Transcripts For WRC Today 20110530 : vimarsana.com

captions paid for by nbc-universal television and we should start off by saying none of the above. welcome to today on this monday morning. i m lester holt. and i m natalie morales. good to be with you. today may be the unofficial start of summer, but it will feel like the middle of july across the country. in new york city, we re going for the record. we had lightning and rain. our crowds are hanging tough. we appreciate them being here. with the heat comes a threat of more severe weather in some states. we ll get to the forecast in just a moment. also ahead, new developments in the cassie anthony murder trial. her mother took the stand over the weekend as a series of text messages were introduced as evidence. and legal experts say those texts could pose a big problem for the defense. we ll have the latest coming up. sad news involving hip hop star sean kingston. the rapper best known for hits beautiful girls and fire burning was rushed to a hospital last night after crashing a jet ski in miami. we ll get more on that just ahead. all right. plus, we begin right now with presidential politics. as president obama toured the devastation in joplin on sunday, sarah palin was turning heads in washington, d.c. kristen welker has details now. reporter: good morning, natalie. on this memorial day, president obama is focused on the military. this morning he ll host a breakfast for families who lost loved ones in iraq and afghanistan and then pay a visit to arlington national cemetery, this after that emotional trip to joplin, missouri. hello, everybody. reporter: president obama got a first-hand look at the devastation in tornado ravaged joplin on sunday, comforting residents and sending a strong message. this is just not your tragedy. this is a national tragedy. and that means there will be a national response. reporter: but back in d.c., his one time political rival sparked fresh speculation about whether she ll run for president. how are you? reporter: sarah palin alongside thousands of vietnam veterans for the rolling thunder ride. kicking off an east coast bus tour from the nation s capitol to new hampshire. this is our first stop. we re very, very thankful to have such an event. reporter: and she post on her website, whether you re riding the open road or frozen tundra, you re celebrate a free spirit. what could be more american with that? her schedule is secret with stops in gettysburg and philadelphia, pennsylvania. palin is keeping her own 2012 plans close to the vest. while some say they doubt she ll dive in. i don t see sarah palin getting into the race at all. i don t think there s a place for her. her 2008 running mate, senator john mccain insists the former alaska governor could beat president obama if she runs. of course she can, she can. whether she ll even run or not, i don t know. deficit reduction talks led by joe biden continue this week as members of both parties try to hammer out a deal on raising the debt ceiling and performing entitlements. republican congressman paul ryan s plan to transform medicare for americans under age 55 remains a political flash point. the president says medicare needs to be on the table. it is on the table, end of discussions. you would concede it s got to look a lot different than the ryan plan? no. it s on the table. reporter: democratic senator chuck schumer fired back. we are calling on senator mcconnell not to cling to the ryan plan as he s doing, which ends medicare as we know it, but to take it off the table. reporter: now also this morning, president obama is expected to nominate martin dempsey to the joint chiefs of staff. thank you very much. admiral mike mullen is with us. you ll be retiring, stepping down as chairman of the joint chiefs. osama bin laden located and killed on your watch. what will you take away most from these four years snr. well, i think these four years is the privilege and opportunity to lead and serve with over 2.2 million young men and women who in the almost 43 years i ve had the privilege of wearing the uniform are the best i ve ever seen. they ve been tested and they have delivered time and time again. they, their families, truly it has been a great, great privilege to be with them. we continue to pay the huge price certainly in afghanistan now going on almost ten years. i mentioned the killing of osama bin laden. you were recently in pakistan speaking to your counterparts there. what was your message to them after the hard feelings about the u.s. taking that unilateral action on their soil? i felt it was an important visit. i was there with secretary clinton. i think together we wanted to, first of all, send a message of reassurance with respect to the relationship. the relationship is a very important, complicated and difficult one. we have shared interests. certainly the focus on terrorism being at the top of the list. and we certainly talked about that. we talked about the military sharing, the intelligence sharing. but we also talked about continued economic development. mostly it was a trip that was a very, very comprehensive discussion of the difficult issues that we have and the commitment on both sides to continue to try to work on it. and there was so much about the death of bin laden and where that leads us in the war on terror. does it change anything in terms of plans going forward in afghanistan? if you re the family member of someone who served over there perhaps multiple times, can you come away from this thinking maybe we re going to get out of there sooner than we thought? i think certainly the death of bin laden was a very positive step. i m a little leery of making long-term assumptions based on that particular outcome. i think it s really too soon to tell. al qaeda is it not the organization it was ten years ago when it struck us on 9/11. they ve been significantly reduced in terms of their overall ability. but they still plan and want to kill as many americans as they possibly can. we need to make sure that obviously they re unable to achieve that. we ve made progress in afghanistan, significant security progress in particular. i think we will continue to do so this year. i think we ll have a much better sight picture on where to go in afghanistan and in the region towards the end of this year. admiral, i was struck by your comments you gave at the commencement address at west point. make sure that people appreciate the work of the arms forces but you don t think they understand the weight of the burden our troops carry. just this past week eight americans kill killed in an explosion in southern afghanistan. the fact of the matter is, admiral, people talk to me about the news all the time. they re not talking about that. they re not talking about those eight soldiers. so what are your thoughts on that and how we perceive thi almost ten-year war now and the sacrifice that americans are making? i ve been very encouraged by the support that american people have shown to our men and women in uniform, across the board and their families. what i was speaking to at west point was just a concern i have and others, actually, about a disconnect between our men and women in uniform and their sacrifices and the depth of the stresses, the depth of the sacrifice and the connection between the american people and our men and women and their families. we re less than 1% of the population. we come from fewer and fewer places throughout the country. and, yet, as i indicated they re extraordinary young people. they made such a difference. and on this memorial day as we remember those who have fallen, those in that memory i think we should also recall and look forward to what those young people who sacrificed so much would want america to be. and that is an america that fully embraces our men and women, whether they re on active duty or veterans as they return home to take up their lives that many of them put on hold to fight these wars. they appreciate the words. admiral, we appreciate you. again, congratulations on your upcoming retirement. we don t speak again, thank you for your service to the country and certainly to all those who sacrificed so much on behalf of our country. we appreciate it. thank you, lester. all right. 7:10 now. here s natalie. lester, thank you. now to more on president obama s tour of tornado ravaged joplin, missouri. dozens remain unaccounted for. ron allen has the latest. ron, good morning. reporter: good morning to you, natalie. this is a community that is full of faith where people are convinced there will be much better days ahead. people are busy rolling up their sleeves here. while president obama was here, he tried to reassure them the nation will do everything possible to help rebuild. joplin gathered for a moment of silence. 5:41 p.m. sunday, exactly one week after the storm that survivors say changed everything. president obama walked the neighborhoods to see for himself. but one of the mest post powerf tornadoes the nation ever endured had done. when we were in tuscaloosa a few weeks ago, i talked about how i had not seen devastation like that in my lifetime. you come here to joplin and it is just as heartbreaking and in some ways even more devastating. i haven t slept in days. after he passed by, i just collapsed. i felt like we were going to be okay. reporter: this holiday weekend, thousands drew strength at a memorial service, all about faith and resilience. the president addressed the greatest worry here that weeks from now joplin will be forgotten. as president, i can promise you, your country will be there with you every single step of the way. reporter: words much welcomed by a self-reliant people determined to recover. st. john s hospital, the battered anchor of the community reopened. it s now a mobile clinic for up to 60 patients. thousands of volunteers are here helping folks like jim rice put a ruf baoof back over his famil head. the volunteers are overwhelming. there is not 15 minutes you don t have somebody coming up offering to help. reporter: heroism saved so many lives. let us live up to their example. to make each day count. to live with a sense of mutual regard to live with that same compassion that they demonstrated in their final hours. reporter: and through it all, the search for more victims continues here. the good news is that the death toll has not significantly changed in recent days, it stands at around 140. the number of missing has been greatly reduced down to about 40. this community continues counting its losses and counting its blessings as well. natalie? ron allen in joplin, missouri. thank you so much, ron. let s get another check of the top stories of the day. ann has the morning off. so my saturday partner is at the news desk. good morning. the head of nato declared that gadhafi s ruling in libya is coming to an end. nato powers are ratcheting up the strikes to break the deadlock that let him hold on to power despite that rebel uprising. britain said they were adding huge bunker busting bombs on libya. in afghanistan today, taliban militants pressed the spring huge bunker-busting bombs. taliban militants pressed their spring offensive attacking an italian base with at least two car bombs. american commanders apologized for a weekend air strike that killed at least nine civilians. more than 100,000 people spent the night without electricity in southern michigan where fierce thunderstorms sunday knocked down hundreds of trees, blocking streets and dragging down power lines. heavy thunderstorms also hit the chicago area forcing the cancellation of more than 450 flights sunday at o hare international airport. officials are monitoring the air and water after a huge explosion and fire this weekend at a chemical plant in hudson, north carolina. homes and businesses within two miles of the plant were evacuated after saturday s explosion. there were no serious injuries. former texas governor bill clements died sunday. in 1979 the texas oilman became the state s first republican governor since reconstruction. bill clements was 94 years old. and rapper shaun kingston known for his hit beautiful girls was hospitalized in miami sunday night after police said his water scooter slammed into a bridge. his female passenger was also injured. the space shuttle endeavour is on its way home for the final time. after a round of handshakes and hugs they pulled away from the international space station overnight. it is scheduled to land early wednesday morning at the kennedy space center in florida. and 100th running of the indianapolis 500 sunday was one to remember. for starters, driver willpower, love the name, left his first pit stop with one loose wheel which promptly rolled away. and the ending, one of the most exciting ever. rookie j.r. hildebrand was one lap away from victory when you hit the wall on the final turn. he handed the victory to dan wheldon, his second indianapolis title. it is 7:15. back to natalie, lester and scott. even after hitting the wall he came in second place. it was like the movie cars in real life. kind of. kind of hobbled over the finish line. all right, we want to get a check of the holiday forecast. the weather channel s scott williams is in for al. amy said 7:15. it looks like 2:15 in the morning. good morning. thunderstorms rolling through the greater new york city area. those are moving out but as we look at the national forecast, we re going to talk about the heat. that is going to build not only for your memorial day but for the days to come. heat advisories in effect for washington, d.c., philadelphia. we re talking about temperatures in the low 90s. records could fall for sections of the southeast. 90s in atlanta as well as new orleans over to indianapolis. so of course looking at the overall forecast for today, 90 degrees in new york city after the morning storms move out of the region. 93 in atlanta. we could find some strong and severe storms in the upper midwest so we ll watch places like sioux falls as well as the twin cities for some hail and also tornados. that s a look at your national forecast. here s a look at the weather closer to where you live. near record heat today. we re going to get up to 95 degrees. in fact we re talking about back-to-back 90s because tomorrow is going to be a hot one too. we re at 73 degrees currently and there is a heat advisory for today that doesn t expire until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. so hot, sticky stuff throughout. as a matter of fact, it s warm and humid now. temperatures are now at largo and laurel right now is at 73 degrees where it s 73 right in d.c. as well. your high today, 95 degrees. 96 tomorrow. some storms to lester? scott, thanks. when you hear of a ghost town, images of the wild west might come to mind. now they re popping up in a most unexpected place. nbc s ian williams explains. reporter: this is what chinese cities usually look like. this was designed for a million people with all the trappings of a not earn city, all that s missing are the people. a museum large library and theater surround a deserted central square. there is a university and nine-story hospital that is treated on average just one person a day since it opened last fall. there aren t many patients now this nurse told me but more will be coming. at least the buses run on time. now largely empty streets. undeterred by the almost complete absence of passengers. there are three bus routes. this is the least crowded bus i ve ever been on in china. there is a 100 strong police force. this officer assuring me that this is a safe place. so it s quiet for you? yeah, yeah. too quiet. reporter: yet, the building frenzy continues. the new city built for $5 billion is seen as a vast extension of the old town 15 miles away. there was supposed to be 300,000 people living here by now. instead, there s about a tenth of that. everything here has been sold? yet this real estate agent told me most of the apartments have been sold. not to live in, but as investments. fueled by easy money and in anticipation of ever rising prices. an entire city built on speculation. for many people, the city represents a bold vote of confidence in china s future growth. to others, it s just one more example of a huge and dangerous property bubble. either way, all this isn t china s only ghost city. here s is another massive government building. reporter: using google earth, this man identified at least six other ghost cities across china. millions of empty homes. this is a great big bubble. this is the tip of the iceberg. reporter: it come to an snend. it will come to an end. reporter: at a dinner we met wang ying, a student who exchanges an empty campus by day for an evening job in an empty restaurant. i can t wait to get home she told me. nearby, a new shopping mall. there have been no tears for any of the 500 retail spaces. the chinese government is trying to reign in the soaring property prices on which the ghost cities are built, trying to deflate the bubble before it bursts and shakes china and the world economy. the lonely occupants settle down for the night believing that part of a brave new world but it s a world that has all the trappings of speculative madness. for today, ian williams, nbc news. just ahead, new evidence in casey anthony s murder trial. what her text messages to an exboyfriend may reveal and how damaging they could be to the defenses case. but first this is today on nbc. 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(announcer) it s more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. choosey moms, choose jif. good morning. it s 7:26 on this memorial day, monday, may the 30th. i m joe krebs. in the news for today, the national memorial day parade will wind its way through downtown washington beginning at 2:00 this afternoon. the annual event draws hundred s of thousands of spectators to d.c. every year. u.s. park police have already started closing several roads around the national mall for the parade. around 1:00 this afternoon constitution avenue will close between 15th street and 23rd street. all roads should be reopened, though, by about 4:00. a check of the forecast and traffic coming up next. it s going to feel very much like mid-summer today. 73 the temperature right now. heat advisory is up for today as well as tomorrow, so that means that the heat index values, what it s going to feel like outside, a little later between 100 and 105 degrees. from the 70s today to, again, the high of 95. we cool down at the end of the week. we re still dealing with an accident on the baltimore-washington parkway. it s closed between 198, 197 in maryland. over to springfield, traffic moving very smoothly right now, no problems. back to you. another news update in 25 minutes. 7:30 on this monday, memorial day morning, may 30th, 2011. a few showers to start the day on the plaza. these folks not letting that spoil their holiday. we appreciate them being out there for us. we will join them in a little bit. meanwhile, inside studio 1-a, i m natalie morales alongside lester holt. in this half hour, how long do you think can you live without tractor-trailer? we have air-conditioning to day, no internet, no technology. we ll take you inside a community where people are choosing to live with no power whatsoever. and what is interesting is why. we ll tell you about it. also, we re going to meet a true super hero, a little boy that put himself in harm s way to save his little brother from an attacking dog. and we want to tell you about a show on thursday. matt will be live from vatican city, the spiritual home of the world s catholics. he ll show you around the remarkable city state and examine the issues currently facing the church. plus, he ll have the honor of having an audience with pope benedict the xvi. that s today at the vatican thursday. absolutely. first, let s begin this half hour with emotions running high at the murder trial of casey anthony. nbc s kerry sanders has the latest. reporter: in the first five days of trial, 25-year-old casey anthony has cried almost every day. what do you recognize it to be? her bed. reporter: she often cries when someone mentions her daughter s name as happened saturday when her mother cindy testified for the prosecution. prosecutors argue casey murdered her daughter, putting duct tape across her nose and mouth so she could escape the duties of motherhood and instead live the life of a party girl. what is that a photograph of? that is a photograph of the body contest going on. reporter: on saturday, casey s one time boyfriend told jurors about a series of text messages. i m so sorry for not telling what you happened. we obviously need to talk. i need you and i love you more than you know. is this the first question you asked her? yes, sir. where is caylee? yes, sir. and her response? i honestly don t know. and what did you respond? i don t know are you serious? reporter: damning evidence that supports their claim casey is a calculated murderer with if convicted should be sentenced to death. the weakest part of the case is what the motive for a mother to kill her own child? the prosecution is emphasizing this is somebody much more committed to partying than she was to the life of her own daughter. reporter: it s a gripping real life drama that the judge has said is bigger than the o.j. simpson trial and legal analysts say that s not off the mark. because in addition to live television coverage, this spectacle is playing out in a newly connected world with live internet streams, twitter messages, and an entire blog. google the names casey anthony and o.j. simpson and there are more hits for casey. even though it s memorial day, the judge considered having testimony today but then said opening the court and bringing in deputies and bay liiliffs wo be too expensive. so the jurors will spend their holiday away from family and friends. their every conversation supervised by bailiffs to make sure there are no outside influences to taint their opinions of this case because the only information they re supposed to have is what they hear inside the courtroom. for today, kerry sanders, nbc news, orlando. and for more insight, we re joined by a former prosecutor and nbc news legal analyst. good morning. good morning. the evidence here that we re looking at, the series of text messages that were sent by casey anthony to her boyfriend, anthony lazaro just hours after caylee was reported missing, how damaging are the messages? i think they re going to be a difficult hurdle for the defense to overcome. they certainly showcasy as somebody who wasn t originally concerned about the whereabouts of her daughter. then when it becomes clear the daughter is missing does the text messages that show more concern about herself than for her missing child. and casey s mom as we saw cindy took the stand very emotional testimony there. and what kind of insight are the jurors getting into the anthony family especially after the bombshell that she was abused by her father? jurors have to weigh credibility. it s going to be difficult for them to believe. this is a grandma who is married to somebody who participated in a cover-up of an accidental drowning of their granddaughter. it s probably not going to fly and not going to be credible. i that i is so damaging for casey. while it may be good at a mitigation phase of the trial to say sexually abused and dad had a part in it, during the trial to throw your family under the bus, to try to save yourself if, you don t win with that, the jur jury is going to hate you. that is not going to help you. after the sentencing phase. cindy recounted what she believes with a series of elaborate lies that casey told her. did her testimony help paint the prosecution s case of casey being a liar and essentially a partier? she was, as you said, more concerned about her party life than her daughter who is mising? that s exactly right. she comes across as a calculating cold blooded liar. once determined to be a liar in the eyes of the jury and you can t believe anything she says, you can t believe her defense either. i think they ve gone really in the very difficult direction, the defense with, this all or nothing strategy that you either have to believe everybody else or you have to believe casey. and part of their bombshell allegations in the opening statement that caylee drowned in that above ground swimming pool, we also heard from cindy on in a. she said that caylee simply was too small, could not climb up into that swimming pool. how much does that hurt the defense s case as well? well, i think the defense is going to try to spin that and say you needed a ladder to get out. grandmother testified she pulled the ladder out and that s how they re going to pin the drowning thing. i think they painted themselves in a bad corner. we ve seen a lot of emotion, not just from the mother, from cindy, but we ve also seen from casey anthony as well. what is this then do to the jury the jurors? how are they going to react given all the emotion that we ve seen. this is the first time year suing a lot of emotion from casey. i think jurors are going to expect testimony ton emotional and they re not going to decide this case on sympathy. they re going to base it on evidence. the emotion goes to credibility. how much can you fake that kind of emotion? if the grandmother is lying and just, you know, really trying to help the grandfather not look like he had something to do with her death and cover it up, how can she really fake the tears? that s what the jury has to evaluate. do they believe her? is she sincere? is she credible? if she is, once again, mother is pitted against daughter in the fight to find out what s the truth about what happened to granddaughter. absolutely. and you re talking about this trial. they re saying it could go seven to eight weeks or in the first week here, what do you expect will happen next week? i think the prosecution is going to continue to build its case very carefully with evidence brick by brick by brick. the difficulty for the defense is usually they don t have any burden to prove anything. they have to just attack the state s case. they put on such a strong theory of defense. now they have something to prove. so the jury is waiting to see what evidence do you have? all right. susan, always great to you have. thanks for working for us on a hol day. appreciate it. let s get a check of the wea gee weather from scott williams who s in for al today. scott? good morning, natalie. of course we ve been dealing with rain and thunderstorms here in the greater new york city area but it s moving out, not stopping the spirits of folks here from evergreen, colorado. good morning, what s your name? ryan. tell me about your hat. can you spin it for me? yeah. it symbols colorado wind power. evergreen children s choreal here. i m jeff and this is my wife. nice to meet you. what s in the box? the top of our wedding cake. it s been eaten a little bit but there s plenty left if anybody wants some. not enough for the whole crowd out here this morning. happy anniversary to you. let s get a check of the weather. we re tracking the threat for severe storms moving through the upper midwest so from fargo to sioux falls to omaha watching out for damaging winds and hail also some lightning. right now we re tracking some storms moving through the bismarck area as well as minneapolis. strong storms moved through the greater new york city area and continue to diminish so that is good news. we ll be talking about the heat and humidity. new york city a high today of 90 degrees. low 90s in washington, d.c. 93 in atlanta as well as memphis. we re going to keep things cloudy and cool for the pacific northwest with rain. that s a look at the national forecast on this memorial day. here s a look at the weather closer to where you live. and right here you don t need to be barbecuing to feel the heat, it s going to be a hot one out there today. near record heat later today. 73 is your current reading at reagan national airport. the heat advisory is up for today as well as tomorrow and expires at 8:00 p.m. tuesday. we ve got 73 degrees right now in the district. areas north in montgomery county are now at 74 degrees. fairfax at 72. and we will see a high today again of 95 and then slightly higher tomorrow. it starts cooling down on and for your weather 24 hours a day, log on to weather.com. that s a look at your memorial day forecast. natalie, back to you. all right. thank you, scott. coming up, the pint sized hero who used his own body as a shield to save his younger brother from an attacking dog. we ll meet him right after this. . i feel like i have to wind myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the lack of energy. 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[ kim ] you can have it all. so i m taking charge with claritin-d. it relieves even my worst allergy symptoms. nothing works stronger, faster or longer for nasal congestion and sinus pressure without drowsiness. i only live claritin clear, with claritin-d. we search, browse, and shop from anywhere. we live in a social world. isn t time we had a social currency to match? membership reward points from american express. use them to get the things you love on amazom.com. where everyone feels at home. where the company, the conversation, and the food make all who enter feel welcome. a place that feels as warm with a crowd. as it does with just a friend. it s a place you ll find town house crackers. because they re part of what makes your place the place. welcome to town house. where good times reside. a florida boy is being celebrated for his courageous act. he used his own body to shield his little brother and friend from an attacking dog. reporter: for 6-year-old timo and his 4-year-old brother, their backyard was their sank wary, a place for their toys, a place for soccer practice, and until recently, a safe place to play. do you know what you want to do when you grow up? yes. saving people s lives. reporter: it was in his backyard where he did just that. he saved his brother s life. when a german shepard guard dog escaped from the owner s fenced in property across the street. like reporter: he was going like that? were you scared when he did that? yeah. reporter: what did you think? i think i think i m going to do something to that dog when it comes. reporter: as he and another 4-year-old friend plays, the growling dog approached the boys. timo quickly grabbed his friend and brother pushing them both to safety underneath his dad s truck. and here he thought in a split second, that s the moment it took to for the dog to lunge at them. even while the dog was mauling him, he was telling his brother to stay. reporter: why did you protect him? i protect him so he cannot get bit or go to the hospital. reporter: then you got bit. how did that feel? scary. reporter: his father who had been watching the boys was around the corner when he heard the screams. [ speaking spanish ] reporter: rushing to the rescue, he grabbed a shovel and went for the dog finally releasing his dog. timo was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he was treated for multiple bite wounds taking 30 staples. weeks after the attack, he is still hesitant to come out of the house. this detective has been visiting him and helping timo once again venture outside. every step he goes, he pans the area to make sure there s no dogs. for your unselfish act of bravery, lied like to present this to you on behalf of the city of homestead. reporter: timo s courage is not going unnoticed. a big brother and now a backyard hero. i think i m going to be a hero some day. reporter: you are a hero now. for today nbc news, homestead, florida. up next, how long can you go without electricity? we ll visit a community where they have turned off the modern world right after. this with chili s new $6 lunch break combos. choose from a house salad or hot, tasty soup. then pair it with a massive texas toast half sandwich, like our delicious classic turkey or our gigantic new southwestern blt, smothered in cilantro lime mayo and jam-packed with three glorious slices of applewood smoked bacon. served with fries, that s big flavor for just 6 bucks! the $6 break for bold, weekdays at chili s. erika: . my computer is the same as a new computer. vo: so to show her what she s missing, we built a pc store in her house. erika: (gasp) employee: come on in. make yourself at home! erika: this is my home! employee: let s take a look! erika: (lifting laptop) it s really light. honey, help me shop! employee: you can get up to seven hours on this battery. jesse: the color really pops out. employee: everything s wireless. wireless keyboard. jesse: that s impressive. i like this one better. erika: and i like this one. vo: new pc. what s it gonna be? erika: i m a pc, and i got what i wanted. jesse: as usual. man: and all the pens are put down. woman: and everything there is to learn is learned. man: till the heroes retire and the monsters return to their dens. woman: and all the plots are wrapped up. man: till that day. boy: by hook or by crook. girl: by book or by nook. woman: i will read. best seven years of my life. i know, dad. your comforter. okay. mr. cuddles. toilet paper? oh, hey, scott. here, scott extra soft tissue. it s their softest roll ever. check out the pattern. it s softness done right. same soft rolls we use at home honey! one more thing, guys. oh nice a shoe rack! actually, it s a toilet paper rack. sweet. huh. huh. [ female announcer ] do you know scott? scott extra soft is softness, done right. now put it right above your eye. good. bringing heroes home for generations. just another reason chevy runs deep. back now with our special series curious medicine. imagine living without electricity, no computer, no television, not even a refrigerator or air conditioning. some people are doing it because they say the energy it takes to run them makes them sick. nbc s keith miller has details. reporter: this is real isolation. beyond the thick forest is a community of people living just out of reach of civilization because they say they have to. we are allowed to visit only after removing cell phone batteries. we have been shooting this story on a high definition camera. but our subjects have asked us to switch to a 20-year-old vhs camera because they say it has less effect on them. this family has been living without electricity for ten years. you have a television? no. a radio? no. no fridge? we don t have any electric light. electrohyper sensitivity is not a medical diagnosis but in sweden, it is recognized as a functional impairment and based on official government surveys, an estimated quarter of a milan swedes have some level of it. people who are electrosensitive claim that signals from cell phones and electrical devices bring on symptoms like headaches, mental confusion or extreme fatigue. the vast majority are mild cases but several hundred like bo and sonya and their neighbors say they have become so sensitive that they can no longer live in the city. you can feel a difference since we came into your house? definitely, yes. reporter: what do you feel? the most prominent thing is the very strong burning on the skin. i get sort of shaky and the heart gets affected. reporter: since we ve been talking, you now developed a rash on your neck. that s from the camera. reporter: susan moved her seven years ago. living without electricity, that s hard. you have to carry in water to make food and to wash yourself. reporter: she said wi-fi triggered her condition. i get headaches. i can t think straight. reporter: psychology professor thinks that such cases may all be in the mind. her team did 50-minute exposure tests on electrosensitive people in the united kingdom to see if a hidden cell phone antenna was turned on or off. we found overall that actually people couldn t tell above chance. so they re just guessing in terms of whether it is on or off. reporter: but the professor, a neuroscientists who investigated the effects on the body say people are not faking it and believes the long term effect of composure are worrying. you hear the base stations. you are exposed 24/7. the whole body. the long term effects points to leukemia, neurological diseases. reporter: back in the forest, the monthly book bus arrives. it provides a valuable link to the outside world. a chance to socialize before retreating to the sanctuary of the woods. it appears idyllic but for those who feel they have no choice but to live here. it s beautiful. but it s depressing. reporter: a beautiful prison with invisible bars. for today, keith miller, nbc news, sweden. i think you have to turn it off. wow. i think it s stress. what do you think? i don t know. i m not in their shoes. fascinating. amazing. still to come, the calendar says may, but with the scorching heat, it s starting to feel like july. richard: so delicious, so delicious! i ve never tasted anything so delicious. richard, why are you wearing grandpa s jacket? i m not richard. i m grandpa smucker. male announcer: tim and richard smucker always looked up to their father and grandfather knowing that one day they too would make the world s best jam. grandpa says it like, i ve never tasted anything so delicious! i ve never tasted anything so delicious! tim: [ laughing ] you got it! male announcer: for five generations, with a name like smucker s, it has to be good. i fall away [ female announcer ] never let the sun catch you off guard. moisturize with eucerin everyday protection spf 15. it s a light, non-greasy lotion that not only moisturizes your skin, it also protects it from uva and uvb rays. put the health of your skin first with eucerin everyday protection body lotion and eucerin everyday protection face lotion with spf 30, only from eucerin. 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[ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. we have 81 degrees already at 7:56 on this memorial day weekend as we look at a picture of arlington national cemetery this morning. good morning, i m joe krebs on this may 30th. in the news for today, the northbound side of the baltimore-washington parkway remains closed at this hour between route 197 and route 198 in laurel. the southbound side just reopened. park police are investigating a deadly single car crash from early this morning. we do not know any information about the victim. firefighters are investigating an intense overnight fire in montgomery county that burned a barn to the ground and destroyed two silos. the flames broke out around 1:00 this morning in gaithersburg. we ll take a break and this is like an iceberg volcano. it s like lightning in a snowball. it s like frozen hot chocolate. ah! ah! you got it! yeah, i was just reading what was on the cup. try our new dunkin donuts frozen hot chocolate. it s like frozen hot chocolate. america runs on dunkin . pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and other financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. the heat index today will reach into the triple digits. it s going to be hot and humid today. right now we re at 74 degrees right in the district. tyson s corner 72 and wheaton, you re currently at 73. your high today 95 degrees. steve. veronica, northbound baltimore-washington parkway still closed, southbound reopened as you just heard. if you re heading up to bwi or baltimore, you still want to take i-95. back to you, joe. [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. 8:00 now on a monday morning. may 30th, 2011. it is memorial day. we welcome the sailors and marines and all the good folks who have come down here to say hello to us. our thanks for spending part of the holiday weekend. the music there is the sound of new kids on the block. they joined forces for another blockbuster boy band, back street boys. they ll take the summer concert stage together this friday only on today. out here on the plaza right now, lester holt along with natalie morales. matt and meredith are off today. that makes the back street boys, nkopdstb. you have too much time on your hands. clearly. people already, there are reports of one person actually camping out already across the street. let s make sure they get a good spot. let s hope the rain clears up for them as well. it s going to be a big concert. but not only is that going to be a big one. but thursday morning on today we have the newly crowned american idol scott mccreery. he is going to come along with lauren alaina. big, big, big week here on today. we re going to meet a meet a remarkable woman. through her grieving process, she found a way to help other military widows cope with the pain and embrace life again. a remarkable story. great story. first, let s get a check of the morning s top stories right now. ann curry is off. a amy robach is at the news desk. there are prayers and flag raisings in afghanistan as troops there pause to remember the fallen in memorial day services. more than 1400 u.s. troops have been killed in the decade-long war. and the top u.s. generals in afghanistan are apologizing today for a weekend air strike that killed at least nine civilians. in yemen, witnesses say government warplanes carried out air strikes today in a southern town seized by militants over the weekend. a medical officer says ground forces loyal to yemen s embattled president stormed a protest camp firing on civilians. the officer says at tack killed at least 20 people. at a white house ceremony today, president obama is nominating martin dempsey to head the joint chiefs of staff to replace mike mullen who is retiring. the president is also taking part today in a wreath laying ceremony at arlington national cemetery. proe made a commitment to tornado ravaged joplin, missouri, saying the government will help the residents rebuild. the president toured the city sunday and attended a memorial service for the more than 140 people killed a week ago. a severe thunderstorm and possibly a tornado blew through southern michigan on sunday. it uprooted trees and tore roofs off houses and left tens of thous ondz of people without electricity. japan s nuclear crisis is galvanizing german opposition to nuclear power. germany announced today it will shut down all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. and more than 250 of the nation s colleges and universities are making an extra effort to go green during graduation season. they re using caps and gowns made from recycled plastic bottles. the gowns cost more money and some argue that is unfair to cash strapped graduates. it is now 8:03. let s head to natalie, lester and scott who is nearby. he is nearby. he s going to explain this rain and the rest of the is nearby an the rain and the rest of the forecast. good morning, natalie and lester. of course we ve been dealing with showers and storms moving through the new york city area. they re moving out right now so that s good news. we want to put the spotlight on the birthday girls this morning from washington, d.c. hello. tell us your name and how old you are today. alex and i m 11. ava, i m 10. sara, i m 11. and they re all cousins from washington, d.c. happy birthday to you guys. let s get a quick check of the weather right now and we ll take you into our pick city of the day. we ll go to huntsville, alabama, waff, 48 abc there. temperatures topping off in the low 90s so we re dealing with a heat wave for the southeast. 92 degrees for washington, d.c., 93 for you in atlanta, 93 as we move into the memphis area. we ll track scattered showers and storms in the upper midwest. that s a quick look at your national map. here s a look at the weather closer to where you live. it will be very summer-like right here today, feeling very much like mid-part of july. we ve got temperatures that are in the 70s right now. 74 degrees. we re continuing to rise quickly. by noon time today, probably getting up to about 80 degrees. so we re going to top out at 95, but with high humidity it will feel like temperatures are over 100. tomorrow same thing, some hazy sunshine. 94 with some passing storms during lots of birthday this is morning. we have another birth day. happy birthday to teresa. happy birthday. thank you. where are you from? new orleans. all right. happy birthday. that s a look at your memorial day forecast. natalie, back to you. thank you. still ahead, are you struggling to come up with your memorial day barbecue menu? we re going share tips and easy regulation peas that your guests will love. 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[ male announcer ] wonder where the durango s been for the last two years? it toured around europe, getting handling and steering lessons on those sporty european roads. it went back to school, got an advanced degree in technology. it s been working out more muscle and less fat. it s done more in two years than most cars do in a lifetime. now lease the all-new 2011 dodge durango express all-wheel-drive for $359 a month for well-qualified lessees. we re back at 8:08. as we honor those who served our country, it s important to remember the loved ones they leave behind. an exceptional group of women has found a unique way to do exactly that. here s nbc s peter alexander. reporter: they are fun loving and fearless. a brave group of women with something else in common, too. they re all military widow who s lost their loved ones in iraq and afghanistan. terron davis was just 21 when she lost her soul mate michael in iraq a month after he surprised her at home. we had two weeks of r & r and they were perfect. on april 9th, he had to go back. so i took him to the airport trying not to cry because i promised him i wouldn t. finally he said i have to go, baby. he looked down at me. he said why do we fit so good together? i always said because we were made for each other. reporter: a month later, she received that dreaded knock on the door. her husband was killed by a roadside bomb. the last thing i said to him was i love you more than life itself. reporter: living without michael is an every day struggle. when i went out into the world, i felt like they didn t want to embrace, you know, who i was which was a military widow. and in the back of my mind i m thinking that title symbolizes my husband s sacrifice and my own and if i can get through it, maybe one day it can signify my survival. reporter: to help her own healing, she began reaching out to other widows but talking alone wasn t enough. soon she started organizing events like parra sailing, surfing, even swimming with dolphins to bring this courageous group of women together in what she called the american widow project. i found myself laughing and smiling for the if i ever time. i look around and here is a group of extraordinary women who know the level of pain that i ve been through and have that want to find life again like i do. kept laughing. i kept smiling. reporter: the group brings a badly needed sense of healing and hope to this new generation of military widows like 26-year-old sarah mcconnell. it s been awesome to just get to know other widows more intimately and i feel like a team with them now. i feel like i have support. we re battle buddies. we re going to go through this together. reporter: from the golf course where they hold an annual tournament this year raising a record amount oh, my god! oh, my god. let s get on the airplane. come on. reporter: to the skies. carrying on the camaraderie their husbands once shared this month they took an unforgettable leap of faith. diving out of a plane at 13,000 feet and in the process, honoring the husbands adventurous spirit. jamie lost her us is nick in 2007. this is the picture that my husband jumped with every single time. reporter: her goal to reach all of the nearly 3,000 iraq and afghanistan widows through prot jekt s website and include them all in weekend get aways like traveling together to san francisco for valentine s day and volunteering in new orleans. seeing the widows and what they ve done with their life, it give mez motivation to do something with my life. i want kevin to be proud of the wife he married. reporter: these women form a unique sisterhood. they ve all been through the same thing that i have. and so this is just one more thing for us to show people that we can get out of here. we can do amazing things and still have amazing lives in honor of our husbands. reporter: embracing life. today is a good day. reporter: and celebrating their husbands memories. for today, peter alexander, nbc news. and we re very happy to have terron davis with us now. good morning. good morning. quite some adventures there. awesome. tell me about your journey. it s so difficult to watch the story in so many respects. when you first heard the term widow and someone first called you, what did you i i thought of a 90-year-old woman in black with knitting needles. i never thought of myself. you know, it was hard to look in the mirror and think that s what i am. it is that battle of wanting to embrace it but also feeling we live in a society that stig my tiesed the word. and you went through the natural period of mourning and shock and grief and all that. what made you take this step, though, and to say i m going to not only embrace this title but make something of it? i think i decided to do it because i owe it to my husband. i mean he would have done anything to be here today. i think any one of our heroes out there would have done the same. and it s easy to want to give up. i mean there were times where i wanted to kill myself. there were times that the mean the pain was just unbearable. but i know that michael would have put up a fight. and so i wanted to put up a fight for him. we ve lost something like 6,000, you know, soldiers and marines and airmen in the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it s almost become a white noise out there. we don t really hear it when the ray yoe is radio is on, how do you react when you hear another member of the service died? i literally was like most of society. it is something i saw in passing on the 5:00 news. but i think when you have those two men come to your door, it hits you very fast. each one of those lives is far more than a statistic. and they deserve to be remembered for more than a number and more than uniform. what do the getaways mean for you and the other widows? when you get together and you re shedding tears. not all fun. there is a lot of tears being shed. what is it going tore you all? i think the tears are tears of happiness. it s the tears of finally realizing, wow, i fit somewhere. i m going to be accepted somewhere. i mean our events are the perfect mixture of embracing life to the fullest followed by remembering why we re all connected which is the fact that we lost the loves of our lives. what is the goal? i think it s to allow this generation s military widows to know they have a place to share their husbands legacies, share their grief and pain. i think most importantly, to celebrate their survival which we try to allow them to see as possible. and as a nation, we re honoring all those who sacrificed. but you re certainly honoring michael. i want to give you this moment to share some memories. what is your favorite memory of him? it s really hard. i don t know if i can share them all on tv. sure. i think one of my favorite memories. one time there was a puddle of mud. he was crossing it. i remember he turned around and he was like baby, be careful for that little puddle of mud right there. and we would always do this thing and say, you know, when you said that, i knew i loved you. like little random things. laying on the couch watching red box movies and eating large amounts of chinese food. laying in bed in the morning and just staring at each other and smiling. i feel so honored to know that he chose me in life and now i feel even more honored to know that i get to carry on his legacy. you re honoring him as well. thank you for sharing your memories and thoughts and what you re doing. we appreciate it. we re back with much more of today. 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[ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior, or any swelling or affected breathing or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision, or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don t drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don t drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then i found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. this morning, have you ever been told you run like a girl? the stigma attached to that phrase is replaced with a sense of power and honor. in the new book, run like a girl and we caught up with the women interviewed for it at the central park. part of it in my mind is that other people were athletes. there were certain people who were athletes and those were the people who did sports. before i even started running, i was so intimidated. i would go to the park and all i would see would be these thin little girls. and they have the cute little matching outfits, you know? that was my image of a runner. i sometimes go to the runs in central park. i look and think i could have given birth to everyone i see. back in the day, you know, when i was growing up, girls just didn t participate in sports. it wasn t the thing to do. to have my mother s support made me think there is absolutely nothing wrong with being involved in sports. four weeks before my 50th birthday, my husband of 20 years left like i was a one night stand he met in the bar. didn t bother to keep the phone number, just walked out. somewhere in the back of my mind i watch the movies about divorced women. i thought, you run a marathon. that s what you do. my love of running and biking and hiking and doing all these great things came out of one of the saddest times of my life. for some reason i decided in graduate school to sign up for a beginning swimming class. i had never done a lap in my life. now i progressed to doi five mile swims, ten mile swims. it s an incredible passion. for me, swimming has been the ultimate relief. it s going to make me be a better mob. it s going to make me be a better boss because i ve had that moment to just relax my brain. my son knows that swimming is a huge part of our family life. he was maybe 4 told me oh, girls don t play basketball, mommy. and i looked at him and i said well who does all the sports in our family? and he said well you. i said well i m a girl. and he said, no, you re mommy. you re not a girl. you re mommy. and i said honey, mommy is a girl. and mommy does sports. i was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008. my doctor told me that if it wasn t for the fact that i was fit i wouldn t be able to survive or get through as well as i had the surgery, chemo, the radiation. it s like getting that perfect back hand in tennis. you know, or that perfect serve, you know, billie jean would be proud of me. that perfect serve. it was okay, i m going to do this. i feel very confident that i m going to surpass the five-year mark of survival. and because i m going to continue to stay fit. yeah! and the author of run like a girl joins me. laura baron is a lifestyle expert. glad to have you here. as we heard, the stories that these women tell about running, it s not just about running, but it s really about feeling empowered by the endeavor of pursuing these sports, right? i know that you, yourself, went from a practice in law to now writing. how did that help you? the book let me just go back to the beginning of your question. the book is about the transformtive impact of sports on a woman s life. i think we have a tendency to underestimate our capabilities, to diminish our accomplishments when we do finally achieve something. along with that, to sideline our ambition. and i think that sports is a place where we see how much we re capable of and how much more we can do. and for me, it was moving to new york, starting to run seriously in central park and seeing that this career that i had, law, was not really what i wanted. and that it was possible to do something else. i had there were moments running where i would catch a glimpse of these capabilities that i didn t know were there. and so it was translating that. goifg you confidence to pursue this next challenge in your life and your career. and as we saw in that piece, rebecca was this overweight woman. she was 50 pundz overweight. it gave her the confidence. she ran a marathon. but then one day she had a mishap with the car and leshd how to change her own tire. yes. and i interviewed hundreds of women for the book. only about 100 of them made it into the book because a lot has to be left on the cutting room floor. a lot of stories of women being empowered by sports. story after story. it s marvelous. it s from overcoming disease at the, you know, just daily things in our life. can i do this job? can i change my career? can i change this relationship or even the dynamic of this relationship? it s owning our ability to take charge in our lives and to go for it. laura, there is a lot of scientific proof. there s evidence that substand yates that. that this, in fact, does happen. it helps boost women s self-esteem when they get that confidence from taking on an event whether it s walking or running or swimming, right? without question. and also when you talk about marathons, there is a collective fierceness in that. there is some unapologetic way you re stomping the ground. you re no longer sitting back on the couch thinking about your relationship, wondering where it went wrong. you are doing what is right for you, for your body moving forward. and when you write in the book, the title of the book is run like a girl. that is something like as girls growing up on the playgrounds, we used to hear that a lot from boys. you say that is sort of a sense of humor that you re using there in the title but at the same time it s empowering is what you re saying. absolutely. with the title, what i d like to do is take back the night. i want to reclaim that expression for us. yes. so that what it means it doesn t mean i saw boston reviewer who said it means it doesn t mean i saw a boston reviewer said of pirates of the caribbean who wants to watch johnny depp running like a girl. good morning, it s 8:26 right now on this monday, may 30th. i m aaron gilchrest. in our headlines you are looking live at arlington national cemetery where president obama will participate in the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns. after that ceremony today, the president will participate in the memorial day service at the memorial amphitheater there at arlington. also today, the national world war ii memorial will hold a public wreath-laying ceremony on the national mall. the armed forces color guard will make a presentation of the colors and the u.s. army band will perform a musical tribute. hollywood stars gar sinise and nancy sinatra will also attend thatnext. stay with us. great place to be this memorial day, pool side. it s going to be very summer-like. the high 95, feeling like it s over 100 degrees. let s get a look at traffic now with steve. the scene of the accident northbound and southbound baltimore-washington parkway, everything is now open both 8:30 on this memorial day monday, monday, may 30th, 2011. we have a great group celebrating with us this weekend. a little drizzly here. it is supposed to clear up shortly, we re told. thank you for your service. outside on the plaza. natalie morales and lester holt and amy robach. still ahead, as you know, the unofficial start of summer. that means a lot of us will be attending a barbecue or having a barbecue. we have some great last-minute recipes. we ll tell you about it. plus, we have the remarkable story of one wounded warrior who turned his injury into humor. now he spends his life making others laugh. we re going to meet him. i love. that but first, it is fleet week in new york city. some members of the navy, marines, and coast guard have dropped by along with rear admiral. good morning. good morning. thank you. pleasure to you have here. my pleasure. what s it been for you all to be in new york city and take in fleet week? it s a great honor. we have over 3,000 sailors, marines and coast guardmen to celebrate fleet week. we brought navy ships. we have the uss new york made out of the steel of the twin towers. we have coast guard cutters. we have good sailors back here. what it is like? a lot of the sailors and marines spent months at sea. they get to come to new york and meet people. how does that help morality? they love it. it makes them feel that what they do day in and day out out at sea with the sacrifices they make, seven months to a year away from home in defense of their country, it makes them feel that what they re doing is appreciated. it really does make a difference. and makes a difference to them day in and day out. it looks like they re having fun. are you technically on duty? we are. you know, because today is memorial day, we do represent the fact that those have gone before us and given the ultimate sacrifice, they understand that. and they re here to help new york celebrate that day. i love how they re rock stars walking down the street. people see them in uniform. they want to meet them. they do. there is nothing like the marines and these guys, sailors and the gals that we have here. and they are wonderful, wonderful citizens and patriots that work really hard every day. well, we thank you, admiral, so much. thank you. thank you. we do have a celebration i do want to give you very nice. those are the naval aviatiote our naval aviation wings. we re celebrating 100 years of naval aviation this year and so if you wear those, you help us celebrate. you re getting wings today. nice to have you guys on. let s get another check of the weather. scott. well, good morning, lester, and good morning, everybody. of course showers moving out of the new york city area but that is not stopping the crowd this morning. as we take a look at the forecast for your memorial day, we re looking at heat and humidity for the southeast. 93 degrees in atlanta, 93 in memphis. the high today is 90 in new york city. strong and severe storms will move through the upper midwest. we could find some damaging winds, some large hail and isolated tornados. that threat will shift toward detroit and chicago as we move into your tuesday. and that s a look at the national map on this memorial day. here s a look at the weather closer to where you live. and right here we re talking about high heat. in fact high heat all through the east. a lot of the big cities from 74 to a high temperature today around 94 to 95 degrees. that s why there s a heat advisory up for today. in fact it continues through tomorrow too. so pretty oppressive conditions. 77 already in clinton, maryland. 76 in leonardtown and around st. mary s and 77 in fredericksburg. the cities. and for your weather 24 hours a day, log on to weather.com. and now we want to send things down to willard scott in washington, d.c. hey, everybody. we love our smucker s birthday buddies. we have them lined up for you. we have arvella gerald. she loves to do cross word puzzles. that s good for the brain. i should try that. and she loves solving problems. she can come here and have a ball. she would never leave. loretta orlando. let me get that right here now. north andover in massachusetts. 100 years old today. still sharp as a tack and still rides her snowmobile. now how about that, boys and girls? take a look at paul even gibson, a gibson girl from beaver, pennsylvania. 100 years old. excellent cook and she is says the center of her life is family and church and friends. you can t beat that combination either. william stark of north wales, pennsylvania. 100 years old. owned a successful jewelry business for years. and he loves to hang around with his family. they love him. that s wonderful. we have arthur downes jr. of louisville, ohio. 100 years old. became a civil engineer and also is an owner of a company for years and has been very successful in business. and we have anita sampson from beautiful simsbury, connecticut. 100 years old today. loves all her friends and family and dearly, dearly enjoys her friends when she can have them for dinner. how about that? and elizabeth caesar, owensville, missouri, 100 years old today. the eldest and the only survivor of six children. and she is also very active. that s it. that s all. now back to new york. all right. thanks so much. if you ever wondered how these guys and gals keep their uniform looking so sharp and white and clean, you have something to do with that. yes, ma am. what do you do? well, i m a ship serviceman. my job is to take care of the guys, upkeep of the uniforms. you do a fantastic job, right? they give you a little extra bonus for that, right? he s doing a good job. coming up next, we ll meet a soldier who uses comedy to help heal the pains of war. but first this is today on nbc. do you know what s in your spread ? in land o lakes spreadable butter with canola oil, there are just three natural ingredients. sweet cream,anola oil and salt. discover land o lakes spreadable butter with canola oil. [ woman ] sam begged and pleaded. so i sent him to camp. we d earned lots of points with our new citi thankyou card. and i put them to good use. he told me about his bunkmates, and how he signs up for every activity. he even hangs out with the camp director. just like that. [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what s your story? citi can help you write it. we re back now at 8:39 with a very special american story with bob dotson. it comes from san antonio, texas. he can make the faces on mt. rush more grin. reporter: bobby hemline was a soldier. i loved my job. i had a great time. reporter: a former army staff sergeant. he served on the front lines in iraq four times. i got to say the last tour was a real blast. reporter: he invites us to laugh and ease his pain. i didn t lose a chin in the blast. i just never had one. he needed 45 surgeries to rebuild his face and left hand. can you do all kinds of cool things with it. he took up comedy to cope with the pain. some who undergo such an ordeal have spirits beyond rare. 23! snap. given all that s happened to you, how can you be so jup beat? there is so much life left to enjoy and live. i have to be upbeat. i have to go on. i love fourth of july. i go to the fireworks stands. can i get the sticks you gave me last year? the sergeant s wife and three kids found out about his injuries the day before easter, 2007. his skull had been burned to the bone, more than a third of his body on fire. to save him, doctors kept bobby in a medically induced coma for a couple weeks. a month later, his family finally got to see him. i was kind of terrified. i didn t want them to freak out and i didn t want him to freak out. at first, i couldn t see me. i saw this weird looking guy. whose care he thought was too much for his wife connie. she had to tend to his wounds up to six hours before they left to see doctors each day. i did wish i would go to sleep and not wake up. i thought i was a bigger burden on my family. one of your worst nightmares. it s almost in its own way tougher than if he had just died. no. yeah, i yeah. i know i d rather do this again. she knows there is someone special beneath that halloween face. can you look in his eyes and tell that s your dad. he may look a little different. he jokes about it. and you re okay with it. this is who i am. i earned these scars. you know? there s like a tattoo. two thumbs up. he began turning this into humor and writing stories in clubs near his san antonio hospital. speaking for all those disfigured veterans who endure whispers and stares. you should see the other guy. bobby s great tragedy became triumph. on a neon lit evening in las vegas. it was a date burned deep in his memory. my humvee got blown up by a roadside bomb four years ago today. he was the only one of the five soldiers in the humvee who survived that iraqi bomber. but i m able now to go around and help way more people than he ll ever hurt. i have a high respect for people in the army and even more respect for people like you. thank you very much. thank you. i made it. four years to the day and seeing my dream of what i thought was here to do coming true. this from a man who once thought he might as well be dead until he made us laugh. for today, bob dotson with an american story in las vegas. we re back in a moment. the kincaids live here. across the street, the padillas. ben and his family live here, too. ben s a re/max agent, and he s a big part of this community. there are lots of reasons why re/max agents average more sales than other agents. experience, certainly. but maybe it s also because they care about the markets they serve and the neighbors who rely on them. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. back now at 8:45. we have the story of a soldier s daughter and life long pursuit to discover more about her father. that search stretched over decades and international waters until a complete stranger changed everything. nbc s reporter explains. reporter: throughout her life, stacy has been searching for a tangible connection to the father she never knew. i was an infant when he died only 9 months old. i have gone through my whole life wanting to know something about him more, something that i could share that no one else could share. reporter: in 1971, danny cowen died when his helicopter crashed into a jungle mountain side in north vietnam. he was 22 years old. i don t know about cheated. but there are moments where i really wish i had my dad. reporter: needing morning just letters and pictures, he set out an a mission at the age of 34. in 2005, her quest took her from the mountains of colorado to the jungles of vietnam to the site where her father died. you could just find remnants of the crash everywhere. they were much more than i ever had imagined. reporter: but she did not find anything belonging to her father. after my trip to vietnam, i put a lot of it to bed, a lot of my feelings. reporter: then out of nowhere, a facebook message this winter was a vietnamese exchange student. i splg of your father. she couldn t believe it. it just was overwhelming thinking i can t believe i m reading this. and if this is really what it is, this is pretty amazing. reporter: so there would be one more stop on the journey, lee high university in bethlehem, pennsylvania. there she would meet the sender of that mysterious message. hi. how are you? i m good. nice to meet you finally. yeah. really nice. reporter: more than 8,000 miles from vietnam and 35 years after the war my dad is really reporter: this girl present the stacy with a gift. this is your father s id card. wow. reporter: her father s military identification card complete with fingerprints and this photo taken two years before his death. it was about 30 years ago that my dad made a trip to visit his old friend. reporter: during that visit, the id card was given to her father by fellow soldier. do father gave the card to her and ordered to return it. after extensive internet searches, she found stacy. i was in tears. i was really touched by the stories that, you know, about your father and bravery and making a trip back to vietnam to find him. thank you. thank you so much for doing this. this is very, very special. reporter: a daughter s search is finally over. this is my missing piece. this is the thing now that i needed. thank you so much. reporter: and a new friendship begins. bye, lyn. and we re back in a moment. this is today on nbc. this morning on today s memorial day kitchen, last-minute ideas for your holiday barbecue, sunny anderson is here with tasty recipes that are sure to impress your friends. good morning. good morning. good to have you. before we get started here, we always want to remind folks, it s not just about barbecues, you re a veteran. yes. i m a proud veteran of the united states air force. today we re here with the navy and marine corps! yeah! i m from a big army family and today it s not about the sails and all this celebration. it s more about honoring the family members and soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice. and getting together with your friends and family. and getting together and serving good food. it s about togetherness. whether you re leaving home to do it or staying home, i have great recipes for you today. start with the chicken on the skewers. this is great if you re staying home. it also travels well. i have chicken skewers. really good buy in the supermarket. i season them with salt, pepper and all spice. all spice is a caribbean spice that is warm, tastes like nutmeg. just salt, pepper and all spice. put that on the grill for me real quick. they cook quickly. very quickly. about four minutes on each side. so then i have a peanut sauce. very easy to make. i started my pot here with a little bit of chicken stock. i have soy sauce in here. then i add peanut butter. chunky peanut butter. right into the pot. now to that, to sweeten it up a little bit, i have honey. put that in there. and then with a little bit of sweet, got to have heat. so red chili flakes and then cayenne pepper in there as well. and then lime juice to tart it up. you get that in there. whisk it up. this is our finished product. it is still thick. nice enough to drizzle. someone will turn these at some point. yes. about four minutes. i m going to give it a try. this is a really good salad to take away. this is my snack salad. really simple dressing of just hot sauce, sugar and orange juice. you saute really simple. saute the fennel. go to the farmer s market. slice them down with everything. toss it together. a little bit of pepper. is that dill? yes this is dill here. fresh dill on top. all you want to do is just give it ace ni toss. these are good to stay recipes. do you have to go recipes? great to go recipes. let me tell you how to be a rock star, show up at the party with deviled eggs. yeah, go ahead and get the shell off that one for me. the best way to make devils eggs you have to work a little bit. you don t want to see any green halo around the egg. start it in cold water and bring it to a boil and let it sit for 15 minutes. that makes the perfect hard boiled egg. i didn t know the green halo lets you know it went too fast. it s going to be rubbery and hard. so what did you put in there? this is the secret to my deviled eggs. i have lemon zest and pickled jalapenos and then add dijon, a little bit of pepper. and mayo in there. mayo is in there as well as the ingredients. that is a key ingredient. and then just mash it down. and then the way i like to finish off my hard boiled eggs is a nice little sprinkle of curb appeal for my mom, paprika. may i not yet! and then straight from the holiday, pass along the french fried onions over the top. there you go. and by the way, you have a fruit salad here with poppyseed dressing. thank you. made. and watermelon mow heat owes. hello. cheers. good morning. coming up on 8:56 on this monday, may 30th, memorial day. i m aaron gilchrest. in our headlines this morning, the maryland terrapins go for their first men s lacrosse title in more than 30 years. it will be an all acc affair as they take on the virginia cavaliers. maryland beat unc, upset top-seeded syracuse and took down duke in the final four to reach the title game. the terps will have a hometown crowd too. today s game is 3:30 my contacts are so annoying. they re itchy, dry and uncomfortable. i can t wait to take em out, throw em away and never see them again. [ male announcer ] know the feeling? get the contacts you ve got to see to believe. acuvue® oasys brand contact lenses. feel how hydraclear® plus keeps your eyes exceptionally comfortable all day long. it feels like it disappeared on my eye. [ male announcer ] discover why it s the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. and if you re not 100 percent satisfied, you get your money back. guaranteed. are they on? cause they don t feel like they are. [ male announcer ] acuvue® oasys brand. see what could be. traffic when we come back. stay with us. today will be our second 90-degree day of the year. tomorrow likely to be the third. so we are on a roll here with several hot days, several humid days. 76 is the current temperature at reagan national. heat advisory is in effect today as well as tomorrow. quite humid out there. it s already up to 80 in sterling, virginia. your high today 95. let s go to steve with breaking traffic news. on the ramp from the outer loop of the beltway, here we are, camera moving around blocked with an overturned tractor-trailer. ramp from the outer loop to coalsville road. head over to georgia avenue. aaron, back to you. we ll head back to new york we re back on memorial day. all these men and women are with us and military in town for fleet week. plenty of american flags. we appreciate everyone being here. i m lester holt along with natalie morales. is she or is she not? we ve been asking this question a lot about sarah palin. she caused quite a stir sunday when she rode to the nation s capitol on the back of a harley. is she going to enter the presidential race? something we could all use this summer, five ways to save money from your air conditioning bill to bank fees to your vacation plans. also if you re feeling a little overwhelmed maybe when it comes to marriage, kids, job, the list goes on and on. well, stop. coming up, we ve got seven tips to help cut down the stress in your life. i ll just take one. okay. i ll take one big one. and a lot of people are throwing parties today and get togethers. jill martin is here with fun things that can add spice to your get together. how cool is that thing? that looks like a lot of fun. i wish i brought my swimsuit. it s hard when you can t buy kid toys anymore. you could use that. that would be a stress buster. anyway, amy robach is waiting patiently at the news desk. good morning, lester and natalie. good morning, everyone. the politics of war and peace and the strength of the american spirit dominate the news this memorial day. kristen welker is live with more. good morning. reporter: good morning, amy. on this memorial day, president obama is focused on the military. first stop today is a breakfast for families who lost loved ones in iraq and afghanistan. this after an emotional visit to joplin, missouri. hello, everybody. reporter: president obama got a if i ever hand look at the devastation in tornado ravaged joplin on sunday, comforting residents and sending a strong message. this is just not your tragedy. this is a national tragedy. and that means there will be a national response. reporter: but back in d.c., his one time political rival sparked fresh speculation about whether she ll run for president. how are you? reporter: sarah palin alongside thousands of vietnam veterans for the rolling thunder ride. kicking off an east coast bus tour from the nation s capitol to new hampshire. you know, this is our first stop. we re very, very thankful to have such an event. reporter: and she posted on her website whether you re riding the open road or the frozen tundra, you re celebrating a free spirit. what could be more american than that? palin s schedule remains a secret with possible stops today in gettysburg and philadelphia, pennsylvania. palin is keeping her own 2012 plans close to the vest. while some say they doubt she ll dive in. i don t see sarah palin getting into the race at all. i don t think there s a place for her. reporter: her 2008 running mate insists the former alaska governor could beat president obama if she runs. of course she k she can. now whether she will or not, whether she will even run or not, i don t know. deficit reduction talks led by vice president joe biden continue this week as members of both parties try to hammer out a deal on raising the debt ceiling and performing entitlements. paul ryan s plan to transform medicare for americans under age 55 remains a political flash point. the president says medicare needs to be on the table. it is on the table. you would concede it s got to look a lot different than the ryan plan? no. it s on the table. chuck schumer fired back. we are calling on senator mcconnell not to cling to the ryan plan as he s doing which ends medicare as we know it but to take it off the table. reporter: also today, president obama is expected to nominate general martin dempsey as chairman to the joint chiefs of staff. this is a part of the revamping his national security team. amy? kristen welker, thank you. nato officials say gadhafi s rule is in the final stages and the alliance might consider sending a small force into libya once he leaves power. nato powers are ratcheting up their intervention in li libya to try to break a deadlock that has seen gadhafi hold on to power despite weeks of air strikes. u.s. troops in afghanistan are remembering their fallen comrades on this memorial day. they held ceremonies to honor the more than 1400 servicemen and women killed in combat curing the nearly decade old war. and the top u.s. generals in afghanistan are apologizing for a weekend air strike that killed at least nine civilians. four colossal water spouts swirled off the coast of sidney, awe strama today amid dramatic thunderstorms. locals say think haven t seen anything like this in more than 50 years. the natural phenomenon came as rain lashed the coast causing flash flooding and another amazing sight, waterfalls moving in the reverse direction. back here at home, southern michigan is cleaning up after severe storms and possibly a tornado sunday afternoon. it cut a path of destruction through battle creek knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers and toppling trees and homes and cars. rapper sean king ston known for beautiful girls was still hospitalized this morning after an accident sunday off miami. kingston crashed his water scooter into a bridge. his female passenger was also injured. hollywood is on course to break the memorial day box office record set four years ago. the top performer so far this weekend, the hangover ii with an $86 million open. kung fu panda 2 and then pirates of caribbean slipped to third place selling $39 million worth of tickets. it is six minutes past thed slipped to third place selling $39 million worth of tickets. it is six minutes past the hour. let s go back outside to lester and natalie. thanks very much. have you seen hangover 2 yet? i think today. it s very wrong and offensive but funny. that s why it s cranking out $86 million. we want to wish shaun kingston a safe and speedy recovery. a nice young man, he s been here a couple of times so we re wishing him all the best. we want to get another check of the weather and for that we want to say hi to scott williams from the weather channel. good morning, natalie and lester. ladies and gentlemen, they have arrived. after over 30 hours of driving from austin, texas, you re here in new york city. tell us your name. mike. mike and? nina. welcome. glad you made it safely to new york city. let s get a check of your memorial day weather here. we are talking about hot and humid conditions for the southeast. temperatures in the 90s. air quality alerts in new jersey as well as air quality advisories, so watching out for some problems there. 92 degrees in d.c., 90 in washington, d.c., and temperatures well above average for the deep south so just do what you can to stay out of the heat for long periods of time. strong and severe storms through the upper midwest. we could find some damaging winds and some large hail. showers for the pacific northwest with clouds and temperatures only in the 60s. it s going to be breezy in the lone star state and dry today. that s a quick look at the national maps. here s a look at the weather happening closer to where you live. that s right. heat illnesses are possible today, so make sure you hydrate and make sure you limit your time in the sun, direct sun. 76 is the temperature currently. the heat advisory up until 8:00 p.m. so hot and humid conditions. here we go, take a look at your monday high temperature. 95 degrees. it will be slightly higher tomorrow, 96. and then we ll get some showers and storms in and a lot of folks are playing in the pools definite lit weather is going to be hot enough in the southeast. temperatures in the 90s. so stay cool out there on this memorial day. that s a look at your weather. natalie, back to you. scott, thank you. on today s money, five ways to save money. so how do you stretch a dollar for the most fun in the sun? we have a senior writer from money magazine joining us. time of year, we do spend a lot of money, unfortunately. what are ways we can save? there are a lot of added costs that can sneak in this season. what are the costs you may see? it s peak travel season. airfares are up, hotel costs are up. it s also, as we know, gas prices are up, too. so how do you save on that? airfares, the best way to save money is travel midweek. can you save 5% to 25% doing. that of course, not everybody wants to travel midweek when you re on vacation. so another good way is look for discount coupon codes which can you find on airfairwatch.com. and if you pay in advanvancadva you save 10% to 15%. just a quick thing on gas prices. we re all paying more for gas. up to $4 a gallon. so a good way to save is really not drive as aggressively. if you don t speed and you keep your car well maintained, you can save a lot of money. good points to start us off. now eating out is something that we like to do during this time of year as well. you say another thing to look for is coupons for restaurants and not just the restaurants chains, right? oh, that s right. you know, restaurants, especially upscale restaurants started offering more coupons with the recession a couple years ago. they re paying higher food prices. they re really trying to pass the costs on to diners. use coupons. a couple great sites, coupons.com and groupon.com. right. in your city near you. that works out well for you as well. also kids like to be out and about, summer camps as well. you know the cost of summer camp can cost quite a bit for a lot of parents. i know some people sending their kids away to sleep away camp and it s couple thousand dollars. that s right. it s very expensive what do you? you have to do something with your kids in the summer. the way to knock down summer camp is apply for the childcare tax credit. the irs gives you a break on 25% on the camp. also look for less pricey camp. the ymca has those, boy scouts and girl scouts and can you find them in your area by looking at the american camping association website. and your towns may also have activities or summer camps that are even free. i know my town is doing that as well. that s right. talk to your local childcare counsellor, local town hall to find reasonable camps close to home. all right. electric bills also go up this time of year. people cranking up the ac. you say this is a good time for you to upgrade your air conditioning. a lot of people think that may be expensive doing that. it is worth the cost? if you upgrade to a more energy efficient cooling system, you ll save money on the electricity and the air conditioning you need. this is a place you can get a tax credit. $300 tax credit for having an energy efficient system go. to energystar.gov and see if what you re going to buy meets the standards. what does it cost to replace an old system with a new one? well, it could be up to $1,000. hefty. yeah. but anywhere from $500 to $1,000 fl you ll save money over time, too. hoping it survives. that s right. last, you say consider switching banks before july. why is that? i think a lot of folks last year with the new credit card regulations went into effect, they were less lucrative for banks. so you re starting to see more atm fees, low maintenance fees, minimum balance fees. how do you get around that? july this summer you ll see new relations making debt cards less profitable for banks as well. so you re going to see more of the fees coming at you. one great way to get around that is to shop around for a new bank. a great place toi find a bank that doesn t have a fee are the online savings banks. if you still need a checking, can you get a free checking account from charles schwab and also fidelity. also, look at a credit union. they re always a good deal. can you final a more reasonable credit union at findacredituniton.com. do your research though. that s right. thank you so much. saving us a couple bucks this summer. coming up next, the secrets to a stress free family, believe it or not, it can be done. plus, you need some last-minute ideas to spice up your memorial day fun? 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[ male announcer ] get up to $6 in savings on zyrtec® products at zyrtectv.com. our house is a very, very fine house this smorng, stress free living. juggling the kids, house and careers is taxing. this month s health magazine is filled with ideas that can help you build a stronger, happier and healthier family. the magazine s contributing medical editor joins us. dr. raj, good morning. hi. i love the first idea about trying to take destress your life. i m feeling it could be stressful. i have a family that s quite large. you re saying make meal times fun. sit down together, that s one thing. but when sitting down together, it should be fun. exactly. i was reading the intro, stress free family sounds like an oxymoron. you know, it can be fun. we do know that eating together as a family can really help decrease depression rates in children, decrease eating disorders, boost achievement. so it is really important. how to make it fun? mix it up a little bit. there is backwards day. you actually have breakfast foods at dinner and vice versa. do something different and fun. you really do want to get yourself together as a family and make it something that kids actually look forward to. it s a memory when you grow up. i remember when we sat down and ate together. that s true. the next toip stress free family living is having an adds venture. yeah. we have found in research that doing new things, having new experiences increases the feel good chemicals in our brain. so do something new with your family. take a trip. it doesn t have to be expensive. go somewhere different. the other thing that really boosts positive feelings is helping people. this is a lesson you want to teach your children early. so whether it s volunteering at a soup kitchen or shelter or gathering old things together and donating to a shelter, you want to really teach your kids early that it s very important to incorporate this into their daily lives. the next one is perhaps something that maybe a lot of parents wouldn t think about, you say texting. right. so we all think parents and texting is the vain of their existence. put that down. yeah, if you can t beat them, join them. but really texting is a way can you actually stay connected with your kids. you know, often in the teenage years they don t want to hear all the mushy stuff luke i love you and all these things. you can text to them. they know you re thinking about them. it s a way to stay connected during the day. all right. also, finances can be a big cause of stress for families, especially now when we ve gone through so much so many troubled times. you say you have the trick. it s the three ds? money is one of the biggest causes of problems in marriage, disclose, discuss and decide. the first one is the most important. you need to be honest about financial things. you don t want to be making big purchases without consulting your partner. you also want to be hohn best what your financial goals are as a family. you need to get together and discuss that. and then you want to look at the behaviors that you re both doing as a family even your kids, teach them good behaviors early. getting them financially sound early on will help them later on. you mention the marriage. obviously the marriage is a big part of the family and can contribute to stress f you re not finding time together away from the kids that, can be a huge problem. you say it s important to stay connected with your partner to avoid stress. absolutely. and you know, especially when kids come in. it s very difficult to find time. not just doing the dinner and movie which is the traditional thing but again, something new, a new experience with your partner can bring back those, you know, first love feelings that you thought were gone forever. can you actually get it back. all right. and you also say it s important to remember the romance. maybe it s not so great and not connecting at that point. so you say reduces the stress to really concentrate on the romance part. concentrate on romance. there is a mathematical formula keep in mind, fooive to one. so for every one negative interaction with your partner, whether it s a complaint or fight, you want five positive things. usually it s the reverse. unfortunately in many households is. let s try to get on the positive side. thankful. kissing each other hello and good buy. these are things that can make you more positive and more positive feelings for each other. you also say you need to do some things for yourself. it may involve blowing off steam. what are your suggestions? you know, you might feel like you re complaining when you talk about your problems. it s actually important to get it out there. whether it s talking to a good friend or even a therapist, take the time to discuss what s brothering you. it will make you feel better and 30 minutes a day, do something just for you, whether it s reading a book, taking a hot bath. you need to focus on yourself. otherwise, no one is going to get taken care of. if mom ain t happy, nobody is happy? that s the motto in my house. thank you so much dr. raj. coming up, the pickup professionals behind a new dating class for the romantically challenged. plus, a spicy treat you can serve on your memorial day. i ve had asthma for 11 years. .but my symptoms kept coming back. .kept coming back. then i found out advair helps prevent symptoms from happening in the first place. advair is for asthma that s not well controlled on a long-term asthma medicine, such as an inhaled corticosteroid. advair will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. advair contains salmeterol which increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. advair is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled your doctor will decide if you can stop advair without loss of control and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, such as an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take advair more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. is advair right for you? ask your doctor. get your first prescription free. advair helps prevent symptoms. meet beth, nursery school teacher. lights, camera, activia it s the best job in the world. my students are amazing. but to be there for them, you ve gotta feel your best. kids can tell. that s why i love eating activia every day. so delicious activia help me feel good inside which helps me be my best. positive, cheerful and on top of things. help regulate your digestive system. love how you feel or your money back. activia jif to go goes anywhere jif to go goes here, goes there jif to go goes everywhere goes here, goes there jif to go, wherever you go [ female announcer ] windex multi-surface goes here,uh oh!!here lets you keep up with messes right when they happen. so you can put that windex shine on just about anything. get windex multi-surface and keep up. sc johnson, a family company. twizzlers. the twist you can t resist. just ahead, last-minute essentials to make your memorial day memorable. and spicy sliders from adam rickman from man versus food. but first, your local news and weather. crashing ] [ male announcer ] and just like that, it s here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges. imagine a day free of worry, a day when we can eat what we want, drink what we want, and sleep soundly through the night. finally that day has arrived with prevacid®24hr. just one pill helps keep you heartburn-free for a full 24 hours. prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day, all night. now we are free. happy. with prevacid®24hr, happiness is a day without heartburn. channel s popular man versus food series. first your local news and weather good morning. it s 9:26 right now on this monday, may 30th, memorial day, 2011. i m aaron gilchrest. in the news for today, the national memorial day parade will wind its way through downtown d.c. beginning at 2:00 this afternoon. this is video from last year of the annual event draws hundreds of thousands of spectators to d.c. every year and already several roads along the national mall are closed. u.s. park police have shut down madison drive northwest and jefferson drive southwest. at 1:00 this afternoon, constitution avenue between 15th and 23rd will be closed. all th 4:00. we ll take a look and weather and traffic next. stay with us. we re having a heat wave that starts today. 76 degrees is your current temperature at reagan national. heat advisory is up for today. heat index values expected to get well over 100 degrees today and even tomorrow, so hot and humid, get ready for it. 95 degrees the actual air temperature today. 96 tomorrow. steve? we ll take a live look at the ramp from the outer loop of the beltway in silver spring to colesville road, southbound, where a tractor-trailer carrying vegetables and meat flipped over on the ramp. the ramp from the outer loop to go south is closed right now and activity on the shoulder on the outer loop near colesville road. if you re headed into silver spring, you probably want to use georgia av everybody rock your body that, of course, is the back street boys. one of the most successful boy bands of all time. not only the back street back all right, they re back with another group of superstars, the new kids on the block. both are here for a live concert on the plaza this friday only on today. if you re going to want to be here, you want to be here early. some people already started camping out. i talked to a laid why you down there. unbelievable. they re fans are devout fans. we also have a special concert this thursday, scott mccreery will be with us along with runner up lauren alaina. anyway, coming up in this half hour, jill s fun finds. this morning she has great ideas that can you enjoy on a memorial day bash and all summer long. clearly sitting on the job. yeah. and drinking on the job. plus, we re going to take to a very unique dating school started fwoi guys who know a thing or two about crashing and burning with the ladies, let s just say. they re going to explain they re giving out tips. wale see what that s all about. maybe they learn something along the way. hopefully they find their match. have you ever watched that show man versus food ? he s shalging us to the spicy sliders. who can handle the spice better here? there are peppers in there. jalapenos. i like it spicy. i think you have this one. we ll have to taste them. i think they brought milk. they say mill is being better than water to cut the fire. lots to get to this half hour. scott williams has the memorial day forecast for us. good morning, lester. good morning, everybody. on this memorial day we re honoring our servicemen and women. good morning. tell us your name and where you re from. sergeant wilson from and women. good morning. tell us your name and where you re from. sergeant wilson from pennsylvania. all right, thanks for your service. good morning. michelle mccray from suffolk, virginia. hannah from houston, texas. colby from michigan. daniel wolf from milton, florida. corporal walker from mt. vernon, washington, sir. thanks so much for your service on this memorial day. as we take a look at your forecast across the country, we are tracking the heat. 90 degrees later on today in new york city. rain moving out. 92 in washington, d.c. we re looking at low 90s in the southeast as well. heat advisories in effect for the northeast as well as some air quality concerns for new jersey. strong and severe storms moving through the upper midwest. damaging winds, isolated tornados not out of the possibility. places like fargo, also into the twin cities a little later on today. we ll keep clouds, showers and cool temperatures for the pacific northwest. that s a look at your memorial day forecast. here s a look at the weather happening closer to where you live. and so many people are going to be outdoors today. heat-related illnesses are possible. take care of yourself out there, make sure that you hydrate and keep a cover off of the or keep a cover over you so that you don t get any of that intense heat. 76 the temperature. our heat advisory for today. again the heat index values well over 100 have a great and safe memorial day. lester? scott, thanks very much. up next on jill s finds, what you need to pick up to have a really cool hopping memorial day party. back after. this [ female announcer ] what if your natural beauty could be flawless too? discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. you gotta try honey bunches of oats with almonds! it s got real, sliced california almonds with a third less sugar per serving than honey nut cheerios. wow! delicious! try honey bunches of oats with almonds! creme body wash with nutrium moisture. after 1 week we took their close-ups. when they saw how much more beautiful their skin looked they had only one question. new dove visible care creme body wash. this flat-out delicious the new $3 flatbread breakfast combo. a toasty 6-inch flatbread breakfast sandwich and a 16-ounce cup of freshly brewed seattle s best coffee. all for just $3. build your better breakfast today. 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. ( men vocalizing ) there s a place called hidden valley where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can t get enough. hidden valley ranch makes vegetables delectable. this morning on jill s fun finds, last-minute memorial party ideas. how can you make your celebration extra special? jill martin is with us. good morning. good morning. lots of great ideas. every good party has to have good beverages, right? and good weather. i m so happy, at least in new york it s getting nicer. now becan talk about beverages. these are from pottery barn. this is simple watt we are oranges and lemons. so cheers. cheers. great. to a great day. okay. and then for the kids you have the pop makers. these are just not pop makers. look at how great they are. they have all different shapes. you can put molds that they come with. heart and stars. and then they make them seven minutes it takes to make. they re so good. someone on the crew took a bite. these are great, $49.95. it keeps them busy for a little while. i love the designs. snow cones. target is a great place to hit if you want to keep your kids busy again today. snow cones and ice cream makers. and then you just buy any sort of filling you want on top to make the colors. so you put the ice in and it crushes it for you. it shaves it. you get little balls which is fun. and great for any party. very easy. okay. now for the grillers out there, you have this this is something can you use all summer long. this i really love. you put this into whatever meet. it is a little thermometer. it works up to 150 feet away. you program it to say i m making a hamburger. when it s ready, it alerts you. the temperature right now is 160 degrees. where i want it to be. it will tell when you to come back. you don t have to slave over the grill. they re perfectly cooked and healthy. i love that. okay. and then another grilling gadget. if you re one of those people who struggles when you make a patty, to make the perfectly round patty. right. you can adjust it to make a little patty or a big patty. and then you can merge them together. you want to put cheese in the middle and make a double hamburg hamburger, you can make that. i m salivating. now extra seating is always a problem, especially by the pool side or whatever. really feel this. it is really sturdy. it is really sturdy. $67 from crate and barrel. aren t they really good? yeah, if you don t fall over. like i almost did. you re so little. they re really sturdy. they come in all colors which i love. and then look at this for the grass. for the wine drinkers or at the beach. this is a great gift for kathie lee. stick it in the sand or grass. and this is under $25. very neat. and what about for the people that like to photograph every moment? i love giving away something when someone comes to your home. this is a camera, $99 available at target. this is great. isn t this great. the new polaroid. fantastic. just don t take them to the these are waterproof cameras also available at target starting at $99. i just wanted to put it in water to prove it. and now for the kids, this is the splurge item. before we get to the kids. this is a shower. it is a solar shower. so this is 199. you know when people say can i run in and shower and you don t want everyone in your house shourg? this is great. you keep it outside and the sun hopefully today will heat it. and then look at all these kids. these kids are having a lot of fun. $399 from toys r us. how great is this? it inflates in two minutes. really? does it come with the thing the pum snp. it come with everything. it does not come with the kids. look at how much fun they re having. they ve been here all morning. touch the water. go ahead. you told me you want to get in and do the close from there. i really didn t want to. they re really having fun. thank you so much. look at the water here too. that is fun. my kids would love. that jill martin, thank you as always. coming up next, the new dating school for romantically challenged man in your life. plus, spicy sliders from the man behind the man versus food nation series. when we say spicy, we really mean spicy. you ll need this water to cool your mouth off. till all the books are read. man: and all the pens are put down. woman: and everything there is to learn is learned. . woman: and all the plots are wrapped up. man: till that day. boy: by hook or by crook. girl: by book or by nook. woman: i will read. . 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. cymbalta can help. sfx: bed crashes to floor kids seem to get bigger overnight. good morning. whoa! whoa! and when they do, they re ready for goodnites. the nightime underwear specially designed for kids 4 and up. 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 when you hear the words pickup artist, you think of a slick guy with a string of one liners at the ready. two guys in washington, d.c., are trying to change that by giving every money a chance at finding love. here s nbc s nora o donnell. reporter: it s no secret the dating scene is pretty hard on single women. there is a good way to break up with someone and it doesn t include a post it! reporter: but what about the nice, maybe a little bit nerdy guys out there? she didn t like me. i made a fool of myself. don t talk that way. all right. you re so money and don t even know it. reporter: turns out they could use help as well. every girl crazy about a sharp dressed man reporter: with a few pointers, these guys are hoping to give them a chance at finding the girl of their dreams. so are you pickup artists? dating coaches. dating coaches. i d rather be a dating coach than a pickup artist any day. reporter: for the past two years, these two have run professional pickup. you have to trick anybody into liking you. reporter: a company that claims it s not about teaching cheap one liners but about instilling confidence. it doesn t matter what you say, what matters is how you say it. reporter: so what kind of guys take your class? well, we get lawyers. we get doctors. we get the mark zuckerburgs of the wall. mike and josh who say nearly all of his friends are married. so josh took a two-day work shop called how to be awesome. basically if, you re an awesome person, people want to be around you. reporter: and learn the pickup rules which include number one, no lying. and number two, no negativity. nobody wants debbie downer to be around you. how did you come up with the techniques? failing. a lot of failing. reporter: on this night class was held at the mad hatter with the bar filling up, the guys were brushing up on techniques. three attempts here in this room and get those out of the way. then go outside, you ll be warmed up. we re dancing in a club, apparently. hey, what s up? how are you? i m josh. that would freak me out. at the bar, josh had a very successful night talking to nine women. what kind of girl are you? a nice girl. josh left the bar alone but feeling pretty satisfied. it s all about how you carry yourself. it was another student steve would really hit it off. befriending a woman and her group of friends. she is totally my type. steve said without the coaching, there s no way he would have approached her. i would have just kind of, you know, stood in my corner and waited until i had a context to talk to someone whereas i created my own context this time. reporter: so far james and earnest coached over 60 men. most take a four-week class that cost $900. how do you judge the success rate of your peoples? they never call us again. reporter: nora o donnell, nbc news, washington. all right. coming up next, spicy sliders to kick up your memorial day barbecue. we don t just make a taillight. ..we make a sculpture. we don t just make a sunroof. ..we make the heavens wide. we don t just make a crossover. ..we make a statement. the cadillac srx. we don t just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs. this morning on today s memorial day kitchen, sliders, not any sliders, spicy sliders. we have the host of the travel channel s man versus food nation. great to have you. so glad to you have here. i m told this is going to light my fire. you know you know what? it is going to have a lot of flavor. you can actually change the spice level. so i know you re a fan of the spicy, you re not a fan of the spicy. not so much. i aim to please. all right. all right. so basically it s a hamburger. we have ground beef. we want to change it up a little bit. we re going to use sausage. we have hot italian sausage and sweet italian sausage. cut the casings open. and then we have our hot elements. we have sweet garlicky sauce. and then we have jalapeno and we have habenaro. it is infinitely hotter. if you don t have them at home, cayenne, chili powder. oh, yeah this is going to be good. my eyes are watering already. it s going to be tasty. and actually, you can do me a salad. we re going to make a glaze ahead of time. we have catchup here, honey and some of that sauce. add them and mix them altogether, that will be awesome. you and i will be making hamburgers, lester. we re going to throw it down. actually, you know what? you have a suit on. i ll do it. i don t want you to burn your hands. okay. because you will. if you re doing this at home it will burn your skin? you can. so what i m going to do is i have what about your tongue? that s the least of your worries. so we have jalapeno and habenero and mix it all together like this or use a spoon. excellent job about it way on the glaze. you re hired. salt and pepper? no, you re good as is. so mix these together. we have these mixes done. annow actually you may want to glove up. this is fun. all right. glove up. it s like an operation. so we have roasted red peppers. there is no heat in here at all. put a little roasted peppers. so why don t you take one of these patties right here. that s perfect. and then yeah, put this in your hand. that s a cheese? put some of the red pepper in. there dump that in there. i ll do a little pinch between your cheek and gum right there. throw the little cheese in there. and then pat this one on top here. oh, i see. and then we re going to exactly. a hamburger within a hamburger. beautiful. see, one hand. so we have some already working on the grill down here. all right. so we have some of these working. bring that glaze. okay. what were you going to do? he was going high five me. no, you don t want to do that. thank you very much. it can burn you that bad. so what we re going to do is just baste these. you can flip them. we re going to keep doing it until it actually makes a sweet coating here. i want you to play with us as well. so excited. so you let these go for a little while. make sure the cheese inside gets melted. i ll flip a couple for you. what kind of cheese is that? we don t have those done yet. let s go down here where they re done. all right. you want to make these not quite so spicy but you want a little kick, what can do you? all right. obviously, eliminate any of the peppers or you can use just the sweet. so, for example, down here, we just have the sweet sausage, the roasted peppers, no heat at all. or you can just use the hot mixture and skip the jalapeno? is there anything you are leaving out? no. i think it s about having that balance between heat and flavor. sometime when it is too much flame here you go. you like it spicy, right? amy is spicy. i prefer a little less spicy. i my, i amy, i ll join you. is it spicy? okay. that is spicy. happy memorial day to all of you. thank you, cheers. cheers. who s crying? this is really good. i m good. it s getting a little hot. i m okay though. i dipped my eggs in hot sauce this morning. i m prepared. when you cook it, you have the flavor the cheese is very nice. yum. adam, thank you so much as always. great job. and [ female announcer ] keurig brews more than just hot coffee. 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. for your what a gorgeous memorial day we have here in the nation s capital. good morning, everyone, 9:56, monday, the 30th of june may. it s may, of course, it s may, the last day one more day of may and it is memorial day. topping our news at this hour, at 2:00 today the annual national memorial day parade. thousands of spectators will descend on d.c. for this event which honors those who have served their country. already several roads along the national mall are closed. u.s. park police have shut down madison drive northwest and jefferson drive southwest and at 1:00 this afternoon constitution avenue between 15th and 23rd will be closed. all roads should be reopened around 4:00. let s talk to veronica johnson who s in this memorial day. i almost lost track of the month! i was going to say, barbara, it may be still may but it s going to feel in fact like july out there, like mid-july. that s the hottest time of the year for us. and temperatures in many locations will be hotter than july. we ll get up to 95 degrees today. the average right now running just at 81 degrees. so oppressive for the next two days. let s get a look at traffic with steve. here we are on the ramp from the outer loop of the beltway to colesville road. a tractor-trailer ended up on the side of the roadway, the ramp is blocked. the unbalanced meal wael call that causing the blocking of the road. no delays getting past it, just no delays getting past it, just go over to captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, everybody. so glad you re joining us on this fun day monday may 30th. we are still enjoying an extended memorial day weekend. unofficial finally start of summer. the weather could not be nicer. we ve been waiting for summer to finally get here. we had the worst may ever just in terms of rain. it was rainy and overcast, but now we are ready for the summer. every time i start to complain about the weather, no, look what happened to the rest of the country. thank you, god, we are here. it s happy memorial day. did you know it was not always memorial day? it was called decoration day. not martha stewart s kind of decorating. in 1868 it was military being decorated for military valor. became memorial day in 1967. in 68, they decided to move it to the last day of the month which just so happened to create our three-day weekend. somebody was finally thinking. also, more beef is consumed today than any other day of the entire year. here is the other thing. a lot of people are on the roads this weekend. especially today on the way home. people are going to be heading home tonight. it s going to be one of those crazy trafficy things. a lot of people are out there. you can finally wear white. if you play by the rules. throw the rules out. i love winter white. jill martin and i. i like the drink we have here. this is festive for memorial day. what is this? a mixture of things. it s got gatorade and 7-up and cranberry juice. then this is just an extra added benefit. club soda. something like that. isn t it nice how the layers are until you mix it up like that? it s nice. for all of you out there still looking for love, there is a secret online dating tip place to go. it s from okaycupid.com. a lot of people wonder you put your picture and profile and why is no one calling or reaching out to me. harvard majors studied this. what they said was it is good for women to smile or be flirty in their photographs. they say when it comes to men not so much. women don t like that is ridiculous. a women s smile is well documented as sexual interest. i m just trying to remember what it is right there. they say when guys smile, women aren t turned on by that. i disagree with. i do, too. look at that. you want to romp with al. we don t believe that. leering and smiling is taken as submissiveness by men. when it comes to cleavage, when you re 18 years old and you show your cleavage, guys aren t interested. if you re over 30 if you re 32, you get 79%. if you re 57, don t show it at all. it looks like a peach pit. that s what it looks like. don t do it. okay? don t show your peach pit, okay? women in their 30s don t care about the belly. on a guy. on a man. they say they care what s in the wallet. they want a good provider. right. they are saying guys we are not that concerned about that. i agree. i don t care about that part. but you provide for yourself. i haven t been with anybody in 26 years except frank. that s not what i m thinking about, how can they provide for me? i want to see the six-pack. so far i m bucking all the trends. wales? they say if a guy lists his height or salary, take two inches off his height for the real deal if you want the real deal and 20% off their salary, which means everyone is exaggerating. they are not exaggerating, they are lying. it s an old-fashioned word called lying. it does you no good. say you fall in love with that person s image and, what do you call it, not their resume. their profile. their profile. say you fall in love with their profile. then you meet the guy. he s 4 3 . you go, you said you were 6 6 . don t lie. it s going to backfire. you could lie the other way. you could undersell. why don t you just tell the truth, hoda woman, and base a relationship that could be forever on truth? guys are superficial. they don t to know the real you because they are lost in the bs. that is a guy you don t want. here is the thing about guys. according to this survey, guys are the first ones to say, i love you. that happens in 2/3 of couples. guess why? you know why. they say i love you first because they want something. that s right, baby. they want it now. guys say it before hoping they get that. women say it after that. because they are so grateful or what? i have to say i have to be in love first. huh? i have to be in love first. i know you do. i wish i could talk more about this subject but i have a muzzle on me. there is an emotional muzzle and i hate it. are you normal or is it just hoda? tango.com says sex lasts between seven and eight minutes for an average couple. think about that for a second. a lot of people are bragging about their sex life. they are lying. seven or eight minutes and says it takes women four times longer than men to get there. to get there. we ain t talking about poughkeepsie, you know what i m saying? only 30% of women regularly get to poughkeepsie. why don t they ever get to poughkeepsie? they are with bad lovers. i know. some people have never, ever been to poughkeepsie and had children. it s true. it is true. they ve never been there. so sad. poughkeepsie s nice. you should visit poughkeepsie often. it should be on your regular destination list. all women want to go to poughkeepsie. love that song, don t everybody love poughkeepsie? here is the fantasy. go back. thank you. please. the thank you was said. the most popular fantasy for women is this all we are going to talk about? there are children at home. just a second. to be in poughkeepsie in public. the next one is poughkeepsie in the great outdoors. outside in poughkeepsie. it s interesting the number one fantasy is in public. a million little kids out there are saying to mom and dad, can we go to poughkeepsie? not yet. i don t think so. men relax best when their wives are busy. study from the university of california. when the woman does house work alone and she leaves him alone to relax, his stress level drops. and when she does all that work alone, hers rises. when we are alone in the house, we do homework. when they are alone in the house, they do nothing. they watch sports. they like us to be working while they re on the couch. it makes them happy. all the guys are going, right. to me nothing is sexier than a man helping you with a dinner party or making the fire, whatever. more importantly without you having to ask him. when they just do it. they are up and doing it. you re so surprised. we hope you re having a memorial day picnic today. this is cool. steady stick table. they are perfect for a picnic. they stick in the beach or in the grass. you can sit there and have it right there. the table collapses so it s he s yes to carry. if you re on the beach, often you get sand on everything. bring that in, stick the little portable table, put the chips on it. it has a place for four wine glasses so you can invite your friends. let s talk about our favorite things. if you ve ever been to whole food. making dinner is a pain in the neck. you want to make it quick. check this out. this is called chicken cacciatore. it s $9.99. comes in all kinds of things. it s got your chopped-up veggie portion of the program, the chicken skinned and cut. ready to go. you plop it in the pan. it tells you what you need to have on your own which is olive oil, black pepper and whatnot. feeds a family of four for what? $9.99. usually whole food stuff is expensive. this is nice. very good. mine is adorable. it s called smarty party personalized gift wrap and starts $16.95. this is a graduation gift. there is cass. you get it for your graduate. this one i love. look at this one. this is happy father s day, you re our number one, cody and cass. or this is my all-time favorite. happy father s day, thanks for giving me a good home. it s got bambino on there. aren t those cute? i love those. really adorable. how much are those? they said it s like, it wasn t much, $16.55. sara, what is your favorite thing? back to food. i ve got cereal barbara s called peanut butter puffins. they are sweet and rather than eating dessert, the calories for 3/4 cup, 110 calories. i scoop out a cup after dinner and munch on them. they take like peanut butter captain crunch. if you leave the milk on until they get soggy, dessert for a family of four. while you re on your way to poughkeepsie. i think we are all ready to go. we ll tell you how to find out if someone is lying to you. ideal with it every day. look at these two. remember? yeah. we invited a body language to help us crack the code. [ woman ] thursday! finally! dinner with the girls tonight. i really want dessert. i better skip breakfast. yep, this is all i need. [ stomach growls ] [ female announcer ] why skip breakfast when you can start your morning with new special k multigrain oats and honey, a whole new blend of rolled oats and honey kissed multigrain flakes. it s a delicious way to get your whole grains and make your breakfast beautiful. creme body wash with nutrium moisture. after 1 week we took their close-ups. when they saw how much more beautiful their skin looked they had only one question. new dove visible care creme body wash. and it s really great being able to have all those tv shows and movies right there at my fingertips. [ male announcer ] now, with netflix, you can watch tv episodes and movies instantly with the three leading video game systems or other devices. watching instantly is so easy! you just click it and bam. [ male announcer ] netflix. unlimited streaming to your tv over the internet. for only eight bucks a month. netflix lets me watch what i want when i want. i can guarantee that once you start it, you re gonna love it! [ male announcer ] go to netflix.com to start your netflix free trial today. comforter. okay. mr. cuddles. toilet paper? oh, hey, scott. here, scott extra soft tissue. check out the pattern. same soft rolls we use at home honey! [ female announcer ] do you know scott? scott extra soft is softness, done right. have you ever been on a date and wondered if the other person was telling you a truth or what impression you were making on a job interview? they say actions speak louder than words. what are you saying with your body? here to help us decipher what you may be telling us is a body language expert. what are some of the telltale signs somebody is lying? first thing we have to do is create a baseline. how does someone normally respond in a normal situation when they are not under pressure? then you use that and then you use that to compare the two, what their behavior is saying now. that only works with people you know well. people you don t know at all, strangers you wouldn t be able to tell? exactly. with people we don t know, does the words fit with the body language? does it fit with the facial expression? is that why we sense something from somebody? because their words and actions are not in sync? we don t know why, but something is a little off? that is a perfect example. it just doesn t fit. all of us had some point in our life when we ve been duped. we trusted them, we believe them and found out they were lying the whole time. when we use our gut intuition, we thought something doesn t feel right. go by the gut. let s get some clips. first a clip from tori spelling where she came on our show and we asked if she was pregnant. miss liar, liar, pants on fire. we ll give you an opportunity to answer the rumors. what are the rumors? everybody would be excited if you were expecting another mek dermott. we hope one day, but we are not expecting. watch in slow-mo. she looks to her husband. should i tell them? right about here she does something funny with her mouth. right there. right there. what does that mean? that s saying, they caught me. she looks at her husband. what should i say. that s the busted face. they weren t covering up an affair or something. just a little baby bump. exactly. let s move on to bill clinton. let s take a look at him. he s got subtleties here. let s watch. i want you to listen to me. i m going to say this again. i did not have sexual relations with that woman, miss lewinsky. i never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never. these allegations are false, and i need to go back to work for the american people. thank you. that seemed very convincing to me watching it. it did at the time. so what? there were a lot of things here. there were so many verbal deceptors here. he is trying to convince you. hoda does that all the time. listen to me. listen! then when he gets up and says now he is diverting, what s called a diversion plan, i need to get back to the american people, he turns around, smiles, you see this duping delight smile. did i dupe them? did they find out whether i was lying or not? we got it. we hear you. it was mincing words. aren t some people really good at it? they can look you in the eye and lie? some people can look you square in the eye and lie. they can. this is one thing i would like to let you understand what s going on here. those everyday lies, the ones where there is no fear of being caught. there is no reward from it. those are everyday lies. people can do those seamlessly. it s hard to detect if someone is lying. bill clinton had a lot here to lose, didn t? he. everything. a lot. now the body language, there is going to be more tells. you can see them more. let s look at rblogavich. didn t you leave to speak to some people? i don t recall there was a problem talking to people. okay. that was so obvious though. possibly but he is shaking his head no. exactly. let s look at this in slow motion. we ve got a look of con cement here. now as far as trying to convince you. then at this point he starts shaking his head no. when he is saying yes and saying yes when he is meaning no. if we were to go further on the tape. there is a conflict with one another. we are not surprised about that. thank you for the tips. interesting. thank you very much. happy memorial day. hey, honey, we re all out of toilet paper. can you toss me a roll? your toilet paper shouldn t be too rough. we re out of toilet paper. can you toss me a roll? your toilet paper shouldn t be too soft. we re out of toilet paper again. fortunately, angel soft is an ideal balance of softness and strength. unlike other toilet paper that has just one ply, angel soft has two. and it s strong, yet gentle on your skin. angel soft an ideal balance of softness and strength hershey s bliss. one square inch of indulgence. joy. pleasure. one square inch of extra smooth, rich chocolate. hershey s bliss. home in a series we are calling fan of the week. sara is here to announce the lucky winner. drum roll, please. her name is christy schmidt from texas. she watches on woai channel 4. her favorite part of the show is favorite things. she wrote a poem on why she watches the show. please pick me for the fan of the week, kathie lee and hoda is all i seek cartoons are on all day long but at noon if anyone changes the channel i say wrote kids go down for a nap at noon, time to go to bed. my favorite part learning what i should put in my cart ideas and tips on what is hip and best of all, what to sip your show to me is a definite treat the biggest fan should definitely be me thank you kathie and hoda and nbc. excellent, flawless delivery, sara. almost flawless. we are sending you on a get away to miami beach, florida. it s hot there. you will stay at the luxurious eden rock miami beach resort where you will enjoy a four-day, three-night stay, round trip air fare for two people. i love her. what a sweetheart. she seems adorable. a lot of people start to avoid florida this time of year because it gets so warm. it s a great time to go because it s not as crowded. you won t have to wait for restaurants. you can find your place at the pool. don t be afraid of that. it doesn t get that hot. you get a dip in the pool. you see what you re saying? go to our web side klgandhoda. wouldn t it be sad if we were out of them? still to come, summer shorts to flatter your body type. diet and nutrition editor grills us. [ 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. with olay, taking it all off that s my cleansers job. olay facial cleansers remove 2x more dirt and makeup. for skin so naturally beautiful, it d be a shame to cover it up. cleansers by olay. american animals after your 3 today the country honors those service members who lost their lives for the united states. right now there is a wreath-laying ceremony at the national world war ii memorial on the natñq welcome back on this memorial day fun day. we like to invite family and friends over and spark up that grill. it s all the barbecue we are eating, is it good for us? we don t know. today s nutrition expert joins us. all set for a cookout tonight. no buzzer. jump in any time. we like to do something with chips, vegetables and crackers, whatever. there is guacamole, light ranch and hummus. mix and match from the highest calories to lowest calories. this is light? light ranch. highest calories. highest calories. are you happy about that? that s wrong. someone else gets a chance. you get one more chance. this is highest? this is the highest. okay. this is the middle. this is the lowest. light ranch, hummus and guacamole. that s the lowest? heart-healthy fat. who doesn t love a cocktail? one of these, we have vodka and seltzer, a bloody mary and glass of white wine. one has 100 calories. which one? the wine. this is the wine, bloody mary. i m going to say this is the lowest. that is the lowest. the other two have 140. this is 100. that amount of wine has 140 calories? i ve got to stop drinking out of a fishbowl. does that taste good? this is good. mixers, tonic water has a lot of calories, like having a cola. maybe not for you. what s the score? 1-1. let s start fresh. hamburger and hot dog. which of these has fewer calories? one is lower. which is a lower-calorie choice? the hamburger? is it lean meat or fat meat? this is 80/20. i m saying the hamburger has more. you would be right. 500 versus 300. don t malign the poor hot dogs. what if you had a turkey burger? a turkey dog could be lower. or lower calorie meat if it s leaner. you can mix and match. here are three sides. you like these popular side dishes, cole slaw, baked beans and an ear of corn. rank these from the lowest, medium and highest calories. you are right. look at this. i m impressed. no butter and no salt on that. i actually like corn on the cob when it s super sweet and you don t put anything on it. little salt. that is not so bad either. this is potato salad. this looks lonely. how far would you have to walk to do you have to walk more or less than two miles to burn this off? i ll say more just because you like that. yes. this is nearly 250 calories. almost 2 1/2 miles. but a lot of it, don t blame the potato. blame the mayonnaise. if we have mayonnaise we take regular mayonnaise and replace it with low fat mayonnaise, same brand, would you save 75, 50 or 25 calories in a serving? 75. you re right. now at the end. we still have room for dessert. hoda does. this is super premium ice cream. how many cups of watermelon could you eat, three, five or eight? eight. you re both right. i d rather have watermelon. winner is i don t know. let s see who wants this? a bunch of barbecue stuff. frank will like it. thanks. bye! up next, time to go wild. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can stitch together a better deal. that s a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won t let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. meet beth, nursery school teacher. lights, camera, activia it s the best job in the world. my students are amazing. but to be there for them, you ve gotta feel your best. kids can tell. that s why i love eating activia every day. so delicious activia help me feel good inside which helps me be my best. positive, cheerful and on top of things. help regulate your digestive system. love how you feel or your money back. activia i feel like i have to wind myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the lack of energy. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about pristiq a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. anti-depressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens, and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nset pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if you have heart disease, or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side-effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. for me, pristiq is a key in helping me treat my depression. 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. we are back with today s call of the wild from the national wildlife federation. memorial day is celebrating all things american. dave is here with all american wildlife. only in america. all these speaksy are found only in america. national wildlife folks uses on protecting these species whether, it s common ones, which this guy like here. a groundhog. what is the difference between a groundhog and wood chuck? it s the same thing. it is? in the south they call them whistle pigs. never heard of that. that s the mating call. pay attention. she is a female. hey, we don t judge. groundhog s day the males come out. they scout out to find the females. it s all about sex. they are all in poughkeepsie. look for them there. this is a great animal you might see in your backyard. we have a garden for wildlife program teaching people not to have conflict with animals like this in your yard. you said don t get your fingers near your mouth. this is a rodent and a member of the squirrel family. if she chomped on your finger, it would hurt. this animal is spectacular. this is an american alligator. not happy. this is another animal that is an endangered species success story. this was once almost extinct. conservation groups protected them, we were able to take this animal off. it s fully recovered. if you live in florida or the deep south, might show up this is a backyard wildlife story. never feed predators. this is a baby, isn t it? this is only about 3 years old. what was that hissing noise? a defensive his. this is not the most natural environment for an alligator. she is mellow now. as long as you respect wildlife. you re choking her. if i wasn t holding on to her, she might come over and say hi to you. okay. endangered species success story. i m looking forward to this. no indeed. this is a stunk. degland? she is descented. people try to make these animals pet. that is the skunk s natural way of defending itself. a skunk can spray you bad. you can never get rid of that smell. they say tomato juice. that is a little bit of a myth. that s what i meant. peroxide, dish soap and baking soda works better. this is an animal that might show up in your backyard. as long as you respect it, it s not going to spray you. they are really beautiful. they will spray your dogs. stinky. we have time just for the last one. our last guy here. this is another incredible species called an indigo snake. lives in florida. it is a threatened species. it relies on gopher tortoises. other species like indigo snakes. he is not poisonous, right? he is not a venomous snake. they don t get people. if you re a rodent. it s beautiful. that is why it s called an indigo snake. but you re cuter. next, get ready to show leg for the summer. we ll have shorts for everybody type. ooh baby, looks like you need a little help there ooh baby, (what) can i do for you today? 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[ male announcer ] to start your netflix free trial today, go to netflix.com. time for today s style baring it all for summer. definitely those legs. time to take out the shorts. how is a girl to know what makes her gams stand out. all the best shorts for your shape. how are you? hi. should ud get the longer shorts, down to capris. you ve got to be honest, right? you really do. key thing are lengths, cut and fit. i feel like an easy rule of thumb is try to pick a short that hits your leg, the smallest part. my ankle. let s get started with the petite look. here comes sara. tell us about sara s look. lucky petites can go with the shorter shorts. that s like my daughter. if she were wearing a longer short, it would cut her leg off in a funny place. we love this short from old navy. it has pleating and gives a little subtle curve to her figure. i think it s really flattering. i love the shoe choice, as well. it grounds the look. very cute. adorable. thank you. for taller women, sometimes it s difficult to know where the shorts should hit. sometimes if you re taller, a really short short is going to make you look disproportionate like there is too much leg. this is a great choice for haja. she gets to wear this trendier long short that is happening right now. it is a great style. it has a little bit of pleating and a little curve. that is adorable. i love that. for most of us who are curvy, what have you got? my friend chelsea, we have curvy is a moment where you want to think about the short hitting your leg at the smallest point. here is chelsea. she is best in a mid length short. this is the right choice for her. look for a sleeker, simpler silhouette. anything with huff or hem detail just right there. it s not the best choice. a cuff can work. i think you have to be very careful with that. and pockets and things add to us, too. it brings volume. you want that streamline silhouette. on a curvier figure you would pair it with a top that has more interest so you are balancing your look. thank you, chelsea. some of the women have boyish frames. we have jennifer who is going to show us tell us about this look. we picked this short from the gap for jennifer. it really complements her streamline figure. it is a simple, classic short. jennifer has an athletic build. this is hitting her leg at the right point so it is bringing out the best of what she has. we love with it this feminine top. those details compliment a busch figure. very pretty. thanks, ladies, very, very much. bring everybody out. bring them all out. up next, we need that edge. thousands of new beauty products hit the market every day. only a handful revolutionize the industry and make an impact on our beauty routine. mickey williams is here to show us the game changers. i want to steal them off the table and take them home. this is kerotene earth. it s under $100. you re not spending that salon treatment you would have to go to the salon for which could be $300. or more. and it s fermaldahyde free. it makes your hair shiny. it doesn t take all the body out. how long does it last? 30 days to three months, depending on your hair. thank you very much. sun-in used to be one of those things. john freida, go blonder. it has a little bit of peroxide, citrus, chamomile. it s good on your hair. you can get that beauty wash color. nice. it s that gradual fade-in you would have gotten in the sun. i can get that for my daughter. a lot of people have trouble dealing with a curling iron. this is really different. this one twirls for you. for lazy people. stop it. it works so fast. watch. hello. you need to get that. i need to get that better. you could use that. that s adorable. that s genius. tight curls. these are the little added bonus packages. cute stuff. when you re doing a bikini wax, it can be painful as we all know. just ask anthony. just a little joke. a little joke. hopefully anthony has these. what this is is a latex underwear you put a numbing cream on and it holds it in place. you do it 30 minutes before you go. you re numb, you don t feel as much pain as you would. those things are very painful. the thing about getting old, you don t care. this is ion infusion. those are those cool ipads. what is it doing? it s putting a really concentrated serum around your eyes. it works on crow s feet. does it zap you? s. it doesn t really zap you. you feel it more if you re wearing it under your eyes. we re connected now. don t mind me. hyperpigmentation is the new wrinkle. everybody is obsessed with hyperpigmentation. this works in 28 days. you don t have to use all the toxic chemicals. use it with any cream. it evens out your skin tone? which makes you look younger. this is wet skin. put your hand in, you can spray it. thank you. hope everybody has a fantastic memorial day. tomorrow, someone from new kids on the block. captions by vitac www.vitac.com