Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110408 : vimarsana.com

and welcome to today on this friday morning. i m meredith vieira. i m david gregory in for matt this morning. the clock is ticking for lawmakers who want to avoid a government shutdown by midnight tonight. not a lot of progress overnight. still a little bit better than 50/50. this is going down to the wire. as you said, some lawmakers said a deal is within reach but following late night talks at the white house, president obama said he s not wildly optimistic. we ll go to nbc s savannah guthrie at the white house for us. good morning. good morning, meredith. we are hours away from a shutdown. there is a good chance that s how it ends today. white house officials were optimistic behind the scenes. one said to me, we are close. staffers worked until 3:00 a.m. and republicans say the numbers just aren t there. today is washington s last day to make a deal. after another late-night meeting with congressional leaders at the white house produced no breakthrough. there are still a few issues that are outstanding. they re difficult issues. they re important to both sides. so i m not yet prepared to express wild optimism. reporter: with aids now saying a deal is within reach, staffers worked again through the night to resolve the outstanding issuings. the two sides are close on the amount of spending cuts, likely to be between $34 billion and $37 billion. the parties are still sparring not about money but over so-called riders to the budget bill, policy provisions the republicans want like a measure to strip funding from planned parenthood. another provision would sharply limit the epa. the remaining issues are extremely narrow, but having said that i have been to this podium before and i have said we would narrow the issues and we have. but the sad part about it, we keep never quite betting to the finish line. reporter: with both sides at the brink on thursday, frustration spilled onto the house side. we are trying to do the business of the american people. [ booing ] so many of your folks, unless they get 100% are prepared to shut down the government. reporter: sarah palin took to twitter writing, obama s petulant obstruction equals shutdown. with the money running out at midnight, the federal government is moving ahead with shutdown plans. the president made clear he wants a verdict from the parties first thing today. because the machinery of the shutdown is necessarily starting to move, i expect an answer in the morning. and my hope is that i ll be able to announce to the american people some time early in the day that a shutdown has been averted. reporter: one other issue will members of congress get paid if there is a shutdown. the answer right now as it stands is yes. there was a measure that passed the senate yesterday that would have congress giving up its pay. it hasn t passed the house. david, just one measure of how acrimonious this has become. this morning white house officials are saying the disagreement is over the policy riders. the republicans say, no, it s all about the spending numbers. they can t even agree on what they are disagreeing about. savannah guthrie at the white house this morning for us. thank you very much. steny hoyer of maryland is the house minority whip. congressman, good morning. deal or no deal? how is it going down? no deal yet unfortunately. we have a history, a pattern of the republicans taking control and shutting down the government as they did in 1995. it hasn t happened since then, even when we had disagreements wen george bush and the democratic congress. it s not an alternative we ought to be taking. i think we re very close. we have come 70% of the way in terms of dollars. that s a long way to go in terms of trying to reach compromise. now as the president and harry reid pointed out, there are social issues which the republicans are holding hostage the government. my understanding is the real focus is on issues like limiting funding for planned parenthood. how is that resolved? and does it derail compromise? the president has indicated, as george bush did, his predecessor, that he would not sign bills contrary to the policies he believed the american public elected him to carry out. he was elected overwhelmingly as president of the united states. the republicans have taken the house of representatives, one-third of the government. when we were in the house we compromised. we understood the president could veto and i would hope the republicans would make that same understanding. after all, this debate began about bringing down deficits, bringing down numbers and cutting spending. we have come 70% of the way. i think that the agreement on numbers is close. we ought to make those agreements on numbers. as governor daniels said, we ought to fight the social issues on another bill. you know it takes two sides to shut down a government. aren t you embarrassed by this? i am embarrassed by this. i m not sure it takes two sides. it takes one side prepared to demand 100% and if the other side doesn t lay down and totally give up then they will shut down the government. they know we don t want to shut down the government so they think they can hold hostage things we don t agree with but that we will cave in order to keep the government running which we want to do. look at the wall street journal poll in terms of who gets the blame. republicans, certainly more than democrats. as a democratic leader i wonder whether part of the strategy is to cast republicans as extremists and ultimately get a lot more of a winning political hand for the democrats through this process. i think the republicans are doing that to themselves frankly. i don t think we have to cast them in that light. they are casting themselves in that light with the tea party coming to town and demanding they either get 100% or shut down the government. last night the founder of the tea party, one of the tea parties, said if boehner came out with $99 billion that would not be enough. $100le billion is what they wanted and nothing less. you can t negotiate on the basis that one side gets 100% and the other side gets zero. just seconds left. should you get paid if there is a government shutdown? i think we ought not to get paid. of course the constitution says you can t have your salary diminished so people can t threaten one another for votes on that basis. the fact is we should not we should keep government doing not just for the federal employees but for the millions of businesses people s families that will be adversely affected and the hit the economy will take by shutting down government. this is not a good strategy. taking us to the brink is not appropriate, particularly when we have agreed, the president agreed come 70% of the way toward what the republican position was on cutting spending. we ll be watching. thank you very much. thank you, david. here s meredith. david, thank you. if there is a shutdown, how will you be affected. pete williams has more on that from the lincoln memorial. good morning. reporter: good morning. a shutdown would be most visible at a place like this. a big tourist draw in washington and like all parks and monuments, the lincoln memorial would be closed to visitors. filing a paper tax return? the irs would stop processing, slowing refunds for paper filers. electronic tax returns would be processed, including those due refunds. shut down or not the tax deadline of april 18 doesn t change. the fha would stop guaranteeing new home loans, a blow to fragile housing market. april, may and june are the biggest months of the housing market. this is not a time to challenge the mortgages out there. reporter: the government would stop issuing passports except for emergencies and would freeze work on new or renewed ones. the national parks would close including fwrangrand canyon and yosemite. this montana woman lives near yellowstone. i want them to settle this budget mess and act like adults and compromise. reporter: some federal work would continue including virtually all law enforcement, coast guard, fbi, border, immigration and customs agents. tsa screeners would check airline passengers and air traffic controllers stay on the job. uniformed members of the military remain on duty around the world but they would not be paid until the shut down ends. a florida wife of a u.s. marine said it would be distracting for those in combat. to sit on the front line going, god, i don t care about afghanistan. i wonder if my wife and kids are being fed at home. reporter: veterans administration would stay open. checks continue flowing to 53 million people who get social security payments. same for medicare and medicaid assuming the shutdown doesn t last long. mail delivery would not be affected because the postal service generates its own income. half of the federal workforce would be told to stay home and it would be illegal for them to volunteer to come to work. if they did, they could be fired. meredith? pete williams, thank you very much. it s 7:11. here s david. donald trump isn t backing down from controversial comments he made with meredith but how accurate were the things he said? lisa miers did some fact checking. good morning. reporter: good morning. donald trump built his large persona by being bold, entert n entertaining and outrageous. now that he s running for president we thought his words deserved a closer look. trump says everything with certainty. take this about the 9/11 terrorists. the terrorists, almost every single one of them sent their families back a day early. you know they all went to saudi arabia. reporter: there is no evidence that families of the 9/11 hijackers were in the united states. some bin laden family members were flown out after the attack, after being screen bid the fbi. in his exclusive interview with meredith on today trump spent time questioning whether president obama was born in the u.s., demanding that the presidents produce his actual birth certificate. he doesn t have a birth certificate or he hasn t shown it. he has what s called a certificate of live birth and that s different f. you look at it, it s not even signed by anybody. doesn t have a serial number. reporter: the certificate of live birth does have a serial number and a stamped signature and hawaiian officials say it carries the weight of law. if one of your parents is an american citizen you could get a certificate of live birth in hawaii even if the child wasn t born there but this document states obama was born in honolulu and a hawaiian official say original records verify the president was born there. and there is a birth announcement nine days after president obama was born, information the paper says would have come from the hospital. his grandmother in kenya said he was born in kenya. reporter: that s based on a recording of a 2008 interview with obama s elderly grandmotherer conducted through a translator. initially the translator said she was present for her grandson s birth. yes, they say that yes she was. she was present when president obama was born. listen and the answer changes. when the interviewer says he wants to visit the hospital in kenya where obama was born he s repeatedly corrected saying obama was born in canada. no. he was born in america. i thought he was born in kenya. no. he was born in america. not in mombasa. i spoke with donald trump about this. as you said he stands by everything he said. he also argues that none of the evidence cited here definitively prove that is the president was born in hawaii. he says he has investigators out there still digging. all right, lisa myers, thank you so much. i can t believe independent voterers will vote on this issue. a dog with a bone there. if he has investigators in the field, let us see information. let s get a check of the top stories from tamron hall at the news desk. good morning. good morning, everyone. japan is recovering from yet another powerful earthquake that rocked the country s quake-ravaged northeast thursday. lee cowan is in tokyo with the latest. lee, good morning. reporter: good morning, tamron. this was the strongest, most powerful aftershock since the march 11 quake. it spawned more tsunami warnings and fears over the already weakened nuclear reactors. it started slow and hit with full force. a magnitude 7.1 that showed little mercy. the epicenter was just over 70 miles east of the stricken fukushima nuclear power plant where workers scrambled to safety. engineers feared the jolt and possible tsunami may put too much stress on the already weakened concrete of the reactors. if they had a major containment failure they would have a number of additional effects in terms of the ability to continue to cool the reactors and eventually bring systems to a safe, stable state. reporter: but the tsunami never came. officials said this morning that neither did additional damage or radiation leaks at fukushima. the quake did knock out external power to at least two other nuclear plants including this one where water sloshed out of a spent fuel pool, but all were back on full power this morning and the water wasn t an issue. still, it was the last thing anyone here needed. at least three more people died and 130 injured. millions remain without power this morning. more than 8,000 have no running water anymore. experts warn it is not over yet. now, this obviously is still the most powerful after shock since the march 11 quake. but it s one of hundreds we have experienced over the last weeks. that s a pattern that could continue for months or years to come. now to libya where nato refuses to apologize for thursday s friendly fire that killed at least four fighters and oned dozens of others. stephanie gosk is in ajdabiya with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning. nato did hit rebels yesterday but there are two very different explanations for why the mistake was made. nato said they had no idea that rebels had tanks and they had a in the area showed the fighter jets responded with air strikes. the rebels say they have been planning the movement told nato they were going to be there. three of the tanks have been destroyed. there is a mix of confusion and anger. one of the fighters said nato is supposed to be helping. what are we supposed to do now? tamron? stephanie gosk, thank you. brazil is in mourning after that country s first school shooting. a former student entered a rio de janeiro middle school killing 12 children before turning the gun on himself. this footage shows terrified students fleeing the classroom pursued by the gunman. amazing and rare video, a baby eagle caught on tape breaking through its shell at the top of an 80-foot-tall tree. bird watchers have been watching the nest via web cam for weeks. this was the last of three eggs to hatch there. it is now 7:17. back to meredith, david and al. this is the four-year anniversary for the mom and dad eagle. they have had an eaglet every year. we have been watching every time. i m going to be there and spy next time. that will put a damper on things. speaking of damper, we have rain. we have severe weather coming up. as we look at today we have severe storms stretching from springfield, missouri, all the way to lexington, kentucky, knoxville, tennessee. a few supercells may cause tornadoes. we are watching the system as the showers and thunderstorms fire up. we may see one to two inches of rain withal hail and damaging winds. take a look at the forecast for today. of 47 this morning, 48 this afternoon. temperatures don t rise of that much. much. and that s your latest weather, meredith? al, thank you very much. prince harry will spend more time at the north pole than expected as crews work to damage the iced runway he needs to get home. ben fogle spent time on the trip. he s in london with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning, meredith. it was only supposed to be four days on the expedition. why is it so complicated to get him out of there? reporter: well, basically they started in svalbard in the northern part of norway on an island. they were due to board an airplane to take them up to the ice itself, a highly complex procedure. the departure was delayed a few days while the russians a group of engineers tried to create an artificial runway on two meters of ice. the expedition has been going brilliantly well. they have been ahead of themselves in terms of the distances they needed to do. but harry was due to leave on thursday. he had commitments in england. he had to get back to military commitments with the air force. due to the extreme cold temperatures the iceway has split. a huge crack in the middle of it so they have to build another. it s highly complicated and it means that harry has to bide his time and probably the only way is to carry on with the walking with the wounded soldiers until a plane can reach him to take him back. obviously people wonder whether he s going to make it back for the royal wedding. i assume that s a given. reporter: well, you know, you say that. i have spoken to a spokesman with the organization and they assure me he will be off the ice this afternoon. from firsthand experience having been to the north pole and down to the south pole, you re at the beck and call of the weather. if the weather changes, there is nothing you can do about it. i have known people to be stuck for weeks on end. let s have our fingers crossed that the best man will be back in time for the wedding. the spokespeople assure us but from firsthand experience, you never know. ben fogle, thank you very much. thank you, meredith. just ahead, the beauty queen who used her pink revolver to shoot a home intruder attacking her fiance. the couple speaks out about the ordeal. the couple speaks out about the ordeal. first this is today on nbc. bge s instant discounts got our homeowner to switch to energy star® cfl bulbs. 3-way cfls really click with my style. learn to speak the language of energy efficiency at bgesmartenergy.com. 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 . coming up, the mom who spent more than 30 years living a secret life as a fugitive. plus, the boy who could die if he falls asleep after your local news. 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. i can t sew, knit or crochet. i might have flaws, but this isn t one of them. your moment. your dove. . of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is 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[ 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. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time for a morning check on the commute. here is kim dacey and traffic pulse 11. things picking up on the wet roads out there. accident on the outer loop of the beltway approaching harford road. confirmed accident at towson, charles st.. police on the scene directing traffic and there are delays in the area. we have report of an accident at perryville boulevard, and a crash on the inner loop past pulaski highway moved off to the shoulder of. route 665, solomons island road, watched their. you can see the topside of the beltway not looking too good for the harford road camera here. delays stretch from belair road to charles st.. outer loop backing down from 795 down to edmondson ave. quick look at radar. baltimore westward all the way to a carroll county and frederick county, that is where the heaviest rain is falling. everybody is getting at least light rain shower activity. it becomes spotted down to its st. mary s county and northern portions of charles county well as the potomac river. 45 at the airport to the airport and now 44 at the airport right now. breeze will pick up later today. cloudy, chilly, periods of rain. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. we are back at 7:55 with another live update. 7:30 on this friday morning, april 8, 2011, as we check out the view of the manhattan skyline from top of the rock. absolutely gorgeous. a nice day in the big apple. we have a nice crowd, a big crowd out there in rockefeller plaza. inside studio 1a i m meredith vieira alongside david gregory who is in for matt today. just ahead, a remarkable boy coping with something that s hard to comprehend. and hard to hear about. it s a terrible situation. he could die just by falling asleep. how does he get the rest he needs? also ahead, to family and friends she was an all-american mom but what marie walsh s family didn t know was she was secretly a fugitive on the run for more than 30 years. she s here to share her story. and the boy who cried he was too small to be governor on what it was like to get his wish for a day. we ll talk to his family with governor christie of new jersey. and robert redford will be in studio for a live interview. let s begin with a frightening home invasion in florida brought to an end by a beauty queen armed with a pink handgun. good morning. reporter: good morning. it all plays out like your typical hollywood thriller. a beautiful young woman comes face to face with an attacker at home in the middle of the night. only in this case our damsel in distress isn t so helpless after all. reporter: on the exclusive island of tierra verde near tampa at a mansion known as phat city, life was always a party. it is home to former beauty queen meghan brown, her fiance robert planthaber and their pets vixen, bella and godzilla the iguana. nearly 3,000 square feet are guarded by cameras inside and out. despite that the couple says they got an unwelcome visit. one morning at 3:00 a.m. meghan woke up to a familiar sound. the knock was like da-dada dada-dada. that s how he knocked. i think it has to be a friend. reporter: the man at the door was albert franklin hall who had been in and out of jail for burglary, grand theft and selling cocaine. all i see is a man with a bandana covering his nose and mouth and a hat dipped really low. the door pushes over and he s got me from behind and he s got his hands covering my nose and mouth. reporter: you couldn t breathe. or scream. reporter: when the intruder slipped his hands to her neck she cried for help. my first reaction is who is this guy? get him off my fiancee. reporter: that s when bobby says he tackled hill. he had 80 pounds on me. reporter: meghan rushed into the bedroom and pulled out her .38 caliber gun fitted with a pink grip as seen on this similar model. it was a christmas present from bobby. reporter: when you came out with the gun you took a risk. you could have shot bobby. absolutely. i had to take a second and train my gun on the man. every time he moved that s when my gun moved. i waited for a clear shot and an opening and i fired. reporter: she fired four times and the intruder collapsed by the front door. meghan called 911 immediately. when authorities arrived, hill was dead. i had fired that gun once before at the shooting range and i was terrible. i couldn t hit the target to save my life. reporter: the story drew international attention and they seized on the newfound fame. just days after the incident the former miss sere verde florida posed for photos, gun in hand. meanwhile the sheriff s office is still investigating and has not said why the intruder came to the house. as for the couple reporter: how has your relationship evolved now? we picked a date. reporter: on the anniversary of the incident. absolutely. we could have been killed that day. it s a good day to celebrate. it s a celebration. reporter: as the investigation continues, authorities tell nbc news they are unclear about whether there is any relationship between the intruder and the victim. back at the home the couple has installed more security cameras just to be safe. meredith, back to you. lilia luciano thank you very much. now a check of the weather. al? thanks, meredith. we have folks doing earthquake relief in union square, that s nice. we like your hat. what s your name? jaden. where are you from? michigan. nice to see you. let s check your weather. out west it s unseasonably cold with mountain snows and lots of warm air. we ll look at severe storm this is weekend. the white mountains, the sierra and around bozeman, three inches of snow. some areas with more. sunshine in the pacific northwest. sunny in the northeast. a little chilly but look at the southeast. 87 today in orlando, florida, along the gulf coa 40 s this morning, rain across the area. along the front, a chance for rain. no don t forget. get your weather any time day or night on the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. david? al, thank you very much. now to our special series curious medicine. this morning a young boy who could die by falling asleep. nbc s peter alexander is here with the details. tough-sounding story. this is a brave little guy, david. this is among the most rare and hard to imagine tis ordm hard to imagine tis ordagine d. when you fall asleep your breathing stops. we traveled to england to meet e young boy. with a contagious smile and enough energy to rival any child his age you wouldle never guess liam has been beating the odds. it s amazing. when he meets people they are drawn in. he s just one in a million. reporter: in fact, he s more like one in 30 million. you see, liam was born with a bizarre disorder as cruel as it is rare. it s called central hypo ventilation better known as ondim s curse namd after a mythological fairy. when he sleeps, his breathing stops. you go from a child you believe to be normal when he s born to finding out he has a catastrophic condition. reporter: most parents are easily exhausted putting their children to bed, kim has to watch her son constantly to make sure he doesn t fall asleep. when driving she uses two mirrors, one eye on the road. the other on her son. reporter: without oxygen how long can he survive when he s asleep. probably not long an hour. reporter: he can t stay awake forever and his bedtime routine is unlike any you have seen. mom and dad will be here when you wake up in the morning as well. reporter: soons liam lays down to sleep his parents attach a ventilator to keep him alive. someone has to watch him every night. without the machine my son wouldn t exist. reporter: when he was born doctors gave liam six weeks to live. he recently turned 12. every christmas, his mom says, is a bonus, but it hasn t been easy. along the way liam has battled cancer and a bowel illness. if it was going to happen to anyone it was the best person to happen to. he s just gone with it. reporter: defying doctor s expectations every step of the way. liam, as you can tell, dreams of becoming a train conductor one day. for his family, each outing is a major undertaking but liam s favorite is riding the rails near his home. just like the trains he loves so much, liam, remarkably, just keeps going. he s a special kid. i spoke to his mom kim and she said he s doing really well, even starring in his school s musical play last week. his family is now applying to a children s charity called starlight to fulfill his dream of riding in a big rig. starlight is one of kate middleton s charities. you never know if some of the royal magic will meet little liam derbyshire. special kid. coming up next, the boy whose tears landed him as new jersey s governor. we ll talk to him and his family. and a hot spot that could be prince william and kate s honeymoon destination. first, these messages. [ female announcer ] what makes a moment last? what makes even the lightest touch linger? new smooth sensation from nivea. the light lotion with the breakthrough skin care technology. 24-hour-plus hydra iq. it works with your skin s hydration system to keep skin smooth. all day, all night. smooth sensation and the essentials collection. now with hydra iq. only from nivea. touch and be touched. only from nivea. oh, hey carl i see your breakfast bar has been destroyed well, it s not a bar carl, remember? it s breakfast on the go! it s got granola, emerald nuts, fruit. have a bar. no thank you, carl. i am good. more for me. ya more for you carl. sfx: ka-chunk! sfx: ggrrrrrrrr. carl humanize your morning. emerald breakfast on the go! we are back at 7:42 with the 5-year-old boy who become new jersey s governor for a day. it started when he turned on the waterworks on a youtube video. we ll talk to jesse and his family in a moment. first here s mara schiavocampo. reporter: it s hardly the reason most kids wouldle give for a backseat tantrum. what s making you so sad? because everyone tells me that i m too small to be the governor of new jersey! reporter: yep, you heard him right. then 4-year-old jesse, inconsolable after learning he was too tiny for the highest seat in the state. [ sobbing ] reporter: jesse s parents shot the video after voting in youtube. when they uploaded it to youtube in february the old clip was watched by thousands online including new jersey s republican governor chris christ christie. the father of four invited jesse and his twin brandon, now 5, to the capitol for a political play date. we signed a proclamation today making jesse governor for the day. making brandon lieutenant governor for the day. reporter: the twins spent the day playing politics, holding a press conference. now you are governor. how is it? but i m just tiny. reporter: where the real governor poked fun at his size. a lot of people said i shouldn t be governor but being too small wasn t why. reporter: the two even discussed policy. did we talk about property taxes? of course. what did i tell you? don t raise them. if you do, what happens? i m not going to be the governor for that long. that s right. reporter: as it turns out jesse s term lasted only a day anyway. probably for the best. he now says he s had it with public office after an adventure that took him from the back seat to the political fast lane. for today mara schiavocampo, nbc news, new york. the family is with us exclusively. mom and dad, jesse and brandon. first of all, governor, jesse, what was the best part about being governor for the day? the best part was mm did you pass any laws? of course i didn t. but in the video i was just small and i just sneaked up myself and i said i m going to raise property taxes. only when i m small i say that. when you re big don t do that. and i was a maniac. you were a maniac? i was a maniac that time. don, what made you pull out the video camera when jesse started crying? well, he had been crying since we left the polls. the crying had gone on for some time. after a little while i thought it was just too funny not to video it and i had my camera. why not? were you surprised at the reaction he was having? very. look, that s my brother. he has a helmet on. jesse what are you thinking when you watch the video? i felt like i was a movie star. and brandon, what about you? you were the lieutenant governor. you had to do everything your brother told you to do? a few times kept forgotting what lieutenant meant so i said i was the vice fwovgovernor like vice principal governor. what does a lieutenant governor do? whatever he tells me to do. there was a press conference? it was an honor to be invited to the state house and get a tour and a private meeting with the governor and have him show the boys around. it was just touching to our whole family. it really was an honor. turns outs you and the governor have something in common. you both like the same instrument. no. no? we both like two instruments. i like guitars and he likes drums. i like guitars and drums. i already know how to play four songs. jesse, do you want to go into politics when you get older? what s a potic? being governor? i want to be something important like the governor. if you are going to be the governor you better not raise your property taxes. and i won, i won, i won. just when i m small i do that. you ll choose something else when you re grown up? you ve got what it takes. you have the right attitude. don t got attitude. just stay myself. please stay yourself. of course i ll stay myself. a husband should never jesse, thank you so much. mom and dad as well. great to have you here. a husband should never ask a wife how long they have been married. the husband should know, honey. all right? the husband says, yes, dear. remember that. up next, where will prince william and kate go on the honeymoon? we are live at one of the rumored destinations after this. do you believe in magic? 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[ 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. now to our countdown to the royal wedding. exactly three weeks away. so where will the happy couple honeymoon after the big day? nbc s keith miller has the enviable task of following that part of the story. he s in corfu, greece, for us. good morning, you lucky guy. reporter: indeed, meredith. this part of greece i would say is part of the international hot spots looked at as possible honeymoon venues. the island has what it takes to make a honeymoon work romance, romance and more romance. reporter: the greeks have been entertaining royal visitors for centuries. lovers have dipped their toes in the wine-dark mediterranean sea since the time of cleopatra and marc antony. this is where prince philip was born. british newspapers call corfu the honeymoon destination for its natural beauty, elegance and privacy. i m sure they would choose a private yacht or something by the sea. reporter: in london s betting shops the favorite destination is kenya with corfu a close second. if i was having a little bit myself i might bet on corfu. reporter: there are other favorites. perhaps the royal couple will go to the caribbean. there is richard branson s luxury hideaway for the rich & famous. the island of mystique holds magic for the royals. and the spanish island of abitha has attracted william and kate on vacation to unwind. during his recent trip to australia prince william said he would return, joking maybe a honeymoon on the coast. still, according to one british newspaper, corfu is the destination of choice. prince william learned to waterski here. his father prince charles and wife camilla have been guests at the secluded rothschild estate. it take as boat ride to scout it out. this is the house. and this is the castle. yes. the other house belongs to the son. reporter: wherever the royal newlyweds chill out after the wedding, laid back, not lavish is expected. word from buckingham palace is that tough economic times calls for discretion. here on corfu they are already toasting the royal wedding. overjoyed at the prospect of the newlyweds honeymooning on their island. a honeymoon isn t all about location. as one writer put it, meredith, a husband may not remember where he had his honeymoon but he will never forget why. that s for sure, keith miller. thank you very much. our coverage of the royal wedding starts at 4:00 a.m. eastern, 1:00 pacific time. [ male announcer ] from advances in medical imaging that help doctors detect diseases earlier. to innovations in renewable power that bring america closer to energy independence. to investments that help businesses grow and create jobs. at ge, we re using imagination at work. ecomagination. healthymagination. and capital. to create advanced technology that s good for the economy. for the environment. for everyone. but we all know kids would rather they just disappear. make me say la la la la la la [ woman ] now with a little magic from mom, there s an easy way to get kids the nutrition they need. mott s medleys has two total fruit and veggie servings in every glass but magically looks and tastes just like the fruit juice kids already love. mott s medleys. la la la [ woman ] invisible vegetables. magical taste. how about a coastal soup and grilled shrimp salad combination? or maybe skewers of wood-grilled shrimp. seafood lunches starting at just $6.99 at red lobster. 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. live, local, latebreaking. this is bill edl to be 11 news today in baltimore. wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. here is kim dacey and traffic pulse 11. in towson, charles street is temporarily closed down as police tried to clear that. causing delays and at area. honeygo boulevard shut down in both directions. rosedale, accident at pulaski highway. a catonsville, crash of oil frederick road at winters lane. in annapolis, route 65 and solomons island road. we re seeing delays around the area. 23 minutes across the topside outer loop. 95 south between the harbor tunnel and the beltway on the south side of looking at 8 minutes. we would give you a lot like outside. live look outside. on the outer loop you will see delays from belair road to charles st.. you can see traffic calling at liberty road. it delays from seven i-95 to edmondson avenue. john as a check of the forecast. take a look at the right our first. the radar first. nice rain shower activity across the city to carroll county. scattered around d.c. and virginia and the southern part of maryland. 47-52 of the high. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic inf are you having any joy? what you getting out of living? what good is what you ve got if you re not having any joy? are you having any laughs? are you getting any lovin ? if other people do, so can you have a little joy [ female announcer ] how does your next week look? why not get away on a cruise from baltimore? book today at royalcaribbean.com. 8:00 on this friday morning, the 8th of april 2011. it is a getaway morning for lots of folks. it looks like more than a few have gotten to rockefeller plaza. we are happy to have this huge crowd. i m meredith vieira along with david gregory and al roker. matt has the morning off. just ahead, a mother s secret life. a michigan woman escaped from prison in 1976 and started a completely new life for herself in california. she got married, had three children, took up tennis and horseback riding. her family had no idea about her past. we re going to talk to her ahead. an incredible story. fascinating story. on a lighter note, the tradition of the school picture. makes you groan if you look at it years later. i had a few hawaiian shirt combinations and jenna bush hager is here and we are going to have to face oldle photos. reveal ourselves? people have seen them already. they re not pretty. a hollywood legend in front of and behind the camera. we are talking about robert redford, oscar winner. he s not been in our studio in ten years. was it something we said? i think it was you. i haven t been here that long. he s afraid of you. we ll catch up with him ahead. he has a fantastic new movie. it will be great to talk to him. first we head into the news desk. tamron hall filling in for ann this morning. good morning. federal agencies make plans to cut services in case congress fails to break the budget deadlock by midnight. president obama emerged from a meeting last night and said progress was made but he was not wildly optimistic a deal could be reached in time to prevent a government shutdown. both sides narrowed the disagreements over spending cuts. democrats say the hold-up is over a so-called rider that would strip funding from planned parenthood. meantime work progressed on a stop-gap temporary spending bill. in iraq today robert gates told american troops that letting openly gay members serve in the u.s. military would have little impact on the armed forces. on thursday, topple military officials on capitol hill testified that training for the repeal of don t ask, don t tell policy is going better than expected and could be finished by june. tensions are on the rise as israeli aircraft and ground troops pounded gaza this morning despite a hamas cease-fire overnight. the air strikes are in response to a rocket from gaza that hit an israeli school bus yesterday. is it. a government report proposes new ways to shrink the gap between white and minority americans with health. some suggestions are improving dental care for children living in poverty and having health workers help their neighbors find treatment. the california man charged with kidnapping jaycee duggard and holding her for 18 years pled not guilty on thursday. prosecutors hoped for a plea deal so duggard and her daughters, allegedly fathered by him would not have to testify. his wife nancy pled not guilty. now to cnbc s mandy drury at the new york stock exchange. of course the markets continue to watch the budget in washington but commodity prices have a mind of their own. oil prices are barrelling higher and an average gallon of gas costs you $3.73. in some states we are seeing over $4 a gallon. we are at a record high for gold. silver at the highest in decades. back to you. the snake who went m.i.a. at new york s bronx zoo has a fitting new name. online voters chose mia as in missing in action. the cobra goes back on display when the reptile house re-opens. that s a popular visit for lots of people. it s 8:04. now back to al with a check of the weather. thank you, tamron. where arer you from? jackson, michigan! high school trip? yeah. senior trip? no. choir. very nice. let s see what s going on, see if we can make you smile with the forecast. ft. myers, florida, sunny and hot, 90 degrees. we re looking at snow through the rockies. we have wet weather making it through the ohio river valley. risk of strong storms later today. stretching from missouri all the way into parts of west virginia. sunshine in new england, but it will be on the chilly side. toasty through the gulf coast. 90 in brownsville. laredo over 100. lots of moisture in the atmosphere. temperatures in the 40 s. rain that s your latest weather, david. al, thank you very much. up next, the tale of two lives. the motherer who spent more than 30 years as a fugitive while raising a family and keeping them in the dark about her past. some say i ve done it all. i say i m just getting started. i wear what i love, because expression means everything. too hot to trot some say i m one-of-a-kind. i say i m so chico s. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? 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[ male announcer ] the refreshingly simple bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. back now with the woman who spent more than 30 years hiding from a dark secret. while raising her beautiful family she was an escaped fugitive. we ll talk to her in a moment. first, her story. at first glance marie walsh seemed to have it all three children, a loving husband, a happy life in san diego. but marie had a secret, one she kept hidden even from her husband and kids. that secret dates back to 1970s michigan when marie was known as susan lefevre. as a teenager she had fallen in with the wrong crowd and started doing drugs like marijuana and cocaine. when she was 19, susan said a friend convinced her to drive him to get pizza but that he was really going to sell drugs. when the police showed up they arrested susan as well. they didn t find any money on me. they didn t find any drugs in my apartment. they found nothing incriminating. reporter: she says the prosecutor and her attorneys told her if she pleaded guilty she would get probation, but susan was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. after one year behind bars and with the help of her grandfather, susan made the bold decision to escape. she moved to california, changed her name, got married and started a new life asthma rh as marie walsh. as the years passed marie wondered if she would live the rest of her life as a fugitive. in 2008, law enforcement caught up with her at home in california and sent her back to prison in michigan. i have been through 30 years of paying off a debt. i hope that there is some consideration for the fact that i did turn my life around. reporter: after one year, marie was released on parole. i m just delighted that this nightmare is over. marie shares her story in a tale of two lives, the susan lefevre fugitive story. she s with us along with her daughters maureen and katie. i know your husband and son can t be here but i m glad you are. this is a complicated, bizarre story. you were arrested at 19 years old and you admit you were a kid who got caught up with taking drugs. in this case you say you were set up. yes. i actually received a phone call and hung up from somebody. then someone came over an hour later and asked me to go somewhere. i later found out asked me to go to a pizza restaurant. i later found out that he was working with the police as an informant because he had been arrested a couple weeks earlier and was being paid with drugs and money and probably pressure. so he lured me to the spot but i had nothing to do with the transaction. there is overwhelming evidence of that, but i was still processed through the system and have spent 30-some years fighting this because of that incident that night. you said at the time that the prosecutor and even your own attorney, one of the attorneys you had was your uncle, told you if you pled guilty you would get probation. that s why you pled guilty. instead you got a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison. we did talk to your former defense attorney nick trogan. he believed you never should have been sentenced to 10 to 20 years but said it s not true i told her if she pleaded guilty she would only get probation. what s the truth? well, there are many witnesses that i was promised probation. the prosecutor came and told me not to mention it in court but that it had been set up with the judge. he mentioned it so many times that i wondered why. my bail was $150. my first time offense. i had never been in trouble before. i thought i was upset to get probation. so there s quite a bit of evidence of that. i had other investigators that have asked other people. they did promise me probation but then said i didn t cooperate enough is what the drug agent recently said which wasn t true. you served a year of the sentence and your grandfather said, you have to get out of here. they were building another prison. he was convinced you would be there much longer. he helped you get out of the prison. you went over the barbed wire ran to where he was waiting in a car. at any moment were you worried, you could get stuck on the barbed wire, be shot, get caught and be sent back to prison for life? yes, everything you said. you d heard stories of people getting caught on the barbed wire. the helicopter did come over. you know, i didn t know what to expect. i didn t know if they would shoot me. i don t know if it s reality, but you worry. i just it was wonderful. my grandfather prodding me like that. i was not someone with this wasn t the type of person that took a lot of nerve and i wouldn t have had the courage without my grandfather helping me out. he was wonderful. it was a good thing i did it. you made it to california, started a new life with a new name, marie, which was your middle name. you meet a man, fall in love, get married, have three beautiful children but you re living a lie the whole time. they don t know what s going on in your past and you don t tell them. yeah. of course i couldn t. you know, i had a couple of extended family members i shared this with. we said, if i can wait until they re out of high school. i tried to turn myself in for years. i hired many attorneys to try and approach the prosecutor in charge in saginaw and say i wanted to turn myself in and can we work my sentence was bizarrely out of line with anyone for a first time offense. they knew where you were all this time? no, no. the attorneys would have attorney-client privilege. so they could have my phone number. i asked them to approach and try to re sosolve this. there were different means. i wanted to try and resolve it. they approached the prosecutor and he said that i couldn t turn myself in, that i should stay away. if i came back he would give me more time than the 10 to 20. that didn t refer to the escape charge because that was out of a detroit charge. i had no idea. this was a mystery too adding to it, why couldn t i turn myself back in? meanwhile, maureen and katie, i imagine now learning all of this, do you go back and say, i thought something was strange? do you ever look back and say, there was something about my mom? we had a normal childhood. often times i found little things here and there like letters with a different last name. i thought maybe she had a secret sort of maybe a different husband in the past or something more personal like that. nothing serious. i didn t think too much about it. it wasn t until later down the line i started to notice bigger signs and i just kind of gave her space to come to us to talk about it when the time was right for her. eventually they did catch up with you. they found you in california. katie, you were with your mom when she was arrested. yes, i was. i was in my room and she came in and toldle me. she was in tears telling me she was going to be taken away for a while. i walk out and immediately start to cry and it was definitely something not the best thing to wake up to. i was strong for her. how have you girls processed this? well, it s been a long journey. from the moment she was taken away to this point now we re just happy to have her home. it has been a struggle. just even the day she came home. that was a whole other chapter we re embarking on as a family. having her back. letting her go back to her old life but it s not her old life anymore. you ended up in prison for another year and you were then placed on parole. now that s done. i didn t expect prison to be that hard. that s why i had to write the book. it was very traumatic. i didn t expect to find what i did as far as the year, the struggle that i had. so we re almost out of time. what s the message of the book? what s the key message you re trying to get out? i feel i was a pretty average, very average kid. this could happen to anybody. and the system is very aggressive. this isn t the way to deal with kids that have lost their way. i was lost, on the wrong path. but the prison was not the answer. i m trying to the reason i ve tone this is there are so many other people suffering in the system just like myself. thank you for joining us. maureen and katie as well. thank you so much. the book is a tale of two lives. still ahead, screen legend robert redford live in our studio for the first time in ten years. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at home improvement stores. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. 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. oh, bayer aspirin? i m not having a heart attack. it s my back. it works great for pain. [ male announcer ] nothing s proven to relieve pain better than extra strength bayer aspirin. it rushes relief to the site of pain. feel better? yeah. thanks for the tip. there are milestones that no parent wants to miss. let s see, there s first steps. first words. first time riding a bike without training wheels. and the first vacation memory that will last till roughly. forever. now, there s a first. tell us what you ve always wanted to do, on facebook. [ ship horn blows ] 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. let s raise a glass to cookies just out of the oven. to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. [ female announcer ] lactaid®. the original lactose-free milk. coming up on 8:24. time to check in with mr. willard scott in orlando this morning. we re right in celebration and i just wish you were here with us, matt. happy birthday, crisco! wonderful. that s 100 years old. your mother used it, your grandmother used it. michelle albana uses it. i do. and you will be michelle stuart. yes, in july. you caught yourself an apple pie. you were last year s winner. yes, for the citrus in the professional and commercial with this lemon-lime blackberry. of nor walk, connecticut. we are having a grand opening for our second store in westbrook, connecticut. and you have a book coming out? the perfect pies cookbook is coming out. anything else we can talk about? god bless you. your grandmotherer taught you to bake. happy birthday from smuckers. you have never had it so good. peanut butterer and jelly sandwich and a piece of pie and you get to live to be 100 like martha groenendyke. loves to take care of her cat. unbelievable. happy birthday. we love you. we also have anthony saldicc of new london, new hampshire not connecticut. 100 today and loves to speak and write poetry and does a heck of a job with it. and we have the lovely lela putney who is from spartanburg, south carolina. she is 107 years old today. now let s go back to new york for our hm. all right, willard, thank you very much. look who s here. hollywood icon robert redford. we ll talk to him after your local news. you haven t been here for a long time. i m sorry. just how it goes. that s good for starters. we look forward to talking to you. you have a new film out conspirator. anything else you want to add? live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. let s get a final check on the money to meet with kim dacey. we will start with a live look outside. we had an accident that block all lanes. looks like traffic is starting to move again, a major delays approaching the tunnel. we will switch to a live view of the topside of the beltway at the delays from belair road to charles street. in towson, because of an accident, charles street is shut down temporarily between bellona at avenue and the gmc entrance there. honeygo boulevard shut down at white marsh boulevard. on the in a live near white marsh boulevard, we have an accident. another crash on pulaski highway and erred in ave. in catonsville, old frederick road and winters lane, a crashed there. also, at a westminster, we have an accident was about 140. overview. it is wet just about every place. carroll county, of frederick county, that is where the heaviest rain is falling out. current temperature is chilly and it will not warm up all that much today. at the airport, 45 degrees, east wind at about six miles per hour. . we will have another update at 8:55. i am an allergy analyst. bermuda grass. ragweed. willow. i am a dander decoder. chihuahua. i am a target pharmacist. ask me about allergy relief. 8:30 on this friday morning, april 8, 2011. rockefeller plaza is the place to be this morning. take a look at the size of this crowd. it s huge. they will be more excited because we have a hollywood legend in the house. award-winning actor and director robert redford is here. first time in ten years. nothing i said. i wasn t here. but you can t account for you. he just didn t come back. also celebrity chef marcus samuelsson happened to be cooking for president obama last week. he s here to teach us the recipe for the best basic burger you will ever eat. that s a big burger. i don t think that s just one. if we re lucky it is. he likes them big. really? did you like your high school photos? no, no, not so much. did you like your yearbook photos? they were unfortunate. jenna hager is with us as we take a look back at school ph o phot photos. i took my first picture in eight years without braces in high school. that s a very big deal. how about the weather, al? how about that weather. looking ahead to the weekend we have a risk of strong storms, a southeastern atlantic into the mid ohio river valley and the upper mississippi river valley. strong storms, snow back through the rockies. clouds in the pacific northwest. nice in the northeast and mild. sunday you have a risk of storms stretching from texas to the western great lakes. more rain and wind moves into the pacific northwest. sunny and cool through the southwest. hot through the southeast. in augusta on sunday, final round of the masters, 91 degrees. 40 s this morning, rain across the area. along the front, a chance for rain. no and two things you must know, david. first of all, if you need to check the weather go to weather channel on cable and weather.com online. if it s sunday, it is meet the press. it is. coming up, the legendary actor robert redford is here, live in the studio. 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. back now at 8:35 with academy award winner robert redford. the legendary actor is known for classic roles in movies like butch cassidy & the sundance kid and all the president s men. his latest project is the conspirator a story of a union soldier turned lawyer who defends a southern motherer who is accused in the assassination of abraham lincoln. take a look. i m done defending your lies. you re so blind with hatred you can t see the truth. yes, my son hated the north. we all did. how can a southerner feel anything but bitterness toward your side. but my son did not conspire to kille your president. he conspired to kidnap him. good morning to you. good morning. you have a real relationship with today, don t you? what do you mean? well, you said you used to come stand outside here? oh, yeah. when i was first in new york and i was going to dramatic school. yeah. i would come out here, stand in the window and hold up a sign hoping somebody in l.a. would recognize me. did it work? no. no one called. you have shot in this studio space for quiz show. we did. in those days it was garraway. we shot here. it was great. this place is iconic. it is. i want to talk about conspirator. i thought i knew about the assassination of lincoln. i did not know this story at all. how did you come upon it? well, i didn t either. that s why i decided to do it. lincoln and the civil war is a huge topic that never goes away. it s got tremendous life. so i think everybody knows about lincoln and john wilkes booth, but few people knew about a story inside of that, adjacent to it and that was the trial of mary serat. i didn t know about it. i was surprised historians didn t know. i thought, that s interesting. a story no one knows. an untold event tied to a story everyone knows about. she ran a boarding house and was accused of being a conspirator along with her son and john wilkes booth. she is defended by a northern lawyer who fought in the civil war. frederick aiken, i believe. mm-hmm. very little is known about him. you didn t have a lot to work with on his character. except in his summary in the trial. his last summary was taken verbatim from the document we had transcribed. that was word for word. little known of him. no photographs. he died at 43 years old. he went to the washington post after that failed attempt. but serat, quite a character. there is incredible detail from the ken burns film on the civil war that they hanged for five minutes before they died. i m curious about your political activism is well known. how much more powerful do you think a work of art can be in analyzing not just history but something that has contemporary resonance? well, i don t think a film can change anything. i think it might entertain. maybe fashion changes stuff, but i don t know that a film does. at one time i thought it might and i hoped it might but i learned it didn t. i thought maybe after the candidate people might pay attention to how we elect people. ratherer th than cosmetics, substance. i don t think it changed anything. but i think to reveal something that s not known, to me that s a worthy effort. that s what this had. not only that but obviously there are parallels in the film. not parallels that i created. they exist. they are historical record but they are repeated through time. even today like when eric holder announced that he didn t seem happy. he was forced to do something i don t think he thought was constitutional. exactly. that s the issue in this movie. he just kind of maybe presented a gift to the film with that. but it s not something i created. it fits nicely into the stories that are interesting to me which is what s the story underneath the story we think we know? that s what attracted me. but it also carries other stuff like injustice. the rule of law and particularly the constitution. you know, i read something interesting about you recently that you would like to be in more movies but there is a perception out there that you don t want to act anymore. i think my agents feel that, too. i do. that s a misconception. you would like to get in front of the camera? i would. that was my main it shall. you just have to stand outside again with the sign. i m still afraid nobody would call. i heard you threw out the first pitch for the cubs april 1. you heard that? yes, i did. and for a guy who was a baseball player, you were nervous. boy, was i. look at you though. oh! [ laughter ] i threw it high on purpose. i didn t want to throw it in the dirt. for a valley kid to do it in chicago instead of for the dodgers is disappointing. i didn t know it would be a big deal. remember the photos of presidents lobbing a ball out from the box. i thought it would be like that and they said, no, on the mound. they played the theme song from the natural. that s when i was cooked. that was a film, guys! that makes making movies look easy. you did it, too. i did for the boston red sox. that s my team. that s who i would like to do it for. there i am, look. you threw it high, too. no. i threw it low but i jumped like a rabbit. that s me. robert red ford, thank you so much. don t be a stranger. not every ten years, please. he won t be back. the conspirator opens april 15. up next, a celebration of school picture day with jenna bush hager. first this is today on nbc. mr. perdue! mr. perdue! what does it mean that perdue is the first chicken company to have a usda process verified program? it means the usda verifies that my fresh, fit & easy chicken is raised cage-free and fed an all-veggie diet with no animal by-products. is it true your chickens are never given any hormones or steroids? yes, it s true. [ camera shutters clicking ] so, what s next? is there a movie deal? thank you. [ chickens clucking ] now ladies, don t get any ideas. [ male announcer ] perdue. the first chicken company to have usda process verified programs. every year more than 30 million children tilt their heads, pose and say cheese on picture day or refuse to smile in our house. this year tlas special milestone. today contributing correspondent jenna bush hager has details. good morning. good morning. we have the one childhood photo, the school portraits haunt us now but our parents are glad they held onto them. i visited schools on picture day to see how the old school photo is hanging in there. i need to see that smile! turn your face a little this way. great smile. reporter: say cheese! cheese! reporter: the awkward smiles, hairdos representing the times, packages of 8 x 10s and wallet sizes. excellent, handsome. reporter: a day decorated by elaborate backdrops and plastic combs. 6 million per year. i ll comb it for you. no! reporter: the beloved tradition of picture day. today s picture day! reporter: do you think girls like picture day better than boys? that s not fair. reporter: what do you mean? everybody likes them. reporter: everybody likes picture day? yeah! reporter: there is no greater proof of our chronological evolution. embarrassing evidence, in some cases. this is my picture when i was in 3rd grade. do you want to see it? sure. reporter: do you promise you won t make fun of me? no. reporter: are you going to laugh? no. reporter: promise? i like the background, the blue. reporter: what about my outfit. that s why i don t let my mom pick mine. reporter: i don t know what she was thinking. it s a mock turtle neck. with mobile uploads, iphones and digital cameras it s a wonderer this basic form of photography still exists. as we visited a few new york-area schools. hi, daddy! reporter: we saw that the cameras are still snapping away. why do you think photo day is this institution? it doesn t seem to change. the kids really love to shine k. i think that s what it is. it s all about their moment. reporter: kids are still dressing to the nines thanks to a little help from who else? my mom. my mom. my mom. no one. i dressed up. i first put my pants on. reporter: yeah? then your tennies? yeah. then i put my spongebob shirt. reporter: why did you pick your spongebob t-shirt? because i like spongebob because i have the dvd. reporter: you have the dvd so you decided to wear it? yeah. reporter: is it your favorite t-shirt? a few things have changed, including digital photos and a choice of blueray backdrops. shows the amazon rain forest one. reporter: very tropical. i like that kind of greenish reporter: greenish look? yeah. reporter: lifetouch school portraits which will celebrate its anniversary this year expects to snap its 4 billionth portrait this october and the kids continue to participate because their loved ones are anxious to show them off. who are you going to give your school photo to? my god mother. my family in el salvador. to my grandma. reporter: i bet she ll love it. a window into the past. although our world has changed through the bright eyes and optimistic smiles of the kids it seems much has remained the same. the tradition of school portraits has been an american institution for nearly a century. in fact, the smithsewn yonian a two lifetouch okay. i can t even take myself seriously. thank you very much. they did add two lifetouch cameras to the smithsonian. it shows you how this is one of the institutions in our country. brings back memories when you see the kids. my little girl will not smile. even on the retakes she refuses. reporter: you know who did smile? al. hey, freckles. yeah. you were a ginger. yeah. that s encino little league in the valley. you look like a valley kid. what does that mean? sun kissed. oh, gosh. meredith! that bowl cut is so cute. look at the buck teeth. my gosh. well, there were braces. i got them after. al? oh, that s my college yearbook picture. that s 3rd grade. you were held back a little bit. look what you accomplished in the end. that s tamron. whoa! mamacita. look at the do. that was my salt-n-pepa look. spp you got best looking i think. was that after you had the braces off? first day. i wore braces for six years. everybody went, hey now! she has teeth? oh, look at matt. he has hair. wow. ann. gorgeous. she looks the same. anyway, those school photos. we all have them. except me, obviously. you got my 8th grade picture there. why we don t want everybody to think that s from vocational school. gotta go. love you. jenna, thank you. don t be ashamed. up next, the best burger you will ever have with marcus samuelsson and al s picture from vocational school. this is today on nbc. henson, we re going to go over sales figures, complete this merger and present to the board. 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 . this morning on today s kitchen back to basics, tastiest burger you will ever have. doing the honors is the man behind the popular red rooster restaurant and the cofounderer of the first food & lifestyle website for men, foodrepublic.com. nice to see you. good morning. everybody s starting to grill now that spring is here. the whole idea at food republic is my guy friends said what s a basic simple recipe? how can i be the man of the kitchen. for the best burger. we have beef and this is 80% meat, 20% fat. the fat makes the burger good. okay. one egg and worcestershire sauce. a little bit of salt and pepper. boom. mix it around. you have beautiful patties. do you mix with your hands? absolutely. for a burger, make sure the meat is the center, right? it s a nice big patty yiek that. you like them big. nobody wants a burger like, you know, i m not tasting the meat. that s manly, simple food. manly. every person should know how to make mayo. not just buy it? no! all right. i have egg yolks here. will you help me with the oil? do i dump it? no, no, a little bit at a time because it will break up otherwise. right. perfect. i will add in a little bit of vinegar and keep whisking this. if you make mayo like this you can make so many other sauces. don t put in too much. you re going to break it. i m sorry! it s like a basic simple recipe. little bit of lemon juice. can you use a food processor. you can but you may overcook the egg yolk. whisk it like this. simple, done. got our mayo. okay. this is a spicy adult ketchup. you can use it on steak, different things. we have a little bit of grilled pepper, ketchup, mustard. you use regular ketchup to start off. smoked paprika, horseradish, garlic powder. taste that. go in with the hands. isn t it good? fantastic. now we ll assemble the burger. how do you know this is cooked? it s so big. i have been cooking 20 years. i think i know when it s cooked. for the average girl like me. don t get defensive now. that s what we do in the kitchen. we get defensive. all right. you like the potato bun. love it. little bit of mayo. just a little bit for you. yep. i m putting more on. whoa, here they come. the vultures are coming. yay! you mix the mayo and the mustard. yes, yes. here we go. oh! i don t want a sandwich, i want a manwich. pass it to david. good luck. i ll take this one. i love the side one. you don t make normal fries. you could. but you use yuca fries. i love these. it s harder to make those, isn t it? not really. you blanch them and fry them. they re delicious. or go to marcus s restaurant. thank you! simple food for guys. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. baltimore city police are planning a massive search this weekend for phylicia barnes. hundreds of law enforcement officers will search and unspecified area to marga mauro. they plan to attend as the northwest baltimore neighborhood where she was last seen. now let s take a look at the forecast with john collins. lots of clouds and rain it showing up on the radar- satellite, nation. the warm flow from the south is pumping into cold air and creating this band of rain shower activity. cloudy in chilly with periods of rain. more this afternoon and evening. eastman s at 6-12. east winds at 6-12. by sunday, near 80. we will have another weather update at 9:25.