Transcripts For WRC Today 20100401 : vimarsana.com

- at the price you need. - today and tomorrow. that s our promise. that s ingredients for life. safeway. new evacuations, new concerns, historic flooding in the northeast shuts down parts of i-95, the main highway between new york and boston. bridges washed out, this one in rhode island on the verge of collapse. that s billion, with a b. a new report finds the top 25 hedge fund managers each raked in an average of $1 billion last year while the economy suffered. this morning in an exclusive interview, treasury secretary tim geithner speaks out about america s frustration and when he thinks some of those lost jobs will be coming back. and, oops. a batter hits a foul ball into the stands, and guess who he hits? his own mother. she s okay, but you won t believe why she s still mad at her son today, thursday, april 1st, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a thursday morning. i m matt lauer. i m ann curry in for meredith this morning. happy april fools day. i got my eyes on you. pictures are really dramatic from the flooding. it will be weeks before things start getting back to any sense of normalcy. new evacuations were ordered on wednesday, those in parts of massachusetts and rhode island. several bridges were washed o by the rising floodwaters, and this morning, this one is on the verge of collapse. we ll get a live report on that tense situation straight ahead. also ahead this morning, learning more about the severity of the bullying endured by 15-year-old phoebe prince. she committed suicide after suffering months of torment allegedly at the hands of nine classmates at her massachusetts high school. they re now charged in connection with her death. some of those teens were apparently known around school as the mean girls. this morning one of phoebe prince s best friends speaks out in an exclusive live interview about the situation. on a much lighter note, what if you could enjoy your favored coffees and treats without ever having to worry about the fat content or the calories? coming up, we ll sample the world s first breathable food. we ll get to that in a little while. right now let s get a check of the top stories of the morning. tamron hall of msnbc is at news desk. good morning, everyone. parts of new england are still coping with what is now being called the worst flooding in 200 years. homeland security secretary janet napolitano plans to travel to hard-hit rhode island tomorrow to assess the damage. the weather channel s julie martin is in coventry, rhode island. julie, good morning. reporter: good morning, tamron. while the floodwaters are receding, the problems are not. in fact, we have closed roadways, contaminated water, and compromised structures. let me show you one of them. this bridge in coventry. officials tell us the pawtuxet river has already washed away part of its foundation and they are pretty certain it will go. it s already buckled in the center. while it may not look that dire, the situation is downstream. in fact, yesterday they had to evacuate 170 residents. they also fear that if this structure goes, it will impact two dams downstream. so widespread effects. keeping a very careful eye on this. the national guard has actually positioned rocks all around this area to put in the water should give way. i want to take you to some other flooded areas throughout the region here. the warwick mall was one of them. that mall is still underwater as we speak. a mall security guard there had to be rescued yesterday. that entire region, by the way, is just inundated with floodwaters from the pawtuxet. then also the waste water treatment plant in this area, a big problem. in fact, residents here are being advised not to use as much drinking water as they only what they need to, rather, and just keep an eye on things over the next couple of days. i-95 as well. transportation problems, probably the biggest impact in this region as we speak. parts of i-95 still underwater this morning. could be today, could be tomorrow before that is remedied. so in terms of transportation here, an absolute nightmare throughout the state of rhode island. one of the good things, tamron, the forecast looks much better, however. we re going to be warming up and drying out, but again the effects of this flood could be lingering on here for days, if not weeks. julie, thank you very much. today at the vatican, pope benedict celebrated holy thursday mass. meantime, a spokesman says the pope views the priest sex abuse scandals as a test for him and for the church. today the obama administration is setting tough new fuel standards for cars and trucks aimed at getting more miles per gallon from future gas and electric hybrids. the new goal, a combined 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016. this is census day, the day the census bureau hopes americans will mail back their completed forms. officials say 52% of people in the united states have already sent in their census forms. the white house released this picture of the president filling outhe form for the first family. for the second year in a row, first lady michelle obama planted a vegetable garden at the white house wednesday with the heaven students from a local elementary school. she said food from last year s garden fed many people and started a national conversation about eating healthy. a scare in australia during the night for passengers on a quantas a-380 super jumbo jet, the biggest passenger jet in the world. the plane blew two tires on landing in sydney sending a shower of sparks down the runway. thankfully, no one was hurt. and it was no april fool s joke. but a chinese army recruit s first grenade throw was almost his last. the grenade bounced off the wall of this bunker and it landed at his feet. his trainer carried him to safety right before it exploded. the recruit later sai his mind went blank and he thought it was all over. i bet he did. 7:06. that is unbelievable. he s got to thank that trainer for the rest of his life. matt, ann and bill, isn t that incredible? incredible stuff. really is. put that picture back up of the president. that s the same picture they released when he filled out his ncaa bracket. that didn t go very well either. you got to wonder. al s on vacation, bill karins is in with a look at the weather. it is getting better here in the northeast. spring fever is about to take its grip. it s about time, we ve been waiting for it. looks like april will start out very warm. eastern two-thirds of the country, estimates 25 degrees above normal. chicago has a chance of hitting 80 degrees. t-shirts and shorts weather. predicted highs today, mid-70s st. paul, minneapolis, kansas city near about 82. even dallas there, 8 good thursday morning. a cloor sky over washington. there is the money shot. all the cherry trees along the tidal base up in peak bloom and hundreds out there with cameras at the ready. temperatures in the mid- to upper 40s. the forecast is bright and sun we highs in the that s your thursday forecast. matt? bill, thank you very much. so how is the state of the u.s. economy in the wake of the worst recession since the great depression? we sat down for an exclusive interview with treasury secretary tim geithner in pittsburgh on wednesday where he was meeting with local business and labor leaders. we began our conversation with the big iss on the minds of many americans unemployment. everybody wants to talk about jobs and the numbers are coming out on friday. right now, 9.7%. that s where it stands. it s been stubborn. do you see any real sign that there s going to be progress in the unemployment number? i think the key thing that s going to happen is the economy s going to start creating jobs again. you ll start to see businesses across the country start to add toayroll again. that s going to come the economy s growing now. that s the first step. but with growth, more jobs will come. but the unemployment rate is still terribly high and it is going to stay unacceptably high for a long period of time. it is going to take a long time to bring it down because of the damage of the recession. you took some heat on capitol hill recently. an ohio democratic representative looked at you and said i don t think you re talking enough about jobs and that s what my people, my constituents, want in my community. when you say that the economy s going to start to create jobs, why hasn t it created jobs to this point? just because this was the worst economic crisis since the great depression. huge amount of damage done to businesses, families across the country. we re going to be living with that damage for some time. just going to take us a while to heal that damage. but look at what the president did. he came in and did the largest, most forceful package of support for the economy we had considered doing in 50 years and he moved very aggressively to fix what was broken. but as you know, i spoke to the president just a couple of days ago. when you bring up the prospect of a jobless recovery, he does not discount it. he doesn t say, no, it definitely won t happen. he s worried that some of these jobs that we ve lost over the last couple years may never come back. we re all very worried that it is going to take time. it is going to take time to bring back what we lost. but again, that s why he s working so hard to make sure that congress is providing additional support for job creation, more support for small business, more support for infrastructure, more support for cities and states across the country. here s what you said to the new yorker magazine, my basic view is that we did a pretty successful job of putting out a severe financial crisis and avoiding a great depression. we saved the economy but we kind of lost the public doing it. what do you mean, you lost the public? as the president said many times, we had to do some very unpopular things. people looked at what had happened, they saw people in the financial community having made terrible mistakes that caused millions of lost jobs, millions of lost homes. but to help them to protect them from the damage, we had to come in and do things that were going to help those banks, help those companies. but if we hadn t done that, matt, if we hadn t done that, you would have seen millions more jobs lost and hundreds of thousands of more companies having to shut their doors. that is the basic sense of unfairness which is driving so much anger and frustration across the country. and you understand that anger and frustration. absolutely. when someone s out there and haven t gotten the job that they lost two years ago, and they get the feeling that business on wall street has returned to normal, and the executives are getting big bonuses again, and they still can t pay for their mortgage or are underwater, they say where is the fairness in this? it is not fair. it is deeply unfair and they should be angry about it. but again, what was the choice the president had to make? he had to decide whether he was going to act to fix it or stand back, because it would be might be more popular not to have to do that kind of stuff, and that would have been calamitous for the american economy. much worse than what we went through already. you re saying the president made the right choices to stop the bleeding at the time. now some are worried the right choices aren t being made to prevent the problem from happening again. when they look at financial reform that s working for the senate right now, they say one of the major components that s missg in this, secretary geithner, is the prevention of this too big to fail scenario. that s not missing. that s at the center of the but do you think it will have enough teeth, that it will absolutely prevent companies and banks from getting to the point where the government has to step in to bail them out? the president s not going to sign a bill, doesn t have strong enough teeth. again the key things financial reform has to do, it has to give consumers, families and businesses basic protections against fraud, people who want to buy a new home, send their kids to college, buy a car, borrow to finance a health care expenditure, we provide basic protections for them so they don t get taken advantage of. let me go back to wall street for a second and these bonuses which is such an emotional hot-button issue. michael lewis said recently, he called them a very elegant form of theft. would you agree with that? what happened in our country should never happen again. people were paid for taking enormous risks. if those risks turned out well, they made a lot of money. if they turned out that they lost money, they were not exposed to loss. it was a crazy way to run a financial system and it helped contribute to the kind of excess risk taking that you saw across the country. and it is the government s job this is a job for governments to do a better job of constraining that kind of risk taking. and for somebody in pittsburgh here who s struggling to make ends meet and they find out that the banks can borrow money at 0%, then the bank turns arou and charges them 26% on their credit card, they say what s up with this? this system was not good for consumers, for the average american. so many of them got taken advantage of. but it wasn t good for businesses either. the key test of a financial system is do we do a good job of taking the savings of americans and using those savings to finance growing companies. that s the key test. and this system was not good for business because it was subject to these big booms and busts. they took a bunch of resources and put them into real estate rather than productive companies. that s why reforms are so important. treasury secretary tim geithner. 7:13. there is new evidence of that extreme excess on wall street. a new rich list highlighting a record year for a select few who made billions as the economy struggled in 2009. here s nbc s senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. reporter: they are the whales of wall street. hedge fund managers operate with few rules and handle investments for the super rich. while 2009 was a tough year for millions of americans, ar magazine reports that the recession was over early for hedge fund managers who had a record year. get this the top 25 managers made over $25 billion. profits driven, at least in part, by the government s bailout of big banks. they saw that the government was not going to let most of these big banks fail, and they went and bought the stocks at very low levels, and they those stocks just continued to go up all year long. reporter: at the top of the heap david teper, who earned a staggering $4 billion. tepperas the bravest of the hedge fund managers. he was willing to go in at the bottom and say, i don t think armageddon is around the corner. reporter: tepper is not your stereotypical master of the universe. he s lived in this new jersey home for 20 years and appears to have no vacation homes. he says he plans to spend less time in the office this year. he likes to call himself the typical middle class guy that makes billions of dollars. reporter: also in the top five, george soros, ranked the 35th richest man in the world at $3.3 billion. james simons, a mathematician, $2.5 billion. john paulson, $2.3 billion. which makes the $41 million he paid for this estate in the hamptons a couple of years ago seem like chump change. at number five, stephen cohen, $1.4 billion. he is the quintessential living-large hedge fund manager with his mansion in greenwich, his amazing art collection. reporter: a 35,000-square-foot mansion with indoor pool, an outdoor ice rink, and an extra garage for the zamboni. not long ago cohen got permission to expand the house, in part to add to his dressing room. as for his art, cohen recently snapped up an early version of jasper john s signature flag painting for an estimated $110 million. conspicuous consumption in a banner year for the heavyweights of wall street. for today, lisa myers, nbc news, washington. it is now 7:16. once again, here s matt. ann, thank you. now to sret files kept on thousands of alleged molesters by the boy scouts of america. records that are now at the center of a $25 million lawsuit tied to sexual abuse. as nbc s lee cowan explains, one former scout says they are proof that the organization could, and should, have done more to protect boys all across the country. reporter: in court, he s referred to as jack dough number four. testifying about his time as an 11-year-old boy scout back in the early 80s which he says was anything but a character-building experience. he grabbed my hand and slid it up his leg, into his shorts. reporter: he s talking about his former scout leader, a convicted child molester who admitted to abusing other boy scouts in the past. the boy scouts started realizing soon after they were formed in 1910 that they had a problem with guys getting into scouting that should not be working with kids. reporter: over the years, confidential memos the boy scouts of america dubbed the perversion files began piling up. thousands of pages documenting thousands of alleged molesters the organization had hoped to track to keep out of scouting. what they were hoping for was what everybody hoped for especially in the 70s and 80s was to get the molester to go away and hope nobody talked about it. boy scout something one of the few institutions to balance the rather softening effect of our modern way of life. reporter: the boy scouts of america turned 100 this year, and since its inception has been known for teaching young boys to always be prepared. but for victims of abuse, like paul livingston, molested by a catholic priest, secrecy is no badge of honor. when you hide files, you protect perpetrators, you re as guilty as the rest. it shouldn t be done. it shouldn t be a practice in any large corporation. reporter: the boy scouts of america are fighting the $14 million lawsuit, but a spokesman says he couldn t comment because the case is ongoing. still, in a videotaped statement, he insists that parents should not call the organization s integrity into question. i do want to assure you that the safety of our youth members is our highest priority. reporter: but with so many pages detailing so much perversion, as it calls it, the boy scouts of america may have to convince a jury that it didn t know the extent of the problem. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. 7:19. once again, here s ann. there are gruesome new details this morning on that deadly killer whale attack at seaworld. the mecal examiner has now made the autopsy public. here s nbc s kerry sanders. reporter: the autopsy confirms that it was an incredibly brutal attack that killed 40-year-old dawn brancheau, a combination of blunt force trauma and drowning. this six-page report describes a bruised and battered body, the details sometimes gruesome. the report says brancheau s scalp was peeled off, her left arm severed, and her ribs broken. the 12,000-pound orca tilikum simply overpowered his trainer. the whale essentially grabbed hold of the hair an the scalp and just by the movement of the whale caused the skin to tear away from the underlying bone. reporter: medical examiner dan spitz has done hundreds of autopsies. at nbc news request, he reviewed dawn brancheau s autopsy and says she didn t have a chance. had she been able to have been pulled from the whale early on, she did sustain severe injuries and even with fairly immediate medical intervention, it would be difficult for her to survive. reporter: seaworld has surveillance tape of the february 24th attack. but brancheau s husband, brother, and mother are fighting its release, taking their battle to court last week. the orange county circuit court judge has issued an injunction blocking the release of the tape for now. meanwhile, tilikum is still living in a seaworld tank, no longer performing. but what caused this orca to go after his trainer? they are trained by cues, like hand signals. so it s possible that they misread a hand signal from the trainer. reporter: we might never know the real reason, but the conclusion of the autopsy, this brutal death has been labeled an accidental death. for today, kerry sanders, nbc news. just ahead, classmates call them the mean girls. new details on the teens charged with bullying 15-year-old phoebe prince so badly that she committed suicide. an exclusive live interview with phoebe prince s i m telling you: on our budgets these are bucket seats. but it rides like a dream. just buckle up and i ll take you for a spin. buckle. i would love to buckle. (announcer) that is not smart. what is smart is getting more car for your money at carmax. our high quality used cars are loaded with the features you really want all for the budget you really need. and with a 5-day money-back guarantee, peace of mind comes standard. now more than ever, the smart choice is carmax. the way car buying should be. back now at 7:23 with a frightening moment during wednesday spring training game between the yankees and the minnesota twins. that s derek spann at the plate, fouling off a pitch into the left field bleachers. it hits a woman in the chest. he looks over and runs there because he realizes it hit his mom in the chest. you know what? she fell over and started crying. he said that was the worst thing. he ran to her and he noticed that she was crying. he said that hurt him more than anything. she stayed there and she was more mad that he actually left the game than she got hit. she s fine. so when the time comes to bust open a can of doing. we ve got all the tools for all the things we need to make em happen. more savin more doing. that s the power of the home depot. right now, get scotts nature scapes mulch for the new lower price of just $3.88. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there s new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? every spoonful is a little different. mmm. they got three kinds of flakes. this is delicious. it s the perfect combination of sweet and crispy. i love it. this is so good. this is great. the magic s in the mix. ey payyyy. a crowd returned from a funeral of a murder victim. a 20-year-old man is suspected in tuesday night s shooting and the murder of a man whose funeral took place that night. police believe a fourth is still at large. we will have good morning. temperatures in the mid-to high 40s and upper 30s and low 40s in the western suburbs. temperatures on the way up. highs in the mid-and upper 70s and cooler alongside the bay and potomac and plenty of sudden shine. on 395 and 95, problems along the way. delays all the way to the 14th street bridge. 270 southbound moving nicely, a contrast to 395. no significant delays. a little slow at the split. you can now wake up with us earlier. we begin now at 7:30 now on a thursday morning, the 1st day of april, 2010. it is a beautiful day, or going to be, here in the northeast. temperatures up around 70 degrees. sunshine for a change. boy, we ve had a rough patch. got a nice crowd of people out on the plaza. we thank them for being here. we ll say hi to them in just a little while. they re not so drenched as they have been in recent days. inside the studio, i m matt lauer, alongside ann curry who s filling in while meredith takes some time off. just ahead, much-needed help for anyone who has yet to file their tax returns for 2009. what s new and different this year, what do you need to know if you lost your job in 2009? some movie saving tips from a woman who literally wrote the book on beating the irs. also, a brand-new thing of treats like coffee and chocolate without the calories. basically they re called the first breathable food. we ll givehem a try this morning. apparently you open up that little lipstick tube, you open it up and inhale. also ahead, one well-known family s struggle with their child s autism diagnosis to talk about their experience. first let s begin with the shocking case of bullying at a massachusetts high school. 15-year-old phoebe prince committed suicide after suffering months of torment. nine teens are now charged in connection with her death. we ll talk exclusively to one of phoebe prince s friends in just a moment. but first, nbc s jeff rossen is in south hadley, massachusetts with more on this story. jeff, good morning. reporter: hi, ann, good morning. prosecutors say this was blatant, that phoebe was bullied and harassed so much here at school, it was common knowledge, not only among the students but among the staff as well. as you mentioned, nine kids now charged in that case, but it does raise an interesting question, doesn t it? should school officials, school administrators, be held responsible, too? many parents here told us, yes, claiming the adults did nothing to help. they failed and until somebody stands up and admits that there has been failure here, complete failure! we have nowhere to go. reporter: outrage is growing in thismall massachusetts town. did school administrators ignore repeated complaints of bullying? 15-year-old phoebe prince couldn t take it anymore and killed herself. she was allegedly bullied in the hallways of south hadley high school for months, physically, and emotionally. what were the bullies doing to her in school? called her names. followed her home. smart remarks, dirty looks. what would they call her? a slut and an irish w.h.o. re. reporter: the suspects, nine of her own classmates, mostly girls. they ve all been charged but where were the school administrators? prior to phoebe s death, her mother spoke with at least two school staff members about the harassment that phoebe had reported to her. they re charges against the kids. there should be charges against those administrators. why? because they knew what was going on and they didn t take action. they were in charge. reporter: while the d.a. says charges against the school officials are unlikely, some parents are demanding action. they should resign or step aside. if they don t, we will be asking for their contracts not to be renewed on may 1st. reporter: school officials say they only knew about the bullying a week before phoebe s death in january. but this morning, we re getting new details about the kind of pain phoebe endured. friends say the bullies threw things at her, knocked books out of her hands, and sent her threatening text messages, not to mention the torment on twitter and facebook. in school, the bullies were dubbed the mean girls, just like the movie. she s so pathetic. reporter: but prosecutors say this went far beyond the usual high school antics. infact, on the day phoebe committed suicide, friends say there was one final episode as she walked home from school. you got a car with a couple of kids in it, chucks a drink out the window, calls her and irish slut, an irish whore, why don t you go kill herself. and she did. reporter: many say after dating this popular football player at school, he s now charged with statutory rape along with another boy and the so-called mean girls are charged with harassment and violating phoebe s civil rights. even though she had such pain, she would always tell people to keep their chin high and just keep on walking if they ever had problems. just hurts. reporter: everyone here is hurting. we should mention that we requested an interview with school officials. they have denied our repeated requests. we re still trying again today. but late last night the superintendent spoke by phone with our local nbc station and once again reiterated the point that they only knew about the bullying, ann, a week before phoebe s death back in january and took appropriate action then. the d.a. late last night in a published report is now firing back saying the superintendent is under fire and lashing out. jeff rossen thank you so much this morning for your reporting. we re now joined exclusively by tina myer, who daughter s megan committed suicide in 2006 after she was targeted by bullies online. and also, sergio labriel, a freshman at south hady high school, a friend of phoebe prince. good morning to both of you. good morning, thank you. sergio, let s begin with you. obviously you are devastated by what s happened to phoebe. were you able to tell while it was going on that phoebe prince was enduring a great deal of pain, that she was undergoing this bullying that we re hearing about now? i really felt hurt. right when i found out, it was devastating from the moment i heard. right. but did you know while it was going on? did she talk about it? could you see that she was having a difficult time? no, i didn t see she never told anyone. she kept it bottled up. and that s maybe one of the difficulties, tina, is that a lot of times these kids need to talk about it and they re not able to talk about it. i know this is very different from the case involving your daughter but you ve made a point since you ve endured this suffering of loss of your daughter to go out and speak to schools. so what is your reaction to this particular case? you know, this one, it s obviously devastating. i think that children are still bullied every single day at school, and they re called names, they re ganged up on. i think that people, adults and educators have to start understanding that this is not just kids being kids, boys being boys, that they have to start taking appropriate actions. because a lot of times when the kids are going through this, they don t talk about it, it is embarrassing. they don t think going to a school counselor, anybody s going to do anything about it, it is going to make the situation worse. so we have to start addressing this in our schools. from due thi do you think this is increasing? or do you think this is something that s always happened? i think it has increased with technology that kids have, absolutely. but the bullying that children deal with every day, the name calling, taunting, the harassing, the stalking, those types of things have been going on. i just think with technology it is getting worse. we should point out when you talk about technology, phoebe also received not only text messages but there were postings on facebook that they re now looking at. while everyone debates this, this is not the first time we ve talked about this, you say parents really need toake this by the the bull by the hands, and you say parents need to be asking not only their kids about this, but they ought to talk about the rules at the school. now what exactly do you mean? i think that every parent that has a child enrolled in school needs to know what the policies are at each school. they need to know how that school is going to address bullying, how are they going to address cyber bullying, how are they going to address typical every day situation that happen at school? parents have to know. if schools do have those regulations in place, they need to make sure that if there is an instance, they re going by those policies. if they don t, they need to make sure the school has policies to address these issues. you should lobby for policy change if you don t feel there are enough policies. in the meantime, whether or not there are policies, it really comedown to you and your child. how do you get your child to open up and talk about something that s so embarrassing at a time when they really don t like to talk about anything embarrassing? right. i think a lot of times as parents we automatically make assumptions many times. we want to jump in and fix the situation for our kids. and i think we have to almost take a step back and talk to them, communicate with them and many different places, you can do this in the car, you can do a lot of different things. but open communication is so essential with your kids. think getting them away one on one, talking about how are things going at school? talking about how are their friends? i think that s so important. you also say that parents shou be advocates, which in the case of phoebe prince, they did go to the school and they did try to advocate for their daughter. right. absolutely. i think that they did do what they could do. i think if it doesn t work at school, then they need to go into upper levels, they need to go to the school board, the superintendent and continue to keep pushing for their child. tina meier, i know you are now fighting for all children and we thank you for that. well, thank you. sergio, i know this is so tough for you. i want to thank you for sharing your thoughts this morning. thank you. now let s switch gears and get a check of the weather from nbc s meteorologist bill karins is in for al this morning. hey, bill. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by daisy brand sour cream. a dollop of daisyakes recipes naturally delicious. good thursday morning to everyone out here on the plaza. what we re dealing with out in the midwest is incredible warmth. we just got done with what was an amazing march. listen to tho this statistic when we talk about the minneapolis area. we have to go back over 100 years. they didn t have any snow this march at all in minneapolis. it was a very weird month where we had all the rain in the east and we had hardly any, if any, snow up through the great lakes and all through the northern half of the country. now we re looking at this beautiful april weather in some locations. normal march snowfall was ten inches in minneapolis. in minneapolis you re probably not good thursday morning. i m chuck bell. we finished the month of march, the first ever time we had a march without a freeze. we dropped to 33 twice and never made it to freezing. the first year in washington weather. temperatures on the way out the door on this april 1st. low to mid 40s in most of the suburbs. forecast is a great one. 78 today and 80 or better to that s your thursday forecast. ann? bill, thank you so much. coming up next, have you waited to file your taxes? the two tax credits you can t afford to overlook right after this. has focused on making. family-owned company the best-tasting sour cream for over four generations. it s made with farm-fresh cream. that s 100% natural without any additives or preservatives. and no added hormones. so you can feel good knowing every creamy dollop. will bring all your favorite dishes to life. do a dollop, do-do a dollop of daisy will bring all your favorite dishes to life. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? every spoonful is a little different. mmm. they got three kinds of flakes. this is delicious. it s the perfect combination of sweet and crispy. i love it. this is so good. this is great. the magic s in the mix. vo:but at walmart? the same 10 a nidollars can buy so much more.l drug store. more easter. plus great new rollbacks. that s worth hopping in for. save money. live better. walmart. can your moisturizer do that? dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula. now proven to build a moisture reserve. so skin can replenish itself. that s healthy skin for life. save at aveeno.com. it can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then. well. i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephne. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. 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. the first crystal light with no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives. new purefitness from crystal light. a pure way to water your body. we re back now at 7:44. this morning on today s money, the tax man cometh. the april 15th deadline only two weeks away. if you haven t filed yet, we have some tips you ll want to know about. the author of the tax lady s guide to beating the irs. it is very important to distinguish beating the irs and saving money on your taxes. that s our golda. there are a lot of changes. every year there are changes and people have to be aware. for 2009, the personal exemption, for example, has changed. what do we need to know about it if. certainly personal exemption, when you claim a child, step child, a foster child or spouse, you now get $30,650 as an xemgs, versus $3,500. the more money have you in your tax return, in exemptions, the more you save. a lot of people in 2009, roni, lost their jobs so they received unemployment compensation and there s something new they need to know about the t on that compensation. certainly. unemployment compensation is taxable income. everybody out there who received it would get a 1099-g from the government telling them exactly what they received. good news the first $2,400 is not taxable income. that s at least the consolation prize on that issue. there s something else. we had interestingly enough, a story on this yesterday on our show, multi-generational households. with the tough economy, a lot of children are moving back in with their parents, a lot of parents are moving back in with their children. so you ve got these multi-generational households. what s the tax issue involved in that? isn t it wonderful to know, matt, if you take a family member in or you help them, you are going to save money on your taxes? how? you can claim them as a personal exemption which is worth, as we discussed, $3,650. but more importantly, your filing status may have changed. no longer will you file single, which is only worth $5,700. instead you can maybe qualify as head of household which is worth $8,350. let me make sure i understand this. we only talking about immediate family? in other words, children or parents? does this work for aunts and uncles and cousins as well? yes, thank you. i m an auntie. of course it qualifies. if you re an aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, regardless of that title, matt, if you re supporting somebody, you re going to be able to take advantage on your tax return. pointing out some important tax credits, make sure people understand the difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction. tax deduction merely reduced your taxable income, but a tax credit is like gold. it reduces your liability dollar for dollar. if you owe the irs $10,000, matt, and have you a $10,000 tax credit, it wipes your slate clean. wonderful. couple to remember the american opportunity education credit. american opportunity education is fantastic. you send a child to college, you re going to get $2,500 in tax credits per year for four years. how wonderful is that? send a kid to college, get a tax credit. real, real quickly. first-time home buyer credit does not only apply to first-time home buyers. yes, it also applies to repeat home buyers and it is worth $6,500 if you qualify. with housing prices at all-time lows, great time to buy a home, secure that contract by april 30th, take advantage now. even if you have issues, file your tax return because penalties are not something you want to deal with. roni deutsche, thank you so much. find more tax tips on our website, todayshow.com. up next, we ll sample the world s first breathable food. right after this. nature knows just how much water vegetables need. so, to turn those vegetables into campbell s condensed soup, we don t boil it down, our chefs just add less water from the start. so many, many reasons it s so m m! m m! good! hey, do you guys want to make some easter eggs? girls: yeah! okay, ready? we are going to dip on three. all: one, two, three. dip. wow, that one s pretty. ( laughter ) i m going to make mine for the easter bunny. yeah. it s the memories you make. dip in that one. that really stick. look at how beautiful. childhood is calling. take things as they come? i ve got an idea. or improvise? maxwell house custom-roasts each bean. for a full-flavored cup of coffee. so you can be good to the last drop. for a full-flavored cup of coffee. (announcer) right now,ll over the country, discover card customers are getting five percent cashback bonus at home improvement stores. itays to get more, it pays to discover. it s toys r us lowest prices of the season 2 day sale! doorbusters all day friday and saturday! we ve got the hottest toys to fill your kid s easter baskets like: buy one get one, 50% off all disney princess! and buy one get one 50% off all video games! plus, we ve got em, the hot new zhu zhu pets are here! hurry, it s this friday and sarday! [ children shouting ] come on, kiddo, let s go. [ laughs ] hold on a second. come on up here where your brothers sit. [ birds chirping ] wow! did i ever tell you what it was like growing up with four sisters? that sounds fun. yeah.fun for them! [ male announcer ] chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably not that it always has to. back now at 7:51 with the latest trend in food consumption, the first breathable food. it is called le whiff. we ll give it a try here. it comes in many different flavors. coffee chocolate, raspberry. apparently it is a little inhaler. which one are you going to try, by the way? the idea that it doesn t have calories, i ll go straight for the chocolate. but you may want to have that. that s okay. give it a try. looks like a little lipstick canister. open that up, that exposes this. put that in your mouth and breathe in. and? you got to be careful not to inhale too hard because the powder but it does taste like chocolate. it tastes like dark chocolate. so you get the enjoyment of tasting chocolate or with the coffee you get the equivalent of one shot of espresso basically. let s give that a try. it s about $2.50 per canister. you get a three-pack for about $8. kind of a mocha flavor now. i think i m getting high. this one s caviar. want to try? they don t have that. but these have been available for a while now. i mentioned the three flavors. it s currently avaab online at www.lewhiff.com, and in stores, select retailers. [ sniffs ] morning. you got in pretty late last night. dad, i m not sixteen anymore. still, it was late. well. you re not gonna have to worry about that anymore. yeah, why s that? todd s a lucky man. the best part of wakin up. that s what i told him when we talked last week. .is folgers in your cup that promise to make my patients look younger. but nothing works like this. [ female announcer ] new neutrogena® clinical skincare, with 10 breakthrough patents, goes beyond lines and wrinkles for a firmer, more uplifted look. exclusive n2 complex combines with the activating cream to boost collagen depleted skin. 100% of women showed improvement in wrinkles, firmness, or definition in just 4 weeks. the results? amazing. [ female announcer ] new neutrogena® clinical skincare from the number one dermatologist recommended brand. 7:56 is the time. chuck will have the forecast after the news. investigators are piecing together evident that led to one of the worst should things in d.c. history. four of them died, all teenagers. they were all gathered outside after the funeral of another murder vehicle. one man is suspected in both tuesday night s murders and the murder of the man whose funeral was held that night. one suspect is believe to be at large. we will good morning. i m chuck bell. bright, sunny and beautiful is the way to describe the weather. temperatures in the mid- to upper 40s and still 30s in the suburbs, but highs near 78 degree jerry? let s see how the commute is going. 395 with spreading slow downs, but all lanes are open across the bridge. slow at college park around green belt into the sun. if you didn t know already, you can wake up with 8:00 now on a thursday morning, it is the 1st day of april, 2010. just take a look for a second at the huge crowd we ve got here on the plaza. rolling spring break continues. we re happy about that on this april fools day. some ohio people there. we re just happy everybody s joined us. a lady turning 50. happy birthday. i m matt lauer, along with ann curry in while meredith s taking on time off. al s off as well. bill karins will have the weather in a second. it is not so bad out here, it is 49 degrees. little windy but going up into the 60s, maybe the 70s today. nice. coming up, we ll talk about autism. it can be a devastating diagnosis for any family when a child is diagnosed with autism. it happened to rodney pe. and his wife. they l talk about what parents need to know, what they went through. so many parents get confused at the beginning. if they can figure out a diagnosis soon enough and figure out how to help their child. we ve been talking about high-profile cases of infidelity. unfortunately, this has made a lot of people really sad about what s going on. the question i think is really do these treatments they ve been talking about, do they really work. can some good come of it. you know what an airstream is? it is a kind of a plane? a kind of trailer. trailer. gulfstream is a kind of plane. airstream is this very silvery, sleek looking trailer. apparently it is a big trend in hollywood. a lot of a-listers are living in them. we ll look at that phenomenon. before we do, we ll go inside. tamron hall is at the news desk with a check of all the headlines. good morning, everyone. days of record rain are over in new england but the damage is still being done. historic flooding has cut off communities and caused millions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses. homeland security secretary janet napolitano plans to see the damage in rhode island firsthand tomorrow. president obama will be in new england today to promote the new health care overhaul. nbc white house correspondent savannahuthrie joins us. health care is now the law of the land. why is the president still trying to sell it to the american people? reporter: tamron, one simple reason because polls show consistently that people aren t convinced that this health care law is beneficial to them. today in maine the president will be highlighting one provision of the law, a small business tax credit that goes into effect immediately. businesses with less than 25 workers will be able to deduct from their taxes a portion of the premium expenses. in addition to the president s visit, the white house is e-mailing accountants, sending postcards to small businesses, trying to get the word out. it is all part of this massive public education campaign. the white house really trying to tell folks what is in this law, what isn t, how to avail themselves of the benefits hoping that the more people that know about the law, the more they ll like it. savannah guthrie live at the white house, thank you. christians around the world are observing holy thursday. pope benedict held a mass at the vatican today. dedicated to the priesthood. the pope made no mention of the clergy s sex abuse scandals. overseas markets are high they are morning. cnbc s melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange. what are you watching today? good morning. it is the last trading session of the week with the stock markets closed for good friday tomorrow. traders are focused on two events happening this weekend, tomorrow, friday, the all-important jobs report will be released. saturday apple will sell its much-anticipated ipad at retail stores. tamron, we should note as for today, it is of course april fools day and wall street in particular loves a good joke. here s one that s been circulating out there today. a tech blog reports that google is acquiring a uranium enrichment company. no, the report is not true. google had to come out because it was picked up by the news wires and say it is not true. the humor of people on wall street. wow. all right, melissa. thank you. it s a first for the u.s. women s soccer team. this is not an april fools joke. it played its first game in the snow last night in utah. the u.s. won. the exhibition match against mexico 1-0. after the game, the ladies celebrated by making snow angels. making lemonade out of lemons. that s what i see snow in the spring as being. 8:04. now let s get a check of the weather. in for al is bill karins. what do you think of that snow at a soccer game? was that an april fools joke. no, it was the rl deal. wonderful crowd this morning. you are from katonsville, maryland. you fractured your finger. how did you do that? when i was at school on recess a kid threw a football at me and it jammed. you know his name. yeah. what s his name? usman. we hope it gets better. sweet 16 to you. have fun in new york. let s talk about the weather out there. we showed you the snowy video of the west. in the east it is beautiful. today in buffalo we are going to see nearly perfect weather. for the first day of april, 70 and sunny. this is about as good as it gets this upcoming weekend. rough weather from the rockies to the west coast. gorgeous weather from texas to maine, down through florida. thisthis will be qui good thursday morning. i m chuck bell. it s bright and sun ske a cheer sky overhead. temperatureso the way up and in the high 40s. 50 downtown and still in the 40s in prince george s county. still 39 in culpepper and haegerstown. plenty of sunshine and mild today. cooler alongside the bay and the potomac. upper 70s and that s a look at a lovely thursday forecast here on the plaza. ann, back to you. we love that, bill. thank you so much. coming up next, we have former nfl sta rodney peete and his wife, actress holly robinson peete talking candidly about their son s battle with autism right after this. had a passion for pink. and pearls. i was a sucker for sequins. always knew what i loved, and insisted on wearing it. [ jazz horns blow ] because expressive is never excessive. i guess some women are destined to wear chico s. chicka boom boom boom, yeah, yeah yeah. strip? ok. absolutely! where s the music? i have a lot of stuffiness at night. allergies. i was just diagnosed with a deviated septum. here s how it works. [ female announcer ] nasal congestion limits air flow but breathe right s patented reflex action gently lifts open nasal passages to help you get more air. oh, yeah. yeah, you re right. i m getting more air. oh, wow! that s pretty nice. [ woman ] if your nose could talk right now, what do you think it would say? i think it s saying, i m open for business! [ female announcer ] for two free samples, go to breatheright.com and strip for free. maybe it s your name. richard? smucker. 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[ chuckles ] it makes my skin really silky and velvety. this is my body wash. what do you mean? this is it? why?! oh, don t do that to me! dove creamoil body wash. now with nutrium moisture. nutrium moisture. i m a believer. the nourishment in dove creamoil goes somehow deeper. i m happy about the change. change is good. dove creamoil body wash. this morning on today s family, april is national autism awareness month. more than 650,000 american children have some form of that disorder, including r679 e inin son of former nfl star rodney peete and his wife, holly robinson peete. we ll talk to them in a moment, but first their story. r.j. was a really sweet little chunky baby. he always smiled. he always had a big smile on his face. his first word was cow. so cute. and just a sweet wide-eyed baby. but just before r.j. and his sister, ryan s second birthday, everything changed. the smiles, responding to his name, those types of things, he didn t do anymore. had he no more eye contact with his twin sister, with us. all that disappeared the first word, we didn t hear that anymore. reporter: it was a frightening and confusing time for the peetes. after meeting with a specialist, they got the news no parent ever wants to hear. i ll never forget that. it sticks in your mind. he ll never say i love you. he ll never may team sports. that was one especially hard. he ll be in special education for the rest of his life. he ll never mainstream. he ll never speak. he ll never speak in normal conversation. circles of conversation. it was a never day. i was angry. angry. reporter: r.j. was diagnosed with autism. i was uneducated about autism. i didn t know what it was, what the reactions were, how to treat it. so i was really, really in denial. and i really believed that i could be a father to my son and really just teach him and really work with him and bring him out of whatever he was dealing with. reporter: r. was enrolled in a special school and began working with therapists, but socially he struggled. i went to school and looked over the fence and saw all the other kids playing, and then i would see r.j. off in a corner by himself flapping his ears, turning around in circles, and just not engaging with the other kids at all. that was difficult. heartbreaking. the peetes detail their experience in two new books, not my boy, a father, a son and one family s journey with autism, and an illustrated children s book, my brother charlie. good morning to you all. we ve done a lot of segments on autism here on the show for a lot of good reasons. thing that always strikes me is, r.j. was doing fine. everything all the milestones. yeah. you were bonding, he was talking. and then it changes suddenly. i wonder if that s not even harder than if at the moment of birth you re told there s a problem. yeah. because we had that needle on the record moment where you look up and you are seeing all these things happen. when they suddenly stop, it really can cause a lot of confusion, in our case a lot of desperation. from what i understand, holly, you were a rock and you went in overdrive and you started to research. realize, ten years ago there wasn t that much out there to research. you would think it would be 30, 40 years ago. there wasn t a lot of information. it became a source of frustration for us because rodney and i are very protective people. when we didn t see the information, we got very frustrated. as a former professional athlete, you re a dad, here s a son. as holly mentioned in the piece, you have to think, he s going to follow in my footsteps. when you find out that diagnosis, you have to change your whole priorities. you do. i m thinking he s got my name, rodney, he s going to go on and win a heisman trophy, do all the things that i did. all of a sudden all those expectations change and you really have to evaluate yourself as being a dad, how he s going to grow up. it was difficult for me. you guys talk about that never day. i wonder based on how far r.j. has come, you don t like to think in terms i don t know that you d give that advice to others in termsf thinking of it as a never day. that s part of the reason we wrote these books. we want people to know if you get that diagnosis today and heard all those nevers, we heard them, too. he s doing a lot of things, mainstreaming with friends. we talked about it in school, but the nevers need to go away. ryan not only a sibling, he s your twin. there s a time you re going to school with him and other students are probably not reacting the way they should around him. how hard was that for you? it was really hard to see that all just there because everyone else would be playing in one place, like playing baseball and stuff like that, and rodney would just be on the side just bouncing the ball and it would be heartbreaking because he would be so lonely. how did you guys make the decision as to what kind of treatment to get for r.j. and what about schooling? how did you make that decision? there are options. we were really fortunate we had a school that accepted his autism as a challenge and wanted him to be around mainstream kids. not many people have that opportunity. was it challenging at times though? yeah. because you have children that don t understand what he s dealing with. that s where i thi ryan came home and said we need to have a conversation with these kids. that s the hardest thing. fourth-graders. she s been on tv, i played in stadiums. to talk to 30 fourth-graders about autism and have them shoot questions back at you was devastating and scary. some things that often aren t discussed, two really important ones. one, cost. you estimate it is like $150,000 a year. at least. at least. you re lucky. we re lucky because we were working at the time. i was playing in the nfl. the cost, because you want to do everything for your child. not only the typical therapies, but you want to do thentive erapies. we talked to families about what you should do and those costs started rising and rising. it s completely unaffordable. that s one thing thank you for bringing that up because we don t have that conversation a lot. the other conversation we don t have abo adults with autism and what s going to happen to our son. we were told our son would never live on his own. you mention 650,000 kids, they ll become adults and need friends, a future and homes. i heard a crazy statistic that the divorce rate among parents who have children living with autism is ridiculously high because of the pressures it puts on a marriage. you guys know those pressures. don t you? oh, do we. that was all rodney peete as far as i m concerned. he had to tweak his expectations of his son. he sat down and was willing to talk in therapy which a lot of the macho football players don t want to do. so i give him credit that he was able to say, you know what? i need to make the changes for my family. but a lot of people don t make it. i was able to come around after my denial. she was all about my son. we got to get him right, get him in therapies. i was like stuck in this world. then finally i was able to come around and she was still there, thank god. but lot of husband and wives are not together. well, r.j. doing okay? he s doing great. he s in the green room listening to his itouch. he s doing all right. puberty is another issue we don t talk about. that brings on sort of a little regression. but compared to what we thought he d do, he s doing awesome. it s important you re sharing these books. the books are not my boy and my brother, charlie. e friends. i really needed the space. you got the same carseat in there, gary. wait right there while daddy puts all this stuff back in the car. when this kind of thing happens, when another parent tries to copy your style, you just have to be the better man. 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[ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium richums goes to wk in seconds. nothing works faster. tum ta tum tum tums nothing works faster. cer: trying to be good to your heart? so is campbell s healthy request soup. low in fat and cholesterol, heart healthy levels of sodium, and taste you ll love. guy: mmmm! chef: we re kind of excited about it. announcer: campbell s healthy request. this one is. new purefitness from crystal light. the first crystal light with no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives. new purefitness from crystal light. a pure way to water your body. here comes peter cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail vo: at walmart, you can get all the best easter candy for 20 percent less than leading national retailers. which means more candy. more places to hide it. and of course, more fun finding it. easter costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. back now at 8:20 with unusual new trend among celebrity whose are actually sort of knownor living a life of excess. today s jenna wolfe checked it out. good morning to you. i am not accustomed to living a life of excess. whether used as chair yachts, homes or just campers, we re starti to see airstreams, those shiny, silver rvs pop up in everything from music videos, to magazines, to movies. in hollywood, the trend is always upsize, upsize, upsize. but that s all starting to change. some of the biggest celebrities will feeling more at home in these smaller spaces. it is the latest hollywood craze to go mainstream, or better put airstream. i ve been everywhere, man reporter: so what s the draw? we went right to the source jackson center, ohio, home of the airstream for 50 years and ceo bob wheeler nop pun intended. airstream is the preeminent travel trailer made in all the world. it is really known as the silver bullet, an iconic shape, recognizable by most americans. reporter: whyll the attention now for an rv that s been around for 80 years? airstream in particular has seen a big resurgence, a real return for the appreciate ration of a real authentic design. reporter: matthew mcconnie, tom hanks, pamela anderson, steve carell, denzel washington and sean penn have downsized to the comfy feel of their airstream. this actor had an airstream for 20 years. it went from california to florida, on any given sunday, to texas, to toronto. it was a great home away from home. reporter: kate pearson of the b52s opened a whole camp of airstreams. these are all vintage. these are from 50s, to the 80s. they re just so groovy inside. they re just perfectly designed and everything is in its place and it s just like a minihouse. reporter: why was it so important for you to have airstreams set up on the campsite? the glamour of it. so you could roam if you want to reporter: but once you buy it, customizing it has no boundaries. matthew mcconaughey s hardwood floors and hardwood cabinets, marble countertops. reporter: while the sky s the limit on accessories and options, a regular model retails for around $65,000. don t worry about the elements. on the off chance you want to go chasing hurricanes, your airstream i don t know why you would you would be able to right? absolutely. this is our rain test booth. if you decide you want to chase that storm, make sure that thing doesn t leak. reporter: water s not getting in this? no. reporter: credit the designer for coming up with the original airstream idea back in 1931 for his wife. she loved to camp but hated to sleep on the ground which may sound familiar to a lot of people. reporter: how much has changed over 79 years? on the outside, not much. this is the same basic trailer on the outside that wally first created in 1931. it is aerodynamic, durable, it doesn t corrode. these things last virtually forever. reporter: not only is airstream the sole travel trailer company that survived the depression back in the 30s, but it s even surviving our most recent recession as well. in the last quarter of 09, production went up b25%. people associate it with freedom, adventure, and possibility. just having this thing parked in your driveway helps keep the daily grind in perspective because you know you can escape. reporter: airstreams now pop up in music videos, top luxury hotels and one has even been turned into an oxygen bar, a classic slice of americana. the airstream is still a perfect way to get out and see this country the way it was meant to be seen. oh, of course you may want to get it off the factory floor first. after all these years, roughly 65% of all the airstreams ever built are still rolling down the highway. i can see an airstream internet cafe. that s fantastic. you stick wireless in there and the sky s the limit. you can bring that thing anywhere. let s go surfing. thanks so much, jenna. just ahead, the must-have toys and crafts to keep your kids entertained when it rains. that s after your local news. 8:26 on i a picture perfect day in the capital, d.c. police said a crowd sprayed with bullets in the southeast had just returned from a funeral of another murder victim. people were shot and four kill. a 20-year-old man is suspected in the shooting and the funeral of the man who was shot that night. police believe a 4th suspect is still at i m chuck bell andhe sun is shininging on a beautiful first day of april. mid-to high 40s at 50 degrees in downtown. forecast for the next couple of days, nothing but sunshine and a real warming trend into the 80s for friday and saturday. let s head out and see how we are doing. 66 eastbound and westbound moving nicely between the beltway and centerville. rets see how we are doing in college park. a little show into the sunshine as you round the bend, but the travel lanes appear to be open. you can now wake up with us earlier in the morning. we have a new we re back now at 8:30 on a thursday morning, april 1st, 2010. a large april fools day crowd here on the plaza. but that s not a commentary, we re just glad they decided to stop by on what s going to be a sunny day here in the northeast. after all the rain we have had, how many times do you think kids have been saying, mom and dad, i m bored. that s right. with april always does come showers. we ve got some ideas this morning about what you might want to have on-hand so next time it rains, and your kids want something to do. i love this spaceship. we used to build those out of refrigerator boxes. what a childhood! that s pretty cool. my kids as well. that looks like fun. you get to decorate it. what else is coming up? also ahead, we ll make an easter dessert. you like cheesecake? i love cheesecake! this one y can put together in 15 minutes. there is a certain amount of ricotta involved. tiger woods spent 45 days in that treatment facility, and now san today bu sandra bullock s husband, jesse james, is also seeking treatment at a facility. more on that in a moment. but we ll talk about how effective these facilities are, how does it help the marriage, how does it help the individual. we ll look at that. before we go any further, al s on vacation this week, we ve got bill karins in with the forecast. bill? good morning, everyone. we got a beautiful crowd down here. everyone s wearing red. we re all together here. where you from? kentucky. winchester, kentucky. what s your group? senior trip! senior trip. you guys go all the way down here. everyone s located down this side. we ll just continue to watch a beautiful weekend here heading into this easter weekend. it is going to be fantastic in the east. the west is where we have all the messy weather. there is hardly any clouds at all, from dallas all the way into the mid-atlantic. just pure sunshine. areas ot west, wet weather from l.a. to san diego with a little bit of rain. continuing with mountain snow in utah, mountains of san juan and colorado will get nailed. alaska, mid, mid 40s in good thursday morning on news 4. it is a beautiful day here in washington. cherry blossoms are at their peak all across the area. 50 degrees in downtown and 48 in prince georges county and 46 in fairfax. 45 degrees now in leesburg. highs into the mid-and upper 70s and into the 80s we go tomorrow and saturday. of course, we love our 100 birthdays. today is my 100 d birthday. wait a second. it s not your 100th birthday. that s not nice. april fools . llard, i m sure you got something better for us. call the bronx zoo. those are the good old days. bill, you remaer than a tree full of owls. you are something else. we love you. happy birthday from smucker s. how sweet it is. i bet all those kids are spring breakers. we got harold gallina from barnegat, new jersey. traveled all around the work with the church. fix is broken electronics. frieda prugh worked as a bookkeeper during the great depression. attributes her longevity to drinking a little shot of brandy once in a while. oh, yeah, brandy was a big song. angeline janik from peshtigo, wisconsin. huge packers fan. secret to longevity is fighting for the rights of the elderly. how about that? we got to get our group fired up. ella saigeon of park city, kentucky. 107. baptized at 100. she saw the light and believes that s why she hasn t rushed it out yet. i love that. some old guy used to tell me, he says you wear out quicker than you rushed out. dr. lawrence withington. watertown, new york. 100 years old today. honored with the bronze star for rescuing a pilot from a burning airplane and received the bronze star for that. a hero. harry milligan, anaheim, california, 100 years old today. world war ii v known for being a prankster after putting a calf on top of his high school. actually, it was his calf. the left leg. emma chiles of ft. worth, texas. 100 years old. secret to longevity is her faith in the good lord, eating good home-cooked meals while chewing at least 60 or 70 times. she finishes dinner around 10:30. matt s back in new york and he s everybody s happy april fool. that s right. i ll take it though. willard, thank you so much. happy april fool day to you as well. we want to talk about what we have in our houses so kids have something to do on announcer: today s moms is brought to you by walmart. save money. live better. walmart. and this morning on today s moms, we re talking about some rainy day games. we re just starting to dry out from some nasty storms here in the northeast. the april showers are still to come, so what do you do with your kids the next time it is raining cats and dogs? elizabeth warner is today s moms resident toy expert. elizabeth, good morning. nice to see you. how many times have we heard on a rainy day, i m bored. all the time. you ve got solutions. so if they re bored, something s wrong. exactly. all well-priced and a lot of fun for different ages. right behind me we have kid craft playhouses. these are like the old cardboard boxes that we used to pull out and play with ourselves. they come very easy to put together. no scissors or glue required. they come in different shapes. your kids decorate themselves. there s room for two or three kids to play inside as well so they have a lot of fun. full day activity. how much did you say? these are around $59. indoor only. exactly. sidney and alex working on this. they ve been coloring these. lots of fun. now these are hex bugs. everyone that sees these are amazed. th have vibration inside. there is a little on/off switch. the vibration makes them move around and have a little fun. these are the nanos. they are the ants but they have a collection of really fun creatures that crawl around. it is small robotics. if you buy the kit, how many bugs do you get? two. they come with a full kit but you can also buy them separately. they come in these cool test tubes. kids love them. thank you very much. michael s playing with a construction set here. tell me about that. this is called real construction. i love this because it lets them simulate work on their craftsmanship in a safe way. there are tools that actually do cut through the materials that come with it. the kit that is under $25 can make eight different projects. all their favorite, whether it is a vehicle or house, they do it themselves. wait a minute. this helicopter can actually be made out of that? yes, exactly. that s great. these are a lot of fun. these are going to be available in august. kids are already out there looking for them, but not until august. sophia. they are playing with the crayola magic. they take the tool that comes with the kit, press it in the model magic. that little guy in the center will become an animal. we have a bunch of finished product overthere. they can make bunnies and porcupines and teddy bears. what age group? these are 5-plus. they start at very low prices, all under $10. do you recognize this next young man. this is my son, gabriel. he s playing on the nintendo dsi. this is the brand-new one called the xl. can you show them the difference in size between that one and your old one? he loves it because the screen size is so much larger. it really adds to the fun. but it s got dual cameras, wi-fi, it is so much packed into that. that is $189. brand-new. the new hot games, hokie m poti pokemon. alice in wonderland for the little girls is very hot. matthew, i had nerf basketball for ten years as a kid. but now they ve made it bigger and sturdier. this is the pro basketball set. this is for kids ages 8 and up but the backboard is stronger. that ball actually bounces on carpet and hardwood. great for any surface. matthew, thank you very much. keep shooting there. on the table here. this is a really great new concept where girls can become fashion designers. this set actually comes with a form that the girls can turn around. there is a slot in the back. they take the enclosed fabric and just tuck it right in to i think they re all taped down tuck it directly into the slot in the back. they can take this fabric that s the shape of a square but design it to the mold what ages? this is 6-plus. it even comes with a camera, take pictures and upload it to the website. have fun trading it with other girls. this is barbie in a mermaid tail. brand-new movie that just came out, little girls love it. she s actually a surfer in malibu, then realizes she s also a mermaid, has to save her mother s kingdom. it is a lot of fun. on the rainy day they can watch the movie and act it out with the doll itself. my daughter is 6 and she loves cooking. these are the handstand kids cook books. they come with mexican, italian and chinese. you can see the casing is really fun. it actually looks like the ethnic group that it is, the chinese take-out box. inside each one has something unique that s affected to that type of cooking. recipes are healthy and easy for kids to do. these are great ideas. oops, there. more on our website, todayshow.com. thanks so much. up next, the easiest i cook twice a week at the fire station. i d pick up a lot of the work around the house, the chores, the kids, the shopping, the cooking. i have two teenagers, and i ll be putting them through college someday soon. i m very aware of what things cost, and, you know, i have to use all the money-saving tricks that i can come up with. with compare & save at giant, we search local competitors prices and show you the difference right on the shelf. using the compare & save, i know that i m getting a good price, and that works for me. more savings, every time you shop, only at giant. i bet they can t wait to bite my chocolaty ears off. whoa. wait a minute where d you guys come from? edible arrangements bouquets beautiful like flowers, but unforgettably delicious. pineapple bunnies? visit, call, or go to ediblearrangements.com announcer: today s kitchen is brought to you by new crystal light pure fitness. a pure way to water your body. back now at 8:45. this morning on today s kitchen, we re going back to basics with a beautiful easter dessert table. we have something for everyone from chocolates to cheesecakes. lucinda is the director of food for martha stewart living omnimedia. how are you this morning? good morning. we look like a couple of easter eggs. we didn t plan this, but it is okay. this little effort, this effort to make kind of a wonderful dessert also has kind of a citrus kind of feel. spring feel. this is from our best of issue of martha stewart living. these are our new favorites. is what i m making for easter, ricotta cheesecake. it takes 15 minutes to put together. this is ricotta cheese. you recognize this. when you put it in the blender it looks like this, sour cream. we have a pound and a ha. yo want to add six egg yolks to that. this is so super easy. that s just sour cream to start with. no, it s actually ricotta cheese. put in a quarter cup of sugar. quarter cup of flour. is this as simple as it gets? it looks pretty simple. the zest right there. that s the zest of an orange. can you use lemon. give me a little pinch of salt, please. look how pretty this is looking already. you re just so good at this. so here s remember we had the six egg yolks? those are the whites. we bet them together and we beat them with some sugar. six tablespoons of sugar. it is as simple as that. we re almost at the end here. we have 375 preheated our oven. can you imagine that you re supposed to do this in thirds. you hold that for me, ann. you don t want to deflate these egg whites. you can just kind of whisk it all in there. you re careful as you you want the cake to rise? you just want it to be nice and fluffy and light. that s the beautiful thing we re just foldi like that. folding it gently in. it is just completely done. it looks luscious there. you can almost eat it like this, it looks like a moose. what we have here is a nine-inch springform pan right here. we buttered and sugared it. the sugar just kind of helps it prevents it from sticking, and it also that s interesting. i usually use flour. the sugar gives it a beautiful golden color in the end. that s an interesting little secret. isn t that a great secret? we just kind of smooth it. make sure that you get it completely blended together before you start. then that just goes into our 375-degree oven. and i m going to show you what it looks like when we pull it out? there we go. first i m going to show you a topping. let s go over here and make the compote. that s a thing if you make a compote, you can just about whip up anything. i ve sections a grapefruit and an orange. that s call supreming. cut the membrane off like this, then you have these beautiful sections. when it is completely like this, just kind of squeeze it in here. have you some juice. we are making a little syrup. we have sugar, water, this beautiful vanilla bean. just put this in here. that just cooks for two minutes. it is going to get a little simple sugar? a little bit. i took the rind from the citrus and took the little white part off. just blanched it to get the bitter part off. why are we doing that. because we want this beautiful citrus flavor. we ll cook this for a couple minutes. put thisn here. then we put the juice in here. look what we have are. we have the most beautiful compote right there. that s so super simple. this takes how long? two minutes. then two minutes. you put this fruit back in here. put it in here. there you go. there s our cheesecake. you put that on top of the cheesecake but the cheesecake didn t fall down. but look at the beautiful kind of the way it undulates. it makes you feel like you re eating something unhealthy. it is not that unhealthy, ann. you re messi with me. i m making this this weekend. this is my easter dessert. i wish you were coming over to my house. these are easter puzzle cookies. you bake them, then make them into a puzzle. you got to have something for the kids. the kids love to decorate these themselves. look at this cake. it looks fancy. it is just creeps and mousse and a little cream. easy as can be. lucinda, great ideas. happy easter to you. this is today on for decades, the insurance lo. putting profits before people. but with gerry connolly s help. that s changing. with a law probiting insurance company denials. if you get sick or have a pre-existing condition. providing quality, affordable health care options. to individuals and small business owners. and closing the medicare prescription gap. congressman connolly, thank you. the democratic national committee is responsible. for the content of this advertising. clash of the titans. a remake of the 1980s cult classic hits movie theaters tomorrow. starring avatar s sam worthington, and here is our gene shalit s take on the film. good morning and welcome to the critic s corner. 29 going on 30 years ago, ancient greek mythology was whacked if a movie called clash of the titans, a struggle between man and gods. for many, it was a struggle to keep awake. yes. now, determined not leave well enough alone, it s been remade and it is not boring. good. however, if, by accident, you mean physical movent, the wrangling and clanging and banging rarely stops. if you mean dramatic action, a story that grips your attention, the film is almost as inactive as the face of his hero, played by sam worthington. his performance is part god, part man, part statue. my entire exens tis ist tens gift of my grace. liam neeson, here as the head of scheming evil deed, raef feines makes one hell of a god. two images are excellent. medusa, though she s having a bad hair day, and pegasus, the graceful winged horse. clash of the titans is cool for kids. plenty of fights, beasts, and best of all, the words don t matter. good. this film should be dedicated to another greekod morpheous. that s the critic s corner for today. cross it off the list. not good. i m going to go see it. i think i m going to see it as well. get this a new youtube videoed tod to beyonce s single ladies has become a family hit. the entire family was getting into this in a car until dad pointed out to his 3-year-old son that he in fact was not a single lady. take a look. all the single ladies all the single ladies all the single ladies all the single ladies you re not a single lady, buddy. yeah, you are. yeah, you are. you re a single lady. sorry! sorry! i was just kidding. you re a single lady. you can do it. buddy, i m sorry. i m so sorry, buddy. you re single lady. okay? okay? here we go. if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it did that hurt your feelings? you can be a single lady you know what s more troubling than that? who s holding that video camera? who was shooting that and driving at the same time? if the kid wants to be a single lady, let him be a single la lady. the time is 8:55. i m pat lawson with the news. a 14-year-old boy drove the get away car after a mass shooting this week. nine people were shot on tuesday and died. they gathered after the funeral of another murder victim. they may have been shot in retaliation for a deadly feud. police raved three suspects in the case. they include the 14-year-old and a man suspected in tuesday night s murder and the man whose funeral took place on tuesday. police are looking for a fourth suspect. weather and traffic are next. i m chuck bell and temperatures are on the way up for a beautiful thursday. the cherry blossoms are at their peak. make your plans and don t forget your cameras and sunscreen. temperatures are climbing to near 50 now to the upper 60s to upper 70s away from the bay. the bay breezes keeping things cooler and tomorrow more sunshine and southwest winds and everybody 15 to 20 degrees warmer than average and that lasts into saturday. easter sunday is cooler with highs still at 77. over to you. we will head over and check out 66. the westside going to be a bit slow before you get to the fairfax county parkway. more stop on the inner loop. it s crawling because of the sunshine from rockville pike to university boulevard. you can now wake up with news 4 even earlier in the morning. news 4 today has a new start time. we beginality back now with more of today on a thursday morning, the 1st day of april, 2010. it s shaping up to be a beautiful day here in the northeast. maybe a lite bit windy, but stil it s brought out a great crowd on this thursday morning. thank you for coming out. i m matt lauer, along with ann curry and amy robach. natalie and al are off this week. coming up, we re going to talk about rehab. a lot of high-profile celebrities have checked in recently to rehab, everyone from tiger woods to jesse james, charlie sheen. many of them for sex addiction, problems with infidelity. do those centers really work or is it just good pr? we ll talk about that in a couple of minutes. we re also going to be talking about heartache that millions of couples are facing. it all surrounds infertility. for many it means a long medical road in the hopes of building a family, but the emotional toll on a woman and her marriage can often be overlooked. this morning two women will share their struggles with us and we ll get some advice on how to cope if you, too, are in a similar situation. meantime, i feel like i look like a wimp because if i my big coat on. it is a little cold for me. we re also going to talk on a much lighter note how to decorate for easter. don t know if you ve looked at your easter table yet matt. not yet but it is the focus of my afternoon. we have some ideas, apparently they involve a lot of flowers which of course are appropriate for the holiday. okay. before we go any further, let s gin side, tamron hall of msnbc is filling in while ann is joining us here. tamron, take it away. good morning, everyone. floodwaters are starting to slowly recede in new england but officials warn that there are still big problems. bridges and highways are washed out from maine to connecticut. in rhode island, there are fears a bridge could collapse threatening hundreds of homes downstream. tomorrow homeland security secretary janet napolitano plans to assess the damage in rhode island. tomorrow the government releases closely watched jobless numbers for march. unemployment stood at 9.7% in february. in an exclusive interview, matt asked treasury secretary tim geithner if there is any sign of progress in the jobless number. i think the key thing that going to happen is the economy s going to start creating jobs again. you ll start to see businesses across the country start to add to payroll again. the economy s growing now. that s the first step. with growth more jobs will come. but the unemployment rate is still terribly high and it is going to stay unacceptably hh for a long period of time. it is going to take a long time to bring it down just because of the damage caused by the recession. secretary geithner also said it is deeply unfair that while many americans are out of work, wall street executives are getting big bonuses again. today the obama administration is setting tough new fuel standards for cars and trucks aimed at getting more miles per gallon from future gas and electric hybrids. the new goal, a combined 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016. this is census day, the census bureau hopes americans will mail back their completed forms. officials say 52% of people in the u.s. have already sent in eir census forms. the white house released this photo of the president filling out the form for the first family. the international community is pledging almost $10 billion over the next three years so haiti can recover from the january 12th earthquake. the pledges made wednesday by more than 50 countries and international groups meeting at the u.n. far exceed the $4 billion haiti had wanted. people in chicago hit the beach wednesday when temperatures soared way above normal, into the upper 70s. by the way, it will be another beach day there again today. it s even hotter in south iceland. look at this. a volcano is still erupting violently sending lava pouring over a wide area, sending steam high into the air and creating these spectacular images. dormant for 200 years. the volcano has been erupting for almost two weeks. now it is a tourist destination. not worried about flooding so folks can get a close look, if that s their thing. four minutes past the hour. back to matt, ann and amy. quite a sight. is that your idea after beach day? looks beautiful. bill karins is checking out the weather. have you guys seen the cheeks on this baby over here? look at this little cutie. hello. can you eat the microphone if you d old is your baby? 5 months. am i making you cry? you have a wonderful easter. as far as the forecast today, intotomorrow, nice weather in the east. so many areas will be nearly perfect. tons of sunshine out there from kentucky all the way to the mid-atlantic. teeratures well above average. stormy weather though late today, watch out severe weather possible in oklahoma and areas of texas all the way through areas of utah, colorado where it remains cool. vegas, l.a., all the west coast is stormy tomorrow, windy in the northwest also. maybe watch out for severe storms near arkansas and oklahoma. youu good thursday morning on news 4. i m chuck bell and temperatures are climbing. up to 52 degrees and haegerstown up to nearly 50. in washington and virginia and right here in washington, d.c., 56 degrees and climbing fast. mid- to upper 70s around town today and if that s not warm enough, 81 tomorrow and 83 on saturday and 77 for the easter now that we re in april, we re getting toward prom season. people want to make sure they find dates. do you have anyone you want to ask? yeah. schuyler, will you go to prom with me? that s a yes, buddy. that s a big yes. all right, you guys have fun at prom. tamron, back to you. bill, schuyler had me nervous there for a second. thank you, bill. new developments in the marriage between oscar winner sandra bullock and jesse james. this week s people magazine reports that james has entered a treatment facility to deal with personal issues. after revelations he was cheating on his wife. james is just the latest in a long line of celebrities who have krrecently sought treatmen in the wake of infidelity. how effective are these treatment programs? good morning, both of you. david, what do what does your magazine know to be true about jesse james? he has been checked in a facility for treatment. his rep is telling people, not specific as to what sort of treatment. he did not enter treatment for any ultimatum by sandra bullock. there are reports saying this was an ultimatum, but jesse checked in under his own volition, something he wanted to do for himself, for his family and for his children. this treatment could be a number of things. i ve read in the past that he dealt with alcoholism. this could be a number of things. exactly. it is really unclear right now. he has had some demons before in the past but we obviously know that it could encompass in some shape or form a mental health issue. gale, people are asking questions about these facilities, tiger woods spending 45 days. what do you know about this when an individual is trying to save a marriage? the point is to really understand what s driving the unhealthy behavior. so whether that s an addiction, let s understand is it depression, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, is it repeating of something your father was a cheater, you ve got to be like him, there could be a million and one things that are driving inappropriate sexual behavior and they re not all an addiction. an addiction implies a repetitive pattern, like compulsive pattern of sexual behavior in the wake of destroying your life anyway. that may or may not be the case here. what about those at home who see these celebrities going in for treatment and say, listen, if my neighbor were to cheat on his wife, they either work it out or they split up. what kind of treatment can heal a marriage if you re trying to repair not to be so new-age here your own soul? is. look, so people are wondering is this just an excuse. i had bad behavior, now i m going to give it a name. it could be. but let me also say that if you are doing something that is clearly going to ruin your marriage, ruin you financially, and ruin your life, something is driving that. if you don t have any insight into that, then you may still need help understanding it. let me point out, that doesn t mean you re any less responsible for that behavior. whether it s an addiction or whether it s narcissistic behavior, frankly, and just being sort of a bad boy, it is still your responsibility. maybe it is your responsibility to get treatment and work really hard so that you don t do the same thing over and over again. but you re still responsible. in the case of sandra bullock and jesse james, does she need to, like elin and tiger woods, be with him for this treatment? any sign sandra will head out to where jesse is? right now we haven t heard anything. yesterday she was spotted in los angeles visiting a family friend. gale? it is common to bring in a spouse. it is probably necessary to bring in a spouse. the spouse also needs to have insight into what drove the behavior, whether they ve contributed to anything in any sort of way. i m curious though, at these facilities, at any point will doctors say, listen, this marriage can t be repaired. do they give you that kind of news? treatment can save a marriage. treatment can determine the marriage can t be saved. so, yes, someone is going to come in and say, let s take a look at things, i m going to help you make a decision with all the facts in place. how likely it is that you re going to be able to move ahead. is there any indication in the hollywood world sandra s worried this will impact her career? this is the highest point for her so far. so far, no. she s really at the top of her game right now and focusing on her personal life. so far, no indication that it is harming her career in any way whatsoever. gale, one more question. do you think that more people every-day people will seek this kind of treatment now that it is in the news so much is. affordability is one issue and insight into whether they are amenable to treatment or just kick it under the rug. i hope this raidsses awareness the idea that if you re going to be responsible and try to work on your marriage and be a good person, treatment can be extremely helpful. not because it is easy, not because it is a way out, but because it will help you develop different coping skills that might save your marriage. that s a learning experience, certainly watching this play out, sadly, it is at the expense of other people. thank you, both. greatly appreciate it. coping with infertility. we ll go beyond a medical issue with advice on dealing with the emotional toll on you and your marriage right after this. ingredients. is key.choot but then, you have to balance the flavors just right. vo: secrets like how to blend four artisanal cheeses to create our new creamy fonduta sauce that perfectly enhances seasoned steak medallions in our new grilled steak fonduta. and grilled chicken in our new chicken fonduta. everything we learn here we re bringing back to you. vo: share their experience tonight with our new fonduta dishes. at your olive garden. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? 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awesome. hold on. i just finished episode 8. oh, boy, if i wasn t married. [ ughs ] i tell my husband the more time i spend in it, the less stressed i feel. and the fewer headaches i get. honey, mommy s having a timeout, ok? [ male announcer ] meet the family and the new sienna on youtube. toyota. this morning on today s health, coping with infertility. it can be an all-consuming job for many women and couples and can create a ripple effect of stress on a marriage and friendships. megan is here with more on this. good morning. thanks. so infertility affects more than 7 million americans and though ivf and other treatments, some of which i ve experienced, have become mainstream, the psychological impact of the process can be so distressing. for 38-year-old jessica, even a walk in the park can be haunting. the sadness is immeasurable because you don t have answers, you did everything right, i got married, i have the house, i have a career, i have all of these things and you think, baby should come next. reporter: but it hasn t. after 3 1/2 years of trying, including two failed pregnancies, infertility has taken over her life. take me through the laundry list of efforts you ve exhausted to try to get pregnant. i have done in-vitro fertilization four times. i ve done iuis a couple of times. tons of vitamins. i think i ve been on prenatals for three years straight. omega-3. folic acid. i ve done lots of herbs. i ve done all of the wives tales. acupuncture. i was taking shots in the morning, then shots at night, d plus you re taking pills. you feel like a lab rat. oh, seriously. reporter: fertility treatments for jessica also meant serious weight gain. 33 pounds at one point. she got so depressed one summer, she couldn t even leave the house. when you re on these medications, they mess with your mind, they mess with your emotions. people make fun of monthly thing that happens with women. this is daily. reporter: the pain of the experience has also taken a toll on her relationships. say you get the baby announcement from the friend in the mail. there is jealousy beyond measure. when you get those pictures in the mail i ve lost friends over it. reporter: it s even tested her marriage. there were times i was just crying uncontrollably and i don t think he knew how to handle it, what to do, what to say. reporter: to find a community of support, jessica started a blog, but still she struggles with feelings of isolation. when i walk outside, i see a human being and it reminds me of pro creation. there s no wayor me not to think about it. i still may never end up with a child through the use of infertility medicine. and then what? approximately 44% of women coping with infertility have sought medical assistance, and of those, approximately 65% do end up giving birth. those are good numbers, megan. we ll get to your personal story well in a moment. we want to bring in though, linda, the director of psychological services at the cornell center for reproductive medicine. good morning, linda. put this into perspective for us what type of emotional and psychological toll dwoes this really take on women and couples? it can be extremely heavy. i thinkhat there is this constant underlying fear in the minds of many couples, and often women, that this will never happen for them, that they ll never be able to join that exclusive club of motherhood or parenthood. and i think it then creates additional anxiety and often a lot of depression, because there s a sense of helplessness. you actually go through stages of grief, you say. oh, very often. i think as jessica talks about her own experience, she talks about how she never expected this. she was in a state of shock initially. and then i think it moves on to anxiety and disappointment and resentment and a lot of hurt. megan, you know what some of those stages are. you visited fertility specialists who recommended numerous treatment options for you, including those shots and blood thinners. right. medicines, it s just a torturous experience. it s grueling. how did you gear up mentally to deal with this? well, my issue wasn t getting pregnant. it was staying pregnant. yes, i went to a fertility specialist about a year ago. the recommended protocol after lots of testing, and surgery, was upwards of six different medications, giving myself shots. i hate shots! giving yourself your own shot, you never get used to that afterburn that comes. when the doctor first told me everything i had to do, i actually took some time off from it because i thought this is going to be a huge time commitment. sometimes a daily trip to the doctor. definitely weekly. obviously you want that bone so i went for it. but along the way, mood swings, adjusting to the drs. tension with your spouse because it s your body that you re putting out there for the poking and prodding and not theirs. you kind of feel like why me? yeah. and of course all romance is gone. it s all doctor s orders. even at one point i sort of had found that my husband and i had different views about what happened if we would have multiples, how we would feel about that. so much stress. and i thought and in my case, it was actually fairly manageable. i m not doing iv i m not getting painful extractions. so i really wanted to shine a light on these women and what they go through. speaking to that, linda, how do you get your clients to stay positive through all of this? well, frankly, that is a big challenge. i think, again, because of this underlying anxiety that this may never happen, i really counsel cautious optimism. and i always know, too, that couples and, again, often women and men as well who are willing to undergo some of these treatments and go through these shots and these mood swings and every effort imaginable to have a child, including probably standing on their heads, that there is still an element of hope there, that there is an underlying element that this will happen for us, and that somehow well s get there. and it may not be the way they initially thought or expected. and when they wanted or how they planned it. megan, we mentioned your grueling time trying to prepare for this. you actually have some really good positive news for us this morning. i do. and i shared this news with such sensitivity knowing for the women that are still trying that this can feel like a body blow, but i am 15 weeks pregnant and counting. never quite out of the woods. but the treatments so far have worked for me so as hard as that is for women at home still struggling to maybe hear that, i do hope there is some hope in there for them with that message. i think mt definitely. again, you ve been there, you know what this is like for them. to share that feeling and to have shared that experience is very important. congratulations and we are wishing the best for you and your new little one. linda, thanks so much for joining us. appreciate it. coming up, one family s journey with autism. actress holly robinson peete and former nfl star rodney peete share their story. but first these messages. with two scoops! of raisins harvested at the peak of sweetness, and golden flakes of bran with 28% of their daily fiber, nothing gets your family s day off to a brighter start. than the goodness of kellogg s raisin bran cereal. feed their sunny side. than the goodness of kellogg s raisin bran cereal. sweet n sour filled twizzlers. the twist you can t resist. can you believe how fast kids grow these days? 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[ female announcer ] new neutrogena® clinical skincare from the number one dermatologist recommended brand. from the number one why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat heavy greasy food that hard on my diet. and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. it helps me feel good and look good too! activia gorgeous day outside. i don t know if you have been out, but lock to cherry blossoms in bloom. traffic is might having. we will check weather and traffic. 9:26 is the time. it s april fools day. in the news at this hour, d.c. police say a crowd sprayed with bullets had just returned from the funeral of another murder victim. nine were shot and four were killed. the same man is suspected in both shootings. two other suspects were arrest and a fourth is still at large. wool look 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. i m chuck bell. the chi is leer and the temperatures are climbing. up into the mid 50s area-wide. martinsburg in the upper 40s, but it will be sunny and thrillful. highs in the mid- to upper 70s. lanes are open slow past the car rest area, the way station. activity out of the roadway, but gathering attention. the virginia side and the american legion bridge, looks like the travel lanes are open. you can now wake up with news 4 today earlier. the new start time is 4:30 a.m. just another one of the great videos we ve been getting as we are having our competition for today s top dog. if you think your dog has special skills or is just plain cute, we want to know about it at todayshow.com. we are gaetting ready for easter. whether you are going for easter chic or a table full of treats, designer extraordinaire collkocollin is here to help yot your easter morning right. we ll also have a delicious brunch of pancetta cinnamon waffles and egg frittatas. giada is here, and we have some helpers. whether it is for the holiday or just you want to look fabulous for the spring, we ll show you some of the hottest handbags. to add to your outfits. you don t have to shake your hips. i particularly like the pink. bobbie thomas will redeem this segment and show us something for there she is. look at the gold. you guys are really hot. we ll redeem this segment and show you some cool stuff. there are some other things to look at. thanks, guys. let s get a check of the weather from bill who s sitting in for al. speaking of easter, the forecast is going to be so perfect in so many areas, the west is the exception. let s take you through your weekend forecast. lot of people traveling on good friday and into the weekend. saturday, still gorgeous from miami all the way up i-95 to maine. stormy weather moves into the tennessee valley, through the ohio valley. chicago down to louisiana will have to deal with some thunderstorms. mild air returns to texas and still cool and unseasonable up in the northwest. taking you to easter sunday, everything looks good. the storm that was in the middle of the country heads through the great lakes. eastern seaboard looks good. middle of the country doing okay. cool and showers in chicago, milwaukee, up to minneapolis. also there in the northwest. we re just kind of in a good thursday morning. i m chuck bell. it will be the prettiest weekend of the year. the cherry trees are at peak blossom. temperatures are on the way up. it will not feel like april fools day. temperatures will be like memorial day weekend. a let of places will touch 80 both friday and saturday. that s a look at your easter forecast. still to come this morning, beyond bunnies and baskets. we ll show you creative ideas for a beautiful easter table right after this. but they make magic happen. that s because glad has partnered with cookies for kids cancer. it s small bake sales like these that help raise big money for pediatric cancer research. together, we can make a difference. one container at a time. because with glad, the care that goes in is the care that comes out. fact: for over 25 years, in test after test, advil has been shown to be safe and effective when taken as directed. for relief you can trust, reach for advil. so kate you were stressed, a lot of junk food on the go and you were. a little irregular, sluggish. my daughter needed activia! so i gave it a try and wow. it works. now she has a spring on her step. i m loving it, every morning. mmmm. avo: help get yo system back on track. activia with bifidus regularis helps regulate your digestive system would you recommend activia? i already have. she recommends it. what are you waiting for? singer: activia. i ve got good news. you need more fiber. huh? don t worry, it tastes great. froot loops now with 3 grams of fiber. fiber makes your tummy happy so it can absorb the good stuff you need, which your mom is gonna love. it does taste great. fiber is a great way to start your day. i can never read these things. kellogg s froot loops, apple jacks, and corn pops! cereals, now provide fiber. kellogg s makes fiber fun. love to see kids spirits shine. superstar and mom, martina mcbride and sunnyd shine on sunny taste. sunny spirit. sunny d. home, tabletop tips for easter. your dinner table doesn t always have to be about egg baskets and marshmallow bunnies. lifestyle expert colin cowie says you just need pops of color and inspiration from mother nature for a sophisticated setting. this looks beautiful. you call this easter chic. this is great for adults. it is about the color. it is all about the color. i love these ideas, citrus colors, lime green and yellow. i found these beautiful chargers at crate and barrel, less than $5 a piece. a great way to just punch up your table. these are made on a computer. i love the idea of balancing the energy at the table. it is also a lovely accessory for the table as well. beautiful part i think is the centerpiece. they are beautiful. these are actual daffodils. this is really the story of spring when you think about it. you ve got the roots underneath the ground, they re just waiting for warmer weather to come out and burst, just like we are. these are ingredients fou pretty much anywhere. quail legs. lemons and limes and quail legs which finish off the whole story. these are real so you can use them later. you can find the ingredients anywhere. today s eggs are tomorrow s omelets. i like it, all about recycling. let s talk about this, the classic easter table. you ve got the beautiful colors of easter eggs, light robin s egg blue, yellow. i found these wonderful egg shaped dishes at pottery barn in pastel colors. four for less than $14. $13.99. these are the depression glasses. they also come in corresponding colors. the centerpiece is very whimsical. did you make these? of course these are real flowers. there s very few of them. less than a dozen flowers on the table. this is wheat grass. pop the gerber daisies in. how long would that last? if you really want these to last, put them in a water pick. this is beautiful and inexpensive. you ve got very few flowers on the table, wheat grass. basic white set of china, one set of dishes. for those who have children, easter really is about the kids. this is an awesome table. i can t think of a kid who wouldn t love this, chocolate and crayons. it s the perfect combo. how did you do it? we started giving the kids craft ideas to do. this little easter bunny they can put their name on and coloring. we ve got craft paper underneath. at each place setting there is a bowl of crayons for each of the kids as well. these are all things you probably have in your house. we printed this out on the computer. the centerpiece i think is quite delicious. it is completely edible. we have a cake plate with another cake plate on top. these are adorable. look at these cupcakes. i recognize those. i ve been to that place a couple of times. then you ve got the chocolate easter eggs. chocolate easter eggs on top. the kids have all the sugar in the morning and they have the rest of the day to work it off. those of us who are stuck with them, not so much fun. colin cowie, thanks for joining us. you know the table is set, but now what will you wear? the hottest spring handbags for any occasion. right after this. kids grow these days? that s why there s new danonino. new danonino has twice the calcium of milk, ounce per ounce, with vitamin d. so it s power packed for healthy owth. yummy! new danonino from dannon. power packed to help kids grow. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there s new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. why choose between delicious or 100 calories? with yoplait delights. .now you can finally have both. it s the perfect parfait. .with two indulgently rich layers. .of chocolate. .and raspberry yogurt. .and only 100 calories. yoplait delights. get rid of the or . increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking ) when business travel leaves you drained, re-charge with comfort suites. spacious rooms, free hi-speeinternet, and free hot breakfast. comfort suites. power up. now stay two separate times with comfort suites. or any choice hotel and earn a free night. book at choicehotels.com. or any choice hotel and earn a free night. 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. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? every spoonful is a little different. mmm. they got three kinds of flakes. this is delicious. it s the perfect combination of sweet and crispy. i love it. this is so good. this is great. the magic s in the mix. our chefs learn secrets cookinof italian cooking., like how to blend four artisanal cheeses to create our new creamy fonduta sauce. in our new steak fonduta and grilled chicken fonduta. at olive garden. this morning on bobbie s style buzz, the season s best bags at affordable prices. today s style editor picked off her favorite designs hot off the runway. you already picked out something for me. little tassels on the end. there is really something for everyone. in the first category, denim s so hot. but there are so many bags here. everyone, trust me, i ve listed everything on our website at todayshow.com. if you see something you like, the credit is there. the first one you are modeling. casual is something that all the girls at home who want to grab-and-go something soft will be very excited. denim is the hot trend. designers put them on the runway. you ll see en joe s jeans company made this tote which is $90. urban outfitters and lots of others going into that utility feel with cotton bags. you don t feel so bad in the summer, throwing your things in, bottle of water, your kid stuff. you get this $30, this is a great practical category for everyone. even burlap. you seen all of these great, practical fabrics. the next category? crafty. it is all about crafty, designers are experimenting with specialized handmade looks. reminds me of the bags my mom would carry. they re very in vogue again. chanel led t way on the runway with these bags right here. these are great examples of special one-of-a-kind creations but you can find something everywhere that suits your personality. these are around $80. newport news has a clutch that s fun for summer. just a colored bag. these really special intricate clutches for around $50. this looks like an easter egg. perfect for a stylish lady sunday at church. this is great for the little blk dress you re wearing all fall will instantly look like spring or summer with a bag like this. i love the leather and lace. chico s. $99. i was excited to see stones and stitching, a lot of quality for that. i love the leather and lace. such a contrast. this is all about being chic. in the summertime you still need a bag that s polished but because the season is all about being care-free, you want to be comfortable. the structured satchels are getting an update with softer, more casual fabrics. pra and dolce and gabbana, this miss sicily tote is a bag that celebrities in hollywood couldn t even wait for spring to start wearing this. this is made of haraffia. i love this little bit of shimmer. these are soft and slouchy. the idea, too, if you see hardware, look for something lighter like tan or white leather. when you say lady like, i usually thinks of bags that you hold on your shoulder. a top handle. even this from london fog has a shoulder strap but it is more structured and polished but with the bamboo and light leather. it is great. all affordable. these e arnd $100 or under. sandra roberts. i love this wood clutch. all of these again on the site. last, but not least, the crew helped us out earlier. this category is care-free. in the summertime you want to throw your hands up, like beyonce said. it is all about sort of these minibags and fanny packs which are now belt packs because you wear them in the front. i think more people will wear it if you don t call it fanny. it s a belt pack. designers are all playing with this look on the runway. sandra roberts, i love these for around $40. these are great and practical. this is very practical. walk your dog, go shopping, stick your money and keys in here. also jcpenney has options. you can find this look everywhere. this is versace, this mini bag of the mixed media. bags are downsizing. i think it is a sign of the times. edit your must-haves. all of this stuff is on our todayshow.com website. no more fanny pack. it is a belt pack. which means i would wear a belt pack. check out bobbie s column the buzz in in touch weekly. who does not like eggs and waffles? whipping up delicious brunch for the entire family. but first this is today on nbc. this morning on cookin with giada, we re making a delicious brunch perfect for easter or any weekend morning. today contributor chef giada de laurentiis is teaching us how to make cinnamon pancetta, waffles and an egg white frittata from her new cookbook giada at home. she has two helpers, both soef sophia. what grade are you in? third. what grade are you in? first. we re making amazing waffles. you guys like waffles? okay. they ve already poured some syrup. you make this with a little salty element to it. what i think is a perfect waffle i didn t grow up eating waffles but being married to a midwestern boy, he loves waffles. i make them kind of sweet, kind of savory and with a little bit of a crunch. water and two eggs. i m just using regular pancake mix. out of the box. yes. and some ground cinnamon which i think gives it that warmth. i always like cinnamon. but this is the unusual one. put some pancetta. i cut up really small, get it nice and crispy. you could obviously use bacon if you want to. i mix it all together just like you do normally for waffles or pancakes. then you just great idea. we did one already. there it is. already popped out. then you can see, it smells like cinnamon so i think it makes the entire house smell really good. i think it is perfect for easter brunch. or really any brunch. are you guys already poured your syrup? youight want to dig in. we want to hear how you guys think it tastes. it tastes good? you guys want to eat? i think they re waiting for the go-ahead. go ahead. i like to do a little maple syrup. the girls like powdered sugar. i like to top with walnuts. the girls were more into eating the walnuts right out of the bowl. what s the verdict? good? thumbs up? good? yes? no? their mouths are full. ihinkhen kids really like something, they don t want to talk to you. we re going to go over here and make an egg white frittata. this is healthier. this is sort of basically bagels and lox type of idea put together. i have egg whites. you can make it with whole eggs as well. i like to add a little bit of chopped up lox. i really like this. i think it looks really pretty. i do add a little bit heavy cream. a little bit of heavy crm. you divide this amongst eight people and it s not thatch. that s right. a little bit of pepper and a little bit of lemon. i think the lemon with the lox is excellent. it just kind of brightens up all the flavors. this is arugula? right. i sauteed a little just to mellow out the flavor a little bit. with garlic. i put the arugula right in there. it has beautiful, beautiful color. all together. you just kind of mix it all together. just like that. see how pretty it is with the pink and green? it is very eastery. very springy, very brunch like. then i pour the whole thing back in the skillet. this is the easy part. though i say easy, i can never quite flip it right. you don t have to flip it. cook it for three or four minutes, so it gets a little bit of a crust. then put it in the oven at 350. no flipping involved. then you get this. how beautiful is that! see how fluffy it is? colors are fabulous. it smells delicious. speaking of delicious, we have something to wash it all down with as we have ann and tamron here. lemonade? this is a ginger tea lemonade. ladies, you guys want to drink some lemonade? this looks amazing, giada. ginger tea lemonade. a lite t of black tea, make a ginger simple syrup. fresh ginger. little bit of jem lemon juice, sparkling water. back with kathie lee and hoda. a gorgeous day. the white house in view. it s 52 degrees, let s check on the temperature. good morning, everyone. i m barbara harrison. d.c. police say a crowd sprayed with bullets in southeast washington had just returned from the funeral of another murder victim. were shot and four killed. a 20-year-old man is suspected in both shootings. two oth suspects are raved and a fourth is still at large. we will find out the temperature and let s check in with chuck bell who is in. temperaturesing quickly. 56 degrees last hour at nbc 4 and i suspect in three or minutes we will be into the low 60s. it will be a beauty of a day and plenty of sunshine. a bay breeze to keep temperatures alongside the bay away from the water. upper 70s and low 80s tomorrow. will be great news. we will head out. not great news. road work in place northbound and southbound. be forewarned. southbound taking a hit. barbara. you can now wake up even earlier. the news start time is 4:30 a.m. see you then. announcer: from nbc news, this is today, with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and we re so glad you re with us on this thursday, april 1st, which is of course april fool s day. but it s no april fool s because look, it is sunny and dry outside, and that s not that s a miracle. i ll tell you, it s meant so much to watch the sun pop. it kind of came out for a second yesterday, and i literally just stopped and looked at it becse we haven t seen it in such a long time here. well, we were going into we were coming out of sardi s and going into helen hayes theater next door to go see an amazing play called next fall when you started to have abdominal cramps. that s makeup room talk. stop it. hoda had smapg. b she s better today. thank you for bringing that up. i just wanted people to know why you didn t go to the play with me. it s an interesting play. i would love to know what you thought of it. it s a small play with i think six characters in it. i m trying to remember. maybe five or six. and it s about a gay couple, one younger, one older. the younger one is christian, and the older one is atheist. atheist. that s several members of the cast. and and look at you in the front, just by the way. well, i went back to say hello to the cast. and they said they missed you, they want you to come see it again. yeah, i will. and it s fascinating. it brings up all kinds of questions about faith and what is integrity, what is ethical, and what is where are we going when we die, all kinds of interesting things. no matter what your faith i think you would find it very, very interesting. i d like to see that. you d like it. we ve been seeing a lot of plays, too, serious plays. a lot of the big musicals haven t opened yet, and they don t like to us come see it until it s offially opened. a bunch of them are opening in the next couple weeks. good. so we ll be busy. but before that we saw egg dy. we were sitting at sardi. this is funny. we were there a year ago and there was this older woman 79 years old sitting next to us. and if was me, you, frank was there and sunny. and the woman comes in, she says i ve been waiting for you guys, i broughtou some eggs. we were like who brings eggs to sardi s? egg lady. she has eggs on her farm. so she gave us the eggs and we thought that was so sweet. so n a year later who s sitting next to us at table but the egg lady? and she said she s been waitingar to us to come back again. she brought two copies of your book. which is about an egg. and she s reading it. we made her read it. and she said she had a christmas present for kathie lee. she said she s been showing up weekly for kathyie lee to and i ve been at at sardi s but not that day or something. her name s mary and she was there with her daughter judy and her boyfriend frank. she has a frank too. she was adorable. that was so funny. i couldn t believe they were there again. i was like how do we know that lady? i m afraid of you fade. why? because it s april fool s day. i tried my april fool s already. i told her after she left george clooney came into sardi s. she didn t fall for it. she s on to me. i m on to you. so what s going on in the world? there was a moment, a baseball player for the minnesota twins was up to bat in one of the preseason games, and he hit the ball mr. he hit that, baby. it was a foul ball name is denard spann. it was a foul ball. he s like oh, look at that. oh, wait. so he s walking back and he realizes the person who he hit was his own mother. that s not funny, anthony. anthony was laughing. he thinks it s hysterical. some people love their mothers. so he prints up to find his mother, who was crying, by the way. but what upset her more than the pain of the ball was the fact her son could not complete the game because he was so upset by what he d done. she was fine. she was fine, by the way. but i mean, i think that s kind of freudian. of all the people in the stadium he hits his mother? i don t know. i m just asking. it was a he felt terrible. of course he did. that must have been devastating. all right. there was another little piece of tape that was running today. if you guys like the single ladies song, everyone now is taping what s going on in their houses and they put it on youtube. and they become sensations. so anyway, this family s driving off somewhere and they start playing the single ladies song for the family, and just watch what they with dire results. not pretty. all the single ladies all the single ladies all the single ladies you re not a single lady, buddy. yeah, you are. yeah, you are. you re a single lady. sorry. sorry. devastating. i was just kidding. i was just kidding. he s devastated. he s not a single lady. buddy, i m sorry. wailing. and look how the other kids now totally took it and the father trying to backtrack, like they always do. the damage is done it s over. the kid is scarred forever. and he s in therapy even as we speak. is he? apparently, there s a new thing, i don t know if it works or not, but it s called freeze away the fat. i have to call pat wexler and find out if this stuff works. it s called zeltique. it s a fat reduction technique. it s not lipo. it s not lipo. it s not any of that stuff. it freezes fat cells. which then somehow when it melts it away it goes through your liver that sounds icky. and out. and it s like a vacuum that i think we need to try that. they say it s painless. i ll try anything that s painless. you know what, it s not fda approv approved, so we can t it s you out there. i had radial kerr tot mi on my eyes before the american medical association said it was okay todo. i had 20-20 eyesight for look how anthony s taking care of you. he knows because he s in trouble with his mother. in ok! magazine every week we have our thing. well, this week it s is it okay to wear a kilt in public? hoda says sure, it s okay to wear a kilt as long as you pick out perfectly plaid boxers or briefs. and you said? if you re in scotland, fine. enjoy the breeze. but if you re out of scotland, only sean connery can carry a kilt. i m sorry, but i reallyhink so. sean connery is sexy in anything. not only are they wearing kilts which are skirts, they also wear a little purse. there s a little purse. i was having lunch in scotland with prince edward once. talk about name dropping. that was why did you bring that up? because we were celebrating my friend sam haskell s 50th birthday party and prince edward is his closest friend. so i actually asked him what he carries in his purse. and what did he say? i can t remember. heas so stunned that i had t the to ask him. nobody s skad royal i would ask the queen what she carries in her purse. you would ask anyone anything. i just want to see. bethenny s pictures are here from her wedding. they paid her. how much did they pay her? do you know? she looks beautiful. she does not look six or seven months pregnant. that s for sure. that s the picture of her and jason. he s cute. he s adorable. are you in there? oh, there s a pretty picture of hoda. it s not great. you know what? there s hope for you, hoda. because you know what? there is this thing. there is this thing what s it called now? the cougars and company. thank you, christine. cougars & company. it s designed exclusively for older women who what s going on? and their cubs, who want to become soulmates and have meaningful, rewarding relationships. it s like a social network. instead of going to a dating thing it s the same thing. they call it social networking but it s really dating. well, i ve been getting a lot of flak for how i tease you so much about going to movies alone i went to a movie by myself once because i walked by and it was playing. it takes a very confidence person to walk in did jeff zucker not say in the makeup room he went to a movie by himself the other day? even jeff zucker gets lonely. the point is i went on and i made a i think it s going to work. honestly, it s so cool. i went on and i actually did a thing for you. a what? what s it called? a profile. i did a profile for you. can we see it? i don t like this all right. look at this. i didn t want anybody to knowt was you. so we changed what is that? we changed the letters. that s ridiculous. instead of hoda it s doah. and insteadof kotb we bought a vowel and made it botok. make it full. what does it say? here s what it says. okay. here s the thing. because you have to do a profile. you are come on. where is it? you can t read it. good. this is called love long runs at dawn and long walks at night. right? looking for a movie mate. i m so over this. like to get my groove on. oh, i off that. appreciates wine on wednesdays and every other day of the week. and have beautiful feet. have never read any of kathie lee s books. and it goes on. that ll get them. goes on and on and on and on. so you know what? we got some responses. and they re here. let s bring our boys out. oh, you know what, this is bring our boys out. come on, he they are. here s brian from new york. is this a joke? no. they all want to meet their doah. and there s lou from queens. you re i m not sure rob s your cub, but he s here from st. louis. is this wait. what is going on? is this true? they all responded to your social network. his heart s really pounding this one. i like this one. by the way, this can turn out real well because this is how got my dog regis, playing doggie dati game. and that was a beautiful relationship for 14 1/2 years. do you understand what i have to deal with? where s my camera? so brian, why do you think you are the man of hoda s dreams? i don t know. ever since i saw mrs. robinson i ve always had a thing. i mean, and i love pedicured feet. i really you need to exit stage left. lou from queens. mrs. robinson. what makes you think you are hoda s man of her dreams? well, i ve been married three times before, and i never found somebody who could push me. i need someone that ll go to the gym with me at 5:00 in the morning. i need someone that will fly on a wednesday to drink keyianti in tuscany. you seem perfect. you may have possibilities. rob from st. louis. why would you be hoda s man of her dreams? her cub. i m a physician. i m very health conscious. and i saw that she gets up early, exercises, and is very active. and i have wednesdays off. so we could have wine together in the evenings. is this a joke? hoda, i m telling you, make your choice and you re going tore lamb chops at neary s pub with the man of your dreams. who s it going to be? these are the three choices? i m kidding. the only three that bought it. the only three that are you serious? i m going to decide by the end of the show. guys, thank you. you are so sweet. thank you. in the meantime, april fool s. april fool s. i didn t say thank god. you guys are adorable. after these messages. 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he s 12. yeah. he s her twin. and then finally, you know, rodney wrote his book. they really just quings dently came out the same time. it s tough especially for a dad to come to grips with something like autism. i think guys think he ll grow out of it, it s not that big of a deal. and a world class athlete to boot. we want to fix it. that s what we do. that s what daddies do. and i was stuck in that world for a little over a year. and it was tough. it was tough on our marriage. it was tough on our son. and finally coming to grips with it i realized it wasn t about me, it was about him. and that s what i really want to get across to fathers, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and even though you have all these expectations of what your son wants to be, those can change and you have to really come into his world. well, you also went through an experience where a doctor you called it the never day. where you were told so many nevers. what was that? we sat down in front of a developmental pediatrician, and she basically we d just gotten our diagnosis and she laid out this laundry list of nevers that he would never do. he would never mainstream in school, he would never speak meaningfully to us, he would never connect with his twin sister. i mean, it was a really depressing day, and we walked out of that room, and we were crying our eyes out, like this is so sad. so that s one of the reasons why we wanted to talk about this. it s almost like a death in a way of that person you had known. yeah. there s a disconnect. well, how is he now? what kind of strides has he made? he is 12, and he s hitting puberty. now, that s a little bit of an issue for anybody. it s oy vey for anybody. i ve got my issues. but seriously, though, when you have autism the surge of hormones can be especially difficult. and so it s very, very hard for him to sort of process some things now. and there s a little bit of regression. so that s our new hurdle. but we re going to we re going to hit the challenge. and ryan, in your book it s so sweet because i love how you realized how he expresses love in different ways. i thought that was terrific. he doesn t say the words, but he shows you, right? yeah. tell us about that. well it s okay, honey. a little nervous. nobody s watching. children with autism. childre with autism are valuable and exceptional human beings, and they have that power that so they re basically kind of like their facial expressions it s like sign language sort of. because they don t have to use words. just by using their hand motions and stuff like that. it s like emotional language, right? motion. like you like you don t have to go to someone and say oh, i love you. but you can use it as you can use it with hand otions. i have to say what your family is doing collectively is amazing for kids of all ages. ry, what you re doing and what you guys are doing is incredible. and we re learning more and more, aren t we, about autism? it s not a never day. these children have to become adults and they ve got to go on and live and find meaningful jobs in all kinds of situations. so as a family just want to put a little hope out there, guys. we need it. thanks so much. thank you for coming by. we really appreciate it. good luck with both books. up next we ll tuck with chuck star joshua gomez right after this. this is my body wash. what do you mean? this is it? why?! oh, don t do that to me! dove creamoil body wash. now with nutrium moisture. nutrium moisture. i m a believer. the nourishment in dove creamoil goes somehow deeper. i m happy about the change. change is good. dove creamoil body wash. about freshening fabrics. and then how you thought about freshening the air. now febreze is changing how you think about scent and light with the flameless luminary. with scented shades you can change, it s even more beautiful than a candle. fills a room with scent more quickly than a candle. nice! .and lasts for more than a hundred hours. looks like the candle just met its match. the febreze flameless luminary. now available with new limited edition spring shades. our chefs learn secrets cookinof italian cooking., like how to blend four artisanal cheeses to create our new creamy fonduta sauce. in our new steak fonduta and grilled chicken fonduta. at olive garden. so kate you were stressed, a lot of junk food on the go and you were. a little irgular, sluggish. my daughter needed activia! so i gave it a try and wow. it works. now she has a spring on her step. i m loving it, every morning. mmmm. avo: help get your system back on track. activia with bifidus regularis helps regulate your digestive system would you recommend activia? i already have. she recommends it. what are you waiting for? singer: activia. okay. if you watch the nbc comedy series chuck, you know joshua gomez plays and if you haven t tuned in, morgan is the nerdy geek who has his hands full playing the friend of the world s nerdiest secret agent. and he now is here with us, and he now knows the actual identity of cck. yes. and that s changed everything. that was a lot of nerdies in there. there is a lot. what like about this show, it was about to get cancelled, remember? and there was this huge grassroots effort. it has a real cult following. did you expect that kind of feedback? i guess there are a lot of geeks out there who love it. yeah. thank god. you know, we didn t know what to expect, but we certainly didn t expect that size of a campaign. and it was amazing. i mean, they ate a lot of subway sandwiches, these people. we are partly responsibly think for the obesity of most of these nerds. they have healthy stuff, remember. yes, of course. now, you re from new jersey, right? yeah. so when you go home to new jersey, you said you are a rock star there. what s that like? well, minor pop star. bruce and bon jovi. bruce is bruce. there s bon. i call the him bon. he doesn t like if but i call him bon. he s my homey. and then me. has your life completely changed since the show in. not so much. i still am a hermit and i sit around my house and play xbox but you re making a living at it now. but i get paid to do it, yeah. it s research. i call it research. is your family thrilled? they are. they couldn t be prouder. and my friends and family have been really supportive. back to the video geek. so what do you do? your voice is involved in some of these video games. what happens? yeah. you can make a lot of money in voiceovers. yeah. it s crazy. it s the easiest job. you can show up looking like i do. quhiend of voices do you do? a lot of army guy voices. say you saw a tank is running over you. m-1! everybody down! is that sorry. i should have warned you. what a talent. yeah, yeah, yeah.rk a it a l. o no. so are you and zachary friends in real life? or is it just a tv thing? he s adorable. he is very adorable. and oh, goodness. it s there we are geeking out. we have always have a battle for facial hair, me and him. it s always who can outdo each other. is it true you auditioned at the same time so you started bonding even then, then you found out you both got the roles? absolutely. we had to do our network test together, and zach said i remember when you walked in with an r2-d2 shirt i was like that s my guy. r2-d2? that explains a lot. oh, my god. did you have a personal life? i do date women occasionally no, i do. i have a beautiful girlfriend. and yeah, i don t so you don t do the social networking thing that no. she s here. oh, yeah, there she is. she s gorgeous. lovely. she s stunning. i tricked her somehow. and she plays video games too. so i lucked out. does she really? yeah. hot and video games. and every guy is like, yes! that s dream girl. that s the ultimate combination. we wish you good luck with the next season of chuck. thank you. and chuck airs mondays at 8:00, 7:00 central right here on nbc. absolutely. and still to come, we love her. karen the cupcake lady. and then everyone has a story. oh, my gosh. david pom ranerantz is going tog a song david friedman and i have written for this very special young man and his caretaker. maintain a well-balanced diet, get plenty of rest. and support your immune system. for a full 24 hours with patented ester-c. taken daily, ester-c gets into your system quickly. and stays all day to provide. up to 24 hours of immune support. now more than ever, trust your immune health. to clinically tested ester-c. the better vitamin c. . pregnancy check. the national zoo has an update of a baby panned arriving soon. also coming up on midday today. dead line day. if the census is sitting unopened, time to get busy. we hope you are planning to join us. ñq candy and cake candy and cake we re back on this thursday with today s kitchen, and we re getting saucy, or in this case sugared up with the queen of the cupcake, one of our favorite ladies, karen taft. we love karen. from birthdays to april fool s day and nefrg between, karen s got a design to fit any occasion, and the best part is they are so easy. for her. no, they are easy. karen is the co-author of that wonderful book called what s new, cupcake? and she keeps outdoing herself. i couldn t wait to come in today and see what you would come up with. it s april fool s and easter this weekend. don t we know it. chocolate mousse. genius. chocolate moose. ba-dump-bump. adorable. we used a twinkie, attached it to the cupcake, dipped it, and we love canned frosting. dipped it in heated canned frosting. and then added some chocolate antlers and some little chewies for the ears. our still getting all these other things from that candy store place where you just find all over. gas stations, grocery stores, convenience stores. so it s just brilliant. really adorable. it s just the cutest thing. apples. got a basket of apples. you start with just a donut, half of a donut on top of your cupcake, and then i filled in with a little bit of vanilla frosting. frost it with a thin coat of red frosting. rollt in sugar. a tootsie roll stem and it s genius. what teacher wouldn t love that, right? oh, my gosh. this is one of my favorites. scrambled eggs? alan, my co-author and i we love this whole faux food. it s so much fun. so it s like what can we do with eggs? so we took the chocolate candy melts. and you know those easter egg chills you can get. we brushed the inside with that and put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes. it pops out. and the top are mini cupcakes. i ve got some lemon curd that you can either make or buy in the grocery store. you re out of control. a little dot on top. look how cute. wouldn t you love to wake up every day and be karen taft? who wouldn t? look at the hoagie. a foot-long sandwich. and this is just a coffee stick. we brushed the top with some syrup and some sesame seeds, all different fruit chews we rolled out to mak the cheese and the ham and onions and tomatoes. lots of fun. look at this. with the french fries. yes. you ve got to try a french fry. your favorite thing. okay. these are made of what? pound cake? pound cake. we took a crinkle cutter and cut your french fries out of the pound cake and toast it in the broiler. stop it. it s so easy. ketchup. it s just adorable. but we re going to make some chinese food. here, i m going to have you come over here, kathie lee. what i ve done is i ve taken and i ve already piped some frosting on top. we re just making some lo mein here. of course we are. i vemy frosting in a zip-loc bag. you don t even use the fangsy stuff. now some broccoli. i ve got a small wedge. we re going to take our green frosting and pipe a dollop pipe a dollop on the top of it? yes. for your broccoli. perft. and then we ve got these little green sprinkles that you can dip oh, how cute! then you can put that right on top of your stop it, karen that s a little skimpy. well, they re not in season. wait a minute. and then pop it right on top. can i say that really is easy? because i m not good at crafts, and that s easy. then we slice up some fruit chews. this could be for your roast pork. this could be for your scallions. i m still working on my broccoli. i know, i know, i know. that s my broccoli. all right? take it or leave it. then you ve got some fruit chews you can what have we done here? you did a real big broccoli. you re right. then the fortune cookie afterwards. we took a few soft caramels and rolled those out. look at these, kath. what are you doing? i want it to be nice. it s ruined. no, it s not. i thought anyone could do it. okay. then we ve got our fortune cookie here. we re on to the fortune cookie. so we ve got our caramels here and we ve got a little fortune here that you place in the center. here s your fortune too. we don t want to read it? april fool. april fools. you fold it in half most like a taco. like a taco. and then take the two corners and pinch them together and you ve got your fortune cookie. and you pull that twooward you. and you can press in. we just have 30 seconds. oh, come down. something sweet. adorable. then easter of course we ve got our rubber ducks over here oh, stop it with the rubber duckies. a donut hole and half a marshmallow. some flowers, little candies with pretzel sticks. more marshmallows. and this is the same technique with the broken eggs only with the different colored chocolates. what in the world can you possibly think of next, karen? they still come, you know. it s you know what? da vinci had nothing on you. genius. genius, genius. thank you. and the book is adorable. it s called what s new, cupcake? right? coming up next i just heard the rehearsal. everyone has a story. a young man who s only 15 and already inspiring others. right after this. two complementary fragrances alternate to keep things. fresh day after day. and not just for 30 days. um. okay. our longest-lasting plugins air freshener lasts for 60. well, that lasted longer than i thought. i knew it would. get freshness that won t fade away for 60 days. with plugins lasting impressions. and yes, it s glade. s.c. johnson. a family company. that promise to make my patients look younger. but nothing works like this. 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[ female announcer ] new neutrogena® clinical skincare from the number one dermatologist recommended brand. special k protein shakes a truly great-tasting breakfast shake. with 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, it s the creamy, delicious way to satisfy. your hunger to help you lose weight. so you can kick the tin can habit. try special k protein shakes today. that, on the list of things kids love, our party pizzas have just passed toy robots. awkward. kids love totino s party pizzas. everyone has a moment that changes their life and then it is time now to meet our newest everyone has a story contest winner. nicole merchant, a colorado carever, wrote in to tell us about a very special young man who at just 15 years old is her inspiration. his name is spencer mccombs, and this is nicole s letter to us. i write to tell you about a boy i think you should know. the boy who inires me and plays an integral part in my life is spencer mccombs. spencer is a 15-year-old who inspired me to run the 2009 chicago marathon. healthy until age 6, spencer contracted a virus that ravaged his brain and left him severely disabled. no longer able to walk, talk, eat, spencer s daily life is a marathon in itself. completely dependent upon others to care for him, the confines of his wheelchair, his frequent seizures all reflect the daily challenges spencer must face. along with these struggles, in the eyes of the world spencer is in a sense a nobody that has nothing to offer. i write on behalf of spencer and all who love him. this amazing boy who appears powerless is mighty and powerful in the way he influences and affects people s lives. though his eyes alone communicate his thank yous and i love yous, his spirit shines bright to those around him. as his caregiver it s spencer s humble dependence which has inspired me to lace up my sneakers and go another mile. i run because he can t yet run for himself. spencer is most often acknowledged for his lack of ability. i introduce him today as the boy who inspires me to live the life god has called me to live, with more faith, love, and courage. i m his caregiver, but he s my teacher. and nicole and spencer are here, as well as spencer s parents, angela and russ. welcome to all of you. welcome. thank you for coming. it s not easy to travel, i m sure. and we re so delighted that you re here. we are. and nicole, you are lit from inside. i mean, there is something about you mom just said she s my angel. right? oh, thank you. the lord helps me and inspires me to just live my life for his glory. and i couldn t ask for a better boy to spend my days with. so. i love that he encouraged you to run a marathon. you d never done that before, huh? i d done one, but i really wanted to improve on my time and just my work with spencer, like i said in the letter, his life is like a daily marathon. and it s just a model of how we just need to keep on keeping on when things take place. you know, when we get the letters, and we want tone courage everyone to write in their stories to us as well, david and our producers, we look for a letter that has some poetry in the sense that something jumps out at us. because every story is precious. but we need as writers something that gives us the spark. and when you said in the eyes of the world this is what a life that so often we think what purpose could a life like this have? and you know from being with him every day that he s every bit as precious and valuable as anybody on earth. he is. i often say that spencer he s looking at himself. we all want to be in show business. he s a little tired. we re still adjusting to the time change. but he s watching himself. so that s exciting. but yeah, so often spencer s inabilities or are they re more noticed than his spirit. yes. and i always tell him people might not see you, the world in general might not see you for who you are, but god looks at the heart. he doesn t look at your outside appearance. and he s a beautiful boy. he s a very beautiful boy. we ll talk to the family some more when we come back. we re going to take a break, and then david pomeranz is going to sing the song that was written for our sweet spencer called in 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. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there s new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. time to deploy the chex mix boring potato chip decoy bag. now no one will want to steal the deliciousness. with a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix is a bag of interesting. with real chicken, wholesome grains, delicious salmon and a touch of cranberry and cheese. finally it s all come together. healthful life from purina cat chow. yes, healthy can be delicious. but it s melting fast. so hurry, act now to get fios tv, internet and phone at the super low price of $99.99 a month guaranteed for 2 years! call now and you ll also get a multi-room dvr and set top box free for six months. with 100% fiber optics straight to your home you ll get an amazing hd picture, america s top rated internet and phone. all for just $99.99 a month. enjoy tons of your favorite shows and channels. fios brings facebook and twitter right to your tv. also, check sports, weather and traffic without interrupting your show. you ll get tv with four times more very satisfied customers than comcast. get it all for just $99.99 a month guaranteed for 2 years! plus a multi-room dvr and set top box free for six months. don t wait. this incredible offer ends soon. call 1-866-932-fios. that s 1-866-932-fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v. this is beyond cable. this is fios. and we re back now with more of everyone has a story. and nicole merchant and the young man who is her inspiration, spencer mccombs, as well as his mom and dad. now it s time for the song that was written just for you, spencer. okay? got to wake up for it. it s called in the eyes of the world. and acclaimed performer david pomeranz is here to sing it for you. in the eyes of the world there are people who seem to have all that the good life can give they re happy and healthy can afford any dream they really know how to live but then there are those who have none of these things who struggle each day to survive facing the challenges each moment brings and we wonder why are they alive they can t spe so what can they tell us they can t move sohere can they go they can t sing so you d think they d be bitter and jealous but there s something they know we all need to know there are blessings that they re here to teach us they have every good reason to be if we open our hearts and allow them to reach us they ve got something to show us that we need to see if only we d bother to look in their eyes there s wonder and gratitude there they tell us the truth, that we re living our lives in a place deep inside we all share it s something that most of us often ignore as we fight for possessions and fame there s only one thing that is worth living for and that one thing is love it has no other name they can t speak, but their eyes tell a story they can t move but their souls still can smile they can t sing but their eyes sing a song full of glory of a life forits own sake that s rich and worthwhile let us speak so the world hears their story let us run with the joy they impart let us sing of the goodness, the grace, and the glory that s the birthright that lives deep inside every heart in the eyes of the world they have nothing to give but in truth they re the ones who can teach us to live so let s open our eyes not be blinded by pride to discover where love and true beauty can hide beautiful. we ll be back with more of today on nbc. [ sneezes ] music plays [ sneezing ] [ male announcer ] what are you gonna miss when you have an allergy attack? benadryl® is more effective than claritin® at relieving your worst symptoms runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes and works when you need it most. benadryl®. you can t pause life. and we re back with everyone has a story, honoring a very special young man. we love him. spencer mccombs. he s given a big smile to his classmates back at home in colorado. david pomeranz just performed in the eyes of the world for nicole and the mccombs family. and also with us, the man who wrote most of that song, i ve got to tell you the truth, david friedman. sometimes he s busier than i am and sometimes it s the other way around. but we wrote it, and we were so inspired. and just want you all to know too that david pom vanz one of the world s great musicians. he wrote that great song for barry manilow trying to get the feeling again and good times and remember the old times. and we ve written many, many things together. we sure have. and when we called and you were able to do that we couldn t thank you enough. it was a privilege. it was humbling, wasn t it, david friedman? what did you guys think of your song for your son? it was beautiful. yes. we ll be listening to it more when we get home. we should say you have two other children. right? one s about to go to college and one s younger, right? how old s your youngest? 13. and what keeps your family cohesive, together, working well? well, lots of prayer. lots of community support. we have had some counseling. sure. i think that s wise. you need counseling to make sense of anything like this. yeah. and we have our little family meetings, which our kids don t like too much who likes a family meeting? i don t like to go to family meetings. we discuss things at family meetings. not always bad stuff. this is our favorite part. so we like doing this. we know spencer takes horseback riding lessons as a form of therapy. so boots and saddles, therapeutic riding center a place where spencer attends, has set up a summer scholarship in spencer s name to lieu someone else who may not have had the necessary insurance to take lessons. and our the sports authority generated a $500 gift card for nicole because you are a runner and you need your gear. so i know you ve got another marathon to go. so it s got all kind of it s just a sample of all the stuff. goodies you may need for when you run. thank you again for writing in such a beautiful, beautiful letter and reminding every one of u that in the eyes of the world every human being is precious. yeah. thank you. thank you for coming. thank you, spencer. bless you. happy easter, buddy. all right. so tomorrow we have a big show. kelsey grammer is going to stop by plus dealing with your allergies. and ambush makeover. and don t forget david pomeranz s fantastic cd, beautiful songs, a personal touch, he s written. you ll love it. have an awesome day, everybody. have a great day. captions by vitac www.vitac.com but it s melting fast. so hurry, act now to get fios tv, internet and phone at the super low price of $99.99 a month guaranteed for 2 years! call now and you ll also get a multi-room dvr and set top box free for six months. with 100% fiber optics straight to your home you ll get an amazing hd picture, america s top rated internet and phone. all for just $99.99 a month. enjoy tons of your favorite shows and channels. fios brings facebook and twitter right to your tv. also, check sports, weather and traffic without interrupting your show. you ll get tv with three times more very satisfied customers than cox. get it all for just $99.99 a month guaranteed for 2 years! plus a multi-room dvr and set top box free for six months. don t wait. this incredible offer ends soon. call 1-866-932-fios. that s 1-866-932-fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v. this is beyond cable. this is fios.