Transcripts For WBAL Today 20091226 : vimarsana.com

talk to your doctor about chantix and a support plan that s right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix. some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, good morning. terror attempt. some of which can be life threatening. a nigerian man tries to blow up if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash a dealty northwest airliner in stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. tell your doctor which medicines you are taking detroit sending passengers as they may work differently when you quit smoking. scrambling to subdue him. chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. how did he bring explosives on the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping board? and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. a deadly storm caused record until you know how chantix may affect you, snowfall in places and use caution when driving or operating machinery. blizzard-like conditions in seven states. chantix should not be taken with other quit smoking products. where is the storm heading next? reunited. a father and son at home in the u.s. after an international the urges weren t like they used to be, custody battle that lasted for and that help me quit. years has finally come to an (announcer) talk to your doctor to find out end. if prescription chantix is right for you. total is saturday, december 26th, 2009. some people will stick with their old way of getting vitamins and minerals. announcer: from nbc news, others will try total raisin bran. with 100% of the daily value this is today with lester holt of 11 essential vitamins and minerals and amy robach live from studio and the luscious taste of plump, juicy raisins and crunchy whole grain flakes. . 1 a in rockefeller plaza. welcome to today on this . saturday morning. i m amy robach. i m peter alexander. guess it s all about what kind of crunch you like. how are you getting 100%? plenty of zhu zhu pets. visit totalcereal.com and get a coupon. did you get presents for the i cans? santa did. i was off the hook. did you have a nice holiday? dinner with the family and a little bit of work. a little bit of work. we have a very busy morning starting with the last 20 minutes on a delta airliner as it approached detroit after a flight to amsterdam. a nigerian man tried to blow up the plane with 289 people including crew on board. passengers surrounding the incident were able to subdue the man and the plane did land what are you looking for? safely. we will brick you the latest and the hairbrush for a rapunzel barbie doll. talk to a passenger on the ohh! flight and sat a few seats away [ female announcer ] holiday savings are still happening at walmart. starting this saturday, come to walmart s garden center from him. also a huge winter storm is and get 50% off christmas items. churning through the middle of the country. save money. live better. walmart. it is blamed for more than 20 deaths and bringing blizzard conditions in the midwest. where that is head and what it means for holiday travel. we have been following the story for over a year and there is a happy ending. david goldman and his son sean were reunite and spent their first christmas together in five years. how they are doing and what s next for them. also like you, many people at . this morning on today s home got great presents for holiday kitchen, bringing new christmas, but the question is, what do you do with it? live to leftovers. forget reading the instructions. toss that out. if you find your way with half a try to get the right plug in the turkey, there can be sandwiches right spot. from a wii to a camcorder. from left over recipes. you don t have to be dibet toik we have advice this morning. first the very latest on the own this cookbook. here s the chef and owner of terror attempt on the delta west. did you have a good holiday? northwest airlines flight. i did. we will have a better through john yang is covering that the weekend. you have inside for us. story. good morning. the theme here is reporter: good morning, amy. as we speak right now, scotland diabetic-friendly recipes. why is does that matter so much yard said they are carrying out to you some. if you look at diabetes and raids in central london looking heart disease, it s epidemic. for evidence in this case. the suspect in this case is leftovers, i love a sandwich with lots of mayonnaise, but believed to have gone to school in london so we don t know alternative and healthier. exactly what they are looking one of the options, we have for, but they are looking for several here. this is with an asian spin. any connection that links a little bit. evidence about his background it s simple chicken broth with and ties in london. low sodium or if you want to now at the university of make your own. we have lemon grass which is michigan in ann arbor, he tried that. very aromatic. fresh ginger and lime zest. to set off a device as the plane lime zest. a little more familiar, was northwest flight 253 here in detroit from amsterdam. garlic. and bay leaf. you let that steep with coconut the passengers on board tell a milk. harrowing tale of seeing flame, this is the broth only. you don t need the turkey. smelling smoke, hearing what one what we will do is make this described as the sound of base and add the chicken or firecrackers and a muffled sound turkey after it s done. of firecrackers in a pillow case going off and seeing this man a little bit of fish asian stand up and shouting something style. that is going to simmer for 15 about afghanistan. he was burned on his legs and or 20 minutes. what we do is have the strained being handcuffed and jumped by version here. this is 15 or 20 minutes other passengers. later. right. i like how we do that always. now, there a lot of questions right now about this. here s the turkey. one is how he was able to get this material on board the one of the things we were airplane. talk talking about is you prefer it is through security in amsterdam. the dark meat. that is better for reheating. officials tell us his name was on an investigative list, but he was not on a no-fly list. it s more resilient to the heat. reserve the white meat for a he was not subject to being sandwich or salad. blocked from getting on board an what we do is have all of this aircraft. a lot of questions to be determined. that s what they are looking for garnish which is cilantro, in london and here in detroit. scallion and cucumber. amy? john yang, thanks so much. do you care if i do this? for more on what we know about you must. a little fresh lime juice. the suspect and what this that s good and a kick too. christmas day terror attempt means for air travelers, we are from that chili in there. joined by roger. good morning. good morning. sorry. time for two tastes. what you have heard and what let s talk about turkey chili as we learned so far, do you believe he acted alone or do you my mouth is full and i speak think it s a possibility he inappropriately. another application for the acted in concert with the terror dark meat along the lines of a organization? i think it s a possibility he beef or ground meat-based chili. acted with others. what are did you put in? was he part of the al qaeda conspiracy, it s way to early to tomato, jalapeno and the dark conclude that. he has been very forth coming in how he has been talking to turkey meat and it has a kick. since our time is limited, investigators. that is not typical of al qaeda. show me the salad. here s the white meat a lot of basic questions need to be answered. we just heard john say this application where it doesn t need to be reheated. man was not on a no-fly list, spinach salad. but he was on a terror watch we have grips as an example list. should authorities have been looking at him more closely? here. we whisked a little goat cheese in as well. diabetic friendly and tasty why or how does someone get on too. the no-fly list? thanks very much. we will be back after this. there is a basic database, you are watching a holiday the counter terrorism center has a database and if there is an performance on ice with figure skater todd eld ridge, but first initial piece of information, that would put them on the this is today on nbc. database and until you have secondary information you won t be elevated. that doesn t mean you trigger a no-fly or secondary screening. looks like in this case that s what happened. how would you get a flammable material on the airplane? i just got back from the airport and know the screening i went through. how does someone get that on a plane? did he have somebody on the inside that helped him and is this a substance that was not screened or something that the technology does not look for? an incendiary device and a trigger is something different than we have seen in the past. the investigation will have two components. how did he get it in and is this technology downloaded from the internet or somebody affiliated provided it to him? any reason air traffic should be concerned. a lot of people on planes over the next couple of days. no, they should ton fly, but we will see a lot more security. maybe more canine dogs and armed security personnel and additional screening measures. bottom line is they need to put more time into the schedule and get to the airport early. it s very safe. thanks so much. here s peter. thank you. now to that slow-moving storm that paralyzed parts of the country s mid-section and brought record snow. mike slidell is live from minneapolis. good morning to you. good morning, peter. the storm is finally going to wind down and so will the snow and the wind. right now the blizzard races through the dakotas and nebraska and one lasted with 50 mile an hour wind gusts and zero visibility and subzero wind chill. around the plains, if you didn t get the wind, you had the snowfall and travel was tough. this morning just checking the airport, so far 30 more flights have been canceled and several more on christmas eve and this morning on today at the rink, six-time champion todd christmas day. it was tough the past couple of days. you have to get out and dig out and clean up whether you try to eldridge who retire friday competitive skating, but has not catch up to the snowfall lost his passion for the ice. yesterday or trying to get the todd joins us this morning. snow off the sidewalk before it good morning. froze up. six-time national champion and you have been inducted into the sioux falls with 15 inches and we dropped from 37 to 18 degrees u.s. figure skating hall of fame. do you get the rush of so everything out here that was adrenaline on the ice? slushy last night is a skating absolutely. it s fun to skate for the rink. another insult to try to get to audiences and enjoy it. i like to go out there and do the holiday shopping sales. good skating myself. that s for sure. digging in for the last several you are retired from days on the weather. we want to get a sense of where professional or competitive it s heading. skating. what do you have coming up? we will go for a look at that. i m part of the progressive good morning. skating and gymnastics good morning to you, peter. oklahoma city, 14 inches of spectacular. i have a few things going on and snow. a few shows and looking forward this is one of the storms that the grandkids will be telling to doing coaching in florida which is where i m living now. warmer down there than here. we will let you enjoy and let their grandkids. 23 inches in duluth and dallas folks at home know he will be texas had a white christmas. performing to surround me. winds were blowing and areas of snow and people were told to ladies and gentlemen, todd eldridge. stay off the road. it was snowing so badly, let them get this morning out of the way. people can get to the destinations. there is snow and even a little bit of snow in illinois heading for the chicago area. windy and gusty, but the storm is just about over. we will continue to watch what s next. amy? thanks so much. now to a story we have been following for over a year. this week there is finally a happy ending. david goldman brought his son home after a five-year custody battle. from brazil to florida with david and shawn with the latest. i know you had a whirl wind. those two had to have this reunion and they have been apart for so long. what was that like? when the doors closed on the airplane, a lot of us were expecting a possible melt down. we were warned of that. this could be sensitive. this boy for better or worse has lived with this brazilian family for more than half his life. we were wondering how he would react to his father taking him away back to the u.s. in an unknown situation. it was an emotional moment. sean was tired. we saw the video of that morning. he went right to sleep. david just stared at sean. i just watched him. he was trying to hold back tears. he was just staring. when sean woke up, he came to life. there was a familiarity with his father. the pictures we snapped about midway through the flight, they were horsing around. sean started a food fight with me and he was throwing grips at me. david was knocking the grips to protect his son and said don t mess with the goldmans. she a normal 9-year-old boy and didn t mention his brazilian family, but certainly that is something david expects to happen. this video shot on christmas day from orlando. shawn s grandparents are there. that s grandpa with the hoop and sean s american cousin who is flew down to be together. this is the time to bring the familying to and sean is doing well so far. do we know what s next for? will he be enrolled in school soon? i talked to him about that. how do you plan on doing that. he speaks portuguese and broken english. he is not ready to ma trick ult into school. he feels socially getting him out there with otherhildren and brings a tutor in at home and move on. this will be a long, long road. they are seeing a psychologist. i m sure you will continue to follow us. we appreciate it. what a great story. let s go to lynn berry for some of this morning s other top stories. peter and amy, good morning to you and good morning to you at home. it is a busy holiday weekend for president obama while he vacations in hawaii after dealing with the security briefings with the delta northwest incident. the president and first lady visited the troops and families at the marine base on friday. it caught many by surprise as the obamas thanked troops for the service. todd eldridge, thank you. tragic news in maryland where police found the body of a we ll be right back, but first, these messages. missing 11-year-old girl. the millers prepared for the long drive ahead. sarah fox well was missing since tuesday and as many as 3,000 uncle doug arrived in topeka, unlike his luggage. volunteers gathered to search but, as the crescent moon rose, so rose the ones in the oven. for her. her abductor is a registered sex she welcomed them home eagerly. offender who is now in custody. and they ate and talked and laughed and ate. meanwhile police in phoenix call it a christmas miracle. mrs. brooks smiled. this was a most perfect holiday. natalie flores was abducted as she played with her sisters. they spotted the pickup truck what are you looking for? the hairbrush for a rapunzel barbie doll. and found a little girl safe ohh! inside. the suspect is now in custody. [ female announcer ] holiday savings are still happening at walmart. charlie sheen spent much of starting this saturday, come to walmart s garden center christmas day behind bars. and get 50% off christmas items. the 44-year-old was arrested on save money. live better. walmart. domestic violence charged with and get 50% off christmas items. the weather outside is frightful second dg assault. his attorney had no comment. but the fire is so delightful finally, snow in florida. announcer: nothing melts away the cold yes, it is true, sort of. like a delicious, hot bowl of campbell s chicken noodle soup. there was almost 20 tons of ice let it snow, let it snow crushed on friday and sprinkled all over one man s ocean-front home. they won the weather channel s guaranteed white christmas contest. family and friends were out in shorts and flip flops to sled with temperatures in the upper 70s. that is the snowball fight i could get involved in. back to amy and peter. thanks so much. not nice to see that after what people are experiencing in the midwest. the 70s? they walk into the ocean and go surf the rest of the afternoon. a lot of people looking at the real thing. i m sure the people in the dakotas would put it on the 18 wheeler. as part of the storm goes, this will go down in the record books. this is the 3rd storm we have dealt with in the month of december. it could be another one on the east coast on the middle of nex good morning. it is still running out there. a steady stream of moisture coming of our way which will begin to taper off later today. rain cheful driving around that s going to do it for us on this saturday morning. not a second too soon if it starts to rain. tomorrow on today, more on the delta northwest airlines flight. or a lighter note, we will burlington and new hampshire and look at one of the best002009. vermont. much of the central plains, the clouds will be at work and the until then, have a great day, road will clear out. everybody. the storm winds down. that s a look at the weekend forecast. peter? the rey lease of a tape by the taliban showed a captive american soldier underscores the danger of the in addition afghanistan. he appears healthy, they said it appears the video was filmed months ago and cannot be considered proof that he is alive. with president obama ordering another 30,000 troops sent to afghanistan, we are joined by jack jacobs. jack, good to see you and happy holidays. early on in the weekend, this video was released on friday and good morning and welcome. showed the taliban with the we ll check the forecast in captured soldier. just a moment. but let s take a look at some we know he disappeared around of our top stories. five months ago and has been federal investigators are held captive. what do we know about his investigating an alleged terrorist attempt in detroit. status? we are working hard to find him. it is extremely difficult to one man tried to detonate an find anything or anybody in that region. explosive dwite device and the terrain is terrible. caught himself on fire. it s winter time and there is investigators are trying to snow everywhere in the passes and finding anybody will be figure out what he intended to do and how he was able to board extremely difficult even though the plane. we have been working hard to find him. the report was he walked off his one congressman said measures are being taken to ensure no post. he allows how he lagged mind on similar plots are being planned. a patrol. an 11-year-old girl missing it s difficult to see how that since late tuesday night was could possibly happen. found yesterday afternoon near i have been on lots of patrols myself. the family released a the delaware line. statement through the idaho a man was arrested in the national guard saying the family pleads with the captors to let investigation. a baltimore city family is our only son come home. holding hope that someone will to bowe, we love and you believe return their puppy after he was in you. taken from their home along stay strong. it s not clear if he is in with an assortment of elect afghanistan or pakistan. ronic toys. the family says someone broke no way of telling. even when you are there, where into the father s house on the border is. december 23, stealing presents it s arbitrary and drawn in 1898 and their four month old puppy. by the british foreign minster police are investigating. to separate the masses into area anyone with information is where is they can be easily managed. you can t if you are in asking to be call the police. afghanistan or pakistan without a gps. john. good morning. earlier this month president it s raining out there and we obama made a speech saying he was going to send 30,000 more have a storm system which at the moment is centered down near the outer banks in north troops to afghanistan over the carolina but by later this next period of time. when will they hit the ground afternoon will be traveling right up the delmarva peninsula and the first goal? what s their first objective? and to eastern pennsylvania and some of them are already new jersey. there. when the president was that s the map position you see delivering his speech in west there. and once it gets even with us point, he allowed some of them or to our northeast the rains should start to taper off a to be en route. little bit. out of the 30,000 who are going, but until then, plenty of moisture coming our way. ultimately being there, more and rain in the forecast. there is a blood warning in than half are combat engineers, effect. the dark green areas you see, aviation types and people that that will be in effect until build infrastructure. 2:00 this afternoon. roads, bridges, air fields and the lighter shades of green are so on. we are going to support the for flood advisories. effort and that of the afghans. clouds all day long. the heavier rains this morning they are not going to be lots and by 2:00 the rain will be a and lots of combat troops. little liter and start to taper a lost them will be building for the afghans and a lot of them off. by evening the rain should have will be there. ended. the president already saying high temperatures in the mid 40 s to near 50. it might be tough to make it to he pledges to drawdown in 2011. good to see you. 50 but we ll be close to that. good to see you too. we ll talk about the weather here s amy. for the week ahead and end of the day after christmas is the year coming up in a few minutes. up next on 11 news saturday another big shopping day with many people heading back with morning, dr. kim hammond has returns and to take advantage of answers to your pet questions post christmas sales. and more on our top stories. plus, a local mission around bertha is here with tips on for several decades is holiday shopping. providing holiday cheer for the the national retail federation homeless. and we re live with the estimated that sales would decline about 1% this year. globe trotters as they get is that about right? ready to entertain fans of all it s going to be interesting. ages with their unique spin on we will not get the numbers until next week and people were basketball. expecting they might be weaker plus weather and sports when because a week ago saturday with we continue. we continue. stay with us. the east coast storm, sites were down about 13% and going into christmas, you have the horrible storms out west and midwest cut back on shopping as well. you saw the likes of wal-mart and all the other stores coming up before christmas saying we have huge sales after christmas. come on back. the after christmas sales are going to be huge in terms of the numbers next week. that s what they are hoping. they are pulling out all the stops and the international council said it s increasingly important right now. they estimate when the look at the christmas sales of november and december together, they are projecting $435 billion. a lot of people come back with gift cards and to buy through the sales. it s over $600. they hope january will be all out to make up for it. today is a big day for returns. are retailers making it easier or more difficult? generally easier. hopefully they gave you a gift receipt. that makes it a lot easier. generally at least through january the best time to bring it back. not necessarily today. you can wait until next week, but try to get them back before january. if you have a receipt that s helpful and if they don t give you cash back, they give you a credit for the score. gift cards are great. the average is about $25. a lot of people say i can t find what i m looking for, i will get a gift card and it will be about 14 to 15%. we appreciate it. it has been 2 1/2 years since madeline can disappeared. this christmas has been especially heart breaking. the last time madeline opened christmas presents at home is three decembers ago. this was at a family vacation in portugal. she disappeared. her parents posted new photographs on the website. they are sending a christmastime message to whoever who may know anything. if you know who was involved and keeping a secret, remember it s never too late to do the right thing. they tried almost everything since madeline disappeared. abducted nearly 200 yards away while vacationing. they organized search parties and publicized rewards and kept the case in the headlines for a growing international press. interview after interview. i think there is a good chance she is out there. even the first visit back, praying at a local church for this challenge with the book about the case they say is defamatory. people believe that and that s what they are asking people to do. a few words with her on the website. they even a rachblgrranged to m pope who asked for her safe return. now they rely on a rendition to see what madeline may look like at the age of 6, maybe with darker hair. [inaudible]. . two parents at christmas awaiting for a gift they want may still be out there. for today, nbc news, lond [ telephone rings ] pepto-bismol. nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, and diarrhea. yeah, my son s got all that and he s on his first date. will new pepto instacool cover him? what s he got, a little bit of the nervous stomach? the chimichangas probably aren t helping either. ouch. well, when he feels the instacool sensation, he ll know that pepto s about to kick in. oh, ah-ha. honey, do you feel. the instacool sensation yes, mom. thank you, mrs. wagner. you re welcome, sweetheart. [ pepto guy ] have a great date, everybody. [ male announcer ] new pepto-bismol chewables with instacool. yup, you re covered. still to come, it began with a pop and a puff of smoke. the attempted terror attack on the delta flight. first these messages. good morning. here is a look at some of our top stories this morning. christmas celebrations tookmass was celebrated at this cathedral. it was celebrated at noon and throughout the day yesterday. a christmas prayer and services was held yesterday morning. the church will also have several new year s eve services. the search for a missing 11 year old girl has been concluded. they found the body around 4:00 yesterday afternoon. a registered sex offender and former boyfriend has been arrested and charged with the girls kidnapping. he did it the legal guardian which was the boaunt of the gir. he was last seen leaving her home tuesday night. the items believed to belong to the girl was found in the truck that the man was allegedly driving. police say they are investigating the death as a homicide. an update on a story regarding linda brown, a foster parent who was worried that she would not be able to provide for her family this year because she did not receive her check. after our story aired, she did get help with that. good morning. it is cloudy. we have had some rain. it is still going. a low pressure center will move from the outer banks to the east corner of maryland. rain chances will end of this evening and will be done for a while. here is the forecast for today. cloudy skies, rain but tapering off this afternoon. we will have eased wins around 15 miles per hour. longer-term forecast tomorrow, some sunshine tamara. tomorrow. we will have a live update in 25 minutes. we are back on this saturday morning, the day after christmas, december 26th, 2009. we look at the crowds together outside. we are joining them later on. inside studio 1 a, i m amy robach with peter alexander who is taking the day off. you are entitled too. you have been working straight for quite a few days. for has been a long stretch. we will call it the christmas month. we have been talking about the flip phone. the big fancy gift. i was excite and playing with it yesterday. you will show us how to make it smooth and the transition of getting the new gadgets. the first hour you know more than i do. i had the day off yesterday, you didn t. coming up, we will get you the latest on the huge winter storm creating blizzard conditions in the midwest and the plains. it has been a dangerous storm being blamed for more than 20 deaths. we have the latest and how this will affect your holiday travel plans. ahead, a first happened account of what it was like for david goldman and his son, sean as they left brazil after a five-year custody battle and what their first minutes were like together back to the u.s. on the plane. we were on the private jet coming back. what was noticed was remarkable. a son who hasn t seen his father in so long. twice in five years. we saw both of them smiling. great pictures. we will look at the biggest stories of 2009 from the historic to the truly bizarre. all of them unforgettable in their own way. first the latest on the terror attack on a northwest airlines flight from amsterdam to detroit. a ji jeerian man tried to blow up the plane with explosives he brought on board. the plane landed safely. for more on this we have our terror analyst. roger, good morning to you. we had a chance to speak by phone. one of the things you brought up is that the man boarded that flight in nigeria. can you give us a sense about the differences between our security measures here and those that exist in other parts of the world? since 9/11, the united states is working closely with other countries to ensure there is a consistent level of security across all airports. certainly in places like western europe and parts of asia, there is strong cooperation and sillular protocols. a number of third world countries, it s a challenge. the transportation security administration found their security to be in better shape, but the question is, did he put these devices on his when he left or is that something he did in amsterdam some. another question being asked, was this 23-year-old nigerian working alone or in concert with an al qaeda-type organization or a group that was sort? he is cooperating with authorities at the burn center at the university of michigan right now. what does that indicate to you? the more he talks, the better for the fbi. what we have heard from john yang is there raids going on in london at what his dormitory or apartment looked like. they will go to his computer roars and cell phone records and try to identify, was he working with anybody else and was there a network vofl involved in the plot or was he a self starter and radicalize and had goals of being part of the broader movement and decided to undertake this plot. a key question. the white house is calling yesterday s incident an attempted act of trochl. a lot of people are attempting to head back and have enough trouble getting shampoo on the plane. what precautions are they facing? the best advice i can give is check as much as you can. the less you bring on the plane, the shorter delays will be. you will see screening measures and maybe people pulled up for secondary screening more randomly. you may see canine units and random checks by behavior profile experts to see if people are acting out of the ordinary. the level of security may be higher, but it s to fly in the united states. packing gifts and patience. thank you very much. now for a check of the weather and the winter storm that is pounding the mid-section of the country. here s bill. good morning. take a look at hd doppler radar. the coastal storm is pushing rain our way. our rain chances will taper off this afternoon and and by the evening. it will star high in houston. the only bitter, bitter cold is up in the dakotas. if you are unable to travel and you are wondering what the hour by hour forecast is, you can get that at weather.com. peter? thank you very much. money-saving tips as we help you now with 2010 tax laws. we can use the help. we will tell you, but first, these messages. tylenol arthritis works with your body to block the pain, without interfering with certain high blood pressure medicines like aleve sometimes can. so you don t just feel better, you feel better knowing doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. so warm, flaky; it might be the last time chips and dip are invited back. savorings. in the freezer case. from pillsbury. 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roth in retirement, you don t pay taxes. if you have a 401(k), you pay taxes or traditional ira. this is an opportunity to convert and get income that is not taxed in retirement. you have to watch out. they have a lot of money in the ira and with the conversion you have to pay taxes. you have to talk and see how much you will have to pay. what about the benefits and deducks going away starting with unemployment benefits? unemployment benefits are taxed. this check you get in 2009, the first $2400 was tax-free. not the same for 2010. also sales and excise tax for new vehicles. you have a couple days left under the price of $49,500 you get a tax deduction. in new york that can be a lot of money. there tax credits that will stay the same including home buyer s credit. that was set to expire and that is extended. first time home buyers until april of 2010, it is opened up to existing home buyers. if you owned your home for the past five out of eight years, you get $6500. you have to make sure you have a contract in place by april of 2010. what are about making energy-efficient improvements to your home. do you get any help on that? this may be extended bigger. 30% of the price of the energy-efficient things you buy. for example, whether it s a washer or drier and up to $1500 is a tax credit. that s a big one. the american opportunity tax. what is it and can you still get a tax credit? this is the hope credit for education. this has been very much expanded. if you are a student or a parent of a student, this is a good one. up to $20,000 of your tuition with books and those types and 25% of the next. this is a great tax credit. even if youar a student and you don t have to pay taxes, you still get this. this is a refund. worry all of the changes coming in 2010, where can you go to sort out where you benefit and where you need to be careful and make decisions? go right to the source. go to irs.goff and look for it and for the roth conversion, if you want a quick estimate, go for a free cal greater. thanks for joining us today. we ll be right back after these messages. same sun. and now for the first time, in new sun crystals ® . the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. finally, all the sweetness of nature and just 5 calories a packet. nature gave us the recipe; we just gave it a name. new sun crystals ® all natural sweetener. two natural wonders. one sweet taste™. - is she awake? - just fell asleep. why are you up? it s 2:00 a.m. - it s not just 2:00 a.m. it s 2:00 a.m. christmas morning. it s our first christmas as a family. i couldn t wait. male announcer: levian jewelry, featuring levian chocolate diamonds. levian: one more reason kay is the number one jewelry store in america. - you think she ll remember this christmas? - i know i will. ben and i like the same things. we like soccer and video games. oh yeah, we have a lot in common. when ben s parents were told that he had lymphoblastic leukemia, they turned to st. jude s children s research hospital, where we ve increased the survival rate from 4% to 94% my hair is growing back. really? well, the hair on my back is growing! give thanks for the healthy kids in your life. and give to those who are not. go to stjude.org or shop wherever you see our magnifying glass. just scratch me if you could, right back there. no thanks. ok. made with gooey hersheys mini-kisses. spontanious joy may occur. make that first step easier, with the nicoderm cq patch. nicoderm steps you down from nicotine gradually. doubling your chance for success. nicoderm cq. three steps, ten weeks and yore free. what s going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it. i m just not sure what. what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c mon, it s not that. gahh, oh yeah that s gotta go. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.95 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. oscar winner penelope cruz is back on the screen in nines. a filmmaker who is desperately trying to write a script for his 9th film. you were nominated for a golden globe. does it get old? it never does. i always feel surprise and so excited and also for all the nominations that the movie goes, including best picture and best song and all the other nominations and also for broken embraces and the nomination too. i am very excited about it. this is a movie with a bigger cast. daniel day lewis and nicole kidman and sophia loren. what was it like working day in and day out with such amazing talent? it was amazing. i feel very lucky to be with such amazing company. we were like a theater company. the work ethic brought into the set was really an experience that i think all of us will remember. for months we were training and we had a building where we had a singing and acting room and another to pass the scene. we would find them in the hall ways. where are you doing? i did two hours and now i m going dancing. that created a beautiful bond between all of us. we were there and we were a group of students getting to do something, all working in the same direction. to serve that story and to serve our director. it was really beautiful. for three months, you mentioned months of training. i know you prepared for one number, one of the most incredib incredible. a call from the vatican. let s look at a piece of that. you mentioned you had ballet training. that didn t look like ballet to me. not exactly. when i was 4, i was not doing that type of dance for sure. what was it like getting through a piece? were you uncomfortable? you were very sexy and provocative, but that s your character. karla is a mistress. she also needed to have a very peculiar sense of humor. i had a lot of things to worry about there. the number begins on a slide that is like 40 meters high. you don t see here how high it was. then i got into a crystal platform and dancing in the dark because the light was so strong. i couldn t see anything else around me. i know when you auditioned, you auditioned for several roles. were you happy when you ended up with karla and did you feel like that was the one you would get? i loved karla and i would have been happy with any of them. i know how important it was to audition for rob or harvey or the producers or for us to know if we really were going to be able to do that. i never saying before. you can t tell. you sounded fantastic. i never did it before. it was important to go through the process of auditioning. even then i had fun. he is such a gentlemen. you wanted to be around him and you are already working with him. he is there with you 100%. i like rob marshall. i would love to do another move we him. he s an angel. the movie is spectacular and thank you for joining us. nine is in theoriers now. first, this is today o still to come this day after christmas, we will hear from a passenger about what it was like on the delta northwest flight when a man allegedly tried to blow it up. the first christmasing to n years. what was it like as they headed back home from brazil? 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[ female announcer ] holiday savings are still happening at walmart. starting this saturday, come to walmart s garden center and get 50% off christmas items. save money. live better. walmart. how simple it is to make sure his check was deposited in the atm. simple, indeed. deposit checks into the atm. get the images on your receipt. with bank of america i want a product with the best decongestant. my choice is clear: claritin-d. (announcer) nothing works stronger, faster, or longer to relieve your worst allergy symptoms, including congestion, without drowsiness. get claritin-d at the pharmacy counter. live claritin clear. bolt that burrito. no matter what life throws at you, you can take the heat. until it turns into. heartburn. good thing you ve got what it takes to beat that heat, too. zantac. it s strong, just one pill can knock out the burn. it s fast, the speed you need for heartburn relief. and it lasts, up to 12 hours. so let them turn up the heat. you can stop that heartburn cold: (sssssssss!!!) zantac. here is a look at some of our top stories this morning. christmas celebrations tookmass was celebrated at this took place all over maryland yesterday. the catholics here celebrated mass at this cathedral. it was celebrated at noon and throughout the day yesterday. a christmas prayer and services was held yesterday morning. that was in west baltimore. the church will also have several new year s eve services. many people are smiling this morning thanks to the generosity and help of a mission that provided a meal to the homeless and summer residence there. many were looking for a place to celebrate the holidays. a lot of people are going through the same thing that i am going through. and they are addressing it. and lots of people are being helped other than myself. it makes me feel good knowing that we can help them have a good christmas just in case they did not anywhere else to go. they had some place to come and a nice meal to eat. the mission has been around for years. it will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year. there is continuing christmas coverage on our website. wbaltv.com. take a look at our hd doppler radar. the low pressure center is down over here. it will be moving northward throughout the day. the rain chances will begin to taper off throughout the afternoon. by evening, the low will be to the north of us. it will take most of the rain with it. it is cloudy today. high temperatures in the mid 40 s now. east wins at 10 becoming more later. we will have another live update in 25 minutes. . good morning. terror attempt. a nigerian man tries to blow up a delta northwest airliner as it approaches detroit, sending passengers scrambling to subdue him. how did he manage to bring explosives on board? white out. residents are digging out this morning after a deadly winter storm that caused record snowfall in places and blizzard-like conditions in at least seven states. where is the storm heading now? reunited, a father and son together again at home in the u.s. after an international custody battle that lasted for years has come to an end. today is saturday, december 26th, 2009. announcer: from nbc news, this is today. here again are lester holt and amy robach. welcome back to today. i m amy robach. i m peter alexander and lester is taking the weekend off. good thing she a 16, 35. they had your name on t. i can t see too good. he is with his family enjoying. we re are happy to have you with us, peter. airport security has been tightened as authorities investigate how a passenger was able to smuggle explosives on a delta northwest airliner and tried to detonate them. this is the first picture of the suspect in police custody being taken off the plane. we will get an account of what happened on the plane from a passenger who was on the flight. we will bring you the latest on the huge winter storm. it already crippled parts of the midwest on the day after christmas. it is being blamed for at least 20 deaths. we will have the latest on where the storm is heading. then the story we have been following for over a year, the homecoming of david goldman and his son, sean. what their christmas reunion was like. nice to see them smiling. we will tell you the stories of 2009 that made everybody go hmm. from the dancing wedding to sarah palin to jon and to oprah and the balloon boy. we will bring the stories of 2009 that nobody will soon forget. the latest on the attempted terror attack on a jetliner. john yang joins us with the latest from detroit. good morning. reporter: this morning investigators on three continents are looking into this. questioning the suspect in the hospital and a nigerian and in london, scotland yard raided his central london flat, trying to figure out the connection and background and possible motive of the 23-year-old. federal authorities in a bomb squad scoured the jet after it lands at detroit metropolitan airport. one of northwest flight s passengers, a nigerian national tried to blow up the plane by trying to light explosive devices in his lap. he injured himself and two others. some of the passengers said the incident took place in the plane s approach to detroit. the pilot made a landing before noon after a smoke indicator went off. an airline official said they noticed smoke and a third restrained the suspect. he stood up and he was belligerent and he was yelling and swearing and put hats on and screaming about afghanistan. it was like a balloon being popped and later the lady was shouting back saying things like what are you doing? what are you doing? we were at the point when we saw the fear in the flight attendant s eyes. it was terrifying. i think we all thought we weren t going to land. we weren t going to make it. the stretcher and the ambulance guys were pulling out a bed and a young african-american s hands were wrapped in bandages and he was handcuffed to the railing of the bed. he was taken to the university of michigan burn unit. he flew on klm flight 588 from nigeria to amsterdam where he changed planes boarding the flight to detroit. richard reid, the so-called shoe bomber was convicted of terrorism after trying to light explosives in his shoe on board an american airlines flight from paris to miami eight years ago this week. president obama who is on vacation in hawaii consulted with national security advisors by telephone. they decided not to raise the security threat level right now, but they are imposing new security. it s going to vary from airport to airport depending on conditions. i can tell you this morning, the security line is snaking through the lobby and out the door. amy? john yang, thanks so much. among the passengers on flight 253 was melinda dennis sitting in first class when he was placed in a seat across the aisle from her. melinda dennis, good morning. good morning, amy. you were sitting in the front of the plane and you didn t see the incident directly, but when did you realize something was wrong? you could tell immediately because people started shouting. it was obvious that something was happening. it wasn t clear what because the flight attendants were yelling for everybody to sit down. i assumed there was an unruly passenger and they started yelling for water and we were running up the aisle. you realized something more serious was taking place. i knew we had an issue, but not until we brought the gentlemen up front that we gone to understand that an individual had caused this commotion and it wasn t just a problem with the plane. at any point were you fearful? honestly i wasn t because i couldn t see what was going on. from my standpoint, i was waiting to identify how serious was the situation? was there anything where those of us needed to get involved? by the time they brought him up, it happened so quickly and they had him restrained and you were watching and wondering what was he thinking and making sure he doesn t make sudden movements. when they brought him up and sat him across the aisle, what did you see? was he doing anything? i know he was restrained. was he saying anything? he wasn t restrained when they brought him up. there were two passengers that helped bring him up as well as a male flight attendant and what was surprising was how quick their action was. they were so concerned about him having hidden items they pulled off his pants. from the bottom half of his body, he was exposed and the first thing that caught my eye was the severity of his wounds. there were large patches where it looks like it was melted away. once they did get him restrain and sat him down in the seat, it was only a few feet from me and he was so calm. he didn t show any pain or indication that he was nervous or anything had happened. it was as if he was another passenger sitting there. it seemed quite strange. i was focusing on that. lastly, did the captain or anyone explain to the passengers what happened or what was going on? it happened so quickly, the captain on board just said there was an incident and we were landing. from the moment they got the fire out and started bringing him forward, the flight attendants were trying to get everybody to sit down because the landing gear was down and we were down within minutes. they didn t waste time from the moment it happened to getting us on the ground. we were escorted by all types of security and they took us straight to the gate and got him off as quickly as possible. it s a christmas you will never forget. we are so glad everyone landed safely. we appreciate it. you re welcome, amy. have a wonderful holiday. same to you. thank you very much. the other big story we are following is the huge storm moving across the center part of this country. the weather channel s mike slidell is in minneapolis, minnesota with more on the storm. good morning. reporter: good morning, peter. the day after christmas and day three of the storm is the final day. it the lie down, but this morning rapid city with 53 mile an hour wind gusts. snow and blowing snow. this is paralyzed travel and interstates and parts of four states have been shut down and travel has been a hassell. oklahoma city to kansas city to sioux city, iowa. cars are running off the road getting stuck in snow drifts. a lot of the people went to dig out and in sioux city, iowa, 30 inches of snow, six times the average. jaw-dropping totals plowing and shoveling and this morning, the big problem is ice overnight. temperatures fell from 37 to 18 turning all the slush yesterday in and standing water into a skating rink. good luck with that today. drive safely and thank you very much. we want to get the latest on the path of this storm. we will turn to nbc s bill who is k good morning. we still have rain in the area. a flood warning in effect around baltimore and the washington area. advisories elsewhere. our forecast, rain begins to taper off in the afternoon. high temperatures near 50. watc what s next. we get a break and a potential storm towards new year s eve. that s a look at the weekend forecast. amy? still to come, from the seeruous to the sensational. the biggest stories of 2009 and what a year it was. up next, you have that gadget you wanted for christmas, but now how do you make it work sfwh we will get expert advice after these messages. their vitamin c in a week.reen f that s why green giant freezes them within 8 hours to lock in nutrients. ho ho ho green giant sister? oh, i ve missed you so much. they waited up all night for you, you know. it s a long way from west africa. ahhhhh. coffee. he s here. i brought you something from far away. really? what are you doing? you re my present this year. the best part of wakin up. .is folgers in your cup. this year is this film camera. they are wonderful. this is the flip ultra hd. you slide the cover off and put in the batteries. the second step, there is a button on the upper right. point it at me. there is a big red button and that is start and stopped. do something. press stop. everybody in? we got it. i m having fun already. there you go. the next step is you go like this and shoot it out. that s a usb plug. none of the wires and that sort of stuff. you plug it in like that. here you go and it will load in about 30 seconds. we talked about battery life. the flip system is perfect. it s wonderful. one of the best improvements for the device. it takes two things. a rechargeable battery pack that goes from the beginning and takes aa batteries. if it runs out, you can go to cbs and take the batteries and stick them in. it s wonderful to have both options. it uploaded already. you see the footage of me on full screen. here s my mouse here on the net book. this is a nokia. we have footage from the back of the today show set. that are makes the segment possible. talk to us about the net book in general. a lot of people are getting computers like this. it s amazing how small it is. what is surprising is how little you need to know. they operate like your laptops or desk top securities. the key bores are intuitive. it has a web browser and everything you need and there is a battery live that lasts 12 hours which is convenient. let s move over to the e reader. the kindle was the most popular seller on amazon. a lot of people are trying to figure out how to use it. there is a silver button on top. you enter your amazon account. it s a simple process. you click menu and there is a square thing that is hard to know how to operate. you press down and up and you press it in and you shop at kindle store and press it and off we go. you don t have to plug it in. it works like the cell phone. you set up an account and these are good for subscriptions. i read the wall street journal on this on the subway. it comes to me. i don t have to buy the paper or stick it in my brief case. you don t have to bring 10 books. no ink on the fingers. you will tell us about the playstation. a lot of kids are saying dad, make it work. it s a wonderful device for playing games. you can do all sorts of things and watch dvds. it s got great stuff. i set mine up without the instruction manual. the most surprising thing i learned, the thing that got me stuck is on this controller, i thought x meant stop. x means go. you select the setting and x means go. you can play the game and you have this thing called the playstation button that takes you between the game and the menu. you can run around with the joy stick with the controller and move the guy and jump and spin and swirl and do all the things you need to do. thank you. we ll be right back, but first, this is today on nbc. the toys of 2009 you won t forget. left overs and who has great ideas for you. first, these messages. the hairbrush for a rapunzel barbie doll. ohh! [ female announcer ] holiday savings are still happening at walmart. starting this saturday, come to walmart s garden center and get 50% off christmas items. save money. live better. walmart. when you can actually party at your party? with homemade chex party mix. five great recipes that wow the crowd. and you can make them in only 15 minutes. get out of the kitchen, get into the party. homemade chex party mix. we ve got a way for you to check the status of your loan online. securely, any time, anywhere. our e signature technology makes it really easy. for you to sign your documents from home. we ve helped over three-quarters of a million families. refinance or purchase their home. it s how we ve done things at quicken loans for 25 years now. it s why quicken loans is one of america s largest mortgage lenders. - and that s why i love. - i love being a home loan expert. i want a product with the best decongestant. my choice is clear: claritin-d. (announcer) nothing works stronger, faster, or longer to relieve your worst allergy symptoms, including congestion, without drowsiness. get claritin-d at the pharmacy counter. live claritin clear. good morning. here s a look at some of our top stories this morning. christmas celebrations took place all over maryland yesterday. catholics celebrated christmas mass at cathedral of mary our queen. mass was celebrated at noon and throughout the day yesterday. and a christmas prayer and meditation service was held at bettedsle a and e church. dr. frank reed led his congregation in prayer. new year s services will be held to start the new year. the search of a missing 11-year-old girl, authorities say they found the body of sarah fox well near the delaware state line at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. 30-year-old thomas legs junior, has been charged. fox will s aunt is her legal guardian. she was last seen leaving her home with legs tuesday night. items believed to belong to the girl had been found in his truck. he is being held in the detention center. police say they are investigating the death as a homicide. update to an i-team story reporter barry sims first brought us. foster parent linda brown was concerned she wouldn t be able to provide for her family. after our story aired, she says she received her december payment though the bank won t be able to clear that check until monday. stay with us when we return. we ll get a check of your forecast. radar showing we still have rain in the area. moisture keeps pumping up light rain. it could be moderate at times. there may still be flooding further west it s colder but the rain is spotty. the low pressure center is to our south near the outer banks. take a look at the map. here s what the map will look like by evening. the low pressure moving up towards eastern pennsylvania and jersey and that s when we finally begin to dry things out. there is a flood warning in effect. it includes baltimore city, county, carol, frederick and montgomery counties and pg counties. advisories elsewhere because of the over inch of rain we ve had so far. so rain tapers off later this afternoon, our high temperatures will be up near 50. thanks for joining us. 11 news continues in 25 minutes. we are back on this saturday morning with a look at our spirited crowd here on an overcast day after christmas in rockefeller plaza in new york. i m amy robach. i m peter alexander. a lost these people are doing holiday returns and we have other things to talk about like what happened in the course of the last year. the most important and fascinating moments and bizarre stories of 2009. we will check in on all of those. remember the miracle on the hudson and president obama being inaugurated. so many moments. octomom. and balloon boy. the phrases that developed. the coined phrases based on the events of the year. i don t know about you, but christmas leftovers are not the first thing that come to mind as i think about food. this may change all of that. tom is cooked up a left over for us and we are all getting hungry. you won t want to miss the holiday on ice. it feels like i want rain. we have a special performance by our skater, todd eld ridge. temperatures in the mid 40 s. cloudy. on again, off again rain. low pressure moves north during the day. we do have a flood warning in effect for our area. the rain tapers afe later this afternoon, this evening near 5 of course sunday football here in america. last week of the regular season and the playoffs trying to figure their way out watching this closely. the dallas cowboys and washington redskins. mostly clear and temperatures cold with 36 to 38 degrees. here s dallas behind me. we will see how it goes. we will go inside to amy. thank you. on this last saturday of 2009, we look back at the biggest stories of the year, stories we won t or perhaps can t forget. i barack hussein obama do solemnly swear surviving flight 1549. a us airways flight lands in the hudson river in new york city. pop superstar michael jack is dead at the age of 50. the work begins anew! the hope rises again! and the dream lives on. i m really happy for you and i m going to let you finish, but beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. this year, you, our viewers have enriched my beyond all measure. and here to discuss the year s top stories, we are joined by brian, comedian and editor of pop goes the week. nbc contributor and our own lynn berry. good morning to all of you. let s begin with the inauguration of our 44th president. it was a historic moment and so much enthusiasm surrounding barack obama s presidency. it didn t take long to fizzle. what are we going remember most about this year and barack obama? the downward slope of the public image, we started with such love and excitement and a black man is becoming president and it s a new nation. we are beyond racism, which we re not, but that was the feeling. slowly things went downward quickly and not able to get things done as quickly as we thought. you knew the balloon would come off the road, but not this fast. how would you sum up the first year of barack obama s presidency? obviously there the points you made, but also what s interesting is these unprecedented times. the president has had to do this in the first time that a president has been exposed to 24-hour news and the blogs. it s added to the problems that he s had to face. ryan, another big political story, the rise and fall of sarah palin and she continues to grab headlines. her book came out. will she ever just go away? i think she say big force. i think sarah palin is like the madonna of the gop. people love her and hate her and she has an accent we can t identify. her book is a huge bestseller on the new york times bestseller list. when she opens her mouth, people pay attention. often she doesn t stop. there is so much to work with. she is not going away. do we want her to go away? probably not. there is a group of america that loves her and feel she represent us and another group that feels like this is disgusting what this represents. she is not going anywhere until 2012. michael jackson s death shocked the world. what will we remember most about this year and michael jackson? the first album that you ever bought. the thing that was wonderful about it is each generation had one. there was an older generation with the jackson five. my generation is thriller was the first record i had. it bridged the gap between everyone. everyone was mourning. his death was a big moment where you will remember where you were. i remember when i did the next hour after that. the music you played to try to get over it. it was a chair being pulled out from under us. true. probably another big scandal that you will remember where you were when you hear the news of tiger woods. i hope he has unlimited texting. this guy keeps busy. he has the money to pay the bill. i wish my husband spent more time on the golf course. i think there times in your when you do something wrong and your parents are not so much angry as disappointed. i think the country is disappointed. how do you think he handled it? we haven t heard a lot from him. i don t want him to cry on oprah s shoulder about this, but the wall of silence is not good. the real problem was what happened before the scandal broke. you have been living foul for years and had multiple, double-digit affairs while your wife is pregnant and raising small children. that is the most immoral time of a woman s life. letterman handled his scandal completely differently and came out and admitted it and spoke to the american public about it. brian, a much different response from the american people because of it. absolutely. he approached it with humor, probably the kind his wife didn t appreciate, but tiger is the best thing that happened to david letterman. every guy who had this looks great compared to tiger woods. he is the most watched late night show and has the most total viewers. i don t know what christmas was like at the letterman house, but in the world we love him. thanks. we appreciate it and nice to looka the events with humor and perspective. up next, serving up a holiday left over feast. first, these messages. i ve been a long-time smoker. i m a guy who had given up quitting. what caused me to be interested was, chantix is not a nicotine product and that intrigued me. the doctor said while you re taking it you can continue to smoke during the first week. (announcer) chantix is proven to reduce the urge to smoke. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, compared to 18% on sugar pill. today i see myself as a jolly old man, (laughing) who doesn t have to smoke. (announcer) herb quit smoking with chantix and support.