Events

NBC’s Natalie Morales was talking about the issue of jobs at an Education Nation event at the gleaming New World Center in Miami Beach earlier this week.

It’s fitting as Morales has many of them at NBC.

TVNewser caught up with the “Today” show news anchor in the make-up room just before her panel discussion on preparing graduates for the 21st century workforce.

“As a company we see this as part of a wider initiative,” says Morales of NBC’s Education Nation. “It’s a corporate responsibility to try to give back.”

In recent years, Morales has moved beyond her news persona, taking on roles across the Peacock, whether co-hosting the Miss Universe pageant, or Macy’s July 4th Spectacular, or playing the part of fact-checker on “The Marriage Ref.”

But Morales never strays far from home.

“I have several Rock Center pieces in the works and (the Dateline series) My Kid Would Never Do That, which my kid ended up doing that,” Morales laughed.

The series puts children in a variety of decision-making situations while their parents watch the events unfold via hidden camera.

Morales says the challenge going forward, “is finding new ways to do it. I also don’t want to become the person that everybody recognizes. You have to keep the anonymity otherwise kids will see me and they’re not going to fall for it.”

As for her main job at “Today,” Morales admits, “It’s turbulent waters these days with where the ratings are.”

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This TVNewser happens to be in Miami for the weekend, just as NBC’s company-wide Education Nation initiative lands in South Florida. Several days of on-air and off-air events will be dedicated to the impact of education among Hispanics. This afternoon, NBC’s Rehema Ellis will moderate a Teacher Town Hall which will air on South Florida’s Telemundo station WSCV. The town hall will also be available as a live web stream beginning at 1pmET at educationnation.com. Also today, Telemundo will broadcast a special education edition of the network’s Sunday public affairs show “Enfoque con Jose Diaz-Balart.”

We’ll catch up with “Today” show news anchor Natalie Morales tomorrow who will be here to moderate a panel discussion Monday night at the New World Center in Miami Beach with several guests including Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Jimmy Kimmel went on Howard Stern‘s radio show earlier this week and talked about some of the jokes he didn’t tell at last month’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

KIMMEL: I had some jokes about — like Rick Santorum. I said something like — well, I didn’t say it, but: Newt Gingrich’s campaign is so dead Mitt Romney wants to baptize it and Rick Santorum wants to put it in a jar and show it to his kids.

STERN: You didn’t want any abortion jokes?

KIMMEL: People went like, uh-oh. I ran it by people who go to this thing.

STERN: Who do you run it by?

KIMMEL: There’s a guy named Jake Tapper at ABC News, I ran jokes by him. He’s been there a lot of times. There are a few other people — reporters.

Tapper confirms, telling Yahoo’s Dylan Stableford, “I tried to help Jimmy with the temperature of the room. And yes, I thought that joke would cause the room to turn against him, perhaps even causing a stampede, with the Hilton getting in on the tar and feather concession.”

The White House Correspondents Insider has presented its awards following this year’s Correspondents’ Dinner weekend of festivities, including:

Greatest Act of Kindness: Lindsay Lohan delighting 10 year-old David Greenberg by telling him that she has Herbie (a Volkswagen Beetle aka “the Love Bug”) in her garage and he could drive it.

Also, Willie Geist wins for “Toughest Job” for “having to work closely with Elle Macpherson and Rosario Dawson presenting super-hot Jamboxes to CURE Epilepsy & The White Ribbon Alliance donors.”

If you didn’t get enough this weekend, here are a few more pictures from this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner festivities. Speaking of which, NBC’s Matt Lauer already has his date for next year: Diane Keaton (below), who was a guest of People magazine already has an invite for next year, from Lauer. “You’ll be my date for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?” asked Lauer, “Of course I would. Yes!”

More after the jump…

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As you know by now, Greta Van Susteren invited two Kardashians and a Lohan to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night. Not surprisingly, Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan (and Keith Olbermann, Barack Obama, Barbara Walters, cable news, Newt Gingrich, and more) made it into Jimmy Kimmel‘s monologue. At one point Kimmel asks Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, “Would you do us a favor? Would you mind driving Lindsay Lohan home? … Make sure you do not run into a goose. Especially a grey goose.”

That’s Greta’s husband John P. Coale sitting between Lohan and Kardashian. Our spies tell us Lohan did eat, but did not drink.

Keith Olbermann, who’s been Tweeting all night mostly about baseball, took time to respond to Jimmy Kimmel‘s jokes about him at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. Kimmel joked, “I would like everyone to look under your seats. Under each one you will find a copy of Keith Olbermann’s resume.” Kimmel continued, “Is Keith here tonight? The limo wouldn’t pick him up? The thing about Keith is, he’s so likeable.”

Olbermann Tweeted:

Funny that Jimmy Kimmel ripped me after his people desperately wanted me to fly to LA to be on his show this past Wednesday #nerdprom

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 29, 2012

Olbermann added, “I’m not complaining about the Kimmel jokes – I’m fair game. I’m complaining about the revenge element. It reminds me of O’Reilly.”

Kimmel also took some shots at the cable networks during his set:

“Fox News is the grumpy old man of cable. Loud. Stubborn. Just had a mole removed. I would like to take a moment to salute the Fox mole. Were it not for his great sacrifice the world would never have known that the bathrooms at Fox were overdue for renovation.”

“As a result of all the success Fox News has had, MSNBC has moved a bit to the left of Hugo Chavez lately.”

“Every election year CNN comes up with new and amazing technology. And yet with all of the technical wizardry they still haven’t figured out a way to make James Carville look less like a hairless boiled cat.”

ABC News and Yahoo! were among the media entities hosting cocktail parties tonight ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton. ABC’s primetime stars mingled with ABC Newsers, many of whom arrived just a few hours earlier. TVNewser hears the 2pm Delta shuttle from New York brought several ABC News anchors to D.C. including Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric (who was actually on the way to her brother’s wedding) and Cynthia McFadden as well as NBC’s Harry Smith, and others. Here are a few pictures from the ABC News/Yahoo cocktail party:

More pictures after the jump…

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The parties are underway in Washington D.C. ahead of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Last night at the St. Regis, TIME and People threw a cocktail party with drop-ins from a bunch of boldface tvnewsers all enjoying custom flavored custards by Shake Shack.

TIME‘s Managing Editor Rick Stengel (below with Savannah Guthrie) along with and DC bureau chief Michael Duffy, People‘s Managing Editor Larry Hackett, and DC correspondent Sandra Sobieraj Westfall hosted the party.

Spotted at the party: Gayle King (below with Andrea Mitchell), Chris Matthews, Julie Chen and hubby CBS CEO Les Moonves (right with Wolf Blitzer), Greta Van Susteren, Wolf Blitzer, , Thomas Roberts, Kelly O’Donnell, Ed Henry, Willie Geist, Dana Bash, Erica Hill, Chris Wallace, Tamron Hall, Norah O’Donnell, Alex Wagner, Donna Brazile; ABC News president Ben Sherwood, NBC News president Steve Capus, “Meet the Press” EP Betsy Fischer and “Face the Nation” EP Mary Hager also CNN execs Mark Whitaker and Sam Feist.

(Photos: Getty Images)

“Today” show correspondent Peter Alexander and WJLA main anchor Alison Starling are just about a week into their new life as husband and wife. Alexander and Starling married last Saturday on the roof of the Newseum in Washington, DC.

The couple met while they were both reporters in Seattle, he at KCPQ (FOX) and she at KIRO (CBS).

They remained friends after leaving the city, started dating and got engaged in Paris last August. AllDAY reports the DC couple is delaying the honeymoon until after the election.

(Photo: Greg Gibson Photography)