Transcripts For WRC Today 20091110 : vimarsana.com

good morning. ida comes ashore. the slow-moving tropical storm hits the gulf coast this morning with significant rain, 15-mile-per-hour wind gusts and flooding. al is live in florida in the middle of it all. missed opportunity? intelligence officials admit they knew months ago that the accused ft. hood gunman was exchanging e-mails with a radicaluslim cleric with ties to al qaeda, but they dismissed it as research. now outraged lawmakers are demanding answers as president obama heads to texas to honor the victims. and in the nick of time. a drunk woman stumbles off a subway platform in boston and onto the tracks. fortunately, the train stopped at the last second and she is okay today, tuesday, november 10th, 2009. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this tuesday morning. i m meredith vieira. and in for matt lauer, i m ann curry. good morning, everybody. boy, that train was close. scary. oh, my gosh! she would have lost two or three lives right there alone. she s lucky to be alive. no question. very scary. also, moving on to the top story, ida. it s losing steam, but the bad news is, it s making a mess. pediatric cancer kills more absolutely. kids under 18 than any other along with strong wind gusts, the storm is dumping a lot of rain across the southeast, up to disease. a spark for a brilliant but very eight inches in some spots. simple idea. we re going to get to al s live the idea, have a bake sale. over the past two years the report in just a moment. it looks pretty in those charity cookies for kids cancer pictures, though. also ahead, a startling, new has raised more than, get this, admission about the driver who caused july s deadly wrong-way $700,000 for pediatric cancer crash in new york. her sister-in-law now says diane schuler regularly smoked pot. research. another mom that joined the coming up, an exclusive reaction cause is oscar nominated from a man who lost his father, that sounds so good. his brother and a friend in that crash. plus, a new scandal for nominated joan cusack. former miss california usa we re so happy to have you here. carrie prejean. we re so glad you re here. a sex tape has now surfaced and prejean is admitting that she thank you for having me and thank you for doing something a did make it. little bit serious on your show. we re going to talk to her about that when she joins us for a live interview. you lost your father to but let s get to pensacola beach, florida, where al has got pancreatic cancer. his eyes on ida for us this i did. i got through to know through my morning. good morning to you, al. hey, good morning, meredith cancer research with that about and ann. and yes, ida has come on shore kids pediatric cancer research. now in the last hour. you know how kids grow so fast and cancer grows so fast in kids dolphin island, alabama, right and that s why it s the leading now. and the latest, of course, its cause of death in children under forward speed changing just a accidents. bit, northeast at 9 miles per i m surprised. and there s no research on it hour, 45-mile-per-hour wind. because it s all, you know, 20 you re looking yesterday at the years ago because no one wants video from yesterday throughout parts of mississippi. to talk about it. lots of flooding, as anywhere i m surprised that a bake from four to eight inches of sale, when you think about the rain fell. money needed for cancer research last night, overnight here in pensacola beach, we picked up a and things, billions of record 3.64 inches of rain, 2 inches more than the record. gazillions of dollars. and then as we move on through and it s a mom and she s just mississippi and parts of passionate. just two years ag her son was alabama, we re going to be looking at more rain coming with diagnosed and her son was this system. diagnosed and she s like, right now, the winds aren t the big issue. there s no research. let s just do something. the big issue, of course, is it s easy. going to be the rain. that s her right there. as you can see, 25 miles south of mobile, alabama, so cute. 45-mile-per-hour winds, for the whole november, northeast at 9. and we are looking at flood december is raising, matching watches and flood warnings every dollar up to $100,000 so throughout much of the southeast from mobile, alabama, as far north as anderson, south you can go to gladtogive and you carolina. we re expecting the path of the can buy cookies or make cookies. let s make some cookies. storm, now that it s made landfall, to work its way along most people know how to make the florida panhandle and then cookies. it s jut, you know, the butter through southern alabama, on into georgia. rainfall amounts generally going and sugar. to be about three to six inches tell us what you re doing of rain, but some areas may pick here. do you cook, by the way? no. up as much as eight to twelve i don t have one of these. which would be so fun. inches of rain out of this system. a powerful rainmaker. she put in some eggs and and so, there is going to be big problems throughout the southeast due to all this rain vanilla. everyone knows how to make over the next 24 hours. cookies. meredith? honestly. we have all this stuff, let s all right, al, thank you very much. we re going to get to the rest of your forecast in just a bit. mix. we have to participate. but for now, it is 7:03 and this is the part, my son loves here s ann. meredith, thanks. to add the oatmeal and the nuts now to new details in the investigation into last week s and they re just like let s add deadly shooting rampage at ft. hood. intelligence officials now say they knew that the suspected gunman exchanged e-mails with a the chocolate chips. radical muslim cleric with ties to al qaeda. honestly, go to the website. this as president obama and the gladtogive.com and you can order first lady prepare to attend cookies or you can have a bake today s memorial for the victims. we have two reports this sale yourself and all goes to morning, beginning with nbc s justice correspondent pete research every kind of kids williams. hey, pete. good morning. ann, good morning to you. cancer and it s not just one intelligence officials actually say they discovered months ago thing. they already raised $700,000 in that hasan was exchanging two years. a lot of things go to e-mails with a radical muslim cleric overseas, a man whose administrative costs and things like that. jihadist rants inspired others this goes right to the research. to plan terror attacks, but they right to the research. say nothing at the time it s quick. she needs help for her son who suggested that hasan was is in remission right now. considering a violent act of his own. he s doing all right right now. it s aggressive and already with the money they made they nearly a year ago, while nidal realize they found a human malik hasan was working at antibody to help out with it. walter reed army hospital so, it s an easy way this outside washington, intelligence holiday season, whichs so officials y he began exchanging nearly two dozen stressful anyway, i think, that e-mails with an outspoken you can do something that will advocate of violent jihad, anwr make you feel good. you re already cooking anyway. make a few dozen more and make it count. give us the website again. al aulaqi. gladtogive.com. he became an imam at a mosque in it s all there. couple movies cg san diego. in early 2000, two of the 9/11 hijackers turned up there. he left the u.s. in 2002 for out. i do. yemen, and since then, in videos kids movies. toy story 3 is coming out. and online sermons has turned those are the best kinds out justifications for attacks because all they need is your on the west. he s a luminary who s revered voice. no hair, no makeup, no spanx. by people around the world, and his name turns up again and thank you so much. thank you for having me. again in home-grown terrorism thank you come back next time. cases. reporter: prosecutors say his yes, i d be happy to. videos inspired the five men who were arrested two years ago for again, if you would like to plotting to kill soldiers with hold your own bake sale to machine guns at ft. dix in new benefit kids for cancer, find it jersey. on our website. investigators say hasan s still to come, how to make a fashion statement for under 50 e-mails last winter were bucks right after your local news. consistent with research he was conducting on post-traumatic stress for advanced degree and were in no way threatening. the conclusion at the time, they say, was that he was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning. military officials say the army was notified, but no action was taken against hasan. i think there s a real examination inside the intelligence community and the army about whether any opportunity was lost to identify hasan as a potential problem. reporter: since the shooting, army investigators have tried to interview hasan, who s at brooke army medical center in texas, but they say he declined and asked for a lawyer. the military now says it will prosecute hasan, not the justice department, and so far, investigators say everything they ve discovered indicates that he was acting on his own with no outside help or direction, ann. pete, are there any indications that might help explain why these red flags, though, were not followed up on? obviously, a lot of viewers this morning have a lot of questions about that. a couple of things. number one, that s a question they re asking internally how far did this information go, what was the assessment on it? but the people who looked at it said this is consistent with what he s telling other people. he s saying in class he has doubts about the u.s. operation overseas, doubts about muslims serving. the questions that h was asking, they say, were consistent with his research and there was nothing indicating that he himself was planning anything. it was questions they thought were consistent with his work to counsel other soldiers, ann. all right. pete williams this morning. pete, thanks a lot. it is now 7:06. once again, here s meredith. ann, thank you. the victims of the ft. hood tragedy will be honored today during a memorial service attended by president obama and the first lady. nbc s janet shamlian has more on that. janet, good morning. reporter: meredith, good morning. they set up a wall of shipping containers here, presumably for security. that memorial service is going to take place beyond or inside m. sgood morning zoo sgood the wall later thi afternoon. meanwhile, here at ft. hood, morning. a longer being a millionaire, they re desperately searching for some sense of normalcy, bu news 4 at midday begins in just with all the grief that abounds a few minutes at 11:00 a.m., here, that s proving difficult joib us. to find. access has always been restricted, but ft. hood is now even more of a fortress. public visits have been suspended in the wake of last week s massacre. this cannotbecome, you know, a battlefield. and again, we will provide the right kind of security measures he on post to make sure that it doesn t. reporter: general cone sa it s been a tough time for those on post, as dozens sought grief counseling, ft. hood prepared for president obama s visit and today s memorial. a midday service to honor the 13 who died and more than two dozen injured. meanwhile, first word from the civilian police officer hailed as a hero for helping end the attack. kimberly munley and family would like to extend their thanks and appreciation for all of the thoughts and concerns surrounding kim from around the nation. munley was shot four times, has had two surgeries and is still in the hospital. i m just so proud of him. reporter: family and friends of the fallen and injured are gathering in killeen ahead of today s memorial, a bittersweet trip for laila willingham, who lost her brother, jason hunt. the only piece i don t have ar about his last moments, and i wonder, was he scared or was he in pain. but i know my brother, and he wasn t scared of anything. he wasn t scared of going to war. i just picture his face just with his soldiers there around him at the end thinking i think that would be the way he would want to go. reporter: family members like willingham searching for some solace, some closure today. this memorial service is going to include some 2,000 people, many of them directly impacted by last thursday s rampage. meredith, back to you. so heartbreaking. janet shamlian, thank you very much. it is 7:09, and once again, here s ann. meredith, thanks. and now to the raging debate in washington over health care reform. former president bill clinton plans to visit capitol hill today with the senate set to begin its debate. this as the current administration lobbies hard for every vote. nbc s chief white house correspondent chuck todd joins us now with the latest on this. chuck, good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. with 58 democrats and 2 independents that vote with them, the numbers in the senate should favor the democrats. they have on paper a filibuster-proof majority. but getting health care reform passed at all, let alone this year, is going to be a real challenge for this white house. if there s not a deadline in washington, nothing happens. reporter: but it s a deadline that s been a moving target when it comes to health care. i want it done by the fall. before we leave for the august recess. before the august recess. reporter: and while congress has yet to meet a single initial deadline, progress has been made. the house did finally pass their version of health care last weekend, three months after speaker pelosi s initial deadline. now attention turns to the senate, and despite the history of congress missing numerous deadlines, the white house monday was emphatic i ve just answered this three times! reporter: if not a tad defensive, that this one would stick. the president wants to sign health care before the end of the year. reporter: despite the white house insistence, senators privately say a final bill may not reach the president s desk until next year. that s very challenging. could it be done? yes, but all of the stars would have to be in alignment. reporter: and with the clock ticking, senate majority leader harry reid is working hard behind the scenes to convince some wavering democrats. senator blanche lincoln of arkansas, who is up for re-election next year, is someone the republican party wants to make a poster child of the health care debate. the gop launched a preemptive strike before she cast a single vote. i voted for government-run health care for my party boss we re back on this tuesday before i voted against it to with fall fashion and fabulous save my job. reporter: lincoln and other fines for under 50. senate democratic moderates could end up controlling this so many styles taking over the fashion pages and you want debate. i think tt s what you re going to see being really pushed by the middle of the senate that it all according to jill martin, is going to be the one that you can have it all without blowing your budget. crafts the compromises. reporter: meanwhile, the jill, everything we re talking senate s two democratic about, 50 bucks or less. independents, polar opposites you can have it all. what i m saying, you can take ideologically, are split over everything already in your closet and add these four items the government-run option and both are threatening to scuttle and it will get you through the the process if they don t get fall and winter looking trendy their way. if the public option plan is and hot. so, in total, that would be in there as a matter of $200. in total, that would be $200. that s good math work. conscience, i will not allow this bill to come to a final even less because some of my vote. it would be outrageous to me items are way under $50. that you have an overwhelming starting with the boots, majority of americans wanting a under 50e. strong public option that we do not deliver that. let s start with the really reporter: now, more on that trendy ones. they re really high five inch bill clinton meeting with senate heels. so, these are for someone, not democrats. he s going there this afternoon. your style and i knew that, but what s interesting is of the three wavering democrats ben some people like the peep toe. nelson from nebraska, blanche lincoln from arkansas, and joe those are $21.90. lieberman from connecticut another option from payless i the former president has a personal connection, and in know you re not a fan of these particular wit blanche lincoln, coming from his home state. what he says in that meeting either. these look like you, jill. could have a lot of influence on how she votes. with a little skirt, fabulous. all right, chuck todd, thank don t wear it in brazil. you very much. you ll get kicked out of college. i heard that segment. reporter: you got it. nebraska senator ben nelson these are also from payless. is among the moderate democrats who have raised concerns over the current bill. tights are a big deal, so you senator nelson, good morning to you. good morning, meredith. you heard chuck call you one could put those with black tights and be great. of those wavering democrats. these are under $50. what are you wavering about? $29.99 to $49.99 black and well, i don t know that i m wavering. i have some very strong opinions brown staple boots. about what should be in the bill everyone should have these in and what shouldn t be in the their wardrobe. look at the back of these. bill, and all i m asking is that they have like a really cool i love those. those considerations be under they re cute. not too high. not too high and they re advisement by the leadership, comfortable. they stretch. if you have big calves. and if they are, and if we are these are great for all sizes. able to get the bill that okay, moving on, if you like contains those provisions that i support and doesn t have the kohl s and you re a kohl s provisions that i can t support, then i would look for a way to shopper, look how great these vote for it. is one of those provisions boots are. that you can t support the i love these details on the public option? left. well, the public option i $41.99. those are on sale. think is probably the most we have our boots, our second misunderstood part of the item. now it s time to accesses are legislation. there are parts of certain public options that i could with staple jewelry. support. what i can t support is a go with that statement necklace government-run plan, health and ring and $29.99 to $49.99. plan, that would undermine the 200 million americans who have these look like you. private health insurance, and look at all these watches and there are aspects of the public they even hve neon ones. option that are under consideration that could do that. but if states had the ability that builds in the trend. to opt out, which is something that can be the focal point of senator harry reid is proposing, your outfit. would that be good enough for you can wear that on you to say, okay, i can go with that? no, no. thursday. i don t think there is anything and grace by molly sims. to be gained by opting out. these tassel earrings are great. i said i would look at the ability of the states to opt in dress them up or dress them so that the states could make down. so, you could wear that to the the decisions themselves. i m a former governor. party on thursday. those are cute. i think the states can handle a now, these are great. these you stack up and you have good deal of this with some to get a bunch of them. assistance from the federal etica.com. i put them on here like this so government in making decisions you can really see. for their citizens back home. coolo stack them up your arm. the kids have been doing that so, i think that they can make for years. the decision about getting in. i don t think they ought to have all the little things. to be in and then make a decision to get out. just fun and they re cool for senator, at the last minute, us even now, too. there was an amendment tacked it s really fun. you can wear them with a watch onto the house bill that bans and, really, as high as you want federal money from being used for abortions. to go. now, this, i love. would you like to see similar language in any senate bill? this looks like an estate piece. well it s something that will solidify the hyde amendment guess how much. to make sure that no federal how much? $6.50. dollars are used to fund $6.50. abortions, period, whether it s charlotterusse.com. subsidy for premiums or tax credits. they look beautiful. i think while there may be if you invest in costume different views about abortion, jewelry that s not real, i don t i think there s a strong think you should spend a lot of majority against using federal money. dollars to fund abortions. $6.50 to $11.50. private money is another matter you rewearing a coat for a altogether when it comes to reason. we ll explain later. government. you know, the president has all right. tell us about the little made it clear that this is his dresses. signature issue. he is pushing hard to get a bill we re getting into the on his desk by christmas, by december, the end of the year. holiday season. are you feeling pressure as a you should have a last-minute democrat to pass the bill? dress. this is forever 21 and i put it no. the only pressure i feel is to do the right thing, the right with tights but this is under thing for the people back home in nebraska and the people of $25. so you can get a party dress our country, and that s what that you love that s not that s the pressure. expensive. i m not feeling the pressure the other thing i want to show from the white house or from the here is that if you find a dress that is little and you don t leadership. want to wear as a mini dress, the only pressure is put it with slacks. i love the way that looks. self-imposed pressure to get it right. is it realistic t think that i started wearing dresses and there will be a bill on the it s a little lower. president s desk by the end of you can also throw on a cardigan the year, yes or no? you know, i don t know. or a blazer. it is flirty. i know that s their goal,nd it is flirty and fun. perhaps that can be met. you never know if the night gets i think it depends on what crazy. happens on the floor and what what does that mean? the final bill looks like. you would know, let me tell senator lieberman s made it very you. in brazil. clear that he won t vote to push okay. then this one is xoxo. this bill off the floor of the and this is a great layering senate if it has a public option in it. dress. again, purple so big this fall i think they ought to listen and winter. very closely to that. you can put it with a blazer or i ve said that certain public options are unacceptable, but a cardigan. lots of dresses and now the coats. i m a big vest fan. state-based public option certainly is something to consider. all right. and the abortion issue as this one is from old navy. well as not covering illegal i layer whether i m indoors or immigrants. all right, nebraska senator outdoors. this one is from kohl s, $47.50. ben nelson, not a wavering senator. thank you very much. thank you. this looks like you. but it sounds like it s going it has the belt, gives you that to be pretty intense in the coming weeks. i think it s going to be very waist and great layering piece. intense. it s not so heavy. let s check on the rest of the morning s top stories. and look who s sitting in for me excuse me, hoda, i could have a at the news desk, it s hoda little room here. i mrying to make some room. kotb. it s yoda. i m hiding behind the stop it. stop it. good morning, everybody. tensions between north and mannequin to get a word in. if you have a basic ench to south korea flared overnight in a skirmish at sea. go bright. navy ships from both countries accuse the other of violating spruce up an outfit. their disputed border in the $39.99 at kohl s. yellow sea and both opened fire for about two minutes. look at this brown. there were no known injuries in the first such clash in seven onestopplus.com. they have great jackets. years. iran s president is ruling out an early release for three how cozy is this inside? american hikers held for three this is how much? months in iran and now accused $39.99. of spying. iran may look into other charges. the u.s. says any charges are onestopplus. it s so light, too. baseless. if you re running in barring a last-minute somewhere, it s a great option. reprieve, john allen muhammad jill, thank you. will be executed tonight in as usual, thank you, darling. virginia for masterminding the 2002 sniper attacks that killed up next, how to get the around ten people in washington, perfect family without borrowing mine. d.c. his accomplice is serving a life term. a man accused of trying to extort money from david letterman goes back to court today. prosecutors say joe halderman demanded $2 million to keep quiet about letterman s affairs with co-workers. halderman s attorneys hope to have the case thrown out. overseas markets are higher this morning following big gains monday on wall street. cnbc s melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange with the latest. melissa, what are you watching today? good morning to you, hoda, and a real test for the markets will come today as to whether or not stocks can continue their winning streak. the s&p 500 has been up for six straight sessions right now, and the dow jones industrial average hit a new 2009 high in yesterday s session. investors will be looking ahead to a slate of retail earnings, including a report from the world s largest retailer, walmart, due out later this week for a read on the state of consumer spending, which of course is an engine of economic growth. hoda. all right, melissa lee, thank you. basketball great cream abdul jabbaar says he is being treated for a rare form of leukemia. the all-time leading scorer of the nba says his prognosis is encouraging. and side-by-side photos of sammy sosa is getting attention. a friend says he is undergoing a skin rejuvenation process that has left his skin looking radically different. it s 7:18. two of the most googled searches are sammy sosa and sammy sosa bleached. i don t know what that is. well, we don t know all the facts on that, so we ll have to wait on that. meantime al is in pensacola, florida, for a check of the weather. hey, al. thanks a lot. the sun s getting ready to come up and we ve got the waves going, but the effects of ida are going to be felt throughout the southeast with heavy rains. let s look at show you what else is going on around the country. we ve got strong winds coming into the pacific northwest and some showers there, heavy rain up and down the southeastern atlantic coast, rip currents along the east coast of florida. out west, gorgeous weather, good morning. a gray november day on this tuesday with temperatures in the 40s and 50s and a breeze and mostly cloudy. by this time tomorrow morning, a 50/50 chance of showers. otherwi otherwise, a cloudy we ll take a look at how warm temperatures are across the country in the next half hour. ann? all right, al. we look forward to that. thanks. now to a terrifying scene caught on camera at a station in boston. a woman narrow ly escaped from train. reporter: security cameras at this boston subway station captured a horrifying scene. when a woman stood at the end of a platform smoking a cigarette, but then, suddenly, she stumbles and falls. frantic onlookers who had just left a celtics basketball game raced to help, desperately signaling the train, just seconds from the station. i m just glad that the people on the platform were able to, you know, let me know, you know, something was going on. reporter: cherries lewis was driving the train. then as i m approaching, the lady pokes her head up, and i m like, oh, my god, someone s in the pit. reporter: the woman lies between the tracks as lewis hits the emergency brakes. and it stopped just in time, and it was so close that, you the holidays are still a bit know, i thought it was bad. away, but card writing season is reporter: half of the woman s just around the corner. body was under the train, but if you re planning a family she was okay. after the fact, she comes up photo but can t get the baby to with like a big smile on her face, and i m like, oh, my god! stop crawling at the same time like, you really scared me! reporter: police say the the toddler stopped teetering. woman, whose name has not been getting the perfect shot is made public, had been drinking at a nearby bar. actually a snap. she escaped with only scrapes on nice to see you again. her knees. thank you for having me. do you need a fancy camera to meanwhile, lewis and her get the right ot? supervisor, who radioed her to stop, are being honored as you don t need a heroes. i don t consider myself a fancytiamancy camera. hero. i just did what i was supposed digital cameras but the most to do. important thing is that there reporter: she managed to stop are everyday opportunities in the train just inches before it was too late. our everyday life that we can for today, ron allen, nbc take photos of our kids. news, new york. instead of saying today is we re glad she s alive. family photo day. my goodness. which makes everybody crazy. and that she was able to stop that train that close. i have clients and friends well, i think she was a hero. say i have to get everyone they always say that, i was dressed up and the kids go, i doing my job. don t want to take the picture. well, thank goodness for them. exactly. everybody hates each other by that s how they feel, but thank the end of it. let s get to camille and goodness she knows how to do her cooper. job, that s right. that is heroic. hi, how are you? and coming up, a new scandal take a picture of the baby can involving former beauty queen be not easy. what i like to do. carrie prejean. we i like to use the parent as a prop. that s okay. he s upset with you already. that s okay because what i like to do is get in close. camille, let s show how we took the picture. put the baby in camille s lap in a parent s lap or grandparent s lap and i get in close and take a photo of the baby and crop out the mom. sorry, parents, you re not in the picture this time and in case the baby cries what i love to do is i get in and shoot the little toes. look at the toes. the best part anyway. look at those cute pictures. that s beautiful. that s what makes it so sweet. you don t have to worry about it. also, take a lot of pictures and take mistakes and crop in and don t be afraid. don t be afraid. not too expensive. sheridan sitting here all dressed pup. what i love to do, if you have your kids do what they love to do. let them play if they like to play with trucks or like to play tea party or with blocks, they should just be themselves and i m an observer. i m sitting here and we talk about our beads and put on all the cklaces. let s put all the necklaces on and a happy child is a happy picture because this way i don t ask for her to pose or smile it s a little bit of an attitude problem right there. what if the kids say, mom, don t take my picture because some kids don t like that. i tell kids, let them do what they love to do. if they love to play trucks and like to play bubbles. whatever it is, let them be and be an observer and start talking to them. also with the digital cameras, you can do color and black and white. if this is a holiday picture, do you want a perfectly posed picture or spontaneous. that day is over. you should make mistakes and have fun and sit here and take pictures and if she wants to jump around and do you want to do ring around the rosy. i told you, sheridan is not in the mood. i m in, we ll do it. still ahead, did she regularly smoke marijuana? we ll take the picture. the new claim about the woman ring around the rosy who caused that deadly wrong-way accident outside new york city ashes, ashes, we all fall down! and exclusive reaction from the family of two of her victims. go ahead, hoda. and move over, gosselins. i don t think so. there is a new multiple-birth another fabulous secret is quiet time when the kids are in family in town. the morning when they re so we ll meet the hayes family and their ten kids. sweet and they re angels. who are you talking about? this is joa andu kayla. no one is getting dressed up and they re just relaxed. i could stand her and take a picture of them. no one knows. i could take a picture of them right here and then nobody knows that they re maybe watching tv. if you want to, what you can do, get them under the covers and we can play peek a boo and when i played peek a boo with them they were sharing secrets and saying when is this crazy lady going to leave. the black and whites are beautiful. she has a lovely book. what is it called? the fine art of family. i love black and white and i love color but personally i love film and it s very classic and elegant. i love that. thank you so much. good luck with your book, too. up next, we ll talk to one of the authors of the book, i love this book this is why you re fat. right after this. zoo. good morning. the time is 7:26. in this hour, one of the two d.c. snipers is scheduled to die but a lethal injection. he was part of a mass shooting spree that terrorized the washington area and left ten people dead. the youngest residents of prince george s county can get a swine flu vaccine if you re between the age of six months and 35 months. it will be from 6:30 until 8:30 this evening. weather and traffic is coming up next. stay with us. good morning. cloudy and cooler and highs in the 60s. tomorrow, a chance of a passing shower. jerry, how is the traffic? hov is tough in springfield. earlier accident on the shoulder but the lanes are opened. barbara? the swine flu is has anyone ever see you pick up a piece of double fudge chocolate cake smothered in ice cream and said this is why you re fat. the successful duo that came up with the very popular blog turned book called this is why you re fat a collection of crazy and whacky recipes. and disgusting. how are you? great, great. it started off as a blog. people just sent in the recipes of foods that they ate that were sort of over the top. and pictures, too. we started it on february 9th and we had a book deal within a month because there were so many submissions coming in. were you surprised at the number of people who had these types of recipes? yes, exactly. we knew we were on to something a lot of bacon blogs out there. bacon blogs? yes. there is an obesity problem. a huge epidemic in our country. you re going to explain to us why. have a nice day 7:30 on this tuesday morning, november 10th, 2009. education segment. you think it s crowded on the let s start with these. plaza this morning, just wait. variation on your cinnamon buns. tomorrow it will be packed, i hear that you typically especially when members of the like the sweet stuff, right, you u.s. military and veterans for a like the savory. this is best of both worlds. special concert courtesy of bon this is bacon wrapped inside of jovi. i m meredith vieira alongside a cinnamon roll. ann curry, who s in for matt no, it is not. i m sorry, but that saves this morning. and just ahead, a new time. that really does. scandal involving former miss you re going to put the whole california, usa, carrie prejean. thing in your wow. she is here to set the record all right, let s see. straight about a new sex tape that has surfaced, what is on it and when it was made. we ll talk to her about it all good? and also her new book, in a interesting. ment. it s like most of the items on also ahead, a surprising claim from the sister-in-law of the site and the book. it s kind of gross, but you want the driver who caused july s deadly wrong-way crash. to try it. remember, it killed eight yesterday paula dean was people, many of them children, making a pam with coca-cola and here in new york. well, she now says that diane schuler regular smoked you are saying we can just have marijuana. just ahead, a man who lost his fried coke. this was the winner of the brother, his father and a friend in that crash speaks out in a texas state fair a few years live interview in reaction to back. how do you fry a liquid? that news. and if you were planning a you have to bring it down to family vacation, don t be surprised if the kids suggest a pretty cool temperature and then batter it partially frozen, forks, washington. the tiny town is the setting for i think. you freeze it, batter it and the twilight series, and fry it. but if you want to, the devoted fans are flocking there from all around the world. recipe is in her book. we re going to take you to the you have to check the book to see. you have to try it. real eerie woods, coming up. look, you dropped five pounds but we begin with that you have to be feeling good, surprising admission from carrie come on. prejean. she now says she did make a sex i feel better and i want to stay that way. tape. we re going to talk to her about how many calories do you it in a moment, but first, her story. think are in this one scoop? i don t know. got the little whip cream on it, i bet it is fantastic. there was a time when carrie that is disgusting. prejean was well on her way to being the next miss usa. oh, i d love it. carrie prejean, you are our you do? how about this one. new miss california! these are mcnuggetinis. and then the question and i herd the fourth hour is the answer heard around the pageant. vermont recently became the happy hour. some have called us that, we fourth state to legalize don t know why. this is vodkaonacdonald s same-sex marriage. do you think every state should follow suit? why or why not? i believe that a marriage chocolate milk shake garninged should be between a man and a with chicken nuggets. woman. no offense to anybody out there. this is perfect for frank. well, people did take you cannot participate at offense. all. you have a mcnugget garnishing she lost not because she it. cheers. doesn t bieve in gay marriage. cheers. miss california lost because that s good. she s a dumb [ bleep ]. oh, that s good. frank would love that. if you read that miss california s been murdered, is that barbecue sauce around you ll know it was me, wouldn t you? she s dumb and twisted. the edge? it is. again, sweet and savory. nd of like a barbie doll. we have some meatloaf and she not only lost the crown, some what is in there? but her job as miss california. mac and cheese in your on april 19th on that stage i exercised my freedom of speech meatloaf. it is also bacon wrapped. if you want to be in this is why and i was punished for doing so. and then, dueling lawsuits. you re fat, smothered in cheese, prejean suing miss california deep fried or bacon. organizers for libel, slander this gets almost everything. good for you. that was clever. and religious discrimination. the pageant countersuing for the money which helped her buy what, you can t try that? breast implants. it all had the makings of a that s the bacon. showdown until the warring i m just going to try that factions abruptly made peace a week ago, amid rumors the part. that s your typical meat loaf. pageant had obtained a previously undisclosed sex tape. you don t want the pasta carrie prejean has now written a part? my mother is cooking for book still standing: the untold story of my fight against thanksgiving. gossip, hate and political it takes one year to get off the pounds of my mother s at attacks. carrie, good morning to you. thanksgiving. good morning. before we get to the book, this recipe is in the book. obviously, everybody wants to aren t all of these in the book? know about this sex tape that that s why you re here. surfaced last week. they re all in the book. there is one, correct? this recipe is not in the you could call it whatever book, but you can get this in you want to call it. if you want to call it a sex athens, georgia. it s in a cafe down there. tape, that s fine, but well, what do you call it? this is based off of elvis it was me by myself. there was no one else with me. presley s favorite sandwich. i was not having sex. doughnut with peanut butter, i sent it to my boyfriend at the time. banana and bacon. i was a teenager. i cared about him. and bacon, exactly. i trusted him. and you know, but the main point banana and peanut butter is that there has been a sandwiches. campaign against me to try and my favorite one in the whole silence me for the past seven book. i spent a long time with this months for the answer that i book is the corn hole. gave at the pageant. so, you made this tape when you were 17 years old. can we take a look, please, at is it basically an example of the corn hole. sexting, something you sent? that is disgusting. um, yeah. i think now they call it where is that corn? sexting, but you know, it was me in the tape. you can call it whatever you and where has it been? want to call it. if you want to call it a sex it s all in the book. tape, that s fine, but you know, i was by myself. i sent it to a boyfriend. happy, whatever, eating it was for, you know private use. but does that justify what i sean. you look like you didn t try any did? of yours. no. it was the biggest mistake of my we ll be back with more of life. and did i think it would come today on nbc. out now and haunt me? no. but i think a lot of young people can learn from this. and you know, nothing is private anymore. nothing is private. but the biggest thing, and the reason why i wrote this book is because americans believe that their beliefs are under attack, and this is proof. this is proof that their beliefs so, you believe that somebody sent pageant officials got their hands on this tape. how did they get it? i have no idea. all i know is there has been a campaign against me to try to silence me. they tried to embarrass me. they ve tried to humiliate me. they ve tried to attack me and i m still standing. and they can t take that. so, carrie, why d you drop the lawsuit against campaign officials? you charge them with libel and slander and religious discrimination. if you feel that strongly about it, why drop the lawsuit? were you worried about this tape becoming public? well, everything that happened in mediation is completely confidential. i made a promise, you know, not to discuss anything that was discussed in there, and if i m the only one that s holding up to that agreement, then i stand by that. but did the tape trigger it? because you were going to sue them and then suddenly, the suit is dropped. like i said, everything that s discussed in mediation, i m not allowed to discuss it. this book doesn t take on the sex scandal, but it takes on what happened to you during the pageant. why did you feel the need to write it? what hadn t you said that you needed to say? well, i think it s important for people to understand, i think aricans only heard bits and pieces of what really happened, and i think there is a liberal bias in the media, and it s unfortunate that, you know, conservative women are attacked. they are attacked for their beliefs, you know? and it s unacceptable and it shouldn t happen. and so many americans are frustrated. so many americans believe that their beliefs, you know, are under attack and they should be silent, and free speech doesn t exist. since when does free speech not exist? since when is someone able to go on national tv and call someone the most awful names you could ever call a woman and get away with it? and you have been called absolutely terrible names, but there are people who say they want to call you out when they feel you re being hypocrite. you write our bodies are temples of the lord. we should earn admiration for our hearts, not for being sexy. absolutely. now people see this tape and say she s a hypocrite. she writes a novel that says one thing well, i m a model. i was in a beauty pageant. if people call me ihypocrite, that s their prerogative. but i ve learned from my mistakes. no one s perfect. i m not perfect. everybody makes mistakes and i think it s about taking responsibility for their mistakes. and it just so happens that seven months it s been seven months since i gave that answer and they have done nothing but attack me and try to silence me and keep me from spreading that message that free speech still exists, and that s the reason why i wrote this book. you say in the book you ve been palinized, referencing sarah palin. what do you mean by that? you know of the attacks sarah palin s under, don t you? but do you think as a conservative woman dprks. do you think sarah palin has been attacked? i think sarah palin s been criticized by many people, as have many politicians. right, and there is a double standard, there is an extreme double standard that conservative women are under attack for whatever it is. if sean hannity went out there and said some of the things that keith olbermann has said about me you know, if he said time to check in sara anything about sonia sotomayor or michelle obama, he would be who is still wearing her purple off the air. why is there this double barney shoes. standard? that s the reason why i wrote this book. heriot wrote in ask figure you also take on beauty they re comfortable. pageants. you say that you owe a lot to they re comfortable except my them, so you re not taking away from that. right. pinky toe doesn t like being separated. but there s a part of the book where youecount what happened at the miss usa pageant karen asked if we can give away before, in the days leading up to it, where donald trump, who the massage slippers that look owns the pageant, looked over like barney feet. the girls and held his own version of an elimination round. there was another pair that what did he do? we had at the table at the top of the show. well, i talk about it in my we have two people we can give them to. book. basically, he just went out there, and we were so excited to excellent, thanks, sara. meet, you know, the donald at big day tomorrow. the time. and he just came out there and bon jovi will be outside performing meeted us and shook our hands and we were so excited to meet him, but there were a lot of feelings that were hurt by some of the girls. they felt as though they weren t chen by him, and you say in the book he divided the girls into the ones he thought were hot and the ones who were not. right. well, he asked us, you know, how do you feel about so and so or who do you think s the most beautiful woman out here? and some of the girls were on the right side and some of the girls were on the left side, and those that were on the left were devastated. and so, i mean, there s a lot in this book that a lot of people don t know that goes on, you know, behind the scenes of pageants. it s not always what it seems to be. would you advise young women not to get involved in pageants? you know, i have learned so much and i have grown so much. there has been so many great experiences. you know, i wouldn t be here today had it not been for the pageant. in my book, i talk about a story how the pageant officials accidentally sent me to the wrong address and i ended up at a children s hospital, and it was the most amazing experience i have ever had, just being able to visit with children, and that was by accident. and so, i stayed at the hospital for about two hours and it was just, it was unforgettable. so, some of the most amazing things have happened to me since the pageant, but you know, people need to know what really happened and the truth. all right. carrie prejean, thank you so much. thank you. and the book is called, again, still standing. i want to say, by the way, donald trump had no comment about what you said in your book. now, let s get the latest on ida and the national forecast from al, who s down in pensacola beach, florida. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by private mail flat rate boxes, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. and good morning along the beach here at pensacola beach, florida, and of course, we are tracking tropical storm ida. now it s onshore. last time a hurricane or tropical storm, i should say, made landfall in november, it was tropical storm mitch, november 5th, 1998, at 6:00 a.m. so, it s a rare thing, not unusual, but fairly rare. let s take a look at what s also rare, these temperatures across the country. much of the country well above normal. minneapolis, 21 degrees above normal, phoenix, 12 degrees above normal. same in new york city. boston warmer than usual. actual temperatures you ll see those temperatures rising up into the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s down through florida, 70s and 80s through the southwest. but where it s kind of chilly, the pacific northwest, 40s and good morning. cloudy and cooler for today. afternoon highs in the mid-60s and a peak of sun midday. right now we re in the low 50s to mid-40s at a few locations west of 95. tonight, cloudy. by this time tomorrow there s a chance of a passing shower and much cooler. near 50 in the morning dropping to 40s in the afternoon. a bit chilly and blustery wednesday night into thursday and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. and up next, why more parents of baby boys are opting against circumcision, right after this. back now at 7:43 with a decision that many parents of baby boys struggle with should they be circumcriesed? right now the cdc and the american academy of pediatrics are deciding whether to endorse the practice. nbc s tom costello has the latest on this. reporter: perhaps no one in america has more publicly wrestled with whether to circumcise his son than laszlo stein s dad, writer and humorist joel stein. is it going to hurt him? is it going to remove nerve endings? this kid is going to be mad at me for life as i am with my parents. reporter: even though he s jewish, joel researched and anguished over it. even in one of his off-the-wall columns in time magazine, writing all i knew was that this is clearly not a decision i should be making for another human being. it s really the joes and the muslims at this point and the americans that do this, and everyone else is keeping it real. reporter: he s right. most countries don t circumcise baby boys, and many american parents are also choosing not to circumcise. about 55% today compared to 90% in the 1970s, with many parents deciding it simply inflicts needless pain. at seattle s children s hospital, peed rick bioethics director doug ekema is on a task force reviewing whether the american academy of pediatrics ould recommend circumcision. currently, it doesn t. the academy s current position is that there are some modest medical benefits to circumcision. there are also some risks to circumcision. those two are fairly closely aligned. reporter: among the benefits, a slight reduction in urinary tract infections and cancer of the penis, and now new evidence from africa that circumcisions might reduce hiv transmission. but opponents who have launched an ad campaign says it s genital mutilation. babies are born with a foreskin for a reason. it s a normal body part. we can t be conducting mass surgery on the assumption that somebody might engage in high-risk sexual behavior decades down the line. i think baby plastic surgery seems wrong to me, whether it s earrings or a nose job or circumcision, but then i saw you know, there was plus, all my people do it. there s a lot of tension going on. reporter: in the end, laszlo ended up getting circumcries. joel just says he hopes his son doesn t hold it against him. for today, tom costello, nbc news, washington. i empathize. that was a tough decision, and i made se i stood there for my son because it was so hard on him, right? you don t even need to know that, but what do you think? no. i wasn t there for the actual nipping or whatever you want to call it, but i thought also for a lot of dads, they want their son to look the way they look so the son can identify with the father. why are you giving me that look? because that s not a good enough reason, you know? well, it s one reason and the health issues, as well. it s controversial. it s interesting. we ll see how this all ends up with the decision when it comes. coming up, the tiny washington town turned into a hot tourist spot thanks to the twilight books and movies. if you have a teenager, you have heard of twilight. the books are best-sellers and the movie new moon is one of the most anticipated films. it s such a phenomenon, in fact, that the tiny town where twilight is set has now become a mecca for fans. here s nbc s lee cowan. reporter: there s no easy way to get there. it s on the way to nothing, perfect for handsome vampires looking for a little privacy. this kind of stuff just doesn t exist. it does in my world. reporter: it s a fictional world, but it s actually a very real place. forks, washington, population almost 3,200, the epicenter of twi-mania. i was looking at the map and i read forks, and i was like, no way. turn around. we ve got to go there. this is twilight ! reporter: this year alone, 64,000 twi-hards have overrun the town, six times the town s average. pretty amazing for a place that the author, stephanie mayer, chose because it was so out of the way. but what does she like best about this part of the pacific northwest? well, it s vampire-friendly weather. it rains 10 to 12 feet a year here in forks, making it not only the wettest place in the lower 48 states, but also the darkest. one guy called d said i was going to come camping there, but i hear you have a vampire problem. you ll see it on the window and the front porch. reporter: which is why some fans travel in the safety of the twilight tour bus. we have grandmas more excited than the grandchildren on board. it s been amazing. reporter: twilight s heroine is bella, who has a crush on edward, who leads an odd sort of undead lifestyle. what if i m not the ro? what if i m the bad guy? reporter: and everything the characters go, fans want to follow. every girl wants a perfect love story, i guess. reporter: so do older fans like annette root. she was so devoted, she actually moved to forks to open dazzled by twilight. did you ever think at some point maybe this was a little crazy? i think that a lot, but i m happy. i m happy crazy, so that s okay. reporter: the fascination has even spread to nearby port angeles to the italian restaurant where bella and edward had their fictional first date. one mushroom ravioli. reporter: and not surprisingly, that s the most popular dish. there were over 5,000 orders of mushroom ravioli this year. reporter: just this year? that s a lot of mushrooms, yeah. reporter: just as it does in nature, forks residents know that twilight will eventually fade. for now, this town s tourism seems to have risen from the dead. for now, lee cowan, nbc news, forks, washington. you saw the movie, right? yeah, i like i really liked it, i did. i have a teenage daughter, so i wanted to make sure what is so attractive about a vampire? well, if he looks like robert patterson, i think that maybe, you know, i don t need to say much more. you ve got a good point there. just ahead, the new big family on the block. i m talking big. talking about the hays family. it looks like a nice morning out there. 7:56 is the time right now. good morning. i m barbara harrison. in the knew, one of the snipers is scheduled to die of lethal injection tonight. he was part of a mass shooting spree that terrorized the washington d.c. area and left ten people dead. police are looking in the 1100 block of 21st street. one man was shot and killed and another man was also shot and killed and is in the hospital. police have no suspects or a motive at this time. we will take a break and come back with weather and traffic for you. stay with us. is there fog out there now? no, just off to a cloudy, gray start on this tuesday morning and we re going to stay mostly cloudy for the rest of the day. highs, mid-60s. cloudy tonight and a 50/50 chance of a passing shower tomorrow. otherwise, cloudy and cooler, dropping during the day to the 40s by late in the afternoon and another chilly day on thursday and into friday, warming up a bit and into the weekend. how is the traffic, jerry? it s loaded up from germantown and the split all travel lanes are opened and travel activity near the shoulder. headed for downtown, 395 northbound, to and across the 14th stleet bridge. all of the lanes are opened. barbara? the swine flu is 8:00 now on this tuesday morning, the 10th of november 2009. happy crowd bidding hello to family and friends back home. and tomorrow on today, you can wave to these guys, new jersey rockers bon jovi. they ll be right here on the plaza to put on a special veterans day concert in honor of our nation s servicemen and women. we look forward to that. terrific. i m meredith vieira along with ann curry. matt has the morning off. and just ahead in this half hour, was diane schuler, the wrong-way driver who killed herself and seven others in new york, a regular pot smoker? what one of her family members is saying about that and the brother of one of the victims, just ahead. such a sad story. also ahead, if you think your house is chaotic, imagine having ten children, two sets of twins and sextuplets. that is the real life of the hayes family, and guess what? they re getting into the reality television show business. we ll be meeting all of them, just ahead. amazed those parents are standing. i know. it s amazing. they look exhausted. plus, i m holding a unique magazine. it does something special when you hold it up to the web cam attached to your computer that will change the way that you look at magazines. we re going to show you what it does. that will be coming up. huh, because it has a little something on the cover there. we ll figure that out. yeah. there s a little something something. under robert downy jr. okay. first, to the news desk where hoda kotb is filling in for ann this morning. good morning to both of you. good morning, everybody. president obama will offer the nation s sympathy in texas for victims of the ft. hood massacre. he and first lady michelle obama also plan to meet with the families of the 12 soldiers and 1 civilian who were killed. 29 other people were wounded. officials say the army psychiatrist accused of opening fire last thursday, major nidal has hasan, will be tried in military court, and the fbi will conduct an internal review to see if it mishandled earlier reports that hasan had exchanged e-mails with a radical religious leader who has ties to al qaeda. police in pakistan say at least 30 people were killed today when a bomb went off near a crowded market. it was the third attack in northwestern pakistan in three days. the sniper who terrorized the washington, d.c., area in 2002 with a series of attacks that left ten people dead is scheduled for execution tonight by lethal injection. on monday, the u.s. supreme court rejected john allen muhammad s appeal. his attorneys are asking virginia governor tim kaine to commute the sentence, claiming their client is mentally ill. warships from north and south korea exchanged gunfire this morning for the first time in seven years. the clash took place off the west coast of the korean peninsula along the disputed border in the yellow sea. south korea said the north korean ship retreated with heavy damage. iran s president says there will be no early releaseor three american hikers now accused of spying. and today, iran s foreign minister said the three may face other charges as well. secretary of state hillary clinton is demanding their release on humanitarian grounds. and new concern today for the koala. an australian wildlife group claims the koala population, once in the millions, has plummeted to just 43,000. it wants the animals classified as endangered. however, the australian government contends koalas will survive even as development and brush fires shrink their habitat. how cute are they? it is now three minutes past the hour. let s go back outside to meredith and ann. they are so sweet. but they like solitude. i remember when i was in australia, they don t like people around them. they go way up in the trees. let s head down to pensacola, florida, for a check with al for the weather. hey, al. actually, you re very much like koalas. you climb up in trees and try to stay away from us during the program. yes, i do. i don t get very far, but we try. that s right. actually, you re like a koala, al. actually, we want to give you aww. you mean cute and cuddly, is that what you mean? yeah. aww, thank you. well, we ll give you a bird s-eye view of the gulf of mexico, and right now the remnants of ida making its way on shore. it has come on shore, pensacola beach, florida. it came on shore at dolphin island, alabama, and now continues its trek. it s 25 miles south of mobile, 45-mile-per-hour winds, moving northeast at 9. here along the gulf, most of that rain has stopped, although we do have heavy rain in the central panhandle of florida right now. and as you can see, flood watches and warnings all the way as far north as parts of south carolina. we re looking at the path of ida continuing down along the georgia/florida border, becoming just an extra tropical low as we get on into tomorrow afternoon, but it s a potent rain-maker. it s not going to be the winds, it s going to be the rains, anywhere from three to eight inches of rain, some areas as much as ten good morning. a cloudy start on this tuesday ] morning. it s quite cool on this november morning, at least near 50. mid-50s in washington in the eastern and southern suburbs. afternoon highs in the mid-60s and we ll have a mostly cloudy day and cloudy tonight. a ñi50/50 chance ofçó pasng showers tomorrow and cooler for the morning temperatures near 50 to lows in the evening near 40s and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you very much. and up next, the man who lost his brother, father and friend in a wrong-wa crash. we ll speak about the claim that the woman who caused it was a regular pot smoker. (announcer) try out a few differt moms this cold and flu season. the kleenex virtual moms at getmommed.com. is also a great value? it s the difference between paying more. and getting more. snuggle fabric softener gives you fresh, snuggly softness your family will love - and it costs much less than the leading brand! because everyone loves to snuggle! well-informed people are considering chevy malibu. you a cop? no. you didn t hear from me, but this malibu is a best buy. i heard that from consumers digest. it offers better highway mileage than a comparable camry or accord. estimated 33 highway. i saw that on the epa site. so how come the malibu costs so little. it s a chevy. you have cop hair. the award-winning chevy malibu. compare it to anyone and may the best car win. how about a coastal soup and grilled shrimp salad combination at red lobster? or maybe our new shrimp jambalaya simmered with creole spices. skewers of wood-grilled shrimp or your choice of shrimp paired with wood-grilled chicken. seafood lunches starting at just $6.99 that fit into your budget and your lunch hour. only at red lobster. it is now 8:09, and now back to stunning, new information in that tragic wrong-way crash on a new york highway back in july that killed eight people. we ll speak exclusively to a man who lost his father and brother in that crash in just a moment, but first, nbc s peter alexander is now joining us with the latest on this. hey, peter, good morning. ann, good morning to yo while diane schuler s family has long insisted that she was a model parent, not someone who would drive drunk or high, a newly obtained state police report paints a very different picture, with her own sister-in-law telling authorities that diane regularly smoked marijuana. she was behind the wheel in one of the deadliest crashes in new york history. now this state investigation report obtained by nbc news reveals that diane schuler s sister-in-law told authorities diane smoked marijuana on a regular basis, explaining diane didn t believe in medicine and used marijuana to relax, adding that she usually smoked at nights after the kids would go to bed. the statement contradicts past statements by her husband, who states she only used marijuana on in a while and was not a heavy drinker, as he told larry king. i m not sure what happened with my wife. she s not an alcoholic. she doesn t drink. e s an outstanding mother. reporter: the schulers attorney clarifies the atement. she knew diane had smoked in the past. she knew she smoked occasionally. the last time she had personal knowledge of her smoking was over 2 1/2 years ago. reporter: but autopsy reports say schuler was both high and drunk with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit when she drove the wrong way down the taconic parkway for two miles before colliding with an suv, killing herself, her daughter, three nieces and three men in a second car. hours after the crash, the police report cites witnesses who saw her minivan zigzagging in traffic and twice saw it pulled over to the side of the road with her throwing up. it could be evidence that she was drunk, but it could also be evidence that goes into the contention of the schuler family that she was sick. diane s husband daniel schuler still insists a medical condition is to blame for the crash, suggesting his wife may have had a stroke or been disoriented by a tooth abscess. peter alexander ts morning, thanks. michael bastardi jr. lost his brother and father in the crash and is joining us exclusively along with their family s lawyer, irving. good morning to both of you gentlemen. good morning. good morning. michael, we ll get to the police report in just a moment, but it s just been several months since this great tragedy for so many people, including for your family. how are you dealing with all this, sir? just, we re dealing with it each day, you know, in constant touch, the family, tight family that we are, and you know, everybody has issues. we call each other and we re just taking it one day at a time and, you know, we re doing okay. we re glad to hear that. so, then, in asking you again about this police report, what stands out, as you just heard in peter s rert, is that diane s sister-in-law told investigators that diane was a regular marijuana smoker, that she got high at night after her kids went to sleep. what s your reaction to that, michael? just more anger, you know? it doesn t surprise me whatsoever. i mean, we know what the toxicology report said. we know what the autopsy s said. it doesn t surprise me. there are also if i may go ahead, sir. okay. i am particularly, say annoyed and outraged by the constant repetition on the part of the lawyer for the dan schuler and dan schuler himself, when they constantly say despite all these reports that we got on the autopsy, et cetera, that his wife was sober, his wife was not drunk at all and was not high on any drug. i mean, it is something that is a hoax that s being perpetrated on the public, and i think that there should be an investigation by a grand jury to get statements under oath. so far, nothing has been under oath on the part of the schulers or on the part of the lawyer and on the part of their investigator, who i think should know better. are you hoping for a grand jury to look at this case, because you re interested in filing a civil case, michael? yes. i mean, we do have options. we are still looking into the grand jury to see if we can get, you know, everybody under oath. you know, the thing that bothers me most is when mr. ruskin, you know, he s just constantly supposedly investigating. i think what he s investigating is a fantasy that was thought up by daniel schuler, and he insists on investigating that fantasy. i think he should just realize and i think he should investigate the facts, and the facts are what they are, that dianechuler was drunk, that mr. ruskin that diane schuler was drunk and very high on marijuana, and i really would like to know what daniel schuler has to say about what happened that entire weekend, that a perfect mother like this, that has a history of smoking pot, which was admitted by his own family members. it s kind of disgusting what he s been putting us through. i would go on to say let me interrupt to say we ve reached out to the schuler family through their attorney, and you re talking about him, mr. ruskin yes. and the family did not want to comment, but the private investigator did comment on the police report and he says that there is no proof that she was drunk or high at the time of the accident. michael, do you believe that there is any possibility that daniel may be right in that his wife may have suffered any kind of medical condition? absolutely not. and let me just did you say that there was no proof she was drunk and high at the accident? he said that there was no proof that she was drunk or high. that s correct. that s the reaction of mr. ruskin what s the toxicology reports and the autopsy reports is that not proof? you know, can i interject? that s one of the main reasons that we want a grand jury, because those statements are not under oath. i would like them to submit to a polygraph test, lie detector test, so to speak. i think they have an obligation to do that. moreover, i have challenged time and again his attorney and dan schuler to submit follicles of their own hair, because in all likelihood, if his wife was high on marijuana every night, i would say that it s almost certain that he was participating in that sort of recreation, if you want to call it that. we are prepared to continue demanding a grand jury investigation, and if necessary, we will seek perhaps to go to a higher authority, which we would regret to do, but if necessary, we are holding that in advance as a possibility. okay. irving, attorney for the family, thank you so much, and also michael bastardi, jr. our deep condolences to you. thank you so much for speaking to us today. thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you very much. you re welcome. and we ll be right back. remember, you have to jiggle it. ( doorbell rings ) we never get the time to tell people stuff. say what you need to say say what you need to say ( holding last note ) we couldn t have made it through this last year without you, mom. this year, appreciation may be the best gift of all. a hallmark card. it s the biggest little thing you can do. a hallmark card. one day something hit me. my pc should be safer. so i passed this along to microsoft. just like that, windows 7 comes out. and what do you know? it helps block out the stuff that might mess with my pc, and it keeps my personal info safer. now, was this all because of me? what do you think axel? that s a yes. i m a pc and windows 7 was my idea. to build up his savings account. that s simple alright. use your debit card for everyday purchases and automatically build your savings. with keep the change®. only from bank of america. magazine covers have not changed much through the years. there s a title, a photo and a brief glimpse at what s inside. that is, until now. next week, esquire hits stands with a unique issue featuring a technology called augmented reality, and it could alter the way we enjoy future issues. david granger is editor in chief. good morning to you. good morning, meredith. augmented reality, what is it? it s just a technology that layers data on top of video, and now that video s so prominent on computers, cell phones, everything, people are trying to find new uses for it. okay, so you use it on the cover of the december issue, which has robert downey j on the cover. explain how it works ooms. walk me through it. buy the issue, go to esquire.com, do a quick download and then just hold the magazine up to the web cam on your computer. can i show you? sure, please. and magic happens! ha! boo-yah! in your face! and bless yourself. welcome to the augmented issue of esquire magazine, my name is robert downey jr. what s it reading, just the box? it s reading the marker on the cover. therare five editorial things on the cover and in an ad that give you different experiences. we have gillian jacobs tell you an extra funny joke, and can i show you? let s see gillian s, yeah. one second. locate gillian. gillian is a what s the hardest challenge of bringing this to life? the challenge was really just the coding, barbarian the barbarian group here s the joke from gillian. one guy collapses to the ground. his other friend rushes over. he sees that he s not breathing, that his eyes are rolling you have to have ideas for how to use this technology. then you ve got to get all these people to cooperate with these extra special little performances, and then you ve got a code. there s a coding and work that goes into making sure that it actually works. you know, magazines are hurting, no question about it. they re folding. is this a gimmick to t to bring people back in? you know, magazines and newspapers get tarred with the idea that they re old media, because there s all this new media. right. but they re old media because they re really good. i think this is just a way to get people excited about something in a magazine again. yeah, and how do you see using this in the future? i think there s so many different uses. i mean, we used it in a fashion shoot with jeremy renner. you can actually force him to kind of change clothes, change outfits in the story. and i think you can use the 360 capabilities and the 3d capabilities to really enhance what a magazine does. do you think it s going to change the way we see magazines in the future? do you see other magazines looking at this and going, you know, i want in on this? i showed it to a lot of colleagues and they were very excited and want to do it. i n t think it s going to change the essence of magazine. you have the same exact magazine experience when you pick up esquire and read it you don t have to do this, in othewords. but if you choose to turn on the augmented reality, you get something really special. thank you so much, david granger. the magazine hits newsstands next week. now here s ann. meredith, thanks. now to a controversial website some say causes frivolous and costly lawsuits. it s called whocanisue.com, and michelle kosinski explains the answer is just about everyone. reporter: so, you re stuck in traffic, maybe short on cash? what else to ponder than that age-old question who can i sue? at least, that is what the new website s creator is not minding at all that you do. the name is provocative, but the name doesn t make anybody sue anybody. we re really providing information. reporter: the logo, a guy slipped up by the old banana peel. the website chock-full of every mishap imaginable, dog bites, bed sores, divorce. and the tv commercials- who can i sue? who can i sue? who can i sue? whocanisue.com, silly! reporter: the goal, of course, to get attention. should people be asking who can i sue? i think one of the great things about america is we have the best civil justice system in the world. reporter: curtis miner used to be a federal prosecutor and now doesn t quite cherish h these ads reflect on his profession. it makes me cringe a little. reporter: and if you re one who thinks we already live in something of a lawsuit-happy society, imagine you re surprised to see one of these huge billboards popping up in your neighborhood asking who can i sue? and it makes you hope you re not on anybody s list. because this website is technically a directory and not a referral service, there is a loophole. it doesn t need to follow the rules for legal advertising set by the bar. florida says we can t regulate taste. i told you going to whocanisue.com was the best thing you could do. reporter: don t like it? well, the founder says hold onto your crutches. this might cut down on frivolous lawsuits. when you click on something like dog bites, the site asks, oh, i don t know, were you trespassing when fido attacked? the site tells you you might be out of luck. if you slip on a banana peel, could you have a claim there? it depends why the peel was there. reporter: you re not going to sue us, are you? no, we re not going to sue you. reporter: and you might be thinking who can can 8:26 is the time and it s a nice november morning. good morning. in the news for today, john is scheduled to die tonight for a lethal injection. the final and peal was filed yesterday and it s not, expected to be stopped. he s convicted of killing jean meyers back in 2002. it was part of a massive shooting and tonight at 9:00 at the greenville correctional center in virginia. we ll take a break now and come back and look at our weather and traffic snoof it looks like we haveome sun out there. just a little bit. temperatures are now in the low to mid-50s. 55 in washington. afternoon highs in the 60s and quite a bit of cloudiness around this time tomorrow and during the day on wednesday, a 50% chance of passing showers and much cooler with blustery wind. how is the traffic? in eastern avenue, not too bad. typically heavy. upper montgomery county, authorities are dealing with a crash. so be careful along randolph road. a motorcycle and another vehicle is involved in that. we ll keep you updated. joe? thanks. throwing some gabs and sharing some laughs during a special one-on-one interview. see what the boxing legend is 8:30 now on this tuesday morning, november 10th, 2009. another great crowd here on rockefeller plaza, and they should stick around until tomorrow, because nbc s artists in residence, bon jovi will be here for a special concert live on the plaza. i m meredith vieira along with ann curry and hoda kotb. matt is off this morning and al roker is down in florida covering tropical storm ida. we re going to check in with al, actually, in just a moment. but we are the girls. that s right. we are the girls, and that s what we mean, just us. exactly. later this hour, we ll meet the newest multiple birth family in tv town, the hayes family, and they have ten kids. and i was just talking to tease kids. they are so adorable, as you can tell. oh, they are cute! from the way they re waving and being so well-behaved. so annoying that my kids can t be like that. and sextuplets. also coming up what? this famous coke machine that s over there. oh, yes. this is a coke machine that mixes different coke products, and you get any concoction you want out of it. cool! what do you think? i don t know. we ll have to give it a shot. give it a try. members of the crew said it was very good. you can mix it however you want. we ll see how that works. like gin and rum? does it make cosmopolitans is what we really want to know. by the way, earlier this morning, we were talking wh michael bastardi jr. and his lawyer about the deadly wrong-way crash that killed 11 people in new york. and we want to clear something. we have heard from the schuler family investigator, tom ruskin, and he insists that the schulers never said that there is no proof that diane schuler was drunk and high at the time of the accident. they acknowledge the autopsy results show just that and that they also do, however, want to exhume her body to get further results. glad we clarified that. okay. now, we ll talk to the latest cast away from nbc s the biggest loser. tracy is a 37-year-old mother of four. she became this season s villain, so to speak, and last week she fell below the bottom line and got the boot. good morning. good morning. look how little you are, by the way! you look fantastic. thank you very much. uh huh. beginning of the show, several weeks ago, started off, you were quite ill. i was very sick. i had heat stroke on the show is that why that is what happened. we all heard rumors about what was going on. sure. my body got way too hot. wie definitely out of shape. it was a one-mile run on the beach and you just couldn t do it. yeah. it s very hard watching that, my kids even, the same. it definitely gives you a wake-up call and it s something out there for everyone to know, you know. even though you think you can do it, you still how much weight did you lose overall? you know, i am not disclosing how much weight i lost. oh, okay. it looks like a lot. i have lost a lot and i have done great at home, and it has been wonderful with my family supporting me all the way and working very hard with my trainer every day and just giving it everything i can, and this is this is the life that i m living that i love right now. what allowed you to overcome clearly, when your health suffers when you start to work out, it s really hard, and it might even scare you into not continuing. so, for the people who are listening who really do want to lose a lot of weight, how did you overcome your fear about how your health might be impacted? um and you still lose all this weight. definitely. even on the show, that s it was like survival for me every single day. when you see me go into those interviews and i m saying i m putting one foot in front of the other, that is exactly what i did. every single day that i got out of bed and chose to go swimming, go work out with bob and jillian,hat s what i chose to do, and that s what people at home need to do. if you want to make a change, you have to put one foot in front of the other and you have to keep going. they cast you as the villain they did, they did. and you dropped, i think 11 pounds at one point, and nobody clapped. nobody clapped. they weren t happy for you. what was that like? it was very hard, and i did stand up there and say, wow, no one s clapping for me and i just lost 11 pounds. even the coach said that. that s what this is about, being joyful and being happy for others. but at the time, it was hard for everyone. i mean, i was playing the game to stay and doing what i had to do to stay there and taking care of myself. so, i just put myself in this cocoon and i smiled and i stood up there and i said, you just lost 11 pounds, tracey, way to go. feel good about yourself. and you ll be a butterfly later, i promise. and you re doing a marathon next month? i am doing a half marathon with my trainer. good luck to you. good job. it s been an amazing experience. you look experience. and the biggest loser, i m very thankful. thank you for having me. and it airs tonight at 8:00/7:00 central right here on nbc. and now it s time to check on the weather and al s in pensacola beach, florida, with the latest on ida. hey, al. thank you. hey, guys. thanks a lot. as we check it out, of course, ida now onshore, tropical storm slowly losing strength, will be making its way through the gulf today. we re going to be looking at heavy rain throughout the southeast. wet weather in the pacific northwest, mountain snows there as well, sunshine through new england into the great lakes. as we move into tomorrow, the remnants of ida continue to plague the southeast with heavy rain along the mid-atlantic coastal states, more rain in the pacific northwest. look for goodxd morning. a few breaks in the overcast and we ll peak in the mid-60s by later on this afternoon with quite a bit ofñr cloudiness. cloudy tonight and then on veterans day, a fewñi passing showers. about a 50% chance. cloudy and muchçóñr cooler. near 50 in theçó morning and 40 by the ñrafternoon.ñiñi thursday and ñixd that s your latest weather. meredi meredith. thanks, al. the hayes family is next. they have a great new reality show coming up. i can t wait to see it. ten child if you think life is challenging with a few children, well, try ten. the hayes family star in tlc s reality show table for 12, and as you might expect, things can get chaotic. take a look. there were these kids and they were playing outside at night and they were in the woods, right? they hearhe snap of the twig, crack! and they turn around, and there s a big skeleton! oh, my gosh bones and all. [ screaming ] oh! oh, man! betty and eric hayes are the parents of the clan. they re now joining us along with their ten kids. okay, kids, raise your hands. we ve got 13-year-old twins kevin and kyle, 11-year-old twins kieron and megan, and also 5-year-old sextuplets tara, rachel, ryan, connor, e.j. and rebecca. i think we got most of the hands up. good morning, everybody. good morning. so, before i ask you all the questions about this new show, kevin, what was your thinking there? what were you doing, trying to scare your family? well, it s a campfire. what do you we have to have ghost stories at a campfire, so i came up with one. betty, you didn t seem thrilled about this. i wasn t happy. i knew they were going to tell little scary stories. i didn t know they would go to the extreme of having props, and i bet your life is like this all the time, all these kinds of things coming up. it can be a little nutty, it can. right. so eric, we should back up and tell everybody how this all kind of got started, because you basically had two sets of twins. you wanted to have one more child and you ended up having six, and there you have ten. now, what explains how you decided to go and become a reality tv show family, eric? well, you know, we had thought about this for a long time and we had opportunities in the past, but we had some issues, and you know, our family life was the most important thing. we had issues with rebecca early on. and now we re at a point where, you know, everything s going pretty well. we know what rebecca s story is, and maybe it s time we get out there and find if there s any opportunities we can open doors for her with her cerebral palsy and other things. so maybe there are opportunities out there that might be opened up for us. what do you think about that? obviously, you re holding rebecca in your arms, daddy. what are your thoughts about what this reality show might bring, rebecca? i assume her cerebral palsy there s a higher risk of that when you re born as part of a multiple. that s true. wh we found out that she first had issues, we i basically, like any mother, would go to the internet and started clicking, and everything that i clicked on would pop up with a lawyer website do you want to see your doctor? and that s not what i needed. what i needed was answers. i wanted somebody to help me. what do i do with her? there s no book out there to really guide you through a handicapped, multi-impaired child. so, we were hoping that having this opportunity might help other mothers and also bring in information, you know? so, you know, kind of a two-way street. you wanted to create a kind of openness in all of this. yes. so, you know, there have you know, you know that this is not always easy for families to go the way of the reality tv show? you know, we hear a lot about a family called the gosselins. i mean, i know that it must be strange for you to be compared in some ways to that family, but you know, obviously, this might be trepidatious waters. eric, any thoughts about that? i mean, there s a lot of families on tv now that are large. you know, we re a little different. every family s unique. you know, we have a good foundation. we ve been married for 19 years. you know, we re a little bit older. i think we ve spent a lot of time together and been able to develop a relationship before we started any of this. so, i think we re on good ground here. good. okay. now i just want to bring in some of the little kids here. we ve got ryan. ryan, where are you? ryan. so, what s it like being a member of a family with ten kids? what do you think about it? kind of just how it is, isn t it? shrugging. do you have any fun with your brothers and sisters? yeah? and tara, i hear you re like a little princess. yeah? what do you like about being a little princess? i don t know. oh, boy. no? maybe you get to wear sparkles like you have on this morning. and megan, what do the kids say about your show? i don t know. i has anybody said anything to you about it? i know a couple people who said, oh, my gosh, that s so cool, and like, i can t believe that you have a show on tv. and it s just otherwise, it s just normal. normal. there are cameras all in your house and everything. not not on a 24-hour basis, you know? they re there a couple days a week. they re not intrusive. we obviously want school and church to come first. so, i mean, they are there, but it definitely takes third place, you know? but obviously, you ll see the difference if you tune into table for 12 tonight on tlc and in fact, i ll do the hard work for you. i ll tell you that it starts tonight. the new episodes start tonight on tlc called table for 12. thank you so much, the hayes family. thank you. thank you. oh, my goodness, you re just getting started. look at you. we ve got much more coming up next. the future of fountain drinks, maybe. there s always coca-cola, yeah tired of the same old choices at the soda machine? well, get a load at this. it s called the coca-cola freestyle, and it lets you apparently mix and match to blend a custom-made beverage. we ve got cnbc s melissa lee. she s got a glimpse at it and more from her upcoming special called coca-cola: the real story behind the real thing. melissa, thank you so much for joining us. oh, it s my pleasure. good morning. good morning, ann. what s this about exactly? is this basically an idea that the company thinks is going to be the next big thing? they are hoping that perhaps by trying to figure out what consumers want, what they re mixing, that it could lead to the next big thing. and what s so great about this soda machine is that it really harkens back to coke s roots. remember, coke was invented back in 1886. it was originally a soda fountain drink, and there are generations of americans out there who have memories of going to the soda fountain and having them pour him or her a cherry coke. and it sort of simulates that, but brings it up to the 21 aebd century with a easy-to-use interface and it has printer cartridges in the bottom of the machine, which disperses flavor in microdoses, a technology borrowed from medicine. you ve got minute maid up here, which you can mix with diet coke, which you can mix with hi-c hold on. you re going crazy here. what you could do and i m actually going to pour you a specific drink that you cannot find in a can or bottle anywhere. does everybody out there know what a creamcicle is? everybody knows what one is, right? so, this is the closest thing. dispense the ice. pick your base. do you want a regular coke, a diet coke? i ll do regular coke. let s do regular coke. then you ve got the flavor options. a creamcicle is half coke vanilla, and you hit pour this is complicated. no, no. then half orange. and then pour. so, you can only have two choices, right? no, you can have more than cho two choices? you can have more than two choices. you can go crazy. there are up to 104 variations that you can possibly mix on this machine. you could be standing here on the plaza all morning long. so, what s to prevent us from doing a vodka tonic with this machine? well, if you take this coke and you want to bring it to your bar, ann, that s your choice, but the hope here for the coke company is that after you hit the pour button, what this machine does is transmits data back to coke headquarters in atlanta. it tells the company what is being poured in terms of the flavor combinations, what time it s being poured, how often it s being poured. and so, coke hopes to tap int this in order to get closer to the consumer and possibly figure out what its next big brand combination could be. all right. meantime, you re going to be talking about this, but also much more regding the company as you investigate how coca-cola s enduring this economic downturn and what it might illuminate for the rest of us, other companies. including a behind-the-scenes look into a place never before seen by cameras, which is the lab where coke figures out how consumers decide to buy, because usually, when you re in that supermarket, it s five seconds, the time that you decide to purchase, five seconds. okay. and what time does this air? 9:00 p.m. eastern time tomorrow on cnbc. all right. melissa lee, thank you so much. my pleasure. great to see you. we ve got much more coming up. çóçóçóçñçñçó this morning on today s kitchen back to basics down-home cooking with the husband and wife team, high school sweethearts, owners of neelys barbecue in nashville and they have their own food nwork show and now a cookbook down home with the neelys. good morning. good morning, meredith. this smells so good. i want to get this as quickly as possible, but one question about the book. every recipe you have comes with a back story. why is that important to have a story with the recipe? i think any time you have a recipe most of the recipes in our book are generational. they come from families, because if you think about it, that s where all the good loving and the good food comes from. the thing about home, you love it and just want to do. it this pot roast for one is veryeconomical, it s very easy to make, feeds a family of four as a happy meal and guess what, adult working moms, we love that. perfect. one pot, low-cost pot roast. yes. easy, simple. easy breezy. we come from large families that we like to have very economical meals. so, what we ve got is a three to four-pound roast here. no bone in that, i take it. no bone. no bone. we re going to season this baby with salt and pepper. simple enough. very simple. great thing about all of the recipes, they re so easy and simple and most of the ingredients are right in your cupboard. absolutely. then we want to sear it. how long do you do this for? just until it browns on every side. okay. kind of depends on the size. this one is browned beautifully. beautiful. we want to take it out of the pot and then one? sit it there. look how delicious that looks. just by itself. right. then we ve got some italian seasoning. you throw that into the pot. throw that in. that s all going to go back in. and in memphis, we ve always got some beer. of course. ot to have some beer. all right, so, then you pour the beer in. yes, sir. we ve got two bay leaves. we take about eight garlic cloves whole. just dump them in, whole. whole, because they re going to cook down. we ve got some beef broth, all right? to add flavor. it s not beer, but all right. then we ve got some ported onions, all right? now, we dump these in, and you want to give it a vigorous stir. okay. and there are brown bits in the bottom that you want to rake off, because that s where all your flavor is. right. that s from the meat, from searing the meat. people think it s best burnt, but you want to pull that flavor out. once it comes to a boil, guess what? we re putting this baby right back in. right back in. you get that cooking. so, you ve got all the flavors going. now, we re going to lid this. it s going into the oven for about 300 degrees for three hours. it s going to be so tender. oh, my god, so tender. and for a great piece of roast, you need vegetables. baby carrots, red potatoes and onions. now, meredith, i ll have you salt and pepper. as much as i want? as much as you want. all right. don t go crazy, though. we don t want to kill anybody. i won t go crazy. you obviously know me. all right, i ve done enough. and drizzle in some olive oil. okay, again and you just want to add in a little thyme to give it some more flavor. you ve got time, so add a little thyme. you ve got time for the thyme. then toss it around. that s all you do. very, very simple. so, put it on your baking sheet and let it roast for 45 minutes. dump it all in here what temperature? in the same oven as the pot roast? you sure can put it right in together. then that s it. when this is done, you want to add some lemon juice, some partly sun parsley and lemon zest now this is what it looks like. come on back. listen oh, man. when you get back here, it s on, meredith. this is southern at its best. it s on. oh, look at this! coming in we knew they would show up. we knew you were coming. you come at serving time. we do, though. what is this? this is beautiful. stop the presses! broccoli cheddar corn bread. oh, my god, so amazing. how are you doing? and if you have kids and you want to sneak in a vegetable and they don t know it, that s a good way to do it. right. that sure is. this is good. there you go, meredith. that s for you. when you re in memphis and you ve got the down home with neelys cookbook, try these recipes. i m telling you. you know what we do when we re done with a great dish? don t say that on air if no, listen, we rub our feet together. take your shoes off and rub your feet together. i am taking my boots good morning. it s 8:56 and we zoom in on the lincoln building. good morning. one of the two d.c. snipers is scheduled to die from lethal injection tonight. he was convicted of the killing of dean harold myers at a gasoline station in 2002. this was part of a massive shooting spree that terrorized the washington area and left ten people dead. >ñrñi well, the youngest reside of prince georges county is able to get the swine flu vaccine. between the ages of six and 35 months canxdñi get a shot i clin and it will run from 6:30 to 8:30 this evening. we ll take a look at our weather little sunshineñi is breaki out throughout the rest of the day and highs in the mid-06s. tomorrow,ñi cloudy and añr 50/5 chance of a passing shower. 40s in the afternoon and remaining chilly on thursday and friday. and now let s check traffic. how is it looking, jerry?ñixd we have a problem with an accident between 29 and georgia. a couple of travel lanes are closed. over in virginia,xd along 9 we are looking better as you head out towards springfield. all of the travel lanes are capital xd beltway. joe? tonight on news 4 at 5:00, a specialñi one-on-one interview with lindsey and the local boxingxd leg and we re back with more of today on this tuesday morning, november 10th, 2009. it is a gray day if you look at the sky, but if you look at these faces, we ve got a sunny crowd in rockefeller plaza. they re happy to be starting their day with us, we hope, because we re happy to be starting our day with them. and i m ann curry along with amy robak. natalie s on assignment, matt s on assignment, al s on assignment, but we will be checking in with al, because he s in pensacola beach, where ida has been dropping buckets of rain, in just a moment. coming up, we ll talk about the memorial service, the latest on the ft. hood tragedy. the memorial service is being held today as more details are emerging about the alleged shooter. he reportedly is up and talking now, and this memorial service will be very important i think not only for the army, but also, i think, for the nation. so, that s coming up just ahead. the president and first lady, as we just saw, will both be attending. all right, also coming up, if you have a for sale sign in front of your house, we have some important tips and quick fixes from your mailbox to your toilet seat that could help you seal the deal. and you know, so many kids these days have peanut allergies, and for some, exposure can be very serious. it can even be deadly. there are now some new training service dogs that can literally sniff out peanuts. it s an extra layer of protection for kids and families when they find something different. we ll give an amazing demonstration. so, you mean you wou have the dog yourself? exactly, it s if you have a child that s allergic, you can use the dog to make sure the child is warned. exactly. the dog will bark when it smells peanuts and the child knows to stay away or stay at a safe distance. that s great. we ll see that demonstration. first, a check of the top stories and hoda kotb is in for me at the news desk. hey, good morning, everybody. investigators in texas say they believe ft. hood shooting suspect major nidal malik hasan acted with no outside help. there will be a memorial service today in ft. hood for the people killed in the rampage. nbc s janet shamlian is at ft. hood. good morning, janet. reporter: hoda, good morning. president obama will be traveling here to ft. hood for today s memorial. he ll be meeting with those injured in last thursday s attack as well as the families of those who lost their lives. access has always been restricted, but ft. hood is now even more of a fortress. public visits have been suspended in the wake of last week s massacre. this cannot become, you know, a battlefield. and again, we will provide the right kind of security measures here on post to make sure that it doesn t. reporter: general cone says it s been a tough time for those on post as dozens sought grief counseling, ft. hood prepared for president obama s visit and today s memorial, a midday service to honor the 13 who died and more than two dozen injured. meanwhile, first word from the civilian police officer hailed as a hero for helping end the attack. kimberly munley and family would like to extend their thanks and appreciation for all of the thoughts and concerns surrounding kim from around the nation. munley was shot four times, has had two surgeries and is still in the hospital. i m just so proud of him. reporter: family and friends of the fallen and injured are gathering in killeen ahead of today s memorial. a bittersweet trip for leila willingham, who lost her brother, jason hunt. the only piece i don t have are about his last moments, and i wonder, was he scared or was he in pain. but i know my brother, and he wasn t scared of anything. he wasn t scared of going to war, so i just picture his face just with the soldiers there around him there at the end thinking, i thk that would be the way he would want to go. reporter: it will be a tough day for those families. of those injured in the attack, 15 are still in the hospital, 8 are in intensive care. hoda, back to you. janet shamlian in ft. hood, texas. thanks a lot. during the night, a skirmish at sea between noerth and south korea. navy ships from both countries accuse the other of violating their disputed border in the yellow sea and opened fire in the first such clash in seven years. iran s president is ruling out an early release for the three american hikers held for three months in iran and now accused of spying. the u.s. says the charges are baseless. and the boston train operator is being hailed a hero this morning after a woman who had been drinking fell onto the tracks and couldn t get up. the operator was able to stop the train with just inches to spare. the woman who fell, by the way, is okay. it is now four minutes past the hour. let s go back outside to amy. incredible video. it really is, hoda. thank goodness she is alive and well, just a few scrapes. thanks so much. let s now get a check of the weather. let s head out to al, covering hurricane ida in pensacola beach. al, good morning. good morning, guys. as you can see, the beach is virtually empty. nobody out here. red flags flying, a few birds. that s about it. and a few hardy reporters live on the beach. as we take a look, see what s going on currently. well, this is the latest on ida. it is now weakening, a tropical storm. it s over mobile bay, 25 miles south of mobile. 45-mile-per-hour winds, moving northeast at 9 miles per hour. anas you can see, the heaviest rain now moving inland. that s where the flood threats are, all the way up to birmingham, as far east as anderson, south carolina north carolina, i should say. path of the storm brings it along the florida panhandle and then cuts it across the flida/georgia border, and that s what we re going to be looking at. it becomes a subtropical or an extratropical storm as we move into wednesday afternoon. it s going to move slowly and dump a lot of rain. we re talking anywhere from three to ten inches of rain. flooding going to be a big problem. if you re flying through hartsfield airport this week, today especially, most of the rainñr is far north of the center circulation from ida, so there is a chance that we could have the tropical showers here tomorrow. for today, remaining mostly cloudy. it s cloudy now. in the mid- and upper 50s. highs in the mid 60s today. and then cloudy tonight and a 50% chance of showers tomoow. otherwise, cloudy and much cooler. dropping into the and that s your latest weather. ann? all right, al, thank you so much. this morning on today s real estate, tips to get your house sold. today s real estate expert barbara corcoran says there are some cheap and easy fixes that could speed up the sale. barbara, good morning. good morning, ann. you say these are very small things. we re talking about minutia things that could make a big difference. but they all add up, because every buyer s walking through your house with a set of fresh eyes. they notice everything, so why don t you take care of it in advance? curb appeal important. you want to get them in the door. you say look at your lawn and trim your grass. sure. you can pay the neighbor s kid $20 to trim your grass if you don t want to do it. you can green your lawn in three weeks flat with a good greener on the marketplace. and if you want to resurface your driveway, you roll it out like a can of paint and have a new surface on your driveway. now you ve got them in the door. they re walking up to the door, but you want us to replace the door knocker? it sounds ridiculous, but a shiny door knocker says i care for my home and you ve created a good first impression. and you like pineapple door knockers? i don t care what it is, as long as it s new and fresh. now you ve got mailboxes. you know, that s also very important. it kind of makes a statement, the mailbox. well, it makes a little statement. again, it all adds up. if you have a really creepy looking mailbox, why not have a nice, shiny new one? now, going inside the house, we basically want them to basically look at customizing closets, because people, when they buy, look in your house, they re looking in your closets. they look in every closet, and if you can customize it, and if you can t afford that, just cleaning it out makes a big difference, because you know what happens? every buyer looks in the closet and makes the wrong assumption that if your closet is neat, the workings of the house, the inner workings are in good order. it s ridiculous, but they make that assumption. so why not have a clean closet? okay, and painting. one of the things about painting is that we ve always been told to stay away from bold colors. ishat also true if you want to sell a house? the number one thing you should paint a house with is linen white. people think it fits in there nice, looks good in the day and night. no replacement. they also feel like they can paint over it if they want to and don t have to work so hard. gives them options. it s neutral. not that i know everything. i m just augmenting what you ve been telling me for a year. sounds good to me. spruce up your cabinets. you want the kitchen cabinets to look terrific. this sounds like it could be expensive. not at all. two-thirds of the cost of the cabinet is the box, which lasts forever. you can pop off the doors and save two-thirds of the cost or use a fresh coat of paint, but to leave an old, ratty cabinet up is ridiculous because buyers assume they ll have to do a gut renovation. what if you can t afford to replace the drawers, but you can afford new drawer pulls? it updates the kitchen. you can get a nice-looking, new, modern knob. you also look backsplashes. because they re easy today. they have self-gluing backsplashes. you don t have to remove the old one, which is the messiest part. just stick it right ontop. also, you ve got a pet peeve regarding chandeliers. they re the only thing in the room that s directly in your line of vision. it hits you in the head when you walk in and they re personal in style. you re better of getting a simple fixture mounted up flush against the ceiling and it s not objecti objectionable. so be careful about going too outside the box. people don t like it. they want to walk into the home and see themselves living there. if it s too personal, they don t make that jump. it s funny, i go shopping sometimes, i like when the pretty switch plate is there. that s kind of a nice little touch. you might like it, but the safer bet is certainly a simple switch plate that looks nice and clean because a lot of people don t like that stuff. that s why they listen to you and not me. you also say base boards are something to consider. baseboards and the crown molding because they raise the ceiling visually. they visually add about six inches to the eye, and that really counts because people want a higher ceiling. so, if you don t have crown molding or baseboarding, you might want to consider that. are they expensive to put in? they are expensive to put in, but not relative to what you get back. you can do a typical room for roughly $200, and that s not a big expense. the plastic, self-sticking ones can really fool the eye. you don t have to go all out and get a nice wood one. now we re getting nitty gritty. you re talking about the toilet seat. think about the toilet seat. now, how should we think about the toilet seat? because no one wants to move into your bathroom. i don t care how nice the bathroom is. so, a fresh new toilet seat and a clean bathroom makes all the difference. anyway, those are some very important tips. good note to end on, toilet seats. i know. we ll try to raise the bar next time. barbara corcoran, you always raise our bar. thank you. still to come today, former miss california, carrie prejean speaks out about a new controversy after having been fired as miss california and becoming an instant political hot potato. but up next, how a dog can protect your children from peanut allergies. up just to get out of bed. then.well. i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq®. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if you have heart disease. or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. (woman) for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression. (announcer) ask your doctor about pristiq. of maxwell house s flavor lock lid. hear that? seals it tight. smells like fresh ground. fresh fresh fresh fre that s our favorite part. .fresh! (announcer) taste why maxwell house is good to the last drop. so warm, flaky; it may be the last time chips and dip are invited back. savorings appetizers from pillsbury. woolite isn t just for your delicates! it s for all your clothes! with woolite complete you can wash everything, from jeans to tees, cause it has the right balance of care and cleaning. and say goodbye to fading, shrinking and stretching. after all, a lady never reveals the true age of her clothes. woolite complete, cleans and cares for all your clothes. better cover up those hands, or they ll be in for a dry spell. [ male announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty. it helps your hands seal in moisture while you do the dishes. [ sponge ] who could have predicted that? [ male announcer ] dawn does more. [ sponge ] so it s not a chore. what doctors recommend for arthritis pain. in your hands. knees. and back. for little bodies with fevers. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body in a way other pain relievers don t. so you feel better. knowing doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. this morning in today s health, a surprising, new approach to peanut allergies. there are more than 3 million americans allergic to peanuts, and many of them are school-age children, which means a simple trip to the park or a slumber party could turn deadly. but now there is help from a unique program. today s west coast contributor maria menounos has more. good boy. reporter: just think of teddy as a cross between a seeing eye dog and a bomb-sniffing dog. all right, good boy! he s actually trained to hunt. we re just trying to get him to hunt what we want him to hunt for. reporter: but this pooch isn t on the hunt for explosives. see? reporter: he s part of a new breed of service dogs trained to sniff out peanuts and protect their owners from deadly allergies. the dog should be able to come in afterwards and let us know that this area is contaminated. show me. good boy. he ll be able to smell the area, detect what s in that room and let the child know where they can and can t play. this is teddy. reporter: sherry maris founded the network to train dogs like teddy after a peanut-sniffing dog helped save her daughter s life. despite a cost of $10,000, she placed her first four dogs with families this fall. here in colorado, there are seven more dogs like ranger here in training and many more puppies on the way. in spite of the cost, over 2,000 families have asked about getting an allergy alert dog. derek and jody gonzalez have spent seven years building a peanut-free bubble around their son logan. just for him to be a normal kid to do normal things, go to kids birthday parties. those aren t options for him. reporter: doctors say his allergy is the worst they ve ever seen, so severe that just the smell of peanuts on a teacher s breath once sent him to the emergency room. we just thought that this was going to be something that we were going to have to deal with for the rest of our life, that logan would never get a tool that helped him like this. reporter: that tool s name is roxy. hi, girl. reporter: the residents of logan s small town raised almost $20,000 for the year-old australian labradoodle. she s kissing you all over! reporter: she ll follow logan everywhere he goes, letting him know any time peanuts are nearby. a new best friend for logan, making the idea of a normal life not seem so far-fetched after all. for today, maria menounos, nbc news, monument, colorado. and sherry is the founder of angel service dogs here with her daughter riley and her dog rocco. good morning to all of you. good morning. thanks for having us. as we just saw, these are dogs that can change children s lives, families lives. tell us more about how angel service dogs came about. i was actually watching an nbc program where they had the beagle brigade out and they were showing how they sniff luggage in airports, and i thought, if a dog can find a pineapple, why can t it find peanuts and protect my child? fantastic. and we grew from there. ley, you have a peanut allergy. i know that s got to be tough, but how have dogs like rocco saved your lives and other children s lives? how has it changed what you get to do every day? well, it s not really changed my life, he s changed other children s lives, too. it makes you safer, right? you know places you can go and where you can t go, right? yeah, i definitely do. if somebody is looking into getting an allergy dog, a peanut allergy dog, it s not an easy process. what do they have to go through? what can they expect? when they apply online at ang angelservicedogs.com, you have to have doctor s proof of your allergy. we want to be with your aller gist in making this decision, and i want to know that having the dog in your life won t cause additional harm or hurt your asthma, because we ll help the kids eventually through educating people, like doing segments like this, letting people know these allergies exist. and it s important to make the point that this is not a cure, but this is certainly adding extra protection for children. absolutely not. one of the important things about rocco is in this pack he has his emergency medication, like his injector, benadryl, you know, the things that would save my daughter s life if she actually needed that with an attack. that s important. now to hoda with a demonstration. amy, we ll d a show and tell. trainer chris jack is here with your dog. binelli. how do you know when the dog smells peanuts? what sign does he give? a certain change in behavior that the owner can detect. each dog has a different change we re looking for. and do these dogs just sniff out peanuts? because kids can be allergic to all kinds of things that can be deadly. yes. so, it s $10,000 if you want the dog. correct. now you re going to give us a demonstration. so, somewhere around us there are peanuts hidden. very dangerous peanuts, yes. let s see you do your thing. come on. come on. binelli. good girl! come on. over here. check here. check here. good girl. check. change of behavior, excessive sniffing, and she ll give a response. sit. that means there are peanuts there. good girl! there are peanuts there. good girl. she got her own reward. you would take this dog to restaurants, to malls, to schools? where would you be able to take your dog? absolutely. where the families want to go with their child. is it like a seeing eye dog in a way that they would be permitted in restaurants? absolutely, yes, it is. chris, thank you. good work. nice to see you. coming up, we ll show you how you can have some fashion accessories for $50 or less. working on my pc should be easier. just like that, windows 7 comes out. check it out. it s got this cool little taskbar. i can see everything i have open. makes rking on a bunch of things at once, easier. i knowhat you re thinking. microsoft used kirsten s idea. know who else is thinking that? (laughing) kirsten. i m a pc and windows 7 was my idea. still haven t tried activia? i am definitely a skeptic. my commercials didn t convince you? actually, my mom convinced me. and? and i have activia every morning for breakfast. activia definitely helped my occasional irregularity. activia (horn honking) if i steam clean it ll be soaked for hours! use resolve deep clean powder. the moist powder removes ground-in dirt and deep cleans without soaking. and it s completely dry in 20 minutes! this carpet will please any mother-in-law. (alistair) resolve deep clean powder. wiggle your day with jell-o sugar-free gelatin. ooh, yeah it s 10 tasty calories. loved by lips and hips alike. shake it, shake it, ooh, yeah jell-o. because every diet needs a little wiggle room. are still on the road today. uh hum. no. - which means, someday, - ( dings ) - this camry could be his. - ( car wash whirring ) toyota has more hybrids on the road than all other automakers combined. pheeew! so we can all breathe a little easier. it is your last chance to vote for today s kid reporter. on monday, you got to see them do some real reporting, and now you need to decide the winner. logon to todayshow.com or text your vote to 622639. you press 1 for sami, 2 for brodie, 3 for deidra and 4 for jack. standard rates apply. we ll announce the winner live thursday morning. okay! still to come, we ll be talking about feathering your nest. righ? yep, all day. good thing you re starting here. we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies , soou can save money! look! we saved a lot! and quick, too. and no more holding her purse! it s a european should bag. it was a gift. mm-hmm. shopping less and saving more. now, that s progressive. call or click today. my son s got all that and he s on his first date. well, when he feels the instacool sensation, he ll know that pepto s about to kick in. honey, do you feel. the instacool sensation yes, mom. thank you, mrs. wagner. [ male announcer ] new pepto-bismol chewables with instacool. world, people. woolite isn t just for your delicates! it s for all your clothes! woolite complete has the right balance of care and cleaning, to help keep them looking like new. after all, a lady never reveals the true age of her clothes. it looks hazy out there. maybe not fog. we ll ask tom what we re looking at. 65 is the degrees in washington. and, good morning, at 9:26, it s tuesday, november 10th. i m barbara harrison. in the news at this hour, a federal investigation of independent monitors has been barred from safety inspections on live tracks with met thouro. they haven t been allowed to walk along the tracks to see if metro is following the rules put in place after several workers were killed on theñi job. she says she s asked the transportation aiq5q uz investigate the case. metro says thew3 inspectors are allowed to see the tracks as long as they have safety escorts. we ll be back with traffic and a look at weather in just a moment. stay with us. what can we expect for weather today? a break in the clouds and sunshine is breaking up. overall, quite a bit of cloudiness. high, mid-60s and a 50/50 chance and 40s in thexd afternoon and wind is picking up. thursday and friday, remaining chilly. jerry, how is the traffic? crawling about an accident and two lanes closed between 29 and georgia. in virginia we go to check ings out along 95. 395 through shirlington, it looks lik right now the travel lanes are opened. barbara? all right. thank you very much. tonightñr at xd5:00, lunch with lindsey. sugar ray leonard shares laughs during a i did it my way, i just wanna live while i m alive, it s my life that should get your toe tapping. bon jovi, th ve been keeping it real and rocking our world for 25 years. well, tomorrow they re going to rock our plaza for a special veterans day concert in honor of the members of the united states military veterans and their families, and that s not the end, because who weeks from tomorrow, just before thanksgiving, they will also again be rocking our plaza, because they are, of course, our artists in residence. yes, they are. you know, they re the first ones. you know, all kinds i m hoping we get artists, you know, other, painters right. so much fun. i m ann curry with hoda kotb and also amy robach because natalie s on assignment and al s also going to be joining us in a couple minutes. coming up this half hour, we re talking about carrie prejean, the beauty queen who sparked controversy when she spoke out against gay marriage and eventually lost her miss california crown. now she s responding to a new controversy. we ll hear what she has to says. an interesting conversation. also, giada de laurentiis is here are w some interesting things, kids that like to cook or kids that just like to eat. that s our producer s baby boy. he ll be helping. love his face. a look of antipation because he s going to get some cake. ooh! all right. plus, a budget-conscious approach to decorating, and it doesn t have to be a formal look. confront is king, according to our experts, and they ll have some tricks of the trade. mm-hmm. also coming up a little later, we ll take you inside one family s home to show you where the germs may be living in yours. yes. ew. but first, al s in pensacola beach this morning, where they ve been getting some how is it over there? it looks pretty calm right now, al. well, it s little windy. it s not bad. temperature about 70 degrees. of course, the remnants of ida have now moved inland, and the heaviest rain has moved inland as well. but here on the beach, not bad. windy conditions. obviously, the surf kicking up. as we take a look, show you what s going on as far as the country is concerned, for today, of course, the southeast being impacted by ida with heavy rain all the way to the southeastern atlantic coast. rain in the pacific northwest with some mountain snows in the upper elevations. plenty of sunshine through the southwest. northern parts of n england looking sunny. tomorrow, sunny and cool there. much of the midsection of the country going to see sunshine, warm conditions, in fact, through tomorrow, but rain in the pacific northwest. good morning. sunshine and xdcloudy. temperatures are in the 40s and it s mostly cloudy skies. mid- and upper 50s now. highs today in the mid-50s. a 50/50 ch tropical showers tomorrow. much cooler and near 50 and dropping near the 40s and that s your latest weather. ladies? thanks, al. thanks, al. coming up next, the controversial miss california, carrie prejean. how does jell-o sugar free pudding fit all that rich, chocolatey taste in 60 calories? oh, so delicious who cares? jell-o sugar free pudding. every diet needs a little wiggle room. the holidays are always so busy. gram, the video game thingy s stuck again. remember, you have to jiggle it. ( doorbell rings ) we never get the time to tell people stuff. say what you need to say say what you need to say ( holding last note ) we couldn t have made it through this last year without you, mom. this year, appreciation may be the best gift of all. a hallmark card. it s the biggest little thing you can do. ( panting ) ( cat meows ) cats everywhere are using fresh step because it doesn t just mask odors, it eliminates them. so don t be surprised if your cat needs help finding her litter box. fresh step with odor-eliminating carbon. it s almost like not having a litter box. join fresh step s support of the a.s.p.c.a. and so does new air wick imotion. it s the only continuous air freshener with a smart motion sensor, so it sees when there is more activity and automatically adjusts the fragrance. it creates the perfect scent in your home s busiest places. air wick freshmatic ultra with imotion gives you freshness where life happens. air wick, it s good to be home. last april, miss california, carrie prejean, stepped into a whirlwind of controversy when she responded to a question about gay marriage at the miss usa pageant, saying she thought marriage should be between a man and a woman, and then she was relieved as her duties as miss california. then dueling lawsuits. she claimed discrimination. the pageant wanted their money back for her breast augmentation surgery. now word of a sex tape surfaced. meredith talked to carrie about all of it, including her book still standing. she began by asking if a sex tape really exists. you can call it whatever you want to call it. if you want to call it a sex tape, that s fine, but. well, what do you call it? it was me by myself. there was no one else with me. i was not having sex. i sent it to my boyfriend at the time. i was a teenager. i cared about him. i trusted him. and you know, but the main point is that there has been a campaign against me to try and silence me for the past seven months for the answer that i gave at the pageant. so, you made this tape when you were 17 years old. is it basically an example of sexting, something you sent? yeah, i think now they call it sexting, but you know, it was me in the tape. you can call it whatever you want to call it. if you want to call it a sex tape, that s fine, but you know, i was by myself. i sent it to a boyfriend. it was for, you know, private use, but does that justify what i did? no. it was the biggest mistake of my life. and did i think it would come out now and haunt me? no. but i think a lot of young people can learn from this. and you know, nothing is private anymore. this book, it obviously doesn t take on the sex scandal, but it does take on what happened to you in the pageant. why did you feel the need to write it? what hadn t you said that you needed to say? well, i think it s important for people to understand, i think that americans heard only bits and pieces of what really happened, and i think that there is a liberal bias in the media, and it s unfortunate that, you know, conservative women are attacked, they are attacked for their beliefs, you know? and it s unacceptable and it shouldn t happen. and so many americans are frustrated. so many americans believe that their beliefs, you know, are under attack and they should be silent and free speech doesn t exist. you say in the book you ve been palinized, referencing sarah palin. mm-hmm. what do you mean by that, i ve been palinized ? you know the attacks sarah lin s been under, don t you? but do you do you think sarah palin s been attacked? i do, as have many politicians. and there is a double standard. there is an extreme double standard that conservative women are under attack for whatever it is. if sean hannity went out there and said some of the things that keith olbermann has said about me, you know if he said anything about sonia sotomayor or michelle obama, he would be off the air. why is there this double standard? and that s the reason why i wrote this book. you also take on beauty pageants, and you say that, you know, you owe a lot to them, so you re not taking away from that. right. but there s a part of the book where you recount what happened at the misssa pageant before, in the days leading up to it, where donald trump, who owns the pageant, looked over the girls and held his own version of an elimination round. what did he do? well, i talk about it in my book, and you know, basically, he just went out there and we were so excited to meet, you know, the donald at the time. and he just came out there and meeted us and, you know, shook our hands, and we were so excited to meet him, but there were a lot of feelings that were hurt by some of the girls. they felt as though, you know, they weren t chosen by him. you say in the book you divided the girls into the ones he thought were hot and the ones that were not. right. well, he asked us, you know, how do you feel about so and so or who do you think s the most beautiful woman out here? and some of the girls were on the right side and some of the girls were on the left side, and those that were on the left were devastated. would you advise young women not to get involved in pageants? gyou know, i have learned so much and i have grown so much. there has been so many great experiences. i would not be here today had it not been for the pageant. in my book, i talk about a sry how the pageant officials accidentally sent me to the wrong address and i ended up at a children s hospital, and it was the most amazing experience i have ever had, just being able to visit with children, and that was by accident. and so, i stayed at the hospital for about two hours and it was just it was unforgettable. so, some of the most amazing things have happened to me since the pageant. but you know, people need to know what really happened and the truth. and that was meredith earlier this morning with carrie prejean. coming up next, how to create a comfortable home at comfortable prices. but first these messages. serve. savings like this don t come along every day. custom upholstery at ethan allen. extraordinary savings. limited time. today it s about planning for theuture. it s about great style and great savings. take advantage of this rare opportunity. custom media at ethan allen. extraordinary savings. limited time. extraordinary savings. discover a light yogurt like no other. activia light! delicious, fat free, and above all. the only one that has bifidus regularis and is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system. activia light. activiaaa! - no to fake foods. - and yes to real. yes to hellmann s. made with eggs, vinegar and oils. that are naturally rich in omega 3. with all the taste in the world. mmmmmm. hellmann s. it s time for real. when you can actually party at your party? 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(announcer) taste why maxwell house is good to the last drop. hey, you re supposed to be a vegetable! there s a full serving of vegetables in every manwich. besides, you re a grain anyway. - but i m corn! - yeah, corn s a grain. ( crowd applauds ) announcer: surprise. every manwich has a full serving of wholesome vegetables. manwich. meat your vegetables. the play s called farmer john s vegetable patch, right? exactly. our house in the middle of our street and this morning on today s home, create a comfortable environment. from modern to traditional, you can create with pizzaz and still keep on a budget with the help of a new book by mitchell gold and bob williams. it is called, of course, the comfortable home. they have each brought along so many terrific ideas, so we ve spread it out over two floors. we ll begin up here with mitchell. hi, mitchell. hi. great to see you. i love the feel of this room because it s about small spaces and feeling just cozy, right? well, a small space doesn t mean you have to give up comfort or style, and that s what we ve tried to put in here. and i think, too, sometimes in small spaces, people jam it full of stuff, clutter it. but that s not at all what you should be doing, right? i think the first thing to do is unclutter a small space. unclutter. that s what we ve really done here, gotten rid of the nicknacks and stuff and put a few things out. we have a sofa that sits two people comfortably. okay. this is cute. what else does it convert into? it also makes into a bed, so it s an instant guest room. what s important for all this furniture is you ve got to have a tape measure, because sometimes you over/und over/underestimate. that s important. one of the themes is you have to plan. it takes time to plan, but it saves you time in the end. so, if you plan and measure yours properly, then you don t overbuy. you get everything that fits right. this guy over here, this chair, it s an armless chair, and that takes up i guess less spe, right? it takes up a little less space and you can actually seat two people on that. you can? yeah. two little people. two thin people. two modest people. but you can sit two people on there if you have company and stuff. okay. and the same goes for tell us about these. these cocktail tables are really ottomans, and you can sit on them, put a tray on them, you can eat off of them and move them around, too. that s what i love about the feeling of our room we ve created. real quick, over here, we ve got these stacking tables that have a secret compament on the side. look at this. you take it out and it s like a little tray to eat on. it s perfect. i love it. and real quick, right here at the end you ve got a few pictures and a vase there, but you re not jamming it, again, full of stuff. it s a little console table and fits into any awkward spot you have. i love. it these are all ideas in your book, but we are not finished yet. no, we are not. we are going to go downstairs to amy robak, who s got the other half of this time. that s right, hoda. thank you. bob williams is the co-author of the comfortable home, and we re focusing on small spaces and how to maximize the area. we can begin with seating and wall arrangements. thanks for being with us. a lot of us, i think, have old photographs or mirrors we might not have thought about putting up on the wall. this is an amazing display you have over here. what went into this process? you ve got a small space. you d think, gosh, maybe that s too much to put on a wall. you know what? the more the better. okay. what s really nice is you ve got a nice collage, interesting shapes and a lot of different colors all mixing together. and what s really cool is the fact that the color of the black-and-white photo frames work with the chairs. so, it brings and ties everything together. and what s really neat is the fact that there s a lot of balance here. right. i m a libra. i like things that are balanced. so, when i start putting things together, i like to start with the largest pieces on the bottom and work my way up. and you have many different shapes and sizes, which is great, like the octagon, the circle, the rectangle. it all works well together, and the square. what s nice is what pulls them all together is the fact that they re the same color. okay. so, by taking a bunch of old frames, painting them the same color it brings unity and makes them all the same. mirrors add depth. you have that on the wall and as well on this table. it s a great way to bring in light, make the place a lot brighter. and what s interesting is, mirrors reflect what s already in the room. so they will work with whatever colors and furnishings you already have in your space. whatbout with photos, if you don t know if you want to hang them or you don t know what to do with them, what can you do with photos? what s nice is you can matte them. so, if you have a frame that s a different size, the matte will let the photo become a bigger size. it s a way to manipulate what you already have. very nice. let s talk about the pieces you have here, because you have a fantastic bench that can be used as a table as well. i see what you ve done in terms of adding accessories on top of it, so it s not just for sitting. that s right. benches are amazing, because not only do they add extra seating, but they add extra surfaces to use to put accessories and to add a little bit of color. and what s nice is we ve got the green throw which also coordinates with the tray that we have here. i love that. and these are cool, too, these butterfly photos up here. what is this? well, this is actually photo butterflies that have been collected over time, and what s nice is we ve got two blue ones and two orange ones. right. so, they give you a chance to add some color and sparkle. and we put them in a criss-cross pattern to give it a little bit more depth. beautiful. again, the book is called the comfortable home, bob williams and also mitchell gold. thank you both. coming up next, giada de laurentiis has some great gift ideas for the food lover in your life, and who doesn t love food? bu this morning, we re cooking with one of our favorite chefs, cooking with giada, italian chef and today conibutor. food fanatics attended the cooking show in washington, d.c., so we asked giada to go through the hundreds of items and pick holiday gifts for the season. hello, giada. was it hard to pick among well, i picked nick among them all. first of all, let s identify this child, because we have a helper, an elf helping you. his name is nicholas. yes. and he is our producer jenny thompson s cute, cute, cute little son. so, are you ready to help us out? all right. we re off and running. don t worry, jenny, we ve got him. this is a fun project. it s a ginger bread house and we loved it, because first of all, it s got a nice cardboard frame, so you don t have to worry about the house falling into itself and falling apart. the idea is, they give you the mix and the icing and all you add is egg and water, like any premade box you buy. and you roll the dough nick, you can continue decorating. nick s just posing. he s very busy he s thinking about his grandparents, his mom, dad, sister, everybody in his family. you want to help us? you want to decorate, honey? put the icing on the candy, or you can just eat the candy. anyway, you roll it onto the cardboard and bake it. then when it cools, you can decorate it first like nick s doing. then you hook it in like this. okay. that s adorable and easy. right? you can put it all together and kind of decorate the sides. like you can put the candy cane on the side. and it holds it all together. it s a really fun project. it s for a family that s a little crafty. it could take time, but it s fun if it s a snowy day or what have you. nick, keep working and we ll check ba back with you. so, for southerners, there is a southern delight which you know about. hello. talk to us about this cake. okay. i didn t know about this. i was at the show with a friend of mine, susan lasalle, and she told me this was an absolute traditional salad mommy. he s calling mommy. she s waving. you re doing great, nick. this is a tradition in the south and i fell in love with it. it s a carmel cake. it s a carmel cake. and look how beautiful the layers are. you can taste some in fact, nick, you can have some carmel cake if you want. yeah? anyway, this lady has been making this take the whole thing. yeah. oh, yeah! good one. the other half is for you. so, the lady made it for one of her children s birthdays, they fell in love with it and now she has a business making them. this is really popular. she ships it everywhere. you can get the plate to go with it. it melts in your mouth, by the way. what is going on? what are these hatsfor? i see three hats and two people that will be wearing them. you buy these cute birthday hats. they re not made of paper, so you can hold onto them. in fact, nick loves the purple color. nick, want to wear this one? i love nick. come on. look at nick. stop it. you don t like it? i thought you liked the purple nick, this is your day. this is your day i want to take it off. you want to take it off? absolutely. take it off. if you don t want it, honey, you don t have to. so, salt is a big deal cool food trends. obviously, salt is popular. this was our favorite. it s okay, nick, we ll wear the hats. we ll wear the hats. exactly. good job. the idea behind this one is this lady who started it found out how many how good salt is for you, especially this kind of salt that isn t processed, so there s no additives for caking or anything that you usually find in table salt. this is sea salt? this is sea salt. this is a lime sea salt for you to taste and a tropical sea salt. she s got lots of flavors. we have 20 seconds. why do we have vodka around a young child is what i m asking? this is for a foodie that likes to make their own vanilla extract. so, you add vodka to eight madagascar vanilla beans, seal it for two to four months and 9:56 is the time and 56 degrees and sunshine is out there 24 bhorng. we ll get the forecast from tom coming up. good morning. i m tom. in the news for today,ñi physically active and some are wondering whether his workouts are an abuse of power. there was an exclusive video of the mayor. besides causing occasional backups, roads normally closed, when askedçó about the escorts, the mayor stopped short f; saying that he did anything wrong. the mayorçó says that he rides s bike as often as possible and wisé# á he could get out even more often. it s a wonderful day to get outside. it should be a nice day and not as mild as it was the last couple of daysni aboutñi a 50/50 chance and ida y come our way. it will be much cooler today, near 50s dropping into the 40s in the afternoon and then chilly after that. approaching georgia avenue, all of the travel lanes are opened and a broken down ñi vehicle. açó little slow but the lanes a opened. elsewherañ9 northbound and moving along very nicely, we ll keep an eye on the report for you. joe? jerry, thank you very much for that. sugar ray leonard gabs and dabs during the one-on-one interview. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, everybod it s tuesday, november 10th. great to see you here with us today. hello, hoda woman. this is your fourth hour of today show today. ann used to do four straight hours. it told me a lot about her constitution. don t say show business because she s a very serious lady. it s national vanilla cupcake day and we say that in honor of our senior broadcast producer who absolutely is a cupcake freak. every time we do this segment with cupcakes. it s his favorite. can t get enough of cupcakes. so, would somebody like to deliver these into the booth and let the man have a ball. i m going to live vicariously. they re stuff and filled like a twinkie. that is so good. you re hungry this morning. so good. there is a lot going on. what is going on, start telling me. first of all, the interview. everybody was buzzing about it on the way in. what was your reaction to that? she has a book coming out and she wanted to talk about her book. when is the book coming out, though? it s out now. she came to talk about the book and meredith asked her about a sex tape that is out and she said that she was the only one in the tape and tha she made it when she was 17 and it was between her and her boyfriend and call it what you want, there was no one but me. you don t meet interesting people that way. she dropped the lawsuit against the pageant. meredith said did you drop it because of the tape? she said she wasn t going to discuss the interdiscussions of dropping the suit. she wasn t supposed to talk about it. meredith asked her what else is in the book that we haven t heard about and she said, basically, read the book and find out what else is in there. what do you think? i think the whole thing is very, very sad. i have a 16-year-old daughter so you put yourself in those shoes those are the ugliest shoes, by the way. these are called what are they called? vibrator. no, it says vibrum. right on the heels of the carrie prejean thing. that s probably unfortunate. i did not know that. but i did just try. look, sara has them on. they re kind of hard to get on at first, but look how ugly they are. hers has velcro around them. they re not cute. what is the point? why do you wear them? they re very comfortable and claim to not only make you stronger and healthier, but stimulates your muscles. it does. that s not good either on the heels of the carrie prejean there. fivefingers.com. 80 bucks, 75 to 80, if you re interested. all right. there s a lot of need we tell you people, there is a whole lot of bad behavior going on in this world, we re not talking about right here. no. the security cameras at a boston subway station captured a woman at the end of the platform smoking and then stumble on the nearby tracks. here comes the train. look at people waving, trying to stop it. look what happens, she s laying there, passed out, it seems. here comes the train and it stops just in time. look, look what happens. she gets up. she gets up and walks out with the help of some people. now, no one jumped in the tracks. did you notices? people were waving. they were doing what they could do without killing themselves. i still think they re heroes. this is one of the stories to split two ways. the hero, the guy that stopped the train, unbelievable. the people that helped out, that s great. the woman was who s this? she stopped the train. we couldn t see it on our monitor. you have heroes in this group and a woman, according to the reports we saw, was drunk and fell into the tracks. like let s not do that. i think we should get the soccer player from new mexico to beat the her. that s my answer for everything. oh, no. do not show this girl. here comes the ponytail we might as well see it and get it over with she d never drink and take the subway again. i m telling you. or taser. i still don t think granny should have been tased. take her down. there was a guy, you guys, he was on the run, he was wanted. a british man who was wanted. there was one of thoseanted posters with his picture on it, he didn t liky. so he called the cops. he sent in a better picture of himself that he liked more than that. look at him. he s posing in front of a police van. he is taunting. he is taunting. that s what he is doing. you want it, you come get it because i look fine. they should have left the ugly one out. you thought maybe that was a ploy. he doesn t look like that at all. now he has long hair. i didn t know he was bald in both. what are you saying about fallically challenged people? are you saying he s not your type? i like bald. you like that in a refugee from the law. look at me. i know you worked hard today, but focus. focus. she s still talking. i have to tell you what i did last night. i went to this really cool event, habitat for humanity which you did not want to go. do not look at the clothes. i wore that at the last one. bob villa. that s bob and we were standing by the habitat sign. there was a great family. yes, that is the wonderful family that won the award. she s such, such, such a sweet, sweet woman. she has five kids and they were living in a one-bedroom place and now they live in a home of their own. just a great story. one day i vunteered there and went and helped build a house. feels so good, right? i took the kids and frank and it was a great family thing to do. that is fun, that is cool. i was paying attention to you, by the way. i m all here. i can sense when you re with me and you zoned out. i think you zoned out at 8:16 this morning. fans are walking out on a spears concert. lip syncing. australian fans angerly walked off on her australian tour. fans claimed it was boring and it was impersonal. they repyi paying a lot of moneo see her. people often complain about lip syncing and concerts and they don t leave. but those australians were like, boom, we re out. britney s camp responded that they re upset about the criticism. if you re shocked, life may continue to be hard for you. can i just say something real quick? why are you in everybody s stuff. like, that s her thing. you don t need to be in her thing. let s get the girl to beat up john mayer now, too. i asked for a graphic, too, people. every time we get mad at somebody we have the girl kick the you know what out of them. the other girl is fine. we have not heard what happened to this allegalleged, player. she s kicked off the team. that s all we heard. also some trouble about this young woman from brazil who wore a dress, which i think they thought was too short. which surprises me in all things in brazil, you can go out of the womb into a thong and nobody would look twice. but if you wear a mini skirt you create an uproar on the internet. i m surprised. they say it was too skimpy. if you look at the picture, it s not too skimpy. it will give the university ten days to clarify their reasoning. that s longer than what you wear every day here, hoda. i m sorry. she knows she has great legs and doesn t miss an opportunity to show you. let s go to sara. you don t like the attention? get out of show business. we have a lot of comments coming in about the trains. jessica wrote in, why aren t there barriers? i can t walk into a burger king and not walk around poles. later on in our show you re going to learn why burgers are dangerous. a whole segment. the book is hysterical. this is why you re fat is the name of the book. we ll show you why you can t get into burger king. there s a reason for it. well then we have on a different note the carrie prejean interview. guy should be band from marriage says she feels like there is a bias against her. gee, carrie, i wonder what that is like. he said i love how those who judge others are shocked when they are judged. you better make sure you re darn perfect. can we just get a shot? you re doing this with your toes the whole time. it s really, really unattractive, sara. if you don t mind. you look like barney or something and it s upsetting on a deep, emotional level. coming out next, g out the lysol. then joan cusic is with us and i said i love you because she s whacky. she said i m not really whacky. but she will be today. we re back with our special look at germs. today we re taking a microscope to your house. that s right. the last place you want them to be, but germs are lurking everywhere. we sent joe rubino microbiology at lysol to stanic, new jersey, to see what he could find. and we are here with professor of microbology at nyu school of medicine. welcome back. thank you. you re back today. where have you been in the meantime? i have been in strange places. that s worrisome. overall, they go in and do the swabbing and do the people know that they were going to get checked out? likely, yes, because they had to be notified first. the house was really clean. she got a whole team of people. yet, several hot spots and most people miss these hot spots. the dirtiest place was the kitchen. the sponge, in particular, had large numbers of germs and most people you have such a thing, huge bias, though, against sponges. you really do. not a bias. you totally, you don t like them at all. you d like people to get rid of them. it s a factual statement. when you say germy, how germy? about 11 million per cc. how do you get rid of the germs in the sponge, other than tossing the sponge? you have to disinfect your sponge, otherwise it dominates your kitschen . how do you do it? with a good quality disinfectant. how about stick it with the dishes in the dishwasher. you can also use a microwave, but you have to put it in water, hot enough to kill. how much does a sponge cost? you don t want to toss it after every meal. just go to costco and get a ton of them. the other place that was really unusual was in the spouts of her bathtub, hot tb and that s because biofuels form and most people don t realize they have to use mechanical actions. what? a biofilm, a form of bacteria that s hard to kill. even hot water does not kill it. is that true for the shower head? yes, shower head and bathtub itself. you have to use mechanical action to dislodge the bacteria. anything else in the bathroom area that was not clean? toilet was good? exemplary home and it does show you it can be done. what about a communial candy bowl? unless it s wrapped candy, it is a bad idea. wherever there are people there are germs. while most germs don t harm you, about 1% to 2% of 60,000 do. so, that s what you have to do. exert common sense and practice good hygiene. you always cheer us up, thank you so much. tomorrow, we ll look at the germiest places in your office. i don t have an office. i gave it away to lester holt. let s go up and check lester s. find out why joan cusack is one smart cookie and why she s a whacky one, too.