When multiple browsers display the same issue, a likely culprit is a filter or system-level setting. Things to investigate include:

• Add-ons you use in all browsers that could change how sites respond, e.g., privacy filters or cookie blockers. To check in Firefox, disable all nonessential extensions on this tab and then restart Firefox using one of the links provided there:
  
  orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Extensions category

• Internet Explorer connection settings: do you use a proxy or filtering or anonymizing service?

• Security, privacy, or filtering software: are some sites completely blocked? does the software block cookies or "referer" information? are "third party" sites or cookies blocked (this can wreck sites that split their content over multiple servers)?

• Parental control software: programs like BlueCoat K9 sometimes need to be updated when sites split their content between multiple servers.

• Windows hosts file: sometimes a server is blocked in this file by malware (blocking good sites) or by suggestions for ad blocking.

I have tried firefox in safe mode, I don't know anything about proxy. We do have charter internet and it has a filter on it so I am thinking that may be the culprit. I called them and they were incredibly unhelpful. I am beyond frustrated. I have googled solutions all morning to no avail.

In Firefox, you can intentionally strip all the style from a page using an option on the View menu. You may want to check that this option is not activated.

tap the Alt key > View menu > Page Style > switch from No Style to Basic Page Style

But probably you already are using the Basic Page Style and something is blocking the style sheets.

Microsoft has a support article on resetting your IE (system-level) proxy settings: How to reset your Internet Explorer proxy settings.

Never mind, you tried this: Could you also try Firefox's Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings). More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Any difference?

Are your filters blocking stylesheets? That is what usually causes that kind of phenomenon.

Great question on "style sheets." No idea what those are or how to check if they are blocked.

Style sheets are rules for displaying elements on the page. For example, changing the list of links from bullet points to a horizontal row without underlining is done with style rules.

That page on worldnews.nbcnews.com gets most of its style sheets from a completely different server, www.cdn.newsvine.com. If a filter is restricting "third party" content (there may be other names for it) that could explain why the problem occurs on some sites and not others.

Try turning off all content filters including ad blockers.

That was the key! filtering software was blocking. I found where it was blocking. In the Charter filter it was the "unrated content" box that was checked. It was blocking news and my bank web site. Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction.

Thanks for reporting back on the culprit.