against Morsy -- took to the streets. A coalition of Egyptian Islamic parties, including the Brotherhood, rejects any postponement in the constitutional referendum, the Islamic Forces Alliance announced Saturday on the Brotherhood website. The deputy head of Muslim Brotherhood, Khairet El-Shatir, also read the Alliance's statement in a press conference. The Alliance won't allow under any circumstance the return of the corrupt Mubarak regime. El-Shatir said. The Alliance includes 13 parties such as the Al-Nour party and the Salafist front. The statement also warned against manipulating the will of the people by forcefully overtaking the state. "We assure the Egyptian people that the Alliance of the Islamic Forces is very keen to preserve the security of the homeland, stopping the bloodshed," El-Shatir said. Egypt's military leaders, who took control of the country after Mubarak's ouster, were keeping a wary eye on the developments, according to a statement released by the Egyptian armed forces and read on state-media. "The armed forces are watching with sadness and worries the current developments in the country, with its consequences and how it led to divisions," the statement said, according to state media. "We stress that dialogue is the ideal and only solution to reach an agreement that realizes the interests of the nation and its citizens. Anything other than that will lead us into a dark tunnel with catastrophic consequences, which we will never allow to happen." Adel Saeed, a spokesman for Egypt's newly appointed general prosecutor, said Friday morning that opposition figures Hamdeen Sabahy, Mohamed El Baradei and Amr Moussa are being investigated for allegedly "conspiring to topple" the government. All three are well-known internationally; ElBaradei being a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Moussa a onetime head of the Arab League, and Sabahy is an Egyptian political figure. They are now being probed for their role in the opposition against Morsy. ElBaradei said on Twitter: "I call upon all the national forces and figures not to participate in a dialogue that lacks all the basics of a truthful discourse. We support a dialogue that is not based on the policy of arm-twisting and forcing the status quo." During an interview with Al-Arabiya, an Arabic news network, ElBaradei called on Morsy to postpone the referendum vote and to "rescind the constitutional declaration." He added that "only then will the opposition engage in dialogue." Those taking part in the protests around the North African nation say the scenes are similar to those of the 2011 uprising that led to Mubarak's ouster. This time, they say, dissent is being vigorously stamped out by Morsy's backers in government and on the street. Specifically, they spoke of thugs with knives and rocks chasing activists, presidential backers belittling opponents and pressure from various quarters to go home and be quiet. "It's exactly the same battle," said Hasan Amin, a CNN iReporter. Reza Sayah reported from Cairo and Amir Ahmed from Atlanta. CNN's Chelsea J. Carter, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, Yousuf Basil and Michael Martinez also contributed to this report.

7-year-old fatally shot outside gun store in Pa.

By Isolde Raftery, NBC News Updated at 5:50 p.m. ET: A 7-year-old boy was fatally shot by his father outside a gun shop in western Pennsylvania, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report. Joseph Loughrey, the father, had gone in to Twig's Reloading Den in East Lackawannock Township some time before 11 a.m. to try to sell a 9 mm Taurus handgun and a scope rifle, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Store managers weren't interested. Loughrey, 44, and his son, Craig Loughrey, returned to the truck, where Loughrey secured his son in a booster seat on the passenger side. He then placed the long gun in the bed of the truck.  As he got into the truck, he reached to place the handgun into a glove box storage unit, police told the Tribune-Review. That's when it fired. Authorities were called at 10:53 a.m. local time and found the boy lying next to the truck after a failed attempt at resuscitation. They stayed on scene until after 1 p.m., dispatchers said. "All evidence at this point would suggest that this incident is accidental," the Pennsylvania State Police report stated.  According to the Tribune-Review, Loughrey didn't realize that a round remained in the gun's chamber. "This happens all too often where people think the gun was empty," State Police Lt. Eric Hermick.  Twig's Reloading Den is an outdoor supply store about 70 miles from Pittsburgh. Imy Howard, owner of Howard & Son Meat Packing store next door, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that her son heard a shot this morning. She said that Twig's Reloading Den hosted target shooting in the back parking lot last week but not this week.   A Twig's employee told the Post-Gazette that the incident was "just an unfortunate accident."  More content from NBCNews.com: Breezy Point residents meet for first time since Sandy destruction US Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage issue Advocates on both sides hope for Supreme Court clarity on same-sex marriage Video: Mayor trying to live on food stamps provides progress report Parents plead for release of former Marine held in Mexico Video: Forensic artist helps solve 12,000 cases Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

7-year-old fatally shot outside gun store in Pa.

By Isolde Raftery, NBC News A 7-year-old boy was fatally shot in the chest Saturday outside a gun shop in western Pennsylvania, according to Mercer County dispatchers. The boy's father had gone in to Twig's Reloading Den in East Lackawannock Township some time before 11 a.m. to sell a .9 mm gun, according to KDKA-TV Pittsburgh. The father said that as he was backing his pickup truck out of the parking spot, a gun went off, shooting his son in the chest. The boy was seated in a booster seat on the passenger side. Authorities were called at 10:53 a.m. local time and found the boy lying next to the truck after a failed attempt at resuscitation. They stayed on scene until after 1 p.m., dispatchers said. Twig's Reloading Den is an outdoor supply store about 70 miles from Pittsburgh. Imy Howard, owner of Howard & Son Meat Packing store next door, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that her son heard a shot this morning. She said that Twig's Reloading Den hosted target shooting in the back parking lot last week but not this week.   A Twig's employee told the Post-Gazette that the incident was "just an unfortunate accident."  More content from NBCNews.com: Breezy Point residents meet for first time since Sandy destruction US Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage issue Advocates on both sides hope for Supreme Court clarity on same-sex marriage Video: Mayor trying to live on food stamps provides progress report Parents plead for release of former Marine held in Mexico Video: Forensic artist helps solve 12,000 cases Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Karzai: Pakistan behind hit on spy chief

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says suicide bombing targeting spy chief was planned in Quetta The attack occurred in one of the intelligence agency guesthouses in Kabul It seriously injured National Directorate of Security Asadullah Khalid The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Thursday bombing Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautioned Karzai against assigning blame (CNN) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that a suicide bombing targeting the country's spy chief was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and that he expects to raise the issue with Pakistani authorities. The attack occurred Thursday in one of the intelligence agency's guesthouses in Kabul, seriously injuring National Directorate of Security Asadullah Khalid -- who is expected to recover -- while leaving others wounded or dead, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Karzai says he believes otherwise. "The reality is that such a complicated attack and a bomb that was hidden inside his body, this is not the work of the Taliban," he told reporters. "It's a completely professional and thoroughly engineered type of attack. The Taliban are not capable of that, and therefore there are bigger and professional hands involved in this. "We will be seeking a lot of clarifications from Pakistan," Karzai said, though he avoided blaming Pakistan directly and pledged that it would not derail the peace process. Cross border raids from Pakistan into Afghanistan and accusations that Pakistani intelligence support Afghan insurgents have long fueled discontent between the two nations. But Pakistan is also considered a key regional power broker needed to settle the more than decade-long Afghan conflict, particularly as NATO's 2014 withdrawal nears. While it remains unclear how the bomber smuggled the explosive device into what is expected to be a high-security location, Thursday's strike highlights looming safety concerns and the difficulty of marrying them with the rigors of religious and cultural guidelines in a country where modesty is often a prime concern. Last year, the mayor of the restive southern city of Kandahar -- considered the Taliban birthplace -- was killed during a city hall meeting when explosives detonated inside the turban of his attacker. On Saturday, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautioned Karzai against the suggestion of Pakistani culpability in Thursday's attack while raising questions about security lapses. "Before leveling charges the Afghan government would do well if they shared information or evidence with the government of Pakistan that they might have with regard to the cowardly attack on the head of NDS," the ministry said in a statement. "They would also do well by ordering an investigation into any lapses in the security arrangements around the NDS chief." The Ministry added that "Pakistan is ready to assist any investigation of this criminal act." But the attack has since raised questions about top Afghan officials' vulnerability to assassination attempts and the effect they could have on broader peace negotiations. Known as a staunch Karzai loyalist and practiced anti-Taliban fighter, Khalid was tapped as Afghanistan's intelligence chief in September. He drew attention in Kabul and across the region for his experience and at times heavy-handed tactics, particularly in the country's volatile south, serving as Kandahar's governor in 2005 and later as minister of tribal and border affairs where he oversaw southern security forces. Considered an ambitious man despite dropping out of Kabul University, Khalid joined famed Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the "Lion of Panjshir," before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Largely viewed as a well-connected senior official critical to the president's inner circle, Thursday's attack against Khalid drew comparisons to last year's assassination of Berhanuddin Rabbani, an Afghan leader spearheading the reconciliation process with the Taliban. Rabbani, a former Afghan president and chairman of the High Peace Council, was killed in a suicide attack at his home on September 20, 2011. "The attack against (Rabbani) was formulated in Quetta, and now the attack on Asadullah Khan Khalid has also been organized in Pakistan," Karzai said Saturday. Quetta is the provincial capital of Baluchistan, a volatile Pakistani province that borders Afghanistan, where a Taliban leadership council known as the Quetta Shura is believed to have been based since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. It was formed after coalition forces toppled the Taliban-led government, prompting senior Taliban leaders to escape to Pakistan, which has been at times blamed for harboring the group. Though U.S. officials say it is not clear if the group still remains in Quetta. CNN's Masoud Popalzai in Kabul and Nasir Habib in Islamabad contributed to this report. David Ariosto is in New York.

'Jane's' jihad: A vow is confirmed; a terror plot grows

/ Colleen LaRose is seen in a June 1997 mug shot released by the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office after her arrest for driving under the influence (DUI) in San Angelo, Texas. By John Shiffman Reuters Colleen LaRose, the middle-aged American woman who called herself Jihad Jane, hurried to the computer in her duplex near Philadelphia -- the place where she had spent months entertaining murder. Second in a four-part series Minutes earlier, an FBI agent had left a card on her door, requesting a call, and LaRose had known precisely what to do. She emailed her al-Qaida handler for advice. It was July 17, 2009, and almost four months had passed since LaRose had agreed to kill in the name of Allah. Now, the FBI left a calling card on her doorstep. How had they found her? And what did they know? Her al-Qaida handler, Eagle Eye, lived in Pakistan. He was wise. He was pious. He would guide her. LaRose, now 46, had never seen his face, but during online chats, he had seen hers. Her blonde hair, fair skin and green eyes made her a prized recruit, especially for the undertaking Eagle Eye had ordered. She would blend in nicely, avoiding suspicion. Eagle Eye's plot called for her to travel to Sweden and murder Lars Vilks, the artist who had blasphemed the Prophet Mohammad. When LaRose reached Eagle Eye, he told her to call the agent back. Find out how much the FBI knows, he said. Obediently, LaRose dialed the number. The agent picked up. Have you ever visited extremist Islamic forums? he asked. No, never, she lied. Have you ever solicited money for terrorists? No. Another lie. Do you know anyone who goes by the online name Jihad Jane? No, LaRose said. The call didn't last long, and the FBI agent didn't reveal much. She couldn't tell if the FBI had seen her YouTube posts supporting al-Qaida and violent jihad. For more than a year, LaRose had clashed online with YouTube Smackdown, a group that flagged and reported hate speech and jihadist activity. Maybe they had contacted the FBI. But so what? Her YouTube rants couldn't be considered a crime. Then again, what if the FBI knew more? What if agents had read messages LaRose exchanged with Eagle Eye in Pakistan or his associate Black Flag in Ireland? The men were al-Qaida -- that's what they said, anyway. What about her jihadi friends inside the United States -- the woman in Colorado and the teenager in Maryland? Did the FBI know about them? Or about her pledge to kill the Swedish artist? Despite the concerns, LaRose plunged forward. Without disguising herself, she began contacting fellow jihadists online. She warned them of the FBI's visit and asked them to delete anything that might prove incriminating. Then LaRose took the next step on her path to martyrdom - an act she later described as one of the proudest moments in the conspiracy to kill the artist in Europe. She found a bargain flight to Amsterdam for $400. "I went straight to the airline," she says today. "I didn't use no middle person. I also made it two weeks ahead of time." The plot, loose as it was, was advancing. Jihad Jane booked the flight for Aug. 23. The honor student Shortly after the FBI agent left her duplex, LaRose emailed a high school student who lived near Baltimore, about 150 miles away. Please contact jihadi forum administrators, LaRose begged the teen. "Ask him to PLEASE remove ALL my posts … because I told the FBI guy I don't know that site." The teenager, who went by Hassan online, did as asked. "She is being threatened by the FBI," he explained in a message to the forum administrators. / Mohammed Khalid is seen in his 2011 high school yearbook senior portrait, from Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City, Md. Hassan wasn't a creative pseudonym like Jihad Jane. It was simply the middle name of Mohammed H. Khalid, a gangly Pakistani immigrant who lived with his parents, older brother and two younger sisters in Ellicott City, Md. Khalid, 15, had met Jihad Jane on YouTube months earlier and their online friendship had grown quickly. By now, they were talking to some of the same people overseas: an al-Qaida operative named Eagle Eye and a Muslim man in Ireland who called himself Black Flag. Like LaRose, Khalid had become radicalized watching videos of Muslim children maimed or killed in attacks by Israeli or American forces. Khalid was not a convert. He had been born a Muslim in Dubai and raised in Pakistan from age 11 to 14. His family, classic American immigrants seeking a better life for their children, had arrived in Maryland in 2007. Khalid's father delivered pizzas. His mother kept the home. The family of six squeezed into a modern-day tenement, a tiny two-bedroom apartment selected for its location inside the best school district his parents could afford. In one bedroom, Khalid and his brother shared a mattress. In the other, his sisters lived beside stacked boxes of perfume the family peddled at a weekend flea market. Their parents slept on a mattress in the dining room. Khalid excelled during his first two years at Mt. Hebron High School. He earned A's in English, Algebra, Science and U.S. History. He joined the chess club and later became an administrator for the school website. Although his parents were thrilled with Khalid's grades, they began to notice subtle changes. He seemed withdrawn and spent so much time alone in his bedroom on his laptop. They worried he might be downloading porn. If only. Eager to learn more about his Muslim heritage, the 15 year old had stumbled onto violent jihadi videos and become addicted. The anti-American rhetoric proved intoxicating to an immigrant boy struggling to find an identity in a place that embraced neither his race nor his religion. Khalid began translating from Urdu to English sermons and violent jihadi videos -- snuff-style images of U.S. soldiers in the throes of death, and beheadings of Americans Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl. Khalid posted the videos and began to solicit money online for al-Qaida. He never aspired to kill anyone personally. He later described himself as a "keyboard warrior." "I will be a great facilitator," he wrote to a friend. To shield his identity, Khalid studied basic terrorist tradecraft -- how to use programs such as Pidgin to encrypt chats and Tor to cloak his location. He learned to use code words - for example, "HK" in place of "jihad." The letters were chosen because J falls between H and K on the keyboard. Now, in mid-July 2009 -- around the time Jihad Jane warned him about the FBI -- Khalid launched a new online endeavor. It was brimming with teenage bravado. He called the blog Path to Martyrdom/Resisting the War Against al-Islaam. From the blog, Khalid linked to hundreds of videos of al-Qaida sermons and violent attacks. He intended Path to Martyrdom to be anonymous. His keystrokes betrayed him. Pivoting between maintaining the school's website and his new jihadist blog, he inadvertently linked the "About Me" section of Martyrdom to the wrong web page -- the page for his high school track team. Jamie joins On Aug. 1, 2009 -- around the time LaRose found her bargain ticket to Europe -- a 31-year-old woman sat before a laptop at her mother's kitchen table in the remote town of Leadville, Colo. Jamie Paulin Ramirez felt stifled. Her young son, Christian, bounded past every now and then, and her nosy mother kept making excuses to stroll by. As discreetly as she could, Ramirez tried to shield the screen. She and her mom had clashed about her conversion to Islam. It wasn't that her mother objected to the religion; she had married a Muslim herself. She just thought her daughter was overzealous. Ramirez feared her mom would launch into a tirade if she caught her chatting with her new Muslim friends, just as her mother criticized her for wearing a head scarf, or hijab. "When I would pray she would scream at me," Ramirez recalled in a document reviewed by Reuters. "When I would wear my hijab to work and to the store, she would say it was embarrassing." / Jamie Paulin Ramirez is seen in an undated family handout photo obtained from her family by the Leadville Herald at the time of her terrorism arrest in 2010. One of Ramirez's new online friends was another recent convert to Islam, a woman from Pennsylvania who sometimes called herself Jihad Jane. They seemed a lot alike - they were both white, blonde, Americans. And each had gravitated toward Muslim men in Europe, including one man in Ireland. He had been trying to persuade Ramirez to bring her son and join him there. On this day, Jihad Jane wrote with big news: "Soon, I will be leaving for Europe to be with other brothers & sisters. When I get to Europe, I will send for you to come be there with me. … This place will be like a training camp as well as a home." "I would love to go over there," Ramirez replied. Their chat turned to politics. And, years later, the brief exchange that followed would become part of the government's case against both of them. Jihad Jane: "When our brothers defend our faith their homes, they are terrorist. Fine, then I am a terrorist and proud to be this." Ramirez: "That's right … If that's how they call it, then so be it. I am what I am." Ramirez was raised a Methodist, but she had become embittered toward God and abandoned religion years earlier following her sister's death from cancer. Thrice divorced, Ramirez had moved in with her mother to save money. But they quarreled often, especially about her young son -- what he should read, how he should pray, what he should eat for dinner, whether he should wear his hair short or long. How this series was reported JANE'S JIHAD is based on six months of reporting in Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, Colorado, Washington, D.C., and Ireland. The accounts, including the thoughts and actions of characters in the stories, are based on court records and other documents, many of them confidential, as well as interviews with people involved in the case. Reporter John Shiffman gained exclusive access to those documents and individuals. Many spoke only on condition of anonymity. In Ireland, the law forbids the government and defense lawyers from commenting until court proceedings are completed. In the United States, prosecutors do not typically comment before sentencing. The Reuters interview with Colleen LaRose, the woman who called herself Jihad Jane, is the only one she has granted. Ramirez had been looking for a reason to leave. Her turn toward Islam had begun the year before, while researching a paper for a college class. Intrigued by what she learned about the religion, she continued reading. After a few months, she slipped down to a Denver-area mosque and converted. Now, her new, nonjudgmental friends on Islamic forums were enticing her to join them. The man in Ireland -- the one Jihad Jane knew as Black Flag -- pressed Ramirez hardest. Ramirez knew the man only by his real name, Ali Damache, and in his latest message to her, he persisted: Bring your son. Marry me. I will teach you Arabic and the mystical beauty of the Quran. Ramirez hesitated. Men had burned her so many times. She liked what she knew of Damache. He was nice - he complimented her on the color schemes of her hijabs. Even so. Damache urged her to ask Allah for guidance. Pray for a week, each night before bedtime, he said, then consider the colors of the dreams: If the dreams come in white or green, it is a sign that she should to fly to Ireland with her son; if the dreams come in red or black, she and her son should stay in Colorado. Ramirez struggled to recall her dreams, but it wouldn't matter. Damache told her he had prayed, too, and his dreams were glowing green -- the color of Islam, and of Ireland. OK, Ramirez agreed, that must be a sign from Allah. She began shopping for two plane tickets to Ireland. The passports In the weeks leading up to her own flight to Europe, LaRose grew excited about what lay ahead. Finally, she would meet some true Muslims -- men more righteous than she was, people wholly committed to the cause. They would teach her to pray and the ways of Allah. More important, they would accept her as one of their own. It would be an honor to fly to Amsterdam for training, then travel on to Sweden to carry out the killing. Her instructions: to shoot the artist Vilks six times in the chest. "That way," LaRose recalls today, "they know it was not an accident. It was intended." A short while before her flight, LaRose stole her boyfriend's passport and birth certificate, presumably to provide false identification for the terrorists. LaRose located two of the boyfriend's passports, one current and one expired, as well as several birth certificates. Following her handler's instructions, LaRose mailed everything to young Khalid near Baltimore. Then, days before the flight to Amsterdam and the start of her new life, the realities of her old one intervened: Her boyfriend's father suffered a heart attack. Soon after, he died. Read Part 1: 'Jihad Jane' begins strange journey from abuse victim to wannabe terrorist LaRose wasn't deterred. She let her al-Qaida associates know she was still coming. "I will be away from here in a couple days," she wrote. "… Then…I will get to work on important matters."  Within hours, LaRose heard a knock on the door of her home near Philadelphia. The FBI had returned. This time, LaRose answered. Sunday: The jihad begins More from Open Channel: Senior al-Qaida leader killed in Pakistan by drone, jihadis, US officials say Adelson, other big super PAC donors continued spending in race's final days Secret Service says it lost two computer backup tapes in 2008 'Jihad Jane' begins strange journey from abuse victim to wannabe terrorist Gang tactic -- shared 'community guns' -- challenges police, prosecutors New device lets crooks crack many hotel locks  Cuba pushes swap: its spies jailed in US for  American jailed in Havana   Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Sandy-struck Breezy Point faces 'greatest historical challenge'

By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News The Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, where more than 100 homes burned when Superstorm Sandy hit. (John Makely / NBC News) BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- This private community, which has fended off previous existential threats, is now facing its "greatest historical challenge" as a result of Superstorm Sandy,  with some residents questioning whether they can afford to rebuild and others wondering if the resurrected beachside community will bear any resemblance to its bucolic former self. A halting first step on what figures to be a long road back took place Thursday evening, when the Breezy Point Cooperative Inc. Board held its first post-Sandy shareholders meeting at a Catholic high school in Brooklyn. More than 1,000 residents of the community founded by Irish immigrants around the turn of the 20th century packed the meeting, which was closed to the media and members of the general public. According to residents who attended, the board discussed applications for emergency Small Business Administration loans, the status of efforts to restore various utilities, demolitions and a disaster recovery fund, planned infrastructure improvements and other topics. But some of those interviewed as they left said that their biggest concerns weren't addressed. "In the long run, it seems like things are going to take a lot of time," said Rob Moran, a 38-year-old construction worker who attended with his wife, Carinne Bach. "A lot of questions are still up in the air right now." Bob Esposito, a former police officer whose home sustained water damage, said he was pleased to hear about infrastructure improvements, but wished the board had at least touched on the bigger issues that are weighing on residents' minds.  "They were prepared to give a lot of information out, which we all needed to hear, but I think they are very reluctant on answering the hard-core questions," he said. Sandy smacked into the village on the southeastern tip of the city's Rockaway peninsula the night of Oct. 29, unleashing floodwaters that surged through the bungalows and bigger, newer homes, tearing some of the former off their foundations. The flooding also may have sparked a fire that burned down more than 130 of the 2,800 homes in Breezy Point. John Makely / NBC News Heavily damaged homes along Oceanside Drive in Breezy Point, N.Y. The tight-knit community, home to many generations of numerous families, is only beginning to grapple with the wide-ranging consequences. Debris is slowly being cleared and power restored, but the water system is still shut down and demolition of the roughly 200 homes that sustained the worst damage -- including what remains of those in the fire zone -- has yet to begin. Breezy Point, which was largely self-sufficient before the storm, is receiving assistance from the city as it attempts to jump-start its recovery. But officials and residents acknowledge that they have only begun to regroup. Cooperative board Chairman Joseph Lynch declined an interview request from NBC News to discuss the current situation, but in an online statement to shareholders posted Nov. 16 he wrote, "This storm and its destruction have presented our Cooperative its greatest historical challenge, which will take time to overcome."  In a later message posted just before Thanksgiving, he said that "the economic challenge for some in this regard will be a true test and hardship," before ending on an optimistic note: "In spite of this very serious setback I am confident that our Cooperative will also continue to grow, evolve, and prosper as it has over the past fifty-two years," he said. "We also have no other choice." But other community members, including at least one co-op board member, are less sanguine about the prospects of the largely middle-class neighborhood, home to many firefighters, police officers and sanitation workers. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it may cause some people to leave the community," said Marty Ingram, fire chief of the Point Breeze volunteer firefighters and a member of the co-op board, though stressing that he was speaking only for himself. "I hope it doesn't. But it's going to have an impact." Ingram said the community would pull together and he believed would offer some "quiet" financial aid to help people who can't otherwise afford to rebuild. Mary Elizabeth Smith, a lifelong resident and author of "A History of Breezy Point," noted that the community, which started out as more of a summer getaway spot for working-class families and slowly morphed into a charming residential enclave with intimate sand lanes running between homes, has proven remarkably resilient over the years. Courtesy of Mary Quinn Mary Quinn, now 59, stands with her parents and older brothers as a little girl in Breezy Point in front of their bungalow, which was the typical type of housing in the community's earlier days. Quinn's family moved to the community full time in the early 1960s. She rebuilt the house in 1994. The Breezy Point Cooperative was created in 1960 when residents learned that the 800-acres on which their homes stood had been quietly sold to a developer interested in building seaside high-rises. A group of homeowners went door-to-door collecting $500 from each family to raise an initial $75,000 defense fund, she said, and the group was ultimately able to buy back 400 acres for $12 million. The co-op has been an oasis of economic stability in the decades since, paying off its communal mortgage years ago. That prosperity was in part due to the board's initial ban on mortgage loans -- a requirement that was eventually relaxed to allow buyers to put 50 percent down on a home and finance the remainder. As a result, Ingram said that not a single Breezy Point home was foreclosed on during the housing crisis that erupted in 2008. Smith said the credit belongs "to our ancestors … (who) really took a major chance, put up money in a belief in something that did not occur anywhere else in the United States: a community of houses that owned the land underneath them." The city briefly considered making Breezy Point a public park in 1962, but protests from residents and the developer scotched that effort. Then, after the National Park Service took title to land to the west and east after the same developer ran into financial problems, the cooperative went to federal court to battle with its new neighbor over ownership of newly formed sand flats, winning the rights to the land in 1982. "A lot of people who live there today have no idea of the battles that were fought to get this property," said Smith, 62, who was about 9 when the fight began to save Breezy Point, "and that's why people really don't want to leave the place. I'm certainly one of them." Moran and Bach are among the residents hoping they can rebuild their bungalow, which may have to be demolished. The home, which was built by Bach's deceased father, was inundated by a couple of feet of raw sewage and water, has a slight tilt and apparently some problems with the foundation. Though city inspectors indicated in two initial inspections that they should be able to rebuild, the couple fears it needs more than a repair and they may have to start anew. John Makely / NBC News Rob Moran, 38, cleans out the flooded basement of his home in Breezy Point, N.Y., on Dec. 1, 2012. Moran and his wife Carinne Bach, 38, are asking building inspectors to re-assess their home, which they fear may not be safe to live in. With a Dec. 31 deadline set to apply for a free demolition provided by the city, they had hoped to learn at Thursday's co-op board meeting how the building codes might change as a result of Sandy's incursion, especially whether rebuilt homes might need to be elevated to lessen the likelihood of future flooding. But they left empty-handed. "We got a little information, but I'm sure not quite as much as everybody had hoped," said Bach, 38, a dance and fitness instructor who is several months pregnant. "I don't think it's for a lack of trying. I just think there's so much red tape and so much unknown." "As far as where we're to go from here, there's not a clear road map," she added. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hinted on Thursday that building code changes should be expected for waterfront areas, noting that "we can't just rebuild what was there and hope for the best." John Makely / NBC News A FEMA inspector works amid the burned homes in Breezy Point. "As you can see, the yardstick has changed -- and so must we," he added. "FEMA is currently in the process of updating their (flood) maps -- and those maps will guide us in setting new construction requirements." If new, more-stringent building requirements are put in place, many fear the expense will drive out some longtime residents, particularly the elderly and families that have kept summer or part-time homes -- about 40 percent of the residences -- there for decades. Laurie Cerra is struggling to keep the small green bungalow that had been in her family for about 85 years. She swept the floors, filled garbage bags and struggled to hold back tears last week as volunteers used crowbars to rip down the walls. The home received a red card -- meaning it was unsafe to enter -- from inspectors, but she was doing the work in a bid to save the damaged foundation. "I'm trying to separate myself from this, I really am. I spent every summer here … growing up. I'm really hoping I can repair the foundation," said Cerra, 54, a dietitian from Greenfield Township, Pa. But because she can't get coverage from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which doesn't provide emergency aid on second homes, and has not heard from her flood insurers in three weeks, she can't afford to rebuild in the short term. John Makely / NBC News Laurie Cerra, a registered dietitian from Pennsylvania, stands in the living room of her Breezy Point, N.Y., home on Dec. 1, 2012, as volunteers help her remove debris. Cerra is hoping she can save the damaged foundation and rebuild the home, which has been in her family for about 85 years. "Maybe in, I don't know, three or four years, if I get (the) foundation, then I can do it myself. I can try and do sheetrock myself," she said. "At this point, no, it's just going to be out of my savings account to rebuild." The co-op board is implicitly acknowledging the financial threat. In a statement posted online on Saturday, it said Breezy Point homeowners can now borrow, over the next two years, up to 80 percent of their home's appraised value, or up to $500,000, to repair or replace their properties. It also waived one part of the "carrying charges" -- monthly fees that include garbage collection, road and building maintenance, property tax and security services -- for the owners of about 300 homes that were destroyed or significantly damaged. Lynch, the co-op board chairman, had upset some residents by reminding them that it is "really important" that shareholders continue to pay the fees "as our corporation will face real financial challenges and pressure in the immediate future." Lifelong resident Kim Dillon was among those who felt the tone was wrong so soon after the disaster. "Our lives are in disarray and I don't think their first contact with us should have been … 'we're still expecting maintenance fees' when there's people that don't have houses," said Dillon, 43, whose family is one of two that have moved back onto their block, even though there is still no running water. But Dillon said her neighbors, who were like family, would be back, though she acknowledged her hometown would change as a result of the devastation. "It's going to be sad to see the bungalows gone, because that was like old Breezy Point," she said, referring to the area known as "the wedge," where the six-alarm fire burned so hot that stormy night. "I don't think there's going to be many -- if any -- left."  More content from NBCNews.com: US Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage issue Obama seeking $60.4 billion for post-Sandy recovery Advocates on both sides hope for Supreme Court clarity on same-sex marriage Woman survives six days in snow eating tomatoes 'My puppy saved my life': SUV rams into man's jewelry store, which he had just left Shark bait? Rotting whale on Malibu beach raises fear Mormon church website: 'Sexuality is not a choice' Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Death casts glare on 'shock jocks'

NEW: Radio company CEO talks of "tragic event" Nurse, mother of two, was found dead, three days after prank call Australian DJs called UK hospital about pregnant duchess Case raises questions on ethical boundaries (CNN) -- The apparent suicide of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who inadvertently put through a prank call to the hospital ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was staying, has provoked outrage, sadness and demands for retribution in all corners of the media. The tragedy has revived memories of previous practical jokes that have gone horribly wrong, but also stirred an already febrile debate on ethical boundaries, whether in the mainstream or social media, and what, if any, legal recourse should be available to people humiliated or taunted in public. Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, was found dead Friday -- three days after Australian DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian of 2DayFM placed a call to the King Edward VII hospital in the UK, where the duchess was being treated for morning sickness. They pretended to be Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. A statement on the radio station's website said: "The hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy." Rhys Holleran, CEO of the company that owns the radio station, said Saturday the DJs were "deeply shattered" by what occurred. "This is a tragic event that could not have been reasonably foreseen and we are deeply saddened by it," he said of Saldanha's death. Many media organizations played the audio tape of the prank call in part or its entirety. Hospital prank victim found dead CNN broadcast part of it -- but not the segment where a nurse in the ward briefly discussed details of the duchess's condition. Of the three major broadcasters in the United Kingdom, neither Sky News nor the BBC played the call. ITN played a clip that included the voice of Saldanha (but did not identify her) on several newscasts. It didn't really matter whether the major broadcasters aired the tape; the whole conversation was widely available online via YouTube. Nurse found dead after taking prank call Before Saldanha's apparent suicide, the chief executive of the hospital, John Lofthouse, had already condemned the prank, saying, "I think this whole thing is pretty deplorable, our nurses are caring, professional people trained to look after patients, not to cope with journalistic trickery of this sort." And trickery seems to go the heart of the issue. 2DayFM has a history of public humiliation. In 2009, a 14-year-old girl was tricked into acknowledging that she had been raped at the age of 12 -- only to be asked by a DJ: "Is that the only experience you've had?" That led the Australian Communications and Media Authority to censure the station -- saying the broadcast did not meet standards of decency. The station said it had provided the teenager with counseling and vowed "to prevent anything similar from happening again." But 2DayFM has been the subject of several inquiries since; and this year was told it "must not broadcast material that demeans or is likely to demean women or girls" as a condition of keeping its license. That followed a broadcast in which a female journalist was called a derogatory term and told "to watch your mouth or I'll hunt you down" by DJ Kyle Sandilands. The incident provoked a campaign to persuade advertisers to boycott the show, but 2DayFM was not fined and Sandilands kept his job. He even interviewed Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in July. Social media entwined in radio prank After its latest prank, 2DayFM's website boasted about the "Biggest Royal Prank Ever," but in the UK, Daily Telegraph columnist Bryony Gordon said it was "not so funny to hear two grown adults call up a hospital ward full of sick people to try to scam information about one of them." "What Christian and Greig did was borderline illegal," she added. On social media, the tragedy made an impact in a way that many stories don't. "Desensitisation created by 24/7 news means few news items actually cause shock; the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha is one such item," tweeted Ricky Seal. It also prompted visceral hostility toward the radio presenters. 'I hope they're proud of themselves'.... "Do the moronic callers still find themselves humorous?".... "Humanity, we have reached another low" were among the thousands of furious tweets. Both DJs have deleted their Twitter accounts. As the UK tabloid the Daily Mirror put it on its front-page Saturday, 'Pranksters Face World Fury.' Around the world, reaction in the op-ed columns echoed the fury. In Canada, Christina Blizzard wrote: "So a young woman who cared enough to go into nursing, was courteous enough to pick up a phone because a receptionist wasn't at her desk, was trusting enough to be helpful -- is dead. Two children don't have a mother. "But at least a radio station kept their audience entertained." However, some -- a minority to be sure -- said it was too easy to mobilize the virtual lynch mob. One Canadian tweeted: "The two deejays are not responsible for the actions of an unbalanced woman." Prank phone calls and other practical jokes have long been a form of entertainment on radio and television. Most of the time they are harmless enough: both sides get the joke. The TV series "Candid Camera" ran for years because the great majority of the people tricked by the show were prepared to sign away their dignity for a few minutes. But pranks can go wrong. Back in 2008, the BBC apologized to actor Andrew Sachs after two radio presenters -- Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross -- left a series of messages on his phone while on-air, including offensive references to his granddaughter. The second message apologized for the first -- but also suggested Sachs might kill himself because of the content of the previous message. The two presenters were later suspended by the BBC, and a senior executive resigned. The corporation was also fined some $225,000 by the UK media regulator and its governing trust described the episode as a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification." Brand moved on -- to a career in Hollywood. Veteran publicist Max Clifford told the Daily Telegraph soon after the incident that Brand's career would not be hurt. "He's known to be controversial and, if anything, it will make him more popular amongst his fans, who will have thought this was hilarious," Clifford told the newspaper. As Oscar Wilde once said, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." Sachs was at least familiar with the public spotlight as a well-known actor and narrator. Jacintha Saldanha was not. Nor was Gretchen Molannen. On November 30, the Tampa Bay Times published a story about Gretchen Molannen, a 39-year old woman who had a rare sexual disorder known as 'persistent genital arousal.' The Times worked with Molannen and read her the entire story before it was published. She'd written to the newspaper thanking it for showing an interest, adding: "I just hope this will educate people that this is serious and really exists, and that other women who are suffering in silence will now have the courage to talk to a doctor about it." The day after the story was published, Molannen killed herself. Even sympathetic coverage and subsequent offers of help could not save her. It's unclear whether the publicity about her condition was too much to bear; she had previously attempted to take her own life. "It's important to understand that suicide is complex," says Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of the Samaritans, a UK group that counsels people thinking of suicide. "Although a catalyst may appear to be obvious, suicide is never the result of a single factor or event and is likely to have several interrelated causes," Johnstone said on the group's website soon after news emerged of Saldanha's death. If adults are vulnerable to what they perceive as public humiliation, teenagers are doubly so. Tyler Clementi was an 18-year old student at Rutgers University who in 2010 was secretly filmed by his roommate having a sexual encounter with another man. A short while later he jumped to his death from a New York bridge. Clementi was not only humiliated but his humiliation was amplified by the fact that his roommate, Dharun Ravi, shared the footage with others and tweeted about it. He was later convicted of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy and sentenced to 30 days in jail. The case seemed to bring together many of the factors that put the vulnerable even more at risk: technology that can record and distribute private acts in a matter of minutes; the failure -- especially among many younger users of social media -- to understand the potential consequences of their postings; and the uncertain state of the law in many places. It also highlighted an epidemic of teenage suicides in the United States -- one that has coincided with the immersion of that age group in social media and texting for hours at a stretch. Schoolyard bullying ends when recess does; cyber-bullying is 24/7 and reaches into the bedroom, the mall and the classroom. When 15-year old Phoebe Prince killed herself in Massachusetts two years ago, another student at her school told the media: "Someone told her to go hang herself, and I don't really know who that was, but she was getting bullied by some people, because there were people talking about her and I guess she didn't like being hated." At first glance, many of these cases bear little resemblance to that of Jacintha Saldanha. But there are common threads. In the 21st century, personal humiliation can quickly go viral thanks to the reach and appetite of both social and mainstream media. Within hours, the minor transgressions and innocent mistakes, the private behavior and anxieties of ordinary people can reach, or seem to reach, the ends of the earth. For a few, that exposure is quickly overwhelming.