Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100617 : vimarsana.com

this morning how he now spends his days and the new friend who s already given him the nickname psychopath. and diaper dandy. a dancing baby with some unforgettable moves is all the rage on the internet today, unforgettable moves is all the rage on the internet today, thursday, june 17th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a thursday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m ann curry in for meredith this morning. the chairman of the house panel questioning bp ceo tony hayward today said he can expect to be, quote, sliced and diced, matt. enjoy your day mr. hayward. not a friendly welcome at all. it s the first time hayward is appearing before congress since the gulf oil disaster began 59 days ago. comes a day after the oil giant agreed to put $20 billion into a fund to compensate victims of the spill. during a meeting that included president obama, and vice president biden. just ahead the latest on all that, including more on that unfortunate choice of words by bp s chairman used to describe the people impacted by this oil spill disaster. no question. also ahead this morning, jaycie dugard, the california girl who was kidnapped and held captive for 18 years is speaking out about what s being described as a new terror in her life. ear going to get the latest on that. and a strange story. some wealthy bankers busted driving exotic cars at over 100 miles per hour during a kind of cannonball run-style rally through the streets of new england. they say their boss organized the entire event. we ll have details on that just ahead. but let s begin with bp s embattled ceo facing a grilling on capitol hill this morning. nbc s chief white house correspondent chuck todd has the details. chuck, good morning. good morning, matt. the glare of the washington spotlight is not going away any time soon for bp. embattled ceo tony hayward heads to congress for the first time, which should be the roughest session yet for any bp official. that said, they may have gone a long way to buying a little bit of goodwill yesterday after they cut that deal for $20 billion with president obama. bp executives are back in the hot seat today on capitol hill, as congress continues to look at the reasons for the original rig blowout. in prepared testimony, bp ceo tony hayward will say he is personally devastated over the loss of lives, and will add, my sadness has only grown as the disaster continues. i know that this incident has profoundly impacted lives and caused turmoil, and i deeply regret that. after a four-hour meeting with bp executives on wednesday, a relieved president obama announced his most significant achievement since this crisis began. bp has agreed to set aside $20 billion to pay claims for damages resulting from this spill. it s also important to emphasize, this is not a cap. reporter: that money, which bp will pay into an escrow account over the next four years, will be managed by ken fineberg, the veteran mediator who oversaw the 9/11 victims fund. under this fund, gulf victims can file and receive multiple awards for damages. if they don t like how they re compensated, they can appeal or even sue bp. the fund does not cover other fines by state and federal authorities. satisfied white house aides describe wednesday s final meeting as business-like, and the president even had a few kind words for the oil company. bp is a strong and viable company, and it is in all of our interests that it remain so. reporter: the president had a separate one-on-one with bp s chairman carl-henric svanberg to tell him stories of distraught gulf coast residents. i emphasized to the chairman when he s talking to shareholders, when he s in meeting in his board room, to keep in mind those individuals. reporter: svanberg, who is swedish, told reporters he received the message, but his message to the american people got lost in translation. he is frustrated because he scares about the small people. and we care about the small people. i hear comments that large oil companies are greedy companies or don t care. but that is not the case in bp. we care about the small people. reporter: bp managing director robert dudley defended the remarks. his language is swedish and what he was talking about is small businesses. reporter: well, svanberg issued a statement late last night apologizing. here s what he said. he said, quote, i spoke clumsily this afternoon, and for that i am very sorry. what i was trying to say, is that bp understands how deeply this affects the lives of people who live along the gulf and depend on it for their livelihood, will best be conveyed not by any words but by the work we do to put things right for the families and businesses who ve been hurt. like president obama, i believe made some good progress today towards that goal, matt. so clearly a sheepish bp and boy, tony hayward, if he thought it was going to be ugly yesterday, could get a little uglier today. chuck todd, thank you very much. now here s ann. matt, thanks. how is that small people remark and apology now being received by the people who live in the gulf coast region? nbc s kerry sanders is in new orleans with that part of the story. kerry, good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. while we heard the chairman of bp apologize for using that term small people, he said that english is not his first language, it was a clumsy choice of words. still, as we discovered here, these days an apology by bp, in any form, is not well received. in just about every bayou and back water in louisiana, the folks who call themselves cajuns or fishermen are now simply the unemployed. just about everyone heard about that latest statement from the bp executives. we care about the small people. reporter: at a meeting at saint bernard parish wednesday night some victims of this oil spill say being called small people is a signal that they ll never get a fair shake with bp. say to hell with them. i really don t appreciate how they speak down on the people from this state. the small people in this parish kicked their butts all the way back to england in 1812. so i don t i don t think we re so small. and i don t think they re so smart. if they were so smart, that well wouldn t be out there flowing right now. reporter: this statement we care about the small people reporter: comes on the heels of other comments by other bp executives. like the early quote from bp s tony hayward, minimizing the leak, that the gulf of mexico is a very big ocean. and then this there s no one who wants this thing over more than i do. you know, i d like my life back. reporter: and while bp apologized for that, too, some experts say it s happened enough to consider it a pattern. bp goes around the world and it somehow has an attitude of the british empire, somehow, that this is their they can do what they want with the little people. that doesn t fly in 2010. reporter: while the anger flows in louisiana like that gusher itself, at least one is giving the bp executive from sweden a pass. he s saint bernard parish president. i understand that he s not of the american descent. so maybe it s a colloquialism that we ll just chalk up to another misstep by the bp reps. another sound bite that doesn t really go over very well. reporter: well, the folks here watching that black crude wash up on their barrier islands and their marshes say it s hard enough without being humiliated by bp. and they say even if it was a misstatement, it still hurts. matt? all right. kerry sanders in new orleans for us this morning. kerry, as always, thank you very much. it s eight after the hour. once again here s ann. all right, matt, thanks. so what does this all mean for the markets? we ve got jim cramer, the host of mad money on cnbc now joining us. good morning. bp s top executives get called to the white house. big meeting. wall street is holding its breath. what is expecting to happen happen. people are afraid who own the stock and the shares that the president could put them out of business. taking away all of your land, just making it so that the company isn t vieal. but just the opposite. so it s well received. well received because they thought the president was going to be a lot tougher than he was. yeah. well, he was tougher in terms of money. and temperate in terms of speech. we didn t want saber rattling and say, people who own stock. we wanted to see some sort of action to ensure that there would be some money good. and the $20 billion bond really did satisfy what a lot of people were looking for. meantime, so then bp stock which has fallen 50% since april 19th, which is the day before the disaster, it actually rose yesterday. it s only $20 billion. and we know that there s no ceiling to that. but it s only $20 billion and it puts into perspective that the company has lost far more market caps than it may owe. but what about the bottom line for the future of the company? because, if the company did agree according to the president that this $20 billion independent escrow fund. it also agreed to suspended dividend payments to investors. so overall this is going to cost the company a lot of money. is this their fear? still fear that the company could go under. yes, the company makes $24 billion in cash flow. every single year. so $20 billion bond is not that much. however, this bill is not capped. and we all act as if it s over. it s 60,000 barrels a day. we have no idea what the absolute cost is going to be. they can t stop the spill. but also added to this you say is this problem of credibility, which the small people remark does not help with. in other words the real threat to bp s future is its credibility problem in addition to the problem they said it might be 1,000 barrels. a couple thousand barrels. it s 60,000 barrels. a couple thousand barrels, they re spending $500,000 a day to drill. do we really believe that was all they were taking in? 60,000 at least they start making money. now they re starting to make sense. what were they saying on the today show? what was that all about. the overall market has made a major drop. it was 11,092 the day before the disaster. now it s 700 points lower. so is most of this due to the oil spill? and where do we go from here, jim? a lot of it is because people are worried, distrust corporations. we had a mini crash in the month of may. worst may in 40 years. europe is not doing well. we re not hiring. but it s all a big mosaic that includes the fact that we feel helpless with the bp thing. but you didn t say we re going lower from here. are you avoiding the question? i think we re okay. look, if we could cap the spill and hire some people in the country, i ll get bullish. jim cramer. thank you so much this morning. jim will have a special edition of mad money later today with investment advice for familys you can catch it s a family affair tonight at 6:00 and 11:00 tonight eastern time on cnbc. now to the news desk and natalie morales who is sitting in for me at the news desk for the check of the top stories. good morning to you, ann. good morning, everyone. the death toll has risen now to at least 20 following severe flooding near the french riviera. some towns have been left completely under water. some of the region s worst flooding in almost 200 years. and dramatic rescues in china where a soldier used a rope to carry a baby across raging floodwaters caused by heavy rain there. one man got trapped in the flood and clung to a bridge support until he could be pulled to safety. today israel agreed to ease its land blockade of gaza, hoping to ease criticism of its recent raids on ships caring aid. among the items being allowed in now, construction material for civilian projects. a frail nelson mandela this morning attended the funeral for his 13-year-old great-granddaughter who was killed in a car accident last week. the service was held in the capital of the johannesburg school that she attended. and a rare public statement today from jaycee dugard who gained world attention last year when she resurfaced 18 years after she was kidnapped, found living in the backyard of a home in antioch, california. in a statement she said she has no interest in seeing kenneth slayton who came forward soon after she was found, claiming that he was her biological father. she said she wants to avoid what she called the terror of slayton petitioning the courts for paternity. spirit airlines has reached a deal with its striking pilots after a job dispute that left thousands of passengers stranded. the company plans to start flying again tomorrow. and a frightening scene on wednesday when a united express plane skidded off the runway in ottawa after a flight from washington. at least three people had minor injuries. the ntsb is now investigating. it had been raining in ottawa most of the afternoon. it is now 7:13. back over to matt, ann and things improve today as far as the sky conditions. plenty of sunshine out there. less humid by the afternoon. mid-80 s today. san matt, over to you. all right, steph, thank you very much. new developments this morning in the trial of farmer illinois governor rod blagojevich. revealing new tapes of blagojevich himself have been released. nbc s jeff rossen is in chicago with the details on that. jeff, good morning to you. hey, matt, good morning to you. the fbi tapped his phones and got 500 hours of secret recordings. for the first time this morning, you re about to hear them right here on today. rod blagojevich really unplugged, in his own words, candid, at times funny, and desperate for cash. the man who loves the microphone beautiful day, huh? reporter: was just bitten by one. in court this week, federal prosecutors hit the play button on secret fbi wiretaps. rod blagojevich s home phone, his office phone, and cell, all tapped. the jury heard this clip of rod blagojevich talking to his brother robert, strategizing how to raise campaign cash quickly. we gotta somehow get there. don t pay any bills, just get to that $4 million. right, and don t do any of those [ bleep ] christmas pictures. no, we have to do that. that s an investment. reporter: the former illinois governor and mother recently enthusiastic reality tv star is facing corruption charges for allegedly trying to cell barack obama s vacant senate seat. in this secret recording prosecutors say blagojevich is plotting to take campaign donations from candidates he knows he ll never appoint. blair hull actually thinks he can be senator. do you believe this guy? he s an idiot. so does jesse jr. yeah, he s got people calling my house now, jesse jr. well, he s putting the full-court press on you. he s going to raise you money, pal. reporter: while blagojevich has denied any wrongdoing, including here on today. i know i ve done absolutely nothing illegal. reporter: the trial could drag the major political names through the mud. chicagoans who are now president obama s most powerful advisers, including senior adviser valerie jarrett known as senate candidate b on the fbi picks. and the president s chief of staff rahm emanuel known as congressman a. they re not accused of wrongdoing but were both subpoenaed and are said to be rattled by the trial. the window that it opens is into a an ugly side of government that we the likes of which we ve never seen. reporter: in court wednesday, there was even a mention of president obama himself, and his businessman tony rezko. from the serious to the circus, where else, with prison time on the line, would we hear fbi tapes about blago s hair? she loves our hair, by the way. yeah. loves your hair, and loves my hair, and because it s all real. reporter: can t make this stuff up. they re back in court today, playing even more tapes for the jury. we ll keep an eye on that for you. and by the way, matt, blagojevich himself and his team have tried to subpoena president obama himself to testify here in chicago. but the judge said no. all right. jeff rossen in chicago for us this morning. jeff, thank you very much. it s 7:17. once again here s ann. all right, matt, thanks. now to a story of bankers gone wild. not on wall street, but on the highways of new england. in a high-speed and highly illegal road rally on some of the world s most expensive cars. here s nbc s mike taibbi. reporter: when a travel agent called gotham green cars of new jersey, the request was for some fancy wheels for rich bankers to drive from new york to montreal. they never once used the word rally, run, race, anything like that. reporter: in fact, though, the goal was to channel cannonball run. a 1981 madcap movie starring burt reynolds and friends embarked on an illegal cross-country road race. in this case, lamborghinis and ferraris and mclarens, more than $2 million report of automotives. 28 high rolling investment bankers on what their employer actually called its cannonball run. a police cruiser dash cam stopped one of several of the cars clocked at 104 miles per hour in a 50 zone. the driver of the mercedes mclaren got off with a stern warning. if i got a better look at you, you d be in the back of my car right now. reporter: but the driver of this lamborghini, 40-year-old spencer lodge of england, was arrested. the car became material at the local body shop. everybody wants to see the engine. have no idea how to open it up to see the engine. reporter: and lodge, faced with an $881 fine for negligent driving, pled guilty. mr. lodge was speeding, his lawyer told us, he was very cooperative when pulled over. paid a fine, and resolved his case. his car, and the mclaren and all the others were returned without further incident. the thing is imagine renting a car as seductive as this and aiming it at the wide open highways and not wanting to violate the speed limit. only they didn t just roll down the street. police say they drove aggressively, as a group. not along open highway but endangering lives in friday, rush hour traffic. everybody s out there and the testosterone is flying and the engines are making lots of noise, and it happens. reporter: funny in a movie. not funny on a crowded vermont highway. for today, mike taibbi, nbc news, engelwood, new jersey. still trying to figure out why the guy was clocked at 104 and got off with a stern warning. that is a very good question, i think. i don t know. anyway, we ve got much more still ahead, including new details on how joran van der sloot is spending his days inside one of peru s most notorious prisons. the latest in a live report from peru. coming up, new details on that shocking incident caught on tape. a police officer punching a 17-year-old in the face. was he doing what he was trained to do? we ll get two points of view on that one. also this morning, a female version of viagra to boost your sex life. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. good news to report on southbound 95 through howard county. things are moving a little bit better. the earlier accident out of .here coul 60 in terms of other problems, abingdon road, watch for an accident. but the road and central avenue, another accident location to avoid. 18 minutes is your drive time through this stretch. 14 minutes on the outer loop. 11 on southbound 95 down to 32. we will give you a live view of the area, where we have the substantial delays southbound. they are now filtering out. old court road, you can see that we are looking at standard delays from about 795 all the way through edmonson. sandra has a check on the forecast. it is like to see sunshine after the clouds from yesterday. we are going to feel less humid by the afternoon. winds will pick up out of the northwest. mid 80 s for the temperature range today. blessing conditions by the afternoon. i repeat tomorrow. sunshine, 85 degrees. hot on saturday at 98 sunday, hazy, hot, and humid. first full day of summer on monday, close to 90. back in 25 minutes with another live update. 7:30 now on a thursday morning. it s the 17th of june, 2010. somewhere in this crowd we ve got some harry potter fans out on the plaza. and if you ever wondered what it s like to live in harry s world, you get your chance starting tomorrow, that is when the wizarding world of harry potter at universal orlando resort officially opens, complete with a 15 story hogwarts castle, rides and a lot more. guess what? al and ann will be there live tomorrow morning on today. is she drinking beer? looks like it. butter beer. hmm. anyway they ll be inside the wizarding world tomorrow morning. meanwhile, inside studio 1a on this thursday morning, i m matt lauer alongside ann curry who is in for meredith. have you brushed up on all your harry potterisms? not really. but i have impacted my inner child. we ve had so much bad news lately, we want a little fun. what time are you leaving today? in about an hour. on a broom? who are you calling a witch? anyway, changing the subject now. let s talk about a very sensitive subject for a lot of women. sexual dysfunction. you may have heard about a so-called female viagra pill being reviewed by the fda. we re going to talk about how effective it might be. the early results from two new studies. we showed you video wednesday of a police officer hitting a 17-year-old girl in the face during a jaywalking stop. now the head of the police union is saying that officer did nothing wrong. and that s not sitting well with some people in the community. we ll have the latest on that in a moment. but we begin this half hour with new developments in the joran van der sloot case and exclusive details on what his life is like now in a peruvian jail. nbc s michelle kosinski is in lima, peru, this morning. hi, michelle. good morning, matt. we learned a lot more about his situation behind bars. maybe even more than we wanted to know. also, aruban authorities now tell us the earliest they think they can come here to talk to joran van der sloot directly about the natalee holloway case is august. in the meantime, he spends his days watching tv and trading stories with an accused hit man, known as the clown. when joran van der sloot moved to castro castro prison from jail, he told guards he hadn t eaten in two days. now, the president of prisons in peru says joran has not lost his appetite since. translator: he likes the food and he was smiling. since he got here he hasn t demonstrated that he s depressed. he doesn t seem like a violent person. on the contrary he looks like a harmless, friendly young man. he speaks perfect spanish. reporter: at castro castro, the meals are different every day, but the showers are always cold. no hot water here. still, van der sloot showers every day. he s isolated here, has no access to any common areas, including the courtyard, and it s only him and two others in this private block. the cell doors are only closed at night. and reuben rodriguez tells us slander absolute has been sociable, in good spirits and found a fast friend in his neighbor. accused colombian assassin, known as the clown, he looks quite amused to have some company. van der sloot has been moving his mattress into trujillo s cell during the day where they watch tv together, movies and news, they trade lots of stories, listen to music, and yes, prison authorities now acknowledge, they play cards. van der sloot, though, has none of these luxuries in his own cell. translator: he still has absolutely nothing. no books, magazines, or newspapers. generally, those are brought by family and friends who visit. in this case, he s had no visits. reporter: but he does have a new nickname. psychopath. courtesy of trujillo whom van der sloot calls hit man. the head of prisons says if van der sloot were moved into the general population anywhere, his safety could not be guaranteed, maximum security or not. to the attorneys for victim stephany flor es, speaking for the first time publicly, none of this is enough for van der sloot. he believes joran s motive was to steal stephany s poker winnings. and while the maximum sentence for murder is 35 years, if it can be proven that robbery was the motive, then a life sentence is possible. translator: he s 22 years old, a public enemy to humanity. if freed he ll do it again. authorities would be responsible for releasing someone only to take another person s life. reporter: yesterday, the attorneys for the flores and holloway families started talking so they can share information. and speaking of which, joran van der sloot now needs a new attorney before he makes a plea tomorrow, after his quit. prison officials say he s not anxious, he s been calm. but very eager to see his mother, who is expected to arrive today and then visit him tomorrow. one thing she may do while here is help him find a new attorney. matt? all right, michelle kosinski in lima, peru this morning. thank you very much. dan abrams is nbc s chief legal analyst. hi, dan, good morning to you. good morning. so this attorney, who is representing him right now, is basically saying i m quitting. i m getting death threats. where does it leave him? well, it leaves him in need of a new lawyer. unlike here, where i think people would be lining up to represent a high-profile client, no matter how horrible the crime is the person is accused of, in peru, with all these death threats, et cetera, it s not a case that he wants. he made a comment, he said look, i m an old man now. i don t need this. very different, i think than it would be if it was here. will it affect, eventually when he finds a new lawyer does it affect his ability to get a fair trial, if there are these death threats against the people who want to represent him? sure. it s like any high-profile case where the defendant is extremely unpopular. in peru, though, more judges can be making decisions than juries. so you don t have to worry as much about the community. but the fact that he is being paraded around. the way he is. again and again, it s just inciting the public even more against him. we heard in mish am s piece that aruban authorities don t seem to be in a huge rush to get over to peru and talk to joran van der sloot. they said they ll get there in august. i m just curious if that surprises you? they said as early as august. as if, oh, we ll be able to get there in a couple of months away. yeah. i think that there are a couple of things. first of all, i don t think the aruban authorities think they re going to be able to get that much from him. remember joran is saying i will only tell the aruban authorities what it is i know. i m sure a lot of people are rolling their eyes saying, oh, come on, suddenly he s going to tell us. he hasn t told us for years. he told us all these conflicting authorities. he can t tell the peruvian authorities? he might in some warped way thinks if he talks to aruban authorities he will be extradited there and serve time in that country s prison as opposed to this prison we now know is not such a great place. that is exactly what he s said. he would love to work out some sort of deal at this point to serve time in an aruban prison. when you think about how unbelievable that is. the fact that this guy, who is doing everything he could to get out of an aruban prison is now trying to get back into an aruban prison, it s not going to happen. do you think there is what level of cooperation do expect between peruvian officials and aruban officials? do the peruvians have any real incentive to work on this case that s five years old in aruba? they ve got a big case on their hand that s more immediate. from a diplomatic point of view and public relations point of view i think that they have to at least make it seem that they are working to the. because initially the arubans were saying, look, we can t get return phone calls from the peruvians. and i think that as a result of that, now the peruvians are saying well, of course. of course we re going to work together, et cetera. but these are two fundamentally different investigations. they re not going to have a lot of information to share with one another. but no questions they re going to have to at least give off the impression that they re working together as closely as possible. all right, dan, as always, thanks very much. appreciate it. let s get a check of the weather. the weather channel s stephanie abrams filling in for al this morning. hi, steph. hey, matt. pink is taking over the plaza. you see these ladies behind me? pink t-shirts over there. and there s even more over here. teachers here from the same school in north carolina. why are you guys all here? we re just taking a break. we re all teachers, for the end of the year, celebrating getting out of school. i love that. 51 teachers. coming to the just because they love each other to take a trip from north carolina. thanks for being here. let s have a look at our forecast. in the carolinas, it is hot, as you guys know. plenty hot down there. into the 90s. otherwise, cool throughout the northern tier. even the 40s throughout the northwest. mostly sunny skies, at 8386, and breezy. 88 in ocean city. it is going to be warmed. and for all of your weather needs go to weather.com. matt, maybe even more teachers out here. 35 years teaching. congratulations. thank you. all right, stephanie, thank you very much. good to see the teachers. coming up a firsthand look at some rare items from michael jackson s personal collection. they re going up for auction a year after his tragic death. but up next, the so-called female vie rag ra actually work? scientists are now saying. right after this. back now at 7:42. this morning on today s health, female viagra. more than 40% of women suffer from some form of sexual dysfunction and tomorrow an advisory panel for the fda will weigh in on the safety and effectiveness of the first pill designed to increase a woman s sex drive. so how does it work? dr. nancy synderman is nbc s chief medical editor. dr. nancy synderman, good morning. good morning. we never thought we d be talking about this on national television. i know this new drug basically is designed to improve sexual function for women with low libido. what do we know so far about its effectiveness? this is really meant for premenopausal women with a very specific low sexual drive. there is a drug, there have been attempts in the past, testosterone patches that didn t make it to market. this is the little pink pill, women s viagra. it s going before an fda advisory panel. it s been studied in 5,000 women. and, the results were statistically significant that it helped a woman s sex drive. but, the question is, because women s sexuality is so much more complicated than men s, was and i think there will be some hurdles today for the fda market. it works very differently than the male viagra. it works very differently. men s impotence issues have to deal with blood flow. you increase blood flow you can increase a man s erection and his increased fault of sex life. we know that women s brain hormones have a lot to do with it. and we zero in on that little chemical called serotonin. because it s much more complicated some ob/gyn s are saying it can t just be a pill. perhaps it s too simple. this is going to deal with scientists today have to sit down and look at the hard data and say is there validity. part of that hard data is looking at the side effects, nausea, depression, dizziness. and another issue is this drug, unlike viagra is not to be taken when you need it, it s taken all the time. a pill taken every day. two big groups of women, woman who have had psychiatric problems, ie depression, or women on oral contraceptives may not take it. if you start to look at women who present themselves as having sexual drive problems, then you take away those big groups, and women who took alcohol didn t do as well with it, i think those may be stumbling blocks. and one of the things that always comes up, it s not a cancer drug. it s a lifestyle drug. sex is important, it s an integral part of our health, but i think because there are some looming questions, it s going to be a very interesting panel today. i need to move on to another subject. there s a new nationwide study that i know a lot about out this morning that shows a dramatic increase, this is really worrisome, in americans 50 years and older, seeking treatment for substance abuse. this study was between 1992 and 2008. look at this, everyone. admissions for heroin abuse has doubled. admissions for cocaine abuse has quadrupled. right. and also admissions for prescription drug abuse rose from 0.7% to 3.5%. and baby boomers checking themselves into detox units have doubled. i think it s divided into two things. let s talk street drugs for a second. heroin has never been cheaper and more pure and easier to get and it s a fast high. it is, however, one of those drugs that is so dangerous that once you take it, you just want more. it s there and it s available and it s pure. so take away the street drugs like coke and heroin for a second, and then let s put this go to pharmaceuticals. one, patients were going to their doctor and saying give me something, i can t sleep. give me something, i m anxious. doctors don t like the pressure and say, sure, here s your prescription. but i m only giving it to you for two times. then patients go doctor shopping. and we are all complicit. everyone should think about heath ledger. that was an accidental overdose that a lot of people who have accidents and means and a couple extra dollars can be a pill combination away from. if women think, oh, well this can t happen to me, remember the last time you blew $60 on some fancy face lotion. if you ll do that, you ll spend $60 on a prescription medication. so we can t all just sort of say, oh, well, it s people we don t know. it s your next door neighbor. and side effects come with every drug you take. i don t care what you put in your mouth, there s a potential side effect. dr. nancy synderman, thank you so much. always here to help people. we love that about you. and the dancing baby, with bhofs you have to see to maybe believe. we re back at 7:50 about the latest viral video that probably, we hope, will put a smile on your face. it will. it s dancing baby whose moves are anything but childish. take a look. this is a samba. he s dancing the samba, yeah. look at that. no, no, no. i watched the whole thing. it s over three minutes long. and there s no way no, no, no. you don t think this has been doctored? i don t think so. it s so easy today to doctor things. we got this right from the internet, from youtube, right? my question is who is going to get the baby right here on this table? oh, no look at that. like surfer moves there. you know what, he s brazilian. so it s in the genes. he s probably seen this 1,000 times. i want this investigated. i want to get to the bottom of this. you want to go down and grill the kid? i want to know. just enjoy it and smile. the more i look at it. the more it looks like it s legitimate it is. i watched the whole thing. i will say that. anyway. another subject, congratulations in order. that s right. harrison ford and calista flockhart have been dating since 2001. on tuesday, finally officially got married in a ceremony performed by new mexico governor bill richardson at the governor s mansion in santa fe. congratulations. that is nice. right? i mean, good. for them. at the party for entertainment. good news for them. we ll get to the bottom of the dancing baby. watch the whole thing. just ahead. michael jackson s famous loafers. 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. i handful of accidents out there. let s start in howard county. we have an accident and lanes closed. heavy delays on southbound 95 getting down to 32 through the area of 198. all lanes are open, though. out inre going to get hollen saberi road at the beltway, accident there. on the inner loop, looking at delays from 95 towards security. if you are going to be heading out at butler road and central avenue in reisterstown, there is fire department activity there. four miles per hour on southbound 95. backing up heavily from white marsh towards the 895 split. if you are good to get out in the area of the west side, 18 minutes. 17 minutes on the outer loop with the stretch. outer loop northeast stretch. 95 and white marsh, bumper-to- bumper. we will switch to a live view of traffic at old court. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. we are still sitting at 78 downtown. 77 at the airport. dew points our study to drop. it will be a lot less humid by the afternoon. but west wins are a little breezy out there today at 10 to 15 miles per hour. hot and 90 and saturday. hazy, hot, and humid on father s day. back in 25 minutes with another liv 8:00 now on a thursday morning, the 17th day of june, 2010. it is a beautiful day here. rain overnight but it s cleared away. this crowd gathering on the plaza. by the way, if these people stick around for about 24 hours, they ll be treated to some great music courtesy of those two music legends, james taylor and carole king. they ll be here as part of our summer concert series tomorrow morning. they ve been in new york all week long performing at madison square garden. it was amazing. especially we love them. by the way, can i just quickly mention the cutest baby in the world right behind us. i think we need a she s ready for a close-up. congratulations. thank you. i m matt lauer along with ann curry while meredith is taking a little time off. coming up, more on the fallout from the video we showed you on wednesday. shocking tape in seattle, a police officer punching a 17-year-old in the face after what seemed like a routine jaywalking stop. did he cross the line? did she cross the line? was he doing what he was trained to do? going to be talking about that and get some perspectives in just a couple of minutes. also in our studio we have a lot of things that were once owned by michael jackson, including the shirt he wore in the beat it video, matt. and we re going to be taking a look at some of the things, including some of the artwork. all being auctioned off. we re going to find out how the value of michael jackson s things have increased or not in the year since his death. all right. also, if you are still planning your summer vacation, some suggestions on how to take a trip that takes you off the beaten path. we ll have some of those great destinations in just a little while. first let s go inside, natalie s at the news desk while ann is out here. got the headlines. good morning. hi, natalie. good morning, everyone. the man who has become a symbol of the disaster in the gulf of mexico is testifying on capitol hill today for the first time since the oil spill began. bp s embattled ceo tony hayward facing sharp questions and criticism about the spill, now in its 59th day. on wednesday, president obama met with bp s chairman, who agreed the company would set up a $20 billion compensation fund. a biology professor charged with killing three colleagues during a campus shooting spree in february was also charged wednesday with murdering her teenage brother 24 years ago. when amy bishop shot her brother in 1986 in massachusetts, it was then ruled an accident. but prosecutors have reopened the case, after bishop was arrested for the killings at the university of alabama in huntsville. british princes william and harry will attend england s world cup match tomorrow. they re in africa on a week-long charity mission. today they played soccer with children in a remote village in lesotho. police used water cannons and tear gas wednesday to control soccer fans in chile after their team won its first world cup game in 48 years. more than 80 people were arrested there. and a rush hour inferno wednesday evening in san diego. police said the rear half of a double gasoline tanker overturned and caught fire. a nearby shopping center and health care facility were evacuated but there were no serious injuries. quite a scene there, though. it is 8:03 right now. let s go back outside to matt and ann. all right, thanks, natalie. cody s 7th birthday. happy birthday. good to have you here. al is traveling. he s going to be in orlando with you tomorrow. that s right. we ve got stephanie abrams from the weather channel. hey there, matt. six sisters. this is a play on sex and the city? six in the city. what have you guys done so far? walked all over central park. let s have a look. in philadelphia our temperatures really not all that bad here. 83 degrees. that is average for this time of year. but enjoy it, because we ll be in the 90s this weekend. the 90s, things are looking good this thursday. less humid by the afternoon. breezy, with winds at 10 to 15 ann, over to you. all right, thank you so much. coming up, was it police brutality or justified force? taking a look at new developments in the police officer caught on tape punching a 17-year-old girl right in the face. that s coming up after this. the more options you have, the more likely you are to stay on track. that s why there are 9 delicious kinds of special k® cereal. because every girl could use a little variety. special k®, now in 9 delicious flavors. scotts researchers tested our songbird selections wild bird food and discovered something amazing scotts attracted twice as many colorful birds as ordinary blends. our exclusive formula attracted twice the cardinals, twice the goldfinches, twice the indigo buntings. songbird selections from scotts. you and your tasty whole grain. this can only end one way. [ crunch ] wheat thins. toasted. whole grain. crunch. the crunch is calling. at ideical prices, from very unidentical stores. let s see what happens. employee: all ready to go. husband #1: thank you. wife #2: electnics? competitor employee: that way. wife #2: happy father s day! husband #2: i got this. wife #2: l s go to your brother s house. husbd #2: but i can do this! wi #2: let s go! husband #1: watch and learn. vo: with delivy and hook-up includ oall lg internet connectable tv s, dad s happy and you re happy. one on, kiddo, let s go. hold on a second. come on up here, where your brothers sit. wow! chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy, with a 100,000 mile, powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably - not that it always has to. ow, get 0% apr for 60 months on a 2010 traverse with an average finance savings of around fifty four hundred dollars. see yo local chevy dealer. we re back at 8:08 with the latest on a violent arrest in seattle that we told you about on wednesday. a scuffle over a jaywalking ticket that ended with a police officer punching a 17-year-old girl in the face. nbc s lee cowan is in seattle. he s got the latest on this. lee, good morning to you. reporter: yeah, good morning, matt. the seattle police department has launched an investigation in the wake of that incident. they say for now they are concerned but withholding judgment. what is known, they say, was the girl was interfering with an arrest. but critics say that punching her in the face was too much. police say it started as a routine stop for jaywalking. by the time the cameras caught up with officer ian walsh, the struggle was already under way. it s a [ bleep ] reporter: again and again he tried to subdue the 19-year-old. but the struggle continued. suddenly, from the sidelines, jumped the girl s 17-year-old friend. she shoved the officer out of the way. he then responded with this. oh, [ bleep ] no. reporter: watch again. he closes his fist, winds up and lands a hard right to her face. uh-oh. reporter: you can hear on your tape the reaction of the crowd after he punched her. yeah, i had the exact same reaction. and i actually felt very upset by it. reporter: ray goolsbee shot that video and believes the officer had other options. i thought that it was going to get to a point where he slams her on the ground. not that he punches her like that. i didn t i didn t see that coming at all. reporter: officer walsh, though, had no apologies when ray questioned him, on tape. at the scene. that didn t sit well with the urban league of seattle. i don t excuse her behavior. she was clearly in the wrong. but, again, a punch to the face is not justified. reporter: the head of the seattle police union, however, says the officer did nothing wrong, and was justified in defusing a tense situation. and some experts agree. i think what s interesting to see in this video is that the officer doesn t lose control and unleash a flurry of punches on this young woman. reporter: jonathan is a former police officer and now a professor at the university of washington. who says after watching the tape in its entirety, he believes the officer was actually pretty restrained. this wasn t a knock-down, drag-out fight. he was trying to get her to stop. what are you doing? reporter: the seattle p.d. has taken officer walsh off the street pending that investigation. but, with a warning to the public. regardless of whether or not you think an arrest is lawful, whether or not you think an arrest is necessary, it is not that does not give you the right to resist that arrest, and does not give you the right to assault an officer who is who is in an attempt to take lawful steps. reporter: matt, the 17-year-old is expected back in court as early as next week to face felony charges of assaulting a police officer. the 19-year-old, meanwhile, she s expected to be arraigned later on today an misdemeanor charges of obstructing an officer. all right, lee cowan. thanks, lee. lee in seattle for us. reverend al sharpton is a civil rights activist and president of the national action network. don van blaircom is the former police chief in bellview washington who consults on police related litigation throughout the u.s. good morning to both of you. good morning. i m going to ask you both the same question to start and reverend sharpton i ll start with you. your first reaction when you saw the tape? i was outraged to see the punch. i don t think anyone excuses the conduct of the young lady. i agree with the head of the urban league out there. i talked to the head of the national action network. none of us are saying that she was right. but to see any adult man hit any young teenage woman is shocking enough. a policeman you would expect to have a higher standard. and the fact that he was later able to go ahead and apprehend them. could have used other options as the one that shot the video. what was your initial reaction? my initial reaction is i wanted to see everything that presided the incident because all force is situational. and you have to look at it in the context of the totality of circumstances, which means, number one, is it necessary, and number two, the amount of force used reasonable under those circumstances. and do you think it was reasonable under those circumstances? yes, sir, i do under the particular fact pattern, yes, sir. what level of force do you think would have been reasonable, al? i mean, would it have been if he had taken out his stun gun, if he had thrown her to the ground? i think that from my watching the tape, it would have been reasonable what he ended up doing, coming in and grabbing them and arresting them. but he only accomplished that after he did something dramatic. no, but he actually, if you look at the tape, he actually backed up away from her, wound up and came in and punched her. where he could have easily just grabbed her there and arrested her. i mean, this guy didn t just throw a punch in the middle of an exchange. he wound up a punch, an intentional punch. mr. van blricom, let me ask you to comment on this. the fact that he threw one punch, we ve seen so many videos over the years where a police officer loses his or her cool, and there are punches thrown and kicks and things like that. he threw one punch, and then he stopped. you have to ask yourself, either did he know he controlsed a line immediately? or did he think by his dramatic action, he had accomplished his purposes? the second option. he did what he had to do under those circumstances, at that point in time. it was successful, it worked, it caused her to disengage. he immediately then goes back to trying to make the arrest of a very aggressively resisting young woman. i served as a consultant in the rodney king beating to the federal government and their prosecution. and i know the difference between anger, or malicious use of force. this officer displayed absolutely no anger, and his use of force certainly wasn t malicious. al, what do you think about the one punch and then backing off? i think the one punch is what raises the question. he caught himself knowing he was over the line. or, he thought about it. but i think it was also interesting is that these girls, who none of us justify were so out of control, he threw one punch and the other girl didn t come try to punch him. and the community didn t come in and start punching him. which i think speaks against him saying this was that far out of control. and real quickly, again, both of you give you the shot on this. the seattle police officer s guild has said the officer was not reacting because of their gender, because of their race. the officers were reacting because they chose to escalate the situation. think there s any race element in this at all? i don t think there s it s to be investigated which is why i think it s irresponsible for the head of the union to say there is no race. how do we know that? don, what do you think? i saw no evidence of racial animus whatsoever. and that s usually signaled by racial overtones, some racial epithet. this officer was calling the crowd, sir, saying thank you, please. he simply was not angry. he wasn t motivated by race. and he wasn t out of control. interesting. clearly there s going to be a lot of discussion about this tape in the days to come. don, thank you very much. al, always good to see you. thank you. up next, the personal items of michael jackson are going up for auction, including the jacket he wore to his wedding. ey is talking about is here. super mario galaxy 2. this kid s a natural! mario s got all these new powers.new tricks. it s rated e for everyone. even yoshi s back! 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[ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. tum ta tum tum tums back now at 8:19. next friday marks the one-year anniversary of michael jackson s death and some of his personal items are going up for auction. everything from his clothing to handwritten song lyrics, and derion julian and martin nolan are doing the auction. good morning, guys. good morning. how has the value of michael jackson s things increased or decreased since his death? five to ten times. i mean, last year in november, we sold a jacket, a bad jacket for $270,000 that in the 90s sold for $4,000. bad from the music bad, not bad in terms of the jacket. let s talk about these items. you ve got something like 250. these are all items belonging to different people. these things were given as gifts by michael. yeah. he was very generous and he gave all these items away. one of these things is the sequinned jacket from his victory tour. victory tour 1984. and it s signed michael jackson. and it s really a great piece. it s actually on the cover of our catalog. we estimate the jacket $14,000 to $16,000. and the shirt $10,000 to $12,000. this jacket he got married in? to debbie rowe in 1996 in australia. and after the wedding he gave away the jacket to a young boy that s now consigned it to us for auction. i see. $6,000 to $8,000. it will go for a lot more, obviously. this one is quintessential. it was in his video, right, or was in in beat it. and he gave this to an 11-year-old boy. he did. it s really a great piece. it s very hard to find an item that s worn in a video of michael jackson. we estimated it $14,000 to $16,000. but again, anticipate it will sell for a lot more. a pair of sunglasses. he wore sunglasses all the time. we were given as a gift to corey feldman? that s right. it comes with a handwritten letter from corey feldman detailing when he got them. $3,000 to $5,000. but knowing michael jackson, they could sell $20,000 or $30,000. the floodgate s open. you don t know? that s exactly right. these were signed it looks like? signed by michael jackson. he gave these to a friend after a performance, and you can see how much these are worn. they re heavy shoes and he did all these dance moves wearing shoes similar to these all the time. he gave these to robert. do you mind that i touched the shoes? adds value. wouldn t that be great? wouldn t that be great if that were true. let s move on. these are handwritten lyrics from bad which he was nominated for awards for. for a grammy award, absolutely. 1987, sold 30 million which seems a lot. but must less than thriller of course. we estimated $2,000 to $4,000. my god, these are fantastic. we sold lyrics before for somewhere in the region of $60,000. i m not sure where these will go. people will want to know whether these are original. whether they re copies. these were handwritten by michael jackson, which is most important. these were written by michael and given to a charity for auction. and then they ve been consigned to us. he was also an artist. and this is a self-portrait he did of himself. in a book. in a book. in his biography, 19. what s interesting here he signed this 1998. this is the original sketch. this is what we re selling. he gave it to j.p. suarez who did a sketch with michael. we estimate this one $4,000 to $6,000. again we ve sold sketches of michael in the past upwards of $40,000 to $60,000. and this jacket. this speaks to michael ja jacks jackson. this is very similar to the jacket, in fact it s an earlier version of the one that michael wore to the american music awards in 1984. remember very embellished. lots of gold. given how much there is of the price increase in some of the value, you think you guys are selling this stuff too early? you never know. right now the market overseas, especially, is really, that s where most of the buyers are coming from. thank you so much. thank you. a preview of the hundreds of items available. and now coming up, from music icon s auction takes place at planet hollywood in las vegas on june 24th and 25th. now here s matt. all right, ann, thank you very much. fascinating stuff. we re going to head to washington right now. check in with our good friend willard scott. willie, good morning. i guess there s been more june june moon spoons. check them all out. look at the internet now. hold still on moon june. happy birthday from smucker s. how sweet it is. if you ll check the list. you ll see the jar spinning around. guess who s there? ella gorseqner from canton, minnesota. and look, she lives on a farm and has been a farmer s wife. with a carving knife. lee gibson, los angeles, california, 100. formed one of the first african-american labor unions. just became a great-great grandfather. happy birthday to you. great grandfather. nannie reid from danbury, north carolina. 103. bakes cakes for almost anyone who visits the house. this is a doctor, would you believe, dr. paul floyd from farmington, maine. 100 years old. keeps busy inventing things. for instance he built a back scratcher made out of an old electric sander. that will fix you right up. take the skin. blondell stevens. highland ranch, colorado. 102. likes to knit. in fact she s done afghans for people all over the world. and finally, sidney and beatrice lohanberg. 75 years married. he s 97, and she s a young thing at 95. and we wish them well. they fell in love when she fell down and he picked her up and he said, we fell. how about that? that s it. that s all. and now back to the group i fall for. willard, thank you very much. we appreciate that. just ahead unexpected vacation destinations your family will love. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. here is traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. let s start with i-95. three miles per hour on average. jammed conditions from white marsh to the 895 split. east side of the beltway on the outer loop, watch for delays there with lanes closed as well. old mill road and 170, watch for an accident in the odenton region. on the span of the bay bridge, we have one lane blocked with it debris. dry times, 21 minutes with the west side delays. 16 minutes to get to the northeast outer loop stretch. 11-minute ride on the inner loop of the 83 s towards the northeast side. going away from us is southbound traffic grid back up on that ramp from southbound 395 into town. also looking at delays on the west side. those stretch all the way back to 795. the sunshine is out this morning and the stormy weather from yesterday, most of the storm activity was south of baltimore. very little rain. couple of days of good weather before start seeing changes once again. 77 at b.w.i. marshall. west wind that nine miles per hour. a lot of sunshine today. less humid. northwest winds tend to 15. 8386 for the high. we will have another update at 8:55. 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[sigh] ah. the efficient life is the good life. no, no, and definitely not. we re back now 8:30 on a thursday morning. it s the 17th day of june, 2010. you ve seen the movies, you ve read the books, and now you can check out the grand opening of the wizarding world of harry potter, at universal orlando resorts. because al and ann are going to be there for that tomorrow morning as part of our show. you going to cut the ribbon? the ribbons are going to be cut and i think i m going to be right in front of it when it happens. what about that excited about it. just having fun out there. i think al and i are going to take that place by storm. good for you. you go crazy. also by the way not the only big event tomorrow. for those of us behind on the plaza, two superstars in concert, james taylor and carole king. they re going to be here. they re wonderful together. what is better than that? exactly. also coming up this morning, we re going to be talking about how to stay safe in the sun this summer. and we ve got a lot of tips here. because skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the united states. and now scientists are worrying that not all sun screens are created equal. dr. nancy synderman will be back ahead with more on this. my husband actually had a melanoma taken off. he s fine. he s fine. but thank god. he s out in the sun a lot. but absolutely. father s day is sunday. how can we forget? all the dads. if you want to treat him to a wonderful meal that s not going to take you all that long, we have just the thing. a tasty recipe for mouth watering flank steak. i love flank steak. also ahead if you re looking for a summer vacation but you re the type of person who doesn t like to go away and run into all the people you see back home, we re going to tell you about some places what are you saying? slightly off the beaten path. but first let s go to stephanie abrams, who s filling in while al is on his way to universal. that s right. we have some women celebrating their 50th birthday. very brave of you to say how old you are on national television. that s right. oh, whoa! hey. thanks a lot, guys. let s have a look at the weather. grab your boa, head outside. really it s all you need to wear through the south, it is so hot. kansas city, the average 84. today will top out at 90 degree mostly sunny skies, at 8386, and breezy. 88 in ocean city. it is going to be warmed. matt, over to you. all right, stephanie, thanks very much. congratulating our teachers. next how to be sun smart and prevent skin cancer. first, this is today on nbc. today s health is brought to you by walgreens. there s a way to stay well. this morning on today s health, skin cancer. it s not only the most common form of cancer in the united states, but also one of the only ones that can be prevented. in a moment, ways to stay safe in the sun. but first, three people shared their stories, in their own words. i really spent way too much time sunbathing. i was tan all the time. and it was just vanity. i saw a funny brown spot on my thigh. and it looked different from anything else on my body. it was malignant melanoma and i was shocked. if i didn t remove it she said i d have less than a year to live. so we scheduled surgery right away. and i had to have it removed on my right thigh. it was very painful after having lymph nodes removed and a portion of my thigh removed, it was very hard to walk. and i used to be very athletic. so i couldn t do any of those things anymore. i m so glad to be alive. you know, you come home all blistered up, you never had anything on. you never worried about it back, you know, back then. i never worried about anything until today. until last week. i had a red spot on my shoulder, and my wife would always say, you got to get that looked at, you should get it looked at. and that s when i finally did. first word i remember hearing when i got the call was that it s positive blah blah blah cancer. that s the only two words that i had heard. and your heart just stops. you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach that churns, and, no, can t be. not me. not me. i sort of kick myself, you know, for not you hear about it. you read about it all the time, skin cancer. and you just don t think it s going to be you. my sister-in-law was just 20 when she was diagnosed with melanoma. she was healthy, athletic, normal. sophomore in college, and she spotted an abnormal mole on the back of her left thigh. soon after, she had surgery, followed by chemotherapy, radiation, and it was a long six months battle that she unfortunately lost. after molly died, we decided we wanted to start a foundation in her name. mollee s fund, as a foundation and as a family, have made it our goal to prevent anyone from going through what we went through, through education and awareness. and i know that s what she would have wanted. dr. nancy synderman is nbc s chief medical editor. good morning. hey, ann. so we need education. it s so great. you say cover up. yeah, and remember we pay the price as adults for what we ve done to our skin as kids. so as parents, remember what you did, and prevent it in your children. cover up. i mean i know this is beach time, and pool time. but when you re not at the shore, at the pool, long-sleeved shirts, cover your skin. you ve got to be short about that. wearing sunscreen, as we know is important. but what should people well, put it on and reapply it. keep using. you can t put it on in the morning and expect it to work all day long. i think anything over an spf of 30 is really wasting money. and read the labels careful very. uva and uvb rays. look for something that filters both. and remember, these are perishable items. when you re done with them for a year, throw them away, get new stuff. you say also avoid the tanning booths. people still use them. if you have a sun tan it is damaged skin. there is no such thing as getting a baseline tan for the beach. suntan booths are not safe. know your body. so know, for example, in mollie s case she was able to detect this knoll pr mole. you have to know what your body looks like naked. if you re not sure about your back, get a mirror. get a loved one to look. if you re light skinned. if you have skin cancer in your family. if you know you have abused your skin. check in, let a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, somebody who knows how to check in look you over. especially if a mole changes. if you see any changes. the abcdes that we talk about. any change in symmetry, border, bleeding, color, these are classic american cancer society guidelines you can find anywhere. any mole that changes. anything that you re not sure about, you play it safe and have someone take a look. you know what, i just had a girlfriend this weekend tell me that she had a scab on her nose that would go away and come back. i told her she should go and have it looked. the numbers are escalating in this country because we haven t taken it early. get your vitamin d. early in the morning before 10:00 a.m. you can t say i need my rays. let s talk about that. since our early conversations with this topic, we tell people avoid the sun al to the. now we re really realizing that vied minimum d., which comes from the sun, is really good at preventing major diseases provided cancer. the sun helps convert vitamin d. we know it cuts down on colon cancer. it s good for our bones, it s good for our heart. here s the reality. go out before the sun is intense. before 10:00 or after 4:00. in the meantime, use sunscreen. and, frankly, supplement. the oral vitamin d. supplements are just fine. so commonsense in the sun, supplementing with vitamin d. and you re going to be fine. but if you think the skin cancer is no big deal, imagine a piece of your ear gone, a piece of your nose gone, a piece of your cheek gone, and then think about what that s going to look like on your children. this is commonsense stuff. the aussies have a great thing, slip slap slop. slip into long sleeves, slap on a hat, slop on the sunscreen. you ll gur to do well all summer. i think you did well saying it. it s very important. also you ll be back in our next half hour with advice on how women can keep the men in our lives healthy. and we re going to also want to mention that we have more information if you want to find it on mollie s foundation on our website at todayshow.com. and coming up next, unexpected summer vacation destinations that you might just want to consider. first, this is today on nbc. today s travel is brought to you by hotels.com. the smarter way to book. we re back at 8:44. this morning on today s travel, summer travel spots that are slightly off the beaten path. kate maxwell, senior editor at conde nast traveler is here with some suggestions. welcome back. thanks for having me. are these a double-edged sword? are they off the beaten track and perhaps not add up in terms of the amenities that some places offer? occasionally. you might have to forego 400 thread count sheets. but in return you re getting uncrowded beaches and some really good prices. you re not suggesting people go to a tree house in the middle of the woods. these are popular destinations but perhaps taking a different look at them. for example you like nantucket island. exactly. maybe if you tried the cape before, what about nantucket? has a reputation as being a really preppy destination. don t forget your penny loafers, your pop collars, but it s also got great surf beach. the opposite side of nantucket town has heavy, uncrowded surf. great surf lessons for the kids. we love the white elephant. why do you like that hotel so much? it s a good price on the harbor, lovely clean, fresh decor. got a fantastic restaurant where you can get your lobster in a bloody mary, believe it or not. sounds good. and it s $265 a night. and i heard, by the way, you bragging about your surfing prow ez. i m sure that s why you like it. rhode island. i used to live in rhode island. meredith is from that area. why do you like it? you probably know newport city. what about port hill. a charming town, a seven mile beach. uncrowded. lots of great stuff for the kids to do. you can hire a jet ski. also atlantic beach park, which has a carousel, it has miniature golf. very family friendly. i think rhode island and i m sure the people there would argue they don t think it s a secret. it s a well-kept secret. you like the pleasant view inn. we do. it s $165 a night. great view. obviously right on the beach. and yeah, this is a riley good destination from boston or new york. let s get international a little bit, kate. a lot of people like thailand. it s exotic. you suggest, instead, china s hainan island. hainan island about an hour and a half flight south of hong kong. in the south china sea, quite near to vietnam. it s a long trip from here. but you can maybe combine it with a visit to shanghai s expo this summer or even beijing. it s being talked about as the hawaii of china. the pictures are beautiful. mandarin oriental has a wonderful property there for a really good price, $234 a night. lovely villas, private pools, 11 restaurants. a spa village. panama has been making great efforts to attract tourism. you think those efforts are working. what do you like there? we love the sound back islands. gorgeous archipelago, 378 islands only 49 of which are inhabited. very short flight. direct flights from new york to panama city are about $500. if you ever had a robinson crusoe fantasy being stranded on a desert island, this is it. coconut palms, the oldest coral reef in the world i think is there. fantastic snorkeling and scuba diving. mexico has been popular for a long time. a lot of people like the area known as the mayan riviera. you like punta mitta. there s a wonderful four seasons there for just $265 a night at the moment. so prices in the summer are good. really good in the summer. lovely beaches, three pools, one of them adults only. and they have cabanas and you can watch the world cup on tv. is there something, if you re not only a beach person, is there enough to do for people who don t want to bake on the beach, as nancy synderman just told us we should not do? absolutely. a lot of these places, panama in particular, also mexico, golf, i know that you re a golf fan. wonderful jack nicklaus designed golf course there and head to the spa and chill out in the spa. you always have good ideas, kate. nice to see you again. 48 after the hour. up next a fabulous father s day flank steak. sounds good. we re heading up there. first, this is today on nbc. this morning on today s kitchen back to basics. steak for summer. father s day is on sunday and if you re looking for a special meal for dear old dad, why not fire up the grill? steve garr minimum is the host of turn up the heat is g. garr minimum. good morning. how are you? good morning. i m excited. because a lot of men do like a flank steak. yes, flank steak is incredible. the flavor is good. and very easy to cook. okay, but you do need to marinade it? you don t have to but it s a good way if you want to add some flavor. what do you do in the marinade? very simple. balsamic vinegar, a little brown sugar. which we ll put in. okay. a little dijon mustard. will you ten me there? i ll do whatever you say. dijon, some fresh rosemary. mm-hmm. and what you can do is you take a little garlic, and you can crush it, which we ve done, you know, so that the juices come out. okay. right. then what you do is just a little olive oil. just like so. just a dab will do you. because you ve got some oil in your meat, right? it s not the oilie iesiest meat. it s really not. is it a little healthier? you did not chop up the garlic. just let it be smashed. that way if you do chop garlic it s good for salads and vinaigrettes. for this you really want the juice of the garlic. got a nice grill right on the stove. do it right on the grill. are we going to do that now? okay. so what you want to do is take it out like this. and just like so. nicely done. you ve done that before. yes, i have. what you do is little it sear, nice and simple, leave it alone. what we do is we move over. we keep a little bit of the balsamic so after we re done we can do a little drizzle. sounds nice. i ll let you watch i m worried about how long this is going to have to cook? don t worry about this. this will go five, six minutes each side. and then if you want medium, put it in the oven. medium rare, five minutes on each side. this is something that really does not take a lot of time in the morning. it s really about the marinade. did you see how long this should marinade? you can do a day. a day. you can do three hours. whatever you want. but what s great about this is, let s say you re out in the yard. you got the grill going. you got kids doing a little homework. put it on. come back, do a little more homework, flip it over. okay. all right. then we go to the asparagus which is a great side component. a little olive oil, a little salt. then i m going to slice this and show you how we do. i think the way you slice it is a prettier way. i always slice it straight down. doesn t look that good. i m always thinking about my presentation. so you know, i want to be conscious of that. it s really about the knife. this is a great knife. this is a really, really good knife. be careful of your fingers there. i m good. but thank you. that s a great little p, too, in terms of how you should present it. right. so we ll make it just like this. okay. now watch what we do. see how i m thinking of my presentation. if i wanted to cut this a little smaller i could do that, as well. the thing is, if you re feeding big guys, give them a big slice. he is going to love that. that s great for dad. so and put this right there. now presentation. like a little side thing like this? all face north. okay. all right. now, check this out. little balsamic. just like that. is this the same marinade you used earlier? yes. uh-huh. you just saved that. you don t have to cook it or anything? no, we didn t use the same actual we didn t use the one from the marinade. i see. we made it ahead of time and separated the two. some extra. got you. so you re looking good. okay, because presentation is the thing. now if you wanted to take a little fresh thyme, and i would do that just like that. oh, i like that. that s pretty thing. okay. so we ll move these. let s go to the back because we ve got only a minute left and i want to talk really quickly about this dessert. good to see you. we only have like 35 seconds left. what you want to do is puff pastry, a little sugar, okay. and now remember, if you season it with style it tastes a little better. okay. watch it drop. way to go. these apples, you simply just lay them around nicely. and you put the butter on top and how long do you cook it? eight minutes. and it comes out like this. put a little caramel sauce on there. sugar. there you go. happy father s day to you. thank you so much. thanks so much for coming help us out today. well done, matt. oh, yeah. wait a minute, wait a minute. what about the ice cream? including thank you keep your men healthy. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. baltimore city council is expected to make a decision on the controversial bottle tax proposal tonight. mayor stephanie rawlings-blake has asked the council to bring the measure to a vote during an emergency council meeting later this evening. the four-cent tax on beverage containers is expected to generate millions of dollars, a beverage companies and business owners expressed concern over possible lost revenue let s take a look at the forecast with meteorologist john collins. the threat of rain is on the way out of here. it did not affect us all that much yesterday, as move offshore now. what is coming in? less humid air and a lot more sunshine. here is a look at the forecast for today. a lot of sunshine. humidity on the way down. northwest winds at 10 to 15 miles per hour. we look ahead to the next seven days. but it began, we check it humidity up a little bit. by sunday and monday, rain chances go up as wel