Transcripts For WBAL Today 20091125 : vimarsana.com

good morning. party on pennsylvania avenue. the president and mrs. obama host their first state dinner, welcoming hundreds of dignitaries and hollywood a-listers to the white house. who was there and who wasn t? we ll tell you. speaking out. michael brewer, the florida 15-year-old set on fire allegedly by a group of classmates, opens up to police for the first time about the attack. we ll ask michael s parents about that and their son s recovery in a live interview. and heading out. the holiday travel season getting under way this morning with an estimated 38 million americans taking to the roads, the rails and the skies, just in time for all that turkey today, the rails and the skies, just in time for all that turkey today, wednesday, november 25th, 2009. 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, and i feel like all those people heading out for the holiday have headed here. take a look at our preholiday crowd out on the plaza. huge numbers of folks here gathered not so much for us, i don t think. no. we always get a big crowd on the day before thanksgiving, because so many people are in town, but we multiply that today because we ve got a lot of bon jovi fans out there. the guys from new jersey, across the river, they re going to put on a great show for us in our 8:30 half hour. so, if you re trying to get down here, get down here now. fast. because the traffic s going to be heavy. all right, speaking of crowds, there is plenty of traffic on our nation s roads and at the airports as well, as folks try and get an early jump on their thanksgiving travels. this morning, we have got you covered with everything you need to know before you head out the door. but let us begin this morning with last night s state dinner at the white house. nbc s savannah guthrie is there this morning. savannah, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, matt. on the day we learned that the president s decision on afghanistan is imminent, he hosted a key player in the region, india s prime minister, in a night that served up diplomacy with a big side of glitz and glamour. stepping out as hosts of their first state dinner since entering the white house, president and mrs. obama had the eyes of the world watching them. their guests of honor, the prime minister of india, manmohan singh, and his wife. diplomatic relations between the u.s. and india high on the agenda for the evening. mr. prime minister, today we work to fulfill our duty, bring our countries closer together than ever before. he should be on our common values and interests to realize the enormous potential and promise of our partnership. reporter: politics aside, this state dinner was the hottest ticket in town. the guest list reading like a who s who from washington and hollywood. bold-faced names like jennifer hudson, who provided some of the evening s entertainment, the trio from dreamworks, steven spielberg, jeffrey katzenberg and david geffen also in attendance. so was hollywood superagent aria manuel, whose brother rahm emanuel is the president s chief of staff. this is not just a party. this is not anything that s frivolous. this is a serious thing, this state dinner, because our relationship with india is crucial. reporter: in a nod to the guests of honor, there were also several indian celebrities like director m. knight sham lan, author and spiritual adviser deepak chopra, and a.r. rahman, who composed songs for slumdog millionaire. absent was bill clinton. secretary of state hillary clinton came alone. oprah winfrey wasn t there, either, but her best friend, gayle king, was. and then, of course, there was the other star of the evening, the first lady s dress, always the talk of the fashion world. michelle obama chose a gown by indian american designer naeem khan. she chose an important color in india, which is gold, and i think it s one of the most beautiful dresses i ve ever seen. reporter: but the dress wasn t the only homage paid to the guests of honor. there were the purple flowers representing the official indian state bird, the peacock, and magnolia branches, which not coincidentally are native to both the u.s. and india. all the night s details carefully thought out months in advance. the world tuning in to watch the obamas as hosts. it s sort of like a swan. we re kind of calm and serene above water, but we re paddling like mad, going crazy underneath trying to look smooth. this is not just their party. they are representing us. our country is the host. this is a great start for them. reporter: well, today the president moves to thanksgiving activities. he will pardon the traditional thanksgiving turkey later today and also participate in a service event here in the washington area with his family. matt and meredith. savannah guthrie at the white house, thank you very much. what do you think? i feel like a hypocrite, because yesterday we were talking about what does she wear? and we re like who cares anymore? then all i wanted to know is what is she going to wear? and what d you think? gorgeous. i think it s elegant and appropriate for the first state dinner. she looks great. he looks great, too, in that tux. he looks, as you said, classic. classic route. looked like a nice evening. we look like shlubs. well, we do. in other news out of the white house, president obama says he is ready to finish the job in afghanistan and he will reveal the nation s new strategy there next week. nbc s chief correspondent jim miklaszewski has more. reporter: he is still looking at numbers and while they won t get the combat numbers they wanted, it s a strategy they can work with and will more importantly work. in a news conference alongside india s prime minister, president obama officially declared afghanistan his war, while taking a not-so-subtle shot at the bush administration. after eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, i think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job. reporter: although commanding general stan mcchrystal wanted 40,000 additional forces, military officials say he s now satisfied with the 32,000 to 34,000 the president s willing to give him. 34,000 will be a tremendous jolt of energy to the armed forces on the ground. reporter: the additional troops will indirectly come out of iraq. three army combat brigades set to leave there early next year will not be replaced and three other army brigades that would have replaced them will now be sent to afghanistan instead. it s already sparked a fierce political battle. i don t think there s a great deal of support for sending more troops. reporter: the president s own democrats think the wealthy should have to pay a war tax to foot the bill. seems to me, if the society wants to fight this war, then it ought to pay for it so that we don t destroy our ability to reform our own economy. reporter: but the president s new strategy does include significant benchmarks and more compromise for the military. commanders initially argued, it could take three to five years to train enough afghan security forces so they could take over the fight and american troops could come home. the president wants it done sooner, in two to three years. i do think it s good we re talking specifics, because the american people deserve some sense of how long the mission might last. but any effort to be precise is not realistic. reporter: the pentagon and military did prevail on one critical issue, an exit strategy. president obama will not set a specific timetable or deadline for the withdrawal of american forces. even at that, former vice president dick cheney again accused president obama of dithering. it s not one of these deals where you can just sit there and delay and delay and delay and think you re going to make a better decision. reporter: the president, however, is confident once he delivers the details of his new strategy, the american people will support it. but will the president level with the american people? in the short-term, this new strategy will mean more intensive combat, more u.s. casualties. and even after the shooting stops, there could still be significant numbers of american troops in afghanistan for another ten years, meredith. all right, mik, thank you very much. it is 7:0 and once again, here s matt. meredith, thank you. now to the thanksgiving travel rush which is now getting under way. this morning we ve got you covered at the airports and on the roads, plus, al roker has the holiday forecast. let s start with nbc s tom costello, who is at reagan national airport. you spent an awful lot of time there, tom. reporter: i have a cot here. thanks, matt. listen, we ve got some rain here in washington, and it s really stretching across the entire country, but take a look at a live view of radar in the country right now. every single flight as it s represented on the map, and we don t have any significant delays at all. faa reporting every airport in the country right now is operating with minimal delays. and so, the planes today are likely to be packed. we re looking at, in fact, full engines, and the skies will be full. from a cloudy, foggy runway in chicago to a rain-swept ramp in d.c. at this time, we re boarding all rows, all passengers. reporter: and all points across the country, the national thanksgiving rush is on. do you have your bags yet? do you have the tampa bags upstairs? reporter: in the united airlines control room at o hare, it s all about keeping the parts moving. the arrival rate isn t impending us at all. we re just slowed down enough where we don t have airplanes coming in one on top of the other. this is a 777. we re using two jet bridges today. reporter: united predicts 100,000 customers to pass through the chicago hub this year, fewer than previous years, but still up 10% from a typical wednesday. carry on. keep it simple. make it fun. we plan well in advance, and this is just kind of getting ready for game day. reporter: while at us airways hub in washington flight 1825. reporter: flight attendant lisa scott knows the routine well. what s the secret to staying sane if you re a flight attendant? yoga. [ laughter ] lots of deep breaths. reporter: the airlines anticipate just under 2 million fliers to pass through all the nation s airports today, but the busiest air travel days will be sunday and monday with just over 2 million fliers each day. and 23-year veteran lynwood harris knows what they re thinking. they re thinking about that wonderful dinner at grandma s house. their expectations of getting there on time and most of all, having their bag arrive with them as well. it s a family obligation, right? yeah, we re yeah. it s going to be fun. the heartland. it s going to be fun. it s going to be great. check in early. please plan on arrival at the airport two hours ahead. reporter: the good news, thanksgiving 2009 looks to be snow and ice-free. the weather is cooperating, passengers are moving well, and flying s good. reporter: okay, here s the advice. if you re traveling, get to the airport early. the airlines have no slack in the system anymore. because they have fewer passengers, they have fewer planes. if you miss your flight, the next plane is likely to be full, so you ll be hitch-hiking down the turnpike to get to grandma s house. back to you, meredith. all right, tom, thank you very much. tom costello. aaa expects some 33 million people to hit the roads this holiday weekend. that is a slight increase from last year. nbc s mike taibbi is along interstate 95 in new jersey, one of the east coast s busiest highways. mike, good morning. reporter: good morning, meredith. yeah, it certainly is one of the busiest highways, and that 33 million figure is about a 2% increase over last year, also a slight increase in the number of those who are going to use other conveyances trains, buses, watercraft, even, to get to grandma s house. now, for 86% of the people who will be going to grandma s house by driving, the other thing is the price at the pump. aaa s fuel gauge report says the average price for a gallon of regular now is $2.64, compared with $1.89 last thanksgiving, but don t forget, that s when the economy was melting down. and the price of gas was artificially lowered at that point. one other bit of good news at this point, if you want to rent a car, the price to rent an average mid-sized car down about a buck from last year to $44 a day. so, there is some good news. traffic moving well right now in new york, boston and atlanta. if you re going to get into that parade on the busiest driving day of the year, drive carefully, because grandma doesn t care whether you get there late. she just cares that you get there. meredith? yeah. she ll keep the food warm. mike taibbi, thank you very much. all right, al roker is upstairs with a check of the holiday forecast, as those families drive down the highway, al, they re going to be saying don t make me stop this car. that s right. thanks for the plug. there you go. travel trouble spots, rain in seattle, rain and snow, fog detroit, chicago, showers and fog in washington, miami, heavy thunderstorms today, boston, look for fog. as we move into thanksgiving day, rain in seattle, snow showers around chicago, detroit and cleveland, maybe some problems. moving on into friday, another busy day if you re heading back. more rain in the northwest, snow showers cleveland, rain in the northeast, windy conditions down in washington. and then on sunday, that big travel problem looking like denver snow, windy in vegas, rain in houston, a big hub there. st. louis, rain as well. northeast, though, looks pretty clear. so, the good news is that unless you re flying through one of those cities, you should have fairly smooth sailing. guys, back to you. all right, good news, al. thanks very much. now let s get a check of the other top stories of the morning. ann curry is over at the news desk. ann, good morning. good morning, meredith and matt. good morning, everybody. we begin this morning with firefighters struggling today to contain a wildfire in southern california. so far, they ve been able to keep the fire away from homes, but this fire in anaheim is being whipped by winds, and the battle is from the air as well as from the ground. former top pentagon officials investigating the ft. hood shooting began their review on tuesday touring the scene of the shooting where 13 people died. the investigators are looking at how to identify service members who could pose a threat to others, and they re also looking at the military s ability to respond to mass casualties. today the transportation department said that toyota will replace gas pedals on almost 4 million vehicles in the u.s. to address problems with sudden acceleration or the pedal getting stuck in the floor mat. the problem has triggered a major recall back in september. for the first time, the government is imposing fines on three airlines for their role in stranding passengers on airport tarmacs. last august, passengers were stranded overnight on a plane in rochester, minnesota. continental and two smaller carriers are being fined a total of $175,000 as a result. among those traveling for thanksgiving, the crew members on the space shuttle atlantis. this morning the shuttle undocked from the international space station and nasa is hoping for a friday landing. overseas markets are higher this morning. as for wall street, cnbc s melissa francis is at the new york stock exchange with more. hey, melissa. lots of attention today on housing. that s right. there s a ton of data to get to today ahead of the holiday, including new home sales. also, gold already hit another new record this morning $1,180 an ounce on word that india is going to buy more gold from the imf and the weak dollar. finally, starbucks expanding even further into china. they see it as the next big frontier for coffee. ann, back to you. melissa, thanks so much. and security s being reviewed at a jail in louisiana after an officer failed to close two steel doors on tuesday. an inmate noticed and just simply walked out of jail, the escape caught on tape. she was captured hours later and is back in custody. no word yet on what they said to the officer. it is now 7:16. there she goes. bye-bye. there she goes. anyway, now back to matt, meredith and al. well, the door was open, you know? i think what they said to the officer is everyone who s planning on being here for the thanksgiving party, raise your hand. not so fast. all right, let s get another check of the weather from mr. roker, who is outside with the crowd. hey, al. that s right. this is a huge, huge crowd for bon jovi. i mean, from 50th street to 48th street, they have packed in on a thanksgiving prethanksgiving day concert. pretty exciting stuff, and the weather s perfect for it. let s take a look. not so perfect down in florida. they ve got a double-barrel low pressure system, one in the gulf, one on the other side of florida. and that s making for some heavy rain. rainfall amounts, we re talking especially down through the south of florida, around t we are off to the same start as yesterday. drizzle and light rain. that will be with us off and on through this morning and to and that s your latest weather. matt? all right, al, thank you very much. now to the toddler orphaned in last year s deadly terror attack in mumbai, india. moshe holtzberg has become a symbol of that tragedy. nbc s martin fletcher is here with the latest on him. martin, good morning. nice to have you. good morning. it s being remembered in israel because of the only slaughter in the jewish shelter. mosha was rescued by his indian nanny, and on wednesday, we found he turned 3 years old. he looks happy enough today, living with his grandparents and his indian nanny, but moysha s parents were murdered in a mumbai massacre. a year ago, his nanny snatched him from the side of his parents, where they lay in their blood. she ran for their lives. she became a heroine, moysha an orphan. at the memorial service last year for his parents, an american rabbi and his israeli wife, moysha cried. mommy, mommy! israel s heart went out to him. today, the grandfather says each morning when he sees their photos moysha says, good morning, mommy and daddy. we tell him we are with god, he says. last week, moysha celebrated his 3rd birthday, a milestone for a jewish child. his first haircut. off come the curls. a big day in his life and for the community that has adopted him. the best revenge, they say, is that one day, moysha will go back to mumbai and take over his father s job as rabbi to traveling jews. among those celebrating was aron avrin, the indian doctor who confirmed that moysha s parents were dead. oh, my god, i was very, very upset. reporter: he was so close to the american rabbi and his wife and so upset that he came to live in israel. he, too, is jewish now. i am very happy to be here. the people live here for god, for judaism, not for money and for business. reporter: moysha s being raised in the path of his parents as an orthodox jew. his grandparents say he has no memory of the massacre. as for sandra, the indian nanny who saved his life, she says he s now in the best of hands, that her work is done in israel and that she s ready to go home to india. matt? little boy looks like he s doing well. that s happy news. martin, by the way, can i just say a little congratulations. your book, breaking news out in paperback. thank you very much. competition with al roker. that s right. still ahead, the remarkable recovery of michael brewer, the florida 15-year-old set on fire allegedly by a group of teens, as one of the boys who watched the attack is now speaking ou good crowd out there. are you cooking for the big holiday? i am well, i m baking, but my son david came home from college yesterday. mom s apple pie? mom s apple pie and gabe s pumpkin pie. who s making the turkey? i m brining it. i m going to be in the parade with you. i can t be cooking a turkey and doing the parade. i m not superwoman. it wasn t an accusation. coming up, martha stewart shares her preparation of the holiday spread. i think meredith s got dibs on the turkey. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i m stan stovall. let s get a check on the morning commute with traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. a busy morning rush. a lot of folks trying to get out of town. we have some accidents to watch for as you head out. we are getting word of the crash just in to us. you can see some yellow there. eastbound i-70, making away towards the beltway west side. apparently fixing a flat in the right lane. southbound traffic looks good. but of the late developing southbound 95. it ave due late development on southbound 95, but not significant. this could change with the accident been reported at the outer loop of liberty. six minutes from 895 towards the fort mchenry tolls. still dealing with drizzle and fog in spots. leave extra early if you can this morning. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. we are dealing with the low clouds and fog and drizzle. upper 40 s and low 50s right now. that is a big part of the forecast, with the average low temperature being in the 30 s. we will limited to 65 this afternoon because of the clouds. fog and drizzle will stay with us this morning and may taper off later 30% chance of showers on thanksgiving. rain and snow showers on friday. be sure to check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. our next live update at 7:55. 7:30 now on this wednesday before thanksgiving, the 25th of november 2009. rockefeller plaza filled to capacity, as you can see, because one of the biggest names in rock and roll, bon jovi, who happen to have the number one album in the country, are going to take to our concert stage in just about an hour from now. they happen to be nbc s artist in residence this month. yes. we ve enjoyed them here on several occasions. it s been fun for us. hopefully for them, too. this is great. this has to be one of the largest crowds we ve ever had. massive. massive. it s going to be a lot of  fun. i m meredith vieira alongside matt lauer. just ahead in this half hour, a very serious story. we re going to have the latest on that florida teen set on fire last month, allegedly by a group of his peers. this is the first photo of michael brewer released since the attack. he s now strong enough to speak to investigators about what happened on that day. we re going to talk to michael s parents about heir son s recovery in just a couple minutes. also ahead, an exclusive interview with dr. jill biden, the wife of vice president joe biden. we re going to hear why thanksgiving means so much to her family. and later on, what nadya suleman really thinks about being called the octomom. we ll hear what she has to say about that in just a little while. but let s begin with the remarkable recovery of michael brewer, the 15-year-old florida teen set on fire in an attack allegedly carried out by classmates. we re going to talk to her parents in just a moment. but first, nbc s kerry sanders has the latest. kerry, good morning. reporter: well, good morning, meredith. 15-year-old michael brewer has been here at the jackson memorial burn unit just fighting to stay alive, but now, 45 days since he was allegedly surrounded by a group of neighborhood boys, doused in a flammable liquid and torched, now he s finally strong enough to talk to detectives. in a sign of confidence, he s beaten the odds and will survive, michael brewer s family has now shared a photo of him in the hospital. family and doctors say it s nothing short of remarkable. burned over 65% of his body, michael can raise his arms in therapy, walk, and with the breathing tube removed, he can speak. detectives won t say what michael revealed when they talked to him about the october attack, but three of his five classmates are still charged with attempted murder as adults. two of those suspects are 15 years old, the other 16. all have entered pleas of not guilty. on tuesday, 13-year-old jeremy jarvis, initially arrested and jailed, walked with his mother and sister to face a wall of cameras and apologize. i want to express my deepest sympathy to mikey and his family. i will pray for mikey to grow stronger every day and for mikey s speedy recovery. reporter: jeremy s older brother, d.c. jarvis, is accused of splashing rubbing alcohol on michael as another teen allegedly set him on fire. jeremy, who watched, faces the possibility of avoiding charges in exchange for testimony implicating his brother. i want to tell my brother, d.c., i love and miss him. i just hope and pray we all get through this. reporter: why apologize now? in a limited exchange monitored in his lawyer s office, jeremy jarvis explained. because michael was really one of my best friends, but then all this happened, so reporter: it s a tragedy that s been heard around the world on tv and the internet. the horrific 911 call the day michael was attacked. yeah. he s a 15-year-old boy and his skin is peeling off. he s burning. reporter: now on the scoreboard of the florida panthers games 15-year-old michael brewer, surrounded by a group of neighborhood bullies last month who ruthlessly set him on fire. reporter: to fund-raisers with the miami dolphins, with strangers as far away as russia, this 15-year-old s survival has captivated hearts, all rooting for his recovery. but the sad reality is, michael brewer has a long way to go and recovery will not mean he will be the boy that he once was. meredith? but he s also come a long way as well. kerry sanders, thank you so much. michael s parents, valerie and michael brewer sr., are at jackson memorial hospital in miami this morning along with their son s doctor, nicholas namias. good morning to all of you. good morning. good morning. you know, valerie, the last time we spoke was october 15th, a few days after michael had been so severely burned. it was extremely touch-and-go for your son at that point. he was in critical condition. how would you describe the progress that he has made? incredible. my son is very strong. he still has a very long way to go, but he s very determined to make it through this and to come home and move on with his life. and for you and michael sr., the past month and a half has had to have been extremely difficult as parents watching your son. it s been a roller coaster. emotions, fear. sure enlightenment when he spoke to us for the first time and started coming out of the sedation, and he could talk a little bit. seeing him struggle through physical therapy, the bath that he has to take on a daily basis is excruciatingly painful. my son s courage is incredible, and it helps me to be strong. i m sure it does. dr. namias, we also spoke on october 15th, and at that point, you said he s not out of the woods yet because he hasn t even entered the woods. you were very worried about infection and organ failure. are you beyond worrying about that at this point? we re really out of the thickest part of that, but remember, there s still a long way to go where he s doing the hard work now. in the beginning, we were doing the hard work. now he s doing the hard work, the therapy every day and during the dressing changes. it s not just the physical pain that he endured, but remembering what happens. valerie and michael, let me ask you, i know he for the first time has been able to tell authorities, the police, what happened on that day, october 12th, although they are not revealing that information. has he spoken to the two of you about it, michael? no, he hasn t. so, he and you have not asked him? no. no. does he seem okay we re focusing. yeah, go ahead, valerie. i m sorry. we re focusing on helping him physically right now. when the emotional part comes in, we will help him with that, too. the physical struggles that he has on a daily basis it hurts him just to take a drink of water. it sometimes brings tears to his eyes, it hurts so bad. valerie, one of the young men, the 13-year-old, jeremy jarvis, who was originally charged with this crime, gave a statement to the media yesterday. i don t know if you just heard it in kerry s piece, but he said i want to express my deepest sympathy to mikey and his family. do you have any reaction to that? not really. we don t focus on any of that. we focus strictly on michael s recovery. to me, that is negative energy, and we try to stay away from negative energy at all costs. well, then to end on some positive energy, i know you wanted the opportunity, both of you, as parents, to say something to the staff at the hospital and all those people who have sent letters and cards of encouragement to your son. so, let me afford you that opportunity right now. we wanted to give everybody our heartfelt thank-you for your cards, your letters, your prayers. being it s the day before thanksgiving, we would like everybody to look into their hearts and truly find what they are thankful for. it s a hard time for everybody right now. find what you re thankful for. go out to the community and share that gratitude that you have, that you ve been sharing with us, and share it with everybody else, not just here in our community, but around the world. valerie and michael brewer, thank you so much. dr. nicholas nemias as well. i understand michael will be undergoing his first skin graft on monday after having thanksgiving with both of you tomorrow. he is very lucky to be alive and lucky that you are there with him. thank you, again. thank you. thank you. and now let s get a check of the weather from al. thanks, meredith. and as we take a look and see what s going on as far as temperatures are concerned, much warmer than normal throughout much of the country, especially through the plains, where temperatures are anywhere from 8 to 15 degrees above normal. look at these high temperatures, 40s and 30s up into the plain states, but that s still way again today we have the low clouds, the fog, the drizzle, and that will stay with us off and on at least until lunchtime good upper 40 s and 50 s now. that s your latest weather. and if you want to keep track of your weather throughout the day, check out the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. meredith? al, thank you very much. up next, dr. jill biden on life as the vice president s wife, being a full-time teacher, and what she is most thankful for. we re back now at 7:43. as the nation gets ready to celebrate thanksgiving, dr. jill biden, wife of the vice president, wants people to say a special thanks to our military families. nbc s norah o donnell spoke exclusively with dr. biden. norah, good morning to you. hey, good morning, matt. that s right, dr. jill biden is very private. she stays out of the spotlight, but there s one issue that she s not shy about, and it s our wounded warriors and military families. and i spoke to her about that and also how she s settling into her new role. hi! thank you, it looks great! thanks, doesn t it? yeah. do you spend a lot of time fixing things up? well, not a lot because it s been so busy. we haven t had a lot of time. reporter: dr. jill biden has been busy. my gosh, a lot of entertaining, yes. reporter: she has two day jobs. the art, i think, just warms up the whole house. reporter: one, her official role as the vice president s wife in their official residence at the naval observatory and the other as an english professor at northern virginia community college. how are you settling into this new role? you didn t spend a lot of time in washington no. reporter: before and now you re here a lot. now i m here a lot. i m here every day. i teach two days a week. i teach full-time. reporter: she s also teamed up with first lady michelle obama for the struggles facing military families. let s honor their service by volunteering ours. reporter: for the bidens, it s an issue that hits close to home. jill s stepson bo is a national guardsman who recently returned from iraq. last year at this time he was overseas and missed the family s thanksgiving. the biden family is certainly thankful for our son being home this year. reporter: this week, the bidens opened up their home for an early thanksgiving dinner and gave thanks to wounded warriors and their families. i m a military mom and i remember what it was like on thanksgiving for our whole family. we pretended like everything was okay, but you know, our hearts felt heavy. reporter: one of those warriors, army sergeant first class john wright. wright was wounded in iraq by an ied. he lost his right leg and one of his fingers. what does it mean for you to be here and have the beside yaenz open up their home? you know, it s amazing because, you know, you don t really expect the vice president to open his house, you know, and say, hey, army guy, why don t you come and sit down next to my wife and share dinner, you know? it s amazing. it means a lot. reporter: as president obama plans to announce he s sending more troops to afghanistan, dr. biden and the vice president talk often about the toll war takes on families. do you talk with your husband, the vice president, when you know how hard it is on military families that more troops may mean more stress for families? of course, i talk to joe. i mean, since we ve had a son overseas, we know, you know, how difficult it is. but i have real faith in joe s decision and barack s decision, and i know that they ll make the right choice. reporter: dr. biden also told me that she personally disagrees with that federal panel s recommendation last week to discontinue mammograms before age 50. well, that hits close to home for her. she says mammograms have saved some of her friends lives. so, matt, another prominent woman disagreeing with those recommendations. thank you, norah. we appreciate that. still to come on a wednesday morning, martha stewart shares her secrets for the perfect thanksgiving turkey, stuffing and gravy, all the good stuff. but first, these messages. lookin back on 2009, one word just mighttand out above all othe ocmom. tt s ght. the bir of nadya suleman s octuplets back in january had a lot of people buzzing. we caught up with her for tomorrow night s special, nbc s people of the year. if they talking about this fictional character named octomom tt the invented, why would i be fended? if anything becau it s not me. how do you fee abo tha these ys? i think it s larious. that s the thing, also, don t take anythg siously oer than my ild s health and safety. other things i just lgh at. because she saysctomom is someone else. she s nadia. so when she hears negative thingsaid aboutctomom she can separate , because it sot her. w are the kids? i saw two of the kids. theye grea i got to play with them a littl bit. she id she broht the two that behavedhe best, which thought waconsiderate of r. i don t have two that well. exactly. see the rest of theinterview with nadyauleman and other pele w shaped the past year, watch bc s people othe year tomoow nit, thasgiving night, 9:00/8:00 ntral time he on nbc. and you could make a case for bon vi, the whole oup, being peoplef the ar. oh, yeah. 25ears together and they havehe number one bum in the country right now. a i feelike a the fans are out on the plaza to watch them today, incding a roker,ho s out there. hey, al this is huge. 50th to 4th street. folks fr california to kansas all down here. they are here loving bon jovi. th lad lt her six kids a her husband for bon jovi but theye gng to takeou back, rit? yes. all rig! look at this crowd. huge! all the way down here, aeaf peop. you ve gotbamaans and bon jovi fans. e s t her sigfor bon jovi. u were born to folw bon jovi. my goy. they re playingooky for bon jo. it s a bon jovi crowd all along the plaza. and of course, they re going to be rocking theplaza. but first, time for your local news and weather. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. for a lot of folks, it is the start of a very busy and long holiday weekend. let s check on the traffic situation with sarah caldwell. i think a lot of folks got an early start because we see less volume up but we will see a wave of the volume into the afternoon and evening. we are seeing some of volume- related delays, and nothing to get out there. nothing to back out there purred with dealing with an accident on southbound 95 of the ramp that mountain road. you can see that it is not affecting lanes of travel. no delays to report on the northbound direction. let s switch to a live view of traffic and see what is going on on the west side. no delays to report in this area. when you get down to 70 and edmondson, you will find some slow downs there. on i-95, accident there, off to the shoulder. at towson, watch for a crash. 1111 11 miles per hour. some delays developing on northbound j.f.x. past 28. drive times at 13 minutes in both directions. let s get the latest on the forecast. we do have at the low clouds and fog and drizzle and light rain showers. temperatures at the upper 40 s and low 50s. however, we re only going to make up to the mid 50 s and the afternoon. shaw was mighty proud of the but in the afternoon. showers might taper off a little bit in the afternoon. thank you for joining us. ou 8:00 now on a wednesd morning. it the 25th df november 09. let s just t and put thisn perspeive. it isefinitely our biggest crowdf the year maybe one of our biggest crowds er hern roefelle pla. d they reere to see t guys fr n jersey, 25 years i t business bon jovi! you should never have a min ght before you go onecause it gives y excess saliva. however, you smel sgo. this igreat. ook at this crowd, ahese pele her for a eholiday concer and bon ji tes to the stag in just a half hour. i m matt lauer along wh meredith vieira anal roker. it s a great performanc too. it attracts every age. it s true. which is yes, of course, it s true! why would i say that they attra every age. yes, they. ectly ght. yes, they, i m sorry. all right. what else is comin up? well, we have got, of course, the queen of thanksgiving. ladies and gentlemen, martha stewart. oh, i thoht yeant of course, we are here to learn at feet of the master, martha stewart s tips for a tasty thanksgiving treat. ot only how t cook the turkey prerly, b the gravy, stuffing, some of the side dishes. evything you need to know. and we ll ask the all-imrtant questioteppiuffing inhe birdr out? in thebird. inhe bird, b someout, because u have to have extra. and frh or fron? she ll answethat aswell da or light. i m dk. okay, any other queions u lle handling? no. lotso get tod l s g inside. ann s standing byith a lk at thheadlines. all right, thanks, matt. good mning once again, everody. president obama says the u.s. and india are poised to havene of e definin partnersps of the 20th century. he hted prime minister singh at the state dinner and accepted an iitiono sit indi thpresent soug to reassure india that it will not take a back seats washiton tries to stilize it regional rival, that of course, pakistan. at a news conference president obama said he is coident that the american people will sport his new strategy f battling al qaeda in ghanista he said he intends to, in his rds, fish t j staed eit year ago. the esident will annnce his cision on additional troops during an addre t the nation next week. today in pakistan, prosecutorchargeeven men with lastyear s terror siege in mumbai, indis financial catal. morr s the first anniversary of theattacks, which claimed 166 ves. lanes aelicopters are joining theig this morng ainst souther califnia ldfi. thfire bke out lt nht in the anaheim hills. strong winds gusti more tn 50 miles an ho threatene to push it aosshighway, whi woulendanger some home it was no oinary thanksgivg reunn at n york city spitaln tuesday. two couples cebrad a fe-savg swap aach husnd hadonat a kidney to the other man swife. form strgersow sharing a ique bond and baby steps for a pan cub at theaniego zoo son ofloud is now 3 1/2 months d. d at h checkup on esda verinaris count 20eeth an pdicted thatyun zi i going toe handful next time they meet. sounds like he s ready. adable and back oside towo othe adorae ones merit and matt. spt. sp it, me o re, more more. here s mr.roker? omhen thicrowd. al m up here! up here- kgf e world! look at this crowdn 48th stet. my cereye loong at them the, and of course wewing aroundand tsrowd setches all e wayo th basof the rockefeller centerhristmas tree is thing is ge all for bon jovi. let s checyour weathe see what going on. firs ofall, f today, we are looking some clou, se shows in the pacific northwest, also weteather in the nohet, heavy thundetormdown tough orida. ma s thanksgiving day para, e wther lksspeccular, variably cloudy skies, temperureset u into the d-to-upper0s. thereoes mr.otato head. then as we lk aad towards thanging day, you can see, all i all, not a bad one. somenow showers aroun the great las, rai in the we are off to the same start as yesterday. drizzle and light rain. that will be with us off and on through this morning and to pr h, look at my goobuddyn th windoverthere! dude, yeah go to see you. all rit,matt medith, back to y! a right,al tha you very much do you le rkey? yeah, oh, i tught so mahatewas gng to show usow to cook up the perfect tuey as ps bon jovi li in concer i thinthey figured tha out. righhere on the plaza. but rst,hese msas. whas oufavorite part of ney ncs of oats? the srkly flakes. e heyak bunes! the gic s in the mix my forite rt? eating i ney bches of ts. ste thjoy put invery spoful. ney bches of ts. call the nches hey bunch of oats the prize theox. well, w there s a prize inde therize. pens! pens! baked to crunchoat ncs. taste e deliciou surpsen erspoonful. w honebuhes of os thecanunches. beaufu e s gointo sho how sy it kp track of r bank accounts. ye prtyas seup alerts to kw what s gog on wityour accnts. thank ameri. eighty pages bursting with overg gog on wa thousandnts. of the newest, hottest toys.your kids want! plus over five-thousand dollars in savings you gotta have! we ve got the perfect gifts to make your ultimate wish-list!!! toys r us.where kids are a big deal!™ our natural sweetener comes from the stevia plant, where zero calories taste perfectly sweet. it s nature s ultimate guilt-free indulgence. we promise it won t end up on your conscience or your thighs. try the first great-tasting, zero-calorie natural sweetener born from nature. truvia. honestly sweet. find it at your grocery store. now to our special series thanks & giving, highlighting the life-saving work of st. jude children s research hospital. al went there recently to meet a family who became connected to st. jude in a way they never really imagined they would. absolutely right, matt. the francis family had given to st. jude personally and through work, but when their daughter suddenly got sick, they found themselves on the other side of giving. merit francis is the youngest of four siblings. she loves wearing hat. probably i do have 500 hats. reporter: and pink is her favorite color. to most, she s a typical 7-year-old girl. i know, i know, i know! reporter: except that she has cancer and is fighting for her life. it left her parents in an unfamiliar role, but ironically, in a very familiar place. this is target house, a home away from home, where families of st. jude patients stay for free. it was built by the target corporation, a longtime financial supporter of st. jude s. good morning, how are you? reporter: michael francis is the chief marketing officer for target and helped design the house. dad will hold it for you right there. reporter: but michael is also merit s father. never in his wildest dreams did michael think he and his wife, barrett, would wind up staying at target house themselves. at what point did the irony, if you will, strike you, that you would be here as the parents of a patient? i can honestly say we so didn t think about that. no, not until we got not until we physically came. not until we actually got here. reporter: they invited me to one of merit s follow-up appointments. hi, how are you? nice to meet you. reporter: nice to meet you, too. how are you doing? good. reporter: what symptoms was she showing before you found out what was wrong with her? she had maybe approximately nine months of complaints of nausea, occasional headaches. she had fallen down the stairs. totally frustrating, because we re in and out of the doctor any number of times and we left, period. reporter: at first, they were told she had separation anxiety and suggested therapy. how did you eventually get the prognosis? a nurse sat down with us and said if nothing else, i m going to order an mri to allay you and your husband s anxiety. reporter: and how soon after the mri during the mri. during the mri. they excused merit from the room and told us right there. there s no easy way to say this, but your child has a brain tumor. reporter: when you hear that it is the most devastating words you can ever imagine hearing. reporter: merit had emergency surgery that night, but there was worse news, the mri had shown the tumor spread to her spine. it s worse than a nightmare, because you wake up from a nightmare. reporter: she was diagnosed and a decision needed to be made about follow-up treatment. despite michael s relationship with st. jude through target, he and his wife began searching to understand all their options. and we looked at the hospitals far and wide, but it was fascinating again and again, the st. jude protocol was recited in our research. i think if anyone goes on line and looks it up, you ll see st. jude and dr. gajjar s name as the world renowned physician. reporter: they spoke with dr. gajjar and decided to go to st. jude. i finally felt a sense of hope. there was a confidence and a certainty to his approach that kind of gave me great comfort. it is the most common brain tumor in children, which is malignant. if not treated, this is a fatal tumor. reporter: what s her prognosis? in our hands, a prognosis of getting cured is somewhere between 65% and 70%. reporter: your mom tells me your hair s growing back. can i see? mm-hmm. reporter: yeah, all right! yep. reporter: so, that looks great! do you feel good coming back here? yeah. reporter: yeah? how come? because i m not getting chemotherapy anymore. reporter: yeah. you re doing better. mm-hmm. i don t want to be sick my whole life. reporter: you re not going to be. one, two, three, up. reporter: almost one year out of treatment, her tumor has shrunk considerably. family life back to some normalcy. we have a whole lot more to be thankful for this year. yeah. and one of them is the great, kind, compassionate care of st. jude hospital. all right, al, thank you for that. michael, barrett and marit francis are with us along with marlo thomas, the outreach director for st. jude children s research hospital. good morning, everyone. good morning. happy thanksgiving. good morning. you know what jumped out in al s piece to me was this idea that when marit started talking about nausea and headaches and you went to your local doctor, and that doctor said, this is anxiety, this is psychosomatic in many ways. it had to be incredibly frustrating. it was, especially after months and months of dealing with it and getting the same answer and finally being sent to a clinical psychologist in minneapolis, until, you know after that, two days later or something, we had the mri scheduled and we got the devastating news. and you know, nobody should second guess and hindsight is 20/20, but do you stop and think, boy, if we could have caught this months and months earlier? every day. absolutely. yeah. every day you think of that. and you guys then went to st. jude and you ended up spending time in target house. and even though you were so really entrenched in helping design it, once you were there as families, you saw that there are things that needed to be done differently. we did. you know, it was fascinating, because, you know, as proud as we were at target to have created it, living in it is a whole new experience, and i so appreciated what we had created for other families, but at the same time, there were some things we recognized could be improved upon. so, whether that was more community spaces and more activities for kids or thinking differently about the family apartments and the kinds of amenities, features we had. what was the experience like for you to be there? i mean, it had to be just the shoe on the other foot all of a sudden. well, it was interesting, because i was with michael when we opened up target house number two you were actually pregnant at the time. i was actually pregnant with marit in utero, never thinking that this could possibly be us some day. and so, the irony became even more grand once we got to target house. let s talk to the most important person here for a second, all right? marit she goes, yeah, right. you ve been waiting so patiently, and i think that s wonderful. how are you feeling? good. yeah? you feel is it something you feel better every day or each week is better than the one before? yep. thanksgiving, and you must have an awful lot to be thankful for. mm-hmm. just to be was your family and for all the good people at st. jude. and marlo, another thing that jumped out in al s piece to me was when michael and barrett were saying as they went and researched this condition, they kept going and kept seeing the word st. jude. yes. that s because we re the best. really, it s like it s amazing. it s why the search engine brings up the name, the top name. and it s because of what we ve been doing all along, combining the best care with the breaking, barrier-breaking research. that s why and it costs so much more. so, that s why the thanks and giving programs and all this is to raise the money so that we can keep going forward. and we ve been doing this combination of research and treatment together for 48 years, and it s working. maybe i should ask you two what you re thankful for on this thanksgiving, because you ve got a lot. well, we have so much to be thankful for, i don t even know where to begin. but one place i d like to talk about today is st. jude and how we came there for the cutting-edge medicine, i believe, but what we got was so much more. the experience of compassionate, kind care, coupled with the phenomenal medical care. and i believe that there was also a component of faith and hope that resonates with our family. and i think just having, you know, this year, the family together, and under happier circumstances, where marit can do more than drink pickle juice and maybe have an appetite. and yeah, we re usually thankful this season. we want to mention your other kids, too, because they re important in this. our other kids are remarkable. we went to memphis as a family and lived at target house as a family. and our other children were remarkable, helpful, and it was really important for marit to have her siblings with her, wasn t it some. and they all shaved their heads at one point. solidarity. well, again equally love st. jude. happy thanksgiving. thank you. thank you very much. thank you for sharing your story with us. our pleasure. marit, good luck. up next, martha stewart s tips for a flawless thanksgiving feast. care and dedication. our family-owned company has focused on making. the best-tasting sour cream for over four generations. it s made with farm-fresh cream. that s 100% natural without any additives or preservatives. and no added hormones. so you can feel good knowing every creamy dollop. will bring all your favorite dishes to life. do a dollop, do-do a dollop of daisy that s what i want for christmas. 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( car wash whirring ) reliability, to move you forward. announcer: martha on today is brought to you by macy s. the martha stewart collection is now available only at macy s and on macys.com. this morning on martha on today, thanksgiving 101. if your bird s always dry and the gravy always lumpy, martha stewart is here to help. the december issue of martha stewart living chock-full of holiday tips. martha, good morning to you. good morning, good morning. good morning, martha. we are talking turkey today. and we have a turkey hotline going on sirius and calls are coming in every single minute. does everybody have the same questions? first, frozen. what do you recommend? i prefer a fresh killed bird, organically grown, if possible, antibiotic-free, if possible. look for a healthy bird, but there are a lot of great turkeys out there. and you always say wash it first. why? just in case it s been sitting around in its plastic packaging, wash it, let it drain well, dry it. and then get it ready for stuffing. don t stuff it until you re ready to roast it. that s very, very important. why, for health reasons? yeah, because something might be a little warm. i d love for you to finish the stuffing. what s in here so far? a white loaf or whatever kind of bread you like. lots of sauteed onions, lots of celery, lots of fresh chopped parsley. okay. add about four cups of chicken stock? of homemade chicken stock or low-sodium stock. all right. and we re using dried cherries. they re always good. aren t they beautiful? i just bought some of those. and pecans. you re going to chop these up the bigger the better. okay. people love big chunks. ten sage leaves that are chopped up. put the leaf in? who s laughing? nobody. wow. salt and pepper. this is two tablespoons? yeah. that looks like a lot, okay. two tablespoons. i ll mix that up. you mix that up. and then you stuff your bird. i stuffed in the cavity. don t overstuff, right? not too dense. any leftover you can bake. now you re going to truss the turkey, tie the legs together. which means just tie that baby up. tie it all up. here s what s beautiful about this beautiful lacquered, brown turkey that everyone wants. we have four sticks of butter. oh, my god, martha, that s a heart attack. unsalted butter, right? unsalted. and a baottle of white wine. the whole bottle? you sound disappointed. now you dip a piece of cheese cloth that s why you have that. so, a bottle of wine and four sticks of butter. now want to unfold that? yeah, of course. you have to put your papers down. unfold that like a veil. like a veil, all over that leg. the legs and everything. for about two hours, okay? do you need this can you just pour it on the bird? oh, no, you need this, because look what happens. this is keeping all of the juices in. wow. this is after it s been cooked for 2 1/2 hours. you uncover it then oh. here s what s going to happen. now, it doesn t look so gorgeous. no, it doesn t. it s not impressive. but i m telling you, it is impressive when you put it in for one more hour. one more our. yes, at 350. you get that turkey over there. and that cheese cloth is delicious the next day. that s right. fantastic. sandwiches. makes a good gravy. but then the gravy is another big problem. so many people have a hard time with the gravy. that s what was left in the turkey pan. yeah. this is the drippings, and i m softening the drippings with some giblet stock. you know the giblets, the neck and the you cooked it, then. you cooked it separately? here they are, all chopped up here. okay. so you cook that, you strain that, and see all the fat? mm-hmm. that s all oh, okay. see, that s that butter that you didn t like. okay, all right. now, if you use one of these, it will separate this. i ve never understood how this works. down here that s fat. no, this is fat. up there? that s the fat? yeah, that s the fat. down here is the juice we want. so now we pour. you re not getting any fat, you re just getting that dark juice. it works really well. it does. it s magical. now watch, it s all gone, see? it s magic! that s a great gadget. and then flour? yes, and you have a bermaniere. oh, please. did you say oh, please ? butter and flour. what is that anyway? it s just flour and butter softened together. oh. i thought that was something special you had to buy in a specialty. no. oh, okay. and you mix that in and you stir. excuse me. so, putting flour in directly is not the thing to do. it s mixing we ve only get a minute left. so, what is that? white wine. again more wine. liking the wine. makes a great stuffing. okay, all right. can we get a beauty shot because we have about 35 seconds left. look. this is as pretty as our tables look. i hope so. come in here. the glazed turkey poor martha. you ve got potatoes, roasted parse nick bread pudding, green beans, shallots and breadcrumbs. sweet potato and sage butter casserole. and the turkey and look, these are real gourds we spray-painted they re beautiful. are you going to be okay? what time is dinner? 7:00. 7:00. we ll be there. but s 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 traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. we are getting a bit of a reprieve in the volume we saw earlier this morning. now just the typical delays. harrisburg expressway and padonia road, we are getting word of an accident there. and also backing down on the inner loop as you approach the j.f.x. erdman ave and belair road, an accident location for you to watch for. not to bet on the west side. another accident to point out westbound 50 in annapolis at ritchie highway. use caution that there. let s give you a live view of a couple spots. the 805 split coming towards southbound traffic, not that bad. harbor tunnel traffic is equally smooth this hour. all the volume will return later on this evening. the mass exodus for the holidays but right now, an easy ride on the liberty. good morning, everyone. today we are dealing with low clouds and fog and drizzle. we know it is there from the traffic shots. for this time of the year, this is mild. we will add a couple of degrees because the clubs could light showers and drizzle will continue off and on. high temperatures only in the mid-fifties. thanksgiving day, we will jump up to 57 or 58. it turns much colder on friday with a chance for rain or snow showers. i of a 44. thank you for joining us. we will have another update at 8:55. that s hard to find. don t miss out on holiday card rewards, only at giant. earn one point for every dollar you spend. good for up to 20% off a future shopping trip. if you have a card, then you ve been earning since november 6th. how many points have you collected? makes me feel great when i find a rewards program that really works. i love seeing all that savings racking up. that s my favorite part of the trip. get your hands in the dirt, who s gonna work off the curse work, brother i ll be damned if i don t raise a hand for the work, work, work, working man, working man working man, working man these were my friends, these were my dreams, these were my hopes, these are my streets 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, the 25th of november 2009. day before thanksgiving. we have got an early holiday treat for everyone packing into rockefeller plaza. you just heard a live concert from one of the biggest bands in the world, bon jovi, just moments away. and the crowd here, as we said, all morning, is absolutely huge. had a chance to hear bon jovi. that s it. smiling faces behind us. very good. jon just said i was crazy. did he? you re crazy? he did, for going up on the lift. you re a wild man. that s his middle name, jon, you know that. it s wild man! it s really nice to have this kind of a concert before thanksgiving, always a huge crowd, and these guys have been great as our artists in residence. and by the way, speaking of thanksgiving, we ve got more tomorrow. we re going to be bringing everyone the 83rd macy s thanksgiving parade. the parade. al, meredith and i will be there with the best seat in the house. check it out on nbc from 9:00 a.m. until noon. and for the rest of you at home cooking and watching the parade, we have big tips. that s a big day tomorrow. we have it all covered for you tomorrow. we have some major people coming to help us. noted chef tyler florence is going to walk us through a fool-proof menu from turkey right through dessert. so, you can print out the recipes from our website, todayshow.com, so you can follow along with tyler and watch the show and make your turkey. that s fun. yeah. followed by the parade. of course. we ve got a lot to get to in this half hour, including lots of music from bon jovi. first, a check of the weather. first of all, for saturday, the weekend, rain in the pacific northwest, snow in new england. sunny, mild conditions through the gulf coast. then on sunday, sunday, more rain texas into the mid-mississippi river valley, clouds in the pacific northwest, snow showers western great lakes, sun again today we have the low clouds, the fog, the drizzle, and that will stay with us off and on at least until lunchtime good upper 40 s and 50 s now. and that s your latest weather. now let s head on down to washington, d.c., and say hello, a prethanksgiving hello to mr. willard scott. how are you, sir? from one bird to the other, i understand you have a history-making book on mystery. is that right? on mystery, that s right, the morning show murders, my friend. that s one of the mysteries of how we both survived. that s the next one. good luck with your book. thank you, sir. wish you the best. thank you. and it s time again to plug these fantastic, and i mean, beautiful, california christmas wreathes. there are two sizes. boys and girls from california. the website is boysrepublic.org, or arg if you re a pirate. encino, california, if you want to look them up in the yellow pages. they still have the yellow pages. boys republic is the way it s listed. fabulous christmas wreathes. have a look, if you please. we ll check the birthday buddies. there is a little dew here in the nation s capital. we have salvatore tretola, norfolk, virginia. i was in the navy in that town. 100 years old, retired barber who cut albert einstein s hair. took him a week. also, he watched rockefeller center being built. how about that? didn t we all? shirley herman of tamarac, florida, 100 years old. volunteers at the senior center, arranging transportation for the old folks. she s coming by my house tomorrow. lois, and this is lolo i like whatever lolo wants. wich. she is from hendersonville, north carolina, 100. attributes her longevity to virgin pina coladas. just loves the taste of that pineapp pineapple coconut. professor donald brown, stow, massachusetts, 101. retired teacher and archeologist, but he helped find some patron cities in italy. bon jour. and we have verla parkinson of st. anthony, idaho, best baked potatoes in the world. 100 years old. proud to have all of her own teeth. keeps them right there in her mouth where they belong. and we have myrtle chichester, seattle, washington, 100. happily married for 78 years to barney, purple barney. and had tickets to ride the titanic, but canceled them at the last minute. ooh, fate, my friend. morris fein, melville, new york, is 100 years old. education advocate, avid scrabble player. god bless the macy s thanksgiving day parade, the greatest parade on earth. and our gang will be there to take you step by step. now back to new york city, where our friends live. willard, thank you very much. besides the parade, there is another thanksgiving tradition here at nbc, and that is the national dog show presented by purina. very good. donald turley has been hosting it for about the past eight years. thank you for joining us. lovely to see you again. yes, what a tradition it s been for us. thanks giving is now the day for the dogs not the turkeys. it is. and we have a lot to be excited about this year. we have a record number of entries. we have the number one and the number two dog in the country that will be showing to try to surface for best in show. and we re also introducing three new breeds, the most than ever before. you just invented three new dogs? created them. we went over to europe and found some new ones we brought over. no. these are our buddies here. this is a minpin, major. major has won best in breed and also best in show. little minpin, a sweetheart. then this is the number two dog in the country, and if you look at that head, that s one of the great heads you ll ever see on a doberman. my gosh. look at that focus he has. absolutely gorgeous. won 145 best in shows across the country this year. and if you are a fan of lap dogs which i know you are. this is a 205-pound mastiff, norton, and norton comes with the accompanying moisture issue. i love you drooling. is he competing as well? he s not competing. he s not. his dad, though, was best in stock at westminster. he is from champion stock. he is not in the show, but you have got to have your mastiff. we had four dogs here, but that one got little hungry. still tucked away in a fold. good luck with the show. i want to remind people that they can catch the national dog show presented by purina. immediately following the thanksgiving parade here on nbc. john, always good to have you. glad to be part of the tradition. just ahead, do you like bon jovi? love it. a lot of people will be going to the movies over the thanksgiving day holiday weekend. should you put fantastic mr. fox on your list of movies to see? we asked gene shalit. good morning and welcome to the critic s corner. and so it begins. i guess it was bound to happen, and now it has happened. the animating movie winning streak is over, done in by director wes anderson s take on fantastic mr. fox. you re exaggerating. it s a fattened and flattened version of the 1970 children s book by roald dahl. no, you don t want to have to compare yourself to that. this centers on three enraged farmers trying to catch the chicken-stealing, cider-swapping, fooling mr. fox. the book is endearing and exciting. the movie is not. you want to know why? the book s clarity and simplicity are now cluttered and opaque. i beg your pardon? the clever family-loving mr. fox is made unlikable. what? since when? the main roles are the bumbling farmer foes are inexplicably diminished. it sounds illegal. mr. fox is voiced by the ubiquitous, inescapable george clooney. does this man ever take a day off? i try. as mrs. fox, meryl streep is woefully underused. is help on the way? sadly, the screenwriters display no sense of childhood, that magic that turns the ordinary into wonderment. yeah. how disappointing that they have failed to capture dahl s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed delight yeah. poor mr. fox has been fleeced. wow. and that s the critic s corner for today. you can t win them all. fantastic mr. fox opens today in theaters nationwide. up next, the moment all these folks have been waiting for. what am i talking about? bon jovi in concert. on issues important to seniors, senators mikulski and cardin have been leaders, fighting to make health care more affordable and to make sure seniors have access to the medicines their doctor prescribes. now maryland senators can improve medicare and help close the donut hole without raising premiums on seniors by as much as 20%, which some proposals would do. call today ask senators mikulski and cardin to support the senate health care reform bill. because we can improve medicare without making seniors pay more. dealer: you know, volkswagen takes care of the scheduled maintenance at no cost. and during the sign then drive event, you can get a cc, jetta, or top safety rated tiguan for practically just your signature. it s that easy. woman: i can t believe it. woman: i can believe it. yep. announcer: the toyota concert series on today brought to you by toyota. toyota, moving forward. . in. you know, i could tell you about all the 120 million albums they ve sold all around the world or the 3,000 concerts they have put on, but you know what? let s just get to the music. ladies and gentlemen, bon jovi! shot through the heart and you re to blame, you give love a bad name. an angel s smile is what you sell, you promise me heaven, then put me through hell chains of love got a hold on me when passion s a prison, you can t break free whoa, you re a loaded gun, yeah, whoa, ain t nowhere to run, no one can save me, the damage is done shot through the heart and you re to blame, you give love a bad name i play my party and you play your game, you give love a bad name you give love a bad name you paint that smile on your lips, blood red nails on your fingertips a school boy s dream, you act so shy, your very first kiss was your first kiss good-bye whoa, you re a loaded gun, yeah, whoa, nowhere to run, no one can save me, the damage is done shot through the heart and you re to blame, you give love a bad name i play my part and you play your game, you give love a bad name you give love all right, let me hear you sing, shot through the heart and you re to blame you give love a bad name, i play my part and you play your game you give love a bad name shot through the heart and you re to blame, you give love a bad name i play my part and you play your game, you give love a bad name oh, whoa, oh, a bad name, whoa, oh, oh, oh, bad name, oh, whoa, oh, a bad name oh, yeah shot through the heart and you re to blame, you give love a bad name bon jovi! and they re back with a lot more music on this day before thanksgiving. but first, this is today on nbc. bon jovi s newly released 11th studio album, the circle made its debut at number one on the billboard charts, and they just happen to be nbc s first artist in residence. david brian, richie sambora, teco torres and jon bon jovi, thank you. thank you, meredith. the crowd loves you. we could be talking about your album, but because it s thanksgiving, you think the focus should be on volunteerism. well, i do. it s so important to you. i think that at this time of the year, people take notice of what they ve done all year, and especially at this time of year. rerealize it s time to give thanks for so many things, but we are very involved in volunteerism, as i ve been for a number of years. and we ve joined hands with serve.gov through the government s initiative, the president s initiative, his call to service. we have people over at the nbc experience today that are going to sign up and are asking our audience to come and volunteer, something that moves you. it could be the homeless, the hungry, energy, the environment, security issues. but we have people over there from the national corporation of service. so, when the folks get done here, head over there. yeah, please. and we should stop and give thanks and make a difference in other people s lives. you ve been great this month. this relationship with nbc has been great. what are you going to play? this is a new single from the circle. it s called superman tonight. jon bon jovi, take it away. something about you that i won t risk you, don t even know you so what does that mean maybe i m cynical, i m painfully logical, you re tragic and beautiful and that s good enough for me you re looking for a hero, but it s just my old tattoo tonight i swear i d sell my soul to be a hero for you but who s gonna save you when the stars fall from your sky and who s gonna pull you in when the tide gets too high who s gonna hold you when you turn out the lights i won t lie, i wish that i could be your superman tonight if somebody sent you an angel to save you, what would you tell him to turn him away that your heart don t break, that your lips don t kiss, that life is just a lie, that heaven don t exist who s gonna save you when the stars fall from your sky who s gonna pull you in when the tide gets too high who s gonna hold you when you turn out the lights i won t lie, i wish that i could be your superman tonight who s gonna fix you the next time you break down you re stranded alone by the side of the road, it s your baggage that s dragging you down don t look back, let it go, oh, oh who s gonna save you when the stars fall from your sky and who s gonna pull you in when the tide gets live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. jurors return to the courthouse this morning for a fifth day of deliberations in the trial baltimore mayor sheila dixon. two notes indicating progress on monday led many to believe that the jury was close to a verdict. but yesterday, the jury sent a note to the judge asking to go home. deliberations resume this morning. with no predators reached, there will be a four-week four-day weekend and it wil now let s take a look of the forecast with tony pann. more of the same for us today. fog and drizzle and all that stuff. it will stay with us off and on through the morning and maybe a little bit this afternoon. high temperatures in the mid- fifties. seven-day forecast 30% chance of showers on thanksgiving dead. on thanksgiving day. we will see a mix of rain and snow showers but we do not expect any accumulation over the weekend, sunshine and temperatures in the 50 s. another update at 9:25.