Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110405 : vimarsana.com

and just started doing what i wanted to do. our exclusive jailhouse wanted to do. our exclusive jailhouse interview today, april 5, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to today on this tuesday morning. i m meredith vieira. i m matt lauer. i hope you have your umbrella. it will be a mess from ramaine florida. widespread damage in at least six states including kentucky where seven people were injured when a tornado destroyed part of a factory. we ll get the details and al s forecast ahead. also, a graphic program now being used in high schools nationwide to drive home the dangers of texting or drinking while driving. it lets teenagers see what life would be like if their friends or siblings died in an accident. we ll have details coming up. plus, actress ashley judd will be here to talk about her candid memoir in which she reveals she was sexually abused as a child. she writes about her relationship with her mother and sister. we ll talk to her about all of that. on a much different note the party lasted well into the night in storrs, connecticut, after uconn won the baseball national championship. we ll have more than that story as well. congratulations to the huskies. storms ripped through the south. al roker has the forecast upstairs, al? this is the most severe day of weather we have had in almost five years with close to 800, now pushing 900 severe storm reports. severe weather tore through kentucky where strong winds toppled homes. others ripped off the foundations and two people were hurt. in tennessee, winds were howling up to 80 miles per hour. there were downed trees everywhere. a mother and daughter trapped for hours when a tree fell on their home. in iowa, residents collected golf ball-sized hail after a storm ripped through due buick, iowa. warm moist air is coming up along the frontal system. behind it a strong upper level jet. colder air and a risk of strong storms florida into southern new england. here s where we ve got a risk of storm this is morning. from west palm beach into the carolinas a line of thunderstorms firing up along the line from florida into the carolinas. we have tornado watches until late this morning. rainfall amounts from one to two inches of rain. strong winds behind it and colder air behind that. meredith? thank you very much. now to washington and the looming threat of government shutdown. president obama invited congressional leaders to the white house in hopes of hammering out a budget deal. nbc white house correspondent savannah guthrie has the latest. good morning to you, savannah. reporter: good morning. one aid said this morning this is a decisive moment. the president plans to tell congressional leaders to get this done. meanwhile federal agencies are told to prepare for shutdown. republicans and democrats have already agreed to a top line number for spending cuts and there is no reason other than politics the two sides can t get a deal. the president today will summon congressional leaders to the white house in a final hour push to get a budget deal. at an event in new hampshire the vice president said the stakes are high. it s important we avoid a shutdown not for political reasons but for pure substantive reasons of keeping the economy moving. reporter: on capitol hill the public sparring hit a fever pitch. republicans refuse to recognize that their budget is an appalling proposal. there are a lot of folks, including senator reid, that would like to shut the government down. i think their plan is to shut the government down. reporter: the contentious budget showdown the backdrop to a 2012 presidential election just getting under way. on monday, president obama officially became candidate obama releasing an online launch video that acknowledged work to be done to reinvigorate supporters. we re paying him to do a job so we can t, take time off to get us energized. reporter: the president who campaigned on hope and change in 2008 is now an incumbent who must retool his message. i think the president will say things are getting better, the economy is improving, unemployment is going down and the stock market going up. that s a good thing for a president starting a re-election campaign. reporter: republicans are seizing on an economy not producing enough jobs. my hope is my hope is hope isn t hiring. reporter: while republicans have the message they don t have their messenger yet. of those who are in only one candidate is considered a front runner. others are likely in the race but haven t made it official. then there are the fencesitters. with a fired up republican base some gop strategists say waiting to get in the race is smart. the minute someone steps forward and starts acting like it s their turn to be the nominee is the same minute the grassroots, especially the tea party looks at that person and says, you know what? we want somebody else. reporter: one other note on the president s campaign announcement, it came on the day that the department of justice announced that khalid sheikh mohammed would be tried in a military tribunal on guantanamo bay which was, of course, a reminder to the grassroots, the president s base supporters of one broken campaign promise from 2008. thank you very much. the chairman of the republican national committee joins us. good morning. good to be here. i looked at where republicans where are in the last election psych. nine were in the running. this time no one has officially declared his or her candidacy. why not? this president we have now we call the campaigner-in-chief. he doesn t stop campaigning. at a time we are about to face a government shutdown, we are debating the budget, delivering a serious budget today, this president shows how tone deaf he is by announcing he s running for president yesterday. as far as your question, i don t think there is doubt that we ll have many serious candidates on the republican side of the aisle running for president to try to get our fiscal train back on the rails in this country which this president has completely derailed. aren t you worried about playing catch-up here? they will be running against an incumbent who could raise an unprecedented $1 billion and time matters if you re not well known and doesn t have a lot of money. it takes time to build those things up. this president is good at raising big cash from fat cat donors. let s talk about the republicans. why aren t they getting into the race? there are many republicans, as you pointed out, there are at least a dozen candidates right now testing the waters. i think there will be plenty of time to get the message out. the first question will be to the american people, are you better off today than you were three years ago and most people will say no to that. the republicans will be out there. we re going to have plenty of candidates. i don t think there is a doubt that we ll have candidates articulate a clear message of getting our economy back on track, bringing good paying jobs to americans and getting our debts and deficits under control. in a press release on the rnc website you write the debt championed by this administration threatens to snuff out the recovery and future job growth but looking at the recent numbers, sixth consecutive month of job growth. it appears there is a recovery. doesn t that throw a monkey wrench into your argument? not at all. this president promised millions of jobs. we lost 26 million jobs since he s been president. he promised under an 850 billion dollar stimulus program we d be on the path to recovery. none of that s true. he completely trashed medicare by raiding it by $500 billion to provide us a government-run health care program that nobody wants. i think that pointing out a snail s pace in the job numbers is not going to be enough to undo 26 million jobs that are lost, meredith. i think the american people are tired of the rhetoric and they want substance. kmis have said in criticizing the numbers the republicans run the risk of looking like they are cheering for an economic reversal. no, that s not the case, meredith. we want to get serious about where this country is going when it comes to our runaway deficits, taxes and spending in this country. i think even the hardest democratsle would agree that if we don t get serious about where medicare, social security and medicaid are going in this country that we are about to walk off a fiscal cliff. these are promises we all know the government can t keep. it s the republicans who are getting serious about these issues. will the republicans compromise on the budget to prevent a government shutdown? the only people talking about a government shutdown right now are the democrats. you have seen republicans working hard every single day trying to come up with a c.r. solution on where we are going and spending over the next six months. paul ryan and speaker boehner introduced a serious as a heart attack budget this morning to tackle $6 trillion over the next ten years in spending in this country. it s the republicans that are serious about these issues. it s the president filling out ncaa brackets, going to the jonas brothers and golfing and only criticizing republicans. finally to switch gears when you were first elected to be chairman of the rnc there was a lot made of your name. people had fun with it including stephen colbert. let s take a look. what s a reince priebus? folks, this could be the perfect name for the chairman of the rnc which i believe is pronounced rence . for the record, how do you say your name? it s ryntz-pree-bus. that s what happens when a german and get married. thank you very much. thank you. it s 7:12. here s matt. thank you. michael blumberg calls a new decision to try the alleged master mind of the 9/11 attacks in guantanamo a more appropriate choice. the trial was originally set to be held in civilian court in new york city. on monday the obama administration made a major reversal. nbc s justice correspondent pete williams has details on this. pete, good morning to you. reporter: good morning. the attorney general said he s still convinced that a regular federal courtroom in the u.s. is the best place for the trial. he says that s where the strongest evidence can be presented. he said he has to accept that congress won t let that happen. they will be brought to new york. reporter: a year and a half after declaring that the 9/11 trials would be held in new york at the scene of the crime for attack mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed and others accused of helping him, attorney general eric holder says they will be tried before a military tribunal at guantanamo bay where they have been held since 2006. we simply cannot allow a trial to be delayed any longer for the victims of the 9/11 attacks or for their family members who have waited for nearly a decade for justice. reporter: relatives of some 9/11 victims say it s the right decision. we don t need these people, their attorneys or anyone else on the soil here in the united states. as president i will close guantanamo reporter: but it s a reversal for president obama who opposed military trials as a candidate and vowed to shut gitmo down. we ll win this fight on our terms. reporter: new york s mayor and police chief pushed back against holding trials there and congress blocked moving detainees to the u.s. the reality is that i know this case in a way members of congress do not. i have spoken to the prosecutors. i know the decisions. reporter: in an interview with nbc holder says the u.s. loses an opportunity to demonstrate the fairness of the u.s. justice system. it is, in fact, the best one in the world. i am not happy about the fact that we will not have that opportunity. reporter: some people say if the attorney general had looked at it further, talked to people in new york he could have come to this decision two years ago. i made my decision based on the facts, based on the law and based on where i thought these cases could be best tried. i only come to this decision reluctantly after congress passed statutes that tie my hands. reporter: holder s critics support holding trials at gitmo but civil liberties groups do not. i am disappointed. i hoped eric holder would stick by his initial plan. reporter: now the case gets turned over to military prosecutors who say they could have pretrial hearings going by this fall in guantanamo, around the time of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. pete williams, thank you very much. now a check of the rest of the top stories from ann curry at the news desk. good morning. welcome back. good morning to all of you. in the new this is morning the government is ordering inspections of all older model boeing 737s. it was recommended after a five-foot hole opened in the roof of an older 737 jet in mid flight. cracks have been discovered in two more jets. water samples taken in the ocean near the crippled nuclear power plant in japan now show iodine levels that are seven million times the legal limit. officials say in order to keep the reactors cool, workers are forced to pump water onto them while dumping radioactive runoff into the ocean. the japanese government admits the long-term effects of dumping are uncertain. laurent gbagbo is now negotiating his surrender a day of helicopters began firing on his presidential palace and military sites. hundreds have been massacred in post election violence and the u.n. is investigating reports that several hundred civilians were killed last week. nato has taken command in libya, but rebel leaders are expressing concern that without u.s. air strikes they will not get the support they need. stephanie gosk has the latest on this from benghazi. good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. rebel forces are trying to retake an oil facility in the town of brega, but they will have to do it without the help of u.s. a.c.-130s and a-10s, two planes that were invaluable in the push west. u.s. military says they will only be fulfilling a support role unless nato specifically asks otherwise. it s a transition that has leaders here in benghazi nervous. they say they need the support to push west. in the capital city there are pictures released by state tv they say are pictures of gadhafi in the street. what you see is a car moving down the street surrounded by what they call supporters. you don t actually see who s in the car. this would be the first time they have seen gadhafi in more than two weeks in public, even as his sons put forward a proposal that they take control of this country and usher in a new constitutional democracy. that s a proposal that s been uniformly rejected by leaders here in benghazi. ann? stephanie gosk this morning, thank you. on a much lighter note there is a new top dog in town as the uconn huskies have won the national title for a third time, beating butler last night 53-41. the win makes jim calhoun at age 68 the oldest coach to win the championship. it s now 7:18. back to matt, meredith and al. exciting for them. a great season for butler, too. i feel bad two years in a row, but they should be proud. we did have a rough weather earlier this morning, and now things have to settle down. there is still a chance for rainshowers off and on. and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. nearly two years later, new photos could unlock the mystery behind a tragic plane crash that killed 228 people off the coast of brazil. peter alexander has the latest. reporter: good morning. these are dramatic photos. air france flight 447 fell from the sky after running into an intense high altitude thunderstorm taking with it answers about exactly what went wrong then. but now the wreck site has finally been found deep under water. it s amid a mountain range that s believed to be among the most rugged on the planet. they are stunning new pictures from the abyss, nearly two and a half miles down on the atlantic ocean floor. a field of ghostly wreckage including, investigators say, part of flight 447 s fuselage, the tires from the landing gear, a piece of wing and two of the plane s mangled engines. the team has conducted some of the most difficult undersea searches ever including locating the titanic in 1985. this week s remarkable discovery happened with the help of three unmanned submarines on their fourth expedition in search of flight 447. they gave us ale smaller haystack to look in and there was the needle. when we hit the zone in full stride we were fortunate enough to find the aircraft. reporter: perhaps most marrowing, they have spotted the remains of several of the flight s 228 victims. among those on board the flight two americans. [ speaking in a foreign language ] reporter: french crash investigators say they are optimistic they will find the so-called black boxes that, if not badly damaged, could answer questions about the flieg s final minutes. you will know what that plane was doing as far as motion in space prior to and in relation to the thunderstorm activity which is suspected to have occurred. reporter: on monday at a news conference relatives of the victims expressed relief. [ speaking in a foreign language ] reporter: every morning we ask ourselves where is this plane, this woman says. finally finding debris is good news. that debris field captured on sonar was concentrated on n one area less than a single square mile. investigators believe the finding supports the theory that the plane didn t break up midair during a violent storm. instead they suspect it remained intact as it hurtled down hurling into the ocean, the water tearing the plane into shreds, evidence waiting to be recovered from the sea. really the investigation has just begun. everything we collect from here is a piece of evidence and a clue to what happened to the aircraft. incredible. consider again this was nearly two and a half miles under water. salvage crews will begin moving into the remote area of the atlantic where the plane went down and specialists could begin pulling up wreckage and bodies from the bottom of the sea within a month. thank you very much. just ahead, the so-called hiccup girl speaks out for the first time since being charged with first-degree murder. i took the path of the devil. i really did. instead of keeping my faith with the lord i let the devil overcome me. our exclusive jailhouse interview, but first this is today on nbc. coming up, ashley judd opens up about the sexual abuse and depression she faced as a child and life with her famous mom and sister. plus, should kate middleton and prince william have a prenup? after your local news and weather. achoo! the seasons change, but we still may suffer from nasal allergy symptoms. they can hit you year round. indoors or out. achoo! oh to have relief. prescription nasonex is clinically proven to help relieve nasal allergy symptoms. including congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. [ female announcer ] side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds, and coughing. infections of the nose and throat and eye problems, including glaucoma or cataracts may occur. have regular eye exams. slow wound healing may occur, so do not use nasonex until your nose has healed from any sore, surgery or injury. nasonex can increase your risk of getting infections. avoid contact with infections like chicken pox or measles while using nasonex. it does not come in generic form. ask your doctor if nasonex is right for you. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. accident are around the area. beltway northeast, accident report coming in. southbound accident being cleared from the shoulder. you can see the delays from white marsh to the beltway. shuster road, there is an accident there. we have other problems to get to on northbound 295. on the out of the to the southwest corner of the beltway, a crash, and another one on eastbound 100 at route 10. 21 minutes on the outer loop west side. inner loop is not bad. nine minutes from 795 to 83 s. this is what it looks like an old court on the west side going away from us. heavy delays there. we will switch over to a live view of traffic at white marsh. northbound and southbound accidents contributing. tony, over to you. thunderstorms to start the day. things are quiet now. we have light rain showers out there. a few sprinkles amount towson and cockeysville that is all we will see the rest of the morning. the forecast looks like this. right now we are in the upper 50 s and low 60 s. basically going steady with off and on rainshowers. next couple of days should be fairly quiet. slight chance for a shower on wednesday and thursday. better chance for rain at the end of the week. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information back in 25 minutes. 7:30 now on a tuesday morning, the 5th of april 2011. here s the good news. it s warmed up in the northeast. something like 60 degrees out there now. we re going to get rain this morning through a good part of the day. it doesn t seem to bother those people on the plaza. they re welcoming meredith back. oh, please. i m matt lauer along with meredith vieira. just ahead an exclusive jailhouse interview with the so-called hiccup girl. jennifer mee was on today because of her uncontrollable hiccups and is now behind bars charged with first-degree murder. also ahead it looks like a real-life accident scene with emergency workers and victims. it s part of a program, a graphic program being used to stop teenagers from drinking or texting when driving. when they see it, the reality hits home. details coming up. plus the less glamorous side of the royal wedding. should prince william and kate sign a prenup? why they say kate has everything to lose if she does. we begin with jennifer mee speaking out in her first interview since being connected with the shooting death of a young florida man. amy robach sat down with her inside the jail. amy, good morning. reporter: good morning. jennifer was very emotional during her time with us. this is a young girl who over the course of four years has seen her life go from one extreme to the other. in fact, she s coming to terms with what her future may hold a lifetime behind bars. it didn t hit me at first until i was in the back of the cop car with hand cuffs in a paper gown. i m like, no, this has to be some type of joke. reporter: jennifer mee is a much different girl today than the shy high school freshman who wound nup the national spotlight in 2007. it s not funny, is it? not no more, not at all. reporter: it was allel the attention to surrounded her unusual condition she believes sent her down the wrong path. every time i walked into school, oh, there s the hiccup girl, oh, let s be friends with jennifer. that was overwhelming. people i never thought i would talk to came up and acted like they wanted to be my friend. you became the it girl. yeah. what did you do with that fame? i basically let it all go to my head and just started doing what i wanted to do. reporter: that s when jennifer said she fell in with the wrong crowd. at 17 she left home and less than two years later. the allegation is murder in the first-degree. reporter: she was charged with murder. i took the path of the devil. i really did. instead of keeping my f faith wh the lord, i let the devil overcome me. reporter: police say jennifer met 22-year-old shanon griffin online and led him to a home where her boyfriend la mont and his friend planned to rob griffin at gun point. in the course of the robbery griffin was shot multiple times. do you think about the victim at all? every day. i do. i think what if that was me behind that barrel? that could have been my life taken. he didn t deserve he was very young. he was only a couple years older than i was. i think about it every day. it eats me alive. reporter: do you feel responsible? i can t tell you the truth because i i didn t do nothing wrong. i m not guilty of anything. reporter: in police audio recordings obtained by nbc news jennifer is heard giving two versions of what took place that night. first she says is shooting was part of a love triangle involving the victim, one of the suspects and another woman. laron, i guess found out he had a type of relationship going on with his girlfriend and laron snapped. reporter: in another interview that night jennifer breaks down confessing that she lured the victim to the scene so the others could rob him. he was calling laron s phone asking where i could meet him. reporter: jennifer has gone back to the original story saying she was coerced into taking the blame. why implicate yourself in murder? from i just i don t know. it s hard. it s hard to explain. i made a mistake. i thought since i was, quote/unquote, famous so young, nothing would happen to me. so i went with a story i thought i wouldn t get in trouble with. but in all reality it put me behind bars. i have been here five months. i could be facing life. reporter: jennifer s attorney says the truth will come out in court. if you really believe her story she s really not guilty of anything except poor judgment in who she associated with. reporter: what s life like? really rough. prior to three days ago i was on lockdown 23 hours a day. came out only a half hour each day, able to make a phone call which is only 20 minutes and able to get in the shower. maybe talk a couple minutes to the other female inmates. i don t get to see my family. everything has been really rough. missing my sisters grow up, my mom. you missed your grandma s funeral? i did. that broke my heart. i feel like i had a big part of why it happened with her passing away because she was so old not old, but stressed. i feel like i had a big toll on why she passed away. i know this is hard. if you had to you have to imagine or at least leave as a possibility that you ll be behind bars and walls for the rest of your life. i don t want to think like that, but i know that is always in the back of my mind. trust me. it is always there. i think about it each and every day. i think, what if i go to prison? what if i go to prison? but i also try to not let that just eat away at my brain, so to speak. reporter: what do you think s going to happen at trial? i don t want to think that far ahead. i m scared. i really am. i m scared. i want to go home. my sisters are growing up. my mom is missing me. it s hard for me to see my mom and my sisters on a tv screen and have to talk to them through a phone instead of being able to give them hugs and kisses and be home and have dinner with them and say good night. reporter: for now jennifer won t be going home any time soon. she was denied bond after a hearing that included an emotional plea from the victim s cousin. he just thought he was going on a date. just a young college-aged kid grinning ear to ear about to go on a date, happy as could be. reporter: you know griffin s family will be in the court, i m sure, during the trial. it s very possible that they are watching. i want to give you the opportunity to say something to his family. i just want to say that i m sorry for the loss of his cousin. i wish that everything would have been different than how it all proceeded out to be. he didn t deserve it. he didn t. he did not deserve to go. he did not. reporter: i m sure you noticed that jennifer did not hiccup at all during our time with her, but her attorney said she s suffering periodic attacks which he attributes to a neurological disorder he will use as part of the defense. all three named defendants remain behind bars. they have pled not guilty. according to jennifer s attorney it could take up to two years before the case goes oh trial. matt? amy, thank you very much. rikki cleyman is a criminal defense attorney. good morning, matt. what happens when a story changes not once but twice? how does that impact her future? her future is tenuous in terms of what this lawyer will do with this information. we went basically overnight from an insanity defense which is what we thought it was going to be. i did it, but i have a mental disease that caused me to go along with it and not understand the consequences of my action. by this interview it s gone. that defense is gone. she said she s completely innocent, did nothing wrong, had no involvement in this crime. exactly right. we have now what we call a false confession case. we know there are many false confessions that lead to conviction of an innocent person. what is a defense attorney to do? well, a defense attorney would love to polygraph her. she either did lure him there or she didn t. she either was involved or she wasn t. and i suspect what s stopping a defense attorney from getting a polygraph for her? i don t know that i would like to do a polygraph in jail. i would like to get her out. that doesn t seem likely. not at all. the second thing is he has to go to the prosecutor with the interview. i think the interview is wise if this false confession will stick and say, wait a minute, you have to reinvestigate the case. start again. it should be easy enough to know who was on the phone, who was on that social networking site, was she there? yes know turret s syndrome plays into this. she became a celebrity in a weird way because of the medical condition, the hiccupping. she was on this show and said she was ill-equipped to handle all the attention that went with it. it s almost as if she s saying she s a victim of circumstances. i don t think that plays well. certainly her publicity, attention and her willingness to please other people to get more attention is a circumstance that might help her. but saying it s because i became a public figure because i had these hiccups is going nowhere. real quickly, she didn t pull the trigger. no one is alleging that but she s charged with first-degree murder in florida. even if she just lured this person to the robbery and the reason is it s called felony murder. she is part of the group that knew. they have to prove she knew there would be a robbery, a felle afel felo felony, and the murder took place at that time. appreciate it. 7:41. let s get a check of the weather from al roker. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by advil. make the switch to addvil now. good morning. we have shower activity coming down. i like the hats. very nice. where are you from? california. good california hats. let s check your weather as the rain comes down. we ll show you we re looking at afternoon temperatures in the 40s in new england, 80s in florida. the heat is on in the southwest. 50s in the pacific northwest and as far as your weather is concerned we are looking at more rain coming into the pacific northwest with mountain snows. sunshine through the southwest. a risk of strong storms with tornado watches from northern florida into the midatlantic states and rain in the northeast. after thunderstorms early in the day, things have settled down. it will be breezy and cooler it will be breezy and cooler and that s your latest weather. matt? al, thank you very much. up next, scared straight. the graphic way teens are being taught the dangers of drinking and texting while driving. that s after this. 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[ male announcer ] nope. capri sun 100% juice. to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty but there s one that s so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skin s natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics recommended most by dermatologists. we are back at 7:46 with the latest graphic technique being used to teach teens about the dangers of texting and drinking while driving. it s called every 15 minutes. tom costello is in maryland where one school will deliver a sobering message to teens today. good morning. reporter: hi, meredith. 5100 teenage drivers were killed or injured in alcohol-related accidents in 2009. this is the car we saw used at a high school last week in maryland and will be used again today at this high school to drive home the dangers of bad decisions. [ sirens ] 2100 road. reports of a pedestrian struck. reporter: it s a modern day version of scared straight . trauma code. two d.o.a.s. one, two, three. reporter: a bloody recreation designed to shock the teenage audience watching from the curb and cut into the death rate from texting and drinking while driving. the program is called every 15 minutes . are they going to be okay? reporter: across the country hundreds of high schoolers started with the grim reaper pulling students out of class every 15 minutes. each one representing another classmate. alicia camacho. reporter: another teammate. another friend. mina sora. reporter: who won t come back. megan tillman. reporter: with a police officer reading each student s obituary written by their parents. megan was a member of the girls varsity team and loved to make people laugh. reporter: and a quiet stunned classroom left behind. then for the next 24 hours those students are the walking dead. no phone calls, no texting, no talking. silent. the reality of texting or drunk driving hitting home for everyone at school. we can preach all we want. when they actually see it and feel it and they truly feel it, that s when it has an impact. whoo! reporter: the students themselves create their own video, portraying the day of drinking that leads up to the day s tragedy. i ll drive! i m driving! my car! reporter: ryan hopman plays the drunk teenager who kills a car full of kids including his real life brother evan. he s been my best friend for 17 years. i can t imagine life without him. reporter: afterle realistic makeup, local police and firefighters play their parts and ryan is arrested for dui. this is real. we are trying to impart a mess sa saj and i think it works. reporter: inside the school, tombstones for the 37 students who died and a hope that what they have seen this day stays with them a very long time. police say programs like this are working along with the national drinking age now of 21. they make the point that since 2000 teen related alcohol deaths are down 37%. of course you have to train and educate new kids every year. absolutely. thank you very much. coming up, actress ashley judd opens up about her bitter and sweet relationship with her mom and sister and reveals she was the victim of incest and sexual abuse. first, these messages. express yourself express yourself oh, do it oh, do it express yourself hey [ female announcer ] coffee is like life. it s better when you add your flavor. coffee-mate, from nestle. it s better when you add your flavor. i couldn t sleep right. next day it took forever to get going. night after night, i sat up. sprayed up. took a shower. or took a pill. then i tried drug-free breathe right advanced. and instantly, i breathed better! i slept better. it felt.better. thank you, breathe right! [ male announcer ] breathe better, sleep better, feel better. try breathe right advanced for free. at breatheright.com. [ woman ] it s my right to breathe right. isn t it your right, too? [ woman ] it s my right to breathe right. hurry in and load up on great savings during the petsmart anniversary le. this weekend only, save up to 50% on select items. and save $5 on all iams® cat food in 16 to 20 pound bags. only at petsmart. helping strengthen our bones. caltrate delivers 1200 milligrams of calcium and 800 iu of vitamin d plus minerals. women need caltrate. caltrate helps women keep moving because women move the world. caltrate helps women keep moving but you re not sweet you messed with my head all day and all night we d argue and fight you left guilty crumbs in my bed but i found a new love a natural true love that comes from a leaf oh-so-green zero-calorie, guilt-free no artificiality my conscience feels scrubbed new and clean its name is truvia i had no idea now i ve tasted what love truly means [ announcer ] truvia. honestly sweet. just ahead, given the recent track record of royal marriages should kate middleton sign a prenup? that just took all the fairy tale out of it. why some say she would be much better off without one. first a check of your local news and weather. have a better day build your better breakfast at subway [ male announcer ] only subway lets you build your better breakfast with all the flavors you choose. start off with an irresistible steak, egg & cheese, then make it your own! try it with warm and toasty tomato or turn up the zest factor with banana peppers and jalapeños. maybe chipotle southwest sauce for the finishing touch! all on tasty flatbread. it s flat out delicious! build your better breakfast at subway delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. kind of a busy rush out there. southbound 95 am dealing with delays approaching the northeast. then what side is going up quickly from belair road towards dulaney valley. inner loop delays as well as you make your approach to i-95. inner loop of dulaney valley, watch for an accident coming into us. harrisburg expressway looks pretty good. 295 northbound, cleared, but we have an accident on the outer loop of the beltway. washington boulevard, another accident coming into us. outside quick live look of old court. there are a west side delays down towards edmondson. that s the switchover to a live view of white marsh. we are backing down toward the white marsh at accident scene towards the beltway. it was a rough start for us. dick thunderstorms earlier this morning. scattered wbaltv.com big and thunderstorms earlier this morning wbaltv.co big and thunderstorms earlier this morning. we are in the fifties right now. we re basically going to hold steady through this afternoon. off and on rainshowers probably through lunchtime. you might get sunshine to break through the clouds. as always, you can check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. we are back at 8:25 with another live update. 8:00 now on this tuesday morning, the 5th of april, 2011. the rain has arrived here in rockefeller plaza, but it has not dampened the spirits of the crowd. it s actually stopped for the moment here. i m meredith vieira along with matt lauer and al roker. 21 days before the wedding. still days like what will the dress look like. now a new question. should they get a royal prenup? some look at andrew and fergie and charles and diana. others don t think it s such a good idea. we ll talk about it coming up. also ahead a revealing new memoir from ashley judd. she opens up about the struggles she faced growing up with her famous mom and sister as well as battles with addiction, thoughts of suicide as early as age 7. we ll talk to her about how she s come through it all. and the 100 recipes every woman should know, including the chicken dish that beth stern used to win her husband, the king of all media, howard stern. these are only dishes women should know? engagement chicken. men cannot know them. works their magic on men. let s go inside. ann curry is at the news desk with headlines. in the news in a major reversal the obama administration announced the accused 9/11 plotters will not be tried in civilian courts in new york city. instead khalid sheikh mohammed and four others will face military tribunals at guantanamo bay, cuba. critics complain the trials in civilian courts would be too expensive and pose a terror threat. president obama is meeting with house speaker john boehner today about the budget stalemate in congress. so far democrats and republicans can t agree on long-term spending cuts and another emergency spending bill may be needed to prevent a partial government shutdown on friday. water samples taken in the ocean near the crippled nuclear plant in japan show iodine levels are now 7 million time it s the leg limit. workers are being forced to pump water onto the cores while dumping radioactive water in the ocean. toyota will have to close plants because of a part shortage in japan. the shut downs could affect 25,000 workers, but no layoffs are expected. a musician is claiming victory in haiti. he easily defeated the former first lady of haiti. clashes escalated in yemen between supporters of president saleh and those demanding his resignation. at least one person was killed. severe thunderstorms are threatening the east coast from florida to southern new england. more than 20 tornadoes hit seven states on sunday leaving at least three people day. damage was severe in kentucky and tennessee and hailstones the size of golf balls fell in iowa. treasure from the oldest ship wreck ever found in the caribbean was put on display monday by the utah company that found it. the ship went down in 1535. a single coin found by a fisherman led treasure hunters to the wreck. significant. it s 8:03. let s go to al for a check of the weather. thanks, ann. want to ask emily to the prom? yes. emily, will you go to prom with me? where s your school? twin falls, idaho. let us know. yep. all right, emily. he s waiting for an answer. let s check your weather. sacramento, california. kcra nbc 3 hd. mostly sunny and 73. beautiful there today. not nice in the east. you can see we have wet weather. in fact, there are strong storms into the midatlantic states into new england. mountain snows in the pacific northwest into the plains states. plenty of sunshine from the mid plains into the southwest. we had some rough weather to start the day, but things have settled down. we are still going to see light rain showers a and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. up next, the unromantic side of the royal wedding. should prince william and kate sign the old prenup? right after this. too hot to trot, now, baby some say i m bold. i say i m free. i wear what i love, because expression means everything. i wear the pants. and the tops. and the jewels. i grab life by the accessories. some say i ve done it all. i say i m just getting started. too hot to trot baby i m so chico s. good morning [ male announcer ] there are sixteen fresh-picked oranges squeezed into each carton of tropicana pure premium and absolutely no space for added sugar, water or preservatives. tropicana we put the good in morning. how about a coastal soup and grilled shrimp salad combination? 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[ male announcer ] ask your veterinarian about k9 advantix ii. where everyone feels at home. where the company, the conversation, and the food make all who enter feel welcome. a place that feels as warm with a crowd. as it does with just a friend. it s a place you ll find town house crackers. because they re part of what makes your place the place. welcome to town house. where good times reside. the only garden feeder. that works with ready-to-use liquid miracle-gro. it s a revolutionary way to grow a great garden. liquafeed makes feeding as easy as watering. no measuring, mixing or guessing. just attach, insert and feed. plants get the perfect balance. of water and nutrients. to grow twice as big. liquafeed from miracle-gro. and prevent weeds up to 3 months with miracle-gro garden weed preventer. we re back now at 8:09 as we count down to the royal wedding. they exchange vows in just 24 days but should they take a step that s popular in the states before they tie the knot. michelle kosinski is at buckingham palace to explain. good morning. reporter: hi, matt. there s been a lot of chatter about the p word, prenuptial agreement. is there or isn t there one? there is no way of knowing if they have signed one. the palace will not comment and no one wants to think about this beautiful couple splitting but divorce rates are one in two, crowned heads aren t immune and some experts think it would not be a bad idea. who could forget prince charles and angelic 19-year-old diana walking down the aisle. the vision of fresh young love. but 15 years and two princes later, the fairy tale did end in divorce. and some bad publicity for the monarchy. if it s all right with you i thought i might postpone my nervous break down to a more appropriate moment. reporter: the future king lost nearly his entire personal fortune, tens of millions of dollars in the split. no doubt his oldest son knows all about such things. princess margaret, princess anne, prince andrew, also divorced. no secret sarah ferguson has been in financial trouble since her divorce from andrew. none are believed to have had prenups. the british courts just started recognizing them as binding six months ago. celebrity couples would certainly want a prenup. in addition to providing who gets what in the event of divorce, prenups can provide for privacy, for confidentiality. reporter: paul mccartney s divorce here made him $30 million less of a rich man. the material girl s reportedly cost her more than $70 million. william and kate have likely seen the headlines and many of the world s other royals are known to have signed prenups like sweden s crown princess victoria who married her personal trainer. in denmark after prince joaquin had to sell part of his estate to pay for a house for his ex. mary signed a reworked prenup reportedly so he wouldn t have the same problem. a book about princess grace of monaco said in the 50s she had to sign one before marrying prince rainier which included taking a fertility test, agreeing to lose custody in the event of divorce and her family supplying a dowry. to sign or not to sign? the modern will and kate have to decide for themselves if they haven t already. members of the royal family refer to themselves as the firm. any firm has a disaster plan. the only reason you would not want a prenup is it s unromantic. that lawyer feels sure that william and kate have already signed one but others say if they had it would have leaked out. not everybody wants one. it s said that prince charles didn t have one when he married camilla and a lot of celebrities have been avoiding them. most recently hugh hefner who is marrying a woman 60 years younger than he is. michelle, thank you very much. andrew roberts is nbc s royal commentator and author of the royal house of windsor. andrew, you were shaking your head through much of that. you don t think it s a good idea, do you? not only do i think it s not a good idea, it s not happening. prince william is not hugh hefner. we have a set-up in britain where we don t have a culture of prenups. celebrities sometimes do it but not aristocrats. wait, they are going to be the biggest celebrity coup until the world. that s not how they see themselves. they see themselves as arrest cats and rightly so. kate would actually do worse with a prenup because wives do tremendously well with divorce laws in britain. talking about the dollars and cents, isn t your big beef that it would kill the fairy tale? that if a billion people are tuning in and you want people to buy into the fairy tale that this makes it look like a business deal? of course. historically there have been business deals. effectively queen victoria s prenup carried on for seven pages but there is a tremendous sense of honor in the middleton family that they are being honored by joining the house of windsor and they won t sully that with prenuptial agreements. you talk about divorce laws in the uk. she would stand to get about half anyway. plus, her family is not poor. exactly. she d be mad to sign a prenup. at the moment, he s much richer than her. let s take it down a notch. what about a simple confidentiality agreement? in other words, if the worst happens and they split up, what about an agreement to keep the dirty laundry between the two? your laws are different in the united states where they hold true. in britain you have fair comment which means if she went to the newspapers like princess diana did, and started to talk about anything, every court in the land would support her rather than a confidentiality agreement. do you think this discussion is being drummed up by divorce lawyers? i shouldn t be surprised. to start your commentary on something as happy, lovely and romantic with discussion about what will happen after they divorce is a little off-putting. welcome to the united states of america, andrew. good to have you here. we ll see you in a couple of weeks. thank you very much. 15 after the hour. up next, actress ashley judd opens up about a part of a troubled up bringing and life with her famous mother and sister. it s part of a new book. right after this. i feel lighter than ever. i lost 52 pounds. and i m feeling good [ janice ] weight watchers new pointsplus program gave me the edge to keep losing. it s a new day i have so much energy my kids can t keep up with me. and this old world is a new world in a bolder way i never thought i d be a single digit size. i feel awesome. [ female announcer ] join by april 9th and get two weeks free. weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. with a full serving of fruit in every pouch, is a choice you can respect. [ creaking ] other choices. launch me fellas. [ male announcer ] nope. capri sun 100% juice. so, you got a chevy malibu. nice. a consumers digest best buy three years in a row. and an epa - estimated 33 miles per gallon highway. all starting under $23,000. and what does your neighbor have? a bad case of car envy. very well qualified lessees can get a low mileage lease on a 2011 chevrolet malibu ls for around $179 a month. call for details. see your local chevy dealer. [ male announcer ] on tuscani tuesdays, any family-sized tuscani pasta is just ten bucks. dinner made easy? check. [ male announcer ] with over three pounds of your favorite pasta, plus an order of breadsticks, you get enough for the whole family. only on tuesdays. and only at your pizza hut. 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. sure. cake or pie? pie. apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream! (announcer) some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip s uses real dairy cream. nothing s more real than reddi-wip. we are back with actress ashley judd. critically acclaimed for her work on stage and screen she s a devoted activist and scholar. in her new memoir, all that is bitter and sweet, she reveals how growing up in the musical judd family had all the makings of a tragic country song. we were talking about how the book is about your advocacy work, but in order to explain where you are at this point in life, you have to explain where you have been. i think that s getting a lot of attention. it is. i have made a decision actually to be complete lly abstinent fr the press. i started writing diaries to commemorate the narratives when i began visiting brothels in slams and forcibly displaced person camps. i wanted to share the stories that were being entrusted to me and i needed to write to process because i was so staggered by the realities with which the majority of the people with whom we share our fragile planet live and i didn t know where to put it. i didn t have a place in my brain or heart so i started putting it on the page. then i also wanted to talk about the effective and inexpensive grassroots solutions i was seeing. all of the sudden 13 countries later, 650 pages of diaries there was a book in there. but i was really encouraged by people i trust to include some of my own story because why i love this work really baffled people. so i got willing to put it in there. maybe you love it because of the life you led. you talk openly about that. you did not have an easy childhood. i think people would be surprised to read that your parents divorced when you were 5, so you shuttled back and forth. you said your mom ignored you a lot of the time. there is a quote, i was a stranger in my family. i remember endless time spent on my own, thoughts of suicide as a kid, dealing with depression. why include that? first of all, my mother loves and adores me. and my dad absolutely loves and adores me. they did then and they do now. we came from a dysfunctional family system that didn t work well. the things that happened to me are standard and indicative of a family system that doesn t work well. and by the grace of god in 2006 some really brilliant clinicians identified that i was coming out of this family alcoholic system and there is help and hope. so i was given the gift of recovery and really that section of the book for me is about hope, resilience and recovery. but it doesn t make sense to share my recovery unless i m willing to share some of the uncomfortable things that set me up to need help. was there a moment you realized you needed that kind of recovery help? you know, i was sick and tired of being sick and tired, meredith. i didn t know, quote/unquote, what was wrong with me. i looked really good on the outside. i had a lot of anxiety and insomnia. i realized eventually that i was powerless over my childhood and the coping strategies that i developed had made my adult life unmanageable. so i needed to find a power greater than myself to help me make peace with all of that and have a very simple and effective design for living today. you know, it s too late to go back and have a happy childhood, but by the grace of god and a pretty simple program of recovery and a fellowship, life is good today. you know, we reached out to your mom and sister for their comment about you and the book and we didn t get a comment from your sister but your mom sent a message. she said, i love my daughter. i hope her book does well. has it come full circle for the family? i was talking a walk and this is where i get emotional because i love the god of my understanding. i was taking a walk in the park and having a talk with god going, this is absolutely amazing. to think that i, who very much played the lost child in this family system, would have the opportunity to travel all over the world and sit with and hold and lo and encourage people who are pretty lost in our global family system is remarkable. while the conditions in which i was raised were very different, i identify. that s really what matters. it s empathy, the mutual sharing of experience, strength and hope. so there is a lot of coming full circle. i m really grateful for my mother s exquisitely gracious attitude towards my right to share my narrative. you know, the book is very honest. it s not necessarily accurate because everyone in a family has their own perspective and their own experience. but it s very true for me. it must have been hard for your parents. you had repressed incest that happened to you. when you talked to your parents about that well, it s that i didn t know. because that s what sexual predators do. they groom their victims and psychologically manipulate. because they are shameless when they are perpetrating, as all those perpetrators who will perpetrate during this segment and i am not alone or unusual which is one of the reasons why i m super comfortable talking about being a survivor of sexual abuse. every two seconds a woman is sexually agresed upon or a girl in this country. it s very standard. so they put their shame on me. and i have given those s.o.b.s back their shame. it was a lot in thi book. ashley judd, thank you so much. pleasure. the book is all that is bitter and sweet. you can find an excerpt on today.com. now out to meredith, ann and al. we want to say hi to two american idol contestants voted off. wish me luck. second chance. did that seal your fate, do you think? you know, i think everything happens for a reason. i think they used the stage correctly. casey deserved it. that s good to hear. now the judges think you took too big a risk and you weren t risky enough. do you think you might have done things differently? i tell you what. i m not just one genre singer that can only sing ballads. so i took a chance to show more of different sides of me musical musically. the whole experience has been amazing so far. how has it changed your life? how has it affected you? it s greatly affected our lives. you go from nobody knowing you to not being able to walk through the mall and having amazing experiences and being coached by amazing people. it s awesome. and the great part is you get to go on tour all summer long. sorry about the voting-off, but good luck, la live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. busy morning rush out there. it remains so because of rain coming down the area. still dealing with an accident with delays stretching back to white marsh. outer loop from belair all the way towards harrisburg expressway. inner loop at dulaney valley, that accident now gone. slow spots from approaching northern down to 28 on the j.f.x. essex and liberty, another crash location to avoid. same thing on the west side outer loop, and a seven-minute ride down the howard county. delays are holding on on the west side outer loop. we will switch over to traffic in the area of white marsh, starting to improve. we did have some big thunderstorms around earlier today. now we have left behind just moderate-to-late-rainshowers. heavier stuff from carroll county into the western part of baltimore county right now. there could be a heavy downpour. generally just off and on rainshowers expected into the afternoon. showers this morning, to bring off later this afternoon. it is a lot cooler. we will hold steady in the fifties this afternoon. just a slight chance for a couple of rainshowers on wednesday and thursday. we will have another update at 8:55. 8:30 now on a tuesday morning. it s the fifth day of april, 2011. we are dealing with showers off and on on the plaza. not a big deal. nice warm temperatures and a big crowd. out on the plaza this morning, i m matt along with meredith, ann and al. it s all about the herbs. it s the finishing touch to any recipe and she says it s best to plant your own herbs. all right. she ll show us ahead. and we ll be talking about recipes you may want to know. one is called engagement chicken. it s inspired dozens of marriages we are told including the marriage between beth and howard stern. beth will show us how to cook it up. a guy known for his pasta sauce was former providence mayor buddy cianci. he s had a heck of a career including a stint in prison. this morning the former providence mayor is here to set the record straight. what a popular, colorful guy. very. we ll talk to buddy later. meanwhile a check of the weather. we do have windy and wet conditions in the northeast in new england. strong storms along the midatlantic coast with tornado watches. mountain storms in the pacific northwest. sunshine through the southwest. for tomorrow, the rain moves off the eastern seaboard. mild, warm weather in the midatlantic states into the gulf coast. showers in the southwest with mountain snows in the central after thunderstorms early in the day, things have settled down. it will be breezy and cooler don t forget. check your weather day or night on the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. all right. when we come back, martha stewart will spice up your spring garden. first this is today on nbc. hey, here s a little good news. if you want decent mileage in a pickup, you don t have to order your engine off the kiddie menu anymore. say hello to variable cam timing, direct injection and piston cooling jets. yeah, the engineers at ford have been busy. they ve got four, count-em four all-new truck engines for the 2011 f-150 -to give you the most power, the most towing, and the best fuel economy. now that s tasty. this is the future. this is the new f-150. 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 . announcer: martha on today is brought to you by macy s. the martha stewart collection is now available only at macy s and on macys.com. we are back at 8:35. this morning on martha on today. planting herbs. martha shares her latest tips in the current issue of martha stewart living. hi, how are you. i say erbs but you say h-erbs. i say herbert and i say herbs. let s define leafy and woody. some are perennials and some are annuals. annuals are coriander, chervil. those look leafy. right. woody ones are rosemary which in the northeast you have to take in in the winter. sage comes back every year. lavender comes back every year. thyme comes back. they have woody stems. they are all essential for really good, fresh cooking. some can t distinguish one from the other. t meredith admitted she has a herb garden. i do, but i have trouble distinguishing one for the other. you have a clever marker. they re simple. if you re doing pruning on apple trees or any trees, you can just take a piece of the twig and use your vegetable peeler, take away bark and right right here. lovely. it s pretty, rustic. it s what we call a good thing. you think they should be in the garden. or on your windowsill in a sunny window so you can snip, snip and enjoy the flavors in your food. let s try planting them. this is a concrete planter you can get at any garden supply store. put a little shard of broken pottery. why? it keeps the soil from running out but let it is water run out. you want good drainage. it s essential for herbs to have good drainage will they rot? oh, yes. overwatering is the biggest problem with growing anything in the house. people are always trying to be too good to plants. feed these herbs once a month with an all purpose plant food. so we are putting in little rocks? for more good drainage. mix your potting soil, which you can buy in bags. mix it with a little bit more of the pearlite or vermiculite which lightens the soil, makes it drier and good drainage. and then you can just buy these. these are from westport from sal golberti, the number one herb grower in america. he s an amazing guy. i have been working with sal for years. you stick it in like that? you don t start with seeds? this is instant gratification. you can, of course, plant the seeds of basil, chervil and coriander. this is a nice centerpiece, too. beautiful. you can put it right on the table. loosen the roots a little bit if it s too much soil. then cover it all over. water it well to start and let it grow in the sun. lots of sun. six hours a day at least. this is a cute planter for a lavender. that looks like it would be hard to do. it s so easy. you buy these little boxes at garden centers and these are plant markers upside down. put a little bit of glue. you could have used this here? you could have. but it s not as rustic looking. but easier. not everything has to be easy. no. okay. we all have all the time. so you make the beautiful little thing. you make the little box. i painted mine a beautiful bedford gray. that s very cute. they call these standard topiaries, but you can use this, put a ball of santalina in here. now the chandelier look at this. this is mint. if you re making mint juleps, come out and snip your mint. they are made out of the little buckets you can get at michael s, any craft store. take off the handle. put 22-gauge wire, something strong and put it on a plant hanger. that s a lot of mint juleps. actually that would make about 12. 12 drinks? that s all. well, you re not going to take all the plant. just the ends off. finally a couple of seconds left? infuse water with sugar and fresh herbs for a fabulous mint flavors iced sea. a basket like this. this is another thing people love to make. one of our most popular crafts. beautiful herb infused soaps for the bath and sachets. lavender for your bath or in the drawer. okay. finally? this is a nicele little card with pacts of seeds you can give to friends. very nice, martha. all kinds of things to do with herbs and you can beautify your home. thank you so much. up next, former mayor buddy cianci on his time in prison and political career. vincent buddy cianci was minor of providence rhode island for years and while he was credited with transforming the crime-plagued city he was controversial. he stepped down twice and served a prison term from 2002 to 2007 on racketeering conspiracy charges. he s now a popular radio host in rhode island and has a new memoir called politics and pasta, how i prosecuted mobsters, rebuilt a dying city, dined with athat ta, spent five years in a federally funded gated community and lived to tell the tale. good to see you. thanks for having me. i have known you 25 years. if i hadn t seen these things unfold personally, up close i wouldn t believe them. why did you write the book? i wanted to come on today with matt lauer. the reason i wrote the book was, you know, i m not on the front nine anymore. i m on the back nine. i had a storied career. a lot of good things. things in the book i m not proud of. i wrote the book to be honest and tell my side of the story. i was mayor over four decades of the city of providence. right. some things people may not remember. mayor from 75 to 84. forced to give up the office after you pled no contest to assault. a former friend you thought was having an affair with your estranged wife and you beat him up pretty well, according to police. you don t admit it in the book. you know, john kennedy once said and i m paraphrasing you can live with the lies but it s the myth. once that story broke it became a myth. i never hit him with a fireplace log. burning him with cigarettes. i threw one at him. if you could relive one day in your life you say that s the day. absolutely. that was a mistake i made. i moved on. left office, paid a price and came back. in 1990 after being a radio host for a while you ran for mayor and were elected again. why do you think the people of rhode island took you back? well, i felt at that time like now they appreciated progress in the city. we took that city. that was a terrible, terrible image the city had. i felt they felt that the city of providence could be better. we tried to raise their self-esteem and we did historic preservation and built the city up. the term comes to a crashing halt when the federal government launched an investigation into you. it ended with you being charged with 27 counts. you went to a high profile trial. you were acquitted on 26 of the counts. yes. but convicted of racketeering conspiracy. were you corrupt? no. when the jury instruction was you don t have to find the mayor guilty of a crime, just that he knew of or should have known of the crime, you can t beat that. let me tell you something. they indicted me for everything but castle rustling. you do write in the book i admit i used jobs as currency to get support i needed. i used campaign money for everything from a personal helicopter to get around the state to paying for dinners and on occasion used my influence to do favors for people. looking back, that s not corrupt? well, i think you have to understand that the way business is done in government today and anybody who tells you, look, you do favors for people. no politician stood up on election day and thanked his supporters by saying, you know, i will hire everybody who voted against me because that s in the best interest of democracy. it doesn t work that way. kids today who read the book, there are bad things that happened, and there are good things that happened. but running for office today doesn t just require you to read the federalist papers and you can be a congressman. it depicts life in real time, in the real city as it happens when you re holding office. you went to prison and you used to wear and i used to see you all the time in a toupee. i called it a squirrel. so did other people behind your back. i coined that. when you went to prison you weren t allowed to wear it. prison s different. it wasn t a lack of vanity but the lack of control. at that point i really didn t care. the bad part about prison is the anticipation of it. i m not saying i enjoyed it. the warden s background doesn t include cruise director on the qe-2. it s confining. but you can t let the time do you in prison. you have to do the time. how did it change you? i became more tolerant, more respectful. i realized that you re no different from anybody else and you learn respect. no matter what a person is or isn t, you respect that person if you want to get along. i remember back when you were re-elected after the first assault charge id made you alleged it made you a folk hero but may have made you feel invincible which wasn t a good thing. i don t think that happened. not invincible. but i think, you know, as anybody who has power you get into a position of power and things come natural. you think you re never going to be thrown out, never going to get hurt. life goes on. can the phoenix rise from the ashes again? twice you were forced to leave office. you re back on the radio, popular again. technically and legally you could run for mayor in 2012, the next election is in 2014. that s correct. will you run again? have me back on the show and i ll tell you. are you considering it? always. i love what i do. i don t know if they asked you to run for u.s. senate could you take the pay cut? i don t think so. if they make a movie about your life and there is talk, who plays buddy cianci? i don t know. that s not up to me. jane rosenthal is having a party for me tonight. is she think of a film? i don t know. who would play me? russell crowe? i don t know. how could an australian play an italian good-looking guy. i don t know if he s good-looking enough. congratulations on the book. up next, the recipe every woman who wants to get engaged needs to know. first this is today on nbc. back at 8:50. with the success of the engagement chicken, a simple recipe, a beautiful bird and hopefully a ring to follow, first published in glamour magazine in 2004 and ever since readers have come forward sharing success stories. here s one of the most memorable. hey, ladies. i m beth stern. let me tell you about this recipe i read in glamour magazine. this was the chicken. how yummy does that look? my boyfriend at the time, howard stern, i decided i wanted to start cooking for him. i ripped the title, engagement chicken off the page so he didn t get ideas. you have the bird, lemons and salt and pepper. you have to poke the lemons with a fork. so now you have two lemons ready to go up the cavity of the bird. take your fresh lemon juice, time for salt and pepper. take a pinch all over the chicken. get the pepper. now your bird is ready to be roasted. he had never been more romantic than the moment he tasted this chicken. the next morning he was on the air live at 6:00 a.m. beth made me dinner last night. she never cooked before. she cooked? it was good. the trap is set. do you think beth cooked me dinner to set a trap? yes. that s what you re saying? yes. it s not conscious that people think that way, but that s how it goes. one of howard s loyal listeners put two and two together and as howard is describing the romantic night amy, you re on the way. you said beth cooked you lemon thicken? yeah. did it have lemon in the cavity? yes. i saw the recipe in glamour. it s called engagement chicken. three people have gotten engaged from that recipe. ooh! get beth on the phone. phone rings. first thing he said is engagement chicken, huh? were you thinking that the potion worked? i got all romantic after. i knew you weren t going to propose to me. two years later the night before valentine s day, i was proposed to by mr. howard stern and i think back to that engagement chicken. voila. here is your engagement chicken, ladies. make sure your guy knows your ring size. cindy levy is editor in chief of glamour magazine. they have expanded the recipe into a book called 100 recipes every woman should know. good morning to you. good morning. it s not only beth who had success. 72 engagements and counting. what is it about this chicken? i was asking the same question. i was skeptical. we had a great recipe getting passed around the office. four girls at glamour got engaged after making it. we published it but thought, ha, ha, urban legend. up to 72 women now have contacted us to say they got engaged. i think it s that roast chicken is an intimate meal, a dinner for two essentially. it s not that hard. almost everybody makes it but we have a recipe for a vegetarian engagement paella in the book. it s simple and home cooking. i think the average young woman probably isn t making something like this every night. she doesn t have time. our lives are too busy. for a man involved with a woman to have this prepared for him sends a signal that, you know, this is potentially a home and i m being taken care of which we want. you make a strong statement. you say the message of the book is that food changes our mood, fate and lives and much of it is determined by what we cook, bake and eat. i think it s true. sometimes it s easier to say things with food an words. one of my favorite recipes is called love you pancakes. making the perfect pancakes for husband, friends or kids on a saturday or sunday morning sends a powerful message. this recipe does it with food and words. this is marry me lasagna. it worked for a woman dating the same guy for seven years and wanted to pop the question to him. this is a really yummy wonderful lasagna. classic, almost impossible to mess up. i have tried but it s great. we got a great idea from a screen writer who had served her boyfriend she d been dating him seven years on a plate that she had painted so it said will you marry me? as he ate every last bit of the meal which he will because this is awesome, he revealed the message. this is an adorable idea. if you want to get him, the hook him apple pie. devised by a reader. if you know one dessert it s apple pie. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. three people are recovering this morning after their airplane crashed in caroline county. it was making a landing at an air pocket around 6:00 last night when it encountered a sudden gust of wind that caused it to flip over and crash. one of the people on the airplane remains at the shock trauma and the other two were met act at my company, my employees are great. at shopping online. friending absolutely everyone. playing online war games with stoner burnouts. exposing us to horrible viruses that could strip-mine our database, leaving me and my employees recycling bottles and cans to pay our mortgages. over my dead body. i switched to kaspersky. no matter who you are, we ve got you covered. kaspersky. the most advanced internet security software. now let s look at the forecast with tony pann. rough start early in the day. now the threat of severe weather is over. off and on rainshowers, though, and that will last into early afternoon. breezy and cool. high temperatures holding steady in the 50 s. slight chance for a shower on wednesday and thursday. basically dry. better chance for rain on friday and saturday. we should be able to climb into the seventies by the tail end of the weekend. we will have another weather update at 9:25. i am a chemistry aficionado. diphenhydramine. magnesium hydroxide. atheletes foot. yes. i m a people pleaser. if elected, i promise flu shots for all. i am a walking medical dictionary. congratulations virginia. inflamed uvula. i m virginia. i m a target pharmacist and i m here to answer your questions. 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 .