Transcripts For WRC Today 20100821 : vimarsana.com

and i m amy robach. nice to have you back from vacation. thank you. do you think you could do that with one hand? i m trying to figure she be signed up for third base or maybe the outfield or as a waiter. i just like how coolly and calmly he walks you like, yeah, i did. doesn t spill the drink. amazing catch. just happened to be in the right place at the right time. anyway, we ll find out more. we ll hear from him later on. coming up also this morning, making ends meet. it used to be your 401(k) was all but sacred. contribute as much as possible, never touch it until you retire. at least that s what we were taught before the recession. but now a growing number of people are turning to their retirement savings to get by making what they re calling hardship withdrawals. coming up, we will tell you what that could cost you now and later. and then if you ve been traveling, you may know about the growing list of fees the airlines are charging not just to check your bag, but for leg room, even the chance to get ahead of the pack when boarding. i was on a flight they were charging for a blanket. we ll look at how travelers are responding. i m guessing not so well. the today show, the daily show, could you call it the rod blagojevich show. he s on a media blitz after being found guilty of just one of 24 charges this week. coming up, we ll hear more from him and find out what s behind this new high advivisibility ca. plus jennifer aniston s character industries to become a single mom and have a child without being in a relationship. hardly a new idea, but the movie has people talking and we ll take a look at why more women are making a similar choice. but first more troubling signs in this tough economy. john yang has our story. reporter: vicky hasn t had a full-time job in nearly three years. after burning through her saving, she took the steps she hoped to avoid, she raided her 401(k) retirement account to pay the taxes on her house. it was that day when i had to make that decision that it had to come out that i cried. and i could cry right now thinking about it. p. a painful step more americans are taking. the number of people dipping into their 401(k)s is on the rise. the top reasons? avoiding evision or foreclosure. paying for college. and buying a home. even more troubling, 45% of those who made hardship withdrawals last year made another one this year. one more sign that the recovery is struggling and that the effects of the great recession could be felt long after it s over. randall is a former fed governor. as more people are facing difficulties with employment as people are not earning as much as they had hoped, it s going to be more difficult for them to pay themselves back. reporter: the difficulties are compoundeded by the tax implications. when you make a hardship equal, you pay both income taxes and a 10% penalty. even loans from 401(k)s carry a cost. analysts say touching your retirement savings should be a last resort after cutting spending to the bone. perhaps even selling your house. raiding a 401(k) they say is literally mortgaging the future. people are spending future dollars that may never come again. you take this money now, today, think about what s going to happen in 20 years. reporter: but for vicky, who said she has to scrape to come up with grocery money, the worries are more immediate. just go that one minute at a time. and you can make it through that minute. and then that s how i get through the day. reporter: the future she says will have to take care of itself. for today, john yang, nbc news, chicago. and here with more on these hardship withdrawals, nicole lapin, anchor of worldwide exchange. good to see you. one of the more troubles aspects are the people who are making the withdrawals, the demographics. what age group are we talking about? we saw terrible jobs numbers this week and not only are the statistics troubling, but more staggering is that the people doing so are 35 to 55 years old. those as you know are peak earning years. so they re taking the retirement money here and in the time that they ll be am massing a lot of money. what do you have to do for a hardship withdrawal? obviously certain qualifications. you need to demonstrate it to the government. so it can either be personal or based on your primary residence. if it s personal, it s education expenses or tuition expenses. huge medical expenses or a funeral or burial cost. or if it s related to the primary residence, it s preventing foreclosure, preventing we could vehicevicti significant repair or damage. we re not talking about putting a deck in here. but you also have to go through your employer and each employer has a specific set of rules, too, don t they? you have another layer going through your employer and there s two wayses that you can do that. first you can provide your financial documents and you can contribute back into your 401(k) almost immediately. you self certify, you don t have to provide a lot of document, but you have to sit on the bench. you can t contribute for about six months. isn t there language that does allow you to make these withdrawals penalty free? and you have to meet very specific specifications to have that exemption. if you were permanentlyrently, exceed 7.5% of your gross adjusted income, or if you are be holden to alimony payments or child support payments, or if you were recently laid off or fired and you are 55 years old. but everybody else will pay the 10%. if you take out if i take out $10,000, i may only see what? either do the math. $10,000, you skim 10% off the top, so that s 10 1$,000. let s say you re in the 28% tax bracket. you re left with $6200 and that s not even including state or local taxes. so a real pinch here. all right. thanks so much. good to have you on. and now here s amy. it was the first weekend a ten day vacation for the first family with serious business not too far from the president s mind. mike viqueira is on mar that will martha s vineyard for us this morning. reporter: they say you can take the president out of the white house, but the job really never leaves him, he can never leave it behind. and though the sprd hepresidente on martha s vineyard, he s getting his daily briefings. the first family vacation is in full swing. president obama is n. vacation mode in martha s vineyard visiting a local bookstore with his daughters and thrilling a young tourist by signing a copy of his book. it was really i was nervous, but excited, too. reporter: the president also had good foreign policy news on his first full day here as israeli prime minister net yahoi can t netanyahu agreed to sit down for their first talk in almost two years. advisers traveling with the president hailed the agreement. there is a feeling within this administration that the parties have a strong commitment to forging peace. reporter: and a day after aides were compelled to state that the president is indeed a christian, there were more questions about the president s faith, including how and how often he worships. he prays every day. he talks to a wide range of pastors and religious leaders periodically. he s in contact with his religious scissorser every single day. reporter: this is the second year in a row the obama family has vacationed on martha s vineyard. again this year staying on a rented 28.5 acre property. aides insist the sprd really never off the clock and that an island locale is no optical to dealing with an emergency. communications systems are robust. we can get to him very easily here. reporter: while here, mr. obama is getting his regular intelligence and economic briefing. but the president is on vacation and according to aides, will spend his ten days here trying to recharge his battery. with so much on the president s plate, the white house says the criticism that the president and the first family are spending here on martha s vineyard have not without merit, but they believe that people will understand that even a president deserves a vacation every now and then. mike, thank you. and for more, we re joined by mark halperin. good morning. let s first talk about yesterday s announcement that the israelis and palestinians will engage in peace talks september 2nd in washington. we hear hillary clinton saying helps for a comprehensive peace agreement in one year s time. a pretty tall order. what impact will the success or failure have on the obama administration then? we ve waited a long time, a year in, the scheme of middle east conflict isn t a long period of time. you know the old joke about chicken soup, it couldn t hurt. this is a good step, but it doesn t mean there s a settlement. there s still a lot of problems. scheduling the talks is progress, but all the underlying problems, all of that needs to be worked out. getting the talks started, though, is good for the president. it s a bit of a risk, but given that year s time, given it a specific time frame to make this all happen, is that politically risky? they tried to say it wasn t a specific deadline. i think you have to set some sort of time frame. but they suggested if things are still going on, if it s not settled, it can go longer than a year. they need to get momentum and i think a year is meant to kick start that as a goal. we heard mike mention that the president s religion has been front and center this week. this is something they battled during the election, as well. staffers coming out he is a christian. why is this h so important to make this decision, is z. it have a place in the larger story that s been going on about this mosque being built so close to the former site of the world trade towers. the president needs to be a national leader on this issue. when about a quarter of americans and many more republicans think he s a muslim, it s a problem. there s a seinfeld think about not that there s anything wrong with it. the fact is, for a lot of americans, there is. our polls show a lot of people don t think there should be muslims on the supreme court or they don t have faith or trust in muslim americans or. mike: him or the islam religion. so the president unfortunately needs to come out and clarify this. it s a strange spectacle, but he does he z. need to be an honest broker on this issue. that requires facts all around, including about his own faith. all right, let s talk about former illinois governor i usually say embattled, but rod blagojevich who was acquit order 23 counts. he s made a media blitz. he was on the today show yesterday. daily show. is he a genius or a hazardous been? he s good comic relief. i think he needs to go out and make some money. he s broke. the federal taxpayers will have to pay for his defense. he was convicted on one count. as much as he s on his victory tour, does he have that conviction hanging over him. he ll appeal that. meanwhile the a felony conviction, too. that s right. meanwhile the governor will try to recharge on at least some of the counts. i think he s feeling it, he s feel going, he d like to get another reality show and show what he has. but also some people suspect he s out there trying to talk to future jurors to try to drive that message that the government has gone after him in a vindictive way and maybe get acquited on that one remaining count. mark halperin, thanks so much. now let s head over to the news desk with peter alexander. good morning. good morning to you at home today. we begin with that nationwide egg recall. it has now grown dramatically. a second company, hillendale farms of iowa is recalling more than 170 million eggs. the company says tests confirm salmonella illnesses linked to their products and this is a similar strain to the one that caused another company to recall 380 million eggs. more than 1,000 people have been sickened so far. if you want more details on the specifics of this recall, just go to todayshow.com. in iran, engineers are now loading fuel into that country s first nuclear power plant. this is a significant milestone as iran moves forward with an atomic program despite united nations sanctions. iran says the plant will produce power, not a nuclear bomb. russia helped build the site and says it will make sure that nuclear fuel is not redirected to a possible weapons ram. the embattled security firm formerly known as blackwater will reportedly have to pay 42 mltd in fines nos illegally exporting weapons to afghanistan among other alleged violations. the new york times reports the company also offered unauthorized military and police training in other countries, including sudan. the state department would not comment on the settlement. news from sweden, an arrest washt has been issued for the founder of that wikileakss on suspicion of rape and molestation. he s currently not in custody, but he did respond on wikileaks twitter page saying the charges are without basis. he angered the obama administration by publishing thousands of leaked documents about the wars in both rafrk and afghanistan. a utah highway patrol trooper is recovering this morning after a head-on crash with a wrong way driver on the highway. watch this police dash cam video. it shows as white toyota camry going past the officer s patrol car in the wrong direction. then with his lights flashing, the officer makes two u turns to try to stop the car when all of a sudden it comes right at him and they crash. amazingly nobody was hurt here. police say the wrong way driver s blood alcohol level in that case was more than twice the legal limit. finally, a huge operation. this is in new zealand. to get 11 beached whales back home. these are some big guys. they were among 58 pilot whales that beached themselves thursday night. hundreds of volunteers came there prepping them, using cranes and some big trucks to try to help safely return them to sea. this is not an easy task obviously. rescuers are keeping their fingers crossed. their goal is that they do not come back. sadly not all of them will survive, but the good news is they hope to get as many as they can back in the water safely. peter, thanks so much. and bill karins is here with our first check of the weather. our summer weekends are ticking off here. we re getting there good saturday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. first thing on your saturday some fog and cloud cover. plen plenty of sunshine this afternoon. 70s from washington to the bay. 66 in mostly cloudy and manassas. 77 downtown. highs upper 80s and low 90s. chance for showers tomorrow. that s your weekend forecast. lester in. with the final stretch of the summer vacation season in high gear, a lot of people are having reactions to all kinds of extra fees now being charged by the airlines. tom costello reports on what travelers face and how they re responding. reporter: this is the trip that this family has been waiting for all summer. they re headed to orlando for three days at disney world and the water parks. but rather than pay to go check their luggage, they ve stuffed everything into just four carry-ons. we took what we need, not what we want. reporter: for three days? yes. we fit it in. reporter: if they checked six bag, they d be out 150 bucks each way. across the country americans are lightening up to avoid paying up. baggage fees can run $15 to $25 per bag except on jet blue and southwest where bags fly free. if you fly spirit air, your carry-on can cost up to $45. then the fees to book your flight by phone, to board early, fees for leg room, an aisle seat and food, big fees to change a reservation. we want cheap airfares without the extra fees. and that s just not the reality of where we are right now. reporter: the airlines insist if you look at strict lit base fares, airline tickets today are cheaper than ten year ago. of course ten years ago go the airlines weren t charge to go check luggage. last year the airlines earned nearly $8 billion on fees after a decade of losses, they re starting to turn a profit. it is extremely important, it is a revenue stream that s a necessity, it s one that i absolutely believe is here to stay. reporter: but in atlanta, ken schaffer refused to pay extra to check his oversized suitcase. i could have paid $65 and not thrown anything away, but i wasn t willing to pay $65 when the ticket cost $160 to begin with. it s ridiculous. so this suit skas gone. reporter: he threw everything in the trash before fly to go omaha. as for this family, that $300 they saved on luggage will instead be going to school supplies. for today, tom costello, nbc news, washington. it s now 19 past the hour. here s amy. all this week peter a alexander has been following a very special group of people honored by the new york yankeess. they call it hope week with the yankees helping other folks feel like stars. peter, what a great story. this is a great week each season for the players and the people they host. every sports team gets flooded with requests for tour, for ticket, certainly for autographs. and whenever they can, they oblige, but again this year the yankees took it a step farther. five special visits in five days to create a movement of good will both on and off the field. reporter: a backyard pool party is about as all american as, well, baseball. throw in a surprise visit from the world champion new york yankees noets. reporter: and for this 13-year-old, this was one unforgettable afternoon. we came here to see all the obstacles that he s had to overcome in his life. for as cool as it might be for him to meet us, it s way cooler for us to meet him. reporter: when he was an infant, he had both arms and lelgs amputated to combat a terrible infection. if you think his disability has held him back, just watch. it s all part of what the yankees call hope week. now in its second year. and by hope they mean helping others persevere and accept. among the honorees, these special needs kids from a group called beautiful people taking over the mike, 16-year-old daniel fighting an immune deficiency disorder had an audience of 40,000 fans. now batting derek jeter. reporter: after the game a parade of players and a little role reversal with the big leaders doing the cheerg and the beautiful people taking the field. when you give back, it s not a one way street. and it s amazing how the kids and adults make you feel right at home. we come here and we re playing a game, obviously we re trying to win. but we realize there are a lot bigger things in the world. reporter: die hard oig fan jane who has been blind since birth got an unexpected escort to the ballpark. hi, i m tee nknow martinez. reporter: it s two hour trip on public transportation, usually just jane and her guide dog. this time the yankees were with her every step of the way. hai, guy, what do you think? i was so surprised. robby, oh, ro robby. reporter: from the stands jane has only heard the action. on this day, she got to feel it, too. what was your day like? a miracle. it took me until halfway through the game to realize that i wasn t sleeping. i was afraid to pinch myself because i thought sure i d wake up. i loved every minute of it. reporter: and capping each game this week, the boys of summer added a few extra names to theirs roster. giving each honor rooe lasting memories and a new reason for hope. i love that jane, she told me she only wanted three things in life, a home, a loving husband and legal thi children. she has them all, so i said that must make this experience frosting on the cake. she said i love frosting. what a great experience to be able to share that with all of us. the first time she ever felt home nature, she had always thought it was a square and finally when she got there, she got to physically touch it herself and see that wasn t the case. thanks, appreciate aboit. and we re back, but first this is today on nbc. still to come on today, captured. a nationwide manhunt for a prison escapee and his girlfriend choose to an end. plus the boy they re calling a mini monet. but first these messages. welcome back. as we begin with a live look outside. the capitol off in the distance. 73 degrees outside. not a bad day. chuck will have your forecast in a minute. first i m aaron gilchrist. 7:26 on this saturday morning. in the news for today, seven inmates are in the hospital after being stabbed. a fight broke out at the brockbridge correctional facility. one inmate has serious injuries. one of four survivors of a plane crash in alaska will return to washington today. the family of jim morehard cleared the lobbyist to travel. he ll finish recovering in a d.c. hospital. a prominent attorney and lobbyist killed in that lean crash has len bad to rest. family and friend held memorial services for bill phillips sr. phillips served as chief of staff to former alaska senator ted stevens who also died in the same crash. they were on a fishing trip when the plane went down. stay with us. when we come back, chuck will have a look at that forecast. welcome back. meteorologist chuck bell here now. what s on tap? pretty hot day to be outside. temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s right now. little bit cloud cover and some fog around. that s not going last too much longer. we ll end with plechbt sunshine by late morning and through much of the afternoon hours as well. temperatures in the mid-60s out west to low 70s around town. here s your saturday forecast. we ll call it generally sunny. a little fog to burn through first thing this morning. but that won t last too much longer. temperature in the upper 80s to low 90. tomorrow mostly cloudy. rain likely by mid to late afternoon. temperatures will stay in the 80s. sub-90 degree weather will last all the way into and through much of the upcoming week. that s a little good news. today is the last real hot one. we ll have more local news and weather for your in 25 minutes sore. 7:29 right now. go back to new york and the today show . we re back on this saturday morning, the 21st day of august. our thanks to everyone who came out to spend some time with us. we ll head outside in just a bit. but first back inside studio 1 a, i m amy robach along with lester holt. coming up later today, the peter pan mystery. mummified remains of two babies found in the basement of a los angeles apartment building have left detectives trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. clues include a possible link to the book peter pan. can this case be solve sthd we ll find out. very odd. and then rod blagojevich sat down with meredith vieira on friday. coming up we ll have more from that interview and find out why you re about to be seeing a lot more of the former illinois governor. plus it s called the switch oig. jennifer aniston s new movie on film and in real life, a lot of 40 somethings are abandoning the search for mr. right and raises a child on their own. why many feel they don t need a man to raise a family. but first a forest ranger is being hailed a hero, a true hero for spotting a pair of fugitives and making sure they were captured without a shoot-out. john mccluskey and casslyn welch who call themselves a modern day bonnie and clyde were arrested at an arizona campsite after a three week man hunt. george lewis has the story. reporter: the end of the line for john mccluskey and casslyn welch. they had referred to themselves as a latter day bonnie and clyde. they re dangerous, they take what they want when they want and we re glad to get them off the street. reporter: it all began july 30th when mccluskey and two others escaped from this arizona prison. marshals say welch helped them. two days later, one of the escapees was captured in colorado after a shoot-out with police. on august 4th in new mexico, the bodies of gary and wherein today haas were found inside a burned out travel trailer. police said forensic evidence links hk custody and welch to the killing. august 9th, another escapee tracy province was arrested in wyoming. then thursday night at a camp ground in arizona, an alert park ranger spotted and oddly parked vehicle and called in the license plate number. he is a true hero. he made that contact, he was thinking about it, he was out there doing his job. reporter: as s.w.a.t. officers surrounded the couple, welch grabbed a pistol hidden in the small of her back, but then put it down. as she surrendered, mccluskey made a possible incriminating statement. when she threw her gun down, when the sergeants on scene said don t mess that that, it could possibly be the murder weapon, he said, no, the murder weapon is over in the tent. reporter: mccluskey said he would have shot it out with officers if he could have gotten to that gun. for today, george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. it is time now for us to get another check of the weather from bill karins out on the plaza. you call us crazy but we think that was a praying mantis. patchy fog first thing. temperatures in the low to mid-owes around town. plenty of 60s on the man towards fauquier county and culpeper. little bit of fog this morning, burns away leaves us with a sunny and hot afternoon. today s high near 93 degrees. all right. i got my friend back. the birds left him alone. amy and lester, i think i have to bring him inside to keep him safe. amy, can i use your office? what is it, a praying mantis? a operation mpraying mantis,. he doesn t stand a pray if you let him loose with those birds out there. we ll figure out what to do. still to come, the amazing catch seen around the world. check it out. makes it is look just so easy. up next, the switch. it s the new movie having 40 something women thinking about raising kids without a man. but first these messages. ] your eyes, they smile and sparkle and itch! when allergies make your precious eyes itch, don t wait for your pills to kick in. only alaway comes from bausch & lomb. with over 150 years of eye health expertise, alaway works in minutes and up to 12 hours. so, trust the experts, alaway from bausch & lomb. because it s not just your allergies, it s your eyes. bausch & lomb alaway. it s your eyes. so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables? yeah, maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what s your number? 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[ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is diane. diane, who has diabetes and a daughter who could use a little perspective. diane, who worked with her walgreens pharmacist to keep her blood-sugar numbers in check with a few changes to her diet. diane, who s showing her daughter the world s a bit bigger than 8th grade. expertise find it everywhere there s a walgreens. expertise in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it s already in my email. in the new movie the switch, jennifer aniston play as 40 something woman abandoning the certainly for a man and opting to raise a child alone. a hollywood plot line that sounds pretty familiar. i m having a baby. you re pregnant? not yet. but i m working on it. it s a romantic comedy plot twist. i m just ready to do it now. and i don t need a man to have a baby. it s called the switch. and it s the new jennifer aniston movie that have many 40 somethings choose to go raiing child on their own. why is it up here? i m messing with you. and this spring jennifer lopez had a backup plan. you re one of my best friends. don t you want to help me? we don t have to have sex. just be my baby daddy. we re seeing a lot more entertainment, movies, television shows, centered around women making the choice to become single moms. the single mom has become the star both on the big screen and off. oftentimes we see the single moms like halle berry and reese witherspoon who are in the magazines and really enjoying their time with their kids. and sandra bullock made headlines when she introduced her new baby louis. the adoption has been finalized. so-to-severybody couldn t he root for her because she s moving on to a new phase of her life. and hollywood hopes this is a story that real women will pay to see. i m going to do this. i want to have a kid. is this a new trend in raising children? we have a single mom by choice and the author of knock yourself up and ian, good morning to both of you. why do you think we re starting to see hollywood take on this topic specifically showing women who are making a choice to become single moms? they re looking for a fresh twist on a romantic comedy. these are not single moms really, they re movies about women who just happen to meet the guy of their dreams at the moment that they least expected it. but i think it s also because it s something that women now when they hit 30, they re much more aware of the biological clock. they re starting to joke about it over cocktails with their friends. it s really on the minds of those 30 something women. i heard you say that it s a romantic comedy, women are joking about it, but there is nothing easy about being a single mom. there s nothing easy about parenting, that s for sure. i m going home with two kids from here. but we do have a phenomenon that s happening in this country where there really are more single women than there are single men and you have plenty of women graduating from college, pursuing their careers, pursuing jobs. and relationships. and they start to approach 40 and really the pressure of the biological clock really kicks in and they want to have children and they re great women and they ll make great moms. and no doubt about that, but is there a concern that hollywood s glamourizing it? i think that hollywood glam rises everything, so what do you expect. of course hollywood is glam rising it. it s interesting. i work with a lot of single women facing this very situation and i m actually a big fan of going to on your own. and i think hollywood is glam rising it because a lot of women i talk to who are 38, 39, even into their 40s are still looking for 23mr. right, still hoping t do it in a more traditional way. and if they want to pick mr. wrong just because it s a certain time in their life. and they ve seen families where that happens where it was a bad marriage and they don t want to raise a child in that kind of destructive environment. a decision and lifestyle that isn t always accepted. it s not always accepted by all americans. bill o reilly sharply criticized jennifer aniston, he said she s throwing a message out to 12 and 13-year-olds that, hey, you don t need a guy, you don t need a dad. he said that s destructive to our society. how do you respond to that criticism that men are unnecessary in a family structure? of course men are wonderful and dads are wonderful and most of the women that do this love men and value fatherhood, but they again don t want to pick the wrong guy and create a destruct it difference family situation. he s also talking about the statistics about single mothers which looks at women who are single mothers out of death or divorce, abandonment, and those statistics look really bad. i put up on my website the studies on women who did this when they re in their 30s, they re financially independent and the kids come out really great. what about from a man s perspective? from a man s perspective, there are a lot of single dads today, too, not necessarily getting artificially in-accept natured, but i think it has a lot to do with the internet age. it a lot of dads are able to work from home, so on the whole we re really seeing an uptick in single parents. i was the product of a single mom, so all it takes is one person to really love you. i think anybody that really wants to have a kid and can support a kid, that kid will be lucky. thanks so much. we appreciate it. good discussion. coming up next, the 8-year-old paint brush prodigy. that s after these messages. 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[ female announcer ] new aveeno nourish plus shine. when we first met carry will i didn t kn williamson, he was 7 years old. now his paintings are selling for hefty sums and a long waiting list for his new works. martin fletcher has the story. reporter: paintings sell for tens of thousands. he s compared to monet and picasso. impression nis without being too abstract. reporter: and he s 8 years old. that seems to be a done deal. he lives where the gathering storm clouds and winds to him are just light, shadows and terms. art lovers around the world are lining up hoping to buy an early work from a future genius. certainly this gallery owner agrees. the standard of which he is painting are very reminiscent of picasso. reporter: it all started on a family trip when he asked for paper and colors. he was five then and hasn t stopped since. his parents advice? never give up. practice every day. reporter: he doesn t take art classes or attend special school. his favorite movie, fantastic mr. poll beings. he loves soccer and bedtime is 7:30. an ordinary kid, it s just that sees things differently. not just at church, but flasheses of light and rays came down and right in the middle of the church. reporter: yours for $30,000. his parents don t want to rush him trying to keep his love for painting alive rather than bury him with pressure. his future seems mapped out, nope after all, dad s an art dealer. for today, martin fletcher, nbc news, london. we can say we knew him when. i think maybe he only sold a painting for $10,000, not $30,000, right? wait for a year from now and we ll see where he s at. we re back in a moment, but first this is today on nbc. there is an unbelievable list of applications or apps available for the smartphones and this morning we ll introduce you to one that has a lot of people talking. it s called date check. the premises is quite simple. you re on a date, he or she steps away to go to the men s or lady s room, you enter their phone number into the app and their entire history appears. and we re talking entire history. once you log on to the ap.you have five categories to choose from. the sleaze detector which searches criminal records, compatibility gives astro logical insight to the person based on their birthday, property ownership meaning if they own a home and how big or small it is. there s even a living situation category so you can find out who the person lives with or who they live near. and one more category called interest which interests linked in, flicker, facebook and myspace and show various profiles. why even know where to start how wrong this is. there are no secrets anymore. little mysteries keep the relationship alive at first. is this where dating is now? i guess. thank god we re not in it. still to come, we ll talk about rod making. he has a lot to say. we ll be right back. freedom is all that i need [ female announcer ] ladies, raise your spoons. now there s nothing left standing between you and a satisfying breakfast. introducing special k low-fat granola. with 50% less fat than the leading granola and 5 grams of fiber per serving, it s a satisfying way to help you manage your weight. special k low-fat granola a taste of freedom. oh, love me oh oh oh just love me oh oh oh just hold me oh oh oh just kiss me oh oh oh just want me l-o-v-e love, love, love, love l-o-v-e love, love, love, love l-o-v-e i m chef michael, and i love to delight bailey s senses.too. don t i? 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[ barks ] [ female announcer ] chef inspired, dog desired. chef michael s canine creations. new aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers, with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on, to even skin tone in four weeks. new aveeno tinted moisturizers. they smile and sparkle and itch! when allergies make your precious eyes itch, don t wait for your pills to kick in. only alaway comes from bausch & lomb. with over 150 years of eye health expertise, alaway works in minutes and up to 12 hours. so, trust the experts, alaway from bausch & lomb. because it s not just your allergies, it s your eyes. bausch & lomb alaway. welcome back. we take a live look over the nation s capitol. the white house in the foreground on what will be another hot, humid day across the district. your forecast in details in a second. 7:56 on this saturday, august, 21st. i m aaron gilchrist. prince george s police have arrested a man they believe robbed a series of banks between march and june. damon roberts jr. handed bank tellers a note and then run with the loot. he was caught in the act on surveillance tapes as he tried to hide his identity. seven inmates are in the hospital aftering stabbed. several fights broke out at the brockbridge correctional facility. one inmate had serious injuries. a quick reminder for you if you plan on taking the metro the redskins game tonight add 30 minutes to your trip. there s track work on the red, blue and yellow lines all droiiiid. what this droid does will change how you do web connections. this creates a mobile 3g hotspot, powerful enough to fuel multiple devices at will. putting you at the center of your own world wide web. introducing the new droid x. the next generation of does. we focus on right now. not too bad outside? not bad at all. a little bit of morning gloominess and fog around first thing but the sunshine won t have too much trouble burning that way. there s a live picture here from our tower camera up in northwest washington looking southbound past the national cathedral. there s some reduced visibility out there. once the sunburns that away temperatures in the upper 60s and 70s. upper 80s and low 90s for a brief time this afternoon. back down in the 80s for tomorrow with rain likely by mid-afternoon. if you have to mow the lawn do it today. i don t do that. another update for you in 2 we re back on a gorgeous saturday morning. it s august 21st, 2010. we say thanks to the crowd for spending their weekend with us in person. it s starting to feel a little bit like fall, isn t it? a cool breeze. that s good news and bad news. back to school, good news. you re still in those years. anyway, coming up in this half hour, they re calling it the peter pan mystery. a gruesome discovery. the mummified remains of two babies found in week in an old trunk in what used to it be an elegant old apartment building in los angeles. it all goes back more than 70 years. and they also found letters, postcards and possible links to the author of pet peter pan. and we ll talk about rod blagojevich. the government is planning a retrial. the former illinois governor playing defense. he has a very aggressive media campaign now making the rounds proclaiming his innocence. we ll discuss his strategy coming up. and i don t know if this guy had strategy at the pillies game, but he certainly had a good arm. we ve been watching this video over and over again. no need to put down the snacks, he caught it with one hand. we ll talk with him live this half hour. and he deserves that big smile on his face. doesn t even stop. just catches the ball. so cool. i m going to keep walking. the soda remains and can t wait to hear his story. in the meantime, peter alexander standing by. that guy is still smiling this morning. we ll begin right now with what is now among the nation s largest egg recalls ever and it is growing. a second company, hillendale farms of iowa is recalling more than 170 million eggs. the company says tests confirm salmonella illnesses linked to its products and it s a similar strain it to the one that caused another company to recall 380 million eggs. more than 1,000 people have been sickened so far. if you want more details on specifics of the recall, go to todayshow.com. the obama family is enjoying the first weekend of its ten day summer vacation and mike viqueira is live at martha s vineyard with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning, peter. and this vacation for the president and his it people began with some good news on the foreign policy front when it was announced by secretary of state hillary clinton back in washington that president netanyahu of israel and the leader of the palestinian authority would be meeting in washington for the first direct talks between those two entities in almost two years. . and the president himself is going to be hosting that meeting on september 2nd back in washington.nd the president him going to be hosting that meeting on september 2nd back in washington.going to be hosting g on september 2nd back in washington. and the presidential vacation is now in full swing. yesterday was their first full day here in martha s vineyard, the second consecutive year they ve been here and the secretary of defense year they ve stayed at the blue herring farm. the president visited a bookstore emerging with his two daughters after getting a free copy of the new novel freedom. afterwards there was ice cream with the first lady and daughters and then the president got in a understand round of golf that is sure to be the first of many.round of golf that is sure to be the first of many. mike, thanks. the obama administration has asked that the lockerbie bomber be returned to a scottish prison. friday marked the one year anniversary of his release and it was criticized what was called the unfortunate and appropriate and wrong decision to release him. an arrest warrant has been issued for the founder of the controversial website wiki leaks. he s wanted by swedish authorities on suspicion of rape d molestation. he s currently not in custody, but he did respond to the charges on wikileaks twitter page saying the charges are without basis. assange has angered the obama administration by published thousands of leaked military documents about the wars in iraq and afghanistan. and finally, did you see that rookie right-hander pitching last night at pen way park in boston? there she is. that s meredith vieira. she threw out the ceremonial first pitch alongside former e.r. star and breast cancer survivor. it was all part of an effort to promote the jimmy fund. that s the news. now tossing it back to lester outside. we p a good saturday morning outside of our windows and a little bit of low clouds and some fog around first thing this morning. that will be burning away pretty quickly this strong to mid late august sunshine should burn away by late this morning. temperatures in the low 70s now across region. 76 degrees at annapolis, 76 here in washington, 74 in rockville, 73 degrees in fairfax. there s your highs today upper 80s and 4r0e9s with increasing clouds today and risk for rain tomorrow. of that wet weather. that s a look at your weekend forecast. amy? it began with an old trunk abandoned for over 70 years found in the basement of a los angeles apartment building. this week the trunk was finally opened, revealing a gruesome mystery with a possible link to the author of peter pan. the story from nbc s lee cowen. reporter: in the 1920s, it was an elegant place. home to doctors, lawyers, writers, and silent film stars. but the building also housed something not so elegant. a secret perhaps. maybe even a crime. the area there is quite extensive. now they re trying to clean out the old furniture and stuff and they came across the trunk. reporter: a steamer trunk. it and its dog eared instruction pamphlets have been down in that basement a very long time. forgotten until these two women pried it open. inside? a lot of personal belongings, pictures and lerpostcards. reporter: even tickets to the 1932 olympic games. relics of happy days. but there were nightmares in that trunk, too. we found a body in this part. the first one was like a miscarriage or abortion. reporter: wrapped in yellowed newspaper, stuffed in two locked doctors bags for what appeared to be two mummified fetuseses. it s very soft, so at first i feel it maybe it s fabric or something inside. but then when i opened it, it looked more like a body. reporter: the newspapers dated 1932 and 1935 are just a start for investigators. we re working backwards 75 to 80 years and at some point we have to realize we may not be able to solve what happened here. reporter: the initials jmb were inscribed on the trunk. inside, a signature, ms. jean m berry. there was a jean m. berry who was a performer in the 30s. she was related to the author of peter pan. a copy of peter pan oig was found in the trunk along with a membership to the once exclusive fighter man woodland club. is she the one? maybe, maybe not. turns out there was another jean berry who worked here in the 30s tate as a nurse prompting speculate that programs she was performing back alley abortions at a time when they were illegal. et q either way, the babies within packed away with someone s prize possessions and then left behind like an erie time capsule. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. coming up next, the rod blagojevich media blitz right after these messages. ure. my job is to hunt it down. i m fred lemond, and i m in charge of bp s efforts to remove oil from these waters. bp has taken full responsibility for the cleanup and that includes keeping you informed. you may have heard that oil is no longer flowing into the gulf, but our spotter planes and helicopters will keep searching for any oil. we use satellite images, infrared and thermal photography to map and target the oil. we re finding less oil every day, but we ve still got thousands of vessels ready to clean it up. local shrimp and fishing boats, organized into task forces and strike teams. plus, specialized skimmers from around the world. we ve skimmed over 35 million gallons of oil/water mixture and removed millions more with other methods. i grew up on the gulf coast and i love these waters. as long as there s oil out there that could make it ashore, i m gonna do everything i can to stop it. bp s commitment is that we will see this through. and we ll be here as long as it takes to clean up the gulf. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze. my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a new liquid gel. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. to get more of the fiber you need every day, try fiberchoice. with the natural fiber found in fruits and vegetables and 33% more fiber per serving than benefiber. go to fiberchoice.com to get savings and rewards. almost immediately after a jury found him guilty of just one of 24 charges, rod blagojevich resumed something he clearly loves to do. going on television and talking about himself. his first sitdown interview was on friday with meredith vieira and it certainly won t be his last. reporter: his trial is over, rod brag now a convicted felon. but for the former illinois governor, the media blitz is just beginning. i did absolutely nothing wrong. reporter: for his first interview after the verdict, he appeared with meredith vieira to discuss the trial. they threw everything but the kitchen sink at me. the power of the government failed to convict me of any corruption charges. why didn t you take the stand? our legal team determined that after the government put its case on that they didn t prove any corruption and as a result of that made a determination to give no credence to their case. reporter: jurors said they were overwhelmed by the complexity of the prosecution s case and though they deliberated for 14 days, the jury could only agree to convict blagojevich on one count. lying to the fbi. out of the 24 charges against him. it s a false statement they allege i made five years ago. i did not lie to the fbi. we ll appeal that. reporter: the charge that garnered the most attention, that blagojevich tried to sell president obama s vacated senate seat, was deadlocked. i got this thing and if i [ bleep ] golden. and i m just not giving it up for [ bleep ] nothing. reporter: but it was only one jury away from a guilty verdict. plolitical discussions are still legal and political horse trading and discussing those sorts of things are still legal. it happens even today. reporter: prosecutors say they ll retry the case. blagojevich is looking for vindication. under any circumstances will you accept a plea deal? absolutely not. we are going to win we already won the first round. we ll win this one. reporter: but blagojevich is reportedly out of money. here s what they do to you the government when they want to get you. they squeeze you financially. reporter: and did not rule out the possibility of a future appearance on another reality show. joining us now with more insight is wendy murphy, a former federal prosecutor and contributor to the daily beast oig. and howard brag man, chairman of 15 minutes, a media and.r agency. thanks so much for coming on. good morning, lester. wendy, it was 11-1. if you re the prosecutor, you re alonging is it a no-brainer that you retry it? absolutely. if i m the odds maker in vegas, it vael a no-brainer. if it were 11-1 for acquittal, i d a a no brainner the other direction. but what it indicates when there s only one holdout, that s not a comment on the strength of the case. that s an indication that there was one oddball. so, again, absolutely strong indication retrial and high likelihood of conviction. but you heard blagojevich. he s basically saying what he s being accused of happens all the time. there is horse trading, we all know that politics is hardball. does that begin to carry some weight when you listen to the crux of his argument? what he s really saying is i committed a crime, it just shouldn t be one because everybody s doing it. i guess on that theory, there s lots of drunk drivers out there, why enforce those laws. no, i think in fact that s a very strong argument in favor of retrying him because the public shares that rather cynical view of politics, we need to be sending a very different message. there should be no such tolerance for corruption. shame on him for suggesting otherwise. and, howard, just one juror stood between him and being convicted. and yet here he s out talking to the media, this big media blitz. is that a good idea for him? absolutely it s good idea for him. he hasn t run his public life since these accusations came down in a textbook pr manner, but he s run it in a way that s truly authentic for him and it seems to be working. as for the fact that it was 11-1, it doesn t matter. he won, they lost. we had a political guest on earlier who suggested maybe he s talking to the next group of jurors. is that the strength of going out that he ll be on the daily show monday, is that the strength of him talking right now? absolutely. and i think the public is starting to listen to what he said. we re spending millions of dollars prosecuting this guy and he s calling attention to it. and what s so unusual about this, most people when they get indicted, they get what we say in the business, they get small. they disappear, they don t say anything, their lawyers speak for them. the governor has taken a very different tact, one that s authentic to him and one that seems to be working for him since obviously he came out the winner in this first trial. and i think he wants to sort of temper the jury pool and make people aware what have the government s intentions are against him. both sides learn a lot now as they look at how the jury deliberated, the prosecution gets to figure out what evidence they need to emphasize more. what about the defense, what do they learn from this and how might this heb blagojevilp blag? one thing they ll do is focus on that sole holdout. because whatever she said about why she thought the case was not strong enough, they have to find more jurors just like that. that will be their focus. i don t think they ll change their tactic, i don t think the evidence will change for either side. that lone holdout really holdings the key to a possible acquittal in the future. i think we have to assume his political career may be dead or at least on life support, but obviously he s done the reality show, he wants to do more. how does he rehabilitate his image assuming he doesn t go to jail? the first thing he has to do is get through these criminal charges. he has to hope the government doesn t reprosecute him and i think he can possibly look to eliot spitzer as a model. there are second acts in american life. and we kind of like outrageousness. that s what cable tv is built on. he s a man with an opinion, a point of view, and agree or disagree, the guy is pretty good television and pretty entertain to go watch. and good hair. wendy, howard, thanks much. up next, the catch of date. we ll meet the phillies fan who made an unbelievable catch without a single bobble or error. but first, this is today on nbc. no doubt about it, it will go down as one of the great catches of all times at least by a fan. it happened thursday night at a phillies game and a veterinarian made it look so easy. he joins us this morning. good morning to you. good morning. so you were on kour way back from the concession stand. you had a handful of drinks. did you even hear the crack of the bat, did you know a foul ball could be headed your way? yes. you did. so was it just it looked as though you just reacted and you re just so calm and so cool. are you used to catching balls like that? i ve been lucky enough to catch a few foul balls before, or a couple i should say, but all that calm demeanor that you saw was nothing what was going on in my brain. did you have time to think or react to the ball? yes. it only took a couple seconds, but at the felt like poefr to me. and in my head was all the things that could go wrong. so i m lucky you didn t see that on there. so we know the drinks stayed intact. did you spill anything? it look sod steady. my dad would have killed me. those were his fries on there. so you re a big phillies fan i understand and it wasn t until the catch was shown on the stadium s jumbotron that the audience reacted. they gave and you standing ovation. what was it like to receive all that attention? it was neat because right after the catch, i got a lot of applause and everything. but you re never quite sure how good or bad you look, so i was kind of holding my breath until i saw it on the fan vision in between innings. and then i kind of then i let out a sigh of relief. but the real test of how you looked a what your wife thought about it. she s a big fan and she wasn t at thursday s game. she wasn t watching it on tv. but what did she think when she finally did see the video? she thought it was great. i got surprise her with it because she watches most of the games. and she didn t get an opportunity that night to see it. so when i came home, i let her know, oh, you got to check out the highlights. and she was sitting there, we wan? i said, no, we didn t win, but there s cool stuff on there. so when the highlight came on, she said that s you. and i kind of nonchalantly took the ball out of my pocket, tossed it over to her. and i hear she s a big jayson werth fan. he s the one who actually hit the ball your way. so who has the ball now, you or does she have the ball is this. my wife has the ball. i m sure i wouldn t be surprised if she bring it is with her tomorrow to the game. some people are saying if any fan makes a smooth catch like you did, they ll be calling it the ian driven. how does that feel? feels kind of cool, but i don t know if my friends will be calling it a driven. well, i think it was a spectacular catch. thanks for sharing your story. would he appreciate it. thank you. and, i don t know, i don t think many people could pull that off. i just love the hand up and not missing a stride. good for him. we ll be right back. stay with us. well, max, first day. moh-ohm. -do you have your lunch? -yes. and you know where your classroom is? uh huh. mom, i can walk from here. what about your. mom, i got it. 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cereals they already love, like lucky charms and cinnamon toast crunch. give your kids more of what they need to be their best. grow up strong. with big g kid cereals. good morning, everyone. taking a live look outside. 77 degrees already. it will warm up quite a bit today. your forecast just ahead. it s 8:26 on this saturday, august 21, 2010. i m kimberly suiters. in the news for today prince george s county police have arrested this man. they believe he rob ad series of banks between march and june. damon roberts jr. handed bank tellers a note and then flee with throat. he was a social worker for d.c. public schools and was caught in the act on surveillance tapes. he rarely tried to hide his identity. seven inmates are in the hospital this morning after being stabbed. several fights broke out at the brockbridge correctional facility last night. one inmate has serious injuries. no correctional officers were hurt. one of four survivors in a plane crash in alaska will return to washington, d.c. today. family of jim moorehard say doctors at an anchorage hospital cleared the lobbyist to come home. he ll finish recovering at a d.c. hospital. a albuquerque reminder if you plan to take metro the redskins game tonight add 30 minutes to your trip. there s track work on the red, blue and yellow lines all weekend long. your weather is up next. stay with us. . and it s 8:29 p.m. time to check in with chuck. chuck is recovering from a little nap here. yes, indeed. when you get up early enough a nap always seems like a great idea. temperatures in the low to mid-70s across the area right now. do have a little bit of cloud hanging over parts of northern virginia out towards the panhandle of west virginia and up to the shenandoah valley. keep a weather eye on that. meanwhile once the fog is gone we ll be left with partly to mostly sunny afternoon on the warm side as well. temperatures already in the low to mid-70s. we should climb up to the upper 80s and low 90s. last 90 degree day for a while. tomorrow s high 85. pretty good chance for showers for second half of your sunday. we ll have a full hour of local news, weather ahead at 9:00. we promise to be wide awake. now back to the today show. and we re back on this saturday morning with a great crowd out on the plaza. and believe it or not, the summer season is winding down. so our thanks to everyone for joining us. still on come this half hour, keeping the faith. we re talking about mixed faith families. in 1988, only about 15% of u.s. households were mixed faith. today that number is 31%. the landscape is changing and coming up, we ll meet some married couples of different faiths and feebd out their secrets to marriage success in this ever changing world. and with labor day just around the corner, 30 million americans will head out on that final vacation of the summer. if you re looking for an easy and affordable escape plus a great travel day to hit the road, we ll have ideas you ll love. and then it s the road trip to college for million of young people. they ll be in the car but may not know how to change the tire or oil in their car. coming up, we ve got the car tips they need to know before they head to college. but before we get to all of that, let s get another check of the weather with bill karins who is out on the plaza with us. beautiful day out here. and all of these lovely good saturday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. temperatures are climbing slowly but steadily through throw 70s across region. 76 in town. 73 in arlington and fairfax. 73 in winchester. 72 degrees in gaithersburg and germantown. 75 degrees in bethesda. your forecast for today, morning fog giving way to generally sunny conditions this afternoon. a hot one, upper 80s low 90s. if you have something to do outside do it today. and we re headed to this time of year. football time. we like football time out here. rumor has it some by named brett has returned to the vikings. yeah, he s back. mike singletary trying to lead the 49ers to afternoon improved season. no problem whatever sorry with the woman. have you ever heard of some h guy named brett favre? he s back, i guess. all right, bill, thank you. last month s wedding between chelsea clinton who is a christian and marc mezvinsky, a conservative jew, reflects the growing trend of interfaith marriages. one in three u.s. couples is now a relinl quus idge yusly mixed marriage. i m a christian. i m a muslim. our wedding day, it was a beautiful day. we had two ceremonies celebrating both faiths. my name is howard and i was raised orthodox jew. my name is sally and i was raised catholic. my religion is important to me more from a traditional standpoint than a dogmatic standpoint. my name is dara and i m jewish. my name is chad and i am agnost agnostic. i was raised in a strongly evangelical household. after i went to college, i ended up as my parents might say stepping away from the faith. it was odd at first, you know, you re looking at yourself in the mirror with your head covered and it was a different look for me. larry loved it, of course. yeah, i loved it. good first ceremony was a muslim ceremony and the imam came to the house. second ceremony was a christian ceremony. we can changed our wedding wow, we had all of our family and friends there. my parents reaction was a little bit of a shock. my mother was a very opini opinionated person. her first comment was, well, i don t think i like you marying a jewish man. and my comment to her was being 30 something i don t remember asking you. the deal breaker after he decided he wasn t going to convert was i still wanted to raise my children jewish. in terms of deal breakers with dara, there really were none. i saw it more as just having to wear her down in certain ways. i m not going to lie that i do sometimes wonder if once chad raises his children jewish he might change his mind. and you can keep wondering. that will be the mystery of our marriage. the senior pastor of the first baptist church of lincoln gardens and former editor at the wall street journal working on a book about interfaith marriages. good morning to both of you. pastor, let me begin with you. obviously with more and more couples getting into interfaith marriages, lots of issues a rise from baptisms to burials. these can be major points in a marriage that maybe one isn t thinking about especially when it comes to raising children. how do you counsel couples of different faiths? what s wonderful about the interfaith cup sell that they ve come to the counseling session recognizing that there are differences. unfortunately we often take so much for granted when we re dealing internally that we miss some conversations that we should have. and so i think the interfaith couples have a more genuine process of pre-marital counseling and they confront issues that are real issues that otherwise they may not confront. and yet there are some pastors, rabbi, pre-s, who won t marry couples of different faiths because they think it s too difficult of a struggle. you don t have a concern with that. no, not at all. and you ve been researching the topic for a while now and there are interesting states. this 1988, 15% of u.s. households were mixed faith. that number road is now 37%. why is this on the rise? first, we re a very he can uhe men cal country now. there is a lot more contact among faiths. second, higher education rates often lead to interfaith marriages. people meet each other during college. but also the hate alater age of marriage. in your 20s and 30s, people tend to identify themselves with less religion. so they re often more open to meeting people of other faiths and marrying them. and marrying outside of your religion has been an issue of jew, catholic, muslims. but now you found evangelical are also becoming more concerned. there is a bubbly cal idea that one should not be unequally yoked. and one interpretations that been that a christian being married to a monday christian can be a very difficult relationship. and i agree with the pastor here that people who have these conversations ahead of time are often going in with their eyes open, but it turns out there my research that more than half of couples don t have these conversations before they re married about how they re going to raise their children. and that is a big issue before pastor, it s interesting because we know that marriage is about compromise. and yet why is compromising about religion so difficult? because of ignorance. the reality is two baptists may not be identical even though they re baptists. so i think a thorough process on the front end that anticipates communications challenges, financial issues, sex and nonsex, i think are the key things. people get divorced over pizza because they can t communicate. and so i think the interfaith issue is not as big as many people would suggest because the truth of the matter is there are interfaith people in the same faith. not only catholics agree on everything. but interfaith marriages do have a higher divorce rate nap eat bottom line. and it s snag people should be aware of and they re not. i think it s very tab would you to talk about earlier in a relationship from what i can tell talking to counselors and pastors and couples themselves. people don t want to bring it up early on. but it has to be discussed clearly. and i also point to the fact when you talk about counselors about what people get divorced over it does tend to be the day to day things, but religion can influence the day to day things. not pizza perhaps. but how you spend your time, how you spend your money and how you raise your children, those are three things that are very big sources of conflicts in marriage. thanks so much for joining uu us. we appreciate it. coming up next, what your college-bound kids need to know about their car. this is diane. diane, who has diabetes and a daughter who could use a little perspective. diane, who worked with her walgreens pharmacist to keep her blood-sugar numbers in check with a few changes to her diet. diane, who s showing her daughter the world s a bit bigger than 8th grade. expertise find it everywhere there s a walgreens. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze. my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a new liquid gel. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that s caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives. [ female announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don t stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you ve had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. sending a son or daughter off to college will fill any parent with anxiety, but sending them off with a car, that s a whole nother level. so what should you teach your college-bound student when he drives off with a ton of steel? christy hyde is here with answers. great to see you. there s a lot to know before we even think about getting under hood. let s talk about some basics that teenagers may have missed before they make that drive to college. frequently when they re in high school, we sort of take care of them too much. they don t know basic things like where is the spare tire located, how do i put air in the tire. or how do i even pump gas. make sure you teach them all the basics before you send them off. basic preventive maintenance. you have to check the oil. checking the oil especially important in an older car which a lot of teens might have. look for the stick, pull it out, and make sure that it s between the marks. you have two little notches here and you want the oil level to be in between them. if it s low on oil, dhee have a lot of car problems. and the color tells us whether it s time to change. if the oil looks dirty, take it in. let s it talk about the warning lights that go off in our car sometimes.talk about th warning lights that go off in our car sometimes.alk about theg lights that go off in our car sometimes.talk about the warnin lights that go off in our car sometimes. you get the check begin light. tell me about that. there are so many lights under the car and we don t know what they are sometimes. and a lot of people just ignore them, which is the worst thing you can do. if the light comes on, for example, the oil light, that doesn t mean it s time to change the oil, that means pull over immediately. another important one would be the battery light. that one you have a little bit more time, but you need to get somewhere safe because you won t be able to restart it. there s overheating lights as well, another one you need to pull over immediately for. and the engine light. if it s a solid light, start making plans to see your repair specialist. but if items flashinif it s fla immediately. what should you do to try to cool the car down? don t touch it. don t add water. just let the engine cool before do you anything to it. you mentioned in a lot of cases dad has taken care of the car. what do they do about finding a reputable repair shop? you don t need to wait until you need one to find one. find a repair shop, let them go over there, introduce them to the manager. if you re not sure how to find a shop that you can trust with your teenager, aaa is there to help. we inspect shops, we check their background, survey their customers. so flook one that has aaa approval. all their lives growing up we talk about the unexpected emergencies. they can t call mom and dad if they re away at school to come hope, so you want to make sure they have a good well stocked emergency repair kit. most important thing in an emergency kit is a membership into a motor club. if they need towing, someone like aaa can come out and help. but make sure they have things such as flashlights with extra battery, jumper cables, first aid kit, basic tools. and also water and granola in case they get stuck. and in the wintertime, make sure this is updated to help with snow. a fuse can blow. just look and see what s not working. the radio is not working, it sells you what size fuse, pop it out, pop it in and your car is all ready. and here you want to talk about if you blow a light bulb, it could get them a ticket. you can repair that with buying a new light bulb and getting a screw diver. the o driver. all important information. and keep your seatbelts on, kids. absolutely. put the phone away. tell them to stay safe, keep the focus on driving. thanks so much. great to have you here. we ll be back with more after this. this morning on today s travel, the holiday is just around the corner and for a lot of people the weekend represents the last that are a of ha-rah of summer. people think about traveling friday to monday, influence are better days to travel. fwra riday to monday is peak travel days, so squeeze a day later. saturday morning you have more elbow rooms. tuesday come back instead of monday, could you save 20 force 40% on your airfare. we ve mentioned about airfare and how the prices keep ticking up, so road trips are becoming extremely popular. what are some great destinations for hitting the road? this is great for families or large groups. car is the best way to go. pack it up and head to a big city. if you don t live in one, you re near one. and big cities because of slower business travel are really offering great deals for families. hotels are reducing rates dramatically. and if you re looking for more exotic vacation for labor day, you supgt the caribbean or mexico. anything that has a nice white sandy beach this the ritz-carlton in jamaica has been offering a $189 rate. so you re getting fantastic deals out of the caribbean. some of the islands offering good deals where you don t need a passport. that r hawaii is huge value into the fall, as well. fall is the season for many european cities for destinations. there are a couple countries offering great incentives and the push for fall and winter travel started early this year. mid summer we were looking at really great packages for fall and winter. places like iceland, ireland, spain, even italy offering great package deals. if you want to travel november through march, you can get packages out of new york city for under 700 per person. september under 600 per person in the winter months. so less crowds on the streets and the value is huge. and now is when cruise lines start to battle it out meaning deals should be abound. what are some of the hot spots for cruises? again we go back to places like the caribbean and mexico. even though it is hurricane season through november, one of the favorite places to be is the cruise ship. you have to be flexible. you may not hit every spot on your itinerary, but the values are huge. four days cruise out of miami for $199 per person on the n norwegian sky taking off on labor day monday. so between $50 and $100 a day. the cruise action with really neat ports of call. and family friendly destinations. this is the walt disney resort, the dolphin there in orlando. the wisconsin dells. southern california, l.a. has been doing really well, but look at deals out of anaheim, walt disney, knox bury farms. they want the kids before they head back to work. thanks as always. and we ll be right back. but first these messages. i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it s already in my email. what s inside this little dial? 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[ male announcer ] no you don t, man. pepcid® complete works now and works later. they smile and sparkle and itch! when allergies make your precious eyes itch, don t wait for your pills to kick in. only alaway comes from bausch & lomb. with over 150 years of eye health expertise, alaway works in minutes and up to 12 hours. so, trust the experts, alaway from bausch & lomb. because it s not just your allergies, it s your eyes. bausch & lomb alaway. that will do it for us. our thanks to peter alexander and bill karins. coming up tomorrow, three veterans from three different words climb one of the world s highest peaks. plus the truth about detoxes a and cleanses. i ll see you tonight on nbc nightly news. thanks for being here. good morning, everyone i m kimberly suiters. i m aaron gilchrist. straight ahead on news4 today , he s accused of robbing several banks but it s the suspect s day job that may surprise you. fruit trees that one local thief is targeting. the massive egg recall has expanded. what the fda is concerned about now. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. the sun is breaking through some morning fog. what about the rest of your weekend? all that and more when you join news4 today in less than two minutes. 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[ male announcer ] amtrak guest rewards members earn up to 9,000 bonus points this summer. details at amtrak.com. earn up to 9,000 bonus points this summer. good morning. welcome to news4 today. i m kimberly suiters. i m aaron gilchrist. it s saturday, august 21, 2010. news is just ahead. first a quick check on our forecast. meteorologist chuck bell is here with us this morning and we re watching temperatures climb slowly today. those camera shots are better. on the other shot you can see the front half of my nose and part of my face. this is a better shot for me. we set it up just for you. temperatures are on their way up. temperatures now 80 degrees in downtown. there s a live look outside. some hazy filtered sunshine getting through an otherwise generally clear sky out there. 80 degrees in capital heights, maryland. 77 degrees in fairfax city and falls church and vienna. 75 in manassas. culpeper hanging back just a little bit still in the low 60s thanks to extra thick fog across the virginia piedmont. that fog won t last too much stronger. sunshine should do away with fog. tons of sunshine. warm up. temperature upper 80s and low 90s. one of the 80,000 plus headed out to fedex field tonight warm and dry. kickoff temperature 86 degrees. rain chassis in your weekend forecast. i ll detail that later. we re following a developing story out of maryland. that s where seven inmates are in the hospital after being stabbed. several ts