Transcripts For WBAL Today 20101102 : vimarsana.com

the alleged bombmaker. and emotional and physical issues. that s what demi lovato s publicist says about her reasons that s what demi lovato s publicist says about her reasons for entering a rehab. captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to today on this tuesday election day. the election is finally here. and all voters will decide all 435 house seats, 37 spots in the senate and 37 governors races today. there are two other numbers to keep in mind, the numbers 39 and 10. as republicans seek to gain 39 seats to take back the house and ten to take back the senate. if you re a parent, this commercial has probably caught your attention, a program that promises to give your children a jump-start on learning by teaching a young child to read. can you actually teach a young child to read in the first place? is civility dead? it s become normal for people to yell to get their way and to talk loudly on their phones in blic places. how did we become so rude as a society? we ll get into that. let s begin with our decision 2010 coverage of today s election. plus we re going to talk to the chairman of the republican national committee and the president of the governor s association. reporter: it is finally here and voters get their say today at polling places around the country. after this long season and an angry mood in the country, it seems more likely that democrats could hold on to the senate, but for the house of representatives, after today, it could be under new management. in ohio, today s election has lyrics. i m a [ bleep ] republican. that s what i are. country legend hank williams jr. set the sage for the top republican that could become speaker of house. john boehner will return to washington tonight. look out. reporter: he called president obama s get out the vote message to latinos calls him the enemy. mr. president, that word isn t enemies, they re patriots. reporter: today nevada voters could topple the most powerful democrat in the senate. we love harry reid! reporter: harry reid is struggling against tea party conservative sharon angle. the first lady made her pitch for reid personal. i am proud to be here supporting him today. now harry s not just a great leader, harry is a good man. reporter: democrats in washington say they re nervous today for three term incumbent senator patty murray. i need your help and support to make sure i m back there fighting for you, for middle class families. reporte it s kind of crazy that people understand and get it. reporter: back home in delaware, the vice president s on defense. rock these folks. don t let this happen. reporter: joe biden found a warm and fuzzy way to warn against voting republican. folks, these are a different breed of cat, this is not your father s republican party. reporter: while in west virginia, democrat joe manchin has tried to appear much more conservative. and bill clinton seemed to approve. i told joe on the way in, i can t figure out why the tea party hasn t endorsed him. reporter: and president obama has taken a more behind the scenes approach, he s done a couple of radio interviews in local and national stations, from urban to pop, even doing an interview with ryan sechrest. alaska s three-way senate race is one of the most watched in the country and that has a lot to do with someone who isn t even on the ballot, sarah palin. reporter: well, sarah palin has certainly inserted herself into this senate race which has many wondering what the results could mean for her future. alaska s senate candidates making their final push, joe miller, the republican tea party favorite is struggling against write-in candidate incumbent candidate lisa murkowski, if the republican vote is split, that could help democrat scott mcadams, but the race is also a referendum on sarah palin, she s thrown her support behind miller and helped him take the gop nomination from murkowski this summer. but now polls show miller faltering. if murkowski wins, this will be a black eye for sarah palin. reporter: sarah palin s national reputation will be bruised by a loss in her home state where it may look like she was too interested in settling old family feuds. sarah palin beat lisa murkowski s father, that s how she became governor. i m running against joe miller and scott mcadams and that s my focus. reporter: palin has ratcheted up her nationally palin s been on the front line in leading the gop attacks on president obama. how s that hopey changey stuff working out for you? if there s nobody else to do it, of course i believe we should do this. reporter: palin is now fired up about a political article that claims gop leaders are trying to, quote, stop her from running in 2012 because they re afraid she would lose to president obama. according to the conservative website, palin called politico reporters pubby kicking, chain smoking porn producers. if they would man up and make these claims against me, then i can debate them, i can talk about it. but they re making stuff up again. reporter: now in one of palin s latest tweets, she calls today freedom day, as for the race itself, if that write in option comes out on top or if the results are close, polling official also have to count all of those write in ballots by hand, which means we might not know the winner here in alaska for weeks. meredith? oh, great, kristen welker, thanks so much. chuck todd is nbc s political director and chief white house correspondent, david gregory is moderator of meet the press . we talked about surprises at this stage of the campaign, will the only surprise tomorrow be if the republicans don t get that net 39 seats they need in the house to take control? i think that s right. let s look at the numbers, democrats are playing an away game on republican turf. look at what the democrats hold 49 districts that john mccain carried. they only need 39 to win, they could do it if they just win seats that john mccain carried. this has been a nationalized election on health care and on cap and trade. 51 democrats sit in districts that president kerry, president obama kerry voted for these things. you put that together and we re looking at 100 democratic districts and that s why you hear some republicans saying i would be more surprised if we didn t win 60 than if we came up short. if you come up with 50 on the republican side, you ve got a 23-seat majority. you can do the math, it just goes down. what does that mean for their legislative agenda? it means the republican party is going to have a much more conservative small government party and a republican majority if it comes to that. what it means according to one republican i spoke to, big bush tax cuts and look for house republicans to repeal health care. they can only pass that out of a house that looks that. take us to the senate, more of an uphill battle for the republicans there, they need to gain a net of ten seats. here s their path to ten if they get it tonight, four they believe they have in the bank, that s north dakota, arkansas, indiana and wisconsin. so they need to find six more. check out these three in yellow. these are if you believe there is wind at the republicans back, then they re going to win pennsylvania, they re going to win illinois and they re going to win colorado. colorado and illinois democrats still believe are a true toss up. but to get to ten, they need to find three of these states in red. west virginia closes at 7:30, if democrats hold this, i think they hold the senate, pure and simple. but if republicans win this, then all they need to do is find two more out here, you ve got nevada, that s a coin flip and you ve got washington and california. california looks like it s probably not going to be there for the republicans. washington state, we talked about alaska for weeks, some think washington state could be the one that takes weeks to find out. a lot of these tight races in the senate are in states that are not particularly hostile to democrats. you mentioned nevada inn right there, we have got sharon angle and harry reid, what do you see happening there? 12% of the vote, the hispanic vote in nevada, very important for harry reid to get those voters out. they did not get immigration reform that reid was pushing for. h a couple of weeks ago it seemed that joe miller had this thing wrapped up. now lisa murkowski is making a come back. is it a toss up at this stage? will people go in there and figure out how to write murkowski s name? sarah palin s political future is on the line. to say i stood up to sarah palin and i took her on and i beat her. this will be a big embarrassment for sarah palin if she can t pull this one off. a word of warning, colorado i know you think is important. you think washington state is a fire wall for the democrats? i do. and we talked about washington state is a place where the economy isn t so bad, it isn t like the rest of the country, number one. number two you have a democrat who has run as good of a campaign for an incumbent as you can possibly have. it s right on the margin, democrats feel like in a normal year they definitely hold it. she s personally popular if washington is the culprit here. washington, d.c. washington, d.c., right. when you all join us tomorrow morning, and you will, what is the headline we re going to be talking about? i think this is a new era for the republican party, for the tea party, i think the new elephant in the room is going to be the tea party and it s influence on washington. david gregory, chuck todd, you have a long night ahead of you. former virginia governor tim kaine is the chairman of the democratic national committee. mississippi governor haley barbour is chairman of the republican governor s association. good morning to both of you. governor kaine, if i can start with you, you predicted that the democrats would hold on to the house and the senate, but the house majority whip james clyburn says if you believe the polls, it s going to be close to a bloodbath for the democrats. do you still hold to your predictions. yeah, meredith, the other guys are saying they re going to take both houses i say we re going to maintain both houses. i agree with chuck and david, the senate seems to be an easier one for us now. here s the path for us in the house. the republicans will win a number of seats, they hold democrats are in 49 districts right now that voted for john mccain, but what most folks don t factor in is there are republican seats that we re going to win. we think we have got great shots at picking up seats in delaware, maybe a couple of seats in florida, illinois, hawaii, louisiana, and every seat that s a republican seat we pick up makes the math harder for the other guys. it s an uphill battle. but we like the early voting that we re seeing in these states and we definitely feel like we have a shot. governor barbour, what do the numbers say to you? nothing is ever a given in politics, i think it s more likely the republicans will win a majority of the senate, though it s still possible. and a lot of close races, in for governors, i think we ll pick up several governors, at least to where we have 30 or more republican governors at the close of the election. governor kaine, last week in a radio interview, the president referred to republicans as enemies, he said he should have said opponents not enemies. but let s speak to the mindset of democrats in this election cycle. instead of being the party of compromise, now this is really a them against us attitude. you have to give a discount to a lot of things said in the last ten days. it s good what the president said, he was talking about the republican complete opposition to immigration reform, the fact that no republican senators would vote for the dream act in the senate. and that even republican senators who were in favor of immigration reform three or four years ago have now backed away from it. and so he was talking about the president on clear immigration issues. he used the phrase that he then yesterday said, you know what i should have used opponents. that kind of thing happens in the last ten days. governor barbour, i can move on to you and the tea party, that s obviously played a very critical role in this election. but is the tea party going to fold itself into the republican party or will it stand alone separate? i think one of the most important political news this year is that tea party candidates have not run as third party candidates, they have not done like ross perot did, they have run as republicans. if they had run as republicans that would have been tim kaine s fondest dream, it would have split the anti-obama vote and split the conservative vote. i think the tea party will continue to be part of the republican party. many of them were republicans to start with. the real story of the tea party is these are people who may or may not have been republicans or independents or even conservative democrats who are motivated to get up off the couch and go out and do something because they are so against the policies of the obama administration. and i think they will continue to be active in politics, which is healthy for republicans, and i think also for the body politics. do you think they re going to set the agenda in washington? no, the president will set the agenda in washington. i think that s one of the things the news media needs to be careful about. if the republicans win the majority in the house and the democrats continue to have a majority in the senate, the president s going to continue to have the megaphone, he s going to be the one setting the agenda, but what republicans will do, is republicans will adhere to what the voters vote for. they re going to be cutting spending, they re going to be reducing the deficits. they re going to try to repeal and replace the health care reform bill, if they can t repeal it, they re going to try to change it so you wouldn t recognize it. they re going to be faithful to what the voters vote for tonight. tim kaine, i ll give you the last word here. republicans have said what they want to do, mitch mcconnell said the top priority is making sure that obama is a one-term president. th thank you both for joining us this morning. and you can follow all the election night returns beginning at 9:00, 8:00 central time. let s get a check of the other headlines of the morning. natalee is filling in for ann who s on assignment. good morning, everyone. u.s. officials now say three suspicious packages intercepted back in september may have been a dry run for last week s attempted mail bombings. those boxes were filled with papers, books and other materials. meantime federal investigators say last friday s mail bombs were wired to detonators that used cell phone technologies, but it s still unclear whether those detonators would have been set off by phone calls or an internal alarm. greek police say a bomb has exploded at the swiss embassy in athens, but no injuries have been reported. yesterday police were investigating a suspicious package at the bulgarian embassy. a federal appeals court has extended the military s don t ask, don t tell policy indefinitely. the government is challenging an earlier course policy that bans gay service members is unconstitutional. officials say americans were killed in separate incidents in the past four days in the violent border city of juarez. a new study finds the children of mothers who ate a lot of peanuts during pregnancy are at an increased risk to having a strong sensitivity or allergy to peanuts. but the direct link to a mother s consumption of peanuts and allergies is not known. edison pena will run the marathon. god luck to him. after 56 days of waiting, they are finally the world series champs. the san francisco giants beat the texas rangers last night. a parade is planned for tomorrow. congratulations to the giants. it s now 7:20, right now you re up to date. let s turn it back over to matt, meredith and al. good morning. it is a cold start for us in maryland. temperatures in the upper 20 s and low 30 s. scrape a little frost of your windshield. we will see mostly sunny skies. and that s your latest weather. matt? thanks so much, more now on those explosive packages intercepted on their way to the united states. as natalee mentioned, intelligence officials are now saying that a dry run may have been made back in september. this as the suspected bombmaker is identified. nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel is here with more on that. u.s. and other counter terrorism officials believe they know exactly who s responsible for making these parcel bombs. a 28-year-old saudi, smart, determined, he has one goal, to make a completely nonmetallic bomb that can get through airport security. reporter: u.s. officials suspect this is his handiwork. it s the bomb hidden in one of two computer printerses mailed to the united states from yemen. the bomb was filled with 400 grams of petn, an explosive powder. this demonstration shows what a similar bomb could do to a printer. and a truck. the young man suspected of building the printer bomb is a saudi national. he s made an explosive in a v.h.s. tape, another in a picture frame. the 28-year-old thinks he s a bomb making genius and enjoys what he does. his goal is to build an explosive device that can be snuck through airline security that is undedetectivable. he is widely believed to have made the bomb of petn powder woven into underwear to bring down a passenger plane over detroit last christmas. that bomb didn t work, it just caught fire. this time the printer bombs were found after a tip from the saudi government. but he will keep trying. he s motivated and convinced his own younger brother last year to put a small bomb inside his body for a suicide attack. he is believed to be still hiding in yemen. he s wanted by the united states, interpol, yemen and saudi arabia. eventually he s going to be able to put one together that s going to be deadly. it s his consistent desire to build a bomb and send it to the united states has just put him in the crosshairs of many different counter terrorism agencies. coming up, 18-year-old disney star demi lovato checks into rehab, we re going to get details on that story. but first, this is today on nbc. women are charged 40% more for the same health insurance as men. domestic violence is treated as a pre-existing condition in eight states. women are abused by their husbands and then by their insurance companies. and last year they tried to end our coverage for mammograms and other preventive services. well i m proud to say i got the law changed. i m barbara mikulski. i approve this message so you ll know that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. gary condit testifies in the trial of chandra levy. we ll have more. do the programs that promise to teach your baby t 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 with sarah caldwell. if you are trying to get to the polls this morning, there are heavy delays developing. northbound 85, and debris contributing to a delay. madison street at fallsway, watch for an accident another one and vincent farm grain and middle river. and that s the pulaski highway and jones road. accident at pulaski highway and jones wrote. there is elected drive times to the strike on or about 895. 11 minutes on the outer loop north and west side. in light of traffic on harford road. a live view of traffic on harford road. some delays, just out of the tunnel at hulbert. at hall of bird. it is called and you probably will have to scrape some frost off your windshield. but that is about it. 28 degrees at westminster, 29 and parkton. forecast for today s mostly sunny skies. if you high, thin clouds coming by. chance for rain the time to get to this day. check the bottom of your screen for news and traffic screen for news and traffic everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there s a big difference between fees and taxes. but.they re the same. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. fees you have to define, because they have nothing to do with taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it s a tax. now he says it isn t true. they have nothing to do with taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely. 7:30 now on a tuesday morning, november 2, 2010. that makes election day nationwide, voters already out casting their ballots. there in wilmington, delaware, the outcome could lead to a big power change in that building right there, the capitol in washington. people out on our plaza will make it to the polls after the show. a big disney star checks into rehab, 18-year-old demi lovato is known for her role in camp rock. but now she has pulled out of our tour with the jonas brothers and entered rehab for emotional and physical conditions. and can you really teach a baby to read? and whatever happened to common courtesy, they shout to get attention and get their way. have we become a rude nation? we ll have more on our special series, is civility dead? the 18-year-old was on the international leg of her tour when she made the decision to check into a treatment facility. the news has her fans wondering exactly what s wrong and how long she ll be out of the spotlight. every day is like a blank canvass she s a rising young star in music and on television. 18-year-old demi lovato is best known for her role on camp rock a made for tv movie on the disney channel. lovato stars alongside the jonas brothers. but according to lovato s representative, the teen star is having some problems. for the past three months she s been on tour with the jonas brothers, this week performing in south america. a spokesman for lovato says that demi left her tour early this weekend in order to seek medical treatment for her emotional and physical illnesses. demi has decided to take personal responsibility for her actions and seek help. sources close to lovato s family say she has a long history of emotional problems, including eating disorders and cutting. the latest emotional hurdle, touring with her ex-girlfriend joe jonas, the two called it quits in may after dating for several months. it s bad enough that she s traveling around with joe jonas, her ex-boyfriend around the world, but to top it off, he brings his new girlfriend ashley green everywhere they go. it s enough to make a girl go crazy for sure. reporter: she s recently been linked to teen singing sensation justin bieber. sources say the tour with the jonas brothers combined with emotional issues became too overwhelming. she has a good head on her shoulders and she has a really good team behind her and that s very important. so i think she ll pull out of this just fine, she just needs to get the help she needs and get out of the spotlight for a little bit. reporter: and sources tell us lovato is not in treatment for a drug problem but would not be more specific. her representative says lovato looks forward to getting back to work in the near future. gail, good morning to you. as natalee just reported, family sources say that demi has a history of eating disorders and cutting. if so, what kind of treatment program would be right for her? expect that first she ll need an evaluation to understand what is causing these symptoms. eating symptoms and cutting symptoms can both can becaused by depression, an anxiety disorder. mood changes, sometimes suicidal thoughts, a whole come pill plalags of things. either medication and/or psychotherapy with it. psychotherapy being a kind of exploratory talk therapy about the stresses that she s under or something much more structured to try to look at the thoughts and the behaviors that are going on and actually be kind of a training to stop those behaviors. for those who don t understand what cutting is very simply, it is just that, it is doing mutilating things to your body. so typically what teenagers do is cut their arms or cut their bodies. they re often superficial scratches. they often don t draw blood, but the reason they re scary and dangerous is they can go deeper and they can actually doubt a vein or an artery or something. she had been dating joe jonas but they had broken up in the spring and she s now on tour with them, is that something that could trigger the behavior. if you already have somebody that s struggling with symptoms of depression and anxiety, a big emotional stressor, breaking up with your boyfriend, yes, having the new girlfriend come along, yes, but her life, and this is what we re seeing, meredith is celebrity children s lives are much more stressful than what the teen usually is equipped to deal with, especially not being in a family setting that provides the structure they need. teenagers tend to be impulsive, that s the way their brain is wired. the combination of this kind of stress with that kind of brain, it s not surprising that you would get something like that. this certainly predates any relationship issues she may have had. road to recovery, long haul? these are not short-term treatment issues. now inpatient might be a shorter term to get control of what s going on and create a program that can be managed as an outpatient. but i would expect somebody like this to be in treatment for quite some time, but perhaps she can do it while it s working, i would say a mental health professional personally, that s a high risk state, because you re putting them back in the same situation that probably caused it in the first place. now let s switch gears and get a check of the weather from al. today s weather is brought to you by chevy, every model is backed by 100,000 mile, 5,000 limited power train warranty. we have got a couple of birthdays, it s your tenth birthday, what is your name? emily. and what s your name? madeleine. and we have got another tenth birthday. what is your name? i m ryan. put them together, you re 20. let s check your weather and see what s happening. we ll show you the latest on tropical storm tomas, right now 335 miles south of haiti. what we expect of this one coming out of the gulf coast to make that turn to the right and sometime late friday night or early saturday come across haiti, which is still 80-mile-per-hour winds and a lot of rain can cause a lot of damage. the rest of the country here as we take a look at the u.s., we have got high surf advisory along the pacific northwest coast, santa ana winds in the southwest, rain in the gulf coast, otherwise we re looking up next, a product that promises your baby can read. look at that car, well, it goes fast givin my dad a heart attack [ friend ] that is so awesome. i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. until the combination of three good probiotics in phillips colon health defended against the bad gas, diarrhea and constipation. .and? it helped balance her colon. oh, now that s the best part. i love your work. [ female announcer ] phillips colon health. called the humana walmart- preferred prescription plan. it s a medicare prescription drug plan that saves you an average of over $450 a year, with monthly plan premiums less than $15 and copays as low as $2. with savings like these, you have more time to remember what it s really all about. enroll starting november 15. go to walmart.com for details. but you re not sweet you hit on my friends i m not your fool i won t just sit here and drool i m tired of sharing you this is the end so i found a new love a natural true love that comes from a leaf green and bright zero-calorie, guilt-free no artificiality my soul sings with joy and delight its name is truvia i had no idea and i am loving every single bite [ announcer ] truvia. honestly sweet. and i feel like. [ female announcer ] kellogg s wants to make kids happy one tummy at a time. because 9 out of 10 kids don t get the fiber they need, that s why froot loops, apple jacks and corn pops have 3 grams of fiber in every yummy bowl. they re the cereals your kids love and the fiber their tummies love. which makes for a whole lotta happy. froot loops, apple jacks and corn pops, an oh-so-good source of fiber. kellogg s® makes fiber fun. we re back now at 7: 42. today investigates a reading program for infants. you have probably seen the ads on television. jeff rossen is here with what he found out. i have a feeling it s not good. it never is. it s very, very popular with parents these national commercials plus it sold in some of the country s biggest baby stores. the program as you mentioned is called your baby is read. and that s the promise, if you buy this program, your baby as young as three months old can learn to read. our investigation goes after the truth. what you are about to see will amaze you. which one says keys. the commercials are amazing. what about this word? baby. good job. reporter: those babies sure look like they re reading and if you buy the program, the ads claim, your baby can too. my daughter began reading when she was 8 months old. reporter: the program costs up to $200. the reason i wanted to buy it is to give her a head start before school. reporter: she says it didn t teach her daughter anything. what you re getting is not really what they say. a baby s brain craves stimulation. it s based on science that all babies can read. reporter: warning that if you miss that window your child will fall behind. but is that really true? we went to experts at harvard. are those babies reading? no. reporter: and tufts. no. reporter: we spoke with ten child development experts from the country s top universities and organizations. and the message was universal. this isn t reading, it s just memorization. they memorize what s on those queue cards and they re going to respond the way they have been taught. reporter: it s not reading? it s not reading. reporter: is there any evidence that learning to memorize at a young age makes you a better reader? there s no evidence. reporter: most children don t even have the brain development to read until 4 or 5 years old. i know of not one single study in which anyone says that children who learn to read before 5 do better later on. i am a reading expert, i know of not one single study. reporter: there are extremely rare cases of babies learning to read. can you read this word to me? happy. reporter: in 2008, we tested one of them here on today with words she had never seen before. her parents say elizabeth caught herself, but she s an exception. give your child the tools for increased communication. reporter: promising all parents that their babies can do it too as longs as they buy this product is deceptive because this program drills kids with the same flash cards, the same dvds, the same words over and over again. whoever is behind this, either doesn t know either the brain or reading. reporter: that man is the creator of your baby can read. he calls himself an infant learning expert. his face, his name appear on the books, the dvds. this is not a short-term effect. reporter: and in the commercials. the doctor agreed to sit down with us. we have spoken with child development experts from harvard, yale, tufts, nyu, cornell, penn, as well as the national association of school psychologists, the national association for infants, toddlers say your program is not only misleading, it s false. they re all wrong. reporter: you re saying they re all wrong? yes, i m saying they re all wrong. reporter: he says his program is backed by scientific research, and while he acknowledges it all starts with memorization, it leads the reading. we have a study that s literally thicker than this. reporter: can you provide us that research. but instead of published research on your baby can read, he says this customer satisfaction survey conducted by his own company. exper expe as for his resume, he has worked in some infant learning labs, but his phd is in human performance, the study of physical motor skills. i m not a traditional expert as far as reading, a reading specialist person. i m looking at this from a different perspective. the baby does learn to read. reporter: but much of the research he crites for his program she actually started reading words reporter: seems to be based on his own daughter using it. my children can read better at age 4 than i could at my age. reporter: you re saying your 4-year-old was a better reader than you as an adult? and not only that, i was teaching college at the time and she could read better than my college students. reporter: but experts say those extreme claims pray on parent this has nothing to do with that. this is about helping babies learn literacy skills. reporter: he wouldn t tell us how much money he s made, but they have sold over a million kits. he s cashing in on false promises. i was very angry because i felt so misled. reporter: by the way ginger called the company and did get her money back. experts say this product can be harmful because it forces your baby to watch all of those dvds, too much tv time. the best way to teach your kids is you, you talk to them, you play with them, you listen to them. it s 48 after the hour, coming up, the situation brings his abs from the jersey shore to studio 1a. but first these messages. set your pace to island time. rich chocolate over creamy coconut. almond joy and mounds. enjoy more. how about a coastal soup and grilled shrimp salad combination at red lobster? 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[ male announcer ] while the world s been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this. the wattstation from ge. it s going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. i didn t think much of it till i took it apart it s going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. hi. chili s tonight? do i know you? yeah. your mother s brother went to summer camp with my uncle s friend s accountant. we re practically family. jason? who? my mom s brother s accountant. yeah. that guy is a maniac. okay. i love jason. isn t he a riot? chili s $20 dinner for two. all you need is somebody to go with. share one appetizer, choose two entrees. now with crispy fried shrimp. just $20 for two at chili s. back at 7:52. it is election day and that is one of the most talked about candidates in this election cycle. that s christine o donnell opposite chris coons voting in delaware this morning. tea party favorite there and in the polls leading up to the election. just ahead from the streets, why are americans today so rude? more of our special series, is civility dead? after your local news and weather. i met my husband here. i got to know my grandkids here. we ve discovered so much here together. but my doctor told me that during that time my high cholesterol was contributing to plaque buildup in my arteries. that s why i m fighting my cholesterol. with crestor. along with diet, crestor does more than help manage cholesterol, when diet and exercise alone aren t enough. crestor is also proven to slow plaque buildup in arteries. crestor is not right for everyone, like people with liver disease, or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you are taking, or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of serious side effects. ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. i love it when we re here together. if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. you are my sunshine my only sunshine you makes me happy when skies are grey you ll never know, dear how much i love you please don t take my sunshine away [ male announcer ] as long as there are babies, they ll be chevy s to bring them home. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. your sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. a few new accident attracting. one at clarksville, watch for delays in the southbound direction. meanwhile, we have one at crain highway. if you are going to be heading out this morning, still clearing at madison street and falls by. fire activity to watch for. we re looking at the heaviest spots on the northeast outer loop. 14 minutes to get through that stretch. not bad in contrast on the west side outer loop. he was 8 live view of traffic this morning in the area of the north side of harford road. we will switch over to a live view of 895. in and out of the tunnel, looking good. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. it is a chilly start for us, but we don t expect as a petition today. it is election day, so no excuses, weather wise, not to go out and vote. you got this great frost off the windshield to start the day. you will have to scrape frost often show to start the day. temperatures between 50 and 55 this afternoon. thickening clouds on wednesday, but it should stay dry. rain is likely wednesday night and during the day on thursday. there could be scattered showers on saturday. high temperatures added the mid- to-upper-ford is going into the weekend. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. bac and 8:00 now on this tuesday morning, november 2, 2010. the crowd is bundled up tight on this chilly election day on the plaza. i m meredith viera along with al roker and matt lauer. we see more and more rude behavior everywhere. people talking loudly on cell phones. people not holding a door open for other people. not saying thank you. when someone doesn t hold a door for me, i just stand there. it doesn t bother there, but it makes me feel better. we re going to talk about the death of civility. also ahead, robert downey jr. can i just say something? i don t want to blow smoke here, he is i think one of my favorite actors. you know what? he really is. and he s in a very good place. in the today show studio. that s right. and we have got a situation on our hands, i mean literally, we have got the situation, mike the situation sarantino, and he s got a guide to all things jersey shore. he s got a thing with glasses. who do you think took longer to do the hair today, robert downey jr. or the situation? let s take a look. there s robert downey and the situation. now look at the situation. now look at robert downey, now look at me. now back to me. i m saying it was probably pretty fast for both of them. good morning, everyone. republican leaders are predicting a new wave in congress once today s midterm election votes are counted. ohio s john boehner could become house speaker if the republicans gain the 39 seats urged home states to take nothing for granted. and democrats pulled out party heavyweights monday. first lady michelle obama and former president bill clinton. u.s. officials say it now appears three suspicious packages were practice runs for last week s failed mail bomb plot. the packages were on their way from yemen to chicago by plane. former congressman garry condit took the stand on monday in the murder trial of former washington intern chandra levy. nbc s norah o donnell has the very latest. reporter: it has taken this long, nearly ten years and still garry condit repeatedly refused to say whether he had an intimate relationship with chandra levy and he also vigorously insisted he had nothing to do with her murder. it was high drama inside the courtroom, gary condit under oath facing questions about his relationship with 24-year-old intern chandra levy. it was so dramatic because i think most people in the courtroom expected finally gary condit was going to tell what happened that summer, he was going to tell about his relationship with chandra levy and in fact he didn t. after all this time, he stuck to the line that chandra levy was his good friend. reporter: chandra levy who vanished in may 2001 after going run in washington s rock creek park had told her family she was having an affair with condit. they begged him to help find her. but condit has never publicly acknowledged a romantic relationship. it felt like gary condit was on trial. the public defender in this case hammered him over and over again about what his relationship with chandra levy and hadn t he lied to the police and the public? reporter: condit was once the prime murder suspect, later defeated for re-election because of the scandal, but he has always denied any involvement. the prosecutor ask, did you have anything to do with chandra s disappearance? condit, no ma am. prosecutor, did you kill her? condit, no ma am. in the courtroom the whole time, chandra s mother, susan levy who has been very critical of condit s by heavy your. chandra s body was finally found in rock creek park by a man walking his dog. a man was channelled with her murder and he was previously convicted of the assaults of two other women in the very same park. condit said the last time he saw levy was a week before she disappeared. condit was ask if he ever fought with levy and he said the two of them never had cross words. and already devastated haiti is now bracing for tropical storm tomas which could hit the country later this week as a hurricane. 00 drea hundreds of thousands of haitians are still living in tent camps after january s devastating earthquake. we have got a weather situation here. look at that, mike the situation saranino from jersey shore. i imagine that kind of hair cut has got to get cold in this kind of weather. hello, mike, how are you? nice to see you, didn t it get cold all that stuff up there in the winter? why don t you say hi to some of the crowd over there. meredith viera is right over there. go bother meredith. yeah. let s check your weather and see what s happening, we ll show you for today, our pick city, lubbock, texas, news channel 11, sunny and mild, 5 degre5 degree. 40s in new england, 40s in the great lakes. no real trouble spots on election day, rain in the gulf coast, otherwise plenty of sunshine and we do have those e all right, that s your latest weather. the situation do not read into this, is civility dead, we ll talk about the rise of everyday rudeness right after this. you made my butt fat you drove me insane self-control down the drain we re over i m so done with that i found a new love a natural true love that comes from a little green leaf zero-calorie, guilt-free no artificiality my skinny jeans zipped in relief its name is truvia i had no idea no more sprinkling my coffee with grief [ announcer ] truvia. honestly sweet. what if something bad happens? so what happens if someone gets my credit or debit card and buys a ton of stuff? that would be. really, really bad. 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[ male announcer ] see the stylish, new highlander at youtube.com/highlander. it was a mystery to me. i found out that connected to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and with less pain, i can do more of what matters to me. [ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior or any swelling or affected breathing, or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don t drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don t drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then i found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. and we re back now at 8:11 with our special series where we re asking is civility dead, the rudeness that seems to be all around us these days. commuters rush on to a train before letting passengers off. from loud talkers to litterbugs, our cameras caught all sorts of bad behavior. amy alcon, author of i see rude people says she s not surprised. when you re around strangers you feel you can do anything. we re living in a society without constraints on rudeness that we used to have when we lived in small towns. and many of you agree, in a recent survey in a public opinion survey found people are becoming ruder and it s no surprise what gets under people s skin the most. one of my biggest pet peeves is people talking on their cell phone very loud. like this woman whose private conversation went public on an otherwise quiet bus. rude people are private advertising public space as their own. they re taking the shared space and acting like it s all theirs. one thing that bugs me most is when people are texting while they re with you. it s like call on the phone at dinn dinner. my grandmother didn t have a cell phone, so people don t know what to do. they really don t make eye contact, they re always checking their cell phone, or walking into you and they think it s your fault. what i think we have to do is start treating strangers like neighbors and start showing kindness to people. harry cole is a lifestyle coach and anita coleman is a lifestyle author. we focus on pop culture and its influence on our manners or our lack thereof. how does technology affect manners and rudeness? i say technology and manners should be balanced but they re not. technology can help us to stay in touch with people, it can help us enjoy our lives more because we can connect better. the problem is if we don t have conscious awareness of what we re doing, it takes over. we are spending more and more of our time dealing with devices and we re on the computer, we re on the phone, we re texting, so is it just that we have lost your skills in face to face communication? we re so separated from reality and face-to-face contact, we re speeded up, there s this hyper energy going on, it s almost like we re living in a video game, and we become the video characters instead of face to face intimate discussion and looking at someone and deciding boundaries and personal space. i look at it this way, and we re culprits too, we re watching news that e s terribly- you walk down the street and u you re numb to it all or you re angry and frustrated so you lash out at people. has this been happening for a while? when people are desperate and they feel that they don t have enough, they push. they push to get on the subway. i believe in that frustration, people are frustrated, people are scared about losing their jobs or they have lost their jobs and they have been out of a job for a long time, and frustration leads to aggression and we see more aggressive behavior when people are scared. this rasmussen poll said 60% of americans are more rude to people they deal with in terms of service jobs than they have been in the past. why do we think we can get away with that? it s a power and control things, when you see someone that s beneath you, you re going to laud it over them. we re always behind somebody else, we get it back. i don t even think that people are thinking of it. that s what i m talking about, conscious awareness. they re on the phone, and then they go to buy something and they stay on the phone. many of us are guilty of it mean when we profess to have good manners. we need to stop, be aware of where we are, who is around us in the moment, take a breath, put down the electronics and imagine it would be great to engage, you have a better quality of experience if you engage with a human being at least for a moment. before we started this discussion, i said is it too far gone, are we too far down this slippery slope, and you talked about your children, if you re with your kids. parents need to be role models and if kids see their parents act in a rude way to the gas station attendant people have said to me, children have said to me in my practice, my parents don t look up from the computer when i talk to them, what are we teecaching them? they re not valued. what do we value in life? where are our priorities? tomorrow we re going to take a look at what s happened to please and thank you. we don t hear that enough. but up next, the always polite and extraordinarily talented robert downey jr., we re going to talk to him right after this. the chill of peppermint. the rich dark chocolate. york peppermint pattie. get the sensation. that advertise flights for 25,000 miles? but when you call. let me check. oh fudge, nothing without a big miles upcharge. it s either pay their miles upcharges or connect through mooseneck! 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( kids screaming ) no worries. scott towels have unique ridges that soak up everyday spills even faster than bounty towels. i had no idea. do you know scott? scott towels are cleanup, done right. back now at 8:20 with robert downey jr., robert plays peter a man who finds hips on a cross country road trip with a guy who gets on his last nerve. and when things get bumpy, peter lays out ground rules for the rest of the trip. number one, if you ask me a single question, i m going to flip out on you, so don t do that, you understand? somewhat, yes. number two, if you fall asleep for any reason, other than the fact that you re in a bed and it s nighttime, i will disembowel you, make sense? somewhat. great. three if you re e re lerjic to waffles, don t eat waffles. don t take me to a waffle place. you run into this guy ethan tremblor, what happenses in a nutshell? in a nutshell, he gets kicked off the plane put on a no-fly list and is forced to travel from atlanta to los angeles with this wannabe actor whose father has just passed away, so you kind of feel bad for being mad at him because he s mourning. despite everything, and ethan is a kook, he really changes you for the better. so there s a message here. todd phillips with his career and zack, there s no reason to just do another comedy, they re going to go do hangover 2 and they have cornered that market. so i guess the idea was to invest a bit more theme and some emotional depth. and i think we did and people are enjoying it. what was the message? well, first of all, i think everybody has some sort of semblance of a metaphor for ethan s character which is someone that s kind of harmless and yet really dangerous and so you have to tolerate them and pete sr is not ready to parent, obviously by some of the things that he does, he has a problem with anger. i believe the idea is that these are fear-based things and that ethan s character is dealing with loss and somehow or other they help each other. i ask a friend about this film and you said this was the best work experience he has ever had for all the movies you have made. i also tend to love the one i m with. and i just kind of remember it fondly. but the truth be told is they re just really gifted guys and it was very, very creative and we made a lot of changes that i think wound up impacting the film, a lot of the story wasn t there when we started shooting and we said oh, we should probably do this, so it was a very intuitive kind of thing, you know. in a way it s about second chances and i m making a segue here because your character does get a second chance through e n eth ethan, you had a second chance in the 1980s, you had a lot of issues and you came out of it obviously and there was a time when you were considered a real liability in hollywood and it was mel gibson among others that really helped you out. did he jump-start your career back then? is it fair to say that? it s fair to say anything you would like. the truth is he and i have a friendship that spans well over two decades and he s a stand up guy, he always has been for me and certainly when i was not hirable, he put his ass on the line and i couldn t get insured and he said i ll take that chance. what goes through your mind when you see this happening to him, knowing what you wept through? i think what goes through my mind is there s the reality of what happens to people and the mistakes they make and journeys they re on and then there s the media and then there s everybody s opinion. and so the way i honor my friendship with him is by not getting too involved in whatever the public discussion is, because it usually has very little to do with much besides people s own egos and interpretations. let me ask you about something that s been reported and it may be the media reporting this that you tried to help him get a role in hangover 2, the cameo and he got it and then it was taken away. first of all, he doesn t need my help, he will always have my friendship, and that s just talking about business and hollywood stuff which to me is nowhere near as important as friendship. the premier of due date, you talked about charlie sheen, you said it s different when somebody has been through it, they expect you to talk about it. i would like to just talk to charlie, i have known him for ages. what would you say to charlie? i would just talk to him. i really enjoyed the film, very much. just ahead, jersey shore s the situation stops by after your local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. let s get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. perhaps everyone got off to the polls early, because right now we are not dealing with the delays we had earlier this month grid sought and cedar lane at freetown road, still accident coming in clarksville. accident clearing in clarksville. past shawan road, some debris in the road. these delays are in place on at the j.f.x. inner loop. that is the latest on traffic pulse all and. a cold and frosty start on election day, but no weather problems expected as we head through the afternoon. 28 and frederick right now. mostly sunny is our forecast. high temperature in the low 50s. if you like, then clouds drift by. a few high, thin clouds of by to the 40 s on friday and saturday. we will have another update at 8:55. taxes are too high, and maryland families are struggling. and then there s politician andy harris proposing a 23% sales tax on nearly everything we buy. it cuts taxes for millionaires by over $200,000 a year and raises taxes on the middle class. andy harris even promised big oil companies he d make taxpayers pay for spills like the bp disaster. andy harris on our side? not a chance. the democratic congressional campaign committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. we re back now, 8:30 on a tuesday morning. the 2nd day of november, 2010, election day. people will head off to the polls in short order and cast their votes. i know a lot of these people have already had a chance to meet the situation from jersey shore. he is with us this morning, he is in our studio getting ready to chat it up with mr. roker. i talked to robert downey jr. and he said i want to talk to the situation. he ran right over. i m matt lauer along with meredith viera, al roker and natalee morales. and what else is coming up? we re going to step into the kitchen with british chef nigella lawson. and then grammy winning deion warwick, she s going to open up about her long and storied career, do you know the way to san jose, one of the classics. he s going to sing it. we re going to catch up with her. look out for her. and also if you like bargains, you re going to want to stick around, because jill martin is here with some special deals that only you, today show viewers can take advantage of just for the next 24 hours. but wait, there s more. first, can we say hello to anna, the latest contestant voted off the biggest loser. we re proud of you. you started out on the show, you were 402 pounds. yeah, unfortunately. where are you now? i m about 242 pounds now, down 160. unbelievable. thank you so much. what worked for you? just wanting it for myself first and foremost, just having that sense of urgency. the biggest loser meal plan which i m still on today and just working out. and the loss of your mom played a big part in that? we lost our mom and our best friend, but we have an angel now. and she s looking over me and there s no reason why all these wonderful things are happening in my life, it s all because of her. my mom nancy, it s all about her. and your teammates ultimately it s a game show and i never lost sight of that, i ll never hold it against them, i have nothing but great things to say about all of them. they still inspire me to this day. and they had to do what they had to do in order to sy on the ranch. my heart goes out to all of them. i wish them the best of luck. the theme for this season is really paying it forward, how are you going about that? that was the main thing, pay it forward is kind of how me and my brother ryan have been raised since we were born, just kind of following in my mother s footsteps. and this has given me the opportunity to hopefully try and fill her shoes just a little bit. getting involved in my community, starting weight loss competitions and teaching them about the rewards of living a healthy and active lifestyle and obviously our big christmas event is coming up this december 17 on friday and we re expecting around 6,000 kids and th. it s really important to us and that s what it s all about. keep it up. thank you, guys. you can watch the biggest loser tonight at 8:00, 7:00 central time right here on nbc. and that s your latest weather. you know what s coming up? the situation talk about all things jersey shore. but first, this is today on nbc. e plus presents: (sfx: coach s whistle) the car coach lauren fix. your local auto service plus has projected what your car needs this time of year. lights!!! roll the film. sfx: film projector [announcer it s time to take advantage of our fall and winter maintenance specials. our certified technicians will get your car ready for the months ahead. and, you could save up to $65 dollars in additional rebates. only from auto service plus. service you can trust. wait til you see the sequel. only from auto service plus. service you can trust. everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there s a big difference between fees and taxes. but.they re the same. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. fees you have to define, because they have nothing to do with taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it s a tax. now he says it isn t true. they have nothing to do with taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely. back now at 8:37. mike the situation, and plenty of fist pumping on mtv s jersey shore. he s written his first book, here s the situation, avoiding dates getting into your gtl on the jersey shore. nice to see you. first of all, i want to get this kind of out of the way. the story surfaced recently that the new york city police are interested in talking to your brother about an incident that happened. i didn t hear that. an incident that happened involving a limousine and a woman getting punched? to be honest it has to do with my brother and i know they re handling that and to be honest, i m sure that this is 100% bunk and we ll find out in the next couple of days. let s get started talking about everything that s going on with you. you are a one-person corporation at this point, starring on mtv s highest rated show ever, you just released a workout dvd, you re a spokesperson for a vitamin company, you re r0i ee researching a clothing line. you wanted to be famous? i think i did. but obviously when i lost my job and became unemployed, i was around 25 years old, i decided i got to do something, and why not shoot for the stars and that s what i did. i went for my dreams and that s why i always tell people don t forget about those dreams. what are your dreams? pretty much my dreams are always to shoot for the stars, if you hit the moon, you re still do okay. the reality is just the way in for me. that wasn t my goal. that was just a way in to show people who i am and what i m all about and keep moving forward in a positive way. we have got a series running right now about civility in this country and a lot of what we see on this show, you know, there s a lot of yelling, there s fighting, there s brawling, there s talk about casual sex. do you worry that for a lot of the kids who watch this show, this show is not a great influence for younger kids? i would have to say that, to be honest with you, this show is totally real. and just like i m sure when you go home at night, you might get into an argument. i mean i m not perfect, i don t claim to be perfect. and what you see on that show is sort of it s driven a certain way. so you re saying some of it is amped up? it s not scripted in any way. i m not saying scripted. whatever you see is what happens, but there s so much other things happening throughout the number of months that we re there and you re only seeing a narrow view of what s happening and it s mtv, it s a party show, it s almost like saying, i m going to go to a wedding, but i m going to wear gym clothes. it s a party show, so you re getting to get that pretty much party feel. just like on dancing with the stars. when i went on dancing with the stars i was all in, i pretty much gave what the situation called for. are you looking to move away from this and maybe move into something else that s different? you know what? your statement previous to the last one was something about the whole perception of jersey shore. that s exactly why i did dancing with the stars to show people not only am i an intelligent kid, but i own my own business, i m a hard worker, i m a college graduate and like i said, you know, i work hard every day. have you actually graduated? yes, i did graduate with my associate s degree. i m a few hours short of the bachelors, but like i said, at the same time, i m so busy right now with my own company and hiring employees and things like that. you re on track to make $5 million this year? that s an estimate, plus or minus, around there. the subtitle of your book, a guide to creeping on chicks these women who are in a group that might be fat and ugly. it s it s a humorous look at being in your 20s, eating, going out, dating, working out, it s sort of like lifestyle. but a very humorous way to look at it. you don t think your book might be a little bit disrespectful to women. no, no. it s a humorous look, i just came out with it as a joke, is such a popular phrase in this country right now, i didn t mean to hurt anybody, it was really just a joke and it came out. just like gtl, i came out with gtl and it s all over the place. it s a humorous look at some of the things i think about. you get married, you go into the future, you have a daughter, she brings somebody like you home, is that going to be okay? i m going to have to do a little bit background check. but like i said, you give everybody the benefit of the doubt and you can t judge a book by its cover. except for your book. no, not necessarily. there s a lot going on. i m a very deep person and that s why, you know, i am what i am right now and everything s going pretty well. you re kind of like popeye, you are who you are? the name of the book is here s the situation. two governors, but only one has made the tough choices to put our priorities first. martin o malley. he cut $5 billion in waste and spending so he could protect education, freeze college tuition costs four years in a row, and help small businesses grow with new tax incentives. his strong fiscal leadership protects our tax dollars and our priorities. because martin o malley knows making the tough choices today makes a stronger maryland for tomorrow. back now at 8:45, and this morning on today s kitchen, we re going back to basics. her new cookbook is nigella s kitchen. i have never heard of venetian lasagna, is that a term you coined? when you go to venice, palenta is their favorite starch. this is my favorite, but not least it s made out of corn meal so you don t have a gluten issue. so you ve got ground meat in there. i ve got meat, i ve got some carr carrot, i ve got celery and onions. and i m putting tomatoes all over the cooker. this is the mushrooms. can you use any mushrooms by the way? you can use any mushrooms and in fact you can use any meat sauce. why do you want to cut them on a cutting board? because i m lazy. this is like a fortified wine which tastes a little bit lick dry sherry. and in this goes and it adds such richness. baileys. if i show you now, so after about 40 minutes, look at this. that really cooks down. do you mind if i make my palenta? this is quick palenta. it s instant palenta, but i use it again because it s not real. i put some parmesan because i want it to have a normal flavor. a bit of butter. and this this becomes palenta in like a minute and a half. the palenta dries out a little bit. now what i do, is i often use little foil trays in three thin slices. so the palenta goes on the bottom. and add the meat sauce. not too much, you don t want to be weighed down by everything. and this is a baby blanket on top. i m going to leave the baileys in because i think it s beautiful. obviously you wouldn t want someone to eat it. you want the other layer of palenta. i put some cheese. you re putting it in the oven? for about 40 minutes, you can make everything ahead otherwise just a half an hour or 20 minutes if it s hot. and this is what it looks like when it comes out. no noodles here, pure palenta. is pine nuts and blue cheese. this is festive and meat free. venetian lasagna. coming up next, the legendary dion warwick. but first this is today on nbc. everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there s a big difference between fees and taxes. but.they re the same. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. fees you have to define, because they have nothing to do with taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it s a tax. now he says it isn t true. they have nothing to do with taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely. taxes are too high, and maryland families are struggling. and then there s politician andy harris proposing a 23% sales tax on nearly everything we buy. it cuts taxes for millionaires by over $200,000 a year and raises taxes on the middle class. andy harris even promised big oil companies he d make taxpayers pay for spills like the bp disaster. andy harris on our side? not a chance. the democratic congressional campaign committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. singer deion warwick is behind her greatest hits. and i say a little prayer just to name a few. she has charted 56 hits and won five grammys and she still performs all over the world. and now she has written a biography, my life has i see it. people hear your beautiful voice may not realize that you are a jersey girl. i sure am. from east orange? east orange, new jersey. your parents taught you values about responsibility and hard work along the way. your name, actually, marry dionne warwick, your name was misspelled on the album. you started singing when you were 6 years old? yes, in my father s church. he ask me to come up and sing. i said why are you doing this to me? he wanted to sing a song that i led in my music class. and i noticed that everybody was smiling so i must have been doing something right. did you get the bug right there? not really. the bug came from my family. i come from a family of singers. so as they say, the apple doesn t fall that far from the tree. fast forward to 1963, your first top 40 hit, collaboration with berk backarak and al davis. tell us about how the title came about in that song? i was on my way back to new york from college in hartford, connecticut. i was driving along and as i got down to the toll, i heard a song called make it easy on yourself. they kept badgering me one of the songs and on the radio came this song. it was not done by me, but jerry butler. i finally got to new york and i said, you know, you guys promised that you were going to play that song for me. he said you re doing to doing something you cannot do. and the rest is history. but you didn t really like their songs. you said in the book that you hated it. i did. you know what i felt? i didn t see this as the kind of song that i could write the lyrics to it. the whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. if anyone had a heart and walk on by. you know, your mom sissy is your aunt and she s a lot younger than your mom, but your cousin is whitney houston, you said from the first time you heard her, her voice was strong, full of conviction, much like her mom. she has gone through so much and come out of it. and there were tours in europe that people reportedly walked out on. how is she doing? she s doing absolutely wonderful, thank you for asking first of all. it s unfortunate when singers, especially, this is a muscle that has to be exercised most of the time. and for a period of time, she didn t open her mouth and sing a note. and she just wasn t ready. that s all there is to it. and now she is. she is. it s a pleasure to have you here. the book is my life as i see it. she will be back with kathie lee and hoda in our fourth hour. we have a lot more to get to. live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. a chilly but quiet start on this election day. scattered frost out there. temperatures will warm up quickly as we head into the afternoon. we will make it into the work end of the 50 s. foret s this evening minutes after 6:00. tomorrow, showers likely late wednesday night and thursday. a lingering rainshowers on friday and saturday. friday and saturday. high temperatures only in women are charged 40% more for the same health insurance as men. domestic violence is treated as a pre-existing condition in eight states. women are abused by their husbands and then by their insurance companies. and last year they tried to end our coverage for mammograms and other preventive services. well i m proud to say i got the law changed. i m barbara mikulski. i approve this message so you ll know that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there s a big difference between fees and taxes. but.they re the same. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. it s a tax. fees you have to define, because they have nothing to do with taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it s a tax. now he says it isn t true. they have nothing to do with taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely.