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Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100106

good morning. breaking news. nbc news has learned high-ranking democratic senator chris dodd of connecticut will not seek re-election. this just hours after another senate democrat announced his own plans to retire. so, what does it say about the state of the democratic party? more on the way. a secondurge of even colder air set to move in as a huge portion of the nation grale with the longest stretch of cold weather in decades. and tragic lif and death. new details emerge about casey johnn, the 30-year-old heiress to the johns & johnson family fortune, and h s was living in her final months today, wednesday, january 6th, 2010. captns paid for by nbc-universal television and good moing. welcome to "toda on a wednesday mornin i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm meredith vieira. do you hear thatnoise? >> what is it? >> it's the buzzi in washingt with news that two prominent democrats may be leaving the senate. >> is absolutely true. chri dodd of connecticut and north dakota's byron dorgan both haveerd in whingto for nearly 30 years. they chair some key senate committees, and their departures ll have a major impact on both parties for this year's midterm elections. so, what could it all meanor washington's political landscape? president obama and much more? we'll talk abouthat in just little while. also ahead, speaking of president obama, he blasted the intelligence committee on tuesday for failing to connect the dots on that aempt pne bombing. in fact, he called the incident a screw-up, this as new video surfaced of a third party crasher showing him walking right through the white house's front doort that now infamous ate dinner. so, ould people be losing their jobs over these debacles? we will get into that. ready to say aww? >> aww! >> tt's right. wel take a lookt the san diego zoo's baby panda, ready to make his public debut, and we've got an exclusive fir look at that little guy. the world is probably going to fall in love wi. >>'m sure. but we begin with thatews out of washington this morning that two democratic senators will retire. nbc'sndrea mitchell is in washington with the very latest andrea, good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. well, the big news, of urse, that veteran democratic senator chris dodd of connecticut, faltering in the polls, will not run for anotherterm. this is a seat once held by his late father. dodd had been in trouble at home since he ran for president in 2008, actually moving his family to iowa. that angered connecticut voters. he also t caught up in the banking mess, when as the head of the sene bankingcommittee, he had to acknowledge receiving what wasescribed as favorable treatment on a home mortgage of course, his close friend in the u.s. senate, senator ted kennedy, died last summer. that was a major blow. dodd then picked up kennedy's mantle on health care legislation, but he's also spear-heading a comomise on landmark banking regulation. thatould now falter if dodd loses clt as a lam duck. dodd's decision to retire became knn only few hours after another democratic stalwart, senator byron dorga said he woul't run. he was also challenged at home. and senate majority leader reid di't know in advance of eier decision. he faces a tough election this year. >> how significant is the timing of these announcements and what do you think it will mean psychologically and symbolically for the democrats who face a tough november coming up? >> it's huge. do's decision could actually improve democratic chances in their state. there is a popular attorney general, richard blumenthal there. so thehave a chae of holding that seat. dorgan's seat wl probably be ken by north kota's republicans, may the governor if he chooses to run. now also, democrati governor bill ritter believedo be once a rising star in theparty, says for faly reasons, he is not seeking aecond term. ese senate resignatis could make it harder for the democra to keep their 60-vote ruling edge in the senate and also could make it harder for the president to copal together those coalitions he nee on healthare and other kbis. >> ias going to ask you, wha es it an forhe presidt, and you sweredt for us. anea mitell, tnk you so much for your perspecte. >> you be >>t is 7:04. here'smatt. in tking about the presidt, there was blunt talk om psident obama o tuesday when it comes to t failed christmas day attack on a u.s. airliner. he called the entire performance of the intelligence community not acceptable. nbc'savannah guthrie's at the white house with more on that. savannah, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. aides inside the meeting say the president gave agency heads a stern rebuke, telling them point blank this is a screw-up that could have had tragic implications, but for now, the president is standing by his team. no heads rolling yet. the president emerged from the nearly two-hour meeting and put the blame squarely on the inlligence community. >> when a suspected trorist is able to board a plane with explosives on christmas day,he system has failed in a potentially disastrous way. >> rorter: the president said poinblank, the attempted atta wou have been avoided if intelligence agencies had eced together the information they already had in their possession, iludi the red flag that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula intended to strike targets in the u.s. >> this was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had. so, we have to do better and we will do betr and we have to do itquickly. american lives a on the line. >> reporter: inside the meetin the president said he would tolerate no finger-pointing, and aides say agency heads wer quick to identif where their own deptments had failed. but are jobs on the line? while promising accotability, the white house has signaled support f homand security secretary janet napolitano, despite early miteps. >> the system worked. >> reporte and aides say the esident is withholding judgment on th fates of other top officials until the review by counter terror chief john brennan is complete in a matter of days. >> the breakdown was information-sharing d lack of creative thiing whin the intelligence comnity. what the president has to do is assure that situation doesn't happen in t future. >> reporter: alread the administraon has add more explosives dettion teams at airports and mor air marshals onflights. dozens of nam have been added to the no-fly list, hundred more to a list requing secondary passenger screening. and the state departmen will now require warning about potential terrorists to ilude current visa information. >> in short, we need our intelligence, homeland security and lawenforcement systems and the people in them to be accountable an to work as intended, not justost of the time, but all of the time. >> reporter: well, the president also announced he's suspending transfers of yemeni prisoners who we in guantanamo back to yemen for theime being, but he says guantanamo will close as planned, altugh as we know, matt, the deadline, which was pposed to be later this month, has slipped. >> all right, sannah, thanks very much. savannah guthrie at the whi house. fox news contributor dana perino served as white house press secretary for president george w. bush. anita dunn is the former white house communicaons director for president oba. ladies, od morning to both of you. >> gd morning. >> good mornin matt. and hpy new ar, dana. >> thank you >> thank you to both of you. dana, le me start with you and this failedttempt to blow up northwest airlines flight 3. a lot of problems, a lot of mistakes. the president now say the system failed in potentially disastrous way, intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged, it's not acceptable, i will not tolateit. so, simple question -- does someone have to lose his or her job over this? >> i don't necessarily think so. i think tt president obama has to make those decisions. a lot of peopleake up in the morning when they work on capitol hill and say i'm going to call for somebody's regnation today. i think possibly president obama thinks that would be very disruptive to the current system. no one way to change -- >> but if you put a system i place and you put key people into that system, in important positions, and the fail collectively -- >> well, that's why he ordered review, and i think that he's doing th right thing in checking it all out. i do think that initially, the first reaction, the first statement from president obama was that this was an isolated incident, an isolated person that is dangerous. i would like to know, how did he -- who gave him tha initial formation? th's what was dangous, but looks to me like they're trying to right the ship now. maybe somebody will lose their jobs after this viewbut i thk it's right to not just fire off ashot. >>anita, the system, or some people in it, have been compromised, haven't the >> no, matt, i think what dana said is importt, which i when something like this happens, as the president said, you do a review, you figure out what went ong, you fix what needs to be fixed going into the future, and above all, you do what you need to do to keep the arican people safe and secure, which is the commitment president obama made when he took office, it's the commitment he is going to keep. i think that t reviews going to be very important for the white house moving forward to make sure, maybe there's some things tt have beenn place for yrs that were right five years ago aren't right for toy. we face an enemy that is nimble, quick and ever changing their tactics. we have to be as nimble and quick as well. >> right. >> and i think that that' one of the things that is going to be important coming t of this is how do we stay one step ahead as opposed to playing catch-up. >> let me touch on another aspect of this, and i'd lik to touch it o it briefly, because i do think we can get rid of it. this idea that people are saying that the president doesn't take the threat of terrorism seriously enou because he's not t there talking about it every day. we hear him talk about heah care and the economy. can we admit thatny wartime president als with terrorism on a daily basis even if he is not out there speaking about it on a daily basis? >> i have no doubt tha as soon as president obamaalke int the oval office h realized the full weight of his responsibilities, and i'm sure it's the first thing that he thinks about every morning when he wakes up. here's where the problem is, though, matt. it's n whether or not that's where the focus is internally, it's tt peop arod the world,nd especially in america, feel like they haven't heard enough about it. it's not that -- >> you're sayin it's an image problem? >> wel i tnk tt they have written a narrative that he is interested in it but not as interested in it as may ty would like him to be. wtten a narrativ anita, i da trying to hint at the choiz of words he uses here sometimes, is that the problem? >> you know, matt, i think it's interesting that people, particularly some of the republicans who have tried to politicize this, are now reduced to quibbng about semantics. i mean, the reality is that it was barely a monthgo whenhe presidentade a major primetime spch to the americaneople from west point, new york, precisely on the subject of the war on terror and what we needed to do to continue that and to win it. it is something tt he has talked good from his inaugural. it is something that h has been acti on. he is briefed every morning, every morning -- >> okay, but -- >> -- as predents are. and dana, let me finish. and the reality is that, you know, this is something that the administration has been active on. john brennan made a major speech in august outlining the strategy -- >> i'm running out of time and i want to give dana the lt word. >> hers the thing, anita, if that were true, we wldn't be having tsiscussion today. i'm not trying to make it political, but i am sayin that from a narrative standpoint, ey have written themselves into a coer. i think they're trying toix it and i think it'smportant that the command in chief h that meeting yesterday and make sure that erybody knows, this is the top priority and i want you to innovate and get ahead of these terrorists. >> and anita, i am going to ask you one last qstio in 10, 15 seconds, if you can. the decisiony chris dodd and byron dorgan to not see relectn, is this bad pr dayor democrats today that might work out better in the long ha? >> matt, six republican senators have announced they're not running for re-election. two democratic senators are announcing they're not running for re-election. maybe in washington new math, that's bad for the democrats, but the reality is, we're going to wage active campaigns f both those seats, and i think at they'll bothe vy competitive. anitaunn andana perino, ladies, thanks nice thave you both here. >> thank you. >> it's 12 minutes aer the hour. once again, re's medith. >> matt, tnk you. airline safety is not the white house's onlyecurity concern. we're so learning more about a third uninvited guest who managetoneak into the obamas' white house state dinner back in november. nbs norah o'donnell has details. good morning to you, norah. >> reporter: good morning, medith. a lawr for the alleged third party craer admits to nbc that not only did his client get into the white house, but he stayed for dinner, and he insistse was invited, but the secre service says this guy was never on a list. his namesarlos allen, caught on camernterg the front door of the white house, just moments before the president stood in the veryame place with the prime minister of india. allen was not on any official guest lis and snuck in withhe indian official delegation w had gathered before at the willard hotel. the state department was responsible f escorting t group, and an administration official tells nbcnews, "we absolutely should have caught it." >> the secret service d put this individual through magnetomets, but the secret rvice did aolutely no background check on him. sohe could have been a murderer, he could have been involv with terrorist groups. reporter: b unlike the salahi gate crashers -- >> mr. and mrs. salahi. >> reporter: -- the secret service says it appea allen never had contact with the prident or first lady. a d.c. party promoter, allen likes to be photographed with celebrities. his website even shows a party shot with michaele salahi, who also crashed the dinner. >> it is, i must say, an extraordinary coincidence that there would be three gate crashers who actually knew each other coming into the white house in different directions. >> reporter: so, who exactly is carlos allen? he runs an event company called hush galleria, which promotes itself as placing "up and coming individuals with elite individuals in luxury environments." >> a lot of times, you know, we've always focused on people's, like, what they're driving, what they're wearing, but we never talk about, you know, what they're doing as far as good things. >> reporter: the fact that three uninvited guests got into the white house is raising new questions about the secret service. >> it's pretty difficult to say that somebody didn't fail to do their job. >> reporter: on december 3rd, the director of the secret service told congress the salahis crashing the party was a "isolated incident." >> there were no other people there that night. >> reporter: nbc news had learned it was not until two weeks later that the secret service learned that carlos allen had, in fact, also slipped through security. >> it would be very easy, given the secret service's corner-cutting, for an assassination to take place. >> reporter: now, congress is not happy about this. the head of the committee on homeland security, betty thompson, says this third incident shows "a pattern of the secret service failing to protect the president." now, the secret service admits some mistakes, but they say they have taken the steps to make sure that this never happens again. meredith? >> hope not. norah o'donnell, thank you very much. it is 7:15, and once again, here's matt. >> meredith, thank you. now to the deadly deep freeze that simply won't end. in fact, right now the nation is in the middle of the longest stretch of below-normal temperatures in some 25 years. nbc's janet shamlian's in kansas city, missouri. janet, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. 14 degrees in kansas city right now, and it's only going to get colder over the next few days. two-thirds of the country, temperatures are in a free fall, and forecasters say unlike most cold snaps, which last two or three days, this one is going to hang on. in a winter that's already dumped travel-crippling snow and ice on much of the nation, now comes the deep freeze. >> some of the coldest air of the season so far will be moving in. >> blowing snow, even blizzard conditions possible at times. >> reporter: bitter, bone-chilling cold blanketing as much as two-thirds of the u.s., from the rockies, pushing east, and deep into the shell-shocked south. >> what are you going to do? they wanted to go swimming, you know? we came to florida to go to the beach. >> reporter: even where they expect winter's worst, it's a record-breaker. minus 37 in international falls, minnesota, minus 16 in st. joseph, missouri. by week's end, little rock could see 10 degrees, dallas will be in the 20s. >> when you have conditions like this, sustained periods of this kind of cold weather, it really is about protecting people's lives. >> reporter: the nation's bread basket turning into an ice box. in des moines, iowa, tim cullen is using three space heaters that are doing little to cut the chill. >> i've got to admit, this is the coldest i think i've ever been. >> reporter: beyond the cold, even more snow is coming. >> frozen, like a popsicle. >> reporter: not everyone is running from the cold. >> we're just conditioning our bodies -- >> exactly. >> -- to enjoy the rest of the winter. >> we live here. we might as well face the facts, right? >> reporter: forecasters say what's unusual about this cold snap is how widespread it is and how long it will last. >> i think it's miserable. >> i've got four pair of socks on and my feet still get cold. >> reporter: so, dangerously cold, in fact, the cdc has issued an advisory about exposure to these elements, including, matt, the risk of frostbite and hypothermia. matt, back to you. >> all right, janet, thank you very much. janet shamlian in kansas city. by the way, in our next half hour, we'll get some tips on how to drive in all these dangerous and icy conditions. >> all right, but for now, let's get a check of the rest of the morning's top stories from ann curry at the news desk. hey, annie, good morning. >> hey, meredith and matt. good morning, everybody. we begin with a missile strike during the night believed to be fired by the united states. it struck northwest pakistan, blowing up what is described as a militant compound and killing at least four people. it is the third strike this year aimed at the taliban and al qaeda. in the effort to track down a man whose security breach shut down a terminal for six hours, a setback. on tuesday, investigators determined that a camera system at the security checkpoint was not working properly at the time of the incident. officials in california are looking into the cause of a deadly helicopter crash on tuesday. they say the helicopter was carrying biologists in the sierra national forest. four people were killed. a small plane crashed outside of chicago, killing all people board. it is not clear yet why it went down in a river in a forest preserve. members of an antiwhaling group are accusing a japanese whaling ship of deliberately ramming their boat today off antarctica. the boat had its front sheered off in the collision. the six crew members were rescued. the whaling ship blames the smaller boat for the collision. this morning overseas markets are mostly lower. cnbc's melissa lee is at the stock exchange with more. what are you hearing about holiday shopping season? something about that? >> well, ann, you didn't think you would be thinking about this for 11 months or so, but not so for wall street. good news, the holiday shopping season turned out better than expected, proving that leaner inventories and fewer discounts actually paid off. it was the jewelers and consumer electronics stores that did the best, and those online retailers actually posted the strongest gains, 17%, in the month of december, thanks to all of that cold winter weather, ann. >> melissa lee this morning, thanks, melissa. and you may not know his name, but you certainly know his work. david murbach, who selected the rockefeller center christmas tree for the last 26 years, has died of heart disease. he spent each year looking for a tree, including this year's tree that had what he called personality and character. david murbach was 57 years old. it is now 7:20. let's go back to matt and meredith. now we know who to thank for those 26 years of heart-warming images -- >> certainly knew how to pick beautiful trees year after year after year. >> provided us with a lot of happiness. condolences to his family. mr. roker has left us in the chilly northeast for some warmer temperatures. he's in las vegas, baby, for the -- what are you there for, the consumer electronics show, al? >> that's >> already a little bit of light snow around the area this morning. it is infiltrating the eastern shore. very light, just a little bit of light dusting. flurries across this afternoon. milder today, upper 30' >> and that's your latest weather. meredith? >> al, thank you very much. coming up, new details about the unusual and troubled life of 30-year-old johnson & johnson heiress, casey johnson. but first, this is "today" on nbc. just ahead, an exclusive sneak peek at the baby panda about to make his debut at the san diego zoo. >> almost as cute as matt lauer. on sunday. 27 is the high on sunday. our next live update is at 7:55. 7:30 now on this wednesday morning, january 6th, 2010. these fine folks enjoying a relatively milder morning here in midtown manhattan. it's already a balmy 27 degrees. and we could actually get above freezing for the first time this week. i'm meredith vieira alongside matt lauer. and speaking of all the cold, many spots are also dealing with snow and ice, as we know, and even in places that aren't used to those dangerous driving conditions. so, just ahead, what you need to know to keep safe out on the road. >> always cringe when you see those things. also ahead, talk about adorable. a panda was born at the san diego zoo five months ago but has not been seen in public yet, waiting for the big debut. that moment is tomorrow. our cameras got an exclusive sneak peek. we'll introduce you to him, coming up. >> very sweet. plus, three remarkable weight loss stories. we're going to introduce you to three people who managed to lose half of their body weight. they will be here to show off their new looks. but we're going to begin with the latest on the untimely death of casey johnson, the 30-year-old heiress to the johnson & johnson fortune. was she living in squalor, surrounded by rats during her final months? we're going to talk to addiction expert dr. drew pinsky in a moment, but first, here's nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: casey johnson was born with money, but it was fame she sought. now some wonder if it was her hollywood lifestyle that contributed to her sudden and surprising death at just 30 years old. >> now, what we're hearing is, don't be surprised from our sources if prescription drugs turn out to be a factor in all of this. we're hearing from sources very close to casey that she took numerous prescriptions on numerous occasions. >> reporter: a source close to the johnsons tells nbc news the family doesn't believe drugs were involved and points out casey's lifelong struggle with severe diabetes. friends say they've been trying to contact johnson for days before her body was found monday in her los angeles home, prompting speculation that she may have lapsed into a diabetic coma. with an autopsy just completed, the coroner is waiting for toxicology reports before declaring an official cause of death. ♪ i am stuck on band-aid brand because band-aid's stuck on me ♪ >> reporter: an heirs to one of america's largest fortunes, casey's great-great grandfather created the johnson & johnson brand. the documentary "born rich" showcased the johnson family as having as much time as money on their hands. >> so, i want to ask him what he thinks i should do with my life. >> reporter: a private and reserved bunch, the johnson family name was dragged into the tabloids after casey accused her aunt of stealing her boyfriend in a "vanity fair" article. it was the start of some salacious scandals. after declaring she was a lesbian, johnson had a violent fight with then girlfriend and yahoo! heiress courtney semel, in which johnson's hair was reportedly lit on fire. johnson also faced criminal charges after being charged with burglarizing an ex-girlfriend's home. it was video like this from radaronline.com that concerned johnson's parents, including her father, the owner of the new york jets. her reputation as a notorious party girl may have led to her mother's decision to take custody of the girl johnson adopted in 2007, deepening a family rift that was never reconciled. >> her family was so concerned, in fact, they cut off her fortune, they said enough is enough, they were hoping that they could strangle the money, get the money away from her, maybe it would lead to, you know, an end to this lifestyle. >> reporter: even if she didn't have money, johnson still had famous friends. she turned down an invitation to co-star in paris hilton's reality show "a simple life." >> this is fun. ♪ >> reporter: later calling the decision the biggest mistake of her life. after reportedly pitching her own reality show -- >> 17 karats, baby, woo! >> reporter: -- johnson became engaged to tila tequila, another reality show star. but even that, say hollywood insiders, appeared to be a grab for fame. now, in a twist of irony, casey johnson may now be more famous in death than in life. for "today," miguel almaguer, nbc news, hollywood. >> dr. drew pinsky counsels stars on how to deal with their addictions on his show "celebrity rehab with dr. drew." good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. >> you hear this story about casey johnson. here was a young woman born with a silver spoon in her mouth. she had access to whatever she wanted. >> yes. >> and yet, at the end of her life, friends describe her as a train wreck, in and out of rehab, addicted to drugs and alcohol, according to her friends, a party girl, dies alone in what the "new york post" is reporting today was a rented house with no heat, electricity, water, with rats -- >> oh, my goodness. >> -- in the pool. how does something like this happen? >> well, it's very, very, very sad. the press is replete with stories of celebrities today dying with health-related illness. not nary a day goes by we're not hearing about these things. in these cases with diabetes, you have medical problems and psychiatric problems combined to create a deadly combination. >> her family said that depression often comes with diabetes. and again, we're speculating on a lot of this. >> right, all speculation. there's been an autopsy. we really don't know anything yet. it's hearsay, but the reality is that juvenile onset diabetics that have lifelong diabetes often have high incidence of depression. >> her friends say towards the end of her life, she had been self-medicating, things were not going well with her. she was fighting with friends, estranged from family. her daughter had been taken from her by her mom. are you surprised by things like this? >> self-medicating for me has little meaning. yes, there is a reason you start self-medicating, taking things to make yourself start feeling better, but usually a second condition is triggered, and that's addiction. and once you have that condition, it doesn't matter what you were taking the drugs for in the first place, you now have a second life-threatening problem. in the case of casey, i guess she had an insulin pump of some type -- >> exactly. >> and if you're altered, not using appropriate judgment, your cognition is off and you can't follow the careful, structured regimen of diabetes, you could easily lose control of how to monitor your blood sugar, and certainly, mind-altering substances can contribute to that being a fatal problem. >> and there were reports that had she been found earlier -- and she may have been dead up to a week -- >> wow. >> or just short of a week. >> isn't that something? >> that maybe she could have been helped. >> absolutely. these are relatively common conditions in diabetics, high or low blood sugar episodes. there are brittle diabetics, as casey is described, in and out of the hospital with these problems. >> let's talk about the lifestyle she supposedly led. as i said before, she was a party girl, very interested in fame and becoming a big name in hollywood, like that of her close friends. she was very close to the hiltons. why do you think that was so important for her? i'm sure you've seen that with other celebrities. >> well, boy, meredith, i wrote a book on this topic. you know, why has fame become an autonomous motivator for young people today? and i think fundamentally -- this is a big topic, but fundamentally, it is an attempt to fill emptiness. when people come from childhoods that haven't been fulfilling, when they have a lot of chaos in their lives, when there's a lot of addiction, fame becomes a way to solve that problem, and to make themselves feel better, to sort of solve -- call it a narcissism, where they need to fill the void, the emptiness. and unfortunately, as you see with celebrities every day who are suffering and continuing to have severe mental health consequences, it really doesn't solve any problems. >> do you think it will send a message to other celebrities out there? i mean, a lot of condolences went out her way immediately from some of the other celebrities out in hollywood. >> yeah. you know, will it change celebrities? no, because celebrities tend to have a lot more mental health libts than the average population. the real question i have to ask is when are we going to have had enough of this as viewers and consumers of media, we really chew this stuff up, and we've got to begin to think about the fact that these are serious medical problems that are taking lives in the media rou tleevenl now, and we've got to stand up and sort of recognize what this is and not sit in sort of disdain and envy and chew this material up the way we tend to. >> dr. drew pinsky, thank you as always. >> my pleasure. >> a new season of "celebrity rehab with dr. drew" begins tomorrow on vh1. now let's check on the weather with al, who is in las vegas this morning. >> thanks a lot, meredith. a lot of cool stuff. for example, cool, this is the samsung ice touch. it's an oled, an organic light emitting display that lets you see through your mp3 player, which is really cool. and talk about cool, you get these cool glasses and you can watch 3d television. this is from sony, a 16-inch -- on a regular screen it doesn't look as impressive, but take it from me, it looks like you can reach out and touch the fish on this screen. it's amazing. they haven't even priced this yet, but it is awfully -- and look how thin the television is. thin is in here at the consumer electronics show. very, very cool. let's take a look, see what's going on as far as your weather's concerned, as i break into maybe superstition by stevie wonder. you can see on the storm track, we've got the low pressure bringing the snow across the plains. as the snowman juggles his snowballs, you can see we're looking at this thing working its way across the country. by thursday it's in the midsection in the upper ohio river valley and then it makes its way off the eastern coast by friday. snowfall amounts, going to be heavier back through the upper midwest, talking about anywhere from six to nine inches of snow from bismarck all the way to pittsburgh. heavier snowfall amounts back through west virginia. as it gets to the east coast, we're basically looking at one to three inches of snow, but >> we have a slight chance of flurries but a little more sunshine. at 30 degrees in baltimore today. for your latest weather any time of the day or night, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. meredith? >> al, thank you very much. and -- oh, wait, i don't have the glasses on. al, thanks. up next, winter driving worries. what you need to know to stay safe behind the wheel. we are back at 7:43. with much of the country dealing with bitter cold, snow and ice, chances are, you're facing some pretty nasty driving conditions as you head out the door this morning. nbc's tom costello's in washington with a lesson on how to drive on the slippery stuff. tom, good morning. >> reporter: hey, matt, good morning. first of all, aaa reminds us a few things we should have in the car. first of all, they suggest a shovel, a cell phone, in case you need to call for help, also a flashlight, first aid kit, even kitty litter to put underneath the tires to give you traction. you may remember when the "today" show sent me to the colorado winter driving school? we thought this may be a good occasion to revisit some of the lessons we learned in steamboat springs. it's one of mother nature's most dangerous, even deadly, driving combinations. each year, snow and ice are a factor in 250,000 automobile accidents. 64,000 injuries, nearly 1,400 deaths. exactly what they teach drivers to avoid at bridgestone's winter driving school in colorado. >> our goal is to teach you to be alert, proactive drivers. ♪ >> reporter: let's do it. it all happens on a snow-packed track. >> i'd like you to speed up on the straightaways. >> reporter: in the shadow of steamboat mountain. >> the difference between driving on dry pavement and on ice is that ice magnifies bad driving techniques because you have so little traction. >> reporter: rule number one -- watch your speed. >> brakes, brakes, brakes, brakes, brakes. >> reporter: riding shotgun with me, veteran instructor kurt spitsner, who assures me that even though i've grown up driving in colorado -- ♪ spin me right round, baby, right round ♪ -- i still have a thing or two to learn. what's the number one mistake people make when they're driving on snow and ice? >> they try to brake and turn at the same time. >> reporter: you've got to do one or the other? >> one or the other. >> reporter: stopping on snow or ice can take four to ten times longer than on dry pavement. if you misjudge your stopping distance, it could be too late. and if your car is equipped with antilock brakes, the key is to apply solid pressure. don't let up. the brakes will lock and release on their own, providing more traction. if you don't have antilock brakes, you do want to pump the brakes. >> absolutely. the whole idea behind antilock brakes is that it keeps the tires rolling. >> reporter: because a moving tire provides the necessary grip. by pumping the brakes on a car without abs, you get that grip. the experts say when you're in a slide, look in the direction you want to go rather than the direction you're headed. >> look toward the solution. don't look toward the problem. >> reporter: finally, this is where all the skills come together, the steering, the braking. the car has to come down this hill and avoid a car accident represented by these blue cones, then go another 45 feet down the hill and avoid yet another accident. first few times, i skidded right through the cones. but with practice -- the third time was the charm. a better feel for snow and ice and having passed the class, maybe a break on my car insurance. yeah, that worked out pretty well, thanks to the today show, a break on my car insurance. i want to reiterate the main point of that class. if you have antilock brakes, you apply pressure and don't let up. the brake is going to pop back up on you. that's okay. you apply pressure. if you don't have antilock brakes, that's when you do pump your brakes. matt, back to you. >> all right, tom, good information, as always. well done. up next, an exclusive look at the san diego zoo's adorable, new baby panda. a rare unveiling is set for tomorrow at the san diego zoo. a panda born five months ago will finally make his debut. and nbc's lee cowan got an exclusive sneak peek. >> reporter: the public doing didn't start right away. after all, when yun zi was first down, he was a hairless clump only a mother could love. but in those four ounces was indeed a miracle, a rare addition to china's endangered panda population. >> a lot of people think that just because it is our fifth panda that, you know, it's old hat and we're getting used to it. it's extremely exciting. >> reporter: yun zhi quickly grew into his fur, into his paws and into his personality. >> they're so cute, like a stuffed animal. >> reporter: gail logged on to the zoo's web cam once a week to watch his progress. >> now it's very aggressive and loud. i think they're cute and shows its emotions and tells everybody what it thinks. >> oh, dang! >> reporter: at 5 months, he's basically a toddler, mildly curious, but that tires him out. >> a lot of napping, but that's pretty standard for even a giant panda adult. they eat, they nap, they forge and repeat. >> reporter: and the foraging part can be a challenge. take breakfast. his mother casually batted yun zhi out of the way, saving the rest for herself. it's her way of teaching. she's done it before, after all. yun zhi is the youngest of five. he gets to share the space with his two older sisters, but not for that long. his oldest sister here, su lin, is scheduled to head back to china this year in part of their own breeding program. >> part of what we want to do here is boost the numbers at the research centers in china as well, with the ultimate goal of reintroducing pandas back to the wild. >> reporter: for now, the lit e littlest will become one of the zoo's biggest attractions, a source of panda pride that only a few zoos can offer, and only until they're old enough to go home. lee cowan, nbc news at the san diego zoo. >> so sweet to see the bond, right, between the mom and baby. >> so much love there. it's adorable. >> meanwhile, eat, nap, forrage and repeat. that's my dream life. >> we should have been born pandas. >> dream on. >> doesn't get better than that. >> if you want to check out the san diego zoo's panda cam, you can do so by logging on to our website. so cute. just ahead, $100 for the groceries for 25 cents. the coupon mom's secrets revealed. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. we want to get that check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> dealing with several accidents, westminster, blocking all lanes, southbound bridge 127, is about 140 at sullivan road, shut down due to an accident. on the outer loop at the harrisburg expressway, a tractor trailer fire being reported. lyons mill road and owings mills, accident clean-up still in the process. at mlk and druid hill avenue, a crash there. another accident in the catonsville region. we are hearing that it does involve a pedestrian if you travel in belair, watch for crash scene here. and in the aberdeen vicinity, another accident. not so busy on southbound 95 coming out of the white marsh area. you will have some delays, but nothing major out there. here is with a big delays are on the outer loop northeast side. the tractor trailer fire reported. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> we are still seeing a little light snow on the eastern shore. we are seeing red muffler is making the way across central maryland. -- seeing random flurries making their way across central maryland. in a little bit better today. tonight, snow on the four best and it will persist through friday morning. >> our next live upd 8:00 now on a wednesday morning. it is the 6th day of january 2010. you know what? it's still chilly out here in the northeast, but not nearly as bad as it has been over the last couple of days. we've got temperatures up around 26 degrees right now. believe it or not, it's balmy for us, and just want to take a second to stop and show you these nice people who have gathered here on the plaza. i'm matt lauer along with meredith vieira. a little better out hire, right? >> it's not bad at all. >> not bad. are you a coupon clipper? >> i want to be one, but i'm not. >> what does that mean? >> because i think i should be, but i don't have the patience. >> we have the coupon mom with us today. get this, we sent her to the grocery store. she bought $100 worth of groceries and paid 25 cents. >> see, that's a reason to be a coupon clipper. >> exactly right. we're going to talk to her, get some secrets from her in just a little while. >> okay. plus, millions of americans last week made a resolution that they wanted to lose some weight. this morning you're going to meet three people who shed a lot more than a few pounds. they each lost half their weight. their new looks, just ahead, and we'll tell you how they did it. >> all right. and if your portfolio took a big hit in 2009 -- and i think the average one dropped about 30% -- >> right. >> an expert will show us some great bargain areas to invest in for 2010. but before we get to that, let's go inside. ann's standing by with a look at the headlines. >> all right, matt, thanks so much. good morning once again, everybody. in the news this morning, word early today that two democrats in the u.s. senate will not seek re-election is highlighting the party's fragile hold as a filibuster-proof majority. today, connecticut senator chris dodd, chair of the banking committee and a key figure in the health care reform debate, is to announce he will not seek a sixth term. and north dakota democrat byron dorgan said tuesday that he will not run again. meantime, a rising star in the democratic party, colorado governor bill ritter, has also decided that he will not seek re-election for a second term in november. suspected u.s. missile strikes in northwest pakistan today killed at least 13 people. the air raids took place in a region of north waziristan considered a haven for militants who attack u.s. troops in neighboring afghanistan. president obama says he is determined to move forward on airline security after reprimanding his top intelligence officials. the president said on tuesday that a failed christmas day bombing, planned bombing, was a screw-up that could have been disastrous, in his words. he said if officials had enough information to stop the bombing attempt but did not put the pieces today. officials are investigating why a surveillance camera at newark international airport was not recording on sunday during a security breach that delayed thousands of travelers. federal agents had to access a separate airline camera before they could view images of a mystery man who had bypasses security screeners. by then, he was already gone. icy temperatures across the south had farmers struggling to salvage their fruit crops. strawberry and citrus crops are in trouble from the gulf coast to florida. and to the north in new york state, where there is up to four feet of snow on the ground, a second wave of cold air is on the way. now here's brian williams with what's coming up tonight on nbc "nightly news." hey, brian. >> hey, ann, thanks. coming up tonight, here's the question -- can women be both fat and fit? we'll have the story of two women, two different body types. one got a perfect bill of health from her cardiologist. the other got a wake-up call. our special series on women's health continues tonight. we'll look for you then. back to you for now. >> i'll be there. thanks, brian. it is now 8:03. let's go back outside to meredith and matt. >> thank you, ann. before we go to al in vegas, your name is marcus? >> yes. >> take the mike. you have something you want to say, marcus? >> we haven't been together that long, but i love you and i was wondering if you -- will you marry me? >> who's got the ring, guys? >> i need an answer. >> yes. >> yeah! there you go. congratulations! >> marcus and kat, and suddenly, it's really hot here in new york city. >> you get to keep the microphone. >> congratulations. >> take it as a parting gift. congratulations. >> flash the ring, baby. it's beautiful. lovely. >> al's got a check of the weather. he's in las vegas this morning. al, we're doing your job for you back here. >> nicely done, marcus. >> maybe they could come out here and get married in vegas. >> there you go. >> oh, there you go! >> we're at the consumer electronics show, and this is every guy's dream. this is everything you want for your man cave is out here, including the latest technology. paul hochman from "fast company" magazine is here. paul, last year, we showed wireless electricity with a light bulb. this takes it like a light -- literally light years away. >> this is going to change everything. this is one of the true revolutions you'll see at the consumer electronics show every few years. higher electronics is the television company that is doing this. it is wireless electricity, meaning it's transferring power from this thing behind us to here. >> right. >> the guts of it is made by a company called witricity. this is a coil in here that creates a magnetic field that vibe rates at a very high frequency and transfers power to other devices. >> right now, the tv's got to be about six, seven feet away from this, but eventually -- >> yes. >> -- you could move the tv anywhere in your home. >> yes, the revolution is there be no more cables connecting gadgets to the wall. you won't have to plug in -- >> it is also receiving the television signal wireless. >> that's the great thing, too. instead of transferring power from here to here, they have created wireless high-definition video translated wirelessly to the television. you can put your television anywhere in the house, eventually, and you'll be able to do it without cable. >> so, this is kind of like when we had ethernet and you had to jack it into the router and then you had wi-fi. this is the same thing, only with electricity and -- >> very good analogy, exactly. most people remember connecting that cable to their computer. now, of course, it's through the air. >> wow, that's pretty cool. when will this be available? >> this is going to be a couple years. this is a prototype, but there >> up for 30's by this afternoon. this is the mildest we have been all week long. a slight chance for some flurries. tomorrow >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> hey, al, get this, marcus just proposed here a second ago. they're gone! they took off. i'm not going to say where they're going, but someone's going to have a good morning. anyway -- >> they're going to dean & deluca! >> yeah, right. when we come back, half their size. three people share their amazing weight loss transformations. lt . 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(announcer) choosey moms, and dads, choose jif. until i had my coffee. oh, hey. sorry, i haven't had my coffee yet. welcome to mcdonald's. can i interest you in... not before i have my coffee. premium roast coffee for just a dollar? talk to me. mcdonald's new dollar menu at breakfast. ♪ ba da ba ba ba that's why nature's bounty makes... a full line of high-quality vitamins, like fish oil for heart health. go to naturesbounty.com now for a $2.00 coupon. nature's bounty. perfect for every body. ♪ mmm... hot fudge sundae. ♪ ooh! frosted blueberry?!? ♪ over 25 flavors of kellogg's pop-tarts®. and they're all for fun and fun for all. pop-tarts®. made for fun. lash stiletto from maybelline new york. staggering length... up to 70% longer amazing black patent shine. there's only one lash stiletto don't fall for wanna-bes lash stiletto it's show-stopping! ♪ maybe it's maylline ♪ it's show-stopping! even people who are watching their weight often shop without really looking. wait. 310 calories? 340? 8 grams of fat? compare that to select harvest light soups. wow. 80 calories. 60 calories and no fat. with the first two light soups ever that are 100% natural. you get lots of satisfaction without lots of calories. select harvest light soups. from campbell's. the chevy malibu and toyota camry received 5 star crash safety ratings. but only malibu has onstar. big deal. i'll just use my phone. let's say we crashed. whoops, you lost your phone and you're disoriented. i'm not disoriented. now you are. onstar automatic crash response can call to see if you're ok. onstar emergency. is everything ok howie? you don't answer, they can automatically send help to your exact location. i think i'll ride with you. the award-winning malibu. from chevy. the exciting part about it was being one of the first people to use sensodyne iso-active. i couldn't believe the packaging it doesn't look a toothpaste. the gel turns into a foam it's expanding, it's bubbling. when i say it reaches the hard to reach places i mean, the little gap between your teeth back there i feel like it gets that. i got a little bit of toothpaste, i put it in my mouth, and then just 'pow'. after using sensodyne iso-active the sensitivity in my teeth subsided. the taste was great. i've told everyone about it-- double thumbs up. ♪ this morning on "take it off today," shedding half their body weight. it's truly an amazing feat, especially for people who have struggled their entire lives to lose weight. and in a moment, we're going to meet three people who did just that. their stories are featured in "people" magazine's annual "half their size" issue. galina espinoza is the magazine's senior editor. galina, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> last week we met three people on this show who had lost half their body weight. today we're going to meet three more. what is it about these folks that makes their stories so unique? >> i think the fact that they are able to do it on their own. you know, we get used to seeing reality television versions of how to lose weight, where people go and spend time in a special camp and they have trainers and nutritionists -- >> well, and don't knock that too much on nbc -- >> absolutely. >> there's something good about that, but -- >> no, absolutely, but for most people, it's not realistic. >> not realistic. >> these are people who in their everyday lives spent years working in, figuring out how to eat again, how to exercise, reprogramming themselves. >> exactly. >> and if they can do it, anyone can. >> and as you point out, they've done it through diet and exercise, the old-fashioned way. >> and it's a lot of hard work and a lifetime commitment, and i think that's the inspiration. >> let's get started. we have a before picture of brandy blackburn, who is 25 years old, from virginia. she lost 177 pounds from her starting weight of 340 pounds. there she is before. brandy, we cannot wait. come on out. ♪ she looks -- you look fantastic. >> thank you. >> how do you feel? i know you used to be self-conscious about your body. >> oh, it's amazing now. i'm a totally different person since i've gotten the weight off. >> in fifth grade, i understand, you already weighed 200 pounds. by the time you graduated high school, your heaviest weight of 340 pounds. why do you think, now looking back, that your weight spiraled out of control like that? >> i had awful eating habits. i never learned like good nutrition and good eating value, and i never worked out. and i'm from the south, so eating is a way of life and we all enjoy it. >> we all like it fried down there, too. >> absolutely. >> double fried. >> fry anything down there. and i never learned the good, core values of how to eat well and work out. >> and once you started working out, exercising and dieting, it took you two years to reach your goal weight. were there moments along that path where you thought, you know what, i'm not going to be able to do this? because everybody has plateaus, and -- >> oh, right, but i found a very good support system at sparkpeople.com that helped me get through those plateaus and keep going. >> and i know a lot of people don't recognize you. best moment since you've lost the weight? >> easy. we were at a company dinner and one of my husband's co-workers walked in and thought my husband had remarried -- >> really? >> because i looked so different. >> wow. >> or you were the girlfriend that no one knew about. >> secret from someone. >> well, you look fantastic, brandy. >> all right. >> and how long have you been able to keep it off to this point? >> i've been this weight for almost a year now. >> that is great. >> yes. >> congratulations to you. >> thank you so much. >> we're going to check out a before photo of our second "half their size" individual. this is deanna cantu, who is 51 years old from texas. deanna lost 191 pounds from her starting weight of -- get this -- 333 pounds. deanna, come on out. ♪ why do i feel this way, promise of a new day ♪ >> you are so tiny! >> thank you. >> wow, my gosh. and there was a point -- i'm sure it is still fresh in your mind -- when you were so large, you couldn't fit into the conference chair at work at all. >> no, no. it was very disconcerting and depressing. >> yeah. so, how do you feel now? >> oh, i feel fantastic. i can do so many things that i've always wanted to do. i'm a golfer, so i can golf and i can walk. you saw the picture in "people" magazine, i was climbing, rock climbing with my boys. they were astounded. "mom, you're really going to try this?" i'm like, yeah, why not? i can do it now. >> you had thought about gastric bypass. >> i did. >> but your dental hygienist turned you on to jenny craig. >> that's right. >> why did the jenny craig program work for you? >> well, i'm not a cook and i gained weight eating junk food and eating out at restaurants. i ate 5,000 calories a day. that's the equivalent of what two grown men eat probably in a day. >> and not exercising at all to boot. >> no, totally succeed meantry. so jenny craig worked because it was easy to prepare the food and the support system. the hardest part for me was humbling myself and asking for help, but that's what i needed. so the food and the consultation worked for me. i've been on it for 2 1/2 years. >> and you didn't join a gym at all. >> no. >> you decided i'll just do my exercise at home. >> i just walked. austin is beautiful, the hills. i just walked. >> and she has two boys who keep her active. >> right. >> and speaking of two boys, we want to introduce 16-year-old michael cantu, who is deanna's son. he did not lose half his body weight, but he did lose over 100 pounds from his starting weight of 270 pounds. michael, come on out. oh, my gosh. wow. unbelievable. >> it's hard to believe he was ever overweight. >> you don't even remember. >> no, not really. it's just a blur. >> you really -- what happened was you were in new york with your mom, right? >> yes. >> and she said, let's get on a scale. you did. were you shocked to see your weight was 270 pounds? >> i was very shocked because i didn't want to look at the scale before that. i didn't want to know what i weighed. i knew i was heavy, but i didn't want to measure it. >> and you did it with lean cuisine meals and supplemented with fruits and veggies. was that hard for you? >> it was for the first few weeks before my stomach shrank because i was feeling very hungry, but once i got past that, it was easy to stay on because i felt full. >> and what advice would you give to folks who are looking at you going, wow, it is unbelievable, i wouldn't know how to get started? >> this is a lifestyle change. it's not a quick fix or a quick diet. you have to be committed to overhauling your whole life and get committed and stay committed to it. >> and anyone can do this. as a woman of a certain age, anyone can do this. >> i know the age, honey. thank you so much, brandy, deanna and michael. congratulations to all of you. >> thee. >> galina, thanks for bringing their stories to us. up next, how to cut your grocery bill in half and perhaps a lot more. the coupon mom shows us how. triglycerides are still out of line? then you may not be seeing the whole picture. ask your doctor about trilipix. statin to lower bad cholesterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three cholesterol numbers. trilipix has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or stroke more than a statin alone. trilipix is not for everyone, including people with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease, or nursing women. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. blood tests are needed before and during treatment to check for liver problems. contact your doctor if you develop unexplained muscle pain or weakness, as this can be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. this risk may be increased when trilipix is used with a statin. if you cannot afford your medication, call 1-866-4-trilipix for more information. trilipix. there's more to cholesterol. get the picture. my name is chef michael. and when i come home from my restaurant, i love showing bailey how special she is. yes, you are. i know exactly what you love, don't i? - [ barks ] - mmm. aromas like rotisserie chicken. and filet mignon. yeah, that's what inspired a very special dry dog food. [ woman ] introducing chef michael's canine creations. so tasty and nutritious it's hard to believe it's dry dog food. chef-inspired. dog-desired. chef michael's canine creations. people think that honda is always the most fuel efficient choice. well, this chevy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has better mileage than accord. however, honda does make something that we just can't compete with. it's self propelled. chevy. compare us to anyone and may the best car win. and awhile back i got an idea right in there. and you know what it was? make my pc simpler. so what did i do? i pass it along to microsoft. next thing you know, windows 7 and this new snap feature. now if i'm working at two things at once i just drag this over here, this over here. snap! simpler! pretty much exactly what i told them. i mean i'm not trying to take all the credit... wife: he called his mother. of course i called her. she needed to know this. i'm a pc and windows 7 was my idea. make that first step easier, with the nicoderm cq patch. nicoderm steps you down from nicotine gradually. doubling your chance for success. nicoderm cq. three steps, ten weeks and you're free. mark olson is joined... by that woman from 3c. he's tried before to engage her. supposed to be kinda windy today. but today, he's ready. have you heard about mcdonald's new dollar menu at breakfast? she's interested. they talk about the savory sausage mcmuffin, the hearty sausage burrito, the premium roast coffee. mcdonald's new dollar menu at breakfast. a common interest. something to build on. this could be our song. nobody makes breakfast like mcdonald's. ♪ ba da ba ba ba sfx: mom: hang on, honey, it's gotta be in here somewhere. anncr vo: you know you're gonna need it. anncr vo: why not stock up for less at walmart? save an average of 25% on these products compared to leading national drug store chains. vo: save money. live better. walmart. >> announcer: "today's moms" is brought to you by walmart. save money. live better. walmart. ♪ keep to clipping, keep on clipping ♪ we're back at 8:20, and this morning on "today's mom," slashing your grocery bill. if you don't think it's worth your time to clip coupons, you have not met the coupon mom. wait until you see how much she helped "today's" jenna wolfe save on a recent shopping trip. >> reporter: cutting coupons may not have been chic before, but it's time to get frugal and pinch a few pennies. >> if you want to save $100 a week on your groceries, you do need to plan and be organized. >> reporter: stephanie nelson is known as the coupon mom. >> here's a promotion. if you buy nine of this manufacturer's items, i'll get a coupon for $5 off my next shopping order, plus a free $1 reusable shopping bag. and guess what? i also have coupons, and the store doubles coupons. that's the perfect storm. >> reporter: double coupons have a big payoff, but you have to set aside brand loyalty. okay, so, you need deodorant. is this your brand and it happens to be on sale or are you being flexible? >> i am completely brand flexible. >> reporter: okay. >> so, in this case, if this item is usually $2.49, i'll actually pay 49 cents. people say, oh, like, there's no coupons for what i use. i'm like, well, there's always coupons for toothpaste, so at least save here so you have more money to spend on the food you like. i'll end up paying 35 cents for a tube of toothpaste that usually costs $3.19. that's a deal. this item is on sale for $1. i have a 50-cent coupon, which they'll double, and i'll actually get this free. and i have four packages free. >> reporter: the moment of truth. time to check out the savings. now comes the fun part. >> now comes the fun part. this is the exciting part. okay. >> reporter: for a grand total of? >> 25 cents. >> reporter: 25 cents? you got $100 worth of groceries for a quarter. >> that's right. and that includes tax. >> and stephanie nelson joins us now. her new book is called "the coupon mom's guide to cutting your grocery bills in half." stephanie, good morning. >> good morning. >> do checkout people immediately ask to go on break when they see you coming with all your coupons? >> i think you have to be considerate. you have to be organized. >> you come up with something called the strategic shopping method. what exactly is that? >> well, strategic shopping is not about changing the way you eat. i want to emphasize that. it's really about changing the way you buy the food that you like, and it's a combination of knowing what prices are for your items, knowing what stores' savings programs are and knowing how to use coupons easily. combine it all, you're getting 25 cents on your bill. >> you also think it's important for people to understand the kind of shopper they are, and you've identified three different -- the busy shopper, the rookie shopper and the varsity shopper. i'm assuming the varsity shopper gets the tricks? >> that's right. and the key was, in writing this book, i wanted to make sure that anyone who picked it up could save money. you don't have to be the ultra shopping spending hours a week. the busy shopper is the shopper who really is never going to spend any time before shopping planning a list. they're not going to cut coupons. they're doing well just to get to the store. >> right. >> so, i have tips on what they can do once they get to the store, such as simply picking up the sales flyer and buy what's on the front page. that's always half off. the rookie shopper may see this and say hey, i'll try that. >> going to dive in a little bit more. >> i'm going to learn a little more, and you can spend an hour a week planning your trip with sales and coupons and you could save half. >> and the varsity shopper plots the whole thing out and gets to the store prepared. couple of questions. you say everybody should ask, do you double, triple coupons? >> you want to understand their policies. do you double coupons? do you triple coupons? do you have your own store coupons? and do you accept competitors' coupons? >> how often does that happen? >> generally one store in each major metro area will do that to be competitive. >> what about internet coupons, do all stores accept them? >> most stores do. the key is to be sure that you print legitimate internet coupons, and you can do that from legitimate coupon sites. >> couple things i want to touch on quickly. if you're shopping for dairy products, what's the main thing to keep in mind? >> best thing to do there, i compared prices, is go with the store brand. you'll save dramatically and it's good quality. >> what about produce, is there a way to save it there? >> do it yourself. if it takes you less than five minutes to wash lettuce, peel carrots, peel potatoes, you'll save 50% just by doing that. >> meat and poultry, buy a whole chicken and cut it into parts? >> actually, i would say just go with the front page sale item that's 50% off each week and buy enough for two, three weeks, put it in the freezer. >> let's say we have people down the middle road. they haven't a varsity shopper or the busy shopper. what's the average you think people can save on their weekly grocery bill? >> it's realistic that a rookie shopper would be able to save 30% to 50% on their grocery bill, and this is real money. we're talking about thousands a year. i've done it for 16 years, $80,000. that's a lot of money. >> stephanie, congrats. thanks for the info. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. let's get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> unfortunately, still dealing with a long list of accidents around the area. westminster, a crash, he spent 140 at sullivan road. watch for lane closures at -- in pikesville, watch for accident clean-up. we had a vehicle fire here but it has been put out. lyons mill road and owings mills, an accident clean-up still underway. at coldspring lane, an accident reported. another one still clearing with a pedestrian in catonsville. as far as delays, we not doing all that bad. we have one more to mentioned at jarrettsville at nelson mill road. on the west side, you can see some sun glare there, but the delays are not that bad. slow spots on the outer loop. harford road, and a bit heavier on the outer loop making your way from belair road towards the harrisburg expressway. >> we are monitoring some snow flurries out there. a light snow and getting through the eastern shore. we have seen that throughout this morning. we could see some of flurries throughout the afternoon. a burst of sunshine will take us into the upper 30's. tomorrow, increasing clouds. by tomorrow evening, some snow showers. it will persist overnight tonight. a couple of inches of snow are possible by friday morning. >> thank you for joining us. will another update at 8:55. good morning. >> good morning! >> 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, january 6th, 2010, 2010, however you want to say it. we have a loud, enthusiastic crowd. let's get some enthusiasm, guys! enjoying this day on rockefeller plaza, and we are happy they decided to drop by. just ahead, help if you're one of the many americans who lost a chunk of their retirement savings in 2009. and that is a lot of people. an expert will tell us where to put some of the savings this year to make back some of the lost money. >> and also if you noticed, we've padded the walls of the studio because tim allen is in the house. you know him from "home improvement," the santa movies. now he has a new movie, he financed, directed, made all the costumes, choreographed all the dance numbers. he's amazing. >> he's the man. >> we're going to talk to tim allen in a couple seconds. okay, you know, on this bitter cold week, what would make you feel yummy and cozy in terms of a good, hot meal? >> oh, i didn't know what you meant. >> didn't know where you were going with that. >> chicken pot pie, right? >> oh, the best. >> we have mark bittman here. a lot of people don't want to eat the pie part because people think it will make them chunkier. well, mark bittman has more on how to make the chunkiness and not the pie. by the way, did you know you were on a bucket list? >> i always worry, now that we've met you, you're not going kick the bucket now, are you? okay, good. >> not on the show, anyway, please. >> are you okay? >> no, i'm not. you want to tell? >> let's get a check of the weather right now. al is out in las vegas, as meredith kicks the bucket. >> oh, well. >> ooh, wow. sounds like she's got a hair ball. let's just stay on meredith for a while. >> no, no, no. go to weather. >> okay. we're here at the consumer electronics show in las vegas. and a lot of new stuff, including this lg, beautiful high-definition display. i mean, it is so thin. but the big news they're touting is this bd-590, this blueray disc. now, that's nothing new, right? but this has a 250-gigabyte hard drive on it, so it basically becomes a media center. you can watch movies, put photos in there, listen to your music. and the other thing -- look, i've got a blueray disc at home. you try to load that thing and it seems like it takes forever. look how fast this comes up. boom! you've got a movie playing. i love it. just happens to be a fine universal movie, "the bourne ultimat ultimatum." we love it and we're looking forward to the fourth bourne movie later. anyway, let's check your weather. i could watch this all day, but i can't. let's check your weather, see what's going on, and we'll show you for today we've got sunshine up and down the eastern seaboard, heavy snow working through the plains as another storm system comes in. the bitter cold continues down south. more rain in the pacific northwest. then for tomorrow, we're expecting the rain to move into the interior northwest then get out of there and they'll have sunshine but frijth conditions. snow from the great lakes all the way down into the mid-mississippi river valley. snow showers and snow flurries >> we have a slight chance of flurries but a little more sunshine. at 30 degrees in baltimore today. -- e.b. present baltimore >> that's your latest weather. now let's head on down to florida. uncle willie, how cold is it in ft. myers? >> so hot down here, you wouldn't believe it. believe me, you wouldn't believe it. hey, what is a gigabyte? do they sell those at mcdonald's? you're incredible. you know all that electronic -- >> gigabyte. >> unbelievable. see if you can find me an arvan radio from western auto. that was my kind of stuff. you're a beautiful man. happy birthday from smucker's. how sweet it is. i'll tell you, we've got some winners today. take a look, if you will, please. this is ora holland of tulsa, oklahoma. get this, if you ever wondered about whether doctors are always right, she was told by a doctor when she was born she wouldn't live to be 10 years old because of a bone disease. at 109, she can't find a doctor in the yellow pages anymore. leola brown is in town, dexter, kansas, 100 years old. secret to longevity is never drinking or smoking and enjoys fishing and growing veggies. boy, i'll tell you, more people live to be 100 like to garden. bess pirkle of cleveland, tennessee, 103. third time she's tried to get on the show. i'm glad she's on. she's in good shape. retired postal worker and helped to found the oldest baptist church in cleveland. god bless her. fred neiger, st. louis, missouri, meet me in st. louis, 100 years old. retired from the ministry at 96 and is going to go on a cruise with his family on his birthday. isn't that terrific? god bless him. and caroline miskiewicz, westbrookfield, mass. 100. proud member of the saturday singers group and active participant in a bowling league. look at roland. i love the name roland. roland sharer of burlingame, california, is 100 years old and won the senior tennis title at 93. he is a good man, and that's it! meredith, i love you, always have and always will. >> willard, thank you so much. and up next, funny man tim allen on his new project "crazy on the outside," but first, the funny and talented actor/comedian tim allen's probably best known for his role as tim "the toolman" taylor on the '90s sitcom "home improvement." his latest project he not only stars in, but also directs and produces. it's called "crazy on the outside." who thought of that title? tim allen, good morning. nice to see you. >> nice to see you, matt. >> direct, produce, star in. you couldn't find anybody else to help you out? what happened? >> i did costumes, funny joke. that was nice. >> good. why did you take on all those roles? >> the idea is, i've done a lot of movies and a lot of movies i wish were better, and i wondered about the director's role in the final edit, especially in comedy. sometimes we do great movies and i say, what happened to one scene when we did this and -- >> you didn't want it left in somebody else's hands. >> well, costner's a friend of mine and he said look what i've done. and mel gibson's done that thing. this is not that scope, but it was a comedy. and chaplain always directed his comedies. i got the project. it was one of the funnier scripts i've ever read. disney owned it originally and thought it was a little adult. there was a little language in it, but i took most of it out and got a pg-13 out of it. >> and businesswise -- >> it didn't fit. >> you've done acting with sigourney weaver, kelsey grammar, julie bowan, and you drafted them into this. what's it like working with friends as a director? i mean, can you still have the same assertive stance, or do you go, well, we're all buddies, but please do it my way. >> well, that's what it was. i told them what the situation was, i'm the director. none of them even hiccupped. they said that's fine. they loved the script. and most of the actors, especially sigourney, because she's taller than me and i think she could take me in a cage match -- >> two out of three. >> easily. i mean, i could get her if she wasn't looking. but i said, look, when it gets to comedy, i'm very specific. that's why i'm doing this. i want you to say it as written or say it as i tell you. the only thing that i have no -- >> because it would seem crazy to want to direct something so you have control you didn't have in the other movies and give it up just because you're working with friends. >> right. the edit and muz puting the music together -- i have a great crew in los angeles and helicopter shots and all of the stuff i always wanted to do. i wish i had more time like every directors probably said. >> more money? >> more money. i was probably going, that water bottle's not empty. how about bring a lunch to work day and share with everybody? we were shooting in malibu and i'm looking down the beach at the santa monica pier, and i said, geez, look, that's a big movie. they lit up the whole sky, and my dp, robbie greenberg, said that's us. that's our cameras. we're lighting up the ferris wheel. i went, what does that truck cost? he said, well, the union gave you a deal, we'll keep it over two days -- all i hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, $5,000. oh, god. can't we just get some flash lights? they make the police ones that are really bright, l.e.d.s and stuff. >> you play tommy in the movie, and in this scene we're about to see, sigourney weaver is driving tommy home from prison where he's been for three years. let's take a look. >> let's go. grammy is busting. >> she's excited i'm finally out, huh? >> well -- >> "well"? well? hey, vick, well what? >> tom, we never exactly told her you were in prison. her heart. we were toofraid. >> i know about her heart. so, where have i been for three years? >> welcome home from france. >> france? >> we picked france, you know? we want to be friends with them. >> could have picked staten island, anywhere -- >> no, this script was so much fun and all the actors read it and said the same thing i did. it's really funny, but it clicks. it's an adult comedy with a bunch of heart to it. >> you were talking about money and lighting up the santa monica pier. i don't know why it came into my mind, but is it hard for you to get your arms around the idea that "avatar" has made over $1 billion in three weeks? >> those are the figures i'm looking for here. i'm looking -- i really have thought -- because i will say this about my movie, because sigourney's starring in this, too -- this is ten times funnier than "avatar." literally, "avatar's" good if you don't mind blue indians, but this is a much funnier movie. you know, james cameron is good, but i, i really see things bigger, huge. >> you live the santa monica pier. >> $1 billion is where we're headed. i want to own my own home. >> come back -- >> starts this friday, by the way. >> help tim allen not be a renter anymore. "crazy on the outside" opens in theaters this friday, as he just said. coming up next, investment bargains that could make you a lot of money, but first, this is "today" on nbc. back at 8:45. the average investor in the u.s. lost 30% of their retirement savings in 2009. cnbc contributor and author ron insanaa says the news is not all bad. his new book is called "how to make a fortune from the biggest bailout in u.s. history." ron, good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. >> before we get to how to make a fortune, i want to talk about the housing numbers just out. pending sales of previously owned homes fell sharply in december by about 16%. does that mean we're really not out of this recession? >> no, in fact, it's probably just a quirk. what happened in october was most home buyers thought the tax credit of $8,000 was expiring. turned out, congress and white house extended it into april of this year. >> april, right. >> so, there was a payback because people loaded up in october trying to get that credit, thinking it was gone and november just fell back. i think when you look at how home stocks did yesterday on wall street, they were up even though the news was bad. this tells us we could reaccelerate again in december. >> hopefully so. your book, i guess the theory behind it is when the going gets tough, the tough start investing again. >> absolutely. >> what about people, we just said, losing 30% of their income? they're a little nervous about dipping their toe back in the stock market. >> and understandably so. i mean, listen, last two years have been extraordinarily rough, worst recession since, you know, the great depression, the unemployment rate went to levels we haven't seen since the early '80s. and 2009, there was a great rebound on wall street. 2010 is a year for main street, and if people understand that this year the economy will be good and that they can't really stand still. you know, there are opportunities on the real estate front in particular, which i think are generational in nature. this is one of the few times in life you get an opportunity to buy at the bottom of the market, whether it's a foreclosed home or a new home. you've got government assistance and you have very, very inexpensive prices. so, it's time to move. >> so, that's your number one piece of advice then, really -- >> yeah. >> rethink real estate at this point? >> absolutely. you look at what the government's doing until april, giving you a $8,000 tax credit, which you can use towards a down payment. the foreclosure market is interesting, whether in san diego, henderson, just outside of las vegas, phoenix, florida, where all new yorkers at age 60 are forced by law to move. there are 80,000 condos for sale in miami. there are a whole host of opportunities, both in existing homes and new homes, where you can find great bargains. >> moving beyond real estate, you say it is a good time to look at bank stocks. why bank stocks? >> well, you know, they were battered during this particular financial crisis. >> sure. >> and they're still relatively inexpensive if you're looking out five to ten years. i mean, it's not very often that you get a chance to buy citigroup, which is one of the biggest banks in this country, that's not going to fail, that's not going to be taken over by the government, for $3 and change. so it doesn't take that much money to put that in your retirement account, and if you think citigroup's gone in five or ten years, we have bigger problems than the amount of money you spent buying the stock. but if you think it will be $10, $15, $20, you'll make a lot on that initial investment. >> and looking at the bond market, tips or treasurely inflated protected securities. what are those? >> right. these are a special kind of bond created during the clinton administration that give you a bump up in yield, or the interest rate goes up as the inflation rate goes up. so, if you think that the economy's recovering and that the worst of the recession is behind us, as i do, then these bonds will be worth more, where regular bonds will be worth less. so, these are protected from future inflation and you get extra yield or extra interest rate payments as a consequence. and most financial experts think that these are one of the best buys out there right now for individuals. >> and in the 30 seconds we have left, the cautionary note in all of this? >> well, look, we can correct any time. we had a 60% rally in the stock market. real estate may have not hit bottom yet, although i think it has. in the next one to two years, anything could happen, but if you look out five to ten years, like a warren buffett or other professionals, they know that most of these assets are going to be higher in value. this is a good time to be buying. >> so, if you need your money right away, the book's not for you, but if you can span it out over 10, 15 years. >> if you need the money right away, it's never time to take risk. you put the money safely somewhere, very low yield so you know that it's there. but if you have 5, 10, 15, 20 years, this is where you should be jumping in. and you can buy a primary residence or you can buy investment properties now because the government has a $6,500 tax credit for people who already own homes who want to buy additional property. >> ron insana, thank you so much. your first investment should be the book "how to make a fortune." up ne this morning on "how to cook everything today," the perfect recipe on a cold winter's night, chicken, not pie. mark bittman is a "new york times" columnist and author of "food matters: a guide to conscious eating." mark, good morning. nice to see you. >> hello, matt. >> why would you do this to me? one of my favorite dishes is chicken pot pie, and my favorite part of chicken pot pie is the crust. >> it's revenge, sort of, really. >> is that what you're doing? what are we, trying to save calories here? >> well, we're trying to sort of change the proportions of the stuff that's really, really good for you and the stuff that's not good for you. your typical crust has a stick of butter, cup of flour, 1,200 calories. i can make you an enjoyable pot pie without that crust. >> chicken not pie. >> right. >> we've got chicken and leeks on the stove. >> there's olive oil in here. we've been sauteing these leeks for a couple minutes. >> okay. >> we're going to put in a little bit of wine. >> is this chicken stock? >> a little broth -- well, it's vegetable stock, but any stock will do. the whole thing. >> whole thing, okay. >> you can use water also. >> all right. >> herbs, thyme, better gone, whatever you like. this is tarragon. simmer these babies until they're -- >> using boneless chicken breasts, or tenderloins. >> which is the supermarket term for thinner chicken breasts, sliced chicken breasts. >> you'll cook those for a while but take them out before they're completely done. >> take them out just as they're finishing, because after that, they're going to dry out. >> okay, great. >> now we have an assortment -- we have a fabulous taste in broth, because it's broth accentuated by chicken, right, and the leeks. and we're going to add some potatoes. >> what kind of potatoes? >> yukon golds. was that a test? we have some parsnips and carrots. >> asparagus. >> asparagus and peas. >> you can use frozen if you don't have fresh? >> for peas, you can absolutely use frozen. for asparagus, you know, i might use some -- if there weren't fresh asparagus, i might use brussel sprouts or cabbage. this is kind of -- it's a stew. >> you can make some substitutions. how long does think to cook down? >> say ten minutes. >> all right, great. now -- >> and meanwhile, while that's cooking, you cut up your chicken. >> all right. make sure this hasn't dried out. still good. >> okay, good. i was worried there for a minute. >> it's okay. and that's going to go back in here. >> and you want that in big chunks. >> when that's -- well, you want -- you might want it in smaller chunks. you might want chunks like that. bite-sized chunks. >> and how long does this whole thing have to cook? >> i would say -- the chicken in the first pot for ten minutes, the vegetables in here for about ten minutes, and then warming the chicken -- this will thicken and warm -- another two or three minutes, basically. >> all right. so, that's cooked down for there and this is what it looks like. a lot of chicken pot pies have the creamy finish. this has more of a brothy finish to it. >> this is very brothy, and i think you can call it -- you know -- good morning. >> good morning. >> right on cue. spoon goes in the pot, the door opens. >> yum. >> call it, you know, there's an old-fashioned recipe called chicken in a pot, which is basically chicken with a bunch of vegetables. >> that's what this is. >> and that's kind of what this is. are you passing them down? >> thank you. this is chicken soup with most of the stuff -- >> and you can serve this with a great couple of biscuits, right, butter? >> dough, exactly. >> if you'd like -- >> and some butter. >> over some rice or noodles, anything you like, but there you go. >> let's try it. >> i started mine already, so -- >> you did. mark bittman's shochicken not p >> i still want the crust. >> of course you want it, but you can't have it, right? >> okay. if you can't have it, then you have the next best thing. >> you have to settle. this is okay. mark, thank you very much. >> what a compliment. thanks, matt. >> wow. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. it is back to the court house for baltimore mayor sheila dixon. her lawyers hope to be granted a new trial c. it would focus mostly on. conduct did the defense argues that five of the jurors inappropriately contacted each other on facebook. if the trial is not granted, the mayor could face sentencing on january 21. stay with wbal-tv and wbaltv.com for the latest updates and we will have a live >> now let's take a look at the forecast with sandra shaw. >> we have been on entering light snow, no major accumulation. flurries could be out there again this afternoon. 36 to 39. a little more sunshine this afternoon breaking through. we are concerned about thursday night injured friday. the clipper system will approach from the west. it will bring as a light dusting of snow, maybe one to two inches by friday morning. >> we will have another update in 25 minutes.

Transcripts For WRC Today 20100106

good morning. breaking news. nbc news has learned high-ranking democratic senator chris dodd of connecticut will not seek re-election. this just hours after another senate democrat announced his own plans to retire. so, what does it say about the state of the democratic part more on the way. a second surge of even colder air set to move in as a huge portion of the nation grapples with the longest stretch of cold weather in decades. and tragic life and death. new details emerge about casey johnson, the 30-year-old heiress to the johnson & johnson family fortune, and how she was living in her final months today, wednesday, january 6th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm meredith vieira. do you hear that noise? >> what is it? >> it's the buzzing in washington with news that two prominent democrats may be leaving the senate. >> it's absolutely true. chris dodd of connecticut and north dakota's byron dorgan both have served in washington for nearly 30 years. they chair some key senate committees, and their departures will have a major impact on both parties for this year's midterm elections. so, what could it all mean for washington's political landscape? president obama and much more? we'll talk about that in just a little while. also ahead, speaking of president obama, he blasted the intelligence committee on tuesday for failing to connect the dots on that attempted plane bombing. in fact, he called the incident a screw-up, this as new video surfaced of a third party crasher showing him walking right through the white house's front door at that now infamous state dinner. so, should people be losing their jobs over these debacles? we will get into that. ready to say aww? >> aww! >> that's right. we'll take a look at the san diego zoo's baby panda, ready to make his public debut, and we've got an exclusive first look at that little guy. the world is probably going to fall in love with. >> i'm sure. but we begin with that news out of washington this morning that two democratic senators will retire. nbc's andrea mitchell is in washington with the very latest. andrea, good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. well, the big news, of course, that veteran democratic senator chris dodd of connecticut, faltering in the polls, will not run for another term. this is a seat once held by his late father. dodd had been in trouble at home since he ran for president in 2008, actually moving his family to iowa. that angered connecticut voters. he also got caught up in the banking mess, when as the head of the senate banking committee, he had to acknowledge receiving what was described as favorable treatment on a home mortgage. of course, his closest friend in the u.s. senate, senator ted kennedy, died last summer. that was a major blow. dodd then picked up kennedy's mantle on health care legislation, but he's also spear-heading a compromise on landmark banking regulation. that could now falter if dodd loses clout as a lame duck. dodd's decision to retire became known only a few hours after another democratic stalwart, senator byro dorgan said he wouldn't run. he was also challenged at home. and senate majority leader reid didn't know in advance of either decision. he faces a tough election this year. >> how significant is the timing of these announcements and what do you think it will mean psychologically and symbolically for the democrats who face a tough november coming up? >> it's huge. dodd's decision could actually improve democratic chances in their state. there is a popular attorney general,ichard blumenthal there. so they ve a chance of holding that seat. dorgan's seat will probably be taken by north dakota's republicans, maybe the governor if he chooses to run. now also, democratic governor bill ritter believed to be once a rising star in the party, says for family reasons, he is not seeking a second term. these senate resignations could make it harder for the democrats to keep their 60-vote ruling edge in the senate and also could make it harder for the president to copal together those coalitions he needs on health care and other key bills. >> i was going to ask you, wha does it mean for the president, and you answered it for us. andrea mitchell, thank you so much for your perspective. >> you bet. >> it is 7:04. here's matt. in talking about the president, there was blunt talk from president obama on tuesday when it comes to the failed christmas day attack on a u.s. airliner. he called the entire performance of the intelligence community not acceptable. nbc's savannah guthrie's at the white house with more on that. savannah, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. aides inside the meeting say the president gave agency heads a stern rebuke, telling them point blank this is a screw-up that could have had tragic implications, but for now, the president is standing by his team. no heads rolling yet. the president emerged from the nearly two-hour meeting and put the blame squarely on the intelligence community. >> when a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on christmas day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way. >> reporter: the president said point blank, the attempted attack would have been avoided if intelligence agencies had pieced together thenformation they already had in their possession, including the red flag that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula intended to strike targets in the u.s. >> this was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had. so, we have to do better and we will do better and we have to do it quickly. amican lives are on the line. >> reporter: inside the meeting, the president said he would tolerate no finger-pointing, and aides say agency heads were quick to identify where their own departments had failed. but are jobs on the line? while promising accountability, the white house has signaled support for homeland security secretary janet napolitano, despite early missteps. >> the system worked. >> reporter: and aides say the president is withholding judgment on the fates of other top officials until the review by counter terror chief john brennan is complete in a matter of days. >> the breakdown was information-sharing and lack of creative thinking within the intelligence community. what the president has to do is assure that situation doesn't happen in the future. >> reporter: already, the administration has added more explosives detection teams at airports and more air marshals on flights. dozens of names have been added to the no-fly list, hundreds more to a list requiring secondary passenger screening. and the state department will now require warnings about potential terrorists to include current visa information. >> in short, we need our intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement systems and the people in them to be accountable and to work as intended, not just most of the time, but all of the time. >> reporter: well, the president also announced he's suspending transfers of yemeni prisoners who were in guantanamo back to yemen for the time being, but he says guantanamo will close as planned, although as we know, matt, the deadline, which was supposed to be later this month, has slipped. >> all right, savannah, thanks very much. savannah guthrie at the white house. fox news contributor dana perino served as white house press secretary for president george w. bush. anita dunn is the former white house communications director for president obama. ladies, good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning, matt. and happy new year, dana. >> thank you. >> thank you to both of you. dana, let me start with you and this failed attempt to blow up northwest airlines flight 253. a lot of problems, a lot of mistakes. the president now says the system failed in a potentially disastrous way, intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged, it's not acceptable, i will not tolerate it. so, simple question -- does someone have to lose his or her job over this? >> i don't necessarily think so. i think that president obama has to make those decisions. a lot of people wake up in the morning when they work on capitol hill and say i'm going to call for somebody's resignation today. i think possibly president obama thinks that would be very disruptive to the current system. now, one way to change -- >> but if you put a systemn place and you put key people into that system, in important positions, and they fail collectively -- >> well, that's why he ordered a review, and i think that he's doing the right thing in checking it all out. i do think that initially, the first reaction, the first statement from president obama was that this was an isolated incident, an isolated person. that is dangerous. i would like to know, how did he -- who gave him that initial information? that's what was dangerous, but looks to me like they're trying to right the ship now. maybe somebody will lose their jobs after this review, but i think it's right to not just fire off a shot. >> anita, the system, or some people in it, have been compromised, haven't they? >> no, matt, i think what dana said is important, which is when something like this happens, as the prident said, you do a review, you figure out what went wrong, you fix what needs to be fixed going into the future, and above all, you do what you need to do to keep the american people safe and secure, which is the commitment president obama made when he took office, it's the commitment he is going to keep. i think that the review is going to be very important for the white house moving forward to make sure, maybe there's some things that have been in place for years that were right five years ago aren't right for today. we face an enemy that is nimble, quick and ever changing their tactics. we have to be as nimble and quick as well. >> right. >> and i think that that's one of the things that is going to be important coming out of this is how do we stay one step ahead as opposed to playing catch-up. >> let me touch on another aspect of this, and i'd like to touch it o it briefly, because i do think we can get rid of it. this idea that people are saying that the president doesn't take the threat of terrorism seriously enough because he's not out there talking about it every day. we hear him talk about health care and the economy. can we admit that any wartime president deals with terrorism on a daily basis even if he is not out there speaking about it on a daily basis? >> i have no doubt that as soon as president obama walked into the oval office he realized the full weight of his responsibilities, and i'm sure it's the first thing that he thinks about every morning when he wakes up. here's where the problem is, though, matt. it's not whether or not that's where the focus is internally, it's that people around the world, and especially in america, feel like they haven't heard enough about it. it's not that -- >> you're saying it's an image problem? >> well, i think that they have written a narrative that he is interested in it but not as interested in it as maybe they would like him to be. >> written a narrative? anita, is dana trying to hint at the choiz of words he uses here sometimes, is that the problem? >> you know, matt, i think it's interesting that people, particularly some of the republicans who have tried to politicize this, are now reduced to quibbling about semantics. i mean, the reality is that it was barely a month ago when the president made a major primetime speech to the american people from west point, new york, precisely on the subject of the war on terror and what we needed to do to continue that and to win it. it is something that he has talked good from his inaugural. it is something that he has been active on. he is briefed every morning, every morning -- >> okay, but -- >> -- as presidents are. and dana, let me finish. and the reality is that, you know, this is something that the administration has been active on. john brennan made a major speech in august outlining the strategy -- >> i'm running out of time and i want to give dana the last word. >> here's the thing, anita, if that were true, we wouldn't be having this discussion today. i'm not trying to make it political, but i am saying that from a narrative standpoint, they have written themselves into a corner. i think they're trying to fix it and i think it's important that the commaer in chief had that meeting yesterday and make sure that everybody knows, this is the top priority and i want you to innovate and get ahead of these terrorists. >> and anita, i am going to ask you one last question in 10, 15 seconds, if you can. the decision by chris dodd and byron dorgan to not seek re-election, is this a bad pr day for democrats today that might work out better in the long haul? >> matt, six republican senators have announced they're not running for re-election. two democratic senators are announcing they're not running for re-election. maybe in washington new math, that's bad for the democrats, but the reality is, we're going to wage active campaigns for both those seats, and i think that they'll both be very competitive. >> anita dunn and dana perino, ladies, thanks. nice to have you both here. >> thank you. >> it's 12 minutes after the hour. once again, here's meredith. >> matt, thank you. airline safety is not the white house's only security concern. we're also learning more about a third uninvited guest who managed to sneak into the obamas' white house state dinner back in november. nbc's norah o'donnell has details. good morning to you, norah. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. a lawyer for the alleged third party crasher admits to nbc that not only did his client get into the white house, but he stayed for dinner, and he insists he was invited, but the secret service says this guy was never on any list. his name is carlos allen, caught on camera entering the front door of the white house, just moments before the president stood in the very same place with the prime minister of india. allen was not on any official guest list and snuck in with the indian official delegation who had gathered before at the willard hotel. e state department was responsible for escorting the group, and an administration official tells nbc news, "we absolutely should have caught it." >> the secret service did put this individual through magnetometers, but the secret service did absolutely no background check on him. so, he could have been a murderer, he could have been involved with terrorist groups. >> reporter: but unlike the salahi gate crashers -- >> mr. and mrs. salahi. >> reporter: -- the sect service says it appears allen never had contact with the president or first lady. a d.c. party promoter, allen likes to be photographed with celebrities. his website even shows a party shot with michaele salahi, who also crashed the dinner. >> it is, i must say, an extraordinary coincidence that there would be three gate crashers who actually knew each other coming into the white house in different directions. >> reporter: so, who exactly is carlos allen? he runs an event company called hush galleria, which promotes itself as placing "up and coming individuals with elite individuals in luxury environments." >> a lot of times, you know, we've always focused on people's, like, what they're driving, what they're wearing, but we never talk about, you know, what they're doing as far as good things. >> reporter: the fact that three uninvited guests got into the white house is raising new questions about the secret service. >> it's pretty difficult to say that somebody didn't fail to do their job. >> reporter: on december 3rd, the director of the secret service told congress the salahis crashing the party was a "isolated incident." >> there were no other people there that night. >> reporter: nbc news had learned it was not until two weeks later that the secret service learned that carlos allen had, in fact, also slipped through security. >> it would be very easy, given the secret service's corner-cutting, for an assassination to take place. >> reporter: now, congress is not happy about this. the head of the committee on homeland security, betty thompson, says this third incident shows "a pattern of the secret service failing to protect the president." now, the secret service admits some mistakes, but they say they have taken the steps to make sure that this never happens again. meredith? >> hope not. norah o'donnell, thank you very much. it is 7:15, and once again, here's matt. >> meredith, thank you. now to the deadly deep freeze that simply won't end. in fact, right now the nation is in the middle of the longest stretch of below-normal temperatures in some 25 years. nbc's janet shamlian's in kansas city, missouri. janet, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. 14 degrees in kansas city right now, and it's only going to get colder over the next few days. two-thirds of the country, temperatures are in a free fall, and forecasters say unlike most cold snaps, which last two or three days, this one is going to hang on. in a winter that's already dumped travel-crippling snow and ice on much of the nation, now comes the deep freeze. >> some of the coldest air of the season so far will be moving in. >> blowing snow, even blizzard conditions possible at times. >> reporter: bitter, bone-chilling cold blanketing as much as two-thirds of the u.s., from the rockies, pushing east, and deep into the shell-shocked south. >> what are you going to do? they wanted to go swimming, you know? we came to florida to go to the beach. >> reporter: even where they expect winter's worst,t's a record-breaker. minus 37 in international falls, minnesota, minus 16 in st. joseph, missouri. by week's end, little rock could see 10 degrees, dallas will be in the 20s. >> when you have conditions like this, sustained periods of this kind of cold weher, it really is about protecting people's lives. >> reporter: the nation's bread basket turning into an ice box. in des moines, iowa, tim cullen is using three space heaters that are doing little to cut the chill. >> i've got to admit, this is the coldest i think i've ever been. >> reporter: beyond the cold, even more snow is coming. >> frozen, like a popsicle. >> reporter: not everyone is running from the cold. >> we're just conditioning our bodies -- >> exactly. >> -- to enjoy the rest of the winter. >> we live here. we might as well face the facts, right? >> reporter: forecasters say what's unusual about this cold snap is how widespread it is and how long it will last. >> i think it's miserable. >> i've got four pair of socks on and my feet still get cold. >> reporter: so, dangerously cold, in fact, the cdc has issued an advisory about exposure to these elements, including, matt, the risk of frostbite and hypothermia. matt, back to you. >> all right, janet, thank you very much. janet shamlian in kansas city. by the way, in our next half hour, we'll get some tips on how to drive in all these dangerous and icy conditions. >> all right, but for now, let's get a check of the rest of the morning's top stories from ann curry at the news desk. hey, annie, good morning. >> hey, meredith and matt. good morning, everybody. we begin with a missile strike during the night believed to be fired by the united states. it struck northwest pakistan, blowing up what is described as a militant compound and killing at least four people. it is the third strike this year aimed at the taliban and al qaeda. in the effort to track down a man whose security breach shut down a terminal for six hours, a setback. on tuesday, investigators determined that a camera system at the security checkpoint was not working properly at the time of the incident. officials in california are looking into the cause of a deadly helicopter crash on tuesday. they say the helicopter was carrying biologists in the sierra national forest. four people were killed. a small plane crashed outside of chicago, killing all people board. it is not clear yet why it went down in a river in a forest preserve. members of an antiwhaling group are accusing a japanese whaling ship of deliberately ramming their boat today off antarctica. the boat had its front sheered off in the collision. the six crew members were rescued. the whaling ship blames the smaller boat for the collision. this morning overseas markets are mostly lower. cnbc's melissa lee is at the stock exchange with more. what are you hearing about holiday shopping season? something about that? >> well, ann, you didn't think you would be thinking about this for 11 months or so, but not so for wall street. good news, the holiday shopping season turned out better than expected, proving that leaner inventories and fewer discounts actually paid off. it was the jewelers and consumer electronics stores that did the best, and those online retailers actually poste the strongest gains, 17%, in the month of december, thanks to all of that cold winter weather, ann. >> melissa lee this morning, thanks, melissa. and you may not know his name, but you certainly know his work. david murbach, who selected the rockefeller center christmas tree for the last 26 years, has died of heart disease. he spent each year looking for a tree, including this year's tree that had what he called personality and character. david murbach was 57 years old. it is now 7:20. let's go back to matt and meredith. now we know who to thank for those 26 years of heart-warming images -- >> certainly knew how to pick beautiful trees year after year after year. >> provided us with a lot of happiness. condolences to his family. mr. roker has left us in the chilly northeast for some warmer temperatures. he's in las vegas, baby, for the -- what are you there for, the consumer electronics show, al? >> that's right, 2010 consumer electronics show, and again, i want to extend my thoughts and prayers for david murbach's family. i worked with him for years for the rockefeller christmas lighting and he's just a terrific guy. as you said, we are here at the consumer electronics show. 2,500 exhibitors showing off 20,000 new products all here. they're talking, the big buzz, 3d. well, also, digital cameras a big deal like this one. this is the samsung duel view. it's got a little lcd screen right in front so you can take pictures of yourself. and then over here is the kodak slice. this will allow you to wirelessly upload your pictures to your facebook page, flicker or your own website. so, that's pretty cool stuff. but we're going to move from cool to cold. we're talking about bitterly cold temperatures. down in florida, again, 12 days now since we've been seeing these temperatures that are well below normal. 21 in jacksonville right now, ft. myers 34, 40 in miami. afternoon highs will only get up into the 50s and 40s, and that cold air extends all the way up into the plains, with those temperatures anywhere from 25 to 30 degrees below normal, and it's going to get even colder tomorrow and then again on friday as that cold air works good morning sun rise in six minutes, it's mostly cloudy now, we're getting scattered snow showers around northern virginia and west virginia, temperatures are in the upper 20s to near 30 degrees. so what snow is falling is going to stick. highs reachingmid and upper 30s with a blustery wind. highs in the mid 30s and light snow likely >> and that's your latest weather. meredith? >> al, thank you very much. coming up, new details about the unusual and troubled life of 30-year-old johnson & johnson heiress, casey johnson. but just ahead, an exclusive sneak peek at the baby panda about to make his debut at the san diego zoo. >> almost as cute as matt lauer. 7:26 is the time now, 29 degrees on this wednesday, january 25, 2010. in the news for today, mike shanahan is the new coach of the redskins, he has signed a five-year contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the nfl. news conference is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. shanahan owner dan snyder and bruce allen celebrated the agreement at tyson's corner. let's get a check this friday judge forecast. >> we have had some passing snow showers this morning. we're still seeing them shifting from the north to the south and it's continuing across northern virginia and parts of maryland. otherwise a few flurs coming through. highs today reaching the upper 30s by mid afternoon and then some light snow looks likely from thursday night into friday morning. >> a live look along the 95 corridor. one accident to worry about inbound on kennelworth avenue. police are on the scene dealing with that. be careful on route 50 heading northwest. >> coming up on news4 at 5:00, we are dishing out the top five dishes. 7:30 now on this wednesday morning, january 6th, 2010. these fine folks enjoying a relatively milder morning here in midtown manhattan. it's already a balmy 27 degrees. and we could actually get above freezing for the first time this week. i'm meredith vieira alongside matt lauer. and speaking of all the cold, many spots are also dealing with snow and ice, as we know, and even in places that aren't used to those dangerous driving conditions. so, just ahead, what you need to know to keep safe out on the road. >> always cringe when you see those things. also ahead, talk about adorable. a panda was born at the san diego zoo five months ago but has not been seen in public yet, waiting for the big debut. that moment is tomorrow. our cameras got an exclusive sneak peek. we'll introduce you to him, coming up. >> very sweet. plus, three remarkable weight loss stories. we're going to introduce you to three people who managed to lose half of their body weight. they will be here to show off their new looks. but we're going to begin with the latest on the untimely death of casey johnson, the 30-year-old heiress to the johnson & johnson fortune. was she living in squalor, surrounded by rats during her final months? we're going to talk to addiction expert dr. drew pinsky in a moment, but first, here's nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: casey johnson was born with money, but it was fame she sought. now some wonder if it was her hollywood lifestyle that contributed to her sudden and surprising death at just 30 years old. >> now, what we're hearing is, don't be surprised from our sources if prescription drugs turn out to be a factor in all of this. we're hearing from sources very close to casey that she took numerous prescriptions on numerous ocsions. >> reporter: a source close to the johnsons tells nbc news the family doesn't believe drugs were involved and points out casey's lifelong struggle with severe diabetes. friends say they've been trying to contact johnson for days before her body was found monday in her los angeles home, prompting speculation that she may have lapsed into a diabetic coma. with an autopsy just completed, the coroner is waiting for toxicology reports before declaring an official cause of death. ♪ i am stuck on band-aid brand because band-aid's stuck on me ♪ >> reporter: an heirs to one of america's largest fortunes, casey's great-great grandfather created the johnson & johnson brand. the documentary "born rich" showcased the johnson family as having as much time as money on their hands. >> so, i want to ask him what he thinks i should do with my life. >> reporter: a private and reserved bunch, the johnson family name was dragged into the tabloids after casey accused her aunt of stealing her boyfriend in a "vanity fair" article. it was the start of some salacious scandals. after declaring she was a lesbian, johnson had a violent fight with then girlfriend and yahoo! heiress courtney semel, in which johnson's hair was reportedly lit on fire. johnson also faced criminal charges after being charged with burglarizing an ex-girlfriend's home. it was video like this from radaronline.com that concerned johnson's parents, including her father, the owner of the new york jets. her reputation as a notorious party girl may have led to her mother's decision to take custody of the girl johnson adopted in 2007, deepening a family rift that was never reconciled. >> her family was so concerned, in fact, they cut off her fortune, they said enough is enough, they were hoping that they could strangle the money, get the money away from her, maybe it would lead to, you know, an end to this lifestyle. >> reporter: even if she didn't have money, johnson still had famous friends. she turned down an invitation to co-star in paris hilton's reality show "a simple life." >> this is fun. ♪ >> reporter: later calling the decision the biggest mistake of her life. after reportedly pitching her own reality show -- >> 17 karats, baby, woo! >> reporter: -- johnson became engaged to tila tequila, another reality show star. but even that, say hollywood insiders, appeared to be a grab for fame. now, in a twist of irony, casey johnson may now be more famous in death than in life. for "today," miguel almaguer, nbc news, hollywood. >> dr. drew pinsky counsels stars on how to deal with their addictions on his show "celebrity rehab with dr. drew." good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. >> you hear this story about casey johnson. here was a young woman born with a silver spoon in her mouth. she had access to whatever she wanted. >> yes. >> and yet, at the end of her life, friends describe her as a train wreck, in and out of rehab, addicted to drugs and alcohol, according to her friends, a party girl, dies alone in what the "new york post" is reporting today was a nted house with no heat, electricity, water, with rats -- >> oh, my goodness. >> -- in the pool. how does something like this happen? >> well, it's very, very, very sad. the press is replete with stories of celebrities today dying with health-related illness. not nary a day goes by we're not hearing about these things. in these cases with diabetes, you have medical problems and psychiatric problems combined to create a deadly combination. >> her family said that depression often comes with diabetes. and again, we're speculating on a lot of this. >> right, all speculation. there's been an autopsy. we really don't know anything yet. it's hearsay, but the reality is that juvenile onset diabetics that have lifelong diabetes often have high incidence of depression. >> her friends say towards the end of her life, she had been self-medicating, things were not going well with her. she was fighting with friends, estranged from family. her daughter had been taken from her by her mom. are you surprised by things like this? >> self-medicating for me has little meaning. yes, there is a reason you start self-medicating, taking things to make yourself start feeling better, but usually a second condition is triggered, and that's addiction. and once you have that condition, it doesn't matter what you were taking the drugs for in the first place, you now have a second life-threatening problem. in the case of casey, i guess she had an insulin pump of some type -- >> exactly. >> and if you're altered, not using appropriate judgment, your cognition is off and you can't follow the careful, structured regimen of diabetes, you could easily lose control of how to monitor your blood sugar, and certainly, mind-altering substances can contribute to that being a fatal problem. >> and there were reports that had she been found earlier -- and she may have been dead up to a week -- >> wow. >> or just short of a week. >> isn't that something? >> that maybe she could have been helped. >> absolutely. these are relatively common conditions in diabetics, high or low blood sugar episodes. there are brittle diabetics, as casey is described, in and out of the hospital with these problems. >> let's talk about the lifestyle she supposedly led. as i said before, she was a party girl, very interested in fame and becoming a big name in hollywood, like that of her close friends. she was very close to the hiltons. why do you think that was so important for her? i'm sure you've seen that with other celebrities. >> well, boy, meredith, i wrote a book on this topic. you know, why has fame become an autonomous motivator for young people today? and i think fundamentally -- this is a big topic, but fundamentally, it is an attempt to fill emptiness. when people come from childhoods that haven't been fulfilling, when they have a lot of chaos in their lives, when there's a lot of addiction, fame becomes a way to solve that problem, and to make themselves feel better, to sort of solve -- call it a narcissism, where they need to fill the void, the emptiness. and unfortunately, as you see with celebrities every day who are suffering and continuing to have severe mental health consequences, it really doesn't solve any problems. >> do you think it will send a message to other celebrities out there? i mean, a lot of condolences went out her way immediately from some of the other celebrities out in hollywood. >> yeah. you know, will it change celebrities? no, because celebrities tend to have a lot more mental health libts than the average population. the real question i have to ask is when are we going to have had enough of this as viewers and consumers of media, we really chew this stuff up, and we've got to begin to think about the fact that these are serious medical problems that are taking lives in the media rou tleevenl now, and we've got to stand up and sort of recognize what this is and not sit in sort of disdain and envy and chew this material up the way we tend to. >> dr. drew pinsky,hank you as always. >> my pleasure. >> a new season of "celebrity rehab with dr. drew" begins tomorrow on vh1. now let's check on the weather with al, who is in las vegas this morning. >> thanks a lot, meredith. a lot of cool stuff. for example, cool, this is the samsung ice touch. it's an oled, an organic light emitting display that lets you see through your mp3 player, which is really cool. and talk about cool, you get these cool glasses and you can watch 3d television. this isrom sony, a 16-inch -- on a regular screen it doesn't look as impressive, but take it from me, it looks like you can reach out and touch the fish on this screen. it's amazing. they haven't even priced this yet, but it is awfully -- and look how thin the television is. thin is in here at the consumer electronics show. very, very cool. let's take a look, see what's going on as far as you weather's concerned, as i break into maybe superstition by stevie wonder. you can see on the storm track, we've got the low pressure bringing the snow across the plains. as the snowman juggles his snowballs, you can see we're looking at this thing working its way across the country. by thursday it's in the midsection in the upper ohio river valley and then it makes its way off the eastern coast by friday. snowfall amounts, going to be heavier back through the upper midwest, talking about anywhere from six to nine inches of snow from bismarck all the way to pittsburgh. heavier snowfall amounts back through west virginia. as it gets to the east coast, we're basically looking at one to three inches of snow, but still, on top of all the cold, it zbarng good morning. here we have had some passing snow showers this morning. they have been leaving a little bit of light dusting. they have been leaving some slick spots mostly in northern virginia and southern maryland. it's in the upper 20s to near 30 degrees in windchills in the teens. winds are still gusting to 20 to 25 miles an hour. increasing clouds tomorrow with high in the mid 30s. we'll have some light snow thursday night into friday for your latest weather any time of the day or night, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. meredith? >> al, thank you very much. and -- oh, wait, i don't have the glasses on. al, thanks. up next, winter driving worries. what you need to know to stay safe behind the wheel. we are back at 7:43. with much of the country dealing with bitter cold, snow and ice, chances are, you're facing some pretty nasty driving conditions as you head out the door this morning. nbc's tom costello's in washington with a lesson on how to drive on the slippery stuff. tom, good morning. >> reporter: hey, matt, good morning. first of all, aaa reminds us a few things we should have in the car. first of all, they suggest a shovel, a cell phone, in case you need to call for help, also a flashlight, first aid kit, even kitty litter to put underneath the tires to give you traction. you may remember when the "today" show sent me to the colorado winter driving school? we thought this may be a good occasion to revisit some of the lessons we learned in steamboat springs. it's one of mother nature's most dangerous, even deadly, driving combinations. each year, snow and ice are a factor in 250,000 automobile accidents. 64,000 injuries, nearly 1,400 deaths. exactly what they teach drivers to avoid at bridgestone's winter driving school in colorado. >> our goal is to teach you to be alert, proactive drivers. ♪ >> reporter: let's do it. it all happens on a snow-packed track. >> i'd like you to speed up on the straightaways. >> reporter: in the shadow of steamboat mountain. >> the difference between driving on dry pavement and on ice is that ice magnifies bad driving techniques because you have so little traction. >> reporter: rule number one -- watch your speed. >> brakes, brakes, brakes, brakes, brakes. >> reporter: riding shotgun with me, veteran instructor kurt spitsner, who assures me that even though i've grown up driving in colorado -- ♪ spin me right round, baby, right round ♪ -- i still have a thing or two to learn. what's the number one mistake people make when they're driving on snow and ice? >> they try to brake and turn at the same time. >> reporter: you've got to do one or the other? >> one or the other. >> reporter: stopping on snow or ice can take four to ten times longer than on dry pavement. if you misjudge your stopping distance, it could be too late. and if your car is equipped with antilock brakes, the key is to apply solid pressure. don't let up. the brakes will lock and release on their own, providing more traction. if you don't have antilock brakes, you do want to pump the brakes. >> absolutely. the whole idea behind antilock brakes is that it keeps the tires rolling. >> reporter: because a moving tire provides the necessary grip. by pumping the brakes on a car without abs, you get that grip. the experts say when you're in a slide, look in the direction you want to go rather than the direction you're headed. >> look toward the solution. don't look toward the problem. >> reporter: finally, this is where all the skills come together, the steering, the braking. the car has to comeown this hill and avoid a car accident represented by these blue cones, then go another 45 feet down the hill and avoid yet another accident. first few times, i skidded right through the cones. but with practice -- the third time was the charm. a better feel for snow and ice and having passed the class, maybe a break on my car insurance. yeah, that worked out pretty well, thanks to the today show, a break on my car insurance. i want to reiterate the main point of that class. if you have antilock brakes, you apply pressure and don't let up. the brake is going to pop back up on you. that's okay. you apply pressure. if you don't have antilock brakes, that's when you do pump your brakes. matt, back to you. >> all right, tom, good information, as always. well done. up next, an exclusive look at the san diego zoo's adorable, new baby panda. a rare unveiling is set for tomorrow at the san diego zoo. a panda born five months ago will finally make his debut. and nbc's lee cowan got an exclusive sneak peek. >> reporter: the public doing didn't start right away. after all, when yun zi was first down, he was a hairless clump only a mother could love. but in those four ounces was indeed a miracle, a rare addition to china's endangered panda population. >> a lot of people think that just because it is our fifth panda that, you know, it's old hat and we're getting used to it. it's extremely exciting. >> reporter: yun zhi quickly grew into his fur, into his paws and into his personality. >> they're so cute, like a stuffed animal. >> reporter: gail lged on to the zoo's web cam once a week to watch his progress. >> now it's very aggressive and loud. i think they're cute and shows its emotions and tells everybody what it thinks. >> oh, dang! >> reporter: at 5 months, he's basically a toddler, mildly curious, but that tires him out. >> a lot of napping, but that's pretty standard for even a giant panda adult. they eat, they nap, they forge and repeat. >> reporter: and the foraging part can be a challenge. take breakfast. his mother casually batted yun zhi out of the way, saving the rest for herself. it's her way of teaching. she's done it before, after all. yun zhi is the youngest of five. he gets to share the space with his two older sisters, but not for that long. his oldest sister here, su lin, is scheduled to head back to china this year in part of their own breeding program. >> part of what we want to do here is boost the numbers at the research centers in china as well, with the ultimate goal of reintroducing pandas back to the wild. >> reporter: for now, the lit e littlest will become one of the zoo's biggest attractions, a source of panda pride that only a few zoos can offer, and only until theye old enough to go home. lee cowan, nbc news at the san diego zoo. >> so sweet to see the bond, right, between the mom and baby. >> so much love there. it's adorable. >> meanwhile, eat, nap, forrage and repeat. that's my dream life. >> we should have been born pandas. >> dream on. >> doesn't get better than that. >> if you want to check out the san diego zoo's panda cam, you can do so by logging on to our website. so cute. just ahead, $100 for the groceries for 25 cents. the coupon mom's secrets revealed. 7:55 is your time now, 30 degrees, a frigid morning, but the ducks are enjoying the water out there, geese, sorry about that. we'll have your forecast after the news. mike shanahan is the new head coach of the redskins, he has signed a five-year contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the nfl. the skins will make an official announcement about the hiring later today. dan snyder and bruce allen celebrated the agreement last night in tyson's corner. today gay marriage proponents will try to put it before the district. the bill was signed into law last month. same-sex good morning, we have some snow showers leaving a light accumulation in fairfax and prince george's county. and we'll have a few passing snow showers later on this morning into perhaps late morning, and temperatures are still below freezing in the 20s to near 30 degrees. how's the traffic, jerry? >> police are checking for an accident outer loop of the beltway near route 29, we'll let you know if police find anything at all. had an accident on kennelworth avenue. we are dishing out the top 3 sandwiches in the d.c. area. tonight 8:00 now on a wednesday morning. it is the 6th day of january 2010. you know what? it's still chilly out here in the northeast, but not nearly as bad as it has been over the last couple of days. we've got temperatures up around 26 degrees right now. believe it or not, it's balmy for us, and just want to take a second to stop and show you these nice people who have gathered here on the plaza. i'm matt lauer along with meredith vieira. a little better out hire, right? >> it's not bad at all. >> not bad. are you a coupon clipper? >> i want to be one, but i'm not. >> what does that mean? >> because i think i should be, but i don't have the patience. >> we have the coupon mom with us today. get this, we sent h to the grocery store. she bought $100 worth of groceries and paid 25 cents. >> see, that's a reason to be a coupon clipper. >> exactly right. we're going to talk to her, get some secrets from her in just a little while. >> okay. plus, millions of americans last week made a resolution that they wanted to lose some weight. this morning you're going to meet three people who shed a lot more than a few pounds. they each lost half their weight. their new looks, just ahead, and we'll tell you how they did it. >> all right. and if your portfolio took a big hit in 2009 -- and i think the average oneropped about 30% -- >> right. >> an expert will show us some great bargain areas to invest in for 2010. but before we get to that, let's go inside. ann's standing by with a look at the headlines. >> all right, matt, thanks so much. good morning once again, everybody. in the news this morning, word early today that two democrats in the u.s. senate will not seek re-election is highlighting the party's fragile hold as a filibuster-proof majority. today, connecticut senator chris dodd, chair of the banking committee and a key figure in the health care reform debate, is to announce he will not seek a sixth term. and nor dakota democrat byron dorgan said tuesday that he will not run again. meantime, a rising star in the democratic party, colorado governor bill ritter, has also decided that he will not seek re-election for a second term in november. suspected u.s. missile strikes in northwest pakistan today killed at least 13 people. the air raids took place in a region of north waziristan considered a haven for militants who attack u.s. troops in neighboring afghanistan. president obama says he is determined to move forward on airline security after reprimanding his top intelligence officials. the president said on tuesday that a failed christmas day bombing, planned bombing, was a screw-up that could have been disastrous, in his words. said if officials had enough information to stop the bombing attempt but did not put the pieces today. officials are investigating why a surveillance camera at newark international airport was not recording on sday during a security breach that delayed thousands of travelers. federal agents had to access a separate airline camera before they could view images of a mystery man who had bypasses security screeners. by then, he was already gone. icy temperatures across the south had farmers struggling to salvage their fruit crops. strawberry and citrus crops are in trouble from the gulf coast to florida. and to the north in new york state, where there is up to four feet of snow on the ground, a second wave of cold air is on the way. now here's brian williams with what's coming up tonight on nbc "nightly news." hey, brian. >> hey, ann, thanks. coming up tonight, here's the question -- can women be both fat and fit? we'll have the story of two women,wo different body types. one got a perfect bill of health from her cardiologist. the other got a wake-up call. our special series on women's health continues tonight. we'll look for you then. back to you for now. >> i'll be there. thanks, brian. it is now 8:03. let's go back outside to meredith and matt. >> thank you, ann. before we go to al in vegas, your name is marcus? >> yes. >> te the mike. you have something you want to say, marcus? >> we haven't been together that long, but i love you and i was wondering if you -- will you marry me? >> who's got the ring, guys? >> i need an answer. >> yes. >> yeah! there you go. congratulations! >> marcus and kat, and suddenly, it's really hot here in new york city. >> you get to keep the microphone. >> congratulations. >> take it as a parting gift. congratulations. >> flash the ring, baby. it's beautiful. lovely. >> al's got a check of the weather. he's in las vegas this morning. al, we're doing your job for you back here. >> nicely done, marcus. >> maybe they could come out here and get married in vegas. >> there you go. >> oh, there you go! >> we're at the consumer electronics show, and this is every guy's dream. this is everything you want for your man cave is out here, including the latest technology. paul hochman from "fast company" magazine is here. paul, last year, we showed wireless electricity with a light bulb. this takes it like a light -- literally light years away. >> this is going to change everything. this is one of the true revolutions you'll see at the consumer electronics show every few years. higher electronics is the television company that is doing this. it is wireless electricity, meaning it's transferring power from this thing behd us to here. >> right. >> the guts of it is made by a company called witricity. this is a coil in here that creates a magnetic field that vibe rates at a very high frequency and transfers power to other devices. >> right now, the tv's got to be about six, seven feet away from this, but eventually -- >> yes. >> -- you could move the tv anywhere in your home. >> yes, t revolution is there be no more cables connecting gadgets to the wall. you won't have to plug in -- >> it is also receiving the television signal wireless. >> that's the great thing, too. instead of transferring power from here to here, they have created wireless high-definition video translated wirelessly to the television. you can put your television anywhere in the house, eventually, and you'll be able to do it without cable. >> so, this is kind of like when we had ethernet and you had to jack it into the router and then you had wi-fi. this is the same thing, only with electricity and -- >> very good analogy, exactly. most people remember connecting that cable to their computer. now, of course, it's through the air. >> wow, that's pretty cool. when will this be available? >> this is going to be a couple years. this is a protprototype, but good morning, getting some flurries across northern virginia at this hour and looking at the traffic cameras, it looks a lot worse than it actually is, just some flurries here in fairfax and stafford county. temperatures are below freezing so what is falling is going to stick. right now 31 in washington, highs today in the upper 30s, >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> hey, al, get this, marcus just proposed here a second ago. they're gone! they took off. i'm not going to say where they're going, but someone's going to have a good morning. anyway -- >> they're going to dean & deluca! >> yeah, right. when we come back, half their size. three people share their amazing weight loss transformations. lt . 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(announcer) choosey moms, and dads, choose jif. until i had my coffee. oh, hey. sorry, i haven't had my coffee yet. welcome to mcdonald's. can i interest you in... not before i have my coffee. premium roast coffee for just a dollar? talk to me. mcdonald's new dollar menu at breakfast. ♪ ba da ba ba ba that's why nature's bounty makes... a full line of high-quality vitamins, like fish oil for heart health. go to naturesbounty.com now for a $2.00 coupon. nature's bounty. perfect for every body. ♪ mmm... hot fudge sundae. ♪ ooh! frosted blueberry?!? ♪ over 25 flavors of kellogg's pop-tarts®. and they're all for fun and fun for all. pop-tarts®. made for fun. lash stiletto fr maybelline new york. staggering length... up to 70% longer amazing black patent shine. there's only one lash stiletto don't fall for wanna-bes lash stiletto it's show-stopping! ♪ maybe it's maylline ♪ it's show-stopping! even people who are watching their weight often shop without really looking. wait. 310 calories? 340? 8 grams of fat? compare that to select harvest light soups. wow. 80 calories. 60 calories and no fat. with the first two light soups ever that are 100% natural. you get lots of satisfaction without lots of calories. select harvest light soups. from campbell's. the chevy mabu and toyota camry received 5 star crash safety ratings. but only malibu has onstar. big deal. i'll just use my phone. let's say we crashed. whoops, you lost your phone and you're disoriented. i'm not disoriented. now you are. onstar automatic crash response can call to see if you're ok. onstar emergency. is everything ok howie? you don't answer, they can automatically send help to your exact location. i think i'll ride with you. the award-winning malibu. from chevy. the exciting part about it was being one of the first people to use sensodyne iso-active. i couldn't believe the packaging it doesn't look a toothpaste. the gel turns into a foam it's expanding, it's bubbling. when say it reaches the hard to reach places i mean, the little gap between your teeth back there i feel like it gets that. i got a little bit of toothpaste, i put it in my mouth, and then just 'pow'. after using sensodyne iso-active the sensitivity in my teeth subsided. the taste was great. i've told everyone about it-- double thumbs up. ♪ this morning on "take it off today," shedding half their body weight. it's truly an amazing feat, especially for people who have struggled their entire lives to lose weight. and in a moment, we're going to meet three people who did just that. their stories are featured in "people" magazine's annual "half their size" issue. galina espinoza is the magazine's senior editor. galina, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> last week we met three people on this show who had lost half their body weight. today we're going to meet three more. what is it about these folks that makes their stories so unique? >> i think the fact that they are able to do it on their own. you know, we get used to seeing reality television versions of how to lose weight, where people go and spend time in a special camp and they have trainers and nutritionists -- >> well, and don't knock that too much on nbc -- >> absolutely. >> there's something good about that, but -- >> no, absolutely, but for most people, it's not realistic. >> not realistic. >> these are people who in their everyday lives spent years working in, figuring out how to eat again, how to exercise, reprogramming themselves. >> exactly. >> and if they can do , anyone can. >> and as you point out, they've done it through diet and exercise, the old-fashioned way. >> and it's a lot of hard work and a lifetime commitment, and i think that's the inspiration. >> let's get started. we have a before picture of brandy blackburn, who is 25 years old, from virginia. she lost 177 pounds from her starting weight of 340 pounds. there she is before. brandy, we cannot wait. come on out. ♪ she looks -- you look fantastic. >> thank you. >> how do you feel? i know you used to be self-conscious about your body. >> oh, it's amazing now. i'm a totally different person since i've gotten the weight off. >> in fifth grade, i understand, you already weighed 200 pounds. by the time you graduated high school, your heaviest weight of 340 pounds. why do you think, now looking back, that your weight spiraled out of control like that? >> i had awful eating habits. i never learned like good nutrition and good eating value, and i never worked out. and i'm from the south, so eating is a way of life and we all enjoy it. >> we all like it fried down there, too. >> absolutely. >> double fried. >> fry anything down there. and i never learned the good, core values of how to eat well and work out. >> and once you started working out, exercising and dieting, it took you two years to reach your goal weight. were there moments along that path where you thought, you know what, i'm not going to be able to do this? because everybody has pleaus, and -- >> oh, right, but i found a very good support system at sparkpeople.com that helped me get through those plateaus and keep going. >> and i know a lot of people don't recognize you. best moment since you've lost the weight? >> easy. we were at a company dinner and one of my husband's co-workers walked in and thought my husband had remarried -- >> really? >> because i looked so different. >> wow. >> or you were the girlfriend that no one knew about. >> secret from someone. >> well, you look fantastic, brandy. >> all right. >> and how long have you been able to keep it off to this point? >> i've been this weight for almost a year now. >> that is great. >> yes. >> congratulations to you. >> thank you so much. >> we're going to check out a before photo of our second "half their size" individual. this is deanna cantu, who is 51 years old from texas. deanna lost 191 pounds from her starting weight of -- get this -- 333 pounds. deanna, come on out. ♪ why do i feel this way, promise of a new day ♪ >> you are so tiny! >> thank you. >> wow, my gosh. and there was a point -- i'm sure it is still fresh in your mind -- when you were so large, you couldn't fit into the conference chair at work at all. >> no, no. it was very disconcerting and depressing. >> yeah. so, how do you feel now? >> oh, i feel fantastic. i can do so many things that i've always wanted to do. i'm a golfer, so i can golf and i can walk. you saw the picture in "people" magazine, i was climbing, rock climbing with my boys. they were astounded. "mom, you're really going to try this?" i'm like, yeah, why not? i can do it now. >> you had thought about gastric bypass. >> i did. >> but your dental hygienist turned you on to jenny craig. >> that's right. >> why did the jenny craig program work for you? >> well, i'm not a cook and i gained weight eating junk food and eating out at restaurants. i ate 5,000 calories a day. that's the equivalent of what two grown men eat probably in a day. >> and not exercising at all to boot. >> no, totally succeed meantry. so jenny craig worked because it was easy to prepare the food and the support system. the hardest part for me was humbling myself and asking for help, but that's what i needed. so the food and the consultation worked for me. i've been on it for 2 1/2 years. >> and you didn't join a gym at all. >> no. >> you decided i'll just do my exercise at home. >> i just walked. austin is beautiful, the hills. i just walked. >> and she has two boys who keep her active. >> right. >> and speakg of two boys, we want to introduce 16-year-old michael cantu, who is deanna's son. he did not lose half his body weight, but he did lose over 100 pounds from his starting weight of 270 pounds. michael, come on out. oh, my gosh. wow. unbelievable. >> it's hard to believe he was ever overweight. >> you don't even remember. >> no, not really. it's jt a blur. >> you really -- what happened was you were in new york with your mom, right? >> yes. >> and she said, let's get on a scale. you did. were you shocked to see your weight was 270 pounds? >> i was very shocked because i didn't want to look at the scale before that. i didn't want to know what i weighed. i knew i was heavy, but i didn't want to measure it. >> and you did it with lean cuisine meals and supplemented with fruits and veggies. was that hard for you? >> it was for the first few weeks before my stomach shrank because i was feeling very hungry, but once i got past that, it was easy to stay on because i felt full. >> and what advice would you give to folks who are looking at you going, wow, it is unbelievable, i wouldn't know how to get started? >> this is a lifestyle change. it's not a quick fix or a quick diet. you have to be committed to overhauling your whole life and get committed and stay committed to it. >> and anyone can do this. as a woman of a ceain age, anyone can do this. >> i know the age, honey. thank you so much, brandy, deanna and michael. congratulations to all of you. >> thee. >> galina, thanks for bringing their stories to us. up next, how to cut your grocery bill in half and perhaps a lot more. the coupon mom shows us how. triglycerides are still out of line? then you may not be seeing the whole picture. ask your doctor about trilipix. statin to lower bad cholesterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three cholesterol numbers. trilipix has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or stroke more than a statin alone. trilipix is not for everyone, including people with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease, or nursing women. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. blood tests are needed before and during treatment to check for liver problems. coact youroctor if you develop unexplained muscle pain or weakness, as this can be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. this risk may be increased when trilipix is used with a statin. if you cannot afford your medication, call 1-866-4-trilipix for more information. trilipix. there's more to cholesterol. get the picture. my name is chef michael. and when i come home from my restaurant, i love showing bailey how special she is. yes, you are. i know exactly what you love, don't i? - [ barks ] - mmm. aromas like rotisserie chicken. and filet mignon. yeah, that's what inspired a very special dry dog food. [ woman ] introducing chef michael's canine creations. so tas and nutritious it's hard to believe it's dry dog food. chef-inspired. dog-desired. chef michael's canine creations. people think that honda is always the most fuel efficient choice. well, this chevy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has better mileage than accord. however, honda does make something that we just can't compete with. it's self propelled. chevy. compare us to anyone and may the best car win. and awhile back i got an idea right in there. and you know what it was? make my pc simpler. so what did i do? i pass it along to microft. next thing you know, windows 7 and this new snap feature. now if i'm working at two things at once i just drag this over here, this over here. snap! simpler! pretty much exactly what i told them. i mean i'm not trying to take all the credit... wife: he called his mother. of course i called her. she needed to know this. i'm a pc and windows 7 was my idea. make that first step easier, with the nicoderm cq patch. nicoderm steps you down from nicotine gradually. doubling your chance for success. nicoderm cq. three steps, ten weeks and you're free. mark olson is joined... by that woman from 3c. he's tried before to engage her. supposed to be kinda windy today. but today, he's ready. have you heard about mcdonald's new dollar menu at breakfast? she's interested. they talk about the savory sausage mcmuffin, the hearty sausage burrito, the premium roast coffee. mcdonald's new dollar menu at breakfast. a common interest. something to build on. this could be our song. nobody makes breakfast like mcdonald's. ♪ ba da ba ba ba sfx: mom: hang on, honey, it's gotta be in here somewhere. anncr vo: you know you're gonna need it. anncr vo: why not stock up for less at walmart? save an average of 25% on these products compared to leading national drug store chains. vo: save money. live better. walmart. >> announcer: "today's moms" is brought to you by walmart. save money. live better. walmart. ♪ keep to clipping, keep on clipping ♪ we're back at 8:20, and this morning on "today's mom," slashing your grocery bill. if you don't think it's worth your time to clip coupons, you have not met the coupon mom. wait until you see how much she helped "today's" jenna wolfe save on a recent shopping trip. >> reporter: cutting coupons may not have been chic before, but it's time to get frugal and pinch a few pennies. >> if you want to save $100 a week on your groceries, you do need to plan and be organized. >> reporter: stephanie nelson is known as the coupon mom. >> here's a promotion. if you buy nine of this manufacturer's items, i'll get a coupon for $5 off my next shopping order, plus a free $1 reusable shopping bag. and guess what? i also have coupons, and the store doubles coupons. that's the perfect storm. >> reporter: double coupons have a big payoff, but you have to set aside brand loyalty. okay, so, you need deodorant. is this your brand and it happens to be on sale or are you being flexible? >> i am completely brand flexible. >> reporter: okay. >> so, in this case, if this item is usually $2.49, i'll actually pay 49 cents. people say, oh, like, there's no coupons for what i use. i'm like, well, there's always coupons fo toothpaste, so at least save here so you have more money to spend on the food you like. i'll end up paying 35 cents for a tube of toothpaste that usually costs $3.19. that's a deal. this item is on sale for $1. i have a 50-cent coupon, which they'll double, and i'll actually get this free. and i have four packages free. >> reporter: the moment of truth. time to check out the savings. now comes the fun part. >> now comes the fun part. this is the exciting part. okay. >> reporter: for a grand total of? >> 25 cents. >> reporter: 25 cents? you got $100 worth of groceries for a quarter. >> that's right. and that includes tax. >> and stephanie nelson joins us now. her new book is called "the coupon mom's guide to cutting your grocery bills in half." stephanie, good morning. >> good morning. >> do checkout people immediately ask to go on break when they see you coming with all your coupons? >> i think you have to be considerate. you have to be organized. >> you come up with something called the strategic shopping method. what exactly is that? >> well, strategic shopping is not about changing the way you eat. i want to emphasize that. it's really about changing the way you buy the food that you like, and it's a combination of knowing what prices are for your items, knowing what stores' savings programs are and knowing how to use coupons easily. combine it all, you're getting 25 cents on your bill. >> you also think it's important for people to understand the kind of shopper they are, and you've identified three different -- the busy shopper, the rookie shopper and the varsity shopper. i'm assuming the varsity shopper gets the tricks? >> that's right. and the key was, in writing this book, i wanted to make sure that anyone who picked it up could save money. you don't have to be the ultra shopping spending hours week. the busy shopper is the shopper who really is never going to spend any time before shopping planning a list. they're not going to cut coupons. they're doing well just to get to the store. >> right. >> so, i have tips on what they can do once they get to the store, such as simply picking up the sales flyer and buy what's on the front page. that's always half off. the rookie shopper may see this and say hey, i'll try that. >> going to dive in a little bit more. >> i'm going to learn a little more, and you can spend an hour a week planning your tripith sales and coupons and you could save half. >> and the varsity shopper plots the whole thing out and gets to the store prepared. couple of questions. you say everybody should ask, do you double, triple coupons? >> you want to understand their policies. do you double coupons? do you triple coupons? do you have your own store coupons? and do you accept competitors' coupons? >> how often does that happen? >> generally one store in each major metro area will do that to be competitive. >> what about internet coupons, do all stores accept them? >> most stores do. the key is to be sure that you print legitimate internet coupons, and you can do that from legitimate coupon sites. >> couple things i want to touch on quickly. if you're shopping for dairy products, what's the main thing to keep in mind? >> best thing to do there, i compared prices, is go with the store brand. you'll save dramatically and it's good quality. >> what about produce, is there a way to save it there? >> do it yourself. if it takes you less than five minutes to wash lettuce, peel carrots, peel potatoes, you'll save 50% just by doing that. >> meat and poultry, buy a whole chicken and cut it into parts? >> actually, i would say just go with the front page sale item that's 50% off each week and buy enough for two, three weeks, put it in the freezer. >> let's say we have people down the middle road. they haven't a varsity shopper or the busy shopper. what's the average you think people can save on their weekly grocery bill? >> it's realistic that a rookie shopper would be able to save 30% to 50% on their grocery bill, and this is real money. we're talking about thousands a year. i've done it for 16 years, $80,000. that's a lot of money. >> stephanie, congrats. thanks for the info. our time right now is 8:26, 30 degrees outside, still cold, still cloudy too. we'll get the forecast coming up. good morning, i'm joe krebs and in the news for today, mike shanahan is the new coach for the redskins. he signed a five year contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the nfl. the skins will make the announcement official at 2:00 this afternoon and you can watch that live right here on news4. we'll take a break now and come another blustery and cold january morning. on the radar we are showing a few flurries south of washington and west of washington in fa fairfax county. a mostly cloudy sky. highs today in the upper 30s a little sun tomorrow morning and light snow likely thursday into friday morning. maybe a couple of inches by the time it ends. >> we'll check out i-95 northbound and southbound moving along very nicely at this hour. no issues to report in either direction. inbound 66, pretty loaded up as you head for the roosevelt bridge, but no the incidents reported blocking it. >> we're dishing out the top three sandwiches in the d.c. area tonight at 5:00, we'll kick off our new series quick bites. with "the washington post" food editor. good morning. >> good morning! >> 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, january 6th, 2010, 2010, however you want to say it. we have a loud, enthusiastic crowd. let's get some enthusiasm, guys! enjoying this day on rockefeller plaza, and we are happy they decided to drop by. just ahead, help if you're one of the many americans who lost a chunk of their retirement savings in 2009. and that is a lot of people. an expert will tell us where to put some of the savings this year to make back some of the lost money. >> and also if you noticed, we've padded the walls of the studio because tim allen is in the house. you know him from "home improvement," the santa movies. now he has a new moe, he financed, directed, made all the costumes, choreographed all the dance numbers. he's amazing. >> he's the man. >> we're going to talk to tim allen in a couple seconds. okay, you know, on this bitter cold week, what would make you feel yummy and cozy in terms of a good, hot meal? >> oh, i didn't know what you meant. >> didn't know where you were going with that. >> chicken pot pie, right? >> oh, the best. >> we have mark bittman here. a lot of people don't want to eat the pie part because people think it will make them chunkier. well, mark bittman has more on how to make the chunkiness and not the pie. by the way, did you know you were on a bucket list? >> i always worry, now that we've met you, you're not going kick the bucket now, are you? okay, good. >> not on the show, anyway, please. >> are you okay? >> no, i'm not. you want to tell? >> let's get a check of the weather right now. al is out in las vegas, as meredith kicks the bucket. >> oh, well. >> ooh, wow. sounds like she's got a hair ball. let's just stay on meredith for a while. >> no, no, no. go to weather. >> okay. we're here at the consumer electronics show in las vegas. and a lot of new stuff, including this lg, beautiful high-definition display. i mean, it is so thin. but the big news they're touting is this bd-590, this blueray disc. now, that's nothing new, right? but this has 250-gigabyte hard drive on it, so it basically becomes a media center. you can watch movies, put photos in there, listen to your music. and the other thing -- look, i've got a blueray disc at home. you try to load that thing and it seems like it takes forever. look how fast this comes up. boom! you've got a movie playing. i love it. just happens to be a fine universal movie, "the bourne ultimat ultimatum." we love it and we're looking forward to the fourth bourne movie later. anyway, let's che your weather. i could watch this all day, but i can't. let's check your weather, see what's going on, and we'll show you for today we've got sunshine up and down the eastern seaboard, heavy snow working through the plains as another storm system comes in. the bitter cold continues down south. more rain in the pacific northwest. then for tomorrow, we're expecting the rain to move into the interior northwest then get out of there and they'll have sunshine but frijth conditions. snow from the great lakes all the way down into the mid-mississippi river valley. snow showers and snow flurries up into new england, sunshine good morning, it is mostly cloudy, blustery and cold on this january morning and on the radar we are getting some flurries just to the west of washington and fairfax county and to the sou in prince william and safford and it's 31 in washington, winds are gusting to 20 to 25 miles an hour. so w still have windchills >> that's your latest weather. now let's head on down to florida. uncle willie, how cold is it in ft. myers? >> so hot down here, you wouldn't believe it. believe me, you wouldn't believe it. hey, what is a gigabyte? do they sell those at mcdonald's? you're incredible. you know all that electronic -- >> gigabyte. >> unbelievable. see if you can find me an arvan radio from western auto. that was my kind of stuff. you're a beautiful man. happy birthday from smucker's. how sweet it is. i'll tell you, we've got some winners today. take a look, if you will, please. this is ora holland of tulsa, oklahoma. get this, if you ever wondered about whether doctors are always right, she was told by a doctor when she was born she wouldn't live to be 10 years old because of a bone disease. at 109, she can't find a doctor in the yellow pages anymore. leola brown is in town, dexter, kansas, 100 years old. secret to longevity is never drinking or smoking and enjoys fishing and growing veggies. boy, i'll tell you, more people live to be 100 like to garden. bess pirkle of cleveland, tennessee, 103. third time she's tried to get on the show. i'm glad she's on. she's in good shape. retired postal worker and helped to found the oldest baptist church in cleveland. god bless her. fred neiger, st. louis, missouri, meet me in st. louis, 100 years old. retired from the ministry at 96 and is going to go on a cruise with his family on his birthday. isn't that terrific? god bless him. and caroline miskiewicz, westbrookfield, mass. 100. proud member of the saturday singers group and active participant in a bowling league. look at roland. i love the name roland. roland sharer of burlingame, california, is 100 years old and won the senior tennis title at 93. he is a good man, and that's it! meredith, i love you, always have and always will. >> willard, thank you so much. and up next, funny man tim allen on his new project "crazy on the the funny and talented actor/comedian tim allen's probably best known for his role as tim "the toolman" taylor on the '90s sitcom "home improvement." his latest project he not only stars in, but also directs and produces. it's called "crazy on the outside." who thought of that title? tim allen, good morning. nice to see you. >> nice to see you, matt. >> direct, produce, star in. you couldn't find anybody else to help you out? what happened? >> i did costumes, funny joke. that was nice. >> good. why did you take on all those roles? >> the idea is, i've done a lot of movies and a lot of movies i wish were better, and i wondered about the director's role in the final edit, especially in comedy. sometimes we do great movies and i say, what happened to one scene when we did this and -- >> you didn't want it left in somebody else's hands. >> well, costner's a friend of mine and he said look what i've done. and mel gibson's done that thing. this is not that scope, but it was a comedy. and chaplain always directed his comedies. i got the project. it was one of the funnier scripts i've ever read. disney owned it originally and thought it was a little adult. there was a little language in it, but i took most of it out and got a pg-13 out of it. >> and businesswise -- >> it didn't fit. >> you've done acting with sigourney weaver, kelsey grammar, julie bowan, and you drafted them into this. what's it like working with friends as a director? i mean, can you still have the same assertive stance, or do you go, well, we're all buddies, but please do it my way. >> well, that's what it was. i told them what the situation was, i'm the director. none of them even hiccupped. they said that's fine. they loved the script. and most of the actors, especially sigourney, because she's taller than me and i think she could take me in a cage match -- >> two out of three. >> easily. i mean, i could get her if she wasn't looking. but i said, look, when it gets to comedy, i'm very specific. that's why i'm doing this. i want you to say it as written or say it as i tell you. the only thing that i have no -- >> because it would seem crazy to want to direct something so you have control you didn't have in the other movies and give it up just because you're working with friends. >> right. the edit and muz puting the music together -- i have a great crew in los angeles and helicopter shots and all of the stuff i always wanted to do. i wish i had more time like every directors probably said. >> more money? >> more money. i was probably going, that water bottle's not empty. how about bring a lunch to work day and share with everybody? we were shooting in malibu and i'm looking down the beach at the santa monica pier, and i said, geez, look, that's a big movie. they lit up the whole sky, and my dp, robbie greenberg, said that's us. that's our cameras. we're lighting up the ferris wheel. i went, what does that truck cost? he said, well, the union gave you a deal, we'll keep it over two days -- all i hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, $5,000. oh, god. can't we just get some flash lights? they make the police ones that are really bright, l.e.d.s and stf. >> you play tommy in the movie, and in this scene we're about to see, sigourney weaver is driving tommy home from prison where he's been for three years. let's take a look. >> let's go. grammy is busting. >> she's excited i'm finally out, huh? >> well -- >> "well"? well? hey, vick, well what? >> tom, we never exactly told her you were in prison. her heart. we were too afraid. >> i know about her heart. so, where have i been for three years? >> welcome home from france. >> france? >> we picked france, you know? we want to be friends with them. >> could have picked staten island, anywhere -- >> no, this script was so much fun and all the actors read it and said the same thing i did. it's reallyunny, but it clicks. it's an adult comy with a bunch of heart to it. >> you were talking about money and lighting up the santa monica pier. i don't know why it came into my mind, but is it hard for you to get your arms around the idea that "avatar" has made over $1 billion in three weeks? >> those are the figures i'm looking for here. i'm looking -- i really have thought -- because i will say this about my movie, because sigourney's starring in this, too -- this is ten times funnier than "avatar." literally, "avatar's" good if you don't mind blue indians, but this is a much funnier movie. you know, james cameron is good, but i, i really see things bigger, huge. >> you live the santa monica pier. >> $1 billion is where we're headed. i want to own my own home. >> come back -- >> starts this friday, by the way. >> help tim allen not be a rent anymore. "crazy on the outside" opens in theaters this friday, as he just said. coming up next, investment bargains that could make you a lot of money, but first, this is "today" on nbc. back at 8:45. the average investor in the u.s. lost 30% of their retirement savings in 2009. cnbc contributor and author ron insanaa says the news is not all bad. his new book is called "how to make a fortune from the biggest bailout in u.s. history." ron, good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. >> before we get to how to make a fortune, i want to talk about the housing numbers just out. pending sales of previously owned homes fell sharply in december by about 16%. does that mean we're really not out of this recession? >> no, in fact, it's probably just a quirk. what happened in october was most home buyers thought the tax credit of $8,000 was expiring. turned out, congress and white house extended it into april of this year. >> ail, right. >> so, there was a payback because people loaded up in october trying to get that credit, thinking it was gone and november just fell back. i think when you look at how home stocks did yesterday on wall street, they were up even though the news was bad. this tells us we could reaccelerate again in december. >> hopefully so. your book, i guess the theory behind it is when the going gets tough, the tough start investing again. >> absolutely. >> what about people, we just said, losing 30% of their income? they're a little nervous about dipping their toe back in the stock market. >> and understandably so. i mean, listen, last two years have been extraordinarily rough, worst recession since, you know, the great depression, the unemployment rate went to levels we haven't seen since the early '80s. and 2009, there was a great rebound on wall street. 2010 is a year for main street, and if people understand that this year the economy will be good and that they can't really stand still. you know, there are opportunities on the real estate front in particular, which i think are generational in nature. this is one of the few times in life you get an opportunity to buy at the bottom of the market, whether it's a foreclosed home or a newhome. you've got government assistance anyou have very, very inexpensive prices. so, it's time to move. >> so, that's your number one piece of advice then, really -- >> yeah. >> rethink real estate at this point? >> absolutely. you look at what the government's doing until april, giving you a $8,000 tax credit, which you can use towards a down payment. the foreclosure market is interesting, whether in san diego, henderson, just outside of las vegas, phoenix, florida, where all new yorkers at age 60 are forced by law to move. there are 80,000 condos for sale in miami. there are a whole host of opportunities, both in existing homes and new homes, where you can find great bargains. >> moving beyond real estate, you say it is a good time to look at bank stocks. why bank stocks? >> well, you know, they were battered during this particular financial crisis. >> sure. >> and they're still relatively inexpensive if you're looking out five to ten years. i mean, it's not very often that you get a chance to buy citigroup, which is one of the biggest banks in this country, that's not going to fail, that's not going to be taken over by the government, for $3 and change. so it doesn't take that much money to put that in your retirement account, and if you think citigroup's gone in five or ten years, we have bigger problems than the amount of money you spent buying the stock. but if you think it will be $10, $15, $20, you'll make a lot on that initial investment. >> and looking at the bond market, tips or treasurely inflated protected securities. what are those? >> right. these are a special kind of bond created during the clinton administration that give you a bump up in yield, or the interest rate goes up as the inflation rate goes up. so, if you think that the economy's recovering and that the worst of the recession is behind us, as i do, then these bonds will be worth more, where regular bonds will be worth less. so, these are protected from future inflation and you get extra yield or extra interest rate payments as a consequence. and most financial experts think that these are one of the best buys out there right now for individuals. >> and in the 30 seconds we have left, the cautionary note in all of this? >> well, look, we can correct any time. we had a 60% rally in the stock market. real estate may have not hit bottom yet, although i think it has. in the next one to two years, anything could happen, but if you look out five to ten years, like a warren buffett or other professionals, they know that most of these assets are going to be higher in value. this is a good time to be buying. >> so, if you need your money right away, the book's not for you, but if you can span it out over 10, 15 years. >> if you need the money right away, it's never time to take risk. you put the money safely somewhere, very low yield so you know that it's there. but if you have 5, 10, 15, 20 years, this is where you should be jumping in. and you can buy a primary residence or you can buy investment properties now because the government has a $6,500 tax credit for people who already own homes who want to buy additional property. >> ron insana, thank you so much. your first investment should be the book "how to make a fortune." this morning on "how to cook everything today," the perfect recipe on a cold winter's night, chicken, not pie. mark bittman is a "new york times" columnist and author of "food matters: a guide to conscious eating." mark, good morning. nice to see you. >> hello, matt. >> why would you do this to me? one of my favorite dishes is chicken pot pie, and my favorite part of chicken pot pie is the crust. >> it's revenge, sort of, really. >> is that what you're doing? what are we, trying to save calories here? >> well, we're trying to sort of change the proportions of the stuff that's really, really good for you and the stuff that's not good for you. your typical crust has a stick of butter, cup of flour, 1,200 calories. i can make you an enjoyable pot pie without that crust. >> chicken not pie. >> right. >> we've got chicken and leeks on the stove. >> there's olive oil in here. we've been sauteing these leeks for a couple minutes. >> okay. >> we're going to put in a little bit of wine. >> is this chicken stock? >> a little broth -- well, it's vegetable stock, but any stock will do. the whole thing. >> whole thing, okay. >> you can use water also. >> all right. >> herbs, thyme, better gone, whatever you like. this is tarragon. simmer these babies until they're -- >> using boneless chicken breasts, or tenderloins. >> which is the supermarket term for thinner chicken breasts, sliced chicken breasts. >> you'll cook those for a while but take them out before they're completely done. >> take them out just as they're finishing, because after that, they're going to dry out. >> okay, great. >> now we have an assortment -- we have a fabulous taste in broth, because it's broth accentuated by chicken, right, and the leeks. and we're going to add som potatoes. >> what kind of potatoes? >> yukon golds. was that a test? we have some parsnips and carrots. >> asparagus. >> asparagus and peas. >> you can use frozen if you don't have fresh? >> for peas, you can absolutely use frozen. for asparagus, you know, i might use some -- if there weren't fresh asparagus, i might use brussel sprouts or cabbage. this is kind of -- it's a stew. >> you can make some substitutions. how long does think to cook down? >> say ten minutes. >> all right, great. now -- >> and meanwhile, while that's cooking, you cut up your chicken. >> all right. make sure this hasn't dried out. still good. >> okay, good. i was worried there for a minute. >> it' okay. and that's going to go back in here. >> and you want that in big chunks. >> when that's -- well, you want -- you might want it in smaller chunks. you might want chunks like that. bite-sized chunks. >> and how long does this whole thing have to cook? >> i would say -- the chicken in the first pot for ten minutes, the vegetables in here for about ten minutes, and then warming the chicken -- this will thicken and warm -- another two or three minutes, basically. >> all right. so, that's cooked down for there and this is what it looks like. a lot of chicken pot pies have the creamy finish. this has more of a brothy finish to it. >> this is very brothy, and think you can call it -- you know -- good morning. >> good morning. >> right on cue. spoon goes in the pot, t door opens. >> yum. >> call it, you know, there's an old-fashioned recipe called chicken in a pot, which is basically chicken with a bunch of vegetables. >> that's what this is. >> and that's kind of whathis is. are you passing them down? >> thank you. this is chicken soup with most of the stuff -- >> and you can serve this with a great couple of biscuits, right, butter? >> dough, exactly. >> if you'd like -- >> and some butter. >> over some rice or noodles, anything you like, but there you go. >> let's try it. >> i started mine already, so -- >> y did. mark bittman's shochicken not p >> i still want the crust. >> of course you want it, but you can't have it, right? >> okay. if you can't have it, then you have the next best thing. >> you have to settle. this is okay. mark, thank you very much. our time right now is 8:56 on this wednesday, the 6th day of january 2010. the man accused of being the third white house party crasher now says he has an invitation. it shows carlos allen walking into the white house ad ahead of the official indian delegation. his attorney tells nbc news that allen did attend the reception, dinner and performance after having an invitation mailed to him. a private social club, d.c. records show his license to run that business has been revokeded. we'll take a break and come bac good morning, mostly cloudy and still cold, we're hovering right in the upper 20s to near 30, we're getting a few flurries south of washington in stafford and charles county and the northern neck of virginia. temperatures will hold steady near 30 degrees for another hour or so and then we'll get some sunshine with highs reaching mid and upper 30s and still a bit of a bluster which wind. thursday night into friday morning some light snow appears likely now. might get a little accumulation before it ends by late morning friday. >> a few problems causing delays on 66 eastbound trying to get out of rosalind. headed for downtown by 395, looking pretty good at the moment, heavy but relatively steady as you head across the 14th street bridge. >> coming up on news4 at 5:00, what is your favorite sandwich in the d.c. area. we're going to kick off a new series called quick bites. back now with more of "today" on a wednesday morning, the 6th day of january 2010. although we have said it's a little better here in new york, it is still chilly, so these people are going above and beyond the call of duty this morning, and we thank them for that. >> hi, mom! >> because it is still cold. it's7 degrees in new york city. and out on the cold plaza, i'm matt lauer along with natalie morales. >> that's right. >> al is out at the consumer electronics show in las vegas, which is a little like sending a dog to a kibbles and bits convention, because -- >> wow! >> -- al loves gadgets. >> wow. he just called you a dog, al. >> what have you got there, al? >> well, this is called. it's called a tune bug. you attach your ipod or mp3 player to it and it vibe rates -- it causes vibrations in your bike helmet or whatever surface you put it on, so you can hear it through my helmet. this is really cool -- >> now the problem is you have to wear the helmet everywhere. >> well, you could put it on your head, i suppose. and there's 3d printing. you send this to a company called shapeways and they'll print anything out 3d. there's a 3d photo. we'll get into this stuff. >> oh, that's cool. i've seen it -- >> cool. >> weren't you in "avatar" also? >> yeah, i was. >> that's nice, al. >> i play sigourney weaver. >> you did, okay. it's great makeup. we're going to check with you in just a couple of minutes. here in new york, "money 911." >> okay, that's right. yeah, because it is that time of the week. as always, on wednesdays, we check in with our expert panelists and try to help you out with our finances, and our team has advice on everything from credit card fees, because they've all gone up starting january 1st to creating the best savings for your nest egg. and what do dennis rodman, mackenzie phillips and hollywood madam heidi fleiss agreed to do? they're fighting their addictions and dr. drew pinsky is helping us with "celebrity rehab," it is season three now. >> before that, ann is inside with a look at the headlines. >> thanks a lot, matt. in the news this morning, everybody, good morning once again, the democrats' filibuster majority in the senate is a bit more fragile today with word that two democrats will not seek re-electi re-election, and one of them, chris dodd, is chairman of the senate banking committee. having served five terms as senator, and he's also played a prominent role in the health care reform debate. the other not seeking re-election is byron dorgan after serving thr terms in the senate. multiple missile strikes hit northwest pakistan today, a haven for militants who attack american troops in afghanistan. the missiles, believed to be from u.s. drones, killed at least 13 people. president obama says he will not tolerate further security breakdowns. on tuesday he called the christmas day airliner attack "a screw-up that could have been disastrous." he said the government had enough information to stop the attack ahead of time but said the intelligence community failed to connect the dots. overnight, it was so cold in parts of florida, colder in tallahassee, florida, than in anchorage, alaska. and cold is the story in much of this nation. nbc's janet shamlian is in kansas city, missouri, with more on this, and she's out in the cold. janet, good morning. >> reporter: bitterly cold. good morning to you, ann. temperatures are in a free fall in about two-thirds of the country right now, and forecasters say this is not a typical two or three-day cold snap, that this one is going to hang on. in a winter that's already dumped crippling snow and ice on much of the nation, now comes the deep freeze. >> some of the coldest air of the season so far will be moving in. >> blowing snow, even blizzard conditions possible at times. >> reporter: bitter, bone-chilling cold blanketing as much as two-thirds of the u.s., from the rockies pushing east and deep into the shell-shocked south. >> what are you going to do? they wanted to go swimming, you know? we came to florida to go to the beach. >> reporter: even where they expect winter's worst, it's a record-breaker. minus 37 at international falls, minnesota. minus 16 in st. joseph, missouri. by week's end, little rock could see 10 degrees. dallas will be in the 20s. >> when you have conditions like this, sustained periods of this kind of cold weather, it really is about protecting people's lives. >> reporter: the nation's bread basket's turning into an ice box. near des moines, iowa, tim cullen is using three space heaters that are doing little to cut the chill. >> i've got to admit, this is the coldest i think i've ever been. >> reporter: beyond the cold, even more snow is coming. >> frozen like a popsicle. >> reporter: not everyone is running from the cold. >> we're just conditioning our bodies to -- >> exactly. >> -- enjoy the rest of the winter. >> we live here. we might as well face the facts, right? >> reporter: forecasters say what's unusual about this cold snap is how widespread it is and how long it will last. >> i think it's miserable. >> i've got four pair of socks on and my feet still get cold. >> reporter: the cdc has issued an advisory abo exposure to these cold temperatures, including the threat of frostbite and hypothermia. and ann, here in kansas city, they won't get above freezing until next week. ann, back to you. >> i'm not even going to ask you how many pairs of socks you're wearing, but get inside as soon as you can. finally now, today a violent confrontation off antarctic between a japanese whaling ship and a conservation group. antiwhaling activists say their boat was cut in two by a japanese whaling vessel when they tried to disrupt a whale hunt in antarctica's waters. the group said all of the crew members were rescued. it is now five minutes past the hour. let's go back outside to matt and natalie. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. we've gotome friends here from australia who have some relatives in boston. everybody say good day to our friends from australia. >> good day! >> good day, mate. >> do you feel at home now? not that well. all right, let's get a check of the weather. >> with mr. roker out in las vegas again. hey, thanks, guys. we're here for the consumer electronics show. opens up tomorrow. we're getting a sneak peek a a lot of the cool stuff today, thanks to our good buddy, mr. paul hochman, contributing writer at "fast company" magazine. so, much like ourselves, we want thin. we want to be thin. and this tv is about as thin as it gets. >> i've been working on thin all my life. that's a little unhealthy, i've got to tell you, but it's great. it's actually 2.6 millimeters, the world's thinnest television. >> that's as thin as a quarter. >> here's a quarter. just about the same thinness. this is the first time anybody's seen this, first time in the world. this is where things are headed weighs about eight pounds, very light, you can hang it on the wall. lg's pushing the edge of what's possible. >> and it's so new, they don't even have a price on this thing. >> that's right. >> it's not even available. >> if you have to ask, you can't get it. >> okay. now, they're teaming up to create this computer. >> in fact, one of the designers, david lewis, contributed to this. this is a fairly well known laptop company, but also, they've added style and the sound quality, which is really beautiful, huge speakers. that's what they're famous for. so, design is what you're paying for. >> an lcd projector within a camera? >> correct. this is from nikon. it's the s-1,000 pj for projector. and you take the picture and then press the projector button and it will project up on the wall. or if i turn it on properly, it will project up on the wall. there you go. and then the picture i took of you earlier with t helmet, very flattering. >> wow. >> you can project up on the wall. take a picture, you have home movies. >> and of course, if your lighting is correct, it's obviously brighter. >> exactly. >> 3d printing. 3d is the big thing since "avatar." >> now you can make it. a company called shape waves. they have a $500,000 printer, a 3d printer. you can print out any words you want, any shapes. >> we have cufflinks for our executive producer jim bell, my initials there. if you want to be your own james cameron and do your own "avatar," this is the world's first 3d video camera? >> yes, from panasonic, and it's really a professional camera at first. >> when it comes out, how much is this going to be? >> it's going to be over $20,000. >>oo! >> yeah, so we'll both pitch in, but two lenses make it 3d. >> then you'd have to watch it on one of these new tvs coming out. >> what you saw earlier. >> solar for everybody. >> the chief designer for apple decided that not all sol solar-wered stuff had to look like a science project and he made this beautiful. this you hang in your window for the day. and the next day for about 20 hours you can play your iphone. >> very cool. >> and this tower does the same thing, gathers energy from the sun and reduces your dependence good morning here, another cold january morning underway. we are seeing flurries that are lingering in south maryland and charles and st. mary's county. and the temperatures are just hovering in the upper 20s to near 30 all around the region and it's still mostly cloudy, the sun should return this afternoon by highs reaching the upper 30s and the winds will >> and that's your latest weather. ann? >> okay, al, thank you so much. this morning on "today's money 911," timely advice for your money emergencies, from dealing with new credit card laws to your retirement accounts. our team of experts is ready to answer your questions, so we've got "today" financial editor jean chatzky, author of a new book called "money 911." we've got david bach, the founder of finishrich.com and author of "start over, finish rich," and also he's the new father, by the way, born on new year's day, right, of james. and sharon epperson is very happy for him. she is cnbc's personal finance correspondent. >> and me. >> and we've got natalie standing by with people from our crowd who have some questions this morning. so, good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> now let's get to some questions right away. the firstne really shows someone who's been really smart about what to dobout credit cards. a lot of people worrying about their rates. we've got a video question from judy in ohio. go, judy. >> the rate on my oldest credit card was raised to 29%. even though i pay on time and maintain a zero balance. i have even tried to negotiate a lower rate unsuccessfully. what i would really like to do is cancel this card in protest. also, i've heard rumors that there may be fees placed on no or low-balance accounts what are my options? >> jean, 29% as a rate sounds ridiculous. >> and yet, this is what a lot of good customers are facing right now. we've been hearing from a ton of people who are getting the very same notices that you are, that despite the fact that you pay off your balance all the time in full, your rate's going up. canceling the card in protest is not going to help you at all, and you need to think about what is going to help you rather than what's going to potentially hurt the credit card company, because although they hate to lose you, they don't hate to lose you that much. so, here's what i want you to do. look around for additional credit, but don't cancel this card if in the next 6 to 12 months you are going to potentially apply for a new mortgage or a car loan, because canceling it, since it's the oldest card that you have, is going to take your credit score down more than canceling another card that you may have in your wall. >> but you don't have to use the card. >> no, you don't have to use the card, but you have to watch out for these inactivity fees, because they are coming. we're seeing some companies start to levy inactivity fees of $90 a year if you're not using your card. the thing to do is actually take it out of your wallet once a month, use it to buy something small and pay it off every single month, because then you won't get thrown into the pile with all of those other potentially inactive customers. >> paying it off means you don't pay the 29%, so that's the way through all this. makes you angry. >> but if you don't use the card, they may cancel it, and that's something you want to be concerned about. you don't want them canceling the card because you're not using it. >> and we've got michelle from virginia who has a question about where to put our money this year. hey, michelle. >> caller: hey. i have a $25,000 certificate that i need to reinvest by january 11th. should i put it in another certificate earning 1.65% interest for 18 months or is there somewhere else i could put this money and earn more than 1.65%? >> thank you, michelle. 1.5i6% -- we just heard about interest rates 29%, and now 1.65% -- >> isn't that a great business, loan the money out at 29% and only give you 1.65%. here's the question you have to ask yourself when you invest money -- when do you need the money back? if this is short-term money, like emergency money, security money, then you need to keep it safe. here's the problem, the rates are very low. the national average is 1.65% for about a year. you can get up to 3% if you go out on a five-year cd. but i want you this year to look for a credit union account. actually go and open up a account at credit union. go to findacreditunion.com. because the rates are a little high right now for credit union members, so for a lot of americans, it's a great place to put some very safe money. i would also be looking at government savings bonds right now, but again, the rates are very low, but the key is, if it's short-term money, you need it fdic insured, also. that's critical. >> also, another place, there are new checking accounts offering higher rates of interest. you can go to checkingfinder.com. you may be able to find a checking account that will pay you 3%, even 4%, as long as you're willing to use your debit card ten times a month and bank electronically, which many people are doing anyway. >> and you don't want to tie up your money in a long-term cd, nessarily. if you want the liquid cash, you probably want it in a credit union account, a high-yield savings account, something that you can get access to that money quickly. and rates may start to go up at the end of this year as the economy improves. >> thank goodness. let's hope that happens. we want that to happen -- >> well, we want it on the side of saving. not necessarily on the side of mortgages. >> exactly. >> we want to win in all cases. >> in all cases always. especially for people who are on retirement, because they've got to watch their money. we have a question from the internet in new york, antoinette on skype has a question. >> hi, good morning. my question is, how do i deal with an account with two financial institutions? should i consolidate to one? and also, i have two cds that will be maturing at the end of february and march this year with the total of $10,000. should i take that money and continue with the cds or should i make a contribution to my roth i.r.a. for 2009 and 2010? >> who wants this? go, sharon. >> you have to worry about, first thing, is do you have an emergency fund? do you have money saved? if you have that already, then you can think about where you're going to invest this $10,000. i think a roth i.r.a. might be a great idea for investing that money and so that you can have $5,000 for 2009, $5,000 for 2010. you can do that until february 15th. still put the money in the roth i.r.a. i think that's a good idea. >> people get confused, though, and we hear this all the time. when you put the money in the roth i.r.a., that's the basket that's the account. once it's in there, if you want to put it in a cd where you know it will be perfectly safe, you can do that. you can also put it in stocks or bonds, but you want that account, because the money in that account can grow tax-free forever. that's why i.r.a.s, roth i.r.a.s, 401(k)s make so much sense. >> what about the question -- i'm not sure you answered -- >> consolidation depends on the fdic protection. if you have more than $250,000 in a single institution, you want to find another institution, because until 2013, that is going to be the limit on the protection on your money from the fdic. so, more than that, you divide and conquer. less than that, you could have it in a single institution. >> right. >> and the advantage to a single institution is simplification. it's having one statement one place. and if you've got one adviser -- often when people have multiple advisers, they're not looking at the money together as one big picture. >> but if you have more than $250,000, as jean was talking about, but you really want it all together -- is it worth it? is it worth that argument? >> well, that's the money you want -- make sure it's fdic insured. if you're talking about investments, brokerage account, mutual funds, it doesn't matter. >> doesn't matter. and the insurance is with the brokage account. a lot of people don't pay attention to where their money is. >> natalie's out at dean & deluca with a person from the crowd. >> i've got lewis and tanya from columbia, south carolina. what is your question? >> my question is, on a brand new internet-based business, personal shopping automobile business, what percentage should we be putting back for retirement? >> good investment deals as well. >> i'll give you the magic formula for this for anybody that's self-employed is you should be paying yourself at least 10% of your gross income as it comes in. the single biggest mistake self-employed people make is waiting until the end of the year to fund your retirement accounts and you don't. here's what i would tell you. open a self-employed retirement account, sepi.r.a. you can put $46,500 away tax-deductible. every time money comes into that internet business of yours, you should be sweeping it directly into a sep-i.r.a., every time. if you're not making money every day on online, every two weeks i'd be working with the money in your account, sweeping it into a sep i.r.a. so you're getting all of that money built up throughout the year. the big advantage is you get to put four times as much money into a retirement account -- >> and people don't do it. but if you haven't started already, 10%'s not enough. you've got to up it to 15%. >> we've got much more to get to, so hg tight. we'll be right back with more money questions and answers. and coming up later, dr. drew pinsky is back talking about celebrities he's been helping overcome drug addiction. having a heart attack. i remember bei at the hospital, thinking about my wife. i should have done more to take care of myself. now i'm exercising, watching my diet, and i trust my heart to lipitor. 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"i can't believe it's not butr," butter taste, better health. and we're back with more of "today's money 911" with our fantastic expert panel. and you know, we've got a lot of questions coming in about student loans. we've got tina from knoxville, tennessee, on the telephone. hey, tina, what's your question? >> caller: good morning. i need help in finding out what to do with my student loans. i graduated from college in 2005 and i borrowed from sallie mae $46,000. since that time to now i have been on the income-sensitive repayment plan, but my loans never seem to go down. i now owe over $150,000. my income is under $50,000 yearly, and presently, i'm on an educational deferment for nine months and it will be up at the end of march. what can i do? >> good question. >> how does that happen? >> well, she's got private loans which have been accruing. the deferred payment, the interest is still accruing. so, what you need to do right now is go back to sallie mae. first of all, you need to know exactly how many loans do you have? because it sounds like you don't have one loan. my guess is multiple loans. >> and which ones are private and which are federal? >> sallie mae protects loans, so you need to ask how many loans do i have, what's the interest rate? it could be as high as 18%, almost like a credit card if you have a private loan. and especially if y've been late. so, go back and find out, how many loans do you have? are any of them renegotiable? can you consolidate them? sallie mae is where you have to start, though. have you actually called sallie mae to discuss this with them? >> caller: mm-hmm. >> what did they tell you? >> they were united fund and sallie mae bought them out. >> so they're all private. >> they're all private. >> they'll have to work with you, because at your income level, there's simply no way at $50,000 a year that you can pay those loans back if you've got a high rate. >> caller: and they want me to pay starting in april $1,200 a month. i cannot do that. >> right. >> and you'll have to let them know that you simply can't and be persistent and stay on the phone and let them know you want to pay something, you just can't pay this, and should your income go higher, you can pay more money. >> and pay the one with the highest rate if you can't consolidate. >> unfortunately, they're private. if they were federal, she could look into the income-based repayment plan, but that's only for federal loans. unfortunately, she has to work with the lender directly. >> how many loans do you have? >> well, just one. >> one loan. >> caller: yeah, just one loan. >> let me be honest, we wod never recommend going bankrupt on the "today" show, but the reality is, the type of loan you have with the income level you have is exactly what's forcing people into bankruptcy. so, they need to work with you or they're going to have a loan that's going to go into default. that's what happens in the real world, and quite honestly, they know that. >> caller: they said there's no programs for me to work with on. this was, you know, my income payment plan has already went as far as it can go. >> all right, thank you, tina. thanks, team. great job. much more still ahd. v/manag% yw%ig andtay@àh%a,thnbm whoo! still to come, dr. drew season of "celebrity rehab." if you want to see the weather ahead, push here. if you want to access 10 gigs of music you just downloaded to your hard drive, push here. and if you want to pull away from it all, you can push here. the all-new-40-gig hard drive nav and entertainment system on the 2010 lacrosse. from buick. it's the new class of world class. 9:26 is our time, 31 degrees, one degree below freezing right now as we look at the gray skies over the nation's capital on this wednesday, the 6th of january 2010. mike shanahan is the new head coach of the washington redskins. he signed a five-year contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the nfl. shanahan, owner dan snyder celebrated the agreement. they will make an official announcement at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon and you can watch that on news4. the gay marriage bill was signed into law last month. same-sex couples could begin to wed in march. we'll come back and look at o good morning, it is cloudy and cold on this january morning. a few scattered flurries still linger, highs today in the upper 30s, then tomorrow morning low 20s and tomorrow afternoon in the mid 30s and the likelihood of some light snow thursday night and perhaps late morning friday with a couple of inches of accumulation. >> the accident 66 eastbound at the rosiland tunnel completely over at the shoulder. belt way north of town from i-95 and points west. looks like we're doing okay on 395 headed for downtown. >> coming up on news4 at 5:00, bhees your favorite sandwich in the entire d.c. area? we're going to kick off our new ♪ american woman, stay away from me, american woman, mama let me be ♪ doesn't it feel today that women are juggling many things at once, more than ever, from the board room to our children's classrooms to making time for our husbands and trying to have some time for our friends. well, apparently, there are five things that every woman should know how to do that might make their lives easier. so, we're going to find out what those are tomorrow here on "today." aww. and i'm ann curry along with natalie morales. al's, by the way, out in vegas. we'll hear from him in a couple moments. he's at the consumer electronics show. and in fact, let's hear from him right now. >> yeah. >> al -- >> you've got the need for speed, i hear? >> that's right. you know, the radar detectors that the police use cost about $2,000, or professional baseball teams. well, we've got a couple members of the las vegas summer baseball club here, and they're going to -- this is called pocket radar. for $250, you've got a professional quality -- go ahead, guys, fire it up. okay, so he's throwing it 25 miles per hour. this is great. you can take this down and see how fast your kid's throwing the ball. it's really kind of cool. look at that, boom. 26! he's getting it up there. getting it out there. don't blow your arm out before the summer's over. >>nd let's see fast pitch. >> say again? >> let's see his fast pitch. too many monitors. >> we want to see a real fast one. here we go. 33. oh! oh, that was close. kind of -- a little brush back there. kind of clipped me. >> there are a lot of tv screens behind him. we may want to be careful with that. >> yeah. thanks a lot. then, of course, we're also cooking up a storm here. we've got chef david walzic from the sw restaurant at the wy, and he's going to be showing you how to do short ribs all in one pot. i mean, this is going to be great. yeah, baby. that's what we're talking about. >> you're just in heaven, al. surrounded by technology and food. >> that's comfort food. that's right. >> al, thanks so much. >> if you could combine the two. >> actually, i was thinking about that little speedometer. you could do it to make sure your kids aren't driving too fast. there's a lot of excuses -- >> of course, you would have to be standing outside while the kids are doing it. >> that's true, but you know what, i'm the kind of mother who would do that, so, we don't want to get into that. >> yes, you are. >> that's a different story. al, thanks. we'll hear from you in the cooking segment coming up, but this hour we've got -- >> dr. drew is back. he's helping some famous faces with their problems for addiction. among them, mackenzie phillips, heidi fleiss, actor tom size more and basketball star dennis rodman. we'll hear about it from dr. drew, coming up in a few minutes. also, let's get a check of the weather with al back in vegas. hey, al. >> make the monitor work. >> hey, guys. okay, we're just having a little technology issue, but we're all good. we're all fine. we're all fine right now. this is the asis skype book. so, you get this thing and any -- if you've got a skype account and somebody else has a skype account, you can make free video calls anywhere in the world using skype. and it comes with this lovely lady to set it up. no, only kidding. anyway -- it was working just a moment ago. let's take a look, show you what's going on as far as your weather's concerned. while it's getting started, we'll take a look at the weather, see what's happening. there you go. current temperatures -- wow, it's chilly! temperatures right now 28 in jacksonville, 39 ft. myers, key west only in the 50s. and then highs today only getting into the 40s and 50s throughout much of florida. temperatures 15 to 20 degrees below normal. as you move acrs the rest of the country, you can see that cold air is really streaming down out of canada and will continue to stream down tomorrow and on into friday with temperatures well below zero in the plains and then moving on into the upper mississippi river valley. only 20s in the northeast. and then add to that, we've got a little low pressure system bringing some snow starting tomorrow on into friday. and we could be looking at some really miserable conditions. good morning here, we have still clouds lingering, we have had a few flurries lingering this morning in parts of southern maryland, and across the potomapotomac. it's 31 in washington, but we ought to get some sunshine this afternoon. tomorrow a little sun in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. thursday night into friday morning, some light snow appears >> and that's your latest weather. ann, natalie, back to you guys. >> okay, al. you're doing a great job out there, by the way. enjoy those ribs. coming up next, we've got celebrities fighting to stay sober, as we've been telling you. dr. drew pinsky is working with them. y( laughs ) there we go. 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[ male announcer ] for a better-looking tomorrow. vicks nyquil cold & flu. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. ♪ the doctor is in. eight celebrities are once again turning to dr. drew pinsky to help them overcome drug and alcohol addiction. the third installment of "celebrity rehab with dr. drew" premieres tomorrow night on vh1 and will follow stars like dennis rodman, heidi fleiss and mackenzie phillips, as they battle to stay sober. dr. drew, nice to have you here. >> thanks, natalie. >> third season, so congrats to you. you say this is the most intense yet with the cast of people you have. tell me their stories. >> well, this is a group that's very diverse in terms of the kind of treatment issues that are presented to us. one is that these are, some of them, very severely, biologically dependent and addictive, so will get very ill in their withdrawal. others like mackenzie have been in recovery before and understand it well. there are people who are resistant, like dennis, who claims he is court-ordered to be there. i have to write him a letter that he satisfactorily completed treatment. and when i tell him, look, if you don't participate, i've got a problem here -- >> right. >> i'm not going to report -- and he still just is completely resistant to the process. >> what is interesting in the group is that two of the celebrity patients actually have a past relationship together. former hollywood madam heidi fleiss and actor tom sizemore. >> there you see tom there. >> an abusive relationship. he was convicted of assault and battery in 2003. wru concerned that past history was going to get in the way of their treatment? >> of course. whenever there is a relationship, it is a concern. both people have to consent, and in fact, it did not take them away from their treatment. they all stayed with me through "sober house," and in that environment it was a little more problematic. tom, i have to tell you, it took him a while to come into treatment. it didn't come in with the rest of the patients, he came in. he's very sick. he spends most of the time in bed. so it doesn't disrupt heidi's treatment at all. she's very kind to him through most of the treatment. then towards the end, things get a little rockier again and i would not have predicted that given where we started. >> mackenzie phillips was here on the show. of course, a lot of us know her from "one day at a time," and her history of drug addiction started so young. she was just 11 years old, and we also know she had an incestuous relationship with her father and she's been in and out of rehab. >> remember, her father injected her with drugs, exposed her to drugs -- according to her. >> what's the course of treatment for someone who started at age 11? >> you can anticipate it's a lifelong struggle and she is a heroin addict and heroin is a life-long disease. it does not go away. it is a fatal condition. and given the trauma she's had, the early onset of the disease and seriousness of the drug of choice, it's remarkable she's alive and she's had long periods of sobriety. >> let's listen to this clip we have. >> i started using as a really young person. i didn't get clean until i was 32, okay? and i stayed clean until i was 42. >> that's amazing. that's fantastic. >> then my father passed away. i kind of -- i just kind of lost my -- >> did his illness trigger some of that decline, do you think? >> absolutely. >> so, as you said, here's somebody -- she was sober for ten years. >> well entrenched in sobriety. something happens -- >> and fell off the wagon again. >> but again, this is the thing people don't understand about addiction. addiction is closer to asthma or diabetes than it is to an infection, say like a skin infection. it's not like when you treat it, it's over. you treat it and you have to participate in continuing the treatment, and even when you do, just like with diabetes, even when you're manager your blood sugar properly, occasionally it goes out of control for various reasons andou have to get back into treatment and get reentrenched. mackenzie does so well in treatment that she's sort of viewed by patients as the teacher's pet and heidi becomes brutal with her. they start setting her up for things, and it right side -- >> like a competition, sounds like. >> well, it's like a little family. it's a classroom and things start happening. >> right. >> and they have to learn about themselves through that process. >> tell me more about dennis rodman. he wasn't there out of his own voelsion. this is a court-ordered thing. >> he was the way most people -- people look at what we do and say they really don't want treatment, and you're right. many of them want to be on tv, they want to get paid. look, when i treat people normally, it's normally because either their family sends them, their employer sends them, or in dennis's case, the court sends them. we don't care their motivation. we know that if they believe they're going to die, we're likely to be more successful in treatment, but if we can get oyer hooks in them, we can do some work. in this case, eventually, dennis does kind of come around. >> how bad was his alcohol -- >> prettbad. i actually do brain scans on him to show him the damage from the alcohol. we document that. >> wow. of course, we've been reading a lot about the johnson & johnson heiress, casey johnson and her death, and also -- at the age of 30 -- long history of drug and alcohol abuse, in and out of rehab as well. >> yes. >> brittany murphy died last month at the age of 32. cause of death hasn't been determined yet, but there were reports that painkillers wer found in the house. >> yes. >> what is the lesson here? i mean, this is a story that you see overnd over again. >> yeah. >> in hollywood. >> yes, you do see it over and over again. the lesson i want people to know is this is not about their fame. the fame is what allows these diseases to spiral out of control, and maybe to a greater extent than for the rest of us. there's not the kind of stcture there. there's not family and employers to bring them back into treatment earlier. they have more power, so they can -- their disease can manifest more completely. but it's not the fame that causes the disease. these are very severe mental illnesses we are seeing here, and we have to take note of that, learn from it and be emp threatic towards these people. >> and you just finished "sex rehab with dr. drew," and of course, one of the stories we've been talking about an awful lot is tiger woods. do you think he had a sex addiction? >> it certainly sounds like sex and love addiction, doesn't it? it's not just sex addiction, too, because hhad these relationships he was cultivating and kept all the plates spinning where he became upset with the women if they cheated on him. we laugh about it, but boy, that must have been a struggle to maintain that life. we also hear there was some chemicals in his system when he was in the car crash and those things go together, chemical and sex addiction. they make one worse. >> dr. drew pins, thanks and good luck with everything you have going on. >> i appreciate it. >> season three of "celebrity rehab" premieres tomorrow night on vh1. coming up next, back to las vegas for a cold-weather dish that will warm your soul. you can smell it from here already. [ female announcer ] olay ribbons body wash shakes off dry winter skin with 2 separate ribbons. the white ribbon that cleanses and the body butter ribbon that moisturizes continuously leaving skin satiny smooth. goodbye dry winter skin. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] there's a place called hidden valley. where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can't get enough. ♪ hidden valley ranch, makes vegetables delectable. coming soon, four new ways to make vegetables delectable with farmhouse originals from hidden valley. that's why nature's bnty makes... a full line of high-quality vitamins, like fish oil for heart health. go to naturesbounty.com now for a $2.00 coupon. nature's bounty. perfect for every body. gwhy do women like youm now love activia light?on. sometimes i have no choice but to eat heavy greasy food that's hard on my diet... and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. it helps me feel good and look good too! ♪ activia! hey! announcer: you don't drive every time you smoke. yet you smoke every time you drive. driving and smoking don't have to go together. re-learn life without cigarettes, free, at becomeanex.org. a new way to think about quitting. re-learn life without cigarettes, free, girl: grandma had come up for a visit. mom: so we took her to our olive garden. just us girls. mom: we kept the fun going all through dinner. vo: olive garden brings you new manicotti formaggio with ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella cheeses. served with either sautéed shrimp in our creamy carbonara sauce. or with pan seared chicken, with roasted peppers in homemade parmesan sauce. both with unlimited salad and breadsticks. girl: it was really cool just hanging out- the three of us. vo: olive garden. when you're here, you're family. i have a question about these clams. the taste is amazing. clam transfer. clams. are these really fresh-caught clams in your new england clam chowder? we take what the ocean offers, be it clams, camaraderie or heartache. wait, what? i think that was a yes. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. in "today's kitchen, keeping it simple, yet hardy in just one pot. raised short ribs. it's the perfect dish for this kind of weather. throw in some root vegetables and you've got a meal. david walzog is the executive chef at sw, at the wynn hotel. i love this, all in one pot? >> one pot. and it makes it so easy in the kitchen for cleanup, for entertaining. it's one of the best things. >> so, you start off with the short ribs. >> here's the deal -- prime short ribs, seasoned simply with salt and pepper. >> that's it. >> right? and then all these aromatic vegetables -- onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, artichoke bottoms. a little sprig of herbs that's rosemary, thyme and bay leaves all tied together. >> and you brown the ribs on both sides? >> we have everything kind of seared and kind of browned off. then we're going to add some red wine. >> okay. ooh. now, how much do you want to throw in? >> so, that's about eight ounces or so. >> uh huh. >> just a little bit. just it kind of like soured out the sauce, it adds some roundness to it. so, you let that boil for two or three minutes. this is a real rich beef stock. >> mm. look how it glistens. >> in that goes. >> mm-hmm. ah. and so, you let this simmer for a little while longer. >> you let that simmer a little bit. this is about two hours in the oven. >> when do we add the tomato paste? >> so, the tomato paste went in -- can go in now, and it gets stirred about. >> throw in the garlic. so, you simmer it on the stovetop and then it goes in the oven for how long? covered? >> for about two hours. so, we have finished product here. >> oh, yeah. >> and look at this. this has been in. very tender. it's all kind of like, you know, pulled from the ribs, very tender. >> let's plate that up, because we have to. >> because we have to. >> because we have to. and i notice you've got a couple of sides over here, too. you've got parmesan cream spinach. >> we have parmesan cream spinach, we have mushrooms, one of my favorites. this is a great, like, earthy mushroom that's just wonderful. >> hold on. oh. >> balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and basil, the potatoes. so, one pot. it's really, really wonderful. >> that's great. and thanks for making that for me for the ride home. >> sure. >> i appreciate that. >> we can always -- >> a little white truffle. >> vegas style. >> a little black truffle chips -- >> black truffles on top. >> david walzog, it's been a pleasure. >> thank you. >> we have more coming up. look who's on our couch, hoda and piers. hello. >> what have you got coming up? >> we have a lot coming up. tim allen, who's hilarious, has a new movie out, "crazy on the outside." >> it's great. >> you've been seeing a lot of movies together. >> we have. >> should your fiancee be suspicious? >> she's not happy and she's trapped in slow, bad london. >> 16 inches of snow. >> it's amazing. news break now at 9:56, 31 degrees as we look at a live picture of the nation's capitol. clouds also in the sky on this 6th day of january. in the news for today, mike shanahan is now the new coach of the washington redskins, he signed a 5 year contract that will pay him about $7 million a year. shanahan won two super bowls during his tenure as coach of the denver broncos. he has a postseason record of 8 and 5. the redskins will make an official announcement this afternoon at 2:00. you can watch that news conference live right here on nbc 4. >> the sunshine breaking out now, partly cloudy through the rest of the afternoon. highs in the upper 30s. a likelihood of some evening light snow on thursday, thursday night into friday morning, maybe a couple-inch accumulation, dry and cold through the weekend. >> wilson bridge and the topside of the beltway looking good. >> coming up on news4 at 5:00, what's your favorite sandwich in the washington area? we'll start our new series quick bites with the washington food editor. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza -- >> good morning, eveone. it's wednesday, january 6, 2010. by the way, you've got one more day to see that beautiful rockefeller center christmas tree that's right out there behind us. it's all still out there in its gloir. it's still a beautiful tree. come on down and see it. i'm joined by mr. piers morgan. kathie lee has a few days off this week. nice to have you. >> i'm disappointed that she's not here. i thought by now we had a thing going. what is this? >> this is a mardi gras king cake that was sent by ms. roman from new orleans. the idea is -- it seems early for mardi gras because that's in february, but this is the official sort of kickoff to the season, january 6. >> hoda, you too not get a body like this eating cake ke that. >> you cut it up and inside is a baby. if you get the baby you're supposed to buy the next cake. that's the story behind that. so president obama was on the news yesterday. and he had some tough talk after that terror plot sort of unraveled on christmas day. and i think that of the sternest we've heard him in a while. what did you think -- >> i agree with him. you know, they were very, very close to a major catastrophe. you know, this is the speech he's making. i think we should hear his words. >> explosives on christmas day -- when a suspected terrorist is able to board a plane with explosives on christmas day, the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way. the bottom line is this -- the u.s. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the christmas day attack. but our intelligence community failed to connect those dots which would have placed the suspect on the no-fly list. we have to do better. and we will do better. and we have to do it quickly. american lives are on the line. >> he's not firing anybody yet. we don't know what's going to happen in that department. but the thing is the number of red flags, and they were unable to stop him, makes you think about how many -- not to be scary sounding, but how many people are out there. you've got a half a million people on the watch list. a whole bunch more on the no-fly list. with so many people and so many calls and so much going on in the intelligence community, it just doesn't seem like they're able to keep up with everybody. >> well, what i read in the papers is that obama was much stronger in private with security chiefs. this is a long line of mess-ups. you've had the guy stumbling into the airport -- this can't happen in the modern age when you have post-9/11 terror threats. >> you have an interesting point because the thing that bugs people when you're waiting -- like the folks at newark. we're waiting in edless lines, you're tired, they're screening you, you know you're not the person, you just want to get through. and you go through at a snail's pace. >> my argument is you look at images like this, and i'm sure every american watches and thinks this is not right. it cannot be right that you have an alert, as we saw at christmas with this guy, and everything gets paralyzed. and everyone's lives get -- if u do, then your life gets affected adversely by terror. what we did in britain through the '70s and '80s when britain was bombing, when there was an attack everybody went back to normal as soon as possible. send the message you're not going to win. what worries me about there kind of overreaction is they haven't got the process in the airports up to speed. >> right. >> there should be double the people. if i was obama i would double the amount of people working every airport in america and say we're going to double the security, but it will be the same speed you're used to. the terrorists will not win. i think that's the answer. you've got to combine two. >> i think it's frustrating. in newark which were all those chaotic scenes, there are cameras positioned so that you're able to catch images of people. the thing that went wrong with the cameras was there was no film in some of those cameras. now for the tsa ended up taking full responsibility for that. but you can't believe that that kind of stuff happens. it just shows how the system can fall apart by a tiny little ridiculous thing -- >> that's why obama is right to be so angry. it's got to change. they've got to get there right. let's talk about the party crashers. everody knows about the salahis, the couple that snuck into the white house dinner. there's another guy that you haven't heard of. his name is carlos allen. there's carlos. carlos apparently also made it in to the white house christmas party. he kind of went in with the indian delegation. now allen's lawyer tells nbc that he actually thought he was invited to this dinner. he had an invitation. apparently the white house says he wasn't invited. but he has a habit of, you know, posing. that's the salahi woman on the right, right? >> this is absolutely ridiculous. the white house said he wasn't invited. what is he doing in the white house? supposed to be the most protected building in the world -- look at these stodgy people he's with. >> first of all, let me -- >> that's aajor security breach. >> this is at -- >> the one on the right is a known wanted suspect. all sorts of despicable acts. >> i didn't know who he was. we were at there event, the angel ball, kathie lee and me, and that's star jones in the back. i didn't know who he was. he came up and said "let's take a picture." you wind up snapping a picture. >> though that's funny, there's a serious point. what is a guy who's not invited doing inside the white house? there were three gate crashers. how many more have to get in uninvited before somebody's head rolls? in britain the head of the security service would be out the door. >> the thing is he went in with the indian delegation. i wonder if because there were a whole group of foreign dignitaries that they didn't stop each individual and say, sir, what is your name, let me see your invite. they let everyone go through together. >> either way, i think obama, given he's the first african-american president we've ever had, i would expect -- certainly in britain we would expect the best security detail of all time. this series of blunders is unacceptable. you got to protect this guy. he is such a force of good around the world. in britain, everyone loves barack obama. >> right. >> you cannot afford to have these kind of people sneaking into the white house. it's not acceptable. >> all right. we've got a new survey out. we like surveys. marriage -- >> i know you do. >> marriage, marriage, marriage makes you fat. >> don't look so difficult about it. it's fine. >> your pending nuptials make you fat. apparently especially if you're a woman. if you're single you gain 11 pounds over ten years. however, if you ve a spouse or kids, you gain double that amount. >> see, my they'ry is this. my girlfriend's quite skinny. i want her to fatten up. >> why? >> i think women should be generally larger. >> i want to remind you of something, she picked you. i'm reminding you again. >> how lucky was she, i might add? >> she picked you. go on. >> i have a theory. i would like my wife to be like they are in new guinea. >> new begin? -- new guinea? >> they eat one of these for breakfast, lunch, they look like proper women. >> there are women walking around stick thin trying to eat one meal a day because they think men like that. >> kate moss said recently there's nothing that tastes as good as skinny feels, right? that does. that tastes better than anything skinny could feel. women get skinny for other women. >> yeah. >> they want to show off to other women how skinny they are. men don't like skinny women. >> how big? men don't like super big either. >> i would like my wife to bulk up to about 200 pounds. >> no, you would not. no you wouldn't. >> seriously. by the way, if she's watching this, she's going to leave me. >> yes, she is. >> this is serious. i think women- they read too many magazines. they obsess about how other women see them. when actually they should be obsessing about how men see them. >> we have a little man fashion segment going on here. tighty whities they say are back. now men -- you said that you wore -- >> boxer shorts. >> boxers. you're out. >> don't predented you didn't know i wore boxers. we've had this conversation. >> the boxer shorts i think allow a little wiggle room literally. whereas tighty whities, they are what they sound, tight and white. i find them inhibiting. >> they also say the thong is out, which i disagree with for women. >> for men it should be. it's a total no-no. for women, the idea of you in a thong -- >> okay. all right. we'll end -- >> exciting. >>ere's a really beautiful piece of video we'll end this chat on. check this out. this is the rare panda. >> oh! >> that's the baby when the panda was a baby. and then they unveiled -- now it's in the san diego zoo. it was born five months ago. look at that. isn't that an -- if you're in a bad mood, just watch this video. >> aww. aww. >> that is -- >> you could watch it all day long. >> you can't beat pandas. over to miss sara haines. >> hi. we're talking about the marriage makes you fat. robin wrote in, "what doesn't make us fat nowadays?" krista is men want a real meal whereas women have a salad or dry cereal. men want meat and potatoes. >> is that what you want, meat and potatoes? >> i think proper food. get away from the salad stuff. lean meat with good vegetables, but, you know, you've got to eat properly. too many people are starving themselves to death. >> i'm with you on that. >> eat. eat and be merry. >> all right. coming up next, the very funny man, tim allen, can be called a stand-up kind of guy. spaceplan in " -- spaceman in "toy story" and a handyman you would want in your home in the '90s in "home improment." >> tim allen comes out from behind bars as he tries to persuade his parole officer to date him. >> the movie is "crazy on the outside." hey, tim. >> good morning. >> first of all, mr. director, what was it like? this is the first film you have ever directed. what was that like? >> i loved every single part of it. i've done a number of films. i wish they come out differently. we do a scene and go, god, why did they take that out. and going to film school, i know why it was. the editor, the director, and a good buddy of mine costner says, "you keep talking about this, why don't you direct comedy." all the stuff got in the way, how do you do this, how is this? did i it step by step and read books on great directors, avoid cliches, don't do this. >> great cast. sigourney weaver. she's in another movie at the moment. >> we've heard of the. what is it called? >> "blue people." >> the blue -- >> i like it. you are funnier than ever, tim. >> this is 100 times funny than "avatar," i love this question. >> in the film you play this guy named tommy and you're out of jail. you've been in jail for three years. you get home and your sister knows you were in prison, but your grandmother thinks you've been in france. we have a clip of you guys around the dinner table. so let's take a listen. >> you eat it however or wherever you want. >> now you know what, why don't i just eat it right here. you're right. what am i waiting for? >> speaking of fran, tce, tom, think you'll be going back any time soon? >> what do you mean? >> it's just statistically speaking people who go to france and then get out of france usually end up back in france. >> that is a terrific cast, though. >> it was a terrific cast. the one funny thing about this is sigourney and ray liotta were tough on me because they were pushing my buttons. and i would give them directions that -- that i've learned from other great directors. when it came to comedy, there was nothing -- i said, this is how it's going to be. this is -- why i did this movie is so i want to be able to edit the way i think a comedy should be edited. giving the audiee like when i did standup for 20 years. i like to move on. i don't belabor -- >> let me ask, you played an ex-con. you have served prison sentences. has your life on the outside been so crazy that you've ever wanted to be back inside? >> it's odd to say, but i'm a creature of habit. the one thing about being incarcerated in a federal prison in my case w that -- your life is regimented and you don't think about clothes, you don't think about food. it's things -- really things that happened with men on the outside to me is there's all these confusions about -- i should have been a soldier, i think, being in the military is something i would have liked to do because i like the regiment of that. >> did you draw on your own experience? >> not really. this script was a comedy. when i first read it, we did a table read in los angeles. one of the funniest scripts i've ever read. i thought a studio would screw it up. the language is rough, it got a pg-13 rating, and i wanted to have a broader audience. still it's for 13 and above. not the "santa claus." group. >> your child, you have a child who's 20 and a new child who's 9-months-old. what is her name? >> 9 months, elizabeth. these hiding behind the rock. >> are you a better dad this time around? >> i'm kind of a grandpa mixed with dad. i don't get upset -- i have a -- seven brothers. my brothers do this weird math with me all the time. boy, when that girl is -- i got it. i got it. i think of when she's 16, my sdreem that she'll be going, "dad? dad? do you want me to roll you over by the window so you can watch me play?" she' be changing my diapers. what goes around, comes around. i "i got to go, kids. i've got to change my dad's diapers." >> thanks. good luck with the movie, "crazy on the outside." it hits theaters this coming friday. >> funnier than ever. >> yes, it is. up next, the products you probably don't know about but won't be able to live without. how many times have you seen a cool, quick fix or hudson river it-- or item and thought,f course. >> a magazine put together a list of inventive items that we -- probably not me, we'd be lost without. >> melissa mathews is the magazine's beauty editor. hello. we've got to get to the products. these are dynamite. >> i know. as a beauty editor i get a lot of products in the office. these are my favorites. i love them. >> you handpicked your favorites? >> yes. >> first, whether it comes to fingernails, when it comes -- they chip. mine are -- ugh. >> this is the cotton ball gripper. it will grip it so you don't have to. when your nails are wet and you have a smudge and you go to get it off and you have cotten strands caught in -- excuse me. you pull it out and it holds it for you. this way you don't have to worry about it. >> that's smart. if you smudge part of your nail and don't want to redo the whole thing, what do you do? >> use the orley smudge fixer. smoothes out the smudge instantly. swipe it on and that's it. you let it dry. and it dries within 30 to 60 seconds. >> got it. >> done. >> for those of us who apply lip gloss and you need a nice light. tell us about this. >> yes. this is from model co. there's built in a light and a mirror along the base. it will make touchups super simple. >> that's genius. that is genius. >> also the light, you can use it in a dark restaurant to read the menu. it's multipurpose. >> see, the mirror is the genius part. that's genius. >> i have to say women, you really do have to work hard for this. for men, beauty is so natural. >> oh, god. let's move on to this. >> there is avon's pro three-in-one lip wand. a lip gloss, lip liner, and lipstick in one coordinated shade. it takes the guesswork out of creating a perfect pout. >> if you could see our make-up back, you have so many extra things that you don't need. >> so many things. >> that's what i love about this product. our next -- we always have base, foundation, powder, ncealer, all that stuff. >> yes. >> right? >> this is a cult favorite. this is pure minerals four in one, concealer, powder, spf in one. you don't need anything else. i use this every day. >> wait. how can the same thing that works as a base work as your concealer? >> it's a way within the dry-down of the products. it goes on with a powder obviously but has a creamy finish. it's going to master the evenness of your skin. >> what are concealing? am i missing something? >> bags, shadows, blue stuff. hello? to the eyebrows. most people have tweezers, an eyebrow pencil, comb. three different things all in one? >> this is the iconic eyebrow kit. >> she's a very smart girl. >> yeah. it has a tweezer and -- >> the tweezer on the end. that is -- you tweeze your eyebrows. you've tweezed yours. >> i have not tweezed my eyebrows. >> someone has done yours, i can see. >> what you see what you get. au natural. >> seriously? >> no botox, no surgery. >> you have great brows. you're lucky. >> thank you. >> shirts that you pack often wrinkle. >> that's more like it. these are wrinkle free? >> these are wrinkle free, from riders, tops by lee. throw it in the dryer, hang it up, it's wrinkle free, we promise. but they also have little snaps between the first few buttons so there's no gaping and there's no peek-a-boo bra. >> that's key. sometimes when -- when we wear shirts, something -- that's brilliant. >> yeah. >> you snap them. we have about 30 left. >> okay. let me talk about real quickly, these are my absolute favorite. >> shoes. >> yes. these are from footsie rolls. how many times have we worn heels to a party -- >> homany times have you worn them? that of the question. >> i don't care. i don't want you in these, hoda. keep the heels on, i don't care how painful they are. >> it is so painful. >> who are you? >> all you have to do is roll them up and they fit in a clutch. >> real quick. >> this is how you hang your purse up. >> yes. and it is a keychain holder. >> this is what you do. you put it here if youon't want your purse to get dirty. see? >> and you don't have to go fudging through your bag looking for your keys. >> thank you very much. still to come, how to follow through on your relationship resolution. coming up today at midday. >> we'll have the lathe es on the hiring of the mike shanahan. we'll have team coverage. good morning, i'm joe krebs, also coming up on news4 midday, democrats are losing two incumbents in the senate. that shake-up could hurt the party trying to protect its we're back on this wednesday with resolutions today. and ways to revamp your relationship. >> if you want to turn your dull row plans into a dynamite one like hoda does with me, then there are a few easy moves to make. >> all right. jarrod matthew weiss is contributor editor at "shape" and we have a clinical psychologist and author of "get a grip: your two-week mental makeover." hello to you. >> hello, thank you very much for having me. >> sure. at the start this new year, you think we can -- what are basic steps we can take to rekindle romance? i know sometimes it's difficult. things get stale, old. same old, same old. >> i think that the first thing that you can do to rekindle a romance is really to do the things that -- do something that you did from your past, you know. go to -- go back to where you had your first date and have dinner. >> yeah. >> and actually the opposite, as well. you can take something that you've been waiting to do in the future and do it right now. so bottom line is take something from your past or something from the future and do it now today. >> can we get to the bit i like which is the makeout and massage. >> of course. i mean, everyone can tell you that like there's no woman on the planet who will tell you there's -- there's too much making out or massaging in our relationship. i think that making a commitment to just making out all the time and massaging each other all the time. >> all the time. >> i like this, yeah. >> come on. then she's reciprocate. piers, i know you. >> some people honestly are watching and are stuck in a rut with their spouse who they've been married to for a lot of years. they can't get out of the rut. the idea of let's go back to the place where we had our first date doesn't ring a bell. give me a tip -- >> once you get over a couple of things, you can get there. one of the biggest sabotagers of libido and lust and that spark that you want to bring back to your marriage is anger and resentment. so when i have couples come in to see me, i'll say, "what are you angry about?" sometimes people with k list things with dates that -- can list things with dates that happened last year. get over the anger. get over the things that are going wrong so that you can start being happy again. >> what about if you're bound to get -- about to get married and one of yow co-workers is coming on strong and you feel a real spark? >> i can't stand him. >> his no idea that you and david hasselhoff had a thing -- >> just good friends. good friends for half an hour. >> i think it's really important. the one thing that's really important in the relationship is to be the person that you -- that you want to be in a relationship with. so, you know, and that helps you deal with issues -- >> i get all this. but there must be times when it's just irretrievable. you're flogging a dead horse. when do you think you know when it's over? >> that is awful. we're trying to help people rekindle -- >> not flogging. rekindling. >> not everyone can rekindle, can they? >> he's got a point. >> where is the cutoff point? >> these are resolutions, not disolutions. the idea is if you really love each other, you do the work to stick together. >> what if -- some people have different libidos, sometimes the man is really interested in sex, the woman isn't, or sometimes it's vice-versa. what do you do to make that relationship work? one needs more than another feels comfortable with? >> there are two physical things, specific things that you can do. >> are you still talking to me? >> no, i'm definitely not talking to you anymore. >> she's not talking to you. >> raging libido be red dress. where is this going, hoda? >> please go on. >> maybe we should go back to when you end things. >> wow. >> very good point. very good point. but is there -- >> let's be positive. i take your point. this is a new year, be positive. what's a key thing? >> just to listen to each other. i think that whether you're in bed or you're at the dinner table or you're on the phone, wherever you're at in your relationship, if you've got problems, if you're on cloud nine, it's about communicating, listening to each other and identifying your wants and needs. >> what's your takeaway? >> my takeaway, work on your own things. yes, you're a coupletogether, you're a unit, you're partners. but each of you has things to work on. i'm not looking at you. >> don't look at us. >> separately, you probably have things that you need to work on your own. >> i think freedom is the key. i think you've got to give each other space. >> not too much space. >> not too much -- >> you do everything together. if your guy likes sport, let him have his sport, wish him well. encourage him to have a great night out with the lads. >> and the other way. >> some women go shopping. >> missing each other is very good. >> if you go shopping with her, right, if you go shopping and say, wow, i love the way you look -- >> doesn't work. men should never go shopping with women ever. >> unless you're buying underwear. >> thank you. that was enlightening. anyway, up next, we'll play "who knew?" get out the popcorn. >> this team is your family, michael. and we are back with another edition of our "who knew" quiz show in. honor of the upcoming golden globes we've decided to test your knowledge on movies. contestants will see a short clip and then will have to guess the movie. piers is across the street at the msnbc.com digital cafe, ready to hand out $1 hundred to the winners. and those who do not answer correctly, they will get one of kathie lee's cds. >> come on. it's good. >> allison is here to help us out. >> if people have seen the ads they'll do great i'm sure. >> excellent. let's go across the street to piers. >> you ready? what happens in vegas stays in vegas or does it? this wild comedy starring bradley cooper depicts the after effects of a particularly drunken bachelor party. let's see the clip. >> am i missing a tooth? i can't -- >> oh! >> oh, my god! my lateral incisor, it's gone! >> we need to calm down. it's fine. everything is fine. >> okay. what's the answer? >> "the hangover." >> you are right! $100. congratulations. >> wow. excellent. "hangover." that was a big movie. >> it's a huge hit, and it's a very, very funny movie. this is nominated for best film in the comedy or musical categoriment and it's up against some others. i don't know if it will win, there's "5 hundred days of summer" that might hit home with the hollywood foreign press. but this is a crowd pleaser. and ed helms doesn't have a tooth. he didn't grow one when he's 16. he has an implant and his dentist took it out -- made a commitment to the role. took it out and replanted it afterwards. weird, huh? >> uh-huh. back to piers. >> who are you? >> i'm steve. >> okay, listen, how good is your movie knowledge? good? >> we don't have cinemas where i come from. >> that's not going to help you. ready? what if you spent most of your life traveling in an airplane, asked this film, which is directed by juneau and smoking veteran jason wrightman. watch the clip. >> i don't spend a nickel if i can help it unless it somehow profits my mileage account. >> so what are you saving up for, hawaii, south france? >> it's not like that. the miles are the goal. >> that's it? you're saving just to save. >> let's say that i have a yb n number in mind ad i haven't hit it yet. >> you don't watch movies. it's down to your son. >> "up in the air"? >> you're right! fantasc. >> we are 2-2, alison. i haven't seen the movie yet. >> i'm assuming the boy hasn't seen it. >> i hope not. >> this got the most nominations, best drama, best director for jason wrightman, and best actor in a drama for george clooney. he's won two already for "oh brother where art thou" and "syriana," but i think he's going to walk away -- >> you think so? >> i do. they like him. this film is great because it's got everything. >> dying to see it. piers? >> number three, who are you? >> darlene. >> margaret. >> where are you from? >> jacksonville, florida. >> do you know your movies? >> sort of. >> we'll find out. this science fiction blockbuster utilizes state-of-the-art 3-d technology to immerse the viewer in an alien planet that's being terrorized by human greed. roll the clip. >> to become a hunter, you must choose your own clan, and he must choose you. >> when? >> when you are ready. >> if you don't get this -- you have to listen to kathie lee records for the rest of your life. what's the answer? >> "jaftavatar"avatar"? >> it is "avatar." >> i don't think there's anybody this that room that wouldn't have known, right? >> now we all knew what the word means. who knew before the film came out? four nominations, did not get a script nomination. that's one weakness that people say about the film. who cares because when you see the film, you're transported to another place. it's fantastic. and james cameron, director, is nominated for best director against his ex-wife, catherine bigelow, for "the hurt locker." i think she might take it. >> really? drama. >> back to piers. >> i've got a feeling this guy is a movie wizard. look at that face. you ready? >> i'm ready. >> what are your names? >> rusty bean. >> yell nor beeleanor bean. >> little bean. this detective got an action-packed upgrade when guy richie cast robert downey jr. in the title role. figure out who it is from this clip. >> i need your help. i need you to find someone. why are you alwayso suspicious? >> should i have chronologically or alphabetly? >> careful not to cut yourself on this lethal envelope. >> right. what's the answer? do you know, mum? >> "sherlock holmes"? >> it is "sherlock holmes," $100. congratulations. >> wow. i think little bean could have gotten that, too. >> easy peasy. robert downey jr. is good in a role. best comedy or musical -- i don't know why it's in that category because i didn't find it particularly funny and there weren't musical numbers. guy richie directed it, his first non-r-rated film. there's not a lot of blood and guts, if that makes it more appealing to guy richie fans. >> let's go to piers. >> very glamorous trio. who are you? >> kristi. >> cykristi. >> down. >> go. sandra bullock stars in this real-life story of current nfl player michael ohr to play for the baltimore ravens. let me know who it is. >> been to let that in my house, i got you something nicer. >> it's mine? >> yes, sir. what? >> never had one before. >> what, a room to yourself? >> a bed. >> ladies? >> "the blindside." >> it is "the blindside." a complete home run! [ applause ] >> i've never known everyone to get it all right. amazing. >> it's a clean sweep. "blindside," sandra bullock, right? >> you're favorite movie. >> loved it. >> she's nominated for this, a drama. she's nominated for best actress in a comedy for "the proposal." two films which already made over $100 million. "blindside" made over $200 million, proving that women over 40 can open movies huge which i think is fantastic. >> love it. thank you very much. come back and see us. >> bye-bye. >> the golden globes are this sunday, january 10, on nbc. we're back with "today's kitchen." and we're getting saucy. >> you can go to the caribbean with us and island cooking. >> our chef is here with some of the flavors he creates in his restaurant, blue, at the ritz carlton on grand cayman. eric, welcome. >> thank you very much. >> so glad to have you here. >> it's a great pleasure. >> tell us what you're going to make. >> we are going to make some shrimps, and we are going to make a curry sauce. i likit. >> he could talk all day. flavored rice made with shrimps and apples and bananas. >> do it again, eric -- >> shrimps? i have no sense. so we take the shrimps and then i'm going to butterfly them very quickly like that. >> okay. >> so it will cook very fast. and i put them here. >> those are small shrimp. >> they're not huge. sometimes they can be bigger, but it's the same. then we have butter here. and for the sauce we are going to use fresh ginge garlic, and shallots. >> nice. >> ginger's good. >> like that. >> and we're going to sweat them so sweating means that we cook them until they are tender. >> there is just in butter, right? >> just a little bit of butter. if you don't have butter you can -- if you don't want to use butter, you can have a bit of oil. it's fine. >> is this how they would do it in the caribbean? is this a very caribbean way of cooking? >> yes. absolutely. then we have madras curry. >> what kind? >> madras. >> i like that. >> and we're toasting the curry with the vegetables. >> smells good. >> that's where all the aromas are coming out. we are going to add chicken stock like that. >> right, right. >> almost covering what we have here in the pan. >> uh-huh. >> coconut milk. >> coconut milk, okay. >> that will give a lot of richness to the sauce. >> uh-huh. >> and a bit of salt, pepper. >> when you choose shrimps, they have to be fresh. how do you know what a shrimp is smelling the rye wight way? >> shrimps should never smell like low tide. >> low tide! >> what does that actually smell like? >> you'll know it. >> once shrimps have been sizzling, they go in the pan like that. >> really quick. >> you don't want to cook them too long. while they're cooking i'm going to make the sauce. so i have here -- if you want to hold it like this. >> uh-huh. >> i'm just going to pour the curry sauce, you see, like this. >> smells delicious. >> it does. >> like high tide to me, eric. >> i'm glad we achieved that. >> thank you. >> uh-huh. >> put it here and we're going to go and add now some lime. >> uh-huh. >> and we are moving with our shrimps. >> we're talking just 45 second with that shrimp. >> very quickly. you see it becomes pink like that. >> beautiful. >> in the plate. >> uh-huh. >> and we are going to plate it. >> we're going back here, okay. >> coming back here. >> okay, okay. >> the sauce comes here. and i'm going to pick the place -- to place the shrimps in the bowl like that. >> beautiful. >> you see, like that. >> and you've got the fried rice on the side. what's in there? what else? >> we have raisins, almonds, we have some bananas, apples. >> very caribbean. >> and -- yes. >> love all that. >> and it's great like that. >> oh. >> some sauce on top. and then a little bit of cilantro, just to give some extra freshness to it. >> okay. >> like this. >> and do you mix that with the rice or are they two separate dishes? >> i like usually to have the rice on the side. >> okay. >> so you can have the rice on the side. of course what you need is some good cocktails with it. >> exactly. what's the cocktail? >> we have one with curacao and syrup here. you should try definitely the rice with it. what's very important is to -- >> mm. >> fresh ingredients, even the spice should be very fresh. so it's -- very nice, powerful flavor. >> absolutely delicious. >> and of course a nice cocktail to go with it. >> cheers. cheers. >> thank you very much. >> lovely to meet you. >> thank you very much. >> we'll be right back. a big thank you to eric for the wondful meal. tomorrow we'll have our panel with a new contest winner. plus one of britain's finest rising stars, matthew goode, will stop by. >> and hoda and i talk to the animals. >> no! you won't like it. it's scary. trust me. see you tomorrow. thanks for watching.