Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100303 : vimarsana.com

we re back now with more of today on a wednesday morning. it s the 3rd of march 2010. it is a little bit messy, nasty out there. you can see the water on the lens. we ve got some rain, some sleet, some snow, a little bit of everything out there, but thanks to those people for sticking around on rockefeller plaza. inside studio 1a, i m matt lauer along with natalie morales and al roker. ann is, of course, covering the earthquake down in chile. and coming up in this half hour, the latest on the investigation at one of the nation s busiest airports right here in new york. we re talking about jfk, where a child was allowed to direct flights from the control tower a couple of weeks ago. it was all caught on tape. you ll hear some of those transmissions and we ll talk about how it could happen in just a little while. all right, also, with the nation s unemployment rate still at a whopping 9.7%, we ve got some advice on what you should do with your 401(k) if you ve been laid off. plus, the best strategy if you re behind on your credit card bills. all that s coming up this morning from our expert panelists in today s money 911. it s a common problem for men and women as well, 60%, in fact, are going to be dealing with hair loss at some point in their lives. it can be traumatic for many, but the good news is you can fight back. we re going to show you some things you can do and give you helpful advice. we always think about it as a guy s problem, but it does affect women. more than 60% of women. absolutely. and they re back. the neighbors on 227. the cast, led by tart-tongued marla gibbs. they haven t been together in 20 years since the show ended, but we changed that today and they re sticking around to answer your e-mail questions. all right. we ll get to that, but first, with ann down in chile, you ve got a check of the headlines. that s right. in the news this morning, more on that investigation under way at jfk airport in new york after an unbelievable incident. the faa wants to know why a child was allowed to direct flights from the control tower. nbc s tom costello is in washington. tom, good morning. reporter: hi, natalie. the air traffic controllers union says it doesn t condone this kind of behavior. we ve learned that the child made a total of five transmissions from the control tower at jfk. and now investigators are trying to piece it all together. how did this happen? at new york city s jfk airport, air traffic controllers handle more than 1,000 flights every day. two weeks ago, on february 17th, a new voice in the control tower. a child was directing the planes. jetblue 171, clear for takeoff. clear for takeoff, jetblue 171. this is what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school. wish i could bring my kid to work. reporter: the faa tells nbc news one of the air traffic controllers brought a child to work that day. the child can be heard directing two flights on tapes from liveatv.net, a website that monitors and records air traffic control transmissions. jetblue 171, contact departure. departure, jetblue 171. awesome job. reporter: if the pilots were upset, they didn t let on. listen as the child handles a second flight. 0-3 clear for takeoff. 403 clear to takeoff. thank you very much and you have a great day. reporter: at one point, the child had a little fun with one of the pilots from aeromexico. air mex 403, contact departure. adios. contact departure, aeromexico 403. adios. contact departure. adios amigos. adios amigos. over departure, jetblue 195. reporter: well, the faa has issued a statement this morning. it says the following pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling traffic. this behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all faa employees. again, the controller and the supervisor have been suspended. natalie, back to you. all right, tom costello reporting on the story from washington. thank you. the embattled chairman of the tax-writing u.s. house ways and means committee, charles rangel, says today he will step aside temporarily as chairman. the house committee temporarily demonstratished the democrat last week for ethics violations. large-scale shipments of food and water are now reaching earthquake survivors in chile. that aid along with military patrols and curfews have ended looting that broke out after saturday s quake. some 800 people are confirmed dead, but rescuers believe they can still find victims alive under the rubble. thousands turned out last night in southern california at a vigil for 17-year-old chelsea king. a body believed to be that of the missing girl was found on tuesday in a park. at the white house today, president obama unveils his plan for stalled health care reform. he told congressional leaders tuesday he d consider embracing republican ideas to combat fraud and waste. however, the president is preparing a strategy to pass the bill without republican support. and it is now five minutes past the hour. you re up to date right now. thank you, natalie. you got it. we appreciate that. messy, i think. it is. a low pressure system off the mid-atlantic coast that is quickly deepening, but the good news is it s moving away rapidly. we ve got snow across much of the northeast, but it is starting to dissipate. the good news is this system is moving quickly. and in fact, you can see the path of this system right now i should say, we re looking at the snowfall amounts anywhere from a trace to an inch, generally. some areas may pick up the weather should be fairly quiet today. we will see a mix of light rain and snow showers as we go to the dated april little if any accumulation. accumulation. if there is any, if it will and that s your latest weather. natalie? somebody call 911 al, thank you. on today s money 911, help with your financial troubles. whether you ve been laid off or just can t afford some bills, jean chatzky, today s financial editor and author of money 911. david bach is the founder of finishrich.com and author of start over, finish rich. and sharon epperson is cnbc s personal finance correspondent. let s get to it. a lot to get to. first up, video question from mary. she s from virginia and says she has a bigger home and doesn t know what to do. if we sell our home for less than our mortgage is worth, is there a program that allows us to roll that difference over into our new mortgage? and secondly, some other options we were considering were, one, to either more aggressively pay down on our principal over the next two years and wait to sell or, perhaps, renovate and add more living space on to our current home. what do you suggest? all right. that s a common problem, jean. unfortunately, a lot of people seem to owe more on their homes than what it s worth. about a third of all people these days owe more on their homes than what it s worth. and here s the thing, mary, there is no program like the one that you re envisioning. i wish that there was. so do an awful lot of people. you don t want to tie yourself up into a position where you don t have a lot of cash, particularly in this economy. and for that reason, i wouldn t suggest throwing a lot of extra money against the principal payments of your home right now. i d stockpile cash and then use that money to renovate, if that s a scenario that will work for you. because unfortunately, if you re upside down already, you re not going to be able to borrow in the form of a home equity loan in order to do that renovation. i would do a little reorganization in your house, see if you can make a little extra space and live with it for a little while. yeah, absolutely. don t want to get yourself in a bad situation there. no. next we have eileen from massachusetts, and she s coming to us via skype. eileen, good morning. what is your question for our panel? good morning. i m 25 years old and i was laid off from my job at an accounting firm last year. given the fact i m still collecting unemployment and those tax considerations, when should i roll over that money and what investment vehicle should i be using to do that? eileen, sounds like a familiar problem, as well, for a lot of people. david,ant to help her t? sure. a lot of people have 401(k)s if they ve been laid off and don t know what to do with them. first of all, i love that a 25-year-old is thinking about your 401(k) plan, even though you ve left your employer, because the first mistake people make is they leave their 401(k) plans at their old employer, mainly because they forget about them. pull up your statement. do you know who s managing your 401(k) plan, what company it is? [ inaudible ] i couldn t hear. i couldn t hear whatever company s managing your 401(k) plan, call them and ask them to assist you with an i.r.a. rollover. they can move the money from the 401(k) plan into an i.r.a. account in your name. ask them to plate the account. specifically, i.r.a. rollover for the benefit of your name. here s why i want you to do it this way. i don t want you to co-mingle this money with another i.r.a. account. and the reason is, when you go get a new job with a 401(k) plan, if you ve left it as an i.r.a. rollover, you have the ability to move that money back into a 401(k) plan later if you want to, and you won t have any taxes, you won t have any penalties. so, it s a very simple thing to do. now, if you own stock in that 401(k) plan, ask them to roll the stock over in what s called in kind, because you want to have the control over when you sell the stock. if you own mutual funds, wherever you re working with, let s say vanguard, fidelity, they can actually give you the same mutual funds in an i.r.a. account in your name. and the beauty of having it in an i.r.a. account that s in your name that you control, you have complete choice over whatever you want to invest in. so, you don t have to use the same mutual funds. you ll have other options available for you also. and we re talking about a traditional i.r.a. a traditional i.r.a. not a roth. no. people move jobs so many times in this world these days. 12 different times over the course of a career. that unless you do it the way that david is suggesting, you could end up with accounts all over the place, and an administrative mess. okay. and not a roth i.r.a. because of the tax penalties? you ll face tax penalties and taxes. so you want to do it into a traditional i.r.a. good, good. okay. next we have john from ohio on the phone with a question about debt. john, good morning. caller: good morning. well, i lost my job about five months ago, and so, i decided to restart a business that i had previously owned. and unfortunately, i had some customers, i was able to get some income coming in right away. however, it wasn t enough to cover all of my bills. so, what i ve been able to do is keep my house payment and utility bills within 30 days of the due date, but my credit card payments are like 90 to 120 days behind. and one of my credit cards has gone to a collection agency, and they offered to settle for $7,000 on a $15,000 debt. now, the good news is, i m currently negotiating with several companies for some large contracts. so, you have money coming in? caller: well, if i close, yeah, i ll have plenty of money coming in and i ll be able to take advantage of the offer. so, my question is, realizing that my credit score can t get worse than it is right now, if i accept that offer, will that increase the amount of time required to regain a good score? sharon, what do you recommend with this collection agency? is that a dangerous scenario? yeah. this is a difficult situation because his debt has already gone into collection. i would say the first thing is, if you have $15,000 in debt, you probably accumulated ilot of that debt while you were still working. so, the first thing you need to do is sit down with a credit counselor, a non-profit credit counseling agency and go through your tax flow, your budgeting for when the new contracts do come in. the thing you need to do in terms of collections, it s already very damaging to your report, but the idea of paying only $7,000 on the $15,000 bill, that is a settlement plan and that plan having settled on your credit report can damage your score even more. what you want to do is see if you can work with the original creditor. it sounds like it s already with a collection agency. they may have just farmed it out for a short time and you will be able to perhaps have that back with the original creditor. if that s possible, then you want to make payments over time. you want to show on your credit report that you have been making regular payments. that s the only way that you re going to reach your score. having the charge-up on your score is going to be on there for seven years. there s nothing you can do about it, but over time, if you re making regular payments and being a good customer outside of this, your credit score will start to improve, but it is a tough situation because you re already in collections on that bill. yeah. good luck, john, with that, and good luck to all our callers. jean chatzky, david bach, sharon epperson, thank you once again. and still to come this morning, hair despair. if you re one of millions of women whose hair is thinning, we have slusions to help you tackle the trouble spots. but next, the cast to 227 is back answering your e-mail questions. it runs in families - my mother has it, and now i have it. so even though i tried to keep my bones strong, it wasn t enough. now, once-monthly boniva is helping me do more. it didn t just stop my bone loss. boniva worked with my body to stop and reverse my bone loss. and studies show, after one year on boniva, nine out of ten women stopped and reversed theirs, too. 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[clucking] go to naturesbounty.com now for a $2.00 coupon. look for delicious cadbury s, reese s and hershey s products in the easter candy aisle. cause no bunny knows easter better than hershey s. there s no place like home we re back with our special series great tv families reunited. we re having fun with the cast of the 80s sitcom 227. marla gibbs, regina king, jackee harry, hal williams and curtis baldwin all stuck around. actually, we just locked the door and wouldn t let them out. we want to get to some of these e-mail questions because our inbox flooded with questions. were there any practical jokes done on the set? this is from ruthann in mentor, ohio. any practical jokers on the set? why is that always the question? i don t know. uh- uh-uh, we didn t have one of those. i remember we had lester who kept walking around until he got on marla s nerves. he had a little squeeze box going along like a whoopi cushion? whoopie cushion thing. marla said when are you going to grow up? what was leslie nielsen doing on there? we had everybody on the show. you had great guest stars. we had run dmc, which was huge for us. we were like, run dmc was going to be on the show. pee wee herman was on the show? yeah, f. fabulous. this one is from cheryl in south carolina. were you pleased with the writer for your characters or was there anything you would like to have seen done differently? that s heavy. that s a heavy question. there were some things we would have liked done differently, but some things were fine. but there s always something. but your characters, were yo pleased with the way you guys the scripts that you were given and the way you were portrayed? well, we were allowed, because of marla s effort, we were allowed to have input with the writers about how we saw ourselves and our characters. exactly. since we re the ones making the words jump up off the page. and was there much ad-libbing, marla? you can t ad-lib because the camera needs to know what you re going to say so they can be there. you ll be talking and you won t be on camera. wow! did you know our director, joe michaels? wow. oh! uh-oh. he might be coming up. lock that door again! okay. this comes in from erin in clinton, iowa. i just love you guys. what is it like to see the people you work with? and also, how did you each get your parts? marla? how did we each get our parts? yeah, how did you end up getting on the show? obviously, you were very instrumental in this program, so you knew you had your gig. yeah. well, actually, didn t we shoot an episode and it was kind of like waiting to see if the jeffersons were coming back or not? well, yeah. because we expected the jeffersons to be on another year, another season. so nbc took second position. so we were on shoot-and-wait, but the jeffersons got canceled. we didn t know we were going to be canceled, but we got canceled. and in fact, marla, the first couple seasons of the jeffersons, you were still working at a regular job. united airlines. a bird in the hand in the bushes. jackee, when you got on to the show, did you have to audition like everybody else? i got on the plane from new york and they flew us in. they saw the tape and i was like, ooh, i m the only one on the plane. about two minutes before takeoff, about 200 women got on the plane. we had a ball. they put us up in the beverly garden hotel it was like a sorority, and i went in and got it. isn t that amazing? wow. how about you, hal? i was fortunate enough to play marla s husband in the play, 227, so, she didn t want to be alone going into television, so hey. brought you along for the ride. i came right along for the ride. did what he could. and curtis? we, regina and hal and marla all worked on the stage play and i wasn t an actor. i was like assistant stage manager and marla insisted that i go down there, because i was like a break-dancer. she was like, no, you don t want to do dance. you want to make some money acting. are you still doing that, curtis? you know, i ve got a few moves. i m not going to ask you to show them. he was break-dancing with my grandson. what was the name? body language. body language, yeah. now, let s talk about what you guys are up to now. marla, what are you doing right now? everything i can, child. everything i can. and i know you thank you for being here. you broke your foot. yeah. isn t that a drag? i m telling you. three days ago, i was in a hospital bed. oh, wow. and now i m on today. well, we re so glad you re here. god is so good. thank you. and regina, you re on southland, in fact, premiered on tnt last night. last night, yeah, it did. so you know, tv has been good to me, so i m back on it. that s right. and you ve got a new movie coming out with forest whitaker. yes. our family wedding. and jackee, you re starring in a play called the cleanup woman ? yeah, and i m not a cleanup woman now. that song from the 70s. yeah, and i m promoting a couple things, but i know how you re all sensitive. your gbg vitamins. don t i look good? you d better say i look good! you look fabulous. i have a website, gbgjackee.com. i m all that now. you always were all that. hal? i just closed in a play called art at indian wells theater, indian wells and just signed in to do a pilot for the fall and just been doing a lot of theater, movies and television. curtis? i m doing stand-up comedy. i did crack em up thursdays in hollywood and i ve been doing stand-up and possibly could be on a new show called the mogul that s coming out on comedy central. oh, great. well, it is so terrific seeing all you guys. i mean, you gave us years of laughter. thank you so much for being here. it s terrific being seen. thank you. [ laughter ] and not viewed. woo! marla gibbs, jackee harry, regina king, hal williams and curtis baldwin. they re going to shut us down. no! and coming up oh, i love this a chocolate lover s delight that will wow your family and friends. we re not talking about these guys. we re making flourless chocolate cake. but first, these messages. and there s the meatloaf. yuck. look what sometimes happens with the ordinary bag. it slips, oh, bingo, it falls in. mom was mad. mom should have used glad forceflex with the new stretchable drawstring that grips the can and stays in place. plus, it has the stretchable strength of forceflex. that s all today for glad tv. both: don t get mad get glad! christopher columbus sailed the ocean blue. in 14 hundred and 92. nice! follow me, the missouri river is this way! lewis and clark expedition of 1804. oh, he ll never get this. magellan, 1520. awww, my 8 layers must ve given it away. help keep your kid full and focused with 8 filling layers. of whole grain fiber found in kellogg s frosted mini-wheats cereal. this is one giant leap for mini-kind. keeps em full. keeps em focused. hoo hooo! you re hilarious. really good. nice to speak to people. coming up on a more serious note. it s an issue a lot of women face, hair loss. whether caused by childbirth, stress or genetics, we have solutions for the problem. first, your local news and weather. [ woman ] nine iron, it s almost tee-time. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that s the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i m ready by the time we get to the first hole. and that s good because the competition s steep today. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air.™ live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. three members of an alleged cult could face as many as 60 years in prison after being found guilty of starving a toddler to death. they found queen antoinette, trevia williams, and marcus cobbs guilty of murder in the death of javon thompson. the child died of starvation and dehydration after being denied food and water for not saying amen at meals. the investigation of a shooting of a towson gas station owner has become a murder case. he died in shock, after being shot several times at the 1600 block of joppa road police believe robbery was the motive for the shooting. baltimore city family is asking the city for help after a trash truck driver destroyed their home. the driver tried to go over a six-foot pile of snow in baltimore last friday, but ended up knocking almost the entire front of the house off. the dinkins family says that the city has put them up in towson hotel that is an inconvenience for travel to the city for school and work. housing officials say they are doing the best they can and have offered to give the family bus tokens. the mayor s office did not return our calls regarding the incident. now look for the forecast tony pann. there is still a big storm off the coast, but we will miss most of the precipitation. light rain and snow showers off and on a during the day today. very little if any accumulation. breezy and chilly conditions. high temperatures into the upper 30 s. it will feel like it is in the 20 s for most of the day, because of the wind. tomorrow, high near 41, snow flurries in the afternoon. we will warm up into the fifties with sunshine over the weekend. another update at 9:55. you know, the guys who always do a super job. well, it is. just go to superpages.com®. and look for a business with the superguarantee® shield. you ll get the job done right, or we ll step in and help to make it right. so, protect yourself with a business backed by the superguarantee®. only at superpages.com®. and let the good guys come to the rescue. pole dancing can burn up to 250 calories an hour. it claims that it can increase flexibility, improves body awareness and strengthens muscles. and what about ah, yes, our own natalie morales going primetime on the new show the marriage ref. executive produced by mr. jerry seinfeld. the show s ref, tom papa, will be here tomorrow, and jerry as well, on today to give us the dish on what it s like to work with natalie. yeah, right. we already know that one. no, actually, the show has been so much fun. it s been great working on it, and i m really excited about it. we had great guests. you saw kelly ripa, alec baldwin, tina fey, eva longoria, madonna. madonna. rickier vase. ricky gervais, a great cast, and tom papa s phenomenal. it s been fun. thursday nights, 10:00 p.m., putting a plug in. there you go. meanwhile, coming up, something you ve dealt with always in good humor, hair loss. woo! it can be traumatizing, though, for women, as you know. sure. and in fact, it is a problem for 60% of women. we have some solutions, from simply changing your hairstyle to medication and laser treatments for more serious issues. and she s a former model, but now she s a cookbook author. sophie doll is also the granddaughter of roll doll, but she s here to show you how to create a simple and delicious flourless chocolate cake. also, the legendary studio 8h across the street at 30 rock, usually home to saturday night live, but tonight it s the paranormal takeover. mm-hmm, that s right, because the syfy channel series ghost hunters is celebrating its 100th episode tonight with a live audience, and they re going to present their first ever investigation at alcatraz, america s most infamous prison. and they re also going to take a look back at the most shocking and spine-chilling moments caught on tape over the past five seasons. you can tune in for the special ghost hunters event at 9:00/8:00 central time tonight on the syfy channel. it s a great show. i actually really enjoy watching it. you ve got a check of the weather for us. that s right, a spooky forecast. ooh. let s see what s happening for us. for our march temperatures, we re looking at. below-normal temperatures for the south, above normal in the southwest, above normal from the great lakes into the northeast. and as far as precipitation is concerned, going to be drier than normal through the great lakes into the northeast, but because we have a really strong the weather is not going to be nice today. but you will be able to get to work and school without a problem. light rain and snow mix, especially on the e and that s your latest weather. all right, thank you, al. coming up next, getting to the root of the problem. we ve got some hair loss solutions for women, right after this. another first from avon. part one brightens instantly. part two lightens the look of dark circles within weeks. my eyes look bright and awake and alive. anew reversalist does it. and only avon has it. now you can have it. anew reversalist eye system. with a love it or return it guarantee. call 1-800-for-avon or go to avon.com to find a representative tod. christopher columbus sailed the ocean blue. in 14 hundred and 92. nice! 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yeah. of all of the many e-mails we get to the ask val page, where readers ask us questions every month, the most poignant are readers, women who are losing their hair, and it s a devastating issue for women, because lustrous, thick hair is one of the visual signals for, you know, femininity and vitality and sexual health and attractiveness. so, it can be really awful for women when they start to see their hair falling out. and as we mentioned, it s a common problem. more than 60% of women will experience some sort of hair loss out there. how do you know if it s really more than a temporary condition? it s a chronic condition? well, you should see a doctor because you need to figure out whether it is a temporary or chronic condition. if it s temporary, it s typically caused by something like a high fever, sometimes pregnancy, hormonal changes. it can be caused by, you know, an endocrine disorder or a thyroid disorder. in which case, once the issue is addressed, your hair will start to grow back. right. if it s a chronic disorder, it s caused by something called an droe genetic malopesia, which is a fancy word for male pattern baldness. you ll see thinning near the crown, your part will start to widen. and then we have four solutions for you. you know, if that s the problem. right, and in most cases, you can find a solution, right? in 80% of the cases, yeah, you can actually get regrowth, yes. that s the good news. let s give women some hope this morning. the first thing, starting off, there are a lot of treatments on the market and some work better than others. the first one that we see is rogaine or the generic form. generic form. and you can get that over the counter, fda-approved. made for men and women. made for men and women and you can massage it into the scalp, into the affected area twice daily. in about six months you ll start to see some hair regrowth, but if you stop using it, your hair s going to go back to the way it was. so it s an important note there. and if you re going to spend that kind of money, you re going to have to keep up with it. right. next is finesserite, it s a prescription drug, propecia. and it s not fda approved for women. some doctors are prescribing it off label for post menopausal women, not for women who are pregnant or might be thinking about becoming pregnant because it could cause birth defects. so stay away, exactly. if you re post menopausal, it works in about, i think 75% of women who take it. okay. now, what about and i ve seen infomercials for this, the hairmax lasercomb. it s pricey, about $495, but do laser treatments really work? well, you know, there are no long-term independent studies that show that the laser, that the at-home laser works, but there is some antidotal evidence that it does. and what you do with this is you glide it over your thinning hair, you know, daily for about 15 minutes, like three times a week for about 15 minutes at a shot. and sometimes it works, and it is the only fda-approved, over-the-counter, at-home hair laser treatment. now, a more pricey solution is what some people might consider is the hair transplant. is that recommended not especially. for women? no. it s not a good solution for women losing hair because women s hair loss seems to be more diffused along the crown and this is good for more discrete areas and also it s more expensive, costs between $3,000 to $15,000. wow. that s a surgery there, exactly. okay, so, certainly something to think about. > now, some of the things you can do at home without having to face a lot of high cost is some of the tricks, you say, is to first start with keeping your hair shoulder level. how will that help the appearance overall? so, there s some styling issues you can do that will keep your hair looking a little bit fuller. you don t want to grow it too long because it s going to start to look wispy, so keep it above the shoulder or chin-length, even. if you can wear it in a bob, that s good. more of a blunt cut. mm-hmm. and if you re losing hair up at the crown, then you want to use deep bangs, if you can. so, that would mean that your bangs start like midcrown, and it can make your hair look a little bit thicker in the front. also, dye your hair, coloring your hair really helps because the dye actually thickens the hair shaft. so, contrary to what many women might think that if the hair s thinning, they shouldn t dye it, actually, dying it will help them make their hair look a bit thicker. but any particular color or well, of course. if you re fair, you don t want to dye your hair very dark because when it grows in, there will be a high contrast between, you know, the hair, your scalp and the color of your hair. so you want to dye your hair a similar color to your complexion. if you have a dark complexion, you want to dye your hair dark. and you want to make sure that the regrowth, that you keep touching up the regrowth, because the more contrast there is, the more evident the thinning is going to be. so, obviously, stay on top of the regrowth there. there are things you can do. there are. really, the bottom line is, it s a problem that affects so many women, and i mean, when it comes down to it, it s really making sure that it s not a sign of a more significant problem, healthwise for you, too, right? well, yeah. i mean, the fact is that if the doctor says that it s chronic, then it is most likely, you know, male pattern baldness, and then once you deal with that, you know, it doesn t really show, indicate that there s any other significant health issues. if it s a temporary hair loss, then most likely, you know, if it s not caused by, you know, a high fever or if you re not stressed. stressed or if it s not from pregnancy, it could also be a dietary issue. so, you just want to make sure that you re addressing all of the possibilities before you start on a more serious regimen. well, great advice, and thank you for bringing in some of the solutions for us as well. appreciate it. valerie monroe. and the issue, by the way, is in the march issue of o magazine. coming up next, a simple and delicious flourless chocolate cake that anyone can make, right after this. but five minutes ago, i took symbicort, and symbicort is already helping significantly improve my lung function. so, today, i ve noticed a significant difference in my breathing. and i m doing more of what i want to do. so we re clear it doesn t replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. my doctor said symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort, and it s significantly improves my lung function, starting within five minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing. now more of my want-tos are can-dos. as your doctor about symbicort today. i got my first prescription free. call or go online to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. to start losing essential nutrients? not long. in fact, green beans lose half their vitamin c in a week. that s why green giant freezes them within 8 hours to lock in nutrients. ho ho ho green giant can your moisturizer do that? dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula. now proven to build a moisture reserve. so skin can replenish itself. that s healthy skin for life. save at aveeno.com. that s healthy skin for life. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. wow! you have got to be kidding me. 80 calories? 80 calories! light & fit is so creamy and irresistibly delicious, it s hard to believe it has 80 calories versus 100 in the other leading brand. do you always eat like that? i love light & fit. light & fit. irresistible taste. fewer calories. now save money with our new super saver four packs. four cups at a great low price. this morning in today s kitchen, a fabulous chocolate cake that s flourless. hot chef sophie dahl may be a former model, but cooking is her first love. her new book is miss dahl s voluptuous delights. thanks for having me. i ve got to read from the beginning of your book herehe introduction. as a small child, food occupied both my waking and nocturnal thoughts. i had clammy nightmares about dreadful men made from mashed potatoes wearing striped tights chasing me into dense forests. wow! what was that about? now imagine if they sent me to a shrink at the age of 6. um, a glutton. i m a natural glutton, so i think food overtook my thoughts. so you have a love-hate relationship with food. nothing to hate about it. nothing to hate. you re going to make i think a recipe that your grandfather, roald dahl would have loved, with charlie and the chocolate factory. he loved the chocolate. obviously, you inherited that. it s a gene thing, i think, me and my siblings. what s the hardest thing about making a flourless cake? well, it needs to be supported by fat and sugar. so, just because it s flourless doesn t mean it s virtuous. all right. there we go. much like ourselves. let s see what we re making here. in here we ve got some semi-sweet chocolate, we ve got some sugar and blended it up. right. so, it s all been kind of crumbled up. crumbled up. and what we re going to do is pour in some boiling water. so you don t have to mess around. we like that. easy peasy. then a lot of how much butter are you putting in? wow! a lot of butter, al. it s not a virtuous cake, i repeat. no. it s not. man! we missed some. i need your help. we need all the butter we can have. and it goes man! somebody get some paddles and yet clear. so, in it goes. all right. egg yolk, about six egg yolks. thank you very much. all right. lovely. some vanilla extract. coffee. yes. oh, coffee! yep. that s interesting. so it will keep you up at night, too. keep you fat and awake. turn it on. very, very, very quick. and you re here not only promoting your book, but you ve got a show, a cooking show coming up on the bbc. and your husband, jamie, who is a musician, he s got an album out that he s promoting. he does. his album came out yesterday, so we re doing a little bit of a cross promotion. you should have brought a copy of the cd. i could have plugged him. we could have held it up. what s it called? it s called the pursuit. very good. so, mixed this all up. we ve mixed this up. it s smooth. egg whites here. they re already quite stiff. give them another ten seconds or so. and then they re going to go in this batch. oh, okay. can you get him out of the way. move that out. so, in they go. now, is it important, because sometimes you have to gently fold them in. is that necessary here? well, you can do it either way. you can either fold this mixture into the bowl or you can just pop it into the blender, fold them in that way. i mean, because there s a lot of egg whites, it supports itself. right. okay, i need your help, al. there we go. could be trouble here. no, that s not right. that s not right. damn this blender! hang on. get it all. well, let s just assume that it happened! okay, there, there, happened! and and it s not starting! there we go. god, stress. i m tired. exhausted. so, blend it for ten seconds, keep the air in. so, it gets a little lighter. boom, boom, boom. and then take it out. let s get you off, see if it s any easier to get you off. no, it s not. okay. and then into a spring form pan. a spring form pan. oh, my loferd. okay, and that goes in the oven for how long? that goes in the oven at about 350 for about 40 minutes. and we ve got the results right here. very lovely. this is the result. mm-mmm. hold on just a second. result a lot less stressful than the than the mixer. that is terrific. sophie dahl, thank you so much. thank you so much. and we re back in a moment. but first, this is today on nbc. hoda is just in a swoon right now over this chocolate cake. this is so delicious, so, so delicious. you know how much butter is in this, right? it s worth it. that s why she goes to the gym at 8:00 a.m. every morning. what have you got coming up? lady antebellum! oh, cool. they re going to sing to us and talk to us. and we re going to discuss you sound surprised! when and how to apologize. do you want to say something to us? just, i think all of you should stick around for the 10:00 hour. that s all i m saying. i thought you were going to apologize to us for bumping into our hour. no, no, no. kathie lee has nothing to apologize for. oh, no! after your local news and weather live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. parents of baltimore catholic school students will learn the future of their children s school the day. the archbishop is expected to announce which schools will close by the end of the year. declining enrollment and increase costs are forcing the consolidation of some of the parochial schools. all students affected by the coaches will be we are still watching a big storm system rolling off the coast could for the most part, it is going to miss us. we will get light rain and snow showers out of it. otherwise, it will be breezy in chilly. high temperatures in the upper 30 s to around 40. it will feel like it is in the 20 s for most of the day. chilly to mark, with a high near 41 and a chance for snow flurries and the afternoon. much better into the weekend. 45 on saturday, or 45 on saturday friday, 58 on saturday. see you back here for 11 news at noon.