Transcripts For WRC Today 20110329 : vimarsana.com

to his wife. i m stuck in a tree well. give them my phone number. are you serious? i m going to die if they don t find me. luckily, she did and he was finally rescued. he s sharing his story with us finally rescued. he s sharing his story with us today, tuesday, march 29, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to today on this tuesday morning. i m meredith vieira. i m matt lauer. president obama vowed america s role would be limited in libya last night. he told the nation we had fulfilled the pledge, we had done what we said we would do. those are his words. the president said nato would take control on wednesday. as to why he involved the u.s. he said it was necessary to prevent a campaign of killing. how was the speech received in washington and libya? the latest ahead. and barry bonds former mistress took the stand in his perjury trial giving graphic testimony about his alleged steroid use and what it apparently did to his body. details of the testimony coming up. plus a new memoir by one of john f. kennedy s former girlfriends unveiling intimate details including candid memories of their vacations and a near death experience on a kayaking trip. she ll tell us more in a live interview. we begin with president obama making his case for u.s. involvement in libya. chuck todd, good morning to you. reporter: good morning. the president used a 28-minute speech to make the case for limited military action in libya and took the opportunity to rebut critics left and right about how and whether to target gadhafi with the military. in total he used the framework of american values to make the case. the united states of america has done what we said we would do. reporter: explaining the case for military action in libya, the president said it was in america s national interest and the u.s. had a responsibility to act. to brush aside america s responsibility as a leader and more profoundly, our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances, would have been a betrayal of who we are. reporter: the president said failure to act would have carried a far greater price. the united states and the world faced a choice. gadhafi declared he would show no mercy to his own people. we knew if we waited one more day, benghazi, a city nearly the size of charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberate across the region and stained the conscience of the world. reporter: mr. obama declared the mission so far a success. i said america s role would be limited, that we would not put ground troops into libya, that we would focus our unique capabilities on the front end of the operation and we would transfer responsibility to our allies and partners. tonight we are fulfilling that pledge. reporter: the president said until gadhafi steps down, libya will remain dangerous, but he rejected the idea of using the military to target gadhafi comparing it to iraq and president bush s decision to go after saddam hussein. if we tried to overthrow gadhafi by force we would likely have to put u.s. troops on the ground to accomplish the mission, or risk killing many civilians from the air. to be blunt, we went down that road in iraq. the regime change there took eight years, thousands of american and iraqi lives and nearly a trillion dollars. that is not something we can afford to repeat in libya. reporter: the president ended with a broader focus on the uprisings throughout the middle east. the united states cannot dictate the pace and scope of the change. only the people of the region can do that. but we can make a difference. reporter: despite it being a foreign policy speech there are splits along partisan lines with republicans upset about the lack of timeline for an exit strategy and oveven john mccain upset. meredith? thank you very much. nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in benghazi for us this morning. what s the reaction there to the president s speech? reporter: here in benghazi the reaction is positive. the president said he wanted to act militarily before there were images of mass graves. those graves would have been filled with the people of benghazi. here, a feeling of gratitude and a sense that the military intervention came at the last moment. gadhafi s forces were inside benghazi attacking the city. if the military air strikes had been delayed 10, 12, 14 hours benghazi probably would have been lost. and the rebels are making their way toward gofd s hometown of sirte. what progress has been made and what s the importance of sirte to the rebels? reporter: sirte is important. if it falls, gadhafi s hometown, a military garcrison town then the rebels will be near tripoli. gadhafi s forces overnight pushed the rebels back several miles. gadhafi s troops are dug in. they are preparing for a final stand. it s increasingly clear that without more western intervention, more powerful military strikes the rebels aren t going to take sirte. there is a new dynamic here. this entire military war, if you will, was launched to protect the people of benghazi. now there is a dynamic where the people of benghazi, the rebels, are advancing on a civilian population in sirte which opposes them. thank you very much. susan rice is u.s. ambassador to the united nations. good morning to you. good morning. last night the president laid out his case for military action in libya. he said we went to protect civilians there from essentially a bloodbath. it seems the mission has gone beyond that. nobody has used the word war but there is a civil war going on in libya and we have taken the side of the rebels. has the mission changed from a humanitarian one to something different? no, meredith. the mission is clear. the mandate from the united nations security council and the international community is clear. that is to protect civilians and establish a no-fly zone. as a consequence of our action in conjunction with our nato allies and arab partners, probably tens of thousands of people have been saved in benghazi and other cities in the east that were at risk of being overrun by gadhafi and his brutal forces. we are not just protecting civilians, we are helping rebels to advance. we are protecting civilians in the way we clearly described as we worked for the mandate for the international community and security council. gadhafi used air power, tanks and heavy artillery to attack civilians. he continues to do so in cities like miserata and elsewhere. what we are doing with partners in the arab world and nato is prevent him from using heavy weapons to attack civilians in urban locations. ambassador, there was a split in the administration about what to do in libya, how to handle the crisis. you were among those who supported the no-fly zone. defense secretary gates had doubts as recently as sunday. he said he doesn t believe libya is vital to our national security interest. how does this administration pick and choose who gets the backing of the u.s. military? first of all, all of the members of the president s national security team were united behind the president s decision to take action. when the president laid out the case for that clearly yesterday. had we not acted tens of thousands of people would have been killed. we had a request from the libyan people from the arab league. we had an international mandate. we had the ability to do so without putting u.s. forces on the ground. excuse me just one second. in the region that is very strategically important to the united states. we are not going to view each country in the region as one and the same. they are quite different. the circumstances are unique. our actions would be unique. this is not a cookie cutter model. what transpired in libya is unique to the fact that we have a dictator who threatened his people, called them cockroaches and rats, threatened to go door to door on a scale of violence we haven t seen anywhere else in the region. frankly, we felt, as the president said clearly last night, to have allowed him to overrun his people, to allow him to spill refugees into the fragile countries on the borders, egypt and tunisia, and to have done nothing at this moment of democratic awakening in the united states would have been threatening to united states values and interests. defense secretary gates said he didn t believe libya was of vital interest to the u.s. there are probablile people in syria and yemen wondering, what about us? if you look at secretary gates statement he said we have important interests in libya and vital strategic interests there. do you not see the same situation down the road in syria and yemen? each country is very different and the dynamics are different. the scale of violence is nothing of the sort we have seen in libya where you have a leader who has, in fact, killed in the past 1,000 of his own people in a day and threatened to go door to door to do the same in a city, the president said last night, the size of charlotte, north carolina. that would have been antithetical and inconsistent with the values of the american people. it would be naive and unwise to assume the same approach applies in each. ambassador susan rice, thank you very much for your time. thank you. now once again, here s matt. thank you. tom brokaw is here with his take on president obama s address and what comes next in libya. so much was made over the eight years of the bush presidency about the bush doctrine. last night, was it the laying out of the obama doctrine? i think it was. he said to the american people, this is why we got involved. these are the terms of our involvement. where we can expect to go from here. it opens other questions. ambassador rice said other countries are different. it s not hard to imagine things getting wildly out of control in syria. we have lots of interests in that part of the world as well. let s play a sound bite. you tell me if it puts the president in a box in the near future. take a listen. apparently some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. the united states of america is different. as president, i refuse to wait for images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action. let s go back to your comment. syria, bahrain, yemen, the next or darfur, the next rwanda. does he have to act in those cases? this is the beginning, not the end of something. that s important and it cries out for a national bipartisan review of our policies in the middle east and our stakes there. it ought to be the second act we see quickly coming here before too long. we are not hearing from the saudis. we are getting support from the united arab emirates. a lot of people holding cards close to the vest now. we have big stake there is, primarily because of oil. you mentioned something this morning. you said in your memory you can t remember a time when a president faced a con influenfl events like this. in my adult life and as a reporter, you have a president with two wars underway, he s engaged in what s a third war. the world s third largest economy, japan, has been good afternoonly wounded by earthquake, tsunami and a nuclear melttown. one of the members of the security team said i m morer worried about that than libya. here at home we have a recession we cannot completely get out of yet and political problems over the budget in washington. all of that has arrived at the oval office at the same time. when presidents get elected it s their job to take on the big assignments, the big challenges. few have come as swiftly as these have from unexpected circumstances. tom, always good to have you here to lend your perspective. okay. 14 minutes after the hour. let s check on the top stories from ann. now i can see you over at the news desk. thank you very much. good morning, everybody. as tom mentioned he talked about japan s nightmare which worsened. trace amounts of plutonium, one of the most dangerous substances, are seeping into the soil around the plant crippled by the earthquake. hundreds of tons of contaminated water are slowing efforts to get the plant under control. lee cowan is on the scene in tokyo. good morning. reporter: good morning, ann. engineers say they need to keep pumping water into the reactors to prevent a fulle scale meltdown, but that s increasing the amount of radioactive water they have to pump out. that s an uncomfortable problem that engineers haven t been able to solve. in this village to the north of the troubled reactors, it looks like a ghost town. shops are closed. residents are checked for radiation routinely, especially after traces of potentially deadly plutonium were found in the soil just outside the fukushima plant, evidence of at least a partial meltdown. [ speaking in a foreign language ] reporter: it s an invisible disaster, this man says. if fight the hard. it s hard not only because of the labor but because a workable solution to get control of the reactors has yet to be reached. temperatures in number 1 rose to a high level today but was brought down after dousing it with water. the more coolant poured on the fuel rods the more radioactive water leaks out posing a threat to the soil and ocean water nearby. the government spokesman called it a delicate balancing act but offered little in way of a new plan to attack the problem. focusing on the fact that power has been restored meaning more accurate readings can be taken. they say it is a natural disaster, but preparations for the worst were not enough, this man said. in a way, it is a manmade disaster. ann, it will be up to man to solve. they insist the priority remains keeping the reactors cool, even if it means creating a dangerous byproduct in the process. lee, thank you. also in the news, tens of thousands of syrians are showing support for their president after dozens were killed in anti-government protests. in egypt, the ruling party says hosni mubarak and his family aren t allowed to leave. the battle over collective bargaining rights in wisconsin heads to court today. scott walker claims a law went into effect on friday. they need to clarify whether walker s administration can begin impremeanting the cuts. the u.s. supreme court will hear arguments against walmart today to decide if the class action lawsuit can proceed. it involves at least 500,000 women who claim the retail giant favored men for the workplace advancement and higher pay. it would be the largest job discrimination suit ever if it proceeds. and the human spider-man has scaled the world s highest tower. alan robert took only 26 hours to climb the building in dubai, even scrambling up the spire. it is now 7:18. let s go back to matt and meredith. i wonder if there is a broadway show he d like to do. they have enough problems. thanks. weather channel s maria larosa in f of the weather. hello, maria. good morning, guys. looks like the south once again will be under the gun for strong thunderstorms. this time, we re talking about eastern texas into alabama. here we re looking for the risk of damaging winds, hail and maybe an isolated tornado. meanwhile, wintry weather in the midwest. sunshine continues in california. that s a look at the weather across the country. now here s a look at what you can expect. well, that midwestern storm system coming our way during the day tomorrow, but today we ll have bright sunshine. right now, sun s up in a clear sky, but it s cold. we re near freezing or below freezing throughout much of the region. 35 at reagan national. highs, though, near 50 today with lots of sun, then clouding up tonight. and tomorrow in the morning we could get some wet snowflakes and chilly rain. off-and-on chilly rain showers through the day on wednesday. maybe wet snowflakes west and north. highs, though, well above meredith, back to you. taking a break from his royal wedding duties, prince harry is joining a group of wounded servicemen in the charity to the north pole. ben fogel is there with the details. good morning. reporter: good morning, meredith. from a freezing cold svalbard, i can barely think it s so cold. while prince william and kate middleton carry on with wedding preparations, prince harry is off on an adventure of his own. prince harry touched down to join a group of injured british soldiers for parts of the world record attempt to trek 200 miles unaided to the north pole. the third in line to the throne will be joining four british servicemen injured in battle as they attempt to raise $3 million for charity. prince harry has something in common with them. having served in afghanistan himself. here the soldiers see him not only as prince harry but also as lieutenant wales. he s been on operations. reporter: too highlight the importance the prince has snagged the front cover of this month s british gq magazine with two special edition covers. the soldiers want to prove injury is no barrier in life. they have been packing with all the provisions they need for the three-week trek. even the clothing was specially adapted for their injuries. the team will face serious dangers on the polar ice. we have open water, thin ice and then, of course, polar bears. reporter: prince harry will have to man up with the others. no royal excuses here. this is the great equalizer. we re all just individuals out here. if we re well prepared we ll be okay. reporter: this weekend harry flawlessly organized his brother s secret bachelor party. sneaking the event past the british press. now these temperatures ranging from 10 below to minus 60 are sure to blow away a lingering hangover. if the temperatures don t do it, his teammates have a suggestion. the royal family has been in the spotlight in the lead up to the royal wedding. for one royal it s a chance to escape the gaze of the press, for a while at least. in one of the earth s most remote environments. and what if a week isn t enough? might he continue to the north pole? selfishly, i would imagine it would cause a ruckus. reporter: if prince harry does carry on to the north pole, something tells me he ll hear from his soon to be sister in law, his grandmother the queen, and his almost girlfriend chelsea davy. trust me. he s coming home. thank you very much. coming up, the snow boarder trapped upside down in a tree well for nearly an hour while his helmet filmed the ordeal and just ahead, emotional testimony from barry bonds mistress in the perjury trial and the temper she says he displayed while allegedly taking steroids. and the latest on the search for the escaped cobra at the bronx zoo after your local news. some say i ve done it all. i say i m just getting started. i wear what i love, because expression means everything. too hot to trot some say i m one-of-a-kind. i say i m so chico s. good morning at 7:26 on this tuesday, march 29th. i m craig melvin. just as thousands of tourists arrive in town, police are investigating what they re calling the first serious attack on the national mall in several years. two masked men assaulted a man in broad daylight in a robbery attempt. it happened around 5:00 last night between the hirschorn museum and smithsonian castle. the suspects ran off. we ll check weather and traffic next. good morning. cold now, temperatures in the 20s and mid-30s. later today we ll climb to near 50 this afternoon with lots of sunshine. then clouding up tonight and from the morning all the way into the evening hours on wednesday we could get some chilly rain, maybe even wet snowflakes west and north of washington, but all above freezing throughout the day. then on thursday, cloudy and chilly, maybe rain thursday afternoon and evening into friday morning. how s traffic now, jerry? pretty tough, tom. westbound 66 leaving the city, headed from boston out towards falls church crawling because of an accident still in the roadway near the east falls church metro station. that s your travel time there. headed for downtown, jammed to the anacostia bridges. word of a broken down vehicle inbound south capitol street up on the douglas bridge, but it s affecting all of the anacostia bridges. back to you. jerry, thank you. can you skip the er for an [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. 7:30 now on a tuesday morning, the 29th day of march 2011. got a big spring break crowd out on the plaza enjoying the beautiful day. only 32 degrees out there. spring off to a slow start in the northeast. hopefully warmer where you are waking up. we ll go out to sayle good morning to those people in a little bit when meredith warms up. i m hot, honey. okay. coming up, a snowboarder filming with run with a helmet camera fell head first into a tree well. he managed to answer a well-timed call from his wife. his story coming up in a little while. looks scary. and john f. kennedy s former girlfriend is opening up about their relationship, the good and the bad. what it was like to date one of the world s most eligible bachelors. also ahead, details on a search for a poisonous egyptian cobra that s been missing for a day or so from the bronx zoo in new york. we ll find out how they are doing in the search. we begin with graphic testimony from the star witness at the perjury trial of baseball great barry bonds. his former mistress took the stand and miguel almaguer was in the courtroom. what can you tell us? reporter: good morning. prosecutors say barry bonds lied to a grand jury about using steroids. on monday we heard what may have been the most damaging testimony so far. it came from bonds former mistress of nine years who seemed to hold nothing back. facing federal charges that could lead to prison time, barry bonds faced his ex-girlfriend in court. kimberly bell testified bonds told her he used steroids as early as 1999. bell says bonds claimed he didn t shoot up like body builders and didn t do it all the time but said players used steroids to get ahead. the explosive testimony was graphic. bell said bonds lost his hair, developed acne, became bloated, couldn t perform sexually and that his male anatomy became, quote, smaller and an unusual shape. out of a hollywood script you had a pretty starlet-looking-type woman who was the mistress of mr. bonds for years. it was a bitter break-up. she sought publicity. reporter: she became emotional on the stand talking about his alleged temper. he was increase bli aggressive, irritable, angle vated, very impatient sh almost violent. she said, he threatened to cut off my head and leave me in a ditch also saying he would cut off her breast implants because he paid for them. the trial changed today. bell had dramatic testimony that points to bonds steroid use. reporter: bell admitted bonds gave her money to buy a home and cash to pay bills. she said bonds ended the relationship in 2003 with one word disappear. bell then posed for playboy and tried to shop a book about her ex-lover. the defense pounded her hard on her motivations for testifying. there is no doubt she tried to  profit from her relationship with barry bonds. a high fly ball, right center field. reporter: bonds is baseball s all-time homerun king, a legacy now in question. over his major league career his body changed dramatically. as a rookie he weighs 185 pounds, 21 years later in his final season, bonds weighed 240 pounds. the 14-time all-star has always denied knowingly using steroids but his reputation is already tarnished. this courthouse is just across town from the baseball stadium where bonds set so many records. it s unclear if he ll testify, but later today, matt, two other pro baseball players are expected to take the stand. miguel almaguer, thank you very much. it s 34 past the hour. here s meredith. thank you. a man in northern california is lucky to be alive after a terrifying snowboarding accident. his crash and eventual rescue were captured on helmet cam. tamron hall joins us. it happened last week. james drummond was buried in snow six feet deep upside down. luckily the camera was rolling and his phone was on. playing it up for the camera james hit the slopes for a day of snowboarding with no idea of the nightmare he would soon be facing. i was positive i was going to die. reporter: his typical run on the mountain turned scary very quickly. he fell head first into a tree well packed with snow at the base of a tree. as he came to, his camera revealed the terrible situation he was in. buried alive, upside down in six feet of snow. he struggled for 20 minutes to reach his cell phone. dug straight down to my pocket. by the time i got down, my fingers felt like they were about that fat around. reporter: just as he found the cell phone, a call came through, his wife on the line. i m stuck in a tree well. give them my phone number. are you serious? i m going to die if they don t find me. are you serious? call them! where are you? give them my number! reporter: although he was stuck, drummond knew he could help ski pale troll find him. i knew the mountain. i knew where i was. reporter: first came the call. [ phone ringing ] hello? reporter: then 30 terrifying minutes later, the rescue. i heard somebody say i found him . we got him! reporter: remarkably, drummond was fine. he snowboarded down on his own but said watching the video isn t easy. hard to watch. it s a little embarrassing, too. i was really scared, you know? reporter: when he crashed he said he was instantly reminded of a snowboarderer who died at the park in february. he said he hopes the scare will educate others to take necessary safety precautions when hitting the slopes. meredith? certainly shouldn t be embarrassed. that was frightening. thank you so much. now a check of the of the weather from maria larosa, who is in for al. announcer: today s weather is brought you by soma vanishing edge panties and bras. you guys mentioned earlier, great crowd, great spring break crowd here. we have some visitors all the way from san diego here, ready to go back to san diego? ready to go back. we re freezing! frozen or not, new york is fabulous. enjoy your trip. the west coast, there s a bit of stormy weather going on right now. we have rain, heavy rain and mountain snow still in the northwest. california, though, staying sunny. here s what we re expecting, though. we could see as much as two inches of rainfall and maybe six to nine inches in parts of the cascades and olympic mountains. seeing sunshine in the northeast, rain and severe weather across parts of the gulf coast, and we also have some flurries in through the midsecti midsection. that s a look at the weather across the country. here s a look at what you can expect. good morning here. we ve got the sunshine, but it is cold again this morning. many locations below freezing in the rural areas of maryland and virginia. in washington and by the bay, mid-to-upper 30s. later today, should climb to near 50 throughout most of the region with lots of sunshine. then clouding up tonight and by dawn tomorrow, maybe chilly rain or wet snowflakes. a few wet snowflakes are possible, especially west of washington during the day on wednesday. otherwise, some chilly rain. and above freezing throughout the entire day. maybe more rain later thursday afternoon and evening into friday morning. you can check your local weather 24 hours a day at weather.com. meredith? just ahead, inside the high stakes world of mega millidivor. plus, she dated him for five years and now has intimate details about their relationship. we ll talk to her after these messages. ds can t be simple? 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. 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[ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior or any swelling or affected breathing, or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don t drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don t drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then i found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. back at 7:41. more than a million marriages in this country will end in divorce this year. for the wealthy like the founder of paypal it can be a bitter showdown over every last dollar. cnbc looked into some of the highest profile, high stakes divorces for a special that premieres tonight. melissa francis joins us. good morning. incredible cases. in many cases it seemed the couples had more money than anybody could spend. that didn t stop the breakups from exploding into messy, expensive divorce wars. to understand how a divorce war can escalate we spoke to justice, a participant in a multi-million dollar divorce war. in october 2010 justine s divorce is labeled america s messiest. her ex-husband is a hugely successful entrepreneur worth hundreds of millions of dollars. she met him in college before he made all that money. we were both in the apartment with two dogs and three roommates and a really squalid kitchen. reporter: shortly after selling his first start up company they are married. he then sells paypal, the internet payment company for $1.5 billion. from there he creates the rocket company and tesla, the electric car company. i had the sense of being relegated and sidelined. kind of a trophy wife feeling. reporter: by 2008 they live in bell air with five boys under the age of five. that s when the end comes. i went to my therapist s office. he had left a message for her to tell me that he was filing for divorce. reporter: the divorce is filed in california, a community property state meaning justine is entitled to half of the family s net worth estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. as the divorce proceedings unfold, justine understands that s not the case because of a document she signed eight weeks after they were married. at some point you signed a post nup? at the time i trusted my husband. i trusted that he wouldn t do anything that would put me in harm s way. reporter: the agreement which they were working on before the marriage with an independent mediator essentially supercedes california law. justine believes the contract is unfair and argues that he misrepresents his wealth. a judge disagrees. and the divorce war goes public. justine writes in her blog that she s asking for $6 million in cash, stock in the companies and a tesla roadster. elan says he previously offered her $80 million and paid $4 millionle in accounting and legal fees. they end the war. looking back at the wedding day, what do you wish you knew then that you know now? i wish i had understood that marriage, when you take away the romantic part of it that it is a business contract. it s a power relationship like any other business relationship. reporter: in the settlement, justine gets the bell air mansion and an undisclosed sum. she had money to fight. many can t afford to take on their spouses. we found a company to pay for your lawyer, investigator and living expenses for a percent. they will stake you along the way for a percent. do they speak at all? how are they raising the children? they were communicating by e-mail. one detail we had when they broke up he called the therapist and left a message on her machine saying that s how we are breaking up. that s how you do it in the 21st century? i guess. appreciate it, melissa. you can see divorce wars tonight on cnbc. up next, the elusive and deadly cobra that s missing from the bronx zoo. we re live with the latest on the search right after this. man: everybody knows you should save for retirement, but what happens when you re about to retire? woman: how do you go from saving to spending? fidelity helped us get to this point, and now we re talking about what comes next. man: we worked together to create a plan to help our money last. woman: so we can have the kind of retirement we want. now, you know how this works. just stay on the line. oh, yeah. fidelity investments. turn here. stay inside? nah. not when you have a five-star overall vehicle score for safety. one more reason chevy traverse delivers more. 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[ male announcer ] halls relieves coughs and sore throats due to allergies too. now you know. back now with the latest on the search for a venomous egyptian cobra missing from the bronx zoo in new york. peter alexander is there. good morning to you. reporter: good morning. we appreciate this assignment today. more than heights, more than spiders, more than the dark, the one thing americans fear most are snakes which makes the story that much more unsettling. again today, zoo keepers will head into the reptile house in search of the cobra that s been missing now for four days. if you are anything like me you would probably prefer to cover the story from here, but way down below there is a potentially deadly cobra missing. what do you think? we ll be leaving soon. reporter: it may not be snakes on a plane . i have had it with these monkey fighting snakes on this monday to friday plane! reporter: the venomous snake that will look like this managed to slither out of its enclosure. as soon as zoo keepers noticed the 20-inch snake was gone the reptile house was closed and secured. that was friday afternoon. the cobra hasn t been seen since. what did your mom say when you said you were going to the zoo. they didn t catch the cobra yet. that s not a good idea. reporter: the zoo director said it s like fishing. put the hook in the water and wait. the snake, just monthsle old and pencil thin is likely hiding in the reptile house, somewhere it feels safe. i m glad she does. the egyptian cobra can be dangerous. these animals have very strong venom, strong enough to kill a human being. that s the bad news. the good news is they are not particularly aggressive and really will only bite if they feel threatened. reporter: cobra bites can be deadly if they go untreated. an egyptian legend is the kind of snake cleopatra used to commit suicide. the taste of these is sharp, swiftly over. reporter: hollywood has been tapping into it for years from anaconda to indiana jones. today this real life reptile has snaked its way into the spotlight. even steve martin, who once paid tribute to the boy king, tweeted an egyptian cobra escaped and is hiding in the bronx zoo. i m sitting in my king tut hat by the phone awaiting their call for help. reporter: always good to have some king tut in a story like this. how do you catch a cobra? the zoo director said you wait until it gets thirsty or hungry. that s when it starts moving around the building. the zoo director said it could take days or weeks to find. peter, thank you very much. takes that long before it gets hungry? they are pretty sure it s in the warm building because it s freezing in new york. the cobra has a twitter page with 18,000 followers. want an example of a tweet? leaving wall street, these guys make my skin crawl. that s the cobra, not me. very cute. we ll be back after news and weather. 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headed for downtown this hour, loaded up each of the anacostia bridges, 295, suitland parkway, south capitol street. looks like all the lanes are open. one more stop. accident 395 northbound just before the 14th street bridge in the hov lanes. as a result, we are jammed as you head north from the capital beltway. craig? can you skip the er for urgent care clinic? tonight at 8:00 on this tuesday morning, the 29th of march 2011. you are looking at the cherry blossoms in washington, d.c., jefferson memorial in the distance. i have never ever been to washington, d.c. come on, it s beautiful. after the show, jump on the train and get there. i can t today. tomorrow. i m going away tomorrow. you re going to miss them. it s lovely in new york. we have a great crowd in rockefeller plaza. as we turn the camera to see the smiles on their faces. i m meredith vieira alongside matt lauer. just ahead a revealing glimpse into the life of john f. kennedy, jr. nearly 12 years after his tragic death his former girlfriend of five years has a new memoir about the relationship. it s about two young people in love. she reveals a side that few people knew. several intimate details in the book, but it s not a tawdriy tale. it s sweet. it s about the man he was then, his mom and family. it s lovely. also ahead, teenagers are all about social media twitter and facebook. doctors are actually warning that if your teen is too involved with social media your teen could suffer from something they have labeled i don t know that the people of facebook would like it, but they are labeling it facebook depression. we ll explain what it is and what parents should be on the lookout for. and on a different note, how far we have come from today show girls to the women of today sharing memories of our first 60 years. cool. lots to get to in this half hour. let s go inside to say hello to ann curry. hello to you this morning. in the news, u.s. forces have fired on a libyan coast guard ship and two smaller vessels after they launched missiles in the port of misrata. the ground forces have stopped the advance on sirte, a gateway to the capitol city. secretary of state hillary clinton met in london before a 40-nation summit on libya. last night president obama said he used military force in libya to prevent a slaughter of civilians and not to target moammar gadhafi. critics say he left too many unanswered questions about the long-term u.s. goal in libya. the discovery of toxic plutonium outside japan s damaged nuclear power plant is increasing pressure on officials to expand the evacuation zone. meantime france is helping to deal with the radioactive water created by efforts to cool the reactors. jimmy carterer meets today with cuban leader raul castro in havana. carter is on a private three-day mission to improve relations between cuba and the united states. he met with jewish leaders and the cardinal. u.s. consumer spending rose by .7% in february, the eighth monthly gain in a row. much of the increase covered the higher cost of food and gasol e gasoline. a new study says the federal government could save billions by raising the medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. the kaiser family foundation warns 65 and 66-year-olds would have to pay about $2,000 more each year for health insurance. states and employers would also face higher costs. and the heroism on the store front for an iraq war veteran. canadian purcell lunged over the counter. the gunman and his accomplice fled. it was an air powered pellet gun but the ownerer of the store is grateful. it s 8:03. now back out to matt and meredith. to matt and meredith. come on, jimmy, jimmy, jimmy. this woman was named after you, meredith. this mom named her daughter after you are you serious? because she used to watch you in rhode island and loved the name. aww! aww. so, she was pregnant with her while she watched you. really? yeah. well, that s so sweet! well, thank you. i m honored. nice to meet you, meredith. we made it up. you did? no, i m kidding! no, no, no, it s serious. it s serious. al is off this week. we ve got maria larosa instead. maria, take it away. all right, i will. we re going to continue to feel the love this morning with a couple here married for 25 years. any secrets? yeah. humor. all right, appreciate it. welcome to new york. and it is definitely chilly out here, but we are seeing some chilly temperatures across the great lakes as well. we re heading to detroit, our today s pick city, sunny and cold, high near 40 degrees. looking across the country, sunshine in the northeast, flurries through the midsection but severe storms possible from texas all the way over into alabama. sunshine in california and the rain and snow continues in the northwest. that s a look at the weather across the country. now here s a look at what you can expect. welcome sunshine on this tuesday morning, but it s cold. right now just in the low to mid-30s throughout most of the region. 36 at reagan national. later today should climb to around 50 degrees and then clouding up tonight. looks like some chilly rain likely through most of the region tomorrow, except maybe some wet snowflakes west and north of washington, especially around the blue ridge and the shenandoah valley, but temperatures will be above freezing throughout the day the entire region, so even where it does snow, it will just be wet on roadways. and then thursday afternoon and evening into friday morning could get some more chilly rain. matt, back to you. thank you very much. coming up next, an intimate look inside the life of john f. kennedy, jr., as told by his former girlfriend of five years. first, these messages. 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[ female announcer ] kellogg s fiber plus cereal. positively delicious. back at 8:42. it s been 12 years since john f. kennedy was killed in a plane crash. he was fondly known as america s prince and holds a place in the hearts of many including a former girlfriend who has written about their former relationship. we ll talk to her in a moment. first, their story. he was born in the public eye. a little boy who made the white house his own and enchanted a nation along the way. as he later told nbc news my family photo album in my head is shared by a lot of people. so it s an unusual connection to have with other folks. reporter: his dreamlike childhood was ended with the assassination of his father john f. kennedy. his mother epitomized grace in her determination to carry on. john grew up on new york s upper east side and one of his first loves was the girl next door. christina haag met him in high school. they became close friends attending brown university. it was in their 20s that they reconnected while acting in an off broadway play, a performance which led to them falling in love off and on stage. it proved to be a pass to one of america s most intriguing families. author and actress christina haag is with us now. her new memoir is called come to the edge. first of all, i have to correct the time. it s 8:11. sorry about that. you dated jfk and kept diaries throughout the time. what made you decide to come out with the book now? i had always written since i was in grade school. it was always my way of processing things and understanding things. after he died, many memories came back. they were very present and i wanted to hold onto them and let them go. it was healing to write the book. it has to be hard because it s intimate as well. it is. why would you want to share that? i think memoir is intimate. it was important to really capture what the experience was like. you got to know him in junior high. you knew his sister caroline for years before that. what was he like at that age? he was charming. even then? yeah. a little awkward. when we first met it was at a party at his mother s house at 1040 5th avenue. the boys were on one side of the room. the girls were on the other and they were throwing water balloons out the window. he was particularly excited about that. not the hunk though. he was gangly. a little bit. that changed quickly. you were house mates at brown. yes. and you went out after college. how did the relationship begin to turn from friendship to romance? it was about ten years after we met. we were doing a play in new york called winters. it s about two teenagers who fall in love. there was a kiss in the play and then one night he said to me, i would like to kiss you for real this time. that was the beginning. but i think we always had a crush on each other or what he called a sneaker. i have had a sneaker for you. he called it the longest courtship ever. was he a romantic guy? he was. i remember one time he left red roses tied to my bicycle. two dozen roses and an unsigned card that said you rule my world. he didn t like ringing the bell to by brownstone. he would climb to the planter and the balcony. i liked that entrance as well. you still get a twinkle in your eye. he was a great guy. we think of him and you write about the adventures you two had. you were in jamaica and went kayaking. you almost lost your lives. we did. it was scary, yes. was he a reckless guy then? you know, i never thought of him as reckless. i liked the word you used adventurous. he was curious, eager, wanted to try new things. i think he knew that you do things in your 20s certainly i did that you may not do now. we were young. we thought we were invincible. his mom, you write about his mom and their relationship. what was their relationship? what was your relationship to her? well, we were very close. i adored her. she was just so encouraging. she fwaef me a great deal of confidence. i aspired to the grace she had. she would come see me in plays and when i was on television she would watch. with john, it was wonderful to be around them. they had a really special bond. she delighted in stories when he would tell stories at the dinner table at martha s vineyard. he made her laugh. did you get the sense that she would have liked you two to get married? did you even come close? we did. we talked about it. i guess we weren t that young, but we parted ways when we were 30. it was a sense of, oh, that would always happen. sometimes life takes a different turn. we drifted apart. you talk openly about the other women that came into his life. darryl hannah, you mentioned, at one point. is that what broke you up? it wasn t, no. there was a period where we were taking a break. yes, that did go on. but, no. in looking back, no, that s not what i think. and then looking back to be honest what i remember is how wonderful he was. i think many women have a love that may not work out but you still carry a piece of them in your heart. i think that s a good thing. i certainly don t live in the past, but i wanted to write about this. a friend of his recently called me. he d read the book and he said, you know, it s a beautiful tribute to john. it s your story, but a beautiful tribute. it made him remember how sad he was when john died but also reminded him what a special person he was. it s good to remember those we love. it s a lovely book. thank you for joining us this morning. the book is called come to the edge. up next, the town side of social networking. is your teenager suffering from facebook depression? that s right after this. teacher he s impulsive in class. m his and his inattention makes focusing on homework tough. i know how it is because my son has adhd too. i didn t know all i could do to help manage his adhd. our doctor suggested a treatment plan with non-stimulant intuniv. 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[ male announcer ] ragu, packed with two servings of veggies in every half cup of our now thicker, richer, healthy sauce. ragu has a great taste your family will love. ragu. feed our kids well. back now at 8:20. this morning on parenting today is your teenager suffering from something called facebook depression? tamron hall is here to explain that. good morning. reporter: good morning. roughly 75% of teenagers use social networking sites. almost a quarter admit to logging on more than ten times a day. while much good can come from connecting with family and friends online, a new report from the american academy of pediatrics warns it can also harm at-risk kids. chances are your teenager is on facebook, checking on their friends status updates and who is in a new relationship. helen warren and her friends admit to spending a lot of time online. everyone is on facebook. reporter: now there are emotional ups and downs to staying connected. it can be a let-down in you go on and no one cares about you. you re opening it up to everybody being able to see what you re doing and hurt you. things on facebook can hurt you or change your mood. reporter: it s that sentiment that led the american academy of pediatrics to issue guidelines for doctors to deal with the psychological impact of social media on teens. the report emphasize that is the virtual world can have a very real impact on the self-esteem of a teenager because a large part of the generation s social development is occurring on the internet. for a teenager prone to depression, social media can make it worse. not your typical moody teenager. these are kids who have a tendency toward depression or anxiety who spend time online with facebook and it augments the symptoms. reporter: the report indicates social media can isolate teens and provide a forum for bullying. in fact, over one-third of teens admit to making fun of classmates online. helen s mom can see how facebook might be harmful. if you were a kid subjected to bullying or marginalized at all, you could really feel excluded. reporter: what do parents need to know? the best way of viewing the online world is as part of our world, not a separate entity. we have to focus on technology as much as sports and music so they understand using facebook. unexpert noted that parents shouldn t get the idea that using social networking site wills infect their kids with depression, but say it s something to look out for. matt? we are joined by dr. lisa thornton, a pediatrician. nice to see you. we love labels in this country. we are calling this, probably unfairly, facebook depression. it s really saying that social media can have a negative impact while it can still have a positive impact. that s right. the report from the american academy of pediatrics made one small paragraph within the entire report, this facebook depression. it s important to note that this isle really happening to kids who already have issues. but even tiypical kids can be affected by what s going on in social media sites. one little thing can be said that spreads like ripples in a pond and people start posting and suddenly it s part of that persona. when i was a kid if another kid walked up to me at the playground and said something nasty, it hurt, but it was only a momentary interaction. then i was home. the problem with social media is they spend so much time on it, it can be repeated hour after hour, day after day. something that was small becomes big. it s important for parents to tune in to their child s emotional be a barometer for your child s emotions to note if your child didn t leave the house but has been on the computer and has a mood change to explore what s going on there. social media, allow your kids to make it a part of their lives but not too big a part of their lives. right. the american academy of pediatrics recommends no more than two hours of screen time per day which is hard. i know how difficult that is. it s important to make it one of many things they do to socialize. it can be positive but also damaging. make sure your kids are sharing the right kinds of messages. discretion is important. parents really have to focus in on that. these days what is discretion to those of us that are older is not discretion to the younger generation. if your children are posting things that seem inappropriate and hurtful you need to rein them in. and probably the children experiencing the depression probably had a tendency toward it in the first place. that s right. thank you very much. appreciate it. it s 25 after the hour. just ahead the women of today look back at our first 60 years. first, your local news and weather. 8:26 is your time now. it is 37 degrees out there. still cold, but it s going to be the best day for the next few days. tom will have the forecast right after the news. good morning. i m eun yang. just as thousands of tourists arrive in town for the national cherry blossom festival, police investigating what they call the first serious attack on the national mall in several years. two masked men assaulted a man in broad daylight in a robbery attempt. it happened around 5:00 last night between the hirschorn museum and the smithsonian castle. the suspect ran off. we ll take a quick good morning. we have the sunshine, but it s still cold. temperatures in the mid-30s, and later today up around 50 and we ll have increasing clouds late today and overnight. then tomorrow, some chilly rain from time to time for the morning and evening, maybe wet snowflakes west and north. how s traffic, jerry? had an accident in buoy, inbound route 50 at interchange of 197. moved out of the roadway, but the backup pretty substantial, the backup beginning just west of 424 inbound route 50 all the way accident scene. eun? jerry, thank you. can you skip the er for an urgent care clinic? tonight at 5:00, how we are back now at 8:30 on a tuesday morning. it s the 29th day of march, 2011. yes, it s a chilly one in the northeast. lots of parts of the country dealing with sub-seasonal temperatures. but, you know, we have a nice crowd on the plaza. we have lots of sports fans around. happy they are with us. on the plaza i m matt lauer with meredith vieira and ann curry. just ahead, as we mentioned, we have the countdown continuing to the royal wedding. how many days now? 31, we think. how many? 31. we think. we are headed to london and we are not the only ones. what is london doing to prepare? what can you expect when planning a trip to england? that s all coming up. also this morning, you have baked for bake sales? i have. many, many times. really? sometimes we make oneyes. sometimes when we bake it s a big winner, sometimes it s not. well, we ll always win if we listen to sandra lee. she has advice on how to kick it up a notch and usually for good causes. also ahead, we continue our celebration of 60 years of the today show. and this morning, the women of today. the best part. exactly right. talk about their proud history on this program. we will get to that. but first, can we say hello to justin pope? justin is the latest contestant voted off biggest loser couples. how are you doing? justin, good to see you, good morning. good to see you guys. congratulations on one thing. you started out, you were 365 pounds. yeah. what do you weigh now? i weigh about 220 pounds now. 140-something pounds? yeah, yeah. that s unbelievable. how do you feel? i feel great. it s awesome. it feels really good. it s exciting, you know? i ve learned how to do it, and it s made a difference in my life, so. i bet. you do it very well. i can tell looking at you. an o gold medalist. did it help having rulan as your teammate? i think it would give anybody an advantage, but we re separate people and we each were motivated in our own direction it was nice to have him there, but i had the experience myself and it was fun. you can only do it yourself. that s right. you look like an entirely different person. and part of this is because you didn t know how you looked until you did this program. right. when you realized, what was the moment? describe it? you know, you just, you it hits you and you re like, you know what, i ve been telling myself a lie, and you ve got to change, you ve got to do something different. and when i realized, you know what, i don t care who s looking at me, i don t care, i m going to do everything i need to do to get where i need to go, that motivated me. it changed my life, sent me in a different direction. you talk about watching the show last year, sitting at home and watching it and starting to cry because you realized you were heavier than the contestants you were watching on the show, and that was a big moment for you. yeah. yeah, you don t it s just it s surreal. you re like, wow, what do i do? and you look for answers. and now your answers a big motivator. yeah. you re hanging out with your kids, able to do things you didn t used to do. you go to the gym. we go to the gym, hang out, work with the kids. and helping people out. you know, teaching them, hey, this is what i did. and having people come up and ask you questions just motivates me. yeah. well, you look great. you sure do. and congratulations to you. justin pope. congrats. bravo, bravo. thank you, guys. we remind you, you can check out the biggest loser couples tonight at 8:00/7:00 central time right here on nbc. okay, now let s get a check of the weather from maria larosa, who s in for al. where is she? good morning, maria. good morning, guys. we have a great spring break crowd. where are you guys from? ohio. ohio. i m down with a snow group in ohio. hopefully. well, let s i think you re definitely in company. let s check out, see where the snow is today. we ve got a few flurries right now in through the midsection, mid-mississippi valley. lower mississippi valley, we could see gusty winds, damaging winds and heavy, heavy rainfall from texas to alabama. across the southwest, warm and mild conditions. that continues into tomorrow. still more rain and mountain snow for you in the mountain west. that s a look at the weather across the country. here s what you can expect. yes, the map said wet snow over us, and we could get some of that tomorrow, but the emphasis is on the wet part because we ll have temperatures above freezing. right now we re getting above freezing. most of the region now into the mid-30s. later today, up around 50 with lots of sun. then we cloud up tonight and could get chilly rain through the day tomorrow. and yes, maybe some wet snowflakes, especially areas west and north of washington, especially around the blue ridge and shenandoah valley. and maybe just a dusting on some grassy areas there. maybe more rain thursday afternoon and evening into friday morning. meredith, back to you. maria, thank you very much. having a good time? tell me you are! yes! okay. up next, we celebrate the women of today. first this is today on nbc. i m a curious seeker. i am a chemistry aficionado. diphenhydramine. magnesium hydroxide. atheletes foot. yes. i m a people pleaser. if elected, i promise flu shots for all. i am a walking medical dictionary. congratulations virginia. inflamed uvula. i m virginia. i m a target pharmacist and i m here to answer your questions. [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. back now at 8:37 with more of our special series, 60 years of today as we count down to our 60th anniversary. we wanted to look back at the role of women on this program. and also used to be known as today girls, meredith. maybe we have come a long way. mr. president, what do you think is the correct role for a washington wife? i cannot imagine elizabeth taylor being told by a man that i have work to do, honey, go up and watch tv. kuwait has been invaded by iraq. people hear that, taxpayers and they are frustrated. a time when women were not allowed to do much more than be window dressing in morning television. and to the prettiest two eyes in television. give them a look there. i didn t know they had today girls. you would never see that today. it was a sign of the times. florence henderson was a today girl. she was pregnant. they would hide her behind palm trees and desks. americans were squeamish, prudish or something. barbara walters was the first woman who hosted today. she was a trail tblazer. you see she wasn t allowed to interview any of the major newsmakers. she would do the more feature-y segments. good morning, barbara. there was a moment when she interviewed richard nixon. that was one of the seminole moments for the show. by the 1970s a great deal changed for women and it was reflected on today. there were no interviews i was denied. in 1974 i was made the first female co-host of a morning program. ever since then every woman who has been on has been a co-host. i didn t wave any flags, burn my bra. if there is something i m proud of it s that occasion. barbara paved the way for women on this show without a doubt. jane had her pregnancy on this show which was something that so many women could relate to. bill cosby was on. i remember him referring to the big purple ball and it was obvious he was talking about jane pauley. bill wanted the purple ball to join us. i was the most visible pregnant woman in north america. i think my pregnancy was unprecedented in television. katie had a colonoscopy and saved lives. it s a pretty colon. i did this and i think people thought i was nuts. after it aired there was a 20% increase in kolcolonoscopy. now ann, natalie and i have a chance, too. it s a legacy you can have. there s been a strong succession of women that lasted all the way through to meredith today in that primary role. these women, one after another, have helped pave the way for the women who come after. have i ever referred to either of you as a big purple ball? i would be taken out of here on a stretcher. sometimes have changed. when you realize it hasn t been that much time since they had the today show girls to where we are now. it s been a blur. to think of that degree of sexism that lasted into the 70s. that s a long time. things have changed dramatically. what change would you like to see next, dear? i love that. we have lived wit forever! i need this job. i think it s amazing. fun to look back at the history and the people. look at the people who have been part of the show. great legacy. i have two great ones next to me here. up next, one month and counting. what london is doing to prepare for the royal wedding. first, this is today on nbc. 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[ male announcer ] learn more about the school of business at phoenix.edu. back at 8:44 as we count down to the royal wedding. we are just one month away. what can you expect as you head to london for that big day? celia walden is a columnist for the daily telegraph. kate maxwell is from conde nast and simon smith is from british airways who is sponsoring the contest. a month away. this will be the global event of the year most likely. is london ready? absolutely. it will be such a festive occasion. there will be bunting everywhere, union jacks, statues around westminster being polished especially for the occasion. it s wonderful for london. i was there a couple of weeks ago and people said, you americans are making more of this than we are. are the brits starting to get excited? celia? yes. i think they are. we were quite cynical. we have a tendency to be cynical to begin with. everyone really likes william and kate. there s nothing not to like. gradually the most cynical of us are thinking this will be a good day. plus, those who don t want to be here because of the bank holidays can get 11 days off for the price of three which is perfect. everybody s happy. exactly. i understand some londoners are considering renting out their places. one real estate website said one in four folks in london are considering it. is it surprising to you? do you know anyone renting out the home? i have a couple of friends in london doing that. it s something london will do for big occasions like wimbledon. there is a site where you can find anything from a bedroom to a townhouse. if you go to london and you want to get around i would imagine cabs are expensive. best way to go is public transportation? yeah. the cab is an experience everyone should have in london, just to talk to the cab by. these guys know everything about london. go on the tube, talk to londoners. this will be a day when londoners open up. the brits are known for being reserved and we ll let our hair down on the 29th. that s good to know. lots of parties that day. if you can t get to the site you can crash a party somewhere else in the city. there will be parties everywhere. i would advise anyone going to london that day to go to a pub. there are a lot of pubs in london. every pub will have a great party. that s a way to soak up the atmosphere. we re talking about the big day and we know kate is arriving by rolls royce from buckingham palace that morning. she ll travel to westminster and leave in a carriage. obviously people would love to be along the route. where is the best place to be? i think it s madness really to expect to be along the parade route. there will be 2 million people along 1 1/2 miles. it will be unbelievable crammed. my advice is to go high. find places like the park lane hotel where you can go to the restaurant on top and have a nice meal for $50 or $70 and watch the whole thing from relative comfort. would you recommend that people stay outside the city, do you think? rather than inside the city? if money is an object, stay as centrally as you can. but if it is, stay an hour outside the city. in a county like where kate middleton s parents live or surrey or kent. you can take the trab in the morning. train in the morning. you know so much about security. do we expect a lot along the parade route? we won t have metal detectors, i wouldle assume. not at all. security will be well thought through. i think we should think of it as a great day of celebration and a party. the emphasis will be on people enjoying themselves no matter where they have come from in the world. if you are there over the weekend there is plenty to do, so stay put. right. thank you. up next, sandra lee s recipes to impress at your next bake sale. first this is today on nbc. i can t say enough about them. i can go in, get the things i need, and i know i m saving money. why would i shop anywhere else? at giant, we want to thank you for making us the store you love to shop for over 75 years. this week, look for savings in every aisle, just for you. like super g boneless chicken breasts, $1.99 a pound. and pepsi 2-liters, just 10 for $10. i pay for my groceries, and i look at the bottom of the receipt, i m like, yes! i did it! that works for me. more savings every time you shop, with your giant card. announcer: today s cooking school is brought to you by ragu. feed our kids well. this morning, bake sale goodies. they have long been a staple of fund-raising. if you are looking for the perfect recipe to fly off the table semi-home made queen sandra lee has the secret. why a bake sale cookbook? this cookbook specifically was created for the great american bake sale which is the share our strength and no kid hungry campaign. 50% goes to that and also feeding america and the food banks. this one is savory and sweet. these are snacks, lunches or dinners and a little sweet something-something. when i think bake sale i don t think about our first recipe. you will make focaccia. most people think of brownies and cup cakes. you re making it. you help me. this is pizza dough. store bought. you can serve it as a side dish or take it for a nice lunch. you can put on meat, vegetables, great things. in here ready? yeah. you have pizza dough laid out. this is what it looks like. take your fork and fork all of this. what do you mean? putle ho holes in it. you bake it for you have to be careful what you describe on live television. that s good. now what? olive oil. brush? no. more forking. more forking. italian seasoning. two teaspoons. mix it up. okay. just pour it on, matt. one tomato, look at this. goes on. if you want onions, pieces of chicken. it s really good. olives would be nice. ancho anchovy. pop it in the oven for about 25 minutes. all right. moving on, i m making a brownie. you are. you are making chocolate excuse me. chocolate brownies. first thing is use what s in the pantry. chocolate cake mix and brown sugar. mix it with this? a little bit. but you have more to add. melted butter. this is a stick. then you have nutella. oh, god. what is that? it s fake chocolate. no, it s chocolate hazelnut spread. you can do the eggs. i will finish this. it s a very thick batter. two eggs. can you use white ifs you want to? you can. that s an ann recipe. we have a white chocolate macadamia cake made with egg whites. and the hazelnuts? dump them in. this goes into the pan. and comes out as as brownies. look at those. 25, 30 minutes again, 350 degrees on the oven. you made a beautiful macadamia go ahead. by the way, you can serve it with or without icing. i have seven recipes from scratch for icing. this is more nutella, powdered sugar and eh cream. it looks beautiful and luscious. thank you very much. now to the macadamia nut cake. we have cream cheese frosting in a minute but what s this? white chocolate pudding, white cake mix. then coconut milk in as the liquid. it s easy because you re mixing it all together. you cook it with fresh macadamia. and white chocolate chips. okay, perfect. how about this frosting. here it is. matt had his finger in there already. there was something in it that i needed to get out. it s beautiful except for this fingerprint mark. if you were using canned icing, put in vanilla to make sure it didn t taste like canned icing. to make it from scratch is simple. a brick of cream cheese, a stick of butter and two cups of powdered sugar. i love canned icing though. it is good. but fresh cream cheese frosting is unbeatable. i make it from scratch and i m sandra lee. so you frost it on top. put your nuts in there. pour that over the top and just make beautiful swirls with the spatula. i will do that. 165 beautiful easy recipes in this book. this looks great. sandra lee, the bake sale cookbook. for more head to our website. 8:55 is your time now, 38 degrees. nice clear skies and sunshine today, but the clouds are rolling in. tom will tell us when after the news. good morning. i m eun yang. in the news for today, police are trying to figure out who shot and killed a man in northeast washington overnight. officers found a man lying in the 1300 block of bryant street with a gunshot wound in his chest. there are no suspects at this point. the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the tidal basin. the peak bloom period starts today and is projected to last into friday. the festival itself, though, the festival itself, though, r[ dog barking, sirens wailing ] [ alarm sounding ] [ woman ] please say one to speak to a representative. one. one. [ sneezes ] a little off the sides. [ scissors snipping, razor buzzing ] no! [ male announcer ] these days, it s hard to find good customer service. thankfully, there s still one place that gets it right. more bold flavor!onds! more variety! more of what you want. not what you don t. blue diamond almonds. more than a snack. but trying to grow grass from seed in tough areas like deep shade, along the driveway, and where the kids play can be a little intimidating. until now. with scotts ez seed. it s scotts best grass seed, starter fertilizer and a growing material that absorbs water and expands to surround and protect the seeds, you ll get a thick, green scotts lawn even if you ve never been successful with other seed before. the revolutionary scotts ez seed. grow grass anywhere. good morning. sunny now, in the upper 30s and later today near 50, cloudy up tonight. from the morning to evening on wednesday, passing chilly rain showers and maybe some wet snowflakes farther west and north of washington, but not much accumulation, if at all, because temperatures will be well above freezing. then maybe some more rain on thursday afternoon and evening into friday morning. how s traffic now, jerry? tom, late accident, 95 northbound at lorton road. had been tying up the left side of the roadway, just moved to the shoulder, but we are jammed. we ll show you i-95 northbound is crawling north from the prince william parkway. up in maryland, along i-270, still looking at some delays south of gaithersburg off and on through rockville, but looks like things are beginning to ease. good news. eun? thank you, jerry. can you skip the er for an urgent care clinic? tonight 5:00, how we are back now with more of today on a tuesday morning, 29th day of march, 2011. let s stop for a second and say hi to the nice people who are cramming our plaza this morning as the rolling spring break continues. chilly here in new york. i m matt lauer along with msnbc s tamron hall. natalie and al are off this morning. coming up, tamron, we ll talk to a guy from california who s lucky to be alive after this accident. he s snowboarding, wearing a helmet camera. he takes a fall and ends up, i guess, head over heels in a tree well, six feet of snow, stuck. can t move. luckily he had a phone with him. he was rescued. we ll hear the story in his own words coming up. also ahead on joy s diet s.o.s., answers to your questions about diet and nutrition. for example, if you are over 60 trying to lose weight how much should you exercise and also questions about artificial sweeteners in organic foods. common questions people have. also you have heard about the new mini series supposed to air on the history channel but the cable outlet backed out when members of the kennedy family said it wasn t historically accurate. it found a new home on reelz. we ll take a look at the controversy behind it. some people say this is the best work katie holmes has done. it s surrounded by controversy. controversy for something like this is a good thing. people will be drawn to that. absolutely. also ahead, elizabeth taylor s life and legacy. she was hollywood royalty with oscar winning performances and on off-screen life just as dramatic as the famous roles. we ll get the latest celebrity stories from people magazine including details on kate and will. you can t get enough of that. i can t. ann curry is at the news desk with the headlines. i am. thanks, matt. good morning, everybody. in the news, major world leaders meet in london to discuss the future of libya. some 40 foreign ministers from arab and western states are coming to the table to push for moammar gadhafi s exit. last night president obama addressed the nation to defend the u.s. military s involvement in the conflict. the president said u.s. intervention was necessary to prevent a massacre of civilians. extremely toxic plutonium is seeping from the quake-crippled nuclear power plant in japan and into the soil. officials are expanding the evacuation zone around the complex. three of the six reactors are believed to have had partial meltdowns since the march 11 earthquake and tsunami. this morning, tens of thousands of syrians are showing support for their embattled president after dozens were killed in crackdowns on anti-government protests. the president is expected to address them in the next 24 hours, his concessions include a lifting of the 20-plus year state of emergency. the ruling military council says hosni mubarak and his family aren t allowed to leave their country. the u.s. supreme court will hear arguments against walmart today to decide if the case can proceed as a class action lawsuit involving 500,000 women who claim they favored men for higher pay and workplace advancement. dozens of elizabeth taylor s love letters will be auctioned off this spring. the notes reveal a 17-year-old taylor in 1949 writing to her then fiance william pauley, jr. there is a love letter taylor is keeping a mystery. she was buried with the last letter richard burton wrote to her days before his own death in 1984. she kept it by her bedside for nearly 30 years and never revealed the contents. a california snowboarder s helmet camera captured an ordeal that was his most frightening and his most embarrassing, he says. james drummond was buried upside down in six feet of snow at the base of a tree. he struggled for 20 minutes and reached his cell phone just as his wife called. i m stuck in a tree well. give them my phone number. are you serious? i m going to die if they don t find me. are you serious? call them! give them my where are you? give them my number! drummond was rescued after half an hour. i heard somebody say i found him . we got him! it s four minutes past the hour. now back outside to matt and tamron. love that story. the wife called you love that she called. are you serious? i m serious, honey. this is no time for questioning me, honey. let s get a check of the weather. al s off this week. maria larosa s in with the forecast. maria? good morning, guys. we have fans from ohio here. what brings you to new york? choir. welcome. enjoy yourselves. they have great lungs, they know how to sing. much of the country will be well below average, talking 10, 20 degrees. look at the highs, just 30s and 40s as you head from new york over into montana. the warm spot, 70s and 80s across the southern tier. we could see strong thunderstorms along with the warm air in parts of texas, louisiana, mississippi and alabama today and maybe some flurries on the northern end of this system. then you ve still got rain and mountain snow affecting the northwest. that s a look at the weather across the country. here s a look at what you can expect. quite a chill in the air on this tuesday morning. we do have sunshine, though, and we re into the mid-to-upper 30s. now 38 at reagan national, later today near 50 and then clouding up tonight and some chilly rain likely from time to time through the day on wednesday. maybe even a few wet snowflakes, especially areas west and north of washington, around the blue ridge and shenandoah valley where there might be a light accumulation on grassy areas only. thursday, cloudy, could get afternoon and evening showers, maybe lingering into friday morning. drying out into the weekend, into the 50s. ann, back to you. maria, thank you. this morning on joy s diet s.o.s., answers to your daily diet dilemma. joy bauer is here with tips on everything from your baby s first solid foods to what s important to know about organic foods if you are a diabetic. hey, ann. the first question is from gina in seattle, washington, via skype. good morning. good morning. your baby is adorable. thank you. i m a first-time mother introducing solid foods into my baby s diet. most pediatricians recommend rice cereal as a fist forst foo i heard it s like giving them white bread. what s the best game plan for solid foods? should i start with rice cereal, introduce it later or skip it? there is no hard rule in terms of what s the best option. you can start with vegetables, fruit or rice cereal. many pediatricians recommend starting with rice cereal first because it s iron-fortified and your baby s brain needs iron to develop. typically by four, five months babies iron stores are starting to become depleted. speak with your pediatrician. if they recommend rice cereal, look for a whole grain brown rice cereal. a lot of companies are distributing them to most supermarkets. please, if you can t find the whole grain version and you can only find a plain refined white rice cereal, don t worry about it for a minute. the main mission of the cereal is to slowly introduce solids to your beautiful baby and give him or her the iron fortification. soon enough you re introducing vegetables, fruits and a host of healthful ingredients. thank you very much for your question. your baby is adorable. adorable. cindy is on the phone from florida. hey, what s your question. good morning. i m 63 years old and i have just started walking about 45 minutes to an hour daily. sit necessary to keep my heart rate at a certain number while walking in order to lose weight? congratulations on all that exercise. that s an impressive amount. keep it going. no, you don t have to maintain or target a specific heart rate in order to lose weight. we have a lot of smart, advanced science behind heart rate but when it comes to exercise, as long as you are moving and as often as you can at whatever speed you want you re burning calories. those will eventually equate to pounds lost. push yourself when you can but don t get caught up on the heart rate. just keep walking. thank you very much for your question, cindy. good luck. we have a viewer e-mail from diane in rhode island. she writes, i have type 2 diabetes and i notice a lot of organic and natural foods have evaporated cane juice in them. is this just another name for raw sugar? is it okay to have? evaporated cane sugar or cane juice is another form of sugar. just like plain old white sugar. it has the same amount of calories and will elevate your blood sugar like white sugar. a lot of people think it s healthier because it s slightly less processed. it s really not the case. for diane or anyone with diabetes, you have to watch all of your sugar intake including e evaporated cane juice. i m glad she asked fm thank you so much for your answers to the questions this morning. thank you, ann. coming up next, the people everyone are talking about from elizabeth taylor to william and kate. we ll get the inside scoop from people magazine. later, how to look your best when looking for a job. that s coming up after this. introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. introducing purina one beyond introducing honey bunches of oats, raisin medley. there s nothing like it! the only cereal with 1, 2, 3 kinds of raisins and crunchy multigrain flakes. you gotta try new honey bunches of oats raisin medley. [ male announcer ] on tuscani tuesdays, any family-sized tuscani pasta is just ten bucks. dinner made easy? check. [ male announcer ] with over three pounds of your favorite pasta, plus an order of breadsticks, you get enough for the whole family. only on tuesdays. and only at your pizza hut. [ whispering ] shhhh. did you hear that? it sounded like the chocobeast. the what? half man, half beast. he ll stop at nothing to sink his fangs into people who steal other people s chocolate temptations. you guys have nothing to worry about, right? aaah! [ all scream ] nice job, chocobeast! thank you. [ male announcer ] six indulgent layered desserts, at 150 calories or less. new temptations. it s the first jell-o that s just for adults. his family knows what to expect. but what mike rowe doesn t know is that his parents have armed themselves with unquilted viva® towels. wow, for me? 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[ female announcer ] that s living color. new from aveeno. get a free sample at aveeno.com and discover the power of active naturals. get a free sample at aveeno.com hey! hey! hey! that s our snack machine. you should try something new. activia parfait crunch! crunchy granola you mix right in to creamy and delicious activia yogurt. mmm! crunchy! and creamy! watch your toes! new activia parfait crunch. elizabeth taylor has appeared on 14 covers of people magazine and now grace it is cover again. the latest issue pays tribute to the legendary life of the hollywood star, businesswoman and humanitarian. here to reflect on her legacy and give us the scoop on the rest of the celebrity news in people is kate cohen. good morning. good to see you. good morning. 14 times. i don t know if that s a record but it s a lot of covers. it is. what s interesting is people began in 1974. so when you think about some of her heyday which was in the 50s and 60s to appear on 14 covers starting in 1974 and onward speaks to her impact. it s like a layered life. personal, professional, a businesswoman. i read her perfume, for example, sold $1 billion in product. that s an incredible amount of money. how did you put that all in one issue? what was the perspective? it took 17 pages and a book on the way. you know, it s interesting. to use a term the diamond lover, she had a multi faceted life. she was really a humanitarian, a wife several times over, a mother, a legend in so many ways. so we took care to make sure we emphasized all of the different elements of her life. i love that you say wife receive ti several times over. that s a kind way to put it. she loved men and you check of todd. richard burton was a great love of her life but she felt she had two and mike todd was the other one. their romance was cut short. he died in a plane accident. she loved him completely and entirely. she really felt she had two great loves in her life burton and todd. you have a touching story from debbie reynolds. after years forgave elizabeth taylor for stealing her husband. that s what happened. what she made clear in the essay she gave to people is she doesn t feel taylor stole her husband. her husband chose to leave. in the end the two women found common ground when they came together and agreed they were both better off without him. talk about girl power. let s transition to charlie sheen. he s still in the news. apparently sent out a message to his ex-wife denise richards. is he still on the hot topic list? he demands attention, so it s impossible to look away. but it s starting to get iffy with what s going on with him. what did he say about denise? well, there was the usual charlie vocabulary. so there s warlock venom and madness involved there. but he seems very angry calling her now a kidnapper, a dognapper, apparently there is anger there involving his children and perhaps a dog. it s not completely clear what s set him off this time. what about the ticket sales? he has a tour starting. initial reports were that it sold out in 20 minutes and we are hearing that may not be the case. there were report that is the detroit shows sold out in 18 minutes. it s not clear if everyone understands what sold out means because tickets are still available on ticketmaster for the detroit shows. if a ticket is still available the show can t be sold out. that s not even taking into consideration secondary ticket sales which is when people bought tickets to sell on stubhub and other sites. that market is flooded with tickets. is he close to the jump the shark moment where it s no longer coolle to talk about him? this goes away if he delivers a show that knocks people out. the skeptics will be silenced. and prince harry threw his brother a stag party. everyone hoping for a raucus detail to come out. snoop dogg was supposed to perform. no. it was held at a private country estate. what happened on the estate stayed on the estate. no one is talking. how is it possible? he was limited to 20 very close friends of the prince s. they are life long friends who learned over the years to keep their mouths shut. it wasn t like they went to vegas. there was only so much they could get up to. not like the hangover . no, no. everyone has all their teeth. and kate s bachelorette party? there was a report that it s already happened. they did a phenomenal job of keeping that quiet as well. do you think it s possible? certainly. she s under intense scrutiny and knows it. she is not looking to do anything to draw unwanted headlines. she will very much play by the rules and keep it very dignified. we are a little bit more than 30 days away. do we know what the next month will be like for them? they are crossing the t s and dotting the i s. time now for final preparations. menus have been selected, flowers finalized. these are the final days to go over the last details. and the honeymoon, i read and heard perhaps australia he dropped several hints, prince william has, about wanting to return to australia, perhaps as soon as the honeymoon. they were not there that long ago. it might be soon for them to return, but it would be a fantastic honeymoon. and are you planning a special edition? do you expect it to sell like maybe diana s? obviously this is something that me rirrits a lot of specia attention in the magazine. we ll give it very full coverage. estimates have over 1 billion people watching the wedding. we ll be a part of that. the commemorative edition for people magazine. a pleasure to talk to you. coming up, the backstage drama about the new mini series about the kennedys. right after this. our snack machine. you should try something new. activia parfait crunch! crunchy granola you mix right in to creamy and delicious activia yogurt. mmm! crunchy! and creamy! watch your toes! new activia parfait crunch. if you want to feed them right, wear them out, or clean them up, you can save up to 25% on thousands of items during the petsmart everything spring sale. like $10 off new k9 advantix ii and advantage ii flea and tick six packs! at petsmart. just got more powerful. introducing precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. [ male announcer ] ragu, packed with two servings of veggies in every half cup of our now thicker, richer, healthy sauce. ragu has a great taste your family will love. ragu. feed our kids well. ragu has a great taste your family will love. you know, each year, olive garden sends over 100 of us to study the art of italian cooking. we learn from master chefs. we visit the local markets. we talk to the artisans. we learn all the little secrets of italian cooking and bring them back to share with you. inspired by italy, our new handmade puff pastries. generously filled with italian cheeses and herbs. try them with sauteed chicken breasts in a creamy garlic sauce or with braised beef in a balsamic demi-glaze. tonight at your olive garden. you gotta try honey bunches of oats with almonds! it s got real, sliced california almonds with a third less sugar per serving than honey nut cheeos. wow! delicious! try honey bunches of oats with almonds! coming up, how to help your children understand the death of a family pet. plus, if you have been unemployed for a while, how to look your best for a job interview and financial advice. also, we ll get the premiere of the controversial new mini-series about the kennedys. that s coming up after your local news and weather. 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[ female announcer ] new stouffer s sautes for two. find more ways to get to the table at letsfixdinner.com. . taking a live look outside at 9:26 right now, a very chilly 38 degrees but a super sunny day shaping up. good morning, everyone. i m kimberly suiters. we re following breaking news in prince george s county right now. police are on the scene of a stabbing in kentland. chopper 4 was over that scene in the 7600 block of kenttown drive just moments ago. police say a man was stabbed several times. no word on any suspects at this hour. you re weather and traffic it s still cold. temperatures in the mid and upper 30s now. a little bit of a breeze coming in out of the north and northwest, and that s certainly making it feel colder. but later today, up around 50 degrees with some sunshine. then cloudy tomorrow. some chilly rain likely with temperatures above freezing throughout the day, even with some wet snowflakes, don t see much accumulation. maybe a little bit around the blue ridge and shenandoah valley. then on thursday and friday, cloudy and still a possibility of some chilly rain in the afternoon and evening thursday night into friday morning. jerry, how s traffic? tom, we ll head on out. we still have a rush hour going here along 395 northbound. delays begin at shirlington to the 14th street bridge. a couple problems earlier approaching the 14th street bridge have cleared, so the lanes are open but still jammed. outer loop of the beltway very heavy south from river road to the american legion bridge. crews are on the shoulder getting ready to set up the midday construction. kimberly? thank you, jerry. can you skip the er for an urgent care clinic? tonight at 5:00, how to diagnose your symptoms to determine which place is best, consideri hey, look. can you believe it? there s a drum kit in here. what do you think? never had one formal lesson. i know what your thinking. no, you don t. what s wrong? you look put out? why are you still here? you can t be here. you re in the forbidden part of the house. so are you. the voice of the rabbit is actually the voice of the very funny russell brand. also sometimes known as mr. katy perry. he s playing e.b., short for easter bunny, in the new movie called hop. he has another iconic role coming up remaking arthur. the trailers look hilarious. we ll talk to him about it tomorrow on today and all of this is by way of saying that our senior producer mark victor is celebrating a milestone victory. don t worry. we won t give it away. he looks good for any age. he does. he s our cute little bunny rabbit here. we love mark. he s a terrific guy. we wish him a happy birthday. i m getting him a t-shirt that says cute little bunny rabbit for our birthday, mark. i m trying to make the relationship. probably better that i didn t make that relationship to him and russell brand. coming up, the off-screen drama about the new kennedy mini-series. it was executive produced by a conservative republican who was the cocreator of the history channel. now it is set to air on the smaller reelz channel. i m trying to think of who is in it. katie holmes, greg kinear. very interesting to get the low down on that. and the talk every parent dreads having with children. when a beloved pet dies. the loss can have a big impact on the little ones in your home. we ll give you help and how you help them, even when this is key when you re struggling with sadness yourself. it s putting on a tough face for your child. it can be defining. it s the first time they may have experienced the loss of something they love. we ll talk about that. then on a happier note, putting women on the path of success. if you have been unemployed for a long time, how can you confidently dress for a job interview? we have tips on how to look and dress your best for a job interview. when the paycheck rolls in you can manage your money. first, a check of the morning forecast from maria la rosa in for al this morning. nice to have you here. nice being here. here. good morning, ladies. some rough weather we ll be tracking across parts of the country, especially across the south. you ve got showers there right now, a little snow on the northern fringe. eventually by later this afternoon, we could see severe weather from eastern texas into the panhandle of florida. meanwhile, cool continues across the great lakes and the northeast. sunshine in the southwest. more showers and mountain snow in the northwest as winds kick up as well. that s a look at the weather across the country. now here s a look at what you can expect. good morning. we have the sunshine here, but it is still very chilly. only in the mid and upper 30s. a bit of a blustery northwest wind. later today near 50 with sunshine. but then tomorrow, chilly rain likely and could get wet snowflakes, mainly west and north of washington, but no accumulation on roads, streets or sidewalks. it will be above freezing throughout the day. and then on thursday into friday, we ll have a possibility of maybe some more rain thursday afternoon and evening into friday morning, but drying out for the weekend. highs in the 50s on saturday and sunday. ladies? thank you so much. cam lot or not? the controversy around the kennedy mini-series right after this. when you ve had one too many days feeling sad or anxious. aches and pains, fatigue. when it becomes hard to ignore that you need help. that s the day you do something. depression hurts. cymbalta can help with many symptoms of depression. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens, you have unusual changes in behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin or eyes. talk with your doctor about your medicines, including those for migraine, or if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles, to address a possible life-threatening condition. tell your doctor about alcohol use, liver disease, and before you reduce or stop taking cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. side effects include nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. is today your day? talk to your doctor. and go to cymbalta.com for a free 30-capsule trial offer. depression hurts. cymbalta can help. twizzlers. the twist you can t resist. these 4 brands took home more allure best of beauty awards than any others. pantene. olay. venus & gillette. and secret. the four most awarded brands. keeping you your most beautiful from head to toe. a controversial mini-series on the kennedy family that was originally set to air on the history channel held its premiere last night and the creator opened up about his fight to bring it to television. kristen welker has the latest on the story. reporter: ambition i want to make jack kennedy president. reporter: dynasty, tragedy. camelot comes to life in the kennedys starring greg kinear as jfk and katie holmes as the former first lady. the drama on screen is matched only by drama behind the scenes. you have quite a reputation. reporter: the eight-part mini-series which cost about $25 million to make was initially slated to air on the history channel. it was plagued by questions of historical accuracy and reported pressure from the kennedy family. i think you guys are missing the point. reporter: in january the history channel announced it would no longer air the kennedys saying, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the history brand. the history is 100% accurate. reporter: producer joel sernow, a can i have who created 24 for fox believes his politics may have cast doubt on whether or not he could be fair. i have been sometimes unfairly tagged as a partisan film maker. i m not. reporter: according to a recent article in the hollywood reporter executives who oversee the history channel were personally lobbied by caroline kennedy. in addition, maria shriver is said to have voiced her dispolysure. i have no problem with the kennedys. it s when the people inside who make the decisions yield to it is where i have the problem. reporter: nbc news reached out to caroline kennedy and maria shriver for comment but didn t hear back. despite the controversy the mini-series premiered in beverly hills monday night, a star-studded event. it was an honor. reporter: holmes said she prepared extensively for the role. her daughter suri even struck up a friendship with the child actress who played caroline. some believed the real caroline had the final word. is there disappointment that it s not airing on the history channel? i think we were all surprised because we didn t see it coming. in terms of one channel to the other, i don t know how much weight i put on it. reporter: ultimately reelz bought it for $7 million. our viewership has doubled from the time we made our announcement. reporter: a controversial mini-series that s become almost as captivating as the iconic family it portrays. for today, kristenle welker, nbc news, los angeles. up next, a tough conversation. how to talk to your kids about the death of a family pet. that s right after this. 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right. it usually is a child s first experience with death and loss. it s really important that parents view this as an opportunity to help them get through the grieving process in a healthy way. you have tips but first is there something that you think parents should avoid when dealing with the crisis? don t lie. don t use euphemisms. don t say, the dog ran away or maybe the dog will come back. even the dog passed. they really recommend that you say, our dog died. so it s very clearcut and a child can embrace the idea. does that apply to most age groups. of course the older a child is the more they can conceptualize that. between 7 and 9 there are questions about what happens when a pet dies or when anyone dies. what about showing emotion? my mother won t be happy with me, but my mother is a crier. a modern woman. that s considered healthy. if a parent is having a feeling it s important to share that with your child. of course you don t want to traumatize your child and break down in front of them. to say, i m sad. you know, i m sad, too. it s okay to cry. it s okay for you to cry if you feel sad. kids may have a lot of complex emotions just like adults. they may feel angry, abandoned. the thing is to keep open communication so your child knows it s okay to have a lot of feelings and you are there to help them process it. you talked about telling the truth. again, i wouldle imagine based on age but the truth is what it is. you want to help your child understand what s going on. according to a care.com poll, 83% of families consider a pet part of the family. so this is really good training in general. honor the child s feelings. how do you do that? you don t shame them into feeling badly about being upset. don t say, you know, pull yourself up by the bootstraps. this is a time to say, it s okay to have your feelings. what can happen is sometimes kids get afraid that other people they love will die. this is an opportunity for a parent to say, i have no plans of going anywhere. if the child says, well, who s next? what if you have a child who keeps their feelings inside? how do you deal with that? there are different ways. you may want to have a child draw a picture of the dog or share a happy memory or write a story. there are lots of different artistic ways to handle it. maybe it s gathering a collage of pictures or the family with the dog. you say to memorialize the death. yes. or maybe a little funeral. we all need closure. you have to follow what your child can tolerate. maybe you have a plant and put the name of the dog. a little something that says, we honor the dog. we re saying good-bye to the dog, cat, hamster. so there is a sense of closure. you also say don t close the door. allow open communication. maybe in the middle of the night. just say, if you ever want to talk, i m here to help. if your child doesn t show strong emotions right away, that s okay, too. people grieve in different ways. we are learning a little bit about our children during the process. the goal is to help them get through to the other side. it s a sad topic, but thas great advice. i think people will appreciate it. thank you. great to see you. up next, how to look your best at a job interview with the right clothes and makeup. this is today on nbc. announcer: today s working woman is brought to you by mcdonald s. i m lovin it. this morning on today s woman empowering women looking for work. dress for success is an international nonprofit that helps clients with suits and accessories plus career development advice and more. the ultimate goal is that all women participating achieve economic independence for themselves and their families. bobbi brown is today beauty editor and a dress for success new york board member. carmen wong you wiulrich is fro organize and cynthia is a client. good morning. good morning. how did you get so involved? dress for success is an important that empowers women and helps them feel good about themselves to get back to work. that s my mission. mine is the financial literacy program launched a couple of years ago. i was so excited they got involved. once you get the job, to have the financialle knowledge to manage your money the right way, that multiplies the success rate of really achieving and not just having the job but managing money the right way and knowing how to do it is such a powerfulle thing. that from two women who are in the working world and have gone through it all. cynthia, you have a job at a legal staffing agency. is that right? that s correct. how has this idea of other women thinking about how to make you better prepared, how has that affected you? well, dress for success helped me in many ways. they gave me the skills i needed to succeed in the world. when i got my job they helped me transition into the work force. so they also programmed the professional women s group which helped me transition into the work force. soon i will be taking the financial literacy program which will help me manage my finances. right. dress for success isn t just a suit. people think it s about a suit. it s so much more. you have to do the work. but then the question is how to do the transitioning. you are a makeup mayen and visual maven. so you create we have to create kind of an image of success, right? it s self-confidence. if you feel good about yourself walking in the door for an interview, you will hold yourself better. you will look better and be able to make a good first impression. you look wonderful, cynthia. thank you. what would be the way. for an interview, makeup needs to be neutral, not the boldest color of the season. a beautiful blush and a very nude lip. you don t want to walk in with a bright red lipstick. though you look good. you wouldn t for a first interview. i wouldn t. it s about looking appropriate to put your best self-forward. carmen, what would you like to see in terms of the financial independence? especially if you have been out of a job, the first impulse is to reward yourself, right? i m a fan of that. be careful. first, do you want to buy a bag? go out to dinner with your partner or friend? set a limit. a good rule of thumb is one day s pay. in that way you feel like you rewarded yourself but you have a limit and you haven t put yourself in the hole. be careful when you go to bank. a lot of jobs offer direct deposit. you can get free or no-fee checking with a direct deposit. make sure it matches your banking behavior and make sure you set up a savings account, automated savings once you start working to build back up that emergency fund. when they hand you your benefit information, the w-4 and 401-k, be smart about taking time. i mean hours. i want you to take a couple of hours with the paperwork to make the right decisions. if you are confused and need help, go to the benefits department. they have people there to help you. i wish i had gotten this advice when i started out. so many of us start working and just put one foot in front of the other. these are almost rules. they kind of tell you what to wear, tell you how to use your money. how has that been how have you put it into your own mind? how has it affected you? i think it will help me to grow professionally and personally. the tips about makeup and also the finance, money will help me, especially every day when you go to work you want to look professional. that will help me, of course, get into my goal into the accounting field. of course the money, we want of course to get a job that we can manage the finances. very good point. women helping women. you have helped us this morning, cynthia, by being here today. thank you. we re back with more after this. taking a live look outside. 45 degrees right now. kind of partly sunny skies but still very chilly. it is 9:56 right now. i m kimberly suiters. in the news today, police are on the scene of a stabbing in kentland. chopper 4 was over that scene in the 7600 block of kenttown drive just a short time ago. police tell us one man was stabbed. his injuries are believed to be nonlife-threatening. no word on any suspects at this time. the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the tidal basin. peak bloom period starts today, is projected to last until friday. the national cherry blossom festival runs through april 10th. time to check in with tom, and today sounds like the pick day to go see them. it is, because it does look like we re going to get some chilly rain tomorrow and perhaps again on thursday and maybe even into friday morning. so, sunny this afternoon with a high around 50 after this chilly start, but then tomorrow, highs only mid-40s, but all day long we should be above freezing, even if we do get a little wet snow. looks like there is the possibility west and north of washington. it would just accumulate a little bit, maybe on grassy areas, if it does happen. then thursday and friday, maybe some showers in the afternoon. that may postpone opening day for the nats. jerry, how s traffic? tom, looking live along 395. pretty minimal delays now. backup begins just after the pentagon to the 14th street bridge. travel lanes are open. and one more stop over to the american legion bridge. inner loop, you re okay, outer loop a little sluggish now. there had been a work crew on the shoulder at the georgetown pike. they may be getting ready to get in the roadway. kimberly? thanks, jerry. can you skip the er for an urgent care clinic? tonight at 5:00, how to diagnose yo blue diamond almonds! more bold flavor! more variety! more of what you want. not what you don t. blue diamond almonds. more than a snack. today with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. hey, everybody. booze-day tuesday, march 29. my good friend eva s birthday. she s in england so i don t have to get her a present. i love when that happens. how are you? we talked about a couple topics that are controversial, like the woman who is giving her eight-year-old daughter botox. and waxing her before she has any hair. everyone thought she should be sent to child services, but another thing that was reacted to strongly, we talked about a family-friendly area of the airplane where the kids and their parents and stuff could all hang together. 61% of all viewers said there should be an adults-only section and 39% think it s really not that necessary. are they really saying there should be a family-friendly section. because have you ever been on a cruise where it s just adults only, and then you go on like one of the disney cruises with all the it s such a difference. it s just designed for different clientele and different demographics. the airlines, it would have to make financial sense for them to do it, i guess. there was another situation like this. a lady where is she from, hoda woman? england? no, i forget. australia. australia, all right. she was on a bus with her little ones, 13 months old. you cannot control a 13-month-old. you also cannot control a 21-year-old, i m finding out. the little baby started laughing. how many webcams do we watch on that? a little 13-month-old laughing out of control? the bus driver threatened her mother several times if she didn t shut her kid up, she would bounce him from the bus. the mom gave him a little snack, the mom gave him a little drink, but the baby wouldn t i love that! what kind of a jerk bus driver doesn t want to hear that? it sounds like a weird story. it almost sounds like it s something else, doesn t it? we don t know anybody who doesn t just adore the sound of a laughing baby. he dumped her. he did. right before their regular exit. and so not nice. not nice. we are doing this story today, which is disturbing on so many levels but we decided to do it, anyway. a reporter went sort of undercover to find out about this ashley madison web site. this is the place where married people go on this web site to find lovers that are also married. it s where they go to cheat, basically. yeah, their motto is, life is short, have an affair. so anyway, this reporter from redbook went out and wanted to ask men why they are doing this. and she appeared on it as if she is available to hook up one of these men. she got 164 responses the first night. 8.7 million people are on this thing. i don t even like to give them this kind of attention. but it does point out this is a huge, huge issue, and what i don t understand is if you don t like laughing babies, don t have babies. if you want to have an affair, why get married? i don t understand. well, you may fall into an affair and you re not planning it. this is planning an affair. the whole thing is you go on this thing and you re hooked up the next day. these men are writing back and saying, i ll text you at my soccer game, and i ll try to meet you at the games. they secretly do this while their wife is in the bathroom, they send pictures. we re doing a segment on the whys behind it, because there are some that are not even married yet, they re engaged, and doing it. don t you just want to ask them, why go through the whole thing of getting married? one guy said he actually thought it would help his marriage. it was do this thing of getting it out of his system and yeah. yeah. that just makes you wonder how many women are clueless. they re saying you have to go into our data banks of all of our calls to find out they ve been doing this. my wife is not that kind of woman, she trusts me. she doesn t even check my blackberry, is what he told this reporter. stick around for that. i feel a little sleazy, a little dirty even doing this subject, i really do. ma yeah. here s the thing about men, when they re driving with those navigational gps things, they say men often ignore what the navigational device is telling them, but again, why put it on if they re not going to listen to it? i have to say, those things are confusing, because you re driving along and they ll say turn right now. there s a right turn here, and a right turn here. i was in california looking at schools. the freeway system south of los angeles has chajdnged a lot. we had to go down to orange county. i was driving, and i don t drive a lot. i got so mad at this lady. i got mad at the machine because it did not warn you adequately that there might be another way that s right there, and it just was very confusing. mama wasn t happy when mama got there. i was scared to death, actually. because we could have died. i was listening to it and by the time it was time to take it, it hadn t warned me. get in the left lane. so you get in the left lane and you re driving along and all of a sudden, now take 82 east. that s over there! i wonder how many accidents are being blamed on. i think it s better than maps. because i hate maps. well, look at your purse. i wouldn t mind being in the car with chrissy with a map because she s linear. you re not. no, norks, i can t find i don t enjoy maps. i was going to a state once and i landed and i was late. i was driving for like 45 minutes and i was going, where is the stupid exit. and i realized it was back the other way, north, not south, whatever. so you don t read the signs that say the sun comes up in the east and goes down in the west. it was noon. low-calorie bloody marys. this bloody mary is usually packed with calories. this has 5 calories for 23 ounces. i kantd tecan t tell you how that is. they also make margarita stuff, too. that s supposed to have 200 calories as opposed to the 700. here s something i m excited about, hoda woman. wow. this is good. it s a good day for me, because for years my family has made fun of me with my fanny pack. i have a fanny pack that i got about 15 years ago. i love that and i take it everywhere. why do you love it? first of all, i have a bad neck, so the weight is on the hips. it s just so convenient. it s hard to see because it s on you and in front of you and it s a zipper. and i m, like, traveling in europe and you re sight-seeing and you re climbing and stuff. you re not hauling a bag, you re not hauling something you ll leave somewhere. your passport is in there, your lip gloss, my glasses and everything else and phone. how much is this? what is it? how do you get it? the good news for all of you people who just follow trends and can t fend for yourselves, they re back. and they re $14. and they re in all kinds of colors. we wanted to show it but it s too long. you got to go to youtube. it s called age age-activated attention deficit disorder. and you will find yourself it is so funny. age-activated attention deficit disorder. an undercover look at this controversial site after these messages. [ upbeat ] [ announcer ] who could resist the call. of america s number-one puppy food brand? with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother s milk. purina puppy chow. 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? you stop smelling your pluggable air freshener? pull the plug on your old one and trade up to a free febreze noticeables. it s long lasting freshness in the febreze you plug right in. find out how to get your free febreze noticeables at febrezetradeup.com. nice. oh. oh! oh! red! red! red! yes! yes! come on! oh. no! oh. bummer. [children shouting] hoops? yeah. sure. sure. announcer: moms everywhere are finding ways to keep kids active and healthy. works every time. announcer: get ideas. get involved. get going at letsmove.gov. a dating web site with over 8 million members is causing some controversy, because to be an on-line member, you must already be in a committed relationship. what does that mean, committed relationship? it s specifically for men and women looking to have an extramarital affair. here s kevin tibbles. ashley madison is brash, bold and makes no apologies for being the premier matchmaker for aspiring a dudulterers. this is where they secretly met and had an affair. the controversy behind the canadian-based web site is 39-year-old noah beaderman. he claims that next to facebook, ashley madison will soon be the fastest growing social network. it already boasts 8.5 million members in ten countries. you can log on for free but must pay for credits to talk to someone beyond an initial e-mail. and it has sparked considerable outrage. the ashley madison web site is promoting adultery. he s making it easier for people to have affairs. two redbook reporters went undercover, so to speak, meeting dates in public places and not in the bedroom. there were responses i got. some them were very sexual. there are a lot of unhappy people on ashley madison who are using this it as a way to escape their marriage for a while. while discreet sex is one emotioni factor, others seek an emotional connection. two women asked that their identities be concealed. my husband and i don t get along very well. he took my self-esteem from me, a meeting other men, i ve gotten that back. ashley madison guarantees for me the person i m willing to become involved with has just as much to lose in their life as i do. it has made noah beaderman a very rich man. but is he a homewrecker? guilt? absolutely not. i have no guilt. like i said, this has made me a better wife, this has made me a better mother. i am a happier person because of this. stephonia and michael, unhappily married to other people when they met, are now married to each other. they say happily. is there any guilt? i m not proud of it, but i don t regret that i met michael. the ta boo business of having an affair has become big business. for today, kevin tibbles, nbc news. she is the chief editor of redbook and psychologist and today contributor. you two are a sleaze to this as well? i found it to be morally unrepublu unreprehensible, and it is a ger diversion to having to work on your marriage and yourself. we certainly expected the dirty stuff to come to the surface, the pornographic pictures our reporter was sent and the straightforward sex come-ones. it was the men looking for an emotional connection. they wanted the thrill of that new sort of passing notes in school stage of the relationship. romance, in a weird way. in a weird way, yes. that was what surprised us the most. what about that comment that she made saying it was going to help my marriage. that just blows your mind. what is she saying? i believe she s absolutely in denial. we hear this all the time. and, really, it s a self-delusion thinking you can lay down with your husband, lay down with other people. hello, it makes you a cheating wife. the other guy is starting to give you all the stuff he stopped giving his wife. if you want to be a good wife, you re going to pour your energy back into your marriage, and if there are problems there, you re going to address them. what about just paying to see a therapist and working on your issues? absolutely. the issues aren t going to go away. some of knethese guys are saying, look, my wife doesn t look at my blackberry, so i m fine. if i read this article, i would be sort of nervous. i would want to look and check the blackberry. is that something women should do? i don t think anyone should do that. i know a lot of people i talked to about your excellent article, they got very nervous because this is out there and they started looking at one another. i don t think you should check it because i think it s a lot of negative energy. it s a trust issue there. it is a trust issue. i think you should work on yourself, be a role model in your marriage. if there is something wrong, then you should work on the marriage, not spend the negativity, that time, checking up. if you get a creepy feeling, you should follow your instincts, and i also feel it s important to speak openly about this. talk to your husband about the fact this site exists, but try and surface the issues in your marriage and try to deal with them in an up-front way. i ve been married 17 years. this article totally freaked me out, i won t pretend. but it actually felt good to talk to my husband about it. that s what a lot of staffers and a lot of our reedeaders are doing. hoda, i respect what you re saying, if you suspect something, look. and you should ask. but even if you do it, the bottom line is if you have to spend the energy playing csi on your spouse, then it s a clear signal something is wrong, and take that energy and put it towards working on the marriage. don t you think if one person is happy in the marriage, chances are very good the other person is unhappy as well on some levels? everyone is getting divorced anyway. why get married? i don t get that. does it even matter with this web site? if people are doing it, anyway i think it sort of gives a legitimacy to the whole thing. life is short, have an affair. that s their tag line. it seems like something you owe yourself. what you owe yourself is to work on your marriage. you see the commercials, younger people watching this will see that it s okay to cheat outside the marriage. i call them pimp daddies. okay. my marriage is making me happy. up next, sara is on the streets. that doesn t mean she s a streetwalker, and she s wearing a fanny pack? i happen to love them. back after this. get the fibe, that s why froot loops®, apple jacks® and corn pops have 3 grams of fiber in every yummy bowl. they re the cereals your kids love and the fiber their tummies love. which makes for a whole lotta happy. froot loops®, apple jacks and corn pops®, an oh-so-good source of fiber. kellogg s® makes fiber fun. [ male announcer ] on tuscani tuesdays, any family-sized tuscani pasta is just ten bucks. dinner made easy? check. [ male announcer ] with over three pounds of your favorite pasta, plus an order of breadsticks, you get enough for the whole family. only on tuesdays. and only at your pizza hut. you get enough for the whole family. call on me, brother, when you need a hand we all need somebody. brawny now comes with a money back guarantee. when you want a paper towel that can do it all, lean on me. when you need something strong brawny never lets you down. and i was a pack-a-day smoker for 25 years. i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i m like, oh, promise mommy you ll never ever pick up a cigarette. i had to quit. my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these symptoms or behaviors, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. if you develop serious allergic or skin reactions, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some of these can be life-threatening. don t take chantix if you ve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. until you know how chantix affects you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. my benjamin, he helped me with the countdown. ben, how many days has it been? 5 days, mom. 10 days, mom. i think after 30 days he got tired of counting. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about chantix. and now through march 31st, get a limited-time money saving offer and see terms and conditions at chantix.com. we re back on sara on the streets and we re talking fanny packs. are those zippered packs that you wear around the waist finally making a comeback? that s right, whether they were 14 or 40, the shoppers at the experience store had strong opinions about whether the fanny packs are flattering or a failure. fanny packs are ugly. hideous. wrong. my daughters would not wear them. absolutely not. would they ever be embarrassed if you wear them? they are. what do they say to you? please don t wear that. do you listen and do you follow through? no, i don t listen and yes, they usually walk ahead of me. i think you just can t wear it in front. you have to wear them on the side. personally, i wouldn t wear them but i m not going to judge someone who wears them. are you saying you need a man, not a fanny pack? you need a real man to carry your stuff. this little guy doesn t talk back. is it okay to wear a fanny pack? i think so. i have extra cards, batte battery a big wallet. that s a big hoda wallet. is a fanny pack ever okay to wear? never. never. never. where do you put your stuff? in my handbag. but look how easy mine is, no hands, no hands. i don t think that translates over if you don t have fanny packs, you don t have friends. because you have lots of friends and you have a fanny pack. i thought i did. i couldn t fit anything in that. your wallet wouldn t fit in here. still to come wow! jamie lee curtis! it s activia! it s delicious. i am shocked. it s hard to believe it s that good for you. it s so good. try the fabulous taste of activia today. taste it, love it, or it s free! and now discover activia dessert. in rich indulgent flavors like strawberry cheesecake. try activia dessert today. activia creme body wash with nutrium moisture. after 1 week we took their close-ups. when they saw how much more beautiful their skin looked they had only one question. new dove visible care creme body wash. girl: mom, can i have a dollar? yeah. it s right i think my purse is upstairs on the bed. it s not here. check the dining room. nope. what about your sister s room? not there, either. the upstairs closet? the downstairs closet. there are no more closets. announcer: moms everywhere are finding ways to keep kids active and healthy. get ideas. get involved. get going at letsmove.gov. . the cherry blossoms are in full bloom down at the tidal basin. coming up on news 4 midday, how long those blooms are expected to last and the weather forecast from tom kierein. good morning. i m pat lawson muse. also coming up, more eco-friendly beauty products are popping up on store shelves, but what are you really buying? we ll sit down with dr. sheryl this is the ultimate success story. a six-month-old baby is abandoned, left on a neighbor s doorstep. she worked through her struggles and is now a multi-million-dollar leader in the business world. how on earth did she do it? she s sharing the secret to her success in her new book. it s called succeed because of what you ve been through. we re so happy you re here. this is such a great lesson for people. to think about what you ve been through. the most fascinating thing to me was you broke the chain. cycle of abuse. you were abused, you went through a horrible time, yet somehow you wound up standing. how did that happen? oh, my goodness. you know, i had exposure to a wonderful foster father and mother for a very short period of time they planted a seed. they planted a seed. they took me to church and they showed me there are people who live in a clean house, and they get along without hitting each other, and i never forgot that. you were desperately poor. you remember not only the abuse, you ended up living in your mother s parents home, but your grandfather was abusive to you, and you remember great hunger. right. they were both abusive. they were my grandfather was mentally ill, my grandmother was an alcoholic. thatplus your mother s own problems of abandoning you. right. they had difficult lives themselves. when your children were in school, what did you tell them about what was going on? nothing. i didn t want anyone to know. it was very shameful. but you feel like it was your fault. and you went to school and you felt unclean, and it was embarrassing yes. how do you go from that, because at 15 you decided you had the courage to f for emancipation, which meant you wanted to get a job. i read somewhere about emancipation. i didn t know you had to go with a social worker or whatever. i just waited and kept asking if a judge would talk to me. and final after hours and hours and hours, someone spoke to me and gave me a long list of things i would have to do to get emancipation. and i think he thought he would never hear from me again. we have some wonderful people at the high school i attended, and they helped me get a job, and god bless the man who gave me that first job, and i got my driver s license, and six months later i was back and got my emancipation. and went on to work in the job world, right? well, i started out in the insurance industry, and years after meeting those foster parents, i began to do insurance for homes for abused children so you turned your pain into their gain. right. well, i understood what the kids felt. i understood why they acted out. people who have abused often act out in funny ways. and so we hear, even as adults years later, you hear people say, what s the matter with you? and you don t know, but it s because of the hurt inside. you refused to be a victim. you said, i can change, i can use everything that s happened to me. make me a better person, the person i want to be. that s exactly right. i think what victims of abuse don t necessarily connect with is that when we go through that pain, it creates and hones characteristics in us that very often other people don t have. so we wind up being stronger than the average person, courageous, resilient certainly have survival instincts. exactly, so those things can be used in the workplace to make us the most valuable employee in the place. so you wound up with success in your life. you re married, your daughter is gorgeous her husband is in the food business. whatever happened in your life, it s an interesting read and you re going to help so many people with this book. you re so sweet. go out and get this book. it comes out next tuesday, but it s available on amazon.com. it s going to change your life. up next, bottoms up. we re going to tell you the biggest wine mistakes. they re tragic. and how to avoid them because you have to. right after this. nge that. only yoplait original has twice the calcium of the leading yogurt. that s 50% of the daily value so pass on the news and we can help close this calcium gap together. to get you started, we re giving away a million free cups at yoplait dot com. the yoplait you love, now in a 4-pack. try it today. don t suffer waiting for your pills to kick in. add alaway. for fast eye itch relief that works in minutes and lasts up to 12 hours. only alaway comes from bausch & lomb. for fast eye itch relief, add alaway. but sometimes i wonder. what s left behind? [ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists. it s clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser fm the new line of neutrogena naturals. [ chanting ] do it! [ all cheering ] [ female announcer ] it s fun to get dirty when it s this easy to get clean. that s because clorox 2 stain fighter & color booster works better than detergent alone at removing the toughest stains. also, try new clorox 2 foaming trigger spray. morning! 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. have you ever walked into a wine store only to be overwhelmed by all the options? now you can relax and choose wisely after we give the answers to the biggest wine mistakes. gary is the new york time s best-selling author. hi, gary. you re known as gary v. yes. a lot of people choose wines either because they read something about it in the paper or they ve seen a friend recommend it. is that the best way to go about it? let s be honest, ladies. most people pick wine by the label. they go in the store a nice label. right. or just by the score. you know those shelf things you see, 98 points? i think at the end of the day, the only way to learn about wine is to taste it. but try new things. people find a pinot grigio, and they re off. if you go to a wine store and they make suggestions, may you say to them, can i have a tiny sip of that? in certain states, there are places you can taste wine, and noe in others, there aren t. i think wine is grossly underrated. not in my house. people, though, think you graduate to red wine, right? that s one big misconception. people think white wine is only for amateurs or starters. this is a chablis. most people think of boxed wine. chablis is very popular in france. i think it s phenomenal. food and wine pairings, first of all, are way too strict. there are a lot more things that work, but cheese and all this beautiful stuff with sparkling wine. what is that? that s a little kinz. what is kinz? it s a beautiful fruit spread. oh, fruit. just say fruit. jam. this may be one of the more interesting things to me. decanting. this wine will taste totally different out of here try this. they have to breathe. kathie, give it a sniffy-sniff, because smelling wines is very important. i love how you just went right into it. it s important to realize there is a big difference between letting something breathe for an hour and one that hasn t. i m going to swirl it like michael kittredge taught me. please don t rush it, gary v. i m waiting for the big moment. there we go. get a decanter. fair fun, too. portugal is on fire. i m love with this not on actual fire, but great value. under $10 wines, and huge, huge value. remember portugal if you re listening now. you didn t even open it for us. you like that, huh? it s a red blend from portugal. i m a huge fan. and finally it s really good with kinz. people want to drink sh champagne. they re 30 to $40. look for prosecco. kudos to you, gary. thanks so much. what s up next? on friday throw a ball thursday water, water wednesday touch your toes tuesday let s move monday swap a snack sunday announcer: 60 minutes of physical activity a day and eating well can help get your child healthy. so keep them active and eating well every day. get ideas. get involved. get going at letsmove.gov. that s letsmove.gov. [ male announcer ] ragu, packed with two servings of veggies in every half cup of our now thicker, richer, healthy sauce. ragu has a great taste your family will love. ragu. feed our kids well. ragu has a great taste your family will love. funny how nature just knows how to make things that are good for you. new v8 v-fusion + tea. one combined serving of vegetables and fruit with the goodness of green tea and powerful antioxidants. refreshingly good. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. the best in nutrition. just got better. now with even more of the vitamins your body needs. like vitamin d. plus omega 3 s. there s one important ingredient that hasn t changed: better taste. [ female announcer ] eggland s best. better taste. better nutrition. the better egg. new covergirl natureluxe silk foundation. flawless coverage. with a light as air feel. we took out a heavy synthetic, and put in a light touch of cucumber. out with heaviness and up with a flawless finish. even the $180 makeup can t beat it for a lightweight feel. discover new natureluxe silk foundation. goodbye heaviness. hello easy breezy beautiful. covergirl. and try new natureluxe gloss balm. now on today s travel, whether you re preparing for spring break or planning a fun family summer vacation, we ve got the latest products that will make your trip a little easier. here with the gear is travel expert steve greenberg. hey, steve. i just got back from india literally yesterday. was that your first trip to india? my first trip to india. it was fabulous. i recommend it for everyone. i brought back some scarves. beautiful. this is a rolling board from bolanza, and what s cool about it is the pieces come off. this is for your computer, so it can fit into any overhead compartment and it all zips back together. is that affordable? under $200. next for the kids while you re taking them to the car, this is called the valet. this attaches to the headrest and this to the the ipad. so they re in the backseat watching and you re up here they can be watching a movie. if you don t have that in your car already, because so many cars do, right? innocent yonot in your backs. under $100. up next, this is the first 3-d camcorder. you actually got a hint of this. it s 3-d. i don t get the 3-d thing, it does not excite me. i knew kathie lee was not a 3-d person. i don t like stuff coming at me. if you ve got a 3-d tv, then you have the glasses. it s about $179. this is from organ scientific, and this is an all-terrain video camera. this can go on a shoulder, on a helmet so if you re skiing. it s waterproof. remember the guy on the snowboard? he had the camera. and you don t have to fiddle with this. you should build it onto your skis, i think. unless you re snowboarding. that s probably why he crashed. he was texting. this i would love. this is for the road warrior, which i know you are. take business cards or receipts ask put them in the scanner. just push the scan button on it, and it will scan and appear right here, and then you ve got it. until your computer crashes. she is so tech-negative, i don t know. then it takes information, takes the card scan and all the information is analoged in digital. it works with receipts, too? with all the receipts i lose? it could change your life, hoda. she still won t do it. this is from zeba. this is called the z-bag. it can hold six bottles of wine and then you can open them up and display them. you can hang it on the wall, too. lovely in your dining room. finally, this is called the i-bike-dash. this is a device with a download, you put your iphone in there or your itouch, and then have to show you how this works you have all this information right at your fingertips. like you would on a treadmill. it has a gps in it, it gives you your speed, distance, time, and it can show you how your exercise is going, if you did a lot of workout, less workout. thank you very much. up next, bake sale. sandra lee has you covered in today s kitchen, but you know what, this iñq we are back with today s kitchen. we re getting saucy with today s goodies. the next time you have friends over you d like to impress, there is nothing sweeter than a homemade dessert. and the creator sandra lee is just the person. these can be found in her new book, bake sale cookbook. you know with bake sales you see only sweets on the cover of the cookbook, but it can be savory, too. a little sweet. let s talk about tricks. first of all, this is just pizza dough. you can buy it frozen, in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. it s very easy and it can be very inexpensive if you don t buy the name brand. my show has been on the air for 15 seasons. why are you putting that on? non-stick on my most people have pam, but that will work. the reason why i m doing this is it makes it a lot easier for you to pull your dough. because it sticks otherwise. because it sticks otherwise and it doesn t spread out as easily. the reason i did that, because i didn t think you would appreciate me putting pam non-stick all over your pants. fork it and par-bake it. what does that mean? partially. 40 minutes in the oven and that way you don t have a soggy bottom. also when you re baking pies, that s genius. once it s done, tomato sauce goes on here. let s pretend that i forked it. you re really forking that over there, aren t you? go ahead, that s okay. go ahead and just spread this out. use any time of garden vegetable you want, by the way. this is called farm stand pizza. if you want to, you can also put pepperoni or something on here, but i have all these beautiful vegetables. mushroo mushrooms, onions. yours is nice and neat. she took all your basil. here, you can have some basil. then you bake it up? do you like cheese? put cheese over the top because the cheese holds it all together. bake that all of 20 minutes. there you go. this is going to be i m dying over this. we talked about this in hair and makeup. carrot cake bread pudding. you re going to start off with the pudding. this is butterscotch. do you ever cook? no. she makes a tilapia that s very nice. now you got it in there? i m also putting cinnamon. you got cold milk, butterscotch and cinnamon. in here is store-bought ready-made carrot cake, walnuts and beautiful golden raisins. you can get it frozen or thawed out in the bakery section. see that consistency? pour that in there and i want you to toss that. i m just going to relax over here. this is our last 30 seconds. get it in there. i want to taste it, sandra. you have to dump that in here. that s a dumping. i think you should have a show on the food network. i got to try it. thanks so much. when personal deals become too much information among friends. we wouldn t know that around here. see you tomorrow. great food, everybody. captions by vitac www.vitac.com what s all this? big news! we have another way to help you save. oh, really? how? by bundling. if you get your homeowners and auto insurance together, we give you even more savings. ooh! big bundle. 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