Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110907 : vimarsana.com

you know, hurricane-proof their vacation. you want to sort of avoid a hurricane, we ve got tips for you coming up this morning. plus, it is feeling a little bit like fall. you mocked me yesterday when i said it was cold. nobody mocked you. it is a little chilly out. fall-like temperatureses already. that means we ve got to start thinking fall fashion. we re going to clue you in on the hottest trends at the most affordable prices. that s right. and in entertainment news, i don t know if you ve ever seen a donkey fly but the man who has done the voice of donkey, eddie murphy is going to be hosting the academy awards coming up in february. we re going to be taking a look at that, why the producers are going with mr. murphy. i say why not. looking forward to it. i know exactly. he s so funny. it will be fun. let s go inside, savannah guthrie is at the news desk filling in while natalie is off this week. good morning. goods morning. in the news today, a fourth person has died over the night following that shooting rampage at a nevada ihop. kristen dahlgren is in carson city this morning with the latest. good morning. the attack here just took minutes leaving four dead, three national guards troops and a woman sitting nearby. appears the gunman walked deliberately toward the table where the uniformed troops were sitting as he was unloading his ak-47 though they say they have no indication that 32-year-old eduardo sencion knew anyone inside the restaurant. his family said he had a history of mental illness wabut wasn t acting out of the ordinary the day before. he left no note. they have no idea on a motive. but of the seven other people wounded, several are described as clinging to life and that death toll could still rise. all right. nbc s kristen dahlgren, thank you. now to the out of control wildfires raging through central texas, two people side in the huge blaze burning near us a ten. it s destroyed 600 homes as well. overall, four people have been killed in those fires statewide. president obama is expected to propose $300 billion in tax cuts and federal spending when he outlines his jobs plan tomorrow night to get americans back to work. the plan reportedly includes a one-year extense of payroll tax cuts and an extension of jobless benefits. a russian passenger plane has crashed about 160 miles northeast of moscow killing at least 36 people, according to local news reports. a security official says the plane crashed and burned while attempting to take off. stunning new images of the moon let us retrace the steps of history. a nasa probe has sent back highly detailed images of the 40-year-old landing sites of the apollo missions and amazingly even to this day, you can make out the footprints astronauts left on the lunar surface. and finally, my, what big ears you have, two feet of them to be act. meet harbor the dog happy hound winning the guinness world record for the longest ears on a living dog. as a puppy me used to tumble over he s ears. in case you thought those ears help him hear better. no, they use their floppy ears to cup sense on the ground toward their noses. it s now 9:04. let s go back to al with a check of the weather. all righty. let s check it out. show you what s happening as far as our weather is concerned. you will see we are basically looking at a lot of leftover rain from lee. and there s nothing to kick it out. so we re going to see more rain. look at these rainfall amounts. we re talking about anywhere from three to five inches of rain over the next 24 hours. we re also keeping an eye on what s going on out in the tropics. we ve got katia. good news is that s going to split the difference between bermuda and the east coast. just some rip kurntsz there. tropical depression number 14 could become maria later on. 1100 miles west-southwest of the cape verde eyislands. models are not all together on this one. we re going to keep an eye on it into early next week. another soggy day today. flooding is possible. maybe the possibility of severe thunderstorms into the afternoon. afternoon. rain and a little warmer than and that s your latest weather. savannah? all right, al. thanks. now to today s money 911 where our experts answer your biggest financial questions. jean chatzky is today s financial editor and author of money 911, david bach mman, author of debt free for life and nicole is a financial expert. good morning. good morning. by popular demand we re going to do our twitter questions today. everything was tweeted to us. we ll start, this one is going to be for you, jean. the question is from john. he tweets under the handle mule man. he sayse, i have about 12,000 i an ira and i need to withdraw to pay credit card bills, car, and rent. what penalties can i expect? you can expect penalties of about 10% and then you have to pay income taxes on that money. the key as we say is to avoid doing this if at all possible. i want him to see a credit counselor. you can find one at debtadvice.org. this is from k.c. krab. my family s income is $140,000 a year, but we have zero retirement and little savings. where do we cut to be able to save and retire? you cut quick because this person has a great income, $140,000. there are people watching over america saying i want that income. he s got $1,000 a month in expenses starting today. go through fixed expenses, download them into quicken. in a matter of minutes he can see where all of his money is going and cut $1,000. save $1,000 a month in 25 years at 8%, he s a millionaire. $1,000, though, that s hard to cut. nicole, this next one is for you. it s from somebody who tweets under the title intrepid educator. he has two college age kids and a love for travel. i m wondering, should i keep buying real estate or a time share? my savings is good. bills are low. 401(k) is $30,000. i guess the question is, is the real estate still a good investment? great deals for vacation homes. they re off about 11% compared to primary homes which are off 5%. intrepid educator, great twitter handle, asked about time shares. searches for time shares online has increased especially if you want to own half of a quarter of a home with another family depending on the situation. i will say if you do have a roof over your head, a second home is an important exponential investment that you don t even want to consider just the sticker price. you also have to consider the taxes, if you re in another state, for example, or mate nance costs. if you re going to buy at a ski resort, somebody is going to have to clean up that snow. here s the question from gina bruce. she says, when buying a car is it better to pay cash to hold on to the heloc for emergencies or use heloc? will interest be deductible in new york? apparently that s a home equity line of credit. less. we all knew that. i want to choose option c. i want to say neither one. hold on to the cash. if you don t have an emergency cushion you should to the be taking money out of your home to buy a car. if you do have an emergency cushion, weigh the cost of that heloc. the rates are 3.5% to 4%. versus seasan auto loan. you might be able to find a great deal on an auto loan. i ve seen uone at 1%. take the auto loan. cash is good. david, this one s for you. dusty from illinois writes, i can transfer funds in a 401(k) to an ira without penalties? absolutely. it can be done in minutes. in fact, you can go back to the company that has your 401(k) plan and ask them to do an ira roll. they can do it for you in minutes. transfer the money from a 401(k) plan right to an ira. it s called an ira rollover. no taxes and no penalties. if for any reason the company sends you the check directly you have to get that money into an ira within 60 days or you will have taxes and penalties. they can do it for you. all automatic. great. nicole, from paul. tick tookck. we are getting more certainty from the federal reserve right now saying interest rates could remain low into mid to late 2013 that is great compared to the extended language period we had been hearing. a little bit more clarity. this is great news for homeowners looking, of course, at mortgages at 4.22% for a 30-year fixed rate. exactly. if you re looking to refinance though there are some issues, tighter equity line requirements and tighter credit scores. you have two years to do so, paul. or take an advantage of low interest rates in another way. great advice. as always, jean chatzky, david bach, nicole, thank you. coming up, you may not be able to control the weather but you can hurricane proof your vacation. there is a new sheriff in town, or shall we say a hollywood hillses cop. eddie murphy will host the os skers. . . o. s. oscar. s. a, choose your sauce, as many times as you want! cop. eddie murphy will host the oscars. cop. eddie murphy will host the oscars. the never ending pasta bowl is back. for just $8.95 try new sauces like roasted mushroom parmesan and hearty pizzaiola meat. enjoy any sauce and pasta combination, then try others. have all you want along with our unlimited fresh salad and warm breadsticks all for just $8.95. try it tonight at your olive garden. when you re here, you re family. [ female announcer ] there s a place called hidden valley where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can t get enough. hidden valley ranch, makes vegetables delectable. if you sleep in your contact lenses. lucky for you, air optix brand has a lens approved for up to 30 days and nights of continuous wear. [ male announcer ] that s why they re recommended most for people who sleep in their lenses. visit airoptix.com for a free one-month trial offer. for people who sleep in their lenses. on a recent trip to france we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french yogurt. so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. it was a grueling trip! try new activia selects french yogurt. turn it on. power it up. ignite your youth gene now. introducing anew genics. an avon breakthrough, 10 years in the making. our first to use youth gene science. unleases your youth potential and helps undo up to 10 years from the look of skin. clarity and firmness.reborn. and wrinkles? transformed. the power is yours now. with anew genics, only from avon. visit avon.com to find a representative today. this morning on today s travel, how to hurricane-proof your vacation. all the weather may be out of your hands, with some careful planning you can make sure your dream vacation doesn t turn into a stormy nightmare. good morning. good morning. this is the peak season where most people are effected. we re snack dab in the middle of it. the regions effected are the caribbe caribbean, the gulf coast, the south and middle of the united states. everyone you like to vacation. as we saw in irene, it can get up the coast. we saw the subway systems affected here, amtrak. a lot of things can be impacted in hurricane season. i mean, i was flying out to maine. my flight was canceled. last train on the amtrak. people couldn t get to the airports even if they had flights because the roads. reporter: flooded. you have to be careful in whatever it is that you re going to be doing and really plan ahead. that s what we re trying to do. planes, trains, and automobiles. let s talk about some of the tips you have. the first thing seems to obvious but it s probably the first thing we overlook. checking the weather repeatedly. i think it s important if you re going to take advantage of the great prices that there are for the season in the caribbean, for example, to be vigilant with the weather when it s coming up to your trip. the ways to do that, first of all, the national weather service has an incredible hurricane website called nhc.noaa.gov. you can go there to check on the updates on storms we have. katia coming up. for specific storms in the caribbean you can go to stormcarib.com. that s the first step. next step, buy insurance early. it s not a new phenomenon but one people are appreciating more. we all think of health insurance and we forget about trip insurance. if you take a risky trip, insure your trip. it s a fraction of the cost of your trip. what you can go do is go to insuremytrip.com. you can do comparison shopping. one important thing when you re thinking about buying trip insurance is to buy it early enough. better rate? no, it s more important than that. if you don t buy it before the hurricane that s going to affect your trip is on the hurricane maps, you don t get coverage. the coverage is contingent on that. you also say look into the airlines hurricane policy. i thought acts of good nature could never be protected by an airline. this is the thing with airlines because they see how many people get inconvenienced and how many people s plans are effected, they waive a lot of their change penalties. for example, the american airlines did that. jetblue in my case when i was flying out last week was willing to waive their fees and, in fact, returned the first portion of my fee for the flight. nice. however, that was great. they didn t get in touch with me to tell me my flight was canceled. another moment where you need to be vigilant. check in with your hotel to find out their policy. i mad friends heading out to maine during hurricane your marine and their hotel is basically, like, you re out of luck. interesting, some hotels have to close, that s all they can do. however, in bermuda, all the hotels in their association have a policy where it s a hurricane guarantee. if there s a hurricane anywhere within 200 miles of bermuda within three days of your trip they will refund your money. if you re stuck there during a hurricane they won t charge you for room or food or beverage. choose a destination outside the hurricane belt. that s a tough one because you get great deal it is you travel during a hurricane season. think about aruba, think about the south, the west of the country, san diego, there are lots of other opportunities. also, if you have caribbean on your mind and you will not give up, think about a cruise. that s another alternative. why? because if cruise lines see there s a hurricane coming in their itinerary they can change ports. you take a lot of the pressure off you to be vigilant and let the cruise line bs vigilant for you. nice advice. all right. now we can go on a vacation and not worry about the next tropical storm or hurricane. thank you very much. thanks. coming up, he s ready for prime time, comedian eddie murphy s is tapped to host the academy awards. we ll look at everything right after this. l mickelson, pro golfer. if you have painful, swollen joints, i ve been in your shoes. one day i m on p of the world. the next i m saying. i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i m surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you ve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don t start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you re prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. get back to the things that matter most. good job girls. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. against new kellogg s fiber plus caramel pecan crunch. really? 35% of your daily fiber. chocolate lava cupcake. [ indistinct conversations ] mmm. that s great cereal. mmm. this is fiber cereal? it s great cereal, but.cupcake. [ female announcer ] kellogg s® fiber plus™. taste the plus. eddie murphy has been picked to host the academy awards for the for the first time next february. so excited. the announcement makes it clear, oscar organizers are looking for more laughs in 2012. of course, many comedians have already tried and failed at what they call one of the most prestigious jobs in hollywood. it s one hell of a day in the neighborhood. a hell of a day for a neighbor. would you be mine? could you be mine? it s a beautiful day in eddie murphy s neighborhood. this is how you answer the door in my neighborhood. who is it? on tuesday they knocked on eddie murphy s door asking him to host the 84th academy awards in february. is there a problem, officer? reporter: by selecting the 50-year-old comedian, the academy which faced criticism after last year s award ceremony is choosing to go back to its comedic roots. past hosts have included legendary comics as bop hope, billy crystal, steve martin, and whoopee goldberg. this is not exactly, you know, warm and fuzzy billy cryst crystal, but i think it will get people talking about the oscars in a way that the academy really wants to happen right now. reporter: but the choice is still being questioned, why eddie and why now? some say it s his connection to oscar director brett ratner whose also directing murphy s next movie tower heists. murphy who earned a supporting actor oscar nomination in 2007 for dream girls hasn t been seen on the screen since the 2009 flop imagine that. but over his almost 30-year film career murphy s movies have grossed more than $7 billion, with such hits as trading places that s like jackson from the jackson 5. reporter: beverly hills cop can i stay for a while? reporter: and coming to america. bark like a dog. if he comes out and nails it and gives you that eddie murphy you love from 48 hours, that s genius. you know, all of a sudden eddie murphy is back in such a big way. looking good, billy ray. feeling good, lewis. i can t believe you, tamron hall, you have never seen trading places ? no. i m sorry. i had to tell america because it s a travesty. i have not seen ghost busters or, what is it, blues brothers, a lot of them. i did see snl in the eddie years and he s going to rock during the oscars. i think it s a brilliant choice. i got to say it s such a hard task because it feels like people really? you go out there and put your heart on stage and everyone in hollywood says they didn t really do a good job. i don t envy him, the pressure. he s a pro. wool see what happens. he s got to do hot tub. yeah. she s seen that. all right. still to come, we re going to bring you up to date on the hottest fall fashion trends. plus, how to throw an italian cocktail party for your guests that you in never forget either, after your local news and weather. think twice. it may be a sign that your digestive system could be working better. listen to this with occasional irregularity, things your body doesn t use could be lingering in your system, causing discomfort. but activia has been shown in clinical studies to help with slow intestinal transit when consumed 3 times per day. 7 out of 10 doctors recommend activia. and the great taste is recommended by me! a dab of concealer here. a flurry of powder there. what if there was a makeup that didn t just hide your breakouts. but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup. it has our proven blemish fighting formula blended with silky gorgeous makeup. so it gives you a beautiful flawless look while undercover it works to clear breakouts. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. off and on showers and thunderstorms possible. there could be flooding problems and even the chance for severe weather in the neighborhood. high temperatures in the upper 70 s. things will begin to improve. 40% on friday. it sho so maybe i vam trying to nub myself a little, trying to change. you can only handle not self destructing by being self destructive? what do you want from me? i don t know, alex. that s how we re all used to seeing the multi-talented actor but now he s singing the blue on his debut album called let them talk. and tomorrow on today, house will be in the house to sing live. as a matter of fact, tamron, britain s gq named him music man of the year. his voice is beautiful. i know. who knew? meanwhile, coming up in this half hour, as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches we re going to talk to a husband and father and the decade since his wife died in the world trade center, how he and his two children are looking back but also moving forward. and then moving on obviously to something very different, we re talking about fashion, fall fashion. it s already chilly at least in the northeast. but rich colors, textures, and a little more length. bobbie thomas is here with the big styles at the smallest prices. savannah, i hear you have a burning question for bobbie. what is it? get to the bottom of it, can you wear white after labor day? yes, of course, you can. okay. everyone says yes in you do and then people write you and say, why are you wearing white after labor day. and then write, why are you writing me. exactly. and then today s kitchen, modern twist on your next italian feast. delicious hors d oeurves and cocktails that are tasty and light on the call rays. and a programming note, who doesn t like to save a little bit of money. today.com is hosting a live web chat at 1:00 p.m. eastern time today with coupon expert colin, she s the main writer at today.com s new blog hip to save which posts up to 40% online discounts every single day. i ll be there with you online. head over to today.com for all the details. now let s get a check of the weather from al. and let s see what s happening over the next 48 hours starting with today. we ve got katia off the coast. not going to cause any problems. rip currents and strong waefs. you ve got wet weather with a high surf advisories in the northeast. western two thirds of the country pretty hot. we re going to see temperatures in the 90s both days in portland. the heat continueses in the southwest. stadly no relief for our friends in texas with all the wildfires and extreme drought that continues. more showers in the upper ohio river valley into the mid atlantic states and on into the the northeast. flooding possible through the day. severe weather this afternoon. high temperature of around 78. and that s your latest weather. now back inside to tamron and savannah. al, thank you. up next, we ll get the answer to savannah s burning question, can you wear white after labor day? bobbie thomas is here with all that and some fashionable ideas for this fall, right after this. [ birds chirping ] mmm! hot fudge sundae?!? new wild strawberry?!? [ female announcer ] over 25 flavors of kellogg s pop-tarts. and they re all for fun & fun for all. pop-tarts. made for fun. and they re all for fun & fun for all. fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido yep! (mom) i m so proud of you. the bus is here, gotta go mom. okay hunny, have a great day. look in your bag, made you something. (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. (telephone ring. pick up) usa prime credit. my name .peggy. you got problem? peggy? third time i ve called, it s time i speak with a supervisor. supervisor is genius.i transfer. transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! hello.my name is. peggy? come on!!! hello? want better customer service? switch to discover. ranked #1 in customer loyalty. it pays to discover. on a recent trip to france we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french yogurt. so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. it was a grueling trip! try new activia selects french yogurt. reduces the visible signs of aging. minimizes the look of wrinkles. hydrates. renews. seems like an amazing moisturizer? actually. it s an amazing makeup. introducing revlon age defying with dna advantage. its powerful skincare ingredients and spf 20 help protect skin s dna. 96% of women saw flawless, younger-looking skin in just 2 weeks. new revlon age defying with dna advantage cream makeup. age. defy it! this morning on today s style, fall s hottest trends. everyone s favorite fashion season is here. if you re looking up to date your wardrobe for the cooler temps, today style editor bobbie is here. good morning to you. good morning. what trends are you looking for? i know this is a big week in the fashion world. fashion week starts. i haven t seen a runway yet. we re going to be looking at spring, so i know. i can never get used to that. i know. i m really excited. i love the new season and i have so many pretty things to show everyone. everything is pretty much under one h100$100 expect for a jacke first trend is go longer. we ve got julie and shirley. what is this look about? i wanted to help break this down not so much by trend but what you can do. go longer, like you said. a mid-length. julie has this great look on. the dress is below the knee. this is a practical look when it s colder out. you can wear boots with this. if you wear that length you feel like you ve got to wear a heel? yes, or do a nice casual boot, riding boot. julie takes off this jacket and this is a pretty dress. this dress was only $36 on sale from the summer that you can wear into fall. great buy. on shirley i wanted to take how you can take a summer, almost white cardigan belted, add this great longer pleated skirt. it s from macy s and then add a boot and a scarf and you winterized a look you could have had on with flip-flops and a tank. thank you, ladies so much. our next trend this fall is to embrace color. here we are wearing black and white. but you say color is all the rage on the runways. yes. i love the classic black and white combo. i m a big fan. but i think you re going to see color everywhere. we saw color blocking all summer long. on nancy what i really wanted to show is how you can make that warmer. these are richer autumn hues, cranberry, orange, mustard bag. pairing them together in a fresh way. it looks very fall. are there any dos and don ts when you are doing the unorthodoxed color combinations because that looks fantastic but i could never put that together. just have fun with it. play around with the skirt and top in the mirror, add a little color with the bag. maybe stick to three colors max or just do two that complement. this blouse, the tie neck blouse, you re going the see it vry where. $9.95 at h and m. what? something i want to let you know, these store tras additionally didn t sell online and czar is now selling online and h and m is ramping up. anybody can getting a cess to these stores. nancy looks great in her color. where do you come down on this no white after labor day rule? i am a huge fan of seasonless style. i do think that you can wear white. i think you may want to leave the white linen pants or something that just doesn t look prakt cat in the winter behind but you can wear white. i do a whole segment on how you can wear white. i will be there on the front row. thank you, nancy. next we re talking about going bold. what do you mean by that? marie, come on out and show us. she has a great outfit on. it s all about clashing and contrast. normally you would see pieces like this and think do they really go together? yes, the top is from mink gango. i bought them separately but i like how the colors are repeated. i think they re both so bold they needed each other to balance out. it almost looks like a nice outfit that would have been put together. if you try to put these patterns together, are you looking for one color to tie it together or one texture? how do you do it if you re looki looking your own closet. you see how she has brown to the skirt and shirt. that picked up the pink offset each other with the blue. you can mix the patterns as long as you stick to a color scheme that complements each other. thank you. let s bring out andrea because she s bringing out the next rule which ask is add texture. this is from new york and company. a lot of women are afraid to the faux fur. if andrea turns to the side, it has a knit back. it s a great secret. you only have half the volume. so you can indulge in this faux fur look without feeling like, you know, a chewbacca on top. i love my favorite new things. under 25, from new york, the iconic are those leg warmers? yes, long leg warmers that go past your knee. manage gener imagine when you leave the studio freezing you re going to be set. i love the layering. only a few seconds. let s have judy come on out for the glisten up look. this i love that. this is still about texture but about glamour. she s got a look on that was jenner lopez from kohl s. this is her new item. she kind of looks like jennifer lopez. it s on trend. ufl these are, of course, i put everything online. you say you can do the makeup sparkly, too. yeah. let s bring the models out. judy has the sparkly eye makeup. i fell in love with chanel s collection. if you have a question e-mail me at today.com and i ll be sure to answer. bobbie, thank you so much. and you can wear white, too. coming up next, a family touched by the tragedy of 9/11 moves on building new memories. but first, this is today on nbc. -i love this card. -with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. it s 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that s 1% cash back on oscar. .tony. oscar! 2% back on whatever she ll eat. 3% back on filling up this baby. [ male announcer ] now get 1-2-3 percent cash back. it s that simple. [ male announcer ] apply online or at a bank of america near you. we re talking 3% back on gas. should we order panda blossom, panda moon. how about chinese at home with wanchai ferry? you can make it in just 14 minutes. mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn t feel like going out anyway. [ male announcer ] wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese in your grocer s freezer. [ male announcer ] there are snacks. and there are better snacks. quaker chewy, 25% less sugar than the leading sweet snacks, no high fructose corn syrup and the goodness of whole grains. quaker chewy, 25% less sugar than the leading sweet snacks, lose those lines for up to a year! juvéderm® xc is the gel filler your doctor uses to instantly smooth out lines right here. temporary side effects include redness, pain, firmness, swelling, bumps, or risk of infection. ask your doctor about juvéderm® xc. with two children and no way to support them. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people s lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. and off we go! seeking inspiration from the world s best yogurts for activia selects in paris we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. then our search took us to beautiful greece and this thick and creamy greek yogurt, so rich and full of flavor. it was a grueling trip! try new activia french and greek yogurt. a world of great new tastes. this morning on today s american story with bob dotson we ll meet victoria who lost her mother on 9/11 and what she wants most in life is the day before when her mom kissed her good-bye. reporter: we all tell our kids i ll be back. you know that. no, daddy. reporter: but since 9/11 victoria alonso doesn t always buy that. her mother janet went to work at the world trade center that watour head. returned. rt, her ect dad, w left to car for the 2-year-oaughtend andndaby boy o alonzo waia long tim for thth ffa. f he and janet trieded to eive a then,e up.year and two months later was pregnanteg lo aehold, was pret. rter: t tector viia. now ny a teenag victoria loin the m rnd sees h mother. love her. reporter: they much victororias as honor student. net studi night n weekends ars, graduated om coldu in her lat 30s, st before shed. ifom were sitting here today, what questions would you ask her? what would she want to do with me today. reporter: since 9/11 robert has taut his children to treat every moment like an unopened gift. fruit snacks. don t you eat them. they re for me. reporter: he coached victoria s softball team to the new york state championship this summer. we all went out and bought rounds of lipitor. reporter: and toasted brother robbie, too. back to two steps. reporter: robbie learned to walk before most kids with down syndrome because his dad plays with him every day. shoot. reporter: he doesn t put off anything that will bring his children joy. what size are these? reporter: robert figures when his kids smile, the terrorists lose. i am going to florida. florida. reporter: good times keep the bad memories at bay. it was. was hot. reporter: alonzo s plan to spend 9/11 in a bark where they play, near the monument their neighbors built for janet and all the other parents in new york city suburb who went to work that day and didn t come home. janet just returned to her job after giving birth to robbie. her body was found on his 2nd birthday. this was my mommy. reporter: we all think of 9/11 once a year. the alonsos live it every day. for today, bob dotson, nbc news, with an american story in stone any point, new york. 12k3w4r and we are back in a moment. this is today on nbc. if morning in today s kitchen, an italian cocktail party easy as one, two, three. what better way to transition from summer to fall than by celebrating with light, easy, and seasonal italian bites. yummy, marisa is here in new york. good morning. good morning. so amazing. what inspired this menu? my family is from napless, italy. these are all my favorite fruits and vegetables and liquors from the coast. i love the recipes you re going to show us because you make this filling once and serve it two ways. what do we do? this is an eggplant, so we have some beautiful eggplants here. what i m going to use today is japanese eggplant because is that hard to find? i want to make this this weekend. will i search all weekend for japanese eggplant? you can go to a latin market, farmer s market. there s some right there. thank you. these are all the end of the summer vegetables. wonderful, and fruits. perfect. right there we do have the japanese eggplant, i love to use because it has thinner skin and sweeter. my italian grandmother would be very upset with me but italian eggplant is more bitter and you have to salt them. you have to cube it. i did this before we started. we did saute. we cubed the eggplant in about half-inch cubes. saute them until they re sort of golden. here i already have sweating in the pan. i have olive oil, some onions and some garlic. should we add thogs in? yes. those in the celery. okay. and than the eggplant? no, that s for later. we throw in also the anchovies. this is an acquired taze. do you have to use it? you don t but it adds a great saltiness to the dish. this should simmer and sweat for a couple of minutes. okay. we ll fast forward ahead and in that base i did there i added tomato sauce. at this point we re going to add in some of the pitted green italian olives and some golden raisins. nice. and some capers. i love that yen-yang. the sweet and saucy. they simmered a couple minutes before. how long do you get that going? a couple of my under the circumstances minutes. you don t want it to get too mushy. you gently add in the eggplant. savannah, just don t dump it? you have seen my cooking segments before. need a little splash guard when i m in the kitchen. yes. so now we ll just stir this in gently. and then there are two ways now. let s show that so we can get to the other things. yes. we can actually put it on toast or also put on ceramic spoons for the people who are garnish. yes, garnish it with basil. i want to get to, this watermelon balls? yes. this is a great hors d oeurve. do you need seedless? you do. put that in and add some extra virgin olive oil. little black pepper. and fresh mint. okay. nice. refreshing. and you let it marinade for ten minutes. they can serve it ins this little ramkins. let s get to the cocktails. this is a cocktail i call it the sunset, reminds me of the capri, the color. we are using peached puree, apple and limocello. membeix that up. thank you so much. okay. i know. all right. coming up thank you. coming up, what to do when a friendship wanders toward more than friends. umm, that s right after your local news and weather. cheers. live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. off and on showers and thunderstorms. there will be periods of heavy rain and flooding. even a chance for severe weather. high temperatures will climb into the upper 70 s. things will improve as we head into the weekend. it should clear up on saturday