Transcripts For WRC Today 20110516 : vimarsana.com

a high school reverses a decision to ban a senior from prom. he and his date are celebrating with us today, monday, may 16, he and his date are celebrating with us today, monday, may 16, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcowelcome tp welcome to morning. i m matt lauer i m meredith vieira. that jet had just taken off when passengers heard two bangs and smelled something burning. moments later the plane started to shake and lights in the cabin went out. not a good situation. let s go to mike taibbi in london with the details. what can you tell us? reporter: hi, matt. right off the top let s say the story ends well. it had to be terrifying for all 136 passengers on board cathay pacific flight 715. the flight took off at 1:12 a.m. bound for jakarta, indonesia but passengers heard the bangs, saw the lights go out and smelled smoke. some passengers could see that one of the four engines was on fire. the crew of the airbus said they shut down the engine when they got a stall warning. with the plane shaking violently the passengers were told they were headed back to singapore. many passengers started saving, god save our flight, give us your protection, the prayers getting louder as they made it back to the airport. the passengers grabbed life jackets and the plane landed safely at 1:57 a.m. everyone endured sheer terror for nearly a half hour. there were no injuries. once everyone was on the terminal the captain thanked the passengers for not panickinging. thank you all on behalf of the company for staying cool and calm when there was a problem that you weren t aware of. the best that we can ask of passengers is to stay cool, stay calm, listen to the directions of the cabin crew which you all did. for that, we thank you. reporter: imagine being on the plane. there was no immediate explanation of what caused the explosion and engine fire. meredith? mike, this is the most recent time but there have been engine problems with the 330s in the past. reporter: yeah. this is a fleet for boeing. in november another airbus had to turn around at singapore airport when one of the engines disintegrated after catching on fire. there is no precise explanation for why that happened. also, in that incident, no one was injured. meredith? thank you very much. it s 7:03. here s meredith. one of the most influential bankers in the world and a possible candidate for the presidency of france is due in court this morning after he was arrested and charged with sexual assault at a hotel. jeff rossen is there. good morning. reporter: good morning. just to give you an idea how powerful he is; he runs the international monetary fund that controls a trillion dollars. he travels well and he was in new york this weekend staying at one of the nicest, most expensive suites at one of the nicest hotels in the city. police say inside the sofitel he grabbed a hotel maid, locked the door and sexually assaulted her twice. this morning he s gone from luxury to jail. you may not recognize his face or his name but make no mistake, dominique starauss-kahn is one f the leaders of the world. as leaderer of the imf he lends money to countries in crisis. he was about to run for president of france. now, police say, he s a sexual predator. this is very big because it throws into disarray the leadership of the biggest financial institution in the world. reporter: strauss-kahn was staying in a $3,000-a-night suite at manhattan s ritzy sofitel near times square. he came out of the shower naked, saw the maid in his room. he allegedly sexually assaulted her on the bed, dragged her to the bathroom and sexually assaulted her again. he intends to defend the charges and denies wrongdoing. reporter: police say he almost got away. officers rushed an air france flight over the weekend and yanked strauss-kahn out of his first class seat moments before takeoff. suddenly the world s power broker was under arrest. a moment possibly of madness in this hotel as head of the imf, potential presidential candidate. the timing couldn t be worse. of course whether he s guilty or not, this is already smeared him. reporter: police say the maid picked strauss-kahn out of a line-up and they have physical evidence including his cell phone left in the hotel room. that s not all. law enforcement sources tell nbc news they have recovered bodily fluids, dna from the scene. late sunday night, prosecutors took dna from strauss-kahn himself, looking for a match. our client willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination tonight. he s tired but fine. reporter: strauss-kahn is married to an american-born journalist, his third wife. he s been involved in sex scandals before, dubbed the grand seducer by the french media. in 2002 a woman in her 20s accused him of sexualry attacking her, no charges filed. in 2008 strauss-kahn add mimitto an affair at the imf. his wife stood by him and now finds herself stuck in the middle yet again. in fact, his wife released a statement about the latest case defending him saying, quote, i don t believe for one second the accusations against my husband. matt, we should tell you we are learning more this morning about the hotel maid in this case, the accuser, a 32-year-old african immigrant living in the bronx. mr. strauss-kahn will be in court today. meanwhile his job with the imf is in jeopardy. they have already temporarily replaced him on the board, matt. jeff rossen, thank you very much. christopher dickie is newsweek s middle east regional editor. good morning. reporter: always a pleasure, matt. this story is getting a lot of attention here in the states. what s the response in france? reporter: it s huge. every front page has the story. the tabloids have pictures of a chagrined-looking strauss-kahn. people hanging on every detail to figure out what happened. jeff rossen laid out the background for us, some of the situations he was involved with in the past. would it be safe to say the people in france feel this fits some kind of a profile with this guy? reporter: not exactly. people knew he was a womanizer. he certainly had the reputation. he s been married three times. his name s been linked to various women, but not generally speak iing in a violent sense except for one woman who went on tv in 2007, five years after the events who said he tried to rain h rape her. by all accounts this is a guy with plans for the future in france. talk to me about his political power considering he was announcinging he was running for president next year. well, he was almost certainly going to announce he would run for president. all the polls showed if he ran for president, at least two days ago, if he had run for president he would have beaten nicolas sarkozy. he was leading by a wide margin. the socialist party, except for one or two people, was pulling back and saying this guy is going to be our candidate. it couldn t be announced mainly because he was still running the imf and had to wait until the right moment which everybody expected would be next month. now he probably won t be able to come back to france next month. in this country and most countries you are innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law, but the eyes of voters can be different. we are seeing him in a perp walk. does that end his political future? reporter: of course. they certainly end any possibility that he will be running for president of france any time soon. now, it is conceivable that if a few months from now, a year from now he s cleared on these charges, he could come back to government life. he could come back as a minister in a socialist government. but dominique strauss-kahn as president of france which is what everybody in france thought would happen, that s not going to happen now. talk to me about the con spir toirl aspect of this. i read your reporting over the weekend where there are people speculating that this was a chance encounter. that, in fact, strauss-kahn was set up. some have speculated i m talking his political enemies that nicolas sarkozy could have been behind something like this. take me through it. reporter: well, i think you have to start with the question of nicolas sarkozy s reputation. he s seen as a ruthless, no holds barred politician. some people compare him to the gangster actor joe pesci in his manner. it s a reason the french don t like him. they don t like his style. the minute his main political rival falls into this bizarre, horrible situation in new york and is accused of crimes and taken on a perp walk, many people automatically assume nicolas sarkozy must have had something to do with it. of course, nobody has proof. there is not any indication. one sarkozy adviser i spoke to said if he were going to do this he would have waited until closer to the vote. all conspiracy, no facts. christopher dickie, nice to see you. thank you very much. reporter: my pleasure. here s meredith. thank you. it s an important day at cape canaveral. endeavour is set to lift off today and gabrielle giffords is there to watch the launch. tom costello is there as well. good morning. reporter: hi, good morning. 8:56 a.m. eastern time is when it is scheduled to lift off. as you mention endeavour is headed for the international space station. on board, commander mark kelly, the husband of representative gabrielle giffords who was critically wounded with a head wound in january in tucson. this morning the staff of congresswoman giffords tweeted, who s ready for the best show on earth? clearly they are. the crew of the t space shuttle endeavour got up around midnight, made it to the shuttle around 5:11 this morning. half a million spectators are packing the roadways, highways, byways and beaches here at the kennedy space center to watch the lift-off. 45,000 people here including many dignitaries. this is endeavour s 25th mission, a resupply mission to the international space station. it will be carrying a $2 billion experiment, a particle physics experiment, into space. they will load it onto the international space station as well. you may recall on april 29th, endeavour was scheduled to lift off and congresswoman giffords was here and they had an electrical problem. they had to scrub the launch. they have swapped out the electrical box that had a short in it. they say all systems are go this morning. i want to show you something quickly here. this is a wristband that members of giffords staff are wearing. we are told every member of the crew all six astronauts, will be wearing it. on this it says, peace, love and gabby.  so it is a mission in which they will keep her in their hearts and minds. back to you. tom costello, thank you very much. it s 7:13. here s matt. a tough choice to deal with the swollen mississippi river. army engineers are flooding areas on purpose to protect louisiana s largest cities. nbc s chief environmental correspondent anne thompson is in krotz springs, louisiana, with details. good morning. reporter: good morning, matt. i m at the staging area for the louisiana national guard. behind me you see the high water vehicles that are here in krotz springs, one of several small, rural towns bracinging for inii deluge of water after officials opened spillways to protect baton rouge and new orleans. this is what s headed to krotz springs. the mississippi river water racing through the morganza spillway. the army corps of engineers opened the first bay on saturday. within hours this former field became a lake. this is its human toll. [ crying ] what am i going to do? reporter: predictions the water could be as high as 20 feet left michelle birdoff no choice but to leave her home. everything i own is here. reporter: with the help of family she packed up the last ten years of her life. try to take what i can. it s not easy. reporter: michelle locked her house and drove away, joining the exodus of almost 1,500 people in the evacuation area, towing possessions to higher ground. sheriff s deputies went door to door to make sure everyone knew of sunday s 5:00 p.m. evacuation deadline. you know about the evacuation, right? when? 5:00, you need to be gone. we ll try our best. reporter: a few like jody fortneau are staying. we ll try to stick it out. reporter: why? this is our home. reporter: officials say those who stay are risking their lives and those who would rescue them. it s a mandatory evacuation. conditions will be unsafe for us to come get you. reporter: now, this manmade flood could impact up to eight parishes and 25,000 people. that s a lot of people, but not nearly as many as the 1 million who live between baton rouge and new orleans. matt? anne thompson reporting from louisiana. thank you very much. reporter: by the way, a quick correction. earlier mike taibbi was talking about the emergency landing in singapore involving a cathay pacific plane. he said boeing made the a-330. to be clear it s an airbus. those are separate companies. yes. let s check on the other top stories of the morning. ann, good morning s. good morning. as a wave of protests sweeps the middle east palestinian protesters clashed with troops sunday. at least 15 people were killed, dozens injured. we have nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel in giza, egypt with more. what sparked this? reporter: good morning, ann. palestinians were commemorating what they call the nokba, the arabic word for catastrophe which is how many describe the creation of the state of israel in 1948. demonstrators decided to march on israel in the gaza strip in syria and in lebanon. some of the demonstrators tried to storm into israel itself throwing stones at israeli soldiers. the soldiers opened fire, killing 15. most of them in lebanon. richard, this was obviously well coordinated. you have been following this movement since it began. is there a direct correlation between it and what we have been seeing in terms of the arab spring revolts in egypt and the rest of the middle east? reporter: it is directly related. in many ways it is an expansion of the arab spring movement which is still going on. it certainly was organized online, on facebook. in the beginning the arab revolts were focused on internal arab problems against mubarak, the president of tunisia. now they are widening the scope to include israel. israel says the shift is no coincidence and that syria, which has been criticized so heavily for its own crackdown is behind changing this tone of the arab spring trying to get people in the arab world to stop talking about syria and to focus instead on their anger against israel. whether this is driven by syria or whether it s spontaneous, the shift is certainly happening this morning there were violent clashes in front of the israeli embassy in cairo and in tahrir square a few days ago, which became iconic during the arab spring moment for the huge protests against mubarak. well, a couple days ago protesters were out in the tens of thousands chanting against israel saying jerusalem, we are coming. it s significant. sounds like a watershed moment. thanks, richard engel. we turn now to the final launch of the shuttle endeavour where wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords will watch her husband commander mark kelly lead the mission. the chief of staff joins us from kennedy space center. what are the congresswoman s emotions this morning as she prepares to watch her husband blast off into space? she s really excited to see him go. she s proud of his career. this is a long time coming. we have been anticipating the launch for a while. he was assigned the mission close to two years ago. she s really excited, obviously happy she was able to make it. they had a nice good-bye here yesterday. i think it s a good day for everyone here. does she know about the wristbands we heard about that the astronauts will be wearing that say peace, love and gabby and, if so, what s her reaction to that? she does. she s wearing one herself. in fact, the shuttle flight before this one brought a blue wristband up to the space station for mark s brother scott. it s really a supportive thing our friends, family and staff have taken part in. she s excited he s able to wear it. i don t know if he s got it on during launch. it s in his pocket with his other personal belongings. mark kelly said this mission will be a little harder because i want to look out for her. you re watching the dynamic close up. how would you describe it? you know, fortunately she s doing really well. she s gotten to a point that s extremely stable medically. she s progressing well in the rehab program. i think it s tougher for him to leave this time. but he knows she s in good hands with the folks in houston and he ll be back in 16 days. we are excited for the mission. it s an important piece of machinery that nasa is installing on the space station. it s exciting for all of us. have fun today. thanks for talking with us. thank you very much. in other news, senator john kerry is in pakistan in a bid to soothe tensions with the united states after the daring raid that took down osama bin laden. the senator gave the army chief of pakistan a list of demands sought refuge in their country. french investigators revealed this morning that the in-flight recorders recovered from air flight france 447 are readable. we may yet learn why the plane went down in the atlantic ocean in 2009 while en route from brazil to paris which killed all 228 passengers on board. and former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel becomes the new mayor of chicago today. it will be the first time in two decades someone other than mayor richard daly will take the reins at city hall. and a 5th grade graduation became terrifying when an inflatable castle was caught by the wind. fortunately no one was inside all the time. it s a good thing to know that can happen in bad weather. it s 7:22. now back to matt, meredith and al. thank you very much. mr. roker, a busy morning. absolutely. we ll turn our attention to what s going on attention to what s going on down in the mississippi. we ve got the latest river levels in vicksburg that are going to be cresting 57.5 feet on thursday. and weather down in florida looking great for cape canavarel. sunny, mild temperatures in the low 70s today. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. partly sunny now around the region. temperatures are near 60 degrees on this monday morning. and as we get into the day, though, we will have increasing clouds. during the afternoon as we climb into the 70s, we also have an increased chance of a scattered afternoon shower, maybe a thundershower. the likelihood tonight, off and on during the day on tuesday, tuesday night and again wednesday. thursday and friday toward the and that s your latest weather. meredith? al, thank you. coming up, the florida woman who could be locked away for up to 30 years for trying to hire a hit man to murder her husband. we ll have the latest on the trial. first this is today on nbc. coming up, the high school senior banned from the prom will be heading to the big dance after all. we ll talk to him and his date. plus, snooki, the situation and the cast ofon, the cast of jersey shore take over italy. we are live in florence after your local news. good morning. it s 7:26 on this monday, the 16th of may. i m joe krebs. in the news for today, a 19-year-old hit and killed while pushing his car along a dark road. it happened along route 7 at drainsville manor drive in herndon. police say another driver rear-ended the teen and his car. the other driver was hospitalized and police have not said whether they plan to file any charges. we ll take a break and come [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it s just one reason 80% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. good morning. partly sunny start to this monday. temperatures around the region are near 60 degrees now. later today we should climb into the 70s. then we ll have increasing clouds this afternoon. late afternoon and evening we could have some showers, maybe some thunder. of a and on showers and perhaps afternoon thundershowers on tuesday and again wednesday. a lesser amount thursday and friday. jerry, how s traffic. the inner loop still jammed. an earlier truck accident to the shoulder just after 210. 395 accident northbound at duke street ties up the left lane, delays for that begin at the beltway. it is jammed. tonight on news 4 at 5:00, no more digging for 7:30 now on this monday morning, may 16, 2011. a rainy morning in the northeast, but it didn t stop a big crowd from going down to rockefeller plaza. meanwhile, inside studio 1a i m meredith vieira alongside matt lauer. just ahead, the boy banned from prom gets a reprieve. power to the people. you probably heard about james tate s story. he went to school one night, hung a huge sign on the wall of the school to ask out his prom date. the school banned him from the prom for trespassing. after holding firm initially on the decision the high school now says he can attend the prom. coming up, he ll join us with his date for an exclusive interview. plus, will their gym, tan, laundry lifestyle translate to the mother land? the jersey shore cast arrived in italy and not everyone there is happy to see them. we have the details. and they are marketed to adults to tone up, but do young girls need to wear shape-up sneakers? a new kids line has hit the market and has parents angry. coming up, why some say the shoes send girls as young as 7 the wrong message. let s begin this half hour with a verdict at the trial of a florida woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband. kerry sanders is in west palm beach with the latest. good morning, kerry. reporter: good morning, meredith. it sounds like something in the movies. a mad-cap romantic comedy of a woman who hires a hit man to kill her husband and the police have it all on videotape. but this was the real world situation and it is a true drama. now, after two years, a jury here has ruled the wife guilty of solicitation of first-degree murder. verdict, we, the jury find as follows. reporter: in less than three hours. we find the defendant guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. reporter: dalia dippolito, convicted of trying to hire a hit man to off her husband of six months michael dippolito. in court, the 29-year-old faced her husband, as officers recounted the damning evidence. i was going to get $3,000 from you today. right. $3,000 when it s done. right. reporter: video of dalia dippolito hiring a hit man, actually an under cover police officer armed with a hidden camera. all right. thanks a lot. reporter: in an elaborate sting operation on the day the murder was to take place police create add fake crime scene. i m sorry, ma am. he was killed. [ sobbing ] reporter: her dramatic performancen didn t fool authorities. she was taken to jail where she saw her husband was alive. oh, my god! he s alive. come here, please. come here. mike, come here. come here, please. come here. i can t. you can t fix this. why not? i didn t do anything to you. i heard you. mike, come here, please. the evidence is overwhelming. she s shameless about the way she uses sexual power to get what she wants. she has no guilt, remorse, nor concern for the safety of others. reporter: on the day she was arrested phone recordings reveal dippolito maintaining her innocence to her husband. i didn t do anything. i didn t do anything. reporter: in opening statements, dippolito s defense claimed the whole scheme was hatched by michael dippolito, a reality tv hoax gone wrong. mike dippolito s hoax to orchestrate his own murder to achieve fame and fortune was a bad prank. it was no different than what balloon boy s parents did, or the couple that crashed the white house. reporter: dippolito s attorneys said the investigation was compromised after police released the videotapes of the sting operation. dalia dippolito is now appealing to your better judgment and asking you to let her wake up from this nightmare and finally move on with her life. reporter: a nightmare, prosecutors said, of her own making. the defendant was caught in the act of being herself. she wasn t acting. that s who she is. she s like poison candy. attractive on the outside, but deadly on the inside. reporter: dalia dippolito is yet to be sentenced. that s scheduled for next month. she could face up to 30 years in prison. meredith? kerry sanders, thank you very much. prison. kerry sander, thank you very much. let s get a check of the weather from al. thanks a lot, meredith. we ve got a little misty weather out here, good for the complexion. a cousins weekend? a cousins weekend. all right, cuz. oh, the three of you. very nice. having a nice time, stretching out the weekend. let s check it out for you, show you what s going on for today. well, we ve got this low-pressure system that s not going anywhere, and we re going to be looking at wet weather that you re seeing today. it s just going to get wet and wetter over the next 24 hours. we re going to be looking at flood watches all the way up into new england. some areas picking up 1 to 2 inches of rain. another system approaching the west coast will bring unsettled wet weather. snow in the mountains. the sierras could pick up from 12 to 18 inches of snow in some of the upper elevations. rainfall in northern california about 1 to 2 inches of rain. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. a partly sunny start to this monday morning around our region now. we have our temperatures right near 60 degrees. and later today we should climb into the 70s. a little sun in and out. but then from mid to late afternoon into the evening hours is when we have an increased chance of passing showers and maybe some thundershowers. overnight tonight maybe some more showers. off and on showers tuesday morning, perhaps into the afternoon could get some thundershowers. more of the same on wednesday. perhaps don t forget. check your weather any time day or night on weather channel on cable or weather.com online. matt. thank you very much. the connecticut high school senior who had been banned from prom will be allowed to attend after all. the school s headmaster reversed her decision over the weekend. we ll talk to james tate and his prom date in a moment. first, nbc s mara schiavocampo is at shelton high school with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning, matt. what a week it s been. what started out as a high school disciplinary case turned into an international story as hundreds of thousands expressed outrage that one young man s romantic gesture meant he d have to miss his prom. now for all of those supporters, a victory. for the masses known as team tate it was the news they had been waiting for. i have decided to implement alternate consequences on a case-by-case basis beginning with james tate. reporter: school officials changing the policy to allow high school senior james tate to go to the prom. i thought it was dead and gone. this is a pleasant surprise. reporter: it started with the writing on the wall. a little over a week ago, tate, an a.p. scholar and cocaptain of the golf team snuck onto the school premises overnight taping this message to the wall. while rodrigues said yes there was trouble for tate. he was charged with trespassing and banned from the prom. i told her for a long time i was going with her, but i was waiting for a special time to ask her. i did it and this is what happened. reporter: the news prompted a social media uprising. supporters outraged that a grand romantic gesture would be punished. almost 200,000 people joined the let james tate go to the prom facebook page. messages with the hash tag team tate flooded twitter and the town mayor got hundreds of e-mails from all over the world. china, japan, australia, italy. reporter: every last one supporting tate. it doesn t make sense. there has to be common sense. reporter: after initially digging in her heels, saturday headmaster beth smith, known for being a rigid disciplinarian caved to the pressure, reversing her decision. i never thought such a decision would lead to international notoriety as i make tough, unpopular decisions on a daily basis. reporter: tate s facebook page is now full of congratulatory messages, but happiest of all, the young man who finally got his ticket to the big dance. now support for tate continues. we posted a poll on today.com asking if school officials were right to reverse the decision, 83% said yes, school officials did the right thing. matt, back to you. mara schiavocampo, thank you very much. james tate and his prom date sonali are with us now exclusively. good morning to you both. good morning. i thought you were toast. seriously, when the headmaster ms. smith said she was upholding the decision wednesday or thursday i thought you guys were done. when did you get the good news? saturday morning. i woke up to my parents on the phone getting word that there would be a press conference at the school. we didn t know if we were supposed to go or not. so i just went golfing instead. had you had any further private discussions with the headmaster before she reversed her decision? yeah. i had one on friday morning in school. she told me that i was handling this well and if i needed any help for the stressful situation that she would be willing to help me out. talk about the stressful situation. let s talk about the reaction to all of this. it came from near and far. there were hundreds of thousands of people weighing in on websites. there was a sit-in. there were politicians weighing in. not the school class president but state and local politicians. can you describe what it s like to be in the center of the storm. it s weird. i went to the movies and someone asked for my autograph in the bathroom. i ll walk through a place and everyone s looking at me which i m not used to. has the reaction toward you all been positive? everyone s been nice about it. what about you, james? yeah, definitely. were you surprised by the level of reaction to this? absolutely. i think this has been blown completely out of proportion, but it s cool. in announcing the decision, ms. smith said, i have decided to implement alternate consequences on a case-by-case bases beginning with james tate. we haven t heard what those alternate consequences may be. have you? no. not a clue? no. you said to our producer last night you feel you have done your time already and if there is another form of punishment, you would refuse it. oh, geez. that might sound a little ungrateful if they were to come and say, look, there is a school community service project you re required to take part in, you would agree? yeah. depending on yeah. yes, all right. we ll see what it is. this is your first day back at school. what do you think the reaction will be like? i think people will be excited. hopefully it will die out. it s been crazy at school. james, what reaction do you think you ll get? high fives, yeah. that kind of thing. i have to ask you. there were two others suspended with you, the so-called ladder man and the tape man. they are in studio now. they can go to prom, too? i believe so, yes. speaking of prom it s june 4. do you think it will be possible to just enjoy it as an event given all that s happened or is this going to overshadow everything? i think we ll still manage to have fun. yeah. it will be fun. a chance you may be voted king and queen of the prom. are you actively campaigning? no, not at all. you want to fade into the woodwork? as much as we can. congratulations. go forth. good luck. thank you. up next, culture shock. snooki, the situation and the rest of the jersey shore gang arrive in italy. we re there after this. value is what toyota does best. after all, toyota s the most fuel-efficient full-line auto manufacturer in the industry. and we have the lowest ownership cost of any full-line car brand. and now take advantage of a great selection of new toyotas from the full-line auto manufacturer that has the longest lasting vehicles in america. plus, every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance. we re #1 for a reason. come see for yourself. hurry in for the best selection. a tackle box, and ozark trail tent, and an air horn. come on, boys! let s go! let s get up! this is a fishing trip, not a sleeping trip. all right. that s what you ask for, you re gonna get this, huh? 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[ male announcer ] ge technologies help doctors detect cancer early so they can save more lives. bringing better health to more people. back at 7:46. lovele them or hate them you can t deny that mtv s jersey shore is a hit in the u.s. now they have taken the show on the road to italy. michelle kosinski is in florence with the latest. good morning, michelle. reporter: hi, meredith. it s a cultural exchange, right? heralded by the tweet, the guidos have landed. no, it wasn t a bunga-bunga party that summoned them here. they have their own brand of bunga which is why some wanted them banned. didn t work, but the mayor has guidelines that could be uncomfortable for the gang. [ cheers and applause ] reporter: florence, brace yourselves. they re here. they get drunk. i think they are stupid. italians are not like that. reporter: italians love to hate jersey shore with its no holds barred everything. however, they, too, are becoming strangely entranced. like the whole town follows them and they just kind of pretend it s not. surrounded by a huge, very handy pack of security they shop, look around, get rejected from a restaurant. why am i not allowed to ask? here is the staff waving them away, but the gang will work for the good of florence here where they will craft real italian pizza and even on the night out found a club just their style. though a slight language barrier. [ speaking in a foreign language ] jersey shore ? reporter: the mayor wasn t huge on them. snooki? she s a woman. snoo snooki? reporter: despite asking they not be filmed drinking hmm he has a higher plan. maybe the situation. reporter: they are not allowed to shoot here inside the magnificent galleries. i m from jersey. we re allowed. didn t they go out dressed like that one night? there may be culture shock on both sides. we apologize to laundry. reporter: let s see. gym, tan, laundry translates to [ speaking italian. reporter: gorilla juicehead, grenade. [ speaking italian ] reporter: jersey shore could leave behind new dance moves, not to mention the all-american spirit of anyone being able to make their wildest, wildest dreams come true. this is fantastic for the city and for mtv. reporter: from the city that brought the world the renaissance, we bring it snooki and the situation. now there seems to be nothing but good will toward the group but we should point out that the mayor repeatedly emphasized it s important that they obey every law. they did manage to earn three traffic tickets in one weekend which will cost them around $400. meredith? i feel bad for florence. thank you very much. coming up, the secret to successful bargain hunting. what you need to do before hitting the outlet malls for the best deals. first, these messages. five brothers. tough being the only girl. aw, there s the man of the house. who s this ? this is rufus. hey, rufus. he s actually pretty talented. you wanna see him do a trick ? ok. hey rufus. who do we love ? we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. yes, yes. you rely love your bank don t you. ally bank customers love our 24/7 customer care that allows you to talk to a real person anytime. ally. do you love your bank ? julie: . i don t feel there s something out there better than what i ve got now. vo: so to show her what she s missing, we built a pc store in her house. julie: (gasp) employee: thanks for dropping in! julie: you ve got to be kidding me! this isn t my house anymore! employee: have a little look around! julie: very nice! employee: this one is touchscreen. julie: i like that. so there is no tower anymore? wow! i admit i m wrong on this account that there is a computer better than mine. vo: new pc in the house julie(to camera): i m a pc and i m gonna kill him. pizza hut s ten-dollar any deal is back. any pizza, any size, any crust, any toppings is now just ten dollars when you carry out. that s right. the ten dollar any deal is back. but hurry in. this deal is for a limited time only. only at your pizza hut. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we ll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that s a huge breakthrough. that s good for our country s energy security and our economy. just ahead, are they sending young girls the wrong message about body image? the controversy over shape-ups sneakers to kids as young as 7 years old. and jenna bush hager talks to the woman behind j. crew s success. first your local news and weather. [ female announcer ] women like andrea move the world. what helps keep her moving? caltrate soft chews. ready-to-go, delicious, and packed with 20% more calcium than viactiv. strong bones. strong convictions. caltrate soft chews. because women move the world. i buy plants, i bring them home, and then.i water too little. too much. or i just forget. but look. this is doing fine. why? it s planted in miracle-gro moisture control potting mix. it holds 33% more water. than ordinary potting soil. releasing it as plants need it. not when i get around to it. and there s miracle-gro plant food mixed in. so you get miracle-gro results. i like that. [ female announcer ] miracle-gro moisture control potting mix. success starts with the soil. 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[ male announcer ] it s the most fun you can legally have. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. good morning. it s 7:56. i m joe krebs. we have some rain in the forecast. let s get right to tom kierein for details. tom. well, good morning, joe. not until this afternoon between now and then, a little sunshine in and out. temperatures right now are climbing into the low 60s. later today into the 70s. but then from mid to late afternoon into the evening hours when we have an increased chance of showers, maybe some thundershowers, i don t anticipate any severe storms and a wet pattern, morning showers and afternoon thunderstorms on tuesday and wednesday. not as much end of the week. joe. take a look at the traffic good morning, everyone. i m jerry edwards. the news 4 traffic network where authorities are still dealing with a long-standing accident still in the roadway 395 northbound at duke street. it is jammed from the beltway. south of town looking a little better, very heavy, though. earlier truck accident inner loop 210 cleared. tonight at 5:00, no more tonight at 5:00, no more digging for i m drinkin dunkin . dunkin iced latte. iced dunkin decaf. estoy tomando café helado. large caramel iced with skim. one shot of hazelnut, iced, cream and sugar. i wouldn t want it any other way. get your iced coffee your way. america runs on dunkin coffee. 8:00 now on a monday morning, the 16th day of may, 2011. it is not a nice day here in new york city. we ve got you may call it a rain. mist. it s a mist, but it s everywhere. it s soaking and drenching and yuck. it s supposed to be like this off and on through wednesday or thursday. it s going to get worse. really? well, there you go. something to look forward to. i m matt lauer with meredith vieira back from cannes, france, and her time at the film festival. al roker joins us as well. coming up, sneaker controversy. we are talking about the popular shape-ups aimed at adults to tone your legs and rear end. now there is a kids line aimed at kids as young as 7. some parents are complaining it sends the wrong message to young kids. we ll get into the controversy. also ahead, do you do some outlet shopping? did some this weekend. we ll find out what you need to know to be, i guess, the best and most successful shopper at the outlets. can you get the same products as at a regular store? what s the return policy like? what s the quality like? we have advice on that. what did you buy? i bought some jeans and other things i won t mention. unmentionables? anyway. hey, grammy-winning singer and coach on the voice cee lo green. nobody s hotter now. his song is forget you. he just flew in and he ll join us. before we go further let s head inside. ann curry is at the news desk with the headlines. you guys come in and get out of the rain. good morning, everybody. in the news, 149 people aboard a cathay pacific jetliner are grateful to be alive this morning as the plane was in midair one of the engines caught on fire. the a-330 landed in singapore safely before dawn. passengers joined together in prayer after seeing the plane on fire through windows. the head of the international monetary fund was examined for physical evidence in an attempted rape case in new york last night. attorneys for dominique strauss-kahn said their client would plead not guilty today. strauss-kahn, a leading contender for the french presidency was arrested saturday after a maid said he sexually assaulted her inside his manhattan hotel suite. engineers opened more flood gates along the mississippi river purposely flooding homes and farms in rural louisiana to spare new orleans, baton rouge and oil facilities down river. officials say as many as 25,000 people could be affected by the on-rushing water and mandatory evacuations are under way. the prosecutor for the international criminal court asked for arrest warrants against libyan leader moammar gadhafi, one of his sons and the espionage chief. he s accusing them of crimes against humanity and targeting civilians in their crackdown against rebels. egyptian riot police fired live ammunition and teargas to disperse crowds in cairo. israel says the frontiers are quiet a day after arab protesters marched in coordinated demonstrations along borders with syria, lebanon and gaza. at least 15 protesters died in the clashes. chinese activist and artist ay way-way has been allowed his first visit after detention. his wife was taken to an undisclosed location where she visited briefly with her husband. now to wall street. mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange. good morning. reporter: good morning. it hasn t been a good start to the week. there are a number of concerns. number one, the arrest of the head of the imf that you mentioned has been overshadowing efforts to help financially stressed portugal and greece. here at home america is set to reach its 14.3 trillion dollar so-called debt ceiling, the amount that america is legally allowed to borrow. if the debt ceiling isn t raised there is a risk that america won t be able to pay its bills. a lot of things for investors to chew on this week. mandy, thank you very much. finally, wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords is at the kennedy space center to watch endeavour lift off on its final mission. her husband mark kelly is commanding the mission. now back outside to meredith and matt. thank you very much. now 8:04. let s go back outside to matt and mir dit. meredith making her way back over. now it s really raining out here, al. yeah. this is great. it s your birthday. what s your name? sophie. you re double digits now? yeah. today! happy birthday. and somebody who s almost triple digits, who s 99th birthday? our grandparents. oh, that s terrific. god bless them, that s great. bud and judy. they love you, bud and judy, so do we. let s check your weather and see what s happening. greenville, south carolina, wyff, afternoon thundershowers, a temperature of 70, nbc 4. you can see we ve got rain on both coasts, wet weather in the northeast, wet weather in the pacific northwest, mountain snows. in between we ve got nice weather, sunny skies in the mississippi river valley all the way down to texas. 87 and sunshine in phoenix. beautiful in florida but here in the east from the carolinas all the way to new england we are looking at wet weather. that s what s going on around the country. here what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. this monday morning starting off partly sunny. our temperatures are beginning to warm up a bit. right now the low and mid-60s throughout most of the region. reagan national at 63. later today maybe an afternoon shower or thundershower. highs reaching the mid and upper 70s before then. overnight we could have additional showers. off and on showers tuesday and wednesday mornings. then lower got some nice friends here from wartburg college. where is it? iowa! there you go. mr. matt lauer. this guy is asking meredith to the prom. [ cheers ] when we come back, the controversy over shape-up toning sneakers marketed to young girls. we ll talk about it right after this. my whole body hurt. it was an ongoing, deep pain. i didn t understand it. i found out that connected to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and less pain means, i can feel better and do more of what matters. [ 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. [ grunts ] we are! got it. [ male announcer ] don t be the last to know. get it faster with 4g. it s the network of possibilities. at&t. with being fed on. we demand k9 advantix ii. it not only kills fleas and ticks, it repels most ticks before they can attach and snack on us. frontline plus kills but doesn t repel. any tick that isn t repelled or killed may attach and make a meal of us. so let s put our paws down in protest. no fetching, no friendship till we all get k9 advantix ii. join us at poochprotest.com. [ male announcer ] ask your veterinarian about k9 advantix ii. now put it right above your eye. good. bringing heroes home for generations. just another reason chevy runs deep. 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[ male announcer ] learn more about the school of business at phoenix.edu. we are back now with a sneakers controversy that has parents upset. it involves the popular shape-ups shoes designed for girls as young as 7 years old. amy robach has the details. reporter: good morning. we all want our family to be healthy and fit but some think a new sneakers lines and commercials are sending kids an unhealthy message. take a look down and you can t miss the latest revolution on feet across america. shape-ups shoes are everywhere . . reporter: but the latest move from skechers is shaping up to look more like a land mine than a gold mine. first time i saw the shape-ups marketed to little girls i was floored. i couldn t believe it. got the height, got the bounce, looking good and having fun reporter: the new commercial on the cartoon network and nickelodeon has parents fired up. they are sending messages that their child needs to tone up the derrier and thighs. be skinny, be like me. it s the wrong message. reporter: the shape-ups are for girls as young as 7 and some parents worry the message does more harm than good. in the ad, boys dressed up as food like a hot dog and a cup cake try to keep up with thin shape-ups wearing heidi. one of the things that struck me was the girl s running away from the boys that represented bad foods, sending the message unconsciously or consciously that little girls should be running away from ice cream, hot dogs, foods and that s a scary message. reporter: targeting young girls with adult products has caused controversy for a number of well known companies like ab b ercrombie & fitch or walmart s makeup line for preteens. it s our job as parents to und underscore what it takes to live physically healthy lives. reporter: when it comes to kids sneakers, some parents think shape-ups should ship out. i understand obesity in young people is a problem in the united states. however, getting them off the couch, running and playing is the right thing to do, not buying them a shape-ups shoe. reporter: in response to the uproar the skechers president had this to say. the whole message behind shape-ups is to get people moving, exercising and getting fit. skechers advertising for shape-ups for girls contains the same messaging being used by the first lady s let s move initiative which is aimed specifically at children. the purpose is to promote exercise and fitness which should be viewed as a positive message for kids to get up and get moving. meredith? thank you very much. michelle borba is an education psychologist and lola joins us as well. you were both shaking your heads. outrageous. why? it s really sending our children a belief system. our little girls at a too young, precious age that what you look like is so much more important than who you are. after a while what they do, meredith, is they start buying into and believinging that belief system. the president of the company is saying it s no different from the messages offered by first lady michelle obama. if that s the case, why not make shoes for boys? they need to be he wille think as well. there is no shape-up shoe for a boy yet. i think that s a problem. they want to make money and they understand there is a huge buying power with tweens. it s a $43 billion buying base. they want to make money. when you see the ads with kim kardashian or brooke burke those are obviously targeted to adults. the idea is to get a great body out of the shoes. when you do it with kids, i guess now it s a cartoon we saw being used. they wouldn t dare use a real little girl, no way. the message is exactly the same as you re emphasizing instead of healthy lifestyle, the end product is the shape of your butt. how do you have toned legs at age 6? it s absurd. you shouldn t be worried about a saggy bottom when you re 7. it s not something you should be thinking about. i think the company may come back and say, look, we have a serious obesity problem with children in this country. it s only getting worse. anything that may help is worth it. then we get them to move, to enjoy life, to realize that what we are really all about is having this healthy outlook and a lifestyle choice. it s so much different than the end product to have your legs shaped. call me a cynic, but this is about money. they woke up in the 90s to the fact that the tweens are a huge buying segment of society. you saw it with the success of boy bands, britney spears and also saw the britney spears image that young girls were looking at their sexuality in a different way and embracing the idea of not being so innocent. marketers woke up to that and they are really targeting the market. interesting that on the website the links to shoes for girls are no longer available but you can still get the sneakers in stores. what does it say to you? we have a lot of moms going, enough is enough. they are starting to realize that it is impacting our girls. by the way, the research is showing it. we are seeing an up surge of our little ones being stressed out. the self-image is going. time to start raising them from the inside out. this is not the first product we have seen targeted to kids. we saw the bathing suit that s padded and thongs. somebody isn t getting the message. and the makeup. if you can sell a 9-year-old lip gloss, why wait until 16? you get them young, have them cradle to grave. simple enough. simple enough is don t buy it. there you go. thank you. don t buy it. up next, does outlet shopping pay? what you need to get the best bargains after this. 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[ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. take action. take advil. save on advil with our special coupon in select newspapers on may 22. not a mammal in this household is willing to lay claim to its origin. but now is not the time for blame. now is the time for action. call 1-800-steemer. back now at 8:20. this morning we are talking about outlet shopping. with the economy the way it is, everybody s looking for bargains, but are outlet it is way to go? janice lieberman has information on that. there must be something alluring to discounters. the trick is you need to know how to work them before you set out. bargain hunters used to hit the outlets searching for designer items for less, often settling for slightly damaged goods or last year s styles. now, outlet shopping is raising the stakes. tanger, a retail outlet chain says they are catering to a savvy consumer with a line of designer goods at what they say are reduced prices. in the outlets you can save money buying products direct from the manufacturer and cut out the middleman. reporter: susie applebaum said she knows how to get designer picks for less. i have great bargains to show you. reporter: she admits it s hard work but has some real steals. this is one of my favorites. a white trench coat in perfect condition to me. it was missing one of these on the sleeve. i thought, really no big deal. i roll them up anyway. reporter: what did you pay? $25. it s marked $383. reporter: come on! there is an art to finding the best deals at outlets and it takes time. retail analyst marshall cohen gave us the inside scoop. the first tip start backwards. reporte why the back? go to the clearance rack. this is generally two to three months behind what you would find in stores. let s pick up something. here. a blouse that s ticketed at $15 plus an additional $30 off that. original price of $128. you can have it for $10. reporter: ten bucks? ten bucks. what a deal. reporter: what shoppers need to consider is discounted goods can be made only for the outlet. it s ticketed $150 down to $79. that means if you wait, this will be discounted further but it is made just for this store. reporter: you probably won t see it in the regular stores. no. 80% of all merchandise in an outlet is made for the outlet stores. reporter: some stores like banana republic outlet carry products you will never see in the full priced shops. what product is this? it s designed just for the retail outlet. so it s the additional 40% off on already reduced prices. it has a sense of style, quality, integrity, nothing wrong. it s just great pricing i. reporter: how can you tell? bring your magnifying glass. on the label there are a couple of dots there saying it s an outlet item. you have to bring it back to an outlet store. reporter: don t assume bright sales stickers mean huge savingings. check this out. they say marked down to $64.99. is it a deal? if you look at it, is it a really good deal? original price $65. that s a penny. reporter: one penny. finally, don t be afraid to shop out of season. i like these. let me find you something that s a good deal. i found you the same shoe, last season same technology. look at the bottom of the sho shoe. $129 originally. marked down to $29 and another 15% off. reporter: susie agrees. she says shopping off season and getting coupons online saves her a fortune. i found this at the barney s outlet, $198 marked down to $29. i ll put it away for fall. isn t it fabulous? reporter: yeah. you can do even better by doing homework before you stop. check out your favorite designers online to see if there are coupons or special sales. register with them so they can alert you with special promotions. i was going to get to the shirts here. what caught my attention is that i thought it was adidas, the warm-up top. $64.99. that s the bargain from $65? how do they get away with savinging you a penny? reporter: we spoke to adidas and they said sometimes they give you current merchandise currently in the stores but they have a deal with the outlet centers that they must discount it. they say they are showing you the original price and giving you a penny off. all right. talk about the shirts on the table now. one is a bargain. one s more expensive. this is currently in stores at $75, polo by ralph lauren in deep orange. in a lighter orange at the outlets with a coupon for 20% off, $29.99. compromise on the color a little bit it s last year s color. and combined with the coupon on the clearance rack. if you re willing to compromise you can have a deal. return policy. what do you need to know? you can return but the outlets are usually far from where you live. at a banana republic you can t return it at a regular banana republic. good information. appreciate it. 8:25. back in a moment with the secret to j. crew s success. with the woman behind it after your local news. 8:26 is your time now, 67 degrees. the clouds have moved into the nation s capital. when will we see the rain? tom will have your forecast after the news. prince george s county police are looking for suspects after a man was shot and killed outside his home. officers were called to the 8500 block of grand haven avenue just before midnight. investigators are now looking for a silver-colored mazda today is not about finding the time to do your homework. it s not about logging on to this week s class. today is a celebration, a triumph of dedication, a victory for that little voice that urges us on. today is a day to recognize that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and to prove that not all heroes wear a cape. some wear a cap and gown. congratulations to the strayer university graduates of 2011. good morning. partly sunny now. we re climbing into the 60s. later today into the 70s. and we have an increased chance of an afternoon shower or thundershower similar to yesterday. maybe some showers tonight into tomorrow morning and maybe afternoon storms on tuesday and again wednesday. both days high mid-70s. how s traffic now, jerry. word of an accident, overturned car outer loop of the beltway route 7, tyson s corner. a couple of the travel lanes blocked. an accident 395 at the 14th street bridge has been cleared but we re jammed up from the beltway. thanks, jerry. tonight at 5:00, t [ male announcer ] with the most branches and atms in the dc area, it s hard to miss a capital one bank. alright, let s get ready to work alex. rosslyn! arlington! falls church! nice save! [ trainer ] tenley! k street! [ horn sounds ] herndon! mclean! cleveland park! capitol hill! [ groans ] sorry penguin. georgetown! [ metal dings ] [ male announcer ] capital one bank. the most branches and atms in the dc area. ovie. we still got maryland. what s in your wallet? i see you driving around town with the girl i love 8:30 on monday morning, may 16, 2011. right now the crowd is getting love from one of the hottest musicians around and one of the stars of nbc s the voice. i m talking about cee lo green. we ll talk with him in a moment. outside on the plaza i m meredith vieira alongside matt lauer and al roker and ann curry. you have to be careful which one you play. coming up, the secret of j. crew. jenna bush hager caught up remember this ad a couple of months ago? the designer and her son wearing the pink nail polish? oh, yeah. jenna bush hager catches up with the young lady to find out all of the stuff going on at j. crew. she looks so pretty this morning. also meeting a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 30 years for a murder he didn t commit. now three decades later he s picking up the pieces and his dream of becomingi ina star musician. and later on we ll be answering some of your real estate emergencies with barbara corcoran. everything from showing your home before it hits the market to how the moving into. first let s talk about the weather. it is getting a little bit worse. well, it is and that s the way it s going to be over the next 72 hours. let s check it out for you. it s going to be cool and wet throughout much of the country. the mid-section of the country just about spared from that. as we get to the midweek period, you ll be looking at more wet weather in the east, cooler than normal in the southeast, up into the plains and back into the southwest. as we get to the latter part of the week, temperatures warm up a bit here in the eastern half of the country, but it s also going to be wet. below normal temperatures out west with rain through the plains. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. partly sunny now. the temperatures have hit the low and mid-60s throughout much of the region and will continue to climb into the 70s later today but we ll also have an increased chance of an afternoon shower or thundershower as well as overnight tonight and off and on on tuesday. tuesday night and wednesday with highs in the 70s. could get some heavy downpours tomorrow and wednesday. then on thursday and friday, we have a lower chance of mainly afternoon that s your latest weather. don t forget. get your weather any time day or night on weather channel on cable or weather.com online. let s hot wire this bus. and take it out of here. before that let s say hi to grammy-award winning cee lo green. nice to see you. from nbc s the voice, cee sprks cee lo. how do you find time? it s all worth it. you wanted to do the voice when they came to you. you said, this is definitely for me. i did. i knew right off it would be a positive energy to be a part of. now we are in the thick of the battle here. how tough will the competition get? it s getting tougher. now the people have to be involved and they have to eliminate each other. people had camaraderie before and now have to compete. you have to say who stays and who goes. everyone is an individual. they all bring something to the table. but, you know, that s the way we have to do it. you know about individuality. you re about as individual a singer there is. thank you for noticing. hard not to. what do you look for when you re listening to a voice? what s good about the show is you get to reacquaint with raw talent. this time around it s something very organic and innocent. honest. i m looking for sincerity, conviction, truth, love, hurt. all of the wonderful intangible thingses that only the voice can offer. we re thrilled for you and the show. nice to have you here. i like your necklace. thank you. i want it. you can catch the voice tuesdays 10:00/9:00 central on nbc. by the way, tomorrow on today christina aguilera will be here. up next, jane pauley is in the house. first, this is today on nbc. i m drinkin dunkin . dunkin iced latte. iced dunkin decaf. estoy tomando café helado. large caramel iced with skim. one shot of hazelnut, iced, cream and sugar. i wouldn t want it any other way. get your iced coffee your way. america runs on dunkin coffee. back now at 8:37 with your life calling today. jane pauley is working with aarp which produced and sponsored the series of reports on people who found their passion later in life. good morning. we follow the reinvention of stay at home mom catherine silverman who found a niche reinventing houses. my i love it! reporter: it started with a very large bird cage. her first acquisition as a stager. every time i get a new project i think, i wonder if i will be able to use the bird cage this time. that s going in the dining room. [ speaking spanish ] reporter: a stager preps houses for sale with temporary furniture. staging is in layers. the first layer is you bring in the furniture, put it in and leave the house. reporter: life stages are in layers, too. after college catherine had glamorous jobs including working for senator john glen. until she had kids and became a stay at home mom. i was not staying home every day waiting for the school bus to pull up. you have to keep certain things alive in yourself. reporter: with a flair for decorating she did freelance work, but didn t like it. interior design has to be what the client likes. there is no end. that s the beauty of doing what i do now. the house sells and yippee. reporter: her career in staging began when a friend asked for help selling a house that sat unsold for a year. then she said, do you by any chance have any furniture that you can put in this house? i had a dining room table and then i called up a friend and said, you know that white loveseat that s in your living room can i borrow it? reporter: the house sold in three days and her phone started ringi ringing. where did this aptitude come from, do you think? i credit my mother. reporter: catherine s wasn t an ordinary childhood. her father was a foreign correspondent. she grew up in many different countries and a dozen houses. within a very short time, the house looked like our home. my mother would make it look so it rubbed off on me. reporter: what started as a lark is now a business. i never put rugs in dining rooming. your eye travels to the limit of the rug. if you were living here you would put a rug on the floor. exactly. reporter: the difference between livinging and staging, got it. with a client a week, she rents several storage rooms packed with inventory. where did you do your shopping? let s use that term loosely. shopping might mean you re driving by a dumpster one day and you see two chairs and you screech to a halt and put those chairs in your car, which i have done. reporter: oh, like i haven t? cable tv set the scene for staging and house hunting is a stay at home project. let me get the table. reporter: this is the sound of imagination at work. we ll figure something out. ew. reporter: what s all the talking you re doing when you work? i m thinking out loud. i find it s easier for me to sort of get things right if i say it out loud. that chatter is the hum of a happy woman. you re solving problems. well, the thing is there is a lot of satisfaction in solving problems, isn t there? it s really wonderful that i stumbled onto this. i don t think people say, i m going to reinvent myself. they say, it s time to take another step. what is it about who i am that i really like the best? okay. now let s see if i can do that all day, every day. this is really creative work. it is. probably the most creative expression you have had in your life. mm-hmm. reporter: are you in a happy place? i m in a happy place. it looks like fun, but building up an inventory of tables, chairs, lamps and rugs in all shapes and sizes is just the beginning. storinging int costs money. you have to spend money to make money in the staging business. remember the big bird cage? in eight years she s used it once. please join me at noon eastern today for the live premier of my internet radio call-in show. visit aarp.org/jane. congratulations. thank you. you admitted you love to move furniture around. in my family i m famous for i once had 20 minutes to catch a plane and moved all the furniture in my sister s living room. another career for you, jane pauley. nobody s paying me. up next, the woman behind the j. crew look. first this is today on nbc. we make the time to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. but what we should also be celebrating, are the moments. the ones that could have been just another day, but became extraordinary memories. moments when we learn about the world that came before us, and a little more about ourselves. let s celebrate together. colonial williamsburg. come be part of the story. and now is the perfect time to celebrate with the summer bounce package. plan your stay at colonialwilliamsburg.com my mama toldle me you better shop around. j. crew has been a staple in wardrobes since 1983 but who is behind the popular blazers, rugby and khakis? jenna bush hager found out. good morning. as the face and diversity of america changes so does one of its favorite brands. i spoke with jenna lions whose classic designs are going global. 229 stores, 40 million catalogs in circulation annually, company valued at $1.7 billion. and one woman behind what is arguably one of america s most classic brands j. crew. meet jenna lyons, mom, manager and a tomboy who dreams in sequence. yeah. i have dreams about it. reporter: that s amazing. her dreams became a reality. when first lady in training michelle obama sparkled in j. crew head to toe. lying in bed watching leno. they show her walking out and i m like, oh, my god. this is a j. crew ensemble. really? i smacked my husband in the head. he was completely knocked out. she looked gorgeous. that was the first time she said to the audience she was wearing head to toe j. crew and they clapped. it was amazing. reporter: you had no idea it would happen? no. she d gone online and shopped. we had no idea. reporter: it s dressing the everyday woman that drives her. the mission seemingly simple. to design high fashion for every american woman. do you feel a sense of responsibility to design for the average american woman? i feel a sense of responsibility to make clothes that anyone can have. i don t think women are average. i think they are awesome. reporter: we did an informal poll at the office and people said, when we were growing up j. crew was preppy but it s evolved. what do you think? i wouldn t want us labeled just as preppy. not everybody fits the mold. it s making people feel there is something for them. reporter: ask her to describe her personal style. she said it s dishevelled and granny, inspired by the people who raised her california cool. growing up in california, the land of surf t-shirts and dolphin shorts but i had a grandmother from the east coast who sent navy blazers from brooks brothers and kilts. that mix, something that was about casual sportswear and liking things borrowed from the boys, a little bit casual and wanting something that feels special and messed up. reporter: 30 years later and 3,000 miles away, there is no short as age of style inspiration around j. crew s manhattan office. this is your inspiration wall? yes. my ever evolving inspiration wall. reporter: if the board runs dry, jenna turns to her 4-year-old stylist in the making. i find myself sometimes dressing for him. reporter: he picks your shoes? he does. it s awesome. keeps me moving so i don t wear the same shoes for days. reporter: an image that made headlines this year when her son was prominently featured wearing pink toenail polish. i was shocked that a saturday morning with my son turned into controversy. i appreciate the support i got. reporter: the controversy didn t seem to negatively affect the company whose sales have more than doubled over the past seven years and plans to expand around the globe. i m going to china. it s exciting. i think we have a lot of opportunity out there and the international scene is exciting and what it can mean for us as company, as a brand and the whole team here. reporter: another career milestone for this one time assistant, now creative director and executive. don t be afraid. go for it. reporter: even if your dreams are covered in sequins? even better. for a company that clearly knows how to appeal to customers you would think they would invest in extensive market research but jenna told me they just look to the customers and their employees to see what they want as far as predicting trends. she has a gut for it, no question. she s lovely. that s great. appreciate it. thank you. we re back in a moment on a monday morning. this is today on nbc. [ female announcer ] have you ever seen a glacier while sunbathing? why not? have you ever climbed a rock wall in the middle of the ocean? or tried something really wild? why not? it s all possible in the nation of why not. royal caribbean s floating nation where you re free to do anything you want. which may be nothing at all. royal caribbean international. visit royalcaribbean.com today. this morning on leonard s look, a man who by all rights should have buried his dreams a long time ago, but now he s living them. surely i m just a dreamer reporter: at 51, bill dylan could be the oldest pure rookie in the history of pop music. have you ever worked in a studio? oh, no. this is my first opportunity. reporter: as for singing on stage i thank you so much. i m honored to be here. this is my first live performance. [ applause ] i was born for it. it s my soul. this is where i belong. reporter: but not where he has been. my name is william michael dylan. i was arrested for murder on august 26, 1981, for a crime i didn t commit. i was released november 18, 2008. thank you for the keepers of justice. took me away when i was a teen reporter: 27 years and eight months in maximum security is not the suggested career path for an aspiring musician. brutality, rage, despondency and thoughts of suicide are not the usual emotions tapped by someone dreaming of writing the world s greatest love songs. 6 4 bill dylan was 22 when the verdict came down. a life sentence in the florida state prison system. i went right in to hell s earth fire without a doubt. reporter: and? i was assaulted from the first hour in the door. reporter: that would be his world for nearly three decades. i began to drift into deep sadness and depression thinking my life is over. but the flame always burns. you know you haven t committed a crime, but the flame burns to the fact of, i want to be free and i deserve to be free. reporter: a belief shared by the innocence project of florida and a public defender named mike perolo who worked with dna and other evidence to exonerate dylan in 2008. when i first went behind the bars i couldn t believe that it happened. then i never thought it was going to be corrected. reporter: a year and a half later in his suburban chicago music studio, veteran producer jim tulio happened to catch part of a television program about the case including bill s mention of a desire to start a music career. a phone call followed with an offer to dylan for free studio time to complete his debut album. creativity has no bounds. bars don t lock in creativity. he wrote and that s what got him through. now i m free now i m free reporter: free to walk through any door. free to write and to sing and to partner with ellen moskovitz whom he met at an innocence project conference. the remarkable thing about bill is he came out with all his wits intact. with his heart as big as anyone you will ever meet. you ve got to fight i m very blessed. it s beyond anything anyone can imagine. the joy of seeing the fruit of something that you never thought was going to happen. yesterday s gone today is a brand new start reporter: if he doesn t make it in this world, if he doesn t become a music star? i m just as happy as the point i m at now, mike. if it stops here i m in total joy of what happened. reporter: for today, mike leonard, nbc news, evanston, illinois. amazing story. yeah. the depth of his singing, too. dare i say, it reminds me of johnny cash. it has that resonance. what he survived is incredible. keeping his heart intact through it all. human spirit. good for him. we ll be right back after your local news. announcer: this is an nbc news special report. here is matt lauer. good morning, everyone. the final countdown is under way at kennedy space center for shuttle endeavour s last lift-off and the next to last flight of the t shuttle era. it s a mission drawing extra attention for the woman there to watch the launch. arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, the wife of mission commander mark kelly. tom costello is at kennedy with the latest. tom, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, matt. all systems are go. looks like they will take off at 8:56 eastern time. interestingly, commander kelly is taking with him into space gabrielle giffords s wedding ring. she s keeping his on the ground. all members of the crew are wearing these blue wristbands. they say peace, love and gabb. it s a symbol her congressional staff has been wearing since she was injured. now the crew will take them into space. it will be an interesting flight as they resupply the space station. they drop off a $2 billion science experiment and watch the shuttle go. we have gotten complacent, seen it so many times but they will go from 3,000 to 17,000 miles per hour in six minutes. matt, back to you. tom, i was looking at the clock just over your shoulder. i think we are just about at ten seconds. let s watch and listen. four, three, two, one, zero. and lift off for the final launch of endeavour expanding our knowledge, expanding our lives in space. houston, roll program. roger roll, endeavour. houston is now controlling. endeavour beginning to roll over onto its back. the roll program under way as endeavour begins the heads-down position on course for a 51.6 degree, 136 by 36 orbit. we are watching the lift-off of shuttle endeavour on its final mission to the international space station for the most part i will be quiet for the next 45 seconds or a minute as we wait for the words we have srb separation. that s solid rocket booster separation. such a pivotal point in the launches. let s listen for it. endeavour s three main engines now back at full throttle. all three engines in good shape. endeavour is already traveling 1,300 miles per hour at an altitude of 11 miles down range from the kennedy space center. now 12 miles. at lift-off, endeavour fully fuelled, weighed 4.5 million pounds. it s already lost half that weight in propellant. next event is burnout and separation of the twin solid rocket boosters. that s upcoming here shortly at the two minute, three second rate. the boosters are burning 11,000 pounds of fuel per second. standing by for separation of the solid rocket boosters. that s the moment we wait for ever since 1986 when challenger suffered the catastrophic problem at that point. let s bring back tom costello. tom, we get ready to talk more about the mission commander, let s first talk about the mission itself. what are they going to do? reporter: well, this is a mission, as we said, the second to last mission before the shuttle program is over. they are going to resupply the international space station and also the scientists are excited about the physics experiment, the $2 billion particle physics experiment which is essentially going to be looking at the origins of the universe. it is a little bit controversial within the physics world. some think it s a waste of money. others are excited about the prospects. that s going to be the key science offload, if you will, onto the international space station. they dock on wednesday with the space station. they will stay docked until the 30th. six people on board, all men. of course the commander is mark kelly. he is the husband of arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. and that terrible shooting we all reported on back in january. six people killed. she was critically injured. a gunshot wound to the head. one of her close friends is congresswoman debbie wasserman-schultz. i know you had a chance to talk to congresswoman giffords in the not too distant past. how is she doing? she s doing really well, matt, thank you. i was with her a week ago friday. she was able to spend time out of the hospital, out of the rehabilitation hospital, spent the weekend with mark and we had dinner out. it was really, really wonderful. she s making tremendous progress. this is, you know, just a really emotional day. and really happy that she s able to be there to watch mark launch like she always does. she ll be there to watch him land as well. it s just i m just really happy and proud for both of them. do you know if she ll be able to communicate with him during the mission? yes. she ll be able to talk with him by phone. i know he s able to communicate by e-mail and send her messages, yes. thank you for joining us this morning. we are all watching, keeping our fingers crossed for a safe and successful mission. we ll have a full wrap-up tonight on nbc nightly news. those of you on the west coast, see you at the top of the hour. i m matt lauer. this has been an nbc special sophisticated and artistic city, the center of culture, the home to some of the greatest work arts in the world meets snookie the situation and j-wow. today a cultural mecca, tomorrow a vast waistland. the cast of squer zee shore is in florence, italy. we ll find out how the city is dealing with on onslaught. something tells me they are being told to be on their best behavior. we ll get a check of the news stories right now. we ll turn to ann curry at news desk for us. good morning, ann. thank you, guys. good morning once again. the space shuttle endeavour lifted off for the last time to deliver new equipment to the international space station. and wounded arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords was there watching the launch because her husband mark kelly is commanding this 16-day mission. a remarkable sight as we saw it blastoff. 149 people aboard a cathay pacific jet liner are happy to be alive when they were in the air and one of the engines caught fire. the flight landed before dawn in singapore and passengers said they joined together in prayer after seeing the plane on fire through their windows. mandatory evacuations are underway in rural louisiana where the mississippi flood gates were opened this weekend to spare major cities and oil refineries down river. the head of the international monetary fund is expected to plead not guilty in a new york city court today after a hotel maid picked him out of lineup as the man who sexually assaulted her this weekend. nbc s jeff rossen has this report now. reporter: you may not recognize his face or his name, but make no mistake, come next strauss-kahn is one of the most powerful men in the world. as leader of the imf, strauss-kahn lends money to countries in crisis. he was even running for president in france, but now police say he s a sexual predator. the leadership of the biggest financial institution in the world. reporter: strauss-kahn was staying in a $3,000-a-night suite here in manhattan just steps from times square. investigators say he came out of the shower naked and saw the maid in his room. he allegedly sexually assaulted her on the bed, dragged her to the bathroom and sexually assaulted her again. he intends to vigorously deny these charges. reporter: police say he almost got away. officers rushed his flight over the weekend and yanked strauss-kahn out of his first-class seat moments before takeoff. sud listen i the world s power broker was under arrest. a moment of madness in this midtown mat hand manhattan hotel as a potential presidential candidate. the timing couldn t be worse. whether he s guilty or not, this has already smeared him. reporter: the maid has picked him out of a lineup and they have physical evidence, too, including his cell phone left blind in the hotel room. and that s not all. law enforcement sources tell nbc news they have recovered bodily fluids, dna from the scene. late sunday night prosecutors took dna from strauss-kahn himself looking for a match. our client willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination tonight. he is tired but he s fine. reporter: strauss-kahn is married to an american-born journalist, his third wife, and has been involved in sex scandals before dubbed the grand seducer by the french media. in 2002 a woman in her 20s accused him of sexually attacked her. no charges filed. in 2008 he admitted to an affair with a lower-level employee at the imf. his current wife stood by him and now finds herself stuck in the middle yet again. and that was jeff rossen. turning now to the last story, which is about the second week in a row for thor hammering away at the competition nailing the top spot at the box office with $34.5 million. bridesmaid came in second and fast five was third. it is five minutes past the hour, we ll gce with $34.5 mill. brides maids came in second and fast five was third. let s go to al with a check of the weather. i have slipped inside. as we take a look at the forecast for our flooding along the mississippi river, vicksburg, the latest river level, a new record today, 56.6 feet. it s going to crest on thursday at about 57.5 feet as it continues its record-setting pace. as we look along the coast, you can see rain here in the northeast, rain in the pacific northwest n between, got some nice weather. temperatures a little on the cooler side, about 80% of the country at below normal temperature readings. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. a delightful spring morning under way. we have a partly sunny sky. our temperatures are now climbing into the mid and upper 60s. 67 in washington. later today we should hit the 70s. and there is a likelihood of a few scattered showers and thundershowers this afternoon. i don t anticipate any severe storms. it s only a very, very small chance of that. then overnight tonight maybe more showers, perhaps a thundershower an then off and on tuesday into she s brick house now solutions to your real estate questions. barbara corcoran is here with answers to your questions. good morning, al. on skype we have mark from san francisco joining us. good morning. what s your question? good morning. i m putting my complex on the market in san francisco. my question is should i consider an offer before it hit it is multiple listing service? the market has a low inventory, the market is heated up and my agent says we may get a stronger buyer before more competition comes in. that s it. you can catch me on facebook. thank you. nice marketing. you re a good promoter. you ought to be a promoter. i get what your broker is trying to do. it s not good for you. you ought to get the officeers early and expose it to the marketplace at the same moment in time. in san francisco many are selling in two, three weeks over market price. you have to get everybody in right away. a little patience. not much. two, three weeks. not bad. now to an e-mail question from susan in keller, texas. she writes, i have a unique house i built in 2006 for $345,000. there are no other comparables around so it is difficult to price other than going by the average price per kwar square foot in the market. can you give me advice for selling a unique home? the first thing you have to do is adjust your sights. no way you will sell by june. we re almost there. what s most unique about the house is it s 105,000 over the typical asking price in your town. that makes it a hard sale. the most important thing you should do is pay for a professional appraisal to see what it s worth and price it right. other than that you have to give it two, three months at least. in your market it s taking seven to eight months to sell a house. first, adjust your sights down. when advertising how should she market it? say it s a unique home? unique is the worst word in real estate. you hear unique you don t want to buy it. the only thing unique about the house is that it s $100,000 over everybody else. not good. no, no. melissa from philadelphia, pennsylvania. good morning, what s your question? hi. my husband may be getting transferred to houston, texas. we are doing research on the schools and housing in the northwest area of houston. we want to know the best school for our kids, the most house for our buck and wonder if you can make recommendations on the most kid friendly areas. is there a dog in there? yes. sorry about that. i wasn t sure if it was you, my stomach. you need a place that likes dogs, too. but that goes along with kids, so no problem. i m sure you have discovered already the website greatschools.org, the best one out there. it rates every grammar school, primary school, high school in america on a scale of 1 to 10. i did that research leading with the schools first because obviously kids come first. the two towns i picked is cady which is close to where your husband will be working. they get a great report card. every school is 7 to 10. it s a small, growing town. you get a three bedroom, two bath home for $119,000. a great way to stretch your dollars. in woodland, texas, it s larger like a leave it to beaver town. great school districts. probably seven in total. the houses sell for $264,000, but for that you get four bedrooms with a big backyard with mature trees. great choices. just because you re getting a good school district doesn t mean you have to pay more. for a great school district you will typically always pay more. they come together. on this particular website you can find the exceptions. that s what you want. good luck, melissa. feed the dog. and an e-mail from springfield, missouri. i started a mortgage on my home two years ago. there are problems with the house not disclosed in the inspection report. we had it reinspected and were told things that pose immediate and long term health concerns for the family. we have sunk several thousand into home repairs but don t want to put more in the house. we know given the market we can t sell for the principlprin you could foreclose on the home. it ruins your credit for seven years and you can t buy another house for a good five years. short sale the house if you work with the bank. that s a faster prospect. don t over look pricing the home as a rental. if you can get a rental estimate on the home, the home that looks like a miserable problem now may be a good investment in hindsight if you get enough rent to cover the mortgage and taxes. after they correct the problems. correct. thanks so much. good to see you. thank you. up next, financial advice for couples living together. how to protect your money. plus, snooki and the situation bring jersey shore to italy. is italy ready for them? good luck. right after these messages. today we re going to surprise people with the taste of activia. that s good. wow. this is really good. great flavor. it s really creamy, it s really tasty. ooh, 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 blueberry 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(child) because we read the books . (man) and watched the movies . and now we re living it. because i can fly with harry. follow me! because now i can turn my brother back into a human being. (narrator) from unforgettable adventures, to the wizarding world of harry potter, only at universal orlando resort. those are your lips with new covergirl lip perfection. get beautiful color now. let silk therapy moisturizers give you more beautiful lips in 7 days. [ male announcer ] lip perfection. new from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. pizza hut s ten-dollar any deal is back. any pizza, any size, any crust, any toppings is now just ten dollars when you carry out. that s right. the ten dollar any deal is back. but hurry in. this deal is for a limited time only. only at your pizza hut. 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. well, love them or hate them you can t deny that mtv s jersey shore is a hit in the u.s. and now they have taken their show on the road to italy. nbc s michelle kosinski has more. [ cheers and applause ] reporter: florence, brace yourselves. they re here. they have tattoos. they get drunk. i think they are stupid. italians are not like that. reporter: italians love to hate jersey shore with its no holds barred everything. however, they, too, are becoming strangely entranced. like the whole town follows them and they just kind of pretend it s not. surrounded by a huge, very handy pack of security they shop, look around, get rejected from a restaurant. why am i not allowed to ask? here is the staff waving them away, but the gang will work for the good of florence here where they will craft real italian pizza and on their first night out, even found a club just their style. though a slight language barrier. [ speaking in a foreign language ] jersey shore ? reporter: hey, at least they made it. the mayor wasn t huge on them. snooki? she s a woman snooki? reporter: despite asking they not be filmed drinking hmm he has a higher plan. maybe the situation. reporter: they are not allowed to shoot here inside the magnificent galleries. i m from jersey. we re allowed. didn t they go out dressed like that one night? there may be culture shock on both sides. we apologize to italy. reporter: let s see. gym, tan, laundry translates to [ speaking italian ] reporter: gorilla juicehead, grenade grundle choad. [ speaking italian ] reporter: they are surrounded by icons just as ripped as they are with similar interests and jersey shore could leave behind new dance moves, not to mention the all american spirit of people being able to make their wildest, dreams come true. this is fantastic for the city and for mtv. i think he s probably one of the only guys who thinks it s fantastic for the city of florence that they are there. the good news is they won t bring the stereo typical ugly american thing. they represent us well. so nice. survived us. we went to florence together. we did, with our families. i know. it survived you and me. so in other words you re comparing us to the situation and snooki? you re snooki? yes. i don t think so. your hair is flat. and i don t have any. anyway, it s a beautiful city. it is. exactly. i hope they take in all the sights rather than the party scenes. any advice for them? i think they should probably just follow their hearts. i hear they are catching up on italian, doing the rosetta stone to learn italian. i liked the little boat ride on the river. very romantic i mean with our spouses. anyway, we have much more coming up. i m going to stop talking. thank you. we re getting into trouble. exactly. we ll talk money minus marriage. advice to couples on how to define your financial relationship. that and more after these messages. [ female announcer ] nutri-grain one good decision. .can lead to another. with real fruit, more of the whole grains your body needs, and a good source of fiber. nutri-grain can help you eat better all day. is teaching my patients how to start taking insulin. and i ve learned a lot from patients who use lemir flexpen. flexpen comes pre-filled with my long-acting insulin, and i dial the exact dose of insulin i need. my flexpen is discreet and doesn t need to be refrigerated. and flexpen goes wherever i go. levemir is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. do not take if your blood sugar is too low. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. the most common side effect is low blood sugar. other possible side effects include reactions at the injection site. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, such as body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat or sweating. ask your healthcare provider about levemir flexpen today. learn more about the different insulins available in flexpen at myflexpen.com. flexpen, insulin delivery that goes with you. 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[ child screams ] [ male announcer ] almost. the new 2011 dodge grand caravan. now get $2,000 cash allowance or 0% financing for 60 months on select 2011 dodge grand caravans. so our normal viewers are probably noticinging inwe are synch in terms of our locations. that s because of the rain outside. we had a special segment we wanted to do with gardening and there was a downpour outside. what s up with that? everybody scampered. now it s starting to slow down. so we ll get back out. the whole idea of the segment is talking about it used to be that gardening was one of the last sacred places you can t take technology but now it can help. if you don t have a green thumb there are things to help you. okay. unmarried couples can protect their money so they are both financially secure. lots of people are going there these days. and we ll be talking about rigatoni! yeah. all boys. i call them our starting five. yeah. boom! so when we go out, like the other night, we have to make sure they get enough to eat. pass these down to your brothers and make sure they get some, okay? try olive garden s new four cheese pastachettis. starting at just $9.95. folded pasta ribbons filled with italian cheeses. try them with grilled chicken breasts in a garlic cream sauce, or with grilled italian sausage starting at $9.95. plus enjoy our unlimited fresh salad and warm breadsticks. olive garden s one of the few places we can take our family where everyone s happy. olive garden. when you re here, you re family. we can take our family where everyone s happy. hebrew national hot dogs are unlike any other all-beef hot dog. every bite goes above and beyond the call of deliciousness. that s a big 10-4, kosher. no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better than a hotdog, hotdog. we re going to be talking about rig tony. and ricotta crepes. 9:26 is your time now. good morning, i m eun yang. the fairfax county school superintendent will announce ten new changes to the way students are disciplined today. those changes will include more monitoring of students who have been suspended. this comes after an out of control food fight at west springfield high school last week. we re going to take a quick break. weather and traffic up next. first here s what we re working on for 5:00. tonight no more digging for quarters. there s a new way to pay for parking anywhere in the district. plus, that most adults cannot. that s tonight on news 4 at 5:00. good morning. partly sunny now. temperatures are into the mid and upper 60s. later today into the mid and upper 70s and there s a possibility of a passing afternoon shower or thundershower. some overnight showers are possible and likely passing showers and maybe afternoon thundershowers on tuesday and again on wednesday. some of those showers could produce brief, heavy downpours. thursday and friday we have a lower chance of afternoon thunderstorms. and dry for the weekend. jerry, how s traffic? tom, miserable in a word. the outer loop of the beltway is jammed. there was an accident involving an overturned car. the outer loop at route 7. just minutes ago the accident was cleared but delays began at old georgetown road. 270 is jammed out of rockville. a quick check, 395 northbound, no worse than the pentagon now for the backup getting to and across the 14th street brid what a girl wants what a girl needs she s come a long way from the mickey mouse club to earning four grammy awards. christina aguilera has sold nearly 50 million albums and is now a coach on the new hit nbc series the voice. feels wrong to talk while she s singing. she ll be here to talk about it tomorrow on today. we had cee lo green earlier on the program. yeah. lots of talent around. in this half hour, more than 7.5 million couples this may be hard to believe. but 7.5 million couples live together without the benefit of marriage. that s a big house. very big. but they may have to think about different things when they think about financial and legal protections. there is a built-in system for married couples. we ll tell you how to make sure you are both secure in the situation. and we ll get outside to do gardening. but high tech gadgets are helping in the garden from how to design the garden to keeping it looking green all summer long. there are apps for just about everything. you can even water and mow your lawn by remote control. wow! can you get an app to weed? exactly. and mow the lawn. exactly. the your lawn n by remote control. i need the app for that. if you could get it to weed and mow the lawn. and in honor of italy, easy and delicious pastas. hearty rigatoni that you can whip up with the guidance from one of new york s hottest chefs. in fact one of the great pasta dishes i ve ever had was some pasta by some one ann curry. you go on and on about this recipe. i have yet to try it. i have to make it for you, natalie. you re on ellen today. i am. who doesn t love ellen? don t we just love her? anyway, we have to get her here on today. but i digress because more importantly we ve got al on today talking about the weather and, man, there s a lot of it. if you could combine that pasta and ellen, that would be the perfect combination. let s see what s happening as far as your week ahead. it s going to be wet out in the west, here in the east and cooler than normal with the exception of the central plains. midweek period more cool weather in the east, southeast, out to the west and also in the northern plains with wet weather along the east coast, above normal temperatures in the pacific northwest and then the latter part of the week we ve got warmer than usual temperatures in the east, but the wet weather continues. below normal weather, below normal temperatures out through the southwest into california. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. the air is soft and rather humid on this mnd morning. we have some sunshine now but later today as we climb out of the 60s where we are now into the 70s, we ll have increasing clouds and an increased chance of an afternoon shower, perhaps a thundershower. maybe some passing showers tonight, off and on on tuesday maybe with afternoon thunder and more of the same wed that s your latest weather. thanks, al. up next the garden goes high tech. gadgets you may need to get your lawn looking like that one after these messages. 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[ female announcer ] eggland s best. the better egg. this morning on today s garden growing high tech. new digital tools are helping people design, grow and maintain green retreats and heather is here to show us high tech gardening ideas. good morning. good morning. i m sure there is an app that tells you today you are probably not supposed to be out gardening. a weather app, right? a lot of people are embracing technology. used to be the garden would be the last sanctuary, your escape, but not anymore. it s counterintuitive. the internet is a huge part of the world. it s how we do research, how we connect with family and friends. just for example in terms of yahoo. we have seen an increase in searches for gardening tips. they are up 61% over the last month. people are involved in social gardening online. what are sites they are going to? we all have digital cameras and want to brag. share the lawn and flowers with everybody. there is a proliferation of social gardening communities. one is called yardshare. it was founded by a guy who was a new homeowner, wanted to create a beautiful backyard, do it himself. he was looking online for photos and found it disorganized. so he made a site where people could have a profile page for gardens and share with family and friends and connect with experts. everybody s involved. there is a digital plant care sensor that might be the tool for you if you don t have a green thumb, like me. this is the plant smart. it actually connects your computer a usb port. download software and connect toyota the sensor. put it into your plant or anywhere in the garden. it monitors the sunlight put it in the plant like that. set it up. it s measuring sunlight, soil, water, whatever. i was trying at at home with a basil plant. it said i m overwatering and i m not getting enough sun. it s great for anybody just starting out. it connects to a database with thousands of plant species and it s $59.99. what else? my favorite device. this is the auto mower. the auto mower. a robotic lawnmower. they have been around ten years. what s unique about this looks like a roomba. it s on a mission. it recharges itself so it knows when to go back to its home and recharge. you never have to worry about the battery running down. use it on up to three-quarters of an acre. you can control it with your smartphone. the latest generation allows you to use an iphone app to turn it off and on, use gps if it gets stolen. amazing. you don t have to worry about it running over your feet ow! you scared me. kidding. it s a cool thing. it s expensive. the dog won t like it. there is an app for everything including gardening. right. two apps i like. one is herbs plus. use it on the iphone and also on an android. it s a database of herbs. so it tells you where to grow them, where to grow best. it s $2.99 on the iphone store and the essential garden guide is for fruits and vegetables. shows you pictures of various fruits and vegetables and advises you. it s like having your own coach. that s what these things are. i love it. i m terrible. i don t have a green thumb. this will get me working all right. heather, great stuff. thank you so much. up next, money minus marriage. advice to couples on how to define your financial relationship. but first, these messages. today we re going to surprise people with the taste of activia. that s good. wow. this is really good. great flavor! it s really creamy, it s really tasty. ooh! 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 pizza hut s ten-dollar any deal is back. any pizza, any size, any crust, any toppings is now just ten dollars when you carry out. that s right. the ten dollar any deal is back. but hurry in. this deal is for a limited time only. only at your pizza hut. just love me oh oh oh just hold me oh oh oh just kiss me oh oh oh just want me l-o-v-e love, love, love this is stacy. who runs circles around asthma. and dan. he never lets high cholesterol get him too low. and amy with her arthritis well in hand. they go to walgreens. where their pharmacist not only refills prescriptions but gives advice. immunizations. and health tests. staying on top of your health starts right in your neighborhood. walgreens. there s a way to stay well. like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that s what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grain steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy s flake. hello, no seam, because it s more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. challenge the need for such heavy measures with olay. new regenerist micro-sculpting serum for firmer skin in 5 days. pretty heavy lifting for such a lightweight. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist. this morning on today s money, money minus marriage. more couples are living together without the walk down the aisle, so sharon epperson says it s important that they have their financial houses in order. she s the cnbc personal finance correspondent and has advice for us. good morning. good morning. 7.5 million couples according to the census bureau. these are people in a committed relationship unmarried. unmarried couples. the number has doubled in the past decade. we are seeing it as a growing trend. and not just for young people but for retirees as well, for people on the older end. it comes with a lot of consideration. when you re retired you won t have the same benefits as a married couple like spouse benefits from social security or a pension from your spouse. so you want to maximize financial security people in relationships can get. you say the first thing they should do is define their financial relationship. how? well, figure out what you want financially and where you have come from. what prior commitments do you have? are you unmarried now because you were in a previous relationship? perhaps you have children you need to support? who s going to support them? what are your shared expenses in terms of a home or other large expenses? determine what the financial relationship is going to look like. also, who is going to pay for what. you say it s a serious conversation you have to have. something else they have to talk about is defining what is theirs and what is theirs together. yours, mine and ours. that s good for any couple to talk about, but especially important if you are unmarried to make sure you have some things separate. have your own separate checking and savings accounts. have a shared account for household expenses but you want some things in your own name. you can plan individually and together. you should document it as well? everything should be documented. that s key. it s one of the biggest shortcomings unmarried couples face. you have no legal or financial protections like many married couples do. make sure everything is in writing. that comes down to the will, health care proxy, durable power of attorney. key documents you need to say this is the person in my life i want to take care of these things. they won t automatically be the person. how do you recommend these couples handle insurance? you need more. again, you re not going to have the spouse benefits from social security. you may not get the pension. you may not be able to roll over the ira the same way as well unless beneficiaries are designated properly. you want enough life insurance, term life insurance. make sure you have enough long-term care insurance for when you get older. again, there are discounts for married couples that may not be there for unmarried couples. look carefully at those programs. also you want to save more than if you were married for retirement. again, you want to plan individually together. so you re not planning on what you would have together in retirement because you may not have some of the benefits but you want to be sure you are secure. make sure you re maxing out on your own retirement contributions. i think you say this for married and unmarried couples that you should inform others of your wishes. very important. this is not someone who would legally be the person who wouldle automatically get things in your will. make sure everything is in writing and let people know who may say, why are they giving it to this person or having these responsibilities? make sure people around you know who is in charge in your absence. you say have it in writing because not having the proper documentation is the single biggest mistake unmarried couples make. it s a huge mistake. all couples need to write things down. in this case it s important. you don t have the same legal backing that you might have as a married couple. you want it in writing so you know what you want to happen and your loved ones know. sounds like mom was right. when you are married you are likely to have greater financial security because the rules support you. when you are unmarried you have to think of yourself as making sure you have retirement for yourself. in other words, you can t think about it in conjunction with a partner. legally you don t have the same backing, again, that you would have as a married couple. one thing you have as a married couple is you are thinking individually, but together. that s key for any down couple. you have to think about what you have to do to get your financial house in order. you can t rely on your spouse for everything. when you re unmarried it s a greater concern. it s important to get your own financial house in order. sharon epperson, great to see you, looking lovely in red. you, too. coming up, how to spice up your rigatoni and whip up some ricotta crepes. first this is today on nbc. this morning in today s kitchen easy as one, two, three. we are cooking up pasta. today s chef was just 19 when he started his restaurant. now he s gone from pizza to pasta in new york city at his newest restaurant. good to see you, chef. likewise. coming up to summer time, lots of great summer time fresh vegetables from the garden, ramps is one of them. an exciting season for chefs. we are looking for new, fresh things. ramps are the first sign. ramps are a wild leek. they grow from virginia to canada. they only have a five-week span. and they are fragrant. mysteriously fragrant. it s onion, garlic. you re not really sure. what are we starting off with? we have onions in there sweating. just trim these. slice the bulbs thin like that. we re making a rigatoni. yeah. do we cook it first? it s been in for a few minutes. takes 8 to 12 minutes. slice these. you will use the whole ramp? yeah, everything. greens and the bulb. cut it in a one-inch dice. add the stems. right. sweat those out. we have sausage crumbled. take it out of the casing, mash it in a hot pan with a fork, nice and brown. saves time if you have guests coming othing over. we can do it ahead of time. right. butter and garlic. add some stock. chicken stock? yeah. you can use veg stock if you want and omit the sausage but it s not the same dish. then the sausage and the ramp greens. mm. and cook it down. this is about 8 to 12 minutes later. you have a nice sauce for the pasta to coat it when it s out of the water. do you add the sauce to the pasta or the pasta to the sauce? add the pasta to the sauce. it s soup the other way. so we have cooked pasta, just about done. rigatoni is very familiar. it s an easy pasta. can you use other ones? use whatever you like. there are so many shapes from italy now. just add the pasta to the pan. stir it around. little seasoning. cheese? a little cheese. want to do the cheese? come on! we re making pasta here. add some cheese. there we go. all right. the secret is ground fennel seed. toasted, grind it. oh, man. gives it the sausage and pepperoni flavor. whoo! bring it over here into the bowl. add more cheese if you want. more cheese? little bit more. let s go in the back here. what do you have here? we have ricotta crepes. the recipe is on the website. you can buy them these days. this is rr ricotta cheese with spinach, basil. oh, savory crepes. wait, wait! are you guys coming in? you roll it up and do you bake it? we bake it in the oven for eight to ten minutes. looks good. man. check it out. pasta is served. that s right. it s gorgeous. it s all on the website. a little more cheese. can you come to my house and cook? absolutely. any time. this is beautiful. thank you so much. thank you very much. good to see you. thank you. we have kathie lee and hoda coming up. they will sit down with the real housewives of new jersey. first your local news and weather. jersey. first, your local news and weather. here, al. this turned out to be a beautiful day here in the nation s capital, a beautiful morning anyway. we ll check with tom to see what the afternoon will look like. 75 degrees right now and good morning at 9:56. i m barbara harrison. prince george s county police are looking for suspects after a man was shot and killed outside his home. it happened in the 8500 block on grand haven avenue just before midnight. investigators are looking for a silver-colored mazda protege leaving the scene. let s check with tom for the forecast. it is a delightful morning. good morning, barbara. around the region we are climbing into the upper 60s to near 70. we ll have more clouds around this afternoon. also an increased chance of a passing shower or thundershower late afternoon into the evening and may get a morning shower tuesday and wednesday along with afternoon showers both days. drying out for the weekend. jerry, how s traffic? miserable. the drive south on 270, backup begins at gaithersburg down the spur to the outer loop all the way to tyson s corner. an earlier accident has been cleared some time but it s going to be a while to clear out. not too bad 395 to the 14th street bridge. that s moving along nicely. we ll have all the news for you coming up on news 4 midday at 11:00 a.m. this morning. hope you plan to join us for that. [ male announcer ] using frontline plus shows your pet you care. by unleashing a complete killing force against fleas and ticks. and not just adult fleas. what makes frontline plus complete is that it breaks the flea life cycle killing adults, eggs, and larvae. and it keeps killing fleas and ticks all month long. that s why it s the #1 choice of vets for their pets, and yours. unleash a complete killing force in every dose of frontline plus. now you can brew over ice for delicious iced coffee or tea. hot or cold, keurig is the way to brew everyone s favorite cup in under a minute. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hey, everybody. welcome to our show. it is funay monday. rainy. may 16th. it s going to be like this all week long. we ll have to put on our imaginations. yes, we are. in my imagination, you re in florida in a thong. see, it works. we are all smiling. there was another bad hair day this weekend. i can t believe you did this. it was a great event. it was the komen, komen does races in new jersey. it was at the west orange location. thousands came out in the rain. don t say anything about hair. i was going to say look at that smile. tons of people. lots of people came out. it was a terrific great event. the other thing was, people were creative with their bad hair issues, which i liked. it rained through most of it. we don t have a picture, but i remember them distinctly. a bunch of women had shower caps and their visors on top. i would have done that in a second. they raised a lot of money for breast cancer. it was such a great event. it was a lot of fun. how was your weekend? i worked. i wrote our new song for everyone has a story. and still working on rewrites for saving amy. ticket sales are going well out in seattle. excited about that. nobody wants to work that hard and put on a show nobody wants to see. thank you in seattle for your support. hasn t even been opened up through the public yet. this is through subscriptions at the fifth avenue theater. i saw a reading of the show. a workshop. that s what i meant. without any costumes, without anything, just the actors and actresses up there singing in front of you, it is magical. listening to some of the songs when you re sitting there, you pinch yourself and say this is happening live in front of me. it s terrific music and a lot of fun. i m a music fan. it s going to be an adventure. so i worked. we have ed asner on the show today. i love him. he is terrific as warren buffett on a new movie on hbo called too big to fail. great movie. cody s home. mostly i spend my time stepping over his size 18 shoes. nothing makes me happier. when he was a teenager and doing that it made me so mad. now he is home only a few weeks every summer, it s like his shoes. james tate is going to the prom, missioned accomplished. it was almost stealth-like. i got a tweet that said, james tate is going to prom. apparently the head master, the woman, had a news conference and announced she was going to start doing these things on a case by case basis. she had so much pressure. you can tell she still thinks it was wrong. you can tell. you know when you feel like you ve got to make a concession and it goes against everything you believed. she was probably pressured into that. who knows what the whole story is. i m happy for them. they ll probably break up right after the prom. they are high school kids. don t you love how he signs it hmu, hit me up. some people get dates for the prom this way other people are doing clever things to get divorcees. what are they doing? we have quite the story. in the new york times sunday styles section, a 79-year-old, former seagrams ceo. her name is bonnie and they are inviting 100 nearest and dearest for cocktails to celebrate their divorce. if he have formal invitations that say, as we change the parameters of our relationship our mutual admiration and caring is constant. they say they have a solid relationship. marriage is ruining their friendship. yes. that s what s happening. they thought marriage would change them a little bit. he would want to not spend so much time in florida, not go golfing so much. she loves lectures. they discovered pretty soon into it he don t like the lectures and he still wants to play golf. it beats fighting. and he s worth $2 billion so she ll probably have a nice parting gift. since it s i ammicable and they are both rich, of course they are having a party. you re heart broken in real life. blake shelton and miranda lambert got married. he is a hot ticket. he has really been a standout to me. people are falling in love with him because he is just who he is. he is 6 5 , funny. he has one of the best personals of any guest we had. she is so sassy. they genuinely feel like a couple that is just made for each other. let me tell you, if you read their tweets, they are irreverent. i m off to my last trip to walmart. they were going to eat venison burgers she harvested herself. does that mean she shot them? harvesting. we have 70 entries into our voice competition. 70 great ones. we need to cover our eyes. we ll show you a couple of the entries. we are not allowed to see them. we ll just turn. go ahead. here is our first one. yes i can t make you love me if you don t you can t make your heart feel something it won t until you come back to me kathie lee and hoda that s what i m going to do i guess that s it. okay. those are cool. you can still send in your two minute entry. it s got to be a capella. we will pick and choose. we are not going to see any of them until it s down to the final contestants, i guess. i m so excited for that. the winner will get to actually go to the live finale of the voice. i know. that s another thing hoda wants to do. what else? we ve got a lot we ve got the housewives back again. can t get enough of the housewives. there is another segment we like a lot. this is about bloating. this astonished me. if p you eat fruit with water together, your stomach expands and according to one of our experts, it looks like you could be up to nine pounds heavier. i think you re supposed to eat fruit on an empty stomach then not eat so much fluid with eating is what it is. imagine if you re trying to do the right things, apples and water because that seems like you re getting nothing and your stomach explodes. that explains a lot in my life. it really does. it s that day where we talk about our favorite things. i know i love hair things. it s been the worst hair weather in the world. you can t wash your hair every day if you have dry hair because it turns into straw. there is stuff by frizz called restyling spray. put it on your hair when it s dry and it dampens it. for second-day styling. or third day in my case or fourth. ew. sometimes you need it. i m just saying. it s cheap, i mean inexpensive. my friend brought these all the way from mississippi for you, hoda. these are called haul couture. they are oversized. they are insulated. they start at $65. here is the cool thing about them. they have these things. so you re going to a picnic. you want to put your picnic stuff in. you put everything on the bottom then you put your casserole on this and do something else with that. to carry food around? anything or your bowling ball and gym equipment, everything else. i don t know what this is. it comes in it. i like it. isn t that cute? i need is a bigger bag. i love it. i love it. don t bring this to theater any more. you re not making friends in the theater. hoda and i come in for matinees. i have to. let s go to miss sara haines. first of all, my favorite thing is the assets. as much as we talk about spanx these are by sara blakely and they are half the price. you can get them at target. i live in these. now for the time you guys have all been waiting for this. the fan of the week. the winner is meredith rogers from chicago, illinois. she watches on wmaq. she watches while at work and when she has a day off she watches while at the gym. sara, myself, was one of the first people she started following on twitter. her favorite is hoda s play list. she loves to sing along and watch kathie roll her eyes. it gives her an hour of the day to laugh and gives her current information on trends and events. we are giving her a copy of hoda s book and kathie lee s cd. just kidding. pack your bags. we are going to myrtle beach, north carolina. she ll stay at the anderson ocean club hotel four days, three nights including round-trip air fare for two, dinner for two at the aspen grill and two passes at the wonderworks amusement park. that won the number one beach, myrtle beach. let s not forget that. thank you, sweetheart. celebrity wedding bells ring down south. a lot of celebrity news buzzing. new hershey s drops. a lot of hershey s happiness in a little drop of chocolate. pure hershey s. what?! -match it! -match it! -match it! match it! -match it! -match it! 20 cents less. what?! just match it. -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -[ horn honks ] -match it! -match it! -match it! thank you, got it. i ll match that price right here. oh! cool. [ male announcer ] we won t be beat. we have low prices every day. on everything, backed by our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. on everything, backed by our ad match guarantee. delicious gourmet of gravy. and she agrees. with fancy fest gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast, the best ingredient is love. time for today s buzz. filling you in on the juicy news buzzing around hollywood this week. hey, rob. good morning. the nicest story is the wedding. your friend blake. i met him here on the today show. he is a great guy. his girlfriend miranda, they ve been together quite a while. finally tied the not. they are the brad and angelina of the country world. it was a big to do, 550 people, i think is a big wedding. some celebrities there reba mcintyre, ceelo was there, carrie underwood. it was a down home affair. you know how down home it was? she shot the deer they served for dinner herself. what a woman. not joking. . feel like a woman she wore her mother s wedding dress. isn t that sweet? we haven t seen any pictures. we won t see pictures until wednesday because people magazine has the exclusive. we heard about another injury on dancing with the stars. this is getting dangerous. kim johnson took a terrible fall on friday and was brought out of the studio in this huge neck brace and loaded on to an ambulance. it was scary. good news is sunday we saw her back at dance rehearsals. she was wearing a brace and she will dance tonight. this is where it gets naughty though. other contestants are saying does she have an advantage now? she does have an advantage. the sympathy vote matters. living with the neck i live with, i wouldn t wish that on anybody. be happy for her and be glad you ve got your neck that doesn t oh, my gosh. honestly. it does help her. it shows guts. remember when i fell right here. i got right up and tried to beat the crap out of meredith. nobody knew until the next day i have a bruise i have to go to the doctor about it today. you get up and you go and you do. talk to us about j-lo. j-lo was performing over the weekend. her hit single her microphone went out. this is the nice part of it. there she is dancing. there is no microphone there. she did not get caught in it. her microphone went ou what j-lo did was kept dancing and the crowd went crazy. after the sound was fixed and j-lo joked, someone is going to be fired. then she did the song over again and the place went nuts. which is probably true. i used to work for her. she is a tough cookie? i would be very worried if i was the sound guy. if heads roll, it s the sound guys. this is interesting. charlie sheen tweeted ashton kutcher and there was something that seemed unkind about the tweet, i would say. what did he say? at first he was nice then he said, the second tweet he said, i look forward to getting a low rating and the show is over. it was mean. a friend said charlie is destroyed by this. he thought he was going back. we saw images of the jersey shore quick. they are all over italy. there are thousands of people all over the streets. there goes forns. look at them. they are walking around filming. those are american tourists following them. let s hope so. at least we don t have to put up with them for a couple of weeks. thanks, rob. we are about to prove age shouldn t determine your wardrobe. [ bob ] i d love to build bird houses for the rest of my life. so i ve got to take care of my heart. for me cheerios is a good place to start. [ male announcer ] to keep doing what you love, take care of your heart with cheerios. the whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. love your heart so you can do what you love. [ door closes, silence ] [ male announcer ] i know what you re thinking. leather-trimmed command center, almost 300 horsepower, infiniti surround sound, seating for seven wait. this is a minivan? makes you almost want to have kids. [ child screams ] [ male announcer ] almost. the new 2011 dodge grand caravan. now get $2,000 cash allowance or 0% financing for 60 months on select 2011 dodge grand caravans. smoky eyes look amazing, but creating them? that s a whole different story. introducing new almay intense i-color smoky-i kit. first, sweep the smoky eye color across your lid. then add the crease- accentuating shade, and a highlight under your brow. only from almay. only for me. shows your pet you care. by unleashing a complete killing force against fleas and ticks. and not just adult fleas. what makes frontline plus complete is that it breaks the flea life cycle killing adults, eggs, and larvae. and it keeps killing fleas and ticks all month long. that s why it s the #1 choice of vets for their pets, and yours. unleash a complete killing force in every dose of frontline plus. a british survey stirred up all kinds of you know what last week. they revealed the ages women believe when we should not wear certain items of clothes. long hair and heels. it goes on and on. why do the british think they know better than anybody? susan swimmer knows. fashion editor of more magazine. good to be here. we had a good time with lesley. i heard. long hair is one of those things. we look around and we see andy mcdowell wearing long hair and a lot of other celebs. what is the rule of thumb? you want to wear long hair you need to have a good haircut. you need a modern haircut. andy mcdowell is doing it, demi moore. goldie hawn hasn t changed her hairstyle since her 40s. it s different than it was before. what about leather pants. you could be 34. how arbitrary. i always say it has nothing to do with age. there are crimes against fashion though. there are things that are not worn the right way you can wear leather pants but watch how you re wearing them. don t tart it up too much. we have a couple of models. mini skirts are one of those. polls says no mini skirts after 35. erin doesn t think so. erin is 38. here is the thing. she has fantastic legs. why wouldn t you wear a mini skirt? moisturize the legs, put on heels, you look fabulous. you have great legs, show them off. in a lady-like manner. i think that is adorable. what about heels? they say you shouldn t wear crazy high heels after a certain age. that s because you can t see where you re going. you re going to end up in a ditch. tell that to meredith vieira. look at hers. come on. look at her legs. look at her fabulous legs. another one, leggings. here is my tip. wear them with flats. leggings with heels made like tawdry. leggings with flats looks fabulous. i love the way you re holding your left hand. i love that. again, i don t like the rules. it s about how you mix it up and how you re wearing it. to say a blanket statement you cannot do i d love to see the people look like who made the choices. i have seen 20-year-olds wear things that don t look right. talk about the bikini. this is a big one that got a lot of people. you shouldn t wear a bikini after 47. yes. i m riding that wave, baby. i ve got a few months. but when you look like this you can wear a bikini. 54 years old. patricia looks great. tell us about that. my tip. wear a bikini with a little more coverage. you don t need to wear a teeny, tiny string bikini. it needs to fit you. it noo eds eeds to support you. then go swimming in all of that. go right into the ocean with all that stuff on. let s not be ageist. if you have great legs, show them. don t authentic about the age. wear what looks right on you. you shouldn t show cleavage once it become as pit. find out why ed asner and in the movie up i love him says it s too big to fail. and bobbie thomas. so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we re having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later. late dinner, pill now? aghh i ve got heartburn in my head. [ male announcer ] stop the madness. take prilosec otc for frequent heartburn. one pill a day. twenty-four hours. zero heartburn. no heartburn in the first place. great. [ male announcer ] use as directed for 14 days. how can expedia now save me even more on my hotel? well, hotels know they can t fill every room every day. like this one. and this one. and oops, my bad. so, they give expedia ginormous discounts with these: unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin hotel, for less. my brain didn t even break a sweat. where you book matters. expedia. hello. and the real housewives of new jersey. they re here? a molg montgomery county high school is dealing with the loss of a student set to graduate in two weeks. midday we ll hear from the principal and find out what s happening to the person police say is responsible for the accident that killed a student and two others. good morning, i m barbara ñq [ male announcer ] are you watching cable? here s what you should be watching: your cable bill. because you could be paying way too much. stop spending more for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. call now and get this special bonus: $100 back. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers superior picture quality, the best channel lineup, more hd, plus the fastest internet in the u.s. and there s no term contract required. why keep paying for cable? get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month, plus $100 back. this is a limited time offer, so don t wait. call 1.888.884.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that s 1.888.884.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead. we are back on this fun day monday with legendary actor ed asner. while he is accomplished in so many ways, he will to us be lou grant, loveable boss of the news room in the famed 1976 hit series the mary tyler moore show. now he takes is into the financial crisis playing one of the richest man in the world, warren buffett. you know my misgivings about investment banks. soon as they started trading for themselves, the risk managers lost control. i had a very unpleasant time with solomon brothers. fair enough. we both know investment banking is a profitable business. i figure it made you a billion or so. i got to believe if the price was right you wouldn t just walk away. you know a good deal when you see one. what say you? hoda and i watched this over the weekend. so nice to see you. it s such a complicated story to tell. hbo does complicated stories very well. i have my doubts. i was sitting in our gentleman with a top ceo who just retired. he knows that world better. he said it was spot-on. it becomes a nail-biter. tell us about your thoughts on the film. well i got worried they wouldn t keep an audience because it got too complicated. as it grew and whatever i understood was sufficient that it kept growing for me. i realized this movie is practically a study course. you go back and learn each time you watch it. i hope to see it a lot of times. i think you become involved in and very informed and you re propelled forward by what i call this tragedy. a tragedy as far as i m concerned has not been repaired yet. no, it certainly hasn t. everything is in place for it to happen again. playing warren buffett is an interesting character. how did you go about preparing for that? i looked in the mirror. all of the casting, the guy that plays lloyd blankfein, i thought lloyd blankfein was playing lloyd blankfein. isn t that the guy from sex in the city? i appreciated it was not a partisan film. it didn t one side or the other except for greed is what got us there and lack of regulation. in addition to this film, you re back on stage playing franklin roosevelt. tell us how that is going. it s going well. we ve done 50 cities, 100 performances in boca raton for a week in the first of june. i love that president. i think this country has not done him enough honor. you love a live audience, as well. oh, yeah. you had them with mary tyler moore days. what sitcom do you like? no. do you watch television? no. you and betty white, all you do is read i just want to breathe your air for a while. alec baldwin is becoming the male betty white. and we both agree up is one of the greatest movies. how is our mary doing? she had surgery. i haven t found out. i was delighted to hear it was not major. we wish her all the best. that movie is tonight. it s called too big to fail on hbo. up next, always on top of the trends, bobbie thomas. oh, please. 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[ male announcer ] outlast lipstain. from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. 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. but i learned that i don t have to use a vial and syringe as part of my daily routine anymore. my doctor showed me the novolog mix 70/30 flexpen. flexpen is discreet and comes pre-filled with my insulin. flexpen goes with me and doesn t need refrigeration. and it s covered by most insurance. if you re still using a vial and syringe, ask your healthcare provider about the benefits of flexpen. flexpen is a discreet, pre-filled, dial-a-dose insulin pen. you can dial the exact dose of insulin you need. and inject insulin by pressing a button. novolog mix 70/30 is an insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within 15 minutes to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. most common side effects include reactions at the injection site, weight gain, swelling of your hands and feet, and vision changes. other serious side effects include low blood sugar and low potassium in your blood. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions including body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, sweating, or if you feel faint. flexpen is made by novo nordisk, a healthcare company committed to diabetes care for nearly 90 years. i ve made flexpen part of my routine just like spending time with my family. ask your healthcare provider about novolog mix 70/30 flexpen today. learn more about the different insulins available in flexpen at myflexpen.com. flexpen. insulin delivery that goes with you. if it s new and has something to do with beauty and style, you know who knows all about it? bobbie thomas. today style add some are bobbie thomas is here with all the products that are going to make you go, hmm. the last segment was a crazy hit with the wacky stuff you brought out. i m always like how do i put this together? first up for you, this is called budica s whoa per tomb. it visual perfume. they promise it will disappear. we ll find out by the end of the segment. now smell this right lear. i m never going to get through this segment today. smell this. that s something you eat. play-doh. it is. she is right. this fragrance company makes childhood memory like play-doh and funeral home. why would you want to smell that? this is the first odorless you spray in the air. it s odorless in the air and you can t smell it until you smell your wrist. it s your own hoda oda. that s great. there is a fun company i can barely pronounce. they make belly button to fat electrician. i ve got to smell that. hit me. then there is something similar. this is made by somebody s number two. that s what i m going to say. it s all online. read more about it. let s go to the next one, shall we? i have real snake skin manicure on my hands. it took six hours. she took a healthy snake left this behind so the snake is not harmed. she applied the real snake skin on my nails and my toes. the pedicure is what everyone i am getting used to the texture. the toes are pretty. they have plomore of a metallic shine. you can do these at home. prints have gone wild not just on your nails but your lips. they have tattoos for your lips. i saw you putting it on this morning. andrea is not thrilled. these are violet lips. she hates me right now. they are fun and would be great if you want to play around for costumes. how do you get them off? they don t come off. it takes a little while. of course, these are a genius idea. you just stick these on for no tan lines. that s what you need. kathie, you ve again waiting all morning. doesn t come in my size, baby. you have to join the party here. these are perfect tan bikinis. what if if you sweat and they get slick and come off. i tried the boob lift things. these really work. instant thigh lift. they lift the skin under your short and take away extra skin and saggy skin. what happens when you have to take it off? it hurts a little. you re unbelievable. everything you need to do to beat the bloats. the real housewives of fluj are here. smoky eyes look amazing, but creating them? that s a whole different story. introducing new almay intense i-color smoky-i kit. first, sweep the smoky eye color across your lid. then add the crease- accentuating shade, and a highlight under your brow. only from almay. only for me. if you have painful, swollen joints, i ve been in your shoes. one day i m on p of the world. the next i m saying. i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i m surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you ve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don t start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you re prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. get back to the things that matter most. good job girls. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. with olay challenge that and give drastic measures a rest. regenerist night elixir gently resurfaces for the smooth skin of a light chemical peel. sleep tight. regenerist, from olay. and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. call now and you ll get this special bonus: $100 back. there s no term contract required. if you don t absolutely love fios you cacancel any time with no early terminatiofee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers the best channel lineup, superior picture quality and more hd, plus the fastest internet in the u.s. why keep paying for cable? get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month, plus $100 back. this is a limited time offer, so don t wait. call 1.877.827.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that s 1.877.827.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead. after the explosive finale of season two of the real housewives of new jersey and the departure of the despised house wife, many viewers wondered if the drama would dissipate. the reality series premiers tonight with veterans theresa, carolynine and new additions, melissa and kathy. that sounds hawaiian not italian. it s not italian. what is it? lebanese. tell us how you re connected through family on this show. theresa is my sister-in-law. i m married to her brother. theresa is my first cousin. her father and my mom are brother and sister. did you recruit? are you the recruiter of the people or did it just kind of happen? i m not the recruiter. it just happened. i only saw the promos. it looked like a knock-down drag out at a christening. all hell break loose. a christening, how did we get to that point? anybody want to tell us what we are going to see? it s my son s christening you re going to see tonight. it s extremely deep. it s real. there are a lot of emotions going on. it s unfortunate. the cameras caught it all. it happens. you know the cameras are there. of course you know it s there. i don t know if tough s seen the episode. it s very deep. you knew this was going to happen when you got into it. nobody is forced to be part of a show like this. that s right. did you hesitate saying i don t want cameras in my face or my children s lives being chronicled? absolutely. i thought about it for months and months. i was nervous this was going to happen, and of course it did. here we are and i signed on the dotted line. caroline you are kind of the conscious. there is the connect with people. how is this season different? we look at this promo and think here we go again. give us a sense of what we are going to see. i think when you say chronicle, that s a good word. it s the lives of five children and their children and ups and downs. stuff happens. you are dealing with the boys leaving. my babies. who told them i m sitting here. still standing. where are me going? they are living life. i am so proud of them. they are out there in the world doing their thing, doing what we taught them to do. do they have jay obes and they are soaring and flying high. proud mama. danielle was the lightning rod. who is the lightning rod this time? depends on who you re talking to, what day it is. what time is it? yeah. are you ever all tempted to say that is it, a many out of it? absolutely. it s draining. and any cohen says what? you know that charming thing he is. he tries to get you to look at the positive side. you have so many wonderful opportunities. it s been a tremendous roller coaster of the good and bad. if you want a great adventure, this is it. theresa, you re at a point where you can look back and say i m in the middle of this thing. are you glad you re doing it? honestly, is this something you re pleased you re a part of? it is a great experience to be on the show. i was able to write my two books. but there is ups and downs. you re scrutinized. i didn t know getting into it. i was never on tv before. like i ve heard, it comes with the territory. you re so quiet back there what do you bring to the table with this group of women? i am married to my best friend over 20 years, almost 20 years. i have two teenagers. it s just a little peek into our lives and how we relate to one another. melissa and i spend a lot of time together. i think that each of us bring a little something different. i think it will be a really good glimpse. see the emotion and passion and follow us. we can see it all tonight. season three of the real housewives of new jersey appears on our sister network bravo. how to beat the bloat. you diet, you exercise, every time you glance down you can t believe the belly you see. it s expanding. gross. how do you beat the bloat? clinical nutrition kimberly schneider has some answers. i believe her. she doesn t have an ounce of bloat on her. zero bloat. these tips are easy for anyone to do. we can incorporate them into our lives. let s start doing it and see if it makes a difference. okay. we think eating fruit is a great thing for us. there are some down sides. that s right. the way we eat fruit is really important. fruit should only be eaten on an empty stomach. it digests so quickly it s made of water and simple sugars. if you eat it after other foods and dessert it will get backed up like a traffic jam and will bloat you out. have fruit in the morning or empty stomach. this is my going green smoothie. it has vegetables and fruit. you taste the sweetness of the fruit. are you sure? this is going to give you energy and slim you down for summer. gentlemen have this first thing in the morning. that is delicious. it is going to clear up your skin. green vegetables, celery, spinach, romaine and fruit. the fruit cuts through the taste. all my clients do this. this is going to help you look great. this is a huge tip. water with your meal, you re supposed to only drink at certain times. here is the thing. bloating is usually one of the big causes we are not digesting well. every time you eat your stomach produces gastric enzymes and juices to break down the food. when you drink water with the food, you get a stagnant pond. now everything is going to get bloated. hydrate between meals. wait a half hour on either side before drinking quantities. if you re going to sip wine or water, you can do that, but try to have the wine before dinner would be better. that anlt going to happen. let s go to the cheese. cheese, dairy in general is difficult for most of us to digest. by the time we are adults most of us stopped producing lactate to break down the lactose. it s not great to have it all the time. we want to keep calcium in the system. dark levy greens. the going green smoothie is yummy. i usually don t like these stuff. salt. we know salt is bloating not just in the stomach but around the body. can make us like nine, ten pounds heavier, which is not how we want to look. we have to train our taste buds. everything tastes better with salt on it. processed foods have salt and we are adding more salt on top. a great alternative is doss, a sea vegetable full of different minerals, iron, potassium. tastes salty. but it s really low in sodium. it s dulse. it s not going to bloat you out the way salt does. a little sea weedy taste. this is apple cider vinegar. this helps optimize digestion and helps encourage probiotics. this is my recipe for my italian vinaigrette. have raw greens at the beginning of a meal. whatever you re doing, it works. thank you, guys. of course you re only 20 years old. no. it s the way i eat, because of this. thank you. that was great. ed asner s movie is on the 23rd. don t forget. next monday. myrtle beach, south carolina. we know [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. call now and you ll get this special bonus: $100 back. there s no term contract required. if you don t absolutely love fios you cacancel any time with no early terminatiofee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers the best channel lineup, superior picture quality and more hd, plus the fastest internet in the u.s. why keep paying for cable? get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month, plus $100 back. this is a limited time offer, so don t wait. call 1.877.827.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that s 1.877.827.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead.