Transcripts For WBAL Today 20100625 : vimarsana.com

jackson s tragic death, a look back at his life, his remarkable career, and the events surrounding his final days. where does the investigation stand? how are his children? we ll hear from his mother and we ll return live to neverland, the home he loved so much today, friday, june 25th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m meredith vieira. looking at those images of michael jackson and neverland, it s hard to believe it s been a full year since his passing. still so much we don t know about what happened in the days and hours prior to his death, but we re going to be live at neverland a little later in the show. meanwhile, a lot of other news. a lot of news including those small but powerful storms in the northeast yesterday afternoon. they were gone almost as quickly as they came but they left behind a lot of damage. they really did. this will give you a good sense of how strong the winds were in philadelphia. the grounds crew at the phillies game didn t stand a chance. there was so much damage in bridgeport a state of emergency had to be declared there. the latest in a live report coming up just ahead. also ahead, sharla nash returns to her hometown for the first time after being attacked by a chimpanzee. she let us in on the festivities and it was quite an emotional event as you can imagine. we ll show it to you later. and coming to america britain s prince harry kicks off a three-day visit to new york today on the heels of a new documentary in which he and his brother speak out about his mother s legacy. we ll hear from them just ahead. let us begin on a friday morning with these violent storms that battered the northeast. nbc s mike taibbi is in bridgeport, connecticut. good morning to you. reporter: bridgeport s mayor, bill finch, had the quote of the day yesterday. took one look at his city after this brief but violent storm had blown through and said it looked like godzilla had come to town and knocked over buildings and tore roofs off houses, knocked over cars and trees. you didn t know whether it was a hurricane or tornado pounding them. all they knew was that it was frightening. they arrived suddenly as summer storms off do in the northeast. look at the trees down over here. reporter: pounding rain driven by winds that in some areas briefly touched hurricane force. this was bridgeport, connecticut, where several buildings were badly damaged or even partially collapsed in an afternoon storm local reporters heard came and went quickly. the storm came in at around 2:15, lasted just about three minutes. and by the time it was over, there was a mess of damage. reporter: up and down the coast, the day saw temperature records set from washington to new york, an overheated and unstable weather system. that was fuel for the thunderstorms as they blasted through bridgeport and brought winds over 80-mile-an-hour winds across the region. reporter: and this kind of damage, generations old trees, cars, homes and buildings damaged in pennsylvania. on new york s long island and here in bridgeport, many found the storms brief but terrifying. unbelievable. i mean, we re facing the wrath of god over here. it was intense. believe me. crazy. reporter: rescue workers up and down the atlantic coast, matt, amazed by one thing after a looking at all the damage, only minor injuries were reported. matt, back to you. that s lucky. mike taibbi in bridgeport for us. thanks very much. it s four minutes after the hour. here s meredith. there s a concern on day 57 after the disaster in the gulf. a system in the caribbean could develop into the first named storm as it moves to the gulf of mexico. nbc s anne thompson is in venice, louisiana, with the very latest. anne, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, meredith. the weather is one of many concerns for bp s chief operating officer who gave me a tour from a chopper of the leak site. bp has 25 boats and rigs. su it tttles said they have nev had as many before. from the air the oily tentacles of the spill stretch for miles. now all the way to florida s pensacola beach where officials are furious bp s chief operating officer doug suttles telling them there were no big patches of oil nearby. a day later the beaches were black with crude. some accuse bp of downplaying the impact of the oil spill. anne, i ve never done that. this is terrible. i ve seen the places it s come ashore. it s very difficult to predict what s going to happen. reporter: flying over the spill zone what hits you is just how enormous the problem is. the blue gulf has a disturbing red cast that will be trouble for months to come. you re still only collecting not even half of what s going into the gulf every day. why is this so little? shouldn t the world s largest oil company in the world be doing a better job? well, anne, we re mobilizing everything we can find around the world. we ve been adding the stuff as fast as we can. we built them, converted them, fabricated the systems and brought them in. we even have one sailing up from brazil. reporter: it just seems impossible that in this day and age we don t have better answers. you know, i share that frustration. the systems that were built in and designed to prevent this uncontrolled flow didn t work. they didn t function. reporter: compounding bp s problems a british ceo who tried to connect with the american public only to offend it. no one wants this thing over more than i do. i d like my life back. reporter: suttles, a texan, thinks he can help. i think it does help being an american 0 to understand how people relate, how they feel and how they communicate. so i think it does make a difference. reporter: now if that system that is forming in the caribbean moves into the gulf of mexico and heads towards south louisiana, suttles says they will need five days to evacuate that rig, five days before that system would hit the coast. and that means five days that they have to stop work, and that s a big problem right now. meredith? all right, anne thompson, thank you very much. it is 7:07. once again, here s matt. president obama will be keeping an eye on what s happening in the gulf today from toronto. he s heading there this morning to join a host of world leaders at the g-20 summit. nbc s chief white house correspondent chuck todd is there as well. chuck, good morning to you. reporter: well, good morning, matt. the president is scheduled to arrive here later this morning. he s going to have a new wall street reform deal in his back pocket. it s something he s going to try to use to convince these other nations from around the world to do similar action. on thursday he met with an important g-20 ally, the russian president. believe it or not, it s the seventh time these two have met face-to-face. security here at the g-20 meeting is tight. the canadian government has spent more than any other host country ever to try to make sure world leaders are safe. heading into the important economic summit, the president got a diplomatic headstart by meeting with one of america s most touchy allies, russia, and its president medvedev. the most significant national security interests and priorities could be advanced most effectively through cooperation not an adversarial relationship with russia. reporter: and yet despite the global economic concerns and the presence of the russian president a change in command in afghanistan reporter: a reporter s first ck to the issue that s dogged him all week, afghanistan. i am confident we have a team in place that can execute. reporter: the president promised no more personnel changes after wednesday s dramatic firing of general stanley mcchrystal and the president made sure to leave himself wiggle room on the question of whether the u.s. will actually go through with its plans to draw down troops in july 2011. we didn t say we d be switching off the lights and closing the door behind us. we said we would begin a transition phase. reporter: medvedev was asked if he had any advice for the president given russia s long and costly war in afghanistan. translator: but i try not to give pieces of advice that can t be fulfilled. reporter: but defense secretary robert gates did have words of advice. no one, be they adversaries or friends or especially our troops should misinterpret these personnel changes as a slackening of this government s commitment to the mission in afghanistan. visit the headquarter reporter: on a lighter note president obama noted president medvedev opened a twitter account and joked it it was a 21st sentry substitute for the cold war hotline. i have one as well so we may be finally able to throw away the red phones that have been sitting around for so long. reporter: earlier he treated medvedev to cheeseburgers at one of his favorite spots in northern virginia. translator: probably not quite healthy but it s very tasty and you can feel the spirit of america. reporter: all right. you did not mishear. the president did say the word twitters, plural. it turns out he didn t misstate it. it was written incorrectly in his prepared remarks. a speechwriter falling on the sword on that one. it did bring back memories of president bush one time referring to those internets. matt? chuck todd in toronto this morning. it s now ten minutes after the hour. once again here s meredith. new video and hundreds of photos released of 7-year-old kyron horman who vanished from his school without a trace three weeks ago n. a moment his parents speak out for the first time since their son s disappearance. first, nbc s miguel almaguera is in portland, oregon, with the latest. good morning, miguel. reporter: meredith, good morning. investigators on the ground are working every angle of this case. no one here has given up hope. reporter: new ly released hoe video shows little kyron horman singing along with classmates. no more are allowed on the bridge. reporter: and presenting a project in school. these are among the hundreds of photos now being released by his parents hoping someone knows where their little boy is. images of the happy childhood, an adorable 7 ye-year-old with broad and sometimes toothless smile. this is how kyron s father and mother remember their son, both divorced and remarried. they kept a low profile standing side-by-side while making only one short public statement. please help us bring kyron home. reporter: but now three long weeks have passed and despite nearly 3,000 tips, the sheriff s department seems no closer to finding kyron. it s taking time to go through those tips and leads, so the investigation is ongoing. reporter: the search kyron! reporter: has included state, local and federal authorities. at kyron s school, a wall of hope continues to grow. his parents said to be touched by the outpouring of local and national support. this week on campus more than 300 school parents turned in questionnaires. on the flyer a picture of kyron and his stepmother, it terri horman, the last known person to see kyron when she dropped him off at a school science fair. investigators say horman isn t a suspect but detectives hope her picture next to kyron s will generate new leads. the fire is an investigative tool to help see if we can jog people s memories of the day kyron went missing. reporter: through the last 21 days, kyron s parents have asked the focus of this case remain on finding their son. so today they re speaking out as the family releases new images hoping someone somewhere knows how to find kyron horman. police won t talk specifics about this case but they have told other parents they believe this is an isolated incident. meantime, the search for kyron has been scaled back. meredith? miguel almaguera, thank you very much. kyron s parents, desiree young and cain horman are with us. it has been three weeks. what are police telling you? they are working about maki their number one priority is to find kyron. i know you ve released hundreds of pictures of your little boy. he looks like such an adorable little kid and those videos as well. how do you hope these will help in the investigation into where he is? well, we re hoping that people will see these videos and see expressions that he has and the way that he carries himself and things that he says and maybe that will help that one tip, that one person come forward and bring him home. i can only imagine how heartbreaking this has been for you and difficult for your family, yet you ve all been criticized by some in the days since your son s disappearance in part because you didn t seem to participate in the search and there were others who felt it was odd that it took a week before you came out publicly. so i want to give you the chance to explain why.well, the first l into the second andnd even this week as well, we have been participating heavily with investigators hours and hours a day working on leads, tips, questions, interviews, everything that we can to help find him. so we have been overwhelmed with the time it takes to go through those processes and we have been doing everything that we can. i know that you did speak out publicly but, desiree, you have been quiet up until now. why did you decide it was time for you to also address the public? because, honestly, we never thought we would get to three weeks out and not have kyron here. honestly, i m a little scared at this point. three weeks is a long time and we need to bring him home. scared in the sense of what might have happened to him? scared in the sense that he s not at home where we know where he s safe. looking at the images of your little boy, we get the impression he is a sweet kid, a 7-year-old kid. tell us about him, desiree. he is. he s got this great smile that everybody has become familiar with. he has a belly laugh that makes you want to laugh with him. he has a great sense of humor and he s a lot of fun to be around. he s just really intelligent and timid and shy at the same time but just a really great kid to have. and i know the focus you want to maintain the focus on kyron and so, cain, it must be difficult for you because a lot of the focus has been directed at your wife, terri, and the fact she s had two polygraph tests and although she is not considered a suspect, that has to be difficult for her. how is she handling all of this? she, like the rest of us, is extremely committed to finding kyron, and she s working extremely hard with investigators as are the rest of us to help bring him home. well, we hope that he comes home very soon. we so appreciate you joining us this morning. i know this is a very, very difficult time for you and our hearts and our prayers are with you and your families. thank you. thank you. desiree young and cain horman. let us get a check of the rest of the top stories. natalie is over at the news desk while ann is away. good morning to you. good morning, matt and meredith. good morning to you. during the night congressional negotiators reached a deal on a sweeping overhaul of wall street rules and banking negotiations. they hope to have it on the president s desk by the fourth of july. meantime, republicans blocked a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits for people out of work for more than six months. opponents said that it would have meant higher taxes and it would have added to the national debt. mean tile, as you heard in chuck todd s report, the military shake-up in afghanistan will not disrupt policy there and the transition to general david petraeus is getting under way. nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in kabul. good morning to you. reporter: good morning, natalie. this transition is certainly under way and it s moving very quickly. we re told that general mcchrystal s personal belongings are already being packed up to be shipped back to the united states and that his replacement, general petraeus, could be on the ground in command here within just about two weeks. now the transition will likely involve more personnel changes as general petraeus will bring with him a personal team of advisers. natalie? richard engel in kabul, thank you. a programming note as well, richard engel will report on a father s quest to investigate a 2008 taliban ambush that left nine u.s. soldiers dead including his son. a father s mission sunday on dateline at 7:00, 6:00 central time. and not much rest for marathon mayor john isner back in action at wimbledon. on thursday he won the longest tennis match ever beating ni ii nicolas mahut, more than 11 hours of play. it ended at 70-68 in the final set. the recovery time apparently included just a massage and takeout food. so not much of a recovery at all. 7:19. back over to matt and meredith. poor guy. back at it. nice way to end it, though. there you go. natalie, thanks very much. al is in rye, new hampshire, this morning. he has reached the final leg of his lend a hand today tour. al, good morning to you. hey, we are off to a nice, quiet start on this friday after hitting 100 degrees yesterday. we will only make it into the upper 80s to around 90 today. a lot less humidity. mostly sunny skies. and that s your latest weather. matt? we ll see you soon. just ahead, michael jackson s death a year later. we ll hear from his mother and report from neverland. just ahead, chimpanzee attack victim charla nash and an emotional return to her hometown for her daughter s high school graduation. plus, grammy winner maxwell live on the plaza in a little bit. so we earned a tropical vacation in half the time. we earn double miles every time we use our card. 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( talking excitedly ) now we put in exactly 6 cups. help me pour. perfect. now we can pour it in the bowl. try doing it this way. everybody likes a little taste. girls: mmmmm. of independence. pat it down. alright, here you go. oh, that s so good. happy 4th of july. as a juicy flame-grilled cheeseburger on a delicious bun. and when you get it all at walmart s guaranteed unbeatable prices it somehow tastes even better. save money. live better. walmart. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time to get a check on the morning commute. kim dacey standing by. not looking too terrible. just a few things we want to mention this friday morning. in towson, fire activity. copper rose closed between krajina avenue and the towson roundabout. joppa road closed between virginia ave and the towson roundabout. my icon disappeared. that is still clear. another icon also disappeared. 795 northbound, some debris in the road near owings mills boulevard. report of an accident near annapolis. a live look to the west side of the beltway from old court road shows that the west side delays are clearing up just a tad. you might see a tap of the brakes on the outer loop towards 40 or baltimore national pike. 95 in the white marsh area. not produced any delays here. it is a beautiful friday morning. we had a cold front go through last night. humidity across theshifted to te north. today only in the upper 80s to around 90. 72 and it westminster. 71 degrees and a jarrettsville. forecast for today is mostly sunny, less humid, very nice. high temperatures and the upper 80s to around 90. seven-day forecast like this a little bit warmer on saturday and sunday. he muttered to go up, especially by sunday. humidity will go up, especially by sunday. 30% mark. two outdoor plans, don t council and the thing. you have out or plans, don t cancel anything. it will cool off by next week. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back in 25 minutes. i m talking with the man in the mirror 7:30 now on this friday morning, june 25th, 2010. you are looking at michael jackson s neverland ranch. 1985 to 2005. we re going to go live there on this, the first anniversary of the singer s tragic death, in a moment. i m meredith vieira alongside matt lauer. we ll hear from michael jackson s mother, katherine, speaking out in her first television interview since her son died. and charla nash mauled by her friend s pet chimpanzee heads home to celebrate a big moment in her daughter s life and allowed us to join her. we ll bring you more on that story. plus, should a plane already heading to the runway be turned around because after two-inch turtle? it happened in atlanta this weekend. to make matters worse, its 10-year-old owner said she had to throw her pet away in order to get back on that flight. the two are now back together. we re going to tell you about that reunion coming up in just a bit. a live interview. and a little bit of a programming note next wednesday on today an exclusive interview with elizabeth edwards, her first since her separation from john edwards. how is she doing? where does their relationship stand now? that is elizabeth edwards next wednesday morning right here on today. we begin with the anniversary of michael jackson s death. we ll talk to mark lester, jackson s friend and the godfather to his three children in just a couple of minutes. but first, nbc s jeff rossen is at neverland ranch. jeff, good morning to you. reporter: hey, matt, good morning to you. hard to believe it s been a year since he died. i think we all remember where we were when we got that tragic news and as i drove into neverlapped here this morning it s, of course, the wee hours of the morning on the west coast. there were already fans down at the front gate of the ranch laying down flowers, paying their respects. we re going to show you around this truly majestic property, 3,000 acres of it in just a moment. first this morning we have exclusive new information on michael s kids and the investigation into his death. today the michael jackson empire is bigger than ever. reporter: the movie this is it grossed $260 million. in just the past year his estate brought in $780 million. michael s kids won t ever have to worry about money, heirs to the king of pop. paris, prince and blanket are settling into a more normal life rarely seen when their father was alive. these days they re spotted all over l.a., attending karate class, walking the streets of l.a. studios and spending time at the compound. their 80-year-old grandmother katherine has custody and has remained silent until now speaking for the first time since her son s death in a new interview licensed by dateline nbc. paris loves the piano and wants to be an actress. she can pick out any song she wants to and especially her daddy s songs. prince has a lot of talent, also. he s very talented with the camera and with electronics. he wants to be a cameraman. and he wants to write movies. and blanket, he loves to sing and loves to play with his toys most of the time. he s very young yet. he can sing very well and has rhythm and can dance. reporter: just like his dad. singing and dancing from the time he was a toddler until his final days. no one ever lived like michael jackson. shocking news from los angeles tonight. reporter: and no one ever died like michael jackson. his hollywood walk of fame. and i just wanted to say i love him so much. the pop star s death has been labelled a homicide. reporter: dr. conrad murray is now charged with involuntary manslaughter. prosecutors say he administered a lethal dose of propofol to jackson just before he died. dr. murray proclaimed his innocence in a youtube video. i told the truth and i have faith the truth will prevail. reporter: now for the first time his medical assistant, who was involved in jackson s treatment, is opening up in an exclusive interview. he would never intentionally harm a person. this man is the kindest, most gentlest human being you could imagine. reporter: if he wasn t responsible for the death, who w was? the addict. addicts are very good at getting medications and hiding medications. reporter: how could he know that? i didn t know that. if you re not told if your patient does not tell you, divulge all their medical information to you, how are you going to know that? reporter: you re saying maybe he wouldn t have used certain drugs on him if he had known he was on other drugs? i m saying maybe he wouldn t have taken the job. reporter: is he scared? i don t think so. reporter: he s not scared of losing his license? he s not scared of going to jail? he did nothing wrong. reporter: to this day she says dr. murray still considers michael jackson a friend. i can tell you that he misses his friend. he misses his friend dearly. he worries about the children. he thinks of them often. he loves the children very, very much. reporter: and michael s kids actually have a huge stake right now in neverland, which right now is a huge house on the property. it is currently owned bay private equity firm called colony capital and the jackson estate and so the kids could get it later. this is a 400-pound door that leads you into the front house. this is where michael lived, his bedroom was just off that way and there were statues everywhere. there was a butler here with cookies on a tray and they still have this they ll never sell it a gift from elizabeth taylor to michael jackson. it s still here on the property. apparently michael back in the day would get up here on the bike, ride around and give kids ice cream right out of here. and if we walk right through this way, this is michael s dining room. this is where he entertained. there was a huge dining room table here. right now you can see it s empty. down here was the living room where he spent a lot of his time. this is not michael jackson s furniture. colony capital brought this in because they use neverland now for charity events. people bid on auctions to have dinner here and raise money for charity. they ll often entertain people from the outside who just want a chance to raise money for a good cause and have dinner at michael s neverland ranch. he lived here, really the only place he called home from 1985 to 2005, nearly 3,000 acres here, matt. cost millions of dollars to maintain. the question is what happens to it now? what s the future for neverland? they won t tell us. it s still unclear. katherine jackson recently said she hopes it s not sold and wants to keep it in the family. jeff rossen, it s a remarkable place. jech at neverland this morning for us. jeff, thank you very much. mark lester is the godfather of michael jackson s children and made headlines when he claimed he could possibly be the biological father of paris jackson. mr. lester, good morning to you. hi, matt. how are you? i m well, thank you. in the days and weeks following michael jackson s untimely death last year, a lot of friends and pseudo friends came out of the woodwork. it turned out a lot of those people really didn t have a relationship with michael jackson. by all accounts you and michael did stay close over the years. your children and his children were friends. how would you describe your relationship? we were yeah, we were just like two families i imagine like my kids and michael s children would be anything like although they weren t related, like cousins, i guess. michael came to the uk, we would always get together. i ve been to mefrland many, many times with my children and we spent some rare moments with michael. we had christmases with michael and michael s kids. we re just two families that became very close over the years. and yet it s my understanding that since his death you really have had very little contact with his children and your children have had basically no contact with his children. have you reached out to try to establish that? well, i have tried. we re always here so, you know, if paris, blanket, prince are hearing or listening, i m here. my children are here and we re here 24/7 so that s not a problem. these headlines you made last year after his death when you said that you had made a sperm donation to michael and that it was possible you didn t claim anything further than that but it was possible that you might be paris biological father. do you think that had a chilling effect on your relationship with the rest of the jackson family? well, it possibly wouldn t have made me number one on the popular list but, unfortunately, these things came out and, you know, it doesn t detract from the fact that michael is paris dad and always will be and she will always be michael s daughter. she s a wonderful kid. all the kids are wonderful. but, yes, in the popularity stakes, i wouldn t have been that high up on the list. even though you ve had no direct contact with the children, do you have any means of getting information as to how they re doing? yeah, i do. i have people who within the family, external members, i get snippets of information. so i understand they re doing very well and they re looking fine and they re healthy. just be nice if we could pick up a phone and just say hi. in jeff rossen s piece, we saw they are out and about more than they were, being seen in the public more than they were when michael was alive. is that a good thing to you? did he haefinitely. michael absolutely cherished those children and obviously for their own safety he had to keep them very contained, i guess. now that they re getting out and about, the best thing for them, they need to get out and mix with kids of their own age and the healthiest thing possible to allow them their freedom. in the year since their death, so-called experts have tried to put his career and his life into perspective, mark. is there anything you feel is missing or has been missing from those discussions? well, most of these people have never ever met michael and they re working on the assumption. just anybody i know who has spent five minutes with michael jackson has come away saying, you know, there was an aura about michael, a peaceful, loving, giving, just this feeling of tranquility that michael gave out and you could not get that unless you met the man and everybody i know who has met michael has come away just completely blown away by this peaceful person. mark lester, thanks for your time this morning. thanks, matt. for more on michael jackson s death one year later and the entire interview with katherine jackson, catch a special dateline: michael jackson, a mother s story right here on nbc. i hope he and his kids get the opportunity to reconnect with those children. that would be nice for them. they live in london and the kids are even by phone, as he said. even a phone call. let s get a check of the weather from al in rye, new hampshire. that s right, matt, and we re along the sea coast here. a park that s rich in environmental diversity. several different types of habitats very close by and the charity we re going to be revealing is smack dab in the middle of this and we ll reveal that in a bit. let s see what s happening as far as your weather concern as you look at that gorgeous sailboat out on the water and we ve got as far as our early summer heat, we have temperatures again throughout the southwest. temperatures well up into the 100-degree mark. right around wichita, also oklahoma city, 95. 90s working their way threw the southeast with heat indices. the good news is they re down a we are off to a nice, quiet start. it will be cooler than the last couple of days. upper 80s to around 90, with low humidity, mostly sunny hey, don t forget you can check your weather anytime of the day or night for this weekend coming up on the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. matt? al, thanks so much. we ll see you in a little while. up next, charla nash heads home for her daughter s high school graduation and we re with her for the emotional journey. there s so many ways to love ya i mean like, oh, my gosh i m so in love make me wanna say oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh-oh [ horn honks ] [ tires squeal ] oprah: join me and liberty mutual insurance. drive responsibly. take the pledge. cone 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. now, get 0% apr for 60 months on a 2010 traverse with an average finance savings of around fifty four hundred dollars. see your local chevy dealer. it just doesn t go away. it s so baffling. [ female announcer ] this is fibromyalgia. chronic widespread pain that affects millions. if this pain sounds familiar, talk to your doctor and visit fibrocenter.com. we are back at 7:46 with an emotional homecoming for charla nash. on thursday she returned to stamford, connecticut, for the first time since she was mauled by her friend s chimpanzee. she came back for her daughter s high school graduation. she allowed us in on the celebration. for charla nash it s been a long road to recovery. on thursday a big stem for her and her family her first time outside the medical facility since that vicious attack. surrounded by friends and family, all here to celebrate as charla s 18-year-old daughter brianna graduates from high school. my mom s been very important. she s really happy and i can feel that. hey. at the graduation party it was also an emotional reunion from charla with dr. kevin miller, the trauma surgeon at stamford hospital where she was first treated. i m dr. miller. i ve heard about you. you have heard about me? thank you for all your help. you re very welcome. how are you feeling? are you tired? no, i feel great. it s got to touch your heart strings. she really is happy. she s much more independent. i was very impressed with how far she s come. charla resides in an assisted living facility outside of boston. she is here visiting and credits her family with giving her strength. i m getting stronger every day. it s a long way to go yet. it s been 16 months since the attack left nash blind, without hands, and a face. he s killing my friend. who is killing your friend? my chimpanzee. charla is currently being evaluated to see if she is a candidate for face and hand transplants and remains hopeful about the future. her daughter brianna has been by her side through it all. i get the impression you guys are thick as thieves prior to this you re smiling. is it true? yeah, we did just about everything together. in may charla told me how much the graduation means to her. in a way it will be your coming your. if you want to say that, yep. a nice way to spend it with everyone. a big part of brianna s success has been support at school. she has been prepared for that next step as a college freshman. she has such extraordinary courage and exceptional focus on what she wants to accomplish. and, you know what, she got that from you. she really did. she got all that from you, and you did such a good job raising her. thank you. thank you. that s why she did so well. so, you know, you did such a good job. for charla, it was her chance to be a proud parent and on thursday evening brianna nash. her daughter went from student to high school graduate. charla really is a great mom. she s not a selfish mom at all. she chose not to go to the graduation at the last moment because she did not want to be a distraction. it s about the kids and not about her. when you say distraction, it had to be a difficult year for brianna, senior year in high school, so much is going on academically and socially and to be living through this trauma in her personal life. charla is the first to say that woman helped her to transition from high school to college. it s important to have good people around you. absolutely. we will be right back. congratulations, brianna. [ talking ] [ slap! ] -[ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] -ow, ow! 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[ beep ] [ beep ] [ beep ] [ beep ] [ male announcer ] find an italian masterpiece in your grocer s freezer. new from buitoni. shrimp and lobster ravioli with garlic butter sauce. simple ingredients, artfully prepared. buitoni. create an italian masterpiece. discover more buitoni masterpieces in the freezer section. that s a mthwatering masterpiece? just ahead, this little turtle s amazing journey. new handmade burgers with fries starting at just $5.99. like the rojo burger, drenched in rich, smoky hickoryauce. enjoy fresh sliced avocado on . or the ultimate stacd with twice the meat a cheese. wrap your hands around the perfburger wfries, right only at chili s. are the things we make. this has always been a nation of builders, craftsmen. men and women for whom straight stitches and clean welds were matters of personal pride. they made the skyscrapers and the cotton gins. colt revolvers, jeep 4 x 4 s. these things make us who we are. as a people, we do well when we make good things and not so well when we don t. the good new is, this can be put right. we just have to do it. and so we did. this, our newest son, was imagined, drawn, carved, stamped, hewn and forged here in america. it is well made and it is designed to work. this was once a country where people made things, beautiful things, and so it is again. the new jeep grand cherokee. it makes my skin really silky and velvety. this is my body wash. what do you mean? this is it? why?! oh, don t do that to me! dove creamoil body wash. now with nutrium moisture. nutrium moisture. i m a believer. the nourishment in dove creamoil goes somehow deeper. i m happy about the change. change is good. dove creamoil body wash. i m happy about the change. change is good. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? every spoonful is a little different. mmm. they got three kinds of flakes. this is delicious. it s the perfect combination of sweet and crispy. i love it. this is so good. this is great. the magic s in the mix. hey college girl. hey mom. i just got your package. great. yea, mom you re the best. i thought you would like it. so, how are your classes, are you enjoying them? (announcer) it s more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. we can t wait to get you home. i love you mom. i love you too. we ll see you soon. choosey moms, choose jif. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i m stan stovall. kim dacey and traffic pulse 11 standing by. things picking up a little bit out there. spire activity fire activity on a joppa road, and an accident on northbound j.f.x. approaching ruxton road. fire activity on york road between linwood and mckay ave. accident at route 1 a wait and 75 108 and 75. also, a bad accident northbound i-95 court s potter built road. a tax and northbound on a power mill road. if you are adding it to the washington area, be aware of that this morning. old court road, out west side delays are dissipating a bit. 95 in the white marsh area looks like it might be backing down just that had. we re not seeing the big delays there this morning. good morning, everyone. things are quiet in the with the department. we had a cold front going through last night. it is a lot less humid this morning. today we will be in the upper 80s to around 90. 73 in catonsville. someone in rising sun. 71 in rising sun. high temperatures in the upper 80s to around 90 degrees. obviously cooler than yesterday. saturday night and sunday there is the third% chance for a thunderstorm. there is a 30% chance of a thunderstorm. as always, you could check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back at 8:25. see what s in front of your face a friday morning, the 25th day of june, 2010. we have a plaza filled with maxwell fans. a grammy-award winner getting set to take our concert stage in about half an hour. we re looking forward to that. meanwhile, outside i m matt lauer alongside meredith vieira. al is up in rye, new hampshire, for day five of what has been an extraordinarily successful week of lend a hand today. al has done an amazing job and we ll reveal the charity for today in just a couple of minutes. he really has. before we go any further, matt, there s a lady hiding down here. we can t show her face. because she is supposed to be at work but she loves maxwell so much that she is here. get in touch with somebody from the witness protection program. don t show her, though. we don t want to do that. we will show you a little you might want to change seats for the concert because we do shoot this way. okay. good. we are going to show you a little tiny turtle that was the center of a big controversy. she caused a taxiing plane to actually return to the gate and her 10-year-old owner said the crew told her she would have to throw the pet turtle away to get back onboard. this morning the happy ending, they are back together and will tell us all about it. plus she is still down there. plus the cool gadgets for your home to new ways to keep your kids cool. we ll get to that in just a little while. meanwhile, let s go inside. ann is on vacation. natalie is over at the news desk with a look at all the headlines. okay. she can come out now. good morning, everyone. no power and a mess to clean up. that s what thousands of people face after severe storms packing ferocious winds swept across parts of the northeast on thursday. there s a state of emergency in bridgeport, connecticut, where winds reaching 78 miles per hour toppled trees and power lines and destroyed buildings. torrential winds and high winds also hit philadelphia. remarkably, though, no serious injuries have been reported in either city. form former fema director james lee witt is going to help bp refine its response to the gulf oil spill. meantime, the oil spill is forcing closure after beach in pensacola, florida. president obama attends a major economic summit today in toronto, the focus is on how best to sustain the global economic recovery. the president is appealing to other world lead eers to resist the rush to slash spending and raise taxes to save their struggling economies. today britain s prince harry begins a three-day visit to the u.s. with a stop at west point. meantime, growing intrigue over the romantic intentions of his brother, prince which wiilliam. jim maceda, good morning. reporter: it seems that wherever prince william goes and whatever he does these days, one question is on everyone s mind what about kate? in the new and revealing interview on british tv, both brothers say their just concluded trip to africa brought them closer to each other and to their mother, diana. harry s visit to demining efforts in mozambique. whoever we re with i particularly always wonder what she would think, what she would be doing if she was with us now. i suppose that s what keeps us going every day, the thought of what she would be doing if she was around today. she s a part of us and that s the case there s a lot to do. we just started. reporter: but the africa trip sparked more speculation about his willingness to mary-kate middleton. he turned 28. but will is now planning to spend the next three years as a search and rescue helicopter pilot and despite all the rumors he and the royal family are constantly pushing back a formal engagement or wedding date even as william and kate now share a home in north wales. but the clock is ticking and big events like a 90th birthday next year and the olympics in 2012 could push any wedding into 2013 when william and kate would be 31, late by royal standards to start a family. diana became engaged to charles when she was only 19. still, the british people hope all this will eventually work out. some must have wondered, however, when confirmed bachelor prince albert of monaco announced his engagement earlier this week whether wills might follow suit and wait until his 50s to tie the knot. a lot of pressure on prince william. such a young man. thanks so much, jim maceda. time for the weather with al from rye, new hampshire. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by denny s $2, 4 $4, $6, $8 value menu. all day every day. and good morning as we continue day five of lend a hand today with more than $4.3 million in donations. we re here in rye, new hampshire. take a look at this. once in a blue moon, how about once in a blue lobster. what are the chances of a blue lobster? they found this guy in kittery, maine. usually the pigment color is red, yellow or blue. the blue lobster lacks the ability to make the yellow and red pigments. you notice how they re moving around, very aggressive because they stand out in the environment. that s one angry lobster. he ll take you right off with those claws. anyway, let s take a look and show you what s going on as far as your weather is concerned and we are looking at our pick city of the day just happens to be, of course, portland. we re looking at beautiful weather as you can see on the radar, on the satellite. we have sunshine up and down the eastern seaboard. a beautiful day today. we do have a risk of storms through the upper midwest and, in fact, there could be isolated tornadoes, hail, damaging winds. out west some pretty nice weather. after hitting 100 degrees yesterday, it will be cooler today. it s a little warm, comfortable as far as humidity high temp and what other morning show could bring you a blue lobster and a turtle? that s right. take a look. tiny turtle all right, al. thank you very much. our friend still hiding back here but she wants me to say hi to who? buttercup. it s getting stranger and stranger. when we come back from the mren to the trash to an emotional reunion that turtle s remarkable journey. a car that stands strong. when you need it most. and expects to handle the unexpected. at chevrolet, we created a team of red x engineers who are obsessed with quality. red x torture tests every car down to the smallest detail. because everyone deserves excellence. we got it on rollback. that s what i m talking about. blue bunny premium ice cream. i know you want it. [ humming ] this is my ice cream dance. ooo, peanut butter. they used to spend hours on the couch, this is my ice cream dance. watching t.v., playing video games. and with all you hear about childhood obesity, i was concerned. now i take a more active role in their health like insisting on lots of play time and making sure they eat right. like when i make burgers i use lean jennie-o ground turkey. i m proud i got them off the couch. well, sort of. anncr: be well. with all the great tasting ways to eat lighter. only from jennie-o. women preferred the softness and scent of concentrated snuggle blue sparkle to the leading brand. and snuggle costs less, too. so go on, buy snuggle today. two times with comfort inn or any choice hotel, you can feed a family of four. book now at choicehotels.com to start earning your $50 restaurant gift card. to start earning [ female announcer ] when the more options you have,ght, 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. turtle behind a big commotion on a commercial flight. we re going to meet her and talk to her 10-year-old moment. first, natalie has the story. meredith, you know you can t bring snakes on a plane. carley helm brought her caged pet, a turtle, on an airtran airways flight. the plane was taxiing to the runway when the crew spotted it. so they turned around, went back to the gate, and they gave carley a very difficult choice. meet neytiri, the tiny turtle at the center of a big controversy. the traumatic experience began when her owners say they were forced to abandon her in an airport trash can. they said you can throw it in the garbage and get back on. the helm sisters and little neytiri were on a flight from atlanta to milwaukee when the turtle was discovered just before takeoff, the plane returned to the gate and the girls were told the turtle had to go. we were like holding up the plane with a bunch of people on it and we were under pressure, so they told us to throw the whole cage away. and then we got back on. the sisters called their dad who had dropped them at the airport. by the time he got back, neytiri was nowhere to be found. discarding a little creature like that is really inhumane. not allowing me to come back and retrieve the animal is the wrong decision. airtran confirms their no reptile policy but vigorously denies telling the girls to toss the turtle. we thought for a period of time the turtle was lost. we had found out later that an airtran crew member retrieved the turtle from the trash can. giving this turtle tale a happy ending. two days later neytiri finally got a ticket home. 10-year-old carley was all smiles at the reunion. as for neytiri, she did not seem any worse for the wear. meanwhile, the animal rights group peta sent a letter to airtran demanding an investigation, meredith. thank you, natalie. carley helm and her pet turtle are with us now along with carley s sisters rebecca and annie and their mom tammy. good morning to you all. good morning. morning. carley, how does it feel to have neytiri back? i was happy and i was excited. well, she has been through a lot in the past few days. does she seem any different to you? kind of. yeah? in what way? having my turtle back. i m sure for you it s great news. rebecca, take me back to tuesday. you re getting on that flight in atlanta. you visit your dad and you re going back home. you had to go through security obviously. at any point did somebody notice a turtle, say anything to you about it and the fact you can t bring turtles on planes? no. we went past security and they okayed it and we got on the plane. all the flight attendants thought it was okay and told us to put it under the seat and then all of a sudden after we taxi, then they find the rule and we have to go back. now you said that they told you you would have to throw the turtle away. airtran is saying they never said that. but you were faced with a tough decision because in order to get back on that plane you did have to leave your turtle in atlanta. why did you decide to put neytiri in that trash bin? they told us either throw it away or get off and i asked if they could talk to my dad on the phone and he was already on his way back to the airport, and they said, no, we can t talk to him. so i thought that if i just left it there, then he was already on his way. he could come get it for us. well, tammy, i know that you ve said for your girls this was really a roller coaster of a ride for them. first they have the turtle and then they don t. but do you understand in any way why airtran made the decision it did? they say this is policy for all commercial planes that you can t bring reptiles in the passenger area because they could carry diseases like salmonella? right. and i understand that. but we didn t know that there was a policy. they brought the turtle to the gate and the attendants commented how cute it it was and the attendants also told them to put the turtle under the seat, so at that point, my children didn t know that there was a policy against this because nobody had told them otherwise. so, you know, policies are great, but the employees should know the policies and put a stop to something like this from happening. before it taxis away. airtran did make good and bring neytiri back to your daughter so, in a way, are you at least happy with that outcome? yes. yes, we are very happy with that outcome and jennifer forbes, who is from peta, was pretty much responsible for retrieving our turtle back. like rebecca said, her dad was at the airport asking for help. he got no help from anybody there. and it wasn t until jennifer forbes from peta stepped in and action was taken immediately. all right. so we re very greateful. very appreciative to the employee at airtran who actually took the turtle out of the garbage can. we wanted to thank him. okay. and carley, we re glad you got neytiri back. i have a feeling that turtle is going to stay put from this point on. thank you to the helm family and neytiri. thank you. and up next on this friday with everything you need to beat the summer heat right after this. i m darryl willis. i oversee bp s claims process on the gulf coast. bp has got to make things right and that s why we re here. we re replacing the lost income for fishermen, small businessmen and others who aren t able to work until the spill is cleaned up. we ve agreed to create a $20 billion claims fund, administered independently. our claims line is open 24 hours a day. i volunteered for this assignment because this is my home. i ll be here in the gulf as long as it takes to make this right. [music, talking, laughing] what makes hershey s s mores special? hershey s chocolate goodness that brings people together. pure hershey s. what had happened in central harlem was failure became the norm. the schools were lousy. the healthcare was lousy. gangs were prevalent. violence was all over. families were falling apart. you can t raise children in a community like that. people had been talking about things, but not doing anything. hi, mr. canada. how are you? i m doing great, how bout you? right here on 119th street. if we could fix this block, then we could fix the next block, then we could fix the next block. we promised parents, if your child stays with us, i guarantee you that child is going to graduate from college. failure is simply not an option. the sixty.the seventy. the eighty. the ninety-seven blocks which ends up being 10,000 children. we start with children from birth, and stay with those children until they graduate. if you really want to have an impact that is large, you will get there going one step at a time. there is no act that is too small to make a difference. no matter what you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate at membersproject.com. have you tried honey bunches of oats with real strawberries? wow. it s seriously strawberry. they re everywhere. it s in the bunches, on the flakes, even real strawberries in the mix. can i have some more? honey bunches of oats with real strawberries. it s delicious. nobody does it quite like us. to travel in comfort and style. presenting the new toyota avalon. for a ride that s jet-smooth! it s got reclining rear seats! and such a quiet cabin! bluetooth wireless audio makes every trip a delight! the new toyota avalon. comfort is back. back at 8:20, this morning on today s friday whip cool ways to beat the summer heat. tricks to staying cool starting with your home. the host of lxtv open house. good morning, matt. let s start with air conditioners. we love them. you have a way to let them do their job without fighting the heat. you want to keep your air conditioner out of the sun so what you have is a little housing right here. it s a metal housing that has a tie row foam that absorbs all the heat and lets it do its job of cooling the house. it s safe and attaches. you can hook it into the house. when you have an air conditioner going in your house, a good thing is to circulate that cool air. yes, exactly. people think i have an air conditioner, i have a fan. use both in conjunction. use the fan to circulate the air around the house. a great idea is to get ceiling fans. on all ceiling fans they have a switch. you want counterclockwise in the summer to suck the cold air up and in the winter clockwise so it pulls all the hot air and pushes it down into the house. i m sure a lot of people don t do that. these are programmable thermostats. how much are these going to cost us? about 65 bucks for one of these and they re going to save you about 50 bucks a month. they re a no-brainer. everybody should have a programmable thermostat in their house. they ll keep it cool while you re there but when you take off they ramp things down. when you re home in the morning, after school or after work, the house is nice and cool. when you re not there, you re saving yourself an energy bill. and people don t think about it. use your blinds and your shutters. close your blinds before you leave to work to keep the sun from warming up your house. it also protects if you have any leaks, having a good, solid shade or curtain is going to protect your house. stay cool, george. let s head over to meredith. lfrt, matt, thank you very much. what if you are not in your house and want to stay cool? some cool gadgets. good morning to you. we ll start with this cooling pad that actually goes right inside a hat. this is really neat. this is from a company called miracle and made for construction workers so they can stay cool in the heat. it s a gel you actually freeze overnight and it stays cool for about an hour so you can tuck it into your baseball cap which is great. if you want to go running, to your kid s baseball game, you can use it like 1,000 times. it s $17. if you re doing lawn work, do you recommend these bandannas. the cooling bandannas are amazing. a lot of people use these guys. basically put them in cold water for about two minutes and then put them on pressure points, so around your wrist, your neck, around your head and they keep you cool for basically the hold day because it distributes the coolness throughout your body so, again, really amazing. if you re heading to the beach, do what martha stewart does, this facial mist. they have this mist which you put in your cooler and it has aloe and rosemary and you instantly become cool. if you happen to get a sun burn, that s okay. they have a cooling gel with menthol. this is my favorite. this is the cool and serve square tray to keep your food cool when it s outside which is great. this is the best thing that ever happened to mom so they don t have to worry about their food going bad during picnics. it s made by pampered chef. you get these inserts and refrigerator freeze them overnight and they keep your food cool for about six hours outside. that s fan ttastic. it is fantastic and they come in mix and match. you can put eggs and all kinds of things, 15 different ways to serve. and the cool pillow. this is by magnaflex, one of the best to keep you cool,ed 100. robin, thank you very much. now upstairs to natalie. meredith, thank you. how do you keep the summer sun? a toy expert for us at today s moms.com. a water slide type thing. exactly. toy story came out. a lot of fun, we have it shortened for the studio. water squirting through there and when they put aqua goggles on it s 3-d. the 2010 slip and slide version. very fun. exactly. we love super soaker. the rattle super soaker and this one. we can squirt. they re a lot of fun. parents, too. crayola color-fillz. a way kids can make their own mosaics, a color code to put in the model magic. a piece of artwork to hang up. and last but not least. these are cdi novelty fans. our kids are going to have all their favorite little characters on them. lights that light up inside. this is a lot of fun when they re sitting in bed, reading, take it to camp with them. adorable. let s turn it over to tamron hall. thank you, natalie. there s nothing better than an ice cold befrmg. the author of 101 blender drinks. good morning, kim. how are you? i m better after having one of your drinks. a watermelon basil frappe made with fresh watermelon perfect for the summer. lime juice. a little bit of watermelon syrup you can buy online and the basil leaves. so a quick blending technique. you want to blend the ingredien ingredients. first without ice and then add a little bit of ice. this will actually keep the drink colder longer. i ll pour this while you move over to the next one. i have to warn you, you have to be a true chocolate narcissist to like this drink. and i am. chocolate syrup and you re big on syrup. i m big on syrups, yes. chocolate ice cream, everything chocolate. oreos, brownies. all right. and check out the recipes on the live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. let s get off a check on the morning commute with kim dacey. things are clearing up just a tad, but joppa road is shut down in the towson. because of fire and virginia ave. and. you might want to an area you might want to avoid this morning. report of an accident at howard county and elkridge. route 108 and 175. report of an accident in annapolis. 95 northbound, north of the capital beltway, powder mill road, there is an accident blocking 3 lanes but causing quite a backup, the bid we are seeing slow southbound traffic. live look to the north side of the beltway at harford road shows it s sacking out just a tad. be aware and be ready to tap on your brights. tap on her brakes. white marsh area, looking good there. good morning, everyone. it is a nice forecast this morning. a cold front got rid of humidity and shifted winds to the northwest at after hitting 100 degrees yesterday, we will be cooler today. mid-to-upper-70 s. 71 in parkton to 75 degrees and 8 edgewood. mostly sunny skies, less humid. we would consider today a one day if we did not hit 100 yesterday. seven-day forecast, 91 on saturday 93 on sunday, and there is a 30% chance you could run into a thunderstorm. most of the weekend is going to be dry. we will have another update at 8:55. smenen? friday, june 25th, 2010. we have a terrific concert lined up for you. brooklyn-born singer maxwell on the plaza in just a moment. i m meredith vieira along with matt lauer and natalie morales. al is standing by in rye, new hampshire. the weather has been a record setting week. we re going to check in with him just ahead. it s been a great week. it has been. we ll go back live to nev neverland ranch marking the one-year anniversary of michael jackson s death. jeff rossen will give us a tour again of what has changed over the year and take a look back at what s happened in the michael jackson legacy. all right. and can we say hello to one of the funniest guys around, kevin james is here this morning. all weeklong we ve been talking to grown ups that features snl alum, chris rock, adam sandler, and this guy. you have worked with adam sandler before. had had you crossed paths with the others as well? all from the stand-up community and stuff like that. chris rock out of new york doing stand-up and we never really knew each other. so it was nice to meet him and great to hang out with him. what a great guy. you re all married with kids and i ve been asking everybody the same question i m asking now. at what point did you realize, like it or not, you are a grown up? what time is it now? it s something that s on going. and i don t want to completely grow up. i honestly don t. i love seeing myself and my kids and i want to kind of stay young that way as long as i can. but my wife, she takes care of the grown-up stuff. and there s a swing incident in the film. your character, you have to get on a tree, and i understand that was based on a true incident that happened with adam. yes. and how did you get that part? adam told us the story and we were all laughing at the story and then they turned to me, yeah, you re going to do that in the movie. i don t want to do it again. he said it s because your funny. that s a nice way of putting it when you say, hey, big man, go into the tree. i ve heard that before. i bet you have. kevin, thank you. still on the air. and don t forget to check out the movie grown ups opening does it open today? it opens today. good for you. let s go up to new hampshire. al is there lending a hand. al? and that s why i love kevin james. he s the best. let s check your weather, see what s happening. we re going to reveal our charity in just a moment or two. but first of all, we want to take a look, show you what s happening as far as your weekend is concerned. we do have strong storms in the midsection of the country for tomorrow. sunny along the east coast. west coast looking good. gulf coast sunny and hot. then sunday we re looking at more sunshine along the east we are off to a nice, quiet start. it will be cooler than the last couple of days. upper 80s to around 90, with low humidity, mostly sunny s and we re going to reveal our charity in a moment. i also want to revem the man responsible for our director joe michaels. this is peter flynn. he gave him his first job in radio. well, i m pretty sure i did, j joe. there you go. he says hi. i remember you. it s your fault.d. all right. back to you guys. all right, al, thank you very much. and also from here on the plaza, maxwell live in concert. back now at 8:36 with the fifth and final stop on this year s lend a hand today tour, al s week of giving kicked off on monday. he was in san francisco. and then after bozeman, montana, des moines, iowa, and memphis, mr. roker is wrapping things up in rye, new hampshire. hey, al. that s right. and, meredith, our charity is one that is integral to the coastline here in rye, new hampshire. it s the sea coast science center. the ocean s mysteries captured our imaginations since the beginning of time. and on the coast of new hampshire the seacoast science center is working hard to educate children about the vital role oceans play in our lives. it s a place that changed the lives of cousins 12-year-old myra and 11-year-old nick. i ve been coming since i was about, like, 2 or 3 years old here and i really, really loved it here and then i really wanted to learn more about it and see what i could do. while their friends are playing video games or hanging out at the mall, these two spend their time volunteering at seacoast. if you don t really learn, then you don t really grow, so it s important that when kids are young they can come here. each area is going to have different animals that can survive in that area. here at the center visiting students learn to appreciate nature as well as science in an environment that many of them have never been exposed to before. we are going to head outside. for these sixth graders the tide is low and that means the action is outside. it s time for tide pooling. if you start moving some of these rocks here we go. that s the shore crab. the mission is just to get them to appreciate what we have right here and respect it. you re teaching them about the ocean and a lot of them have never really been to the ocean. it s a her and she has eggs. we have a load of eggs. along this rocky coast, these kids discover the world of science. it s fun and i enjoy being with wild stuff. and gain knowledge they ll take with them. i learned about the different sea creatures i didn t know about. the staff at seacoast say their work is especially important today with vivid images of the gulf oil spill fresh in our minds. i think the crisis in the gulf has really increased people s awareness of the fragility of the marine environment and we need to be really thoughtful about our actions. i found another shark. an awareness that will influence the decisions kids like nick and maya will make throughout their lives. it s really what i love so it s really important to have this here. i found a little baby. we focus on the children and what happens with them. that s what s really going to turn them into not just si scientists and technicians. it gives you the respect for other living creatures and helps you realize that we are part of a large ecosystem. all right. here we go. for the seacoast science center, let s open up the penske trucks and show you what we ve got starting off with $80,000 from national geographic with copies of nat geo, $30,000 from united airlines. they re giving 200,000 miles each day. you can logon todayshow.com and see how that works. $22,000 from discovery channel, discovery kids, of books and myth buster kits. dry erasers, dry erase markers donated $20,000 worth of markers. scuba pro bringing $14,000 worth of equipment, dive suits and equipment. columbia sportswear, $13,000 worth of outer wear and rain wear. td bank giving you over $13,000 worth of kayaks, and personal flotation devices. specialized equipment for your exhibits. hasbro more than $10,000 worth of toys. b.j. s warehouse donating $10,000 gift card for all sorts of computer equipment. $10,000 cash from cumberland farms and gulf oil companies. $10,000 worth of honest tea drinks for all the thirst that you work up. $10,000 worth of kenmore appliances from sears. $10,000 from random house celebrating the 50th anniversary of dr. seuss one fish, two fish. donating three years of storage space. garnett hills $10,000 worth of backpacks to outfit the kids. a $10,000 donation to you guys. $10,000 cash donation yesterday and today. johnson outdoors, ocean kayak and old town canoe. backpack bagels and cakes from sara lee. storage sheds and tools. interstate donating batteries for you. i want to thank dyson for helping the science center stay clean. giving you sea salt. petco is donating fish food for you. glidden paint donating water color kits. aqua sports in rye will provide scuba equipment setup for you and open this up yamaha atv, the yamaha grizzly 700, they re going to donate that. and also we ll have more from the center. we re going to talk to wendy and jim from the seacoast science center and tell you how they re going to use all this stuff. day five lend a hand today rolls on. way to go, al. fantastic. nice job as always. we ll check back with him in a little while. also, we re going to go back to neverland. up next grammy winner maxwell live on the plaza. ñoçpççç announcer: the toyota concert series on today brought to you by toyota. toyota, moving forward. the sexy ambassador of soul performing his grammy winning single pretty ladies, ladies and gentlemen, maxwell. oh, baby oh, oh oh time will bring no fear they will remember me your face is the reason i smile i see and i hope you feel the same baby, girl my affection pretty girl pretty angel baby i came on you were mine baby, i m sorry i told you lies not about the times i should have told you better times, better days and i miss you more and more pretty angel pretty pretty pretty angel pretty i can hold you i don t want to have nobody else maxwell absolutely amazing. my fistful of tears black summer s night won the grammy. once again, maxwell. how are you all doing out there? maybe crazy if anything should change don t worry i m moving to make you believe you lost will you forgive me keeps you down will you forgive me girl, i know your name i feel you and i m going to stand here moet turning my world around will you forgive me taking it might not be right ooh a little more love i can t control the feeling i can t control the feeling i can t control the feeling i can t control the feeling live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara to add the baltimore city council has given final approval to a package of new cuts in service the services that should eliminate a budget shortfall. they include at 2-cent tax on certain bottled beverages, which the council approved after rejecting a four-cent tax. retailers and beverage industry had lobbied against the tax but mayor stephanie rawlings blake says that it will it s now let s take a look at the forecast with tony pann. it is going to be a lot less humid today and more comfortable. yesterday we had eight 100 and today we will be in the upper 80s to around 90. high temperatures will be above average, but comfortable compared to the last couple of days. we will be back into the low 90s on saturday, but dry. sunday, but it presents a chance of a shower or thunderstorm. most of the weekend will be dry. don t cancel plans. it will be hot on sunday, with a high 93 or 94. by the time we get into the middle or end of next week, the temperatures should cool off. highs only about 80 degrees. we will have another update at 9:25.