Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110824 : vimarsana.com

the 90-year-old was quickly helped up and is said to be doing fine today, wednesday, helped up and is said to be doing fine today, wednesday, august 24th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this wednesday morning. i m ann curry. i m carl quintanilla in for matt once again. it s question everyone is asking here on the east coast, and that is did you feel snilt. not a bit. i m from the west coast. i m used to major earthquakes. also i was on the ground floor having lunch with friends. my husband was on the 18th floor here in new york city. he said he felt the swing. how about you? we had just put our toddlers down for a nap and i thought, man, they are making a racket. as usual. but not as much as a lot of people around the country. 5.8 magnitude quake. it hit at 1:51 tuesday afternoon causing minor damage in around the washington, d.c. area. the washington monument has been closed indefinitely after engineers found a crack near the top of it. much more on a quake in a live report straight ahead. .c also, dominique strauss-kn is a free man. is he angry that cameras were all around him when he was first arrested? we ll talk to his defense attorneys. they re live in our studio. also ahead, could you imagine living in a home with 29 cats and 9 dogs? well, a mother of five who struggles with animal hoarding will be joining us to talk about her compulsive need more animals. startling for years to control her weight. she s going to reveal her slim new figure right here this morning. that s exciting. good for her. let s begin, however, with nature s wrath on full display here in the east. we re going to go to the late nest just a moment but we begin with this earthquake felt from atlanta to montreal and epicenter near mineral, virginia. tom costello is there. tom, good morning. reporter: good morning. they re blaming this on carl s kids. we ve had significant aftershocks here in mineral. we were all awaken at about 1:00 in the morning with this real strong rattling. probably going to continue, they say, for a couple of days or weeks or months. finally, look at the masonry on the back of town hall. it s come down. they re concerned about the structural integrity of town hall. throughout this area we ve got some homes that came down, but those were old abandoned homes. chimneys down. and now to the washington monument where they found cracks at the top of the monument. they have building engineers who are going to be looking at the monument very, very closely today. keep in mind, of course, the washington monument was built about 150 years ago. so they re concerned about how structurally strong that will be and the monument, of course, is closed today. 12 million people up and down the east coast felt this quake. the strongest on the east coast since 1944. got really scary because as the building started shaking, stuff started falling down. the earthquake hit in the middle of the day. there s another tremor. reporter: 1:51 p.m. eastern time interrupting a cooking show on tv in washington. these are ready. reporter: those who felt the powerful quake could hardly believe it. my first impression was, is the building coming down on me? i didn t know. i didn t want to panic, but everything in me told me to get out of that building. reporter: people not used to earthquakes in this region ran from buildings. some dove under their desks. david harmon was making a commercial for his car service company in virginia. what was that? my god, i think that was an earth quake. reporter: the 5.8 magnitude quake was centered here in the small town of mineral, virginia, 40 miles northwest of richmond where surveillance cameras captured the moment it hit. gas station, small shop, even sheering the bricks off the back of town hall. here at the epicenter this may be the most damaged spot. this is millers market. four years ago b.j. and his wife opened this small grocery store. and everything came off the shelves. they ve also lost their coolers and their freezers. that means they re going to lose their dairy products, they re going to lose their meat, and also the roof is in trouble. they think the damage here may go to $150,000. i was shocked. feel like crying because this is the only livelihood we have. reporter: a large area of the u.s. and even canada felt the shaking. from montreal in the north to atlanta in the south and chicago in the west. experts say the quake was exceptionally shallow, amplifying its power. we had about 25 states feel it, the shaking. that s rather unique in that regard. reporter: more than 80 miles from the epicenter they felt the tremors at the white house which evacuated for a time. the president briefed on the quake while on vacation in martha s vineyard where they felt the shaking, too. back in washington the capitol and congressional offices were closed for nearly three hours as inspectors checked for damage. the capitol rotunda was littered with paint and plaster from chips falling from the dome of the ceiling. we re working with the architect of the capitol. reporter: and tours were evacuated from washington s major monuments. all closed for the rest of the day. the national cathedral sustained some of the worst damage in d.c. three of the four stones fell off. the tower itself seems now to be leaning. at first i thought it might be a subway car or something. i realized there s not a subway around here. but the floors were actually rolling. reporter: so close to the tenth anniversary of 9/11 a special kind of fear in new york where workers near ground zero spilled on to the streets. and in washington where nervous workers were evacuated from the pentagon. as a product of 9/11 i immediately assumed the worst. and i also never thought i never thought of an earthquake in washington, d.c. reporter: a couple of late updates for you. there s a nearby nuclear plant her. the north anna plant. both reactors were shut down automatically when the earthquake hit. they are going to do a very close inspection before they power up the reactors to make sure everything is okay. there s no danger there of a radioactive leak. also, d.c. area schools closed today as they inspect the schools. and airports up and down the east coast that shut down for a time yesterday to inspect the towers, inspect the runways, they came back online late yesterday. they should be normally operating today, as well as amtrak. that s a mouthful. you re doing a great job telling it. thanks a lot. we ve got lucy jones, she s a seismologist with the u.s. geological survey now joining us. lucy, good morning to you. good morning, ann. it s not every day that we see an earthquake, even though this was not a major quake, a 5.8 in the northeastern part of the united states. can you add any more perspective on just how rare this event was? well, you have to go back 114 years to the last time we had an earthquake this large in the eastern u.s. that was actually also in virginia, 5.9 out near blacksburg. the size of earthquake that california has every couple of years. you have about once a century. and the reasons why it was so wide spread as we saw was interesting. it has something to do, as i understand, with the crust on the eastern part of the country. can you explain that? right. i mean, the good news for you is that you don t have very many faults. but that means all those rocks some people like to say that. very intact. so when you do have an earthquake and it s set ways off, like an intact bell, the crust keeps on ringing for a much farther distance than we see here in california for the same size earthquake. good news though is that you don t have as many faults. some might dispute that for me personally, but in terms of the country that s good news. does that mean it s harder to predict an event here on the east coast, if you don t have clear faults to point to? well, right. we have a big question about when we have an earthquake on the east coast why are we having them? it s not the big tectonic motions. so we really think that we could have an earthquake of this size potentially anywhere in the united states. it s very rare, but there s nowhere we re willing to say we couldn t have this size earthquake. i want to pick up with a couple of questions that people are asking. could what happened on tuesday be a precursor for a larger event? it s always possible, but every moment we pass since the earthquake makes it less likely. it s just that every earthquake makes others more likely. mostly they re smaller and we call them aftershocks. but about 5% of the time an aftershock will get bigger than the first one and then we change the name. but each day you go greatly reduces the risk. okay. we ve already had a small aftershock or two already on tuesday night. so how many more might we expect, how long might they be extended to, and how intense, as you just talked about, could they get? well, probably, given what we ve seen already, we ve already had a 4.2 and a 3 something early this morning. we might see another 4 over the next couple of days. probably we re going to see another magnitude 3 or so. mostly they will be within the next few days. but the there s a long tail where the probability s low but you sometimes see it actually as several months out. all right. lucy jones, thank you so much for giving us a little bit of perspective on all this. appreciate you joining us. i m glad to be here. it is now 7:10. here s carl. ann, thanks. you can t really prepare for an earthquake but that s not the case for a hurricane. this morning residents from florida to new england are stocking up ahead a possible hit from hurricane irene. al roker is up stairs with the laters. good morning. good morning. it s a category 2 storm and it is intensifying. right now 370 miles southeast of nassau, bahamas. category 2. 110 mile per hour winds. west northwest at nine miles per hour. right now we have hurricane warnings and watches throughout the bahamas. all the bahamas, turks and caicos are in tornado warnings right now. we look at a number of different models that we use to track this storm. and as you can see, we use the computer model projections. most of them bring it right across the carolinas and eventually on up into new england. here s the time line that we re looking at as far as the national hurricane center is concerned. hurricane irene, a category 2, starts its way up the coast. we get on into thursday and friday afternoon, it parallels the florida coast. saturday morning it s off the north carolina coast. continues up over cape hatteras sunday morning and by late sunday on into monday, it s in the new england as a category 1 storm. so we re going to continue to track this. but up and down the eastern seaboard, everybody has to be prepared and we ll have more on this a little bit later. carl? mother nature pulling out all the stops this week, al. thanks. people on a small island off the coast of north carolina are already being told to evacuate as irene heads for the eastern seaboard. nbc s kerry sanders is in jacksonville, north carolina. reporter: i m on emerald isle right now which is a beautiful morning which makes it that much more difficult for emergency management officials to tell people start to plan to leave because they see such beautiful weather. already, as you said, there are some mandatory evacuations under way. that s off the coast here of north carolina where this morning at 5:00 the ferry brought over about a dozen cars. the idea is to get the tourists off first and then about the 800 residents that live there off and begin so that they have everybody moving off the coast within the next 48 hours. with irene just days away with a possible landing in the carolinas, flags are already warning each goers to stay out of the rough surf. in myrtle beach tourists are trying to enjoy the beautiful weather before irene brings big changes. just trying to get in a little bit of beach time before some rougher stuff comes in. reporter: just up the road in north carolina the governor is warning residents to get ready for irene s possible arrival. residents and tourists are already being told to evacuate. prepare. plan for the worst. and pray for the best. reporter: irene is now headed for the bahamas where island residents are preparing for the worst and cruise ships are rerouting for safety. i was a little disappointed but i would rather be safe than sorry. reporter: forecasters expect irene to turn into a major category 3 or higher hurricane after it pushes through the bahamas. the exact path of the storm is still unknown. the computer models say florida, georgia, and the carolinas could be impacted. the impact of the major hurricane as we well know in the carolinas down through florida can be really devastating. reporter: in south florida i m nervous. terrifies me. reporter: many long-time residents who have been through more of their share of hurricanes are stocking up on supplies. we ve been through hurricanes in the past year and it s better to be safe than sorry. reporter: the words of hurricanes that hit south florida, 19 years ago today. we re underneath metro rail. the winds are gusting outside our car up to 165 miles per hour. reporter: i was a young reporter in miami when andrew became the worst natural disaster to hit the u.s. in al august 1992. residents along the eastern seaboard are hoping to avoid a repeat of that storm as they prepare for irene. a lot of lessons were learned after andrew. the government s response, how to help people that are victims. fema actually delivering aid. and a lot of lessons learned by individuals. yours truly included. carl? you haven t aged a bit, kerry. thank you for that. kerry sanders in north carolina. 7:15. once again, ann. carl, thanks. now we turn from libya where we re hearing from moammar gadhafi for the first time since rebels took control of tripoli, hours after hundreds of libyans stormed his compound. nbc s chief correspondent richard engel is in tripoli again this morning. richard, good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. there are still celebrations going on here in green square. lots of celebratory gunfire and there has been that new statement from gadhafi calling on his supporters to take up arms. as gadhafi s compound was attacked, stormed, and looted this is a pistol taken from the armory. reporter: the libyan leader may have been inside. and he is now calling on his supporters to fight back and retake tripoli. the radio address also broadcast on arabic language television gadhafi called on youth, men, and women of tripoli to rise up and what he said they should to sounded. go cleanse all of tripoli, he said. go out and clear the wrath. in his call for civil war, for libyans to cleanse each other. the broadcast also suggested gadhafi was inside his compound when it was overwhelmed by rebels. the reports that gadhafi left the compound for, quote, tactical reasons. but he didn t specifically say when he left. but gadhafi may have stayed in tripoli long enough to see libyans celebrating what they are calling the liberation of the capital. the media reports said gadhafi has been touring tripoli. his whereabouts now are unclear. but gadhafi is still trying to form resistance, reportedly rooming a city he apparently still considers his capital. but there is still one area in this city that remains under the control of gadhafi loyalists. that is the hotel. there are currently about 30 foreign journalists inside the hotel, kept against their will. there was gunfire heard in the area this morning. but we haven t heard any reports of violence inside the hotel itself. richard engel, once again. great reporting. we can hear gunfire in the background there. please be safe, richard. thank you. i want to get a check of the other top stories of the morning. natalie morales is at the news desk. good morning, everyone. residents of nearly 5,000 homes were ordered to evacuate overnight after a railroad car filled with liquid propane caught fire in california. the red cross set up shelters while firefighters worked to keep the railcar from exploding. officials in southern california are also serving minor damage from an earthquake there that cracked walls and toppled chimneys near the new mexico border tuesday. the magnitude 5.2 quake was the strongest to hit colorado in four decades. casey anthony s a step closer today to be being forced to serve probation for check fraud in florida. the court on tuesday denied her request to have her sentence blocked. her attorneys claim she already served the probation while awaiting trial for the murder of her daughter. for the first time in nearly a decade north korea s reclusive leader is taking part in high-level talks today in russia. kim jong-il and medvedev was meeting today, calls for concern among the u.s. and asian and european allies. kim said today that his country is now willing to return to stalled six-nation talks on north korea s nuclear program. japan s battered economy is reeling from another setback today. moody s downgraded the country s credit rating citing japan s weak prospects for growth, political uncertainty, and massive government debt. and that downgrade had a strong impact on world markets despite tuesday s power house rally for the dow. melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange. japanese stocks are down 1% on the back of that news. european investors seem to be shrugging off the news. the focus now among global investors, whether chairman ben bernanke of the federal reserve will talk about further additional stimulus in his speech on friday. meantime, the latest data on the housing market is grim. sales of new homes hit a five-month low in july. a high jobless rate above 9% as well as backlog of existing homes certainly not helping sales at this point. melissa lee at the new york stock exchange. thank you. and a scary moment for former first lady nancy reagan who tripped over a post used for crowd control during an events last night at the ronald reagan library. as you see there, as she was escorted to her seat. 90-year-old mrs. reagan was not hurt. she was fortunate though because each year a half million older americans are hospitalized after falling. it is 7:20 right now. let s turn it back over to ann, carl, and al. thank you, na we are off to a nice, quiet start on this wednesday morning. temperatures in the upper 50 s and low 60 s. more cloud cover than yesterday. and that s your latest weather. just ahead, what is child abuse or parenting? a jury reaches the verdict in a case of a mother who forced her own son to drink hot sauce. but first, this is today on nbc. coming up, inside look at the life of an animal hoarder. we re going to talk to a woman who lives with nearly 40 dogs and cats in her home. she will open up about her struggle and the impact on her family, including five children. comments about the west coast about the east coast s reaction about the earthquake? we re going to show you the funny photos mocking those of us on the east coast. i know. day to show the world a better burger. now, millions of turkey burgers later, we re still out to win over burger lovers. woman: it s really good! man: the taste is great. ancr: just in time for the grilling season. man : delicious burger. maman, i m on my third one right now. it s awesome. woman: i would definitely have a turkey burger again. man: this is fantastic. ancr: grilling season is here. so come on. make the switch. look for jennie-o at a store near you. and join us at switchtoturkey.com. we ve combined conditioner with a weightless nutri-oil treatment. to give 3x the internal nourishing power of our regular conditioner. new dove daily treatment conditioner. make friends with your hair. not a mammal in this household is willing to lay claim to its origin. but now is not the time for blame. now is the time for action. call 1-800-steemer. hershey s drops. a lot of hershey s happiness in a little drop of chocolate. pure hershey s. jif to go goes anywhere jif to go goes here, goes there jif to go goes everywhere goes here, goes there jif to go, wherever you go live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am stan stovall. time for a check on your morning commute. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. we had earlier problems on the j.f.x. at the accident is cleared southbound on the beltway. eastbound 100 at oakwood road, there is an accident. trotter road at pulaski highway, another accident in the job but region. at wilkens ave and brunswick street, watch for crashed in the city. not too bad on the west side outer loop. let s take a live view of traffic. you can see it is clear towards the city. much better picture there. jammed conditions moments ago. things are clearing out on the inner loop at greenspring. did little bit of sun glare this morning. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. tony has a check on your forecast. a couple high, thin clouds, but no rain. temperatures dipped into the 50s earlier this morning. 57 in frederick. 64 in westminster. a mixture of sunshine and a few clouds. a little warmer than yesterday, but still lives. sunset at 7:48. in front will come through tomorrow, with scattered thunderstorms. as we head to the weekend, we have a big question mark on it. we will keep you updated throughout the week. it will clear out behind the storm on monday and tuesday. check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back at 7:00 to 56 with another live update. 7:30 now on this wednesday morning, august 24th, 2011. it is another stellar start to the day in the northeast, bright and sunny, as well as our crowd that is happy soaking it in here on the rockefeller plaza. hi to all of them. inside studio 1-a i m ann curry along with carl quintanilla. thank you so much for having you here. we re going to talk about this serious story coming up. it s about the tragic details, new details about the death of amy winehouse. her family says the toxicology test shows no illegal drugs were found in the singer s system when she died. so what killed the talented and troubled artist? we re going to be live in london with the latest on this story. she was so talented. also, where does dominique strauss-kahn go from here now that his sexual assault has been dismissed? does he feel like he was treated fairly? will he now sue his accuser? his defense attorneys are going to speak out coming up. right there in our studio. also this morning, disturbing and strange condition of animal hoarding. we re going to talk to a mother of five who brought nearly 40 cats and dogs into her home and nearly lost her family in the process. let s begin this half hour with the verdict in the case of a mother who forced her son to drink hot sauce and take cold showers. on tuesday, a jury found that woman guilty of child abuse. aditi roy has the latest on that. aditi, good morning. it took the three men and three women on the jury one day to convict jessica beagley. at the center of the trial beagley made and sent to the producer ofs of the dr. phil show, shows her pouring hot sauce down her son s mouth and then making her take a cold shower. in the case of jessica k. beagley we the jury find the defendant jessica beagley guilty of child abuse. reporter: the decision came swiftly. after hearing four days of testimony and watching this eight-minute video. what happens when you lie to me? hot sauce. reporter: jurors convicted jessica beagley of misdemeanor child abuse. beagley first drew international attention with this video. close your mouth. did you swallow it? reporter: showing her pouring hot sauce down her 7-year-old son s mouth and putting him in a cold shower to punish him for behaving badly. you are in the shower because you made bad choices. do you hear me? yes. reporter: beagley sent the video to producers of the dr. phil show and appeared on national television four days later, sparking tears among audience members and uproar among viewers. the act of videotaping yourself punishing your child in order to try to convince a show to let you on is the abuse. reporter: prosecutors say beagley reached out to the dr. phil show after seeing an episode on angry moms in 2009, telling producers that she was having trouble with one of the twins she had adopted from russia with her husband. a year and a half later the show s producers contacted beagley and asked her to send video for an episode called mommy confessions quts . id not think the punishment would is not have occurred if the dr. phil show had not done that. during the trial officials from alaska children services and the russia s consulate office visited beagley s home after the show aired and found in evidence of abuse or neglect, leaving the child an his five other siblings in her care. this is a very good loving family. reporter: beagley s defense attorney says her punishment of her son was strict but not cruel, according to the letter of the law. it s a more difficult case the way the law is written in alaska that makes it really tough as a parent to discipline your kids. reporter: nbc news has reached out to the producers of the dr. fiphil show for comme. beagley did not speak to reporters after the verdict. her sentencing is scheduled for next week. she faces one year in jail and up to a $10,000 fine. carl? aditi roy in los angeles. thanks. now, here s ann. all right, carl, thanks. now to the latest on the untimely death of singer amy winehouse. according to her family toxicology reports show the 27-year-old had no illegal drugs in her system when she died last month. nbc s michelle kosinski is in london with details on this. michelle, good morning. reporter: hi, ann, good morning. fans have been coming here and buying her music. her album went back to number one after her death at 27. everything the world knew about her addictions, now we know what did not kill her, but what did remains a mystery. amy winehouse did go to rehab, several times in her short life. now the mystery deepens into her tragic death. toxicology reports showing no illegal drugs in her system. the media may have been rather technical, this almost a very sad story, rather more positive end because perhaps amy really was in the right path to, you know, clean house, as it were. but maybe her body just gave out in the end. reporter: the results, which are preliminary, do show some alcohol. amy s family said in a statement, results indicate that alcohol was present, but it cannot be determined as yet if it played a role in her death. however, no mention whether there were any legal prescription drugs in amy s system which can kill when taken incorrectly. amy was found unresponsive if her bed by her bodyguards at her london home last month. in one of her last appearances just a month earlier, fresh out of alcohol rehab, supposed to be a comeback concert, it is difficult to watch, disaster. her family says she immediately canceled her tour, cleaned up her personal life, and those who saw her the day before she died, including her doctor, felt she was healthy. what did end amy winehouse s exceptional life? still an unanswered question. amy s family said they think her death might have been caused by her suddenly quitting alcohol. though doctors advised her to cut back gradually. now we know there was alcohol in her system, and more testing needs to be done. ann? a lot of people want answers. all right, thank you so much. and now let s get a check of the weather from al. narrator: today s weather is brought to you by chevy. every model is backed by 100,000 mile, five-year power it is train limited warranty. good morning. we ve got friends here from roswell. so you guys caused the quake? we did. we fast landed. i was wearing the sunglasses. it was her fault. now we know. now we know. all right. thank you very much. let s check your weather, see what s going on. and from phoenix from new mexico on into texas, houston another day over 100. ft. worth, as well. 98 degrees in denver, colorado. same in salt lake. nice and cool here in the northea northeast. 70s and 80s. 70s in the upper mississippi river valley. west coast, nice and mild as well. we do have a risk of strong storms from the eastern great lakes into back into the central mississippi river valley. slight risk also on into parts of oregon. the heat continues through the southwest. gulf coast, up and down the eastern seaboard. you cannot ask for a better day. it looks like it is going to turn out to be a nice day. cool start again. upper 80 s later on this afternoon. a little more cloud cover. and for the latest on hurricane irene you can always check the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. ann? all right, al, thank you so much. and coming up, carrie fisher is here to reveal her new figure after a dramatic new weight loss. and now, will dominique strauss-kahn take legal action against a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault? we ll ask his defense attorneys him of sexual assault? we ll ask his defense attorneys in our studio right after this. we good year at chevy. they gave us a consumers digest best buy award. then they gave us an iihs top safety pick and you. well, you gave us your approval. so we thought, why not give a little back. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. and now, very-well qualified lessees can get a low mileage lease on a chevy cruze ls for around $169 a month. our greatest model year yet is wrapping up. i usually work alone. don t mind him. chocolate s just got a chip on his shoulder. 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[ male announcer ] ask the doctor about once-daily nonstimulant intuniv. back at 7:41. where does dominique strauss-kahn go from here now that the sexual assault case against him has been dismissed? we ll talk to his defense team in a moment, but first nbc s ron allen has the latest. ron, good morning. good morning, carl. you might be surprised that he s still here in new york at this luxury townhouse where he s been staying. he says he has a few things to do before he heads home to france where he says he hopes to resume one of a normal life. he won t face criminal charges but his reputation has taken a hit and he s lost quite a bit along the way. some 2 1/2 months after his shocking arrest the man known worldwide as dsk left court a free man, but no longer head of the imf, nor likely french presidential candidate. in his first public statement after criminal charges were dropped, strauss-kahn spoke only in french and says he was glad what he called the nightmare was over. i m relieved for my wife, for my children, and for everyone who supported me during the time, he said. prosecutors have taken the unusual step of asking the judge to throw out the case, saying they believe strauss-kahn did have a sexual encounter with diallo, a house keeper in this luxury new york hotel but prosecutors say diallo made so many false and conflicting statements during her investigation they couldn t determine whether the sex was forced or consensual, adding there was no physical evidence of a violent attack. diallo s attorney still insists she is the victim of a crime. women who are raped or sexual assaulted should not have to go through some type of path to show they lived a perfect life. reporter: in a last-ditch appeal diallo s attorney asked for a special prosecutor to take over. as request denied by two judges. diallo stills a a civil lawsuit pend for an unspecified amount of money and other damages. and so ends the criminal case, the house arrest in this luxury townhouse, to the accuser publicly coming forward to demand justice after her credibility was publicly challenged, and finally, to strauss-kahn walking away. but still facing dozens of protesters shouting at him. and now the fallout and the unanswered questions. the prosecution is being criticized for bringing such serious charges and for dropping them. the accuser could face perjury charges and her name and reputation have been dragged through the mud. dsk has yet to fully explain why he apparently got involved in a sexual encounter with a hotel maid in the first place. benjamin brafman and don are here, his attorneys. good morning. good morning. we heard him call it a nightmare. what has he told you about what he makes of the situation? i think at various times we ve had some conversations, some were difficult than others. i think now he is relieved. i think unless you have yourself been falsely accused of a very serious crime that you did not commit, i think it s impossible to understand the full measure of the relief that dominique strauss-kahn feels today. greatly relieved. the charges were dropped though, but clearly something happened in room 2806. forensic evidence of a sexual encounter. was he honest in the beginning that, yes, something happened but not the way she put it? as ben said yesterday, there s a great deal of difference between a sexual encounter and an attack. and the issue in this case was whether or not he attacked her. the story was improbable on its face that this man would emerge from his bathroom in the nude and jump without further ceremony on the chamber maid. so when we told the prosecutors that there was more to this story than perhaps met their eye and urged them to go slow, unfortunately they moved to indict within three days. as they said yesterday, the post-indictment investigation, the post-indictment investigation, which they did, is what resulted in freeing strauss-kahn. makes you wonder, ben, what would have happened if it hadn t been for that flight, maybe they wouldn t have had to make such a quick decision on an indictment. i think it s tough today to go back and figure what could have happened, what would have happened happened. we re dealing with the reality of what did happen. what did happen is he paid a heavy price for a momentary lapse of judgment that was not criminal. at the end of the day, now that the charges are dismissed, i think it s a statement to the world that in these cases, including the media, i might add, that rushing to judgment is not a good idea and let the system play itself out. the presumption of innocence is an important concept in our country. what happens to him next? public life in france, going back to global economic work in some way? i think he has a lot of options. i think he is probably best suited to talk about public life in france. but i think his options are wonderfully wide. he s a brilliant man and a brilliant economic mind when we need that most. yeah, i think until yesterday we have not been able to tell him that he was free to make decisions of any sort. today he is. and i think he and his family will take some time and just relax. they will make whatever arrangements they want to make about where they want to live and when they want to move. and then i suspect he will gather friends about him and make some decisions. there s always going to be, i think, a school of thought, here was a man who had a sexual encounter with a hotel maid, lunch with his daughter, and went to get on an airplane. have you made a moral judgment about the man? i think we shouldn t make moral judgments about people. in this country, if you do something inappropriate, you don t get prosecuted. the moral judgment i ve made about this man is on balance he s quite a remarkable individual. i m very impressed by him on balance and the momentary lapse of judgment does not make the man. i think he is a brilliant mind and i think he has a lot to offer the world, and i hope the offers are wide and interesting. thank you for coming in. thank you. coming up, what s it like to suffer from animal hoarding? we ll talk to a mother of five who kept nearly 40 cats and dogs in her home. plus, did we over react how the west coast is mocking the east coast online over tuesday s earthquake. right after this. [ male announcer ] summer is here. 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. a living, breathing intelligence that s helping people rethink how they live. 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 a network of connections and ideas. open and collaborative. extending far beyond the mobile phone. connecting you to a world of intelligent new devices and technologies. from today s best innovators. and tomorrow s. it s the at&t network. a network of possibilities. and what s possible in here is almost impossible to say. and what s possible in here is almost impossible to say. you ve been there. you pick out a makeup thinking it s your shade. until you actually try it out. now, i have a makeup that always gets it right. smart shade makeup instantly adjusts to match perfectly to your skin. almay smart shade makeup. only from almay. only for me. 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. as we mentioned, tuesday s 5.8 magnitude earthquake was the strongest to hit the east coast since world war ii but the way they reacted received an instant mocking from from seasoned quake veteran tons west coast. mocking is a polite word. dissing us big time. twitter we crazy with it. the west coasters say we eat 5.8 for breakfast out here. right. a lot of people posted pictures. some of them were actually the east coast showing, you know, this is stunning photos of damage caused by east coast quake. there s another one i like. oh, there you go. very nice. very important. the aftershock right there. i very quickly retweeted an image i saw of a lawn chair. not that one but another one, tipped over, exactly making the point. one of our producers was in rhode island and sent this incredible quake damage picture. yes. what did she say to it? what did she write? we will rebuild! what s amazing to me is how people did things running out of buildings that you re really not supposed to do during an earthquake. good point. natalie s good point said she felt like she was drunk. she was. i had a lunch earlier today. i said, wait, i didn t have anything to drink. i know. but, no, that s a good point you re making because you re not supposed to run out of baluildi. when you get under furniture, get into a doorjamb, wait. don t run out. that s when actually most people get hurt. that s when actually most people get hurt. ah! i, mom how was school today? that s when actually most people get hurt. ah! 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[ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful. jif to go goes anywhere jif to go goes here, goes there jif to go goes everywhere goes here, goes there jif to go, wherever you go it s the perfect time to save big and get the toyota you ve been waiting for. take advantage of the summer s best selection and the year s biggest deals on our most popular models. and toyota has the lowest ownership cost of any full-line car brand, which means you ll not only save now, but down the road as well. plus, every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance. oon. hurry in today before time runs out! live, local, latebreaking. mrs. wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am lisa robinson. let s get a check on the morning commute. here is sarah caldwell. the biggest problem at the moment, southbound a 795 just prior to the beltway. look at the delay behind it. all the way back to 140. if you are going to be troubling and 705, considered 140 as your alternate. coldspring lane and montebello terrace, accident in the city. eastbound 100 and 295, a vehicle fire may be blocking lanes. all lanes closed in annapolis at harry truman parkway. this is the medevac situation. take defense highway as your alternate. here is a live view of traffic. 795, that is the pace of things southbound. at least all lanes are open now. hopefully that will ease up a bit. 895, disabled vehicle southbound at harbor tunnel. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. tony has a check on your forecast. quiet start for us weather- wise. temperatures managed to dip into the 50s. 68 downtown. 64 in westminster. partly-mostly-sonny. high, thin clouds. a little warmer than yesterday afternoon. during the day tomorrow, a weak front comes in. over the weekend, a big question mark. depends on the speed and track of the storm. it will clear up on monday and tuesday. we will see you back here in 8:00 now on this wednesday morning. 24th day of august, 2011. we have a happy crowd here on rockefeller plaza. and you can see they want their families back home to see them waving at them so i m going to keep talking for as long as i can so everybody gets to say hi. we re always happy when people stop by. meantime, also out here on the plaza, i m ann curry and al roker and carl quintanilla. you have news about irene. irene is category 3 storm, 115-mile-per-hour. it is intensifying. it could get up to a 4 within the next 48 hours. keeping aen eye on that. again, a dangerous storm up and down the east coast from florida to new england. we re going to keep an eye on it. it s gone from a 2 to 3. also just ahead, we ll be talking about something that is really misunderstood. it s a condition known as animal hoarding. we re going to meet a wife and a mother who filled her home with nearly 40 dogs and cats. and her own son actually had to use colon to mask the snell of the animals on his clothes. that woman will open up in a live interview about her struggle. maybe that will help other people. also other people brave, carrie fisher is in the house. she has been battling her weight for years. this morning she s here to talk about how she didn t even want to leave her house at one point because he how she felt. now she s shedding her pounds and this morning she is going to be revealing her dramatic new figure to the world and hopefully that also will inspire and help other people. all right. of course, if you re thinking, okay, summer is just about over. we want one more trip. well, we are going to show you some great money-saving labor day travel deals. okay. that sounds great. but before we get to all of that, let s get a check of the top stories from natalie who is at the news desk. hey, natalie. good morning, ann, carl, and al. as al mentioned, hurricane irene is upgraded to a category 3 storm as it heads toward the east coast. forecasters say irene is likely to hit north carolina this week. then crawl up the coast toward the northeast. some vac wags have been ordered and people florida to maine has been warned to get ready for rough, possibly dangerous, weather. tuesday s earthquake is found to have caused cracks in the washington monument. the 5.8 magnitude is the strongest to hit the east coast since world war ii. it was felt from georgia to cana canada. firefighters are trying to keep a burning railcar loaded with liquid propane from exploding and leveling homes and businesses in northern california. the railcar caught fire tuesday, forcing the evacuation of about 4800 homes north of sacramento. moammar gadhafi is out of sight but not silent. from an unknown location he s calling on the residents of the libyan capital to free libya from the, quote, devils who have overrun it. the speech was broadcast today on local radio a day after rebels stormed his tripoli compound. nearly ten years later new york city forensic technicians are still identifying remains of september 11th victims. the medical examiner said tuesday that one set of remains has now been identified as a 40-year-old new york man ernest james who was assumed dead in the twin towers collapse. and a florida woman has made medical history twice. she was florida s first liver transplant recipient as 2-year-old in 1984 and now her son is the first child born to parents who both have had liver transplants. anderson weighed a healthy 7 pounds 8 ounces. and now for a look at what s trending today, our quick round-up of what has you talking online. little smith and jada pinkett smith are top search items on yahoo!. a spokesperson says the couple s 13-year marriage is intact and that there is no truth to a report that they re separating. the blogosphere is talking about a canadian schoolboy who used what he learned from tv medical shows to deliver his own baby brother in his mother s bedroom. 12-year-old s mother woke up in labor and he jumped into action. now they are doing very well and our friends have a new video that is going viral. it s a reinterpretation of the muppet show theme song. well, the tune appears on the green album and a collection of muppet songs that goes on sale today. i ll have to check it out. it s 8:04 right now. let s get another check of the weather from al. narrator: today s weather is brought to you by pfizer. and we have a lot of green shirts here. where are you guys from? minneapolis. and what got goals mean? okay. well, i guess that s a stumper. okay. well, good to see you all from minneapolis. and we ll try to get back to you in a minute. let s see what s happening. we ll show you. latest on irene now a category 3, 115-mile-per-hour winds. moving west northwest, 135 miles south of gnnassau. it comes across the bahamas today and probably going to cause big problems as it does. and then it parallels the florida s coast and carolinas saturday morning. sometimes saturday into sunday, kr crosses the outer banks and making its way to new england monday morning. everybody along the east coast has to be very, very aware of this. and make sure you take precautions. have an evacuation plan. make sure you have emergency supplies. that s it is going to be a nice, quiet start. a little more cloud cover than yesterday. it is still going to turn out to be a nice day. 87 this aftern that s your latest weather. where are you guying from? new york. new york. do you know anybody here? no. not really. we do. wait a minute. you know. cowboy jimmy, our camera guy. go ahead, get next to your family. yeah. there you go. that s a good look. all right. hey, we want to show a picture of you, al. i think that violates all kinds wait a minute, you got the camera back. no harm, no foul. so not to get in trouble with the union. all right. thanks a lot, al. coming up next, we re going to talk about something kind offer is use. we re going to take you into the inside world of animal hoarders. we re going to meet a woman who filled her house. [ male announcer ] it s simple physics. a body at rest tends to stay at rest. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you ve had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. why settle for a one-note cereal? get more with honey bunches of oats. four nutritious grains come together for more taste, more texture, more healthy satisfaction. have a bowl of happy. 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. [sfx: dinosaur growl] clark! anyway, here s what they ll need: markers, scissors, crayons, pencils, folders, juice boxes, pretzel sticks, glue sticks, tape that sticks, and glitter. so much glitter. school takes a lot. target has it all. back now at 8:10. with an inside look at the life of an animal hoarder. the hit animal plan tet series confessions animal hoarding returns tonight with brand new episodes. you land da who shared her home with nine dogs and 29 kats is featured in the new season. we re going to talk to her in a moment. but first, a look at her story. i would go crazy without my animals. literally go crazy. i can t stay at my mom s house. it smells awful in here. i m sorry. we just can t keep up with that many animals. especially the cats. i have told my dad i wish they were all gone. to make things better the cats need to disappear. yolanda, do something to help. i m not going to take back what i choose to do for my own sanity. yolanda who is not using her last name to protect her privacy is here this morning. also is a psychologist with the anxiety disorder center at the institute of living in hartford, connecticut. good morning. good morning. help us understand where this comes from and what you re afraid of happening if you are unable to have these animals? loneliness. you re afraid that you re going to be alone and nobody there for you. you re used to excuse me. you got emotional just looking at that videotape. yeah. yeah. because i love these animals. i love them. and i love my children more, and hearing my children i haven t seen this hearing my children say those things. it s devastating. everything i did, i did for their lives, to try to make it better. you said you have the most beautiful kids in the world. i do. and yet without the animals you ve also said you felt alone. how can those two things happen at once? i think part of it was when my oldest daughter, she graduated and moved on. i had family start passing away. and the animals were there to fill the void. when you don t have a comfort level, the animals fill those voids. why does this happen, samantha? there are numerous reasons why people develop this condition. in yoland a s case it s the fear of losing things. so the overattachment to the animals, a source of comfort. also by acquiring so many animals, a protective way of keeping other people out to prevent further loss. so there s just numerous reasons why people can develop, you know, hoarding and especially hoarding of animals. even though your children said that even though your children were upset by this, it didn t the wake-up call didn t happen until later, did it? what was the wake-up call? it was just all of a sudden it was, this is where i m at. this is where i m at. my daughter, my mom, they were so sick. my house was such a mess. what am i doing? did you know it was a mess? did you know this was a problem at the time or is this more about denial? oh, it was so denial. it was so denial through the whole process. all of a sudden i had the laaa, and it was, what have i done, what have i done, what have i done. i have these animals. i can t take care of them. my kids are suffering. my husband is working to, what, feed animals? everything just went to them. and then one day i when they called me and i looked at everything around me, had it not been for them pointing out, so how is that and how is that? they were probably 99.9% of everything that i opened up and i looked at. but it was so denial before that. would you call this an addiction? it can look like an addiction. there s so much that goes into it. you know, there are mood concerns, depression, anxiety that s often associated with this type of hoarding. impulse control, you know, there s just so many things that we know can look like obsessive compulsive disorder. so to say just a type of addiction would be to be missing the larger picture how much goes into this. it comes in different forms. another case of a woman named lisa whose house is immaculate but when her cats died she kept them in the freezer. what s going on in that case? inability of letting things gone. overwhelming attachment. and in lisa s case, she had lost her mom. and so, again, continuous loss, continuous loss. and her inability to let go of the animals, feeling like she let them down, like she failed them in some way and she was just stunted and unable to let them go. so she was just keeping them the way she knew how. you ve had a difficult past with drugs. you said getting over drug addiction was actually easier. so much easier. it was so much easier than this. how is that possible? it s very possible. it is very possible. i m telling you that when you let go of an animal, when you it s do no different than letting go of a child or a loved one because an animal loves unconditi unconditionally. and as far as i m concerned, it was just the most devastating loss next to my human family members that i ve ever taken. that s an important issue to be understood. thank you for coming in. and, samantha, thank you for your time. episode of confessions of animal hoarding appears tonight on animal planet. up next, carrie fisher reveals her new look right here after her dramatic weight loss. but first, these messages. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the jetta, awarded a top safety pick by the iihs. that s the power of german engineering. hurry in and lease the jetta s for just $179 a month. visit vwdealer.com today. 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. you ve been there. you pick out a makeup thinking it s your shade. until you actually try it out. now, i have a makeup that always gets it right. smart shade makeup instantly adjusts to match perfectly to your skin. almay smart shade makeup. only from almay. only for me. no, it s just for new people. hey ! chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate ! chocolate it is ! yeah, but i m new, too. umm. he s new. er. than you. even kids know it s wrong to treat new friends better than old friends. at ally bank, we treat all our customers fairly, with no teaser rates and no minimum deposit to open. it s just the right thing to do. carrie fisher is best known for her iconic role as prince cess leia in the star wars franchise. she s also a best-selling author. her book postcards from the edge is made into a blockbuster movie starring sheryl mcclain and meryl streep, which is also publicly addressing her personal demons with honesty and humor and one of them has been her weight. but now she has lost 50 pounds in the past nine months. take a look at carrie before and now, that s right, drum roll, because here she is today, carrie fisher! come on out! holy cow! where did the rest of you go? i don t want to know. if i knew, i don want to know because then i would have to take care of it. you look beautiful. i need to get out of the shot so people can see you right there. let me tell you, this is a big deal for you to come out here and be on national television talking about this. yes. at one point you didn t even want to leave the house. no, no. well, i couldn t leave it to go shopping because they didn t have sizes. i exhausted the alphabet on bra sizes, moved into like sa sanscript. and i did not know they had them. it must have been like an end table. so this is kind of emotional a little bit. wouldn t you say that s true? yes. i went and got to buy clothes that i would never i feel like not probably going to wear a lot of sleeveless things, but i think after 50, you know, there s a law. but, no, yeah, i mean, i lost 50 pounds. you know, the jenny craig food is good. yeah, yeah. i m not the type to say it if it wasn t. i m addicted to the cereal. it s like contraband, it tastes like you re cheating, which i like. that s good. yeah. it enabled, you re a paid spokesperson for jenny craig. it worked for you. here s the question i want to ask. how does the woman who is known for the line instant gratification takes too long find it within herself to stick to something and lose 50 pounds in nine months? well, i had a consultant who i could complain to and, you know, stamp my fat foot and say i didn t want to do it. her name is kathie. if there s someone it s sort of like the same principle, if you have somebody that is, you know, that you have to report to, in a way. it s like having somebody over your shoulder. if it was just me, i mean, i take things i start things just to give them up. i think i ve given up anything i ve ever started. what happened here? first of all, there had to be a spark. the spark was that i weighed 3 million pounds. it was more than a spark. there was a moments. you look in the mirror. i couldn t look in the mirror. i saw pictures of myself where i didn t look like i never thought i thought that was getting old. it turns out it s mostly getting fat. so you felt really bummed out. the spark happened. it implies something. i just wish i knew what it was. but it s not a good thing. are you done? 50 pounds enough? well, i think maybe so. i mean, i probably you know, it s the sisters that are, you know, if the sisters get i don t even know my daughter i said to my daughter which i wish my mother had said to me. what do i do that embarrasses you. she said, wear a bra. there you go. be proud of those sisters. some of us will a little bit less endowed. or a lot. but, listen, oftentimes i m sure you ve been annoyed when television programs like this one start rolling that videotape of you as princess leah in that, what, metal bikini? it s like being minnie mouse now. you know there s a marijuana called princess leia. not that i know. but someone told me that. not that i ve ever seen it. oh, my goodness. look at you there. yeah. that s got to i want to get back in the metal bikini and walk around the house like an idiot, you know. answer the doorbell, what, what is it? oh. this old thing? i m just wearing my my home style metal bikini. i ll come out with a line of metal bikinis for women over 40. very nice. okay. i might be interested in one of those. for dignity. if you want dignity you wear metal bikinis over 40. that s all i m saying. go on jenny craig and wear a metal bikini, and you, too, can wear metal bikinis over 40. in addition to being a spokesperson here for jenny craig, you re on tour with your show called wishful drinking. also your hbo special has been nominated for two emmys. and now you have a new boom coming out. it s hectic. it s hectic. congratulations. thank you. we re so, so proud of you. thank you. thanks for inspiring all of us, metal bikinis. coming up, last-minute travel deals after your local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am lisa robinson. let s check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. starting to look at little better on southbound 795 at coming towards the beltway. still some delays from owings mills to the beltway. accident off to the side as you approach the beltway. coldspring and montebello terrace, accident working there. you are going to find delays for been quickly eastbound 100. closed for 97 to oakwood. r if you are goin to travel on harry truman parkway it, this accident is now gone. medevac has left the scene. we will show you what it looks like an 795 and cockeysville. starting to improve, but delays past this point. 97 and 100, looking at delays leading up to the accident scene. eastbound 100, closed from 97 to oakwood. over to you, tony. nice, quiet start today good we deserve it. weather-wise, nothing to talk about until the weekend. we dipped into the 50s earlier this morning. we start to jump into the 60s. 72 downtown. mixture of sunshine and a few clouds. if one comes in tomorrow with scattered showers and thunderstorms. as we head into the weekend, we will see with the storm decides to do. thank you for joining us. see you back here at 8:55. 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, 24th day of august, 2011. hello, everybody. these folks are making the most of their summer vacation with a stop here in rockefeller plaza. they re saying hello to everybody. take a quick look if you have a family member out here. come back on friday, they re going to be treated to a live concert from grammy winning group called train. how cool is that? very cool. and actually if you can t be here, you can still pick one of their songs. the choices are marry me, drops of jupiter, and calling all an gejangels. text 1, 2, or 3 to 622639. do you have a pick? i guess i would say marry me. marry me. probably a couple of proposals here on the plaza. that would be nice. very good choice. meantime, what else is coming up in this hour? coming up, a look at those looking to squeeze an alaskan summer get away and great travel deals for you coming up. also, it is a peak season for delicious vine ripe tomatoes. our favorite will be here with some fresh ideas on what we can do with them. he s trying to use some of the heirloom tomatoes. so many of us grew up with those yucky tomatoes. this is the good stuff. all right. before we get to all of that, let s get a check of the weather. it s chilly. it is a little brisk. all in all, nice and refreshing here in the northeast. that will be changing. ohio river valley into the mid mississippi river valley, out in portland, we are looking at plenty of sunshine up and down the east coast and hit or miss thunderstorms throughout the coast with sizzling conditions. irene approaches the florida coast tomorrow with rain starting to move in late tonight. look for more rain in the northeast tomorrow into the mid atlantic states. we ve got hot weather from the western two-thirds of the country. the sizzling conditions will continue down through texas. houston probably going for its 25th day 25th day in a row of 100 plus readings. it looks like it is going to turn out to be a nice day. cool start again. upper 80 s later on this afternoon. afternoon. a little more cloud cover. where are you guys from? connecticut. the smilo family. smiler? smilo. i m from your favorite culinary school, institute of culinary education. ry like that. almost sounds like robots. smilos, very nice. they re not robots, al. thank you for being here. have a good time. thanks a lot. we ll be talking about coming up about the final summer getaways that are actually still a good deal you can get. but first, this is today on nbc. back now at 8:35. this morning on today s travel, labor day bu, if you thought you missed the boat on finding your last hoorah this summer, think again. she scoured the web to find terrific last-minute getaways. good morning to you. one question i had off the top is, if you have a vacation planned for the caribbean, given that this hurricane irene is on its way, are you out of luck? i mean, it really varies from resort to resort and from island to island in terms of insurance. i mean, june to november it is hurricane season. it s always going to be a risk. this year lots of airlines have waived their change fee, this includes virgin america, jetblue, continental, america. that means you can book at no charge. you can change your trip. that s good to know. if you re in the process of booking a last-minute getaway, isn t it a little bit late to get a good deal? no, there are some good deals. you found one in park city, utah. yeah. sounds amazing. it does. it is the top sport at the moment and mountain resort is the place to try. they started to open their lift and their slopes in summer. and park city, utah, this summer opened a mountain biking park. it s good for novices and for experienced mountain bikers. have fun out there. the place to stay is the waldorf astoria. it s a five-star hotel. three-star prices at this time of year. $179 a night. and they have a fantastic spa, it s one of only six in the world. great place to rest those limbs. biking by day and in the afternoon, food and wine. exactly. exactly. the second one going a little bit west, cabo san lucas, yes. always nice. the favorite of hollywood a-list, generjennifer aniston g there all the time. if you re going in a group, book a villa. gorgeous place with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a jacuzzi. it s got to cost a fortune. if you split the price between eight people, it works out at $124 per room, per night. you have a kitchen. obviously you can do your own kitchen this saves money or a chef. for $495 a night in cabo. stow, vermont. clam bakes, lobster rolls, great for the kids. they have just launched labor day. off 40%. includes the trapp family lodge, you can t get better than that. it has that sound track in my head. 2500 mountain acres. loads of activity for the kids. starts at $165 a night. and the best attraction up there is the there s a ben and jerry s ice cream. don t forget that if if you like your cookie dough ice cream, try it there. finally, if you re in the gulf, last-minute deal in san diego. san diego, absolutely. and they have an all play no pay offer at the moment. rancho bernardo. fantastic organic restaurant. your meals are included in the price. plus, unlimited golf for two or spa treatments. really great spa. if you re a spa fan put this on your list. they offer massages. not too far from la hoya. 90 minutes south of los angeles, as well. are all these deals happening because the economy is sort of not doing that hot? what s the incentive? that s definitely a factor, yes. but often last minute, it s a great time of year to travel. certainly some amazing deals. if you think the game has been written already, it hasn t. ten days and still time. thank you so much. thanks. up next, from soups to salads, the season s best tomatoes. but first, this is today on nbc. back now at 8:41. this morning on how to cook everything today delicious and ripe, heirloom tomatoes. now is the season to enjoy them. the author of how to cook everything cookbook is here with some great recipes. new york times magazine column. mark, good morning. you look particularly handsome. boy, it s a great time for these fantastic, yummy tomatoes. not like a olden day tomatoes. this is time of year to buy tomatoes that look like something and taste like something. i remember when this was the only time of year to get good tomatoes. we re going to treat them right. four recipes here. one cooks them. the other three are raw. you seem to be cooking one right here. some might say to cook an heirloom tomato might be a bit of a crime. i would say for the most part you want to eat them raw but cooking them is good, too. i m going to peel a couple. i normally don t peel tomatoes but sometimes people do. make an x in there and throw it in boiling water. how long do you keep it in there? 30 seconds. that s why we ve had these in here for three minutes. a bowl of ice water. the thing i love about this recipe is it s tomatoes and peaches, which is my new favorite combo. you scored the bottom of this, too. same thing. is it going to work? look at that. nothing to it. look at that. nothing to it. 30 seconds and that s it. look at the peach, too. it s peeling. we re happy about that. that s working out. i happy. 30 seconds and that happened. boy, up obsessed. now come on over here. you ve got onions. onions cooking here. olive oil. ai little bit of olive oil. these are the ones you peeled? yes. like i said, i don t care if they are peeled or not. some people do. and the peaches. we cook those. it only talks a couple of minutes. salt in here, pepper? yeah. a little? yeah. a little. then what? then we cool them and put them in a blender. add a little cream, if you like, not essential. not essential but it makes it ice. yeah. yeah, okay. and then just a tad. and then blend. blend, right. and if it works, and it does we need to plug this one in. once we plug it in we re going to grind it. anyway. so you you ve seen this before. it turns into this. yeah. let s not worry about it. okay. we got hung up on that. we go nowhere. you have a little bit of basil. terragon, actually. toma mate to peach. what s great is tomato with cut up peaches. it s raw except for the peeling you really taste the flavor. it s so good. i m going to take this with me. you tell me about this. now we re moving into the realm of no cook. this is a stuffed tomato. i want to show you how you do this. cut off the top. scoop out the insides. you don t want to throw that away. no. scoop that away. stand back. stand back. yesterday i got food all over my yellow dress. that must have been so, yeah, all of these beautiful juices. you don t scoop it all completely out. just most of the top. chop that up. that s tomato insides from this odd brownish red tomato, with some cubed potatoes. yep. and some chopped olives. looks like some olive there s. yeah. and some tuna because we re doing sort of a salad with stuffed tomato salad. maybe a canned tuna? yeah. mush that up. make it into chunky bits. fill it up like that. just like that. because of the shapes and sizes, what a pretty display with all the different possibilities there. okay. i m going to take some of that, too. okay. this is a classic sis sillian dish. not really one of my favorites. chopped tomatoes. lots of basil. a couple of cloves of garlic but you leave them whole because you re going to take them out. hang on. okay. all right. a ton of olive oil. and you mush all of this together with some salt and pepper. you really let it sit for 20 minutes, half an hour. you fish the garlic back out. it s a raw sauce. that s it. pasta. throw maybe a little cheese if you want on top? that s not really done, but you could. usually it s not done. the italians don t put the cheese? more basil, more olive oil. this is really, to me, the best juice of raw tomatoes in late summer. right. you have this raw sauce. it s so wonderful. it has that freshness. you think that will go in there in 30 minutes, the flavor? you don t want to chew it. of course you don t. but the bottom line is that this is probably one of the easiest pasta salads i ve ever seen. no cook pasta salad. now, finally, fresh sliced tomatoes. a little olive oil. salt and pepper. if you want to grab that, that s fine. and some fresh ricotta or use cream fresh or cottage cheese is great. and a mint, which is a little unusual. what s the story with that? gives it a little bit of a fresh very fresh, really light. beautiful use of a fresh heirlooms. we expect you to create a beautiful use of everything you touch. mark bittman, thank you so much. i cannot wait to attack all of this. still ahead, talking about the best fashion tips of all time, but first, this is today on nbc. this morning on leonard s look, a remarkable man who not only came back to life but sees a limitless future. the times are tough and the water s troubled. but 63-year-old steers the boat with confidence and ease, still seeing something on the horizon to smile about, still seeing a future worth sailing for. not bad for a blind guy, huh? reporter: a blind visionary and a purposeful mission, shared by others who might see on a daily basis moving with energetic swiftness. you go at a pretty good clip. reporter: to my hometown of illinois, they are headed to their jobs in a building i have seen but never visited, until now. we are the hope profession. people come to us with hopes and dreeps of a better life. reporter: chuck young is the president of the happy school for the blind. a 91-year-old institution dedicated to improving the lives of blind and visually impaired people all over the world through a variety of distance learning programs, from braille reading to the latest advancements in computer and voice recognition software. there s quite a few reporter: commuting from san diego home, a married father of one, works with hadley on a program promoting entrepreneurship, a subject he knows quite well having gained national recognition for owning nearly two dozen businesses while also encouraging other disabled people to test the waters and themselves in sports and business. but then isn t this a horrible time to be venturing into anything? i ve been there when it s worse. i mean, theoretically, i ve been there. reporter: or at least thought to be dead. while serving as a platoon sergeant in vietnam. they put me in a body bag where i stayed for two days. reporter: when the bag was opened to process his body for shipment back to the u.s., they found he was still alive. he had gone into a diabetic coma in battle, it took his sight but not his will to stay in the game, a game he could easily avoid. i couldn t stay home a disailed vet and not do nothing but tell war stories and all. that s not me. reporter: and it s not a lot of other people, either. people who realize, like urban, that human history is filled with episode after episode of daunting challenges. he comes one day or the other, it doesn t work overnight. they attempt for understanding. it s all together. reporter: some people have every excuse in the world to pack it in, to give up, but they don t ppt watching urban, a champion sailor and skier, moving around unfamiliar boat in unfamiliar lake michigan waters make me think about the limitations we impose on ourselves and those around us. seeing him trying to do something, my instinct is to give him a hand, do it for him. reporter: it s a sight to behold and an attitude to emula emulate. this is great. reporter: for today, mike leonard, nbc news, illinois. showing us all how to see something. great story. amazing. if you give people a chance to show us what they re made of, what they can do. the whole country is made more of what i think we realize. turn now to cookie collections. a few weeks ago we asked you to send us your pictures of things that you collect. well, here s a quick look at some of the best things you sent us. there s a lot of stuff. wow. jean from grand haven, michigan, sent us pictures of her husband s vintage tennis racks rackets. he has so many they fill an entire airplane hangar. wow. that s a lot. another major trend, pez dispensers. the candy dispenser that makes you look like you re throwing up candy. look at this collection. for 17 years he s got 600 pez dispensers and counting. i wonder he s got the kate and will pez dispenser. i haven t seen it but i read about it. also another popular item, magnets. people travel all over the world and get a magnet. the witmyers of georgia, each family member has a designated section of the refrigerator. what do you collect? animation films. anything? postcards and print. shoes. admit it. you also collect great videos, too. we talk about the earthquake here on the east coast. on the west coast, this goes back to 1987, the quake, nbc affiliate. under the desk. under the desk. christopher, the weather guy. right. they were worried about the swaying lights overhead. the camera guy didn t seem to worried. hey, where did everybody go? anyway. keith morrison was an anchor there. or was he? hmmm. ah. anyway, we ve got much more coming up, including the latest on hurricane irene. but first, your local news. live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. good morning. i am lisa robinson. the good news as maryland officials are announcing the infant mortality rate has dropped the second year in a row. gov. martin o malley and mayor stephanie rawlings-blake have scheduled 10:00 news conference to address the decline. they will also highlight the success of the b more healthy babies campaign. back in a minute with a check on today s forecast. now here s a look at the forecast with tony pann. nice day on tap. a little breather before it gets active and going into the weekend. mixture of sunshine and a few clouds. we will make it into the upper 80 s this afternoon. high temperature of around 87. front is going to come through tomorrow. scattered showers and thunderstorms. rain not associated with the hurricane. over the weekend we have to be concerned about irene. it all depends on how fast the goes and how far off shore it is. thank you for joining us. see you back here at 9:25.