Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100503 : vimarsana.com

be weeks before they get control of the leak. the ceo speaks out. michael douglas talks for the first time about his son, cameron s, five-year prison sentence for selling drugs. he was going to be dead or somebody was going to kill had him and i think he has a chance to start a new life. he opens up about his son s future and his own regrets in an exclusive interview today, future and his own regrets in an exclusive interview today, monday, may 3rd, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this monday morning. i m meredith vieira. and i m matt lauer. investigators are pouring over hundreds of hours of videotape to try to find whoever is responsible for what s considered to be the most serious car bomb plot here in new york since that first attempt to blow up the world trade center. that was in 1993. potentially very scary. immediate focus is on this surveillance tape and the man you re about to see. cameras record him looking back at that smoking suv as he slipped down into the subway. in an odd move he took off one of the shirts he was wearing and quickly stuffed it into a bag. mayor michael bloomberg and homeland secretary, janet napolitano. also, an interview with tiffany tehan s husband. we ll find out his thoughts on that episode. the young age of 88, betty white will be here live. we cannot wait. let s begin with that investigation into the attempted car bombing just a few blocks from here in times square. nbc s pete williams has the latest on that story. pete, good morning to you. reporter: matt, good morning. in the usual bombing case, investigators would now be collecting tiny fragments of evidence. but because this bomb did not go off, they have a wealth of material, along with surveillance video and eyewitness accounts. this is the person investigators are eager to find, a white man in his 40s, seen on surveillance video walking away from times square, taking off a dark shirt and stuffing it into a bag, revealing a red shirt underneath. the video, released by new york police, was captured half a block away from an suv caught on surveillance cameras a few moments before it was left with the motor running and a bomb inside. its discovery saturday night caused a scare that shut down one of the busiest tourist destinations. i try to stay on top of things. reporter: street vendor dwayne jackson was the first to notice that the car, nissan pathfinder, was parked illegally with smoke come iing out of the back. you heard a little pop pop sound, almost like firecrackers popping or something like that. you could see dark smoke, you could see the red flashes and you could smell the gun powder. reporter: police say two canisters of gasoline were found on the floor on the rear of the street. between them a can of firecrackers that intended to ignite a fire that would, in turn, cause three propane tanks in the back of the suv to explode. three clocks used as timers, one set for midnight. if this had detonated, in my judgment, it would have caused casualties, significant fireball. i m told that the vehicle itself would at least have been cut in half. reporter: though a few fireworks did go off, they doubt the bomb design would have worked even if all of them had gone off. the valves were closed and they re built to withstand heat. if they explode, they can be very dangerous, as british police demonstrated with this test four years ago. sunday night, mayor michael bloomberg had dinner in times square, to show it s back to normal. his guest, preliminary wayne radigan who sounded the alarm and cleared times square. this is our job. reporter: there s no suggestion that this thing has anything to do with airports. strictly as a precaution, some east coast airports are doing more checks of cars and on some outbound flights from new york, boston and philadelphia, passengers will face more random screening. two street vendors first alerted authorities, dwayne jackson and lance earlman. matt? mayor michael bloomberg is in times square. good morning. little damp here. nothing has dampened the spirit of our tourists. let s talk about this surveillance video. everyone is talking about it and showing it this morning. it shows about a 40-year-old white male in times square near that suv. what is it about this tape that peaks your curiosity and your interest? matt, we have to be very careful. there are hundreds of tapes. we haven t been through all of them. and there are millions of people that come through times square. this person happened to be in one position, which the camera got a good shot of him and maybe he had something to do with it, but there s a very good chance that he did not. we re exploring a lot of leads, some of them trying to track down the car itself, who owned it, where it has been, who might have gotten it and brought it to times square, the person standing outside, other people that were coming and going. i think it s much too early to tell. so far, we do know there is no evidence tied to international tourism. it may very well be one person or one or more people. everything is speculation at this point. what we do know is that when somebody saw something, they mentioned it to one of our police officers, a mounted police officer, wayne radigan, who i had dinner with last night. and he did exactly what he should have done. he looked. it was suspicious. he called in some other cops. they started clearing the area, brought in the fire department, office of emergency management. fortunately, nobody was hurt. obviously, this location was chosen, you could guess, for one of two reasons. one, there are a lot of people in times square. someone wanted to cause havoc. also there s a symbolic element to this, isn t there, mr. mayor? i mean, this is the heart of new york city and someone is trying to say, i can do this right in your heart. matt, ever since 1993 when there was a bomb in the basement of the world trade center, new york has been the symbol around the world of some freedoms that we have in america that others find very threatening. we can practice our religions the way we want to. nobody tells us what we can say and can t say. we can be in charge of our own destiny. some people don t like that. some people didn t like it enough that they killed themselves and 3,000 other people on september 11, 2001. we continue to be the target in america and in america, i think it s safe to say new york is the symbol. it s the skyline they recognize. it s the name that they recognize. that s why we have 1,000 police officers dedicated to ensure to counterterrorism and intelligence. that s why we have so many cops on the street to cope us safe, and we have done it. new york mayor michael bloomberg, thank you for spending time with us this morning. appreciate it. happy to do it, matt. januaet napolitano is homela security secretary. good morning to you. good morning. i m curious if you agree with mayor bloomberg, that at this stage of the investigation, there s absolutely no evidence that there s a connection between this and international terrorism. well, right now, every lead has to be pursued. we would caution against premature decisions one way or the other. we do know that we have great law enforcement in new york city. it s latched up with a joint task be force in which the fbi and department of homeland security participate. everybody working together, tracking down all possible leads. so just to be clear here, you are not ruling out international terrorists? i think it s premature to rule in or rule out. the investigation now needs to take its course. does it seem to you, secretary napo litano, that this was a bomb designed just to harm members of the general public? could there have been a more specific target? there s been some speculation in some reports for example, the viacom building in the near vicinity to this car could have been a target. what s your thought on that? well, i would simply suggest there s been a lot of speculation and a lot of that speculation is just that. we ll know more over the course of the coming hours, days and weeks as the leads are pursued, subjects are identified, interviews can be conducted and we can get to the bottom of this. i think what s most important here, madame secretary, and something the mayor said, and you said on this program probably dozens of times over the last several years. and that is, if you see something, say something. that clearly is what happened in times square. absolutely. there s a great demonstration of very alert street vendors, very alert police officer on the beat who was notified. this thing motived very quickly, was a great illustration of really how everyone has a role to play in security. right. just real quickly, i want to switch subjects and get to this oil spill in the gulf. the president visited that region on sunday and said i want to emphasize that from day one we ve prepared and planned for the worst while hoping for the best. as you know, there have been some critics, madame secretary, who say the government got off to a slow start in the response here. were you ready from day one or are you playing catch up? oh, no, we were ready from day one. at some point, i m sure, there will be hearings and all of that and we ll be more than happy to respond to those questions, but the plain fact of the matter is as the situation evolved, we already had prepositioned 70 vessels. now there are more than 100 vessels. we had moved hundreds of thousands of feet of boom. we set up a joint command center in louisiana in which federal but also state and local representatives were already present. right. everybody leaning forward. janet napolitano, secretary of homeland security. madame secretary, as always, thanks for your time this morning. thank you. for more on that situation in the gulf, here is meredith. matt, thank you. by some estimates as much as 25,000 barrels of oil per day could be leaking into the sea. a new fishing ban has been put into place. lester holt is in venice, louisiana, with more. good morning. reporter: good morning. the president was pretty blunt and said this leak could seriously damage the economy and the environment and extend for a very long time. and those who fish and make  their living in the gulf are already learning that firsthand. cleanup ships are hoping to get back into action today after 30-mile-an-hour winds and high seas kept them at anchor in the mississippi river over the weekend. but they won t have much company in the gulf. the government has announced a ten-day commercial and sport fishing ban across a huge section of gulf waters from louisiana to parts of western florida. we live in the greatest estuary in the world. our estuary right now is in very great danger of being possibly dissemated. reporter: president obama visited the area. the most important task, how do we plug this hole? reporter: he met with coast guard officials and defended the government s response to the disaster. i want to emphasize, from day one, we have prepared and planned for the worst, even as we hoped for the best. reporter: analysts estimate the bill for the oil disaster could exceed $14 billion. for its part, bp, owner of the destroyed oil platform, says it, too, is doing all it can but saying a solution is still weeks off and blaming equipment failure for the runaway leak. charter boat james peters, who took us down river toward the gulf, says everyone is bracing for the next chapter, when the oil starts coating the shore line. it s very emotional for us. it could be, you know, the biggest tragedy for this area. oil could just, obviously, destroy our coast line. reporter: because of the state of the seas, we ve come to the mouth of the mississippi river that meets the gulf of mexico. we re on the west side of the river here. thankfully, no signs of oil. but they know it is creeping closer. with the potential loss of work to follow, many fishermen are turningblamed for the disaster, signing up over the weekend for paid volunteer jobs, cleaning up the spill. i don t want to. either go to work for them or starve. reporter: experts are tracking the slick say it s did he say continued to head toward alabama and florida. they are using strategies to cap the main leak and two others spewing oil into the gulf this morning. tony hayward is british petroleum s ceo. good morning to you. thank you, meredith, for the opportunity to talk to you. not at all. over the weekend, president obama says he holds bp accountable for the spill. does the buck stop at your desk? we weren t it wasn t our accident, but we are absolutely responsible for the oil, for cleaning it up and that s what we intend to do. how can it not be your accident, sir? we are working very hard to the drilling rig was a translation drilling rig. it was their rig and their equipment that failed, run by their people with their processes. but our responsibility is the oil and the responsibility is ours to clean it up. and that s what we re doing. we have a massive operation ongoing here on three fronts. in the subsea, on the surface and, if necessary, on the shore. what is the worst case scenario? subsea, we re the worst case scenario is that we would need to contain this for two to three months while a relief well is drilled. we are working on two other options that would bring the leak to closure earlier. the first is operate working on the blow-out preventer, big valve at the top that for some reason has failed. we have eight submersible robots working on that. that is like conducting heart surgery 5,000 feet beneath the sea. the second intervention is to construct a collection device. it s like the hood of your oven that would sit over the leak. it would then be channeled to the surface where we could deal with it. that is ongoing. that will be in the field in seven to eight days time. mr. hayward, let me ask you. a week ago, you said you were confident that this spill could be contained and at that point, bp estimated about 5,000 barrels of oil were spilling into the gulf. now the obama administration is worried that number could reach 100,000 barrels a day. why was your company so slow in recognizing the scope of the problem or do you think it was? i don t think we were. we have been planning for the worst ever since this thing came about. we have an enormous operation deployed on the surface to contain it. 100 ships, 20 major skimmers. we re dispersing deploying dispersement through the use of hercules c-130 planes and for the first time ever in the industry, we are applying dispersement at the seabed, which appears to be having a serious impact in limiting the oil that gets to the surface. so, we have an enormous operation ongoing. you say you were planning for the worst, but in a plan you filed with the government, american government, u.s. government last year, you said it was unlikely that something like this would ever happen. well, that is, indeed, true, meredith. what has failed here is the ultimate safety device on a drilling rig. there are many barriers of protection that you have to go through before you get to this. it isn t designed to not fail. it is unprecedented in our industry for this sort of failure. bp ceo tony hayward, thank you. good luck with your efforts. so many people are counting on them. thank you. brian williams has made his way to the region. we have a region here that got two body blows, two major hurrica hurricanes and it left that shoreline area more vulnerable to what could be another body blow on the way. reporter: well, matt, you start hearing from people. call-in radio, people you meet. houc how much is one region expected to take? a period of three years? you drive past new trailer homes, new construction, even new highways that have been put down since katrina rearranged the map in this region. while this is tougher to understand, there is no swirling graphic offshore that says category 4 or category 5, it means the same thing. it s going to dessimate this region. a lot of people living below the poverty line, but making it as oyster men, as shrimpers. no one will have a telethon for them. the image will be different, a different-looking disaster. yet what are they all going to do? you ll have much more on this story tonight on nbc nightly news. brian williams, good luck. thank you for your time this morning. reporter: thanks, matt. when you think this could go on for a couple more months that s pretty disturbing. a long time. let s get a check of our headlines at the news desk with ann curry. good morning to you. good morning, everybody. the rain is not over in parts of the south. over the weekend, at least 15 people died because of the weather, most of them in tennessee. the weather channel s mike seidel is in nashville with more on this. how widespread is the flooding there already? reporter: there s water just about everywhere, ann, especially in suburban areas here in tennessee. all-time two-day record setting rainfall of 2 1/2 inches of rain. the cumberland river filling up city blocks, expect ed to crest later today at 11 feet above flood stage, the highest they ve seen in over 70 years. take you back to yesterday. this is the shot of the storm. have you ever seen a school house floating down an interstate? there s one, i-24, before falling apart. two major interstates shut down, thousands evacuated, many roads closed, washed out bridges also washing out. meanwhile today, ann, the tornado threat goes away and the sun is back out most of the week here in nashville. thanks so much, mike seidel, this morning for your reporting. two big airlines are merging, united and continental, in a deal to create the world s biggest airline. tom costello joins us from washington with more. what does it mean for the companies and the customers? reporter: experts have been arguing for years there are too many airlines, all struggling to eek out a profit and the only way for them to survive is for them to combine. the new name will be united based in chicago, offering the biggest frequent flyer program. for passengers, it will mean they ll be able to fly on one single airline across the u.s., into asia, south america and europe, but will regulators allow the deal to go through? analysts believe continental and united overlap on 13 nonstop routes and leaves the u.s. with just three big international airlines. that could mean higher ticket prices on routes where there is less competition. tom costello this morning. tom, thanks. today, a court in india convicted a pakistani gunman in connection with the 2008 attacks. he was the lone survivor among the attackers. in an, a showdown. tougher sanctions when he speaks at a nonproliferation treaty meeting. officials around boston today are hoping to lift a boil water oil for 2 million people. water service was disrupted by a broken pipe over the weekend. and it was a close shave sunday for people in a barber shop in southern california when a driver lost control of her suv and crashed into the shop and sent glass flying and customers running. no one, however, was seriously hurt. that is some good good morning. we are off to a mormon humid start more than you might start. high that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you. just ahead, the had husband of that ohio woman who ran away to florida to start a new life with her boyfriend speaks out. exclusive interview with david just ahead, more on that attempted bombing in times square. we ll talk exclusively to the street vendor, being hailed as a hero for notifying police. a few laughs as well with the ageless betty white. first, these messages and a check of your local news and weather. select diamond jewelry from kay, the number one jewelry store in america. - i love you guys. - we know. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. it is a busy ride. we are dealing with wet roads and lots of accidents. reports of a crash in the last few minutes. down to 11 miles per hour. southbound to 95 at 648, watch for an accident there. another 1 westbound 95 at the one at 295 is now clear. milford mill, accident coming in. 18 miles per hour on the outer loop west side, and that stretches all it down to reisterstown road. woodbine road, we have an accident there. dry times are pretty heavy. 24 minutes on the outer loop west side. 18 minutes on the northeast outer loop. nine minutes on inner loop from 795 to the j.f.x. at least the trend is not quite as heavy as it was earlier this morning. we still have heavy delays in the west side outer loop. in the white marsh area, going away from us this southbound traffic. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. obviously, we have some rain to contend with on this monday. light to moderate rain on most of the viewing area. have this stuff is in the southern suburbs. you guys might hear a little thunder and see a little lightning. elsewhere, it is just like-to- moderate-rain. off and on showers, maybe a thunderstorm. high temperatures in the upper seventies and low 80s. slight chance for a shower on tuesday. middle the week to be fine. mother s day looks dry and cool. back at 7:55 with another live update. 7:30 now on this monday morning, may 3rd, 2010. not the best start to the day weather wise here in new york, but we are happy to see people lining the plaza. matt will head out in a minute to keep them company. i m meredith vieira. just ahead, the exclusive interview with the husband of tiffany tehan, the ohio runaway mother who turned up in florida with another man. this is the first time he has spoken out since his wife s affair was exposed. also, lighten things up with betty white at 88 years old. she is hotter than ever. she is set to host, get this, saturday night live this weekend. we ll talk to her about her major resurgence. we saw her over the weekend at the white house correspondents dinner. one thing she won t do, she says, on saturday night live is nudity. that s it. she draws the line. other than that, anything goes. that s unfortunate. also ahead, the street vendor who is being hailed a hero for notifying police about that suv. lance ortman, good to see you. good to see you. he asked me do you ever get used to the cameras? and i said do you ever get used to all the crowds in times square? he said i could have been here playing a harp. i never sit and my docs would kill me, but my leg was bothering me so i sat down. the first thing i noticed, that the sunglass hood across the street, it s already crowded and someone comes out with a disco hookup and starts blasting the music. hundreds of tourists start coming over on 45th, across the street from me. right. this is why i didn t pay too much attention to the suv at first. i sat down and i went to tie my shoe and i looked to the left. i said to myself, that looks like smoke is coming out of that vehicle. i looked around to see if anyone else noticed. was it a lot of smoke or just a little smoke? at first just a little. whoever did this, luckily they did an amateur job. first, it was just a small amount. so, again, i was distracted by the crowd. but i also was wondering why no one noticed the smoke. and then it got steadily worse and it was coming from all sides of the car. at that point, did you contact the police? did you hail down a policeman or actually, there was some guys behind me. i heard someone yell, listen, you see smoke, maybe you should call 911. and i m the main vendor on the block. it s hard to get into what that is, but i said, listen, there s no sense bothering the guys for that. there s a patrolman right there on the horse, officer wayne. so i asked one of my guys. by the time i got there, something might have happened. i said get over there and grab that officer. he came over on horseback and he saw what i saw. it was getting steadily worse. and there were popping noises, little red flashes from inside that suv. when you now hear what was in that car, the gasoline, the pro pane canisters and things like that, how do you feel this morning? glad to be here. well, we were glad you were there at the time, too, for sure. when you look at the surveillance tape that shows that man taking off one shirt and there s a red one underneath, does he look at all familiar to you? i m putting you on the spot here. i wondered if you saw anything suspicious. it s hard to say. hundreds of people go through there. they change. the camera isn t that sharp. not as nice and sharp as it is here, or maybe i could see it better. right. again, you ve been in times square, working there more than 20 years, right? yes. we say it all the time. if you see something, say something. that really was a smart thing in this case. people kind of, i don t know, take it lightly or take it for granted. i had a few situations where i ve told people about things, they said oh, that s nothing. it s no big deal. but you can t take that attitude the way things are these days. job well done. thanks. good for you, mr. ortman. we appreciate it. now let s get a check of the weather from al. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by jared, the galleria of jewelry, with five times the selection of ordinary jewelry stores. all right. we ve got david, celebrating your 18th birthday. i like your sign is in the third person. that s very nice. david s getting wet right now. all right. as we all are, as we take a look, show you what s happening. for your week ahead, we ve got above-normal temperatures here in the eastern half of the country, showers and thunderstorms, mountain snows and chillier out in the west. mid week, mountain snows moving into the cascades, more heat and warmth continue in the east, down into the gulf and then the latter part of the week, normal conditions here, warmsco off and on showers and maybe a few thunderstorms through this monday. it will be a warm and sticky day, with high temperatures in the upper 70 s and low 80 s this afternoon. and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. now to new details on that so-called runaway mom case in ohio. in a moment we ll have an exclusive, live interview with david tehan, his first since his wife returned to ohio on the arms of another man. first, natalie morales has the latest. good morning. good morning to you, meredith. tiffany tehan turned up in florida a week and a half ago with her new boyfriend, tre hutcherson. the couple now admits to plotting their getaway from months. when tiffany tehan from xenia, ohio, never returned home from a shopping trip, her husband, david s, life was turned upside down. her suv was found in a local park, tires slashed, keys in the ignition, prompting a nationwide search. an unexpected twist when police released surveillance videos, showing tiffany with a man visiting a convenience store on several locations over the past two months. police identified the man as tre hutcherson, but he was unknown to tiffany s family. the family, including husband david, with their daughter, lexi, appeared on today. she loves being a mom. there s no way that she would ever give that up. we miss you so much and we really want you to come home. nearly five days after she disappeared, detectives found tehan with hutcherson. she was found. she is safe. still, her husband was forgiving. she may have made some mistakes, but everyone does. she s a person, like everyone else and it s not always easy. hutcherson and tehan have since returned to ohio. are you sorry for what happened? yes, of course. and an interview with inside edition, hutcherson and tehan now admitted they planned the disappearance to look like an abduction, even slashing tiffany s tire on her suv. tiffany suggested to me if we did it, she could be found, she would want to be gone forever and how could we arrange that? now in hindsight, obviously, i know this decision to run away was not right, for me at the time it just seemed like the best option. they will make full restitution an attorney for the couple say they are working with police to pay back the $5,000 spent for the nationwide search and prosecutors say it will take several weeks to evaluate evidence with possible charges to come in the case of the runaway mom. most people wonder why tiffany tehan simply would not divorce her husband. she says because of her spiritual beliefs, that was not an option at the time. meredith? natalie, thank you. david tehan is with us now exclusively. good morning, david. good morning. the last time we spoke, tiffany was still missing, as natalie just reported, a lot has happened since then. your world has literally been turned upside down. how are you doing? i m doing all right. we re doing pretty well. we have a lot of support from a lot of people. you mean you and your daughter, lexi? yes. yes, we do. our church has been amazing, family has stepped up. how did you hear the news, david, that tiffany had been found in florida with another man? what was that like for you? i know when we spoke, it was a mystery to you, why she would have left. i actually the when they found her, they actually had her contact me. so, i did actually hear from her when they found her, very briefly. what did she say to you then? it s actually really hard to remember exactly what she said. but just that she was coming back to ohio. it was a very brief conversation. so, there really wasn t any more detail than that. david, i know that she did come back to ohio with this man and she has since spoken to you. again, you ve met with her. can you tell me about that conversation? we ve had several conversations. i really can t say what they would have been about. we ve talked about a lot of different things, but, you know, they re all still very much things are still very unresolved for us. you know, she has said this is hard for me to say to you that she is in love with somebody else and that once she leaves ohio, she is not coming back. in retrospect, were there signals that you missed, warning signs that you missed, david, in your relationship? there was nothing that was that would have given me a clue as to something like this happening. you know, we re a married couple and we have a relationship with ups and downs. so, there would have been small things, but nothing that would have given me a clue to something like this. the fact that she is leaving, is it still a mystery to you? i suppose so. i understand what she s talking about with the pressures. and so i could see how potentially, given certain circumstances, she could have been thinking that way. david, do you know whether she will be seek iing a divorce and custody, possibly, of your daughter? i don t really know details on that at the moment. really, it s still unresolved. so, where do you and lexi go from here, david? from here, at least for the moment, lexi and i are learning to get along, just the two of us. seeing how that s going to work for us. like i said, we ve got all kinds of support from our church and from our families. and i think what amazes a lot of people, or might, is how forgiving you are of your wife and what she did. very quickly, i know there s a message you wanted to get out here this morning. can you tell us what that is? i just wanted to say to everyone who was involved in searching for tiffany, i know at the moment it kind of looks like maybe it wasn t a good thing to do, that it may not have been important, but it really was. at the moment, we had no idea that tiffany was even safe. and so finding her was extremely important. she could have been in danger. i would say when it comes to future things, next time something like this happens and people get involved, it s important to be involved. it s important not to just let this kind of thing go, thinking it may be a situation like this, where it might just be something you could ignore or not pay attention to. absolutely. david tehan, thank you so much. good luck to you and your daughter. thank you. just ahead, michael douglas speaks out for the first time since his son was sentenced on drug dealing charges. our candid, exclusive interview. first, these messages. - oh, honey. - oh, yeah. he went to jared. - he totally went to jared. female announcer: this mother s day, celebrate life s unforgettable moments with pandora charms and bracelets, now at jared, where you ll find a fabulous pandora selection. all: awwww. - they are so cute at that age. announcer: jared. the galleria of jewelry. 0 to 60? 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[ male announcer ] there s only one place you can get a clarity commitment for your mortgage or credit card. bank of america. real chicken and salmon and the goodness of leafy greens. you live well. you eat right. help your cat do the same. naturals from purina cat chow. as long as there s sun, you and your family can go have fun. because banana boat blocks up to 96% of harmful uva and uvb rays. so you can go, go, go, confident you re protected from sunburn and long-term skin damage. banana boat. we ve got you covered. we are back now at 7:47 with president obama and actually meredith showing a little of her head there. president obama showing off his lighter side over the weekend at the white house correspondents dinner. here is nbc s norah o donnell. reporter: it s where washington meets hollywood, where the capital s best known politicians and reporters walk the red carpet with celebrities and pop stars, the annual white house correspondents dinner, a black tie gala so eagerly anticipated inside the beltway, it s known as the oscars on the poto mac. the real star of saturday s dinner, the president of the united states, who wasted no time showing off his comedic chops, lampooning his vice president. i wasn t sure i should actually come tonight. biden talked me into it. he said mr. president, this is no ordinary dinner. this is a big [ bleep ] meal. reporter: mocking wall street. by the way, all the jokes tonight are brought to you tonight by our friends at goldman sachs. so you don t have to worry. they make money whether you laugh or not. reporter: tweaking his republican opponents. i hear that i m still pretty big on twitter, facebook or, as sarah palin calls it, the socialized media. reporter: even taking a jab at the night s keynote speaker. the only person s whose ratings fell more than mine last year is here tonight. great to see you, jay. reporter: tonight show host jay leno had a hard act to follow. the president has the most diverse staff in history, they represent every ward of chicago. i think that is fantastic, mr. president. i can see the white house press corps, very excited tonight, this is about as close to a white house press conference they ve had all year. enjoy it while it lasts. reporter: a night to remember as washington gets back to work today. for today, norah o donnell, nbc news, washington. we were there. he was on fire. small room. only 3,000 people. 3,000. it s crazy. that s why you lost your voice, we were all shouting. trying to talk over the room. he could go on the road if this white house thing doesn t work out. timing. timing is everything. just ahead, our exclusive interview with michael douglas, his first since his son was sentenced to a five-year prison term. first, these messages. only. had a passion for pink. and pearls. i was a sucker for sequins. always knew what i loved, and insisted on wearing it. [ jazz horns blow ] because expressive is never excessive. i guess some women are destined to wear chico s. chicka boom boom boom, yeah, yeah for only $2.50, get a western egg white muffin melt, made-to-your-order, and add a 16-oz. cup. of freshly brewed seattle s best coffee. try the new $2.50 breakfast combo at subway. it can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then. well. i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. telling your doctor if you have heart disease. or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. (woman) for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression. (announcer) ask your doctor about pristiq. just ahead, hollywood s new it girl. 88 years young. betty white. we ll catch up with her and talk about her upcoming hosting gig on snl. first your local news and weather. luci: i m luci romberg. i m a free runner. .national champion gymnast. .martial artist. and a stuntwoman. if you want to be incredible, eat incredible. announcer: eggs. incredible energy for body and mind. 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ann has a check of the top news stories this morning. police intensify their search for a man videotaped near the scene of a failed car bombing saturday in times square. the tape shows him removing an outer shirt and stuffing it into the bag. the bomb, though crude, could have been deadly. rivers are still rising in parts of the south where weekend thunderstorms and record rain claimed at least 17 lives in mississippi, tennessee and kentucky. the company operating that damaged oil well in the gulf of mexico says it hopes to install a shut-off valve today on one of three leaks and says it will be about a week before it can try placing containment domes over the other three leaks. british petroleum ceo said his company is absolutely responsible for cleaning up the oil spill. overseas markets are mostly lower this morning. trish regan is at the new york stock exchange. what are you watching there? a lot of stuff, ann. ual and continental have announced plans to merge, creating the world s largest airline if this is approved. greece got that bailout it was looking for, $150 billion. now the country has to figure out ways to raise revenue and cut spending. easier said than done. there s uncertainty regarding oil as a result of the concerns in the gulf of mexico. also, better economic data is helping to move those prices higher. trish regan, thanks this morning. a nightmare, finally a nightmare on elm street took the top spot at the box office over the weekend, taking in $32 million, how to train your dragon was second and date night was third. time to get a check of the weather from al. thank you very much, ann. we ve got the rain out here and this lovely young lady in her pink poncho. what s your name? morgan. where are you from? oklahoma. is this all your family there? all right. they ve all got their you just punched him in the face. man, it s dangerous here. let s check your weather, see what s going on. green bay wisconsin, nbc 26, scattered afternoon showers, 66 degrees. and you can see on this saturday, we ve got a big storm system moving into this cold front, moving into this warm air mass right along the eastern seaboard. back behind it, more storms coming into the pacific northwest. windy and rainy in the northw off and on showers and maybe a few thunderstorms with us all the way through this monday. it will be a warm and humid today, with high temperatures in the low 80s thi and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you. up next, matt talks to michael douglas about his son s prison sentence and lifelong battle with drugs in an exclusive interview, right after this. 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imported ice? yeah! i mean, people love imported water. so this is the next logical step. i think i ll stick with following my green line. oh, come on! hey, working with my guy at fidelity could have me retiring in a few years. and besides, couldn t people just freeze their imported water? don t be ridiculous. work with the company that s helping more people reach retirement than anyone else because when it comes to investing, you should never settle. fidelity investments. we are back at 8:08 with our exclusive interview with hollywood heavyweight, michael douglas. we sat down to talk about his 31-year-old son, cameron, who was recently sentenced to five years in prison and another five years of supervised release for selling drugs, including crystal meth. i started by asking michael if he thought his son received a lesser sentence because of his last name. look, my son was a drug dealer. he has been trying to kill himself for a while. and i can t condone his behavior. so, i think the court recognized his drug addiction as well as the crime that he committed, and it s an adequate, i think, amount of time for anybody to spend in jail. and the best part is he will be able to start his life afresh. much was made of the letters that you wrote to the judge and catherine wrote to the judge and your dad wrote to the judge, asking for leniency. i m wondering if you ever worried that that was the double-edged sword, that the celebrity side of this, you reaching out in that way, might actually caused the judge to say, wait a second. i m not going to bow to celebrity pressure and that he might have sentenced cameron more harshly. i think any person can understand writing letters for leniency. everybody does it. the fact that the letters were published was not what we understood. we believed that they were personal letters to the judge that were to be sealed. but under heavy pressure from news organization s who basically took a minor drug dealing sentence and blew this into a big story because for their own purposes of selling newspapers or keeping it going. so, all the letters were from the heart. and the fact is, with all the mistakes and the disease that cameron has, he s a great young man and i wouldn t be supporting him if i didn t feel that way. in your letter to the judge, since it has been made public, you said for the past eight months i have cherished my two-hour a week in-person conversation with cameron at the mcc, metropolitan center. he s sober. i get to witness the wonderful young man he can be. he maintains his spirit, blames no one but himself. he is facing five years. that is a long time to a 31-year-old. it s a long time. his spirit is good. the difficulty is he has been in prison, waiting for sentencing for almost a year. and the unknown part of that was really, really difficult. but, as i say in my letter, my son has not been sober for this length of time since he was 13 years old. so, he was going to be dead or somebody was going to kill him. and i think he has a chance to start a new life, and he knows that. from my understanding, this is going to take that amount of time for him to rebuild and start himself afresh. your ex-wife, cameron s mom, deandra, wrote a letter to the judge as well. i read t i thought it was a very blunt letter. she was tough on you as well. when you read it, what was your reaction? well, you know, this disease, as you look at it, certainly the family has a lot to do with it. i ve taken blames about being a bad father. being a bad father is, you know, working your butt off, trying to create a career at one time, i ve also confessed the fact that i was in rehab 20 years ago. so, we had that issue. as far as his mother was concerned, she was a very young mother when she had cameron. and her skills were limited to such an extent. the other part, of course, is genes. i lost a brother with an overdose four years ago. i have another brother who has been on the program for years. my ex-wife s family has alcoholism running in it. so, you have that part. then you finally end up with who you choose to hang out with. in cameron s position, he took, you know, a lot of low lives and he was a very attractive target to hang out with and i don t think that happened either. you have two other children. dillon is 9. cara is 7, i believe. right. how did you talk to them about this situation, what cameron is going through? we didn t tell them for a long time. we didn t tell them at all really until the sentencing came up and all the publicity, because i didn t think there was any reason for them cameron was in europe for a long time. but when the sentencing came up and all the publicity, we let them know before they went to school that next day. and we said that cameron was in prison for drug dealing and explained a little bit about it. and they were fine with the knowledge that they knew where he was. he always sent he s been wonderful about sending his sister, cara, cards from prison and all of that. i think with them just that security of knowledge of knowing, and the fact that they will be able to visit and they will be able to see him in the future. you said you re willing to take some of the blame for what happened with cameron and you ve also said, from what i ve read, you ve completely changed your parenting style with dillon and cara. what s the difference? priorities. when i had cameron, i was early in my career as opposed to most jobs, making movies takes you all around the world. you were absentee in that sense. you were away, sometimes working hard. we chose for a large part of our marriage not to be living in los angeles, but to be living outside. so, you had to travel. my priorities have completely changed. my marriage and my families come certainly before my career. finally, this is not just a hollywood problem. this doesn t just happen to the children of famous actors. what s the message that you want other parents what s the lesson you want them to learn, based on what happened to your son and your family? well, you have to catch it early. your options, once your children turn 18, are limited. most of the times, 30 days ain t gonna do it. see what you can do when they re under 18, because after that, it has to be all with their permission. that s michael douglas. again, we ll hear from michael later this month about his new movie called solitary man. up next, we ll lighten things up with the ageless wonder, betty white, right after this. now do it for your lashes. with maybelline new york s lash stilettos the #1 lengthening mascaras. choose original for staggering length and now voluptuous for length with volume. it s hotter than ever. [ female announcer ] lash stilettos. only from maybelline. - i m right here. and i always will be. male announcer: this mother s day, surround her with the strength of love s embrace from kay jewelers. one more reason kay is the number one jewelry ore in america. parents magazine and edmunds.com called it one of the best family cars of 2009. the insurance institute for highway safety calls it a 2010 top safety pick. consumers digest has called it a best buy two years in a row. and with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. we call it peace of mind. chevy malibu. during the spring event, qualified lessees can get a low mileage lease on this new malibu ls for around $199 a month. call for details. see your local chevy dealer. actress betty white is in the middle of a remarkable resurgence. this weekend, she ll showcase the golden wit that s dazzled us for decades when she hosts saturday night live. we ll talk with her in a moment. first, more on her incredible career. betty? i m in the shower, jay. oh, i m sorry. i ll come back. no, it s okay, jay. i m not shy. no, neither am i. could you hand me that loofah? she is hollywood s oldest and newest it girl. let s see if we can find your boobs. she s the golden girl who can take a tackle. you re playing like betty white out there. that s not what your girlfriend says. multiple emmy awards and the reputation as one of the nicest women around. here is the sweetest of the sweet. as she enters his seventh decade of show business, there s still one thing she s never done. live from new york, it s saturday night. until now. i would like to thank everyone on the internet who got me to host saturday night live. who knows, after this maybe i could host the academy awards. i said the academy awards. type, nerds. i m sure it s going to happen. betty white, good morning to you. good morning. how are you? i m doing great. you just arrived from l.a. yesterday with a stop in washington, d.c. for the white house correspondents dinner, where everybody wanted to meet you. and now you re going to host snl. how are you feeling these days? i m feeling it s ridiculous, is what it is. i m scared to death, if you must know. scared to death of snl ? but it s going to be fun. well, yeah. it s i m such a californian and it s so new york, i feel like a fish out of water, but it s going to be interesting. i ll just go with the flow. i know you ve been asked to do that show three times before. you always said no. why this time did you say i m going to take the plunge? it s my agents fault. i said would you thank them very much and said no, thank you? he said you have to do that or i ll divorce you. well, it s hard to get another agent, you know. no, it s going to be fun. i m looking forward to it. i know you ve agreed to do, obviously, any acting, singing, dancing, but no nudity. are you drawing the line? very little nudity. just a little, you know, here and there. just a little? mostly here. and the musical guest is jay-z. yes, isn t that something? someone said this is the oddest pairing they ve ever seen on snl. odd is sort of the name of the game these days. have you met him? no, i never have. tremendous. it s really going to bring an audience. what do you think is going on, betty, with this resurgence in your career? why do you think this is happening now? i don t think of it as a resurgence. i didn t know i had ever been away. i keep working, whatever is coming along. it s phenomenal. i love working, so there s no and people say have you ever thought about retiring? but i don t take the hint. i say no, i ll retire when they stop asking. i was reading your bio. what i didn t realize is born in chicago, moved to l.a. when you were 1 1/2. your dad with his a traveling salesman. yes. start of a lot of jokes. well, he was my mother and dad had a delicious sense of humor. and he would bring jokes home from the time, you know. and they never would explain them to me. if i didn t understand them, that was fine. if i did, as i grew up but he would say, honey, you can take that one to school, but i wouldn t take that one to school. so your sense of humor, it came basically from your dad then, do you think? oh, i think so. well, they were i know people get bored with it, but they were so positive. and it sure beats the alternative. it really does. it keeps no matter how bad things get, you don t sink to the basement. and it just keeps you looking a little on the bright side. these days, you split your interests between acting and animals. you ve been involved with the morris animal foundation. why is that such a passion for yours? in the womb it started. my mother and dad were the same way. i love any creature with a leg on each corner. i just adore them. when they have more than four legs, i get but i m getting better at it. but i used to spiders used to scare me to death. now i can actually take them outside. you can actually pick them up and you would never kill one then, i take it? i would never kill one, but i have jars that i coax them into and then take them outside, but never could do that before. but i m getting better. what mao makes you laugh, be? who makes you laugh? you make me laugh sometimes. not necessarily on this show, but you have a lovely sense of humor that makes me laugh. thank you. i wasn t fishing there, betty, but i ll take that. thank you. it s true. i love people who look on the as i say, i love to laugh. and, of course, carol burnett and tim conway. tim conway can do me in, almost as much as he can do harvey corman in. sandra bullock is another person who can make you laugh. very close with her making the proposal. she is so wonderful, one of the most delightful human beings. she really is. she s not only lovely and gorgeous, but she just she s interesting. and i love her. given what s happened, she s had such an up and down year here between the award and then her husband and now her baby. do you know how she s doing? have you been able to speak with her? i think her business is her business. and i try never to comment on it, because it s what should be the happiest, highest time of her life isn t working out that way right now. so, all i can do is love her and wish her well. when you go back, you re going to star in who the hot i cleveland. can you tell us about that show? i m never going to do another series. we re running out of time. that s what i get for talking so much. they re giving me a signal, 15 seconds. jane leaves, wendy 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 sarah caldwell. we still have heavy delays. 21 miles per hour on southbound 95 from white marsh towards beyond the 895 split. outer the north side, some red showing. that delay begins from boller towards a harrisburg expressway. inner loop delays i-95 on the northeast side. 10 oce per our according to our speed sensor on the west side. tend miles per hour according to hours it sits on the west side. southbound 795 back up from franklin boulevard towards the beltway. 29 miles per hour all the way into town. 28 minutes on the west side outer loop. delays to the out of an outside bid delays to the outer loop north side. on fort mchenry, it will take you d to i-95 delays from 95 to 32. live view of traffic on the west side. this delay is holding all the way down towards edmondson. and the rain is tapering off a little bit. it is mostly just light rain and out. that should be the case for the rest of the morning. you can see that it extends all the way towards hagerstown. we might get a little break during the middle of the day. there is a chance for thunderstorms of the cold front goes through this evening. high temperatures in the upper 70 s and low 80s. we will have another update at 8:55. p.a.: it s a four-bedroom traditional home on an acre-and-a-half landscaped yard. there s a totally renovated chef s kitchen, with granite countertops and a butler s pantry. it s got a screened-in back porch, plenty of storage and a large backyard. it s the perfect home, in excellent condition, and ready to move in. anytime, anywhere. no one connects you with the home of your dreams like coldwell banker real estate. we never stop moving. 8:30 now on this monday morning, may 3rd, 2010. gold stars all around for everyone here on rockefeller plaza on a messy, wet start on a monday workday. it s so funny to look at both of you men. sexy. the way she said it. real is in, flaws and all. the trend is being reflected in magazi magazines. we ll talk with new models. the flaws there would be what? plus-size models that normally would not be on the cover of a magazine. we are redefining what a flaw is. also ahead, one of the stars of one of the most beloved shows of all time, little house on the prayirie, melissa anderson better known as mary engels, has written a book about her experience on the show. we ll catch up with her in a couple of minute. wow, look at her. she looks great. we re talking about former first lady roslyn carter. she s written a new book. there she is. talking about a champion for more than four decades. lovely to have her. nice to have her. let s say hello to one of our favorite friends. elmo is here. yeah, elmo is here. he knows how to make an entrance. elmo on the couch. can we join you down there? he has a dvd out called the best of elmo 2. congratulations. thank you, mr. matt. tell us about it. elmo has mr. jason merez, who sings a song about going outside. it s wonderful. and fiest. do you know fiest? very cool. i didn t you knew fiest. you ask that as if we re not hip. david beckham. david beckham, really? did you bend it? huh? can you bend it like beckham? yeah, baby. you have a new friend. who is memory bot? really cool. he s a robot. what have you learned from him? robot 3000. very cool. very cool. doesn t he have a problem, elmo? he wasn t really working so elmo gave him some of elmo s memory. oh, i get it. that was nice of you. you re so generous. thank you. and you re meeting a lot of new people. you say you ve got some new favorite people. yeah. who are some of your other favorite people? miss india irene and the goo-goo dolls. and maybe someone closer to you right now? elmo is always so excited about being here! but you need to get a new couch. we just need to wash this one, elmo. well, you should see it back here, people. we never go back here. there s something crawling! ahh! help, help, help! help him, ann. i ll rescue you. he needs rescuing. thank you for saving me. oh, my lord. we really must do something about the critters down there. yes. all right, elmo. we love you very much, you know that. thank you. congratulations on the dvd. thank you. you know it s available in stores tomorrow. of course elmo knows that. yes. there is something back there, but it s not crawling. i ll tell you that. how about a check of the weather? okey dokey, before we get in any trouble. let s show you what s going on for today. we re looking at some strong storms in the southeast, the upper mississippi river valley. wet weather and windy weather in the pacific northwest. sunny and warm through the southwest. tomorrow, the heavy rain moves into the southern part of georgia on into northern florida. spit it out. thank you very much. elmo is heckling me. off and on showers and maybe a few thunderstorms through this monday. it will be a warm and sticky day, with high temperatures in the upper 70 s and low 80 s this afternoon. and don t forget, if you want to keep track of your weather all day long go to weather channel on cable or weather.com online. mr. roker, thank you very much. why real is the new beautiful. we ll explain that. first this is today on nbc. yeah. yeah. back at 8:37. on today s woman, bringing back the real sexy. doing an issue by featuring more unique models. editor in chief has brought along two of those models. good morning to all of you. cindy, let me start with you. what do you mean when you say real is the new sexy? i think we have a new or renewed appreciation for individuality, this idea that we all have to be some cookie cutter standard size zero perfect button nosed look in order to be attractive is starting to fade. why do you think that s happening? plastic surgery is dropping for the first time in about a decade. i think there s more of an appreciation for authenticity. women are saying i want to be beautiful. i want to be gorgeous but there might be different ways of doing that. jenny, you celebrate your beautiful curves by saying my curves make me feel sexy. but you didn t always feel that way, did you? no. of course, growing up, high school is always an awkward time for pretty much every girl. and that was also the same time that i started modeling. and i think especially through my career, i learned a lot about, you know, coming to terms with everything that made me unique and realizing that those things that make me unique make me beautiful. at this point in my life i ve been doing this for seven years and really started to understand that. it s taken a long time to get to that point, obviously. a few years, yeah. crystal, you re on the cover and are considered a plus-size model. you re a size 10, is it, or 12? i m a size 12. do you think your size defines you or it doesn t? no. i find that i define what i am at all times, which can change at any time. yes, i represent women because i talk about my size but that s not only who i am. it s interesting, because i think that when it comes to defining by a title, plus-sized model, straight-sized model, i ve done that always more for the public to explain to them. i ve only ever felt like just a model. and i think that s the true key to my success, is that i ve never let my size define me. i came into this and said i m going to be a model. i m never going to let my size stop me. i just am. that s the most important thing. that s a really positive message that glamour has sent, by doing the cover with all different sizes, saying all different sizes can be beautiful. most people look at that cover, i m not sure that they look at crystal saying she s a plus-sized model. the average american woman is a size 14. there is a disconnect. it s one of the eccentricities. once you re over the size of 8 you re considered a plus-sized model which is ridiculous. we all have rolls and curves and not everybody is perfectly straight up and down. there s lots of ways to look great in a swimsuit and crystal s confidence is what you see when you look at that cover. is this a momentary message or is it a movement of sorts? we ll see women the same size of these ladies and hopefully larger? this is something going on in that culture. in addition to the drop in plastic surgery, casting directors are looking for women who are real, the person without the breast implants. they re looking for the person who hasn t had endless plastic surgery and actresses who have had head to toe surgery are finding it hurts as opposed to helps their career. it keeps people from relating to them as human. what is the message you would like to get out to young women who look at your image? i would like to send the message that since my image in glamour is me wearing absolutely no clothing, i want to send a message that if i can show my skin to the entire country and be confident with it, i think every girl should be confident enough to sit in their own home in a t-shirt and underwear and feel sexy and beautiful. i really want to send that message of confidence across to just whatever you look like, you re beautiful because you re a woman. one of the issues i ll let you ladies go is that some women, again the average size being 14, they want to see clothes on women their size, seeing what it really looks like. looking at a stick i don t mean to denegrate these women. that doesn t help them. we have gotten comments, are you starting to promote obesity? first of all, we re not talking about obesity here. right. additionally, if you do have a weight problem, seeing somebody who is not just a size zero, someone who is seeing someone who slightly more resembles you gives you a good someone who slightly more resembles you gives you a good idea, which is where i was 7 the first ti found my best friend at 13. in college, i got caught up in a love triangle. and then i discovered what true love really is. experience the only ebook reader from the bookstore you ve grown up with - nook, by barnes & noble. browse and download over a million titles wirelessly, and take your story wherever you want it to go. find nook at your local barnes & noble or nook.com. also available at best buy. nbc. we re back now at 8:44. for eight seasons, melissa anderson played mary ingalls on little house on the prairie. 29 years later, she s sharing her memories in a new book called the way i see it: a look back on little house. we ll talk to melissa in a moment but first a look back. highly sought-after actress, melissa anderson was in demand at an early age. by the time she was 10, she landed a small role on the hit show the brady bunch. but it was little house on the prairie that defined her career, as the eldest of the ingalls children, mary was shy, and studios. in the fourth season of the series, mary went blind. i can t see! i can t see! this role earned her an emmy nomination. i m going to write a letter to adam. the only actor on the show to do so in its entire eight-year run. as a staple of nbc s prime time throughout the 1970s and early 80s, little house on the prairie packed each episode with family values, love and friendship. melissa anderson, good morning. nice to see you. it s so nice to see you. i watch you every day. that s nice to hear. this is so exciting. honestly. i was reading about you last night. you started the show, you were 11. it went off the air, you were 18. your whole adolescent life was spent this way. was it a good thing or bad thing? overall, it was a great thing. it was my niche. i was in my element. i was learning. i was thrilled. it was great. it couldn t have been better. there were some awkward moments when you run into teenagers that, you know, think little house on the prairie how uncool. but nothing in comparison to you could go to those girls and say but i get to work with michael landon, who was an enormous heartthrob at the time. that s true. what was it like working with him? it was great. he really knew what he wanted. he was a bit of a control freak, but he and i had always had a very good relationship. i think i kind of reminded him of himself when he was younger, like on bonanza coming up. i was so studious. you write he was a control freak. you write at work he was controlling. he could also be mean at times. he would single out certain people and tease them publicly and relentlessly. were you ever the target of that? thank goodness, no, i wasn t. but yes, he could he had a mean streak. but i don t find that awful. a lot of people have a mean streak. was it a mean streak because he was a perfectionist and it was under the pressure of deadlines of shooting these shows or was it something else? i think it was insecurity. i think it came from his own insecurity. he bit his fingernails down to the quick. he had a very miserable upbringing and i think it was simple insecurity. one of your co-stars on the show was melissa and she played laura ingalls and you say she was hungry for attention. an armchair quarterback or armchair shrink might look 20 years later and say melissa gilbert s character tended to overshadow your character in some seasons of the show. was there any jealousy? no. we weren t encouraged to be totally tight as sisters anyway, because they didn t want us to get too close and then have a falling out or something. so, we always got along professionally great. but, you know, her character, laura, the books were written by her. right. and it was told from her perspective. so, she was always going to the be the central focus of the show. this idea when you went blind. right. it was the fourth season of the show. yes. did you go there to someone and say, wait a minute. this sounds like next season i m dead? right, gone. yeah. i did. what did they say? i went to mike landon at the wrap party before going into the fourth season and i was just i could barely get the words out. i was just heartbroken. i thought they re going to write me out. what can i possibly do? and he said, trust me, miss, it s going to be great. and he was absolutely right. it turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to your character. it did. and to you as an actress. exactly. it also brought our show to number two. two-part episode. number two the first week and number one the second week. we never had ratings like that. after work was hard to come by, were people always identifying you as mary? no. i was really fortunate. as i grew up on the show, i didn t go through an awkward phase. one of those people that just luck i was lucky. and so i worked for aaron spelling all the time and i did movies of the week and on our hiatus, i was always doing something else. in preparation, too, so that that wouldn t happen to me. so i can go on and play the equalizer s daughter, my dream job in new york. i could go on and have a career. could a show like little house make it today in today s television landescascape, in yo opinion? i thought about that. if it had mike landon, it could. with the business being such a business now and less creative, you don t have a chance. two or three episodes to prove yourself. i don t know that we would find an audience in that amount of time. it s nice to catch up with you. it s my pleasure. i m so thrilled to be here. thank you. we re happy to have you. the book is called the way i see it. former first lad [ female announcer ] this mother s day. she ll love the gift. you ll love up to 70% off all fine jewelry. this 3-piece gemstone set is only $79.99. these sparkling black and white diamonds are only $99.99. sears. life. well spent. approximately one in four american adults struggles with mental illness. former first lady roslyn carter has fought for better health care in this country. we know that mental illness is a disease, as any other. it can be diagnosed. it can be treated and almost everyone suffering from mental illness can be helped. she has now co-authored her second book on the subject called within our reach: ending the mental health crisis. mrs. carter, good morning to you. good morning. you ve been beating this drum steadily since your husband was governor of georgia. why is this cause so important to you? what motivated you? i got involved during the campaign when i was governor. they were being moved out with nowhere to go before the community centers were established and i had so many people saying, what will your husband do with my loved one who is at central state hospital, a big hospital? so i became really interested in it and the more i looked into it, millions of people were suffering. back then we knew nothing about the brain. you write in your book every american in this country is touched by mental illness one way or another. if it s so widespread why doesn t it get the attention such as cancer or diabetes? stigma. stigma? stigma is so strong. i ve been trying to work on it for years now. the stigma being if you re mentally ill then you re discriminated against, prejudice against. people with mental illnesses, the stigma just exacerbates everything. it humiliates and embarrasses people, but also it holds back progress in the field. funding is very difficult to get for people working on mental illness as advocates. yeah. and it today, the thing that s so frustrating to me, and i get really angry about it, because we know how to treat people. we know what to do. there s been so much information. researching. so much research. we understand the brain as we never did before. there are new treatments, new medications, new treatments and people can recover. consumers have done a great job of helping each other and consumers are those living with mental illness. you say the federal budget for training new psychiatrists and other mental health professionals is actually shrinking. why do you think that is? again, is that the stigma? and how do we change that? as long as i ve been working on mental health issues, when funds have to be cut, mental health is the one that s cut. although i m excited now because the new health bill? i m excited about the new health bill. it provides for the basic health package to include mental health and substance abuse disorders. i m excited. the title of the book is within our reach. do you see a cure in the near future? so much has happened. and i really do believe that it is within our reach, because of what we ve learned and the new medications and the new treatments. and recovery is possible. today, even people who have suffered from major mental illnesses and have lost part of their lives to this illness now can recover. and people don t know that. they will after reading your book. roslyn carter, thank you so live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. baltimore city police are investigating a deadly shooting in west baltimore. police were called to the 5000 block of west fayette street in little before midnight. they found an adult male lying unresponsive in the street. he was taken to it is going to be a warm and muggy day to day, with off and on rainshowers. but the seven in and into the evening, we could hear a few are in the afternoon and into the evening, we could hear a few rumbles of thunder. winds will shift from the southwest to the northwest. temperatures will climb to the upper seventies and low 80s. as we had to the rest of the week, it should be fairly quiet on tuesday and wednesday. generally try to hit wednesday looks like a nice day. chance for rain goes up as we go into the weekend. highs in the upper seventies and low 80s. mother s day will be dry, just a little bit cooler. we will have another update at 9:25.