Transcripts For WBAL Today 20091218 : vimarsana.com

good morning. brace yourselves. a major storm takes aim at the east coast, promising to have a big impact on the final shopping weekend before christmas. . here we go again. brazil s supreme court blocks davi goldman s long-awaited reunion with his son sean, and nbc news was the only network with him when he learned the news. this morning, david goldman speaks out in an exclusive interview from brazil. and your royal passenger. is that really the queen of england hopping aboard an ordinary passenger train? by george, it is! why she took a ride with the commoners today, friday, december 18th, 2009. and good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m meredith vieira. you know, i like a white christmas like everybody else, but i m a last-minute shopper and i protest the timing of this storm. unfortunately, you don t have any pull with that. exactly what folks on the east coast are going to be dealing with, a lot of snow expected here in the northeast over the next 48 hours. a huge section, actually, of the entire east coast, and down around miami? look at that. they are already experiencing heavy rains that s led to a lot of street flooding. we ll have the latest on this from al, including his forecast in just a couple of minutes. also ahead, another setback for david goldman in his quest to bring his son sean home from brazil. earlier this week, there was a court ruling that made it appear that would happen today, so he rushed down there. but on thursday, another judge stepped in and put all of that on hold. we re going to talk to goldman about that and what his next move is when he joins us exclusively from brazil. and also this morning on a much, much, much lighter note, we re going to take a look back at all the fun we ve had here on today during the year 2009. we affectionately call this tape around here the year-ender, and it could be a career-ender for one eric levens, if we don t like it, but we ll find out in our 8:00 half hour. we ve just got to accept it. exactly. that s who we are. let s go upstairs. al roker s been tracking a lot of nasty weather. al, what s the latest? first of all, this storm system has gotten itself together down in florida. that s where the big problem has been. you re looking live, hallandale beach, florida. 14 inches of rain fell overnight. massive flooding throughout southern florida. they re going to pick up another one to three inches of rain with another batch coming through there today. so, there s more flooding. once that system clears florida, right now you can see we ve got the heavy rain, slight risk of some strong storms again down in florida, but we also have winter storm warnings from south carolina to new jersey. as this system gets up along the coast, bringing heavy snow all the way from the virginias on into new england. here s what we look for out of this snowstorm as far as the accumulations. starting saturday night, you can see anywhere from 9 inches to 18 inches of snow from west virginia, just to the west of washington, d.c. now, as we move into saturday afternoon, you can see the heavy snow spreads roanoke all the way up into harrisburg. 18 inches of snow along this path. and then by sunday morning, the heavy snow just to the west of new york city. six to nine inches out on long isla island, but the reason for the blizzard watches, 50-mile-an-hour winds causing whiteout conditions. again, the current track of the storm makes for heavy, heavy snow. 24 inches plus in the mountains of the virginias on into pennsylvania. this could be a monster storm before it s all over. meredith? all right, al, thank you very much. today was supposed to be the day new jersey father david goldman brought his son home from brazil, but following a last-minute ruling by that country s supreme court, that does not appear likely. we re going to have an exclusive interview with david goldman, who is in brazil, in just a moment. but first, the latest from nbc s jeff rossen, who has also traveled there. reporter: david goldman arrived at the rio de janeiro airport thursday to a crush of reporters. his custody fight is making headlines here in brazil, too. david hoped to fly back to new jersey later today with his son sean, but once again, a setback. a single judge on the brazilian supreme court issued an emergency injunction, blocking sean s return to the u.s. and the father-son reunion david was counting on. dateline was with goldman when he got the news in his rio hotel. this is absurd. this is ridiculous. again and this time, we were assured more than ever that the rule of law would be followed, that they get it, that they will do the right thing. and here we go again. reporter: david came to brazil after another set of judges ordered sean be returned to him by friday, but even then, david was skeptical, as he told me before leaving for brazil this week. you once told me nothing is final until sean is in my arms, we re on the plane and we re wheels up, out of brazilian air space. absolutely. reporter: do you still feel that way today? yes. five years, 14 times, and i can only remain with hope. reporter: it s a case nbc news has followed closely. does it ever cross your mind that you won t see your son again? i can t think that, no. reporter: david s wife took sean to brazil in 2004 to visit family. she never came back. in fact, she divorced goldman and remarried. she later got pregnant, then died during childbirth. her new brazilian husband has been fighting to keep sean in brazil ever since. his lawyer won this new injunction, arguing to the court that sean s own statements should now be heard, that he wants to stay in brazil. what s really important is to know what s the real interests of the child, and the boy with 9 years old, he s able to express what he thinks and what he wants. unless the supreme court of brazil steps in in a really strong way, i suspect this will go on for months. reporter: new jersey congressman bill smith, by goldman s side in brazil, says this is not over, that they ll now take the fight to the full court or the chief justice himself. well, it s disappointment, but my hope and prayer is that it s temporary disappointment. reporter: another setback for a father fighting on, hoping to soon hold his son on american soil. jeff rossen, nbc news, rio de janeiro, brazil. jeff rossen, thank you so much. david goldman is with us exclusively from rio de janeiro along with new jersey congressman chris smith. good morning to you both. good morning, meredith. good morning, meredith. david, if i can start with you, can you describe what you are feeling at this point, to have your hopes so high once again only to have them dashed? i ve been down this road before. i ve been right here, in front of this camera with the same view behind me, discouraged, disappointed, but no less determined to save my son. is this exactly what you feared would happen when you arrived in rio yesterday? you know, it s not even a fear. it s something to expect the unexpected. until i am on a plane with sean, it s not over. and until we re back home in america with me and his family, it s not over. well, congressman smith, let s talk hopefully, we re getting closer. congressman smith, let s talk about what might happen today. the supreme court could overturn this ruling by one of the justices. if it does not, it leaves for recess for a two-month recess at the end of the day. what is the likelihood that it would overturn this decision? well, it s hard to put percentages on it, but david s legal team will file and will aggressively push that an egregious harm is in the process of being done. the three psychologists have found that david s son, sean, is being hurt psychologically every day that goes on that he is away from his real father parental alienation. david, if i could ask you this family i m sorry. david, if the court rules that sean may testify and that s the reason for this injunction right now and if he does testify and say he wants to stay in brazil, as his brazilian relatives have said he s going to say, then what recourse will you have? well, first of all, the judge no one has put sean in this position to testify, and he s testified, he s been heard loud and clear by three brazilian court-appointed psychologists, and this family did not like the results, that this family is abusing him, that sean was fine with coming home. they read the report. they saw us together and they could not stand it. they took him upstairs and have been using him as a hostage, to brain-wash him, to torture him. as the father of the man who s holding my son lectures throughout this country about how he can turn a child, an attack missile against the parent, that the abductor separates from the left-behind parent. he lectures on how they do this thing to the children, how they separate the child from the parent and how a clever lawyer can keep a child in brazil indefinitely, filing endless motions and appeals. it s out there. everyone knows it. there s videos of this man lecturing the community. so, fortunately, this stay right now has nothing to do with the return order of my son. he is still ordered to return by a three-judge panel. this is just another stall tactic which has to stop. david, will you it was the same judge that took us sorry. david, will you make any attempt to see sean or at least talk to him while you are in rio? absolutely. absolutely. i have a whole bag full of presents that i brought for him. even if it s just for five minutes to wish him a happy holidays, to tell him i love him, and i ve seen a picture that their lawyer s holding up with him. they re trying to get him to think that his name is a totally different name. so, i can only expect the worst from him, from all this pressure and abuse. as long as he knows he will going back to that house of horrors, there can never be a true bond again between us, and they know it, and most of the courts know it, and it seems that all of the people in brazil who have been so supportive and just coming up to me and saying, you have to get your son back, this is crazy, i m so ashamed, it s amazing. the people here don t want this. nobody wants this. just a few a few bad people and a few confused people. david goldman, thank you so much if i could add very briefly yes, congressman smith. you ll have the last word. just very briefly. if the precedent is set that 9 and 8 and 7-year-olds can be put in front of a video camera and coerced or coached into saying i want to stay in brazil or japan, that precedent will lead to the kidnappers having incredibly more power over the abducted child, because they know they have to go home that night until david s son is transferred back to him. he s got to go back to that house. what do you think he s going to do, say no, i m not going to stand in front of the camera and say i want to go back to brazil? a horrible precedent will be set in the whole kidnapping realm. david goldman and congressman chris smith, thank you both for joining us this morning. meredith, thank you very much. thank you, meredith. and now let s get a check of the morning s other top stories from ann curry over at the news desk. ann, good morning. good morning to you, meredith, and good morning to all of you. also in the news this morning, president obama s joining world leaders working despite setbacks to reach an agreement on climate change, and today the head of the u.n. pressed for a deal, saying the world is watching. nbc s chief environmental affairs correspondent is in copenhagen. where does this effort now stand? reporter: well, ann, president obama just scolded delegates for not reaching an agreement on climate change. he said he came here to act, not talk, and he outlined what he thinks can be accomplished yet today. he foresees an agreement of decisive action by major economies to cut carbon emissions, financing for poor countries to adapt for climate change and independent verification of carbon emission reductions. that s the sticking point between the u.s. and china. the president said the united states is here ready to get this done today, but there has to be movement on all sides. this afternoon he meets with the chinese premier. we ll see if that works. stay tuned. things are changing rapidly. ann? all right, anne thompson, thanks so much for your reporting this morning. also in the news today, in northwest pakistan, an attack near a mosque killed at least ten people. taliban militants are expected. joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen is in iraq this morning checking on the plans to withdraw most of u.s. troops next year. this morning he confirmed that hackers had obtained images recently from drones flying over iraq but said the hacking caused no significant military damage. some remarkable images from the deep this morning, from the pacific. on thursday, scientists unveiled this video showing a deep sea volcano erupting 4,000 feet below the surface off samoa. the images were taken from a submersible robot and show fiery bubbles of molten lava exploding. scientists are hoping their sight reveals more about how the ocean floor was formed. and as matt mentioned, she was no ordinary passenger. on thursday, without explanation, actually, queen elizabeth boarded a public train in london to travel to her country estate in london where she plans to stay for christmas. aides say she even paid for her own ticket on the royal carriage. it s unclear how soon she will take the train again. it is now 7:14. back to matt, meredith and al. that s bizarre. you don t even take the train. oh, come on. that snotty little remark. good for her. i love that. can you imagine hold the train! the major snowstorm we are expecting tomorrow is already taking sick taking shape down in the deep south. heavy snow tomorrow. at least a foot, some monitors showing 24 to 36 inches. that s your latest weather. matt? all right, al, thank you very much. the families of three u.s. hikers awaiting trial in iran on espionage charges are making an emotional new plea to have them released. nbc s chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has details on this. andrea, good morning to you. good morning, matt. iran announced that it will put the three american hikers on trial on espionage charges, as the families wait for an outcome, they worry about what just could be motivating iran s regime. the hikers 27-year-old shane bauer and joshua fattal and 31-year-old sarah shourd have been in prison since july when they wandered too close to the border between iran and kurdistan. their families released youtube videos showing them to be care-free vacationers, not spies. and this morning, the families are releasing a new video with sarah shourd s mother asking the ayatollah khomeini to release the three in the spirit of the holiday season. sarah, shane and josh are good people. they did not mean to enter iran. they meant no harm to the islamic republic of iran. i respectfully apologize and request for your benevolence for this time of year. please release our children and return them home to us. reporter: but the u.s. has no diplomatic relations with iran. swiss diplomats representing washington have not been able to see them since october 29th. iran s foreign minister mottaki said monday that the three had entered iran with suspicious aims. he said the judiciary will try them and impose relevant sentences. secretary of state hillary clinton says they should be released immediately. we consider this a totally unfounded charge. there is no basis for it. the three young people who were detained by the iranians have absolutely no connection with any kind of action against the iranian state or government. reporter: last spring, iran released journalist roxanna saberi from an iran prison, even though she was sentenced to an eight-year term for spying. so, kolt hikers get out soon, despite that charge? they often do things abruptly, so it s not unprecedented that they would try them for espionage, charge them for espionage and give them a long prison sentence only to release them a few days later. reporter: but iran s regime is fractured by political turmoil and continuing protests. and relations with the u.s. are getting frostier. only this week, iran test-fired a long-range missile and canceled upcoming nuclear talks. the u.s. is trying to keep the fate of the hikers separate from the rest of the troubled relationship with iran, insisting that the hikers should be released on humanitarian grounds. matt? all right, andrea mitchell, thank you very much. the mothers of those missing hikers with with us exclusively, norah shourd, laura fattal and cindy hickey. ladies, good morning to all of you. good morning. it s the second time you ve made an emotional appeal to the people in iran. first time i believe was in thanksgiving to mahmoud ahmadinejad. why do you think it will work now? well, this is a different appeal. this is to the supreme leader. and the emphasis of this appeal is it s the holidays, okay? our children have been detained for a long, long time, almost five months now. so, the appeal is, please let our children go. this is a very important time of year for families everywhere. keep in mind and our viewers, we ll remind our viewers, as andrea just mentioned, there are no diplomatic relations between the u.s. and iran, so you re relying on the swiss, and i understand they ve been very generous with their efforts to keep you in some kind of contact or informed. what have they told how often have they been able to see your children? the last visit was october 29th. they ve seen them twice, totaling approximately 60 minutes. did they describe their mood, their condition, the conditions under which they re being held? they re, you know, they ve been described as being physically okay. our concern is psychological and the loneliness that they must be feeling. i think the frustration for a mother, for a relative, for anyone, is the inability to have direct contact. in other words, you can t reach out or even with a letter or a phone call and say, here s what we re doing. i hope you know our efforts are to this level. that s got to be just devastating. yes. we re desperate for a phone call. we very, very much want it, which is not unusual to have a phone call between people who are detained and their parents, and we have not received that phone call, and we ve asked for it. i know shane, cindy, tried to communicate some kind of a message, so, at least you are aware of his mindset. what was that? the message was to let everyone know that when we gather in vigils that they can feel it, and he was very grateful for all the support. i remember when this unfolded and i spoke to some of you at that time, and i think the feeling was this was a misunderstanding and it would be sorted out. did any of you imagine at that time that five months later you d be still sitting here with no real progress? not in our wildest imagination did we think it would drag on this long. i mean, this is a very long, protracted detention, and we want to see it ended as soon as possible. what about the foreign minister of iran recently came out, said they would be tried. let s make it clear, there have been no formal charges filed against these three. correct. that s correct. do you think this will result in a trial, as was said in that piece, maybe some sort of a symbolic trial, where they will be charged with espionage, perhaps convicted, but then released as has happened in the past? you know, we re not sure. everything s unknown, but we just want we want movement. we want movement. we want them home. you ve been dealing, i know, with secretary of state hillary clinton. how s the u.s. government been handling this from your perspective? the secretary of state has been absolutely wonderful. she has spoken on our behalf and on the children s behalf numerous times, and we know the u.s. government is doing their very best and working to get the kids home. ladies, i m not even going to attempt to wish you a happy holidays, because i know that s pretty much impossible under the circumstances, but i wish you the best and thank you for joining us this morning. thank you. thank you. thank you. just ahead, the latest on the search for that missing mother in utah. authorities search her home for a third time. we ll fill you in on that. do we have fun around here or what? just ahead, we re going to prove it with a special look at all the fun we ve had on today in 2009. we ll get to that, but first, your local news and weather. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. we want to get a check on the morning commute. traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. dealing with a few problem spots out there. it will look nothing like tomorrow, when you don t want to be on the roads at all. get what you need done today. 95 at white marsh looks pretty good. no major delays in that area. northbound 95 in howard county, completely at a standstill. this is leading up to 175, due to an accident taking up all of the right lanes. right lanes squeezing by. there is an accident there that is definitely crossing some big delays. we will keep you posted on that. watch for delays in the city due to a water main break from yesterday. argonne drive shut down from loch raven. icy conditions there. also dealing with a water main break northbound on reisterstown at avalon way and sykesville. and pikesville. if you are heading out in abington at 9:24, we are dealing with the vehicle fire. northbound 95, up to eight minutes. 13 minutes is a drive time on the outer loop northeast side. 12 minutes on the west side. we are showing you the live view and we want to good weather, because that is the big story this morning. the winter storm warning is in effect, goes into effect tonight at midnight. midnight is about the time we expect to see the first of the snowfall, and that will persist with heavy snows all day tomorrow. today is just cloudy, 33 to 36. we will be making a beeline to the mid-atlantic. it is going to be a major storm event tomorrow. by sunday, still cold, but sun by the time of the ravens game. check the bottom of your check the bottom of your screen for updated 7:30 now on this friday morning, december 18th, 2009. you re looking at just a taste of the good times we had in 2009. let s face it, none of us will be quitting our day jobs any time soon. i m meredith vieira alongside matt i can t even look at this. you re like the worst lip syncer in the history of lip syncing. get off of it. that s a look at what was. also ahead, what s worse, shopping for presents or having to wrap those? wrapping some presents can be a pain, the odd-shaped things. are you any good at that? i m not. i usually just stick a bow on top. which is a good theory. we re going to find out how to wrap the hard-to-wrap items as a professional gives us some tips, and then we ll put our wrapping skills to the test. also, some fancy flying with the world-famous blue angels. lester holt was brave enough to take a ride with the navy s premier flying unit to experience the heart-stopping acrobatics firsthand. we ll find out how lester s doing in just a little while. but we begin with serious news. on thursday, investigators carried out a third search on the home of the utah mother missing now for 11 days. we re going to talk to her father in a moment, but first, nbc s miguel almaguer has the latest. miguel, good morning. reporter: meredith, good morning. relatives of josh powell say they wouldn t be surprised if he was arrested in the coming days. police say they still want to talk to him as they cover more ground in their investigation. for the third time, police have searched the home of susan and josh powell, looking for leads, clues into the disappearance of the 28-year-old mother of two. it s the last place she was seen alive almost two weeks ago. we served a search warrant at the house to see if there are any physical items there that could shed light on this case. those items are being processed at the state crime lab. reporter: meanwhile, at the same time as the latest search susan is a mother, a daughter reporter: susan s family held an emotional press conference. her father shattered by the news josh powell has now been named a person of interest in her disappearance. i think we re concerned that he s been named a person of interest. we have law enforcement background in our family. we know what that means. reporter: police are not calling powell a suspect, and his lawyer says he s cooperating fully with police. powell told detectives he took his boys camping at 12:30 a.m. in freezing conditions the morning susan vanished. investigators can t confirm his account, but we now know they ve questioned his 4-year-old son, a potential alibi, who says he did go camping with his father. you have to be very careful with the information you get from them, to be able to ensure that that is not mixed up with another potential incident in that child s mind. reporter: as police continue to canvas the powell neighborhood for leads, new clues may also come from susan herself. police sources say they ve recovered a notepad kept at her job that contains new information. pat reevy has covered crime in salt lake city for nearly 20 years. it might be info in that notebook pertaining to a possible threat made against her possibly about a year ago. now, whether this notebook is a full journal, a diary or just maybe something quick she wrote down, that s unclear at this point. reporter: a notepad and a home, possibly offering new clues in a case now 12 days old. family members say josh powell continues to care for his two young children. no word on if or when he ll meet with investigators again. meredith? miguel almaguer, thank you very much. chuck cox is susan powell s father. mr. cox, good morning to you. good morning, meredith. mr. cox, when we spoke to you on tuesday, you were still willing to give your son-in-law the benefit of the doubt. now police have named him a person of interest and your family has said they re not surprised by that. so, what, if anything, has changed? after hearing josh s comments to the media, and basically, the lack of information coming forward from him, we ve determined at this time, the police named him a person of interest. they don t do that without a reason, and it s time we ve been trying to be supportive of josh, so we want josh to come forward, please, and tell us the rest of the story, tell us a credible story, please. do you now believe that he may have hurt your daughter? i still have my reservations about if he had any actual physical did anything to my daughter, but i think he knows something that he needs to tell us. he needs to help us to find my daughter, and i have not seen that from him, and it s out of character. i want his help to help all of us to find susan. you know, josh s brother-in-law, kirk graves, says he believes josh could be arrested within a week. what s your reaction to that? that s sad that you re if your brother-in-law thinks you re going to be arrested in a week. when somebody says something like that, i don t know what evidence or what he may know that i don t know. i m not a direct part of the investigation. i wouldn t want to be. i haven t heard that from the police. i think that might just be a feeling, i don t know, from his brother-in-law, and it s kind of a sad state of affairs when that s the way people are feeling. have you talked to your grandsons at all? they are staying with family members, including your son-in-law, at this point. i have talked to the grandsons just briefly, and they re staying with joshua, and there s been people asking, am i concerned for them and things, and no. josh has been very good to the boys normally, you know, in the past, very good. and so, i m not really concerned about that. even if you have suspicions about him? yeah, even if i have suspicions. i ve just never seen him do anything that i would worry about with the youth, with the boys there. all right, mr. cox. thank you so much and please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. thank you very much. thanks for all the help, meredith. you re more than welcome. we re going to bring in dan abrams, nbc s chief legal analyst. dan, good morning to you. good morning, meredith. the police have made it clear that they find some of this man s behavior, josh s behavior, suspicious. they believe there may have been foul play or there was foul play at this point. yet, he has not been named a suspect. he s a person of interest. why hasn t he been named? as a practical matter, there s no difference between those. in all high-profile cases now, the police don t want to name someone a suspect until they arrest them. why? because they don t want to get criticized later. so, they say let s just play it safe. we ll call him a person of interest. it s the new term of art, but it effectively means he s a suspect. until we have what kind of evidence do they need then? they need something morning. meaning, it sounds like what they have now is this feels fishy, this sounds fishy. why isn t he helping? if his wife is missing? all of the elements that lead people to say what s going on here, but not quite enough yet to say we re going to arrest him. remember, there hasn t been a body found, there s no confirmation at all that she s died. she could very well be alive. and as a result, they have to be very, very careful about what they do at this point. they re watching him very closely. so they don t want to make any mistakes. dan abrams, thank you very much. now let s get a check of the weather with al. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by kay jewelers, the number one jewelry store in america. and as we look down into florida, this is where the storm system that s going to cause all the big problems in the northeast. well, right now, 12 inches of rain has fallen already in hallandale, over 7 inches in ft. lauderdale, hollywood, florida, 2 1/2 inches almost. you can see on the radar that heavy plume of moisture all the way into the mid-mississippi area, into georgia, down into florida. rainfall amounts again, we are looking at some places picking up three to five inches of rain through central and southern florida, on into the southeast. so, we have flood watches and flood warnings up for a good portion of parts of central and southern florida. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. it s friday, but you know, we re looking ahead to sunday. everybody wants to stay in, because we ve got sunday night football night in america. this is a good one. the guy that makes all us older guys feel good, brett favre and the minnesota vikings come on into the bank of america. he s bringing my walker. partly cloudy and cold, temperatures upper 30s to low 40s as they take on the panthers and all them youngins on sunday night football night in america. back to you, meredith. put your teeth back in, al. all right. thanks. up next, lester holt takes us along on his daring ride with the navy s most elite fliers. i m talking about the blue angels. on thursday, we saw al and ann try something called plane spotting. well, lester holt got to experience the real deal when he took to the skies with the world-famous blue angels. lester, good morning. matt, good morning. before i strapped in for a spin, i spent some behind-the-scenes time with the blue angels to see how their exciting show in the skies and ground unfolds. for more than 60 years, the blue angels have been turning heads skyward with power, precision and speed, turning gut-wrenchingly hard work up here ready, hit it. there we go. woo! reporter: yep, that s me. we ll get back to that. into pure, graceful elegance down there. but before this performance, there is another precision show most people have seen. we caught it at the oceana air station. two days before the air show, a transport naval base arrives. its nickname is fat albert. the clock is immediately running. support crews have less than 45 minutes to offload thousands of pounds of equipment before a familiar war is heard, the arrival of the blue ange yels f/a-18 hornets, built as war machines. in these colors, they are among the navy and marine corps s most successful pr machines. our primary mission is recruiting with a secondary mission of, you know, public education. reporter: and it works. as a kid, did you watch the blue angels? i did. that s actually why i joined the navy. at seymour johnson air force base at 8 years old. reporter: crews swarm all over, even into the newly arrived planes, because they won t be on the ground long. i know every time i climb that ladder that i ve had no fewer than ten hard-charging, well-educated, motivated sailors and marines going over my jet with a fine-tooth comb. reporter: in the air again, the pilots get familiar with the area and high-ball critical ground reference points they ll need to safely perform their show. the pilots insist, flying this close isn t dangerous, just unforgiving. i place my head directly underneath here, and my head is, no kidding, about this close away from the boss s aircraft. reporter: so you, the canopy of your airplane is from here to here? yep. clear. reporter: part of the blue angels recruitment mission also means putting civilians in cockpit. before you start taxying out reporter: at each show site, selected teachers, community leaders or others who can help tell the navy and marine corps story to young people are offered a demo flight in a solo plane. yolanda tafoya, a hispanic business promoter, went up before last month s show in dallas. it s a great experience that the navy gave me, great opportunity. reporter: i was also offered a flight. ready, hit it. reporter: after some important tips on combating g-forces let s do it, baby! here we go. ready. reporter: lieutenant ben wallburn gave me the full demo, from a vertical takeoff. that s what i m talking about. reporter: to rolls, graceful loops, 7-g turns and even supersonic flight. okay, we re supersonic. welcome back. that was awesome skrks. glad you joined us. reporter: the blue angels performed this ballet of people, logistics and acrobatics in over 30 cities a year, and whether up there or down here, know that the thrill is mutual. it s a great feeling. it s amazing. i ll tell you, the best part is when you go up to the crowd line and you see the looks on the faces of the people young and old and how inspired and how blown away they were. that is the best part of being a blue angel. members of the blue angels are actually selected by members of the team, and the pilots say as demanding and precise as their show is, it is nothing compared to the thrill/terror of making a night landing on an aircraft carrier, matt matt. you re not even green, not even a little bit green. you re not up if you don t know which way up is. that s true. lester, thank you. still ahead, all the trouble and fun we ve gotten ourselves into in 2009. but first, these messages. one of the most anticipated movies of the year, avatar opens today, and our gene shalit says it s magical. good morning and welcome to t krthe critic s corner. since director james cameron sank the titanic in 2007, he s been busy in outer space on pandora, the site of the honey of a movie called avatar, the year s best-looking, fastest 161 minutes. it s a spectacle to see, and you need spectacles to see it, in 3d, to intensify the experience. and it is an experience. invaders plunder pandora to steal valuable stuff. this is why we re here. it pays for the whole party. sigourney weaver places the scientist into an oblong box from which he controls a pandoran avatar who s a spy while inside that box, the avatar s free to go anywhere and think outside the box. soon after he spies a local g l girl, zoe sal donna, he connects with her and there is pandemonium on pandora. avatar isn t just one movie, it spans many categories exotic adventure you should see your faces. love story miss saldona is marvelous. noli nali. reporter: political parable. we re on the brink of war and you re supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution. heavy-duty action. but far more than all of those, it is visually fabulous with striking designs and gorgeous imagery. you have never before seen anything like this. avatar is magical. and that s the critic s corner for today. he doesn t rave like that a lot. no, it s magical. it s long, too. how long is it? 161, did he say, minutes? yeah, that s long. okay, still ahead, we re going to find out about all the fun we had in 2009. live, local, latebreaking, this is wbal. interesting day developing today. let s get a check on the morning commute. good morning. tomorrow is going to be a lot more interesting. you definitely do not want to be on the road tomorrow. for now, we are dealing with a big delay. it is i-95. all the way up to 175. all lanes are closed. the right lane is where the accidents accident is. you can see that it is barely moving. northbound 95 to 175. let s remind you are gone drive shot down. that is due to yesterday s water main break. they continue to work there. in other water main break to avoid north on avalon way in pikesville. we re getting reports of an accent on an ehrlich west. we will keep you posted on that. 17 minutes is your drive time on northbound i-95. about a 12 minute ride. not quite as bad on the west side outer loop. that is the latest. what is the big story on the the weekend. it that storm is heading this way. the issue is that it is traveling in our direction. it will hit starting tonight at midnight. it will slam into below freezing air. tonight at midnight, a winter storm warning in effect and it goes the entire state through sunday morning. today is cloudy and colder than normal. thank you. be sure to check for back now at 8:00 on a friday morning. it s the 18th day of december 2009. that says it all, 16 degrees in new york city. but add to that some wind and we ve got a good wind out here this morning, and you are looking at some really, really low temperatures and windchills out on the plaza. so, that just means these are our heroes today. they ve been out here for a long time. they don t look stressed out, even though they ve only got a few days left of shopping before the holiday. and they might want to be stressed out, because we are getting a big winter storm here through the weekend. al says we could get x number inches of snow. here in new york, anywhere from 9 to 12 inches, blizzard warnings on the island. that s amazing. as long as you re safe and someplace warm, you can enjoy it. i m matt lauer with meredith vieira and al roker. what s coming up? obviously, covering the news is why we got into this business, but part of this is having some fun, which we do in abundance. just ahead, we re going to look at all of the fun. what is that? wow. trying to remember why we did some of these things. well, that s you on a normal day, al. yeah, pretty much. that s just sad. it is sad. we like to move. anyway, that s all coming up in a special taped piece in this half hour. all right, but first, a check of the top stories from ann curry. ann? thanks a lot, meredith, and all you guys. good morning once again, everybody. in the news this morning, president obama told a sharply divided world climate summit this morning that all nations will be stronger and more secure with the global climate agreement. the president said he came to copenhagen to act and not to talk, but delegates are saying that a significant agreement is not likely on the final day of the summit. the president of france has accused china of blocking a deal. in northwest pakistan, a suspected u.s. drone attack today on militants killed at least ten people, according to witnesses. it was the second drone attack in two days. and also in pakistan, a suspected taliban bomb killed at least ten people outside a mosque. today, disappointment again for a new jersey father embroiled in a five-year custody dispute to get his son back from brazil. and nbc s jeff rossen is in rio de janeiro with more on this. hey, jeff. reporter: hey, ann, good morning to you. this was supposed to be the day, the handoff between father and son, david and sean goldman. in fact, the plan was ordered by brazilian judges, that david would come here to brazil, which he did, and then pick up sean this afternoon and then literally catch the first flight back from rio back to the new york city area, near their home in new jersey, just to get sean back onto american soil, but as david almost predicted before this trip even started there was another setback by the time david landed on the ground here in rio. this time, an emergency injunction ordered by another set of brazilian judges. and so, what that basically means is david can t take sean back to the u.s. until there is another hearing, and david s brazilian lawyers can convince another set of judges that they should lift that emergency injunction and not hear any of those appeals from the brazilian family. david s lawyers and david himself say they re still hopeful and they re hoping that they can bring sean back by this weekend or early next week, ann. all right. jeff rossen, thanks so much. and a watery mess thursday in baltimore when a massive water pipe ruptured, flooding streets and swamping cars. there s no confirmation yet on what caused the pipe to burst. it was, however, 70 years old. it is now 8:03. time for a check of the weather with al. all right, thanks a lot, ann. it is brutally cold out here, but a lot of warm weather. three generations in new york city. who do we have? grandma nancy daughter laurie olivia. olivia. congratulations. you ve got your elf on a shelf there. very nice. let s check your weather, see what s happening. again, we re talking about a big winter storm. winter storm warnings from south carolina to new jersey, blizzard watches in long island. as this storm system comes up the coast, draws in the cold air, and that brings heavy snow from the virginias, carolinas, on into the northeast. and as we look at the snowfall amounts, it s saturday morning we re talking snow moving into d.c. just to the west, they may pick up 12 inches of snow. by saturday night, the snow s moved into new york city. we re talking heavier snow. and by sunday afternoon, just to the west of new york, we re talking 12 to 18 inches of snow. could be 9 to 12 inches right here just west of new york. and down around central in for a major snowstorm tomorrow. winter storm warning going into effect midnight tonight. snow will continue to fall throughout tomorrow. and we ve got folks who made their little maps, a little map of iowa and of montana. wow, it s like a geography beat here, meredith. it sure is. well, people come from all over the country, and the world, too, actually. a gentleman here from luxembourg, so from everywhere. up next, the fun we have had throughout the year, after this. 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. itget our lowest prices of the season! amazing doorbuster deals! late friday.and.all day saturday! we ve got moof this year s hottest toys! plus, save big on 50 of the top board games! toys r us. where kids are a big deal. ™ really soft, really smooth lips. my blistex new lip massage. the soft tip smoothes away rough spots, as emollients moisturize and protect. my lips feel amazing. - can you help me? - of course! what do you want? some of these and some of these and some of these. what are you going to make? you should make a gift for papa. i m going to put it right here. that s for daddy. mine is done now! look it! look it! look it! whoa, whoa, whoa! this. can i have another one? yes! is what memories are made of. rice krispies®. childhood is calling. childhood is calling. [ keys jingle ] drop everything! shop the petsmart holiday countdown event and save 50% on holiday dog and cat toys, rawhide, apparel and more! hurry - ends soon! at petsmart. we love to see healthy, happy pets! we re back at 8:08. we must be giving something free away. we assembled the entire gang for one of our favorite moments every year. that s right, a look back at all the fun we had in 2009. so, enjoy. this moment, feeling brand new because the dreams i ve been dreaming have finally come true and welcome to today on this tuesday morning, i m blah, blah, blah. and i m blah, blah, blah s partner. and welcome to today on this monday morning. i m meredith vieira, the ruler of the universe. i thought you were on vacation. what s going on? i came back to give you a hard time. i had such a week planned here. because of the weather. i was ready to go out, meredith said no that is so un it s not nice out there. america, that is not true. filling in for meredith this morning, a guy who doesn t know the meaning of the word alarm clock. is it you, is it a hologram, what is this? i would not be caught dead in a snuggie. he loves it. i m having chest pains, even as we speak. and there is that glove. oh, you ve got it on! no, no! i have it on. i thought you said you couldn t put it on. do you want to touch it? does it give you magic power? absolutely. are you kidding? whoa! how about that? see what happened? oh, my god are you a good witch or a bad witch? hi, matt lauer! what if one of these working stiffs came to life? hi! how are ya! welcome to mcdonald s. can i get a number two, please? two cheeseburgers? yeah. isn t that an awful lot to eat at this hour? do you think you could get out of the car? yes. and annunciate. ma am, ma am? miss? yeah? you could get fired for that. we could party all night and sleep all day my life would be easy, my life would be easy toasted human here get out, matt lauer. you are not getting my steak! i m eating this stuff. this is not your segment! be right back. i wish i had washed my hands earlier. but other than that. it s so funny. aww, look how pretty his is. okay. not so much anymore. then feel this. this is nice and hard and you can geez, that is hard. here, dear. i thought you said feel it. you said feel it. how much parsley? oh, oh, hold on. that s the finished product. ann, how are you doing over there? oh, my goodness, guys. but it will be good. i can tell you that. what the heck was that? what is in here? what the heck? who was that? what are we making here, paula? nerves. that s what we re making, nerves, nervous. still trying to make her pesto over there. the 2009 best apple pie winner. it s a toss-up! i got it! when i get older, i will be stronger, it s going to be freer just like the way they say and then it goes back, and then it goes back mr. president! oh, that s exciting. a thousand welcomes from ireland. matt o lauer has the day off today. you were born in italy? you re going to open the roof of cowboys stadium. it s beautiful, isn t it? this is living. we are in beautiful lake george, nestled in the adirondacks. al and i are in sunny key west, florida, this morning. texas s big old party. las vegas, baby. american pie can t stop singing along, can you join in, come on, i want more than just a slice of american pie now you re in new york, these streets will make you feel brand new big lights will inspire you, let s hear it for new york, new york, new york good morning, miss wonder woman. good morning to you. it s like cocktail hour for you. that s what ann said when i came in. you look like you re going to a party. i am, it s called fourth hour. happy hour, baby. i don t want to miss a single thing you do oh! watching you s the only drug i need i can be myself and finally, in fact, there s nothing i can t be i want the world to see you ll be with me i told you this wouldn t work, bye. it went perfectly. all the best for the movie. oh, thanks for that shot of you, kathie lee. monday, tuesday, wednesday and thursday, friday, saturday, saturday until sunday you know what we say, say, party every day, party every day found the nest. when i arrive, i, i bring the fire, make you come alive, i can take you higher what this is forgot, i must now remind you, let it rock, let it rock, let it rock oh, my gosh! we re wearing the exact same suit. that s very girl-like. well, we re both wearing spanx, too. i don t think you read the memo that it s a sleeveless day. sorry about that. the shirt is actually just a dickie. david beckham was here in the last half hour. i admired his suit. he came down in jeans and gave me the suit off his back. yes, yes, we re glamorous, first class, so luxurious, you know i ll be now and then like a movie i m tired of pantyhose on halloween. take them off now. are you ready for a party! put your hands in the air! so, i put my hands up, playing my song, the butterflies fly away i m nodding my head like yeah, i m moving my hips like yeah put my hands up, they re playing my song, you know i m gonna be okay what are you going to play? i love you. i love you, too. i m sure, there s no need to complicate, our time is short, this is our fate, i m yours look, i m on tv! let s go say hi to the crowd. where am i? nice to nice we were able to see matt and how he s going to look four years from now. [ laughter ] abe bogota, ladies and gentlemen! abe was goatbogota! i should be so lucky. how are you, pal? good morning. coming up on a thursday on today. i m in trouble. nice of us to be back. nice of us to be back? today, israeli president benjamin netanyahu batten down the hatches. you never know what s going to happen here. oh, ooh! let s go back outside to matt and meredith. we are right here. we snuck back in. meredith. what? ooh, i m sorry what. you re on the air! you spin my head right round, right round when you go down, when you go down i m lester holt in for matt. he s still recovering from his run-in on the bicycle with the deer. do you want a hug? no. don t come anywhere near me with a hug. i cannot imagine how scary that must have been. they say these things are so in the name of love, what more in the name of love whoa! life s waiting to begin we are blessed with perhaps the greatest technical staff going. hats off to our staff. just call on me, brother, when you need a hand, we all need somebody to lean on i just might have a problem that you d understand, we all need somebody to lean on i can turn a gray sky blue, i can make it rain whenever i want it to i can build a castle from a single grain of sand we re gonna sing it louder, we love lunch, i m eating clam chowder i dreamed a dream of days gone by why do you fill me up, buttercup, darling, just to let me down lady, from the moment i saw you i never meant to be, love child, take a look at me all the single ladies, all the single ladies everybody loves my willie scott, everybody loves my willie everybody loves my willie scott, everybody loves what willie got oh, i love my willie, willie scott, oh, i love my willie, willie scott oh, everybody loves my willie thank you! oh, feels like today, i know, feels like today, i m sure it s the one thing you re wish i ing, feels like today feels like, feels like, feels like today it s the one thing that s missing, the one thing you re wish i wishing feels like today, feels like, feels like, your life, feels like today one more time! [ laughter ] because we can t see that enough. how long was that? 12 minutes? fantastic. long. hard to watch. it was great. you forget all the stuff we do in a year. it s really true. the older you get. i for get last hour. we seem to get crazier and crazier as the years go on. because we add aid these two over here. and a little alcohol. the whole segment, so much to work with. at our holiday party yesterday, it struck me just how many hundreds of people it takes to put this on four hours a day every day. yeah. and just seeing the people there yesterday, but then watching what they do and make happen was just really overwhelming. and you know what? i think you re absolutely right. i say we give them a big round of applause. and for the most part, they re sober. by the way, thanks to producers molly, andrew, jay, graphic artist william, associate producer amanda avery putting that together. we re back after this. we love it. and use the free savings calculator. we learned that changing your medicare part d plan could save an average of $612. woman: we just entered my prescriptions, and it compared plans for us. it was easy to find the right plan for the prescriptions i need. your cvs pharmacist can help, too. come in today, or go to cvs.com before december 31st to find the best plan for you at cvs/pharmacy. chili s new mini tacos in five fresh flavors. like crispy shrimp, hand-battered, cooked until golden brown. and smoked chicken, topped with fresh ingredients just for you. part of our three courses, two people, $20 deal, where you can share an appetizer, choose two entrees, like our fall-off-the-bone tender baby back ribs or a new pulled pork sandwich, and share a dessert. for a limited time, only at chili s. what makes a hershey s bar pure? pure togetherness. [ melt with you playing] pure friendship. pure delicious chocolate. pure hershey s. edible arrangements bouquets are gorgeous, made from fresh fruit and taste delicious. .you can even add chocolate! so make any occasion special. ordering is easy, visit a location, call or go to edible arrangements.com [ light breathing ] [ sigh ] [ 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. live, local, latebreaking. good morning. it is 8:26. not as busy as it is going to be tomorrow when things will change the big time. we want to check on what is going on on the roads. other related closures watch for i seicy conditions. we do have a water main break on avalon blamed. the right lane is closed. dry times are up to 17 minutes on northbound i-95 up to the beltway. much of it is due to an earlier accident that is now off to the side. about a 12 minute ride on the west side loop. hartford looks very clear actually. west side, as i mentioned, in good shape. northbound 95 is filtering out as well. all of the earlier delays are starting to dissipate. let it snow. right now, it is just heavy rain down in the deep south. this is the storm heading in our direction. counterclockwise motion. it is set up to be an awesome storm. we will see heavy snow all day long tomorrow. once the monster hits below freezing temperatures, it will be snow pit moisture hits below freezing. it will be in our area by tomorrow morning. enjoy today. 74 cast keeps as schools throughout the week. throughout the week. a second storm on time s annual person of the year issue, available on newsstands everywhere and at time.com. 8:30 now on this friday morning, december 18th, 2009. one week until christmas. five days left for you to take part in our 16th annual holiday toy drive. right now, actress maggie gyllenhaal is playing the role of santa s helper, and we re going to talk to her in a moment. and this has actually been an incredible year for our toy drive. thanks to our viewers and sponsors, we have reached the $30 million mark. wow! that is great. hats off to you folks. yeah, thank you, guys. we re not going to take them off right now. no. it s been a very, very tough year, that people have given more. absolutely. it s lovely. you know what we re going to do in this half hour? what? we love the bow to wow segments with jill rappaport, where we give dogs and cats new homes. then we say, what happens to them and what are the homes like? we ll do a bow to wow reunion. we ll catch up with some of the pets we have had adopted over the past and meet their owners. very nice. also coming up, we ll be talking to sarah ferguson. her first venture into the movie business has been a successful one. young victoria is the movie and she s been working for 17 years to get it to the big screen. it s a passion of hers. and emily blunt just got the nod for a golden globe nomination, that s right. and of course, holidays, christmas less than a week away. actually, a week away. we ve got a pro here to show you how to wrap those odd, kind of weird-shaped gifts. and then, of course, because we can t do anything without turning it into a competition exactly. the four of us will go head to head against colin cowie. colin cowie s going to show us how to do this and then we ll try our hand on it. but let s bring in maggie gyllenhaal, who stars alongside jeff bridges in the new movie crazy heart. we had jeff here tuesday when they announced the golden globe nominations and he got one, which is very exciting. yeah, yeah. when you were making this movie and this is the kind of movie you love to do but did you know you were onto something special here? could you sense it? i think so. i think the movie had a star over it from the beginning it was one of the special ones. i watched it with my friends last night. we had a little screening, and it was everything we hoped it would be. which is great. i m not one to give personal advice, but you play a young mom in this who s trying to get her life back together. yes. and you hook up with this guy, bad blake, who s a country singer, whose life seems to be going in the other direction. normally, that would not be a smart choice. yeah, but you know, you can t help who you fall for, you know? it s true. i ve lived through that, you know? that s how human beings are. we fall in love with who we fall in love with, and you have to work it out. makes sense. and you play a mom in this, and you re now a mom in real life. does that change how you portray motherhood in the film? yeah. changing being a mother has changed absolutely everything in my life. it s so funny to talk about this in 10-degree weather out here. exactly. it s so cold. but yeah, i mean, everything s changed and it s certainly changed me as an actress. i ve never been prouder of any work i ve done, and i think it has a lot to do with my daughter, who just completely cracked me open and brings me to my knees. children do that. meantime, however, you shot this movie not in this terrible temperature. you shot it in i think mondexic santa fe, yeah. and working with jeff, my impression is there was such a synergy between you. and the music yeah. the music is so amazing, and you ve really gotten into it, i understand. yeah, i do you know, i was born in new york. i grew up in california. i ve lived in new york almost 15 years now, and there s no reason why i should like country music, but i do. i don t know what t bone would think of the music i like. i have come to it my own and found it myself, but yes, working with jeff, i think there is a kind of wonderful thing between us. i think we really love each other. we really do work in a very similar way and it s a pleasure. it shows on the screen, how much you connect. you are great. thank you, i appreciate it. why don t we let maggie get warm. are you can give her a hug. group hug here. r we are closely watching harry heavy rain and the department sought. winter storm warnings go into effect midnight tonight. heavy and that s your latest weather. willard? santa claus is coming to town whoo-hoo! won t be long now. maybe you ll get some smucker s for christmas. even if you don t have teeth. you can handle that one. happy birthday for our friends out there in tv land. always a pleasure. take a look, if you will. this is lula stewart of jacksonville, florida. 100 years old today. attributes longevity to what she calls her three great things in life great genes, great faith and great pork chops. i ll go along with all of them, especially the pork chops. alice mann, alexandria, virginia. i know that name, and i ll bet i met her. my hometown. 102. third try. known for her bubbly personality. loves to tell jokes and always the hit of every party she ever goes to. and we have chelmsford, mass. walter peirce, 100 years old. happy birthday. served in the national guard during wwii, one of the oldest world war veterans. mary mahy, springfield, missouri, is 103. loves reading biographies and her secret to longevity is having a good doctor. that doesn t hurt, does it? put that in the medicare plan. mary rispoli of newark, new jersey, is 103. likes to go to atlantic city. always liked atlantic city. loves cooking for her grandchildren and making ceramic pieces. loretta bacchetta. how s that for a rhyme? loretta bacchetta, rochester, new york. 100 years old. makes the most delicious italian dishes in the whole wide world. we love her and she loves us. that s it, that s all, and now back to that great city on the hudson. all right, willard, thank you very much. when we come back, an expert will give you some tips on wrapping those unusually shaped christmas gifts. and then we ll try our hand, see how we do. does your phone alert you when you have a message ? does it alert you without interrupting what you re doing ? does it alert you without interrupting what you re doing so you can continue to, say, send a video to someone ? holding your messages till you re ready to view them ? droid does. the notification panel your own personal gatekeeper. in a world of doesn t. the notification panel your own personal gatekeeper. the holiday season with our delicious new peppermint mocha latte and chocolate mint donut. great flavors, great value. just another reason the holidays run on dunkin . announcer: today s countdown to christmas is brought to you by j adore dior. this morning on today s countdown to christmas, gift wrapping. we know the basics, fold it up, fold up the sides, wrap it with a bow, but what about wrapping an odd-shaped present? that s what we re doing with design extraordinaire colin cowie. good morning. good morning. good morning, colin. before we get to the odd-shaped presents, what do you need? ribbon, paper, tape and scissors. that s it? that s it. so, are we ready? we re ready. no guidance? how about some tips? so, the first thing we re going to do is we ve got to open up the paper, wide enough to make sure that we can get the ball in. now, put the ball right in the middle. hold the ball 12:00 to 6:00 why? because the paper s wider. now come to the middle, that s good. now you cut the paper you need and a couple inches of wiggle room so you can fold it and cut. and cut. okay. here we go. okay. try to get it straight. right. now fold over the edge. fold over the right-hand edge to get the straight side. all right. now take the left-hand side and anchor the top with the box with a piece of tape. let it go over? i think you need a little bit of help there. i m getting a little bit of help from the teacher. yeah, like that didn t happen all through school. did good, matt. thank you. and put the next part on the top? yes. now bring the left side over, there you go. all right. don t show me any favoritism, because they ll accuse me of cheating. and you re doing well. low expectations? why would you hurt me that way? that s not nice. colin, cousin tdoes the weige paper matter? i would think this is thicker paper. i think we have a winner. now you fold down the side. exactly the same the other way oh, shoot. mine ripped. exactly. 100% right. bring that piece in. now take it to the top. take it to the top. yes. and fold it in. and fold it in. now turn it 180 now put that piece on top. some tape on top there. can t the ribbon hide a multitude of sins, too? exactly, the ribbon. now measure the ribbon. you need two yards. how do you know two yards? that s about two yards. okay. okay? cut there. but how do you know it s two that you need well, we re trying. coming up here? yes. i think this ribbon is really hard to work with. why? you need about two yards, so measure kind of like this. okay. great. got to find my scissors. and then what do you do with it? add a couple more pieces. and find the middle piece. all right. got it. now put it underneath the middle underneath? yep. now bring it around. now turn it around and turn the whole box upside down, because you ve now got the crease on top. oh, okay. i totally screwed this up. okay. now take the ribbon. you need two yards there. there s one, two how d you do that? yep, yep. now start with a little piece and put it underneath. this is ridiculous. you know what? wow. are you starting over? a little frustration there. christmas is a week away, meredith. you ve got it. exactly. there you go. this actually looks pretty good. this one s good. this one s good? i you know what s amazing? can we show this? colin actually wrapped a tricycle see, that s cool because i would just put a bow on a strike. . you guys did very good. seriously, you took it wow. since i was off to judge the winner, you re all winning except for you, meredith. the team, ann and matt and al. what happened, meredith? thero go. that s for you. for the team. thank you. aww. very nice. very nice. i think we should stand to the side colin cowie, thank you very much for the lesson. happy holidays. up next, a special bow to wow we re back now at 8:46, and our series bow to wow, where shelter dogs get new looks and then new homes. so far, we ve had a perfect track record, and this morning we ve brought back many of those dogs and their new owners to see how everyone is doing. our resident animal lover jill rappaport is also here. hey, jill, good morning. oh, matt, this is so great. it is the ultimate gift to know that every dog we have featured here today, no matter how old, how big or how tough, has gotten a second chance at a wonderful life. we have this misconception about the animals in the shelters are damaged goods, stay away. that s the farthest thing from the truth. reporter: and we, hopefully, have changed that misconception. we re starting a special segment today called from bow to wow. next, we ve got the who wheaten terriers in these two 9-year-old wheatens needed to be kept together, but nobody was adopting them until their today show debut, when they hit the lotto of love and went to a family in texas. each of our rescues from the most controversial breeds like pit bulls to senior dogs to huge pooches, all hoping for one thing, a loving home. from sweet little rose her owner pae passed away, so, she was in the home with the owner for a couple days before she was rescued. right now she s shaking because all the lights. actually giving meredith a massage there. reporter: to 13-year-old mili, who s deaf. to sophie, whose heart matches her size. she weighs 100 pounds, so, she s a big girl. reporter: now sophie s living the sweet life in new hampshire with a sister to boot. so far, guess what, we re batting 1,000, including jack, the jack russell, seen here lounging with his new owner. martha stewart is bringing mili out for her big debut. zachary levi bringing the new and improved benji out. showing affection. she likes me. and who could forget little lola? that is a pocket pal right there. reporter: so far, 22 dogs all happy and healthy and where they belong, at home. and some of our old friends and new owners are with us this morning. it s nice to see everybody. let s find out what s going on here. raquel, where s raquel? hi, matt. good morning, matt. good to see you. you adopted rose. and i understand you were actually at a shelter looking for a dog and you saw this segment and saw rose. yes. i was there to get a shih tzu and i was there and i saw the segment, and it just really touched my heart, because you said her owner had died and i had just lost a child a few months before. i m sorry. and i felt her loss and her pain through the tv, matt. how s it going? how s the partnership so far? she is the best dog ever, matt. oh, that s great. everybody s prayers, everybody rescue a dog. i m sure she s awfully happy to be a part of your family. eric. eric, you adopted a pit bull named millie, right? yes, this is millie. did you have any second thoughts about the breed because of the certain connotation that goes along with it? no. i personally have no discrimination issues with pit bulls. i experience it every day when i m walking her. people cross the street, but once they get to know her, it s she changes people s mind. is millie happy? she s very happy. and you re happy? extremely happy. that s important, also. we have peggy. where s peggy? right here. you adopted max, right? that s right. now, if i remember correctly, max was one of our friskier dogs right? that s an understatement! max came out, made an entrance one time and it was almost not rated for television. is max still frisky? max enjoys being friendly, but he is neutered, i am happy to say. and we are happy to say that, too. and are you enjoying yourself? absolutely. he s a wonderful dog. no down side to this? none whatsoever. that s great. a couple dogs were adopted by today show family members. isabel, you re the one who ended up with lola. yes, i did. there was a bidding war for lola. over 400 people wanted her. yeah. how s she doing? she s great. i mean, my parents have fallen in love with her. my brother loves her. she s been a great part of the family. she s taken she took to you the first day. quickly, adam? yep. who d you adopt? this is ollie. adam and ollie. you got it. and it s been going great? it s been going great. folks, thank you so much. you did a great thing for these pets and we encourage others at home to do the same thing. and jill, same to you. [ male announcer ] every penny counts. so does every moment. make the most of both this holiday season with free shipping from l.l.bean. sarah ferguson, duchess of york, takes her first stab at film producing with the young victoria, a dream she came up with 17 years ago. sarah ferguson, good morning. so nice to see you. good morning, meredith. i love seeing you. it really is a dream, a passion of yours to bring young victoria to the screen, because nobody you think of victoria and you think of the dowinger, the woman always in black, mourning the death of her husband, and she was a vibrant woman. she was. she was locked in a gilded cage for years and wasn t allowed to walk downstairs without someone holding her hand and she wasn t allowed to see anybody or be educated with lots of other children. she was kept in this sort of prison. and then suddenly, at 18, albert walked into her life. and in the diaries and this is where i sort of absorbed myself 17 years ago she wrote, i stood at the top of the stairs and i saw this tall mustacheoed man with a thin waist and i knew i was in love. and you talk about the love between victoria and albert as a love story never told a and you relate to it on a personal level, don t you? i do. because as soon as i was married, andrew was taken from me and i saw him 40 days a year. so, when i was sitting there on the second floor in buckingham palace, which may sound fabulous, meredith it does. it does, doesn t it? but actually, you re in an institution. so, you suddenly have to learn how to be a presence yes. and the man you married, to be a princess, wasn t there. so, i absorbed myself into victoria, and i realized they fought for their love. and andrew and i, now 25 years on, we sort of look back at we re the best sort of divorced to each other, divorced to each other and not from each other. and we look at each other and say why did we do it? why did we divorce? and we realize we didn t fought for our love. we should have fought like victoria and albert did. they were married for 29 years, had nine children. and i think if andrew and i had sort of said come on, don t take us away from each other, let us be together, it would have been a different story. but it s never too late, is it? no, it s never too late, but i think there will probably be a flea under the subtle what does that mean? me. they don t want the red head back in the palace you really believe that? because you ve been supportive of the queen. in fact, making this movie, you said i m going to stick to facts and facts alone because i don t want to disappoint queen elizabeth. you re absolutely right. in fact, graham king is amazing, because when i pestered him enough at the lunch to do this movie, i said you know, could it be filmed in britain with a british cast and could it really be honoring the queen? and he did all of that. and in fact, he cursed me so many times, said we re overbudget and can t do anything about it because you wanted it filmed in britain. he s a great man. i know you re coming back to talk more about the film, but i can t let you go without talking about the rumors about another royal wedding, prince william and kate? really? i have no idea what you re talking about. you re such a liar. live, local, latebreaking, this is wbal. is it a cop 55. water restrictions have been lifted for residents in baltimore city. officials say 80 homes are still without gas service. it could be days before it is restored. crews are working to replace the pipe within the next several hours. we re expecting heavy snow starting after midnight tonight. the heaviest tomorrow morning and lasted all day long tomorrow. all this heavy rain in the deep south, area of low pressure, that is causing it. it will become heavy snow in the mid atlantic. a winter storm warning beginning at midnight tonight and continuing through tomorrow. it is not expire until sunday morning. today we are in the 30 s. by sunday, a little sun. thank you for joining us.