Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100319 : vimarsana.com

good morning. sunday showdown. the long-awaited vote on health care is expected over the weekend and it is down to the wire. democrats say they ll get the votes, but republicans vow to defeat it. this morning, where things stand right now. tragic discovery. authorities in washington state believe they found the body of 8-year-old azrael carver, six days after he mysteriously disappeared with his mother. this morning she is still missing. and forgive me. sandra bullock s husband jesse james breaks his silence amid allegations of an affair. he says he deserves everything bad that s coming his way today, friday, march 19th, bad that s coming his way today, friday, march 19th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. i m meredith vieira. all signs are pointing to a vote this sunday on capitol hill over health care. the president apparently wants to be there for it. he s postponed his trip to asia once again. that s right. a report on the bill s pricetag was released on thursday, $940 billion over ten years. most importantly though for democrats, that report says it will reduce the deficit. that seems to have put momentum on the democrats side as they try to secure the 216 votes they ll need to pass this. needless to say, president obama s going to probably be twisting some arms between now and sunday. we ll get the latest on all of this in just a couple of minutes. also ahead, a new courtroom revelation from casey anthony s legal team. on thursday they told a judge their client is broke and needs taxpayers from the state of florida to pay for her defense against charges that she murdered her 2-year-old daughter. how will the taxpayers feel about that? more just ahead. a new theme park that s stirring up a lot of controversy. some people actually compare it to a human zoo because visitors go there to watch performances from people who are all under 4 3 . coming up, we ll take you inside the empire of the little people. we begin in washington with the likely vote on health care now just two days away. will president obama drum up the support that he needs to get it passes? nbc s savannah guthrie is at the white house. good morning to you, savannah. reporter: good morning, meredith. democrats are already picking up some votes. now they say some momentum, possibly five or six votes away from that magic number. as for this trip overseas, the president had been under a lot of pressure from the hill to cancel this trip. they had made it clear for weeks, we are putting it on the line with this vote, we need you here closing the sale, not half-way around the world. briefing the press outside to take advantage of washington s mild weather i hope you re wearing your sunscreen. reporter: the president s spokesman announced the president will be staying in washington, canceling his trip overseas to finish health care. passage of health insurance reform is of paramount importance and the president is determined to see this battle through. reporter: the trip to guam, indonesia and australia had already been delayed once, but under heavy pressure from capitol hill, the white house rescheduled the trip to june. now back to this exsiciting weekend we re about to have. reporter: the stage is now set for a final climactic vote in the house. on thursday, democrats got the missing piece and analysis of the bill s price tag from the nonpartisan congressional budget office which estimated the package will cost $940 billion over ten years and cut the deficit by $138 billion over the same period by cracking down on medicare waste and fraud and taxing high-dollar insurance plans. signing a jobs bill at the white house, the president praised the numbers. so i urge every member of congress to consider this as they prepare for their important vote this weekend. reporter: many house democrats were refusing to commit, wanting to see the fine print on the bill s cost. democratic leaders say the serious vote counting can now begin. starting this afternoon, i m going to be asking for reporter: house leaders say they don t have the 216 votes they need today, they will by sunday s vote. every vote around here is a heavy lift. how many times, whether it was the budget, energy, whatever it is, every vote is a heavy lift. reporter: democrats are planning a two-step process. the house to pass the senate bill that passed over christmas with a series of fixes, then send the bill next week back to the senate where democrats plan to use a process called reconciliation to pass it with a simple majority vote. but republicans have other plans. our plan is for it not to come to the senate. our plan is for it to be defeated here in the house in the next few days. reporter: the president will be in fairfax, virginia today making another public pitch. he s going to frame it as a choice between the insurance company, t insurance industry, and the american people. he s really been twisting arms on the phone with at least three dozen folks. meeting in person since monday. this vote is now scheduled for sunday afternoon, but, of course, things being what they are on capitol hill, that could slip again, meredith. thank you, savannah. david gregory, is moderator of meet the press. good morning, david. what are you hearing this morning? how close it the president to these 216 votes that he needs. well, i m told by advisors in the white house and advisors on capitol hill maybe the vote deficit is as high as high single digits. the issue of abortion is still very difficult for some members who have not turned a no into a yes. that s still the battleground. one other factor that s very important democrats in the house want a letter before they vote from the senate, an intent to vote. they want 51 signatures from democrats in the senate saying that they will indeed vote for budget reconciliation. it just shows you, there is a lot of distrust in the house. democrats don t want to walk the plank, take a tough vote, only to see the senate not vote on the reconciliation. how likely are they to get that letter from the senate? i m told that they expect it, and that there won t be a vote on sunday unless they have it. so there is still the prospect, if there are not the votes i ve been told by two sources that this will not be a vote on the floor unless they have the votes to pass it, which means it is possible that the vote slips until monday if some of these other things are not worked out. i think that had something to do with why the president denieded not to go with the trip. not until june. it is a matter of months, not days. he is known as a classic arm-twister, president obama. what kind of pressure is he putting on wavering democrats? what s he saying to them behind closed doors? some of it is individual. cases like kucinich, it is, hey, you wanted universal health care, this delivers a lot more access, that s really important. the status quo won t do that. for others, it is saying, look, if we lose this, there is a lot on the line. the white house has taken issue with whether the president is saying that his presidency is on the line, but he has certainly communicated to members that this would be a very, very tough blow to him and to the democratic party if they don t get this thing passed. you talk about a lot on the line. our most recent poll shows the american public pretty well is split down the middle as to whether or not they want to see this bill passed, but a clear majority say they don t like the way the president is handling this. so what s going wrong with him in terms of the american public? the reality is that americans aren t very impressed with washington right now. they don t like the process, they don t like how much disagreement there is, they don t like how washington s not getting things done. the president is all swept up into that. he came here trying to change washington, and now there s all talk about special rules, which republicans have used as well, to get this thing passed. the process is ugly. the white house maintains the elements of the bill will be popular, will only grow in popularity once it gets passed. let me see if i can guess. what do you have on meet the press this sunday? we ve got a special preview of this vote. we will have a debate about the end game and all the latest news. we ve got leaders boehner and hoyer on sunday morning, as well as the party chairs, steele and kaine, to debate this. it all comes down to the wire. david gregory, thanks so much. ann is standing over at the news desk. happy friday to both of you and to you this morning. in the news, the red river in north dakota and minnesota is slowly rising this morning and the national guard is now standing by to help people when the river crests on sunday. nbc s kevin tibbles is covering the story. he s also still on the scene in moorhead, minnesota. kevin, good morning to you. reporter: hey, ann. well, there are parts of moorhead and fargo on the other side of this huge lake behind me here that are starting to look a lot more like venice than they are about cities in the midwest of the united states. the river is now at about 35 feet. it has actually come up some two feet in just the last couple of days here. it is starting to creep closer and closer, ann, to that sort of 39-foot above flood stage level that they had predicted. of course the problem is that if it goes higher, they are concerned that if it gets up around the record levels that they had last year, it s not only going to be down on the road ways next to the red river that are going to be flooded, but neighborhoods. of course, there has been a ton of sandbagging going on over here. 1 million sand bbags have been laid out in anticipation of this. the concern is that it s gotten cold again and they re now worried about these areas freezing up. that s what they ll look out for the next couple of days. kevin tibbles, thanks for being on the scene of that story as it develops. there are signs today the diplomatic flare-up between united states and israel is heating up. hillary clinton hopes to meet with benjamin netanyahu next week. she s urging the palestinians to restart peace talks. meantime, the israeli air force said it targeted underground tunnels in the gaza strip earlier today. israel claims passageways are used by militants to smuggle weapons. the air strikes came after a day a rocket was fired into israel and claimed the life of a foreign worker. in the search for an 8-year-old boy who was missing along with his mother since last weekend in washington state, a tragic development. police confirm searchers have found the boy s body on thursday about a dozen miles from where his mother s minivan was discovered partially submerged. the mother is still missing. federal investigators have found evidence driver error may have played a role in last week s crash of a toyota prius north of new york city. the accident prompted an intense investigation because of toyota s recent recalls involving problems with gas problems. but the driver who was not hurt never hit the brakes and stepped on the gas inside. overseas markets are mostly higher so far this morning. as for wall street, we ve got erin burnett at the new york stock exchange. erin, good morning. stocks will try for a ninth day of gains. it will be an interesting one. it s been quite quiet here on wall street lately but it adds up, we ve had 800 points of gains over the past five weeks, good for a gain of 10%. adding to the optimism today, auto research firm jd power says we ve seen the best two-week run in sales of cars in about 18 months. it would keep us off our record levels of 16 million cars sold before the crisis. this is solid 11.6 million and it adds to the spring-like feeling of stocks. back to you. erin burnett, thanks. finally, today 16 more games in the ncaa men s basketball tournament. on thursday a big upset in the midwest region as ohio university stunned heavily favored georgetown, 97-83. ohio will play tennessee on saturday. it is now 7:11. back to matt and meredith. i think matt has something to say about that. which team upset georgetown was it? did i say the wrong one? al is not here but this is ryan lidell, our intern this semester from where? i m from ohio university. don t do that. congratulations. last day. take care. mr. roker is out in los angeles this morning. i m going to belly-bump you next time, al. no problem. although you know, h here at home, it is nice and mild. we have a spring in the air. temperatures are in the 30 s and 40 s. we will make it up close to 70 degrees under mostly sunny skies. and that s your latest weather. matt? al, thank you very much. there is a new twist in the casey anthony case. the florida mother who has pled not guilty to killing her 2-year-old lawyer caylee is out of money and she wants taxpayers to pay her mounting legal bills. nbc s kerry sanders is in orlando with the latest on this. kerry, good morning. reporter: good morning, matt. casey anthony went to court asking the judge to declare she s indigent, that, yes, she is out of money. but in the process of asking for financial help, it was revealed she spent $275,000 so far in her defense, a huge sum of money for a long-unemployed 20-something. casey anthony back in court as her legal team tells the judge she s broke. unemployed at least a year before her daughter went missing, it s long been a question asked on the today show several times, how was casey paying for her legal dream team. who s paying you? well, the arrangements that i have with my client are confidential. what she has with her defense team, all of that is really of no one s concern. reporter: thursday at the judge s insistence, defense lawyer jose baez reluctantly revealed most of casey s legal expenses, $200,000 worth, have been funded by abc news. $200,000 came from the deal that was done by my client with the american broadcasting company. from where, i m sorry? abc. abc news? yeah. reporter: baez says the money came from a deal abc news made with casey to license use of photos and home videos of her dead daughter. what did abc get for their $200,000? those were for licensing of photos and nothing else. reporter: in a statement, abc news says, in part, no use of the material was tied to any interview. but orange county investigators say at the time the deal was made, they were also aware casey was planning to do an interview with abc news. that never happened. as detectives took her into custody, eventually charging casey with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter. abc s owned by disney, the largest employer in central florida which is home to disney world. and word that a disney business has effectively funded casey s defense is troubling to some people here in orlando. i think it is a little bit strange that disney would put their money up against an accused child killer. it just seems a little bit strange that disney would be in that kind of a business. media companies buy pictures and these kind of things all the time so i don t really find that it is improper or anything like that. reporter: casey s defense team says it is unlikely there will be any new sources of money. is there any book deal anywhere? no, sir. is there any movie deal anywhere? no, sir. any deal with any kind of commercialization whatsoever in connection with this case? none. reporter: high-profile chicago scholar and other defense lawyers say they are all now working for free. still the team is asking for state money to high expert witnesses and investigators. cheney mason recently joined the legal team. he says the cost so far is not that much. $275,000 is no money at all. listen, you may all think it is if someone was handed that. but in a defense of a case like this, normally costs in the millions. millions. ask the state how much they have spent. reporter: prosecutors were asked that in court, but would not answer. legal expert kendall coffey. understand taxpayers may not want their dollars to go to help an allegedly homicidal mother. but unless experts and other necessary defense costs are funded, the reality is that this case could get thrown out later on by an appeals court. reporter: there s one other development today which is casey anthony s 24th birthday. investigators say that she befriended a female inmate in jail and passed that woman 50 notes. those notes contents have not been revealed. investigators say they are not confessional but that they will be useful to prosecutors. matt, a trial is still more than a year away. kerry sanders in orlando this morning, thank you very much. dan abrams is nbc s chief legal analyst, dan, good morning to you. so the defense has spent $275,000 at this point. now casey anthony is out of money. she wants the taxpayers to fund the defense. what happens next? what they really want is they want them to fund the expense? s. right? the lawyers are saying effectively we re going to deal with this in terms of our expense. pro bono. exactly. but we need now to pay for all of the travel and other subpoenas and other defense expenses that come up and she s out of money. as a result, they re saying, look, this is the way that this works particularly in a death penalty case and we re entitled to it. let s be honest with you, taxpayers foot the bill for the defense of criminal suspects all the time. through the public defenders program. but these are high-powered attorneys. so might it sit differently with the taxpayers? that s what makes this tricky. if now those attorneys have to come forward and explain what they ve done with that money already. so it is not just a question of whether casey anthony doesn t have any money. the question is what happened to that $275,000? and the judge said, i want to hear a full accounting from the attorneys. as you mention, it is a potential death penalty case so you have to imagine the state is going to agree with anything that allows the defendant to vigorously defend herself. no question. but, when you re talking about the state paying for the defense, in particular, as you pointed out, with private counsel, there is essentially an organization that assesses whether the state should be paying for it. and that organization is saying, wait a second. for example, we don t pay for private counsel s travel. you re going to fill out the same travel vouchers that every other public defender has to fill out. which raises a question it might be a simple question, but answer it why do high-powered lawyers like these lawyers work pro bono? is it pure pub bliss snit. because they get to be in kerry sanders spot. it helps them in the future. they would say, to be fair, that they do cases for free on a regular basis, and that every lawyer s expected to do it, but it just seems, lo and behold, in high-profile cases, lawyers flock to offering their services for free. quickly, as kerry mentioned be, the trial is about a year away. from what we know right now in terms of physical evidence, not circumstantial evidence, not the way casey anthony behaved while her daughter was missing and up until her arrest. how strong is the prosecution s case? it seems they have a limited physical evidence case, but they would say not a fair question the way you re asking it. they would say you have to look at the totality of the evidence. you can t just look at physical evidence, you have to look at it all. but in a death penalty case, circumstantial evidence will be tougher to make fly. possibly, particularly when the sentencing comes up, you re going to have to say what did they actually have. but you would hope that if she s convicted, that they believe that they ve got proof beyond a reasonable doubt. dan abrams, as always, thanks very much. 21 after the hour. just ahead, sandra bullock s husband, jesse james, issues his wife a public apoll o ogy follo reports that he cheated. back to the right? no, back here. how about over here? n let s go back to the left. waffling is back at dunkin donuts. for a short time only, enjoy the return of the delicious oven-toasted waffle breakfast sandwich. america runs on dunkin . just ahead, surprising results of a dateline experiment. plus, we ll visit a controversial new theme park where people under 4 3 are put on display. after your local news. second. come on up here where your brothers sit. 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(announcer) there is hope. understanding your pain. .is the first step to treating it. talk to your doctor and visit fibrocenter.com for answers and support. wore only what i was wild about. always knew what i loved, and insisted on wearing it. chicka boom boom boom i guess some women are destined to wear chico s. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time to get a check on the morning commute. unfortunately, it got a lot busier in the past half hour. accidents around the area to report. southbound harrisburg expressway just past timonium road, a couple of lanes closed due to a tractor-trailer accident. two tractor trailers involved. 27 miles per hour. inner loop at baltimore national pike, another accident to watch for. northbound 95 at the beltway northeast, that one is taking up the right lane. north side delays developing there. one more crash to watch for at southbound 29 just past third 32. let s give you a live view in a couple of spots. outer loop delays in place. inner loop delays around baltimore national pike. we can switch over and see what is going on in frederick. these delays in developing quickly because the accident at baltimore national pike. things are nice and quiet again on this friday. the skies are clear, temperatures in the open on the cool side. nothing unusual for this time of year. 39 in gaithersburg, 41 in parkton. a big difference downtown. 56 degrees at the maryland science center. forecast for today is mostly sunny skies. beautiful friday. just give you a point of reference, the average high temperature is 55. sunsets at 17 minutes after 7:00. beautiful weather will continue for most of the weekend. spring begins tomorrow. the equinoxes at 1:32 in the afternoon. most of sunday is going to be dried a good chance for thunderstorms sunday night. rain and cooler temperatures expected on monday and tuesday of next week. be sure to check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. our next live update, 7:55. 7:30 now on this friday morning, march 19th, 2010. spring officially begins tomorrow but it seems like it s already arrived. we ve had a string of gorgeous weather. more of the same is on tap for today. inside studio 1a, i m meredith vieira, alongside matt lauer. academy award, her husband á has issued a statement for what he calls poor judgment. does that mean he s admitting he had an affair? the latest on that just ahead. also ahead, a story that will get a lot of people talking how easily are you persuaded? coming up, results of a shocking experiment by dateline nbc that looked into human nature. you won t believe how far people would go when they are told they re on a reality show and had to administer an electric shock to a person every time they answered a question wrong. wait until you see what happened. it s shocking, as you said. plus a theme park where the theme is highly controversial because people under 4 3 are the attraction. some are outraged but you will be surprised to learn who is not. more on that. we begin this half-hour with the carefully worded apology to oscar winning actress san ddra bullock jesse james amid reports that he cheated on her. nbc s lee cowan has the latest. reporter: always a little rough around the edges, he seemed to some an odd fit for the girl next door. but for five years, jesse james and sandra bullock appeared to be a real-life happy odd couple. when bullock began her run for this year s oscar for blind side, jesse james was part of her story. to my husband. i never knew what it felt like for someone to have my back. reporter: but if the tabloid reports are true, jesse may not have had her back as much as he turned his back for another woman. just days before very public cheating allegations surfaced, people magazine reports sandra got ahead of it and left the home that the two shared. i think it s clear that she is not in the public eye right now. she has plans to promote her movie overseas. she canceled those plans. reporter: with bulluock game james has issued a statement saying, the vast majority of the allegations are untrue and unfounded, but he apologized, saying it is because of my poor judgment that he deserve everything bad that is coming my way. bad judgment, perhaps. but superstitious in hollywood say it may also be the curse in the oscar. theory goes like this, you win as on scar, you lose a lover. the numbers are actually a little eerie. it s happened to almost every single best actress winner in the last decade. this is how the curse starts. there s the envelope, the statue, some tears, then eventually the cleaver. take last year s winner. kate winslet s husband san mendez is now her ex-husband. reese witherspoon and her husband didn t last long after oscar entered the picture. neither did julia roberts relationship, or halle berry. heck, even jaine wyman and ronad reagan divorced. being a movie star who wins an academy award is more stress than a lot of us experience. but i don t think there s any correlation whatsoever between whether or not they win an academy award or whether or not that puts pressure on their spouse. reporter: curse, or just coincidence? no sense taking the chance that oscar has powers beyond just rewarding a job well done. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. pete castro is the deputy managing editor of people magazine, and dr. janet taylor is a psychiatrist. good morning to you both. peter, start with the statement that jesse james provided to people magazine yesterday. he starts out by saying the vast majority of the allegations reported are untrue and unfounded, but then he goes on to say, there is only one person to blame for this whole situation, it is me. it is because of my poor judgment that i deserve everything bad that is coming my way. what do you make of that? is he admitting to an affair there or not? he s admitting to an affair. that s a page right out of the tiger woods mea culpa book. he s coming clean with it and he s very, very sorry. i mean some people, i was talking about this at work yesterday. some people said, yeah, he s sorry that he got caught. but i think he is sorry and i think this is a terrible, terrible lack of judgment on his part. he s now trying to save his family. any thought as to why he made the public apology so soon? is he trying to avoid the mistake tiger woods made? that could be one. it could also be a way of reaching out to sandra bullock. we don t know where she is. my colleague said she did not go to the premier in london, is not at the house. you don t know if they have spoken or not. this may be his way of communicating with her. that is correct. this very clearly could be a way of sending a message out. when they got married five years ago, certain people scratched their head at the time and said, trying to imagine america s sweetheart with this kind of rough-around-the-edges biker guy. you have followed their relationship. how would you define it? i think that it was a relationship where he was her protector. her bodyguard, if you will. and he grounded her. he didn t care about hollywood. she loved that about him and she knew that when she went home, she was with a real man s man, and that appealed to her very much. not that she was insecure, but she felt protected. and they had a very, very close bond. i mean this was real love. one of the sad things about this, i think, is that she is a very private person. she doesn t put herself out there. she certainly doesn t put the people in her life out there. when she was so public about her love for jesse james, then to have this blow up in her face like this, this is very humiliating. jenny, you look at those pictures with the two of them oscar night when she won the oscar for her role in the blind side, you wonder why. why would he risk everything. for men, again it is the same story. it s sexual, it is an opportunity probably no strings attached. in his mind, because men can t compartmentalize, it probably doesn t really detract for his love for her because i think he does love her. but more than poor judgment, he s humiliated her and broken her trust. in marriages, that s really damaging. do you buy into this whole notion of the oscar purse? i buy into the notion of the oscar curse. these women have worked hard, spent a lot of time away from their spouses. in this case, they re married less than five years. the risk of a young marriage really puts it in one of those categories for being more likely to divorce. this woman he reportedly had the affair with, michelle mcgee, beyond the fact she is a tattoo model and sold her story to in touch magazine, what do you know about her? she s had a very colorful life, to put it bluntly. so has he, for that matter. that s true. currently working as a stripper. also worked for an internet sex site where it was sort of like a chat room kind of thing, and has been bankrupt once. so this is a woman clearly you know, this may sound like a generalization, although i don t think it is, who was in desperate need of money and saw an opportunity and went for it. and going forward now, janet, for this couple, if they have any hope, they ve got a lot against them in terms of all the publicity and people will be watching every step. and more importantly, he has broken her trust. i mean she publicly said what a great guy he was. helped him gain custody of his daughter. and now he has humiliated her, broken her trust. she s moved out. i think it is going to be extremely difficult for them to mend this. there is one thing though. i agree with janet, but sandra bullock has shown the world one thing, if anything she does not curl up in a ball and cry her eyes out. this is a very tough woman. she has a great, great determination. when she gets knocked out, she dusts herself out. this woman was in a plane crash let s not forget has lost a mother to cancer. she ll get through this and she ll figure it out. do you know how she found out about this? i don t. you don t know. no. peter castro, thank you very much. dr. janet taylor as well, thank you. now let s get a check of the weather from al who is out in los angeles. thanks, meredith. in fact we are here in the desert ecosystem of ecosystems at the california science center. we re talking about flooding of the red river valley. in the desert they get flash floods. this is a flash flood that when you get a lot of rain in a small period of time, in the desert, this is what you get. you exactly get the feel and get an experience of the power of a flash flood. let s look and see what s going on as far as our temperatures are concerned. almost desert-like in the northeast. boston and new york city, temperatures 5 degrees abo25 degrees above normal. contrasts with denver, 30 degrees below normal. talking about snow in denver with this storm system coming in, temperatures in the 20s and teens. 60s and 70s, new york city will probably break a record today with a high of 75 degrees. 70s in the gulf coast. 50s in the pacific northwest. sunshine up and down the eastern seaboard. again we have the very expansive storm system stretching from the rockies all the way into the we are looking forward to another outstanding debt today. mostly sunny skies. high temperatures on either side of 70 degrees. and that s your latest weath weather. we ll have more from the ecoscience center a little bit later. up next would you do painful stuff to innocent people for the sake of a game show? the results after surprising experiment right after this. increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! 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yeah. my heart s beating really fast. calm down. now why did you continue to shock him? i don t know what was going to happen to mefy stopped. latifah, there s something i ve got to tell you. this is going to be on tv but it is going to be on dateline nbc. am i missing a gray area here? you re not supposed to hurt other people for your own game. but you know, the reason we did this was because we ve done so many stories on scams and stories on why people do things they deep down know they shouldn t. and it turns out, we re hardwired to follow authority. that s what happened here. this next experiment you actually convince people that they have esp? esp. you want to fill me in before i roll the tape? we brought in a bunch. people, told them they would do temp work. in the course of this, the company leaders says we also do some tests for esp. we would like to you take it and see what happens. all right, let s take a look. just have a seat. reporter: these temp workers think they re here to do office work, but first their boss, jeremy, really an active, tells them his company that studies the paranormal would like to test them for extra sensory perception. thank you for taking part in this highly selective experiment. reporter: of course, the test is rigged. now begin thinking over one of those utensils and he ll try to transmit the image to you. reporter: let s find out whether this woman, hannah, has esp. just take a breath, relax. reporter: hannah follows the instructions and checks off the fork. if you were thinking of the fork, you answered correctly. reporter: we make certain she gets every answer correctly. you passed? yes. reporter: so have we convinced hannah she has special psychic abilities? maybe once every year, year and a half, someone does what you just did. oh, really? yeah. reporter: he tells her he d like to further test her abilities but that will cost money. so he asks her to give up her pay for the day. this is just a simple waiver of today s pay. reporter: sure enough, she falls for it. hey, hannah, how are you? chris hansen with dateline nbc. how s everything? reporter: i tell her she has no special powers. she s a good sport and agrees to talk to me. you are getting paid today. by the way. okay. reporter: even though she wasn t entirely convinced that she had esp, the possibility that she did seemed worth parting with some cash. it made you feel special. right. yes. we re all pretty easily manipulated, aren t we? well, that s true. you look at all these stories over the last couple years, madoff, people invested because they saw people like themselves invest, they wanted to feel special to be invited into the group. that s sort of what happens here. we have many more experiments by the way. interesting social experimenting, chris hansen, thank you very. dateline s what were you thinking airs sunday at 6:00, 7:00 central right here on nbc. up next, a trip to the empire of the little people. up next, a trip to the empire of the little people. right after this. sailed the ocean blue. chris columbus 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 d savor exquisite specials and a fine chianti. but rome is like 4,200 miles away. that s why there s bertolli chicken florentine for two in a luscious white-wine sauce. bertolli. italy is served. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there s new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. [ sniffs ] morning. you got in pretty late last night. dad, i m not sixteen anymore. still, it was late. well. you re not gonna have to worry about that anymore. yeah, why s that? todd s a lucky man. the best part of wakin up. that s what i told him when we talked last week. .is folgers in your cup there is a bizarre new theme park generating controversy around the world. here s nbc s ian williams. reporter: spring break has brought school children to the beautiful hills above kunming. joining the crowds of one of china s newest, and most unusual, theme parks. i m the tall guy there. the tall guy. yeah, yeah. reporter: the empire of the little people where tall groups pay $12 a head to watch a troupe of 100 sing, dance and do slapstick comedy. they re so cute, this spectator says. while this woman told me she had to come because they re so different. the park opened in 2009 after a nationwide recruitment campaign open to anybody under 4 3 . it s been slammed by internet critics with as little more than a human zoo. people accuse me of exploiting them. owner told me, but we ve given them a home. to an outsider, it can be a cringe-making spectacle. yet the strongest support for the park comes from the performers themselves. our life it. it has improved? yes. cheers. reporter: all those disabled, or those just different, are often shunned in china. people would laugh at us, look down at us, he told me. now he and his fellow performers say they found a new sense of respect and community, a century from widespread discrimination. everything in this place is designed for us, said this man. these two have found something more here each other. the wedding photos have already been taken. the ceremony s next month. he a good man? yes, he s a good man. reporter: make of this what you will, it is a spectacle. but right now the park is snowed under with applications from little people from across china who all want to join the empire. and it does provoke some soul searching among visitors. we should learn from their spirit, this woman told me. on the day of, they head to the city but curious looks are nothing new. but they say having a regular job paying $130 a month gives them a new sense of freedom. after the show, they run their own english classes. here, of all places, an opportunity to improve themselves in a way they ve not found possible elsewhere in china. do you have any skills? reporter: as the empire grows, that question might be increasingly useful. ian williams, nbc news, kunming. just ahead from cleaning to the garden, we ll get you set for tomorrow s arrival of spring. that s right. answer all your questions. but first, let s look at your local news and weather. mmm. 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yeah. she looks good. in my life, i only live claritin clear. indoors and out. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. hi, everybody. i am stan stovall. time for a check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. quite a mess on the harrisburg expressway in the southbound direction. if you are traveling towards timonium road, just past timonium road, all lanes are now open. you looking at almost a half hour ride through tha delay. 13 miles per hour on average on that stretch. york road 95 at the beltway, we are dealing with a right lane closure due to accident there. inner loop at 40, an accident off to the side. have you delays are on the outer loop at this point. heavy delays on the outer loop at this point. nine minutes on inner loop from 795 towards the j.f.x. and not too bad there. if you are going to travel on the west side, i-70, outer loop traffic. standard delays from 795 all the way down. coming towards us is southbound traffic, and that is where it starts to filter out getting towards fort mchenry. good morning, everyone agreed that the weather is nice and quiet again on this friday morning. to produce a little bit on the cool side. maybe a light jacket to start the date, but this afternoon you won t need it. the forecast for today is mostly sunny skies. high temperatures this afternoon are in the but of either side of 70 degrees. average high is only 55. we will keep that going to the start of the weekend on saturday. there could be some rain on sunday night. but it will be dry during the day. a standing first weekend of the spring. back in 25 it is 8:00 on the 19th day of march, 2010. the last full day of winter 2010. and here in the northeast, a lot of people are happy about that because we ve had a tough one, a rolling spring break is under way and a big crowd out on the plaza. i m matt lauer, along with meredith vieira. al is out in los angeles and we ll check in with him in a couple of minutes. also coming up in a couple of minutes, we have a friday spring tip. the dreaded spring cleaning just ahead. we ll wrap up our special series ask away today, the questions you most often ask all of us. this morning the question we get a lot, how do you stay in shape, if you do. natalie will tackle that one with the way she manages to keep fit. she certainly does. also, how to make smarter choices to fit your nutritional needs at any age. we ll tell you specifically what you should eat in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond that. but first, let s get a check of the morning s top stories from ann curry at the news desk. good morning, everybody. in the news, a showdown is looming on health care reform and the president makes yet another push today in virginia to rally support. the house is expected to vote sunday on the bill which would cost $940 billion. the president canceled his trip to asia to be around for the vote. secretary of state hillary clinton met with middle east neglect agenters from russia, the u.n. and your onand called on israel to freeze all settlements. israel has faced sharp criticism over its plans to increase settlements in east jerusalem. officials in gfargo, north dakota believe they are ready for the red river to crest on sunday. officials said they are finished sandbagging. the crest sunday is expected to be 20 feet above flood stage. searchers on thursday in washington state found the body of an 8-year-old boy who disappeared along with his mother last weekend. their partially submerged minivan was found sunday 12 miles from where the body was found and the boy s mother is still missing this morning. a study in australia finds swine flu is often life threatening or fatal for pregnant women and their babies. the study was based on 2009 flu season and researchers expect swine flu to resurface this year. the celebrity mercury cruise ship is back in port in south carolina after hundreds of passengers got sick. it was the third cruise in a row in which passengers complained of intestinal illnesses. the ship is now undergoing extensive cleaning. south carolina governor mark sanford on thursday agreed to pay $74,000 in fines to settle the ethics charges related to his admitted extramarital affair. on thursday his divorce was finalized. actor seth parker died on thursday of natural causes. he is best remembered especially by a generation of baby boomers for his role as davy crockett on tv in the 1950s. davy davy crockett king of the wild frontier he was 85. let s go back outside to meredith and matt. ann, thank you very much. mr. roker is at the california science center in los angeles. this morning with a check of our weather. al? that s right. of course with seth parker, the great buddy epson. we re at the ecosystems exhibit at the california science center. this is a neat little lizard that hanged out here. we ve got some tortoises here. pretty cool. can you see them right over there. they got them all cleaned up just for this. in fact, they use turtle wax on them. ha-h achl ha-ha! sorry. let s check your weather. for today, our pick city of the day just happens to be atlantic city. nbc 40. sunny, 72 degrees. wow! bet on it, it is going to be gorgeous. looking at the rest of the country be, lit of low pressure system moves off the carolina coast. a lot of snow to denver and eventually on into the central plains as well, five to eight inches of snow. west coast looks good, morning fog in southern california. sunshine central california into the pacific northwest. some clouds in the plains. plenty of sunshine up and down the eastern seaboard. hard to believe it is going to be the thing should be quiet on this friday. a little corps right now, but we a little corps right now, but we will make it into the upper good more coming up here from the california science center. matt, one of the reasons i m here they have a big grand opening gala tomorrow that i ll be hosting. very happy to be out here to help them kick things off. good for you! lucky for them, al. thanks very much. see you in a little while. when we come back, getting ready for spring. everything from your garden to get-aways, to fitness. but first, these messages. turn the tub around talking about nutrition [ female announcer ] i can t believe it s not butter with no trans fat and 70% less saturated fat than butter. butter taste, better health. 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the census helps us know exactly what we need, so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can t move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census. announcer: today s fried whip is brought to you by mcdonald. i m loving it. this morning on today s friday whip, we re getting a jump on spring which arrives tomorrow at 1:32 eastern time. tips from spring cleaning to refreshing your exercise routine. but first, spring gardening. justin hancock, contributing editor to better homes and garden. coming out of a winter, a lot of snow and a lot of rain. the yard is a mess. first step is cleanup. right? absolutely. a lot of shrubs have some damage. you see these broken branches? whenever you see a broken branch, just snip it off. why is that important to do? because if the plant get ripped off it can open it up to disease and be injured. as a bonus, you can often take these cuttings, clip off the bottom leaves, stick in potting soil and you can grow a whole new plant. that s all from a cutting? absolutely. you say this is the right time to plant? there are. there are plenty of things that like it cool. they don t mind a little frosty weather. they will not die if they get frost now? not at all. what if the ground is too wet? you do need to let the ground dry out first. but great for containers to be on a pot on your balcony or deck. let s move on to vegetables. i started a vegetable garden last year and i absolutely love it. time now to plant seeds for vegetables? absolutely. cool season vegetables, broccoli, peas, lettuce, spinach, great to plant now. again, they can take the frosty weather. tomatoes? they need more warm weather? right. but you can get a head start and plant these now. just take a couple of seeds, pop them up, put them in a sunny window, keep them moist. you ll have little baby transplants. doing that now, you can harvest them almost a month ahead of time. then plant outside in may or june. justin hancock, nice to know. something to do this weekend. it is now time to clean up the inside of your home. et toward in chieditor in chief women s day magazine. it is about renewal, starting fresh. you don t need to tackle all the organizing, get everything. you want do things that are important and that you might only do two times a year like change your batteries in your smoke detector, your carbon monoxide. change those batteries. do it spring and fall. that s a good time to remember. same thing with water filters. you could just think two times a year. put a new box in your refrigerator or freezer. cedar in your sweaters, close them up. keep moths away. you clean your windows, it makes the whole house feel better. it is the a-number one thing you can do going into spring. you welcome shocked at how much grime is on and how it lets the light in and just makes everything look fabulous. first thing you want do, just go over it with a damp sponge, get off all the grime. then newspapers with it is an old trick but that s what you do. take a solution of vinegar and water. you just clean from top to bottom. go in clockwise, moving down the window, just dry it off. with the newspaper. not a towel because that leaves strings behind. that and mirrors. you want to make sure those are clean. tackle the mirrors the same way. all you have to do is unclick these, fill them up with warm water or dish liquid. pull them out, you might need a take a damp sponge to clean some of them. drain the bathtub, let them dry. are you good to go, pop them back in. everything will look a lot better. elizabeth, thank you. it wouldn t be spring without a spring break. kate maxwell is here with last-minute get-away ideas. you say it is not too late? no, not at all. we can get deals? you can really get deals at the moment. great deals for spring skiing. it is my favorite time of year to go skiing. still loads of snow but it is warm and sunny. park city, utah, has about 17 hotels there. built thr built, great for the kids. book a three-day vacation. cherry blossom season, good hotel deals, low cost stylish hotels. about $95 a night. they chuck in a free packet of seeds so can you plant your own garden. make sure your kids learn all about the history and museums are free. really good. buenos aires. why not? i went in december. absolutely loved the city and it is really good time to go at the moment because the peso is lower than the dollar, you get about 4 pesos to the dollar at the moment. great five-star hotels. different deals if you can find them but book early, three nights, get one night free. it works out about $200 a night which is about half-price. they also give you late checkout. they know how to party hard and late in buenos aires. people might be surprised you can book buenos aires this late in the game. at the moment, it is about mid-70s. it is a lovely time to go there. how much money? you talk about all the deals but we still expect to spend thousands of dollars to go? the flight is something like $900. it is not cheap but it is very cheap when you get there. steak is cheap. you like it. i do. thanks so much. good advice. now outside to natalie. thank you, ann. finally, no better time than spring to refresh your exercise routine. to help us with that, robin morena. a lifestyle expert. let s get started by walking, the easiest and most fun thing to do. busy moms can use these shape-ups. they re new because these are called low-profile sneakers. these are a little bit lower. these are more like normal tennis shoes. moms can be fit and also fashionable. they help with the fitness because you use your whole foot. the thing with the rolling bottom, you engage your heel all the way so it works on your calves an everything else. look at these fun moon shoes. they re like minitrampolines. it works on a kid s balance and coordination. everyone gets a workout here. nothing says spring like a bike ride. this is a beach cruiser from schwinn. about $170. pretty pink for the girls. this is liberty of london for target. they re beautiful bikes! i want to bike. it is gorgeous. now for the kids, this is something to help your toddlers get started if they aren t quite off the training wheels yet. this is a guy row bike. it stabilizes the tires so kids can learn how to ride a bike in one hour. running out of time, real quickly, these skateboard things. more on our website, todayshow.com. thanks. we ll be back with more after these messages and your local news. that connected to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. so now i can do more of what i love. 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kills bad breath germs. listerine® whitening vibrant white™. details in the brutal murder of aspiring model paula sladewsky. the security guard who last saw her alive is speaking out to dateline nbc s dennis murphy. reporter: miami. new year s 2010. and there in the throngs diving into the sizzle was a couple from michigan, paula and kevin. a down-and-back instant vacation, hit the clubs, do some shopping, hello 010. it was great. like we had it all figured out. go down to south beach, celebrate the new year s. come back on monday. reporter: but come monday, the live-in boyfriend/girlfriend were not on a plane to detroit. kevin was out walking streets looking for paula, the leggy, aspiring model who had once auditioned to be a playboy playmate. she had vanished following an argument they had at an after-hours spot. club owners kicked kevin out of the club separating the couple before ejecting paula soon after. 14 hours later her body was found in a burning dumpster. detectives quickly learned there was a history of domestic violence between kevin and paula and pointed the finger at kevin. we know you did it, why did you do it, we don t think you re a bad guy. i can t tell you i did something that i didn t do. reporter: the first big break in the case was a few seconds of grainy security cam footage showing paula leaving the club alone. once outside the club, the club s security chief says he did see paula walking away with someone and that person wasn t kevin. light-skinned african-american male with a groomed, full beard. they literally walked off holding hands as if they were a couple. reporter: when kevin replayed those seconds of surveillance cam, he wondered if maybe there was a scheme among club workers to make a play for the hottie left behind by the boyfriend they d just tossed out. she walks out of frame, then immediately after the two bouncer, just like immediately, they go out after her. that s what i see. reporter: front door manager mike samuels says the two bouncers at the left of the screen were not following paula, they says, they were following him, their boss, to the front door to make sure there were no further problems after the pair had been ejected. it s completely ludicrous since the fact we saw her leave with another gentleman. reporter: one month after the murder police released a composite sketch of that man seen outside the club with paula. kevin clem thought he recognized the face. it looks like one of the bouncers at the club. reporter: police say none of the bouncers matches the suspect in the sketch. so at this point, the investigation continues with the killer still out there. 2010 was a very short year for paula, murdered at the age of 26. the nightclub s owner has put up $15,000 in reward money to match a similar reward being offered by paula s sister. anyone with any information is asked to call south florida crime stoppers. you can see much more on this case on a special dateline tonight at 9:00, 8:00 central time right here on nbc. we ll be back after your local news and weather. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. let s get a final check on the morning commute with traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. thankfully some improvement on the harrisburg expressway. timonium road, it is starting to filter out. walther boulevard, an accident coming in. delays the easing up on the north side, but northbound 95 at beltway, a right lane closure with an accident there. howard county, 216 at all since road, a crash. dry times are looking much better. only nine minutes on the inner loop from 7 outer 95 towards the j.f.x. let s see what is going on with the live cameras. as i said, easing up towards us get out of traffic. a live view of traffic at the 895 split, looking pretty good at this portion towards fort mchenry. i have a great weekend. it is going to be an outstanding weekend, weather- wise. close to 50 degrees. it is 57 downtown. still in the mid-forties and the suburbs. 44 in parkton. a quiet start on this friday morning did forecast for today is mostly sunny but i can address this afternoon will be in the upper 60s and the 70 s. average high temperature is 55. sunset s this evening at 17 minutes after 7:00. spring begins tomorrow at 1:32 in the afternoon. most of sunday will be dry. there will be a chance for rain sunday night. during the day and will be fine. good chance for rain on monday lingering into tuesday morning. thank you for joining us. we want to update at 8:55. we want to update at 8:55. that is jacqueline snyder s class from naperville, illinois. they take pleasure in reading and hope that will translate into a trip to the grand opening of wizarding harry potter etere universal studios in orlando. find details at todayshow.com. 8:30 now on a friday morning, march 19th, 2010. outside on the plaza, meredith vieira along with matt lauer and ann curry. coming up in just a few minutes, we ll wrap up our week-long series we ve called ask away today. it is natalie s turn. a lot of i wanted to ask the question how do you stay in shape. we ll be sharing her secrets coming up. tomorrow is the first day of spring. we ll give you a head start on the hottest fashion trends for the next few months. but first, we ll go out to los angeles where mr. roker is this morning al, people here miss you. a lot. well, i miss them. of course, i love that rolling spring break. we are now at the california science center. this is an ecosystem part of it. this is a kelp forest. this is actually part of a living, breathing kelp forest. they re nowhere near the water but are growing a kelp forest. there is all kinds of sea life here. this part of the exhibit is actually open-air. we are outside of the science center. it is very cool. let s see what s going on as far as your weekend is concerned. will you be cool or will you be hot? we ll show you, for saturday, we ll look at mild weather up and down thor an seaboard, risk of strong storms on the gulf coast, rain into the ohio river valley. afternoon showers in the southwest. sunny and warm into california. sunday sunday more rain throughout much of the southeast. showers move into new england. more rain in the pacific northwest. sunny and warm in the southwest. cool but sunny in texas and nice and mild in the plains after denver is dealing with what they re going to get, up to eight to 12 inches of snow toda we are looking forward to another outstanding debt today. mostly sunny skies. high temperatures on either side of 70 degrees. hey, matt, in the next half-hour, we ll show you what it looks like underneath the kelp forest. you actually get to walk through it. awfully cool. back to you glp , al, thank you much. when we come back, hot spring looks from the runway to the retailers. but first, this is today on nbc. how about over here? hmm. let s go back to the left. uh. waffling is back at dunkin donuts with the return of the waffle breakfast sandwich. two oven-toasted waffles with a hint of maple, complete with fluffy egg, a slice of melted cheese, and now with delicious sausage. so hurry in today because it s only around for a short time. america runs on dunkin . try our oven-toasted waffle breakfast sandwich today, only at dunkin donuts. back at 8:35. this morning on today s style, spring styles and looks and where do they come from. with the help of glamour magazine s editor and chief, cindy levy. we re here at spring 2010 fashion week which is actually taking place in september of 2009. we are looking into our fashion crystal balls and trying to predict what women will want to wear six months from now. i think we can do it. one of the most important american designers are here. i think we saw color, lots of it, prints, mitx and match ever which way. we re also dealing with fcasual. brian is a designer beloved to a lot of young hollywood celebrities. can you see it through his young easy inputs. fabric not too bright, things a 21-year-old girl will love to wear. here s marc jacobs which is the show everybody waits for every fashion week. we saw flats. all the models come down the runway, not a single one in heels. lots of edwardian and lots of metallic. every look had a bag. bye-bye, fashion world. see you in 2010. as promised, here she is, cindy levy. that was last september. what you saw then we are now seeing in the stores? yeah. there is a four to six-month lag because designers have to produce the stuff they sent down the runway. if you work at a fashion magazine you are always confused because you want to wear slingbacks in january. as a fashion editor, what do you look for when you go to the shows? i look for things real women will fall in love with which is not everything you see on the runway, then i look for ways they can wear those clothes in real life, preferably with things you already own. a lot of things on the runway are redone for retail. they are. sometimes hem lines are a little bit longer. the looks aren t meant to be worn head to toe as you see them coming down the runway. they re fantasy. last year at the chanel show, models in mukluks and enormous coats. it is fabulous but it is definitely fantasy. but we take elements. three trends for this spring, beginning with feminine details. first model is nicole. this is a big trend for spring. you saw it everywhere from marc jacobs to chanel. you are looking for ruffles, you are looking for really these sweet little party dresses. what i love about the way nicole is wearing this dress which is from top shop, $510, she s made it more casual, wearing it with a cardigan and little flats. can you picture it with heels. but flats makes it much more casual and laid back. it is also affordable. most of the stuff on the runway is not. there is a time for splurge but there is also a time for a steal. very, very sweet. thank you, nicole. another trend that emerged for spring is nautical. if you re a fan of stripes, are you going to and very happy camper this season because the nautical look was everywhere. we saw it on a lot of runways. what i love the way about valerie is wearing this, not just a stripy top with shorts, she s put it with metallic details, the necklace, the bag, the shoes. she s dress it up a little bit. this top is $12. you could literally buy this and keep it under your couch cushions. trends come and go and so you don t want to dump a lot of money into a jacket that maybe next season or next spring won t fit in. can you see from the way she s wearing it, this could be your saturday morning knock-around shirt but you can also wear it out on saturday night. take the jacket off and use the shirt differently. there are a lot of different ways to wear this. thank you, val. our final spring trend is prints. yeah. this was something we saw everywhere. if you walk into any store right now you are inundated with floral prints, all kinds of different prints. this is barbara. what s interesting about the way she s put this together, she s taken something that used to be a glamour don t, wearing two prints together, and made it a do. we saw this on a lot of runways and i think it can work in real life. the trick is to take two different pieces that are in different color families but are the same level of brightness. she s not wearing a pastel print with a bright print. that s the trick. they re both equally muted and these two pieces are from urban outfitters. put together they cost around $50 which is a nice price. once again, great. let s bring all our models out for one last look. viewers, i want to remind you, you ve just come from the runways from the fall fashion. oh, yeah, i don t know where i am right now. you re inside of the today show. as always, thank you so much. models, great job. a lot of fun trends this spring. just ahead, your ask away today question for natalie how she finds time to stay fit. she certainly does. we are back with an update on a story described as the worst case of cruelty in the country. involves a big name in the racing world. jill rappaport first reported this story last year. we should warn you, some of the images you are about to see are very disturbing. it is hard to believe it s been one year ago when we first reported on this horrific case of animal abuse. dozens of thoroughbreds in the race for their lives. and they won. reporter: it was here on this 500-acre farm in new york that 177 thoroughbreds, owned by a once-prominent player in the racing world, were all left to die. these horses struggled to stay alive all winter long. harsh winter, eating ice, eating wood off of the paddock rails. many of them probably resorted to eating mud. this is as low as a horse goes. next step is death. reporter: upon receiving a tip from a former employee, the property was raided and officials seized all of the horses. medical treatment was immediately administered, but sadly, some, like this mare, were too far gone. she s malnourished. she s got a severe skin infection. she s got bacterial infection here. she s got lice and if you look at her eyes, you ll notice that there s the type of a tumor on her left eye. reporter: 82 of the 177 horses were surrendered over to the columbia green humane society and they had the daunting task of nursing them back to health and finding them all homes. miraculously, that is exactly what they did. we placed the last horse, it was surreal to us. like i can t believe we just placed 82 horses, took the whole united states and we still have other people that were willing to adopt more. we were placing horses faster than most shelters were placing small animals. making sure they were safe and had another chance. reporter: maryann took home two of the abused horses. when you see what s happened and what you ve been able to be a part of and how grateful they are and how much they become a part of your life, it s hard to believe she s the same animal. reporter: especially since this is the way she looked when we first saw her. when you just touch the hair, it s coming out in clumps. what a difference a year makes. huh? it is amazing, isn t it? the way she looks today, she s perfect. perfect. reporter: for barbara sullivan, rescuing feather was more than just a mission of the heart. because this mare was born on her farm, and then sold to ernie. what went through your mind at that point knowing you couldn t get her back? she was abused for a long time. did it take her a while to warm up to you? did she remember you? yes, she did. we walk in the stall, she was eating out of a tub and i said, feather? and she looked. for a split second it was like okay, i know who you are. and i just couldn t look at her. she was so bad. at least you were able to save her and bring her back where she was born. exactly. exactly. i know she knows she s home. reporter: all across north america, people have opened up their hearts and wallets to save these horses. this was unbridled ride before. and here she is now at her new home in canada. owner stewart hyman aloptdopted other horses rescued from the farm, including enchanted village who also made a drastic discovery. the thoroughbred retirement foundation in new york adopted nine, and this guy was appropriately named escape from new york, who is thriving today. i found the defendant guilty. reporter: the man responsible for this shocking abuse was just found guilty of 33 misdemeanor animal cruelty counts. what s your reaction to this guilty verdict? i said speak to my attorney. reporter: he now faces up to two years in jail and $33,000 in fines. the horses got what they deserved a second chance at life. she knows you saved her. yeah. yeah, she s my good girl. yeah. she s we were the lucky ones, i guess. you know? not everybody can say i did it. maybe i m just as lucky in our hearts and my kids are just as lucky as she was. luck, combined with a miracle that these horses even survived this ordeal. obviously they had the heart, the will, and most importantly, meredith, the love, to get through this. amazing the difference in just a year. horses who were on the brink of really dying, some of them. and so much is we have to thank the people that took them in, because you saw the condition they were in. just the love and attention that it took to get them where they are. so glad the story ended that way, jill rappaport, thank you so much. back in a moment. this is today on nbc. we re back now at 8:50 with a wrap-up for our special series ask away today. all this week we ve been answering the burning questions that you tend to have for us. this morning we wrap things up with natalie. the yes i gquestion i get as the time, between your job and being a mother, how do you manage to stay in shape. i just need my running shoes, my ipod and the great outdoors. run something my passion. people always ask me, how is it that have you this crazy job, you re getting up early in the morning, and yet you get out there and you run. what i tell them is i make time for it. i give myself about an hour a day to squeeze in a little bit of exercise. who are you cheering for? my mom. i think it is the greatest way not only for me to stay fit physically but mentally as well. it is my stress relief. natalie is how would i describe her annoyingly fit. i run because i love to eat. and on this show, we eat all the time. even at the olympics. today we had french fries, curded cheese with gravy drizzled all over it. i can t eat it because it is really caloric but natalie can do it because she works out so hard. and this job does require me to have some physical strength. i will never forget when natalie strapped on roller skates and actually tried the roller derby. my favorite moment of sporting on the show is when she went skiing in dubai in the shopping mall. i thought to myself, how desperate is she to get to a sale. that s the shopping mall. we ll probably be headed there pretty soon. my favorite natalie sporting moment was when we all went snowshoeing in vancouver. all of a sudden i think it was natalie s idea a snowball fight broke out. when we were on the cruise ship and they had that wave thing. natalie was going to learn how to surf and she just got knocked all over this thing but she stayed there. she got up, even if it was for a nanosecond. and i ve had fun being a good sport. you juggle being a mom, a wife, a newscaster. you re a natural juggler. and i tango. from the dance floor, to the mountaintops. i skied the super g during the olympics in torino. ice skated. i ve flown an f-16 with the thunderbirds. to all of these things i think call for you to be in some good physical shape. and fortunately, i survived all of those. running is my passion. and i think a lot of you hopefully will find that there is something out there that you can do, too. marathon? where you running off to now? you re training for a triathlon right now. i am training for a triathlon. really? yeah, because you got me hooked on them. by the way, look who s here! hoda s joining us along with her co-host for the fourth hour today, andrew shoo. you re already part of our family. you happen to marry into our family. he married the amy robach. now we ll see if i can person sure up to her. he said he s been watching the other guys all week and he was pretty bored. you can say that because you re going last. what are you guys going to talk about today? we ve got a lot. gene simmons is on with us which should be interesting with his not his wife, his girlfriend. he s lived with her for 26 years. he s got a reality show, right? yeah. it s called the family jewels. we ll have a lot of fun. we ll be comparing amy and hoda s feet. they have the best feet in america. come on! there is something we didn t know. take your shoe off right here. stop it! of course not. i m not doing that. you had what? five kids between you? the father of five. we have three boys and two girls from our exes. there are other parents involved. well, congratulations. glad to have you. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. usns comfort is returning in just about an hour. it left january 16 to help the people in haiti after the devastating earthquake. nearly 900 patients were treated, the first time the ship reached full capacity. 11 news reporter lowell melser and a photographer were on board as it went to haiti. now let s take a look at the gorgeous forecast meteorologist tony pann. outstanding whether going into the beginning of the weekend for sure. the high temperatures are going to be in the upper 60s and low 70 s. just give you a point of reference, the average high temperature is 55. seven-day forecast will keep going to more. spring begins on saturday, high near 71. the rain we have in the picture will come on sunday night. good chance for rain monday and tuesday morning. that will cool off temperatures back to the 50 s by that time to go out and play this weekend. we will