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“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt is back Wednesday in the city where he worked for 14 years.

As part of the network newscast’s weeklong “Across America” series visiting different cities this week, Holt will anchor the 5:30 p.m. broadcast (WMAQ-Ch. 5) in Chicago from a riverfront location, and it will feature stories on Chicago crime-fighting efforts and on a program teaching jazz music to Chicago kids.

Holt is an accomplished jazz bass player and said he was looking forward to visiting the music program Wednesday and possibly playing with the students.

The crime story, he said, looks at successes the Chicago Police Department has had working with the Los Angeles Police Department to use high-tech methods including video and predictive software to better know where to deploy officers.

“Chicago, unfortunately, for a lot of people is synonymous with gang violence and guns and murders,” said Holt, a longtime anchor at CBS’s WBBM-Ch. 2 here before joining NBC at the network level. “And what a lot of folks around the country may not realize is that crime is dropping in Chicago, and we look at it.”

But before the newscast, scheduled to originate from River Point Park, at the Chicago River split, Holt is supposed to throw out the first pitch at the early afternoon White Sox game, and he admitted to some nervousness.

“I haven’t had a chance to practice,” Holt said. “But I think I can get it over the plate.”

The Tribune will have a more detailed feature on Holt and his visit to Chicago later this week online and in the Sunday print edition.

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