Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110304 : vimarsana.com

[ laughter ] more than 5.5 million people have laughed along with him online. now he s brought his giggling to our studios today, friday, march now he s brought his giggling to our studios today, friday, march 4, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. i m meredith vieira. i think i m a million of those hits on youtube. micah is so cute. he s right there. i know. he s a cute little boy and i have a feeling he ll be laughing people will be ripping paper in front of that little boy for the rest of his life. we need a laugh because gas prices are unbelievable. last time they went up this fast was in the wake of hurricane katrina. in new jersey prices are among the cheapest in the country but drivers won t like this. the station is raising prices 17 cents this morning. why is gas going up and, by the way, why are stocks going up as well? what does that mean for the bottom line? we ll talk about what seem to be mixed signals for the economy. and an emotional scene for the casey anthony case. she broke down as her mother took the stand. we ll have details including why key evidence in the case may not be allowed at her trial. plus, bullying, a subject we have talked about a lot. a major concern for parents. you may have wondered how your kids would react if they came face to face with it. up next, actors put teens to the test and hidden cameras capture surprising results. we ll show you what happened. first a check of the morning s top stories from ann curry at the news desk. good morning. happy friday. in the news this morning, rebels in east libya are holding onto their positions despite more air strikes overnight from moammar gadhafi s government. president obama delivered the strongest condemnation of gaddafi s regime so far saying the em battled leader must leave now and u.s. intervention could become necessary. richard engel is in tripoli with more on this. good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. witnesses tell us there are clashes under way on the outskirts of tripoli but the government remains in control of tripoli itself. it also restricts the movements of foreign journalists here and clearly doesn t want the world to see the violence. as journalists in tripoli gathered to leave our hotel this morning the order came. no coverage of anti-government demonstrations, not today. our image abroad is already bad because of unprofessional media reporting. one extra day will not harm us. reporter: the officials told reporters he called terrorists want to kill libyan police, use car bombs and turn tripoli into baghdad. our presence, he said, would only encourage them. libya doesn t want a repeat of last friday when protesters dared to gather in tripoli and were gunned down, causing a still unknown number of deaths and injuries. since then tripoli has been showing a very different image, a city that s open with markets thriving and the only people out are gaddafi supporters. today the government doesn t want journalists to distort the image with the truth. tensions just below the surface and a violent crackdown away from the cameras. moammar gadhafi has already lost control of eastern libya. his forces have launched multiple air strikes near benghazi. but so far they have been unable to dislodge anti-gadhafi rebels. the rebels have been growing their ranks, recruiting and training volunteers determined to topple moammar gadhafi and make the revolt so big the government can no longer try to hide it. the government is now tightening its grip on tripoli. moammar gadhafi s biggest remaining stronghold and has set up checkpoints around the city. thank you. the white house has proposed $6.5 billion in spending cuts to keep the government running through september 30. as for wisconsin, governor scott walker says he melee off state workers starting today. a court order has cleared prounion demonstrators from the capitol after two weeks of protest. today governors will be held in contempt if they don t show up to vote. rotc will be allowed back on campus. the program was banned during the vietnam war but has been reinstated now that the ban on gays serving in the military has been lifted. mazda is recalling more than 65,000 of the mazda 6 car after finding spiders in vents connected to the fuel tanks. they said spider webs could cause leaks and fires but they had no reports of related incidents. find more at todayshow.com. that s a lot of spiders. the national football league and the players union extended the deadline to reach a collective bargaining agreement until midnight tonight. negotiators are hoping to extend talks. and nasa s glory rocket launch failed this morning. the rocket carrying a new multi-million dollar satellite had a major malfunction and didn t build up enough speed to reach orbit. it was like $424 million mission. 7:06. now back to matt, meredith and al. when those things come down, they leave a mark. it landed in the ocean near the antarctic. exactly. mr. roker, we are getting rain here over the weekend. not just some, but a lot of rain in some areas. we ll worry about flooding. as we look at the radar it s just starting to get together. low pressure with a cold front. warm air ahead and cold behien causing showers and thunderstorms. we have flood watches and flash food watches from missouri up into new york state. rainfall amounts could be anywhere from two to three inches of rain locally over the next 24 hours. could be about five inches of rain in the upper ohio river valley which could cause flooding. as the system moves to the east it will bring heavier rain. five inches hes or more up to northern new england causing the storm system will affect us on sunday. in the meantime, today, just increasing clouds, 45 to 48, winds out of this at least at 10 to 15 mi. per our. slight and that s your latest weather. matt? al, thank you very much. now the rising gas prices. the national average for a gallon of gas climbed four cents overnight to $3.47, up 36 cents in a month. it s a trend that s not expected to end any time soon. nbc s tom costello is in bethesda, maryland, with a look at where prices are heading. good morning. reporter: hi, matt. the short answer is $4 and above that. we haven t seen gas prices rise this quickly since september 2005 when hurricane katrina hit the gulf coast. across the country, the numbers just keep heading north. $3.35, $3.49, $3.79, $3.89. in d.c. i just had a mild heart attack, but i m better now. reporter: $3.65 on one side of the street and $4.55 on the other. nationwide you pick the station. the complaints sound the same. they re killing us. i m out of work. i don t know how i m going to afford to live. reporter: yesterday s national average for regular unleaded was $3.43 a gallon it s well above it in many cities. washington averaging $3.50, new york $3.68, chicago $3.61, seattle $3.57. meanwhile gas and oil prices continue to dominate the conversation on cnbc. i look for a pullback but we think oil is going higher. reporter: this is not all about the libyan crisis. with the global economy improving oil prices have jumped since august from $75 a barrel to $100 a day. libya put it over the top. in many parts of the country $4 is inevitable because of the high price of crude oil entering those markets. it s possible to see $4.50 ale gallon with a supply disruption throughout the middle east. reporter: that could be one reason atlanta s clean air campaign is reporting a huge jump in telecommuting. one in four working from home at least occasionally. for kristy atkins it s about avoiding the 70-mile round trip commute. at least one day a week. sometimes more. for me i save $30, $40 a week on gas. reporter: back east you know the expression location, location, location. i made a bad decision about where to stop. reporter: $4.55 is in the shadow of the watergate and customers are suspicious of the oil companies. i think they use the opportunity to make more money. reporter: well, the oil companies insist that all the prices are being bid higher in the global markets because of the global demand. the united states consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day, half imported. matt, i have done half a dozen of these stories the last week. i get e-mails every day, you missed our neighborhood, the highest in the nation. okay, we are hearing $4.99 in northern california. come back on monday and you can do every neighborhood in the nation. thanks very much. maria bartiromo is the host of closing bell. good morning. hi, matt. you look at the numbers, up four cents overnight, between 17 and 30 cents this week alone. 35, 40 cents in a month. it has to have an impact on consumers and the economy. i would say so because when you re paying more for gasoline it zaps disposable income and you spend less on other things. it has an impact on economic growth. it s not only about turmoil in the middle east. prices are bid up because of the sometime of year. any other cause for this? don t forget, the demand is rising. india is growing, china is growing. as those economies grow, a billion people joining the ranks of the middle class needing oil as well as speculation because of the middle east. you have sat in that seat over the last couple of years on a number of occasions and we talked about a major factor in the economy will be jobs. we ll have numbers this morning. good news or bad? we expect 200,000 new jobs created over the past month. we had distortions in january because of the bad weather. the season we came through in terms of winter weather people stopped looking for jobs. it was a quiet period. there will be distortion but we are expecting strong job growth. when people at home looking for work hear we have created 200,000 more jobs this month what sectors are growing? manufacturing is doing well. health care is seeing job creation. a lot of help wanted ads in health care. infrastructure and certainly technology has been a real area of growth in jobs. later in the program we are talking to barbara corcoran for her spring preview for the housing market. at the end of the last three months the housing prices fell sharply. do you expect that to continue? well, we still have a glut of supply in housing. this is one area of the economy that has not participated in this recovery. foreclosures in the pipeline. it does look like house prices have not stopped falling just yet. can the economy recover without that coming along? we need job growth and the housing market to come back. the corporate sector is doing well. this is probably the best time for corporations in a long time with $2.5 trillion in cash on the balance sheet. housing remains weak for the economy. maria, always nice to have you here. thank, matt. check out closing bell at 3:00 p.m. eastern weekdays on cnbc. here s meredith. u.s. officials say they have proof that a retired fbi agent who vanished in iran in 2007 may be alive. nbc s chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has the latest on the cold case that s heated back up. good morning. reporter: good morning. next week will mark four years since robert levinson disappeared. now a ray of hope. word from secretary of state hillary clinton based on secret talks that there are indications he could be alive in southwest asia but u.s. officials don t know specifically where he s being held. the 63-year-old former fbi man was last seen in mysterious kish island off the coast of iran in march 2007. family and friends say he was working for a private business client. then he dropped out of sight until now. his frantic wife, now encouraged, spent years looking for clue, even traveling to iran, appealing to congress for help. i know my husband is missing. i want him home. our father is the greatest human being in the whole entire world to us. we re in so much pain living without him. reporter: they found an ally in the secretary of state. we continue to request iranian cooperation in resolving this matter and in ensuring his safe return to the united states. reporter: in tehran last september i asked iran s president ahmadinejad about levinson. is he alive? i should ask this question. i don t know. we don t know. how can we know that? we think if they sit and talk we can find according to our reports they say he left the kish islands, but we are here for any humanitarian help. reporter: now for the first time in four year it is secretary of state has new information that levinson could be alive somewhere in southwest asia. in a statement she again appealed to iran for help. as the government of iran has previously offered assistance in this matter she wrote we respectfully request the government to safely return and reunite bob with his family. we would appreciate the iranian government s efforts in this matter. levinson s friends are thrilled with good news. i m thrilled. we are all elated about it. we have been waiting four years to get some good news. we re just can t believe it. we re tickled to death. reporter: levinson s wife issued a statement saying our family is encouraged by the news bob is alive but remains concerned for his safety and well-being. bob suffers diabetes requiring medicati medication. our children and grandchildren await the day we will be reunited. we ask for your prayers and support. reporter: iran has cooperated with the family and the family had a trip to iran. iranian organizations have worked with the family to find mr. levinson. a u.s. official confirms the state department has been working with tehran for the last few months. whatever iran has done, levinson s family hopes it leads to his return. thank you very much. it s 7:17. once again here s meredith. thank you. a california teenager reported missing for eight days has been found. police now believe she may have run away from home to escape an arranged marriage in pakistan. kristen welker is in apple valley, california, with details on the story. good morning. reporter: good morning. 13-year-old jesse bender was found with a family member inside this motel on wednesday. they say jesse is safe and sound but now her parents are under the microscope. it started last tuesday when 13-year-old jesse bender disappeared from her home in hysperia, california. her mother called police and told them she was afraid her daughter had run off with someone she d met on facebook. i was learning she was talking to a lot of older guys on the computer and i didn t like it. reporter: fearing the teen was with an internet predator law enforcement launched a search. all of the law enforcement agencies were advised. the united states marshall s office, the fbi. reporter: after eight days detectives say the investigation led them to this motel in apple valley, 20 minutes from her house. police say inside they found jessie with a family member. she had shared that her mother and step-father were taking her to pakistan and going to involve her in an arranged marriage. reporter: melissa and mohammed, jessie s mother and step-father say it s not true and claim they were not planning an arranged marriage in pakistan for jessie. we were not taking her there to get married at all. there was no arranged marriage. reporter: jessie s mother admits they were planning a trip to pakistan but said she wanted to visit her husband s homela. she could go with us. if she did meet somebody that was fine. maybe when she was 17, 18, 20, 30, 60 if she wanted to get married she could do it. reporter: authorities removed the teen and her siblings from the home while they investigate. they say the mother s claims that she was with a predator wasted time and resources. jessie s mother misled investigators. reporter: even family members are questioning melissa. i knew something was fishy about this. reporter: melissa and mohammed stand by initial statements to police and say the joy of finding jessie is tempered by the uncertain future facing their family. i feel good she s safe and okay and good and well. i m also devastated that i don t have my kids with me right now. i just want my kids back. reporter: now officials at the sheriff s department say all of the children are with protective services while they continue their investigation. at this point no charges have been filed but investigators plan to speak with every adult who may have been involved with this incident. matt? kristen welker in apple valley, california, this morning, thank you very much. it s 20 minutes after the hour. here s meredith. thank you. brigham young university is in the spotlight for more than just the basketball team s play on the court. a player was apparently suspended for having premarital sex. reporter: it was byu s best season ever and brandon davies was partly the reason. the 6 9 sophomore electrified the court as one of the leading scorers. this week byu shocked fans by bouncing him off the team, not for a criminal offense but a personal one. this involved a serious infraction. it certainly was not for something minor. reporter: the infraction? byu won t say. but from sports talk shows to the nation s sports pages it s been reported that davies was booted for having premarital sex. players get kicked out of school all the time but not for the things that byu players do and theirs ends up on the front page snarks. reporter: it may not sound like a headline on college campuses but at byu, that s a violation of the honor code, something the school administrators take more seriously than even a potentially historic season. it s not about right and wrong. this is about commitment. reporter: the honor code is a reflection of the lds church. mormons run the private university. not only does the code require students to live a chaste life which the school says premarital sex is not, but it also insists that students abstain from tea, coffee and use clean language. we understand that people across the country might think this is foreign to them. they are shocked and surprised. but for us we deal with this quite often. reporter: reno mahe learned the hard way. he was sidelined from the football team. he went on to play for the eagles and says looking back it was a good thing. a lot of schools say they have codes. i don t think anyone enforces it the way byu does. reporter: students say the message isn t intolerance of sex orca feen or anything else. it s about sticking to a promise, no matter the cost. people do get away with bad things but that doesn t make it right. reporter: college sports. but students know at byu the school practices what it preaches. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. coming up, the baby who couldn t stop laughing as his unemployed dad rips up a job rejection letter. we ll meet him and his mom and dad. first this is today on nbc. hey, what are you drinkin ? i m drinkin dunkin . coffee black, straight up. extra cream, three sugars. iced coffee french vanilla. for me. iced coffee with a turbo shot. i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . drinkin dunkin . america runs on dunk. sink your teeth into some big n toasty if you understand. good. you ve got spunk. a big day calls for the new big n toasty. wrap your hands around fried eggs, cherrywood-smoked bacon, and cheese on texas toast. america runs on dunkin . just ahead why key evidence in the casey anthony case could be thrown out before the trial for allegedly killing her own daughter begins. and will the housing market pick up in the spring? we ll ask barbara corcoran after your local news and weather. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time to check on the morning commute with kim dacey and traffic pulse 11. things not looking too bad. normal delays around the area. couple of problem spots in the city. lombard and central, eaton street, both get around that another water main break as one might shut down at rutland ave. a slowdown with 46 miles per hour at the top of the beltway. the allied drive times showed just a bit of a showdown, nothing to maj. outer loop topside, looking at 12 minutes, 11 minutes i-95 southbound between the beltway and 32. in the last couple of minutes, this has started to back down even more. delays from seven on a 95 all the weight to a life of the topside of the beltway. i-83 and 24, a traffic on the inner loop. sandra, over to you. current temperatures are from 28 i westminster to 28 at the airport and at 27 on the eastern shore. the chill is on but we will be better than yesterday as far as the highs. increasing clouds as the day progresses. winds out of the southeast at 10-15 miles per hour. showers and thunderstorms throughout the day. maybe heavier rain on sunday. be sure to check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. we are back at 7:55 with another live update. 7:30 now on this friday morning, march 4, 2011. you are looking at the view of manhattan from the top of the rock. pretty sight for the final day of the work week. i m meredith vieira along with matt lauer. coming up the baby putting a smile on the faces of millions of people worldwide. that s micah mcarthur, star of one of the hottest youtube videos now laughing hysterically as his unemployed father rips up a job rejection letter. micah is in the house, checking himself out on the monitor. we ll talk to his parents about the funny video. it s the best. plus latoya jackson calls herself the maverick of the jackson family. she s taking on a new challenge now on celebrity apprentice. we ll talk to her about that and the latest developments in the case of her brother motorcycich death. we all fly a lot. are you afraid of germs and bed bugs? what you can do to avoid leaving the next flight with cold, flu or unwanted guests. on the casey anthony case prosecuting attorneys and lawyers are laying the ground work for the case. kerry sanders has the latest. good morning, kerry. reporter: well, good morning, meredith. for the past two days and again today lawyers will argue what evidence they believe the jury should hear when this trial begins in may. if convicted, casey anthony of murdering her 2-year-old daughter the prosecutors say they plan to ask for the death penalty. are you the mother? reporter: 24-year-old casey anthony tried to hold her composure as her mother took the stand. at issue, when did police first arrest her? they handcuffed her in the driveway. reporter: two years ago police found out kaley was missing when century di called 911. she had sot seen her for 31 days and called police after becoming suspicious when she checked the car her daughter was driving. it smells like there s been a dead body in the car. when you called the sheriff s office you wanted them to speak with your daughter, correct? yes. you wanted them to ask her questions about where kaley was. reporter: but cindy testified she didn t think her daughter was a suspect. it was argued detectives blundered handcuffing casey and putting her in a cruiser. investigators admit she was never read her miranda rights. that entire time you didn t mirandize her. correct. lawyers say a jury should never hear what she said including a story of a babysitter who had taken her daughter. legal experts say prosecutors may have a problem. if the police blew it on miranda some of the most important evidence in the case could be gone. also at issue whether jurors should hear conversation between casey and her family. do you want to talk to law enforcement? yes and no. reporter: on thursday, casey s father george encouraged them to get casey to talk behind bars. the defense wants the conversations thrown out saying the family was used to get evidence against casey. you loved your grand daughter more than anything in the world. yes. you would have done anything to help find her? yes. and you love your daughter more than anything in the world? yes. and you would do anything to protect her? yes. she is your baby? reporter: this hearing was supposed to last two days. it s already extended to today and may continue into next week. before the judge rules on what evidence a jury will and most importantly won t hear. meredith? kerry sanders, thank you so much. tara knight is a defense attorney. good morning. good morning. the trial is set for may but what s happening in florida could be pivotal. absolutely. this is a circumstance shall case. every building block is important. they don t have an eyewitness to the crime, so each building block is important. if any building block is thrown out of the case it will be a problem for the prosecution. part of what s being argued in court now is statements that asi anthony made right after her daughter disappeared two years ago. and whether she made them as a suspect or as a mother who was obviously worried about her daughter who was missing. that s a very important distinction. it is. if you are a suspect in custody you are entitled to what s called miranda rights, the rights we hear on the crime shows where the police tell you you have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, the right to stop answering questions. if you are not given those rights then anything you say to the police could be suppressed atle trial. she was not given those rights. the defense says what s important is she was hand cuffed on the day her daughter was reported missing. that means at that point she was a suspect. prosecution said no, that is not the case. correct. not every suspect is entitled to miranda rights. the lynchpin is whether or not the suspect was in custody. the issue of whether or not casey was in custody is going to be litigated. the minutes they put on the handcuffs doesn t mean you are in custody? no. it would common sense wise mean she is in custody but that s not how it works. you see motions to supress in the crime shows and they are always granted on tv. but not so in the real world. custody is a situation that is determined by a number of factors. whether or not she felt free to leave, whether or not the police told her she was under arrest, whether or not they offered her something to drink, whether or not guns were drawn. it is not simply a matter of putting someone in handcuffs and releasing her apparently as in this case. they are also examining conversations between casey anthony while she was in jail and her family. the defense said they were almost coerced by the prosecution i m sorry, by law enforcement to talk to the daughter to get info from her and therefore they were agents of the state. talk to me about that distinction. when someone invokes the right to council, it s a 6th amendment right. if i have a lawyer the police are supposed to stop questioning you. the police can t then do an end round around the rule and deputize someone to do what they are not allowed to do under the law. how do they prove that? they do what they are doing show now. they get people to say as casey s family is doing apparently that this is what the police told me to do. they knew theyle couldn t talk to her themselves because she had an attorney so they asked me to go and stand in their stead and question her in their place. if what she said to the police right after her daughter went missing and the testimony about what parents said to her in jail, if that s thrown out that s going to damage the prosecution s case, isn t it? it would be devastating to the prosecution s case, but the prosecution in my estimation won t throw the case out. this case is so egregious they would rather try it and lose it rather than throw it out on their own volition. what it might do is bring the parties back to the bargaining table. as we know there are plea bargains, dispositions short of trial. this might be a way for the defense to go to the prosecutor and say, hey, maybe something less than death or life in parole is warranted. now a check of the weather from al. good morning, meredith. got a nice group of people here on a senior trip. [ cheers and applause ] they are from lexington, kentucky. having a good time. how long are you in town? a couple of days. saturday. we have a little bit of wet weather when you leave. let s see what s happening. saturday we have showers working their way toward new york. the good news is with the heavy rain in western new york into the gulf there could be flooding, wet weather also in the pacific northwest. frigid in between. on sunday, more heavy rain along the east coast. snow and rain in the pacific northwest. sunny and cold from the great lakes down into the mississippi river valley. mild in texas and warm in the southwest. today we are going to see temperatures in a little better than yesterday. mostly cloudy skies, winds out of the southeast at 10 to 15 of the southeast at 10 to 15 miles per hour. don t forget. you can check your weather day or night on the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. meredith? al, thank you very much. up next, with home prices predicted to drop even further will spring be a good time for buying or selling your home? expert advice right after this. but then.someone lit the flame. plain rode away on lion s mane. where plain met fruits with strangely names. such wonderful things they did contain. a shot of life to a hungry vein. the captive beast who broke the chain. and there upon that fruited plain is where plain became what plain became so much more than more than plain. plain will never be the same. and then a 3:15, with my guilt. 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[ male announcer ] why do so many car companies compare themselves to toyota? maybe it s because toyota has more hybrids on the road than all other automakers combined. like the 50-mpg-rated prius, the best selling hybrid in america. and prius was also named a best overall value of the year. plus, every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance. we re #1 for a reason. come see for yourself. hurry in for the best selection. imagine a day free of worry, a day when we can eat what we want, drink what we want, and sleep soundly through the night. finally that day has arrived with prevacid®24hr. just one pill helps keep you heartburn-free for a full 24 hours. prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day, all night. now we are free. happy. with prevacid®24hr, happiness is a day without heartburn. back now at 7:43. this morning on today s real estate will spring be a good time to buy or sell? home prices fell 4.1% at the end of 2010. one economist said prices could plunge 15, 20, 25%. what does it mean for you? barbara corcoran, good morning. nice to see you. good morning. is that a doom s day scenario oral realistic? i think they are dead wrong. i don t agree with it at all. if you look at the major markets in the u.s. over 100 markets, more than half have come off the bottom and prices are rising. here s a stat that caught my attention. foreclosures. they sell at about 30% less than regular homes and sales of foreclosed homes accounted for 37% of all transactions in january. that is sad and stunning. it s sad and frightening. you expect more bad things to happen. if you break down the numbers the foreclosure numbers are worse in some states like las vegas, for example. two of three homes are foreclosed. but what you have to realize in many of the states they have very low foreclosure rates and in some of the states the numbers are getting smaller and smaller. you seem to be optimistic. is one of the reasons you are optimistic that interest rates remain low? they re not going to stay low for long. they are at a healthy 5% now. if we have a demise of fannie mae and freddie mac you can bet your bottom dollar the rate wills move up quickly. let s talk about people who like to time things. oh, the experts. right now they are sitting on the sidelines because they are hearing from some of the economists that the prices are going lower. in disagreement with you. so is it a bad idea in your opinion to wait for lower prices? i think you re playing with fire if you wait it out. even if you re living in a marketplace with prices tumbling you have tremendous negotiating power. you could bid low, negotiate hard and ask for extras, provided you have the wherewithal or the personality to do it. remember, your market doesn t ever stay low for long. once it turns, it turns quickly. if we look at the other side of the coin one piece of advice for people trying to sell a home is to price ahead of the market. how do you do that? easy to do. if the prices are falling you want to price your home 5% less than the last similar house that sold. if prices are rising, take advantage of it and price your house 5% above that similar house. for people who live in places where prices are falling if you re a seller that seems doom and gloom. you encourage people to see it as the glass half full. if you buy a house you get the same reduction. well, the one seller out there that s the luckiest one in the universe is someone who wants to trade up for a better neighborhood or school district. you may take 10% less on your house but you will get a 10% discount on the next house and be ahead of the game. one reason you think things are looking better is you are seeing activity at open houses. open house numbers you have to watch. they won t be reported in the news until sales until three months out and you have missed the corridor of a buying opportunity. open houses are up and even homes that have been languishing for months are getting multiple bids. i think there is a bellwether change going on and you are crazy to pass it by. barbara, good to have you here. thank you. 46 after the hour. up next, the baby that can t stop laughing. we ll meet him and his parents right after this. when you re a stunt woman, work can be pretty unpredictable. from knowing when my next job will be to what i ll actually be doing. so in the rest of my life i like control. especially in my finances. that s why i have slate with blueprint. i can make a plan to pay off everyday things and avoid interest, or pay down my balance faster on the big stuff. that saves money. with slate from chase, i have everything under control. .financially. announcer: debit card control and credit card flexibility. get both with slate. um, i thought this was going well for a first date. it is. look at your suckometer. oh, i just quit smoking, and the craving s really suck after a meal. okay. ding! [ male announcer ] quitting sucks. nicorette makes it suck less, doubling your chances of success. a body at rest tends to stay at rest. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, including celebrex, may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you ve had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor about your medical history and find an arthritis treatment that works for you. ask your doctor about celebrex. and, go to celebrex.com to learn more about how you can move toward relief. celebrex. for a body in motion. about how you can move toward relief. when your eyes are smiling. you re smiling. and when they re laughing. you re laughing. be kind to your eyes. with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably. and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. back now at 7:49 with the baby boy whose laugh has taken the internet by storm, all prompted by his father ripping up a job rejection letter. take a look. [ ripping ] [ laughter ] well, he s not laughing, but we are. 10-month-old micah mcarthur and his parents are with us this morning. good morning. good morning. four and a half million people have viewed this on youtube. who would have thunk it? not us. this is actually the first video we ever posted to youtube. i did it a few hours after i taped it. i thought, this is so good. instead of sharing it just with family and friends i ll post it on youtube and share it with everyone. you had no idea micah would react this way. that s right. we had never done the paper ripping thing at all. he was next to me on the couch. i was opening the mail. got a job rejection letter. i m finishing my ph.d. in american history. he started laughing next to me which is great. lifted my spirits. so i thought, okay, grab the camera and tape it to send to mom at work. he just went crazy. glad you had the camera. absolutely. 5.5 million people at the latest count. five now? i think 5.5 million have watched it. does that surprise you? oh, of course. it s been up five weeks now. three weeks into it, it had 1,013 views. we thought that was great. we don t know that many people. 5.5 million doesn t make sense. is he over the joke or will he still respond? it s hit and miss. we can try it. sometimes it s hilarious. other times not so much. he likes sneezing, by the way. yeah. [ ripping ] try this. ah-choo! [ baby giggling ] we finally found someone to laugh at meredith s jokes. have you found a job? no. i m still searching for a job. he ll definitely get one, for sure. probably a better chance of him getting one. you re thinking baby food commercials and things like that? it would be great to build his college fund in some way and, you know pay for my college as well. he s brightened up a lot of people s lives. he s a beautiful baby. thank you so much. marcus and amanda as well. thank you. just ahead, latoya jackson after your local news. st stop. won t take me that long. honey, is this really necessary? it ll bug me if i wait. [ female announcer ] walgreens free mobile app. refill by scan. receive a text when it s ready. we re good. wanna call anyone or anything? your mom? a little more altitude. a little less attitude. [ female announcer ] download the free walgreens mobile app to shop, print photos and manage prescriptions anywhere. walgreens. there s a way to keep life moving. make sure you give it something that counts. i love quaker oatmeal, it s seriously a superfood. it s fuel that your body needs to get going. this stuff is a game changer. and now it s better than ever. it s got a heartier texture, and in some of your favorites, all natural flavors and 25% less sugar. i can t think of a better way to kick off your day. so i just have one question for you. are you eating quaker for breakfast? 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. wonder where the durango s been for the last two years? well, it toured around europe, getting handling and steering lessons on those sporty european roads. it went back to school, got an advanced degree in technology. it s been working out more muscle and less fat. it s only been two years, but it s done more in two years than most cars do in a lifetime. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time for another check of the morning commute with kim dacey. we have a serious situation on the beltway. a couple of situations. one on the inner loop, a crash there to watch for, and further on the east on the outer loop topside. vehicle blocking the center lane, causing big backups. here s a look at life drive times. the outer loop west side, 24 minutes down to the west side. in a live on the northwest corner from 795 to 83, a big delays there. 95 south to the harbor tunnel, delay there as well. live look outside at harford road at the top side of the beltway. that is the outer loop on the right side of your screen backing out of away from harvard road to charles st.. switching to a life of the northwest corner of park heights, the outer loop on the right side of your screen is very jammed up because of those accidents. lead to some extra time of those areas are on your route this morning. sandra, over to you. a beautiful morning could temperature-wise, anywhere from 20 at the state line to 30 downtown. 28 at the state line to 30 downtown. very early to mostly cloudy, chilly a very ble variably to mostly cloudy, chilly. for sunday, strong showers and storms are possible. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back at 8:25 with another live update. coffee black, straight up. extra cream, three sugars. iced coffee french vanilla. for me. iced coffee with a turbo shot. i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . drinkin dunkin . america runs on dunk. i may be mud, but i have standards. mops? please. some of them have bacteria. and they try to pick me up? ew. i m really hard to get. uh! what about love?! 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[ male announcer ] swiffer cleans better than a mop or your money back. sink your teeth into some big n toasty if you understand. good. you ve got spunk. a big day calls for the new big n toasty. wrap your hands around fried eggs, cherrywood-smoked bacon, and cheese on texas toast. america runs on dunkin . 8:00 now on a friday morning, the 4th day of march, 2011. kind of a chilly morning here in the northeast. but we ve got a huge crowd of people gathered out on our plaza enjoying bright, sunny skies. that s always nice. 28 degrees on a friday. i m matt lauer along with meredith vieira and mr. al roker. nice to have you folks here. good to see you. a pleasure. coming up this half hour, another look at a subject we have been dealing with a lot. this one s bullying. most parents know about bullying but what do you do when they are not in your eyesight? actors put unsuspecting teens to the test as their parents watched from another room. the parents didn t know it. also ahead, latoya jackson is here. we ll talk to her about the upcoming season of celebrity apprentice, her career and other topics in the news. we ll get to that in a little while. from the commercials she looks like a tough cookie. taking no prisoners. there are a lot of tough cookies this season. probably a dozen tough cookies. a baker s dozen maybe. we have something special going on next week. a lot of folks i have always wondered, say i m doing a cooking segment or interview, what s matt or meredith doing? in the bathroom. that s where he is. i m getting older. this isn t the direction we wanted to go in. where do you want to go? next tuesday while we are on the air, kathie lee and hoda will host a show live on our website showing you what happens behind the scenes from the control room to meredith s dressing room, the makeup room, loading dock which is the same as meredith s dressing room, you will get a 360-view of today on air. tune in and log on tuesday morning starting at 7:30 to see us like never before. by the way, it s my understanding that as part of the program meredith will tweet for the very first time ever. oh, they re making me do this. that s nice and encouraging. for all the people who follow meredith on twitter or want to, she s looking forward to it. i am. we ll debut the revamped website. that s exciting. it s going to be fun. despite the fact you say they are putting a gun to your head to do it. let s go inside. ann is at the news desk with the headlines. once again, good morning. we have the news now. it s a day of confrontation in and around libya s capitol city. teargas was fired at hundreds of anti-government protesters who rallied inside the city. journalists were banned from the demonstration. a german prosecutor say it is man accused of killing two u.s. airmen put hissen gun to the head of another airman but it jammed when he pulled the trigger. the 21-year-old suspect from kosovo was inspired by militant islam but acted alone. a former fbi agent who vanished in iran four years ago may be alive. secretary of state hillary clinton said on thursday there are indications that 63-year-old robert levinson who was working as a private investigator is being held in southwest asia. she s appealing to iran to help find him. former house speaker newt gingrich announced he s exploring a run for president. nbc s chief white house correspondent chuck todd joins us with more on this. how might this affect the race? reporter: four years ago there were 17 candidates. right now until this week there are none that have got nn the race. newt gingrich s semi-announcement may finally open the candidate flood gates. former house speaker newt gingrich is now the highest profile republican to officially begin exploring a presidential run. we believe that america s best years are ahead of us. reporter: in the latest nbc news poll he ranked only behind mike huckabee and mitt romney in a match-up. but gingrich was chased out of the speakership after the gop s disappointing showing in the 1998 midterm election. that may contribute to bad poll numbers he has in a match-up with president obama. he trailed the president by 19 points in a january nbc news wall street journal survey. other republicans are playing it coy. mike huckabee is using a book tour to keep his presidential options open. he caused controversy claiming he misspoke about the president s upbringing on a radio show. one thing i do know is his having grown up in kenya, his view of the brits, for example, very different than the average american. reporter: the next day he went back on the show to defend himself. i misspoke saying kenya instead of indonesia shrks there is a cattle call of candidates going to palm beach florida to talk to the economic group the club for growth. all right. thanks, chuck todd, for your report this morning. a protest at the university of california berkeley ended peacefully last night after police were called to campus. students occupied part of a building to draw attention to state education budget cuts. a high school basketball star collapsed and died last night minutes after scoring the winning basket in overtime to complete the team s perfect season. 15-year-old wes leonard was also the quarterback at michigan s fenville high school. the cause of the death is under investigation. in ohio a bill to limit the power of employee unions advances next week. it s been approved by the senate and has strong support from the governor. here s a mystery 67 years in the making. a letter mailed during world war ii has finally arrived last month at camp roberts in california. it s addressed to miss r.t. fletcher at the hospital. the camp historian is searching for miss fletcher but is struggling having only her first initials and only her full name. no one has opened the letter out of respect for her privacy. if you are out there, give us a call. it s 8:06. now back out to al for the weather. ann, thanks a lot. i am 9 but it s pointing at your shoes. oh, that s how it works. what s your name? thomas reilly? and you re with your brother? yeah. let s check your weather and see what s happening. we ll show you for today, buffalo, new york, shuffling off to buffalo. that s a fabulous place. we have wet weather there. as you look we have the system making its way across the mid section of the country bringing warm air ahead, cold air behind. we have flood watches working from tupalo, mississippi to new york. rainfall two to three inches over the next 24 hours. you go to the northeast and we are talking rainfall for the next 72 hours, three to five inches of rain. clouds on the increase, temperatures and the increase as well. mid 40 s today, upper 40 s on the lower eastern shore. slight mr. matt lauer. thank you very much. when we come back, think your kids would never get involved in bullying? some actors put some unsuspecting teens to the test. wait until you see what the dateline cameras found after these messages. 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reporter: the question, what will the p bystanders, kids watching do? an expert on mean girls says it matters more than you think. bystanders are the most critical part of stopping bullying. we invited teenage girls to what they think is a shoot about fashion led by today style editor bobbi thomas. the girls don t know the bullies and victim are acting or that their parents are watching. i m katie. i m 14. reporter: katie s mother says they talk about bullying all the time. how do you want to live, what friends do you want. reporter: what will happen today? if you knew anything about fashion you would know horizontal stripes are a no a big no. a big no. reporter: they all snickered at that and watch what katie does. i feel like in 2011 you might get shocked. katie s laughing. it s not that we haven t had these conversations. it s also acknowledging the power of older girls. reporter: i tell katie and the others it s all an act. we felt like we had to go along with the pretty, popular girl in the turquoise. reporter: she said she s learned something valuable. i m going to thing about what happened here and bring it into my real life to make sure that i don t act the way i acted today. reporter: we try again with a new group. hi. i m lily. lily is a unique young lady. reporter: lily s mother thinks her girl will speak up and she s right. i think i need to have some input in it, right? she does need to have input. what did she say? team work. look at lily. she s getting angry. reporter: lily doesn t like the bullies and it shows. nice language. when the grown-up comes in to check lily tells it like it is. everyone feels included in this? no. no? amy and her daughter lily who tells it like it is, and the author of boys and girls and bobbi thomas all participated in kate s report. good morning to you all. lily, you really took them on. have you experienced that in your own life in the past? yeah. i have been bullied since about 3rd grade. you don t feel good about yourself, but to not have anyone even wanting to stand up for you let alone invite you over to their house. you feel worthless. so i felt like i wanted to let her know that i know that she s doing wrong and that the bully wasn t doing the right thing. i think i might have overreacted a little bit. but i think it s better your heart was in the right place. you weren t scared at all. amy, you re watching this unfold and i m sure you have talked to your daughter about bullying in the past. many times. you never know what they are going to do. we saw katie, a nice kid. sure. that was my fear. i didn tle really fear it until i was sitting in the chair with the monitors and i got a look at the beautiful girls i knew were going to play the role of bullies and i thought, they re older girls, charismatic, will lily want to be part of that group and forget? you raise a point about the pressure kids are under. you deal with this all the time. yeah. i think a lot of parents want their children to do the right thing. they think i m teaching the right values. what s important is it shows it s not enough to teach your kid values. you have to show what it looks like in action. if kids get into a situation where kids are older, charismatic and you don t want to do anything and you feel paralyzed sometimes that you need the skills to do in the moment when you are feeling scared. you almost need to role play with the kids? and practice. a lot of parents said, i want my kid to be neutral. in the situation of a bully it s not neutral. it looks like you are siding with the bully. you weren t surprised by this. you see a connection between fashion and bullying. teens are exploring their identity. i love your sparkle shoes. thank you. they are experimenting with fashion and the irony is that while kids want to stand out you want to fit in. that s a tough balance and it sets you township to be vulnerable. unfortunately clothing can be a target. i hate that it s used that way. it s an awesome way to empower a young girl and feel confident about who you are. is it getting worse? i think parents feel like i think a lot of parents feel i have taught my child to be the right thing but they don t focus on the actions. we have to do that and realize that no matter what our kids will see people abuse power. there is no way your child can escape this. so you have to be able to talk to your child. they could be a bystander, target or perpetrator. lily, what would you say to kids who might come upon this? to kids being bullied, when i was being bullied everyone would say, lily, don t take it so seriously, it s only high school or middle school. but you don t have to take it seriously or personally because they re just angry people. that s the way they are going to be. that doesn t mean you shouldn t do anything. you should always, you know, tell at least your parents speak out. yeah. just tell people. if they are still not stopping you need to say, listen, i didn t do anything to you. you need to stop it. i don t know what i did. just tell me what i did so i can apologize and we can get along. which is what i tried to do the other day. you re a great role model. and bullying doesn t just involve girls. there are boys as well. we looked at boys. you will see a scenario with boys in a gym, too. no fashion this time. we had them doing athletic things and the boy in the stripes is an actor, the victim pretending not to be athletic. also is gay in real life and has been bulliebullied. it s more physical with the boys. the role of the coach coming in and out to tell them what to do is to coach condoned what s happening versus if the coach said, i m not going to stand for that made all the difference. we as parents and adults set the tone. absolutely. thank you very much. lily, i have a lily of my own. cool. you can see the special my kid would never bully an nbc. up next, latoya jackson after this. when your eyes are smiling. you re smiling. and when they re laughing. you re laughing. be kind to your eyes. with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably. and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. but sometimes i wonder. what s left behind? 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[ chuckles ] we are back at 8:21. the new season of celebrity apprentice premiers sunday on nbc. the cast includes latoya jackson who found out facing the donald in the boardroom can be a little intimidatin intimidating. our team name is asap. does that mean as soon as possible? no, actually it doesn t. it means actors, singers, authors, performers with a purpose. it s artists. artist and professionals. singers, actors. authors. i m sorry. artists, singers, authors and performers with a purpose. professionals. i keep forgetting professionals. don t worry about it. what does asap mean? it s so funny to look at that. it s artists, singers, actors with a purpose and professionals with a purpose. i named the team and then it was switched because i felt we were all actors and it was switched to something quite differently. i had a mindset. once i get a mindset, that s it. you don t seem like a type that s easily intimidated. is it nerve wracking in the boardroom? you know, matt, that was our first time in the presence of trump in the boardroom. it came out and i was just like, and once i got nervous nothing was computing at that point. let me go through the cast. meatloaf, richard hatch, david cassi cassidy, you. there are a lot of possible train wrecks. did you know any of these people? i knew dionne warwick and two others a little bit. just a little bit. not a lot. yeah. it was an incredible cast as you saw. there is camaraderie and there will come a time you have to roll up your sleeves and you have to have sharp elbows. oh, yeah. is that in your personality? when you have to have it, yes, absolutely. but you re against very strong personalities, as you well know. you have to stand up to people. we re there for a purpose, of course. that purpose was for our different charities. they strip everything away. it s a level playing field. what was it like to sell pizza on the streets of manhattan? oh, my. that was so different. what i like about the show is you re in a different element and settings you re not used to. i have been in show business all my life. working a regular job was difficult and different. it was interesting. very exciting trying to get people to buy pizza. this is reality tv. let s talk reality. i want your reaction. we got word yesterday that the trial of dr. conrad murray, the man facing involuntary manslaughter charges relating to the death of your brother michael has been postponed. are you looking forward to the trial? absolutely. why? i want to know what took place and what happened. i hope they are fair with everything. justice should be served and i will always say this, matt, i have said it from day one, dr. murray was the fall guy. you say your brother was murdered. he was. on what do you base that? i have reason to say that. i wouldn t say that if i didn t feel that it wasn t true. he also told me, so there you have it as well. do you think it will come out in the trial or is this a sideshow? i m thinking that s what it is. actually, that s what i said. i said this is not fair, not right. they know the truth is right here. it s like a magician showing you this hand and the tricks are right here. it s sad. quickly in the time i have left you have a new book coming out in the fall. according to the publisher it will be an explosive tell-all revealing the inner workings of the jackson family and michael s tortured soul. is your family on board with this? this is interesting that you re telling me i have a book coming out. do you have a book coming out? do i have a book coming out? i don t know. i m not at liberty to say that. that s hedging a bet there. we ll find out what happens. nice to see you. appreciate it. much more ahead live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. a final check on the morning commute with kim dacey and traffic pulse 11. a couple situations on the beltway is causing big delays there. a crash off to the shoulder, on the inner and outer loop, very slow. on the northeast corner, disabled moved off to the shoulder. harford county, an accident at 543 has been cleared. moving to the city, an accident at st. paul and 26th street involving a pedestrian struck there. here is a look at the live the drive times. 24 minutes on the outer loop west side. 17 minutes, and 11 minutes on southbound between 95 and the north side on the harbor tunnel. a live look outside on the top side of the beltway. it looks like the delays earlier have dissipated. pretty smooth on the northeast corner. here, very different story. in art and outer loop very jammed up. john, over to you. a lot of sound out there, thin, sun out there, but thin, wispy clouds. temperatures this morning started in the 20 s. now it is 31 at the airport. humidity down, a barometer way, way up. high-pressure keeps us out of trouble as far as grain is concerned. a more easterly flow will bring in moisture from the atlantic and the approaching front to the west will increase the clouds later on. thank you, john. we will have another update i may be mud, but i have standards. mops? please. some of them have bacteria. and they try to pick me up? ew. i m really hard to get. uh! what about love?! 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[ male announcer ] swiffer cleans better than a mop or your money back. 8:30 on this friday morning, march 4, 2011. a nice big crowd out here on the plaza. we just might have to declare this the start of a rolling spring break. what do you think, al? it s early. no, it is. usually we re willing to start that in january. absolutely. okay. coming up you re on spring break apparently. but she s back. just ahead i was enjoying that kid. this is serious. paula abdul s emotional call to 911. you can hear her crying for dispatchers to help her escape a man s car. also ahead, bobby flay is with us, the great chef. it s nice to have him here. he has a new show coming on nbc. the search for the next great restaurant. he ll tell us about that and share a cool restaurant inspired by that. it s been 11 years since bobby was on the show. we have issues with him. he was out in the wilderness on cbs. oh! he s back. okay. also coming up, you know the academy awards were sunday? the dresses are already out, you guys. the knock-offs are already out and you can get the look for much less. we ll show you what s available already. and you and i are kind of germ freaks. germaphobes. kind of? very much so. we purell every chance we get. what about on the plane and you worry about germs floating around. there is all kinds of stuff. you re in a cigar tube. i sometimes use one of the wet wipes for the handles and the armrests. absolutely. we do. yes! we re going to so bad. we ll show you how to be germ-free on a plane. you need germs. helps the immune system. let them get sick. you tell us about the weather. what s the segment about? i m confused. how to avoid germs on the plane. hold your breath. short flight. right. let s talk weather. i purell the flight attendants. let s show you what s going on for the weekend. we have heavy rain in northern california. heavy rain, a risk of strong storms in the lower gulf. rain to western new york. sunny and frigid in the plains. mild through texas. sunday we have more heavy rain along the east coast where we could see flooding on sunday. some place picking up three to five inches of rain. mountain snows through the cascades, the sierra and the bitter root mountains. that s what s going on around today we are going to see temperatures in a little better than yesterday. mostly cloudy skies, winds out of the southeast at 10 to 15 miles per hour. don t forget. you can check your weather any time day or night on the weather channel on cable, weather.com online. you can find out about the twinsburg public library, number one in the country. now let s head down to florida to say hello to uncle willy scott. how sweet. we ll find out if it will be a bad march, snowing or a good one with spring and birds and all that stuff. happy birthday from smuckers. take a look at the pride of orville, ohio this morning. this is anna henderson of philadelphia, pennsylvania. she s 111. oldest citizen in philadelphia. went to the polls and voted in 2008 but didn t say for who. that s her business. oxnard, california, ken seaton. 102. lives independently and maintains a fig tree. if you have tasted a fresh fig, you know why. absolutely delicious. and we have genevieve tilghman from maryland. enjoys dining out, and playing bingo. evelyn matranga of new york city. a very fine lady who loves life. a lifetime member of her church. still likes to read the bible. happy birthday to cape cod, massachusetts s anne theroux. loves to read and knit. her secret to longevity is watching the moon rise on cape cod. we have joseph and marion epler. they have been married ten years. their birthdays are just a few days apart. and finally frances may of new york is 100. loves her family so much. they all love each other. that s all. now back to new york city where the crew loves each other. le willard, thank you very much. now to a frantic 911 call placed by paula abdul from a car on a california highway. mara schiavocampo has the details. reporter: for former american idol judge paula abdul, this past valentine s day was short on love. [ crying ] reporter: that s abdul crying hysterically on the phone with a 911 operator. the audio is from an emergency call she made from a moving car the afternoon of february 14th. abdul tells the operator she s on a california highway and the driver won t let her go. i want out of this car and he won t let me. reporter: the driver, the website tmz reports it was abdul s boyfriend. on the tape she can be heard screaming at him to let her go. are you going to let me out? i have emergency on the phone! oh, my god! reporter: less than one minute after calling police the fight is over. he s dropping me off. reporter: a police report was never filed. a spokesman for abdul said officers checked on her that day and she was fine saying arguments with loved ones can be heated. after the call was made everything was worked out. over the years the singer has become known for her off-key antics. hey, you know what, it is what it is. reporter: like this 2007 interview with a local tv station in seattle where she seemed intoxicated, slurring her words. what are you looking forward to this season? how about a lot of you coming? it s a wild party where you are. reporter: and highly emotional on her reality show. with abdul, you cannot look away. it s that factor that makes you want to see her on tv. you hope they give her another show in spite of the craziness. reporter: in 2009 she said she s struggled with addiction to painkillers. the question now, will this incident further tarnish her image. the reason paula abdul seems resilient in hollywood is because the roles are shaped around her public persona and the zany exhibition we see from her. listen, any public ti is good publicity. reporter: embracing who she is and how the public views her. mara schiavocampo, nbc, new york. on a much different note coming up, italian meatballs the bobby flay way. first this is today on nbc. this morning in today s kitchen back to basics. italian meatballs and the recipe is based on next great restaurants where contestants compete to open their own restaurants. chef bobby flay will be an investor in the winning idea. welcome back. thank you so much. it s been a long time. thanks for renovating the place. we built a new studio and kitchen set. all for you, bobby. these aren t chefs, not even necessarily entrepreneurs. they can be in the food service business but mostly they are people from other walks of life. financial investors, schoolteachers. could be a sanitation worker, anybody. everybody at some point in their life, i believe, has had i have a great idea for a restaurant. because restaurants are so intriguing for people. we give people a chance to come out and pitch us. you invest in it if they win. we can t take this lightly because they are putting up serious bucks for this. people are coming in and we are listening to pitches and we decide who to invest in. i think it s a great idea. we ll crown the winner in the spring? exactly. it s nine shows starting sunday night. what s interesting is the recipe, you will pitch the show but also do some cooking today. this recipe is inspired by one of the contestants. his name is joey, an italian-american. he s a financial consultant and he had an idea to create a restaurant around his grandmother s meatballs. easier said than done. every italian-american has a grandmother with a great meatball recipe. one meatball doesn t make a restaurant. let s go through the meatballs and we ll talk about how to do this. this isn t his. this is my idea of a meatball. i don t have his recipe yet. but it s veal, pork and beef. we put parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, eggs and parsley. nothing crazy special about this. you just want to season it really well. why do you mix the meats instead of using one? you could, but it creates layers of flavor. turkey meatballs are a good alternative. we ll talk about that. you make the meatballs and put them into oil. you get them crusty on the outside. but not cooked through. then put them in the sauce. this is when the magic happens. you let them cook in the tomato sauce for 45 minutes. you remember the commercial that s a spicy meatball and the sauce has kick to it. i put crushed red pepper in mine. this has a good pepper background flavor. for the most part you want flavorful meat balls. to use a restaurant you have to use these in a lot of dishes. exactly. i like this two-tiered kitchen thing. does joey have an advantage here because you are using meatballs on the today show? am i giving too much away? he has a good shot. i love the meatball idea, but how do you make grandma s meatballs into a restaurant. we are not looking for the next $75 a plate restaurant. this is not like the next mesa grill. we are looking for the next chipotle. $10, $11, fast casual, good, healthy cuisine that everyone can afford. here s an idea. i don t know if he ll be able to come up with it. this is the question. how does he turn it into a restaurant? one single subject, the meat balls. what can you do with them? you can make pasta, of course. you can make a salad for somebody that want as healthier rendition of meat balls. or you can put it on a sandwich. it makes one idea it creates a bigger menu for it. you re not giving this guy help here because you have shot your way through this and he now can t use this to help win the competition. no, no. you re stealing his idea to create your own restaurant. he s a good character on the show. on sunday night i will make meatballs on sunday night to watch the show because i think it s a good way to kick it off. hypothetically speaking if joey wins and you make the investment, 80/20 and you get the 80? we haven t made the deal yet. the four of us put in equal amounts of money. we are not telling people how much. it s substantial. it s not just a couple of bucks. we really want the restaurants to work. and check this out, they don t get one restaurant. they get three. really? the day it s over they get three restaurants built for them. one in l.a., new york and minneapolis. you re serious. that s something. the idea is hopefully we ll turn three into 300. i love it. do we get to taste them? fire away. we have penne with meatballs. this is a meatball salad. i knew you would go for the healthy rendition. where have you been for 11 years? around town, bouncing around. it s nice to be back here. that s good. that s a spicy meatball. i want to wake you up. bobby flay. catch the series premier of america s next great restaurant sunday on where, bob? nbc. that s right. up next the precautions you should take to avoid picking up germs on your next flight. first this is today on nbc. ño this morning on today s health killing germs in flight. roughly 2 million americans fly every day and many leave the plane with a handful of new germs. what can you do to avoid that? michelle higgins is here from the new york times and the assistant professor of medicine at nyu medical center. good morning to you both. hello. we have brought our personal germ factory with us. i have a cold. meredith isn t feeling well. what are we talking about here? surfaces or the air that we are breathing? the main concern is surfaces. there are so many common shared surfaces from the tray table to the overhead bins to the bathroom door handle. usually you have more than a hundred people in this cramped space and you re sharing these common touch points. a lot of people talk about the air. they say, okay, if the guy in 16-b or in this case the lady has a cold or flu she s exhaling and they can only recirculate and filter the air so much. unless it s the passenger next to you that s hacking, you know, that s not as much of a concern. it s more about when you touch something, the tray table or whatever that s been contaminated and you touch your face or nose. they filter the air pretty well. ironically the air in planes sometimes is filtered better than office buildings. the air really isn t a concern. are we talking the typical common cold or something more serious? absolutely the common cold, the flu virus can survive days on hard surfaces like the tray table. also gastrointestinal viruses, things that cause food poisoning, diarrhea or mrsa, that really dangerous bug that people can get on skin. don t they swab tray tables and two-thirds of them had that? there was a study where a doctor from the university of arizona swabbed tray tables and the bathroom door handles, faucets and the places we are touching on a plane. they found noro virus, all of those things. the airlines try to deep cleanse the plane. every 30 days american washes all the seat covers and scrubs the bathroom. they also turn over the planes in between flights and pick up. but, you know, depending on how long the flight is you re cramped in with about a hundred passengers. every 30 days isn t that often. she makes fun of me, ladies. i get on a plane, take a wet one sanitary wipes and i tend to wipe my armrest. if they have a controller for the lights and things, that and sometimes even the head rest. is that crazy or very smart? oh, god. that s a good way to protect yourself. you will say very smart. you might get side glances from a fellow passenger but to cleanse your environment of germs is one of the ways to do it. the best way is to wash your hands frequently. you can clean some surfaces, but you probably won t get every square inch. we touch our mouths a lot. we don t realize it, but we may rub our nose, do this. make sure your hands are clean more than anything else. what about products? you re not necessarily pitching the products or anything, but people are inventive about this. right. because of concerns of h1n1 and bed bugs and these things people have been picking up while traveling they are new products that have come out. like purell and wet ones that those are probably with two of the ones that will help you. the face masks, the sick person is the one to wear that. that s a courtesy. you have to wear it every day. so they won t contaminate. if you are worried about a hacking seat mate, it may help. nothing better than washing your hands but be smart, almost brilliant, and wipe down your armrest with an anti-bacterial wipe. thank you very much. thank you, ladies, very much. we re back in a moment. this is today on nbc. hey, what are you drinkin ? i m drinkin dunkin . coffee black, straight up. extra cream, three sugars. iced coffee french vanilla. for me. iced coffee with a turbo shot. i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . drinkin dunkin . america runs on dunk. call me crazy, but it seems to me both michelle and dr. raj. they were very gracious with you. wiping down the plane seats. you would never do that? i have as i have gotten older. i m more concerned. sometimes i use paper towels to open doors. i m cautious about it. i don t get crazy and purell every five minutes like you guys. not every five minutes but who knows what people were doing on the plane seats. you know they cleaned it 30 days ago though. 1,000 passengers in that seat. have you ever left a restroom on an airplane without using the paper towel to open the door? i use my elbow. i m not sure. i probably have. oh. i use my elbow or right after you used it, i think. i got sick. we ll be right back after your local news and weather. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. authorities on the hunt for three suspects in a possible home invasion baltimore county police cordoned off an area on liberty road yesterday while the k-9 unit searched for the suspects. police did recover a pair of masks reportedly warned by the suspects but no arrests have been made. back in a now let s look at the forecast with john collins. nice morning and this morning. temperatures moving out of the 20 s and into the 30 s now. a few high, thin, wispy clouds. high pressure keeps be rei the rain at the west away for a few days. southeast winds, at 10-15. 45-48 with a high. by saturday night to sunday, we could see some rain. we will have another weather update at 9:25.