Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110809 : vimarsana.com

first person to swim from cuba to florida. we ll tell you why on this to florida. we ll tell you why on this tuesday, august 9th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this tuesday morning. i m ann curry. matt lauer is on the floor of the new york stock exchange this morning. matt, good morning. it s pretty quiet around here right now. it was anything but quiet on monday. to give you an idea of how alarming the dow 635 or nearly 635 type decline was? it was the sixth worst single day point decline in the last 11 years, if that puts it into context for you. despite the turmoil, the s&p president is defending the company s decision to downgrade the u.s. credit rating. now some analysts are saying that decision in the long run could actually end up being a good thing for the overall economy. we re going to talk about all of this with cnbc s maria bartiromo and jim cramer. and look at this newsweek cover featuring michele bachmann and the caption is the queen of rage. it is the unflattering photo that has a lot of people crying foul. we ll have details on that. also, should a man be able to use social media to say bad things about his ex-wife? a judge has ordered the creator of a blog called thepsychoexwife.com. we will hear from that man and the ex-wife coming up. let s begin on a tuesday morning with monday s bloodbath here on wall street. cnbc s maria bartiromo was here amid all the chaos. stocks plummeted overnight in asia. fears dominate wall street. now the focus returns to the fed. hope for good news later today after suffering the worst day in two years. investors reacted to the first ever downgrade of u.s. credit fast and furious. on what became the worse day on wall street in two years. now tuesday s fed meeting is critical as pressure mounts for ben bernanke and his fellow policymakers to consider fresh stimulus for the economy or face the threat of another recession. there s concern that the s&p downgrade may do something to consumer confidence and, thereby, ease us a little closer to the infamous double dip everybody is worried about. reporter: midday monday the president jid to inject confidence into the market. our problems are solvable. we know what we have to do to solve them. reporter: but as the president was talking, the dow was tanking. up another 400 points after his speech. ending the day down 600, or 5 1/2%. s&p president defended the downgrade in an exclusive on cnbc. why downgrade the debt when it s actually about the political process? the political process backs important because that speaks to how this fiscal and economic and monetary choices are being made, that influences the credit worthiness. reporter: adding to the drama the european central bank was trying to avert a further spiral there. buying bonds of italy and spain. with money moving out of stocks, investors shifted into other assets, safe havens such as gold. it closed at a record above $1700 an ounce. investors also flocked to treasuries, focusing on a weak economy and the prospect of low rates for some time to come, instead of the downgrade of credit. in theory when s&p downgrades your credit you should dump those bands because you re less likely to get paid out. the u.s. in exceptional in that way because nobody believes the u.s. is going to default. by the close of trading monday investors had lost $1 trillion in value. one reason they re hope for good news from ben bernanke and company later today. we re joined now by your colleague jim cramer. i m not picking on you but yesterday the markets opened. went down 230 points. you were on our program live for the west coast. you said you were actually encouraged by that because it seemed somewhat stable. nothing too dramatic. after that it went very south. what happened? we have to keep in perspective that panic is not a strategy. only down 6% for the year for the dow jones. much better than everywhere else. and where we re coming from, i know the point loss is big, but remember, we lost 22% in one day. we were down 508 points in 87. the point decline wasn t nearly as stark as what the percentage decline. is this panic, maria, or is this investors looking and seeing something fundamentally wrong with the u.s. economy? i think that s what it is, matt. i think people are looking at an economy that has worsened, it is no longer a soft patch. the question is are we headed for a double dip? they re thinking, i m selling now and thinking later. i agree with jim. at some point we are finding a bottom. are we close to it? i don t feel like it s out and out panic. that s what you want to say. overseas it s still the big problem, europe. the debt ceiling issue and then coupled with the s&p causes a lot of panic. but matt, again, i have to tell you, unless we have a severe recession there s going to be an opportunity to buy on the way down. i was shocked. i was looking on monday at what happened to bank of america. that bank stock went down by about 20%. i know you want to be very careful about this, jim. what happened? why did they take such a hit? bank of america is across of the mortgage crisis. one out of five mortgages directly effected by bank america. people feel bank of america has to be hurt. a lot of people feels like it needs more capital. the company says it doesn t. stay in the market? where are the opportunities, in your opinion? i agree that long term this is probably at some point a buying opportunity but things can get worse before they get better because it is based on the real fundamental weakness of the economy. bank of america a separate story because of this upset and need for capital. i think we re still in it. we have messiness to go. a few seconds. i liked your interview yesterday with the president of standard & poor s. they are obviously on the defensive. people are pointing things at them for downgrading the u.s. debt rating. the president is on him, treasury secretary. now you re starting to hear a lot of people say, wait a minute, they did the right thing. new york s mayor michael bloomberg say that. how do you feel about that? i think ultimately we should be thanking them because there are real issues. everybody understands we are spending more money than we re taking in. something has to give. if this acts as a wake-up call, more power to standard & poor s. we deserve it. the president said, we re going to get back aaa. instead of saying we re a aaa nation. we ll budget cuts, real revenue increases, real meet to demands. i think everyone in the world thinks, when is the u.s. going to step up. jim cramer, maria bartiromo. and you can check out the markets and follow what s going on all day long on cnbc. thank you. appreciate it. matt, thanks. to london now where riots have swept through the city for the third night. it s the worst violence the city has seen in 30 years. this morning it is spreading. this morning, michelle is there. good morning. reporter: hi, ann. you just look at this happening and think is this london? overnight the violencess escalated and spread to other cities such as liverpool. just announced he s putting 16,000 police on the streets tonight. well, police have started urging the parents of these young rioters to call their kids, keep them home and make them stop. for a third terrible night, london burns. this a century old furniture store in the south, while others broke out around the capital and beyond. destruction, attacks on police, cars and buildings torched. the looting everywhere. tvs, liquor, you name it, proudly hauled away in daylight. others post their loot online. the looting we ve seen, the struggling we ve seen. opportunistic theft and violence, nothing more, nothing less. reporter: walk out in it and it does have a feel for cream for crime s sake. young men and women voracious for violence. raging by saturday, sparked by anger by a killing of a young father last week which is under investigation. rioters claim it s still about that. his police have too much power and they re using that power. reporter: small groups are believed to be organizing over the media, causing a staggering degree of damage. was who are getting hurt, own stunned, disgusted neighbors, who have lost businesses and homes. we are left basically just with the clothes on our back. i don t know why people do this. reporter: here as one building went up in flames, neighbors escaped from windows and rooftops. another scene, while police chase those at the bottom of the screen, they are attacking their cars on the other. pulling hundreds of re-enforcements from outside london. firefighters haven t been able to safely do their job. the description increasingly used for this capital city, a war zone. the explosive violence only spreading. the question on so many minds right now, why really is this happening? since it started, police have arrested more than 400 people. dozens of officers and citizens have been hurt. the youngest arrest so far, an 11-year-old for burglary. ann? michelle kosinski, thank you for reporting on this story. sobering. closer to home, the remains of the 30 american service members killed in their helicopter was shot down in afghanistan will be brought to dover air force base in delaware today. tom costello is there. tom, good morning. good morning to you. we expect about midday the two planes carrying the remains of the 30 men will arrive here at dover. then they will conduct their dignified transfer ceremony in private as all of these men representing the army, the navy, and the air force will be welcomed home and honored for the last time. outside the main gate of naval air station oceana in virginia beach, the home of s.e.a.l. team 6, the flag flies at half staff. the deadliest loss of american life have brought heartache to communities across the country. 30 men, majority elite navy s.e.a.ls, killed in one attack. the loss is the stark reminder of the risks that our men and women in uniform take every single day on behalf of their country. day after day, night after night, they carry out missions like this in the face of enemy fire and grave danger. reporter: in utah they re remembering, married with a baby son, his former high school coach said, he had always stood out. i knew this this young man was was doing what he loved, that he aspired to do as an individual, as a human being. reporter: in texas, chief petty officer matt mills leaves behind three children. he was 36. he always loved what he did, and he told me he couldn t believe he could do this for a living because he loved it so much. reporter: in massachusetts they re grieving kevin houston, who always carried a sweat-stained american flag on his chest beneath his body armor. in hawaii, craig vicars mother talked about his love for his fellow s.e.a.ls. they all help each other to get where they are at, where they are at now. reporter: along with the 30 u.s. personnel killed, eight afghan troops were also lost. the remains of all 38 men are returning to dover air force base. once here, mortuary affairs specialists will work to identify each individual s remains. and at the museum in ft. pierce, florida, where they honor the heroics of these men, the question of how long the fight should continue. bring those men back and forget about it. it s been too long. we can t take it anymore. reporter: but from a defense secretary, a pledge of commitment. we will never stop. we will fight on. until we have achieved the final goal of victory over terrorism. reporter: in addition to the 22 navy s.e.a.l. team members lost, we have also had a number of special forces lost in the last few weeks, including members of the ranger force, of the army special forces, national guard special forces, marine special forces. ann, in just the last three weeks, 44 special operations members have been lost in combat. back to you. all right. tom costello, thank you so much this morning. very sobering story, also. now going to turn to presidential politics. republican hopeful michele bachmann has grabbed her share of the early headlines, but now her most recent magazine cover has caused quite a stir for all the wrong reasons. nbc s andrea mitchell has details on this story. she has rocketed to become the front-runner in iowa in the critical days before this week s straw poll. but now michele bachmann faces a whole new challenge, an unflattering newsweek cover. we re going to have a ball. reporter: campaigning in iowa michele bachmann is energetic, focus, taking aim at president obama. when the ratings downgrade came out last week, where was president obama? he rushed to the microphone to give confidence to the american people? he got in a helicopter, he took off for the weekend. reporter: some say she s unphased by this week s newsweek cover photo captured as the queen of rage. have you seen it yet? i have not. big close-up, wild eyed photo with the headline queen of rage. a-ha. we ll have to take a look at this, won t we? reporter: in a statement tina brown says michele bachmann s intensity is galvanizing voters in iowa right now and they captured that. it s a very provocative photo. she s a very provocative candidate. she s stirring a lot of intense passions among the electorate and a lot of intense passions among her own party. i think the cover shows that. reporter: how could a woman so attractive look so bad. she looks blank and confused. i did think it was unfair. reporter: in the cover story bachmann tells newsweek, you used the word anger. it s not anger. americans aren t expressing unhinged anger, people are saying it s not working. do not raise the debt ceiling. reporter: but she s also generating excitement among evangelical voters key to winning in iowa and south carolina by make nothing apology for her positions on social issues. on sunday bachmann was in an iowa church where the pastor played a video celebrating the so-called conversion of a gay man who says he s now straight. also controversial bachmann s own must reads. one includes a book defending slavery. i don t think we have seen a candidate with sort of the views and frankly, the extreme views that she holds last in national politics. reporter: the newsweek cover is not bachmann s first crash with the media media. on fox news one day she was asked, are you a flake? the anchor apologized. bachmann s advisers believe that talk about the newsweek cover will only help her with conservative primary voters president. andrea mitchell, thank you so much this morning. let s get a check of the rest of the morning s top stories from natalie morales at the news desk. good morning. good morning to you, ann. good morning, everyone. former international fund chief dominique strauss-kahn is now facing another lawsuit. she filed suit against strauss-kahn monday for the alleged attack that she claims has left her life in shambles. strauss-kahn s lawyers say the suit is without merit. the number of medication on the fda s drug shortage list has tripled in the last five years and crucial cancer drugs are scarce as well as treatments for heart attacks and some kinds of anesthetics leaving some patients wait for life-saving medical care. the cause, manufacturing and quality control as well as drug companies that stop production as certain medications go generic. e-coal lie o. coli outbreak strawberries. the strain originated in a farm in northwestern, oregon, according to public health officials. in nearly 200-year tradition on capitol hill is coming to an end due to budget cuts and the internet. the house is ending the storied page program that began back in the 1820s giving high schoolers a chance to serve as messengers and get a glimpse of congress behind the scenes. but now with e-mail and wireless technology house leaders say the young messengers are no longer worth the $5 million annual expense for the program. and if you ve heard, a historic effort to be the first to swim from cuba to florida without a shark cage has ended early for 61-year-old marathon swimmer diana nyad. this morning she chose to end her quest after 29 hours. she was halfway through her journey but rough seas and winds made it impossible for her to safely reach her goal. he was suffering from asthma and shoulder pain. i think everyone can say it was an heroic effort. she did swim with the dolphins and a beautiful sunset. good for her. particularly beautiful today, i think. i was admiring your green. thank you. and as for you, al, you look fantastic. tell us about the weather today. any better? severe wet weather and the forecast. some could have heavy downpours. warm in the and that s your latest weather. coming up just ahead, the latest on the manhunt for those three siblings accused of opening fire on police and robbing a bank. we re going to have new video of their brazen crime spree. but first, this is today on nbc. coming up, a woman rescued four days after she vanished on a camping trip speaks out about what happened for the first time. plus, free speech or harmful to his kids? we re going to hear from a man ordered to take down his blog, thepsychoexwife.com. that s coming up after your local news. school year. your kids will each take care of our class hamsters, lewis & clark. then i ll tell them the story of pluto, the sad little planet that was. i ll introduce them to some new friends, the fractions, and some cold blooded ones, the dinosaurs. 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[ male announcer ] discover why it s the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. acuvue® oasys brand. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we ll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites. for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it s the at&t network. and what s possible in here is almost impossible to say. your nutritional needs can go up when you re on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength. helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge! live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time for a check on the morning commute here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. finally some good news to report on southbound 295. the accident out of there at 198, but we are still looking at delays. no longer completely jammed to 198. you might want to take 95 as your alternate. we do have a problem prior to that. approaching keith ave, there is an accident. disabled vehicle on southbound 95 at the fort mchenry. eastbound conway at 195, 1 lane is closed. also look for construction of longleaf and russell, in that area, in advance of a grand prix. here is what looks like i-95 and howard county. as we switch over, we will show you that things have improved at 32 and 295. we are still holding onto a little bit of delay. ava, over to you. it looks like rain is going to hold off for the morning commute. by the afternoon, showers moving in at hagerstown bit west of 70 right now. advancing eastward as we go through the day but scattered showers and thunderstorms during the forecast. upper eighties to low 90s. it will be warm and humid. that will change and the seven- day. end the week, plenty of sunshine, very low humidity. be sure to check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back at 7:55 with another live update. morning. it s the 9th of august 20, 11. as we check out the view of new york city from high on the top of the rock, just above us here. down below, we ve got a packed plaza full of happy faces. inside studio 1-a, i m matt lauer alongside ann curry. the latest on the camper rescued four days after she disappeared in the oregon wilderness. she fell off a cliff, ended up breaking her leg. now she s speaking out about what she endured for the very first time. we re going to hear from her coming up. also ahead this morning, matt, thepsychoexwife.com, that s the name of one man s blog. in it he describes his ex as, quote, java the hut, among all things. he s been ordered to remove the website. is it his right to free speech? we re going to get into that. gives you an idea of why this marriage may not have worked out. also ahead, what should you do with your investments given the current volatility of wall street? sell or hang on for the long term? coming up, survival guide for the latest downturn. but let s begin this half hour with the new details of the nationwide manhunt for two brothers and a sister who police say are armed, dangerous and on the run. nbc has the latest on this story. good morning. reporter: good morning to you, ann. authorities say one week ago today notorious siblings in this parking lot while shooting at a patrol car to rob a bank and they haven t been seen since. a high-speed police chase caught on camera, siblings lee grace, dylan, and ryan daugherty, reaching 100 miles an hour. 12k3w4r fired several more shots at me. reporter: firing more than 20 shots at this patrol car in hot pursuit while the officers tried to pull them over for speeding. i got a flat tire. it seems i m not going to be able to keep up with them. i can t go any farther. reporter: police say these images marked the beginning of the so-called dougherty gang s crime spree. it is very clear that these three are on some type of mission. reporter: five hours and miles later the trio resurfaced that the bank in georgia armed with high-powered weapons shooting up the ceiling and ordering people to drop to the floor. they escaped in the same white subaru with an undisclosed amount of money. the fbi has since launched an a. national manhunt for the fugitive trio. now the faces of 29-year-old lee grace, 26-year-old dylan and 21-year-old ryan are plastered on hundreds of billboards stretching from florida to texas. authorities say ryan sent his mother a crypted text message while on the run. he texted her saying in the past several days at one point we all have to die. reporter: the distraught mother barbara bell begged her children to give up. a former next door neighbor says they were no strangers to firearms. lots of gunshots. like daily weapons. i don t know what kind. you know, really heavy duty weapons. reporter: but this is not the first time the siblings have had run-ins with the law. lee grace, seen in these racy photos posted online was recently charged in a battery among hit and run and other offenses. under a flickr page it says i love to shoot guys and wreck cars. i m a redneck and proud of it. other likes, causing mayhem with my siblings. ryan is a convicted sex ander sentenced just a day before the high speed chase for spending explicit text messages to an len-year-old girl and dylan charge with no po session of marijuana. authorities feel the siblings may be carrying an arsenal of weapons after discovering an underground bunker in the dougherty s home. do everything you can to be safe out there. remember, if you engage them, you will be going into a battle. but i promise you, we will win. reporter: the sheriff says at this point the trio could be just about anywhere. they re heavily armed and extremely dangerous and says anyone who crosses their path should immediately call 911. nobody has been injured yet, ann that we re aware of. thank you very much, lillia. clint van zandt, former fbi profiler joining us this morning. clint, good morning. good morning. follow this for us. why would three sibling goes all bon difficult anie and clyde. it probably has something to do with one of the brothers being convicted of sending these elicit e-mails to this young child. that may well have been the catalyst. the leader is probably grace, lee grace, the older sister, 29d. she had an ongoing relationship with a college professor. she broke that off to come back and live with her brothers. so she may well be the driving force in these three. but it s interesting, ann, when you get three siblings bond together, that s very strong glue that holds them together. what is that glue doing? what is it leading them to? looks like it s leading to a shootout based on what we heard from lili a s report. what is driving them forward? what do they want? right now it looks like they just want to get away. they engaged in this shootout with police. then they robbed a bank to give them enough money to last for a while. ann, these are not professional criminals or professional escape artists. in that fantasy they may flee to mexico or flee to canada. but since 9/11 it s very hard to get across those borders. and now with the electronic bulletin boards and with everything that local police, the fbi are doing across the country, you have to figure that probably hunker down someplace waiting, in their vernacular, maybe for the heat to blow over, so they can rise up or run to another place. but they can t stay down. they can t stay heavy forever. they have to surface. they re going to have to rob again to keep themselves going. that s when they re going to encounter law enforcement. and the police and the fbi, ann, in all honesty, will give them two choices, surrender or die. let s hope they make the right choices. you actually worked for the fbi s atlanta office. what kind of perspective can you give us about exactly how they re thinking, how they re thinking at how they re going to find these three? i think every police officer and fbi agent involved in this knows they re dangerous, when they ve already shot 20 rounds at a police officer who was chasing them, they fired their guns inside the bank. they re young, brazen. they have the automatic and semi automatic weapons and not afraid to use them. if you just had one of them by themselves they might be quick to surrender. but three, ann, they re going to playoff each other. that s why where i work in this case today it was a sangle officer, fbi agent, you wouldn t try to make the arrest. this is an arrest that s going to have to be made by a s.w.a.t. team where these three look out a window and say, you know what, there s too many police and fbi. today is not a good day to die and hopefully put their guns down. you ve negotiated. what would you say? i probably play to lee grace. i think she s probably the leader. again, their mother has asked them to come in and surrender. as fbi agent, you know what, you shot at a police officer, you shot inside a bank, you didn t hit anybody, you didn t take that much money. this can be resolved without anybody being hurt right now. you have a choice right now, do what your mother asked, do what is safe for you. in a couple of years this can be behind you or take terrible action for which you will probably pay the rest of your life. they have to understand they have a choice. hopefully their choice is that nobody includes themselves is going to get hurt in this case. that s actually very, very right. cl clint van zandt, thanks so much p this morning. let s get a check of the weather from al. thanks, ann. nice outside. good looking family. where are you from? cincinnati, ohio. what is your name? mewe re the munsuns. like you re on a game show. yay! let s check your weather and see what s happening. we ve got that heat wave continuing. again, in text inas, into the southern plains. as you look at that high pressure, it is sizzling throughout the south. cooler than normal though in the northern plains. dividing line, that jet stream. look at the temperatures. 10 5 in san angelo. dallas, 106. shreveport, 103 degrees. in the northeast, 70s and 80s. 60s and 70s through the plains. even along the pacific northwest coast, tonights are going to be fairly moderate. down to southern california. that s what s scattered showers and thunderstorms likely throughout midday. heaviest towards the north and the west. temperatures in the upper eighties to low 90s. and that s your latest weather. ann? thank you so much. coming up, new cutting-edge treatment for migraines. if you re one of the 30 million americans who suffer from them, coming up next, a survival guide to the stock market. what you should be doing with your investments, right after this. for a while now, you ve been taking an antidepressant. but your cloud of depression is still with you. maybe it s time to ask your doctor about adding seroquel xr to your antidepressant to treat your depression. seroquel xr is a once-daily, extended-release tablet, which means medication is released around the clock. for many, seroquel xr, when added to an antidepressant, was proven more effective than an antidepressant alone at helping people feel less depressed. call your doctor if you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking seroquel xr have an increased risk of death. call your doctor if you have fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be signs of a life-threatening reaction or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with seroquel xr and medicines like it and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. your doctor should check for cataracts. other risks include increased cholesterol and weight gain as well as seizures, dizziness on standing, drowsiness, impaired judgment, trouble swallowing, and decreases in white blood cells, which can be fatal. use caution before driving or operating machinery. isn t it time to put more distance between you and your depression? talk to your doctor about seroquel xr. if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity.disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st. but hurry before this opportunity.disappears. keep your photos right at your fingertips. literally! ok. this is my mom and dad. robin, you ok? whatcha doin ? oh, dealing with a slight underwear malfunction. oh, you need hanes panties. they don t ride up. hanes panties. so cute. and they don t ride up. hey, any resolutions? my resolution is the same as always, keep her full and focused with my fiber. [ female announcer ] make a resolution to give your kids kellogg s frosted mini-wheats cereal this year. keeps em full. keeps em focused. we take it on ours. this summer put your family in an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz now for an exceptional price during the summer event. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. we re back now at 7:43. this morning on today s money surviving the stock plunge. given the chaos on wall street, monday s nearly 635-point drop, how do you keep your money safe? jean chatzky is today s financial editor. good morning. good morning. you say this all the time, you don t want people to panic after a day or a week or a month like this. but when you look at what s being said about these markets and about the fundamentals of the economy, why isn t a little panic a good thing? i just want people to think before they move. and by the way, i would be saying the same thing if the stock market was running up, because when we just pull the trigger, without even stopping to think about it for a few minutes, we make really bad decisions. this may sound superficial but if you re an average investor and you ve got your money in the stock market right now for the long term, should you turn off the tv and should you stop reading the papers about what s happening on a daily basis? absolutely. you do not want to micromanage this. you don t want a stock website coming up every time you power on your computer because, again, that leads to emotions. it leads to panic. then you make bad decisions. at the same time, though, there are questions you should be asking yourself. for example, are you too heavily invested in this market, especially if you need money in the short term. right. we re talking about money you need to pay next year, college tuition payment, down payment to put on a home. for retirees, this is a bigger issues because if you re spending down your 401(k) you ve got to keep a certain amount of money in cash so that you don t have to sell into a down market. when you suggest that people maintain enoughly qu liquidity they re going to translate that into selling. for some people that s the right thing to do because we could go down more. you have to ask yourself, if we fall another 1,000 or 2,000 points and i need the money right now am i going to be sorry. increase your diversity, which is smart, the question is, you can stay up at night panicking, thinking about where do you put it? how do you diversify? i m saying that in addition to stocks and bonds, what s become very clear is that we need to own alternative asset classes, with a small slice of your portfolio. that means gold, other precious metals, oil, because those things don t move with the markets in general. and so, 10% to 15%, you want to put in a mutual fund that owns those things. and if a year or two or three ago you had done that and invested in gold you would be doing pretty well right now. right. i m not saying everything and buy precious metal, and neither is jim or maria. you ve got to be broad. make sure you re saving enough. what is the rule of thumb? what do we all need based on our salary levels? 100% when you come out of retirement if not more of what you re earning today. and if you can put away 10% to 15% of your salary every year on a consistent basis, you should be doing pretty well. again, the main message you re delivering and jim and maria both delivered as well, do not panic. yes. jean chatzky, thanks very much. 7:46. up next, the preschool teacher found alive four days after a camping trip. she ll open up about her ordeal for the very first time. that s right after this. are used somewhere.al gs but not in my neighborhood. 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(announcer) it s more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. choosey moms, choose jif. how d you learn to do that? what d you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it s how our rough ideas become you did that yourself? so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more. that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that s the power of the home depot. right now get this vanity and matching mirror for just $99. back now at 7:49. with the preschool teacher that was on a camping trip and fell off a cliff. it took rescuers four days to find her. now she s still recovering in the hospital, sharing her story for the first time. here s nbc s miguel almaguer. just like that, just drive to live was like so strong for me. reporter: pamela salant beat the odds, 28-year-old teacher who today is recovering in the hospital after being plucked last week from an oregon forest. this is where salant spent four long days and three cold nights, lost, injured, and alone in the wilderness. i just like really felt like i just wasn t done yet. reporter: salant was hiking with her boyfriend when the pair split up to find a campsite. she was out of view when she slipped, falling nearly 50 feet off a cliff, her leg broken and sliced open. i didn t feel the initial sense. i woke up the next morning and i was like, whoa, like, how did this happen? i had fallen asleep right where i had fallen. reporter: with no one in sight, covered by a canopy of green, they couldn t see her. wearing a tank top and shorts, she was cold, soon, she was hungry and thirsty. i just had to make sure that i was right by the river the whole time just to get as much water. and then there was salmon berry bushes around and raspberry bushes and, like, oregon grapes. reporter: but as hours turned to days, the berries weren t enough. trying caterpillars. i like tried a bite of a slug. i don t know. i was just like it was like plump and juicy. i don t know. it looked really tasty, but it was not tasty. reporter: barely eating but still hopeful she says she passed the days thinking about people in her life. i had a lot of like people s faces in my head that i loved and just like kind of my life was like on rewind. reporter: then the big break came on day four. helicopters spotted somebody in the middle of the creek on a rock waving. reporter: a helicopter could see salant and she was fairly sure she could see them. i was like hyper ventilating. like like i can t believe it s real. reporter: broken leg and fractured back, doctors say salant will make a full recovery. a young woman who survived because she refused to give up. i didn t realize i had that in me. i definitely surprised myself. reporter: for today, miguel almaguer, nbc news. you always ask yourself a question, what can i endure? she found out. she s strong. we re all actual lly stronge than we might guess. a divorced father behind this blog. she was ordered to take that blog down. he says that s a violation of his freedom of speech. we ll hear from him and his ex-wife. it does something to your heart. i think what people like most about the grilled food is the taste. the flavor comes from that oak wood. the shrimp, the fresh fish, the steaks. it locks in the flavor, it seals in the juices so that when you put the fork in it, it just goes through it like butter. it s beautiful. 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[ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser kitchen and bath scrubbers. the clean is out of this world. 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. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. finally looking better on 295. heavy delays approaching 100 down to 98. those are cleared out. 95 looks good as well accident at taking ave and wilkens ave. watch for continued closures in the city and its fans of the grand prix. let s give you an idea of traffic. just south of 95 out of the northeast, delays and their. we will switch over to southbound 295 at 175. moving a lot better than last check. jammed conditions in the southbound direction. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. ava, over to you. showers are moving in across western maryland. this is in the baltimore metro area until about 11:00 this morning. scattered showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, any of which could have heavy downpours. 90 this afternoon. 89 tomorrow. could still see an isolated storm tomorrow. dry weather will extend into the rest of the seven-day, at least thursday and friday. then again, storms may be a possibility again. you will like the weather until the end of the weak. as always, you can check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information brought back in 25 minutes with another live update. 8:00 now on this tuesday morning, august 9th, 2011. we have stepped outside to enjoy a little breeze. sunshine and fine day today. they rolled out of bed early this morning to spend some time with us here at rockefeller plaza. al roker and matt lauer. i m ann curry. we re going to talk about a father s controversial blog. the blog is called t thepsychoexwife.com. he never names her by name. but the judge orders that website be taken out. is it fair or is it a violation of that man s free speech? we re going to talk about that in just a couple of minutes. also this morning, the very power f powerf powerful usher by jenna bush hager. and steals and deals including a vacation for the whole family. sounds good. that s a deal. that s good. we have a lot to get to. we also have natalie morales at the news desk. good morning to you. good morning again, matt, ann, and al. good morning. worries over the u.s. credit rating downgrade, weak economic recovery and european debt crisis sent overseas markets tumbling again today after the dow plunged 600 points on monday dropping it below 11,000 for the first time since last october. cnbc s mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. we re hoping it s going to be a better day today after a brutal monday. they are pointed to gains on the stock market. i should say though, this is very cautious, that can be seen in gold prices, still at record highs. another thing we are watching today is the federal reserve meeting. they are expected to keep their interest rates on hold but watching to see if they come out with any statement to help with confidence to help kick start the economy. remember, it has been a t. falling economy, the large part of the recent market decrease. back to you. you re going to need to load up on your tums today. thank you. the bodies of 30 american heroes killed over the weekend in afghanistan arrive at dover air force base, delawardelaware. they took down osama bin laden, killed saturday when their chopper was shot down by the taliban. riots in great britain have claimed their first life. 26-year-old man was shot and killed in a car. britain s prime minister says 16,000 police officers will be on the streets by tonight. residents are being urged to stay indoors as the violence, rioting, and looting have spread to other surrounding cities. cars and buildings have been torched, including a sony warehouse that s been burning all morning. the riots began saturday with people protesting a fatal shooting last week. after a promising new lead a 30-year-old cold case has gotten a little bit colder. dna testing has failed to link a new suspect to the unsolved d.b. cooper plane hijacking in 1971. the fbi says it was unable to find a match to a necktie left at the scene. and now here s brian williams with a look at what s coming up tonight on nbc nightly news. we re heading into the emotional day, homecoming, remains of some of those lost in afghanistan. some of this country s very best as the investigation goes on into that incident. we ll have it all for you tonight on nightly news. natalie, for you, back to you. thanks. for what s trending today, a round-up of what has you talking online. twitter users don t think arnold schwarzenegger s choice of workout gear was funny after tmz shows him wearing i survived maria t-shirt. they are in the middle of a divorce after admitting fathering a child with his maid. a top google search this morning as singer hospitalized after being beaten in new york s east village late sunday. he reportedly suffered a broken nose and facial cuts. and maybe c.lo green was too tired to be in his own music video so his hunky body double is none other than irkle. the cry baby video in on youtube is racking up the hits as they want to catch his new dance moves. hard to believe that is him. 8:04 right now. let s go back outside to matt and ann. oh, yeah, he s cool. thanks a lot, natalie. speaking of cool, in a beautiful shade of blue, mr. roker here with a check of the weather. come on over! hi. you re 50 today. i am 50. wow. where are you from? nashville, tennessee. you enlisted people to hold your banner. absolutely. all right. thanks. happy birthday. thank you. let s see what s going on as far as your weather is concerned. birthday or not, rochester, minnesota, kttc, mostly sunny, breezy. 71. strong storms firing up. western new york into pennsylvania. also activity making its way through the southeast. around florida, beautiful out west. 83 after morning fog burns off in l.a. lovely day. 71 in portland. showers through the great lakes. afternoon thunderstorms. some of them could be strong here in the northeast later today. risk of strong storms in the southeastern atlantic states. grab the umbrella. showers and thunderstorms are likely, although they are going to be scattered. temperatures still warm. temperatures still warm. and that s your latest weather. ann? al, thank you so much. coming up next, a very controversial blog. we re going to hear from him and his ex-wife coming up right after this. 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absolutely. the constitution of the united states protects all speech unless it is obscene, deflamtory. why isn t this deflamatory? he did not use her name specifically. if, in fact, it is defamatory there is a way for you to go after that. it s called a civil lawsuit. some of the things here s an example of what he said. imagine if you were jabba the hut with less personality and she spends her time drinking her days away, promoting her victim status when she isn t stuffing the children with fast food, buying them toys or pushing them toward the tv or computer. there should be a civil lawsuit for that. shutting him down is against his constitutional rights. the judge in the case said this as she ordered the blog shut down and threatened mr. morelli that he might lose shared custody. inaccurate, denegrading and belittling comments about ally son, it s not just venting, it amounts to out right cruelty, end quote. my first reaction to that is, has this judge ever gone on other blogs? that s what they re all about. there would be no reason to have a blog. that s what the constitution actually protects. the constitution protects your right to be an unlitigated jerk unless you are defaming someone. gayle, let s bring you in. go from the legal now to the psychological. this was a nasty marriage, nasty divorce, it s a nasty custody battle. he clearly does not have the best interest of his children in mind. unfortunately not. i think, you know, he may win but they want to win and he may be right legally but he s not right in terms of the family because at the end of the day when a couple gets divorced, we know the fallout for children. and the only way to try to be the healthiest for them is to preserve two good parents. even if they don t want to be together, but if your job helps them to some degree, your mom is an okay person. and i was thinking of the age of the children when i read this. they re 10 and 12. they can understand this. they sure do understand this. and they re also not old enough that they re not very impressionable at this age. what does it teach these kids about in their future how to deal with conflict? look, this is horrendous. this is a bad way to deal with conflict all around. i would even say quite honestly this is what is a national problem. we have taken on the do whatever feels good in the moment with no regard for a moral compass, whether you re calling the president a liar, whether you re tweeting your mm-hmm. the end of civility. we talked about this on the commercial break and what i was referring to when i said,s that judge ever looked at some of the blogs that are out there? half of it is inaccurate, most of it is belittling. and vulgar and all of the things that make us say what happened to shame in this country? but our constitution has not caught up with our technology. so you think if you just had to kind of use your crystal ball, you think this guy wins on appeal? he has an issue and 14th amendment issue of due process me she. she did this without evidence, without taking witnesses. everyone is allowed to have their day in court and he didn t get that. fascinating. star, thanks very much. gail, always good to see you. up next, the best ways to cope with migraines. giving help to some sufferers. we ll talk about that right after this. keep your photos right at your fingertips. literally! ok. this is my mom and dad. robin, you ok? 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[ female announcer ] giving in to snacks? there s a better way to satisfy your cravings, twice a day with special k. enjoy something sweet. and something salty and still stay on track. so go ahead and embrace snacking with special k. hey parents, it s going to be a see, i m not just teaching woodwinds and strings. i m teaching attitude! if your kids want to sound cool, they have to look cool! so, here s what they ll need: denim, graphic tees, leggings and tunics, more denim, backpacks, headphones, hair gel, denim, converse one star shoes, denim, shaun white hoodies and denim. school takes a lot. target has it all. back now at 8:19. this morning on today s health, migraines are one of the most debilitating conditions in medicine with no cure and they can impact just about every aspect of a person s life. here s nbc s chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. reporter: they affect 30 million people in the united states and contribute to $13 billion of lost workdays. migraines are not just headaches. i can t do anything. i have to go to bed. i have to turn the lights out. i can t take any noise. they will last sometimes three days up to a week where i could not do anything. my hair would hurt. reporter: rachelle has been suffering from migraines for 35 years. i look back at 35 years of my life and part of my life is gone, spent, not being able to interact with people, not being able to enjoy things. i ve missed christmass because i ve been ill. i ve missed family functions. if you put into it, maybe i ve lost three years of my life, probably more. reporter: rachelle had tried various treatments but to no avail. finally she met this doctor at the albert einstein college of medicine. no two people with migraines have the exact same type of migraine. so the treatment needs to be towered. i have a people keep a log or diary, whether it be mild, moderate, or severe. i think it s because the change in weather? yes. reporter: it was through those logs that rachelle learned more about what triggers her migraine and how to make lifestyle changes to help decrease the frequency. if i m too tired i get a migraine. i can t drink wine. i can t be around people with strong perfumes, when they wax the floors at work, cleaning agents, sweeteners. reporter: rachelle takes ten different medicines to keep her migraines in check. but medication does not realm ron who can t remember his life without a headache. i had a headache for 18 months straight. reporter: finally ron had the opportunity to join a clinical trial at jefferson university hospital for a new device. a small pack was implanted into his hip during outpatient surgery and wire travels up through the skin into the brain stimulating the nerve and finally giving him relief. i got my husband back. we can go on vacation and we don t usually have to worry about headaches. you know, if it s going to keep him down for a why. so it s been a great thing for us. i actually have a life now. yes. reporter: for patients like ron and rachelle, relief has finally come. but with gaps in research and medication, there are still millions of people losing days of their lives to migraines. dr. nancy is joining us. it s great to have you here. how do you know if your headache is a migraine? pretty classic. one side, throbbing. you really want a dark cocoon like environment. if you re sitting at your desk and have a bad headache and you say, i think it s a migraine, it probably isn t. you may have nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light. change in vision, maybe really being susceptible to changes in light and auditory cues. then the attack, that s the unilateral intense pain. and then afterwards, the postal is almost like having had a seizure. people feel loopy and they may look sleepy. that whole thing, depending on how severe your attack is, can be a dpu dfew days up to weeks. you heard the gentleman in the piece, up to months. is there any way to prevent it at the onset if you start to feel it? i ve had two in my life. that s when i look back on it i can see the triggers. one was stress and lack of sleep. the other one red wine on a flight when i was on the wrong time zone. the one thing doctors will say is that likely a trigger in your environment so the best thing to do is to sit down and put pen to paper and really look at your pain, what you were doing around that time. something as simple as a pressure change in the weather. we ll talk about treatment, but there are drugs that can treat them? yeah, there are certain things. or some people, something as simple as ibuprofen may make a difference. some people can take something to just deal with the pain. other medicines you take it as soon as you feel you re going to try to get an ahead ache. if you re having a little bit of pain, you take a pill and then an hour later if there s no relief you take another one. for great majority of people just changing the hormones in the neurotransmitters in the brain is enough. for other people, it s nerve stimulation. we look at the occipital nerve at the back of the head and another nerve comes out and goes around your face and three big branches. sometimes stimulating that nerve. case of last resort. that stimulation works for some people. when you say some people, then who? here s what i think is the most important thing. the simplest thing is if you have a trigger, figure it out, avoid it. that s the easiest. it s not one size fits all. absolutely not one size. you have you r own trigger. avoid if possible. sometimes you lie down, pull the shade, that is enough. over the counters may be fine. for the pain relief, interestingly enough, there are enough things you can take things by mouth, rectal suppository, iv, shots, sometimes nerve stimulation. the nerve stimulation being the last resort for most people. the last resort if you have something like that. please make sure you re diagnosed correctly. there are good headaches all over this country. dr. nancy snyderman, trying to make us feel better. one headache at a time. all right. hopefully i m not your headache. coming up, jenna bush hager catches up with superstar usher. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. let s get a check on the commute with sarah caldwell. starting to improve as we get to that end of the rush. accident southbound 895 just past moravia road. we are also dealing with a vehicle fire at dulaney valley road and amped in a lane. looking good once you get closer to dulaney valley. you ll find a bit of a slowdown. belvedere ave, watch for an accident in towson. a little bit of a delay lingering on the outer loop as you make your way past i-70. here is what it looks like at providence. these delays are going to be filtering out shortly. ava has a check on the forecast. showers keep moving in. already passed a dozen, i-81, moving eastbound. already passed pinkoson, i- 81, moving eastbound. showers and the forecast through now into the afternoon. some could be heavy with gusty winds. scattered in nature. have an umbrella, but it does not guarantee he will get wet. high temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s. this will change and a seven-day forecast. tomorrow, humidity starting to drop down. much less humid thursday and friday. high temperatures back to normal, low-to-mid-80 s. strom tranches increase again into the weekend. we will have another update at 8:55. 8:30 now on a tuesday morning. it s a nice day, 9th day of august, 2011. the people who are gathered in rockefeller plaza on this very sunny skies. actually a really nice day around here. we want to thank these people for stopping by. meanwhile on the plaza, i m matt lauer along with ann curry, natalie morales and mr. al roker on the end there. we re going to school, cooking school. we re going to make mouth-watering kabobs courtesy of mr. kimbell there. that should be fun. it s fun saying kabobs. it s more fun to feeat them. later on, we re going to hear from usher. great talent. apparently helped bring us justin bieber in an interview with jenna bush hager. we re going to answer the call of the wild approximate. we re going to at the time up close and personal with otters and crocodiles. they re babies, it s okay. otters wreak. really? my son walked in, loved him. so great. really? i also want to remind you that coming up on friday we have a terrific concert. the zac brown band, debut on our summer concert stage on friday. we want you to pick one of their songs. they re are your choices. toes, chicken fried, or as she s walking away. text the number to 622639 or vote on our website today.com. keep in mind, data and message rates apply. they seem like a lot of fun. they do. your choice? i ll keep it a surprise. somebody we know since one of their songs with them, i believe. oh. anyway, a check of the weather. exciting. mr. roker. we have the southeast today, they are going to see a risk of strong storms into the southeast with rain moving into the northeast. some of it heavy at times later this evening. beautiful day in the pacific northwest. sunny along the west coast after morning fog burns off. tomorrow, risk of strong storms from northern texas into the lower mississippi river valley. sunny and hot out west. showers move up into northern new england. mild from the upper great lakes into the mid ohio river valley. that s what s going on around scattered showers and thunderstorms likely throughout midday. heaviest towards the north and the west. temperatures in the upper temperatures in the upper eighties to low 90s. don t forget you can get your weather any time of the day or night, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. and now, let s say hello to uncle willie scott. hey, willie. everybody knows it s beautiful in oregon, ohio. this time of year, the corn, the cob, good stuff. happy birthday mfrom smuckers. look at our birthday buddies. getting them lined up. bernice madigan from cheshire, mass. 112. the oldest person in the great common wealth of massachusetts. and then we have edith gooden of houston, texas. 105. look at this. devoted member of her church and has a twinkle in her eye for the guys. whoa. she likes the men. and august giraldi of beautiful downtown la canada, california. 100 years old today. proud wwii vet and loves to participate in public service activities. he ll want to meet the press. we don t fool around here. take a look, from raleigh, north carolina, great town, clara freeman. and she s 103. enjoys crocheting and quilting. longevity by eating lots of venlgities. good and good for you. this time of year, the best. and maurice goldstein of jacksonville, florida. 100 years old today. served in world war ii. my kind of guy. that s it. that s all. now back to new york. thank you so much. coming up, we re all going to go to cooking school and learn how to make kabobs. that s coming up right after this. but first, this is today on nbc. this morning on today s cooking school, kabobs 101. we ve got four great grilled kabob recipes. our teacher is chris kimbell, he is the editor of cook s illustrated. welcome back. let s get right to it. four different recipes. starting with chicken and the a. kind of bacon paste. how do we do it? that was the secret. i m sorry. i m sorry. moving along. first thing, we salt it for 30 minutes. like a brine. white or dark meat? white and dark. eight minutes on the grill, dark, about ten. the secret was, wow, the big secret, bacon fat. we re going to take the sauce and put it in. two pieces of regular bacon. this is not much fat. for some people, a little hors d oeurve. run this. we end up with bacon paste. this is hot. this is trendy. just put it in. a little sweet and hot paprika and sugar. we mix that all up. how long do you marinade this? this is 30 minutes with salt. and this is just put on. and then we immediately put it on the skewer. by the way, if it s white and dark meat, you do not put them together or next to each other. white meat is eight minutes, dark meat, ten minutes. finish it off on a barbecue sauce. this is what it looks like? barbecue sauce has a lot of sugar in it. a lot of people slat there it but it will burn. let s start with the shrimp here already peeled. we want to caramelize it. if you leave the peel, the shell on, all that good stuff you put on the shell disappears when you take the shell off. we re taking the shell off to get it right on. we re going to put oil on these. and put a little bit of salt, too. what we re going to do is, to answer your question, sugar, which actually caramelizes that side down. yum. shrim shrimp cooks very fast. one thing you should look at is the way you put them on. head here, head here. put them together which means they don t overcook. squish them together. okay. when i say quickly, how quickly are we talking about? four to five minutes on the sugared side down. we re going to put this right on the grill here if you want. okay. four to five minutes. turn it over. the other secret is you don t want to overcook it. so we have on that grill, you can see there s some sauce. so many grills, hard to know where they are. when the shrimp is done we re going to take it off and put it right in the sauce. that s interesting. this is butter, a little chili paste, lemon juice, for 30 seconds to finish to don t over cook them. it cools them down because that is not a ho hot sauce. take them off when they re not quite ready. kind of when you look vegetables and put them in water right away. i think al has something for you. meat kabobs now. you have to combine the beef and vegetables on the same? two secret. vegetables take longer to cook than beef. i knew. because you re barbecuing. the other thing is we have nice big chunks of beef. oh, yeah. flintstone. what s the sauce? dinosaur meat. yes. three things in the sauce. italian salad dressing. you want three things, salt, brines it, tomato paste, beef fw flavor. beef stock has something in it that amplifies flavor. beef stock, tomato paste, salt, main ingredients. two hours of american namarinatn you put it on. does it matter how tightly packed the beef is? what you want to if you want to look right here, finished one, we packed everything tight together that helps to not overcook. when you put it on the grill like this we have the beef over the hot part of the fire right here, vegetables around. actually they re going to be a little less heat. take these off about 15 minutes, give the veggies another four or five. all right. and then we re doing the luau kabob. we re going the pork. a little marinade for 15 minutes. soy sauce, 15 minutes. the pork is a little smaller than the two-inch kabobs you had here. 15 minutes. remember, any time you re going to marinade meat or anything else, soy sauce has salt so it really works well. you actually put the vegetables on with a fork. it s nice to also take pineapple. we re going to thus, the luau. that s the luau. if i don t stab myself there. good. keep going. we have it standing by just in case. those go on for, you know, just eight minutes. and then keep going. put it on the grill. you said eight minutes and you get that nice the pork and the vegetables are going to cook well. the pineapple is going to insulate the pork. looks delicious. excellent. can we eat now? no, you can t eat now. what, eat? we can t. these are great recipes. thanks. that s the secret that i blew in the first round. thank you very much. recipes fresh at today.com. when we come back, jenna bush hager has a conversation with usher. but first, this is today on nbc. navigating today s real estate market is complicated. you ve seen the signs. that s why having the right real estate agent is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find experts in short sales or bank-owned properties or commercial real estate, agents who can help speed up the process, no matter how intricate. and that s good news, whether you re trying to sell or hoping to buy. because the only sign you really want to see is sold. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. r&b singer usher has dominated the charts since bursting on the scene in 1994 earning kot countless awards including seven grammys. but there is another side to usher. jenna bush hager caught up with him in his hometown of atlanta. jenna, good morning. good morning, ab. u usher is my generation justin bieber. we grew up listening to his music. but recently after spending time with him it s his desire to give back that is so impressive. since 1999 his new look foundation has developed interactive programs and inspired our next generation. 10,000 kids and counting. he s known for his moves, those soulful sounds and millions of fans worldwide, he stans for eternity an artist solely known by one name. i think it has something to do with my name. reporter: a name with legacy and responsibility. usher raymond iv, known as much for his charitable work as his music. usher is something positive, a new light, a new opportunity for those who are less fortunate, you know. they say to whom much is given, much is required. reporter: and with that philosophy, usher created his new look foundation which has helped inspire over 10,000 kids around the world to give back. it s them taking ownership of the fact that they want to do something differently, they want to serve, they want to make a difference. and encourage them to find what they love. and if they can identify their talent, create a strategy, make a career of it, and then hoping to graduate from school and go on to college, and the only thing that i ask back from them is that they ve continue to do what they did in the the new look, which is mentor other youth. reporter: his work is inspired by his past and those who came before him. who is your role model? michael jackson. as i child i saw, bill clinton, you know, bono, quincy jones acted as mentors to me. when i first decided that i wanted to do this work, they became, you know, kind of benchmarks or at least concepts in what i could do. reporter: and now at age 32, usher is the one playing mentor. his most famous mentee is teen sensation justin bieber. i don t think i m going to find another justin bieber. i think that he is one of a kind artist and i think that his story has evolved. reporter: as a mentor ushler s approachability helps him connect with the kids he hopes to inspire and empower students to make a difference. last month the new look foundation hosted 500 young people at their annual world conference in atlanta. kids from all walks of life participated in courses on global health and investor. service has always been considered something of a sentence handed down be i a judge. especially one who comes to serve communities, if you re in trouble you have to do some service. so for me, i wanted to give them a new look on the service. reporter: 19-year-old brandon hamilton says all who attend are inspired by one goal, service. you know, we all have goals, dreams, and aspirations that we have in common and we like to go out in our communities and give back. i am going to be giving back to the community just knowing that that s what i need to live a happy life. what is a major take away that you want every kid to leave with? that no matter what it is, i can do it if i just believe in myself. one thing for someone to tell you that you can do it, but it s a different thing, it s a whole different thing when someone actually shows you how you can do it. and you know you can do it. yeah. yes. after the day, i, too, felt very inspired. usher told me that he s always looking for the next big thing. and that he didn t give me mean details, i m keeping my eyes peeled for the next justin bieber. he said he has found something impressive. pretty intense. so exciting. what a deep, talented man. he s incredible. also coming up next, we re going to go for a walk on the wild side with asian otters and american crocodiles. but first, this is today on nbc. this morning on today s call of the wild, hot summer fun with cool animals. here with a few of her friends from the river banks to the the wetlands, seaworld and busch garden, julie. thank you, julie. that is the most beautifully colored bird i have ever seen. lighten up. these guys love to be high. they are very content when they re as high as they possibly can. these are wading birds or wetland birds. you just have to be up there, don t you? is that one potty trained, i hope? no. ah! the tallest one. he has sharp claws. a little to the left here. do we have anything to do after this? we just had otters taken into the studio now. you don t have to worry about it. we have water animals today. yes, we do. including these little crocodiles. they just came out of their shells over there. he mistook me for a turtle. this is a good old time hanging out up there. not a problem. thank you. since the otters are out, matt, you can just turn a little bit, if you would like. whoa, whoa, whoa. they will fly around. oh. thank you very much. not on your head but they re going to be on my head. go ahead. you can do that. i ve already had a bird perched on my head. this is the smallest species of otters in the world. they are not sea otters. they re actually asian otters. i have a treat for you. aw, look at them. they re one of the most vocal species of otters there are. okay. they actually hunt with their paws, which a lot of otters or carnivores do. they use their paws. he took the shrimp and rubbed it on his chin before he ate it. why do you think he did that? i don t know. hanging on to it until he gets it in the right position to go down. these guys use they re very tactile. they have to have the sensitive paws. while they re looking and watching out for other predators. so they re out making sure that nothing else gets in, they are using their sensitive paws feeling in the mud, feeling around for all the different things they might find in the wild. they are from southeast asia so unfortunately they are hunted. they stay cool in the wetlands. these guys are actually 13 years old. they re vocal. they use their vocalizations to communicate to other members. they live in family members of 18 otters. they are monogamous. this is actually brother and sister. i think a lot of people are going to want to see these down on the end there. these are american crocodiles. that s right. this is an endangered specie. probably less than 1,000 of them in now, you re going to have to kind of hang on a little bit. got them. less than 1,000 in the united states. oh, my. these guys have big teeth? yes. little teeth now and then later, big teeth. how big is this going to get? over 12 feet. really? yes. growing rapidly. have a crocodile. you have to hang on to it so it doesn t move a lot in your hands. these, also, all of the animals that we ve got today is basically fish eaters, small, you know, water type of animals. hey. looks like the hat that she wore. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. the 11 news i-team has learned that the baltimore city fire academy has a voluntarily ended its emergency medical services training. this is the latest fallout in the wake of the cheating scandal and several other problems uncovered by the agency that certifies the academy. results are expected to be released this week. according to the baltimore sun, new recruits wil now let s take a look at the forecast with ava marie. we have seen at clouds increase across the area and showers are moving in. showers and thunderstorms are possible in central medellin any time through the midday point. some could be heavy with gusty winds. upper eighties to low 90s. fairly humid out. we will see a chance for scattered storms struck the evening hours. looks like they cleared out tonight. thank you for joining us. we will have another weather update