Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110614 : vimarsana.com

tosses head over heels tossing members of the crew into the san francisco bay. no one was injured, but that boat is in need of repair today. no one was injured, but that boat is in need of repair today. tuesday, june 14th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on a tuesday morning. i m ann curry. i m matt lauer. obviously went to north carolina to talk to the president about jobs and housing, but a lot of the newspapers this morning running headlines based on the question you asked about congressman weiner. because it s the first time he s been able to weigh in on that question. obviously this economy is really the big story because it s going to be the key issue in the election, which is just over a year away. we ve got a lot of ground to cover with the president. we had an exclusive interview with him. also ahead, new details on the search of missing indiana student lauren spierer. will enhanced video taken about the time of her disappearance give investigators new clues about what happened? we ll have an exclusive live interview with lauren s parents coming up. serious topic. on a much lighter note, admit it, chances are you have probably owned a snuggie or exercise gadgets sold on television. what is the next big thing? we ll take you to the place where thousands of the wildest products you will ever see are on display. but let s begin with our exclusive interview with president barack obama. we spoke to him in north carolina on monday. we begin with the president s take on congressman anthony weiner s scandal. well, obviously what he did was highly inappropriate. i think he s embarrassed himself. he s acknowledged that. he s embarrassed his wife and his family. ultimately there s going to be a decision for him and his constituents. i can tell you that if it was me, i would resign because public service is exactly that, it s a service to the public. and when you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can t serve as effectively as you need to, at a time when people are worrying about jobs and their mortgages and paying the bills, then you should probably step back. you know, ultimately this job is not about us, it s not about our ambitions, it s not about our positions, it s about how well are we serving the people who sent us to washington. again, ultimately there s going to be a decision that he and his constituents make, but i know that, for me, if i didn t think i could do the job as well as i need to, that it would be time for me to go. you know the head of the dnc has called for his resignation. did she speak to you as head of the democratic party? she didn t speak to me directly. and frankly, i understand why this has generated a lot of attention, and i don t want to minimize how inappropriate the congressman s behavior was. but i ve got a lot of other stuff to do, and so on my list of things that consume me on a day-to-day basis, jobs, the economy, afghanistan, this is not something probably that i would have spent a lot of time on or will be spending a lot of time on. the president of the united states. that s me. you re here encouraging private sector hiring. this just after the new york times just passed this past friday reported that since the recovery began, businesses have spent just 2% more on hiring people, while at the same time spending 26% more on equipment. so why at a time when corporate america is enjoying record profits have you been unable to convince businesses to hire more people, mr. president? i don t think it s a matter of me being unable to convince them to hire more people. they re making decisions based on what they think will be good for their companies. a couple of things happened. look, we went through the worse crisis since the great depression. we are now in a process where the economy is growing again and we created 2 million jobs over the last 15 months. but it s not as fast as it needs to be to make up for all the jobs that were lost. the other thing that happened, though, and this goes to the point you were just making, is there are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. you see it when you go to a bank and you use an atm, you don t go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate. so all these things have creakcd changes in the economy and this counsel is identifying where the jobs of the future are going to be, how do we make sure there s a match between what people are getting trained for and the jobs that exist, how do we make sure that capital is flowing into those places with the greatest opportunity. we are on the right track. the key is figuring out how do we accelerate it. that said, you know that with 14 million americans unemployed, and another 8 1/2 unable to get full-time work, that there is a lot of human suffering attached to this. we re talking about bankruptcies, homelessness, hunger. the stress of this, the shame of this. people have started to wonder, because you speak so calmly about this, whether you really truly empathize with these people who have lost their jobs, who are suffering, and people are asking, you know, why are you not angrier, why are you not angrier about what is happening here. ann, ann, you know, first of all, i don t think people are asking that. people some in the press might be asking that. i think ordinary folks understand, i spend all my time thinking about this stuff because i m talking to these folks every single day. i wake up every morning thinking about how can i help that man in north carolina or that woman in indiana or that family in pennsylvania get back on their feet, because they write me letters and they say, mr. president, we re about to lose our house, can you help us. mr. president, i worked here for 30 years, right before retirement i got laid off, what do i do now? i have to write back to them. and when i see them at meetings and they start crying, the notion somehow that i m calm about that is nonsense. but what is true is that, as president, my job is to make sure that i am finding every good idea that we can to move the country forward. what you saw today, you know, our investments in clean energy, making sure that we re dealing with community colleges so that they are more effectively training our workers for jobs, making sure that the economy as a whole is not burdened by regulations that are outdated or don t make sense, making sure that we continue the kinds of tax cuts for small businesses and that we re also providing financing for those small businesses. those are the things ultimately on which i m going to be judged. it used to be that when there was corporate growth, jobs would follow. that has not happened this time. and so there s a lot of concern that maybe what s happening is something that s kind of intrinsic, something that s going to be part of the future. and so it s sort of begs the question, in hindsight, did you miss an opportunity by focusing on health care in not focusing enough on job creation last year? well, you know, i have to tell you, ann, everything i thought about over the first two years was how do we get the economy back on track. that s what we focused on then, that s what we focus on now. but health care is part of our challenge because if companies are spending billions of dollars on rising health care costs, that s money that they re not putting in to hiring the workers or new plants or equipment. talk to any of these businesses, large or small, and they will tell you, as a consequence of their health care costs going up 25%, 50%, or in some cases 100%, that has a dampening i pact on their ability to invest and create jobs. house republicans are threatening to not allow the debt ceiling to be raised. if you don t agree to deep spending cuts, do you think they re bluffing, given how financially disastrous it would be for the united states to not have the debt ceiling raised, and are you willing to make deep spending cuts? keep in mind we ve already made deep spending cuts. i ve proposed a freeze on federal spending, during the last threatened government shutdown we made some really tough cuts on programs that i actually think make a big difference. but given the size of the deficit, i think it was important for us to send a signal that we were serious about getting spending under control. i am absolutely confident that we can move forward on a plan that gets our debt under control, gets our deficit under control, but also makes sure that we re making the investments in the future that are going to help us put people back to work. and the debate that s going to be taking place between me and republican members of congress is not whether or not we are dealing with our deficit in an effective way, there s a way of solving this problem that doesn t require any great changes. what it does require is everybody makes some sacrifices and we make these changes in a balanced way. so far at least in the conversations that i ve had and the vice president s been hosting with leaders from both the house and the senate, we ve seen some progress. i think that where it s going to get tough is right now republicans are very resistant to any kind of revenue and would rather see us make some sacrifices in programs that the vast majority of the american people think are really important. making sure that seniors on medicare have the kind of security and protection that they need, for example, or making sure that, you know, government functions like food safety or weather satellites are still up there, making sure that our veterans are properly cared for. you can t pay for those things unless we have some additional revenue. and that s going to be a tough debate that takes place. but i take the republican leadership at their word when they say it would be disastrous for us to not increase the debt limit. i do not want to see the united states default on our obligations. the full faith and credit of the united states is the underpinning not only of our way of life but it s also the underpinning of the global financial system. and we could actually have a reprise of a financial and we re going to get it done in a sensible way. that s what the america people expect. we will have much more of the president coming up in our next half hour, including how his family feels about him run for a second term of office and what surprises president obama the most about his two daughters. for now, it is now 7:12, here s matt. thank you very much. president obama and his policies were major topics of discussion last night during the first major debate between gop front-runners in the 2012 presidential race. nbc s political director chuck todd has detail on that. chuck, good morning to you. there may have been seven republican candidates sharing the stage in new hampshire but one candidate not on stage was the center of attention, the democrat sitting in the white house, president obama. minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann grabbed the first headline of the debate. i filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the presidency of the united states. reporter: she s now the first major republican woman presidential candidate since elizabeth doyle in 2000. much of the affair was an anti-obama sound bite contest. he isn t leading on balancing our budget and he s not leading on jobs. he has turned his back on american allies and he has embraced our enemies. this president is in declinist. he views america as one of equals around the world. if i had my drut therhers, ir would overturned don t ask don t tell in the first place. president obama is antijobs, anti-business, destructive force. i will not rest until i repeal obama care. reporter: and ron paul used the president as a punch line when asked to name one thing the president has done right on the economy. boy, that s a tough question. reporter: there were no direct clashes among the candidates. but former minnesota governor tim pawlenty had raised expectations for fireworks by speaking out sunday in tying former massachusetts governor mitt romney s health care plan to president obama s. president obama said he designed obama care after romney care and basically made it obamney care. reporter: after the debate pawlenty backed down. why is it not obamney care with the person standing right there? he looked to massachusetts for designing his program. he said it was a blueprint and he merged the two programs. so using the term was a reflection of the president s comments that he designed obama care on the massachusetts health care plan. reporter: former speaker newt gingrich who last month drew fire from conservatives for criticism the medicare plan did not back down at this debate. if you re dealing with something as big as medicare and you can t have a conversation with the country with a country thinks what you re doing is the right thing, you better slow down. reporter: in the end, no matter who won or lost this debate it served as an early gop pep rally for 2012. president obama is a one-term president. look, spin room politics does matter in this and post-debate, the romney folks were ecstatic, they got exactly what they hoped for. michele bachmann overtaking tim pawlenty. the pawlenty folks found themselves on the defensive last night having to answer over and over again why the candidate decided to back off that criticism. matt. chuck, did you find it unusual that michele bachmann chose that venue to announce for president so she was one of a sea of candidates? well, what was surprising funny you say that, matt, because she was about to become the first non-candidate i had ever remembered invited to a debate and i remember thinking before, this is oddly unprecedented as a network not sure we would have been able to feel comfortable inviting her without her filing sooner. so she did what she did. she stole the headline. and in many ways, she manipulated the press in a way that i hadn t seen a candidate do ever. chuck todd in washington this morning. chuck, as always, thank you very much. you got it. now let s get a check of the rest of the morning s top stories with natalie morales. good morning. the house ethics committee has now begun its inquiry into whether or not congressman anthony weiner s online relationships vial latted house conduct according to the associated press. the investigation reported he remains in the preliminary stages and house ethics committee leaders have yet to decide whether to pursue a more intensive probe. it s a race against time in hamburg, iowa, where the missouri river punched a hole in a major levee. water rushing through the hole is expected to reach the town of hamburg today where the army corps of engineers is racing to build a secondary protective wall. if that second wall is not completed in time, parts of hamburg could be submerged in ten feet of water. president obama travels to puerto rico today. he s the first u.s. president to make an official visit there in 50 years. the trip is aimed at solidifying his position with hispanic voters living in the mainland u.s. the prosecution calls its final witness today in the casey anthony trial. kerry sanders is with news orlando. reporter: good morning. we don t know who that final witness will brks but on monday the jurors listened to their final pieces of scientific testimony, evidence that the prosecutors believe will convince the jurors that casey anthony planned her actions and then murdered her 2-year-old daughter caylee. when caylee anthony s body was finally found in the woods investigators discovered duct tape. and while prosecutors suggested it was wrapped around caylee s mouth and nose, not one expert witness has testified they saw that. so, there was no duct tape around the skull, was there, sir? completely encircling it? correct. no, sir. three pieces of duct tape. reporter: monday the fbi technician who examined the three pieces of duct tape labelled q-62, 63, and q-6 4 said she found no fingerprints. but she said she did find something that was a surprise. during my examination of q-63, an outline of a heart appeared in one of the corners of the edge of that piece of duct tape. reporter: and that one possibly from a heart-shaped sticker like these stickers taken from casey s home. investigators said long ago she put that on a duct tape as a good-bye gesture from mother to daughter. the defense has yet to respond to that heart-shaped sticker outline. the one thing jurors did not see was a photograph of that residue on the duct tape. that s because the fbi technician says that she saw it and then conducted more tests looking for fingerprints. and when she went back to take a picture of it, those tests for the fingerprints had eliminated the outline of that heart-shaped sticker. natalie? kerry sanders in orlando, florida, for the latest on the casey anthony case. thanks so much. now to wall street. cnbc s melissa francis is at the new york stock exchange. the blue chips managed to eke out a gain just barely one teeny tiny point but we ll take it. it was enough to break the losing streak. today we re watching quarterly results out of best buy, saying that tv sales are sagging as the consumer is hurting. also watching retail sales and some inflation data. back to you. all right, thank you. the boston bruins thrashed the vancouver canucks yesterday, sending the two teams into a tie-breaking game seven. it will be winner takes all tomorrow night in vancouver at 8:00 eastern on nbc. take a look at this amazing video from san francisco where a racing catamaran capsized while train for a race in the bay. crew members say the new zealand-built makes its first u.s. appearance. no one was seriously injured in the accident, though left a sail damaged. they were all wearing their helmets so they all did okay there. still scary to look at. 7: 20. let s turn it back over to matt and ann. anything more exciting than a game seven in a national world championship. that s going to be great. stanley cup finals tomorrow night. look forward to that. let s get a check of the weather. al has gone from anchorage, alaska, and the truck is pulling up this we are off to a nice, quiet start. temperatures in the upper 50 s and low 60 s. overall a nice day. 30% chance for a rain shower. n and that s your latest weather. matt? al, we ll check in with you in a little while on the reveal. coming up, the mysterious disappearance of lauren spierer. are investigators any closer to finding out what happened to her? the parents will talk to us in an exclusive live interview. the pa[ female announcer ]s in keurig brews more than just hot coffee. now you can brew over ice for delicious iced coffee or tea. hot or cold, keurig is the way to brew everyone s favorite cup in under a minute. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. just ahead, we ll have the inside scoop on the latest and greatest as seen on tv products. plus, more of our exclusive interview with president obama as he opens up about the first lady, daughters, and recovery of his friend. drivers have told us they like a crossover that can go the distance. that s why we gave the chevy equinox an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon highway. but do passengers appreciate all of the comfort features we put in the equinox? hey. want me to drive? we ll take that as a yes. the count on chevy event is going on strong with a full selection of chevys to choose from. come claim yours today. visit your local chevy dealer. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. major problems on i-95. here is sarah caldwell. two tractor trailers involved in an accident. fuel spill as well. accident happened just past aberdeen. all lanes closed at 543 in the northbound direction. edgewood belair exit. if you are traveling there, take pulaski highway or route 1 as your alternate. route 95 approaching 272, two right lanes closed. other delays southbound 95 out of the white marsh area. slow go in usual spots. here is a live view of traffic on the west side. we will switch to a live view of the closure point on northbound 95. it will be awhile before they clear the accident out. tony has to check on your forecast. nice start weather-wise. comfortable temperatures it back into the low 60s. 61 at the airport. 64 degrees in rock hall. clouds make up a little bit this afternoon. 20-30% chance for a rain shower of. most of you won t see that. nice day on wednesday. better chance for a few scattered showers and thunderstorms on thursday and friday. should be dry saturday sunday. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information brought back in 25 minutes with another live update. morning. it s the 14th of june, 2011. 64 degrees in midtown, manhattan. it s a little cool. it s not going to get a whole lot warmer than that this afternoon. a cool spell here at the end of spring. inside studio 1-a, matt lauer alongside ann curry. just ahead, the agonizing clues and missing student lauren spierer, vanished mysteriously more than a week ago in indiani. we re going to talk to her parents in a couple of minutes. and we re going to have our interview with president obama. we were with him backstage before his big speech in north carolina on monday. take a look. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. that s me. so great to say, that s me. the president of the united states. anyway, coming up this morning the president opens up about his family and what surprised him most about his daughters. plus, talking about the five things that you can do as a parent to help your teenager if he or she is having a hard time finding a summer job. we ll get to that later on. let s begin this half hour with the missing student from indiana university. we ll speak to her parents in a moment, but first, nbc s john yang is in bloomington this morning with the latest. john, food morning. reporter: good morning. they re still in the information gathering stage in their investigation into what happened to lauren on her way back to her apartment building here. and her parents are issuing a direct challenge to anyone who knows the answer to that, to come forward. from lauren spierer s anguished mother what are you wait for? what are you waiting for? reporter: a desperate personal plea to anyone who could lead her and her husband to their daughter. what you know might help us, it might be the key today that s going to make the difference. reporter: the spierer s plea came as bloomington police  enhanced security camera video showing at least one car near where lauren was last seen about 4:30 the morning of june 3rd. this is not to be identified as a suspect vehicle or a vehicle of interest or anything at this point. i don t want us to make that leap. this is something that has caught our attention. reporter: on the ground and from the air with small remote-controlled planes equipped with cameras, the search for lauren continues. police say they re expanding the circle of friends and acquaintances they want to talk with as they try to figure out what happened to her. she was last seen walking to her apartment after a night out with friends. a lot of people have been talked to. law enforcement is going to keep talking with them. piece by piece by piece this puzzle is going to be put together. and we re going to find out not only what happened to her but who shares the responsibility of what happened that night. reporter: while police remain tight lipped about the investigation, lauren s parents are trying to give their missing daughter a voice. at the police briefing charlene spierer read an e-mail lauren spent her parents from a spring break volunteer trip to israel this year with her sister, which is when this video was taken. making the dirt a little bit looser. i m soaking up everything. i m living up every single second. i m so thankful for this trip. it s life changing. lauren, i love you. your spirit is with us. we re never going to stop and we are never going to quit. we re here and we love you. reporter: an expert from the national center for missing and exploited children has joined the investigation advising the bloomington police on how to proceed. matt? all right, john yang for news bloomington. john, thank you very much. lauren s parents, robert and charlene spierer, are with us exclusively. thank you for joining us. i know this is a very difficult time for you. thank you for having us, matt. robert, let me start with you. the thing that jumped out for to me in that press briefing yesterday is the police saying about this vehicle. don t jump to conclusions, we re not calling it a suspect vehicle of vehicle of interest but they do want to know more about it and perhaps enhance that video. have they told you why they re curious about it? well, it s a vehicle that was in the vicinity close to the time that lauren was last seen. but we don t know if it s if it s meaningful in terms of any connection to the case. but it s just another lead that s being pursued, one of many, that have to be analyzed by the police and put together to evaluate how we re going to find lauren. are you both being kept fully abreast of this investigation? do you think you re getting all the information? are the police sharing all of that information with you? or are there parts of the investigation you re being kept away from? we meet with the police every day. we have a briefing with them just before a statement is made by them and by us. we re in constant communication with them. we have the cell numbers of the team, and we do speak with them regularly throughout the day. charlene, when you look at the time line leading up to lauren s disappearance and the departure from that bar, the walk to the apartment building, leaving her apartment building, some kind of a confrontation on the street, her going to the apartment of a friend and then at 4:30 in the morning leaving that apartment. as a mom, you must have tried to fill in the blanks in what happened next. and so in your best judgment, what happened next? i think that s the million dollar question. we just don t know what happened next. the area where this all took place is such a small area. and she was so close so many times just to being home. so if anybody knows what happened next, if anybody saw her any time around that time, 4: 30, 5:00, it s imperative that they share that information with the bloomington police department. right. of course, matt that is the fundamental question that is being asked. and the information that we get from anyone can help us answer that question. there are there are tip lines set up, both with the bloomington police department, with america s most wanted, and we ask that anyone with any information come forward. we ve made this plea daily. and tips have come in and they re following up on those tips. but we encourage people to continue to come forward and tell us anything, however small it might be, however irrelevant you might think it is, to help us put the puzzle together. i have to ask youuren lauren s boyfriend and her friend. are you completely confident that they are cooperating fully with the authorities and are you completely confident that they re telling the authorities the truth? i m not privy to what s been said between them, meaning the police and jesse and cory. you know, i m letting the police evaluate what s being said, how open they re being in helping the investigation. you know, we do know that anything that anyone can tell us is of critical importance to finding lauren. there s just a there s a big empty space between, you know, where she was last seen and her disappearance. we just can t we can t piece it together yet. finally, charlene, i know you realize the importance of keeping this story in the headlines, and i think that s one of the reasons you and robert have done so much talking in the media. i think it s a good thing. i also know you re far from home right now out there in the indiana. you live back here in westchester county in new york. can you even imagine leaving indiana at this stage without answering all these questions? is it just impossible to imagine going home without lauren? it s impossible. you know, she s it s like having your heart ripped out. she s so much a part of my life, my husband s life, my older daughter s life. she s part of our little, you know, our little family. i just can t imagine ever leaving without lauren. so, no, i can t imagine ever leaving. charlene and robert go ahead. sorry, robert. matt, yes, i m sorry. i think it bears mentioning that we have a tremendous amount of support from people in this community, friends back home, strangers from all around the country. they ve come out here to help us with the search. it s critical that we get that help. it energizes us. it makes us stronger. of course, we get up every morning with a determined focus on one thing, and that s finding lauren. there is a reward, $100,000 reward, for information leading to us finding lauren. and there s a website, if you would like to get information about lauren to help us with the search or just information about how things are developing. the web site is findlauren.com. we will put that information up on our website as well, robert, and link people to it so we can get as many people aware of this story as possible. thank you. robert and charlene, our thoughts and prayers can i go ahead. i was going to say, if the person who has lauren is out there, we ask you to please let her go. let her come home. we love her. she s our baby and we want to get her back. our thoughts and prayers with you and with lauren. we will follow this story. robert and charlene spierer, thank you very much. thank you. let s get a check of the weather now. al is out in las vegas with more. al? all right, matt. thank you so much. and we re not going to reveal the charity we re helping, but folks here from the cosmopolitan hotel of las vegas has been working around the clock putting in this and another herb and vegetable garden that actually the charity we re going to be talking about will be using. these are fruits, vegetables, and herb gardens. so doing some great stuff. 250 part of a $250,000 donation, the cosmopolitan is making to our charity. let s show you our weather for this afternoon. we are looking at temperatures today, and the northern tier states, anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees below normal, including new york city. as you get to the south and texas, temperatures anywhere five to ten degrees above normal. 90s to 100s, to text, the gulf coast, 50s and 60s through the northeast. 100s extend into the interior sections of california. strong storms in the mid mississippi river valley. beautiful weather in the pacific northwest. seattle, temperature in the 70s. gulf coast still kin and pitiful start for us this tuesday morning. beautiful store for us this tuesday morning to the mid-to- upper-70 s this afternoon. we more from las vegas and our charity revealed in the next hour. that and your weather forecast coming up later. we look forward to it, al. thank you very much. coming up next, more of ann s exclusive interview with president obama, including how the first daughters feel at their dad run for a second term. that s right after this. professional driver on a closed course. do not attempt at home. always wear your seat belt. and please drive responsibly. [ male announcer ] it s the most fun you can legally have. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. fill an entire community with joy? maxwell house believes so. that s why we ve partnered with rebuilding together to help revitalize communities in need. vote for your community at maxwellhouse.com. be so nice? [ male announcer ] new i can t believe it s not butter whipped and creamy taste. mmmm. [ male announcer ] light yet velvety with 50% fewer calories than butter. naughty but nice. just my type. [ male announcer ] new whipped and creamy taste. but not your wrinkles. new neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula smoothes wrinkles in just one week. why wait if you don t have to. neutrogena®. took some crazy risks as a kid. but i was still over the edge with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren t enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i ve been eating healthier, exercising more, and now i m also taking lipitor. if you ve been kidding yourself about high cholesterol.stop. 80% of people who have had heart attacks have high cholesterol. lipitor is a cholesterol lowering medication, fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. great ride down. if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don t kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor. to stay healthy. but did you know fiber choice can help support your overall well-being? every tasty tablet has prebiotic fiber from fruits and veggies. that lets your good bacteria thrive and helps support your immune system. fiber choice. an easy way to defend your health everyday. learn more about prebiotics and get a free sample at fiberchoice.com. back now at 7:46 with more of our exclusive interview with president barack obama. we met in north carolina on monday where the president was visiting a leading manufacturer of energy efficient lighting. and we took a few moments to catch up on the first family and the remarkable recovery of the president s friend congresswoman gabrielle giffords. to see her now walking and talking and laughing, she s still got some recovery to do, but what an incredible spirit she is and her husband has been there every step of the way. her family has been there every step of the way. the people of arizona have been there every step of the way. so i think she s just going to keep on getting better. she looks beautiful in the photographs, that s for sure. she looks better than a lot of people thought she would. looks better in person. have you spoken to her lately? the last time i saw her we went down to cape canaveral. we were going to watch astronaut kelly, her husband, go up on the space shuttle. they couldn t launch that day. but i had a chance to spend time with her. as i said, it s almost unimage nabl. it s a genuine miracle. i ve been thinking since the last time we talked about how busy you ve been. i ve been wondering, in the non-stop intensity of being president of the united states, have you ever thought to yourself that maybe one term was enough? well, i m sure there are days where i say that one term is enough. what keeps me going is a belief that the work that we started in 2009 is not yet complete. we still don t have the kind of energy policy that we need to move this country forward. we still have not restructured how our education system works to make sure every kid has a chance at a successful career in the 21st century. and so i m constantly thinking about the work that is undone despite the fact of being very proud about what we ve gotten accomplished over the last 2 1/2 years. you probably still though had to have a family meeting. did you ask michelle and the kids about this at the table? michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if i said, you know what, guys, i want to do something different, they would be fine. they re not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president. but they do believe in what we re doing. and i think, you know, michelle, if she didn t think that what we were doing was worthwhile in moving the country forward, i think she would be the first one to say, why don t you go do something else that is a little less stressful. in the conversation around the dinner table about thorns and roses, as you assess your day, the kids didn t say this was a thorn, the idea of you running for re-election? no, i think they ve gotten accustomed to the fact that their dad is busy a lot, and that there are going to be some pressures on not just me but on the family that are different from a lot of other folks. on the other hand, the girls seem to be thriving. they continue to surprise me with how poised, well mannered, kind they re turning out even in the hot house environment of the white house. so if the family is doing well, if michelle is still putting up with me, then i ve got enough energy to keep on doing the work that i m doing. and still ahead, they look great but do they work? we re going to test out the hottest new as seen on tv products. but first, these messages. [ male announcer ] those with frequent heartburn imagine a day free of worry, a day when we can eat what we want, drink what we want, and sleep soundly through the night. finally that day has arrived with prevacid®24hr. just one pill helps keep you heartburn-free for a full 24 hours. prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day, all night. now we are free. happy. with prevacid®24hr, happiness is a day without heartburn. come on dad! [ female announcer ] it s for celebrating all our dads are. our fellow explorers. can i touch him? yeah. ow! [ female announcer ] .personal doctors. and that s why we wear shoes. [ female announcer ] .d our oldest, closest buds. father s day is for us to say, i m so glad you re mine. come here. oh. happy father s day, daddy. [ female announcer ] now, select cards come postage paid. erika: . my computer is the same as a new computer.a daddnew pc because. vo: so to show her what she s missing, we built a pc store in her house. erika: (gasp) employee: come on in. make yourself at home! erika: this is my home! employee: let s take a look! erika: (lifting laptop) it s really light. honey, help me shop! employee: you can get up to seven hours on this battery. jesse: the color really pops out. employee: everything s wireless. wireless keyboard. jesse: that s impressive. i like this one better. erika: and i like this one. vo: new pc. what s it gonna be? erika: i m a pc, and i got what i wanted. jesse: as usual. to your kids wet skin. new neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®. an at&t samsung infuse 4g. and permanent mounting tape. have you seen my phone? no. [ siren wailing ] that s my phone! [ cellphone rings ] no, that s her flat screen. she lives in malibu. hello, mr. stockton. yes, i have the agenda right here in front of me. [ male announcer ] get low prices every day on everything, backed by our ad match guarantee. like the latest smartphones from the best carriers. activated in-store. save money. live better. walmart. still ahead on this tuesday morning, tragic death of an 11-year-old girl who fell from a ferris wheel during a school trip. was it preventable? the girl s parents will be speaking out with us. you know rheumatoid arthritis means pain. but you may not know it can also mean destruction. not just of your joints, but of the things you love to do. and the longer you live with the aching, swelling, and stiffness, the closer you may be to having your favorite things. taken away from you. but you can take action today. go to ra.com for your free joint profile so you can better talk to your rheumatologist about protecting your joints. smoky eyes look amazing, but creating them? that s a whole different story. introducing new almay intense i-color smoky-i kit. first, sweep the smoky eye color across your lid. then add the crease- accentuating shade, and a highlight under your brow. only from almay. only for me. [ instrumental: uphey, max. [ announcer ] your dog s one of a kind. and now, you have the power. [ giggling ] to help significantly extend his healthy years. a groundbreaking 14-year study by purina. proves that puppy chow, then dog chow nutrition, fed properly over a lifetime, can help extend his lovable antics. up to 1.8 healthy years. [ barks ] long live your buddy. oh, max! long live your dog. purina puppy chow and purina dog chow. that sounded like the chocobeast. he likes to sink his fangs into people who steal chocolate mousse temptations. aaah! [ all scream ] nice job, chocobeast! [ male announcer ] decadent chocolate mousse temptations. it s jell-o for adults. [ male announcer ] on tuscani tuesdays, any family-size tuscani pasta is just ten bucks. dinner made easy? check. [ male announcer ] feed everyone with a family-size tuscani pasta, plus five breadsticks for just ten dollars. only on tuesdays. only at your pizza hut. best seven years of my life. i know, dad. your comforter. okay. mr. cuddles. toilet paper? oh, hey, scott. here, scott extra soft tissue. it s their softest roll ever. check out the pattern. it s softness done right. same soft rolls we use at home honey! one more thing, guys. oh nice a shoe rack! actually, it s a toilet paper rack. sweet. huh. huh. [ female announcer ] do you know scott? scott extra soft is softness, done right. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time for another check of the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. looks like they finally are making progress on northbound 95. northbound 95 and 543, and they just let traffic by. all lanes closed for the past hour. delays stretch prior to route 24, to two two tractor trailers. continue to use it pulaski highway hundred one. typical delays and the white marsh area to the split. old york road and hess road in moncton, reisterstown road at the beltway. heavy delays on the inner loop towards j.f.x. on the west side outer loop, 17 miles per hour top to bottom. and what down to one to 95 at the beltway, and you can see from the beltway to 95 south, delays to west nursery road. look at traffic, closure we had just moments ago. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. weather is nice and quiet on this tuesday morning. plenty of sunshine out there right now. nice little breeze out of the northwest. 64 at the airport. 58 in parkton. 60 in columbia. almost autumn-like morning. 20-30% chance for a rain shower. most of you won t see that. high temperature of around 77 degrees. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back in 25 minutes with another live update. 8:00 now on a tuesday morning, june 14th, 2011. that makes today flag day. rockefeller plaza is lined with the stars and stripes. and also a big crowd. we re happy to see so many people stopping by. it is a bit of a windy morning, also. i m ann curry along with matt lauer. it s always pretty here in rockefeller plaza. it s even prettier on flag day with all the american flags flying behind us. fourth of july as well. it s a good day to visit here. it s nice to have you. meanwhile, al roker is out in las vegas today as he continues his lend a hand tour. he s resting on the job, as you can tell right now. after a huge day in anchorage, alaska, handing out, what was it, al, 1. $9 million? that s right, $1.9 million. we ve got about $1.6 million here, plus eight trucks full of stuff for our very, very worthy charity that s interval to the health of las vegas. all right. we re going to check in with al in a couple of minutes. we ll be talking about that as seen on tv phenomenon. you ve seen them. $150 billion a year industry that gives products outrageous claims. the question is are they as good as they seem? and what s the next big thing like the snuggie or the george foreman grill? apparently one involves an instant bar, matt. we like the sound of that. also ahead, teenagers across the country right now looking for summer jobs, and the looking isn t easy. so we ve got five things that parents can do to help your children find the summer job. but first, let s go inside, natalie morales at the news desk. good morning, everyone. seven contenders for the republican presidential nomination appeared together in new hampshire last night for their first major debate of the campaign. and while they did take shots at each other over troop withdrawals and health care, their common target was president barack obama and his handling of the u.s. economy. the tornado that devastated joplin, missouri, last month claimed two more lives. city officials say both victims had been hospitalized with tornado injuries. the death toll now stands at 153. the massive arizona wildfire that s been burning for two weeks was 20% contained this morning. they cleared brush and set fire lines to keep the fire from spreading into new mexico. and strong earthquake aftershocks monday caused fresh damage in christchurch, new zealand, where a quake four months ago killed 181 people. the aftershocks are blamed for the death of an elderly nursing home residents. the government says airlines collected $3.4 billion in baggage fees last year. that was up 24% from the year before. and now for trending on today, a quick round-up of what you re talking about online. as you heard president obama has finally weighed in on the sexting sandal surrounding anthony weiner, in a today show interview he called his actions highly inappropriate and added, quote, if it was me, i would resign. pregnant reality star tori spelling tweeted on monday that she crashed her car while taking her two children to school because she was being chased by the paparazzi. her car slammed into this wall. tori and the kids are okay but clearly shaken up. and change mark zuckerberg s relationship status now to it s complicated because facebook executives insist they know nothing about him being engaged. on sunday, however, his pal microsoft tycoon bill gates referred to zuckerberg s long-time girlfriend as his fiance. and macy s is apologizing for running a full-page ad in the miami herald newspaper congratulating the heat for winning the tightal night before. it had a full line of gear but, of course, problem is, it was the dallas mavericks, not miami, which captured the title. that s a costly mistake. 8:04 right now. let s go back to al in las vegas for a check of your weather. mr. roker? all right. thank you so much, guys. and as we are here in las vegas at our charity. it s a charity that help tina received training from this charity. this is alfredo and caroline. we re going to try to make a bed. whoever is faster. yes. i m going to help you. i have a feeling you guys are going to win. tina, let s get started. here we go. while we re making the bed, i m not going to really help very much. how do you get the corner. let s show you what s going on as far as your forecast. pick city of the day. look at that, whipping! it s like snapping, like a snapping kind of thing. las vegas, news 3, sunny and hot. 100 degrees. and as we go into the satellite radar, you will see more storms making their way into the mid section of the country. tina, moving like a that s what s going on around t overall, this is going to be a nice day. clouds are going to thicken up a little bit. 20% or 30% chance for a light rain shower. and that s our latest weather, matt? thank you very much. when we come back, a tragic story of a 11-year-old girl who fell to her death. would a minor safety change had made the difference between life and death? her parents will talk to us about that right after these messages. with an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that s not caused by a heart valve problem. today we have pradaxa to reduce the risk of a stroke caused by a clot. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there s no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don t take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you re 75 or older, have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don t stop taking pradaxa without your doctor s approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. no hoops to jump through to get it? even better. not a big fan of hoops. that s why i have the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. we get 1% cash back on every purchase. there s no limit to the amount of cash back i can earn. and the rewards yes. won t expire. bankamericard cash rewards. 1% cash back. no hoops to jump through. nice and simple. just the way i like it. [ male announcer ] the refreshingly simple bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. so we seeded that into something much bigger. the home farming movement. join us at homefarming.com. -why? -why? -why? [ female announcer ] we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you. back now at 8:09 with a tragic accident at an amusement pier on the nrnew jersey shore. 11-year-old girl fell to her death. her parents are calling for safety changes. but first, nbc jeff is in wildwood, new jersey, with the story. jeff, good morning. reporter: hi, ann. good morning to you. look, so many of our children will visit amusement parks this summer across the country which is why these parents want you to listen closely to their tragic story. their 11-year-old daughter obiah jones came to this park on a school trip. she got on that ferris wheel, that huge ferris wheel, all by herself. and sadly, plunged to her death. no one knows why. but this morning an investigation is under way. the state of new jersey is already taking action. it is one of the tallest ferris wheels on the east coast. 156 feet high with sweeping views of the ocean. 11-year-old obiah jones got on alone. she was here at morey s piers amusement park with her classmates. the trip, reward for making the honor roll. the next thing anyone knew obiah tumbled out of the gondola to her death. she was my everything. i love you, obiah. reporter: obiah s heartbroken parents still don t believe it. most beautiful person you would ever want to meet. i was blessed to be her mother. she was a blessing. reporter: according to the manufacturer, the ferris wheel has an age requirement to ride alone. 10 years old. obiah met that, she s 11. she also met a height requirement imposed by morey s piers. it s a mystery why obiah fell. but her parents say whatever happens there were no seat belts, no restraints, no cage to keep her inside. it s the law. you must put your seat belt on while operating a motor vehicle. so why shouldn t a ferris wheel have a restraint? that s right. that s 156 feet, i believe, in the air. do you think if there were restraints your daughter would be alive today? absolutely. of course. absolutely. reporter: in new jersey, ferris wheels are not required to have restraints. in fact, most ferris wheels nationwide don t have restraints. this particular ride passed inspection recently. after the accident, investigators found no mall functi malfunctions or defects. the ride has been at this park for decades out incident and the park had a good safety record. this is the first guest fatality ever. we spoke with the park s president. one of the family s points was why not cage in these ferris wheels all together so no one can fall out no matter what happens. our operating history for the past 26 years shows that that s not necessary. so as long as there s proper containment, it s a very mild ride. it s really enjoyable for parties to have a panoramic view that s uninterrupted by bars. reporter: but because of obiah s death, state inspectors are tightening the rules, sending this letter to amusement park operators. the new rule, a 54-inch height requirement which obiah met and the recommendation, no more riding alone as obiah did. at least two riders per gondola. whenever something occurs we want to step back and analyze it and see whether or not there are some changes to be made. reporter: by all accounts, obiah s sudden fall was an accident, but her parents say it s more than that. it s a wake-up call for all of us. we never wanted this to happen to another child. nowhere. anyone s child. ever. reporter: investigators are still looking into this here in the state of new jersey, but so far no plans to change ferris wheels at all. the design of them at least. this means no restraints, no cages. investigators say it s just not necessary right now. they do say that if obiah was just with someone else, this entire tragedy, ann, could have been avoided. that s why they re urging everyone to ride with a buddy, no me riding alone in write you live in this country, to be safe. and by the way, this amusement park, ann, will adhere to that new recommendation when the ferris wheel reopens. jeff rossen, thank you so much for reporting on this. obiah s parents are joining us now exclusively along with their attorney. good morning to all of you. good morning. obiah, a name in the bible. yes. meaning? to serve and love the lord. she was a servant. describe her. 11 years old. beautiful. loving. caring. old, young, whatever, any color. awesome girl. i was blessed to be her mother. you visibly moved when you heard the words in that prior report about her being alone on the ferris wheel ride, alone. it just tears me up that she was alone. you feel that she should not have been allowed on the ferris wheel alone at 11. not at all. not at all. no way. have you spoken to the chaperones, the people from the school outing as to why that happened? had they explained that to you? no one. we haven t spoken to anyone. don t know anything about it, why it happened, why she was alone. it s just devastating because my baby girl is gone forever. and this is what our family has to deal with. we have two more children that is horrified by this. this is what we are left to deal with. is your feeling you re here today. this just happened two weeks ago. uh-huh. you re really here not just out of love for your daughter, which is obviously overwhelming, but out of love for other families because so this won t happen again ever, no one s child. the same way we feel about our child is the same way i m sure other parents feel about their child. and we wouldn t want no other child to be hurt. not like this. so what is your message? we don t know yet all the details about what happened. is it, don t let your child only be alone, but is it also about restraints, is it also about something else that you think needs to change? just need to be careful and pay attention to what s going on around us. safety is the key. and we just need to pay more attention to our child. just be mindful that things can happen. they have seat belts in cars, so i think they should have more some type of restraint. more security on a ride like this. do you think this case is going to make changes? it has to, ann. the same exact accident happened almost to the day five years ago in california when a 6-year-old boy fell out of the same type of ferris wheel. for the owner of that pier to say that the history of ferris wheel accidents is exemplary is wrong. all of the viewers can go on the internet and find out about how so many ferris wheels have happened all around the world. on the same type of ferris wheel, south korea, five people fell out and died. the key has to be restraints, lap bars, something that will keep everybody in, including adults. just having another person in the gondola is not enough. there s a balance issue. they tell you they tell you that when we re unloading, we might have to move you around for balance purposes. they know about the issue and it has to be cured by having the restraints. obviously this is still a resolve, waiting for the results of the investigation. correct. we re waiting to see what the fallout will be what the bottom line is. we marvel that you can now stand up for all these other families, given the loss that you have suffered yourself. she was well loved. yes. thank you so much for being with us. thank you. and also to you, paul. we ll be right back after this. drivers have told us they like a crossover that can go the distance. that s why we gave the chevy equinox an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon highway. but do passengers appreciate all of the comfort features we put in the equinox? hey. want me to drive? we ll take that as a yes. the count on chevy event is going on strong with a full selection of chevys to choose from. come claim yours today. visit your local chevy dealer. or maybe 8? my me time.is when everybody s takin shots at me. [ male announcer ] discover you time anytime. mccafé your day with a mcdonald s frappé. smooth and icy caramel or mocha blended just for you and topped with a decadent drizzle. smooth and icy caramel or mocha blended just for you you know rheumatoid arthritis means pain. but you may not know it can also mean destruction. not just of your joints, but of the things you love to do. and the longer you live with the aching, swelling, and stiffness, the closer you may be to having your favorite things. taken away from you. but you can take action today. go to ra.com for your free joint profile so you can better talk to your rheumatologist about protecting your joints. the difference between my pale dry skin and glowing moisturized skin? jergens natural glow daily moisturizer. it gives you natural looking color, guaranteed. jergens is the difference between landing and making an arrival. jergens. the beautiful difference. new newtons fruit thins. real cranberries and cranberry citrus oat. crispy whole grain. newtons fruit thins, one unique cookie. man: everybody knows you should save for retirement, but what happens when you re about to retire? woman: how do you go from saving to spending? fidelity helped us get to this point, and now we re talking about what comes next. man: we worked together to create a plan to help our money last. woman: so we can have the kind of retirement we want. now, you know how this works. just stay on the line. oh, yeah. fidelity investments. turn here. narrator: today s money is brought to you by fidelity investment. turn here. this morning on today s money, five ways to help your teenager find a summer job. with just one in four expected to land seasonal work this year calls for strategy. here to help us is financial editor jean. morning to you. when i was in this age group you got a job and you kept a job and it helped you maintain a sense of independence. right now it s like a lottery. it s difficult. when you look back to 2006, 37% of teenagers got hired, now it s 25%. have all the jobs been taken? it s not too late. a lot of seasonal employers actually hire throughout the season. so when we re talking about retail and hospitality and leisure, some kids leave, they replace them. let s talk about some of your advice for parents to help their kids in the struggle. first, you want parents to help their children look for a summer job in less obvious places. like where? well, so i said, retail hospitality, leisure, that accounts for about 40% of jobs. but look at convenience stores. they are still hiring. look at resorts. they are still hiring. and look at other smaller companies in your neighborhood, because you re never sure exactly where somebody is going to open the door. you want parents to encourage their kids to start looking online. well, they know how to look online. right. they know how to go we have a list of websites like snagajob and coolworks and summ summerjobs. what they don t know how to do is to network in person. it s really important because a lot of those connections they remember you more if you actually walk in the door. i like the concept of going door to door and knocking on a door saying, do you have a summer job. you can present yourself in a lot better way and more realistic way than online. you have to make sure you re teenager is presenting themselves. that s your next piece of advice. appropriately. we were talking about this. they have to dress nicely. if they ve got tattoos and piercings, i think they need to cover them up or take them out. there are people like me, i see a nose ring, i can t get past it. you know, employers i think that shouldn t be a determining factor whether someone gets hired or not. i think that s probably unfair. but employers are very savvy when it comes to using the internet, too, so you say making the job candidate presentable goes beyond the outfit and the hair cut. it goes to their facebook page and things like that. that s right. if your teenager has a facebook page with pictures of them partying, pictures of them doing things that they wouldn t want their grandmother to see, it s important that they take them down before they go out and apply for a job because somebody who is looking at them is going to google that, is going to find it. this is about allowing your kids to have a sense of independence. yeah. so how much of your own connections should you use in helping your child find a summer job. in a job market like this, i think there s nothing wrong with using your connections. but understand, those connections may get your teenager in the door but not hired. your teenager needs the interviewing skills, they need a notice and a thank you note if they re going to end up with that paycheck. if your child is lucky enough to get a summer job, remind them the economy is tough, keep that job beyond summer. absolutely. teenagers can work 15 hours a week without it impacting their grades. by all means, keep the job. good advice. thanks. piercers, call jean online one. just ahead, catch up with blake lively after your local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara road. let s get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. it has been a rough morning. we continue to see delays on northbound 95. still have a right lane closure in the aberdeen area. delays stretch back to 24. if you are going to get out, take pulaski highway instead. miles per hour out of the white marsh area. accident in owings mills and reisterstown road. heading north out on 97, watch for an accident. it is taking up the left shoulder. there are heavy delays leading up to it. we will switch to a live view and see what conditions are like in our cameras. northbound delays, that is what we are seeing a quarterfield road. live view of traffic in the area of greenspring. in other traffic going away from us at the j.f.x. it is a beautiful start, weather-wise. temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s. 70 s this afternoon. 64 at the airport. 62 degrees and rising sun at cecil county. clouds will dylan and little bit this afternoon. fill in a little bit this afternoon. slight chance for rain. it will be a nice day tomorrow as well. better chance for rain on thursday and friday. scattered showers and thunderstorms. by now, looks like a nice weekend. we will have another update at 8:55. and we are back now with more of today on a tuesday morning, 14 th day of june, 2011. nice people gathered, even as sky is getting cloudy here in rockefeller center. but we re happy to have you here. and out on the plaza, i m matt lauer along the ann curry and natalie morales. al is in las vegas. we re going to check in with al in a couple of minutes. doing a great job out tlnchts also coming up, we re going to talk about the must have gadgets, you know, sort of the testing of the latest and greatest, what we call the as seen on tv products like today the instant bar and pajama jeans. nice. pajama jeans, i can t wait. i m waiting on the instant bar, myself. also, we re going to meet a man who has a real connection with horses. she got to spend time with real life horse whisperer. should be fascinating to see what he s all about, coming up. before we get to all of that can we please say hi to blake lively, one of the stars of green lantern. hello. you re so pretty. thank you. so are you. i like this movie because it doesn t insult the viewers intelligence. here you are, this young lady, who knows ryan reynolds character, turns into green lante lantern, a lot of times the movies the girl doesn t recognize the guy when he puts on the mask. you get it right off the bat. this is a fun comic because we acknowledge all the things that in other movies they don t. vladimir putin having somebody like ryan, hard pressed to find somebody more witty and charming and funny than him. we use that. i don t know. i think it s special. it s good. yeah. and your character, her name is ferris, she s a test pilot. she becomes a president ofer family s aviation company and she has to basically keep his character in line. which of those three do you like the best? i think i prefer keeping him in line. but actually, in the comics she turns into a villain at one point. so that would be the best. but you know, it was great because normally these women are the damsel in distress but she s the strong woman and she s always challenging him and they re always going head to head. getting to rival ryan like that was fun. i sound so combative. i m not like this. as you get these bigger roles you really are carving out a new path for yourself. you are coming out of gossip girl and coming into this, there s going to be rumors and pressure with the territory. you know getting into this business what comes into it. you do it for the art, you know, for the wonderful work that we get to do. and otherwise, you keep your head down, you keep to yourself. you know, i have such a great family and friends that they re my support system. raise your right hand for me, please, right hand. tell me the green lantern oath. you have to do it. we do it together. i know it. do it to the. the brightest day. and blackest night. let those who worship evil s might. know my powers. . with green lantern s light. wahoo! green lantern. well-done. you look good. not as good as ryan. this friday, correct? yes. thank you so much. congratulations on your success. al has a check of the weather. al? that s right, we ve got a couple of not quite super heroes but celebrities with us. we ve got michael jackson, marilyn monroe, tina turner and elvis. how are y all doing? nice. looking pretty good. is this do you like coming out of these kinds of events, michael? love it. and do you want to say hello to the president. hello, mr. president. do you like it rough or easy? i like it rough and easy. do you want to thank anybody? thank you, thank you very much. and pitiful start for us this tuesday morning. beautiful store for us this tuesday morning to the mid-to- upper-70 s this afternoon. we w and this is your latest weather. you are going to open the door of that truck. but first, this is today on nbc. the kincaids live here. across the street, the padillas. ben and his family live here, too. ben s a re/max agent, and he s a big part of this community. there are lots of reasons why re/max agents average more sales than other agents. experience, certainly. but maybe it s also because they care about the markets they serve and the neighbors who rely on them. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. that melody is day two of al s lend a hand tour. this morning he is helping folks hit hard with the recession and he is live in las vegas. al? guys, thanks so much. we are in las vegas just a hop, sketch, and jump from the world renowned las vegas strip. this recession is hitting people hard. we decided to bring a charity and it s called the culinary academy of las vegas. they re preparing workers to help with the gaming and hospitality industry here. all right. let s play some blackjack. reporter: the recession hangover has hit hard in las vegas. strip resorts brought more than $60 billion over the last two years. gambling is down 24% since 2007. unemployment stands at 10%. for a lot of folks who live here las vegas is a town down on its luck. since the recession has hit, there have been so many people who don t know what to do, what direction to take. reporter: enter the culinary academy of las vegas. everybody understood that? reporter: a not for profit organization that helps people in need learn skills for successful careers in the hospitality industry. we do all of the training that is necessary for individuals to be employable on our las vegas strip. reporter: the academy offers training in 11 different classifications, servers, bartenders, chefs, and guest room attendants, just to name a few. after graduation the academy assists students with job placement in 26 casino resorts on the strip. it s like the big leagues. you know, the strip is where it happens. the strip is where all the best jobs are. reporter: mark worked on the strip for seven years before losing his job in march. when the economy went south the banquet business just came to a screeching halt. it didn t slow down, it just stopped. it got pretty tight and pretty scary. reporter: mark is just one of several thousand students out of work and now training at the academy. a common theme for students? reinventing yourself. i m trying to get myself back to work at 51. it s possible to teach an old dog new tricks. until i found the academy, i had no hope. there was nothing. the academy gave me the training that i needed. reporter: in the kitchen the chef helps train aspiring chefs as they create edible masterpieces. their creations end up at the academy s on-site bistro or banquets, both open to the public. we deliver the technical skills to the hospitality team that is new and cutting edge. reporter: the academy also invites graduates to return for additional training at no cost to improve their skill set and vie for higher paying jobs. i make about 100 bucks a week more just based on knowledge. puts me in a position to proo provide better for my family. reporter: providing a better life through training and education, the culinary education is helping people who thought they had no hope hit the jackpot. all right. here we go. we ve got seven, count them, seven trucks, open them up. yeah! $1.5 million worth of goods and services. united airlines, 200,000 frequent flier miles, 10$,000 in cash, miles as well on today.com. carpeting paint, fencing, malt o mill, breakfast cereal. streelers are going to be giving out $30,000 worth of strollers. $25,000 worth of men s und wear. jordache jeans, men and women s apparel. bacardi rum, 100 tickets to see c. lo green. the good neighbor pharmacy, $15,000 in cash. columbia, our friends at columbia fleece, worth $11,000 from columbia sports company. bleach safe home cleaning towels, mighty milk, $10,000 in milk product. thank you very much, sir. stanley black and decker, $10,000 in tools and lawn mowers. essence cosmetics, $10,000 in makeup. sam adams beer, $5,000 in beer, $5,000 in cash. slim jim, $10,000 worth of them. we got a chopper, it s so big! we ve got a chopper! tequila, $10,000 in tequila. seasonings and flavors, $10,000. 10$,000 from our friends at yo crunch. penske trucks bringing in the trucks. sunscreen, cleansing, creamers, sara lee, jimmy dean,s will vegas spectacular, smithfield giving a truckload of food. we re going to talk to them in a second. steven, ceo of the culinary academy of las vegas, how is this going to help? phenomenal. we re thankful. on behalf of all of our team members and students, thank you so much very much. $1.5 million worth of donations to the community. it s greatly needed. thank you so much for being here today. does this help you expand your mission? absolutely. we are here to serve our community. there s thousands of children and families that are in need. all of these donations will come in. very much handy. thank you. we ve got more. we ve got a chopper today! back to you guys. a chopper! al, thank you so much. i remember when al came with just one truck. not seven trucks. with a brown paper bag. i know. it s crazy. he s doing such a great job. coming up next, we ve been. go, al. [ female announcer ] have you ever seen a glacier while sunbathing? why not? have you ever climbed a rock wall in the middle of the ocean? or tried something really wild? why not? it s all possible in the nation of why not. royal caribbean s floating nation. where you are free to do anything you want. which may be nothing at all. royal caribbean international. why not cruise from baltimore? visit royalcaribbean.com today. this morning on today s consumer as seen on tv, you don t have to stay up late anymore to cash those infomercials so what s the next big thing? we have a preview at the direct response expo in san diego. janice, good morning to you. this must have been fwun. wearing a lot of the stuff i found. from snuggies to pajama jeans to easy zipper selling on tv is serious business. a whopping $150 billion a year industry. so we decided to check out some of the products that hope to macon supers reach for their wallets. every time you use shamwow. it targets your entire core. the amazing one. they flood the airwaves, infomercials with products so enticing one in every two americans buy something from tv annually. that s why i love it. reporter: hopeing the mostly quirky products will make life easier. thousands of campaigns will be launched this year. 1 in 20 will actually get to a point where they will break even. reporter: but wait, there s more. before consumers get a glimpse of them on tv and now in retail stores the newest gadgets are on display once a year here at the response expo show in san diego where 5,000 people converge, all trying to have the next run away hit. just like the snuggie, which rocketed into $25 million pop culture sensation. it s a huge business. ask your friends, do you own a snuggie, do you have a george foreman grill, every single person has one. they tell you they don t, they re lying. reporter: what s likely going to be the next must have? we asked john, publisher of response magazine, to give us a preview. how long will it be on the market? you run the commercial and within literally within minutes you know if it s working. within days, if it s a success or failure. reporter: first up for $14.99 it s the pocket chair. not only weighs nothing, less than a pound, it s less than six inches. you can take it anywhere you go and it completely folds out into a little chair. you need a little balance. you re working your core. reporter: if you need a little lift in your life, these $29.95 bust up cups may be for you. you want to look good, pop it? looks great on him. reporter: want to move that couch but can t lift it on your own? try ez moves for $19.99. you seriously could take a whole couch and do it? i m not kidding you. when they demonstrated this on the infomercial they moved a 2500 pound car. whoa! amazing. reporter: i had to try this one myself. let s see how this really works. put it underneath the leg of the couch. now stand up. you don t want to hurt your back. it s going to be light. just gently move the couch. it s like dancing. reporter: not all the products we saw were priced at that irresistible $19.99. here s a $600 portable bar that claims it can be assembled in less than five minutes. come on. beh we had to see it to believe it. all right. get to it. and he comes in at 3:11. job well-done. thank you. reporter: we ran into kevin harrington from shark tank who was pushing his own gadget, the instant zipper. open, clip it, zip it just like that and you re done. clip it, zip it, and forget it. yeah. yeah. reporter: the new friend in this as seen on tv market is fashion. romney of kimaro, future female face on as seen on tv showed us her fashion line, starting with her $29.95 popular body shaper. is it true lady gaga wore something like this outside? yes, she did. celebrities everywhere have been appearing in shape wear worn as outer wear. i ve just about had it today from the show. it s time to soak my feet and i found just the product, easy feet. carwash for your feet. all right. those are ridiculous. we ve got some on the table here that are not ridiculous. you had one item to pick, must in your household. what would it be? loving this. you can wear it 50 different ways. loving the pajama jeans. the first skinny jeans to hit the market. they don t look like pajamas. no. and the zipper is cool. you can fix anything. cool, great gadgets. thank you, janice. nice to see you. we re back in a home. this is today on nbc. back now at 8:51, today s pets, long before the dog whisperer and the ghost whisperer there was the horse whisperer. today s animal advocate caught up with them recently. he was incredible. the inspiration for the book and film starring robert redford and now he is the star of an award-winning documentary because of his incredible connection with every horse he meets. the horse can be such a great communicator to a person to take a look at themselves. the horse saved my life, so that s kind of why i ll i guess i ll spend the rest of mine trying to help them. reporter: some call it magic. others call it a mystery. but one thing s for sure, buck brannaman has a true kinship with horses, earning him the title the wheel life horse whisp whisperer. i know that name and that term is not really how you view yourself, is it? well, the people that i grew up around, they would find it pretty ridiculous if i was seen around referring to myself as horse whisperer. reporter: brannaman who prefers the word horse gentler using a different kind of approach to training, fixes troubled horses and their owners at the same time. if you got a lot going on in your life, probably a lot of it is a lot bigger story than this horse. it s about dealing with horses that have people problems. right. wherever i go, until the human comes into the picture they re getting along just fine. reporter: brannaman s technique is the subject of a new documentary called buck which received the audience award at this year s sundance film festival. the film traces buck s troubled background. as a young child he was abused by his stage dad who thrusted him into the world of trick roping. every day we talked about whether a dad would kill one of us or both of us. and that s a weird conversation for an 11-year-old boy to have to have with his 13-year-old brother. reporter: buck eventually found solace and his true calling, horses. i figured the only friends i had in the world were horses. it s almost like they sort of understood me. when you look at a horse, you can honestly say you saved my life. oh, yeah. there are things that the horse did for me that the person, a human, just couldn t have done. reporter: his uncanny ability to connect with horses from the docile to the dangerous got this straight talking cowboy noticed, and hollywood came calming. he was the inspiration for the best-selling novel and movie the horse whisperer directed by and starring robert redford. buck played a greater role than a lot of people realized. he contributed everything. there was a humanity and a kind of gentleness of spirit that i adopted from that character because of buck. is there a horse that you can t fix? no. i ve been looking for a long time and i haven t found one that i couldn t help. yes, he s a kissy boy. reporter: well, i couldn t resist inviting buck to my farm. hey, buck, say hi to buck. to meet my horses. including my beautiful mare madison who used to ride like a dream, but now she needs the buck touch. she just thinks this is going to be trouble, that someone is going to hurt her with this. she s running away from it. yeah. move over. now the front. that was good. yeah. reporter: in a matter of minutes, i noticed a change in her movement and attitude. oh, my gosh, she looks so much happier. you re a horse magnet. there s chick magnets. you re a horse magnet, right? i have a new tstiting for you. as big murray said, so i ve got that going for me. now, buck, the horse magnet, opens in select cities on friday. you do not have to be a horse lover to love this film. i think he s a chick magnet, too. chick, horse, everything. we re back after the local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. trouble for what baltimore city mayoral candidate following an embarrassing tweet. an aide tweeted a message commenting on the number of attractive man at a black charity gala saturday evening. he meant to send the message on his personal account. his now let s look at the forecast was tony pann. a nice start for us on tuesday. clouds will thicken up as we head into the afternoon. slight chance we will see a rain shower pop up. a mixture of sunshine and clouds. average high is 83. nice day tomorrow. sunshine up to 80. and scattered showers and thunderstorms possible on thursday and friday. we are setting up for a nice weekend with temperatures in the 80 s and sunshine. we will have another weather update at 9:25.