Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110221 : vimarsana.com

senator scott brown talks about that and opens up about his new memoir detailing the physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child. today, monday, february 21, a child. today, monday, february 21, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to today on this snowy monday morning. i m willie geist. i m savannah guthrie. the obama administration is expressing concern over reports that hundreds of demonstrators have been killed during the uprising against qaddafi s rule in libya. that violence raged overnight. gunshots could be heard as anti-government protesters and supporters battled in tripoli. there are report that is the government building where the parliament meets was set on fire. we ll have the latest in a life report ahead. also ahead, the amanda knox case has captured headlines and now a made for tv movie is set to air. knox was so upset by a clip she saw online that she became sick. details coming up. plus, the invitations for the wedding of the century are now in the mail. you may be surprised at who is getting an invite and who s not. for instance, kanye west is on the list, but not president obama. we are live at buckingham palace with the latest details. it goes without saying we were not on the list. i have faith. the u.s. mail can be slow. it s coming. let s begin with news in libya. foreign journalists are barred from entering the country. stephanie gosk is in cairo, egypt, with the late e. good morning. reporter: good morning. at 1:00 a.m. qaddafi s son gave an unscripted and rambling speech to the nation saying if protests continue there will be civil war and rivers of blood all over libya. overnight protesters in tripoli took to the streets. gunfire ran out and state buildings burned. the government has banned journalists from covering the growing violence. these grainy youtube pictures, some of the only video of protest that threatens to topple qaddafi. his son and heir blames the foreign media, exiles and drug-fuelled hooligans for the violence and offered protesters a chance to negotiate and promised a bloodbath if they didn t. the violence began five days ago in the eastern city of bengazi. demonstrators inspired by tunisia and egypt surrounded a courthouse chanting the people want to bring down the regime. the regime answered with gunfire. late on sunday there were reports that the protesters had taken control of the city. witnesses describe scenes of anarchy. i think the civilians have armed themselves. i can see civilians with arms. reporter: this video seems to show heavily armd civilians. weapons including rpgs and tanks were stolen. human rights group and the u.s. state department claims hundreds of people have been killed and wounded. the government puts the death toll at only 84. they are afraid a human rights catastrophe is unfolding as i speak. reporter: colonel qaddafi has ruled for years. libya was considered a rogue state but relations thawed when he denounced terrorism and promised to pay victim families in the lockerbie bombing. in the last few days state tv aired pictures of a smiling leader, surrounded by supporters. there are reports today that the colonel is rapidly losing control of his country. our access to confirmed information here is limited, but we are hearing that both state tv and parliament building are on fire. there are rumor that is qaddafi has fled the country. protesters in tripoli say they will organize after prayers and bring their message of democracy straight to the doorstep. stephanie gosk, live in ca o cairo. here s willie. here at home, powerful winter storms are making a mess of the presidents day holiday. eric fisher is in washington square here in new york. reporter: good morning. it s been a wild week with highs in the 60s last week, wind gusts to 60 on saturday. this morning you can seehat we are dealing with. it s quite beautiful. a heavy wet snow. if you look across the park we are looking at trees coated with snow. if you are walking around there is beauty in it. i don t know if the beauty is lost on the new yorkers who have endured an incredible winter and after last week were looking forward to spring. we are getting closer to a record pace of snow in new york city. if we get four inches today, which is possible, we ll need about 15 more by the time the season is said and done, something i m sure folks aren t looking forward to in new york. in the midwest they saw nearly a foot of snow in the twin cities of minneapolis/st. paul. they are on a record pace, too. we ll see how their march brings in more snowfall. as we head for mid-day, another system develops tonight. that brings snow to philadelphia later tonight and tomorrow morning. the silver lining, at least it s presidents day and the commute isn t as bad. thank you, eric. beauty s in the eye of the beholder on that one. here s savannah. budget battles are raging across the country and on capitol hill where the government is facing a looming deadline that could lead to the first shut-down in 15 years. nbc s kelly o donnell is on capitol hill with the latest. good morning. reporter: hi, there. after so many days of protest in wisconsin and so few days left in d.c. to avoid a federal budget crisis the question is which side will blink first? the pressure ratcheted up in madison, wisconsin, over the weekend. protesters backing union workers vented anger aimed at the state s new republican governor. governor scott walker went on national television to defend his effort to drop some collective bargaining rights and get unionized state and local workers to pay more for health care and pensions. i think right now people expect us to make tough decisions to make sure we don t pass the buck to our kids and grandkids. that s what we are doing here in wisconsin. reporter: in washington where buck-passing got its name some democrats are predicting a government shut-down when current funding runs out march 4. if we shut down the government and calle into question whether we will meet obligations for paying our troops and social security, that s a failure. reporter: some say the budget cuts are too severe. speaker boehner said before negotiations he wants it a certain way. that is reckless. that s what gingrich did in 1995. reporter: the 1990s government shut d-down left the republicans with political damage. it is good rhetoric to talk about a shutdown. nonanybody that wants to tha to happen. the bill is passed. reporter: they did pass a budget extension with $61 billion in cuts for the current year to keep the government operating. because the senate won t agree to deep cuts, house budget committee chairmanle paul ryan expects another round of talks. we are not going to accept these high levels of spending. we are not looking for a government shutdown. we ll have negotiations with short-term negotiations with spending cuts in the interim is my guess. reporter: members of congress are back in their home districts and states all week. behind the scenes, senate staffers are poring over the house looking for compromise. when people come back to town there will only be five days to reach an agreement. in capitol hill terms that s not much time at all. kelly o donnell on the hill for us this morning. thank you. senator scott brown of massachusetts is with us now. he s out with a new memoir in which he reveals he was molested by a camp counselor when he was 10 years old. the book is called against all odds. good morning. good morning. i will start with news of the day before we get into the book. there is talk in washington of potentially a government shutdown if there is no deal reached on spending cuts. are you willing to see the government shut down? i can tell you in our private conversations there is no republican who wants to shut down the government at all. it is an opportunity to bring the sides together to solve real fiscal problems. when i went down there, the debt is over $13 trillion in a little over a year. we need to send a message to the world that we can get the budget in order and the fiscal picture. nobody want it is government shutdown, but if that s the price of getting spending cuts necessary. nobody want as shutdown. i don t. i hope everybody will get in a room, look at the baungtd say, yes, we can keep this, we can t keep the hand send an important message that we are serious to the people of the world. let s talk about the book. it s very personal. one of the revelations in it is that you were molested by a camp counselor when you were just 10 years old. what did you want people to know about that? certainly it was tough. ile thought it was important to let others know that you can and should fight back. if i can help somebody speak up, i have done a good thing. one thing people have remarked to me knowing we would be talking is i can t believe his wife didn t know until she read it in the book. she knew something happened. we have been together 26 years. she didn t know the extent of it. my mom and dad didn t either. it would have been nice to have told somebody. that s the problem in that situation. the abusers say, if you tell anybody, i ll kill you or they won t believe you. i ll make sure they won t believe you. i was a perfect candidate for that type of control back then. it s so interesting because you bore the secret for 40 years and when you revealed it, you did so publically. it s a part of who i am, but not the only part. it s something somebody wrestles with. i m not looking backward or settle scores. it s important not to gloss over the bad things and focus on the great. it s who i am. there is tough stuff in the book. some of it is hard to read, frankly. you had two step-fathers you say abused you. the word that came to mind when i read it was vicious. when you were 6 years old you say of dan sullivan, quote, he began pounding my head until my brain rattled like a jello mold turned upside down. how hard was it to re-live this you never forget it. something like that stays with you. i remember it like yesterday. how does it impact you? back then i thought i needed to be the dad, the protector of the family, save my mom and sister. it was tough, but fortunately my mom and us we got out of the situation. you moved 17 times before you were 18 years old. both of your parents married four times. we talked about the abuse but you said you wouldn t change anything. i think a lot of people would read it and say, really? when you read the book my life is like a spider web. if you pull here, this gets changed. what do you change? if those things didn t happen i may not have been as sensitive to victims rights or as hard a worker and protector and somebody who s looking out for his own kids and aware, hey, when you go to the store, stay together. don t do this. it s helped me be a better person. what s your relationship with your parents? it s been positive but like any family, we are a work in progress. we ll continue to be a work in progress. i love them. they love me. they have made a fantastic effort with our kids. talking politics, people think when somebody writes a book in washington, that s the first step. they are interested in higher office. do you consider running for president? i m running for the united states senate an looking forward to my re-election. this clip goes back to the 80s on today. lots of people remember this photo. do you have it as your screen saver? i ll never confess. this is you appearing with bryant in 1986. i am in a good way though. do you think you re sexy? i don t know. i m going to have to sit down and re-evaluate things, i think. i don t know if i m sexy. we ll see. sounded a little bit like a politician even then. i look so young. bryant and i look so young. look at me now. my hair s gray, receding, i wear glasses, put on 20 pounds. it was a nice time in my life, but like everybody else, you have to move on. senator brown, you can be relieved i didn t plan to ask if you re sexy. thank you. thank you for being with us. against all odds is the book. now a check of the other top stories with tamron hall at the news desk. good morning. good morning, everyone. we began with waves of unrest spreading globally. yemen s embattled president refused calls for regime change as shots were fired during demonstrations in the capitol. an opposition leader was arrested. bahrain saw the largest protest yet as teachers joined demonstrations. peaceful protesters were in the streets calling for changes to their constitution. on the ivory coast they called for them to depose the president. and in china, a jasmine protest was called. some are now missing. iran s first attempt to send warships through the suez canal has been postponed. the passage is being criticized as an attempt to exploit current unrest. a shooting in one after milan s main airports. a tunisian man drove his car through the wall of a terminal and carried a knife. security forces shot and wounded the man who was looking for his wife. gas prices have jumped to $3.18 a gallon for regular. gas in san francisco now averages the highest in the nation at $3.50 a gallon. when trevor bane became the youngest driver ever to win the daytona 500 last night his words were, are you kidding me? he took the checkers a week after his 20th birthday. it is now 7:17. back to willie, savannah and maria. makes you think of what y you we doing at 20. old enough to whin but not have a cocktail. a milk party in victory lane. tamron hall, thank you very much. al is off so maria larosa has the forecast. good to see you. good to see you guys. we have more snow to talk about. we have a number of winter weather advisories and warnings from the midwest into the northeast. look at the radar picture. you can see the snow through the northeast wrapping up in new york. rain to the south. another wave rolls through so areas seeing rain in the northeast will see snow tomorrow including philadelphia, a few inches there and washington, d.c. cold air through the mid section. below average there. lookin we are going to see off and on rainshowers through the day. it is going to be a relatively mild holiday. high temperatures between 50 and 55. willie, back to you. now to a tense situation for four americans on board a yacht hijacked by pirates off the coast of somalia. nbc s george lewis has the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning. that yacht with the four americans and as many as 15 pirates on board is being closely shadowed by u.s. navy ships with helicopters on board as an fbi hostage negotiation team tries to talk the pirates into releasing the americans. the hostages are scott and jean adam from california who have been sailing around the world on the quest, their yacht and phyllis mckay who joined them in india. scott, who has known them a long time, says they are experienced sailors who don t take chances at sea. they are thoughtful people. scott is a gentle man. she s a tough gal. my heart goes out to them. i wouldn t want to change places with them. reporter: the americans were captured off oman as they made their way to the red sea. they had been sailing with other boats in a rally, but the rally organizers said quest chose to take an independent route, leaving the rally on 15 february. last year, pirates hi jacked 49 vessels over a million square miles of ocean. was it a big mistake for the americans to go it on their own? they may have had boat difficulties. it s tough sailing a small boat around the world. lots of things go wrong. reporter: sunday night in santa monica, california, the congregation at this church offered prayers for the safe return. the adams are parishioners at this church. we ll have a pray and light a candle which is a sign of hope for their return to us. our hope is that these people return to us. reporter: on part of the voyage the adams have been handing out bibles to people in the country they visited. at one point jean wrote on the blog, we expect this trip to hold some unexpected surprises. they never expected to be taken by pirates. experts say if they are taken to somalia they could be in for a long period of captivity. a british couple was held 388 days. we ll keep a close eye on the story. thank you. just ahead, controversy over a new movie based on the amanda knox case. why she s so upset with the film and a graphic scene that s now been deleted. still ahead on today, new details on the invitations in the mail for the royal wedding. plus, the designer of princess diana s wedding dress reveals secrets about her famous gown after your local news. but dove isn t ap. it contains pure 1/4 moisturizing cream because, everyday moisture is the key to beautiful skin. and who knows moisture better than dove. but my allergies put me in a fog. so now, i m claritin clear! claritin works great on all my allergies like dust, mold, pollen, or pets without making me drowsy, cause i want to be alert around this big guy. live 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[ laughs ] if you have high cholesterol you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don t kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time for a check on the morning commute, if you have 1. lots of people of today for presidents day, but we have a couple of problems protracting in westminster. we of a problem in the city at the crash at exeter street. putty hill, watch for a defective traffic light. clear ride on the west side at 12 minutes. 11 minutes to travel southbound 95. we would give you a quick live look outside. no delays to report heading towards the harbor tunnel. powder mill road, still some vehicles off to the side here. we have issues coming with the computer earlier but it left us plenty of time to talk about your tie. thank you for pointing that out. i appreciate it. my 1970 s retro thing. weather-wise, it is rather quiet. nothing of any consequence. hit and miss showers. we should make it to the 50 s this afternoon. that is could you help out, because it will turn colder tonight. offutt en route rainshowers today. tonight, a steadier rain developing. it will change to snow after midnight. there will be minor accumulations going into tuesday morning. don t be surprised to see an inch of snow on the grass. risa a cold with a high of only 37 greasy and cold with a high of only 37. 70 s? i was thinking more 1950 s. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back in 25 minutes. 7:30 now on this presidents day, monday morning, february 21, 2011. just three days after we hit 67 degrees in manhattan, wouldn t you know it, it snowed. our holiday crowd doesn t seem to mind. inside studio 1a i m savannah guthrie with willie geist. i guess we re too wimpy to be out there. we ll go out. matt and meredith have the morning off. just ahead the controversial maid for made for tv movie about amanda knox. her friends and relatives call it horrific. details coming up. and the power president clinton still wields. just ahead a behind the scenes look at what life is like for him these days. and invitations to the royal wedding of prince william and kate middleton are out to about 1900 guests. wait until you hear who was reportedly not on the list. we ll get the latest live from buckingham palace. and we do accept e-vites. we re in good company not having been invited. let s begin with the new murder based on amanda knox s murder conviction in italy. michelle kosinski has the details. reporter: the movie is set to air tonight on lifetime. amanda knox s family said when she was able to look at clips online, she nearly vomited. it has made all sides, including prosecutors now sick, is a scene that lifetime has deleted at that time last minute. a graphic murder scene showing amanda stabbing her screaming roommate, something she insists never happened. they look strikingly alike. actress hayden panettiere as amanda knox. the real amanda lately has been feeling and showing the strain of three years in a cold italian prison in this medieval italian town. but this, a lifetime movie purporting to show what happened that night in the apartment. we want them to formulate an opinion and in many cases still saying, i don t know. reporter: the sex scene, graphic violence. i sat down with her. she mentioned that she had seen a little bit of it and she was absolutely horrified by the clip. reporter: too much for her family and prosecutors and her then boyfriend, convicted along with amanda and another man. even the family of the victim meredith kercher calls the film absolutely horrific. lifetime had a clip on the website that showed amanda attacking meredith with a knivle while the two young men convicted are seen holding her down. that s some of what prosecutors say happened but the defense vehemently denies. they say amanda and boyfriend weren t even there. hence dna that prosecutors claims they were is fiercely disputed, now being re-examined. exile amanda s appeal moves along her attorneys threatened to take lifetime to court to block the production from airing at all. now according to to gbritain s sunday telegraph newspaper they have removed the murder scene. there are arguments over the case and the movie, a film that adds controversy to the lingering mystery of what did happen and the real people still living it. lifetime hasn t made comments about the movie or that scene in particular. it remains to be scene tonight once it finally airs how that question is handled of whatle exactly happened that night. willie? michelle kosinski, lots of people will be watching tonight. douglas preston is author of the new york city bestseller the monster of florence. good morning. good morning. you re close to the knox family. you spoke to amanda s mother yesterday. what is their big concern about the film? the film is full of all the erroneous, manipulated facts presented at the first trial which have now been thrown out by the appeals court. so it s based on erroneous facts. that s the defense of lifetime saying it is based on trial testimony, evidence recovered in amanda knox s criminal trial. does the movie have any impact on the appeal? i don t think it will have a legal impact but it has an impact on public opinion. all i would say is people who get their opinions and facts from a cable television movie are idiots. fair enough. you have an interesting perspective on the story. you were brought in for questioning by the same prosecutor trying amanda knox. what can you tell us about this? he s abusive, crazy. in the interrogation with five cops they accused me of being an accessory to murder, demanded that i confess or i will be indicted for perjury for not confessing. why did they bring you in. i was working with an italian journalist on the case of the monster of florence who was a serial killer who murdered people in florence for 11 years and was never caught. the prosecutor didn t like our conclusions which differed with his. he was in charge of the case. so he hauled me in for the interrogation. it was sheer intimidation. it was to get rid of me. demanded when i confess and when i didn t confess to planting false evidence, being an accessory to murder. he did indict me for purgery and suggested i leave the country. i certainly did that the next day. let s take your argument and say the prosecutor trumped up the evidence and got it completely wrong in the case. why do that? what s in it for him? there have been charges of apt anti-americanism. after the abusive 14-hour interrogation of amanda knox where she made statements they took to be a confession they had a huge press conference and announced they had found the killers. amanda knox and rafaeli. that was news around the world. then they found an unknown person s dna all other the victim, inside the victim, on the walls, bloody handprints and realized they had made a mistake. but the prosecutor at the time was under indictment himself for abuse of office. to admit he d made a mistake would be the end of his career. in order to pull his career out of the fire and there were other powerful people who were a part of the press conference. they had to connect amanda and rafaeli with this third person, rudy to concoct a story that they were all involved. last week amanda s parents found themselves in legal trouble in italy themselves. now with charges of libel against them for an interview they gave where they accused the police of harassing their daughter during the investigation what can you tells about this case. it carries a serious penalty in italy, does libel. in italy it is a criminal charge. we don t have it in the united states. that violates our first amendment and freedom. but in italy you can be charged with libel and go to prison for three years. in this case, amanda says she was struck during her interrogation, threatened, told if she asked for a lawyer things would go bad for her and she d never see her parents again. this went on 14 hours. by law, the italians are required to record all interrogations. they claim they forgot to record this interrogation. there were a dozen cops involved, a judge, the chief of police and they forgot to record it? really? they definitely did record it. i m certain of it. but that recording has been destroyed because it would show that amanda is correct that she was abused and that her poor parents who were only trying to defend their daughter, doing what any parents would do now face criminal charge ans and a possible prison sentence in italy. i spoke to amanda s mother and said, aren t you worried about being in italy? she said, we re much more concerned about our daughter. if they arrest it, so be it. douglas preston, thank you very much. we appreciate it. thank you. now a check of the weather from maria in this morning for al. good morning. what a crowd we have for presidents day. we have birthdays and a first time new yorker. what do you think of new york? it s awesome. where are you from? boston. welcome. we have chilly weather in new york and the northeast, but the midatlantic, we are talking about a high that could be breaking records from raleigh to columbia to orlando. the mid-section feeling the chill. 20, 30 degrees below average. temperatures in the 50s on the west coast. for today we have snow moving in. in new york, moving back in as an area of low pressure moves through the ho h valley. sunny in the southwest and florida. could be showers across the pacific clouds with us today, off and on rainshowers. it is going to be nice and mild. high temperatures in the 50 s. 50 s. you can get your local forecast at weather.com 24/7. up next, the president of the world. a behind the scenes look at former presidentle bill clinton s life now, right after this. rate boxes working out? 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[ jennifer ] go on, join for free. weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. back at 7:44. bill clinton someone of the most influential presidents of the modern era, not only for what he accomplished in the white house but what he s done since. a new documentary president of the world highlights the past 10 years of clinton s life. what s been the key to keeping your leverage? you seem to have more now than ten years ago. i think the secret is two things. tough make it interesting. you have to not only make it possible for them to meet people who may help them but learn things. secondly, i think you ve got to do something. you don t have to change the world if you change one life or a hundred or a thousand or 10,000, you ve done something. chris matthews, host of hard ball with chris matthews is responsible for the documentary. thanks for having me. let s talk about the title. president of the world. he is. we documented this. nobody knows it in america. you leave the country, go to northern ireland, africa, south asia, he s bigger than the host country president. he is president of the world. it s something we show with the film and the tape. it s astounding when he walks into a marketplace in africa. they start yelling peacemaker. i have to ask you over the years you were tough on president clinton. you didn t spare him harsh words from time to time. this is a different people ask if you have gone soft on him. that s nice of you to bring that up. i love criticism from a colleague. you have a right to. it s been ten years. another perspective people have lost. ten years outside the white house. a big story. i have to tell you how i got a look at it. four years ago my son got out of brown and went to work in africa making sure aids drugs got to people from the donors. somebody has to make sure that happens. that s the clinton global initiative. it helps people in real trouble without the intermediary stealing. that was my first sense that this is real and big. you had a lot of access inside with president clinton. what do you think is motivating him? part of it may be to make up for things that went wrong. obviously monica and all that stuff. but he wants to be there, active. the guy is just an energizer bunny. you travelle with him and he doesn t stop. all day long in northern ireland with the business guys. all night with the big black tie dinner. it s midnight and he s holding court in a sweater and jeans. this guy won t quit. it s a big story tonight and a positive story. if there is something wrong with what he s done with the clinton global initiative, i couldn t find it. i think it is a big ten-year story everyone else missed. we re proud of it and, yes, it s right to do a good story about a good guy, to answer your question. chris matthews, good to have you here. catch the documentary tonight at 10:00/9:00 central on msnbc. up next, details on the royal wedding invitation, right after this. for three hours a week, i m a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer. i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we re 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that s health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. we get double miles on every purchase. so we earned a trip to vegas twice as fast! 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[ clang ] cannonball!! so one day, before work, i decided to pack, um, a chobani for a snack. i went to get my chobani and someone stole it! i had my suspicions. and i never get chicken, i always get fish. you know, it s the quiet ones you have to look out for. you look like you eat a lot of protein. so i found a super secret hiding place. and i outsmarted them all. chobani. rich and creamy yogurt, with only natural ingredients. share your story at chobani.com back now at 7:49 with the countdown to the royal wedding. just 67 days from now. if you re lucky enough to be invited your invitation is now in the mail. keith miller is at buckingham palace with details. keith, good morning. reporter: good morning. my invitation is right here, although i cut it out of a newspaper. the genuine article sent by the queen was posted at the end of last week and anybody who is somebody is looking in the mailbox this morning. the royal mailbox has rarely received so much attention on the monday morning. about 1,900 invitations were posted last week in the name of the queen. a treasure to those who received them. the elegant wedding invitations are beveled with guilded edges. i live in hope one day we might get one. who knows? my mum would love one. reporter: among those invited, 50 members of the british royal family, 40 kings, queens and princes from royal families from around the world and an estimated 1,000 family and friends of prince william and bride-to-be kate. not on the list, the duchess of york. no explanation from the palace, but commentators say sarah ferguson is seen as a distraction. it would seem insensitive for her to turn up and possibly diverge all the media attention from their big day to her. that s what the press would do. she s done the right thing. reporter: also not on the list, president obama and first lady michelle. this is not a state wedding, so no presidents. there will be plenty of celebrities. elton john is rumored to be on the list since he was a close friend of prince william s late mother princess diana. the soccer player david beckham and wife victoria will be there. and the singer kanye west. reporter: buckingham palace won t confirm who s on the guest list, but sources say members of the military and people representing william s charities are invited to the social event of the year. the wedding ceremony will be followed by lunch at buckingham palace for a select 600. that number will be reduced to 300 crown heads and close family and friends for a wedding reception dinner fit for a future king. and there is a very strict dress code for men, according to the invitation. either a uniform, a mourning coat or perhaps in your case, a leisure suit. keith, i still have some in the closet. thank you very much. savannah, do you think the obamas were surprised they weren t invited? i don t know. but they did schedule a state visit to the uk in may. i wondered if that was a consolation prize. could be. just ahead, the designer of princess diana s wedding dress reveals secrets about her famous gown. willie is very excited. it s not just leisure suits for him but also gowns. coming up after your local news. 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this is rufus. hey, rufus. he s actually pretty talented. you wanna see him do a trick ? ok. hey rufus. who do we love ? we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. yes, yes. you really love your bank don t you. ally bank customers love our 24/7 customer care that allows you to talk to a real person anytime. ally. do you love your bank ? with chili s new $6 lunch break combos. choose from a house salad or hot, tasty soup. then pair it with a massive texas toast half sandwich, like our delicious classic turkey or our gigantic new southwestern blt, smothered in cilantro lime mayo and jam-packed with three glorious slices of applewood smoked bacon. served with fries, that s big flavor for just 6 bucks! the $6 break for bold, weekdays at chili s. live, local, latebreaking. this wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. it is president s day, so a lot less volume than we normally see. this is northbound 95. we are also talking on westminster might at 32 and 97. in terms of problems elsewhere, sensors not picking up any delays. we re looking grid on the major roadways. we have a disabled vehicle here. we will show you what is going on in our camera this morning. north of the ball to right just coming towards us, southbound traffic. j.f.x. looks good this hour. no delays to report because of this disabled vehicle. tony has a check on your forecast. we are off to a fairly quiet start. a little bit of light rain in some neighborhoods. temperatures are not bad. 41 at the airport, 46 and a parkton, and the forecast for today, off and on rainshowers. heights between 50 and 55. tonight, it is going to turn colder and it will change to snow after midnight. minor accumulations early tuesday morning. temperatures will drop back into the lower end of the 30 s. snow will end before 7:00 on tuesday. breezy and called for the rest of the day. back into the fifties by the end of the week. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back at 8:25 with another live update. 8:00 now on this monday morning, the 21st of february, 2011. the snow is letting up just a little bit here on the plaza. but there is another batch of winter weather headed our way tonight. as promised, we are out here on the plaza. we made it out. i really can t hear you. i willie geist. meredith and matt are off today. why do you think they took the day off? the crowd didn t take the day off. we have a lot here to honor presidents day. we ll look back at the last 60 years of commander-in-chiefs who appeared on today. from truman to obama we haven t missed a single one. as the world waits to find out who will design kate middleton s wedding dress. breaking news to report. we have diana s wedding dress, the train, the whole thing, will be here in studio tomorrow on today. we ll give you the story behind the dress including why it was placed in a safe every night. no small feat getting that here. and a story that comes from the heart. a 13-year-old boy who underwent two heart surgeries at just 8 years old who created a special wine to raise money for heart research. first a check of the news stories. tamron hall is at the news desk. good morning. good morning. libyan protesters are claiming control of the second largest city after days of bloody fights and more than 200 fights t. prodemocracy demonstration spread to tripoli overnight where gunfire is ringing out and some state buildings are burned. muammar gaddafi says the country is on the brink of civil war and plans to fight until the last bullet bullet. officials in minnesota, michigan, and wisconsin are urging people to stay off the roads after a winter storm dumped up to a foot of snow in places. air travel is affected with hundreds of flights cancelled. union leaders in wisconsin say they will continue protesting governor scott walker s plans to out their bargaining rights for most public employees. this morning a suspected u.s. drone strike killed at least seven people in a tryle ball region along pakistan s western border. a u.s. warship is shadowing a yacht with americans on board that was hijacked pride by somali pirates. a prayer service was held for one of the couples from california last night. officials believe if the hostages are taken to somalia it could lengthen their captivity. it s been nearly nine months since kyron mormhormon disappea from his school s science fair. here s more. reporter: desiree young took the search for her missing son to roseburg, oregon, where kyron s step-mother terri lives. terri, where is kyron? reporter: the flyers are designed to put public pressure on terri to talk. she s believed to have been the last person to see kyron alive. we know terri blames kyron for her failing marriage, that she wanted him out of her life. we know terri is responsible yet she remains silent. reporter: terri hormon has never been charged with a crime. her attorney calls allegations against her a witch hunt. the eight-month search for kyron is the largest in oregon state history. in january, volunteers and cadaver dogs combed the hills near kyron s school, the last place where he was soov seen alive. search teams are looking far body. kyron s mother needs answers. every day i get up, plug away and do what i can. i love him very much. i would never, never stop. never. reporter: a determined mom focused on finding her son and getting his step-mother to talk. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. a news crew team under attack sunday in california. a group of angry mourners roughed up a two-person crew for reporting on the fatal shooting of a 27-year-old man shot in a local ihop restaurant. police broke up the crowd and there have been no arrests. more that be 100 traditional venetian rowing boats took part in the venice carnival featuring ten days of music and dance at st. marks square and areas around venice. quite a sight. now a check of the weather with maria larosa who is in for al. lots of snow coming down. we have a sweet 16 birthday sign. we have snow falling here, but our pick city, austin, texas, no snow there. mostly sunny this afternoon. nice and warm. 79 degrees. we have a series of storms impacting the midwest and northeast. rain through the ohio valley, eventually bringing snow through pennsylvania. d.c. and philadelphia through tomorrow morning. additional snow accumulations of one to three. some spots like central pennsylvania cou it is going to be nice and mild but we will deal with off and on rainshowers as we head through the afternoon. the could be snow overnight tonight. willie, back to you. thank you very much. up next, the special wine inspired by one young heart disease survivor s battle that s giving hope to other patients, right after this. hey, you made your own lunch. yep! 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[ female announcer ] find them in the cracker aisle. don t mind if i do! your favorites, in pieces. this morning on today s health, a toast to one boy s battle with heart disease. it s said often that a little wine is good for you and one california family has created a special red, hoping it will do wonders to keep people heart healthy. he was born a little premature, the most beautiful, gorgeous little boy. reporter: doctors heard a murmur in colby s heart. by the time he was 8 i could tell he was failing to thrive. he was really pale. his valve was prolapsing which means there was a lot of backflow of flood. reporter: colby s doctors said surgery would be necessary to repair a valve in his heart. i think the hardest part was seeing them wheel him off and just saying good-bye. reporter: the recovery was challenging. weeks on the couch, not going to school, missing friends. reporter: then an enormous set-back. it was ten months later when the valve was failing and they needed him back in surgery. reporter: this time an artificial valve was attached to his heart. i remember being scared, super worried. his recovery from the second surgery was much harder. he was really under a big black cloud for about a year after that surgery. reporter: colby is now 13. he volunteered with the american heart association and his artificial valve is doing its job. he plays basketball, works out with physical trainers. he s doing fine physically. reporter: recently colby convinced his father, a winemaker in sonoma county, to work with him on creating their own blend. then colby raised the stakes. i asked if it could go to heart research. i thought it was a wonderful idea. reporter: the father and son made 50 cases of red wine calling it colby red. but when darryl shared the story with a buyer, it turned into more. when they said we want to sponsor, that became a bigger project. the first bottling was 20,000 cases. reporter: the goal now, continue making colby red and raise funds for organizations that support heart research. it feels good that i have accomplished something bigger than myself. something that helps more people than just me. we know it could make a huge difference to a lot of people. and the wine is delicious, too. reporter: colby is with us today along with his parents darryl and lisa. good morning to you. good morning. good morning. colby, i see pictures of you when you were sick and you look so good. how do you feel? i feel really good. i feel just the same as anybody else basically. how did you come up with the idea? i came up with it to make a wine with my dad and then knowing that i have heart problems and a lot of other kids do since it s a bigger killer than even cancer for children, i wanted to raise money to find a cure for them. darryl, i know this started sort of small. 50 cases. and now how many? now it s 20,000 cases. with the backing and treasury wine estates helping us do the wine it s grown into a very meaningful program out of colby s inspiration. it s great to see. lisa, how do you feel as a mom to have gone through this with his heart to find out what a good heart he has. when colby was going through surgery, we closed ranks around him and gave him a lot of love. we were really proud of him then for his bravery and courage. we re even more proud today that his mind and heart arecoming up great project. you were in orlando over the weekend? we were donating the first check from colby red. he asked everyone in the film to match the donation. we re on track at the end of the month to already have $100,000 raised. who have you been giving the proceeds to? initially we started with the heart groups. we started in orlando, dallas, then our own backyard. colby, why was it important to do this? a lot of people that went through this would say, i want to be a normal kid and forget all that happened? it s important to do something because for every move there is an opposite. i can t remember the quote perfectly, but i just wanted to get out there, do something that i could say i have done. you have, indeed. we have the fruits of it right here. we ll try some colby red this morning. sorry, colby. i don t know if you have tasted it here, but not here on national television. it s delicious. really fruity, soft and round. enjoyable for a lot of people. i have been able to make great wines in my life and this is one of the best wines i have ever made. it not only tastes good, it feels good. it s fruit forward. beautiful. everyone tells us how much they love it. colby, darryl and lisa, thank you very much for being with us. thank you. up next, presidents who have appeared on today over the decades. plus, the real story ahead of princess diana s wedding dress ahead of its visit to studio 1a. thas after this. 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[ female announcer ] kellogg s fiber plus cereal. positively delicious. and i wondered what it was. 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 less pain means i can do more with the ones i love. [ 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. back now with our special ser seri series, 60 years of today. harry truman was in office when today began in 1952. when he was in new york he d plan the morning walks to coincide with the today broadcast. one day he joined the crowd resulting in this photograph. every american president that s followed has appeared on today. good morning, mr. president. we have responsibilities. the president is here. what is the biggest fault? if you had anything to do over again would you do anything different? i certainly wouldn t have made the last lung against tufts. i noticed it was the first television interview with any president on a regularly scheduled program. i m delighted to have this chance with dave garroway. this country deserves the best of all of us. we came to the conclusion that we should have a special program on poverty and try to make more progress in the next 20 years than we have made in the last 20. good morning, barbara. this morning we ll have president ford. this ought to be a very important election because there is a political difference between fwov ngovernor carter o one hand and myself on the other. do you think a balanced budget by 1981 is a realistic goal? obviously i can t guarantee it. i appreciate you appearing on my final day on today. i used to worry about being responsible for closing a treattreat theater or two. here i am closing out your show. i need to convince you to talk with me because it m so easy. i don t want to get in a fight with you. when a baseball doesn t perform you fire the manager, not the whale team. why should the american people do otherwise? let s think of another analogy. you didn t like that one? kids are growing up in a culture more violent. the crime rate is going down, but it s the violence. you watch the first hour of today before you go into the briefing? i watch your best moments. all 30 seconds. thank you. have you ever thought about what the first four years of your presidency might have been like were it not for 9/11? i haven t had the luxury. it was defined by 9/11. you have a big stake in this. if this falls apart this is not for you. this is absolutely important to me. but this is not as important to me as it is to the people who don t have health care. i ve got health care. this is a time to spend more time in the gulf. i never thought i would say this to a president, but kick some butt. we talk to these folks because they have the best answers, so i know whose ass to kick. that made a lot of news when the president said that. it s amazing to watch the way this show reflected on the history of the country, through presidents, wars, civil rights. we have been there the whole time. also fascinating is how some of the issues don t change. we saw tom brokaw asking president carter about a balanced budget. president obama doesn t walk past the glass like truman did. i love his sign, waving to us through the window. kate middleton and prince william s wedding is approaching and there is much speculation about who will design the dress and how it will compare to princess diana. that dress will be in studio tomorrow on today. first, nbc s peter alexander has the story behind it. peter, good morning. reporter: good morning. i know wedding dresses are in your sweet spot. back then everybody knew who was designing princess diana s dress but the problem was keeping the design a secret. reporters did everything they could for a scoop. designers referred to her as debra so no clues would leak out. they had nightmares about a break-in at the show room so they locked the now famous dress in a metal safe each night. it was undoubtedly the dress of the century. a victoria-inspired hand-sewn wedding down lady diana spencer wore when she was married. it was romantic. gone with the wind, magical, almost old hollywood. reporter: the designers, david emmanuel and his then wife elizabeth. a young team that had been in business only seven years. the call came from diana herself. she similarly ran up and said, hello. reporter: diana called? oh, yes. she s a regular human being, you know. very sweet. beautiful-looking. reporter: they had worked with diana before. once their names were announced they faced a task as daunting as making the iconic dress itself. reporter: this was perhaps the best guarded secret in fashion history. how did you keep it that way? we hired two security guards working 12-hour shifts. journalists at the time were making appointments, pretending to be clients. they would walk in and i would say, i know you. reporter: they were pretending to be brides? or guests. we had roller blinds. reporter: the british paparazzi were relentless, even trying to tempt employees with suitcases full of cash. it didn t stop there. you saw people rummaging through a rubbish bin. what are they doing? reporter: they were looking true the trash? they were looking for fabric. so we d throw in threads, fabrics. reporter: throw them off the trail. you have to have some fun. reporter: then there was the wedding day, watched by more than 700 million people worldwide. the only time i got nervous was standing inside the top of the stairs at st. paul s and we were waiting for her to arrive. reporter: you were the last one to speak to her before she went down the aisle. what did you say? i m not telling you. reporter: the dress begins its journey east this afternoon arriving here tomorrow morning. this is an incredible operation, just getting the dress here. comes with an escort, security guards, has its own lighting. it s a big production like savannah. wait until they put it on you. that s a production. i will look sharp in that dress. princess diana s wedding dress will be here, train and all, tomorrow on today. we are back after your local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. that s get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. still some problems out there. if you re traveling just pass white marsh boulevard, across to decide their. westminster at bird 97. topside, 52 miles per hour. not tracking any delays this morning. it is president s day, so it is a lot lighter. only 11 minutes on southbound 95 from the will to lead the beltway southwest to howard county. berrylike this morning. harbor tunnel looks just about the same. we will switch to live view at perring parkway on the topside. this is looking good from the maryland line of way down to the beltway. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. we are off to a fairly quiet start. cloud cover, hit and miss light rain showers. nothing of any consequence just yet. 43 in parksville. we should make it into the low 50s this afternoon. off and on a light rain showers. otherwise, mostly cloudy skies but rain should pick up afternoon and evening. it will change to snow after midnight. temperatures will drop into the low 30 s. snow will last until 7:00 or 8:00. minor commission possible. r accumulation possible. we will be back to the fifties by the end of the week. if you read jurors on friday. we will keep temperatures near 50. another update at 8:55. 8:30 now on this monday morning, february 21, 2011. it s presidents day and our holiday crowd is in a great mood considering the weather. they are packed into rockefeller plaza. great to see them. i m savannah guthrie alongside willie geist and tamron hall. i have to ditch this. yeah, come on. this half hour we ll talk about the formerer nba player paralyzed from the waist down who teamed up with an old friend to walk again with the help of bionic legs. they share their story coming up. and a fitting story this presidents day, the whereabouts of long lost books of thomas jefferson. now they have been found and we ve got some here in studio. we ll tell you where they have been been all those years. have you ever wondered why you have a hard time concentrating? no, no. i m just happy with what i have. for the rest of us who can t concentrate, we ll have tips on how to avoid draining your attention span and how to regain focus, especially when you re juggling. moms have so many things, multi tasking. we ll talk about that. first a check on the weather with maria. we have a chance of a bad hair day. i feel your pain. but you guys are here on today show. [ cheers ] we have more snow coming along with this moving through the northeast. we ll see another wave. that is back through the lower ohio valley swinging through overnight to bring a punch of snow across central pennsylvania. in d.c. tomorrow, a few snow flakes. in the meantime, we re seeing sun in florida. lots of cold air. the sun returns across the southwest. we could continue to see more showers and mountain snows in the northwest. clouds with us today, off and on rainshowers. it is going to be nice and mild. high temperatures in the 50 s. 50 s. time now to check in with willard scott in florida. oh, to be in orville, ohio in the summer time and florida in the winter. who can ask for more? take a look as the smuckers jar spins about. we have birthday buddies just for you. this is floyd farmer of elkton, michigan. love that is golf. i don t know if he rides on a cart or walks. elizabeth orris from clinton township, michigan, is 102 years old. she goes to the casino and plays the penny slots. i didn t know they had them anymore. this good irishman, benjamin murphy from bridgeport, connecticut, retired fire captain lives on his own. his secret to longevity, keep breathing. that works. helga sparman from excelsior, minnesota. makes the best cookies in the land. i bet her house smells good at christmas. and coral gables, florida, anthony abraham. donated thousands to local communities during the hurricane season. how about that? and southfield, michigan three michigans in one show morris weiss, volunteers every week at the jewish center. head over heels in love with his wife lenore. now back to little new york. thanks a lot. up next, a giant pass, literally. an nba player getting back on his feet. first this is today on nbc. going to high school basketball games around chicago. mike and dan played together on all-star teams. they were both good enough to turn pro. and williams with a rebound and a put-back. mike williams. reporter: massive mike made it to the nba, played for sacramento and the atlanta hawks. dan blew out his knee. the kid from yugoslavia became a blues musician. and a flame throwing guitar player. reporter: eight bullets brought the old teammates back together. on thanksgiving weekend 2009, mike tried to break up a fight in an atlanta nightclub. i started hearing shots. i felt one hit my back and my legs went straight numb. i m thinking, no, man. not me, man. i can t go out like that. no way, man. are you serious? reporter: a paramedic said the hospital was 18 minutes away. dude, hurry up, i ain t got 18 minutes, man! reporter: mike slipped into a coma for two months and woke up paralyzed from the waist down. he figured he d be in a wheelchair the rest of his life. then he saw a face he had not seen for 30 years on television saving children in haiti. that s big dan. reporter: the blues musician had become a world class orthopedic surgeon. maybe his old pal could get him walking again. mike isn t totally paralyzed. but those eight bullets dusted bone shrapnel all over his nerve endings is it the worst pain ever? needles, man. all day long every day. push! reporter: the man who went one on one with the best in the nba now battles his own inability. when i see mike i feel it, every step when the pain is going through his legs. reporter: mike s life is one long dental appointment without novocain. almost there, man. reporter: a series of operations should ease the agony, but dan is trying for something more. the two playing basketball again. there s some old scores we ve got to settle, you know. reporter: long odds, but friendship is a powerful medicinal force. reporter: when teamed with cutting edge science. dan called berkeley bionics, a country developing electronic legs. computer controlled man-made muscles got this woman walking again. but mike is nearly 7 0 tall. if you make this work for mike williams, it will work for anybody. reporter: mike would test the limits of the robotic legs. none of the model sos far are strong enough to hold them. one day he ll be a symbol of more than just senseless violence. he ll be a testament to what teammates, old friends can do. he wants a chance to get back at me. reporter: they are already trash talking about the bionic man s legs. i have an e-ride, kill switch so he ll go see you later. reporter: nobody wins this game because he s tall or strong. you need a team of friends to help you do better than you think you can. for today bob dotson, nbc news, with an american story in chicago. up next, the long lost books of thomas jefferson that were just recently discovered. but first this is today on nbc. back now at 8:43 on this presidents day morning. following his death in 1826, a number of books belonging to president thomas jefferson were considered lost to history. thanks to intrepid researcher, 74 of the books have been discovered. ann lucas is here as well as shirley baker. good morning. good morning. ann, this was an historical mystery of sorts. we knew the books were out there. where did you begin to look for them? i had been doing research on jefferson s grand daughter and we knew they had purchased a number of volumes after jefferson s death. i asked and i was coming up empty with answers. i had a colleague at the international center who was also tracking jefferson s volumes. i had the lucky happenstance one day of hitting having a hit on google books when i was searching for information about joseph coolidge, ellen s husband. up popped a reference to joseph coolidge s library being given to washington university in st. louis in 1880. instantly must have been exhilarating. it was. october 20. it s a day seared into my memory. i took it to my colleague and we said this makes sense that they were somewhere safe but somewhere we never would have thought to look. shirley, these books had been sitting in st. louis at the washington library for 130 years. 130 years. how did you put two and two together? when did you realize you had a treasure on your hands? ann talked with aaron davis, our rare books curator and said, do you have a coolidge collection. we didn t have records in the online catalog in those days for our donors, so in the archives we found records that, in fact, the books had come here. there were 3,000 of them which doubled the library at the time. wow. the students wrote about it in the student newspaper at the time. they were very excited. thomas jefferson leaves a mark to let you know these were the real thing. we had a list of books we knew the coolidges brought and we could track them from joseph and ellen saying these are the books we d like. these are the books shipped to them. these are the books they ve received. so we sent them a list of call numbers for volumes and said, go ahead and pull these volumes and look for jefferson s mark. he marked his booked in a way that was unique, not unusual. he put a t in front of the i signature and an i after the t signature. i being latin for j. so these are each marked with a t and a j in at least two places. we were getting e-mails back as they were pulling back volumes. every day we d have more and more coming back until we hit 74. shirley, let s talk about the books. we know this is an architecture book that led to a crowning achievement. exactly. ann can probably talk about it better. what are we looking at? this is a book by chambray, parallels of architecture, modern and ancient. you can see the bookplate. it s amazing that this is the one volume with his bookplate and the original binding. we are so thrilled by this. this is the volume that jefferson would lend to his workmen building the university of virginia. they used this as a guide to build to build the university of virginia. he used this same volume to design monticello and he sold the early version to the library of congress. he reacquired it. you can see where he s marked calculations so he doesn t have to do it twice. there are letters, drawings. these are all filling in pieces of puzzles for historians. shirley, what do we take away from books as we look at the other ones? what do we learn about thomas jefferson with the discovery? the first thing that struck me was how important it was, how interesting and important it was that they be in st. louis. thomas jefferson did the louisiana purchase. right. and the and he sent lewis and clark there to find it. so finding the book was particularly appropriate. they will stay there for now? they will stay there, yes. ladies, congratulations on the sleuth work, uncovering the works belonging to thomas jefferson. ann lucas, shirley baker. thank you. still ahead, the smartest ways to spend your tax refund. first this is today on nbc. [ male announcer ] achievement: embraces mondays. achievement: loves working capital. achievement: puts receivables to work. achievement: expects a lot of itself. cfo: cash flow options, helping business achievers better manage their cash flow. pnc. for the achiever in us all. they may not be household names but thousands of men who accepted settle the west for african-american. mara schiavocampo has the story about their often overlooked contribution to american history. good morning. good morning. it s named after one of the most famous black cowboys, bill pickett and the rodeo has allowed black cowboys and cowgirls to show off their skills and share the tradition with a new generation. cowboys, the faces of the frontier. depicted in movies as fast-riding, gun-slinging pioneers. when it comes to scenes from the wild west, one character is often left out the black cowboy. black cowboy. i m a rodeo boy. i m a fifth generation cowgirl. reporter: rarely seen in history books or movies it is estimated up to 25% of cowboys were african-american. today, you will find many of them here at the all-black bill pickett invitational rodeo, dubbed the greatest show on dirt, more than a hundred modern day cowboys big and small compete in a number of events, chasing down steers, racing around barrels and roping calves. stephanie hanes is one of the most decorated female rodeo champions in the country. you could say it s in her blood. my dad rodeoed. he calf roped. it was passed on to me. reporter: now it s become part of her family, too. stephanie s daughter also competes. her husband sedgwick, from a rough houston neighborhood, started riding as a teen and said road know helped him get on the right road in life. half the kids i grew up with were on drugs n jail or got killed. reporter: they have a practice arena in the backyard and a room full of prizes to show for it. history buff paul stewart has a few prized possessions of his own. these are all tool as cowboy would use? yeah. reporter: the 85-year-old spent the last 48 years collecting artifacts. in 1971 he founded the black america west museum, the only one of its kind dedicated to telling the stories of the nation s black cowboys, men like bill pickett and deadwood dick. the slaves broke the horses, so who would be better than a man born into it? reporter: while stewart shares oral history, the hanes family teach people things like calf roping. i got it! and barrel racing. ladies and gentlemen, we have mara schiavocampo from new york. all right, walmart. let s do it. for the championship and $10,000. you re a cowgirl now! reporter: just one family passing along often forgotten african-american traditions before riding off into the sun set. though the rodeo circuit is a way of life for many of the participants in the rodeo, most have day jobs. kanesha jackson told me she wants to compete professionally after graduating from college. mara schiavocampo may stick to her day job. for sure. a little more time at rodeo school for you. the outfit looked good. that s half the battle. to learn more about black cowboys and the american west head to thegrio.com. still ahead, five reasons why you can t concentrate. first, your local news and weather. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. baltimore county police continue to search for a suspect in a pair of weekend shootings. investigators say a man is dead after being shot several times outside a gas station in parksville. it happened sunday morning at the exxon station at mcclean avenue. a shooting in lansdown claims the life of another man. detectives said the victims thought he was in a field in highland elementary it 6:30 saturday morning. police have not released the identity of the victim. now let s look at the forecast with tony pann. off and on rainshowers expected as we head through the day today. light rain, if anything at all. high temperatures in the low 50s. it will pick up in intensity this evening and turn colder. rain will change to snow after midnight. there will be minor accumulation as we head into tomorrow morning. maybe an inch or two on the grassy areas early tuesday. we will have another update in 25 minutes.