Transcripts For WRC Today 20110204 : vimarsana.com

welcome to today on this friday morning. i m meredith vieira. i m willie geist in for matt today. one of the largest demonstrations since the revolt against hosni mubarak today. the defense minister and other top egyptian military leaders appeared in the square, perhaps a sign that the military is siding with anti-mubarak protesters. we ll talk to richard engel straight ahead. meanwhile, the obama administration apparently decided if there is going to be a peacef fuful resolution here mubarak must leave office now. we ll have the latest from washington in a moment. we we gbegin with richard en in cairo. good morning. reporter: good morning. several hundred thousand demonstrators have gathered here in tahrir square. so far it s peaceful and orderly. the army said it will not stop the demonstrations. in fact, soldiers have a perimeter apparently to protect the protesters. today is the deadline protesters set for president mubarak to leave egypt. they insist mubarak must not finish out his term. president mubarak said he ll die in egypt. there is tension in the square because even the protesters don t know what they will do today, but they are braced for a fight. tahrir square is a crude military base now with rocks as weapons and barricades of burned-out vehicles and metal shields. the defenses were put up to fight off attacks by president mubarak supporters. they claim they are thugs and undercover policemen. this is what they do. we will die for our belief. reporter: they appear to stop at nothing to break into the square. when the protesters catch mubarak supporters, they are detained, bound and held in a makeshift prison. volunteer medics street hundreds of wounded protesters who refuse to leave tahrir. for the protesters this is the alamo, saying they will die here if necessary. egyptian officials say it is a plot to bring down president mubarak by agitators and tu opportunists. there is a foreign media agenda, a business agenda and a muslim brotherhood agenda. vice president omar suleiman told television, i will ask our security forces to pursue those responsible. that message has been passed to the secret police and mubarak supporters who detained, harassed, beat and chased down dozens of journalists as we have seen for ourselves. the united states has condemned the attacks on journalists. in strongest terms, attacks on reporters covering the ongoing situation in egypt. reporter: many egyptians believe the government is trying to divert attention from the protests and blame them on outsiders. the demonstrators insist that president mubarak must not just resign but leave the country. mubarak and his vice president have all come forward saying they want to negotiate with the demonstrators in order to have what they describe as a more peaceful transition. the defense minister showed up at the square this morning. what can you tell us about that? reporter: he did arrive. he didn t stay long. he was mostly speaking to the troops that have set up the defensive perimeter around the square. it is a sign that the army wants to deescalate the situation. we have seen the military today take a much more aggressive posture setting up barbed wire and moving tanks to try to push back potential provocateurs or instigators who may have wanted to pick a fight with the demonstrators today. the army is trying to contain the situation and prevent an outbreak of violence like we saw last wednesday. are we seeing many pro mubarak demonstrators or is this mainly the anti-government protesters? reporter: you are looking at entirely anti-government protesters. before, when violence broke out there was an onslaughter of pro mubarak supporters who arrived at once prompting many people to think it was a coordinated campaign. those supporters are not here, at least for now. there are now troops in place to make sure if they do arrive they don t get near the protesters. finally, do you know if there are protesters gathering perhaps closer to the presidential palace six miles from where you are? reporter: there is a lot of discussion about that. when you get a group this large it is difficult to figure out, even among the demonstrators what they are going to do. about half the people in the crowd seem to think they should march on to the presidential palace. other people worry if they try to leave the area they could lose numbers. it could break into violence. the protesters are having these discussions. whether they want to stay united in this, for now, peaceful demonstration or try to march onto the presidential palace which they feel would give a direct message to the president and show their numbers to the president himself if he is, in fact, in the palace. if they decided to march do you think the military would allow them to leave that square? reporter: that is a question. that is part of the debate. the army said it would allow them to march. whether they allow them to march on all the streets and trying to move a crowd that is at least several hundred thousand people and continues to grow remains to be seen. but the army said it will not stop the march. how that march happens and how orderly it is, however, could change the army s thinking on the matter. richard engel, thank you very much for your reporting this morning. here s willie. the obama administration appears to be taking a harder line with president mubarak deciding he must be replaced immediately. nbc s chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is in washington with details. good morning. what is the united states government doing to bring this to an end? reporter: there is a lot going on behind the scenes. mubarak has ignored suggestions from frank wisner and president obama that he give up power but the administration concluded he must go now and be replaced by a transitional coalition government until elections can be organized and held. one official said there are a number of possible scenarios, we have had a number of conversations with the egyptians. these are talks, not negotiations. officials say the preferred option among several would be a coalition led by vice president suleiman including the egyptian military, their leaders, and all elements of the opposition including the banned muslim brotherhood. vice president biden talked to suleiman yesterday. i heard you say this deal cannot be seen as made in the usa. it has to appear it came from inside the egyptian government. why? reporter: it cannot be seen as an american plan. officials don t want it to have no credibility with the people in egypt or the region. for this to work it cannot be made in the usa. it can t have that label or it will not work. interesting day on capitol hill yesterday where democrats and republicans questioned u.s. intelligence officials about perhaps that they were asleep at the switch and that this uprising snuck up on them in egypt. reporter: this is only the start of this. this came from democrats ron widen and dianne feinstein as well as the republicans on the intelligence committee. when the president was told mubarak s regime was in trouble and this was the confirmation hearing for stephanie ohle sullivan nominated to be the number two intelligence figure. she was pressed hard on what the president was told. she said, we have warned of instability. we didn t know what the triggering mechanism would be. that happened at the end of last year. later the lead democrat senator feinstein said the community had not done a better job of communicating easily available information that was in the papers, on facebook, in the media there, that the regime was in trouble. more questions to come. andrea mitchell, thank you. here s meredith. now to the latest on the plight of an american woman who lives in tahrir square. we talked to mary on thursday and have been in touch with her family. lester holt traveled to jordan and has the latest. good morning to you. reporter: good morning. we spoke to her son a while ago. he said his mother is still in cairo but said she s getting help from an unspecified source. it s been a stressful several days for the elderly american woman but she s been determined to stand her ground. 76-year-old mary thornberry spent a second night trapped in her apartment in cairo s tahrir square, the situation getting worse. i found out i no longer have water. reporter: outside her door, chaos. sometimes i just hear the huge sound. sometimes the mubarak, mubarak. sometimes elbaradei, elbaradei. reporter: men were shouting threats and had a knife. i have a sharp knife, my walking cane and my rolling pin. that s my armory. reporter: bill derek has been making phone calls from his office near seattle. he contacted nbc news on wednesday after he couldn t get help for his mother. it s been a surreal experience, especially with the molotov cocktails being thrown off the roof in her area, especially in her building. reporter: early thursday morning we tried to go to mary s apartment hoping it would be safe enough to get her out. by the light of day, the danger was clear. we had to turn back. on thursday, mary had this to say to meredith. i m very displeased with the treatment i did not receive from the american embassy. reporter: after the story aired the embassy asked us how to reach mary. in washington a state department spokesman responded to a question about her situation. where we can be helpful, we, of course, will dispatch directly assistance or will try to work with the host government where we can to help them. reporter: with mary all alone, the violence rising outside her ire is still up. i m really getting angry. it s just as well that no one comes and sticks their face in my broken glass because i m apt to whop them with my rolling pin. reporter: a tough lady with a rolling pin. the family is hopeful she will be home soon. the help she s receiving, well, they couldn t go into detail. they say it is not coming directly from the u.s. government. back to you. lester holt, thank you very much. she s feisty. texas roots, think. i wouldn t want to get between her and that rolling pin. we re glad she s on her way out. now a check on the morning s top stories with ann curry at the news desk. good morning. we begin with iran s reaction to the turle moil in egypt. this morning the ayatollah a la khomeni called for the uprising to bring down the united states. a senate committee found that the fbi and the army had enough information, enough cause to dismiss major nadal hassan before he allegedly went on a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. the findings, an unwillingness to confront home grown islamic extremism. today, mark kelly, the husband of wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords is expected to announce if he will command the final mission of the space shuttle endeavor. kelly has been seen by his wife s side since she was shot in the head in tucson last month. he is to make an official statement with nasa this afternoon. now to wall street and trish regan is at the new york stock exchange. everybody focuses carefully on the jobs report. this is really a barometer, the barometer for the overall economy. in order to have growth people need to be employed to go out spending. the problem is while we are seeing some growth it s just not happening at a fast enough rate to really reduce the unemployment rate in a meaningful way. if you think back to past downturns we had some kind of growth industry whether it was technology or real estate to get us out. we don t have that this time around. some may say that s healthy because you won t get a bubble. on the other hand, what s going to get us out of this? that s a question we would all like the answer to. thanks, trish. finally, the bandit who made off with $1.5 million in chips after a heist in las vegas is in custody. the suspect anthony carleo was captured as he was gambling. he d been living at the casino. it turns out he s the son of a judge in las vegas. that man s got some explaining to do. now back to meredith and willie. what do you do with $1.5 million in chips. you can only use them on the casino. didn t he try to sell them on ebay? you thawed out! you re back. we missed you. things will be warming up in and it looks like we ll get mostly rain from that system on saturday. right now it s a cloudy and cold start to this friday morning. temperatures around the region just near 20 in the suburbs and rural areas, near 30 in washington, upper 20s by the bay. later, up near 40 by this afternoon. and then late tonight after midnight, might get a little sleet, maybe some freezing rain, a light icing possible predawn saturday, changing to rain during the day. may end as a period of brief snow during the and that s your latest weather. it was an arrest that outraged the houston community. a 15-year-old burglary suspect allegedly kicked and stomped by police as he was taken into custody. now surveillance tape has been made public. we should warn you here, the video is graphic. nbc s janet shamlian has the latest. reporter: the newly released surveillance tape shows what happened last march when a security camera at a storage facility captured the end of a houston police pursuit. 15-year-old burglary suspect chad holly is seen trying to make a run for it when he s clipped by a police car. on the ground he s seen putting his arms out in a surrender pose. then folds them behind his head as police move in. up to eight officers can be seen kicking and punching him for a minute and a half. i was upset. i said who did this to you? he said, the police did it. his nose was fractured. chad holley who is now 16 was convicted of burglary, but the video wasn t shown as his trial. ain t no hiding from this one. there is no sweeping this under the rug. reporter: a federal judge bid for release of the tape and the d.a. said they didn t want the tape out before police officers were put on trial. thursday, the tape was released by the naacp in houston. they are calling for a justice department investigation. how many times does this happen and there are no cameras to see this? we hear these stories all the time in our community. all the time. we just happened to have one caught on tape. reporter: nine houston p.d. officers were disciplined for their actions. four have been indicted and fired. an attorney for one of the officers says the release of the tape will make it harder for the officers to get a fair trial. for today janet shamlian, nbc news. ugly videotape there. here s meredith. thank you. the rash of storm this is winter have been taxing. now all that snow is pushing buildings to their breaking points. nbc s peter alexander is in connecticut with details. good morning to you. reporter: good morning. this is a real serious problem across the region. two more building collapses in this area alone overnight. one of the most recent examples is just across the street from us. police kept a safe distance away. we ll push in the camera. you can see for yourself this three-story brick building, 120 years old and it literally caved in, the third floor, beneath the weight of all the snow. witnesses say it sounded like an explosion at the time. as we come back out, i want to give you a sense of why this is happening. the parade of recent snowstorms piled up. and if you look down here, this is how hard the snow has become. for people in the northeast it s become too much. it s the threat that s weighing heavily on the entire northeast. among the latest buildings to buckle, this office outside boston. the employees escaped just moments before its roof collapsed following the latest punishing round of another foot of snow. across the region, dozens of similar scenes. watch this in connecticut where a gas station lost its roof. so did a bowling alley, a tennis club, even this taco bell restaurant. on thursday, dan scaglariani survived his own scare. i heard a banging and i checked in the dining room. there was a big hole. i didn t believe it would collapse like this. reporter: in new york roofing contractors have been working nonstop for two weeks. the thickness on the ice is causing major problems. reporter: experts say there are clear warning signs. when you re looking at the roof, how do you know there is a problem? well, one thing is when you have a heavy snow load you may see water dripping in. it can work under shingles and rubber membranes and you see ice dams which leads to leaks inside. reporter: it doesn t take a mountain of snow. consider this, depending how much water is in the snow, two feet on a normal-sized roof could weigh 38,000 pounds or 19 tons. if your roof starts creaking like an old wooden ship, get out fast. this elementary school is closed after a partial roof collapse. they are out there measuring. the concern was always the safety of the children. we have all flat roofs. reporter: in connecticut, several schools cancelled classes today. not a snow day, but a chance to inspect the roofs. with the number of record snow totals piling up, the northeast has already reached its breaking point. there is one way to deal with the snow. it s a roof rake. maybe you have never seen one. they can reach up to 20 feet to pull snow off the top of the home. one business said they normally sell five in a winter. this season they have sold 2,000. a lady in line said it is the biggest craze she s seen since cabbage patch kids. i want to get one of those. thank you so much. reporter: it s the modern day american gothic . yes, it sure is. thanks. coming up a deadly crash, three young adults killed. could it have been a suicide pact? we ll have the latest. first, this is today on nbc. drink in the rich, bold taste. of premium roast coffee 100% arabica beans. it s so rich, but so just a dollar. on the dollar menu at breakfast. and that s what we rma of. ba da ba ba ba my sistersundays are just tofor watching 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[ thinking ] relax. you ordered off mcdonald s dollar menu at breakfast. everything s so good and just a buck. so go. he s a jerk. [ thinking ] the simple joy of being smart. coming up, money saving advice to get you through the year from the cheapest family in america. and a preview of ads you will see at the super bowl. they re super funny. first a check of your local news and weather. radio.avings, on te gecko: kate from mill valley, it s all yours. kate: well, i m shopping for my first car. gecko: nice! i do hope you ll choose geico and save a good bit of cash. curtis: what color is the car? i bet you d look great in a blue car. kate: no.actually, i m torn between a fuel-injected inline-6 and a higher torque turbo diesel. gecko: yeah.now that s quite a quandary! umm, i mean of course you could save either way. curtis: yeah but is one of them blue? cause i d go with the blue one. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] it s morning. and quaker loves morning. because when you start your day with the power of oatmeal it s good for your heart. it gives you energy. and it can turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary day. quaker oatmeal is more than breakfast. it s a superfood. [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. to learn more and get your special offer, go to takeadvil.com. take action. take advil. if you skip this latte and opt for the smaller low-fat one, you ll cut about 12 grams of fat. then take alli with it to help boost your weight loss. so for every 2 pounds you work to lose, alli can help you lose 1 more. alli. how healthy works. good morning. i m joe krebs. it s 7:26 on this friday, the fourth day of february. right now the search is on for a montgomery county private school official wanted on a sex abuse warrant. a student at washington christian academy in olney says thomas wilson inappropriately touched her at the school. wilson has worked at the school since 2008. well, there s some difficulties on the roads this morning. we ll have weather and traffic next. stay with us. it is a gray and cold friday morning. good morning. i m meteorologist tom kierein. low 20s to near 30 around the region now, later today climbing to near 40, mostly cloudy. and tonight after midnight, maybe a little sleet and some freezing rain, maybe light icing by dawn on saturday, then cold rain during the day on saturday, maybe ending as wet snow sunday, low 40s. how s traffic? chopper 4 on route 7 with power problems with power lines down between ruskin avenue and georgetown pike. right now the westbound side is blocked, eastbound getting by. power lines down in the roadway. we ll update you there. maryland, i-270 southbound, an accident route 28 in rockville to the shoulder, delays south out of germantown to this point. then you re looking pretty good. joe? thanks, jerry. tonight at news 4 at 5:00, the must-have 7:30 now on this t.g.i.f. morning, february 4th, 2011. our crowd is bundled up on this chilly morning in rockefeller plaza, but still smiling and waving. al says the sun will shine this afternoon. we ll get the forecast in a bit. meanwhile, inside studio 1-a, i m meredith vieira alongside willie geist. do you watch super bowl for the dme commercials or the football? i like football, but i like the commercials, too. you always have a crowd that wants it quiet during the commercials. you have seen them? i proved some. there are good ones. looking forward to it. jaw-dropping $3 million for 30-second spot now. advertisers are hoping you watch the commercials. coming up, we ll preview the ads that will have you talking on sunday. and the secrets to saving your family a lot of money. the cheapest family in america will be there with five tips to help you slash spending. let s begin with three young adults killed in a horrific and mysterious crash in new jersey. now, investigators want to know if it could have been done on purpose. jeff rossen is at the scene with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning to you. let me show you what happened here. police say the hyundai accent was speeding down this small street in south jersey. from here it s a straight shot right into the wall of an elementary school and that s what happened. that car slammed into the wall of the school at very high speeds. sadly, all three young people inside the car were killed instantly. this morning, law enforcement sources tell nbc news nothing is off the table here as far as the cause, including a suicide pact. the hyundai slammed into the school with such force the bricks came apart in a tumbling heap. the car flipped and landed on its nose. matt budessa was driving. all three were killed. all so young. only in their 20s. sad. i don t understand why. i just don t understand. reporter: investigators confirm they weren t wearing seat belts. there are no signs they tried to stop, no skid marks. consider the excessive speed and the time overnight in the predawn hours in the back of a remote elementary school. law enforcement sources tell nbc news this may have been a suicide pact. there are some people saying this may have been intentional, may have been suicide. what do you make of that? he seemed so happy. i hope it s wrong. reporter: sources say police found illegal street drugs inside the car. unclear if the victims were under the influence when they barrelled through the wall. all factors, everything is being investigated at this point. we have three young people dead. we are investigating every avenue. reporter: this summer one of the victims, kimberly, wrote lonely on her facebook page. in october she wrote so tired. receive years ago the driver took to myspace for an anti-government rant. still no clear indication, friends say, they wanted to die. if it was a suicide pact, it is rare, if not impossible to believe that three 30-year-olds are not going to leave something behind a voicemail, e-mail, posting or a call to somebody that police will discover in the days to come. reporter: whatever happens, this small town in south jersey is grieving. this is a very, very sad day for this area or any area. it s just sad when you see young people s lives go. reporter: three young people killed in a horrific accident or perhaps something more mysterious. i would love the answer so i can understand why. it s going to be hard to grieve if you don t understand why. we had a whole life ahead of us. reporter: the victims families are too upset to talk. police are trying to piece it together based on the evidence they have. they were hoping there were surveillance tapes rolling in the back of the parking lot, but there are none. so they are working to try to figure out if this was an accident or some kind of bizarre suicide pact. luckily, the only good thing is this happened overnight before school started so there were no little kids around to get hurt. still unraveling the mystery of the tragedy. jeff, thank you so much. now a check of the weather it is cloudy and cold on this friday morning. good morning. i m meteorologist tom kierein. right now down into the low and mid-20s throughout much of the region and mostly cloudy today with a high upper 30s to near 40. and then after midnight tonight, we may get a little sleet, perhaps some light freezing rain, especially areas west of interstate 95. there may be a little light icing by dawn on saturday. then during the day saturday, warming above freezing, maybe a little light rain, and it may end as a brief period of wet snow saturday afternoon. partly sunny sunday, high low 40s. don t forget, track your weather all day long. go to weather channel on cable or click on weather.com online. meredith. now to the mysterious disappearance of 19-year-old brooke willburger. her case gripped the nation in 2004 and it took years to solve. now seven years later, investigators are wondering if there are more victims like brooke out there. kate snow has details. good morning. good morning, meredith. say the name, brooke, in oregon and though it s been years now people remember it like it was only yesterday. as a child growing up outside eugene, oregon, brooke was surrounded by love in a large family. we used to have so much fun dressing her up. she was kind of our little toy, if you will. i know, let s dress up brooke, right? yeah. it was just fun. reporter: brooke grew to be an honor student and accomplished athlete, but in may 2004 after finishing her first year of college, brooke was doing odd jobs at an apartment complex in oregon when she vanished. the only clues to her disappearance, a pair of flip-flops left behind. her mother learned the news from her son. i said, where s brooke. he said, we don t know. we can t find her. right then i just had this chill go through my whole body. reporter: despite an intense search for weeks, no sign of brooke was ever found. then, six months later and 1,400 miles away, a waitress was driving down the street in albuquerque, new mexico, when she saw a naked woman in a parking lot, a woman who had escaped from a man who had kidnapped her at knife point. i told her, get in the car, lock the door. i wouldn t let anybody hurt her. reporter: within hours the kidnapper had been caught. joel courtney was a 38-year-old father of three and before long, good police work connected courtney to oregon and the day brooke disappeared. it would take more than five years, but courtney would eventually plead guilty to murdering brooke. her body was found in the woods outside corvales. now authorities wonder if the women in oregon and new mexico were his only victims. prosecutor teresa watley. i know the fbi has been looking. i don t think this is two times in his life he was doing this. i think it s more than that. reporter: so if someone knows of a missing woman, blond hair, young, you would say ask your police department to look at joel courtney. reporter: an attorney says the belief that courtney created other crimes fantasyland. he says if police had any evidence they would charge courtney and they have not. still, police have received calls from various agencies regarding unsolved murders and missing women in other parts of the country. they say courtney s dna is on file and they are willing to share it in any case at any time. you can see how broken-hearted her mom still is. they are an incredible family. so much grace in waiting for resolution to these things n. the end she shocked people by thanking joel courtney, thanking the killer for helping them get their daughter back ultimately. thank you so much. you can see more of kate s report on a special dateline tonight on nbc called bringing brooke home. up next, a sneak peek at the super bowl ads everyone will be talking about, right after this. 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[ male announcer ] eggo waffles. simply delicious. this is mary. who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health. now mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months, she s done. more or less. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply and get a free gift. walgreens. there s a way to stay well. back now at 7:42 with a super bowl preview. no, not the action on the field between the packers and steelers but the commercials. here with a sneak peek of the crop of ads this year, matt miller, president and ceo of the association of independent commercial producers and sally hogshead, brand expert and the author of fascinate: your triggers to captivation. let s talk about $3 million. $100,000 a second. it s the best bargain in advertising. think about this. it s the single most precious real estate. you have an entire nation glued to the screen, but only if you have a great idea. we have a good crop of ads. we have a preview here. matt, give me your impressions starting with the career builder chimps. let s take a look. guy, can you give me a little space here? you parked a little close. come on, guys! i have a meeting. never mind. announcer: stuck between a bad job and a hard place? did you notice maybe you clipped me a little bit there? announcer: career builder, start building. career builder can really introduce itself to the country at the super bowl. what s great about the spot is it s a unique way to talk about how people aren t happy in their work environment, to say the least. bringing back a character like that, a campaign that in 2005 and 2006 had so much going on and then pieces of the campaign stayed with this. they have a piece called monkey mail that s been out there. they have over 16 million people that continue to use it. this is an example of the brand listening to the consumer and saying, we better bring these people back or these chimps back as the case may be. this is the time to bring it back and have a dialogue with consumers. the e-trade baby is back. love the baby. and the budweiser clydesdales. this is about brand loyalty. when in a cluttered environment of the super bowl when somebody brings back, a brand brings back a familiar character or a story line, immediately people lock in and know what the brand is. also, twitter playing a big role, something we didn t see five years ago saying the buzz after the game, you say you get an online jury immediately afterward. it s amazing. the $3 million make this is a bargain, but the marketer better bring it. people will put it out there. they say 15% of all people watching the game are going to be on facebook and post something. most people who say they will post something say they are more likely to post ads than things about the game. think about that. 100 million people, 15%, people having 100-plus friends. talking about billions of impressions at risk here. $3 million? that s a drop in the bucket for that number of impressions. sally, i will jump ahead to my favorite add. v.w. has one called the force. watch this. [ theme from star wars ] [ barking ] [ engine starts ] sally, i have little kids. i m a sucker for the ad. that has to be the best one. i dare anyone not to love this ad. not only does it have the nostalg nostalgia, the ultimate villain and a little kid but it passes the crowded bar test. most people will be watching commercials in a party or a bar. with a commercial like this, it s simple enough you can understand what s going on with the sound off and after a few beers. that s the one to beat, i think. v.w. is making a big play here. they have another one where they show beetles. it s not clear what it s for. they have been teasing the beetle since they started giving them away on oprah. what s interesting is the car isn t out until fall. last year the new agency came out. they brought back the punch dub and tried to make it a cultural phenomenon. here they are getting the buzz going for a car that won t be released for eight, nine months. they know the value of the game and getting the buzz right. sally, there will be a lot of buzz over a skechers ad. we are allowed to show five seconds of it. i don t know what this has to do with sneakers. i don t know if this will sell a lot of sneakers, but it sells kim kardashian. the amazing thing about using celebrities is instantly you tap into what people talk about. there will be a huge push of people going online, talking about the commercial and kim. maybe not the shoes but they will be buying. we heard justin bieber and ozzy osbourne are doing an ad together, m & m and go daddy which burst onto the scene with the super bowl. gillian michaels and danica patrick. we are not doing it. you have done racy commercials before. i know. but this is over the top. thank you. we re here to promote go daddy, not be part of a crazy stunt. we are obligated by contract. go daddy girls coming to set. everybody is staring. see more now at godaddy.com. they leave you hanging a little bit, drive you to the website. these are the ones that pushed from the start ads that were too racy. they started the p.r. buzz of the censors taking the ads but you can see the racy version on the ad. there have been many copy cats that put out spots to be rejected and add to the p.r. again, the buzz around spots now is so big before, after, with social media, with p.r., with shows like this that the impressions are out there. it s big stakes now. go daddy has been playing it for years. sally, this is from doritos. hey, dude. feed the fish. water the plant. see you thursday. welcome back on this beautiful thursday morning [ bubbling ] grandpa! mikey? that is a powerful chip. is there a theme to the super bowl ads this year? are we seeing anything throughout? we have a lot of animals. we have a lot of brilliant storytelling. we have the return of the big, bold, creative idea. i love it. it will be a fun super bowl. thank sos much. we appreciate it. thank you. head to todayshow.com after the game to rate the commercials. we ll break down your favorites monday on today. much more on the big game and all the hoopla, but first these messages. 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[ male announcer ] it s morning. and quaker loves morning. because when you start your day with the power of oatmeal it s good for your heart. it gives you energy. and it can turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary day. quaker oatmeal is more than breakfast. it s a superfood. you may have noticed we are all wearing red. it s for national wear red day for heart disease awareness, the number one killer of women. just ahead, simple tricks to slash the family budget from america s cheapest family, after your local news. - did dad go to jared for the pandora bracelet like we told him? - i can t tell. - oh, honey! - he totally went to jared. female announcer: celebrate life s unforgettable moments with pandora, now at jared. girls: awww. - they are so cute at that age. nothing starts your day like honey roasted, honey bunches of oats. the perfect balance of crunchy flakes and clusters, with a kiss of golden honey. delicious. and the same calories per serving as special k original. so, try honey roasted, honey bunches of oats! heck try em all. i was diagnosed with copd. i could not take a deep breath i noticed i was having trouble. climbing the stairs, working in the garden, painting. my doctor suggested spiriva right then. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for copd, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i love what it does. it opens up the airways. announcer: spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, have vision changes or eye pain, or have problems passing urine. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine, or an enlarged prostate, as these may worsen with spiriva. also, discuss the medicines you take, even eye drops. side effects include dry mouth, constipation, and trouble passing urine. it makes me breathe easier. i can t do everything i used to do. but there s a lot i can do that i was struggling with. announcer: ask your doctor if once-daily spiriva is right for you. good morning. i m joe krebs at 7:56. 29 degrees outside, cloudy skies on this friday, the 4th of february, and a wintry mix is moving into our area for the weekend. let s get right to meteorologist tom kierein for the very latest. tom? good morning. no problems now. temperatures around the region are cold, though. we re right near 20 degrees throughout much of the area. and later tonight, though, we may have some sleet after midnight, perhaps some freezing rain. and around dawn we could have a light accumulation of some ice on tree limbs and power lines, and then change to a cold rain for much of the day saturday and may end as a bit of wet snow late saturday afternoon and early evening. then drying out saturday night. sunday, partly sunny with temperatures climbing into the low 40s. joe? thanks very much, tom. stay with us. we ll be right back. hey, what are you drinkin ? i m drinkin dunkin . coffee black, straight up. extra cream, three sugars. iced coffee french vanilla. for me. iced coffee with a turbo shot. i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin dunkin . drinkin dunkin . america runs on dunkin coffee. good morning, everyone. the drive south along i-270 had been quite heavy and quite slow. a short time ago there was an accident southbound 270 at route 28 in rockville. was on the shoulder, it is gone, but there are still pretty significant delays from at least gaithersburg, just below germantown all the way down, even with travel lanes open. over to northern virginia. 395 northbound, some continuing activity out of the travel portion of the roadway, but the flashing lights are enough to slow everybody down as you make the trip up from edsall road, passing landmark, then heavy from the pentagon to and across the 14th street bridge. had an earlier issue out route 7 westbound near the reston avenue interchange. police were holding up traffic westbound, detouring traffic. power lines down in the roadway. 66 eastbound heavy but relatively steady vienna to the capital beltway. joe? jerry, thanks. tonight on news 4 at 5, the must-have manicure, but side effects you must k welcome back at 8:00. at rockefeller plaza, we re pleased to have this crowd out here. i m meredith vieira along with willie geist and al roker. matt has the day off. hi, guys. this family is cheap but they say budgeting is the way to go. when you budget your money you have more to spend on the things you want. i guess you have to cut down. sounds good. and a look at what amounts to modern-day slavery in america happening in some of the most affluent neighborhoods in this country. we ll have one woman s story ahead. on a much lighter note we have super bowl xlv coming up. who are you rooting for? packers for me. packers. i know people in pittsburgh, so i m not saying anything. we ll take you to dallas for the festivities and here in stud-1-a, we have three viewers ready to do battle in our first homemade chili cookoff. and it s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game. that s funny. it s how you cook the chili. let s go in for a look at the headlines with ann. it s warmer. thanks so much. protesters in egypt are holding their ground today and declared this the day of departure for hosni mubarak. according to senior u.s. officials the obama administration is in talks trying to get mubarak to step down immediately to be replaced by a transitional government. we have nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel following developments joining us by telephone from cairo. what more do we know? reporter: i m on street level very near to the crowd of protesters. the army has put a cordon in place to try to protect this demonstration and contain it potentially. the protesters are going out of their way to say this is a peaceful demonstration. they brought family back for the first time and addressing the crowd was a well known politician here in egypt, the secretary general of the arab league. he is a potential presidential contender with a lot of credibility on the streets of cai cairo. he s a leader that egyptians could coalesce around. this is the first time we have seen him presenting himself in such a public way. richard, thank you so much. be safe out there. in other news this morning, a military offensive is being carried out by pakistan along the border with afghanistan. so far, it has killed an estimated 100 insurgents, 22,000 people who fled are now in camps. overnight a man with a gun attacked a greyhound bus in north carolina. he released the people on board and was arrested at a nearby gas station. officials don t know his motive. lawyers represent iing victims bern any madoff s fraud show executives were come police in the the fraud. one e-mail from 2007 was cited in which a bank employee said madoff s profits appear to be part of a ponzi scheme. at least three people were killed when the suv skidded and crashed through a guardrail falling into an icy river. rescuers managed to save five others. new mexico is under a state of emergency because of cold weather which cause add natural gas shortage. the governor ordered all government offices closed today, understandinged schooled to do the same and advised residents to conserve energy. remember this turkey that kept following and attacking a postal truck in massachusetts? it turned out it could be a kennedy. ethel kennedy said her son bought two birds around thanksgiving and one escaped. it s now 8:04. time for a check of the weather from al. that s a magic cloudy and cold on this friday morning. good morning. i m meteorologist tom kierein. right now just near 20 degrees much of the region. upper 20s in washington and by the bay. later today into the 30s to near 40, but mostly cloudy. and after midnight tonight, we may get a little light freezing rain, may produce a little bit of light icing on tree limbs and power lines, then changing to occasional light, cold rain on saturday, may change back to a little bit of snow before it ends saturday night. sunday, partly sunny, high low 40s. we re international. we have someone here from german morning television. what s your name? matthew. like matt lauer. yes. what s the name of your morning show? . [ speaking german ] that s what i said. say it five times fast. al s big in germany. up next, effective ways to slash your family budget in 2011. we ll get tips from america s cheapest family right after this. express yourself express yourself oh, do it oh, do it express yourself [ female announcer ] coffee s like life. it s better when you add your flavor. visit us on facebook to find out how you can get a free bottle of coffee-mate on february 4th. that lets you eat six times a day? yeah, baby! try the slim-fast 3-2-1 plan. 3 snacks, 2 shakes or meal bars, and 1 balanced meal. slim fast. who has time to slim slowly? so i ve got to take care of my heart. for me cheerios is a good place to start. [ male announcer ] to keep doing what you love, take care of your heart with cheerios. the whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. love your heart so you can do what you love. oh, bayer aspirin? i m not having a heart attack. it s my back. it works great for pain. 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[ female announcer ] hard to say really. new caltrate soft chews, we put the yum in calcium. for adults, stelara® helps control moderate or severe plaque psoriasis with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. in a medical study, 7 out of 10 stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin at 12 weeks. and 6 out of 10 patients had their plaque psoriasis rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®, your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, or have had cancer. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses, it s stelara®. i mean they re rewards, right? right? right. with the bankamericard cash rewards™ credit card. i get 1% cash back on every purchase. 1% cash back on groceries. highlights. frog leg green. 1% cash back on. whatever that is? and there is no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn. no expiration on rewards. no hoops to jump through. -simple. -i love this card. looove it. [ male announcer ] the refreshingly simple bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. we are back at 8:10. this morning on today s money family budget secrets from the cheapest family in america. if you need to kickstart your 2011 budget they are here to share secrets. when it comes to being thrifty the economides family corners the market. these cuts of meat will be expired in a couple days. you can get great deals. reporter: steve, annette and their children take frugality to the extreme. we spend $350 a month for groceries and that includes toiletries, paper goods. cleaning products, personal care items and of course the food. reporter: it goes well beyond strategic shopping. this shirt s $7. reporter: for halloween they took the cost out of costume. i got this dress for $5.99, this tiara for $2.50. reporter: during the holidays they celebrated with cheap cheer. every year we make our own wrapping paper. reporter: in this household, frugal is fun. being known as america s cheapest family means we get the best quality for the least price i. think we re pretty smart. if she does say so herself. steve and annette are the authors of america s cheapest family gets you right on the money and cuts your grocery bill in half. they are here with two of their kids becky and abby who are also cheap. good morning. we are talking about the family budget. you say it s critical. why is it criticalle to map out the budget in advance. this is the single most effective tool for saving money in the world. it s how we paid off our first house in nine years and paid cash for our cars. it works. every business has a budget because they are tasked with turning a profit. american families have to do the same thing. girls, you have budgets of your own. though you still live with mom and dad. we think of it as a spending plan. most people don t like the word budget but it s taking what we earn every week and allocating, saving in advance for things like a car, car insurance or something like redoing your room. just plan in advance and set aside the money. so you have tips to share with people today. easy ways for effective budgeting. steve, the first one has to do with three envelopes. the simplest budget for anyone to start with is take the three areas most commonly overspent, food, clothing and recreation. protect the rest of your earnings by saying, i m only going to take so much money in cash every paycheck, put it in the nenvelopes and when it s gone, stop spending. how do you know how much to put in there? a budget is a live thing. if you spend $100 a month and want to save on recreation, try $50. because you see the money going out, you know it s a tangible thing. beautiful. second strategy to jump start the budget is to sell anything that you currently aren t using. you mean anything. it could be athletic equipment, musical instruments, books, cds, dvds, all that stuff can be sold online. it s amazing how you can just take things around the house and turn them into cash. do you use that rule with clothes if you haven t worn it in a year, you won t wear it? depends on the item. with a fancy dress, there isn t always an occasion. you may want to hold onto it. but generate as much cash as you can to fund half a month of your mortgage, food or pay off debt. next budget strategy is learn a skill to cut out an expense like learn to cut hair so you don t have to go to the hair dresser. absolutely. simple plumbing things like to replace a leaky toilet, leaky faucet. making birthday cakes. if there are four people in an average family and you learn to make a cake you can save $60 a year just with that one strategy. if you fix a plumbing problem and don t have to call a plumber you saved $100. if it takes you two hours to fix the toilet you re making $75 an hour. do you get a book like plumbing for dummies? go to a home improvement store. they will tell you how to do it. you say to invest in cost-cutting tools and technology. like doing your own yard work, your own house cleaning, your own gardening. get a crock-pot. it saves you money for cooking. instead of going out to dinner you put the meal in the crock-pot in the morning. a freezer banks all the deals. we bought top sirloin at $1.50 a pound, put it in the freezer and anna nicole smith it for three months. you say programmable thermostats online. yes. if mom and dad work and they are all gone during the day a programmable thermostat adjusts the temperature, drop it is temperature in the house and turns it back up a half hour before you get home. we bought two on ebay for $60. they are normally $100 apiece. how much does it save you? probably $300 a year. big difference. you say every family can cut their grocery bill in half. absolutely. simple things like plan a menu, shop less at the store. the less you shop the more you save. learn to cook a few simple things at home. all those things add up. how do you parents convince you? what s the trick? other parents are going, how do i get my kids to be good savers and budgeters. when we were younger we didn t have a choice. but as we grew up we saw that we could spend all our money on one thing but what if another thing comes up we want to spend money on. what if we want to see a movie with friends? we don t have money and can t go. so then we see that this really is a lifestyle that is beneficial to everyone and i think parents need to embrace that. if they re not excited then their kids won t be excited about it. you guys are. i have one more thought about budgeting and finance. life is not about how good you look on the outside. it is about how healthy you are on the inside. financial health is an important component for life. all right. thank you so much. giving you a little nod. that was a good one. it really was. up next, the dark truth about modern day slavery in america right after this. 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[ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one. money magazine s best rewards card if you aim to rack up airline miles. what s in your wallet? bebebebebebaaa! back with an eye-opening look at the state of human trafficking right here in america. it s a growing problem that takes place a lot more often than you might believe. today national correspondent natalie morales has been looking into the situation for the msnbc documentary traffic: slavery in america. welcome. from indentured servitude to working in hotels and factories, slavery is alive and well even in the most affluent areas in the nation. here s one woman s story. across the globe, for those living below the poverty line, america symbolizes the land of hope, of economic promise. but for over 500,000 men, women and children seeking to improve their lives, life in the u.s. means something else. i feel like a slave. reporter: for four long years a diplomat in suburban san francisco enslaved lily, a native of indonesia. i didn t have money, my passport and i don t have anybody. you know, so if i run away, maybe somebody will kill me. reporter: in 2002, the family hired lily and promised a steady salary in a nice home. instead, lily says the diplomat imprisoned her, abused her and forced her to work 20-hour days seven days a week for no pay. this is something i would never expect here. i think it s just preposterous. reporter: heidi lived just two doors down. shortly after the diplomat and his young family moved in highly couldn t help but notice the frail young girl wearing the same threadbare jogging suit every time she saw her. the thing that attracted my attention is she was washing the car every day. every single day whether it was raining or cold or warm and we thought, what a strange thing. why would some young girl have to come out and wash a car every single day? reporter: exhausted and alone, lily finally worked up the nerve to speak to a friendly face. heidi would often see lily when she went to pick up the mail. speaking in french, lily began to confide in heidi. one brief conversation at a time. she had to work morning until night, until midnight, 1:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning. for 18 hours of work, seven days a week. reporter: after years of isolation, physical abuse and humiliation, lily began to fear for her life. one day, shaking with terror,le lily ran to the only friendly face she knew. someone knocked at the door. i opened the door and there was lily. i was crying. i said, please help me. so i took her in. reporter: with the diplomat two doors down, heidi lived in constant fear of being discovered by a man they considered dangerous, a man they knew could murder them and never face charges. i was very nervous. in fact, there were many nights i lost a lot of sleep. i thought, oh, my heavens, what s going to happen. reporter: hiding lily under a blanket, heidi went to police and local authorities to get help. natalie, let s pick up the story there. what happens next? local police, the diplomat came looking for her and wanted to have her deported back to indonesia. federal authorities then identified her as a human trafficking victim. unfortunately because this em employer was a diplomat, he has diplomatic immunity so can t be prosecuted. police, in essence, didn t have much they could do. her friend heidi took a huge risk and was able to hire an attorney who then threatened to expose the diplomat. so he fled the country, fearing repercussions and obvious embarrassment to him and his family. this took bravery on heidi s part to take her in. you talk about hiding lily under blankets when they left the house. she had nervous moments there. very. she lived in hiding for six months just a few doors down with her neighbor, heidi. the good ynews is she got away and took the first step. thousands can t get away because they live in fear. but there is a happy ending to the story. unfortunately for so many others there aren t happy endings. a remarkable story. great work bringing that to the country s attention. you can see the full report sunday night on msnbc at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. we re back after your local news and weather. 8:26 is your time, 31 degrees. good morning. i m eun yang. blaking news on the beltway. a crash has completely shut down the inner loop. let s go to jerry edwards for details. good morning. good morning. chopper 4 flying over the scene, just about to arrive right now. you re looking at the outer loop of the beltway backup. the accident occurred in montgomery county, inner loop just after university boulevard. it is a dump truck on top of another car. we just lost the shot. we ll get it back. inner loop of the beltway completely closed between university boulevard and new hampshire avenue at this hour. it is a dump truck on top of a car. outer loop, traffic is getting by, but it is going to be very, very tough. we will keep you updated. eun? jerry, thanks so much. a winter mix is moving into the area for the wee good morning. cloudy and cold today, temperatures now in the 20s. we ll climb to near 40 this afternoon. we could get some freezing rain late tonight, maybe some light icing by dawn saturday, changing to rain during the day. may end as wet snow during the afternoon. then partly sunny sunday, high low 40s. eun? tom, thank you. tonight on news 4 at 5:00, the latest must-have manicu 8:30 now on this friday morning, february 4th, 2011. you are looking at cowboys stadium in dallas, site of super bowl xlv, more than 100 million americans are expected to watch the big game sunday. they won t all be there. some will be at home obviously. out here on the plaza look at the roof. on the roof of the stadium there, snow. roads there are a mess. hopefully they will be cleaned up. are you excited about the game? i am. looking forward to the commercials more than the game. i m excited about the snacks. they re usually high calorie and crunchy. the game will be a good one. two traditional powers, packers and steelers. going to be fun to watch. and the commercials. and the black-eyed peas. speaking of food, we ve got three viewers who we have a home cook chili cook-off. three viewers making fantastic chili. and we ll hear a hog call that you don t often hear when making chili, but we will hear one today. someone not doing a hog call is justin bieber who s stopping good morning. it s cloudy and cold. no precipitation, though, right now, but we will probably have some after midnight tonight, after a cloudy afternoon and a high near 40. after midnight, maybe some sleet and perhaps some freezing rain that may cause some icing on tree limbs and power lines, just some light icing predawn saturday. watch out for that. could be some slick spots. then a cold rain on saturday may end as a period of a little bit of wet snow late in the day. then partly sunny sunday, high low 40s. if you re got weather fever, only the weather channel can cure it or weather.com online. and then more cow bell. [ cow bell ] do you know where we are headed next? where? to dallas to get ready for sunday s super bowl. first this is today on nbc. [ male announcer ] before he changed the world. tear down this wall. [ male announcer ] .or led a nation. i ronald reagan do solemnly swear. [ male announcer ] .or governed a state. you and i have a rendezvous with destiny. [ male announcer ] .he inspired our company. with his optimism, his belief in innovation, and his entrepreneurial spirit. [ man ] for general electric, here is ronald reagan. back outside now at 8:35. all eyes on dallas. we re gearing up for super bowl xlv, the packers and the steelers. we sent today national correspondent jenna wolfe to check out the scene. reporter: good morning! when i first got this assignment i was like, woo hoo, super bowl, pack your bathing suit, not your parka. it s cold here, but that s okay. i m not going to complain. we re excited. everyone is gearing up. you can feel the excitement in the air. truth be told, i can t feel much of anything right now. this is what texas wanted you to see. [ howling wind ] reporter: this is what we re getting. temperatures in the teens, ice everywhere, even snow. for the green bay packers and the pittsburgh steelers, forced to practice indoors, it just feels like home. it doesn t matter how cold it is t. fans of two of the greatest franchises in nfl history are hot with enthusiasm. having a good time? reporter: how could you not want to join the fray? you just have to know which fray to join, when. can i hang out? yeah! let s have some fun! [ booing ] reporter: hey, guys. oh, my god! reporter: while the nfl is big business for adults it s a kids game at heart. do you remember what you were like at that age? yeah, just running and i didn t know why. i was like forrest gump. reporter: jerry ryan tried to encourage kids to exercise an hour a day and admits he has a childlike passion for the game. they like the bling. i remember not being able to sleep before the game. the butterflies. wanting to go out and play your best football knowing this is why we play in the nfl, to get to the super bowl and to win it. reporter: and with the hall of fame wide receiver on the gridiron, i couldn t resist. come on. let me see it. reporter: don t judge me by the spiral okay, here we go. what was that? reporter: that was the worst pass pattern i have seen. okay, joe montana, i m not. one thing i do know how to do is kick back. there are parties raging in the big d. we even spotted last year s super bowl mvp drew brees. today lightens everybody s day. reporter: yeah! no doubt about it. reporter: for true residents of the lone star state it s always a party when you trot out the finest livestock. reporter: we are here at a steer beauty pageant. this guy is getting blow dried. is that crazy? not too crazy. i m next online. oh, the cow. sorry. i reblow dried my hair after because there was not enough product. all humans and livestock will watch super bowl xlv come sunday. perhaps it will stop snowing which will make it easier and more fun for everybody. back to you. you have to go to the miami super bowl. you re at the wrong one. reporter: that will be the assignment i don t get. thanks so much. we re gearing up here. these are the official super bowl footballs made by wilson. they make them every year. they have been doing it since 1941. in ada, ohio. small town. go deep. here we go. [ cheers ] they were nice enough, they sent the ball with our autographs on them. you have your name on yours? you do, too. i have to get it back. and willie s is better. it s wilson geist. exactly. they put them on all the balls. thank you very much to the guys at wilson. i m donating mine. up next in honor of the big game, are you excited? our very first home made chili cook-off. whoo! whoa, look. this is today on nbc. [ male announcer ] 2.4.6.8. who do we appreciate? why, you, of course. the 2-4-6-8 value menu. only at denny s. nothing starts your day like honey roasted, honey bunches of oats. the perfect balance of crunchy flakes and clusters, with a kiss of golden honey. delicious. and the same calories per serving as special k original. so, try honey roasted, honey bunches of oats! heck try em all. and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. you ll get a multi-room dvr free for 12 months. record shows ione room and watch them in up to six other rooms. call now. offer ends soon. there s no term contract required. you cacancel anytime with no early terminatiofee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers superior picture quality, more hd; plus the fastest internet in the u.s. why keep paying for cable? get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month plus a multi-room dvr free for 12 months. don t wait. this incredible offer ends soon. call 1.866.680.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that s 1.866.680.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead. back now at 8:42 with today s first ever chili cook-off contest. bragging rights are on the line. hundreds of you sent in recipes. we narrowed it down to three. our judges this morning, sunny anderson host of cooking for real and adam richman, author of america the edible. good morning. everyone get to their stations. you call yours hog call chili. right. where did the name come from? i won the iowa, illinois and nebraska state hog calling chilies. let s hear it? sooey, here, pig, pig, pig. [ snorting ] get security! what s the key to the recipe? the key is i put a lot of spice and herbs and the key ingredients are granny smith apples and vermont maple syrup. really? yes. with the meat into the sauce, all of the spices make a well-rounded chili. the judges oh, you already started. mm-hmm. good luck. rhonda morrison is next. yes, ma am. this is a traditional texas chili. no beans. no beans. you used a shoulder roast. why is that cut of meat important? it s got a great marble of fat in the meat. so it really absorbs the fabulous spices well. so the chili is flavored throughout. you add bud light, poblano s and jalapeno. the bud light has citrus and coriander in it. how did you come up with that? you were drinking a lot of beer and do you want a taste? it s good. i believe you. there you go. somebody had to. oh, geez. now i made a mess. you put in the onions, stir it up. it really is the sweet to my heat and complement this is chili and brings home texas. i think everybody should have it with the texas super bowl. those beef chunks are tender, girl. finally, let s get to michael. you consider your recipe heart healthy. i do. wearing the red for health. yes. what makes it healthier than other chilies. first of all, hi, meredith. hi. it s healthier because it is made with chicken and turkey. i chose chick and turkey to show the flexibility of the recipe. also it s economical and nutritious as well as delicious. it s delicious nutritious and delicious. i made it delicious by using my own secret ingredients. cilantro, poultry seasoning, my famous oyster and barbecue sauce. oyster sauce, interesting. how did you come up with it? i love oyster sauce. oh, okay. collard beans, string beans and it can save a meal. take it from ordinary to extraordinary. that s what we re talking here. extraordinary chili. from ordinary to extraordinary. remember that. i will remember it. the judges are tasting. why don t we all move down that way as you deliberate. take your time. we re going to deliberate. it s super bowl so we ll have a huddle. [ whispering ] and, break! all right. the time has come. first of all, you guys are the top of the tops. you re here, so you know everything was great. the first one, we love it. nice and sweet. kyle s. kyle s. the texture was good. the second one. rhonda. super tender chunks of meat. right where stew and chili meat. the third one, oyster sauce, i m going to try it. genius and velvety. you couldn t even tell it was in there. so shall we? let s go. congratulations! rhonda gets it. it was tender, spicy. congratulations! thank you. thank you, michael. did the hog call help or hurt kyle? the hog call was hot. i liked it. here, pig, pig, pig. i come from south carolina. so that was it. i m jewish. it frightened me. like the football. pigskin, right? exactly. congratulations to all of you. rhonda, congratulations. thank you. one last pig call. [ snorting ] this is today on nbc. back at 8:50. this morning s american story comes from portland, oregon, where three people forged a family into a winning team. reporter: in the game of life, health plays both ways. melvin jones is not only a basketball star but a top student at portland state university. there you go. reporter: because casey foyer thinks of him as a little brother. reporter: casey s mom moved to seattle with 50 bucks in her pocket, just before she was born. hi, honey. reporter: jennifer annabell worked long hours, struggling to become a teacher and eventually director of a school for children with special needs. jennifer, how do you spell human . reporter: all that effort helped spell an end to her marriage. she never gave casey a little brother. one night casey said, how would you feel about melvin coming to stay with us. i said, casey reporter: melvin was 16 at the time. drifting on the streets of seattle. every time i took him home, you know, i was taking him somewhere else. we drove around to four, five different places. there were no adults. reporter: that bothered casey, melvin s high school basketball coach. he had just been shoved out by two high schools already. he came to us with zero credits. reporter: even though melvin was a sophomore. never had a curfew, never had to do homework, never had to get up and go to school. mom was passing away. reporter: from aids. he was loved but not parented. reporter: so jennifer made up a room for him. why would a divorced single mom take on such a challenge? she s opened her home to kids before. five when casey was a child. her father was in foster care, her mother in an orphanage. she simply wanted to help children like them. one of the hardest things i did in the beginning. reporter: because melvin didn t trust her. have you tried that fusion stuff? no. reporter: he stashed groceries she bought under his bed, afraid someone would steal them. you leave it in the kitchen somebody will eat it up. he was putting so much strain on my mother it was breaking her. reporter: until jennifer did the unexpected. she gave melvin her atm card and p.i.n. number. i don t know if i have had the number. reporter: melvin now held her life in his hands, too. i didn t want to be responsible for melvin not making it. they could not be more different and yet they clicked. different on the outside. but not different on the inside. reporter: so close they were able to tell each other their dreams. i told him, i m not trying to take anybody s place, but you need a mom. reporter: she had love enough to help another child. are you hungry? reporter: at first melvin s sister wasn t happy. why do you want to go move with her, she s not family? reporter: he needed jennifer to show him how to study. she was like slapping at a gnat that wouldn t go away. reporter: the high school student who came with no credits now makes good grades. so good he s thinking of graduate school. once he bought into the hard work, long hours, family, the changes in his life, he made it. that was a good one. reporter: life twists and turns, just like basketball. sometimes you simply have to close your eyes and try a long shot. like melvin did to win this basketball game at the buzzer. in a sense, that s what jennifer has done to help you win the game of life. do the hail mary. reporter: and together they won. for today bob dotson, nbc news with an american story in portland, oregon. and a great american story. wow. talk about a hail mary pass. that shot. boy, she took a hail mary with him and it paid off. a little bit like the story of the blind side. it s inspiring. very much so. families come in different shapes and sizes. great story. meantime, ann i m still thinking of the hog calling. and the shot! yeah! how many times have you seen that shot in professional basketball? never. right? sign that kid up. give him a contract. let s hear your hog call. i can t do it. can anybody do it? i m under pressure now. [ warbling ] what kind of bird is that? a loon? wow. it took me nine months to learn how to do that. i did it to impress a boy. this particular boy was impressed for about 15 minutes. that s like our senior producer don gnash learning to ride a unicycle. it s still worth it, don. how old was this guy? it was in high school. okay. i liked him. she worked on it for nine months. my wife makes the hog call at dinner time. just ahead, the hottest must have accessories for spring. 8:55 is your time now. good morning. i m eun yang. we are following breaking news on the beltway. a bad accident has shut down part of the inner loop of the beltway, and traffic is backed up for miles. let s get right to jerry edwards for the latest. hi, jerry. hi. chopper 4 over the scene of the remnants of the accident that occurred within the hour on the inner loop of the beltway between university boulevard and new hampshire avenue. you can see authorities trying to get additional lanes open. there are lanes getting by, but traffic is backed up. the backup begins at rockville pike, the accident scene. outer loop delays begin at greenbelt because of rubbernecking. inside the beltway, 410 is your alternate. eun? thanks, jerry. winter weather may return this weekend. tom has your forecast ri mary! hey! wo you look great! thanks! it s this new wish yourself thin pgram. i just wish it and it happens. it s probably those fiber one bars you re eating. i know they help me stick to my diet. the bars are 90 calories and the fiber helps you feel full. 90 calories and high fiber. so that s why this diet thing is working. but it s weird because my wish for lorenzo came true. [ male announcer ] fiber one 90 calorie bars. hungry no. results yes. that no small business should be invisible, so we decided to help a real small business make it easier for customers to find them. my name is elizabeth heinz, we re at isabella s boutique in rockville center, new york. do me a favor, and search for your business. alright. what did you find? nothing. i mean, if you don t have a website, you re basically invisible. [ male announcer ] 40% of small businesses don t have a website. but with verizon websites powered by intuit, it s so easy you can do it yourself, and so powerful it can make any small business more visible. add photos. and then, we ll hit publish. i have a website?! you have a website. oh my gosh, i can t believe it was that easy. [ male announcer ] verizon can put your small business on over 100 search sites so customers can find you, with a personalized business e-mail address that connects with your site. visit me at isabellasny.com. [ male announcer ] small business owners, don t be invisible. call today and get a 6 month free trial of verizon websites powered by intuit, when you sign up for verizon s reliable high-speed internet & phone for business, just $84.99 a month with no term contract required. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities verizon. the hardest working network in business. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. a cloudy and cold friday morning. temperatures around the region are just in the 20s now. we ll get above freezing by later this morning and by noontime into the mid-30s. during the afternoon, peaking near 40. and then tonight, after midnight, we may get a little bit of sleet and then perhaps some freezing rain that may give us some light icing on tree limbs and power lines around dawn on saturday. changing to some cold rain from time to time during the day and highs in the mid and upper 30s. and it may end as a period of a little wet snow during the afternoon. and a bit warmer sunday. eun? thanks so much, tom. tonight on news 4 at 5:00, latest must-have manicure back now with more of today on friday morning, february 4, 2011. cold but clear day in ro rockefeller center with our fans hanging around as we head into super bowl weekend. great folks with bieber fever. he s coming up at 10:00 with hoda and kathie lee. i m al roker along with willie geist and natalie morales. great to be back. we ll have more on the crisis in the middle east. we ll go live to the middle east for the latest on the situation in egypt where the anti-government protesters called today for a massive demonstration. but will the violence continue? all right. we ll get an update there. switching gears. we re going on a real estate extravaganza and show you great homes from florida, california and texas. we ll see how much house you can buy for $300,000 or less. all right. then of course with so many celebrities in the news going into rehab like charlie sheen or just out like lindsay lohan, we ll find out why the challenge to stay clean can be so difficult whether in the spotlight or not. dr. keith ablow will be here to explain. first we re going to find out more from ann curry at the news desk. thanks, al. good morning, everybody. in the news, today is the deadline that anti-government protesters imposed for egyptian president mubarak to step down. tens of thousands of protesters are holding their ground in and around cairo s tahrir square today and declared this, quote, the day of departure for the president of egypt. according to officials the obama administration is trying to get mubarak to step down immediately to be replaced by a transitional government. the nation s unemployment rate dropped to 9% in january, down from 9.4 from the month before. that is the lowest level in nearly two years and is due to more than half a million people who were out of work finding jobs, according to the labor department. but the country only added 36,000 new jobs, a sign that job growth remains the economy s weakest spot. a senate committee found that the fbi and army had enough cause to dismiss major nadal hassan. the finding that there was an unwillingness to confront home grown islamic extremism and that prevented officials from taking action in the case. today, mark kelly, the husband of wounded gabrielle giffords is expected to announce he will command the final mission of the space shuttle endeavor according to reporting from politico.com. he s been seen by his wife s side since she was shot in tucson last month. he is to make an official statement this afternoon. verizon customers will have another chance to preorder the highly sought after iphone 4 after it sold out within hours on thursday online. the next opportunity for preorders is wednesday, a day before it is available to the general public. a new home for the heroically loyal dog eli. he was a bomb-sniffing dog from afghanistan serving when 20-year-old rusk was wounded. eli crawled on top of him to protect him. the private wrote home about eli saying whatever is mine is his. now his parents have made sure of that. they have now adopted the black labrador on wednesday saying he s family now. if you haven t picked a side for the super bowl which is sunday with the green bay packers facing off against the pittsburgh steelers there is a bird brain trying to convince you. the green bay packers the green bay packers one more cheer for the packers. this cheesehead cockatiel probably a gray and cold start to this friday. good morning. i m meteorologist tom kierein. right now we re in the 20s. later today we ll climb into the 30s to near 40. but then tonight, watch out, we could have some iciness from freezing rain after midnight tonight until around dawn on saturday. then warming above freezing saturday morning, maybe some periods of some cold rain from time to time throughout the day. and that precipitation may end as a little wet snow during the afternoon. then partly sunny on sunday with highs reaching the low 40s. time for today s real estate. what you can get for under $300,000. from a gated community in california to the hip city of austin, texas. you will be surprised how far your money can go. barbara, good to see you. here we go. this week s picks. we ll start at $250,000 for a home in henderson, nevada. three-bedroom house and you like this one. i like it. it s 20 minutes from las vegas. it has 180-degree views of the las vegas strip and the amazing mountains that surround the property. that s a pretty house. neat as a pin on the front side. all of the plantings, by the way, out front are totally waterproof or whatever the world is. zeroscaping. you got it. this tile floor is throughout the entire house. it has plantation shutters in just about every room and surround sound speakers. i think the gray couches have to go. i can t imagine a gray couch in this environment. but there is a gray sink to go with it in the kitchen. there is a combination of granite countertops, maple cabinets and pendant lights. looks like a western kind of home. i m not sure how that happened in nevada, but there you have it. a new kitchen. you don t have to put in an ounce of work there. a pretty little vessel glass sink. people like to look at it. people like the waterfall type fountains, but they are a mess to use. you put the water on and it shoots back up. but it helps to sell the house. it s like a status-y thing people buy into. there s the charm. a sparkling pool with a hot tub and outside the hot tub you have your own putting green. a screened gazebo as well. that s your own putting green. doesn t look to be used that much. probably for the first week or two and then people grow tired of that stuff. you can pull out the holes and flags and you have a nice backyard. you can watch the sunsets from the gazebo. gorgeous. next up a four-bedroom home in mandeville, louisiana. this house is directly across the water from new orleans. if you get tired of the quiet backyard and the quiet neighbors you can go across the water and have a good time in new orleans. this was once a popular resort for getting away from new orleans. now it has great schools, great neighbors and people live here full time. that s a pretty living room. i think the tv over the fireplace competes a little bit too much in the room. tvs are a necessary evil, i guess. but look what it does to that beautiful room. plantation shutters much like the last house we saw. there are scored cement floors. that s a little bit unusual. will that take away from the value? it doesn t really suit the house. they would be better off with wood floors. don t drop anything. forget it. there s the dining room. odd color choice. looks like executive dining, if you don t mind my saying. there is a kitchen. beautiful windows throughout the kitchen. that entire kitchen is totally new with clean white cabinets and a breakfast bar. out back, a covered patio which overlooks we ll see it in a second. you can t see it in this picture but it overlooks a huge backyard, totally private. looks like a park. it s perfectly flat. you can throw marbles out there. now palm springs, california. two-bedroom home at $286,000. everybody knows palm springs. so many people lived there frank sinatra, elizabeth taylor, clark gable and elvis presley. look at the house. that was a quick shot. it has trees growing out of the roof which you never really see. it s a 24/7 guarded community called the seven lakes country club. everybody wants to be there. that s a funny shot of a hallway. there you have a hallway. a fireplace in the living room. bright windows in the dining room that go to the ceiling. another tv over a fireplace. that s a little bit smaller, better. there is even a dead palm tree in the corner. that s unusual. but it kind of works, i guess. there s the dining room. maybe not the best choice of table. a little bit different style but you have it there. the country club has an exec tiff golf course, restaurant, bar and once you get out of the kitchen you have access to 15 pools. not bad. there is the dining room in the back on the deck. to sarasota, florida, a three-bedroom house. you re pushing me along here. okay. we want to get them all in. sore sociearasota is down in again. it s down 55% since the high. you re looking here at a house that s half price what you would have paid five years ago. a one-story house, nicely landscaped. inside you have tall ceilings, sliding pocket doors into the lanai. the family room has vaulted ceilings with a nice beam across the top. you could paint those out. there is a bright kitchen. now i m waiting for you. a den, built in fireplace and shelving. another shot of the living room. you like the living room. there s the kitchen. high ceilings, wood cabinets and granite countertops. the screened lanai has a solar heated pool. that s not the club. that comes with the house. not a bad thing. last house in austin, texas, $299,900. one of the hippest cities in the u.s. with music, film and art festivals all year around. people love austin. this home has no direct neighbors on any side. it has a green area on one side and a dog park across the street. you don t have to see human beings for weeks. looks like a dr. seuss house. it s spacious and lovely. looks tall and squeezed in. it s not on the inside. windows on every wall of the house. that s a back screened in porch. there is a big kitchen with stone counter tops and a double sink, cherry cabinets, glass-tile back splash. the backyard is miniature, but private and big enough for me. it backs into a creek. we re always waiting for joe, our director. that s fine. thanks so much. for more information on the homes go to todayshow.com. coming up next, high profile celebrity rehab. why charlie sheen and lindsay lohan and others have such a hard time beating the demons. plus, the crushing weight of snow. record accumulations causing buildings to collapse. we ll show 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[ clang ] cannonball!! at purinso we set out toour dog to be discover the sciencele. in some of nature s best ingredients. we created purina one with smartblend. delicious shredded morsels and crunchy bites with real meat, wholesome grains and antioxidants for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your dog. purina one with smartblend. discover what one can do. you might call them celebrities gone wild. charlie sheen and lindsay lohan are back in the headlines. why is it so hard for them to clean up their acts? dr. keith ablow is a psychiatrist and author of the seven wonders that will change your life. docke nice to have you here. thanks for having me. unfortunately lindsay lohan is back in the headlines for allegedly possibly stealing a $2500 necklace following two times in rehab. it could be a violation of her parole and could send her back to jail. what will it take for her to clean up her act? it takes getting to the y. in other words, yes, she s stealing. yes, she s been involved in substance abuse. what s she running from? why is she stealing? the question is what s been stolen from her in her life? usually those behaviors go hand in hand. when you talk about stealing or doing drugs, a lot of times these stars or celebrities or people in general who have these problems are engaging in this behavior because they think they can get away with it. well, it s distracting. drugs distract you. theft even can take the light away from what might be troubling you and say, oh, we re going to get you involved with the legal system and the question is where is the appetite coming from? why the desire to distract yourself? it takes courage which is why one of the wonders in the book is courage. to say, you know, i will resist it. every time i go toward one of these distractions it s for a reason. i m avoiding my truth. you have to have the courage to say, you know, it s going to hurt. find out who you are. it hurts and you have to cope with it. we see charlie sheen, another example, unfortunately, of him partying too hard reportedly with porn stars at his mansion. this time it led to him having a health crisis. he seems to be the kind of guy that engages in this behavior over and over again as well. so does he have to have that sort of self-revelation, that ah-ha moment that is going to lead him to finally get the help he needs? charlie sheen needs to realize that if he dies today they have to write scumbag on his tombstone. it s your character that s broken. how did it get broken? you weren t a baby born onto the planet for this buying love, if you will? using drugs again and again, for what? if you die, charlie, you have never been alive. what was it? were you come den dee comandey your actor father? tell me. the guy has too few teeth left to wait long. you cowrote the book with glenn beck. he hit bottom and had a lifestyle very much like some of the celebrities we have seen. was doing drugs, had thoughts of suicide. his turning point was hitting that moment where he thought it was all over for him. that moment and believing, you know, i m going to take a step forward because people are relying on me. once you have kids and for glenn, it was about the kids it s not about you anymore. that s what charlie sheen doesn t realize. they are looking at you. you re not allowed to pass on this trouble to the next generation. you need to get your life in order and have faith that there is a plan for you. there is actually something you are supposed to do in life. get on with it. in the book you talk about having the courage. you say one of the things about finding the courage is finding god. and god helps to clear the way for your purest and best intentions. that s what you said glenn beck found. he found god. why is faith so important in helping make that turnaround? faith is important because in order to defeat these distractions you have to believe there is a reason you re here. you may not know what it is, but there is a plan. maybe it s one of charlie s kids. maybe it s one of lindsay s future children who need to benefit from her or him being present. we don t know, but there is a better way to live that s more consistent with the belief that you re here for a reason. you better be your best. in fact, you re not allowed to be less than your best. i know since the book came out people have come and told you their own stories of where they were and how they have turned their lives around. what are some of the things you re hearing? this is, like, amazing, right? i m talking about things like a lawyer making a good living doing that work who said, listen, you know, my heart s never really been in it. it s not me. i want to design homes. so dan scott design is now the outgrowth of his desire to be true to himself. and have the courage to do it. that takes so much courage. especially when someone is paying you a lot to do something different. what s the best advice for people right now who are desperate? desperate times. how can they find that courage? how do they take the risk? take one step. that s what the book says to do. that s what i say to do. take a step. you may remember something you said was a dream of yours when you were a kid. people say, oh, come on. it s okay. buy a book about it. all kinds of forces come to your side. i really believe this. the minute you say that s me i m going to move in that direction. it could be a course online. it could be anything to declare i m going to move according to the plan. the path that s intended for me from all time. i think there is that for each of us. everyone has a gift. it s finding out what the gift is. it can take time and that s okay. thank you for being here. the book is called the seven wonders that will change your life. coming up, temperature notwithstanding, getting your style ready for spring on a budget. first, these messages. 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[ female announcer ] clear some snow. or spread a little warmth. maxwell house gives you a rich full flavored cup of coffee so you can be good to the last drop. aren t getting enough whole grain. but actually, it s never been easier to get the whole grain you want from your favorite big g cereals. from cheerios to lucky charms, there s whole grain in every box. make sure to look for the white check. so have you heard it s super bowl xlv with the steelers going head to head with the pack rs this sunday in arlington, texas. will you be watching? oh, yeah. can t wait for the commercials. the game will be right, too. these are two incredible teams. did you watch the entire time? what is it, two hours? the pregame is about eight hours. it s a whole day. i m going to be in the kitchen making guacamole and chips. are you making pasta putanesca? i haven t thought about what to make but i try to make something yummy and everybody eats on the couch. mm. got to get beers in the house. comele on over. we have home improvement projects and much more coming up. mor-ning. i m your genie. you re wishing for. a tasty fiber cereal? well you don t want that one. kellogg s fiber plus cereal. the delicious taste of berries, 40% of your daily fiber. plus.wait for it. antioxidants! so, two more wishes! mmmm. mmmm. maybe later, then. [ female announcer ] kellogg s fiber plus cereal. positively delicious. and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda® you ll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. that s how splenda® is sweet.and more. 9:26 is your time now. 32 degrees. this is a live look at the beltway, where you can see a lot of backup. this is following some breaking news. an accident is causing major backups on the inner loop. let s get right to jerry edwards for the latest. good morning, jerry. eun, good morning. following this breaking news, chopper 4 was over the scene shortly after the serious crash occurred. right now on the inner loop of the beltway between university boulevard and new hampshire avenue. this is what it looked like a little while ago. the good news is the cleanup has pretty much wrapped up. the inner loop of the beltway, two left lanes will get by. however, the damage is done. beltway delays inner loop begin at rockville pike. outer loop of the beltway runs slowly from greenbelt to a point opposite the inner loop accident. again, outer loop lanes are open. a little more work to go on the inner loop. eun? thank you, jerry. more winter weather is good morning. cloudy and cold now. we re in the 20s to near 30. later today into the upper 30s to near 40. a lot of cloudiness. and then saturday s going to be a mixed day, perhaps a little freezing rain, a little iciness early in the morning, then some cold rain, and then perhaps later in the afternoon, a little wet snow is no accumulation. sunday, partly sunny, into the low 40s. maybe a few sprinkles on monday. here s a look into next week. we could get accumulating snow wednesday night into thursday, turning much colder the end of the week. eun? tom, thank you. tonight on news 4 at 5:00, the latest you look so thin. do i? i m on this new diet. it s effective. well, i don t eat anything and when i feel i m about to faint i eat a cube of cheese. well, it s working. i know. i m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight. i love that line. scary. those are the women from the devil wears prada. a lot of women are obsessed with weight and it s not about health but about fashion, style and the culture of celebrity and self-esteem. so we ll take a look at all of the issues coming up on monday here on today. then the rest of the week for next week we ll look at the women s obsessions from shoes to gossip to the search for the fountain of youth. it will be all about us, al. all about the women. man. wow. i m going out for a cheeseburger. anyway, something i know a little bit about, the snow. and the snow. and just a little bit of snow. a cold and gray friday. good morning. we re just near 30 degrees now. later this afternoon up near 40. here s the four-day forecast. after midnight tonight, we may get a little sleet, perhaps some freezing rain that may put a little icing on tree limbs and power lines. by dawn saturday, changing to periods of cold rain during the day, highs reaching the upper 30s. precipitation may end as a little wet snow in the afternoon with no accumulation. sunday, warmer, could get sprinkles monday. that s your latest weather. thanks, al. coming up, the cost of the winter storms as biuildings collapse under the weight of the snow. there s more on the way, sorry to say, right after this. so i thought, what if we used the same technology that helps ventilate the inside of the car to ventilate medical tents after natural disasters. i don t know. that s what i would do. 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[ laughs ] [ female announcer ] little switches can make all the difference. find cottonelle ultra codes. then see how you could win ultra prizes to make little switches in your life. so we took her to our olive garden. just us girls. we kept the fun going all through dinner. introducing olive garden s new artisanal raviolis. try our creamy asiago cheese ravioli topped with pan-seared chicken. or try our pear and gorgonzola ravioli topped with sauteed shrimp. starting at just $10.95. with unlimited salad and breadsticks. it was really cool just hanging out the three of us. olive garden. when you re here, you re family. the rack of storms this winter have been taxes and now all the snow is pushing buildings to their breaking point. peter alexander has the details. reporter: it s the threat that s weighing heavily on the entire northeast. among the latest buildings to buckle, this office outside boston. the employees escaped just moments before its roof collapsed following the latest punishing round of another foot of snow. across the region, dozens of similar scenes. watch this in connecticut where a gas station lost its roof. so did a bowling alley, a tennis club, even this taco bell restaurant. on thursday, dan scaglariani survived his own scare. i heard a banging and i checked in the dining room. there was a big hole. i didn t believe it would collapse like this. reporter: in new york roofing contractors have been working nonstop for two weeks. the thickness on the ice is causing major problems. reporter: experts say there are clear warning signs. when you re looking at the roof, how do you know there is a problem? well, one thing is when you have a heavy snow load you may see water dripping in. it can work under shingles and rubber membranes and you see ice dams which leads to leaks inside. reporter: it doesn t take a mountain of snow. consider this, depending how much water is in the snow, two feet on a normal-sized roof could weigh 38,000 pounds or 19 tons. if your roof starts creaking like an old wooden ship, get out fast. this elementary school is closed after a partial roof collapse. they are out there measuring. the concern was always the safety of the children. we have all flat roofs. reporter: in connecticut, several schools cancelled classes today. not a snow day, but a chance to inspect the roofs. with the number of record snow totals piling up, the northeast has already reached its breaking point. time to clean off the roof. that was nbc s peter alexander with that report. up next on today s style budget trendy conscious accessories for spring right after this. 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[ female announcer ] roc® we keep our promises. 10 years? i ll take that! heaven comes to earth. rich, creamy, thick dannon greek, the most delicious yogurt imaginable. heaven on earth! discover dannon greek this morning on today s style must haves for spring. the balmy weather is around the corner. it s the perfect excuse to update everyday accessories. if you re on a budget we have trendy shoes, bags and jewelry for under $75. kate dimik from people style watch joins us. good morning. good morning to you. you have looked at what s on the runway and distilled it down to real life things people will want in terms of the hot test trends for spring. real trend for real women at affordable prices. we are talking you need shades for the brightness we re talking here. bright, poppy colors which extends to clothing as well. accessories is an easier way to try the trend. the standout colors are orange, pink, green, blue. and some yellow. harder to wear. i feel if i had to pick one to invest in, orange is really happening this season. it s so much easier to try the trend with a bag or shoe. give the outfit a little pop. you can wear black, gray, white. khaki. they keep changing the shoes. the flat, high, spike. now thick heels. this feels more comfortable. exactly. at least we re giving you ale little support and comfort versus the stiletto. this is so important because it balances out there is a big 70s trend with flair paints and the skirts are longer. this shoe balances out the look and makes it chic. i m in love with this platform shoe from jc penney. $24.99. this is a great versatile color. we have lots of options. this is another trend. this is two-toned. that s another thing to pay attention to. do you recommend going bright with the shoes? maybe that s the way to do the accessory color? yeah. again, at this price point, just have fun. try a trend. buy a thick heel in a bright color. you get two trends for one price and you don t spend a lot of money to begin with. envelope bags. you need to carry them and you don t have a strap. some have a chain strap inside. we are presenting them like day clutches. we have seen structured bags become very important. what i love about this is it s instant polish. you add this to your outfit and look like a million bucks. you look both professional but also like you could head out for the evening. this looks like it could hold an ipad. this is a great bargain and a beautiful bag. all right. throw it into your i have to throw it in a bigger bag, too. take it out later on and you look great. another trend is snakeskin. some people may say, well, you re using it s real, right? these options are not. at this price point you will rarely get real snake. but the look of snake skin. they are beautiful. what i love is it s sexy and sophisticated. you get a lot of style in one quick hit. but it s also a trend that we have seen before in spring. i think it s a good investment. here you have the shoe in snake skin. two for one. you can save a lot of money there. gold jewelry. not thin gold jewelry but massive amounts of gold. at people style watch we call them status links. we re talking big, heavy, gold jewelry, layered on. it looks great. it s one of the trends that instantly makes what you re looking wearing look much richer. this necklace is $12. this is really not gold. you don t have to break the bank to look like a million. it s interesting that gold jewelry is so in when the price of gold is so high. funny. by the way, we want to mention also among the top ten you call these trends floral, peasant blouses, flair pants and pleats. color blocking and the natural look. there is a step back into the 70s. mark jacobs blazed the trail. there is a 70s revival. i feel it comes up every few springs. can you believe it for those of us who lived in the 70s? i know, but it looks good. it s a more polished look versus the hippy bohemian look. thank you so much. it will be fun to shop for spring. my pleasure. coming up, easy home improvement from projects to do while you re snowed in. first this is today on nbc. this morning on today s home snowy day projects. did this week s snow have you going stir crazy inside the house? why not put your time to good use? we have ideas to keep you busy and upgrade the home. good to see you. you as well. some of the things you can do. i m nervous about electrical work. right. this is stuff you can do yourself. this one. this is from worth products. it s as simple as screwing in a lightbulb. if you have recessed can lights. how many weather men does it take to screw in here we go. hey-oh. i m not going there. say you have recessed can lights over an island in the kitchen or there is an area where you would like to pa zizzazz it up. you uncrew the lightbulb and screw this back in. this fixture hangs from this piece. interesting. then when you re done. i was going to show you that. it hangs like this. that piece i was going to have you take apart, these are add-ones. this is about $35. if you would like to add this, you put it on there to kind of dress it up. this is a simple way okay. trust me. how many weather men does it take? it s really simple. $35. many styles. it could cost an arm and a leg to get an electrician. i just had that where were you two weeks ago? you had a blizzard. we literally just had this done. we have information on the website. it s so simple to do and literally that simple and putting those add-ones is easy. i love this idea. yeah. my daughter carmen s room we have this. this is a dry erase paint from rustoleum. you think about a dry erase board, how expensive it is. you can paint an entire wall with this stuff if you d like. the kit costs $25. you can put it on, take it off, put it on, take it off. the whole thing. i have had this in my daughter s room. it s such a hit with her and her friends. i m leaving it up to do the math homework. you could put it in your office. you spend $500 on a board, get it mounted. it s never big enough for those meetings. you can do rooms in this. so inexpensive. a two-part system. mix it together. the way it works is you put a coat on, wait 20 minutes, another coat. ultimately, three coats. give it two days to cure. that s it. that s just a piece of drywall. you have to make sure your kids use the dry erase markers. and make sure they know only on that wall. bedrooms are typically a different color. then you have a nice white wall and it s really fun. closet space. they are always a mess. now in particular we are closed in. this is a great way to upgrade. this is from the container store. i like the system. it s so simple to install. i don t know. can you look up there with the camera? see the metal bar? that s how the whole thing starts. people are always concerned about closet organizers. how do you find where it s solid? where the wall meets the ceiling there is a piece of wood there. that gets mounted are they bowling up stairs? i think so. then the whole system hangs from it. so the weight of the system keeps it down. right. this one has drawers you can slide out. you can configure it any way. this particular configuration costs about $500. but it s so easy and i like that you can change it. so say you decide, boy, i wish i had more hanging space. if you build out a closet permanently with rods and shelves you have to tear everything out. you can take these shels off of here. now i can reconfigure if i want more space. you can add on. it s really the best way to go. do one at a time. it can be expensive. but you will get more organized. good ideas. hey! how are you? more details about lou s project and ask a question about your own home dilemma go to todayshow.com. thanks for stopping by, lou. justin bieber is here. you re a fan. i love it. he wants your hair cut. kathie lee and hoda will talk to him in a little bit after your local news. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: does it take two to tango? anncr: geico. 15 minutes could sa on car insurance. it s a cold friday out there and we ve still got ice around, even though we re a little above freezing today in the nation s capital. good morning. it s 9:56. i m barbara harrison. in the news at this hour, the search is on for montgomery county school official wanted on a sex abuse warrant. a student at washington christian academy in olney says thomas wilson inappropriately touched her on school grounds. wilson has worked at the school since 2008. and we could see another winter system moving into the area this weekend. tom s here to tell us about that. snow, tom? yeah, but right now everything s okay. no problems. if you have plans on getting out this friday during the daylight hours and through much of the evening. however, tonight, after midnight, we could get some sleet, maybe a little bit of freezing rain, and there may be some isolated roadways that could have a little bit of icing, but most of the roads should be still above freezing where we re getting a little freezing rain. so, maybe just a light icing on tree limbs and power lines. changing over to periods of rain on saturday from time to time it may end as a little wet snow with no accumulation late saturday afternoon. then sunday, partly sunny, afternoon highs into the low 40s and maybe a few sprinkles monday. how s traffic, jerry? tom, finally a little good news. well, we ll say improving news. the earlier serious crash inner loop of the beltway after university boulevard has completely cleared. all lanes are open. we re still looking at delays on the inner loop coming around from rockville pike to the accident scene. outer loop s still a bit slow, but with a little more time, things should begin to thin out. looking good 395 and the 14th street bridge. barbara? thanks, jerry. tonight on news 4 at 5:00, latest must-have manicure, but latest must-have manicure, but there are the moment you feel run down or achy nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum. get oscillo and feel like yourself again. oscillococcinum, nip it in the bud. from nbc news, this is today with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. okay, everybody, we made it to dry-day friday. it is february4, and we re all excited about the big weekend coming up, but we have a great show today. it s national wear red day created by the national heart association. we re going to have a couple s segments on that. we have cheryl hines here in the house. and justin bieber was supposed to be with us today. we have a biebertini in honor of him. this is a drink, and if you add pop rocks careful they can go in your eyes. oh, like it just did. because he s 16, a child, obviously, and i guess that s a lollypop. a blow pop. he s not feeling well, and let me tell you how his network of young girls is connected. we go downstairs and understand he s not feeling well, he s in his hotel. before we knew, the girls downstairs who have been camping out all day saying they re calling each other saying, he hasn t left the hotel, he hasn t left the hotel. there are people here all communicating knowing he was in bed and not feeling well, but we re going to talk to him by phone. all the girls who try to grab him and lick him like a puppy ooh. they re all going to get germs. that boy is a hot ticket. his movie comes out on may 11. his mom, was a great, great lady. i was looking guaforward to meeg her, too. our beach party yesterday i don t know if it was fun for us, but we broke out the biki s bikinis not the bikinis, the bathing suits. look at your strip tease act. you are crazy. oh, my gosh, i can t believe i did that. frank basically said, why don t you do that at home? why do you do that for millions of people and not for me? we didn t know they were going to do that, but the music you didn t care. you acted 20 years old. wow. wow. that s quite uh-oh, it s going to get ugly! with the ball in front of me, you can t see i have anything on. do we have a clip or no clip at all with the network people having been there? we don t have anything. we don t have justin bieber, we don t have clips. but you know who is on the phone right now? justin bieber is on the phone. hi, justin! hi, how are you? look at your little voice. how are you feeling, hon? well, i woke up, like, in the middle of the night, like 2:00, and like, i couldn t it was really hard to breathe and my throat i can hardly swallow, so my mom said made the executive decision to make me sleep in so i can feel better. you don t like mornings, anyway, right? mornings are tough for you. they are, but i usually get up, anyway. can i tell you something? your picture subpoeis up on the screen. the girls are outside the studio and we could hear the screaming up stairs from the girls who are downstairs. there they are. they know what hotel you re in, so i doubt you got too much sleep up at 2:00 in the morning because they re yelling for you. does that get old for you? i m up on the top floor so i can t hear them, but i have so many amazing fans that always support me, and i m sorry i couldn t get down there. will you give us a raincheck, please, sweetie, and come back next time you re in new york and give us an extra long interview time with you? absolutely. we love your movie. it s 3-d. it really shows a side of you that i didn t know existed. i m not 14, but i love you, too. do you like older women? yes! you re adorable. feel better. you better go get a throat culture, sweetheart. thank you so much. speaking of older women, yesterday i couldn t believe this happened. i don t know if i should tell this story. you might as well. i went out to lunch with bobbi, a young friend. we were going to be interning with her. why wasn t i invited to the lunch? because it was not a lunch for you or me, it was a lunch so bobby and andrea could meet. my friend also wants to be in the fashion world. i said, you know what, i ll introduce you to bobbi. they were having a lovely lunch and getting along great. they didn t need me, so i got up to leave. i had a wine spritzer. all of a sudden another wine spritzer arrives, and they set it down in front of me. the waiter, matt says, no, no, it s from the gentleman at the bar. he wanted to give a round. wait a minute, hoda, don t get ahead of the story. this is not da dateline. who did it? who killed her? go on. that s yours, by the way. anyway, i m leaving and i put my coat on ready to get out in the cold, so i go over to say thank you for the wine i m not drinking, i was leaving. i took my hand out to shake it, he pulls me to him, puts his big old arms around me, gives me a kiss here and a kiss there, and he looks at me and goes, could you be any hotter? who was it? i said, really? i was so stunned. he said, i want to see you again. i go, i come here a lot. who was he? a guy named roger. and as i m leaving, i m going, oh, my gosh, he was hitting on me! that s the first time in 26 years anyone has hit on me. i m so stupid, i didn t even know. i told frank this story. frank was going to take him apart. and he had just fallen on the ice, you know, so he s like this: i ll take that guy! yeah, you ll take him. i ll tell you something about frank. i was at an outing and somebody was whispering something in her ear while frank was there, and he was jealous still. he s like, what was that about? it s cute. it is not cute. he knocked over a little old lady that hugged me too hard. he manhandled her and put her in her place. put her right back in her walker, yes, he did. it s the super bowl and we have our wilson footballs here. we were going to throw them, but we re up here in the studio for a reason. if you guys love the super bowl ads, and there are some new ones justin bieber has one. justin bieber does have one. these ads go for 3 million for 30 seconds. let s watch this one. you know what s cheesy about this? they got that one for free. it s going to cost $3 million to see that very same one. they got it for free because we re talking about it. 8 zillion people are not watching. 3 million people are hoda. yeah, we re hot tickets. my friend came all the way here. they went to virginia tech together. that s what we were basically saying on our facebook yesterday. we look good for our age. and people were sending pictures. i guess people took the beach theme to heart in their own houses. they had a little beach party. lorraine. sandy. they re in hawaii watching us, but they re like, it s like this every day. please. and jennifer sends in to hoda, twit pick. that s her and her daughter in a restaurant. that s cute. and a snowman in a bikini. that looks a little like terry yesterday. wait, wait, you need to rephrase because tara looked hot. tara looked totally hot. it just reminded me of her little bikini. we can t see her in the dark. bobbi, looking fine, miss bobbi girl. let s talk about your dress. miss kathie lee dressed me today. i even have your tank. she forgot it was red day and came in a blue dress. people are talking about some great finds for entertaining. have you ever seen a ziploc as a pizza saver. these are really great. i love these plates. they re like buddha belly plates, so you can hold them while you re on the couch or you can mingle and munch. they have bowls, too. this is a salsa bowl, so it helps you keep the salsa on your chips. the lip will help you prevent from losing it. last but not least, rack-a-stackr. you can keep beers on there and they won t roll around. they have them for wine bottles, too. you re picking on my little friend andrea. i love any opportunity to help someone else. you really are a mentor. you take young girls she s a professional girlfriend. now all young girls will be calling bobbi. i m listening to the story. we missed that whole part. they were so deep in conversation, i don t think they even knew that i left. i picked up the bill, but they were talking like crazy. love you! up next, mirror, mirror, on the wall. we re going to find the fairest of them all. the results of our ambush makeover, coming up after that. 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[ female announcer ] need a clinically proven way to lose weight now? then try the slim-fast 3-2-1 plan. 3 snacks, 2 shakes or meal bars, and 1 balanced meal. slim-fast. who has time to slim slowly? cause today is a great day for falling in love we re back on this friday with special edition of ambush makeover. as you probably know, today is nationalional wear red day. today our contributor to the stars, lou garvey, la la la la la. tell us, outside the jus ditin bieber fans. but there were others, too, in the mix. we did try a few. and we found guests in need of ma makeovers, attractive women who just had not taken care of themselves. let s get started with amy joe soder. she s 45 from pennsylvania. she s only won eye shadow twice in her life, once at her prom and once at her wedding. let s take a look at her story. well, i know today is an emotional day for you because you re here celebrating your neighbor pat. i know you take care of him. tell me about pat. pat lost his wife three years ago. he s had heart issues all his life. he s been rejected from the army because of his heart when he was young. he s, you know, been ostrasized in school because he had heart issues, and he lost his wife three years ago and he has just been i ve just been his caregicar caregiver and tried to help him and make his life as good as it can be. you re an amazing woman. thank you. i know he ll want this for you. are you ready to go? i m ready. they sil silently go about doing good deeds for people. here is amy jo before. amy jo, let s see the new you! [ applause ] oh, my gosh! stay right there. are you ready? are you ready, brittany? take off your blindfold, sweetie. hold on a second. amy jo, why don t you turn around and take a look at yourself. oh, my god! ten years ago! tell us what you did. the first thing i did is her skin color and hair color were almost exactly the same color so i left the golden highlights popping through to keep it natural. i didn t want it to look opaque and dull. there is a whole kick when you go dark. jennifer lawrence gave her these great layers and just made her hair fluffy. really busting. brittany, what do you think of your mom? you re so pretty. adorable. the red matches your justin bieber bracelet now. but we wanted to give her red, obviously, for all her hard work. this is a great alternative to the little black dress. i know you don t have anything like this. darling! our second lady is shirley canela. she s 51 from indiana. she s had the same ponytail for 50 years. after her grandfather died of a heart attack, she discovered that heart disease runs in her family. let s listen to her story. i know today you re honori i your grandfather. tell me about him. i used to be really close to my grandfather. he died about 30 years ago of a heart attack, so i like to remember heart disease and everyone should be aware of it. it does run in my family. do you think he would want this for you? oh, sure. are you ready to cut off this hair and get a whole new look? after 50 years, yes. wow! she s here with her husband jim. let s take one last look at shirley before. jim, keep that blindfold on. let s bring out the new shirley canelli. all right, shirley! jim, you ready to look at her? all right, darling, take it off. unbelievable. you ready to look? turn around, hon. put your glasses on. you re allowed. you look beautiful. i love what they ve done with the hair. jim is a happy man. jim is a happy camper. tell us what you did. of course, we cut it off. and thank god, shirley, you re not a client because after 50 years, i d go broke. jennifer gave her this great hair color which immediately gave her fine hair color back. i softened the color, and the combination of the color and the cut worked together. notice she softened the makeup and just made her beautiful. and that outfit couldn t be chicer. we wanted to give her a red pop. red is a great piece to have in your wardrobe from talbott s. and the dress is from macey s. congratulations, everybody. thank you, louis. up next, live with questions from the crowd. but first these messages! mmmmm. ( crash ) when you add velveeta to spicy rotel tomatoes and green chiles, you ve got a queso so good, it ll blow em away. - ( crash ) - man, that s good! velveeta & rotel. i m gonna use less honey. i m gonna text less. well, i m gonna use less bath tissue with charmin!!! [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft s ultra-cushiony design is soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. charmin ultra soft. j dreams of landns meet sea, deliciously friskies surfin and turfin favorites. feed the senses. [ speaking spanish ] [ male announcer ] old el paso stand n stuff taco shells. old el paso. feed your fiesta. we are back on this dry day. we re here live with sara haines. everything is live and uncensored on the air. what do you have for us, hon? i m here with jeannie from pittsburgh who has a question about everyday health. hi, i m a nurse from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. my name is jamie, and i was wondering, what do you do on a daily basis to try to keep up your cardiac health since it is women s awareness for cardiac health? i try to get on that stairmaster, the one that you actually have to climb the stairs. that will kill you. i do that for three minutes and then i go to the steam room. we do so many stairs here. we get a workout in the morning. i try to do 30 minutes every day on the treadmill. or 30 minutes on my little pilates machine. but we try. we try. i also take lipitor because i had an elevated cholesterol level. really? i didn t know that. very little, but heart disease does run in my family so you have to be careful. next i m with emily from miami and they have a question about everyone has a story. this is my favorite segment and my mom watches the show religiously. how do you choose the people you write about? you have to apply for it, and david and i and our producer jamie, we look at all the letters and read every one, and we decide which one moves us the most and which one we think has something in the letter that can inspire me as the lir cyyricist i write the words and i give the lyrics to david, and he s a brilliant man who can write the music in minutes. we choose a broadway star to perform it, and we let the person come in to the studio and hear it. yesterday we let the woman actually sing it because she was such a good singer. no wonder people go out of their way to share them. [ sneezes ] ooh! ooh! [ sneezes ] [ female announcer ] go to kleenex.com for more fun ways to share. kleenex tissues. softness worth sharing. [ female announcer ] go to kleenex.com for more fun ways to share. ever wish vegetables didn t taste so vegetably? well, v8 v-fusion juice gives you a full serving of vegetables, plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what s your number? what a way to spend a friday morning. cars bumper to bumper on the beltway for miles. coming up on news 4 midday, we ll have an update on that accident that closed the highway and kept people stuck for hours. good morning, i m barbara harrison. also coming up, the super bowl is just days away now, but for those fans at reagan national, the weather is delaying their big game experience. snow in the big d keeping fans away. we re back on this national wear red day with today s healthy heart and a woman who is doing something to beat heart disease. actress cheryl hines, we love her. she is best known as april s curb your enthusiasm. she has become the new spokesperson for the go red for women campaign. hello, ladies. hello. i wore one dress that was a little too short, and that was a long time ago, and you will never let me forget it. we had our way with you, and it was fun. you were easy. tell us why you decided to be a spokesperson for this cause. well, you know, my father had a heart attack a few years ago, and it was very dramatic, of course, and traumatic, too. very sweet. he s fine now, though? he s fine now. he had open heart surgery and we found out he had heart disease, and he stopped smoking. stopped smoking and is taking care of himself now, and now we re back on the golf course. did he stop because of the heart attack? is that what made him stop? he had to. yes. when something like that happens to you and you literally almost die, i think you really evaluate your life and your lifestyle and say, is it worth it? yeah, how much do i want to smoke versus how much do i want to live? exactly. when you hear that heart disease is the number one killer among women, i still think people find that amazing. it surprised me. i didn t realize that. then when my father had his heart attack, i really had to look at my heart health, and i have to really watch things. like what? like cholesterol, my cholesterol is really high you probably are on one of those drugs. i m on it. i watch it, you know, and i exercise. you look fantastic. what kind of exercise do you do? well, i make myself walk on the treadmill. yeah. do you do the incline? yes, incline. and i make myself do a mile and sometimes i stay i don t do much. that s it? and you look like that? well, i do other stuff. i like to get out there and you mix it up. you golf, you say. do you carry your own bags? let s not get crazy. but i like to dance with my daughter. we put a little disco ball in the living room. you have a disco ball in the living room. how attractive is that? she s darling. how old is she? she s six. she s about to be seven. she s going to lose those teeth pretty soon. yeah. let s talk about curb. there s talk about the new season of curb your enthusiasm, you guys are going to get back together. what s going on? i don t know. you do know. you just can t tell. first of all, larry would kill me. i think i might have even signed a a non-disclosure. yeah, so i can t say anything about anything. why in the heck did you ask her that? why am i even here? we re talking about heart disease with the woman. and for women to tell five of their friends to check your heart, because it can be prevented, heart disease. and you need to know if it s in your family history as well. it s the number one killer and it can be prevented. that s what s important. so first of all, stop smoking. get a little bit of exercise every day. give us one other thing. well, to eat right. i know, the oatmeal and all that is actually good for you. we got nothing against oatmeal. we like oatmeal. let me ask you one other thing about curb. watch what you eat. will there be a season nine, do you think? i have no idea. i never know. i would do it every year until i die. i love the show, and i love and adore larry. i hate to elaborate on how many ways i love and adore larry, so we ll leave it at that. bye, sweetie. she s off to beautiful california. i know she is. up next, one in three of us has some form of heart disease. we ll tell you the signs, right after this. [ snort ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] for a better-looking tomorrow. vicks nyquil cold & flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold.medicine. hershey s bliss. one square inch of indulgence. joy. pleasure. one square inch of extra smooth, rich chocolate. hershey s bliss. one square inch of extra smooth, rich chocolate. can getting enough vegetables make you feel good? oh, yeah. v8 juice gives you 3 of your 5 daily servings of vegetables. v8. what s your number? we re back with more of our special series called today s healthy heart. this time around we re talking about the signs, symptoms, and prevention of heart disease. linda couch is a heart transplant survivor and katie coffey is a heart doctor. people say heart disease can be prevented. the key thing is you have to know you re at risk, low cholesterol, no diabetes, so you have to start moving. the heart association with its go red campaign want women to know that we have to be empowered. knowledge is power. go to your doctor, talk about your risk for heart disease and you ll hear amazing stories. when you hear linda s story, i m sorry, but yours blew me away. you had a heart transplant and this is after i think every female member of your family died of heart disease. right, right. actually, today is the 11th anniversary of my transplant. unbelievable. tell us how the transplant came about. when i was 26, i was diagnosed with congestive heart failure during childbirth. it was a shock. but i should have known because my mother died when she was 35. and several of my aunts. but when you re young, you don t think it could ever happen to you. you don t put yourself in the future like that. and you didn t know. how have you felt since then? i had my transplant when i was 35, so since then, i ve been doing great. but it s a struggle. but you have to learn how to make healthy choices. and one of your sisters passed away, too, of heart disease and you re caring for her children as well, right? right, right. i actually moved closer to her so she could take care of me and then she died within a year of heart disease. any men in your family or just all the females? my brother just had a heart transplant a few months ago. oh, my gosh. so in linda s case, there is a family history of most likely die lated cardio myopathy. this is where the pump doesn t work very well. we have identified ten genes of predisposed family to have this cardiomyopathy, so the pump fails at an early age. in your mother s case and sister s case, they didn t know they had it. so the key is here, family history is really important. go to your doctor, talk about your family history. a mother dying at age 35, powerful, powerful risk factor. and the fact that linda and her siblings will have some sort of heart disease. katie, your story is also astonishing to me. three months before you were supposed to run a marathon, you had a heart attack. you must have been in terrific shape, but you did have some family history as well. i was a marathoner and i had run actually three weeks before i had my heart attack race, and then my father, when i was six months old, had open heart surgery. he had a triple bypass for coronary artery disease. so it s been a big factor in my life growing up. after being in such terrific shape, were you shocked? you would think you would be the last person who would. i was stunned, and i think that was the hardest thing for me is that i had done absolutely everything right. i had eaten a heart healthy diet all my life because my mom implemented that while we were growing up. being 28 years old, i was about to start a master s program for school. women s symptoms are different. did you know immediately you were having a heart attack and had to go to the hospital? i m a nurse and had always worked with patients in the cardiac and thoracic intensive care unit, and as soon as i woke up at 4:00 in the morning, i knew i was having a heart attack. doctor, what should we be aware of? we still have to watch out for chest discomfort, shortness of breath, pain above the nec the neck. you can have back pain, an uneasy feeling in the stomach. it can mimic indigestion. just not feeling well, fatigue if you live in new york and you can walk five blocks or four blocks with no trouble, if you walk one block and you re short of breath, something could be wrong. the key is we have to understand. what s great about kathy and linda sharing their stories, the family history was the powerful thing. and listen to your own body. be proactive about your health. before we go, i have to say congratulations to hoda who is getting the women s wearing red day award for her effort. i didn t even know she put me in there. i m very proud of you miss hoda. up next we re going to have some heart healthy meals from the two super bowl cities. black and yellow, black and yellow ordxpñ leftover desserts, boardroom, now. thanks, i already have some yummy black forest cake. black forest cake? [ female announcer ] need a guilt free treat? try yoplait light. and i ve lost weight. [ female announcer ] with 30 delicious flavors all around 100 calories each. [ female announcer ] everybody has somebodyvors to go heart healthy for. who s your somebody? eating campbell s healthy request can help. 25 delicious soups with low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium. because heart healthy is good for your life. and the people in it. healthy request from campbell s. it s amazing what soup can do. but actually, it s easier than you think, because general mills big g line of cereals is america s number one source of whole grain at breakfast. there s whole grain in every box. .from chex. to cheerios. to lucky charms. so you can get the whole grain you want with the taste y le. get started on the whole grain you re missing with your favorite big g cereals. make sure to look for the white check. we have a super bowl cookoff as the pittsburgh steelers prepare to take on the green bay packers. we re hosting a culinary cookoff creole s restaurant in green bay. and he s from church brew works. we re going to have a little cookoff, kind of. nicole you want is to take here for a little bit? we re going to start off with a beer mustard wing with a little parmesan. we paired a beer up with everyone. try it all. that is good. oh, my gosh, that s good, cory. we did the trifecta pittsburgh here. we took black and gold and de n devonshire that was created in pittsburgh, and there is a beer to go with these as well with pierogies. i don t even know what a pierogie is. this is a cheddar, bacon and mashed potato. what are we eating with it? this is our paya sumcho. kind of heart healthy. we have a heart healthy meal here. we left off the fries and cheese. in pittsburgh years ago, truck drivers started smashing their sandwiches to eat them on the roadside. it became a pittsburgh thing. we have our beer-mayrinaded chicken. this ambrosia ale we bottle and had made it just for you ladies. do we drink from the bottle? yeah. geez, this is nasty. it went right up my nose. that is sweet. that s a sweet beer. cory, loved all of the things. i m not biased at all. i just want you to know. let s go to the next one. hi, honey. go, packs, go. first we re going to start off with something that s safe for every wisconsin tailgate. you have to have beer. have to have it. i have lienenkugels. this is a honeyweiss. i m going to have you drink the spotted cow with the cheese curds that are coming out. those are fried cheese. what is this i m sorry, cory. how rude of me. a cheese ball. this is everything i m not allowed to have. that s really good. what about these? these are wisconsin bratwurst. i have them here and i know you don t like onions so these are without onions on it. i like it with this stuff, though. sourkraut. that s good. that s good. you might need these because they re a little messy. is this a hamburger? yes, this is our original burger. we ve been making these for four generations. my grandma and grandpa started it. we don t have all day. it is a patty with horse butter. there s butter on everything. eat the bread. my gosh. that s really good. this is going to our heart healthy option. we ve been making this for years and years also. and so it s a little bit more heart healthy. takes out the butter, the cheese, a lot of stuff that we always want to eat. so this is a chili. yeah. oh, my gosh. so we re supposed to vote, aren t we? yeah. okay. come on. i want to go grab some pierogies. we decided that the winner of the trophy come over here we re not giving this away? we re not? okay, the winner of the trophy is you. we want everybody to win. we want it to be a tie. we ll be back with more of today. we have two special guests who are here from the morning waiting for justin bieber. lily is here and her friend. he couldn t make it. have you recovered? kind of. i was really sad and wanted to cry. what would you have told him if he had been here? that i think he s amazing and i love him and i hope he feels better. i wanted his number. we wanted his number. we had a big date planned for tonight. they wanted to be his private nurse. i like her. i m only 14. nurses take care of people. they re a very important part of this culture of ours. it s a good thing to be a nurse. you have a dirty mind. speaking of that, it s time for my friday funny. do it. one year i decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetary plot as a christmas gift. the next year i didn t buy her a gift. when she asked me why, i replied, well, you still haven t used the one i got you last year. ba dum ba. that s when the fight started. coming up next week, guys, we re going to have jersey shor shore jay wow. she wrote a book. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. you ll get a multi-room dvr free for 12 months. record shows ione room and watch them in up to six other rooms. call now. offer ends soon. there s no term contract required. you cacancel anytime with no early terminatiofee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers superior picture quality, more hd; plus the fastest internet in the u.s. why keep paying for cable? get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month plus a multi-room dvr free for 12 months. don t wait. this incredible offer ends soon. call 1.866.680.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that s 1.866.680.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead.