Transcripts For WRC Today 20100305 : vimarsana.com

good morning. what was the motive? a man dressed in a suit casually walks up to guards at the subway entrance to the pentagon and opens fire. this morning, two police officers are injured. the shooter is dead, as investigators try to figure out what happened. remembering an angel. a public memorial is planned to honor the memory of chelsea king, the san diego teenager allegedly killed by a convicted sex offender. this morning, her parents share their memories of their daughter in a live interview. and grounds for appeal? the italian judges who sentenced amanda knox to 26 years in prison release their explanation of her murder conviction, and the knox famy says they welcome what the report is revealing today, friday, march 5th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m ann curry. good morning, everybody. meredith is on assignment this morning. and we re learning a lot more about last night s shooting at the pentagon subway station. police just released new information in an early-morning news conference. they now say the gunman, 36-year-old john patrick bedell, was dressed in a suit, he appeared calm when he approached the security checkpoint at that subway station. he then pulled out one of the guns he was carrying and he started shooting. two officers were injured before they shot and killed bedell. we re going to have much more in a live report from the pentagon, coming up in a couple of minutes. also ahead this morning, we re going to be talking to one of the students injured at a shooting at a colorado middle school. he was shot in the back and is doing okay now, but it could have been a different story if not for the actions of a brave teacher. we re going to talk to eighth greater matt thieu, coming up. plus, the academy awards are this weekend and meredith and al will be there for the complete event on monday, but today we have an oscar twofer. we ll take you on a trip to the real-life hallelujah mountains from the best picture movie avatar and we ll talk to legendary actress lauren bacall, who s being honored with a lifetime achievement oscar on sunday night. but let s begin with that shooting at the subway entrance to the pentagon and a search for the motive. nbc s pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has the latest. jim, what do we know about the gunman and the motive? reporter: well, the gunman is john patrick bede, a 36-year-old from hollister, california. pentagon police and the fbi told us this morning that they still don t know the motive, but they are investigating some internet postings, when a man under his name ranted about some military issues and took an opposition position in regard to the events of 9/11. but what we do know, according to the pentagon police chief, richard keevil, is that he was armed to the t. police tell us he was armed with two .9-millimeter pistols and as many as 25 magazines of ammunition when he approached the outer security point here at the pentagon and opened fire. person came toward the pentagon prescreen area, appeared to be pretty calm. as the officers started to ask him for his pass to get into the pentagon, he drew a weapon from his pocket and started shooting immediately. he didn t say anything. he just engaged the officers. reporter: in less than a minute, the two police officers were wounded, minor wounds, we re told. they returned fire and the gunman was shot dead. and again, still trying to figure out what is the motive, but according to one police officer, who told usthat, look, this guy was so well armed, he at least intended to do some serious damage, matt. mik, there are a lot of surveillance cameras in that area because of its sensitive nature. do you expect to see the release of video of this incident? reporter: well, that could be. you know, that was part of the investigation overnight. it was believed that, perhaps he was seen on this video camera talking to a relative, but as of this morning, police chief keevil said that person has been cleared of any involvement in the shooting. they say that he was a lone gunman. no indication of any kind of domestic or terrorism involved. what kind of security there this morning, mik? reporter: well, after 9/11, security here was beefed up. security is tight around that area where the shooting occurred. it s still shut down. but interestingly enough, police chief keevil told us this morning that after the shootings at ft. hood, texas, in december, they revamped their security procedures, retrained their officers to look out for a possible attack by one of their own, but this person came so close that it could have been. all right, jim miklaszewski at the pentagon for us this morning. mik, as always, thank you very much. before we throw it over to the news desk, welcome back to you. great work in chile. oh, thanks, matt. you really went from the olympics right there, so. well, i m glad to be back sitting next to you. great to have you. let s check on the other top stories of the morning from natalie morales in for me at the news desk. welcome back and good morning, everyone. today in japan, the head of toyota called for a new start following millions of recalls. akio toyoda urged thousands of company workers to work to win back customer support. he returned to japan this week after being grilled by lawmakers on capitol hill about brake and gas pedal problems. this morning in chile, another strong aftershock, a magnitude 6.8 sent people running into the streets in concepcion. chile s government says it s unclear how many people were killed in last week s magnitude 8.8 earthquake. influential african-american leaders last night urged embattled new york governor paterson to stay in office. he is facing calls to step down amid allegations that he and his staff interfered in a domestic violence case involving a top aide as well as possible ethics violations. overseas markets are higher this morning and cnbc s melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange again for us this morning. melissa, the big focus there today, jobs. reporter: jobs and actually, the weather, natalie. and that s because today s employment report for the month of february was, in fact, impacted by all those snowstorms that we saw in the northeast. now, investors will be watching that data very carefully, but most people say that we won t get a clean read on the jobs market until next month with the next report and only if the weather remains tame. natalie. we hope so. melissa lee at the new york stock exchange, thank you. more than 150 people were arrested thursday as university students in 30 states staged sometimes ruckus rallies. they were protesting tuition hikes and budget cuts on college campuses. and the big surprise for one illinois college. a woman who lived in a modest home and bought her clothes at rummage sales left lakeforest college, her alma mater, $7 million when she died at age 100. it grew from a $180 stock purchase grace groaner made in 1985 some are now calling her amazing grace. she certainly was amazing. 7:07 right now. let s turn it back over to matt, ann and al. pretty good investment. no kidding. wonderful. good for her. meantime, good for us, we ve got you sitting here. thank you. how s it going? good to see you back again. we ll show you what s happening as far as your weather for today. we re expecting a cold wake-up for our friends in florida, all the spring breakers. they ve got freeze warnings from the georgia/florida coast all the way down to key west. 54 right now. 3939 i good friday morning, we re off to a cloudy start here in washington with temperatures in the mid 30s right now around town and a bit of a northwesterly wind, windchills back into the mid and upper 20s. 24 the windchills in loudoun county, virginia, 27 the windchill in montgomery county, virginia. temperatures staying in the 40s, and that s your latest weather. matt? al, thanks very much. now to politics. house majority leader steny hoyer says he expects to have the final language and price tag of health care reform some time next week, but republicans say it s being rammed through congress and they will not stand for it. former democratic congressman harold ford is an nbc news contributor. laura engram is a conservative talk show host and fox news contributor. good morning to both of you. nice to see you. good morning. let s ask you both the same question, is this going to pass? i think they ll have a hard time. you ve got 12 democrats who say this language on abortion in the bill is a non-starter for them and they re going to try to carve out a fixer-upper bill after the bill, but bart stupak seems to be moving toward that, but the president s trying. the president wants this in 12 days. harold, do you think it s going to pass? for the first time, the president is investing real capital, real resources. i think it passes. why for the first time? he s been working on this for ten months now. whei say that, meaning involved and engaged with congress. clearly, this has been the number one priority of his, but for the first time, he s said i d like an up or down vote on this and he s reaching out to members of congress to get them to pass it. what if they go the route of reconciliation, which is complicated? you ve got to get the house to pass the senate version of the bill, then you ve got to get the senate to fix the problems in it. what if he goes that route, which the republicans hate, and then doesn t get the required votes? what s the damage there? he s making a calculation, matt, that if they don t pass this, it s going to be worse for the democrats. they re going to lose seats anyway in november, so he says we might as well push something through, even if poll after poll, you know this, harold, the american people don t want this bill. this is a stunning situation where the president is going to the wall on something people don t want. harold, republicans say they will bludgeon the democrats with this issue come the midterm elections. come november, is health care reform really going to be the divisive issue or is it going to be all about jobs? the defining issue will be jobs and the economy. health care will be critical from the standpoint of the president s put great time into this, congress has wanted this. if it doesn t pass, we ll fin ourselves in a great fight. republicans will be blamed for blocking reform and blocking insurance reform and democrats will claim credit for wanting to do something on behalf of the majority of americans without health care. let s move on and i ll ask you both the same question again. there s a drama here in new york with governor david paterson. he s embroiled in some ethical controversies, perhaps even legal difficulties. should he step down, laura? oh, of course he should step down, but look, you ve got a trifecta of problems with rangel, eric massa, a cloud over him, and now thishing with paterson. at what point do the democrats say we can t we re draining the swamp of corruption. nancy pelosi made the big statement in congress. that s what she was going to do. how about nationwide? they ve got to stand for something better than that. i m curious, with david paterson, do republicans want him to step down or do they think this is a gift from heaven? if i m an analyst for the decrats, i d say you ve got to pull him out of there. stop the bleeding in the state. harold? this is ability to govern has probably eroded to a point where democrats in albany, and certainly in new york city, have to think seriously about this. laura is right to a large extent that there is this feel across democrats in the state that voters, having traveled the state over the last two months, i can tell you voters are hungry for just results, and it s unclear if governor paterson can deliver results, so he has to make a decision soon. same question, different democrat, charlie rangel. he has taken a temporary leave of absence from his leadership role in the house ways and means committee. is that that has to be more than temporary, doesn t it? well, it was the right choice. temporary side of this? it s not even allowed. there s no such thing as temporary leave of absence. they just made that up. once the ethics committee comes back, they conclude there is no wrongdoing, he could go back to chairman. they ve already admonished him for two incidents. right. but there are more serious things they re looking at. again, i m not in congress. right. i don t know what they re looking at. i do know that the remaining issues are more serious than the first two and there s no doubt he will, if he s cleared of those, it s likely he will be welcomed back. there s so many open investigations in the charlie rangel, i frankly have lost count, but he was the chief tax writer for the house of representatives and, as far as i can tell from the evidence, he could be very well a tax cheat. that s not a good thing for the democrats. as you say, you ve traveled the state, harold. what would be the impact of the loss of charlie rangel to people in this state of new york? well, he s not lost from congress. no, i know that. certainly, there are those in the business community here, certainly those in the finance industry which is so important to the revenue base here in the city and the state who would be concerned. but we have to wait to see. i m not going to prejudge the facts. i must say that if someone watching this and listening to voters, it s not a good thing. harold s announcing he s switching to the republican party on this show this morning. no, i have enough issues as it is. that s great, all right! let s talk about an issue you ve been involved with. you have decided not to run for the senate seat of kirsten gillibrand here in new york after kind of running around and saying you might, and you said you did not want a divisive primary that might take that seat and actually hand it over to the republicans i don t know why i m pointing to you. because she s the republican. but you re not going to give them the seat. i m moving. but i m curious, didn t you think about that before you started touring the state, that it would result in a divisive primary battle? i knew it would be a tough primary, but before i started looking at this in january, remember evan bayh was still seeking re-election, byron doran was still going to seek re-election and scott brown had not won. the mood amongst the electorate in new york is unsettled. the point i made in the new york times remains true today i m a democrat, i m an independent democrat, but i m a firm believer, firm believer that jobs and the economy will be the decisive factors. i hope they get a health care bill done and i hope they move right away to jobs in congress. who s in the big tent party now, democrats? welcome you very much to the republicans who just elected scott brown. i am a democrat and i m an independent democrat. i think it s becoming narrower. laura and harold, thank you very much. thank you. good to have both of you. it s now 14 after the hour, here s ann. matt, thanks. the family of amanda knox believes a new report released on thursday by the judges in the murder trial provides substantial grounds for appeal. it comes less than three months after knox was sentenced to 26 years for the murder of her roommate. nbc s michelle kosinski s in london this morning with details on this. michelle, good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. now we know the judges who convicted and sentenced amanda knox, turns out, didn t believe the story that prosecutors told during trial, that she hated her roommate and attacked her during an argument. now these judges and jurors have come up with their own scenario of what they think happened that night. in the constant flash of cameras during trial, prosecutors had presented this picture of american student amanda knox a girl who harbored deep hatred and revenge for her british roommate, meredith kercher. to many then, that seemed an odd stretch, that a roommate s accusations of untidiness and stealing money would send amanda into a murderous rage one night. well, in this new 427-page explanation of the conviction and sentencing of amanda and then boyfriend raffaele sollecito, the judges who decided their fate say they didn t buy that either. they claim meredith s murder in thillside apartment back in seven was without any animosity or resentment, was without planning and based on purely casual contingencies. the motive? they believe erotic sexual violence, that rudy guede tried to sexually abuse meredith and that amanda and raffaele, who used drugs that night, held her down. this judgment between what the judges believe and the prosecutors argued is a big point. this is the first step in having amanda s conviction overturned. there are internal inconsistencies and it relies upon conjecture and unproven facts. reporter: still, the judges and jurors do say they feel the prosecutors case was without holes or inconsistencies, despite lingering questions over what evidence there even is to place amanda and raffaele at the apartment that night. the judges didn t like that both had changed their stories, finally claiming they spent the night at raffaele s, didn t like the fact that amanda had, albeit under intense questioning, tried to blame an innocent man for the crime, or that there seemed to be more than one set of bloody footprints at the scene, one of which was very small. it is a case with strong arguments on either side but little strong physical evidence. amda has even gained a staunch supporter in donald trump, who calls this a miscarriage of justice and calls for a boycott of italy. to amanda s parents, these latest words from the court give them confidence to once again more than two years later try to bring their daughter home. there is a lot in there that is, you know, contradictory in the statements, isn t supportive, and so, they feel like they have a lot that they can take to appeals. reporter: amanda s family says she has good days and bad days in jail andhe has been able to keep up with her studies through correspondence courses. while her attorneys now start to work on the first of two appeals that she s entitled to, they say this first one could be heard as early as this fall, ann. michelle kosinski, thanks. now at 7:17, once again, here s matt. ann, thank you. back to politics now and the ultimate white house insider karl rove was president george w. bush s closest adviser. the architect of his two presidential campaigns. and rove is opening up about his time in the white house in his memoir courage and consequence that s due out next week. in it, he says president bush would probably not have invaded iraq if he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. karl rove will be here for an exclusive live interview next week, but recently, we caught up with him to talk about the book, his personal life and how he became a lightning rod in america s political stage. karl rove was one of george w. bush s most trusted advisers. the architect, karl rove. [ cheers and applause ] reporter: while bush dubbed him the architect, critics called him bush s brain. in the privacy of your own office, behind closed doors, did you ever stop and think, that s kind of flattering to me? no, because, look, i know him. i ve known him for almost four decades. he is a really smart person. and to suggest that i was his brain is a way to be derogatory about him. it is a shorthand for a sloppy and ideological way of viewing him. reporter: he helped bush win the white house twice, and for 6 1/2 years, rove held a unique perch in the heart of the west wing, orchestrating the administration s political strategy. but if bush was the decider, you might say karl rove was the divider. we don t need any more of that karl rove politics. we need a different kind of politics. reporter: his critics accused him of favoring a bare-knuckle brand of politics and blamed him for a highly partisan atmosphere that divided the country. republicans have a post-9/11 view of the world and democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world. that doesn t make them unpatriotic, not at all, but it does make them wrong. reporter: rove s style of campaigning became known as rovian politics, which some described as winning at any cost. why are you such an easy target if you had nothing to do with any of this negativity? it s easy to point to. i mean, i m convenient. reporter: why not point at the candidate? why point at you as the guy who s pulling the strings? look, if you really want to diminish the candidate, depict him as being the foil of his handler. this is as old of american politics as politics itself. reporter: while a genius to some, others blamed rove for running campaigns filled with dirty tricks. the swift boating of john kerry. john kerry has not been honest about what happened in vietnam. he is lying about his regard. any of karl rove s finger forints or foot a forints in that? no, but i have a friendship with the people who underwrote it, so it s easy to say karl rove was responsible for this. reporter: in the cia leak scandal, rove was never charged with a crime, but he was confirmed to be one of two sources in a story outing cia agent valerie plame. his memoir, rove says, is a chance to set the record straight. he delves deeply into his personal life and his political partnership with george w. bush. what was it about the two of you, you and george w. bush, that meshed so well? you know, he s the outside man, i m the inside man. but he is a big thinker. and you know, i liked being around him. he really did have a front row seat to a very controversial and intesting period in american history, and we re going to have much more of our exclusive interview with karl rove monday on today. and esday, karl rove will join us live in studio to talk much more about his toughest moments in the white house and open up for the first time about his mother s suicide and questions about his father s sexuality. that s karl rove monday and tuesday, right here on today. it s remarkable that he would reveal so much. this is a man who really has been very quiet for so many years. a lot of people will be talking about what he writes in this book. i know. just ahead, did shortcomings in the way sex offenders are tracked contribute to the murder of a san diego te can you go back to the right? no, back here. how about over here? hmm. let s go back to the left. uh. waffling is back at dunkin donuts with the return of the waffle breakfast sandwich. two oven-toast waffles with a hint of maple, complete with fluffy egg, a slice of melted cheese, and now with delicious sausage. so hurry in today because it s only around for a short time. america runs on dunkin . try our oven-toasted waffle breakfast sandwich today, only at dunkin donuts. just ahead this morning, a firsthand account of last month s shooting at a colorado middle school. the eighth grader who was shot in the back speaks out exclusively in a live interview. plus, we ll look ahead to sunday s oscars with a trip to the real-life floating mountains from avatar. eating well has never been so craveable. with quaker dark chocolate mocha hazelnut cafe squares. isn t this how whole grains should taste? eating well has never been so craveable with quaker caramel baked rice snacks. the usual? yes, please. anything else? when you re trying to be good, tempting treats can be wicked. no thanks, i m good. new special k fruit crisps. with two crispy bars for 100 fruity calories. it s the delicious, new way to stay on track. now, being good s a cinch. with new special k fruit crisps. is deep down uncomfortable. 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[ female announcer ] new moisture wrap body lotion. 7:26 is your time now on this friday march 5, 1020. in the news this morning, the suspected shooter, general patrick bedell is dead. he wore a suit and acted calmly when he pulledut a gun and started shooting. the pentagon metroati station remains closed, trains are going through the station just not stopping there. we ll have your weather good morning, everyone, i m chuck bell, temperatures are in the mid 30s right now, but a northwest wind has the windchills in the mid 20s. your extended forecast a chilly and breezy today but more sunshine and milder temperatures for the weekend. you may find some stepped up security in some government facilities this morning because of the shooting last night at the pentagon. as a result it looks like we re slower than normal. 395 loaded up. had some police activity? shirleyington. another local news update in 25 7:30 now on a friday morning. it s the 5th day of march 2010. a little cloudy and dreary here in the northeast, especially in manhattan. but for some, it s expected to move in a little later. it s going to warm up, maybe into the 50s for this weekend. we would love for that after a lot of snow over the last month or so. we re going to head outside and say hi to those people in just a little while. meanwhile, inside the studio, i m matt lauer along with ann curry, back from chile, who s filling in for meredith, and it is nice to have you here. meredith s off on assignment, getting ready for the oscars. that s right. just ahead this half hour, the latest on the murder of 17-year-old san diego high school senior chelsea king. her parents will be joining us for a live interview to talk about their daughter. we ll get their memories in just a little while. that s right. and also ahead, we re going to talk about a woman s desperate attempt to free her husband from his brutal kidnappers. she says her pleas for help were basically ignored by authorities, but after more than seven months, she helped win his freedom. they re going to be both here to share their story for the first time, coming up. if you saw the movie avatar and you were amazed by the scenery, well, wait until you see how beautiful the real-life mountains of pandora are. we are going to take you there. beautiful. but let s begin with what has been a week of anguish, as you mentioned, matt, for the family of san diego teenager chelsea king. we re going to talk to her parents, brent and kelly king, in just a moment. but first, nbc s janet shamlian is in san diego with the latest on this story. janet, good morning. reporter: ann, good morning to you. what brent and kelly king have been through in a week seems too much to bear, a missing child, a frantic search, and then the news every parent hopes they will never have to hear. to her parents, she was the perfect child. chelsea king, a 17-year-old straight a student with everything in the world ahead of her. she loved to run, and a week ago, she stopped in this park for an after-school jog. she never came home. within five minutes of me finding her car, i had this dread roll over me, and a dread of where s my daughter? it s the most empty feeling you can have. reporter: in the first frantic hours, police searched the park s isolated trails. soon, thousands of friends, neighbors and strangers joined in. hey are literally moving heaven and earth to find this little girl. reporter: as the search continued, authorities announced they had a spect. detectives said they had evidence linking 30-year-old john gardner to chelsea, reportedly a piece of her clothing found in the park with his dna. the registered sex offender had a prior conviction for sexual molestation. and after chelsea went missing, a woman assaulted in the park in december i.d. d gardner as her attacker. we ve gathered numerous pieces of physical evidence, and some of that physical evidence tied us to identifying mr. gardner. reporter: then on tuesday, the news everyone feared but no one wanted to believe, a body found in the park. there is strong likelihood that we have found chelsea. reporter: at a candlelight vigil just hours after the discovery, chelsea s dad choked back tears. one of the nicknames that i always called my daughter is my angel, and she s my angel forever. reporter: before a courtroom filled with chelsea s parents and dozens of classmates, john gardner pleaded not guilty to charges that qualify him for the death penalty, as the community s anger boiled over. this man is a monster, and we would have gone after this monster and any other monster in the world and taken them out. reporter: a young life cut short, and yet, chelsea king lives on, her friends and family say, in their hearts forever. and for their part, theings understand that this community needs to grieve alongside them. a public memorial is planned in this area for march 13th. ann, back to you. all right, janet shamlian, thank you so much. we re now joined by chelsea king s parents, brent and kelly king. first of all, brent and kelly, please accept our condolences. thank you. thanks. what a spectacular girl your daughter must have been. what has given you the courage to speak out this morning? our spectacular girl, our daughter. what do you want to tells about what kind of a girl she was, what kind of a daughter chelsea was? you know, like you said, chelsea was every parent s dream. she was intelligent and funny and lived every moment to its fullest. she didn t let a single detail of her day go by without acknowledging it and being grateful for it and making the most of it. she was a french horn player and also, obviously, a runner and a terrific student as well. yeah. yeah, she was the whole package. yeah. i know that chelsea s brother, tyler, who s 13 years old, has been taking it particularly hard, but something happened last night. what was it, brent? excuse me, last night? yeah. you went to dinner, i understand? yeah. he has a favorite type of food that he wanted, so we, first time as a family, went out together, the three of us, to go get him his burrito that he loves, and we walk into the burrito shop and everybody in the burrito shop pretty much came up and just gave us hugs and let us know that their prayers are with us, and that helps tremendously. and also and it helped him. which is important, and also helping you has been chelsea s close friends who came by, i understa understand. how hard it must have been for them, how sweet it must have been for them to come to your home. what did that mean to you? oh, it was o be able to wrap our arms around these kids, they re like our own children as well, and they re such a huge part of chelsea s life and such a huge part of the joy that she found in every day. it s a gift, and i don t ever want to lose touch with any of these kids. they re very, very special and we love them dearly. and all the support is especially needed now that you re dealing with this court case that you re facing and this person, john gardner, this 30-year-old registered sex offender who s been linked to chelsea s murder. i know that you were both in the courtroom with him and you have now heard that he has a long criminal history and he was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old neighbor but ended up serving five of a six-year sentence, though a psychiatrist warned that he was an extremely poor candidate for rehabilitation. do you feel that the system let your daughter down? no, it let our daughter down, it let every child in this country down terribly. there s no doubt. and now you re channeling it was go ahead. forgive me. i just said the scope of that tragedy in and of itself is beyond understandable. and now i know you want to channel these emotions and this experience in doing something good to protect other children. have you thought about what exactly you want to do, brent? to define it is right now it s too hard to define. we want to assure that kids can be kids and be safe, and predators shouldn t be allowed to be within reach. they shouldn t be allowed to. as we come to a close, i know it might be useful to you, maybe, and also to our viewers, if you could, kelly, read a bit of this poem that your daughter wrote. i know she was getting ready for the next phase of her life, college, and she wrote a poem called my great balancing act. could you read a bit of it for us? yeah. let me see. let me grab it. yeah, this was actually it was an essay that she submitted for a scholarship, and it was based on the dr. seuss book oh, the places you ll go. so, it started out, oh, the places i ll go, i know certainly not. i know, though, i know that wherever i go, i ll learn a great many things, not just about history or math, but in fact, about the great balancing act. i ll travel great distance, i ll live far from home. i might just find myself all alone, but nevertheless, by myself i will, and thus, i will go and continue to grow. and then she goes on and then it concludes, for i am myself and this will not change. today is my day, my mountain is waiting and i m on my way. on that note, we have to leave it for now. brent and kelly king, congratulations for having such a spectacular, spectacular girl. and thank you so much for joining us. thank you. thank you. on this very difficult morning. our best to you. thank you. thanks. and now let s get a check of the weather from al. ann, thank you. let take a look and see what s happening. for the weekend ahead, milder temperatures in the northeast. we ve got rain up and down the west coast, sunshine throughout the southwest. then on sunday, we ve got more sunny skies along the eastern seaboard, cooler conditions in the northeast, milder in the southwest with rain from texas on into the southwest. the oscar forecast, the chance of a shower early sundaysunday,n and a good friday morning to you, meteorologist chuck bell, cloud cover over washington this morning, but these are not rain-making clouds, it will be a dry day today, but temperatures will only top out in the mid 40s today. temperatures in the mid 30s, and windchills in the mid to high 20s.ñr that s your latest weather. if you want to keep track of your weather all day long, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. ann? all right, al, thank you. coming up next, the colorado eighth grader shot in the back during last month s shooting at his school. we re going to reunite him with his teacher, the one who saved him, coming up. oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c mon, it s not that. gahh, oh yeah that s gotta go. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.95 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. would we eat better? 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[ male announcer ] meet the family and the new sienna on youtube. toyota. we re back at 7:43. students at a colorado middle school where a gunman opened fire ten days ago headed back to class this week. two students were injured along with eighth grader including eighth grader matt thieu. in a moment, we re going to reunite him with the teacher who helped save his life, but first, nbc s lee cowan. reporter: colorado and school shootings have an uncomfortable history. the name columbine says it all. [ sirens ] but last month at deercreek middle school, less than three miles away from columbine, history repeated itself. i started running, and then i got shot. reporter: matt thieu was only 3 years old when columbine happened. now at 14, he, too, has become a student with a survivor s scar. just would never think i would get shot. like, i don t think anybody would. reporter: matt wasn t the only one. reagan webber was wounded, too, and most agree, there would have been more. police say the alleged gunman, bruco eastwood, knew the school well. in fact, he went there back in the 90s. but while he may have known the layout, he seemed to discount one thing, the teachers. i said you re not going anywhere, right? so, let s kind of relax until the sheriff s people get here. reporter: david benke, a math teacher whose only brush with fighting was during his son s karate classes, jumped into action. he tackled the gunman, ending what could have been a rampage. and it bothers me that he got the second shot off, and that was the one that hit matt. reporter: cards and e-mails began to pour in and the word hero was suddenly tossed around a lot, too, as was the word columbine, again. all remember and all seem to know just how to respond. everyone acted. no one froze. that s pretty amazing. reporter: matt s mother says he s living proof columbine s lessons were learned. it was not his time to go yet, so he s a very special boy, yes. reporter: protected by some very special teachers, now prepared for what 11 years ago seemed unthinkable. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. we re joined now exclusively by matt thieu, his mother, patty, as well as teacher david benke. good morning to all of you. good morning. good morning. how are you feeling? tired. pain, anything like that still? no, not really. just when i breathe in, when my rib pops. yeah. you re a skateboarder. can you get out there soon? four weeks. four more weeks they ll let you get back out? yeah. i bet that s good news. patty, kids are resilient, and he seems to have bounced back physicallyery well. has it been difficult, do you think, for matt emotionally going through something like this? no. it s like nothing happened to him. really? i mean yes. have you been able to just compartmentalize this and distance yourself from it? yes, i have. what do you remember? i know you heard the first shot. yeah. and then you were hit by one of the next shots. mm-hmm. it got you in the back. yeah. and broke a rib. what do you remember after that? i remember them running toward me after a while kind of and then asked me if i was okay, just making sure i was alive and okay and asked me questions so i stayed away and conscious. and then i remember chris cowher coming up to help me and a bunch of people showing up. so, there were people there for you pretty quickly. this was a high-powered rifle that your son was shot with, and shot in the back. i mean, this is lucky. yes, it was, because god is with him. he s in god s hands, so. david, you were there. you know, you re done with teaching for the day. you re doing the bus duty, i imagine. and what do you remember? what did you think when you heard this shot? i thought a student had set off a firecracker, and then i turned and saw the man with the gun and it was just surreal. how close was he to you? i d say maybe 30 feet at first, and then when i started walking over i didn t see the gun at first. then i was within maybe 10 or 15 feet. you said something that got our attention. you said, you know, that after columbine, obviously, schools around the country, they put teachers and administrators through a lot of training. they do a lot of drills in the event something like this would happen. and you say after all that training, when the real thing occurred, it s really just a matter of keeping your word. right. what do you mean by that? well, we have drills, as you say, and every year, to try and help the students take the drills a little bit more seriously, i tell them, okay, if something happens in our classroom, you head towards the door. i hope that i have the capability to do something. and you know, you never know. it turned out. but you kept your word, didn t you? yeah. proud of that? any doubts in your mind leading up to it? no, no. when you look at matt here, had you not wrestled this guy to the ground, he could have gotten off a lot more shots. yeah, yeah. it still bothers me that matt was hit by one of the shots while i was still figuring things out. matt s one of the coolest kids i ve ever taught. what do you think about what he did, matt? thank you, and i think it s great he saved many lives and people who have people who have gone through emotional pain. i just want to mention real quickly, you were a finalist for colorado teacher of the year back in 1996. right. i thinkou have a leg up on the competition this year. i was pretty lucky. my daughter was in the hospital at that time and i was lucky that i didn t get it, because i wouldn t have had time. matt, i m glad you re okay. thank you. thank you so much for joining us. well done. thank you. and we re going to be back right after this. eucerin calming creme. is clinically proven to relieve dry, itchy skin, with 92% of people reporting improved overall skin condition over time. eucerin calming creme. and the gentle cleansing formula of calming body wash. calm, healthy skin starts with eucerin. laxatives? 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(announcer) right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting five percent cashback bonus at grocery stores. it pays get more, it pays to discover. 7:55 is you re time right now, a nice warmup is in the future. in the news this morning, police say the man who opened fire at the pentagon last night was heavily armed. police say the suspected shooter, 36-year-old john patrick bedell of california had two 9 millimeter weapons. he wore a suit and acted calmly when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. the pentagon metro station is closed because of this investigation. trains will go through the pentagon station but will not stop. if you need to get to the pentagon, you re encouraged to walk or take a shuttle bus from the pentagon city station. good morning, i m meteorologist chuck bell, temperatures are in the mid 30s right now, windchills are in the mid and upper 20s. cloudy, breezy and chilly today, mperatures staying in the mid 40s, more sunshine and milder tomorrow with a high back up near 50 degrees and even nicer than that as we head toward sunday and monday. jerry, over to you for a check of the roads. check along 395, heavy in a couple of spots including the 14th street bridge, check of reports of a broken down vehicle on the d.c. and possibly the beltway. the right side of yourcreen just after connecticut avenue, authorities are on the way to the scene. we ll have more news, weather and traffic together in just 25 8:00 now on a friday morning. it s the 5th day of march 2010. we ve got some snow flurries in new york, but look at the weather down in orlando, florida, where you re looking at a never-before-seen section of the wizarding world of harry potter at universal orlando resort, and we re going to tell you how your classroom can win a trip there in just a little while. a lot of fans out here on the plaza. busy morning here in new york. the rolling spring break has officially begun. has it begun? yes. that s cool. we love that time of year. out on the plaza, i m matt lauer along with ann curry and al roker. ann is filling in while meredith makes her way west to los angeles, where you she and al will be covering the academy awards starting monday. that s right. we re very excited about that. i know. and speaking of the academy awards, we have a twofer this morning, starting with a legend. that s right. lauren bacall, whose career spans six decades, is being honored by the academy awards with the lifetime achievement award. so we ll be hearing about her. she, by the way, was married to humphrey bogart. an exciting career. we ll be hearing from her coming up. she s a great lady. she is. plus, avatar up for nine oscars. coming up, we ll take you to the actual place where they got the idea for those spectacular floating mountains. look at that. also ahead, what would you do if your spouse was kidnapped? eduardo valseca was abducted right in front of his wife, jane. happened seven months ago. he endured unspeakable torture while his wife was fighting to get him freed. they re both here to share an incredible story. we ll hear that in just a little while. wow. before we do that, we ll get the headlines from natalie, who s filling in while ann s out here. good morning to you. we have new details about the gunman who traveled cross-country to a deadly confrontation thursday outside of the pentagon. nbc s jim miklaszewski is outside the pentagon. what are police saying now? reporter: natalie, parts of the pentagon are still shut down after john patrick bedell of hollister, california, came to the pentagon dressed in a suit, armed with two .9-millimeter pistols and 25 extra clips of ammunition. he walked up to a security checkpoint outside the pentagon and without warning opened fire. within seconds, two pentagon police were wounded, but still managed to return fire. those two officers said to be in good condition this morning with minor wounds. the suspect was shot dead. the pentagon police and fbi still searching today for a motive for the attack but say this morning that there is no indication this was an act of terrorism, natalie. jim miklaszewski outside the pentagon this morning. thank you. chile s earthquake nightmare refuses to end with strong aftershocks. this morning, one measured 6.6 and again sent terrified people running into the streets. chile s president estimated it will take three years to rebuild homes, roads and bridges damaged by last weekend s powerful 8.8 quake. the country will begin three days of national mourning this sunday. a new salmonella scare has the food and drug administration trying to identify a long list of products that might be contaminated. officials said salmonella, which causes food poisoning, was found last month in a widely used flavor enhancer and at a nevada plant where it is made. more than 50 products, including potato chips, dips and soup mixes have already been recalled. well, after olympic gold, what else? well, wheaties orange, of course. halfpipe ace shaun white is the latest athlete to grace the wheaties box, upside down, at that, looking good. alpine skier lindsey vonn also was honored by the breakfast of champions along with snowboard cross winner seth wescott. congratulations to them. that is the ultimate honor after gold, of course. 8:03 right now. let s go back outside to matt and ann. thanks, natalie. how cool is that? that has got to be so cool. meantime, we ve got to get a check of the weather with al, who s out here somewhere. it s snowing, al. hey, we re down here at the other end. we ve got a lot of ladies from arizona all hanging around. cool. very nice. let s check your weather, see what s happening. we ll show you. the jet stream, that band of air i should say water, down in the eastern pacific, it is really warm. this is the fourth warmest el nino, strongest el nino in 50 years. and with that warmer sea surface temperature, it s picking up a lot of moisture, more energy. and so, we ve been seeing over the last three months these storms coming across from the pacific through the south with colder-than-normal air, and that s why we ve had all the heavy snow from texas on into the sou and a good friday morning to you, i m news4 meteorologist chuck bell. we have a veil of high thin clouds over washington this morning, temperatures are starting to inch their way up a little bit. 37 downtown, 34 in sterling, virginia this morning, 34 in manassas and 35 in germantown and gatorsburg. cloudy, breezy and chilly today, but milder weather for the weekend. that s your latest weather. this nice lady made us hats. my grandma. your grandma made them? yes. let me try this on. what s your grandma s name? lois. lois, yeah. that s already! thank you, grandma lois. where s she from? wisconsin. all right. yeah. you bet ya! i got one too, al. come on. you ve got to try that on. here we go, grandma lois, this is for you. yeah! that s nice! i like it! meantime, we ve got a very serious assignment coming up. we ll be talking to a man who was kidnapped, al, and held in a tiny box for more than seven months. we ll talk to him and his wife, the woman who saved him, coming up after this. in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there s a prize inside the prize. pecans! pecans! baked into crunchy oat bunches. taste the delicious surprise in every spoonful. honey bunches of oats with pecan bunches. beautiful. as small businesses are busy reinventing the econom small busiss owners have a lot of questions. can paperless billing get me paid faster? how can i keep my best employees? how can i bring down my insurance costs? and while at american express open we may not have all the answers, we know who does. other owners. that s why we re helping business owners connect. together, we re building a community for them to talk, share and help each other. a place called openforum.com where owners can swap ideas and ask questions. will tweeting get me more customers? 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[ woman ] introducing chef michael s canine creations. so tasty and nutritious it s hard to believe it s dry dog food. chef-inspired. dog-desired. chef michael s canine creations. we re back now at 8:09 with the disturbing rise in kidnappings mexico. dozens are abducted there every month. tonight on a special two-hour dateline, one woman s fight to free her husband from a band of brutal kidnappers who threatened to destroy their family. dateline s keith morrison has the story. reporter: it was, if ever there could be such a thing, a fantasy life. honestly, i was living my dreams and then some. reporter: a beautiful family, a storybook ranch. jayne and eduardo valseca, she the former american actress, he the child of a mexican publishing giant. then, terrifying moment. in the split of a second, and there was a man coming at eduardo and he s got a hammer in one hand and the handgun in the next. reporter: kidnapped. eduardo a victim of mexico s kidnapping epidemic. try to explain to a child that his father s just been stolen for money. reporter: the kidnappers assumed eduardo had inherited a fortune. he had not. so, their demand, $8 million u.s., was impossible. i thought i was going to go crazy. i thought for sure i d have a nervous breakdown right then and there. reporter: the kidnappers sent her untraceable e-mails and attached letters from eduardo. they beat me, they ve tied me up, i m naked, i m going crazy. i can t handle this torture anymore. it destroyed me, broke my heart. reporter: for weeks, her pleas were turned away by people who thought eduardo was dead. my friends would say things like, i m so sorry about eduardo. we loved him very much. reporter: he was alive in his captivity, but only just, as they entombed him for seven months in a torture box, deafened him with loud music, starved him, beat him, shot him twice. it s like they sucked the life out of me. reporter: moments when death would have been a blessing. and i felt they re going to shoot me. it was hard. and then i start hearing these sounds, and i didn t know what he was gng to do. reporter: until finally, they had run from the family what money they could, and an emaciated man showed up at jayne s back door. i don t think anything could have prepared me for what i saw. reporter: and now they ve gone public to fight the kidnapping scourge, though they live under continuing threat. a lost home, livelihood, country, have only now each other. i always thought love was important, but never as important as i know now. so, you learn, it changes your life forever, for sure. that was dateline s keith morrison, and we are joined now by jayne and eduardo valseca. good morning to both of you. good morning. good morning, sir. this began 2 1/2 years ago. you were freed 7 1/2 months after that. how are you doing physically? how are you doing emotionally? i m getting better all the time, you know. it s just, it s a long process. it affects you very deeply. you went through some extensive therapy so that you could even talk about this without being traumatized. right. we showed some video of you there in a box. that was a recreation, you know, and it took a lot for you to get in that box, i understand. yes, it did. i had to process the night and they told me i had to get inside the box again. i was sweating that night, you know. it just took a lot out of me. 7 1/2 months is plenty for that. jayne, i m reading this story and how this all unfolded that day, and it s like a very, very bad scene out of a very, very bad movie. a very bad movie that you re stuck in and can t get out of. that s what it felt like. yeah. these guys surround this car you re driving and smash the window. they take him they took you, too, by the way, but released you, because they needed you to get ransom for them. right. they wanted me to witness the trauma. they wanted also to remove me from a place where i could easily access help or a telephone and traumatize me a little bit before they went on their way with eduardo. and eduardo, as i was reading about your captivity, the torture, the starving, the beatings, the gunshot wounds, it did cross my mind how you mentally survived this, how you did not go crazy. 7 1/2 months in that box. that s enough to make you crazy, just drk. without the torture. exactly. but i really don t know w to explain that i m doing well. i mean, i m just well, what did you think about during that time? what kept you going? you know, it just three things i used to repeat to myself, continuously, thousands of times, calm your mind down, trust the universe and love can go through everything, and just the image of my wife and the kids and continuously, all day long. and i just took count, you know, just to go back and forth, just two steps and a half forward because the box, it was so tiny. but every time that i went one way or another, i did this exercise of counting, and i was so lost in my mind that i have to remember, relate each number to my kids or to something that i knew, like my father s age or when somebody died close to me. and every time i thought of my kids or my wife, i just cried every single day in misery. you bring up your kids. you have three children. you re getting these e-mails and these photos. right. you actually got photos of him after he was shot. right. how did you what did you tell your children? well, i never told them any of the details of what was going on. i sheltered them completely from all of that and i tried to put on a happy face as much as i could every day. they knew the general idea. of course, i couldn t hide the fact that their father had been kidnapped and explained that to them in a way that a child could understand, but the rest i hid from them. this is a plague. this is becoming an epidemic in mexico. i know the federal police told you just last month not to talk to the media. right. about this. and yet, you ve chosen to talk to us, and i m curious why, and do you feel as if you re putting yourself at any further risk? well, you know, here i try not to think about that and i hope that that s not the case, but the only thing that i know is, where have we gotten by not talking? and there are too many people who are not talking, and it s creating this illusion that the problem is not as great as it is, and i don t think that that s fair to anybody. it s a convenient lie that we re all believing and we believed for far too long until it happened to us and the bubble burst. and i just don t think you get anywhere by doing that. i think the only way that you can hope to eventually provoke some kind of positive change is to first talk about the problem, address it. and so, that s what we re hoping to do. what are you hearing, eduardo, in terms of the ongoing problem? i mean, you know, how much a part of the daily life is this? and by the way, it s unusual for americans to be impacted by this. right. isn t it? but how much of a threat is this to people living in some of these towns in these parts of mexico? well, the main problem of this whole thing is that the government uses propaganda and the problem is not as bad as it really is. that s why they warn me to keep quiet, because it s going to affect tourists and all that. is that fair? i mean, we re not making anything out of this. as a matter of fact, everything we have is in san miguel, and obviously is going to be affected by making everybody consciousness that the problem is out of control. but the press and everybody, they don t want to talk about it because they want but this is, honestly, and fairly, this is not really a problem of so much the smaller towns. it is a problem that s nationwide all over mexico, and whereas before you used to see this, really asn incredible plague in places like mexico city, and that s no big secret, now you are starting to see it in the lesser known places. i know the federal police assured you right after you were released that they knew the group responsible for kidnapping you. have they made any arrests? absolutely nothing. no. absolutely. that s why it s a paradise for criminals, because they never get they never get anybody. the problem is also the justice system. it s a whole mess. it s the infrastructure of the country is totally wrong. i mean, it s just. well, and i also have to give credit where credit is due and i have to be thankful to the authorities. my husband is sitting here with me today thanks to their help. they did i was very impressed with the way that they negotiate, and really, thirz they re masters at that, and while they should be because they ve got a lot of practice. a lot of practice. exactly. but where i feel they re lacking trendously is in the follow-through in the investigative area. it s an incredible story. we re happy you re okay. thank you so much. thank you very much. thank you. jayne, thank you very much. i want to tell people, they can catch more of your story on a special two-hour dateline at 9:00/8:00 central time on nbc. seeing the whole picture. ask your doctor about trilipix. if you re at high risk of heart disease and taking a statin to lower bad cholesterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three cholesterol numbers. trilipix has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or stroke more than a statin alone. trilipix is not for everyone, including people with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease, or nursing women. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. blood tests are needed before and during treatment to check for liver problems. contact your doctor if you develop unexplained muscle pain or weakness, as this can be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. this risk may be increased when trilipix is used with a statin. if you cannot afford your medication, call 1-866-4-trilipix for more information. trilipix. there s more to cholesterol. get the picture. 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( ding, cheering, ringing ) keeping you full and focused with more than double the fiber and whole grain. in every tasty bite frrrrrrosted mini-wheeeeats! didn t know i had it in me. frrrrrrosted mini-wheeeeats! by booking my family trip with expedia. first i find the flight i want. then a great hotel my kids will love. yeah. but wait. here s the really cool part. when i book them at the same time. voila! i can save up to 450 bucks. and we all know that can come in pretty handy. book flight and hotel, and save more. where you book matters, expedia. dot com back now at 8:21. if you haven t sehave seen avatar, you have been blown away i will get there. we took a trip to the real hall lunlah mountains. reporter: audiences worldwide swooned at the fantastical landscapes of james cameron s avatar, especially at this vista. the hallelujah mountains? the legendary floating mountains of pandora? heard of them? reporter: mountains don t float, but some mountains almost float, especially in a magical region of china, where the avatar filmmakers found inspiration. welcome to this natural forest of stunning sandstone peaks, weathered by the elements for 380 million years. their shapes shrouded in mist, earning them exotic names like 48 generals peaks or the imperial board. only about 100 actually have names, though, but this one, soaring over 3,000 feet high, has at least three. for years, it s been called the southern sky cumn or the pillar of the univse. and now, it s got another one, after avatar became china s biggest grossing mov of all time in just two weeks. local tourism officials saw an opportunity. we renamed our mountain mount hallelujah. he said h and others thought it would boost tourism. hallelujah is the same name as the floating mountain on the fictional planet of pandora in avatar, much to the amusement of avatar s creator. it s an art imitating life imitating art deal. it s the same mountain. so, because the film is so hugely popular in china, they renamed it, which is kind of a trip. reporter: but back in china, the renamed mountain soon ran into, well, a mountain of problems. oh, my god. reporter:or one thing, there was a rival. officials at quaung shang, also known as yellow mountain, claimed that the peaks modeled after theirs. they filed with james cameron last year, saying the mountains of pandora were inspired by this. so, can they settle this dispute? well, we used references from a number of sources, from venezuela, from the yellow mountains and from the south pillar of heaven. so, they can all be right. reporter: next month, the region will get a rebranding with the new slogan. pandora s far is near. for today, adrienne mong in the mountains of china. wow. beautiful! what s the name of that town? very nice. of course, the academy awards, we should mention, are on sunday, and avatar is up for nine oscars, including best picture. inspiration, they say, often comes without warning. must have been such a lovely thing to see that for the movie. okay, save me now that s good. what are your predictions, best picture. i think hurt locker. hurt locker yeah, i have to agree with al, i think hurt locker. but i think this one will get major other awards. maybe best director? this one best director. we don t know what we re talking about, though, so we ll find out what happens on sunday. meredith and al on their way to beverly hills. they will have a complete ap-up of the academy awards monday morning right here on today. 8:26 is our time right now, cloudy skies but in the nation s capital right now, there s cloudy skies. the two police officers injured in last notice s shooting are out of the hospital this morning. investigators say the shooter approached the security checkpoint and calmly pulled out a gun and began shooting. police found his car nearby with more ammunition inside. the pentagon metro station remains closed as this investigation continues this morning. we ll take a break and come back good friday morning, everybody, temperatures in the mid 30s, we re looking for highs only in the mid and upper 40s. less wind and more sun for the weekend. time to take a live look along 395 northbound. a broken down vehicle, the exit for 12th street and a quick check on the belt way, an accident after connecticut avenue, it s now over on the shoulder. we ll have another update in 25 minutes, now we re going to back to the 8:30 on a friday morning. it s the 5th day of march 2010. and we have an energetic crowd gathered outside studio 1a here in rockefeller plaza. lots of nice people saying hi to the folks back home, and we certainly appreciate them hanging out. a lot of these people are going to be tuning in to watch the oscars, the academy awards on sunday night. just a reminder that al and meredith will bring us all the action on monday morning. so, they don t really need to watch the oscars sunday night. no, just watch the recap monday morning. exactly. you ll do such a great job. and we re talking the oscars this morning. that s right. legendary actress lauren bacall is going to be receiving a lifetime achievement award. she made her big-screen debut more than 65 years ago, stars in such classics like the big sleep. we re going to catch up with this living legend in just a little bit. boy, can she plant a kiss. also, get ready to say aww. aww. aww! because we ve cleaned up some very special pooches in need of a new home. our latest bow to wow results are coming up. so cute. also, we want to give you a sneak peek into the wizarding world of harry potter at universal orlando resort. there you see a live look at the archway that fans will enter there. it opens up to the hogsmeade station and the hogwarts express, and one class can be there for the grand opening ceremony. all you need to do is tell us why his or her class is extraordinary. so, for all the details,ogon to our website, todayshow.com. okay. all right, that s really cool, but we have a really cool moment for you right now. that s right. because we want to say hello to america s first gold medal winners in the men s four-man bobsled since 1948. yes! guys, good morning. usa! congratulations. so, i just want to make it clear, this was no fluke, okay? you guys were the world champions in 2009. you led after every one of this race at the olympics. so, what were your thoughts, steve, at the top of that last run? well, actually, the biggest problem was, we had a half-second lead, i didn t want to be the guy that choked on the last day, the last-second lead. but it was incredible. a lot of support, and it s overwhelming. and the feeling of elation when you crossed the finish line? yeah. i m sure you can see on the video. well, we celebrate pretty big. it was unbelievable, an unbelievable feeling. and your sled is called the night train. it s got an interesting history. this wasn t supposed to be your permanent sled. no. it was actually a test sled and we thought it was going to be fast, it was going to be the best sled we had, and we had to beg our engineer to use it. they didn t want to send it out, so they kind of left it flat black like that, and threw the night train sticker on there. you wanted to use it because it was such a good sled. yeah. it came out two years ago. why did you love it? sdwlr i don t know. we realized it was going to be so fast and we wanted to use it. it took a lot of convincing for our engineers to let it out on the world circuit. what s it like getting back home now with gold medal winners, gold medal wrapped around your neck? coming back down to earth a little bit? he s the only one who s made it home so far. you haven t made it home yet? i ve been home for a day, day and a half and it s been crazy. don t think i ve sat still yet. i m losing my voice a little bit. it s been overwhelming. should we talk about this dance? yes, we should. should we talk about explain it. you do a dance. just explain it. give the background on this. basically, six or seven years ago, steve was off pushing for somebody else, and it was one of those things, you know, you re on your way to work in the morning, you hear a song on the radio and it s in your head the entire morning after that. right. and you happen to be on digital underground, humpty dance, and it was in my head and we were somewhere in germany and it was cold on the track and i was just trying to move around and keep ourselves moving and the dance was in my head. there is stephen colbert doing the humpty dance and the hokey dance, so steve started bouncing and it s become a web sensation kind of, right? it has. can you guys do that? i can sing it, hokey can teach it to you. i don t even know how to teach it, but basically, it s just kind of but hold on. you can t really get into it until the music goes. music. so, go ahead. it s kind of like, when the music s going, you move and when it stops, you stop. well, you re missing the best part. kurt is running as far away from this he s backing up. i want no part of this. the hokey dance is the chance, do the hoke come on, everybody, do the hokey dance. that s it? that s it? so, we re an expert at this now? you re now professionals oh, they re doing it in the control room. yeah, look at that! wow, that s really disturbing! this is a phenomenon. most importantly, guys, congratulations. yeah, great. 62 years and you guys broke through. that s fantastic. well done. well done. well done. thanks so much. usa! usa! and we got to meet their moms, too, earlier. how about a check of the weather? absolutely! let s see what s happening. that s it. there s no more. oh, we re going to do the thing with the map. milder temperatures on saturday, good morning, everybody, and happy friday. i m meteorologist chuck bell and there s a fairly cloudy sky overhead. 35 in montgomery county, 35 in fairfax. it s going to be a chilly and breezy day today. sun goes down at and the hokey thing with the thing, now that s your latest weather. all right, al, thank you. coming up, we ve got the latest batch of dogs who have gone from bow to wow. we ll take a look at their new looks after this. first, this is today on nbc. if i had to sit on a bench during the middle of a game due to diabetes it would frustrate me. in a basketball game a couple minutes could mean a big momentum shift. my bayer meter is very important. 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(announcer) the contour meter, only from bayer. back now at 8:38 with a brand new installment of our series from bow to wow! where we clean up shelter dogs and then tryo find them new homes. our resident animal lover, jill rappaport, is back with a new batch of dogs. hello to you. hi, matt. with string around the corner, it s a great time to adopt. we have a terrier, a whole lot of lab, a white knight and a golden girl. it s march at the animal care and control of new york city, and time to meet our four new dogs starting with gorgeous george. george is a 2-year-old skye terrier, and he s actually tied to a staircase in a building. somebody just left him, and so, a good samaritan brought him in. relatively mellow. he s got a playful side to him, though. right. a little curious, george. a little curious. he s very sweet and affectionate. look right in the camera and you say i am looking for the best home. up next, duke, a lively lab mix and still a puppy. he s a beauty! he is a beauty. his owners gave him up because they were leaving the country and couldn t take him with him. and we should say, he is very, very energetic. he s very energetic. this is the mellowist he s been since we ve been here. the good news is he s house broken. there s that energetic side! and now a 2-year-old golden retriever named bailey. oh, she s absolutely magnificent. she was abandoned, and probably for some time, even though she looks in pretty gd condition. but yeah, but she has been really sweet. walks well on a leash. she has a little energetic side to her, but you can see she just loves the attention, the affection. i love the color of her hair. and our last young pup is seth. aww, this sweet, gentle soul is named seth. seth. he s 9 months old and he was found abandoned, running around the streets. and we re kind of debating what breed he is. he s had a little bit of a lot of different things. you said lab and i said a little pointer mix. he s got a retriever-type tail and really cute ears. he s super cute. he s got a great face. considering what he went through, his temperament is stellar, isn t he? he really is. make a real good dog for somebody. all right, jill, thanks. and also joining us is richard gentles from animal care and control of new york. and we ve got special presenters this morning, team usa s gold medal winning four-man bobsled team. so, let s get to it, all right, richard? the first dog we want to bring out is bailey, okay? and bailey is being walked out by steve, all right? what do we want to know about bailey? bailey is a true retriever. she loves to retrieve. you ll be sitting on the chair and she ll probably retrieve your slipper for you or your paper or whatever. good temperament being a golden retriever. i love golds. good around kids, so. how old did you say she is? she s 2. all right. she s wonderful. steve? i may take her home myself. yeah. wait a second, okay. we ll save the news for later. all right, steve, thank you very much. i appreciate it. come on. come on. next we have got seth. i love that name for a dog, seth. and curt is bringing seth out. yeah. seth has got a little moe talk going on. that s a cute haircut. a special haircut. just a really gentle, sweet dog. just can t say enough about him. seth has got the softest coat, too. and such a heartbreaking circumstance and to be this gentle and so loving. he ll just lay down at your feet and just relax. yeah. on cue! i trained him to do that. on command, that s great. all right, curt, thank you very much. we appreciate it. seth, we ll see you in a couple minutes. all right, seth, come on. next very mellow. next we have duke, and steve is bringing out duke. and this is a dog with a lot of personality right here. a lot of personality. a lot of energy. a lot of energy, a lot of strength. -of-got to be an active person. nice little yard, maybe, do a little running. yeah, this one needs a little bit of space. exercise the energies out and he calms down and again, just lay at your feet. just really gentle. just remind them, duke s owners had to leave the country? yeah, had to leave the country and couldn t take the dog with them, so they brought the dog to us. he s actually being very mellow. he was jumping on me. thank you. finally, we have george. george was the one who needed the biggest makeover, and by the way, justin from the bobsled team is bnging george out. come on out, guys. george is cute. isn t he adorable? curious george. yeah. he definitely is a curious george. he loves to play with other dogs so if you have another dog, they d probably make an ideal match. how old is george? george is 2. 2 years old. all dogs have great temperaments, which is important. theall do. he was just tied, like we said, but he s great. justin, thank you very much. as we bring out all the dogs richard, i know adoptions are up. yep. how are things going in general? times are a little rough for us. our funding has been decreased to this year and next year, so we ve been reaching out to the public over the last couple days, asking them for help, whether it be donations of canned food or litter or really monetary donations would help us the most. look at the amazing dogs. bobsledders, bigger thrill, winning the gold medal or walking out the dogs for this segment? pretty cool. my friends outside wanted to know if they re up for adoption. the guys, thank you very much. richard, thanks, jill, thanks. and we re going to have much more information about these dogs on our website. up next, we ll the academy awards are not until sunday, but one actress already knows that she has won gold. lauren bacall, who made her film debut more than 65 years ago, was recently awarded a lifetime achievement oscar at a special ceremony in hollywood, and she sat down with nbc s anne thompson to reflect on her life and her career. reporter: it was a film debut unlike any other. you know how to whistle, don t you, steve? you just put your lips together and blow. reporter: lauren bacall s performance in 1944 s to have and have not secured her place in hollywood history. what d you do that for? i ve been wondering whether i d like it. what s the decision? i don t know yet. reporter: an electrifying screen presence that ignited one of hollywood s real-life romances. she s an american original whose career is now in its seventh decade. lauren bacall, honored with one of this year s lifetime achievement oscars. a man at last. reporter: vintage bacall, known for her sharp wit and candor. you have a reputation for being blunt and for speaking your mind. yes, yes. reporter: does it get you in trouble? it sets me off, frankly. reporter: why? because if i were a guy and voiced my opinion, nobody would comment. reporter: ask her about today s red carpet circumstansc this is what you d get. oh, who did your dress? you look fantastic, you look fantastic. it was so boring. reporter: bacall says audiences have long confused the characters she plays with the person she is in real life. i m not tough at all, never been tough. i m many things, but i am not tough. but i will stand up for myself. reporter: a lesson she learned from her first leading man, humphrey bogart. i was 19 years old. who wouldn t fall madly in love with him at the age of 19? you d have to be crazy. but i was a totally innocent girl. i was a virgin, whatever that is. reporter: she was just 20 when they married. he was 45. they had two children, steve and leslie. her marriage, she says, often overshadowed her career. i was always thought of as bogie s wife, you know, at the beginning, not an actress. so, i was not given great offers. reporter: still, she made an indelible impression in classs like the big sleep. can t you talk without pointing that thing? reporter: and key largo. storm s passing. reporter: do you watch those old movies? i can like at to have and have not and say, oh, i remember what happened when we were shooting tt and i remember that s when the romance began. reporter: bacall was only 32 years old when bogart died, and hollywood lost its allure. she returned t her native new york and met and married actor jason robars. i was so lucky to meet him because he gave me the theater. e theater was a place for me that i adored. i loved the stage. i feel groggy and weary and tragic reporter: on broadway, bacall showed, winning tonys for the musicals applause and woman of the year. off stage, her marriage collapsed but gave her another son, sam. it s an awful thing to do to a woman my age, leave her alone with her thoughts. reporter: bacall returned to films, and at 72 earned her only oscar nomination, playing barbra streisand s mother in the mirror has two faces, which streisand directed. i had to read for that with her. she said, now, don t worry about this, just read through this scene, because i just want to hear how it sounds. and i was so nervous. reporter: why? because my lack of self-confidence. reporter: critics hailed her performance, but she didn t get the oscar. despite her lifelong insecurity, bacall continues to act. if you can lend a hand here. reporter: the work, she says, gives her life meaning. but after so many years and so many parts, she never expected this, a lifetime achievement oscar. i feel very emotional and i feel very grateful, and not least of all that i m still alive. i mean, after all, some of you are surprised, aren t you? reporter: bacall says she s here to stay and hollywood better get used to it. for today, anne thompson, nbc news, new york. and again, the 82nd annual academy awards are this sunday. and to learn more about lauren bacall s award and this year s nominees, you can head to our website at todayshow.com. back in a moment. this is today on nbc. back to the right? no, back here. how about over here? n let s go back to the left. waffling is back at dunkin donuts. for a short time only, enjoy the return of the delicious oven-toasted waffle breakfast sandwich. america runs on dunkin . so, tim burton and johnny depp have teamed up on a new version of alice and wonderland. it opens today and our gene shalit says beware what lies beneath the rabbit hole. good morning and welcome to the critic s corn your. tim burton has served up a pure of alice in wonderland and through the living glass. for dissenters, it s, oh, fruminous. i like it. alice, now 19, played by mia, escapes marriage to a ninny by once again diving down the rabbit hole. when she lands among the characters she s met before. you re all late for tea! reporter: she joins the march hare and door mouse at their tea party where johnny depp s mad hatter rims with twinkle twinkles nonsense and a touch of sadness. you re absolutely alice. i d know you anywhere. maybe it s his halloween makeup. the grilling chesser cat certainly had me feline fine, and most of the loopy lot are joyful. i m tweedle dumb, he s tweedle dee. that s odd. although one is annoyful. helen carter, a last miscast as the red queen. too young, too pretty, never bellowing off with his head as if she means it. a pinch of fat. the movie often looks splendid, but as the narrative waves and wanes, so does our interest. feel better? much. thank you. tim burton, offering his version of the classic alice takes the plunge down the rabbit hole and falls just short. and that s the critic s corner for today. i m late, i m late for a very important date. all right, gene, thanks very much. look what happened, steve holcombe, our bobsled winner and the gold medalist has adopted bailey. very nice! yeah! i think bailey lucked out! what a year. yeah. i know. so cool. she kind of picked you, and it s amazing how she looks to you already. very nice. she wants to learn the holcy dance. we ll get plenty of exposure. good for you. you re not married? jill is still available. oh! 89:56 is our time right now, as we take a live look outside, see some clouds above us in the nation s capital. good morning to you, i m joe krebs in the news for today, the man who opened fire at the pentagon last night was heavily armed. police the suspect and shooter, john patrick bedell had two 9 millimeter weapons and he was wearing a suit and acting calmly and then pulled out a gun and began shooting. bedell was killed in the shootout. the pentagon metro station remains closed because of the investigation. trains will go through the pentagon station but will not stop and if you need to get to the pentagon you re encouraged to walk or get to the pentagon city metro station. temperatures still in the mid to high 30s and a northwesterly wirnd blowing between 15 and 20 miles an hour. as a result the windchills remain in the upper 20s this morning, a medium to heavyweight jacket still required. cloudy, breezy, chilly today, temperatures staying in the mid 40s, upper 40s to near 50 tomorrow and dry weather all through the weekend. we have an accident in georgia avenue southbound before the belt way, but out of wheatton, headed toward silver spring, still particularly backed up. south of town to the wilson bridge, we re okay. police wrapping up an earlier multi car crash. e ll have another news update coming your way in 25 minutes, b because little bodies need special care, pediatricians trust children s tylenol. to help their fevers, a. and we are back now with more of today on a getaway day, friday, the 5th of march 2010. supposed to be nice and sunny over the weekend here in the big apple, mild, too. temperatures up into the 50s. we are looking forward to that. and those folks out there getting an early start, stopping by rockefeller plaza, and we re happy they made us part of their morning. inside the studio, i m matt lauer along with ann curry and al roker. and coming up in this half hour, it s still a buyer s market. so, if you re looking for a starter home or maybe trading to a larger house for a growing family, real estate expert barbara corcoran will show you what you can get starting as low as the mid-$100,000 range. nice. all right. also, just stop for a moment. imagine what our life was like without the internet. you know, five years ago, i would probably have been able to do it. not anymore. our kids can t probably even remember life before the internet without yahoo! google, e-mail or facebook. well, coming up, we re going to look at the dramatic impact of the internet over the last 15 years. also ahead this morning, the dramatic impact of the hottest toys for 2010, because who better to preview them by our young lady who won our kid reporter contest. that s deidra shores. she had the fun assignment of testing all the goodies at new york s toy fair. yes, she did. so, we re gng to hear from deidra and find out what she liked and get a preview of some of the toys who aren t even out yet from our toy expert stephanie oppenheim. wouldn t that be neat, go to the toy fair, have fun. let s get a check of the headlines now from natalie morales at the news desk while ann is here. good morning to you. pentagon police said this morning the gunman shot and killed outside of the pentagon thursday night did not appear to have any terrorist connections. officers exchanged numerous shots with the heavily armed suspect identified as 36-year-old john patrick bedell of hollister, california. two of the officers suffered minor wounds. police are still looking for a motive. new figures today show the nation s unemployment rate holding steady last month at 9.7%. the economy lost 36,000 jobs for the month. in arizona, multiple fatalities this morning when a bus hit a truck near phoenix. rescuers had to break windows to pull passengers to safety. a triage area was set up to treat them. this morning in chile, another strong aftershock, magnitude 6.6, sent people running into the streets in concepcion. meanwhile, almost two months after the earthquake disaster in haiti, there are concerns about more problems there, despite the best efforts of people at one clinic. nbc s ian williams is in port-au-prince. good morning, ian. reporter: good morning, natalie. with the rainy season fast approaching, relief workers are warning of another medical emergency. within moments of setting up, the mobile clinic was overwhelmed. volunteers from connecticut quickly running short of supplies. we brought enough medication for two trips, but we ran out. reporter: hardly wanting to think about what new epidemics the rainy season will bring. it will just be horrendous, the typhoid, malaria. reporter: early rains have already turned some camps into quagmires, overwhelming the limited sanitation. the bare-footed children most at risk. the government says that dozens of camps, 20% of the total, are dangerously exposed to flooding or landslides, and everywhere, a heightened risk of disease. many hillside camps could be swept away in the heavy rain, which usually begins mid-march. we have to relocate people and civility treatment operation. reporter: relief organizations have begun registering people in the camps as a first step to moving them to safer places, but land is scarce, and in the camps most at risk, they say they have nowhere else to go. even before the quake, there was precious little medical care in haiti. it was incredible. it was overwhelming before, and now i m holding back the tears. reporter: the american volunteers have helped stabilize the initial emergency, but with malaria already on the rise, the battle is on to head off another health disaster. it s become a race against the rains, what they re calling the brutal deadline of the rainy season. natalie? ian williams reporting there from haiti. well, today the head of toyota called for a new start following millions of recent recalls. he urged thousands of company workers to work to win back customer support. he returned to japan this week after facing tough questions from lawmakers on capitol hill. it is now four minutes past the hour. you re up to date right now. let s get another check of the weather from al, right across the way. okay, natalie. thanks a lot. as we start off, going to be a little on the chilly side down in florida today. we ve got some more snow actually working its way through the northeast, very vigorous low pressure system off the canadian maritimes and another system comes into the west, bringing some rain later tomorrow. meantime, today, sunshine through the gulf, but on the chilly side, icy icy and a good friday morning, i m meteorologist chuck bell and right here in our area today, we have some filtered sunshine out there, we ll call it a partly to at times mostly cloudy day today. it s chilly, temperatures only in the mid to high 30s right now with windchills in the upper 20s. so you re definitely going to see your hat and your scarf for your afternoon act ow, she s a brick house and now, today s real estate. homes across the country from the mid-$100,000 range to $500,000. our real estate maven and resident brick house barbara corcoran scoured the country from vermont to texas to find the best deals out there. barbara, good morning. best news this week, al. that s right. first, we ll start in mississippi, olive branch, mississippi. this one is a bargain, priced at $165,000 for a four-bedroom house? that s a cheap price. and actually, when you hear olive branch, mississippi, you should be aware, it s really a suburb of memphis, because tennessee is right across the bridge right there. it s a beautiful brick front house, fancy, simple, and inside it s got really everything you d really want in a four-bedroom house. the living room has lots of light, lots of windows. there s a beautiful kitchen. it has vaulted ceilings and a ceramic tile floor. they have a bay window in the breakfast area right off the kitchen there, and that actually overlooks a very big and private backyard. what do you think of the color of the walls there? well, it s a little too green. it s in the pastel family, but i ve seen a lot worse than that. actually, any house can get the benefit of having a light pastel color or even preferable to that, white. the back of this house is desperate for trees. you wouldn t even know it was the same house. right. but it s got plenty of land to put a few trees in and it s in perfect condition. then the fourth bedroom, could you turn that into a home office? sure, you could, but you d be crazy to do that selling a house because every buyer sees it as a three-bedroom, which means they re going to pay you le. next, ft. worth, texas, $279,900 with four bedrooms and also nice amenities. and people love ft. worth. it s a unique mix of cowboys, culture, sports, shopping. and this is like a mini mansion there, actually. remember the price is $279,000. it s on an oversized lot. plenty of space, and the neighborhood particularly has all the bells and whistles that families would love. it has a swimming pool right close by down the street, biking and running trails, a playground and a park. so, it s not just buying into the house. you re buying into that whole neighborhood. it s in mint condition. the family rooms, the kitchen have soaring ceilings. the kitchen s been updated, not totally modern, but meticulous condition. look at all that empty space that is just nice to have above your head. right. it feels luxurious. why not? and there s a back deck also behind this house that i don t know if we ll see here in a minute, outside those windows. there we go. there it is it s a pretty back deck, plenty of privacy and beautifully i love the trees. the other house had no trees. this one has a lot of trees in a small space. yeah, but you know what, people love trees. they associate trees with presti prestige, comfort, being grounded. and there s also the age-old thinking, oh, it s like paradise. okay. trees are good for house sales. now to the northeast, waitsfield, vermont, a log home for $319,000. the truth of the matter is whenever i see a log house, it s filled with junk. so, to get a really nice log house to show on air is a hard thing, but this is one of them. all right. well, let s look inside and see what we ve got, huh? no, it s beautiful. oh, we re not inside yet! [ laughter ] a lot of nice stuff outside! enough! calm down, al. okay, this is the house. you saw it in the summer, now in the winter. it s pretty both times of the year. look at this house. there s no junk here. no! it s meticulous, in perfect condition. it s lovely. i love the beamed ceilings, the floors. there s the kitchen. you can make a quick meal, clean up fast, in and out. you know, it s not fancy, but it s functional. we re back outside now. okay. enough of the inside! there s a hot tub out back oh, yeah! and would you calm down here some. okay. it s a shed barn and a paddock. what about that barn? i can t even get a word in today! no, you can t. the guest cottage or the house barn, guest cottage? you can t change it on a guest cottage. no some. you have to get the approval of the town. it s cheaper to buy a new house. let s agree back inside! now to indianapolis, indiana, a colonial, three-bathroom, $395,900. this is the home of the colts and the indy 500. and what are they called the hoosiers. this is an old come on. you re thinking of chinese food and moo shoo. aye-yi-yi. stay with me here. it s an old-fashioned house with a big, welcoming porch. look at that nice swing. it s gorgeous. calm down, al roker. okay, the details include gleaming wood floors, great walls, french doors. you know what s weird about this, al? what s that? it s in perfect condition, but you would swear nobody lives there. all you have to do is move in that afternoon, put your family pictures up and it feels like your house. is that a good thing? well, it s a good thing, but i d like to see some flowers, a little more punch of colors here to get the right price. a little stark for me, but it s sure better than having it filled with a lot of stuff. because one of the things you say is people should be able to imagine themselves moving in. this one people would have no problem, but you d also like to think you re going to be warm there and it needs that punch of color. i don t know if you saw that laundry room, which you didn t even mention, but that s the prettiest laundry room i ve seen all year. that was a gorgeous laundry room. al. barbara corcoran, thank you so much. aye-yi-yi. if you have questions for barbara, go to todayshow.com. you know, we may have left canada, but canada hasn t left us yet. a caffeine fix canada-style. but up next, she s a kid in a toy store. actually, she is a kid and she was in a toy store. our kid reporter deidra shores checks out our must-have toys. 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 presse, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. telling 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. my tables are empty anyway. bertolli! (announcer) bertolli oven bake meals, like lasagna rustica, restaurant taste with your homemade touch. bertolli oven bake meals. you need listerine® whitening® vibrant white™ rinse. the mouthwash that gets teeth four times whiter than the leading toothpaste. and kills bad breath germs. listerine® whitening vibrant white™. you ll never have to call them to the dinner table twice (announcer) right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting five percent cashback bonus at grocery stores. it pays to get more, it pays to discover. this morning we re checking out hottest toys for 2010 and who better to cover the story than our very own deidra shores? you remember she left quite an impression on us last fall as she won the finals and semifinals of the kid today reporter contest and who could forget her reaction? deidra shores from memphis, tennessee! that s right, deidra. that s true! you re the winner, deidra shores! [ screaming ] [ laughter ] woo! well, deidra, good morning! good morning, natalie, al. thank you so much for having me. you got it. it s good having you. so, you had a good time? yes, i did have a good time. it s definitely a lot of pts to having this gig. i got to have a sneak peek at all the hottest toys that are sure to be on the top of kids wish lists this year. 100,000 products, 7,000 never-before-seen ys, 350,000 square feet of exhibit space. i m at the american international toy fair in new york city. my mission, to uncover the newest and hottest toys of 2010. let s have some fun. gonna break out, let the party start this one s for team edward. have you ever wondered what it s like to run your own toy company? well, i m headed to mattel to find out. how do you look at a toy and know this is the toy of 2010? a toy that makes everybody smile, whether it s kids or adults, you generally know you have something good. hilarious. so, what is the best part about being the president of a toy company? i can play with hot wheels all day long and nobody thinks it s strange. so, big foot, what do you think about being on the today show? whoo-hoo! girls all over the world voted on barbie s 125th career, and it looks like we re going in the same direction. what s the barbie process like? reporter: y you start off by brain-storming ideas, then you turn them into drawings then you turn them into 3d models. who says this job is all work and no play? now let s see what hasbro has to offer. where did the idea to remake plastic games like nerf, scrabble, where does that come from? i grew up on all these brands, so nowt s a great opportunity to reinvent those brands for kids, my kids and the kids of the next generation. what s hot as for as toys? for me, i really like nerf, because i remember playing with very old-fashioned nerf back in the day, and certainly, iron man is a big movie this summer. next summer will be another transformers movie. check out this super cool jedi mind trick. i m deidra shores, today s kid reporter, speeding off to my next story. deidra, great job, as always. very nice. well done. you look like you had a great time. thank you. now let s bring in stephanie oppenheim from toyportfolio.com, for a look at the best toys. hey, guys. so, the best trends of 2010. deidra got to do what we do, looked at thousands of toys, and what we ll be doing over the next few months is putting all these prototypes to the test with our testers. some of these aren t out. right. a lot of these have a twist on classics. yeah. what you re going to see is a lot of familiar names, but the game play is completely different. for example, you build monopoly, the game board we all grew up with, it s gone. no! you re going to be building your own, which looks like a fun idea, so we ll have to try that out. yeah. okay. the twister map, the one everyone played with in their basement is gone. now you re going to be using this as glue. so you may have to put your shoulder to deidra s shoulder and then we ll have to put, i don t, your shoulder next to natalie. this is going to be uncomfortable doing the rest of this interview. right. yeah, exactly, that s right. great! so, we ll have to try that one out, but we also new stuff, right? have brand new games. this is connectsy, and it s jia jengaish. jenga meets scrabble kind of. very cool. we ll be testing these soon. deidra had fun with these already. we all had spin art. amazing. they ll be coming out with this one. should we add some blue this time? look, there s no battery. it s a little green, antitechnology. it uses just your hand. an air pump, which is fun for outdoor play. i talked to your mother about this. use it outdoors. as long as this washes out, too. lego race er have been out f a long time. it has a battery and a pump. i didn t want to send this one off go for it mine s not working. wow, that worked out well. well, i think you like these, too. these are my favorite. these are from mattel, coming out in may. and i think that these are prototypes, but if the real thing worked as well as these. really? what do they do? well not only do they talk to each other, but they will harmonize while they sing. cute. that s adorable! so, they re coming out and more for the holidays. now, this thing has been creeping me out, literally, even though it s not real. these are textbook nanos. they re $9.99. they come in these cool test tubes and they make a lot of noise. yeah, they make noise, but they re really fun. you can put them in your pocket boys like bugs. they re kind of like nano bugs. now, they do this on the floor, anything yeah, you can put them in anything and this is actually available now. they just started selling the habitat, but you can do this any way you want. star wars still big. al, i know you re a huge star wars fan and we really love it because it s a whole new generation that s totally involved in star wars, thanks to the clone wars movie. so, for the fall, you ll have a new defender from lego, a beautiful build. number one request from our tester are these sets. for my son. and look at this. this is $99 what about the millennium falcon back over there? which is pretty cool. deidra s ready to go. oh, wow! wow! that is so cool. that s very neat. isn t that super cool? oh! whoa! make it jump to hyper space! and this is general grieva s light saver. what s cool is you can have one, you can have one ah hah. and may the force be with you guys. there you go. ah! wow. stephanie oppenheim, deidra shores, great job, as always. thank you. are you okay? [ laughter ] coming up next, in like a lion, out like a lamb. it s almost spring. lamb loin on the menu in today s kitchen. but first, these messages. only revlon® age defying makeup has botafirm™ to help relax fine lines and completely cover flaws. in fact, 95% of women said it visibly helped relax expression lines, instantly. don t deny it. defy it. the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bches! the magic s in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. the mahoney bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. the mahoney bunches of oats. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. wow! you have got to be kidding me. 80 calories? 80 calories! light & fit is so creamy and irresistibly delicious, it s hard to believe it has 80 calories versus 100 in the other leading brand. do you always eat like that? i love light & fit. light & fit. irresistible taste. fewer calories. now save money with our new super saver four packs. four cups at a great low price. is deep down uncomfortable. 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[ female announcer ] new moisture wrap body lotion. coming up, a look back at the last 18 years of the internet. plus, lisa kudrow s coming back to tell hoda and kathie lee about her project that takes famous people on a journey to trace their ancestry. all that, plus your local news and weather. ladies, raise your spoons. now there s nothing left standing between you and a satisfying breakfast. introducing special k low-fat granola. with 50% less fat than the leading granola. and 5 grams of fiber per serving, it s a satisfying way to help you manage your weight. special k low-fat granola a taste of freedom. 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. woolite complete. but a whole panel in creating an anti-aging breakthrough. introducing olay professional pro-x wrinkle protocol. as effective as the leading prescription wrinkle bnd. challenge pro-x yourself, we guarantee the results. 7:26 is your time now, a lovely look outside at the nation s capital. a nice day in store for you. good morning, everyone, it is friday march 5, 2010. and the man who opened fire at the pentagon last night was heavily armed. 36-year-old john patrick bedell of california had two 9 millimeter weapons and extra ammunition. he wore a suit and acted calmly when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. he was killed in the shooting but two officers were hit. the pnk metro station is closed today because of the shooting trains will go through the pentagon station but will not stop. you are encouraged to walk or take a shuttle bus to the pentagon sta vrmgs. good morning, everyone, temperatures are climbing but slowly, all the way into the upper 30s right now, we ll climb into the mid 40s for a brief time, but gusty northwest wind will keep things feeling very winter like. slow 395 to the 14th street bridge, lanes are open and the toide of the beltway remains a little sluggish from new hampshire avenue to georgia avenue. back to the today show after this short break i don t know, baby, where we ve been, what s our future or what we planned so long ago, i don t know that s academy award nominee jeff bridges, up for best actor for his performance as an alcoholic country singer in the film crazy heart. it s his fifth oscar nomination. he s never won, but this time he s the odds on favorite. will he beat out george clooney, morgan freeman, colin firth and jeremy renner this sunday? well, we ll be in l.a., myself and meredith vieira. we ll be talking to the winners with a special after-oscars edition. that will be monday here on today. tough competition, i ve got to tell you. all those men really deserve that honor. that s right. jeff bridges is really terrific in this movie as well, so. powerful. you re going to be there. do you have any favorites? i kind of like hurt locker for best picture, but we ll see. hurt locker. amazing. avatar, too. both of them. totally opposite, one s reality and one s so real. i d like them to split the vote, actually, and win. exactly. we have like six movies in the best picture category this time, so ten! ten, i mean ten. there used to be five. watch the oscars! that s okay. anyway, also ahead i can never stay up that late. we re going to talk about the internet and how it s changed our lives from social networking sites to e-mail from the palm of your hand. you don t have to leave home without it. we ll take a look at how far it s come and how far it can go, because it s completely changed our lives. what else? then, you don t have to spend hours in the kitchen to make a delicious lamb. we ll tempt your taste buds with a quick and easy recipe. and amy robach and jenna wolfe have what s coming up on weekend today. ladies? hello, everyone. well, a california family of four has been missing for three weeks. police have no idea what happened to them. we ll have the latest on that investigation. and then, they weigh more than 400 pounds and are 3 1/2 feet long. we re going to have my swimming adventures with sea turtles this weekend. i actually knocked that out while i was in barbados visiting with prince harry. we got to do a little dip in the caribbean while we were there, so that was fun. wow! sea turtles. so cool. they re beautiful under water. and they come right up to you if you have bait in your hands. what s the bait? fish, just fish. you have to keep your fingers far away, though. right, exactly. jenna? also, you were talking about the internet earlier. we ll look at something called chat roulette. it s a new internet fad that pairs you with a random video chat partner. it s actually addictive and it s unfiltered, but the question is, is it safe? we re going to let you know. plus, a preview of the red carpet ahead of sunday s academy awards. all that and more coming up this weekend. sounds great. sounds great. thks, jenna. thank you, guys. thanks, amy. you have another look at the weather for us. absolutely. this weekend, showing you for tomorrow or i should say, current temperatures right now. in florida, it is chilly. we re talking temperatures only in the 40s and 50s. we ll only get up into the 60s today, but at lst plenty of sunshine. the temperature s about 10 to 15 degrees below normal. then for sunday, the oscar forecast, noon, cloudy skies, 30% chance of showers. sunday, by 5:00, partly cloudy, cool, plenty of botox,botox, and a good friday morning, i m news4 meteorologist chuck bell, we have a little bit of filtered sunshine and high level clouds, temperatures sneaking up almost into the0s, 38 here in town. 29 at the navel academy in annapolis. windchills remain below freezing so v, that wind and that s your latest weather. all right, al, thanks. when we come back, imagine a world without the internet? we re going to look at how it has changed our lives so much. to your finances. that s why chase cards come with blueprint. free and only for chase customers. with finish it, you can take your balance and decide your monthly payment. or how many months you want to take to pay it off. the faster you pay it off, the more you ll save. and the more progress you ll see every month on your plan. chase what matters. i have my blueprint. do you? start your plan today. chase.com/blueprint. would you like that to hurt now or later? uh what? 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[ splat! ] watch tough stains disappear right before your eyes with clorox 2 stain fighter & color booster. see for yourself. lose the stains. keep the color. one bottle of clorox 2 takes care of 33 loads. tide stain release only does 11. one bottle of clorox 2 takes care of 33 loads. can you believe how fast kids grow these days? and since 90% of bone strength is developed before adulthood. it s so important that they get enough calcium every day. that s why there s new danonino. danonino! unlike leading kids yogurts, danonino has twice the calcium of milk, ounce per ounce, with vitamin d. so it s power packed for healthy growth. and its rich creamy taste is. yummy! so they can start buding strong bones today. for stronger bodies tomorrow. new danonino from dannon. power packed to help kids grow. and this is the warm fresh baked taste. of a strawberry toaster strudel. see the difference? pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. this morning o today s tech, the impact of the internet. remember thumbing through the yellow pages for a phone number or actually sending handwritten letters through the mail? well, those things are in the past. yahoo! conducted a survey of the net s impact to coincide with its 15th anniversary. heather cappen is yahoo! s web life editor. good morning. good morning. thanks for having me. thanks for being here. you web surveyed 1,600 people to find out how the internet changed people s lives and the majority said they were clueless 15 years ago about the internet. so, what do they say now about the impact? they can t live without it now. by the way, we conducted this telephone survey of people 25 to 64 years old. we partnered with decipher inc. and otx. they said they can t live without it. back then, they were nervous about it, excited, a little bit curious. today they have no idea how they would do pretty much anything without it. yeah. i mean, well, the technology, the hardware has changed so much. we were talking earlier about beepers and trying to find phones. exactly. who has a beeper? exactly. now you think about mobile web. you have your pc in your pocket now. you can do it anywhere, and that s one of the things we found in this survey, more and more people are using the web on the go. decade and a half ago, primary use of the net and how search engines like yahoo! when yahoo! first started, what were they used for? when yahoo! first started, only about a quarter of the people used the search engines. they mostly used them at work and they were using them to find information, research, potentially looking for directions, phone numbers, really basic things. in fact, when jerry yang and dave phyllo founded this, they were trying to organize the chaos of the web and then founded yahoo! and today, portals, completely different use. well, yes. if you look at yahoo! we re not only a place to get your e-mail, but we re a media company now. there s news, sports, entertainment. so, it s communication, it s media. it s changed a lot. okay. some people say the net makes us less personable. 78% of the folks you guys surveyed say e-mail has replaced the note or thehandwritten letter. yeah. in a way, that s kind of sad. it is kind of sad, and you know, the people that we surveyed, they say that they use the web because it is more convenient, but i think they are a little bit nostalgic, and i do think we re going to continue, even in this age of social media, see a little pullback from that. we ve done other research where we asked people about that, and a majority said nothing beats a handwritten thank you note, even though an e-mail one is more convenient. that s how we push our kids right now, they ve got to write a thank you note. me too. now we ve got a quiz for you. for you. this is based on our results. i don t have the answers. here we go. are you ready? okay. number one. we asked people if they had to choose between something, sacrifice something in the web, would they, a, give up their mp3 players, b, video games, c, sex, d, chocolate, e, all of the above? wow. well, i m going to cross off c. i would go with chocolate. e, all of the above. all of the above? even sex. 35% of people said they would give up sex for the internet. what is wrong with you people? they re addicted. i don t know. my gosh. okay. number two. what percentage of people check their e-mail as soon as they wake up? i m going with d, 41%. you re right. and 80% told us they actually check their e-mail before they even have coffee or breakfast. and 80% told us that they think it s fine to check the web when they re in bed. i know. but you know wow. think about laptops, smartphones. it makes it possible to do that now. but they tell you you shouldn t even have a tv in the bedroom. the bedroom is for, you know, two things, sleep and whatever. right. so, you know, you re violating that with that stuff. yeah, i know, but i guess if people feel like they can t live without it. and the thing is, people are also using this not just for working, but it s personal. they want to connect or read or whatever. okay. number three. besides home and work, where do most people use the internet? a, their car. right. b, restaurant, c, stores, d, the bathtub. i m going to go with i ve seen too many o these folks, a, car. you re right. you re right. now, we didn t ask if they were doing it while they were driving. the assumption is they were parked, hopefully. but 20% of the people in the survey also told us they mostly use it outside when they re walking around. and that, again, speaks to the rise of mobile. all right. health cabot, thanks. it s just going to get worse as we go on. or better. depending how you look at it. coming up next, i ll take a double-double, eh? we ll take a look at canada s coffee fix here in america. i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i m like, oh, promise mommy you ll never ever pick up a cigarette. and brian looked at me at eight years old and said, promise me you ll quit. i had to quit. my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, compared to 18% on sugar pill. it s proven to reduce the urge to smoke. seeing how chantix worked, i wasn t so afraid to try quitting again. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor about chantix and a support plan that s right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix. some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, some of which can be life threatening. if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. tell your doctor which medicines you re taking as they may work differently when you quit smoking. chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. until you know how chantix may affect you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. chantix should not be taken with other quit-smoking products. my benjamin, he helped me with the countdown. ben, how many days has it been? 5 days, mom. 10 days, mom. i think after 30 days he got tired of counting. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor to find out if prescription antix is right for you. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor to find out get flawless skin even in harsh, unflattering light. new revlon photoready makeup. our exclusive formula bends and reflects light to help diffuse every flaw for a poreless, airbrushed look. revlon photoready makeup. find your perfect light. can you believe how fast kids grow these days? and since 90% of bone strength is developed before adulthood. it s so important that they get enough calcium every day. that s why there s new danonino. danonino! unlike leading kids yogurts, danonino has twice the calcium of milk, ounce per ounce, with vitamin d. so it s power packed for healthy growth. and its rich creamy taste is. yummy! so they can start building strong bones today. for stronger bodies tomorrow. new danonino from dannon. power packed to help kids grow. including your skin. discover aveeno positively ageless. with shiitake complex, it helps speed. your skin s unique renewal process. 94% of women showed an improvement. in lines or wrinkles. for younger looking skin: aveeno positively ageless. while we were in vancouver, it s hard not to notice the country s most famous coffee chain, tim hortons. for the past four decades, the name s been synonymous with canadian culture. nbc s kevin tibbles shows us why. you might call it a morning cup of joe, but in canada, they call it tim s. i always come into tim s. reporter: tim hortons is a canadian coffee and donut juggernaut, a chain of 3,000 stores that for more than 40 years has satisfied this country s sweet tooth. when your family s getting together, somebody says put a pot of coffee on, and that s what tim hortons is, it s a pot of coffee. reporter: who was tim horton? a hockey player, of course, who opened a small donut shop to help in retirement. it s the tim horton of important yes, the tim horton award. reporter: sadly, horton died in a car crash in 1974, never seeing the empire that would carry his name. today, seven out of every ten cups of coffee sold in canada come from tim s. as for baked goods like donuts, tim s commands 76% of the market. now that s loyalty. this is my monday-to-friday. this is what gets me through work in the morning. reporter: you know, as a kid on family trips, the arm would come over in the back seat of the car, we d be told, if you don t start behaving, we re not going to stop at tim hortons. well, of course, then we all started behaving because i didn t want to miss out on my maple dipped donut. it s community. it s everybody gathering together over a cup of coffee to celebrate buying their first house or celebrating the fact that they had a first child. reporter: but wait, there s more. two large double-double, please. reporter: what was that, a double-double? tim s has a language all its own. in canada, a double double means two creams and two sugars, sweet. double double. we ll meet you at timmy s. reporter: that s what you say? that s what we say. reporter: and with that, we leave our caffeinated friends to their donuts and double doubles. and that was nbc s kevin tibbles having a double double. when we come back, it s not coffee and donuts, but spring lamb on today s menu and one of this morning in today s kitchen, we re savoring the flavor of lamb just ahead of spring. our hot down under chef luke mangan is author of in the mood and he s here to show us how easy it can be. good morning, lou, or good day. good day! lamb, not something a lot of people don t love, so it s not going to be a surprise that we re going to love it. it s really lean, too. yes. and good flavor, too. and there s like zero fat on that. it s a great lamb loin, great aussie lamb. we do a bit of olive oil, season with a little bit of salt, a bit of pepper. this is something you can cook in a flash, right? this dish is so healthy and so quick, anyone can cook it. anyone could cook it, okay. now, hot pan. we try to seer it to get color on both sides, real important. and is the olive oil important, what you choose? just a bit. not too much. it s spitting on me. we don t want that. a few minutes after this, you get that nice color, a full five minutes on each side. you can put it in the oven if you want or cook it on the barbie like in australia. the bar-b. that s how you generally like it. on the bar-b, right. and you like it pink? medium-rare. okay. and if you don t like lamb, use chicken or fish. now, garlic, president bufresh . you can use frozen peas. fresh are amazing. and if you could crush that a bit. crush it. a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt, just like that. wonderful. and you know, this is where all the flavor s coming from. oh, it s wonderful. you ve done a wonderful job. you ve done these before. clearly, i need more muscle in there. get in there! there you go. so, you get that beautiful texture and this is a healthy dish. they should be cooking this at the white house, healthy cooking. i m sure they are. so, what we do, we get the loin of lamb that s been cooked there. and we carve it nice slice. thin slices. that looks amazing. just like that. just plate it up. look at that. cooked perfectly. you ve done that before. i have. yeah, you ve done that these perfectly crushed peas that you ve crushed. peas on top. yes, with a lot of help. yeah. just very rustically like that. okay. then you add then i ve got some wonderful feta, feta cheese. it s been soaking in the olive oil here with what is this, thyme? that s a spice i haven t heard of. oregano. but oregano sounds better what about basil? you say basil, i say basil. thyme is thyme, right? tomato, right? yes, tomato. and we ve got toasted pine nuts, just knocked over like that. beautiful, wow. and just a squeeze of lemon. and if you could just get a little bit of fresh mint leaf. now, if you don t like mint, because some people are particular you can use oregano. oregano. oregano. or basil. r basil. and then we drizzle with olive oil. so, you ve got that beautiful that says spring right there. yeah. isn t it amazing? it is. what s that? that s a ratatouille you made? yeah, that s a ratatouille. i m switching sides with you. al s going to get i d better take my bite before al gets here. exactly. what the heck does that mean? what is that? this is mine! when did that happen? perfect time. wow! i d better get mine before al gets it? before al gets here? wow! that was a first strike. how was that bite, by the way? was that good? mm-mmm. would you like to try some of this? yes, i would love to. do you mind if i feed you? thank you, al. oh, you love to feed him. that is ratatouille. fantastic. this lamb is amazing. so good. i wouldn t know. you have to try it. we should give him some. yeah. come on. aussielamb. you ll love it. fork? no, he doesn t need a fork. the aussie style. the peas, the feta, such a great combination. are these peas fresh? they re really tasting fresh. wow. you can use frozen if you want. and butter or oil? a little bit of olive oil. fantastic. luke, thank you very much. again, the book is at home and in the mood. luke, you make an annual trip here to see us, so we thank you. love it. recipes on our website, todayshow.com. coming up, lisa kudrow. 9:56 is our time right now, 36 degrees out there, looks like some sunshine getting through upon aice friday here in the nation s capital, the 5th of march. in the news for today, the two police officers injured in last night s shooting in the pentagon are now out of the hospital, john patrick bedell of california is dead. he approached a security check point and calm by pulled out a gun and began shooting. police found his car nearby with more ammunition inside. the pentagon metro station remains closeded as this investigation continues. now let s get a check from jerry on the traffic, take a look at what it looks like on the roads. joe, we ll head on out, take a live look on i-66, right now travel lanes are open, a little trouble approaching the beltway. we don t have any issues to report. and 270 down through rockville moving along pretty nicely, travel lanes are open. hey, chuck, how about the forecast? we have a little bit of filtered sunshine out there, temperatures are slowly inching their way up toward the 40-degree mark and they re falling a little bit shy because these gusty winds have our woich wind chills near 30. now we re going to go back to nbc-universal television captions paid for by nbc-universal television hey, everybody, it is friday around here to call dry day, to make you know, to get clean for the weekend. even though it s dry day, we have two cocktails. we had to make an exception today because it is oscar weekend. i have a feeling we re going to have a lot of exceptions on fridays. vanilla liquer passion fruit juice. this will actually be served on the red carpet. i didn t know they drank on the red carpet. the governor s ball afterwards. and they ll try to get everybody to stay to indescribe their oscars. new rools, no long speech. 45 seconds. let me tell you, you can t have this because you ve been under the weather. so, you re having i went on my twitter page and asked on facebook, what are good cold remedies? everyone has something they swear by. one people said take vick s, rub be it i got this from a bunch of people. in the nose. no, on the bottom of your feet and put socks on. i can t tell you how many times that came up. i was like, that s weird. on the bottom of your feet. i m going to try it tonight. i didn t try it. those beautiful feet of yours? stop. this is so weird, a womanswears by this. take dr. pepper. not diet, the real stuff. don t use diet. nuke it in the microwave, warm it, then drink it. this is dr. pepper warmed. we ll see how you feel. let s see what it tastes like. ooh, ooh, i don t really like dr. pepper in general. i wonder what s in it. hold on. shouldn t you have checked that before you started drinking it? if it s going to cure me, trust me, i ll drink anything. there was an uproar over at regis & kelly. it is called regis and kelly. it has been for a long time. in the beginning, he was talking about their show, when i was on reggie and kathie lee. i m going to like this. i bet you will. it was live with region sbis kathie lee that i saw myself on the cover of time magazine. the name is regis and kelly now. what did you say? kathie lee. my head is so bursting with being on the cover of of that magazine. what is it, you miss kathie lee? what is it? get it out! it s the k sound. of course it is. i apologize. that s what it is. you don t have to apologize. oh, i guess you didn t win last year, right? sometimes it goes by see what i mean? see what happens when you cross her? you ve got a real problem. i m sorry. is my nose bleeding? yes it is. because that was quite a pop. ah. they ve not forgotten over there. maybe it was regis and kathie lee when he was talking about being on time magazine. maybe it was. no. she was it sounded like unless it happened nine years ago. when was he on the cover of time ? i don t know. she was quick to correct him. unforgettable. there was this woman, you guys, because she was i guess you could describe her as a very frugal woman. and unmarried lady all her life. she ended up doing a really smart financial thing when she was very young. she bought three shares of stock. at the company she worked at. right, she was a secretary, three shares for $130. back in the 30s, that was a very big deal. at abbott labs. that money kept splitting and splitting and splitting in the stock market. at the end of her life when she passed away. at 100 years old. she just died. she had $7 million. yes. she is such a sweet, sweet woman. do you know what she did? her parents had died when she was 12 years old. right. and so these people took care of her and they sent her to lake forest college. right. and so when she died, guess who she left the money to. she left it to her school. $7 million. how sweet. what a sweet woman. lived in a very little house that had been reserved for slaves. slave quarters. she had that looks pretty good. that s the little side house, i think. she always lived frugally. she seems like such a cool lady. her name is grace. grace growner. and they call her amazing grace. my favorite story of the day, i have to say. everyone has tried every diet. you ve tried them all, one works for your friend, doesn t work for you. we know why now. there is a company that claims that there is your jeans will tell you what kind of diet you should be on. not your blue jeans, your genetic genes. swab the inside of your mouth, put the little q-tip in the mail and send it off and they tell you whether you should be on low carb, low fat, zone. just from your spit? yes. i thought it was a blood test. just from your spit? this is dna. how many people have tried low carb, now we can know. it s called interluken. it s $149 per test. you can find that on the web, i m sure. they did this test, but it was also backed up by a university. i don t remember which one. maybe lindsay knows. stanford. stanford university backed it up. i m a little nervous this morning. why? we have a guest sitting on the sofa and she makes me nervous. why does she make you nervous? she s smart. she is. extremely smart and she s over here going why do i have to be on the fourth hour of the today show. she s already been on the earlier hours yesterday or the day before with matt. she s thinking why does she have to stay? would you please give the woman a drink? no, no, i don t want a drink. what did she say? she doesn t want a drink. whatever. all right. so, there is a 69-year-old woman, a british grandmother and she has a unique profession. yes. she decided she wanted to be a dj and, what the hell? so at 65 she started mixing. look at her. at her grandson s birthday party. she has the cans on. a trained singer and she s working on her first single. i love it. has no plans to retire. look, she knows how to scratch t she knows the whole thing. look at her hair. she spiked it. she s been doing it now for four years. i would love to have her on. she is just adorable. she s british. she loves to see the kids having a good time. is that what she says? yes. all right. we like her. oscars are this weekend. they have quite the goody bag. they always do. difference now is that you have to pay taxes on them. half the fun is spoiled. look at some of the stuff they have. what do they have? what s over the? i have no idea. trips. they have a thing over there that s not an ipod thing, it mixes music. you put two ipods on and you can mix. jewelry. there s a watch. there s a kim kardashian candle. kim kardashian makes candles, too? all of hollywood seems to be having babies these days. what? i can t just talk. the luxury lounge. the luxury lounge. thank you, lindsay. thailand to montana. all kinds of stuff. once again, we re not going. we re not nominated. are you going to watch? of course i m going to watch. i want to catch some of the movies i haven t seen, maybe before on saturday like a movie marathon. the latest thing, of course, is all the boy, they got these out quickly, didn t they? the wheaties. they turn these wheaties. who have we got? shaun white, lindsey. seth and lindsey vonn. what s up? is everybody else as nervous as i am that lisa kudrow is coming on? no, i think you re the only one. absolutely don t she likes me laugh. she makes me laugh, too, but i m so smart. i m not! you ll never live it down, ever. jessica said potato water or raw poe ttato slices and chuck mandy say pickle juice. don t you drink pickle juice? when i was a little girl. i think that s a vitamin did he have issues, though. i ll let you know by the end of the show if it worked. and then let us know monday if the socks with e vapor rub works. up next terrific actress. what actress lisa kudrow learned about her family s history, because everyone has a story stop plugging that. when she took an executive turn. she ll take us up the family tree after this. like in here. this detergent has thimuch cleaning ingredients. the rest is water. but with tide, you get more cleaning ingredients more than twice as much. so that you get an outstanding tide clean. tide. you pay for detergent. you get more detergent. trying to be big like you, dad. you re so good at keeping everyone full and focused with your fiber. but you already are great at doing that. really? sure! you re made with fiber just like me. but best of all, you re the perfect size for smaller kids. give your little ones kellogg s® frosted mini-wheats little bites™ cereal. in chocolate and now original flavor. they re an excellent source of fiber packed in a smaller size. oh, it s original little bite. we re off to practice keeping em full and focused. yeah, we ve got big shoes to fill. should we order panda blossom, panda moon. how about chinese at home with new wanchai ferry? you can make it in just 14 minutes mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn t feel like going out anyway (announcer) wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese in your grocer s freezer one of everybody s favorite friends is the emmy-award winning lisa kudrow. yes, she is. she s digging up her roots as the executive producer i m sorry yeah. and one of the subjects of the new nbc series called who do you think you are? in a nice way not, who do you think you are? who do you think you are? it follows celebrities on a journey to learn about their early ancestors. you see those commercials for ancestorry.com and everybody wants to know where they come from, don t they? absolutely. this show was not my idea. it s been on in the uk for seven or eight years. you saw it? i saw it there. and you stole it. i like that. i got in touch with the creator and he invited us to produce it with him. his name is alex graham. you have such great celebs. was it easy finding people who didn t mind you sort of tapping into their roots? it was easy. first we were looking for people who were intellectually curious, to begin with. that narrows it down. you re bad. not that much. not really. they know who they are. and then you we showed them what the british series was like so they could see that almost immediately this really isn t a show that s absolutely about you and what you re doing right now. sure. you know, after about ten minutes, it s really about your great-great grandfather. that s interesting. were you concerneded about what was in your past? did you know a lot about your history when it came around to your turn? i did. that was one of the problems with me. we almost thought i wouldn t be able to do one. you had done it before? my father has 46 pages of a family trethat he worked on and i did know that on that, my grandmother s family was in a little town in belarus and they were killed during the holocaust. that s where my father was from, belarus. belarus? oh, my god, it could have been the same who knows? i was nervous only because that period, which i studied a lot, you kw, is made me nervous. it s rough. when you guys went back, you actually found a cousin, right, of one of your relatives? let s take a listen to what your cousin had to say. we went to school together. we were like one family. i must tell you, when the germans came, we went to have a look at them. we have never seen germans before. we were afraid of everything. we knew what war meant. boy, just to hear that straight from her must have been so incredible, huh? oh, yeah. she went on to tell the most gruesome story of, you know, that day. there was a 4-year-old little girl hiding in her house when the nazis had rounded up all the jews of the village and shot them and then set the port oil on the bodies and set them on fire. this 4-year-old girl was hiding her house and the police found her and dragged her out and threw her into the fire. oh, boy. it s rough. it s rough at times but it s life. it s history and it s an ugly, ugly time. right. and that s the thing. you know, history, we learn it. it s things that happened to strangers, but when you can personalize the stories, then you reallyet to feel the impact. and when you know how it changed the course of your own family, you know, then it makes it so everybody was glad they did it in the end, right? yes. oh, yes! there is a risk you take of finding out something you just don t want to know. sure. for whatever reason. and also things that you think you want to know about and then once you re cononted with it, it s you know, it s great to watch people struggle with some really complicated things. we have a couple of slavery stories with emmitt smith and spike lee. sure. and there are different reactions to it. it s very complicating. you can see them processing when a historian says he was a horrible slave owner who raped your great, great, great grandmother but you have to remember that s your great, great, great, great grandfather. the one who did the raping and a child ensued. i can t wait to watch the first one. the first one is sarah jessica. parker. they know. they know. everything you touch turns to gold, missy. i hope so. good luck. where will you be watching it tonight, do you know? i hope my plane lands in time to get home to watch it. giddy up. you ve seen it as executive producer. i ve seen it a couple of times. thank you for stopping by. no, thank you. who do you think you are premieres tonight on nbc. we have a cheat sheet for oscar night. cheat sheet? never use those. yes, you do. you cheat a lot. after this. are the only wipes with a low-streak formula. clorox disinfecting wipes, tough enough to tackle the germiest messes, even on your shiniest surfaces without leaving a streaky trail like other wipes. clorox disincting wipes, the wipes you can trust to clean, disinfect and shine. fruit - we all know it s good for us, but most of us find it hard to get as much as we need or want. try del monte fruit naturals. these portable cups of pre-cut, chilled fruit are ready-to-eat, so the only thing you need to peel is the lid. you ll never be disappointed with fruit that s unripe or spoiled every mouthful is just right, and bursting with flavor. enjoying a delicious fruit snack can be this easy. look for del monte fruit naturals chilling in your produce section now. brand power. helping you buy better. i eat yoplus. it has the great taste of yoplait, plus antioxidants, plus fiber and probiotics, plus calcium and vitamin d. new yoplus. the proactive nutrition yurt. all right. if you want to win the oscar pool this year, you re going to want to listen up. with just two days to academy award night, ramin statuta was enlisted to share his predictions. always good toave you. yes. let s start with the best picture. who is it going to be? the biggest, most successful movie of all time, avatar, going up against the hurt locker. i think it s going to be very close. don t bet all your money on it, but the hurt locker. and we re showing avatar. that seems to be where the momentum is moving, isn t it? she s won the direct orrial awards. it looked like it was going to be avatar, now it looks like it s swinging to hurt locker. it could swing back. does the box office swing votes? it does with titanic. james cameron will not be broken hearted, i don t think. no. he s still good friends with his ex-wife, a winner any way you look at it. and making more avatar pictures. that s what they said. a lot to choose from. in years past a lot of the movies weren t very popular. up as a best piure contender. which will win for animated. blind side, district 9, sci-fi movie. let s talk about best actor. excuse me. best actor is a pretty easy category. jeff bridges if you re doing an office pool. this is his, what, seventh or fifth nomination? fifth nomination. he is beloved. it s like it s his time. first nomination in the 70s. i think it s his. a lot of people are saying colin firth deserves it. he s very good, but this is jeff bridges fifth time. i hope he gets it. absolutely perfect performance. best actress, two women that yoare thinking about in that category. sandra bullokck. first nomination. going very strong for the blind side then you have meryl streep, 16 nominations zblun believable. it s the record. she hasn t won since 1983. who are picking? i can t take the spence. who are are you picking? sandra bullock. why? i think people want to see her get up there and win. i m always torn. i think sandra is amazing and i love her to pieces but meryl streep is the best actress on the planet. there could be a tie. there was when katherine hepburn and barbra streisand, they won the same year. would you bet on that? it s hard to get an exact tie. that would be perfect for me. let s do best supporting actor and actress. let s start with actress. these are easy, too. mo nique will take best pporting actress for precious. has anyone won that award other than her at all the other award shows? she won the globe, s.a.g. she s never won an oscar. never been nominated for an oscar. how about the guys? christoph waltz. from inglorio yinglorious ba how many languages does he speak in that movie? have you seen that? i have not. really violent but it s a great movie. can i tell you something? my tolerance for violence, every year i have less and less tolerance. she prefers graphic sex. shut this is just why am i sitting here? again, i ask the question. best director, this is that the battle of the exes. james cameron, katherine big low. they were married. kathryn bigelow will win it. she won it for best foreign picture once. she s never never? no, no woman has ever won best director. she s the fourth woman nominated. it s her time. where are you going to watch them from? at an oscar s party. not going down there this year. you look very nice with your whole tuxedo outfit you did for us. still to come, afternoon bulk makeover friday. and curtis stone is here to feed into our temptations. wonder what that means. 80 calories? 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[ male announcer ] old el paso refried beans. the tasty way to keep toppings in your taco. feed your fiesta. announcer: there s an easier way. create your own business site with intuit websites. just choose a style, then customize, publish and get found. sweet. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. sure, but let me get a little infortion first. for broccoli, say on for toys, say two. ys ! the system can t process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 ceral standard time. he s in control. gobye. even kids ow it s wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. yocan talk to a real person 24/7. it s just the right thing to do. coming up today at midday. we ll have live team coverage on the pentagon shooting, what investigators are now looking at when a man fired at security guards at a pentagon security checkpoint. also coming up on midday, some of your favorite foods contain more salt than you need all day long. we ll announcer: today s ambush makeover is brought to you by maybelline new york. maybe she s born with it. maybe it s maybelline. we re back on this friday with the results of today s ambush makeover. yes, they are. ivillage contributor and stylist to the stars, luis licari and today and us weekly contbutor, jill martin, perused the plaza to make pretty ladies even prettier. it was nice to be back from the olympics and there s a crowd out again. tons of people. tons of signs. the ladies were there, screaming our names. look at that. what do we like more? signs and screaming. signs and screaming makes my heart stop. you had to pick her. that s terrific. let s start with michelle johnson, 36 years old, from south bend, indiana, married to her husband, todd, for 16 years. she has four kids. apart from being a full-time theater major and a full-time mom, she also works at a costume shop on campus. so, she s got no time for herself. she recently, you guys, get this she should be on the joy fit club, lost more than 100 pounds. wow! ready for a brand new look. amazing. let s listen to michelle s story. you look so young. i cannot believe have you four children and a full-time student. i know why you want a makeover. i go to indiana university, hoping to go to the university of michigan. my alma mater. my kids ages are from almost 13 down to 7 and i m exhausted just listening to you. and i know your husband, todd, will want you to look what? hot. hot. all right. are you ready to go? yes. we re ready, too. michelle is here with four of her friends, who all have their blindfolds on. don t take off your blindfolds until i give you the green light, all right? this is michelle s picture before. michelle, let s see the new you. i like it. all right. guys, friends, are you it s amazing. i love it. i didn t even know it was her at first. the outfit is adorable. does that look familiar to you, kathie lee? that s my dress. yes. it s from macy s. beyonce. you don t realize how thin you are. look at this body on her. it accentuates your waistline and this jewelry. big round of applause for michelle. why don t you head right over there, honey? our second lady is donna mcdougal, 39 from long island, new york, married to william for 14 years, has four children. she s been an accountant for her family s woodworking business the the past 15 years, turning 50 in may and is desperate to change up her look for this big milestone in her life, here with her cousin, debbie. let s take a listen to her story first. all right. tell hoda and kathie lee what you said to me when i walked up to you in the plaza. well, i was the idiot that had the face on the door, the sar an wrap in the middle of the storm and i really thought i needed a makeover then and i still do. she came last friday. but because of the olympics we were on thursday. so now tell us why you want a makeover. because i m turning 50 in may and i really would love it if luis gave me a new hair-do and you showed me how to wear the right things. you got it. ready to go? i love their enthusiasm. we remember her from last week from in the rain. these things are not fixed. only when you re around, hoda. here is the old donna not old, but you know what i mean. the before. the pre. geez. a lot younger than i am. and here is the new donna! can you believe it s the same person? don t move. debbie, take it off. you re not going to believe your cous. do it! it s me. see if you think it is, honey. take a turn. wow! oh, my gosh. wow! i love that. you look sexy. luis is the king of color. the king of color. i love luis. jill, i love you, too. i love you, too, jill. i have to say look what luis did to me. you re going to make luis cry. jennifer gave her these asymmetric bangs, shorter on one side, longer on the other. long on style. we took many inches off the length, made her hair color that richer, warmer brown. i added highlights. enid gave her a jaw line that at 50 we all have to worry about by ding t slightly darker base underneath the chin. look at you. she s busting. we have to ask her. jill, tell us about that gorgeous outfit. a big 50th bash. we needed to give her something to wear. she loves it, escape available at macy s. what do you think? it s beautiful. 50 is 30! come out here, michelle. congratulations, ladies. thank you, everybody. we re going to be back right after this. curtis will be cooking for us. and we ll talk about the winter blues. that sad thing, seasonal affective disorder. stay with us. eggland s best eggs. the best in nutrition. just got better. even better nutrition high in vitamins d, e, and b12. a good source of vitamin a and b2. plus omega 3 s. and, 25% less saturated fat than ordinary eggs. but there s one important ingredient that hasn t changed: better taste. better taste. better taste. yum! 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[ female announcer ] splenda®. america s favorite no calorie sweetener. it s time for today s health and seasonal affective disorder. for many of us getting through a long, cold, snowy winter, depending on where you live, has been a real drag. yes, but for some people like me, the winter doldrums can have a real emotional effect as well. it s called seasonal affective disorder, or s.a.d. medical editor for health magazine dr. roshini raj. good to see you, roshini. i did it again. we re going to call you dr. raj. i love it any way you say it, it s great. welcome back, sweetie. one of those things where truly not having light and warmth on you, it really is a chemical thing? it is. people who don t even have s.a.d., we do have a fallen serontonin when it gets dark in the winter. that s normal. some people are more sensitive to it and actually get a true depression. how do you know the difference if, you re in the winter blues and a funk and if you have this s.a.d. disorder? it s always common for us to get a little down in the dumps in the cold, winter months. when it s affecting your life in terms of your relationships, your career, you just can t get out of bed and go to work. apathy you get. listlessness, and you get i don t even have s.a.d. appetite changes. people with depression get an increase in appetite. with s.a.d., you crave carbs. you can gain a lot of weight. which is also depressing. sleep disorder goes along with it? you sleep more than usual but you don t feel well rested. is it a vitamin d deficiency? it has been linked to this, but not the only thing it s more of a seotonin issue. once winter is over and spring begins, it s gone? this weekend is going to be gorgeous here. you get out of that funk? that s the hallmark of this disease, differs from true depression. yes. in summertime, people feel much, much better. what i did was put indoor window boxes in different places in my house so i can have color and flowers all year long and that s helped. it really has. absolutely. there s something with light you can do as well. this is light therapy. you re sort of doing it yourself, but there are these actual special fluorescent lights, full spectrum lights. we have an example right here. if they came in designer colors, i might. that s a little there s a whole bunch of websites you can get them. you put that on your face? don t look directly in it. that can damage your eyes but the sit in the room with it half an hour. by the way, this should be done under a doctor s supervision. they should tell you how to do it. this works if you do it every day, you start to feel better if you have s.a.d. let s the say you turn on all the lights in your house and brightened up the place. this mimics sunlight the most. is will work the best but any sort of light will help and putting a timer on your bedroom light, setting it for 15 minutes before you normally wake up so sunlight is streaming in could help as well. have they done studies in places like scandinavia, where it s so dark, bizarre. yes, is they do and people who live in climates where it almost doesn t get dark, they don t have this. we need that sunshine. if you get out and you don t see the sun but it s bright, does that help you at all? it does help. a lot of us in the winter we don t leave our offices all day. we order in. go out, take a walk. brisk walk. exercise is great, first of all. just being out in the bright even if it s not sunny. if it s light out. you know, we get to work in the morning, it s dark. we go at home and it s dark. grave for three months and you scream for color, you know. or take a vacation to the caribbean. take a vacation. we like that. th s why god call it is a crocus, because you want to croak by the time you see that little flower. thank you, dr. raj. quick pick-me-up, curtis stone. that will get rid of your s.a.d. stirring things up. what s he making? looks like pasta. and soft and very thick. everybody thinks he s the most handsome cat they ve ever seen. 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[ female announcer ] aussie s quick and easy products makes naturally beautil hair, simply happen! add some roo to your do. it s dry day. what a good day it is to be hanging in the kitchen, cooking with curtis stone. one of our favorites. he has your dinner menu. trouble, you have to cook it. listen carefully. today s special, knock em dead stir fry. we re going to have to work? you re going to have to work, have a little competition, who can make the best stir fry. i started your onions, nice hot wok. choose your protein, chicken, pork, shrimp or beef. i m going to go for chicken. excuse me, precious. no, no, pardon me. stir it around. with the stir fry, you have a really nice hot wok. we re going to cook it on a nice, high temperature. you start off with your protein in the middle. big bar so you can pick and choose. shrimp cooks very quickly, so cooks quick. choose your flavors. ginger, lemongrass. ginger. put a bunch of should you do it while it s cooking in the middle? while it s cooking. ginger and garlic. i don t like those onion things. oil. what are the other things? cilantro. let s do that. what else? chili. like it spicy? yeah. lemongrass. that s enoh. i like lemongrass. i didn t want that much, but thank you. a few veggies. my chicken isn t cooked. what s going on? is it on? i don t know. we re good. it is cooking? choose some vegetable. stop showing off. bok choy, baby greens, spinach, cabbage. noodles, last thing, they re optional. love, love, love. what are these? i don t know. sizzle, that s what you want. i do? turned off there for a minute. i don t know why. okay. so, the last thing you want to do is go for your sauces. all these different flavors, soy, chili, chinese rice wine. ooh, i want a little bit of that. not scared of the wine. and soy, right? soy. oyster sauce would be nice. no, no, no, no. that is awful. sesame oil? yes, please. just a drip. yep, yep, yep. that s fine, curtis. i don t need you. i m good. curtis, i m good. don t worry about me. my thing is burning and i ve got that is not a little bit. look at this. it s black. chinese rice wine. it s too hot. no, it s not. mine doesn t look good. mine is looking beautiful. stop it! and smelling delicious, too. can you control it. i know you like to be in control, hoda. stop it! why would you say that? put some carrots in. what else? what s this? no. yeah, chili sauce. tell me what else. i don t want that. what s this? fish fish sauce. do i have enough stuff? what about binge shoots? they re down here, over here. i ve lost them. i took them all. i told you. that s how she operates. greedy. that s how i roll. a bit of cilantro? all right. i like cilantro. not that much! she s so fussy. i know. my goodness. i cooked your onions for you. i love it when a man does that. are we done? if you want it hot, put some which one? they re all different. least spicy, middle and burn your brains out. good chunk. give it a stir. this is awesome. mine s ready. turn it off. two women that can t cook have just produced two amazing stir fries. we just pour it in our dish? i can t do it with my left hand. i ll do it for you. thank you. look at that. brown rice or you cooked noodles. go straight for the chopsticks. thank you, curtis. looks awesome. hoda, what s yours look like? hoda s looks delicious. it looks all right. i wonder how it will taste. back off, barbie. that could be a new show, back off, barbie. i get to judge. get in there. we ll see. i just got back from taipei. oh, yeah. salmonella on top of your cold. where were you, taiwan? that s hot. look at curtis. where were you? i was alone, yeah. are you sure? whole time? most of it. we ve got to run. thank you. winner. winner? imagine we missed ann. katherine zeta-jones is coming. it is monday. own around here as fun day! hey, hey, hey. meredith vieira is our producer for the day. any rules for us or things we should do? i want you to move it along and class it up, all right? anthony andrew. right after this. i m bringing husky back. to heck with sexy. i m bringing husky back, me and al roker. i said was there a time before meredith vieira? i couldn t even remember who myco-host was before meredith. apparently there s a little hoda mini me out there. oh, my god. you re full of crap on national television. i made a living at that for years. see why you need me? i know. i m really excited to be in the room with two ladies, just so you know. why am i sitting here? again i ask the question. ooh i miss those days as the ye years go by things are good at home right now! everyone knows how good it feels when a package shows up at your door that s the way we roll. first this is today on nbc. i look great.