Transcripts For WRC Today 20110515 : vimarsana.com

punishment. find out what led to the change of heart today, sunday, may 15th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television the sound of those rain drops falling all around here. welcome on a sunday morning. i m lester holt. and i m jenna wolfe. for the first time in nearly four decades, water spilling through the morganza spillway. they made the call. officials lifted the floodgates. the mississippi river floodwater rushing to 25,000 people and 11,000 structures in the louisiana countryside. two more gates are expected to be open later today. while residents in those rural areas are bracing for the expected surge of water, officials hope the decision will spare big cities like baton rouge, like new orleans from the still rising river. we re going to have the late nest a live report just ahead. plus, a murder mystery that remains unsolved after nearly six months. what happened to jack wheeler, a decorated veteran, his body, you might recall, was found in a de delaware landfill back on new year s day. in surveillance video from the days before his death, he appears confused and disoriented. now for the first time his widow and son are speaking out. we re going to hear from them coming up. and we re going to switch gears. remember that movie willy wonka and the chocolate factory ? sure. believe it or not, how long ago, 40 years, it s been 40 years since charlie, violet, and the rest of the gang got those golden tickets and headed off to the land of pure chocolate imagination. this morning we reunite here in our studio. we ll take a walk down memory lane. that will be fun. speaking of american classics, behind the scenes of nashville s grand ole opry. that building was inundated by flood waters that destroyed much of the memorabilia. since then it s made a swift comeback. it s just as lively on stage and off. we have an all access pass. that must have been fun. it was. that was probably right up your alley. it was right up my ally. from dressing room to dressing room and you hear music. every corner it s another musical experience. and music you enjoy listening to. and i got to play. we ll show that you as well. more on the flooding in the south and the opening of the morganza spillway where nbc s chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is for us this morning. anne, good morning. reporter: good morning, lester. the flood you see hyped me could save new orleans. in a breathtaking demonstration of the power of the mississippi river, one of the 125 bays of the morganza spillway opened and set in motion a series of events that could take the homes of some 25,000 louisianans. the mississippi river roared through just one gate in what the army corps of engineers called a slow opening. the flow headed for the sparsely populated atchafalaya river bas basin. instead of baton rouge and new orleans. the release is part of the decades old plan to control flooding on america s biggest river, but it didn t make the decision any easier for colonel ed fleming. none of these decisions we make are easy, and i don t take them lightly, and we remember that safety is our number one priority. reporter: the water could impact as many as eight rural parishes. by midafternoon today it is expected to reach interstate 10 and then iberia parish monday and morgan city on tuesday. in near by gibson where residents expect five feet of water, phillip and elizabeth ready their home for the onslaught while trying to control anger at an unfair decision. we re the outcasts, the black sheep. what are we? reporter: elizabeth worries she ll lose the house that was her parents . while phillip confronts this disaster and deals with an even bigger challenge. i m battling cancer and having to fight really hurts me. reporter: further up the river in mississippi, neighborhoods are already flooded. three times a day david clark gets in his row boat to go and check his submerged house. he says he is just numb to the new reality. the hardest part is moving out and then trying to settle back into a new place while this one is flooded. that s the hardest thing about it. reporter: chris makes his living on the water fishing. he can t believe what he s seeing. the higher the water gets, the more it sinks in. it s depressing, actually. reporter: and the river will crest in big spurts until later this week. now here it at the morganza spillway this morning two bays are open and officials will continue to open more bays in an effort to manage the river until it crests here next week. and officials say this spillway could remain open well into june. lester? anne thompson this morning, thanks very much. as anne mentioned big spurt one of the places fighting rising waters. thanh truong is there. good morning to you. reporter: the mississippi river here is expected to rise about 56 feet today, something that hasn t been seen since 1927. neighborhoods like these are taking on more water each day and that will continue until the river crests at a record setting 57 1/2 feet on thursday. all eyes right now, of course, are on the levees. the army corps of engineer spent the week shoring them up and it expects the levees to hold. as you can see here, some neighborhoods regardless will be flooded. lester? where are they putting the people evacuated so far? i have to figure it amounts to thousands and will they be allowed to their homes soon? reporter: well, they do have some emergency shelters open. most evacuees are staying with family or friends at this point. as for when they can come home, there s no exact time. officials here expect that some areas, the neighborhoods, will be flooded until june. thanh truong in vicksburg, mississippi, thanks. janice huff is upstairs with a look at where the floodwaters are now headed and when they ll get there. janice, good morning. good morning to you, jenna. now that the spillway, the morganza spillway is open, some of the flooding has now been moved up in terms of the crest of the river. basically downstream of that, particularly for baton rouge. your crest was and tticipated t occur later into the weekend but now it s going to occur tomorrow in baton rouge. meanwhile, upstream of the spillway, we still have record levels of the river up to between 55 and 60 feet from vicksburg to natchez to red river. next sunday the red river will crest. more details in the national weather in a few minutes. back to you, lester. janice, we ll see you then. a check on the other top stories over to the news desk with thomas roberts. good morning. good morning to you, lester. good morning, everybody. we begin with the arrest of the international monetary fund chief on charges of sexually attacking a maid at a new york city hotel. nbc s keir simmons is live. good morning. reporter: good morning, thomas. this news has struck like a thunderbolt in france and around the world. a wealthy and incredibly influence man dominique strauss-kahn pulled from the first class cabin at jfk before takeoff yesterday and accused of sexual assault in a luxury hotel. the 52-year-old is being questioned by the nypd. it claims he walked naked from a hotel bathroom, attacked a maid, throwing her down, then fled for the airport leaving his wallet and cell phone. he is denying it this morning. as you point out, this is an international story. for those of us here in the states we may not know how important this man is throughout europe. as i understand it, he actually has high aspirations to be the french president. reporter: that s right. he is very important. some people may not have heard of him by but he s a world leader who helped oversee the global financial system and, as you say, he isn t just head of the international monetary fund. he was seen potentially as the next french president. it is quite astonishing. keir simmons, thank you. six people including three u.s. citizens charged with providing funds to support the pakistan taliban. fbi agents arrested hafiz muhammad sher ali khan. this arrest happened friday. two of his sons taken into custody. all three accused of providing $50,000 to buy guns and to support militant families in pakistan. jury selection continued saturday in the casey anthony trial. in a ten-hour day of questioning two men and two women were picked bringing the total number of jurors now to 12. three more jurors are needed before swearing in can begin. casey anthony is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter caylee in 2008. jury selection will resume coming up tomorrow. so it is a go for launch. nasa approved a monday morning launch attempt for the spate shus l endeavour. the problems that grounded the flight two weeks ago has been repaired. it will be led by commander mark kelly. his wife, representative gabrielle giffords, plans to attend that launch. finally for you it is graduation season. for one college senior it iseen. the flight is going to be haded by commander mark kelly. his wife gabrielle giffords plans to attend the launch. finally, for one college senior, it s a special day to remember. austin whitney was paralyzed in a car accident four years ago. he s been working with engineering students to get him to walk again. their creation, a special brace called an exo-skeleton. the first test was on saturday when austin stood up and moved forward to receive his diploma. big hugs all around. an emotional day for austin. we send it back to lester, jenna, and janice. this kid is an inspirational speaker after being paralyzed four years ago. that just gave me the chills. thanks. janice huff is back with a check of the weather. hey, janice. it s pouring here outside our studio in the northeast. all of the rain has pushed eastward from the central portion of the country now. it s been raining there most of the week. we ve got rain in the northeast and rain out west too. right in the middle, plenty of sunshine. dry weather from the dakotas down into texas today. looks like a few thunderstorms ahead of the cold front into parts of south florida, and also here in the northeast quite a bit of rain expected over the next several days, maybe as much as 2 to 4 inches. that s what s going on around the nation. here s your local forecast. it is a cloudy and mild start to our sunday here in the nangs s capital. temperatures low to mid-60s with full overcast first thing this morning. temperatures climbing steadily today as we continue to go further and further into the afternoon hours. temperatures in the mid-60s right now. not much rain left on the radar. last of the showers lifting into now here s jenna. janice, thanks. now to politics. last nate s announcement from former arkansas governor mike huckabee that he will not seek the gop nomination in 2012. what does that mean for the rest of the republican field? david gregory is moderator of meet the press. good morning. hey, jenna. this republican presidential field is slowly starting to take shape. huckabee s name will not be on the list but he was very, very popular in some of the polls and he had a lot of strong support among ivevangelical christians. his decision not to run, how does that affect the rest of the field? it means a lot of candidates scrambling for his supporters. the conservative members of that conservative base, evangelicals, values voters and the like. the kinds of voters that you are particularly going to want in iowa for the iowa caucuses, for south carolina. these early primary states where that momentum becomes very important. so what huckabee then decides to do, who he might endorse, will become very interesting here. talk to me about indiana governor mitch daniels. he has a lot of traction, a lot of call to throw his name into this race. and he still is on the sideline. i think there are questions about whether as a family he wants to go through this, some issues within his marriage over the years that would certainly become more public, something he d have to deal with. so he s been on and off again, certainly making all the moves to position himself. there s a big appetite to run. donors and others in the party are saying, okay, it s time to commit or not commit if we re going to have to move on. there s more and more momentum building, i think, for him and the longer he s on the fence that inevitably grows. the president has a busy week on thursday. he s going to give a policy speech. do we have any idea what he s expected to say? are these broad strokes or maybe something more specific? you know, republicans and democrats on the hill have been calling for the president for some time now in the middle of all of this revolution throughout the middle east, the spring, to put a frame around it. to really talk about how the u.s. can influence this and where the region is going. and now after the killing of osama bin laden this is an opportunity the white house wants to seize with the president trying to put some context around all of these events and talk about it in front of the american people. that appears to be what he will intend to do. it comes at a time his renewed calls for the administration to engage on a peace process between palestinians and israelis, the special envoy to the region, george mitchell, stepping down and benjamin netanyahu coming to america to give a speech. a lot of these things coming together. talk to me about the timing of that, what we just talked about of george mitchell stepping down the same day basically the president is supposed to meet with the israeli prime minister. is that going to affect this whole process this whole peace process at all? look, there s not much question about the fact it s been a tough go here in terms of the administration trying to forge a basis for real peace process to move forward. the palestinians are divided in their own leadership. there s been an icy relationship between this administration and the israeli government. so somehow getting there, getting to a real peace process is one that s been very difficult. you can be seen trying to do something but if there s no real ground game for it to begin then you re not going to get very far. again, this is a moment after bin laden for the president to try to refocus those energies and he ll be meeting with key figures in the debate. david gregory, thanks. you re welcome. up next on today, what happened to one of the co-founders of the vietnam memorial in the days before his mysterious disappearance. 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[ son ] you realize, it s gotta run out sometime. on new year s morning decorated military veteran jack wheeler was found in a delaware landfill murdered. on surveillance footage found of him in the days prior to his death he looked disoriented, confused, even afraid. to this day his death remains a mystery. for the first time his family is speaking out about those final days. here s nbc s pete williams. reporter: when the widow of jack wheeler looks at this recording of her husband appearing disoriented in a delaware parking garage two days before he died, one thing stands out. he looked afraid. reporter: but of what kathy says she has no clue. i m not sure what he was afraid of. reporter: police in delaware don t know either or how his body wound up in a trash truck the morning of new year s day. now, for the first time, jack wheeler s widow and son are speaking out, agreeing to an interview just after attend iin his memorial service at arlington national cemetery. full honors for a west point graduate who served in vietnam and at the pentagon and was a driving force behind the vietnam memorial visited by more than 4 million people a year. at the parking garage in wilmington where he had a home he wore no overcoat despite the bitter cold and carried one shoe. it s bizarre and it s like watching a movie or reading a crime novel except that it s your life and it s your father. reporter: he was last seen walking downtown roughly ten hours before he was killed and his body placed in a dumpster then trucked to the landfill. some wondered if he was off his medicine for bi-polar disorder. i know he was taking his medication on monday. i didn t see him tuesday morning. but i don t think it was a factor. reporter: his widow doubts robbery was a motive disclosing something new that valuables he wore were not stolen. a random mugger would have taken his ring and watch. reporter: she doubts it was an ordinary crime but who would want to target him? a good question. i don t know. reporter: the family s offer of a $25,000 reward has failed to bring in any good tips. but the family of jack wheeler holds on to the hope that soon police will solve their agonizing mystery. for today, pete williams, nbc news, wilmington, delaware. from capital one, we get double miles on every purchase, so me and the boys earned a trip to dc twice as fast! oh hi! we get double miles every time we use our card. and since double miles add up fast. one more chariot please. .we can bring the whole gang! i cannot tell a lie. he did it. right. it s hard to beat double miles! read my lips no new axes! 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(narrator) from unforgettable adventures, to the wizarding world of harry potter, only at universal orlando resort. still to come, more and more items on store shelves. the secrets big retailers use to get more money. plus the high school senior banned for prom from this public display he gets to dance after all. wfrom the dust in here,g and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my allergy symptoms. it s the brand allergists recommend most. lilly and i are back on the road again, where we belong. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. [ male announcer ] get up to $6 in savings on zyrtec® products at zyrtectv.com. [ female announcer ] start the day off right with a protein-packed breakfast like the sunrise subway melt. try it with juicy tomatoes for a breakfast that stands out from the pack. subway, the official training restaurant of apolo ohno and athletes everywhere. banned good morning. taking a live look at the white house on this damp, dreary day. i m john schriffen on this sunday, may the 15th, 2011. topping your news for today, at least one person is dead after a single car accident in olney, maryland. it happened around 3:00 at the intersection of route 108 and volunteer drive in olney. police say there were at least two others in the car at the time of the accident, but they have not released their conditions. route 108 is closed in both directions between olney mill road and wickham road while police investigate. the president of the international monetary fund has been charged with attempted rape. authorities pulled dominique strauss-kahn from a plane in new york last night. a 32-year-old hotel maid claims he came out of his bathroom to his suite naked and tried to sexually assault her. this isn t the first time a sex scandal involved strauss-kahn. back in 2008 he had an affair with an imf staffer. and former arkansas governor mike huckabee will not run for president in 2012. he announced his decision last night on his fox news program. he says he will continue to [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. believes in. chuck bell has your sunday forecast coming up after the break. stay with us. welcome back. the weekend isn t a complete wash-out. chuck bell is here with a check on the forecast. the good news, john, is we ve managed to clear out most of the overnight showers, and the radar is now clear. as you can see on the tower camera view, there s plenty of clouds out there. the low level clouds are going to continue around for the next couple of hours. outside the windows in northwest washington, there s definitely enough sunlight getting through to start casting shadows. i think we ll see a break or two of sunshine. temperatures in the mid-60s to get your day started. there s a live look at doppler, no rain left in the washington area. don t you worry. those shower chances and thunderstorm chances return this afternoon. one or two of them could be strong to severe. we ll keep an eye out for that. then a passing shower on your monday. on the whole, this cloudy and soggy pattern will last through the middle of the week. john? chuck, thank you so much. we ll we re back on this sunday morning, may 15th. it s a warm but drizzly morning. thanks to all of you watching at home. outside i m jenna wolfe alongside lester holt. can you believe i m on tv? how are you? hey, guess what? what? he s going to the dance. he is? james tate. by now you ve probably heard the story, the connecticut teen who wanted to take a young lady to the prom so he put up big cardboard letters on the side of the school. the school suspended him, no, you can t go to the prom. asked again, no, he can t go to the prom. and then they changed their mind. they said, okay, you can go to the prom. we ll find out what that s all about. a change of heart coming up. plus, the movie every kit fantasized about. diving into a chocolate river. it was willy wonka and the chocolate factory. we saw it a million years ago, actually it wasn t a million, it was 40. we reunited the cast ear in our studio. we ll take a look back at this childhood classic with them and find out what it was like when they first entered the chocolate room. then a year ago the grand ole opry was under water, the big floods that came through nashville. the stage wassed intoed. it was a horrible thing for the heart and soul of country music. they got their act together in record time. we came back to see how things are going. met a lot of great country acts. saw what goes on behind the stage. got to meet that young man, luke bryant, and play with him as well. we re going to share our trip to the grand ole opry. you look so natural up there. you look cool. i liked it, lester. everything looked great. i felt like i m on american idol. jenna the judge. we ll share that coming up. first, picking up a little rain here. another check of the weather with janice huff. it s a wet morning on the little rain. let s get another check of the weather with janice huff. it s a wet morning here on the plaza, jenna and lester. i have two of your biggest fans. what s your name? amelia. and what s your name, sweetie? chloe. they love jenna. but they love lester too. see, she loves you too. that s so great. nice to meet you. and jenna walks inside. she says she loves you. let s see what s happening in the weather department other than here on the plaza with the rain. there s a chance of for severe weather across the mid-atlantic states. thunderstorms coming to washington, d.c., richmond, and norfolk, virginia. good morning. so watch out for that there. we ve got heavy rain here in new york city. it s going to be spotty for the rest of the afternoon. keep your umbrellas around. also in the pacific northwest where it s windy and rainy. sunshine from texas into the northern plains of the it s jordan s birthday today, everybody. that s what s going on around the nation. how here s your local forecast. good sunday morning to you. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. we re off to a cloudy and humid start to our sunday. live picture from the city camera shows full deck of clouds outside this morning. these clouds are tending to thin out just a bit. i think we ll get a few breaks of sunshine late this morning into early afternoon. start-off temperatures in the low to mid-60s. we ll have highs into the low and now back inside to jenna. janice, thanks. now to the story of the connecticut teenager banned from the prom for his public proposal. his punishment made a lot of headlines around the world, even drawing the attention of lawmakers. nbc s kristen dahlgren joins us with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning, jenna. yeah, a united states senator is among those weighing in on the school s reversal and that gives you some idea just how big this story got. e headmaster says james tate does face some type of alternate punishment but that he will go to the prom after all. it was the prom proposal that ended up inviting international attention. i just thought my school would think it was pretty cool of me. i thought sonali would think it was special for her. reporter: the letters taped to the school wall asking sonali rodrigues spelled big trouble for senior james tate, suspended for tresspassing on school grounds, he was banned from the school s june 4th prom. that is, until the high school romantic captured hearts around the world. i never thought such a decision would lead to international notoriety. reporter: that s the headmaster beth smith who all week insisted school rules wouldn t be changed. now admitting all the attention was too much. in an effort to maintain a focus on teaching and learning, i have decided to implement alternate consequences on a case by case basis beginning with james tate. reporter: tate wasn t just on national tv this week. he was on t-shirts and twitter. connecticut state legislators were thinking of drafting laws to help him and the let james tate go to the prom facebook page gave almost 200,000 fans. and when you start getting e-mails from australia, the uk, scotland, canada and throughout the whole united states all in support for a youngster going to the prom, that had a lot to do with it. reporter: on saturday even richard bloomenthal offered his support. the punishment has to fit the crime. reporter: the prom date now is an international inspiration. certainly for all of us gentlemen here, james tate has set for us a new standard for romanticism. the superintendent hopes nobody else uses the school wall. james tate says he has no hard feelings and it is going to be quite a prom for the couple. they ve had offers to do their hair and her makeup. a local car dealer is offering a chauffeur driven car and, jenna, there is now an online push to crown them king and queen. i assume she said yes. she did say yes. they are going together even though he s had people like kim kardashian giving input and he probably could have gotten another date. he s excited to go with her. i love it. i think they re probably a lock for king and queen. that is so great. thank you so much. imagine if she didn t say yes. up next, the secret big retail stores are using to make sure you spend more money. what to look out for. low back pain.h less c imagine living your life with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a non-narcotic treatment that s fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or 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. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. this morning on today s consumer just how far are big retailers going nowadays to get your attention? far enough to redesign their entire stores. today consumer reporter janice lieberman is here with details. good morning. good morning. i bet this has happened to you because it s happened to me. if you ve walked into a store with a few things on your shopping list but walked out with way more in your shopping bag. well, it s not entirely our fault. some big stores are getting a makeover not just for added convenience but to get you to buy stuff you didn t know you needed. we went on a shopping trip to find out how i. it s going to get harder to resist your shopping impulses. some big retailers like walmart, jcpenney, old navy and dollar general are redesigning stores to get you to spend more. i met up with retail analyst marshall cohen at one dollar general in new jersey to find out how. what s important when you walk in? what they re doing is they re putting purchase right there in front of you as you come into the store and as you wander around. it s about putting seasonal products and impulse items that you need now, want now at a great price. reporter: what s interesting here that really hits you. look at how high the merchandise is now. reporter: raising shelf heights by 12 inches has increased profits by $30 a square foot in three years. traditional end caps, displays at the end of the aisles, are getting a makeover, too. they want to utilize all the square footage they can to make an impact. it isn t just the front, it s the size. it s three dimensional market. here s a great example of what we call cross merchandising. what they re trying to do is have it pop out at you so you don t just buy the chips, you also buy the dip. they just turned a $3 sale into a $6 or $7 sale. reporter: we found examples of pop-outs and 3-d end caps throughout the store. sewing kits next to foil paper. baby bibs in the stationery aisle and fruit punch with cds. all to grab your attention. interesting to have baskets in the back of the store. how many people think they re not the going to buy a lot of product? they want to you stay in the store as long as you can. the longer you are here, the more likely you are to spend more money. reporter: i m going into walk into these roses. that s on purpose. reporter: why? it s about you saying, oh, wow, i didn t even realize they had flowers. i m going to buy that. it s all about trying to bring as much merchandise out into the aisle where the customer is. reporter: and if you think getting to the check-out counter is the end, think again. candy and magazines are now sharing valuable real estate with tooth brushes and electronics. stores all across the country are finding ways to fit their impulse items at the registers and at check-out to be able to get you to keep add to go the basket. everything you listed there, i m like, oh, i ve seen that, i ve seen that. and i get the impression these must be bargains when they re positioned like that. are they? sometimes they are but sometimes they re not. those end cap displays, even in the supermarkets, sometimes it s just something they want to promote and it s not any cheaper than a different eitem. so you really have to look at unit prices. you have to comparison shop. you have to come in with a list and know what you re buying and the prices they should be because it s so tempting just to grab stuff off those displays. you say, well, i think i need this. i need that and it wasn t on my list. janice lieberman, thank you very much. good to have you here. a trip down memory lane with the original cast of willy wonka and the chocolate factory. and my visit to nashville s grand ole opry. ooh-oo, child things are gonna get easier ooh-oo, child, things will get brighter someday, yeah [ male announcer ] wherever you are, whatever it takes, like a good neighbor, state farm is there. the candy man can it s been 40 years since the young boy named charlie scored a golden ticket to live out every kid s dream, a visit to willy wonka s chocolate factory, a place that to this day even for grown-ups never fails to inspire some pure imagination. the candyman can it was the prize every child wanted, at that trip to willy wonka s chocolate factory. you got it. you got the golden ticket. for poor charlie bucket winning a golden ticket meant a taste of sweeter life. come with me and you ll be in a world of pure imagination directed by mel stuart and starring gene wild er the movie was based on charlie and the chocolate factory a quirky musical that s become an enduring classic. if you want to view paradise the film tells the story of five kids who get a special tour of the factory, the garden of delectable delight. mm-not bad. led by the eccentric chocolateer himself. any good? yes. but won ka is tempting the children. what s happening? you re blowing up like a balloon. like a blueberry. willy wonka basically eliminates them. both magical, willy wonka defied cat gegories. when released in 1971 it wasn t widely popular but became a folk hit. it crosses so many different genres. it can t be pigeonholed. and the heart of the story only one child, charlie bucket, passes willy wonka s test with his good hearted nature and sincere love of candy. and now 40 years after introducing us to a world of imagination, members of the willy wonka cast are reunited here today. we have charlie bucket himself, peter ostrum, michael, julie cole, and charlie s mother played by diana. thank you for being here. good morning. this must have been a dream role for you, an absolute dream role to get something like this. was making the movie fun? was it exciting? it was. i have very fond memories of making film, working with jack and gene wilder. you hadn t seen it the first time we saw you watch it for the first time. you hadn t seen the actual chocolate factory? it was a soundstage. we were 30 or 40 feet above it looking down on the river and the boat going and it was amazing. yeah, most of us actually that was our first time seeing it. i understand one of you snuck in before hand? is that true? i m afraid so. i do have a confession to make. yeah, i was a bad girl, literally. i went out early to record my song in august and the scene was to be shot in september. one of the stagehands said would you lick to coke to come in and? i said yes. it wasn t completed. it was incredible. then they did it s a secret, nobody can see it so i didn t dare tell anybody until now. thank you very much. i really appreciate it. michael, let me turn to you. your character met his demise in the chocolate river. which to any kid at home seems like it would have been the most unbelievable experience ever. was it as unbelievable an experience for you or was it not as chocolatey as we were led to believe? not quite exactly unbelievable because the chocolate wasn t real chocolate. it it was colored water. curses! more or less a swimming pool and it doesn t taste very well. if the river wasn t real chocolate, how much of the set was edible? how much of it was edible? we saw you chomping down on pretty much everything. most of it, they would substitute it for the real thing. the only thing i think that wasn t edible was when gene, mr. walker, ate the daffodil cup. that wasn t real. that was wax and he had to spit it out. oh, it was? and wallpaper. the wallpaper tasted like wallpaper. it really did because you licked it like it didn t taste like wallpaper. who played the blue you were the blueberry, right? i understand there was an incident that took place when you were being blown up in your big blueberry suit as well, right? tell me what happened there. well, they blew me up and gave me a push and i wouldn t clear the double door frame. and the director would call cut. they did it for hours. that was my last scene i was in. i got on the airplane, flew back to new york city where i was going to school and all the kids are and i was turning blue. they put food dye in the makeup so for 72 hours my face, my neck, my hands and ears were blue. actually blue? actually blue. wow. what was so great about this movie, yes, it was fun to watch and fun to make but there was so much heart in it. can you tell me a little bit about that and why for you it was such a great experience working on the set? it s a good thing for any parent to give that message. and then there s gene wilder who must have been just an absolute to be around and to watch work. i keep calling you charlie. i keep seeing you. peter you do? what was it like for you to work with him? gene, i recall, after we would take lunch break and walking back to the set would share a little bit of chocolate walking back. real chocolate. not wax chocolate. real chocolate. as we were walking back to do our afternoon shoots. gene is a wonderful man and that comes across in the film, that relationship. we want to thank you all this morning. and out of the corner of my eye i see something gold and shiny and i can only imagine it actually is. oh, my goodness. there it is. and look what s inside. the golden ticket. wait is minute. is this chocolate bad? is it from the original movie set? i m still going to eat it. to finally be holding this after so many years, thank you so much. this is such a timeless classic and we appreciate your time. good luck with everything else. we see you the next time you reunite. and now here s lester. how fun. jenna, thanks very much. it is one of the most iconic stages in american music but last may it found itself buried under four feet of floodwaters. one year later i traveled back to nashville, tennessee, to celebrate the reverse of the grand ole opry. everyone recalls the moment they first walked onto the stage at the grand ole opry. when i first came here dottie west, who brought me to nashville, she was in a matinee in august. 3:00 in the afternoon, at least 140 in here. the place was full. we met up with opry member gatlin at the auditorium, the home up until 1974 and again last spring after its current home fell victim to floodwaters that all but destroyed the fabled institution. the water was over the stage. it just broke my heart. old guitars and mementos that were washed away. a year later the flood is a bad memory and a mark on the wall. this flood line, the water was this high. the water 46 inches. will the circle be unbroken astonishingly in five months the grand ole opry was back in business. and a backstage tour reveals plenty of surviving history. this is our opry post office. k country music fans can actually just write the name of an opry member, put grand ole opry and it will come here. if the walls themselves don t speak, then the doors or at least what we found behind them certainly do. spontaneous gems. my goodness. join us? absolutely. later that evening i would get my own chance to walk onto the opry stage as a performer. do we have a bass here? and larry wanted to make sure i d be ready right down to my boots. we re going to hook you up. all right. all the gold in california but to become a member of the opry it s more than just having the right boots and a good sound. how are these folks selected? how do you get to the point where the grand ole opry says, come join us. it s a decision resefbed by the management. we really look for artists that not only have accomplished a great deal in their career or have a potential to accomplish a great deal in the future, we look to those artist who is have a real strong emotional connection to what the opry stands for. one guy to watch is luke bryant. a guest artist now. with a string of number one hits already in his pocket rain is a good thing like most young performers he longs to some day call the opry home. i moved to nashville to become a country music center and you don t have playing the grand ole opry or being a member as the top of your list, i feel would have come here for the wrong reasons. in a few minutes i would join luke or the bass for his new song country girl if i could keep it together. proceeding us on stage a who s who in country music. little jimmy dickens. my pop used to tan my hide playing in a worldwide radio and internet audience. mr. lester holt, everybody. and then finally got to give a little blood larry gatlin was right. in the honky-tonk for the red necks through the break of dawn the deejays spinning that country song there could be no forgetting your first time on this stage. country girl shake it for me, girl shake it for me, girl shake it for me give it up! my thanks to luke bryant. we got up there and he said, can you play, by the way? we invited you. we weren t even sure you could play. they were great. i was very nervous. we ll play together. i would love to jam. look at you. you look great. ng ready to plant? chances are your soil is like this: compacted, drained of nutrients. it ll hold your plants but it ll also hold em back. the solution: miracle-gro garden soil. the perfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. instead of holding em back, they ll leap ahead. miracle-gro garden soil. and moisture control garden soil. miracle-gro garden soil. what makes hershey s s mores special? hershey s chocolate goodness, that brings people together. hershey s makes it a s more. you make it special. pure hershey s. let s check back with david gregory and find out what s coming up on meet the press. david? good morning, lester. coming up we begin our meet the candidates series with an exclusive interview with former speaker of the house, officially republican candidate for the presidency, newt gingrich. plus, our political roundtable. it s all coming up this morning on meet the press. we ll see you then. thanks. that s going to do it for us. thomas roberts, thank you. janice huff, thank you very much. the music man him seven, lester holt right there. coming up next week, one-on-one with the legendary dick van dyke. we ll see you next weekend. have of the and the music man himself, lester holt. coming up next weekend, one on one with the legendary dick van dyke. thousands of acres of land are flooded on purpose as engineers try to gain control of a historic flood in the south. now there s word that even more planned flooding could be in the works. good morning. welcome to news 4 today. i m john schriffen in for aaron gilchrist. you ll see aaron tonight. i m kimberly suiters. first a quick check of the forecast. chuck bell promises we ll see sunshine today. i need sun for the weekend. come