Transcripts For WRC Today 20110810 : vimarsana.com

his parents open up about the remarkable rescue today, wednesday, august 10th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a wednesday morning. i m matt lauer. i m ann curry. boy, could it have been any more dramatic on wall street yesterday. it was like watching a tennis match and being on a roller coaster all at the same time. the dow bounced between extreme highs and lows for most of the day before finally closing up around 430 points. some of the credit i guess should go to the fed decision to keep interest rates low for the next two years. of course a lot of people are wondering what more president obama can do to speed up the economic recovery. should he, for example, demand that congress cut short its summer vacation to address the situation? we ll get the latest from wall street and the white house coming up. also this morning. we re going to talk about british police launching a massive crack down on rioters in london overovernight. will it bring an end to four straight days of violence here? really something to watch. the latest coming up. also talk about casey anthony, has she talked to her parents since she went into hiding following that not guilty verdict in her case? what george and cindy anthony had to say during a surprise public appearance. also this morning alarming spike in hearing loss among younger people. what is causing it. can you do anything to prevent it? we re going to talk about that, and matt will also put his ears to the test a little bit later. with mixed results. we ll find out. let s now begin with the latest on this roller coaster ride on wall street. cnbc s senior correspondent scott cohn has the latest this morning. good morning, ann. overseas markets generally following wall street higher overnight. we started out this week plunging on worries about the economy. on tuesday the fed said it s worried, too, and the marked went up. welcome to the wild world of wall street where sometimes what seems bad can turn out to be good. you don t have to be a professional trader to know times are tough. just ask anyone worried about retirement and their 401(k). james davis is a retired real estate broker in miami. what we were looking forward to in our retirement and having these funds to, you know, to carry us on, it s just dwindling down. and so you wonder, where is it going to end? reporter: the federal reserve knows it, too. issuing a statement after its regular policy meeting tuesday saying, economic growth has been considerably slower than expected. unemployment is high, consumer spending is low, the fed said. and the housing sector remains depressed. as a result, policymakers plan to keep interest rates at exceptionally low levels, at least through mid 2013. the u.s. economy is extremely weak and expected to be weak for some time to come. the fed acknowledged that and validated that. reporter: the market had been up more than 200 points before the statement. afterward, it plunged 200 points. this market is reacting to things that it is knee-jerk first. it s self first, and evaluate later. reporter: but then wall street read the statement again. low interest rates, virtually free money, for the next two years. that s good for business and good for stocks. the markets surged, ending more than 400 points higher. big market gains turning into big market losses turns into big gains at the close. reporter: few expect the volatility to be over for good. clearly the situation in europe is still very unstable. we still have a lot of things on our plate and headwinds in the u.s. economy. reporter: but for one day at least the federal reserve calmed investors by confirming their worst fears. again, this does not mean the worse is over for the economy. after all, the stock market tends to look forward. here and now, there are real worries that the economy could be slowing down, maybe heading into another recession. it could be, matt, by the end of the day wall street traders decided that the fed just told them what they already knew. scott cohn at the new york stock exchange this morning. thank you very much. uncertainty on wall street combined with the contentious debt ceiling debate has president obama on the hot seat when it comes to this economy. chuck todd is nbc s chief white house correspondent. chuck, good morning to you. good morning. with this economic anxiety gripping wall street and main street, there are a lot of democrats out there that believe this is a leadership test for president obama. and they would like him to make a grand gesture, maybe bring congress back, because the whole purpose of it is they believe this economic crisis is quickly turning into a political and leadership crisis. the president took a day to pay his respects to the 30 fallen servicemen whose remains were returned from afghanistan to dover air force base tuesday. but back in washington, the focus remains on the uncertain economy which has the potential to become a full-blown political crisis for the president. in the wake of the controversial debt ceiling compromise the first-ever downgrade of america s credit rating and a turbulent stock market, the president is trying to come up with ways to jump-start the economy. we should expand the payroll tax cut to help companies that want to repair our roads and bridges and airports. unemployment insurance that your tax dollars contributed to. this is something we can do immediately. something we can do as soon as congress gets back. reporter: that s the phrase that leads some democrats that the president isn t moving fast enough. i would love to see the president call the four leaders of congress back to washington in the next week. if i were the president i would call the congress back and say get off vacation. reporter: not all democrats agree bringing congress back is the best idea. the worst thing the president could do is to make a grand gesture to led to nothing. reporter: many democrats are upset with the way he negotiate with republicans. the democratic base is furious as they ve been at any point in the last 16 years, since bill clinton signed welfare reform. the problem is, and they know it, they can t challenge barack obama because that would hand the presidency to the republicans. reporter: in the past, the president almost reveled in that kind of criticism. i m always amused when the pundits in washington say, boy, you know, obama hasn t gotten this past, some of his supporters are disappointed about this. reporter: but with the new poll showing only one in five americans think most members of congress should be re-elected, historian says picking a fight with congress could work to the president s advantage. if he calls back congress it shows he s in action and places the onus on congress to actually do something. if they don t he s got a great campaign issue next year. reporter: while obama advisers acknowledge this current issue of the moment and that they do need to try to show something, they also believe this is somewhat of an august ritual, supporters questioning him, questioning his strategy during the summer. then it passes. september comes and things get back on track. only time will tell, matt. chuck, thanks very much. chuck todd at the white house. chris matthews is host of msnbc s hard ball. before i think what you think the president should do specifically, characterize the mood around him at the base. how patient, angry are they? reagan when he was at his worst in terms of popularity he always knew where he stood. he wanted to bring down the soviet union, defeat communism, reduce the size of government by cutting taxes. every cab driver, every american left, right, and center knew where he stood. where does this president stand? that s the problem left, right, and center. there is no gut sense of the guy. that s the problem. would you agree then with that she writes in the new york times this morning? she says, his withholding and reactive nature has made him strangely irrelevant in washington, trapped by he s own temperament. he doesn t lead and he doesn t understand why we don t feel led. yeah, i think it goes back to the comment he made about people cling to their guns and their religion. it s a con descending notion that he s not part of the problem, he s not part of the people feeling the problem. i keep thinking the regular guy and woman that goes to an nfl football game. they go out for cold weather, root for a team that may not win, they ve got a lot of heart and a lot of gut. they may be worried about their job right now, lost their job. the regular person, black and white and hispanic, regular men and women looking for a job, worried about their job, is he with them, is he with those people, is he worried about them, is he one of them? that s his problem. i think a big part of it is gut and the other is action. lack of a plan of something to do. this sounds like old style pop ticks. i worked for htip o neal andi i believe that s what you need today. people who desperately need just to get to work. and i think what we dead in the old days is go over to the districts of the other people, take pictures of the bridges that are falling down, the roads that need repair, put those pictures out there for the people and say, dare those people who vote against that stuff. don t talk about things in theory like infrastructure and stimulus. you re talking about a strategy when a lot of people are asking for economic strategy. that s an economic strategy, matt. right now you have a labor forces that dormant. it s sitting there looking for something to do. every time there s a job opening, hotel opening up, anything in a big city, there are thousands of people waiting in line. put those people to work. go fix the problems in that area. that s it. didn t he try that with those shovel-ready projects that he didn t about and nothing ever happened? you know why, because it wasn t a real jobs program. a third of it was business tax cuts and other tax cuts. the other third was to bail out the states and the cities. the rest of the stuff, i don t understand how incompetent they are because there are shovel ready jobs. go to pittsburgh, howard steinman, any number of bridges below safety code. people are worried about school buses going over safe bridges this fall. don t talk in generalizations. don t stay infrastructure one more time. don t say stimulus one more time. say the bridge, take a look at it. ten seconds left. does it make any sense to kol congress back or is that simply an empty gesture? the last thing this guy needs is more tactics and more cleverness. what he needs is a heart and real action to put people back to work. chris matthews. chris, as always, good to see group thanks for your comments. 11 minutes after the hour. here s ann. matt, thank you. to london where thousands of extra police took to the streets overnight to try to bring the end to the riots that have raged there four nights. so far it appears to be working, at least in the british capital. cnbc s michelle kosinski is live there this morning. much more relaxed today. it s more about clean-up and demolition. in some areas everywhere you look you see police. so maybe it s no surprise that with 16,000 officers now on these streets, it was finallymo. at least here in london. yes, there were flash points in britain overnight. the most were far from london. guards are exhausted after three nights of raw violence. and those images, so many, have given the world pause. this young man throws rock. an older citizen tries to talk him down. his answer? violence. at this elegant noting hill restaurant there s a huge crash and the whole front door, all the glass shattered. reporter: thugs broke in with bats, started stealing, including an engagement ring. the chef scared them away. boys as young as 11. looters have been relentless. day light is heartbreak. i really don t know what to say. i mean, it s been through two world wars. reporter: this family furniture store lasted 150 years. no match for gangs of teenagers. police admit they were no match for them either. the prime minister rushed home tuesday from vacation in tuscany to deal with it. but top officials with big plans for security. now are jeers. really, the people will point to deep sociological, i don t find that satisfactory explanation. embarrassing? i ll be honest. i feel furious. people are just lazy and going around robbing shops to make easy money. that s what it is. reporter: police now are i ve wri everywhere. and they re posting pictures of the looters online. they need to grow up. reporter: some citizens are fighting back, pans and brooms. here police were cheered as they rolled in, three days late. for many understand the unpreparedness, for a rage no one expected or seen before or can now comprehend. this morning the prime minister has vowed to track down these looters. he said he won t let some phony argument of human rights get in the way of publishing their pictures. he s also launched scotland yard on the biggest investigation in its history. bigger even than that into the 2005 london terrorist bombings. ann? this whole story is really unbelievable. michell michelle kosinski, thank you so much. let s get the other stories from natalie standing by at the news desk. good morning, everyone. the u.s. military is opening investigation into what exactly caused the helicopter crash in afghanistan last week that killed 30 american troops. their remains arrived at dover air force base in delaware tuesday. as chuck reported, president obama was there to pay his respec respects. investigators want to know why the troops were called in to back up a group of army rangers in a firefight and if they were given adequate instructions to do so. three people have been arrested in connection with the fake bomb found at the international airport in phoenix, arizona. police say they are not ruling you terrorism as a motive not only because of the nature of the device but also because of the proximity of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. new questions this morning about the disappearance of 35-year-old robin gardner who vanished while vacationing in aruba. police detained her travel partner at the airport as he attempted to fly back to the u.s. he says she didn t make it back to shore after snorkeling on august 2nd. meanwhile the natalie holloway resource center that grew out of an american teen s disappearance in 2005 is working now to try to help locate gardner. in the aftermath of wisconsin s vicious labor battle, historic recall elections in wisconsin last night ousted two incumbent republicans but left democrats one seat short of becoming a majority. two democrats face recall next week, but win or lose, republicans will hang on to control of the state senate. and amazing that no one got hurt in this accident. last night an 18 wheeler got stuck on an overhead sign of a texas freeway. the unusual incident now under investigation as authorities try to figure out exactly how the trailer got up there. meanwhile, the cab of that trailer was parked nearby safely. 7:16 right now. back over to matt, ann, and al. that is a mystery, all right. it looks like it. let s hope that s not the case. thanks so much, natalie. mr. roker is here with an early check of the weather. that s right. the good news is we re going to see cooling weath that s righ. the good news is, we re going to see cooling weather for some parts of the country. let s check it out and show you what s happening, jet stream cooler conditions, and into the great lake, heat continues through texas and as we move into saturday, the eastern half of the country will have normal to below normal temperatures but the heat expands into the central plains, look at today, 80s, 90s, into the 100ness texas. as we move into saturday, look at cooling temperature, great lakes and northeast, heat continue, gulf coast, south and into the south what s. that s what is going on in the country, here s what is happening in your neck of the woods. good morning, right now, we re down into the 60s and 70s, reagan nationals at 77, later today, we ought to hit the low 90s by early to mid afternoon, lots of sun and not much humidity the. northwest wind gusting to 20 miles an hour, low humidity in place, thursday, friday and saturday with seasonable temperature, get and that s your latest weather. matt? al, thanks very much. a 12-year-old boy is very lucky to be alelive this mornin after pulled out to sea by a powerful rip current. he was trapped under water for 20 minutes before he was saved. natalie has more on that story. good morning again. that dramatic rescue was captured by a local photographer as the boy s friends watched helplessly. 12-year-old dale ostrander, a non-swimmer on a youth group beach trip was swept out to sea by a strong rip current on friday. with members of dale s church group bent in prayer, rescuers crisscrossed the ocean, desperately searching for the boy for 20 long minutes. they found him under water and unconscious. his lifeless body rushed to the hospital where his pulse finally returned. his parents chat chad and kirsten, raised from their home three hours away with their faith in god. but a grim prognosis from doctors. they were very clear that he had been under water too long, he had been without oxygen too long. likely he s going to die. no matter what happens, everything is going to be good because we have a strong faith in god. and he s never let us down, and good things will come no matter if it hurts us, you know, if we is have to say good-bye to our son. they never expected him to live. they expected him to be a vegetable. never walk. never talk. never talk. never say a word. and that would have been fine. reporter: but sunday night three days after dale s limp body had arrived at the portland hospital, dale surprised everyone by opening his eyes. dale, open your eyes. the first response he got. reporter: his parents describe dale as an average boy who likes to play with legos and tell bad jokes. on monday, just days after being plucked from the ocean, it was dale who delivered some more good news. we were trying to get him to cough. and come on, dale, cough, cough. you need to cough. he coughed once. okay. you need to do it again. do more. i don t need to, is what he said. everybody, he spoke. oh, my goodness, a full sentence. it was amazing. the whole room, wow, okay, i guess he s okay. doctors say dale has still got a long way to go, but his parents are just happy to have their son back. they expected him to die, so anything at this point is just is bonus. and it is unclear how long dale will have to remain in the hospital. doctors say he may need months of intense therapy. but everyone agrees the fact that he is alive and he s talking in full sentences is nothing short of remarkable, matt. truly a miracle. thank you very much. just ahead, the fbi manhunt for three florida siblings, why investigators believe the trio may have made it all of the way to colorado. we re live with the latest. but first, this is today on nbc. coming up, the desperate search for a 3-year-old lasting on saturday, riding her bike on her own street. plus, would you rather be thinner or have smarter children? you may be surprised. [ dramatic soundtrack plays ] whoa! man: what is that? i don t know, but it burns! it s like fire. woman: ow, ow! i can t see. man: it s singeing me! it s the sun. get out of the office more often with chili s $6 lunch break combos. pair a texas toast half sandwich with fries and super salad every weekday. chili s lunch break combos how d you learn to do that? what d you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it s how our rough ideas become you did that yourself? so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more. that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that s the power of the home depot. right now get this vanity and matching mirror for just $99. you kids almost ready? i ve got breakfast waiting for you. whoo! uh-oh. what? mom s doing her exercise video again. when mom s on a health kick, all of us are. and now she s made us breakfast. uh-oh. [ male announcer ] eggo nutri-grain waffles. you know it s made with 8 grams of whole grain and is a good source of fiber. all they know is it tastes great. eggo nutri-grain waffles. simply delicious. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn t have it. yeah, we ll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that s it right there. [ male announcer ] it s the at&t network. and what s possible in here is almost impossible to say. good morning. it s 7:26 on this wednesday, august 10th, i m pat lawson. on the news, an american airlines flight bound from reagan international hit violent turbulence, it made emergency landing before continuing to reagan national. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it s just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. delightful sunday morning. right now in the 70s. low humidithumidity. lots of sun. not much humidity around. a bit cooler, thursday, friday and saturday. how is traffic now? traveling making your way north you see delays as you travel root 4. here s a live look right now, jam from new hampshire avenue. [ male announcer ] want a better way to track what you spend? pnc virtual wallet now comes with spending zone. it organizes all your spending, including your pnc debit card, credit card, and your bills. so you can view them by category. or by month. you can set a budget. and it ll even alert you when you re getting close to the amount you ve set and when you ve gone over. spending zone is built to help you keep better track of your spending. experience everything virtual wallet has to offer at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. 7:30 now on this wednesday morning, august 10th, 2011, as we say hello to everyone who is on the rockefeller plaza this morning. look there, saying hi to al. the weather, i think, is pretty nice out there. people getting ready for a day of sight-seeing in the big apple. i m ann curry alongside matt lauer. just ahead, the fbi has now joined the search for a miss 3:-year-old child in missouri. that s right. she was riding her bike on her own street on saturday when she disappeared. police say they have very few leads to go on. her heart-broken parents will speak out just ahead. that s right. and are you ashamed to admit that you have trouble hearing? it s a real problem for a lot of younger americans, especially with all the devices we now use to listen to music. we re going to show what happened when matt put his own ears to the test. i thank you for putting me in the category of younger americans. let us begin for the hunt for three siblings connected to a string of violent crimes. investigators say they have credible information that the trio could be in colorado. nbc s miguel almaguer is in colorado springs with details. good morning to you. the fbi says several credible witnesses identify the trio at this camping store. the outlaws quite possibly loading up on camping supplie. s it s a group of suspects who today are on the run. our investigation has led us to believe that this was the actual individuals we re looking for. reporter: suspects and siblings. the fbi says the so-called dougherty gang might have been spotted at this outdoor store in colorado springs. it s scary. this poses a major threat to the community that we serve and to law enforcement all over the state. reporter: the nationwide manhunt for 29-year-old lee grace dougherty and her brothers 21-year-old ryan and 26-year-old dylan now focused in colorado where the trio was apparently spotted by camping supplies here tuesday. they might be headed to a rural area or to a campsite to avoid further detection by law enforcement. reporter: authorities say the dougherty s crime spree began last tuesday with a high speed chase in florida. but police tried to pull the siblings over for speeding but instead officers say the doughertys pulled out a gun, firing some 20 shots. i got a flat tire. reporter: five hours later the authorities say the sibling suspects robbed a bank across state lines in georgia. the bandits fired an ak-47 into the ceiling. i hope all these things are not true, and i wish i could see them again. reporter: brendan bookman says he s lee grace dougherty s fiance. he says she s a stripper, posting under flickr page reads, loves to shoot guys and wreck cars. i m a redneck and proud of it. i haven t heard from any of them. they haven t e-mailed me, texted me, called me. reporter: with their faces plastered on billboards from florida to texas, authorities say the siblings have long criminal histories and are considered armed and dangerous. investigators fear the trio may use their weapons again and won t be taken into custody without a fight. ryan reportedly sent his mother a zetext message that read, at e point we all have to die. they will live the rest of their lives in a cage or, you know, they ll have some other tragic ending with law enforcement. reporter: the dougherty gang, outlaws on the run, a family of fugitives who may be preparing to die. with the sibling tons lamb for eight days now their mother has reportedly told her children to give themselves up. and even as they have eluded police for all that time, matt, apparently the fbi may be closing in. miguel almaguer in colorado springs this morning. miguel, thank you very much. let us now get a check of the weather from al. check of t weather from al. today s weather is brought to you by new coffee mate natural bliss. good morning, everybody, this is a first. we got a young lady a squid head on. where are you from? new jersey. known for its squids, very nice. we appreciate that. let s take a look. they got a lost rain in wayne county, michigan. upwards of five, six inches of rain falling, what a mess. closing roads and flooding and big problems, let s check things out where we re looking at a risk of strong storms for today. we ll be seeing strong storms down through mid sections. damaging wind, hail, heavy rain, some areas may pick up one one to three inches of rain. heavy rain getting read did to hit little rock, strong storms dumping anywhere from one to three inches of rain from wichita all of the way to little rock. good looking family. where are you from? louisiana. louisiana, very nice. they re getting better looking as they move along. they start great and get fantastic. that s what s go ago around the country, here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning, we have a beautiful sunday morning under way under mostly clear sky. temperatures in the 60s and 70s throughout most of the region. upper 70s in washington and right near the bay water, later today we ll hit the low 90s. great beach and pool weather. not much humidity. northwest breeze 10 to 20 miles an hour, thursday, friday and saturday. still not much humidity. highs in the and that s your latest weather. ann? al, thank you so much. casey anthony s parents made a surprise public appearance on tuesday at a memorial in honor of their granddaughter caylee. their first since casey anthony was acquitted of murder in the case. nbc s kerry sanders is in orlando on this story. good morning. good morning, ann. if caylee were still alive she would have turned 6 years old on tuesday. on tuesday, here, where her remains were found, mourners gathered to remember her on what would have been her birthday. and to the surprise of everyone, casey s parents, george and cindy, showed up. i ve always wanted to hug you. reporter: well-wishers hug george and cindy anthony, and then as they marched in memory of caylee happy birthday to you cindy and george joined in songs to their deceased granddaughter. caylee, caylee! reporter: this is the first time caylee s grandparents have emerged in public since their daughter casey was found not guilty of murder. have not. what would you say to her? i can t really comment about anything i would say right now. reporter: those words are perhaps even more significant as is plausible casey an nthony wi be forced from hiding, acquitted 16 months before that trial casey pled guilty to passing bad checks. i just wanted to let everyone know that i m sorry for what i did. reporter: she was sentenced to a one-year probation. anybody force you or coerce you into doing this? reporter: even though they told casey her probation was completed while she sat in a jail cell awaiting a murder trial, the judge who accepted the plea deal said he meant for casey s probation to begin after she was released from jail. now it falls to the chief judge, belvin perry, the same judge who presided over her murder trial to decide if casey must return to orlando. it s a mess. reporter: if she does return here, casey may see for herself, george, cindy, and other caylee mourners saw for the first time tuesday, a plan to turn the swampy area where caylee s remains were found, into this, a park to keep the memory of caylee alive, a little girl who never got to see her 6th birthday. judge belvin perry who is called to take probation issue a mess could rule as early as today. answering the question of whether casey anthony will have to return to orlando. her whereabouts remain unknown this morning, as her lawyers say it should be. ann? all right, kerry sanders this morning. kerry, thank you. still ahead, matt put his ears to the test, is there something about his job that is affecting his hearing? uh-oh. but first, these messages. have a better day [ male announcer ] only subway has a deal 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. photo center prints and. two htc sensations from t-mobile. hey dad! hey son! i m at study hall. that s great, you make me so proud. thanks dad. [ clatter, scream ] what s that? nothing. [ man ] game on! i gotta go! was that a chicken? [ male announcer ] get everything you need for back to college, like the latest smartphones with video chat starting at $48.88. save money. live better. walmart. you could spend as much as $200. olay says challenge that with an instrument that cleanses as effectively as what s sold by skin professionals for a whole lot less. new olay pro x advanced cleaning system. [female announcer] looks like everybody s at our biggest sale of the year: the petsmart power sale. save up to $10 on all k9 advantix® ii and advantage® ii flea and tick products. at petsmart®. if you sleep in your contact lenses. lucky for you, air optix brand has a lens approved for up to 30 days and nights of continuous wear. [ male announcer ] that s why they re recommended most for people who sleep in their lenses. visit airoptix.com for a free one-month trial offer. it s the perfect time to save big and get the toyota you ve been waiting for. take advantage of the summer s best selection and the year s biggest deals on our most popular models. and toyota has the lowest ownership cost of any full-line car brand, which means you ll not only save now, but down the road as well. plus, every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance. toyota s nationwide clearance event ends soon. hurry in today before time runs out! back now at 7:41 with the intense search for a miss 3:-year-old in missouri. she was last seen on saturday riding her bike in front of her home. now the fbi has joined the investigation. nbc is in senath, missouri, with the latest on this story. janet, good morning. good morning to you. people here are having a tough time comprehending what has happened. we learned what is missing from this quiet dead end street and what is a very small town. she is 3 years old. it s been four days. her parents, as you can imagine, are just beside themselves. not knowing what has happened to her. a young couple living every parent s nightmare, the heartbreaking waiting game after their 3-year-old daughter breeann rodriguez, disappear fred their own street. in a rural missouri community they thought was the safest place on earth. this is good old america. children play on the streets here. it s not we re not in st. louis or memphis. i mean, children can still be children here, so we thought. reporter: the family says breeann was riding her bike with her 5-year-old brother saturday afternoon right here when he went inside for a drink. a few minutes later her mom came out to say lunch was ready and breeann, she says, was simply gone. i went outside and looked for her and she wasn t there no more. reporter: a search of the neighborhood turned up nothing. not even breeann s little pink bike with training wheels. everybody plays together. poof, the child s gone. it s just unbelievable. reporter: it s whatever thought. in a community of 2,000, more than 200 have turned out to look and pray for a little girl lost. man, this is awful. it s really awful. reporter: the neighborhood, now blanketed in pink ribbons, has been turned upside-down. it hurts. and we look and look and see if we can see something, a shoe, something, just anything, her bike, something that would just tell us she s there. reporter: and while nothing like that has been found, breeann s anguished parents believe she s nearby and safe. she did not wander off anywhere. somebody picked her up. an older couple, maybe lonely, liked the way she looked, wanted company or something. i mean, i deep down in my heart i do believe that something like that happened, and now they re just scared to come forward and bring her back. reporter: with three other small children to care for, claudy and edgar are trying to keep it all together. but how do you carry on, not knowing where your baby is and when she will be home? she s my life. and i m not going to give up looking for her. when i find her, she s coming right here and never leave my sight again. i love you. you will always be my princess. i m going to find you. i m going to find you. you re going to see us again. we re going to be together. reporter: there is a $45,000 reward for information leading to breeann s safe return. but interestingly, no amber alert has been issued in this case. the family has been told that s because at this point there is no evidence of foul play. ann? janet shamlian, thank you so much. we have agent baker. good morning. 12k3w4r go good morning, ann. given the circumstances, a small safe town, a dead end, no sign of the bicycle. what theory are you working right now? well, obviously because the bicycle is missing, we, the fbi, are working under the presumption that it was a child abduction. in cases like this where a child is missing and we don t know why, we always work under that presumption that there s been an abduction. if you re working on an assumption that there s an abduction why not issue an amber alert and what is it going to take to issue one? generally in cases like this where a child is missing and we have certain criteria that has to be met to issue an amber alert, generally you want to have some type of suspect description, whether a description of the suspect or vehicle. in this case we have neither. and so an amber alert has not been issued. but i got to tell you, the law enforcement response is the same, whether an amber alert is issued or not, we respond in the same manner. some people did report seeing a white van in the area. are youing looki inin inlooking? we are. it s among a number of leads. we re looking for that van. we haven t found it yet. but we re not saying at this time that this is tied to any suspects. it s just a vehicle that was in the area that we want to track that down like we do other leads. as the father said, someone might have abducted her. you want to make it easier for that someone to let her go. what would be your message to such a person this morning? well, obviously, you know, if you have a little girl, we want her returned. i mean, that s the focus of what we re doing. so, you know, release her and give her back. i mean, that would be the message. but as i said, you know, we re pursuing every lead. so, yeah, generally just, you know, release her. when you say every lead, are there others leading in other directions that have not yet been known? you know, we have a lot of leads coming in. and but no lead that s put us on a particular trail. a lot of the leads all the leads have been pretty much dead ends. it doesn t mean we re not, you know, following every lead that comes in. you know, in cases like this you do get numerous leads that do lead to dead ends. but at this point we re not on the trail of anyone at this point. could the trail lead across state lines, because as i understand it, this town is in the southeast corner of missouri. it s near the state line. absolutely. yeah, we re not limiting ourselves to say, yeah, that this is contained within this area. i mean, it could lead across state lines. it could lead anywhere nationally. well, fbi special agent dennis baker, we wish you every luck in your efforts. we want to give people an opportunity to give any information that they know or see breeann. they should call the fbi crime stoppers tip line. the number is 866-371-8477. we re back right after this. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at the pump. and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. but your cloud of depression is still with you. maybe it s time to ask your doctor about adding seroquel xr to your antidepressant to treat your depression. seroquel xr is a once-daily, extended-release tablet, which means medication is released around the clock. for many, seroquel xr, when added to an antidepressant, was proven more effective than an antidepressant alone at helping people feel less depressed. call your doctor if you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking seroquel xr have an increased risk of death. call your doctor if you have fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be signs of a life-threatening reaction or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with seroquel xr and medicines like it and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. your doctor should check for cataracts. other risks include increased cholesterol and weight gain as well as seizures, dizziness on standing, drowsiness, impaired judgment, trouble swallowing, and decreases in white blood cells, which can be fatal. use caution before driving or operating machinery. isn t it time to put more distance between you and your depression? talk to your doctor about seroquel xr. if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. still ahead on a wednesday morning here on today, a spike in hearing loss among younger americans. we ll show you what happened when i went and got my hearing tested. i m okay but there are developing issues. let s just say that. really? especially in my right ear. i wonder why. oh, yeah, right. okay. this thing that we wear. also, we re going to be talking about do you judge the parents of overweight kids? would you do a do-over when it comes to your husband?n fore l. [ male ] using clean american fuel is just a pipe dream. [ female announcer ] we re rolling away misperceptions about energy independence. did you know that today about a quarter of all new transit buses use clean, american natural gas? we have more natural gas than saudi arabia has oil. so how come we re not using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. a dog, well, a dog is family. and when it comes to your family s health, you want the best. now you can have it without paying the most. new petarmor plus flea and tick protection. it has the same active ingredients as frontline plus, so it s just as effective against fleas and ticks, but costs about half as much. sure our dogs may be called pets, but we all know they re family. new petarmor plus. same protection as frontline at about half the cost. only at walmart and sam s club. but for some of us with overactive bladder, our pipes just don t work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there s something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. so why wait ? ask your doctor today. . about taking care with vesicare. 3q on today s show, keep your photos right at your fingertips. literally! ok. can you zoom in on this? ok. this is my boyfriend. this is my mom and dad. robin, you ok? whatcha doin ? oh, dealing with a slight underwear malfunction. oh, you need hanes panties. they don t ride up. yes please. hey, wardrobe? and now a word from hanes. hanes panties. so cute. and they don t ride up. this is a new 4/news break. good morning. the time is 7:56 on this wednesday, august 10th i m pat lawson muse. in the news morning, maryland state police are cracking down on hov violators. they re working for violators along route 350 and the beltway. they say this crackdown is in response to numerous complaints. steven strasburg will make the next start friday night in wood bridge for the potomac nationals. some grand stand p man: my employer had been putting together a program for executive education, grooming the leadership abilities of their top 5%. a requirement to be accepted in the program was an undergraduate degree, which i did not have. that was the wake-up call i needed. don t want to miss a thing strayer university has afforded me the opportunity to progress to the level that i am now, which is chief information officer at the largest teaching hospital in southern new jersey. i m michael sinno, and i earned my bachelor of science degree from strayer university. good morning, a beautiful summer morning. we have low humidity. bright sun and a blue sky and right now in the 70s throughout much of the region. later today, low 90s, lots of sun and a bit of ablustery wind. low humidity in place along with cooler weather for thursday, friday and saturday. saturday evening into sunday and sunday evening could have passing showers and storms. good morning, how s traffic? a couple accidents on the beltway at eightentown road. the right two lanes blocked in you re trying to exit on georgia answer. you have to drive around the emergency vehicles there. i want to show you, still delayed on the beltway on new hampshire we re back now on a wednesday morning. it s 8:00, the 10th day of august, 2011. got lots of sunshine here in the new york area this morning after a really rainy day. yesterday afternoon we had nasty storms passing through, but everything is clear out here on the plaza. i m matt lauer along with ann curry and al roker. how is your hearing? what? it s good. i m just giving you your joke. that s your joke. how is your hearing? is it okay? it s okay. it s not great. it s okay. i think it s okay but if i took this out i might not hear so well. yeah. here s an interesting statistic. right now in this country there are more people with hearing loss under the age of 65 than over the age of 65. wow. lots to do with our lifestyle. i m going to tell you what happened when i recently went to have my hearing tested. turns out there is some portion of my job that is negatively impacting my hearing. and, no, it s not either of you. that s good to know. probably a lot of people affected by the use of headphones. also coming up this morning, there s a new survey we want to talk about of mothers, asking them questions like would you like a break from motherhood. if you could have a do-over with your husband, would you? the statistics, the findings are pretty shocking. i see that look on your face. one of the questions found that 44% of women would say that they would rather be thinner than have smarter kids. we re going to get to the bottom of all that coming up this morning. my mother was very smart. anyway, weight and self-esteem, talking about thinner, we re going to talk to a woman who said loving her body size almost killed her. we re going to explain that in just a little bit. let s go inside. natalie is standing by at the news desk. good morning. good morning, everyone. investors are keeping a close watch on the dow today. a day after a jump nearly 430 points thanks to a federal reserve announcement that it will keep interest rates low. this morning overseas markets jumped higher as well but analysts are warning big market swings are still ahead. meantime, republicans are blasting the selection of washington senator patty murray to co-chair the new deficit cutting super committee created as part of a debt ceiling deal. they re unhappy because murray is in charge of getting democrats elected to the senate. overseas, there s an uneasy calm in london this morning following three nights of riots. thousands of extra police officers are patrolling the streets today trying to halt britain s worst unrest in a generation. but riots have broken out in other cities around england. warren jeffs, the leader of a fundamental list mormon sect that believes in polygamy was sentenced to life in prison. he was convicted of having sex with girls as young as 12. he won t be eligible for parole until he s at least 100 years old. and some important health news now. if you re thinking of having a baby, researchers in the journal of the american medical associati association reports highly accurate in determining the sex of an unborn baby at just seven weeks. that s earlier than ever. the blood test analyzes feet tall dna in the mother s blood. but some are concerned that parents may abort the fetus if it is not the sex they want. and now here s a look at what s coming up tonight on nbc s nightly news with brian williams. coming up tonight we re going to take our cameras back to joplin, missouri, our cameras, of course, went thereafter the tornado. donations poured in right after the tragedy but now there are fresh worries. we ll have it for you tonight. natalie, for now, back to you. brian, thank you. here s a look at what s trending today, what has you talking online. celebrities like eminem, elton john andry an rihanna are takin twitter to help save children facing starvation in east africa. you can check it out and make your donations at i mgoingtobeyourfriend.org. on tuesday a hacker group anonymous threatened to take down facebook on november 5th saying it s selling information to government agencies. and fans of the classic movie dirty dancing are treating about their outrage that a remake is in the works. they say no one can ever replace jennifer grey or the late patrick swayze. but one person who thinks he would be the perfect replacement as the new baby is al roker. he really nailed that lift with ryan goes ling, as you see. no one puts al roker in the corner. 8:04 right now. let s go back outside to matt, ann, and al roker. maybe they corner. maybe they shouldn t remake it with you. it s very disturbing. it s really disturbing. ryan was sore for days. exactly. he s two inches shorter now. anyway, that s just wrong! let s take a look. see what s happening. oh, now we ve got video. it only took 18 troyes. he tells me i didn t think he really wanted to do this. i tried to get ann to do it. and he s there. careful with that hand, that back hand. and he sticks the landing. those aren t pillows. that s not my hand. anyway i loved ryan, he s a good sport. rockford, illinois, nbc 13, sunny, mild, 77, got some rockford fans back there. i like rockford files, that was a good show. heavy showers and thunderstorms moving into the lower mississippi valley. showers and storms getting oust here. we have a risk of strong storms in the lower mississippi valley area. 76 in portland. we re looking for temperatures to continue. scorching well over 100. dallas today, 39th day in a row of 1000-plus readings. man, that s hot. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. a comfortable morning on this wednesday, tenth day of august, good morning, i m mealologist tom kierein, we have low humidity. blue sky. a northwest breeze will with us today. highs reaching low 90s. not much humidity. and low humidity still in place. saturday night and into sunday, sunday night, could get showers and passing and that s your latest weather. can you hear me now? matt gets his hearing test checked. we ll tell you what happened right after this. new revlon age defying with dna advantage makeup. its powerful skincare ingredients and spf 20 help protect skin s dna and reduce the visible signs of aging. 96% of women saw flawless, younger-looking skin in just 2 weeks. age. defy it! maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. [ male announcer ] we ve got all you need for back to school with low prices every day on everything. backed by our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. backed by our ad match guarantee. twizzlers. the twist you can t resist. bacon?! bacon? bacon! who wants a beggin strip? meee! i d get it myself but i don t have thumbs! yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. it s bacon!!! mmmmm.i love you. i love bacon. i love you. [ male announcer ] there s no time like beggin time. but we don t make stuff. we make ovens. dual fuel double ovens. and they bake so evenly, so perfectly, that now, delicious is something you can depend on. we only make things for one room. the best room. your kitchen. we re devoted to it, delighted by it, and you can feel it in everything we make. nobody knows the kitchen like kitchenaid. we re back now at 8:09. in today s health we re talking about hearing loss. if you think about old ang and hearing loss you might think again. the truth is younger americans are losing their hearing at an alarming rate. recently i found out that includes me as well. we live in a noisy, noisy world. so noisy that the question these days isn t can you hear me now but can you hear me at all. excessive noise is now the number one cause of hearing loss, not aging. and of the nearly americans who suffer from hearing loss over half is under the age of 65. i have this disability that was affecting every aspect of my life. reporter: 39-year-old, is a true child of the psz eig 80s g up with headphones. i would wake up in the morning and my ears would be throbbing. reporter: his hearing loss developed gradually and in the beginning he would, he would turn to his wife for help. huge, that he didn t know what was being said. reporter: and then as years went on, jim began to disengage from any social situation. i was always afraid of missing something or there would be an awkward situation. and inevitably i would get caught. and there was an anxiety to that. reporter: another big concern, the stigma of wearing traditional hearing aids, especially since he was starting his own fitness business. i would rather have taken my chances without them than have them in and people make judgments on me. reporter: awedologist says it s a common concern. they don t want to admit that they have difficulty. they feel that it s acceptable because it s acceptable to them. reporter: the doctor says hearing loss isn t just about losing your hearing, but losing your engagement with life. she said, look, if you don t do something about this, dementia is going to set in and your brain is just going to shut off. reporter: hearing loss is irreversible, there is no cure. but you can slow down the process and even prevent it, which is why i decided to get my hearing checked. every morning in the right ear we wear what is called an ifw, which is a little ear piece. this worries me. i wonder what this has done to my hearing. reporter: the first part of the hearing test is a physical examination. this is going to tell you how much the eardrum is actually moving? yes. reporter: the next part of the text is the actual hearing evaluation. a series of tones i had to respond to. ice cream. reporter: and then a series of words i had to repeat. baseball. baseball. outside. outside. new york. reporter: after just 20 minutes, some preliminary results. your left ear is borderline normal, hearing sensitivity. the right ear has a mild hearing loss, the right ear where you use your right. is it in the range of normal for someone who is 53 years old or has it been exacerbated, do you think, because of that? it probably has worsened due to the noise exposure. reporter: for now the doctor says i don t need a hearing aid, but has prescribed custom made earplugs for loud events. jim s results were quite different. he had significant hearing loss in both ears, requiring hearing aids. ringing? no. no. does it feel okay? yeah. reporter: jim s hearing aids, they have other choices and nothing like those old beige bananas of the past. when i heard the strength of my voice, it made me cry. it was as if i hadn t heard that voice in a very long time. reporter: and now that jim has regained that voice, he has a message he wants you to hear. get it taken care of. you don t know what you re missing. you don t know what you don t know. reporter: jim and dr. shelly are with us this morning. good morning to both of you. good morning. why did you wait so long? just comfortable in my own skin. you don t really you re not really aware of how that your hearing is disappearing. it happens so slowly over time that it you know, you re just comfortable with who you are. i was struck by something you said in the piece, jim, you said you didn t want people to be judging you. yeah. yes, there is a stigma. yeah. attached to this. well, it s, you know, someone in eye glasses looks intelligent, someone with hearing aids looks handicapped. so you didn t want that, especially with a fitness business. yeah, yeah, it s not how you want to be portrayed. turn side ways for me because you ve had these put? yes. and these have to be put in by a professional, right? i can t see them at all. right. very invisible. once they go in, how long do they stay in? about three months at a time. so it has an extended wear battery. it hassle free. you wake up in the morning and you start your day just like anyone else. jim, are you like me, you go to a restaurant before these. yeah. and if there s a lot of other noise in the background you could be looking right at the person you re having dinner with and you re having trouble with that? yeah, yeah, it s very loud, but, you know, in certain situations, it s good but in that kind of a situation, not so good. so how do these cancel out all of that other noise so that you don t just hear everything louder? they got some technology in there that just kind of focuses in on what i need to hear. they re very intelligent. and because the hearing device is all of the way in the ear canal, you re using your natural ear to kind of filter out some of that noise. let s take a look at some of where she s devices have come, okay? this is the one on the table here that jim has in his ears. yes. and tell me about some of these other devices. okay. so the one right next to it is another alternative to hearing device. it s very discreet. it s basically invisible at the level of the ear. these are a little larger over here? these are the older traditional hearing devices. that made him cringe. yes. those are the ones that worried you? i had to grow up in grade school with something like that. those are the ones no one wants me to prescribe. i think a lot of people watching this, doctor, might be thinking, first of all, how expensive are these and are they covered by insurance? they are not covered insurance typically. the hearing examination is. so you should everyone should go and get a hearing exam. but the hearing devices are typically $1500 to $3500 per device. but they can change your life. it changes the quality of life, yes. and this is what you made for me. my hearing loss is minor. yes. so it s particularly in the right ear where i do wear this little ifv device. you want me to wear these earplugs when i m around loud noises. yes. i want you and everyone to wear those earplugs whenever you re exposed to noise, parties, and weddings. very important. one of the things that was a little depressing to hear in the piece is that it s not reversible. once you lose your hearing or some degree of your hearing, it s gone forever. absolutely. life change dramatically for you? yes. it s a good experience now. that s great. jim, thank you for sharing your story. i really appreciate that. doctor, thanks for your help, as well. up next, what moms really think of motherhood, their kids, and, get ready, their spouses. the revealing new survey right after this. [ male announcer ] this is our beach. this is our pool. our fireworks. and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. and you get an extra hundred dollars back on these laptop deals. the college of mime doesn t count. that s not gonna help. [ male announcer ] staples has great laptop deals for students. that was easy. laptop deals for students. wait a second. with olay challenge that. new regenerist wrinkle revolution. relaxes the look of wrinkles instantly, and the look of deep wrinkles in 14 days. ready, set, smooth. regenerist. from olay. 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. [ male announcer ] know the feeling? try acuvue® oasys brand contact lenses with hydraclear® plus for exceptional comfort. it feels like it disappeared on my eye! [ male announcer ] discover why it s the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. acuvue® oasys brand. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we ll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites. for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it s the at&t network. and what s possible in here is almost impossible to say. back now at 8:19. kicking off a special series, real mom secrets. nearly 25,000 moms open their hearts in polls in a survey con ducked by todaymomsblog and what women really think about raising kids. it may not always be pretty, but it s real. i ve been a stay-at-home mom for almost five years is starting to take a toll on me. reporter: in a new survey by 24,000 women, moms share some revealing truths. 44% say they would rather be thinner than have smarter kids, and 42% would rather have more money than more time with their kids. for many, a statistically eye opener. i could really do with not being a mom for 15 next minutes. then i think, oh, my god, did i say that out loud? reporter: these moms don t want to be a helicopter parent, they want to fly the coop. it s a business that never closes. i could really use a week off. reporter: and as a responsibilities of motherhood continue to grow, women have drawn a line between their lives before kids and after, as one in five moms miss their alone time from life before children. honestly, some days i just want to run away. rachelle is the editorial director of parenting.com and janet taylor is a psychiatrist here in new york. good morning. good morning. a lot of women really identify with all that we just heard. but first of all, let me ask you, what were some of the biggest hurdles the survey found in moms? for moms, what we found was the sort of universal exhaust n exhaustion. sort of universal unawareness of before they became moms that this was going to be 24 hours a day pretty much for the rest of your life. some might be surprise bid the statistics and maybe there are some finer points. for example, this 44% of moms would rather be thinner than have their kids be smarter. it may very well be because their kids are pretty smart a lot have very smart kids. but some might have a little weight to lose. exactly. but also what we re hearing is a kind of degree of unhappiness, as you re pointing out. it seems to me almost all the numbers found in this survey point to the idea that women who are becoming mothers really need more support than they re getting. they do. they need a break. so often as a mom when you say i need a break or if i could have 15 minutes away it s perceived as being selfish. stain of being selfish, it needs to be that moms are self aware and you need to be balanced in whatever you do. you have to balance of how you think about yourself as a mother. here s one statistic you found. 33% of moms admitted to lying to their friends, family, and other parents at their parenting practices. that sounds like they re not really able to feel as though they can talk and be really honest even their friends about what they re doing. yeah, there s a sense that moms don t want to share how very challenging it is. there s an intensity about being a mother that is so personal and so strong that it feels almost weird to share how very tired you are or how intensely you feel you need a break. and it s maybe just easier to gloss it over socially. we need to be honest with your friends and yet 87 % said they also judge other moms for their parenting practices. so there s a kind of fear that you re going if you re going to judge, then you re going to expect that others will judge you. as a mom there s this pressure to be perfect. what we need to understand is that your kids don t need you to be perfect, they need you to be present, which means you need to be responsive, have attachment but also be able to bring your full self to this ongoing parenting role which we know is 24/7. but you got you get i mean, you both nodded your head when you watched this tape. you saw those women and you felt that frustration. really what we re talking about it seems to me, maybe you can help us with this, are these moms, do they tend to be the moms of very young children versus moms of older children? because there are those years that really feel like nothing is going to help. there are a couple of years where i am now where your feel like i have very young children. you feel like your time is not your own. like janet said, you make accommodations around that and recognize that, yes, a lot of your time is to your children but you need to take a little tile for yourself. it s not selfish. selfish is the wrong word. my children are older and i can tell you i need a break at times, too even though they re older. i think the thing is it doesn t have to be a secret anymore, that moms need to talk about how they feel, the good and the bad, so that we can support each other and understand that there s nothing wrong with you if you realize that you need to take time for yourself. or ask for help. exactly. and, also, when you re the mother of a very young child, while the demands still continue as your child grows older there is a particular crunch period that will come to an end in terms of the constancy of demand on the mother. i think women need to say that to each other. anyway, there s another statistic we were talking about earlier in the broadcast that is little surprising. maybe not though. 23% of moms would pick a different husband or partner if they had a do-over. the good news is that 75% essentially plus of women say they wouldn t do a do-over. but this is still a significant number. it is. and you know, i don t think it necessarily speaks to the quality of the relationship between the man and the woman. but as we say, moms need support. they need a good partner. some may think i love this man but i need somebody that can help me more. actually the quality of the relationship is important because relationship satisfaction relates to mothering, relates to parenting, relates to communication. it s all important. so again, in that mothering role, it s the fact that you feel like you have to be responsible for the quality of your marriage. the reality is, you do. thank you so much, both of you. this is a news 4 news break. 8:26 is your time. it is 77 degrees, a beautiful morning in the nation s capital. we re going to get nice weather. good morning, it s wednesday, august 102011. and recent burials at the southern memorial gardens in dunkirk have been put on hold because the state revoked the cemete cemetery s license good morning. a delightful summer morning under way. lots of sun and a blue sky. low humidity. temperatures in the 70s. later in the low 90s. not much humidity in the northwest breeze. lots of sun, low humidity still cooler. into the weekend. danella, how is traffic? this is the accident blobbing the two 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, august 10th, 2011. pretty day here in midtown, manhattan. a lot of people here happy to have the morning off and they re spending it with us. i was so glad for that. meantime, i m ann curry along with matt lauer and natalie morales. but where, oh, where is al roker? where in the world is al roeker? i think i know. got a little special gift to let s see if we can check in with al right now. al, where are you? happy birthday to you. happy birthday to you happy birthday 60 years old. our director, joe michaels, which is great because i thought you were 73. happy birthday, big fella. smell that cake. come on, smell that cake. looks delicious. happy birthday. happy birthday. not a day over 59. this is a big surprise. she was in here with the camera. pointed at you. nobody had any idea. oh, my gosh. nobody doesn t like birthdays but, you know what, we love you, joe. enjoy that cake. show them how your wig works. okay. all right. right there. might get you into trouble. we re back out into trouble okay. we got some stuff to talk about. coming up in this half hour, we re talking about getting your kids off the couch. kids spend so much time with television, video games. how about a good old-fashioned camping trip. we ll tell you how to make it happen and happy very easily. right in your backyard. and don t forget. country star, zach brown band will be here this friday and they want your help to help pick one from the songs they ll be performing friday when they hit the stage. your choices are toes, chicken fried or as she s walk ago way. but first, let s say hello to mark foyersteen. mark, it s great to have you her here. we re so excited first of all, you may have that was a big run. anyway, we ll talk about mark. his broadcast is doing so well. it is one of the highest-rated scripted shows on cable right now. why do you think it s caught on? we show a world that s so beautiful. people, like i do, when i watch tv. love to escape into a magnificent world where people are good, have good intentions and save lives. you play a concierge doctor. in the hamptons, explain what a consierge do is? it s a physician for hire. in the real world, you have to be able to afford it. it harkins back to when doctors made house calls and you had a relationship one-on-one with your practitioner. there may be a terrible mistake you just made, you brought in a newbie in to perform in the show. who never before acted. we were lucky enough to have the great matt lauer ann, i have to tell you, matt is the con summasum at host on the today show. we didn t know how it would go on royal pains acting in the one-hour dramay. i have to know from every member of the show, how he improved. how nice he was to everybody on set. it s annoying, it was a little too perfect. let s look ahead to see what the heck he s talking about. oh, i m sorry. it s you. yeah, it s me. ben affleck. my brother and i were talking 0 on the show friday, 9:30. he s the former e.r. doctor, who is the house call doctor to the rich and not so rich. wait a mun can i be honest, i don t know what you re talking about. this is baby animal week. al has the polar bears and i have the turtles. oh, turtles, that sucks. you were actually shopping in a grocery store. i was looking at things. i was thinking, really, they sell these things? i smell recurring role. we ll have you back any time. you were fantastic. that is tonight. royal pains. usa network. we ll be watching. and i know we ll have you boost their ratings even more. matt. 7:00 to 9:00 central. all right. thank you, mark. and now, let s get a check op the weather. the guy who got polar bears. that s what s going on around the country, here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. good morning we had a fresh change overnight. the lower humidity moved in. right now the temperatures are in 79 in reagan national. lower humidity today, tomorrow and much of saturday. highs in the mid 90s and bit of a blustery northwest wind. getting more humid saturday, saturday night and in through unday, and much of sunday evening, could have showers and storms. that s your latest weather. don t worry, you can always check your weather any time of the day or night. go to the weather channel on cable or weather channel, weather.com online. all right, thanks, al. coming up next, talking about finding an appreciation of the grade outdoors in your own backyard. but first, this is today on nbc. this morning on today s home we re talking about camping out in your own backyard. on average, kids these days spend about eight hours a day indoors. a lot of those hours probably in front of the television set. well, the great american backyard campout aims to get kids outdoors to enjoy themselves. david is with the national wildlife federation. david, good to see you. good to see you. this is a challenge. i have a 10-year-old, 7-year-old, and 4-year-old. they love the video game, computer, and television set. that s what prompted this idea? yeah, exactly. things are really out of balance. kids are spending eight hours a day indoors in front of electronic media. it s way out of balance. they re not going outside anymore. we re seeing at the same time child ohood obesitobesity. a way of life that s being threatened, you re trying to open kids eyes by opening the door. that s why national wildlife federation has this campout and other programs designed to get kids and families back outside. you want families at some point or another during this summer to get out and do a backyard or camping trip. and immediately people are going to think is this going to cost me a lot of money because camping equipment can be expensive. that s the whole idea behind this. while we would love it if everybody went out into the wilderness you don t have to do that. nature is right you side your door. you can do this outside your backyard. if i take my kids camping whether it s at my local camp grounds ten miles away or in my backyard, what are the fundamentals? what do i need? basic stuff. tent is a great idea. you can sleep under the stars but a tent is good to protect you from the mosquitos or if it rains. depending on how it is out, you might want to get a heavy duty sleeping bag. this will do the job. in cost, how much can you get an adequate tent for? this is a family size tent, $260. here s the great thing. rei is the national sponsor. they provided all this stuff and they rent camping equipment. if you re not ready to make that financial equipment. sleeping bags, use some kind of chair. you want to have your camp chair, cup holder to enjoy yourself. there is a little more elaborate with a table but you re showing us the equipment. campos,lantern. you want to have a first aid kit handy. but the other thing is, bring fun games. it s all about getting kids moving. outdoor time is a playtime that is so important for their health. this is a light-up bocce ball set you can play in the dark. it doesn t have to be about nature. it s about fun. you re going to have kids who may be on cold turkey from the video games they are used to playing so make sure you keep them active. a lot of parents say my kids are going to gripe and moan. it s our job to parent. it s good for their health. it s good for the family. minimize some of that screen time to get the kids back outside. great food ideas, marshmallows and hot dogs. even though we talked about hot dogs being a little bit of an issue. there is no specific date. right. it happens all summer long. the whole idea is to get people back outside. it s fun. it s good for the family. and why not. how do people find out more about how they can participate? if you go to the national wildlife federation website, they can find out how to sign up. get camping tips. information on how to get the great products, on rei, our sponsor. and don t forget you can get more information on our website as well. david, thank you so much. really appreciate it. when we come back, the woman who said that loving her own body actually almost killed her. we ll talk about that, but first, this is today on nbc. today s american story with bob dotson takes us to joplin, missouri. just this week new surveillance camera video emerged of the massive tornado that destroyed almost a third of the city, including the high school back in may. but parts of joplin s historic downtown were untouched, and that s where bob uncovered an incredible story. reporter: sometimes news seems written on smoke that quickly drifts away. we ve had so many weather disasters this year, there is little time to linger and listen for new life. but it s there, rising from the rubble. good boy. yes, you are. reporter: the storm that shattered kyle mahdi s home in joplin, missouri, last spring took everything but this water-stained wedding dress. it was all down the side where the zipper was. reporter: his fiance finally has a place to wear it. they ve been living in the basement of his brother s house with four dogs, two cats, and another couple. diners where kyle works helped make this wedding day possible. some people would come in, buy a $7 salad, leave $100. reporter: kyle thought bennett had all the food for free because he knows what it s like to be married in great tragedy. he met his wife carolyn after insurgents in iraq attacked her ride home from work. they killed everybody in the van. reporter: except carolyn, who was shopping for bread. but she found a note on her front door. it said, come back to work, you re going to get killed, or your family. reporter: donny, an army captain at the time, helped keep her safe. what were the first words of english that you learned? i love you. reporter: they moved to joplin after donny s father died and filled a block on main street with laughter and good food. named their new restaurant caldone s after a friend forced from the road back in iraq and shot in the back. when you see death on a scale that s not typically normal, your priorities change. reporter: that s why the bennetts are building back their community one neighbor at a time. 70-year-old tina supports two daughters who lost their jobs in the tornado. her medical weight loss clinic was leveled. i mean, leveled. you see her standing there, just in disbelief. come up in his truck, pulled up as far as he could to the building and said, what can i do? reporter: donny gave her an office above his restaurant for free. he had a halo around his head. reporter: captain bennett won a bronze star in baghdad for continuous and dangerous hardship. but what happened to his hometown is worse than any devastation of war that i ve seen. reporter: a dozen homes exploded around them, but the bennetts still stand. their business does, too. the change he had on n. his pocket when he left iraq. it s stuck. i glued them to the floor. reporter: to remind his family every day of their good fortune. are you lucky that you survived or saddened that you had to go through all this? i don t feel lucky nor saddened. i feel blessed. reporter: like the wedding dress that survived the tornado. it s great to see her wearing it and to be here where we re at today. it couldn t be happier. reporter: on kyle and kelsey s big day the city sees something it needs as badly as rebuilding, a cry of joy and not pain. introduce you the loving couple mr. and mrs. kyle maddie. reporter: for today, bob dotson, nbc news, with an american story in joplin, missouri. some of our greatest suffering comes our greatette strength. we have much more, but first, this is today on nbc. horse racing might be synonymous with luxury in the good life but for the horses, many face uncertain futures when they can no longer compete. our animal advocate found one organization working to place these animals into homes that fit their needs. jill, good morning. nice to see you. nice to see you. they call them beast of burden because a race horse s career usually ends by the time he is 3 or 4, if they re lucky. but after life on the track they re in the race for their lives and the odds are against them. reporter: it s known as sport of kings, but beneath the tradition, glamour, and the thrill of horse racing, lies a disturbing question, what happens to all the four-legged athletes who can t make it all the way to the winner s circle? it s a huge problem to find homes for horses. if you just want to close your eyes and pretend you don t know where they went, that s a solution but it s not a solution for me. reporter: trainers like vladimir know the sad truth. many of these beautiful animals end up with owners who do not know how to care for them, or worse. one of the biggest nightmares that i have is that a horse that gave away as a pleasure horse to someone, that person couldn t afford to keep him after a while and they sent him to the killers. reporter: that s where bonnie adams comes in. her non-profit organization works with trainers to find new homes for horses whose racing careers are over. when i found out that there was a problem that when horses leave the racetrack, so many of them had no place to go, i just felt i had to do something. reporter: adams has brought these horses from the high stakes, high-pressure environment of the tracks to the peace and quiet of sunny sand, marcos, california. looks like horsey heaven. but they re not just here on vacation. they partner with expert handlers like shannon in order to refrain these former racers for second careers. they can be a jumper or just a fletcher horse. you know, i think all horses want a job. i can see from my experience they are happier if you have a horse standing in a stall they have bad habits, they re not happy. interesting because when people think about race horses the last thing i think that would come to most people s mind is, wow, i can just get on a race horse and most go down the. but you re training them for all ages. they re versatile. the thoroughbred is a very versatile breed. reporter: once they have adjusted to life off the track, adams makes sure that every horse is adopted into the right family. these two energetic mares ended up here in arizona. okay. reporter: veterinarian and polo enthusiast diego florez is hoping they will succeed in a completely new sport. we look to rescue animals in my clinic, and she definitely had the right one for us here. they haven t even hit their prime yet. so we believe by giving them some training, we give them a value that helps them forever. reporter: for sequel and secret, a fresh start. for adams, a warm feeling that comes from helping horses enjoy productive lives long after the cheers from the grandstand have faded away. now, thanks to groups like trott, a second chance for a second life is possible but it s a non-profit. it s a very costly endeavor but so worth it when you see their next chapter. and so important. they re in a race for our entertainment and they deserve a second chance. and they re discarded at an age when they re babies. babies. and they have so many wonderful careers, as you can see, in so many different areas. too expensive then for the average person to afford. obviously they re very expensive but it doesn t mean they don t deserve a chance, especially when they make such wonderful pets and animals for people for years to come. they can live into their 30s. good thing you re drawing attention to it, as always. appreciate it. isn t it true that you re the good will equine animal ambassador now? yeah, thank you. congratulations. good for you. that s great. this is a news 4 news break. 8:r56 is your time now. 79 degree, look at those beautiful blue skies, nice day, you ll love the forecast. i ll have it for you in a moment. good morning, i m eun yang. in the news a square for a plane on the way to washington. they hit violent turbulence. two passengers and one flight attendant have minor injuries. and the hunt is on at dulles airport. the beatle. travels in on rice from southeast asia and asia. it cannot only kill american crops but good morning, chapper 4 is love over the beltway. it appear that someone struck the forest field r we re back now with more of today on a wednesday morning. it s the 10th day of august, 2011. another big crowd gathering in our plaza. as always, we thank them very much for joining us. i m matt lauer along with ann curry. savannah guthrie and al roker. you ve been watching the market over the last several days you probably have financial whiplash. that s for sure. in fact, the fact is a lot of folks are worried about their retirement accounts, their children s 529 college accounts, money 911 team is going to have some advice. and we ll be answering your questions from skype,e-mail, and the phone. it has really been a roller coaster. absolutely. not a good kind of roller coaster. no. also ahead, loving your body from the inside out. we re going to talk to one woman who had always been so proud of being plus size but she learned the hard way there s more of this than just how you look, i also your health so she went on a quest to lose some weight. she tells us her very personal story coming up. apparently you don t always have to spend a chunk of change if you want to get your hair color done. a celebrity stylish who comes on our broadcast so often is going to tell us how to choose the perfect color for your hair and your face and skin tone and to keep up with the latest trends. matt? choose the perfect color for your face your hair for your face. you re stuck with it. that s it. you know what i meant. let us go inside, natalie morales standing by at the news desk with a check of all the headlines. natalie? good morning to you guys once again. good morning. the world stock market jitters are easing somewhat today, one day after the federal reserve said it will hold interest rates low through 2013. stocks mostly higher this morning in asia and europe. the fed s decision sent stocks surging to a 429-point gain tuesday on wall street on the dow after a day of wild swings. a major operation is under way in britain to arrest rioters after four nights of violence, while london was largely quiet overnight hundreds went throughout the cities outside of london, battling police and vandalizing stores. today prime minister david cameron said britain will not allow what he called a culture of fear to take over the streets. a military investigation has begun into last week s downing of a u.s. helicopter in afghanistan that killed 30 american troops. the probe will look into the decision to send the chinook helicopter full of special operations forces to help out troops under fire on the ground. on tuesday, president obama was among those on hand at dover air force base in delaware when the remains of the 30 americans arriveded back home. at least three people are recovering from injuries this morning after an american airlines flight hit severe turbulence tuesday while heading from miami to washington. the plane made an emergency landing in charleston, south carolina. three people are being held in arizona after police say a fake bomb was found in one of their carry-on bags at the airport in phoenix. police are not ruling out a possible connection to terrorism given the approaching tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. three women are facing up to five years in prison after pleading guilty in what california prosecutors say was a baby selling ring. officials say they charged a dozen couples more than $100,000 to adopt babies from surrogate pregnancies. texas is now officially suffering its second worst drought ever. more than 90% of the state is in the most extreme stages of drought and forecasters don t expect much of a break until october at the earliest. on top of the lack of rain is the heat, and today dallas will be at or above 100 degrees yet again for the 39th day in a row. and it s a soccer field of dreams for a young player from argentina. 7-year-old has signed on with the power house team real madrid, he will start training next month but won t be able to actually play professionally until he is 16. unbelievable for a 7-year-old. and if your girlfriend s favorite color is orange and you want to propose, what do you do? if you re one love struck man in china you and 48 of your friends dress up like giant carrots, of course, took him about three weeks to get the whole bunch to the and pop the question. she was a little bit embarrassed, she said, but said yes. so it worked apparently. hope she likes her carrots. ly.r minutes past the hour. hope she likes her carrots. let s go to al with a check of the weather. she ll have really good eyes. maybe she s part rabbit. bugs bunny? thanks, natalie. let s see what is happening. we have strong storms in the lower mississippi valley. also looking at showers up and out of new england. temperatures in the low 70s in the pacific northwest. slight risk of strong storms later this afternoon. on to the evening and down into the lower mississippi valley. sunny skies into the east coast. looking at cooler weather, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. much more comfortable summer weather along the way. good morning i m meteorologist tom kierein. upper 70s to 80s throughout the region. lower humidity moved in overnight. a bit of a northwest breeze, highs reaching lower 90s from early to mid afternoon. lots of sunshine, then partly cloudy. not much humidity. afternoon high, mid 80s. more of the same friday and saturday. should get showers and storms saturday night into time now for today s money 911, we re answering some of your big financial questions. this morning, also want to help you get a handle of all the volatility in the stock market. today financial editor jean chatzky is the editor of money 911. sharon epperson is cnbc s personal finance correspondent. and joining our merry band new to our panel, joe, the president of consumer education at smartcredit.com. thank you. thank you for having me. let s get right to it. skype. we ve got betsy. she s from ohio. and she s got a question for you. good morning, betsy. good morning, everybody. i m in my early 50s, and my husband is 60. how can we stay sane and still keep a long-term perspective when there is so much uncertainty in our markets? i think everybody has that a question. that s a great, great, question, betsey. i think the key is to keep that long-term focus in your sights at all time. you know when you need this money. you know if it s ten years down the road or 20 or even 30, and that means you keep your short-term money in safer havens and other than that you just stop listening to all of the ups and downs that are happening every single day because they re going to drive you and everybody else a little bit crazy. you don t want to micromanage. we don t want to panic, because that s when we make really bad decisions. sometimes this is when you need someone else to step in and say, here, calm down. that s when you need a financial adviser, certified financial planner. this is your plan, you re going to stick to it. you can find great ones in your area. go to napsa.org. great places to find financial advisers. turn it down, just keep it on the today show and we ll be fine. exactly, don t turn us off. now we go to the phone. we have larry caiz calling in f brooklyn. hi, good morning. what s your question? my kids are still young but i m already concerned about their 529 plans for college. i m wondering what the best bet is right now or better off just putting the money under a mattress these days? what do you say? quick question, how young is young? 4 and 6. so they got a pretty long horizon before college unless they re really, really brilliant. 529s are great when they work. however, they re tied to the market and unless you ve been in the closet for the past three days the market has gone, the market has gone down. it can drive you absolutely nuts. so absolutely, if you are adverse to this type of risk and you don t like seeing red numbers in your portfolio put some of that money in a money market or a short-term cd because you re not going to see a lot of red when you re checking value. but your or rye horizon, you have to keep some of it in the market. 529 is not a problem right now. liz, good luck. okay. now we re going to go to skype again. we want to check in with steve. he s calling checking in from fayetteville, north carolina. steve, how s it going? i m good. how are you? great. what s your question? my question is, i m about to enter a two-year college program with a projected cost of $14,000. my wife and i have about $19,000 in the bank, and after last week only about $4,000 in stocks. but we have no debt other than our mortgage. we may need some of that money though for living expenses. my question is, should i get a student loan or should i wait until our money runs out? sharon? my first question in ters of the money you have in the stock market was this money for retirement or money you always planned to use for education coming up? it s always been planned to use for education. it probably should not have been in the stock market in the last couple of years if you were planning to go to college right now. that is money you probably will have to take out of the stock market, as you said, that you will have to pay for. but i think the first thing you need to do is see if you can find free money and financial aid. fill out the application on the department of education website, the form to make sure you can get as much free aid as possible and you can apply for a pell grant and those types of grants. the next thing is look attacks credit. see if you can get the hope scholarship credit. $2500. that is something to look for. free money from scholarships. when it comes to borrowing, really look at how much you re going to have to take out and make sure that your starting salary is more than the amount you re borrowing. that is going to be the key in terms of determining how much you want to borrow here. one of the things you re going to have to do in your case because you need this money right away, if you need it in five years your money should not be in the stock market. this is the time you may have to take it out. good luck. thank you. we re going to go to skype again. gayle from maryland. she s joining us with a question. good morning. good morning. and the question? i do. i just received some money as a gift from my mother when she sold some property. i would like to take $5,000 of it and put it somewhere for a year or two until i need it for my son s education. right now it s just sitting in my checking account. what can i do with it? you have a great mom. really nice. great. here s the deal. as sharon just said, she needs this money in a couple of years so you don t want to put it at risk in the market. you can putted in a 529 and keep it siafe in that 529. maryland has a good plan and you can get a tax deduction for putting that money in there. it will save you some money, which is really helpful. great. thanks. say hi to mom, gale. now we re going to go to the phones. dawn is calling in from cincinnati. good morning, dawn. good morning. hi, what s your question? i had a credit card for the past ten plus years. and the company has progressively increased my annual fee from what was free to now it s $45. i got a few other cards which i also use and i pay all of the balances in full every cycle. none of the other cards cost me anything to be a customer. i contacted the issuer. they won t wave the fee. i don t need the card sint i don t carry a balance. i think i should close the account but i heard it can hurt my credit score, especially since i ve had the account for so long. should i just suck it up and pay the $45 or should i close the account? sounds like she s got a catch-22 here. dilemma that all credit card holders face. annual fee or do i close it and risk damaging my credit score? the issue at play here is the infamous debt percentage. it helps your credit score. if you close that, you re going to save the 45 buck, however you may damage your credit score at the same time. if you re applying for anything like a home or a car or anything down the road where you need every basis point in the rate because it means real money to you i would almost suggest, sucking it up, spend the $45 per year and maybe using the card periodically, no interest, minimize your costs. you re in good shape. but if she s not going to get a home loan or a car loan in the next year, that s okay. dawn, are you going to be getting any yeah, i m getting a car this year. that answers it. leave it open and wait until you close on the loan and then close the card. okay, thank. thanks a lot, dawn. one more, we ve got our last question. it s an e-mail from patty who lives in new jersey. she writes, i was denied the making home affordable program and i am struggling to make my mortgage payment. i was denied because, quote, no default was imminent. i don t want to ruin my credit score. i looked into this. it is difficult because a lot of folks are in this same position. they are not in imminent default and are not going to get this modification program but there are other programs that make homes affordable to look into. perhaps refinance and the banks have their own requirement and their own programs to look into. she s not completely out of luck. it s not a situation where you want to wait until you get into default to do something. there may be some programs out there for her. good advice. jean chatzky, sharon epperson and john, thank you so much for joining us. if you have more questions, good news, jeanne is going to be sticking around for a live web chat starting at 9:30 a.m. only on today.com. coming up next, loving your body no matter the size. why one woman says it almost killed her. later, hot looks for your hair. i ll be worried about that. we ll show you how to choose the right color, after these we ll show you how to choose the right color, after these messages. for his dentist, the choice is clear. fact is, more dental professionals brush with an oral-b toothbrush than any other brush. trust the brush more dentists and hygienists use, oral-b. oh, we call it the bundler. let s say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online. [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that s progressive. call or click today. [ announcer ] who could resist the call. of america s number-one puppy food brand? with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother s milk. purina puppy chow. this morning on y s woman, weight and good health. for years self-esteem expert urged women to accept their wait as is and be proud of their bodies. but after her own health scare when she was a size 18 she spreads a new message to women about what it means to be healthy and love your body. she has written an article in the current issue of glamour magazine. good morning, ladies. good morning. you had quite a dramatic tight to this article. loving my body almost killed me. what did you mean by that? certainly not literally but a provocative title because it allowed me to ask a provocative question in my life. there was a question i was hearing a lot of women asked me in my work which was i m all about loving my body and body acceptance but i m not doing anything for my health. it allowed me to look at myself, here i am a thought leader in this space and what do i know about my own health. when you went to the doctor you had a wake-all call. i did. the whole question is loving my body almost killing me was really more about am i looking at the right areas. and i m used to equating weight with health. a lot of women are. they think thinless equals being healthy. when i went to the doctor to get a check-up to see where i was on the health barometer, she said i was a n. a pre-diabetic range. she gave me numbers. cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure. at my age, i m 37 years old. all of a sudden it became very real for me that weight was just one factor in what i had to look at with my health, but there are a whole other areas, numbers, that i didn t know that i needed to know. and quickly, before we turn to cindy, you then did set out to lose weight, which i guess in your world given your work was somewhat controversial. the reason i wrote the piece was because weight loss was a part of my health awakening but not the whole purpose of my health awakening. it was looking at what i preferred now in my body, how i wanted to feel. it was looking at those numbers that i didn t know was as important. i had a small amount of weight loss that produced dramatic results but also my lifestyle. i exercised more frequently, went to a psychotherapist to talk about my mental problems. i look at the emotional weight this is, all of it combined. cindy, why did you feel this is a story readers should hear? first of all because she is real leader in this area. women who are struggling with body image issues and struggling to feel good about themselves at any size, i have seen her as someone who can lead them forward. it was interesting to us to hear that she was saying, you know, i am this woman who has written a book called life doesn t begin five pounds from now, fantastic title, but you know what, i might need to look at my weight if i want to be healthy. you know, i do want to say i think it s really understandable that women who may have a history of eating disorders and are really trying to feel good about their bodies for the first time are tempted to ignore the scale, not go to the doctor, stuff like that. really human impulse. you want to judge yourself by other things than just your weight. i m curious as to what the response was from your readers and what you encountered, too, because i m sure some women look at this and say, you say it s about health, you re dressing up this issue, right, we re really telling you don t be fat and pretending it s because of health concerns. it was important for us that jess was looking at a whole rang nl of number, not primarily weight. it was about bringing down her blood pressure, her triglycerides, sugar level. she wasn t trying to get to a size four or six. were you worried about a backlash? of course. listen, my message is evolving. i ve been working in this field for 17 years. when i started i told my story of recovery of a eating disorder as a teenager. now as a woman around the world, i see it around the country, it has a lot of women fearful of what they need to get healthy. and so i wanted to just reconstruct that and add a dimension to conversation. we need compassion and kindness for women out there to deal with their body images. cindy, what is your message? your readers struggling with being heality but reaching a weight realistic for them. the message for them is these two things can go together. weight loss has been a third rail and self-esteem and body image communities. the idea is if we re okay with ourselves at any size we shouldn t be trying to lose weight. but if you do respect your body you have to. i loved my body to do this. there wasn t a time i felt like my life started. my life always started, it s just now deepening in health. it s coming from a place of love and respect for your body. always good to see you. talk to you soon. still ahead, if you need ideas for a family trip, we ve got six unusual destinations. but first, these messages. our dogs and cats may not have our eyes, our noses, or our ears. but they re still our family. and family deserves the best. new petarmor flea and tick protection. it has the same active ingredient as frontline, so it s just as effective against fleas and ticks, but costs about half as much. so, although the family resemblance may not be clear, your bond is unmistakable. new petarmor. same protection as frontline at about half the cost. available at stores near you. hi! i brought champagne. wow! the best in the world. .some chocolates swiss! ah.the best in the world. oikos greek yogurt from dannon. really? wait until you try it. so creamy thick and fresh tasting dannon oikos berry flavors beat chobani 2:1 in a national taste test. mmmm. this may be the best in the world. oikos greek yogurt possibly the best yogurt in the world. if you have painful, swollen joints, i ve been in your shoes. one day i m on p of the world. the next i m saying. i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i m surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you ve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don t start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you re prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. get back to the things that matter most. good job girls. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. still to come, whether you do your own color like al or you go to a professional, we re going to tell you how to get the right look for your hair. plus, a seafood season in our kitchen. mussels and shrimp. we go! seeking inspiration from the world s best yogurts for activia selects in paris we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. then our search took us to beautiful greece and this thick and creamy greek yogurt, so rich and full of flavor. it was a grueling trip! try new activia french and greek yogurt. a world of great new tastes. [ girls ] good. thank you! phew! [ ernie ] we make our cookies the way only keebler elves can: with a little something extra. so every bite can be uncommonly good. this is a new 4/news break. 99:26 is your time. beautiful day, cooler temperatures on the way. good morning you to, i m eun yang. right now maryland state police are crabbing down on hov violators in prince georges coun county. looking for violators on route 350 and the beltway. they say it s in res good morning, we ve got bright sun, lower humidity and the high reach the low 90s. a bit of a blustery wind. thursday, friday and saturday into the 80s. saturday night into sunday, could get showers and storm, danella, how is traffic? looking good, you can see the loans are open. both sides of 270 nothing is slowing you down. new york avenue, different story. you ll see delays from the washington times plant to florida avenue. back you to, eun. thanks, danella. that is grammy winner enrique iglesias who sold millions of albums in english and spanish. he will be here a week from friday. wait until you see it. he likes it. matt and i like it. meanwhile, this friday, the country sound of popular zac brown band will entertain the crowd at rockefeller plaza. stop on by. as a reminder you can help pick one of band s songs. here s are your choice. toes, chicken fried, or as she s walking away . cast your vote, text your song number to 622639, or vote on our website, today.com. all winners, no matter which song. meanwhile, coming up on today, changing your look by changing your hair color. this morning s stylist to the stars is here. also, how to choose the right shades for your face and how you can do this at home if you don t want to pay salon prices. in today s kitchen, a simple shellfish super. not easy to say. easy to make? three times fast. we celebrate summer s bounty from the sea with light and flay f flavorful recipes from oysters, mussels, and shrimp. shellfish seashore. suffering succotash. i knew that was coming. you have a check of the weather? see what s going on. first of all for today. the sizzling heat continues from texas not southwest. beautiful day in the great lake, plenty of sunshine, temperatures mid to upper 70s. for tomorrow nice and mild in the pacific northwest. we have a look at strong storms as the front sags south. sunny and mild into the great lakes, the siszling weather continues from southwest texas all of the way to the gulf coast. that s what s going on around the country. here s what s happening in your neck of the woods. a wonderful wednesday under way. i m tom kierein, bright sun with low humidity. 83 in reagan international. we ll have low humidity with us. today, tomorrow and much of saturday. highs today. mid 80s. upper 80s. saturday. cloudy in the evening, looks like showers and stores, perhaps into sunday evening, into next week we dry out. and that s your latest weather. al, thanks. coming up next, the hottest trends in hair color, right coming up next, the hottest trends in hair color, right after this. ampagn coming up next, the hottest trends in hair color, right afwow! the best in the world. .some chocolates swiss! ah.the best in the world. oikos greek yogurt from dannon. really? wait until you try it. so creamy thick and fresh tasting dannon oikos berry flavors beat chobani 2:1 in a national taste test. mmmm. this may be the best in the world. oikos greek yogurt possibly the best yogurt in the world. [ chanting ] do it! [ all cheering ] [ female announcer ] it s fun to get dirty when it s this easy to get clean. that s because clorox 2 stain fighter & color booster works better than detergent alone at removing the toughest stains. [ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain. taste. delicious pringles multigrain. with a variety of flavors, multigrain pops with pringles. as a va doctor, i get more time to focus on my patients. and as you can imagine, the rewards are considerable. so are the benefits. plus, i only need one active state license to practice in any va facility. you know, it s bigger than giving back to my country. it s giving our veterans the care they deserve. (announcer) learn more about careers with today s va at vacareers.va.gov. we get double miles on every purchase, so me and my lads earned a trip to san francisco twice as fast! we get double miles every time we use our card. i ll take these two. .no matter what we re buying. .and all of those. and since double miles add up fast, we can bring the whole gang! it s hard to beat double miles! whoa dude. [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. what s in your wallet? this morning in today s beauty the hottest trends in hair color. you ve had the same look for years and if you re feeling a little bit flat, today s contributor and stylist to the stars is here. good morning to you. good morning, natalie. hair color is one of the things, it s the most obvious change you can make. there are a lot of new trends in hair color. hair color, fashion, fashion is always changing. it changes slower than perhaps skirt lengths or whatever the latest trend is, but it does change. you feel like yourself five years ago, i promise you you will look entirely different. i feel like i look the same. i feel like i have the same look. we ll talk about it. we re stuck in a trend. let s talk about some looks here that you are changing. first, we have julia with us. we ll look at what julia looked like beforehand. her hand was very long. that darkish brown. but it was sort of lacking luster, right? absolutely. what did you do with julia? julia s hair was long but way too long so we gave her this great hair cut which automatically, opens up her face. much more youthful. she s young but she looks younger. i like it colorwise. cougar, by the way. are you a cougar? i made it a darker color. darker color is the hottest thing. think about it, kim car dakarda of course, the great kate middleton. richer, alive. this is the hottest color trend for 2011 and it will go into 2012. rich chocolate brown. gorgeous. the trick here is i did this at the salon, of course. but you can do this yourself at home for $15, $30, $12, whatever product you buy. these are semi permanent, nonammonia colors. what you should do is they re 2309 not gonlg a damage your air. one shade darker than your natural color because you don t want to be opaque or goth. if your hair was shorter you can go darker because it shows the shape and shine of your hair cut. longer, slightly lighter on ends. the important tip, go one shade darker than your natural hair color. you don t want to be harsh. you want it to be beautiful asey and everything. go get them, cougar. another look, lauren. let s see what she looked like before. there, also really long hair. a little bit drab, i think. right. especially when you see her, what she looks like now. she s like vavoom. and looks like lauren today. vibrant. amazing. that gorgeous coppery, fiery hair. now, red hair is certainly redheads, by the way, perhaps the most important trend that cannot be ignored. right. has influenced every other color. the chocolate in her chocolate brown. put the gold in the golden blond that the next salon went to see. this is like a kristina hendrix, mad men look, emma stone, beautiful redhead. and she is a natural beautiful blond which we found out inreading the interviews. the blond is great but i feel more exciting as a redhead. look at me, i am a hot woman. how do you know if it s going to match your skin tone? as we see here on lauren, beautiful. she has the freckle complexion that goes with it. great point, natalie. when you have paler skin like lauren, you can pick any color red you want. if your skin has olive or sallow tones underneath, you should choose a darker auburn color. colors to be avoided, eggplant, burgundies, candy apple red. they re so old, they re like forget about it. okay. copper, auburn, strawberry, those are the in colors. you can get the kits, you can do this yourself as well. with red, are there any extra tips? the thing about red is you do have to prepare that red fades quicker. but reds are easy to maintain. we have one here, i believe, that is a ten-minute color. this is a foam-in color which is great to use because the foam-in colors are neater. one of the problems with at-home hair color is you not only color your hair, you color your bathroom. and your forehead and ears. a little bit of that, extra step. you don t want to ruin the tile. you spend all that money on renovation, you want to keep the tiles great. finally. let s look at our last model and see how she was wearing her hair before. and all beautiful women, by the way, but they needed a little lift. that s what he is all about. right. you see here another beautiful woman with the long hair syndrome. let s look at angelina today. gorgeous. there it is. great hair cut. even with the great makeup. and what i did here, this is the new blond. the new blond rich blond. right. but if you notice, it s more blond on the ends. much darker on top. it looks great. this all came from madonna. remember when madonna had the platinum roots. what it evolved to was a much more subtle graduation of dark to light, a little sun kissed. and this is where it is. and this is how hair color should look today. even if you do is single process color, by the way, do a slightly color here. the sun or oxidation will make it come lighter. what about the highlight kits because they are changing all the time. yes. this can be done at home as well. but with this one, i love this one. this is one of my favorites. finger brush. put an applicator on your finger. what you do is put it exactly where you want it. the great thing is you don t have to start the highlights from the top. if you do start the highlights from the top, very few but heavier concentration of color on the ends. no more cap where s you poke the hair through. that s hard to do. the caps, too, were more for if i had my color and i wanted to be very, very blond. dated look. remember, highlights should always be relate to the natural color. exactly. if it looks frosted, gray. this hair color for all of them will out grow more natural. and they can keep it up themselves at home if they choose to. they can go to the salon and at home. great, as always. models, you look gorgeous. thank you so much. coming up next, the seafood feast in today s kitchen, but first, these messages. i m good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder. what s left behind? [ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists. it s clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from the new line of neutrogena naturals. i ve heard of it, but i haven t seen one up close. what s the word around the sink? that it removes 3 times more soap scum per swipe, and it came from outer space. it is not from outer space! no, man, it s from outer space. they re aliens on an intergalactic cleanliness mission. they re here to clean up the universe. oh, the kitchen scrubbers are aliens, too? yeah, look at that greasy kitchen mess. everybody s in on the cleanspiracy, man. i can t even trust myself. [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser kitchen and bath scrubbers. the clean is out of this world. [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser kitchen and bath scrubbers. hi! i brought champagne. wow! the best in the world. .some chocolates swiss! ah.the best in the world. oikos greek yogurt from dannon. really? wait until you try it. so creamy thick and fresh tasting dannon oikos berry flavors beat chobani 2:1 in a national taste test. mmmm. this may be the best in the world. oikos greek yogurt possibly the best yogurt in the world. and, just like toddlers, puppies need food made for them. that s why there s purina puppy chow. with all the essential nutrients your growing puppy needs. purina puppy chow. that comes from a leaf sweet surprise rue love it s natural, guilt-free no artificiality it won t land on my hips or my thighs [ announcer ] truvia. honestly sweet. is now honey nut cheerios! yup, america s favorite. so we re celebrating the honey sweetness, crunchy oats and. hey! don t forget me!! honey nut cheerios. make it your favorite too! [ male announcer ] for the most slam-dunk whites, it only takes three-quarters cup of clorox bleach. in the game. [ cheers and applause ] but we don t make stuff. we make ovens. dual fuel double ovens. and they bake so evenly, so perfectly, that now, delicious is something you can depend on. we only make things for one room. the best room. your kitchen. we re devoted to it, delighted by it, and you can feel it in everything we make. nobody knows the kitchen like kitchenaid. today s kitchen is brought to you by kitchenaid, the way it s mads. this morning in today s kitchen, what s for dinner? mussels into our meal for a summer seafood bonanza. mark murphy is here in new york. mark, good to see you. how are you? this is great. a good time for walking through. no problem. a good time for seafood. a great time for seafood. all year-round. now, tell me about these shrimp. i ve never seen shrimp looking like this. why not? we just marinating them in thyme and garlic. you ve got to get flavor on these guys. shrimp are good on their own but i like to put more flavor on them. how long do you marinate for? put them in the night before. the marinades are important but don t put any salt on them before because the salt is going to draw out the moisture in the actual shrimp. not the citrus. the citrus, we cook it and then that s a whole other rest bee. and then you re done. grilling them up? grilling them up. season both sides. we re on tv but still got to make it taste good. absolutely. our crew wants to eat afterwards. so do you. absolutely. we re going to put these on top of a really nice salad. this is fennel. i love fennel. it s a nice summer it s just fresh, refreshing. sure. and we ve got some scallions. these are the tops of the fennels. green olives. you don t have to always put them in a martini. you can put them in our salad. really? it s our director s 60th birthday. he s never had an olive without a martini. oh no. this is a vinaigrette. these are great. i don t know if you ve had these. as a kid i eat them as saltines, smoked oysters. i decided to make them into a vinaigrette. chop them up a little bit. put the juice in there. put a little sherry wine vinegar. a little bit of chili dplaflake. give the salad a little heat. and chopped parsley. mix it s up with a little olive oil, or maybe a lot of olive oil. you ve got to make sure it s nice and moist. nice and moist, exactly. this makes a great, great salad dressing. you can always do it whole as well. never for get your salt and pepper. do you mind flipping those? no problem. these will cook pretty quickly? very quickly. you can do them inside on a grill like this or also do them outside. if you re going to do them outside i suggest you soak the skewers in water first. you don t want them to burn. look at this salad. this salad, just very simple tossed. we re going to put the shrimp on top of that. i also have another salad i prepared over there. check that salad out while the shrimp are cooking. over here. these are mussels. steamed them with shallots and white wine. we have to pick all the mussels like that song on in the beginning. we ve got red onion. we ve got scallions. we re going to finish this off with basil leaves. you ve got some beans. and beans in there as well. great white northerns. we ve got some more chopped parsl parsley. a little bit of lemon juice and some olive oil. and this is a really, really nice salad. once again, we need the salt and pepper. salt and pepper? yeah. perfect. and this is just a great sal salad, a great starter. we serve this as a special a lot as our restaurant landmark. it s one of those salads great here in new york. i have two. one downtown and one uptown. i ve only been uptown because i m an uptown kind of guy. that s okay, but we have to feed the folks downtown new york, as well. all those models and supermodels. that s exactly true. okay. let s dress this. let s put this one together now. okay. i ll move the mandolin so we don t hurt ourselves. we ll just put the salad right here. all right. put some shrimp on top of it. like that. voila. very nice. you have a fantastic seafood bounty that you ve made, and everybody will love it. mark murphy, thank you so much. very nice. great to have. still ahead, having a family sleepover at an unusual location. we have great ideas for a fun get away. but first, this is today on nbc. good food. hoda and kathie lee, what have you got coming up? discover the age old question, do blonds have more fun? i think we already know the answer. i m going blonder, definitely, if you know what i m saying. also, we have luke on that great country singer that we were talking about yesterday. shake it. country girl. especially if you re blond. yeah. asleep over at the national history museum. is mom making an appearance? no. maybe. oh, yes! yes! hey! and bowling later with our mothers in a couple of days. that s coming up, all after your local news. exactly. this is a news 4 news break. kind of pleasant out here in the nation s capital today. not quite as humid. i have the forecast for you coming up. good morning, it s 9:56 wednesday, august 10th. in the news, fbi is preparing for the potential home grown terror threats of the dedication of the martin luther king memorial. one is about domestic attack. the dedication is set for august 28th on the national mall. right now maryland state police cracking down on hov vie lairs between route 301 and the beltway. let look at our forecast now, tom. a wonderful run of weather the next several days, absolute highs should make it into the low 90s. we ll have low humidity in place. lots of sun. low humidity thursday and friday. getting a little more humid over the weekend, then saturday night, through the day sunday and perhaps even into sunday evening, we may get showers and thunderstorms then after that, lower humidity returns first part of next week with high of in the mid 80s. now, danella how is the traffic? the congestion died down in most of the areas. a look at the bridge, you see it s clear as you make your way across and the same for the key bridge. same with the 14th street bridge we had congestion earlier but now a smooth you ride. now a smooth you ride. barbara, back you to. that s amazing. you know what else is amazing? how easy it is to save money on motorcycle, boate with geico. geico, saving people money, on more than just car insurance. captions paid for by nbc-universal television live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. hello, everybody, it s wednesday which we call winesday around here. august 10th and we re delighted that you re here with us today. yes. hi. hi. how was your birthday yesterday? it was a great birthday. so many people on the facebook. they were so, so, so sweet. they love you, hoda! my sister and my mom flew in yesterday and they were supposed to arrive at 3:30 in the afternoon because of that terrible weather. we had a horrendous thunderstorm here. they were on the tarmac for many hour, but they made it and your mom, did, too. and they re here with us. look at them. looking so happy. that s your sister hala, and my mom joany. who is from dubai. and everybody wants to celebrate with you. yesterday we became barbie dolls. we sure did, and we asked you what you thought about bobby having the opportunity to dress up. make us over. and you overwhelmingly said yes, and i wore something i wouldn t normally wear, a pant suit. you looked amazing and you have legs that go up to your ears. i had mixed reviews. i admit. a lot of people didn t like it, but no, no. yeah. i don t know. i like it, because you work it. just keep moving. if you re a moving target nobody can say anything. i think bobbi will do this for us once a week. we think so. it s a lot more work for her. but that s okay. not our problem. that s hers. everyone is having tough times right now, really, really tough times so we like to bring you the miraculous on occasion. there was a little 12-year-old boy pulled from the ocean get this, he was swimming with a church group and he was not a great swimmer and everyone acknowledged that. he gets pulled in by one of those rip tides. he was lost. all of the kids from the youth prayer group and they were praying because they didn t know where he was. imagine in the huge ocean they didn t know where he was and the rescuers went in there and look what they found. 20 minutes, you guys, under water. just finding him alone would be miraculous and he was in a coma for three days. the parents said they would be happy if he was just alive. he might be a vegetable and may not be able to talk. three days in the coma, his eyes fluttered, okay? they couldn t believe he woke up and his parents said cough and clear your throat and he said i don t have to. when you ve been under water for that long if there s a miracle. and actually putting sentences together and just the fact that he s alive is unbelievable and then that he can speak and he s cognizant and he s making sense. he s got a long road ahead, but now is not the time to stop praying and let s keep praying for this young man for a full recovery. isn t that amazing? that makes me cry. not as much as when jay gave you flowers. and he brought more flowers last night. the gifts kept coming. here s good news if you re in love for a long time. they say long-term love is not just a fairytale and they define long-term love by ten years. they are amateurs! ten years? they say after ten years people say they re very much in love. what happens after ten more? let the s ask you. they assume that romantic love decreases over time. yes. so those figures were lower for couples in the second decade of marriage. wonder why? and then they bounce back. after the third decade. hang in there! hang in there! there is hope! there are fewer options later. nobody wants you anymore so you might as well stay with the one you ve got. let s be honest. chickens are slim at that point and people start losing their teeth. you might as well love the one you re with. if you can t love the one you want, love the one that s a great song. if you can t be with the one you love, love the one you re with. unless they re your teenage children and they want to have sleepovers with their girlfriend or boyfriend at your home. how do you feel and your son or daughter walks in and the boyfriend who may live elsewhere wants to not just stay in the house, but sleep in the same bedroom with your child, your teenager or even your college who cares? your adult child. this is specifically teenagers, this study. i just can t believe we re asking the question and it was done by a dutch author and sociologist and they think differently over there. nine out of ten dutch parents said they would consider allowing it at age 16 or 17. i can t believe that. while nine out of ten american importaparents say no. i wouldn t let you and. do it at my house. i m sorry. i wouldn t do it at my mom s house? i wouldn t do it. is that because she s here today? yes. i think there s something weird about your child, but i know a lot of parents who say it s okay. they say i d rather it be at my house and under my roof, but why would you want to have it under your roof? parents want to know where they are and what they re doing. i don t want to know if they re next door. you know what? i just i cannot believe that nine out of ten would say yes, absolutely. bring in a few more and let s have an orgy, too. where does it stop? speaking of where does it stop, more mature people although hoda does not want me to use the word elderly. no, just mature. there is a grandmother who was 83 years old and she decided that she would get breast implants. she does not look 83. she looks much younger than that. why not? if it makes you feel better and you want to get it i say go for it. our mothers are here. mom they re not miked. joany, come on over here. come on over here, mom, i know you re mature, but you don t hear so well. come any stand right here, please. now, mom, my microphone is right here. you okay, joany? yes. mom, would you ever consider getting plastic surgery at this point of life? no. there s an 83-year-old lady that just got breast implants. i don t need them. there you go. sammy, what do you say, sammy? i don t think so. but you what? they don t need it. that s the thing. they don t need it. iy think if you need it what if you need it? you don t think there s anything wrong with it? no. they could do it. can i ask a very indelicate question? our mothers are here! what is it? all right. do it. what if a man who is having erectile problems ooh! and? what if he could get some relief from that by having some surgery. how would that be, joany? i m not against that. that can be a terrible situation. enough said! thank you, ladies. okay. bye! they need to get their own show. you got it? okay. bye, mom. love you! here s a shocker. i don t know if you what just happened? did you just ask our mothers about of course i did. i think it s important that you can talk to your parents at any age about everything. don t let your teenagers sleep together under your own roof. we could not believe the image we saw. arnold schwarzenegger was caught on sunday wearing a t-shirt that said i survived maria. the t-shirt was designed last year, and he scratched out the date. he started at the date they were married, i guess. i think they were married in 1986 yeah. they were married a few months before frank and i were. can we ask the question? what was he thinking wearing that? because he knew he was going to be photographed. he was outside working out. he s got his own gym and he could have gone there and had an inside joke. it doesn t help his image at all which makes people who didn t like him, like him less, you know? and then he was caught smoking a stogie in austria, which is his home country and it s completely against the law to smoke indoors. it s almost, like what are you doing? yeah. we had a joint birthday lunch. yes, we did. jim bell was at the table, ann curry, natalie. everybody was there. sarah. great restaurant. fabulous food. rose ana was there with us and megan put it on for us. megan cobb. we blew out the candles and we brought that cake and we re still barbie dolls. we are! thank you so much, everybody, for coming to that. speaking of photos. yeah. does do yours make you say what the what? see what happens when a brunette goes blond all of the way and find out if blonds have more fun? what do you think? kind of looks like it. there it is. [ male announcer ] heard this one? listen to this. three out of four americans don t get enough vegetables. s [ male announcer ] we asked real people if they d help us with an experiment for febreze fabric refresher. they agreed. [ experimenter 1 ] relax, take some nice deep breaths. [ experimenter 2 ] what do you smell? lilac. clean. there s something that s really fresh. a little bit beach-y. like children s blankets. smells like home. [ experimenter 1 ] okay. take your blindfolds off. hello? [ male announcer ] and now new and improved febreze fabric refresher with up to two times the odor elimination so you can breathe happy, guaranteed. with up to two times the odor elimination hershey s drops. a lot of hershey s happiness in a little drop of chocolate. pure hershey s. [ laughs ] this is it! [ all ] 10.9.8. a new school year has so much potential! any resolutions? my resolution is the same as always; keep her full and focused with my fiber. [ all ] 3.2.1. happy school year! [ female announcer ] this school year, make a resolution to give your kid kellogg s® frosted mini-wheats® cereal. an excellent source of fiber from 100% whole grain. that helps keep them full so they can focus on the day ahead. keeps em full. keeps em focused. we ve all heard that blonds have more fun, but is it really true? for my mother it is, but helen stern, a lifelong brunette conducted an experiment, taking a walk on the blond side. let s take a look. my name is holland, i m 31 years old. i ve always been a brunette. i definitely think that blonsd, when they re walking around in the street, definitely they get more stares. do blonds have more fun? i don t know, but i will let you know. okay, the first test, let me see if anyone helps me pick up papers off the floor as a brunette. i m going ask for directions to central park. let s see if anybody low pressures a brunette. [ bell ] the third and final test, we ll hail a cab and see if a cab stops for brunettes. [ buzzer ] [ buzzer ] still no cab. oh, i guess not. [ buzzer ] i am thinking that people will be a little nicer when i m a blond. i can t wait to find out. i m really nervous. bye, brown hair. i m finally blond. ready to take on the world now. same place, new look. i m a blond now. let s see what happens. [ buzzer ] [ buzzer ] [ bell ] definitely been getting a lot more stares. [ bell ] [ bell ] [ bell ] i love being a blond. definitely getting so much more attention as a blond. [ buzzer ] sometimes it s hard to get a cab in new york city, so when all else fails, my husband will take me blond or brunette. bye. all right. helen is back and she s a brunette and she s here along with kate white, the editor in chief of cosmo magazine and author of the sixes. so your conclusion was that you got more attention, but you didn t get more help as a blond. actually, no. not much more help at all. what is wrong with people, by the way? you re dropping all your stuff and nobody helps you. nobody was helping. they watched. some people giggled, but nobody was helping. i was actually shocked. wow! but definitely more stares. is it true that a 17-year-old boy did try to pick you up? that is true. things were moving in the right direction. wait, there s something wrong with that. how did that make you feel? uncomfortable. it was strange because it had never happened before, but i went to grab a bite to eat after i got my hair done, as soon as i walked into the place it was a 17-year-old boy and he was with a bunch of friends. interesting. he tried to pick me up. i was with my son. he was just, like, hey. i was and, like, this is just not right. what did you guys find out? your magazine conducted a poll? blonds versus brunettes. our perception as a culture, we think blonds get more attention and they re seen as sexier and more fun loving and yet only about 50% of the women who are blond said they felt that in reality and only 30% who dyed their hair blond said they got more attention from men. did you feel sexier as a blond? did you feel better? it was tough for me because i lost the length of my hair, and it was a shock and i was blond and i had short hair. and now you re going back to being a brunette and that s because your husband was not happy with the attention. he was not happy with the attention with the stares in the car with him and he prefers me as a blond, and brunette, sorry. in the magazine,kate, when you have a blond versus a brunette on do you notice that sales are different depending on who is on the cover? it s interesting. with celebrities, and we did more model, the blonds always won. you sold more copies. when it s a blank slates and you only have appearance to go by, i think blond can be enticing and brunettes sometimes seem mysterious to us. isn t that appealing as well? the sales were definitely with the blonds. and it didn t matter if it was a celebrity blond. with celebrities it did matter and we know them and we re judging them on who they are. interesting. thank you very much. we hope things work out with you and your husband. thank you. and all of the best with your new novel. coming up next, another new novel. co[ male announcer ]her it s simple physics. a body at rest tends to stay at rest. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you ve had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. - definitely the one on the right. - yeah, are y - seriously, the clorox one. - oh, okay. the difference is obvious. for the whitest whites, use detergent, plus the advanced whitening formula of clorox bleach. that s why i got them pillsbury toaster strudel. warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops for their school. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. plus i get two boxtops for their school. let s design a vacation on a bumake it work.edia. see what anandra did? booking her flight and hotel at the same time is a serious money-saving maneuver. book it! major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. and we are back, ybody, with what the what. that s right. sarah sifted through all of the photos you sent and she s here with the ones that stopped and made her go, what? the first one is from elizabeth from colombia missouri. if it s not bob s, whose is it? our next photo sent by samantha vogel from highpoint, north carolina. do you think they re trying to tell us something? religion and family finances. it s smart to have them close to each other. kind of a little awkward to look at, though. somebody s dropping the ball or the book. next up from chris brewer from golds borough, north carolina sent us this photo, that sounds messy. oh, my god. that is nasty. i m not the only family who has that. dogs training to smell up bombs, but i didn t catch that for the first three reads. blonds are coming back full force. next from one of our security guards eddie may. this seemed appropriate for your hour. that s in front of my house. i thought it looked like you a little bit. wait a second. he saw it and he instantly dropped everything to take a picture. we had a photo from laura campbell from georgia. can t say they didn t warn you. those who throw objects at the crocodiles will be asked to retrieve them. play by the rules. finally, jennifer from nashville, tennessee, submitted this photo. you are only allowed to park here 24 hours a day. any other time, not going happen. that means only for one day, not park it there for a week. 24-hour parking only. after the 24 hours are over you take your car away. usually for two hours, three hours. 24 hours. it is clear! you can t park here 25! stop arguing! still to come, we ll find out what you know about school trivia, because you what? we re playing who knew . kitchen gadgets and they can do without me. luke brian singing a song. oh, yeah imagine that imagine sunshine always shining imagine blue sky just for you imagine that, imagine that imagine this, imagine that imagine that ohhhh, imagine that [ recorded voice ] onstar. we re looking for city hall. i m sending directions to your car. [ recorded voice #2 ] turn right on hill street. go north for two miles. [ man ] this is onstar. i got a signal there s been a crash. do you need help? yes, please. i ve got your gps location. i m sending help. [ female announcer ] introducing onstar fmv. get it installed on your car at best buy or visit onstar.com for more stores. this is a news 4 news break. school in d.c. starts in less than two weeks. coming up we ll take you inside some of the newly renovated schools in the city. the changes huge and educators are hoping they make stew dens eager to come to class an exclusive look inside some of those school, good morning i m barbara harris, coming we re back on this wipes day and it s time to play who knew. the kids are about to go back to school and we ll play some trivia. kathie is at the nbc experience store and she s ready to hand out 100 bucks to those who answer correctly and to those who don t get her cd. aren t they lucky? editor in chief of family circle. these aren t going to be difficult, difficult questions, but they re about movies, right? i think they re easy, but let s see if they get them right. some lovely people visiting from wisconsin. all right. which adam sandler is the following clip from? oh, back to school. back to school to prove that i m not a fool. you know that one? no idea. you know it? oh, my gosh, no. they didn t know it. neither do i. they didn t each get the choices! oh! all right. i m sorry. i m getting old, all right? was it happy gilmore, little nicky, or the waterboy. they don t know it it, hoda. they don t know it. the correct answer billy madison. 1995 and remember he played a slacker who had to go back to school so he could take over his bad dad s business. one of his first while he was still on snl. where are you from, sweet sne. i m from south florida. how much money was spent last august 2010 on back to school clothing $$15 billion, $11 billion, or 50 billion? you ll have to take a wild guess. c? good guess. very good guess. i find that $7.4 billion? that s shocking. right? you know, it s the biggest time for back-to-school shopping. if you figure everyone s doing the shopping in the beginning of the year and another 2 billion at bookstores and is up mrieps. back across to kath. this lady is from oregon. which high school did the student of saved by the bell attend? valley high. or bayside high school. the second one? she ll love this little lullaby album. the correct answer is d, bayside high school, correct? saved by the bell is still on re-runs. look at mario lopez. it s so weird to see these guys all grown up. that was a huge hit. it covered real-life teen issues and dating and all of that. back across to kath. north of toronto, i don t know if you ll understand this. true or false, 100% of schools in the u.s. have internet access. did you say 100%? false. good girl. i mean, wrong! okay. i kind of thought she was right. so 100% of the schools have internet access it doesn t mean they have the computers and things like that. oh, they do. in fact, this has been for the past few years that 100% of schools have internet. it s a three-to-one ratio of students to computers and 91% of the computers are used for educational purposes. i was surprised, too. i m shocked because i remember in new orleans all of the kids didn t have computers or the schools didn t. back across to kath. the movie ferris bueller s day off celebrated a special birthday this year. what year was it is movie released? 1987, 1984, 1989 or 1986? 87? oh, you are so close! too bad. you get my cd. the correct answer there 1986. can you believe that? no! i can t believe it. unbelievable. are they going remake that one, too? matthew broderick became a household name after that. thanks a lot. we really appreciate it. kathie lee will come back across the street and how about a night at the museum or maybe you want to sleep with some fishes. anyway, we have some fun family fun adventures coming up right after this. been taking an antidepressant. but your cloud of depression is still with you. maybe it s time to ask your doctor about adding seroquel xr to your antidepressant to treat your depression. seroquel xr is a once-daily, extended-release tablet, which means medication is released around the clock. for many, seroquel xr, when added to an antidepressant, was proven more effective than an antidepressant alone at helping people feel less depressed. call your doctor if you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking seroquel xr have an increased risk of death. call your doctor if you have fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be signs of a life-threatening reaction or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with seroquel xr and medicines like it and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. your doctor should check for cataracts. other risks include increased cholesterol and weight gain as well as seizures, dizziness on standing, drowsiness, impaired judgment, trouble swallowing, and decreases in white blood cells, which can be fatal. use caution before driving or operating machinery. isn t it time to put more distance between you and your depression? talk to your doctor about seroquel xr. if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. bell bottoms in the 80s? not pretty. then she found them. she loved them, so i washed them in tide with downey and they re still soft and fresh. right? i m blogging. really. i m talking. that s my tide. what s yours? if snoozing aboard a submarine or waking up next to a lion sounds farfetched, think again. you take it. the old one came over from the street. family sleepovers around the country that are both ed entertaining and educational. lisa from off beat slumbers for families and kids. it could be fun for sleepovers for young kids. and birthday parties. it s all over, please. let s start off with the american museum of natural history. that is an interesting place. it really is, and that is where night at the museum was filmed and 40,000 people have slepted overnight at this museum. it s fantastic. is it clean? it is immaculate because you have to take care of all these gorgeous dinosaur bones. very high-cleaning standards. you bring a sleeping bag and they give you a cot, you sleep in the hall and take fossil tours by flt flashlight and you get to see behind the scenes stuff that you would never see during the day. san diego zoo, safari park and another place. you re camping overlooking an east african plain. that would be cool, i ve got to admit. you would love this, kathie lee. with electricity and with clean beds. so if you don t want to really rough it you could have creature comfort. those guys stay out of the tent unless they re invited? it s called roar and snore. so you will hear roaring while you re snoring. they have elephants and all that cool stuff and of course, s mores by the campfire. let s head to the interpartial spa museum in d.c. so kids learn how to be spines they re not going do this all night long and it ends at 11:00 and then it s lights out. they will learn the art of the spies and they will learn how to crack codes and they will discover a mole in their midst. by the time the sun comes up they ll identify the mole. are these affordable for families? what we re talking about today ranges from $50 to $129, but it s an entire package that includes deluxe lodging on the floor of the museum, but a light meal, breakfast the next morning and behind the scenes, very special chance to do things that ordinary visitors would not be able to do. how about your house in mystic, connecticut, get some piz pizza. when kids go, they get ed kaishl fun. they can choose which tank to sleep next to. there are marine-themed crafts and you can sleep by the shark, if you want. the beluga whales. kids just love being with other kids. with other kids. believe it or not, grandparent goes on this, too. i don t think frank would enjoy any one of these. they are very popular gifts to give at christmas time. a family might decide to do this in lieu of exchanging gifts. let s go to seattle, washington. this is a great, great science center out there that allows you, the pacific science center. this one is the least expensive one $50 and up. you can tour the butterfly garden and they have dinosaur exhibits and you re also doing experiments and disney family fun loves it when learning is also an educational opportunity. so these are transform tiff experiences and they get psyched about science for years. you talked us into it. the national aquarium in baltimore is a really good spot. you can swim with the dolphins there. not swim with them, but look at them. up next, the hot kitchen gadgetious need for cool summer treats. country star luke brian is warming up. here you go. [ male announcer ] we ve got all you need for back to school with low prices every day on everything. backed by our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. natural instincts can prove it. and they did. it s the only hair color that s clinically proven to be less damaging. for a healthy look. look no further than natural instincts. it s all good. maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. unleash the hidden power of bisquick. [ where d.c. goes to get away.o busch gardens williamsburg, maybe it s because washington d.c. loves the legendary coasters. or that your entire family will have fun, even the little ones. it could be that water country usa has more of the waves, slides and rides everyone wants. so plan your getaway and come play. you never know who you ll run into. get started at buschgardens.com/dc. and on today s kitchen, we re getting saucy with kitchen gadget, everything from a must-have ice cream maker to a traveling grill. and he s host of america s test kitchen. can you say traveling girl or grill? grill. i didn t know what this segment was we also have a pink problem. you look fetching. i made the mistake. no, no, no. what have you got, big boy? this will be a tough morning. we have an electric ice cream maker which means you don t have to put the container in the freezer overnight because it s all here. it has everything right there. it turns on. what s nice is it s well made. it s compact. what are you putting there. i m putting a custard base, eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla. you re making vanilla ice cream. put that on top. how long does that matake? it takes 30 minutes. this is well designed. it s nice and thin. also makes a nice round of ice cream. you still have to use elbow grease. for 20 bucks, rosealie. this is the best thing i ve ever brought on your show. what? it s got wine involved, i bet. it could. this is the t-rex collapsible cooler. okay? it has wheems on it and has a handle on it. yes! it has this comes out, it has air for insulation which means it keeps everything cool, okay? put the stuff in. we have some soda, put it in the bottom and it also comes out for cleaning and the top comes off and you can grab a beer. clever! how much does that cost? $65. i will pay you in advance for it. they re $200 and $300. it has a top which is great because you can grill roast a whole chicken. it will take a whole chimney starter with coal and it is also a bargain at 35 bucks. 30 seconds. very quickly, if you want to make your own settler water this, is the penguin i said nothing. this is what you want to do. it has a huge co2 cartridge and someone has to work the beak up and down. keep doing it. for half an hour! it will make a noise. okay. done. you just can t eat cabbage. okay. and for eight bucks divolo makes those king cubes for expensive alcohol. i love those! coming up, his new single is zooming up the country charts. luke brian will sing for us live, but first this, is today on nbc. [ female announcer ] every box of general mills big g cereals can help your kids school get extra stuff. like musical instruments. and new art supplies. because they re the only cereals with box tops for education. last year, schools earned over ten million dollars from big g cereals. you can raise money for your kids school. look for this logo. only on big g cereals. you can make a difference. every cereal box counts. sis, help me create my oasis. ok, romantic garden? oh, is there a castle nearby? no, but there s a charming farmhouse. right next to my posh castle! i m sensing a theme here. well, i am the queen, dear sister. get your annual ikea catalog today. the toyota concert series on today brought to you by toyota. country singer luke brian will be the first to tell you that he s still a star in the making and that s the kind of humble demeanor that s gotten him so far. his single country girl shake it for me is a huge hit. it s from his third album called tale gates and tan lines. hoda s got a lot of tan lines. when you get a tan line on a talegate it s even more special. i see you re carrying something. to shake it properly, you ve got to have i know you all drink a lot of wine. no, we don t. just a sip or two here and there. we have tons of these on the bus. are they sponsoring your tour? maybe. take it away. here he is. love you! love you, love you, love you! all of that shaking. we love him! it will be thursday tomorrow. will you come back to see us? bye, everybody. see you tomorrow. captions by vitac www.vitac.com .