Transcripts For WRC Today 20110907 : vimarsana.com

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. this shooting in carson city, nevada, was a real tragedy. police say they still can t find a clear motive to explain it. a lot of people saw what happened. witnesses say the 32-year-old gunman walked in armed with an a krak ak-47 assault rifle and simply opened fire. some of the shots in direct aat a table of uniformed national guards troops. moments later suspect took his own life. straight ahead, the latest on the investigation and what the shooter s family is saying this morning. and also ahead, some major developments overnight in the murder appeals case of ayman ma knox. could she go free soon? also, we have an exclusive live interview with new york city s mayor michael bloomberg. he s going to share his thoughts on this sunday s tenth anniversary of 9/11 and what it will mean for him to participate in the memorial. we need a guard in our studio because take a look at these. we have some fabulous valuable jewels once owned by elizabeth taylor, the hollywood icon known for her beauty and talent and also owned one of the most impressive collections of jewels in the world. we re going to take a closer look if that gentleman let s us in a few moments and maybe try some home. let s begin on this wednesday morning though with that tragic and deadly shooting in carson city, nevada. nbc s kristen dahlgren is there with the latest. reporter:ed a one national guardsman said you do an entire tour in afghanistan and no one is shot and you come here to the local ihop and several are. three guardsmen among the dead, and another woman sitting nearby the done man appeared to walk deliberately toward their table. he left seven others injured. police say he left behind no note. he doesn t appear to leave behind any type of internet postings. as of now, no motive. overnight carson city, nevada, mourning its loss of life and innocence. sharing grief and a common question, how breakfast at a crowded ihop just before 9:00 could turn into this. it just seems like continue pop pop pop pop pop pop. i would say it was probably like a war zone, is what you would hear. reporter: sheriffses say that sound was an ak-47. the gunman, 32-year-old eduardo sencion. some shots toward a table in the back where five uniformed national guard troops were having a meeting. to say that he was targeting beforee came into this restaurant, those military personses, we have not been able to establish. clearly, the fact that five of the elected were military draws a concern. reporter: authorities say sencion was a mexican native with a u.s. passport who lived in carson city and worked in a nearby family business. he s very friendly, good guy. reporter: but relatives told them sencion suffered from mental illness. noind indication he knew anybody in the restaurant. reporter: four generations of the mcdonald and cheney family were all there. i think we all came close to dying. reporter: they were at a table when a man they now called hero yelled for them to leave. the man behind me saved our lives. i wouldn t have thought to look for a door. reporter: and somehow they all escaped alive, knowing just how close they came. you don t realize how much you love your kids until they re almost gone. reporter: of course, others not as lucky. several that are still in the hospital are described as clinging to life so that death toll could rise. authorities today are working on trying to figure out where sencion got that rifle as well as two other firearms that were found in his car. they do believe he acted alone. kristen dahlgren for us this morning. thank you very much. it s five minutes after the hour. here s ann. thanks a lot, matt. now to politics and what s sure to be an interesting debate between the presidential candidate, gop takes to the stage at the reagan presidential library tonight for the nbc news political debate. and for the first time texas governor rick perry will be in attendance. tom brokaw is here now to break it down for us. according to the polls rick perry is leading the race even though he s only been in it for, what, three weeks? the question really is, even before he s had his first national presidential debate with him so high in the polls, what are the stakes for the field tonight? the stakes are it seems to me whether he appears or not because of the wildfires in texas, he s going to be the pinata at this debate. everybody is going to take a whack at him because he sed a a meteoric rise. in a book he wrote a couple years ago called fed up, the supreme court, you ought to be able to overturn their decisions with two-thirds vote, talked about succession. this is a man who raised a lot of money, he s obviously captured that part of the republican party dominated at the moment by the tea party. so he s got a lot of things going on. and for romney and the others, they ve got to show him up. meantime, the republican candidates are courting as we all know the tea party. but a new quinnipiac poll consider themselves as tea party members. do you think they have an influence on general election? we ll see. the fact is if the tea party members are extremely well organized and they do show up. it s a small choir but it s very organized and it s very noisy. and republicans feel they have to pay attention to them to advance their cause within the wider republican party. the danger for republican candidates is that if you play only to that narrow part of their party, what happens when the general election comes along. i ve said this before. tea parties play by the rules. they got organized, angry, and got to where they are. the meantime the new york times report that the white house is trying to remake the image of the president. but given this deep pessimism, tom, evidence in the most recent nbc news/ wall street journal poll, is it to late to remake the image of the president? the shake and bake your own as we all live, you are reinvent yourself pretty quickly. even among democrats, especially after his decision about suspending some environmental rules recently, there are real questions about who is this guy, which one is going to show up this week. we ve seen the cool arbiter, the guy who took a shot at trying to do something about the debt and then on labor day he was the angry populous in detroit. i think people are looking for a consistency from the white house and a consistent image from this president. i think that s a big part of it. his numbers are way down. people still like him but they don t think he s getting the job done on the economy and all the indications are they re willing to trade him in for someone else. all this while america is now getting ready, preparing to remember 9/11 ten years later. you know, we often have you on our broadcast to give us kind of a sense of the mood of america. where is america now ten years after this great tragedy? america is in a kind of an emotional bunker at the moment, wondering where in the world this country is going. i find that across the political spectrum, small towns and large. who are we, where are we going to get to, and how are we going to get there. i think this anniversary may be able to reignite some of the feeling that we had ten years ago that we re all in this together. i have a program on on friday night called america members remembers. these are survivors and family members and widows of people who died. remarkable stories because it s all about will and about making my life better in memory of the people who died. i suppose that should be a kind of a natural calling for all of us. areminding of our true american grit. that s true. we have to be more of the sum of our parts. we have deeply divided across the landscape. 9/11 will be a reminder that we re all together. tom brokaw, thank you. you can see his special 9/11 america remembers friday night at 9:00 p.m., 8:00 central time. and you can also see the 2012 republican debate co-moderated by brian williams at 8:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. now at 7:09, here s matt. new york city s mayor michael bloomberg was elected two months after the attacks of 9/11 with the wreckage of ground zero still smoldering. on sunday he wimonday he will h open the memorial. people auk about the tenth anniversary of not to forget the past but to move on. you wrote an op-ed about this. in the wake of the attacks we knew we could not bring back those we lost, but we could honor our lives by bringing back our city. achieving that mission became an outlet for our grief, an expression of our determination to defy the terrorists and a reflection of our patriotism. where are we in that process? well, i think if you take a look at where we were, tom brokaw actually wrote something ten years ago which i dug out. our largest city became a small town of shared sacrifice and loss. i think that was a very apt description of what happened to new york. today the message is new york is back, downtown is more vibrant than ever before, 19 new hotels, new school, new parks, office buildings, but also i think the other message that we get today is that the terrorists lost, but they tried to take away our freedoms and we didn t let them. this country pulled together. when you talk about the terrorists, something else is different on this anniversary than the nine previous anniversaries. we mark this anniversary knowing that osama bin laden was brought to justice and is, in fact, dead. is that symbolic or is it more tangible? it s somewhat tangible. it does not mean that the threats to our freedoms are gone. the fact of the matter is we have to keep increasing and changing and responding differently to threats, to your right to say what you want to say and do what you want to do and be in charge of your own destiny. you see terrorism around the world. we see new york police officers in 11 different cities to see how it takes place and how you respond. today we have more people, cameras, radiation detectors downtown than ever before. downtown new york is probably the safest place in the world today. for all the positive me feelings, mr. mayor, you can walk down the street and see a dozen of people saying to you, what is taking so long. they feel it s almost a crime or a sin that ten years after the attacks, much of the site down there is still a construction site. senator from hawaii was taking a tour and he said, you re going to get this done ten years to the day? i said, yes. part it s done. some of it is real estate. he said you re going to get this done in ten years. i said, yes. he said it took us 20 or 40 years to build a monument for world war ii. this is crazy. if you look at the craziness of everyone having different views. it s democracy. it s not bad things, it s good. we came up with a design that i think will do the things we want to do. give the familysies a place to mourn and tell the story to our children. and we can t defend for our military to fight for us only, we have to do it as well. president obama is going to address the joint sessions of congress tomorrow night, talk to the america people about jobs. you re the mayor of the largest city in the country, the economy here is struggling as well. what do you want him to say tomorrow night? i want him to instill con phip denfy dense. in the end, people talk about lack of jobs, which is devastate to ing too many people in this country. the nexus is confidence. this country hasn t lost its mojo, it s still the greatest democracy. has he shown the proper leadership in this area? the leadership he needs to show in accomplishing that? look, you can always do more, but i think this president has done a decent job. he s had a very difficult economic period, a very difficult international situation, a very difficult political situation where the country is fundamentally divided between republicans and democrats. he has to do more. and that s what he s trying to do. he s got every day not look back. he s got to say, i can do it better, i can do more of it. and i talked to him the other day and i think i got a good sense that he really is focused and he understands the problems. and now we ve all got to pull together behind him. whether republican or democrat or independent, it doesn t matter. we need this government to work. president obama is the elected executive. we all should pull behind him. if you want to have a campaign going along at the same time, nothing wrong with that. that s democracy. but that doesn t mean we shouldn t make this thing work. michael bloomberg, mayor of new york city. mr. mayor, thank you for being here. appreciate it. 14 minutes after the hour. let s get a check of the rest of the morning s top stories. we have savannah guthrie in fortunately. out of control wildfires raging through central texas have claimed two more lives. nbc s jay gray has the latest from bastrop, texas, this morning. jay, good morning to you. good morning, savannah. yeah, those two victims found during a search of debris, bringing the total to four now from these fires which still rage out of control, singing over 1,000 homes across the state. more than 100,000 acres along with the nerves and emotions of so many pushed out by the flames. if there s a ray of hope cutting through the smoke and ash that covers texas it s that for now the wind has eased. allowing strike teams to push through the haze and get to the front lines of this massive wildfire. fire jumped all over the place, so we re doing a little firing to get it back on our terms, especially before the weather changes later today. reporter: at times literally drawing a line in the soil, desperately trying to get a handle on the flames. in bastrop alone more than 500 homes have been reduced to ash, and more than 5,000 people have rushed to escape the flames. i grabbed her medication, my daughter, my cell phone charger and her vehicles and we left. reporter: nancy allen is one of about 400 waiting it out in area shelters. it s just disheartening to see a new smoke cloud, but i m taking it second by second. reporter: she says though that one thing is certain, even if the fire has destroyed her house, it won t push her from her home. i love being here. i love bastrop. it s my home. and i m going to like the governor said, just pick up the pieces. reporter: many of those pieces now reduced to cinder and ash and scattered for miles. reporter: with the wind at 24 miles an hour, they have made progress so forecasters warn dusts of 20 miles an hour which are pushing these flames could return by the weekend. jay gray, thank you. and progress to report in the firefighter in california. a 13,000-acre blaze sparked by a small plane crash this weekend has now been 40% contained. the white house is mulling a proposal to keep some 4,000 service members in iraq after president obama s promised withdrawal deadline later this year. the troops would stay on to train iraqi security forces. but the white house has no final decision. deadly violence over seas this morning. twin suicide bombings in pakistan have killed at least 25 people. meantime, in india, a bombing outside the high court in new delhi has killed at least ten people and wounded dozens of others. let s get to wall street. cnbc s mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange this morning. after a weakest start in years, today the markets have positive things to latch on to. there are also reports indicate that president obama is planning a $300 billion package to boost jobs, to give you more jobs in the u.s. economy. well, also, big news at yahoo!. i guess lots of people have a yahoo! account. the company has been battling competitors such as google and facebook for years online and yesterday its ceo was kicked out, so now we re going to watch what happens going to happen to yahoo! under new leadership and whether or not it can regain its former glory. back to you. all right, thank you. it s now 7:18. back to matt, ann, and al. by the way, savannah got the little pretty black dress memo. i m glad you did not. that wouldn t have been good. not at all. that nice sport coat memo. mr. roker, more dreary weather in the northeast. it s not going ni where any time soon, nothing to kick it on out. little remnants of lee and upper level trough. you can see out. remnants of lee and upper level trough and the rain don t stream up. we re looking at a serious flood threat in the northeast today. flood watches and flash flood watches, even a couple of flood warnings in interior parts of pennsylvania through today into tomorrow. rainfall amounts, look at these, anywhere from one to five inches of rain over the next 24 hours. and we don t see any relief, really, coming up for the next few days. they may have some problems getting in that u.s. open for the next few days. off and on cancellations most likely. pockets of very heavy rain with thunder and lightninging right now in northeast and southeast washington and suitland. that s advancing to the north into northern prince george s and montgomery county. farther to the south, another pocket of heavy rain with thunder and lightning coming in to charles county, advancing to the north to the metro area in 20 minutes sore. more showers and heavy and that s your latest weather. thanks, al. now a surprise from hollywood. eddie murphy has been picked to host the academy awards for the first time next february. savannah is back with details on this. we re excited. tuesday s announcement makes it clear, oscar organizers are looking for more laughs in 2012, of course we all know many comedians have tried and failed at one of the most prestigious jobs in hollywood. it s one hell of a day in the neighborhood, a hell of a day for a neighbor. would you be mine? could you be mine? it s a beautiful day in eddie murphy s neighborhood. this is how you answer the door in my neighborhood. who is it? on tuesday the academy of motion pictures arts and sciences knocked on eddie murphy s door asking him to host the 84th academy awards in february. is there a problem, officer? reporter: by selecting the 50-year-old comedian the academy which faced criticism after last year s lackluster awards ceremony has chosen to go back to xheedic roots. past hosts include bob hope, billy crystal, steve martin, and whoopee goldberg. this is not exactly, you know, warm and fuzzy billy crystal, but i think it will get people talking about the oscars in a way that the academy really wants to happen. reporter: but the choice is still being questioned, why eddie and why now? some say it s his connection to oscar director brett ratter in who is also directing his next movie tower heights. murphy who earned a supporting oscar nomination in 2007 for dream girls hasn t been seen on the screen since the 2009 flop imagine that. but over his almost 30-year film career murphy s movies have grossed more than $7 billion with such hits as trading places that s like jackson of the jackson five. reporter: beverly hills cop i ve never had a phone in it. reporter: and coming to america. bark like a dog. if he comes out and nails it and gives you that eddie murphy you love from 48 hours, that s genius. you know, all of a sudden eddie murphy is back in such a great way. looking good, billy ray. feeling good, lewis. all right. for his part brett radner called i m one of the best ever, confident eddie will bring tremendous heart to the show. i know he s going to be great. he s so terrific in these ensemble kanind of experiences. it is a tough job, boy, because it s hard to win at that. it really is. i think he will be good, as well. after that, he will make a waffle. he s going to have to because it s too late. right? thank you. we have a lot more coming up, including savannah and i dressed like this because we re going to be sporting, we re told, anyway, elizabeth taylor s stunning jewels, jewelry collection right here in our studio. we re going to get an exclusive preview before the pieces worth millions of dollars are going to put up for auction. but first, this is today on nbc. just ahead, a key ruling in the amanda knox case this morning. is she one step closer to freedom? we re live in italy. after your local news. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one s military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation s military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. good morning. it s 7:26 on this wednesday, 7th day of september. i m joe krebs. line of heavy rain is moving through the area. let s go to meteorologist tom kierein. getting some thunder and lightning and very heavy rain now in a line that stretches from near college park through greenbelt and then up into montgomery county near burtonsville and then into northwestern howard county, very heavy rain there with some thunder and lightning and probably to the south another batch of very heavy rain into south central charles county. that s advancing to the north. should be moving in towards prince george s county shortly and some of the heaviest rain right where interstate 95 meets the beltway and we ll have pockets more of heavy rain with highs near 80. highs near 80. thanks ve i recognized my business, we ve been lucky, and i wanted to go from luck to truly strategy. hurry up, let s go, don t want to miss a thing what was good about the strayer experience was i did some online and some in the classroom. thank you so much. by helping me to look at some of the financial decisions that i was making, it paid for itself almost in the first class. i am dr. nathaniel williams, and i earned my mba from strayer university. come back. good morning. we are jammed. outer loop beltway in maryland your delays start at college park and don t connecticut avenue. shoot ago round to the inner loop this is the beltway, robinson terminal, very slow as you make your way to i-66 and jammed at duke all the way to jammed at duke all the way to the 14th street brid i m drinkin dunkin . i m drinkin a dunkin latte. i can t think without my dunkin iced latte. it s a real latte. i love it. i run on dunkin . get a premium latte without a premium price. america runs on dunkin coffee. 7:30 now on this wednesday morning. 7th day of september, 2011. not the nicest sunny day in the northeast. it s rain. 54 degrees on rockefeller plaza. may be a good idea to stay indoors if you have that option. we, however, do not have that option. we re inside studio 1-a. just ahead, a serious topic. new developments in the case of that missing maryland woman in aruba. robyn gardner s cousin and friend traveled to aruba to carry out their own search, and our cameras are with them. outrage among parents who discovered the same sperm donor fathered their children. we re not talking about four or five kids. we re talking about least 150. detail on that story. shock a lot of people. and meantime, yes, i changed my necklace. you re looking at an emerald and diamond necklace worth more than $1 million from elizabeth taylor s personal collection. we re going to get the story behind this fabulous piece. and there are so many others coming up for auction. this hollywood icon had such a beautiful collection. i ll even let you try some on. even the guys in the studio think that s pretty hot. he s not talking about me. both, both. and a reminder for you, the nfl season gets under way tomorrow night when the packers take on the saints tomorrow on today al and i will be live from lambeau field, green bay. we re going to show you all the sights and sounds and tastes of that legendary stadium complete with all the cheese heads we can find. if you re in the green bay area, come on down and join us tomorrow morning at lambeau field as today kicks off on today tomorrow morning. later tonighat night, you can c the game, kickoff special where else but here on nbc. already getting started. first, let s begin the half hour with serious news. key ruling this morning tied to the appeal of amanda knox s murder conviction in italy. lester holt is in perugia. lester, good morning. ann, good morning. a big day here in perugia. a late and bold attempt to bolster what many would see is a faltering case against knox and her ex-boyfriend just failed. prosecution came to court this morn and said, judge, can you appoint some more dna expert, independent experts to review the work already reviewed. the judge said no and added he already had enough information from expert witnesses to make a call in this case. all of this could spell very good news for amanda knox. perhaps thinking these could be among her last few court hearings in this appeal, amanda knox looked pencive as he entered the court this morning. on tuesday an expert hired by the defense offered compelling evidence of what the defense maintains a series of short cuts and sloppy work by police evidence technicians at the crime scene. the court was shown these photos of the rf from the home knox shared with her murdered roommate meredith kercher, stild packed with food several weeks after the crime. it s important because police now admit they actually stored biological evidence in the victim s refrigerator. the question, did they first remove this food, a source of potential cross contamination? the defense expert told me it was an odd breach of protocol. it is a strange way of storing evidence. reporter: this week the prosecution has offered rebuttal witnesses to try to repair the damage to its case delivered by court appointed expertses who have testified that dna results used to help convict knox and her ex-boyfriend are of such a tiny amount they re useless. knox s attorney who rarely speaks to reporters left court on tuesday clearly pleased. how do you feel about this session? they will decide. reporter: this morning yet another defense expert was on stand, this time talking about the knife, the alleged murder weapon, and food particles on it that should have absorbed any blood had it been used to kill kercher. these last ten months of appeals testimony have been agonizing for amanda s father who believes by now his daughter s innocence should be abundantly clear to even the prosecution. the job of the prosecution is to find the truth. why is the prosecution not willing to accept that the results are and challenge everything that they ve said? reporter: still, curt knox who has made the trip to perugia countless times these last four years is hoping this one will be his last. she prevails in the appeal you fully expect she s on the next plane to seattle? i m hopeful that will happen, yes. reporter: had the prosecution prevailed today in its request for more dna analysis and more independent experts, this case could have easily gone into the next year. as it stands right now, next in line, closing arguments will happen on the 23rd of august. when that ruling came down today i was looking at amanda fox, kno reaction. thank you again this morning. it is now 7:35. here s matt. robyn gardner has now been missing in aruba for more than a month. this week her cousin and friend are headed to the island to search for the maryland woman. nbc s jeff rossen was with them. nice to be back, matt. robyn s friends are sitting a home in maryland feeling helpless. they say aruban police hadn t done enough to find her. so they spoke to a psychic to see where she might be. we were there for this emotional trip. just too much to cover. reporter: within minutes, christina jones was overwhelmed. so helpless. reporter: standing just feet from the spot where her best friend and roommate is said to have disappeared, where robyn gardner may have spent her final moments. christina came to aruba on a tip from a psychic who told her robyn buzz muwas murdered, that body wasn t in the water but on the land near the water. gary giordano was the prime suspect in robyn s disappearance, locked up here in aruba but still not charged. he says they were snorkeling when robyn simply vanished. he denies any wrong doing. this isn t an accident. robyn is missing, murdered. a guy in that jail is the only guy that know where s she is. and he s lying. we all know that he s lying. that s the prison right over there where gary giordano is being held. what is it like standing in the shadow of that? i feel sick in my stomach when i look at that, you know? reporter: christina is in aruba with robyn s cousin kelly who doesn t want to speak on camera. here for emotional support. someone saw them leave in a car. reporter: redrove around the island almost aimlessly. the psychic didn t provide exact locations, just that robyn is under something in a swampy area and that a piece of fabric found with her will help solve the puzzle. she s going through a rough time, and i was like the big sister, you know. i m still the big sister trying to find her. she s a great person. and her smile, it would light up the room. reporter: which is why christina says she had to come and try. police have called off their active search of the island but recently released this surveillance photo of a white car in the area around the time robyn went missing. christina says the clock is ticking. you can t wait too long to try and find a body because then you re taking away all the evidence, right? if they find her body two months from now, we could never be able to really know the story. he s going to be scot-free walking around in the united states and she never made it back to the united states. do you think that may happen? i think there s i think there s a possibility. reporter: an unsolved mystery in paradise, one man s word and no sign of robyn gardner. i have to make sure that i do my best to try and bring just a little bit of justice to robyn and maybe if anything just a little bit of closure to myself. christina also met with aruban police for several hours on tuesday, but it s important to note once again that giordano says he did nothing wrong. he s not been charged with anything net fr yet. in a few hours his lawyers will appear in court to try to get him out of jail and back to the u.s., although many experts in aruba say it s unlikely they will let him go before that 60-day extension is up. let s get a check of the weather from al. narrator: today s wea you . appreciate it. 7:38. let s get a check on the weather from al. fwoork. it s raining. nobody is getting a nice dry morning. you went to the u.s. open? yes. did they play? yes. i went sunday. good four. very nice. going to be hard pressed to get those matches in today. got a lot of wet weather here in the northeast and taking a look at hurricane katia. good news is point make landfall. ten miles southwest of bermuda, category 1 storm. moving northwest at ten. it will split between bermuda and eastern seaboard. it will cause rip currents, strong rip currents and heavy suffer from vero beach up into new england and we re keeping an eye on a tropical depression number 14. this could become maria later today. the computer models really diverge as to what s going to happen. will it curve up and follow katia s faut or will it continue along into the eastern atlantic and make its way towards the u.s. we ll have to keep watching this one for a while. good morning. we have a flood warning for montgomery county until 8:15 this morning. that means we have flooding under way especially in the southeastern part of montgomery county where they had some very heavy rain go by over the last half hour. that s advancing into this ward county now. another pocket of moderate rain is further to the south. advancing through charles county moving into operation county shortly. we had two to four inches of rain inr latest weather. matt? thank you. up next, it s not illegal but is it unethical? the debate ignited by a sperm bank that allowed one donor to father at least 150 children. -i love this card. -with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. it s 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that s 1% cash back on oscar. .tony. oscar! 2% back on whatever she ll eat. 3% back on filling up this baby. [ male announcer ] now get 1-2-3 percent cash back. it s that simple. [ male announcer ] apply online or at a bank of america near you. we re talking 3% back on gas. or at a bank of america near you. it s real fruit juice; crisp, sparkling water; and no added sugar. and they come in these really cool cans. you want one? i ll wait a bit. all right. mm. refreshing. 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 flea and tick protection. it has the same active ingredient as frontline top spot, 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. same protection as frontline top spot at about half the cost. available at walmart and sam s club. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ cellphone translating ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. in here, forklifts drive themselves. look at the map. okay. [ 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. back now at 7:44. imagine one man fathering at least 150 children? the sperm bank short of donors, some have relied on the same man over and over again. as nbc s george lewis now tells us, it s a practice that raises questions among critics, including a number of outraged parents. reporter: sharon from seattle had two children via artificial insemination from the same sperm donor. it wasn t quite that random, but in a documentary airing can 27th of this month on the style network, sharon discovers the biological father of her children, a guy named ben living in boston, has many, many others. today i know of 70 kids. reporter: ben doesn t hold the record. new york times reporter jacqueline discovered one donor with at least 150 offspring. the mothers are shocked. they re very unhappy. they asked the sperm bank to stop selling the sperm from this one donor. and when they realized the numbers were so big, and they claim that the bank refused. reporter: sperm banks are not required to limit how many children can be fathered by one donor. you have a situation of a single donor being used so that they fathered 150 children, there is no doubt, none, that that is unethical practice. reporter: ryan cramer whose biological father was a sperm donor started a website with his mother, donorsiblingregistry.com to connect the children of sperm donors with each other and their fathers. it s all voluntary. today we have over 32,000 people in a similar case who are all interested in meeting their half siblings and biological fathers. reporter: it was through the site that ben was put in touch with sharon and the children. although he makes it clear he doesn t want to be thought of as dad. they re not my kids. that s it. like i m not part of their lives. reporter: what about the rest of been s 70 some offspring? his fiance lauren worries. what if they all come knocking or will they all want to meet you? reporter: this as critics call new regulations so that guys like ben don t wind up as triple digit dads. for today, george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. wendy cramer is the founder of donorsiblingregistry.com a. you are both moms and you also have children through this process. let me start with you, wendy, because you also have a website that registers donors and donor families. so should we be shocked by these numbers based on whatoff learned through your website? well, absolutely. and i think it just points to the fact that there needs to be some kind of oversight and some kind of regulation. you can t monitor the number of siblings born until you actually keep track of how many children are being born from each donor. how do you think that this should be done? in other words, this industry is largely unregulated. so what do you think the change needs to be to change this? i m not exactly sure. i m very clear of what the problems are. you know, large number of sibling groups, medical updates, no sharing of medical information. but i m not sure what kind of oversight is needed. but i think as a first step, the industry itself needs to acknowledge that there is, indeed, a problem, that families are the effect here and they need to focus less on making money and more on the families that they re helping to create. are you saying then that there is an issue in terms of they re not thinking in other words, what i m trying to understand is this industry is really about protecting the identities of the donors and the donor families. to some degree that has got to play a part in this. to what degree is that the problem here of trying to be able to keep track of all these names? right. i think in the past and up until now the industry has been concerned with making money, getting people pregnant, and keeping donors anonymous. and i think first and foremost there s a big piece that s been missing here, which is to ask the question publicly what s in the best interest of these children being born? and that s what we need to look at to make decisions to go forward with. wendy, stand by, because i want to ask annette about this. that is a really important question. there is a legacy this is going to have on these children who are born in these circumstances. absolutely. i think it s important that we think about the children at the outset and not after they re born. we think of them as going into this whole process. but maybe their interest is everyone involved. the recipients, the children, the knodonors. we need to balance the interests and make sure we re unduly burdening one group in favor of another and recognize everyone plays a part here, very important part. the role of donors are very significant here because the children wouldn t exist without them, so we need to think about them and their interest as well and the children who really will no say. are you personally outraged, you are a donor mom, are you personally outraged and, if so, what is your message this morning. i think i m shocked. there s probably a number of different factors that come into play. i m grateful to the industry because i wouldn t have my child without it but i like to see there be more reporting about the numbers, if the banks could share information between and among each other so that sperm donors might not be donating multiple places which i know something they re interested in doing. exchanging sperm independent of the sperm banks. and people reporting not only pregnancies but births back to the sperm bank. they may have an easier time tracking that information. but i think all groups need to work together to ensure that we re able to overcome this difficulty. nannette, thank you for your part in this story. and also to you, wendy cramer. appreciate it to youth both of you. and still ahead, judge judy opens up in a live interview about her unique brand of tough justice and recent health scare, as well. but first, these messages. hi, mom. how was school today? [ 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. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunities that i had at the university of phoenix got me to where i am today. i m mayor cherie wood, i m responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. matt damon and his new movie that will have you washing your hands over and over again. and you re already doing that. plus,es cluesive look at elizabeth taylor s famous and incredibly valuable collection of jewels. it s the worst thing that s ever happened to them. i m just pretty much killing it out here. they say they re happy. i mean, what do you think they do every day without me there? are they eating? they must really miss me. i m their only child, except for my sister. [ male announcer ] venza from toyota. good morning. i m joe krebs. it s 7:56. a lot of rain around the region. a flood warning has been issued. let s get to meteorologist tom kierein. that s for montgomery county. we have one wave of very heavy rain just go through there. that s now up into howard county. rock creek, that little falls creek running very high now. watch out for high water in low areas. moderate rain in washington. that s advancing south to north and we may get some more coming up our way later this morning and there may be another wave of some of that rain moving our way here perhaps by around 9:00 this morning and again later this afternoon with thunder and [ female announcer ] this is steve and lynn, and they have a good question. can the aetna app make you healthier? well, that all depends on what you do with it. and there s an awful lot you can do with it. access your medical history, view claims, get reminders for mammograms, find in-network doctors, track your health goals. run with it. i got my cholesterol down. i lost five pounds. [ female announcer ] see for yourself, aetna.com aetna. know more. get better. traffic. we ll look at that right after % youu0 good morning. you may want to bang your steering wheel this morning if you re driving on 270. this is the view at falls road. heading south from 270 jammed from father hurley to montrose road. once you make your way towards the spur you re traveling at 55 miles per hour towards the beltway. taking a look at 395, this is at the 14th street bridge, jammed the 14th street bridge, jammed here. in one day, i could have three auditions. and, it s really important that you go in looking like the role. i go straight to t.j.maxx. i find what i m looking for. done. it s amazing to find so many gorgeous designer clothes. i m like dut, dut, dut. yes, yes, yes. and, it also works with my somewhat unpredictable paycheck. fashion direct from designers. savings direct to you. this fashionista. is a one-to-watch maxxinista. t.j.maxx. let us make a maxxinista out of you. we re back now at 8:00 on a wednesday morning. it s the 7th day of september, 2011. it s another day here in the new york city area. rain all day long. it s been like this for about 24 to 36 hours now. but you know what? hats off to these nice people who have stopped by our plaza here in rockefeller center. i m matt lauer along with ann curry. and al roker. and coming up, the crowned jewels of hollywood. look at these right now, the stunning jewels owned by the hollywood icon elizabeth taylor none other. she was known for a lifetime for her collection. she once said that her mother told her that it took her five days to open her eyes. when she did the first thing she saw was her mother s engagement ring and she was hooked. we re going to show her collection that she amassed in her lifetime. also ahead in the studio right now we have judge judy in there. she is the queen of daytime tv. she s about to start a brand new season. we ll talk to her about that, some high-profile cases in the news, and also a health scare she had recently. speaking of health scares, what would you do if there was a virus that spread worldwide contaminating everybody? matt damon is going to be here to talk about his new movie hitting theaters called contagi contagion. matt and my worst nightmare. so talented. let s head inside. savannah guthrie has all the headlines. in the news today, a deadly shooting rampage at an ihop in carson city, nevada, claimed the life of a fourth victim. police say a man with an ak-47 began firing at a group of uniformed national guards members on tuesday. three killed were from the national guard. the fourth was a civilian. the suspect then killed himself. president obama is set to unveil the package of tax cuts and spending worth a reported $300 billion during his televised speech tomorrow night in congress. among the plan s biggest measures, a one-year extension of payroll tax cuts and an extension of expiring unemployment benefits. meantime, the republican presidential candidates take center stage tonight for a debate at the reagan library in california. it will be first debate for texas governor rick perry who the latest polls show to be the front-runner. and you can catch tonight s nbc news politico debate on msnbc at 8:00 eastern. here s brian williams with what s coming up tonight. savannah, good morning. coming up tonight on nightly news we talked about it for years, that s concerned every parent has at some point, that s bullying. well, tonight we re going to take you to a place that nows that toughest anti-bullying law on the books. we ll have that much and much more. thanks. for a look at what s trending today. a quick round-up up of what has you talking on line. it was the belly bump that sent shockwave tlus twitter when bei don t think so revealed it at the vmas. but now, a new photo with a much smaller tummy setting the blogosphere on fire with speculation that the singer bumped up the drama at the vmas with belly padding. one gift the material girl does not like. check out a reaction of these flowers from a fan. i guess we all know now. and if the u.s. open tennis star can t stop ejoking around. first he showed up at a news conference like maria sharapova and busted a move after the match. and now his bizarre danceoff with a super fan is going viral. he s got to moves, all right. 8:03. back to al, another great dancer, with a check of the weather. narrator: today s weather is brought to you by new coffee mate natural blend. add your flavor he s got the moves all right. 8:01. back to al, another great dancer with a check of the weather. and as we mentioned matt and i are getting ready to vacate the plaza and head to the frozen tundra of lambo field. we re going for the big nfl kickoff. big game tomorrow night kicking off our football season, lambo field. temperatures 64 to 68 degrees as the saints take on the super bowl champ packers. fantastic. we re looking at wet weather making its way through the northeast today. left over lee, you can see hurricane katia off the coast. that s not going to cause any problems other than rip currents and strong winds. monsoonal moisture through the southwest. heat wave continues in oregon. portland today 96 degrees. almost as warm, a little warmer, i should say in los angeles. 98 degrees. heat continues in texas. no relief for the wildfires there, unfortunately. sunshine and low humidity and gusty winds. that s what s going on around the country. good morning. we ve had pockets of moderate to heavy rain coming through the last couple of hours with thunder and lightning. we had enough rain for flooding in montgomery county as well as the panhandle of west virginia and washington county those counties in green are under flood warnings until further notice and watch out for high water if you are going to be driving and you see high water do not attempt to drive through it. you don t know how deep it could be. and that s your latest weather. matt? al, when we come back, in our studio we re going to take a look at elizabeth taylor s dazzling jewelry collection. i have a feeling some of the ladies are going to be trying some stuff on, but first, these messages. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. in here, pets never get lost. in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? [ male announcer ] in here, you re never away from home. it s the at&t network. and what s possible in here is almost impossible to say. they re making him triple double. why? this! new triple double oreo. yo stufy, come here! [ shoes squeaking ] looked better on paper. [ strike! ] looked better on paper. a mouthwatering combination of ingredients.e for you! i know you re gonna love. [ barks ] yes, it s new beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful. [ snarling, barking ] [ sighs ] nice hit. [ male announcer ] you do everything so they re at their best. so start their big days with the incredible protein. eggs. for the big day ahead of you morning. big day, huh? morning, mom! are you excited? the best part of wakin up is folgers in your cup. the best part of wakin up a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can stitch together a better deal. that s a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won t let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. back now at 8:09, elizabeth taylor mesmerized the audience with her acting and her beauty but her jewelry was her passion. taylor s diamonds, emeralds, rubys and sapphires represented one of the most stunning, valuable and glamorous collections of her time. this morning we re all getting an exclusive look at them before they go on a worldwide exhibition tour leading up to an auction in december. we re going to be getting a little tour of all of this beauty. good morning to you. good morning. thank you for having me. such a pleasure. you re a gemologist so this must be so much fun for you. elizabeth taylor once said she considered herself a guardian of her jewels. she said i was their protector and nobody could have enjoyed them or had more fun with them. she did. she had truly one of the greatest collections we ve seen at christie s. we refer to it as a crowned jewels of hollywood. we have the range of the highlights like p broach you have on which is a gift from richard burton when they got engaged in 1962. she wore it on their wedding in montreal along with a wedding present. this is the one there s a photograph there of the two of them together. and this is the necklace you re talking about, that they eventually bought. i m pointing to it because it s so beautiful. they basically hooked this broach to the bottom of that. the picture we just saw was of this ring, which is 33.19 karats, which is pretty remarkable. it s d color, the best color in a diamond. absolutely colorless. it s near flawless. it was a gift, in fact, i should say it was an i love you, elizabeth, it s tuesday gift. 1968 for $300,000 back then, which was a fortune. so what s it going to make here? who knows. there it is in the photograph of the two of them together. also, i m wearing, savannah, we re just having a girly time. we are. we put on our track shoes and run and see what happens. i know. along with this broach, which comes from eddie fisher and richard burton. all of the jewelry in rome. he would take richard burton and elizabeth taylor into what he referred to as the money room at the end of the shoot and this is where all this jewelry came from. so cool because all of these pieces have a story behind them. and i m wearing, what the famous one, 16th century, found by a slave in the gulf of panama. he earned his freedom when he found that pearl. this particular pearl. went on to many generations of the spanish royal family and came up for sale again in 1969 when burton famously laid $30,000 just for the pearl. and he had him design that. meantime, perhaps one of the most romantic items in this collection has got to be what s called the taj mahal diamond. this originally came from the father of the man who built the taj mahal. that s true. this is the center stone you see there is a diamond. it s inscribed, which was a very typical habit for old indian emperors. it signature annanied ownership their gems. the father of him who built the taj mahal. and burton said, well, you know, to bring the taj mahal to switzerland was a bit of a pain but i ll do it. but this was a birthday present which he ran up to jfk airport while on layover for a flight. wasn t it given at one point by the man who built the taj mahal for his wife to his wife? exactly. passed down from his father to him to his wife. what a great story. i love this ruby and diamond collection. i think we tracked down home video of her the moment she received this beautiful gift. tell us about it. this is where you see elizabeth taylor in all her love of the jewelry that she owned. this was a gift from mike in 1957 down in the south of france. they were by the poolside. you know, she was playing around. in comes mike with swim trunks, present under his arms and puts it all around her. she loved it. she looks at it by the water. and they started doing laps. in the pool. with the jewelry on? with the jewelry on. what is it about elizabeth taylor, three husbands at least represented on this table who gave her such beautiful jewels including this tiara. this was he referred to as elizabeth as his queen. he said, you must have a crown. so she wore it to the awards when he won the best film for around the world in 80 days in 1957. this last set, tell us the story behind that. that also was a gift for her 40th birthday from richard burton because one was clearly not enough, so he had to buy her a beautiful one with a 50 karat sapphire. a year or two later they bought the ring to match. and we also have a beautiful pair, from a comp temporary jeweler which she purchased herself in 2001 and a clip that belonged to the duchess of windsor which she bought at auction. going on tour now? world wide to asia, europe, the middle east and back in new york two weeks the first the first two weeks in december and it s open to the public. we would be happy to see all of you. thank you so much this morning. thank you both. let s go. okay. take it away. coming up next, we ll tell you to bat ten down the hatches because judge judy is here to talk about apparently her jewels as well. but first, these messages. i ve never tasted anything so delicious. richard, why are you wearing grandpa s jacket? i m not richard. i m grandpa smucker. male announcer: tim and richard smucker always looked up to their father and grandfather knowing that one day they too would make the world s best jam. grandpa says it like, i ve never tasted anything so delicious! i ve never tasted anything so delicious! tim: [ laughing ] you got it! male announcer: for five generations, with a name like smucker s, it has to be good. they re making him triple double. why? this! new triple double oreo. yo stufy, come here! [ shoes squeaking ] looked better on paper. [ strike! ] 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. look better and feel softer. how bout we start with the guaranteed low price on the carpet. the pad, and installation. let s get peace of mind for a lifetime. it all adds up to better carpet at a better price and a great-looking room transformed. more saving. more doing. that s the power of the home depot. get 10% off or 24 months special financing on your first purchase of $599 or more when you open a new home depot credit card account. we are back now at 8:19 with the smart, savvy, and always opinionated judge judy. she s about to return for its 16 th season. take a look. i m very saw him again and told him again that you needed money and again he said, i ll give you money. i didn t i m speaking. he gave it to me. judge judy, good morning. welcome back. it s been 12 years since you ve been here? i think so. that s crazy. i think so. that really is. but i watch you all the time. i watch you every day. 16 seasons. is it still fun or are there days you go in and it s a job? no, it s still fun. why? everybody tells you how terrific you are. nobody says to you you have to work harder, nobody says to you you look lousy today. everybody tells you that it s the best performance you ever did. it s so, in my own jld job when were in family court, you were lucky you got toilet paper. nobody cared. you did your job. but this is a fantasy world. when the participants work in the courtroom and you ve done your homework and they ve stand in front of you what specifically gets your juices going? what do you love about the law in that format? that s an interesting question, matt. i think the beginning of the beginning, middle, and end of a case is what gets me going. i can make a little story in that nine or ten minutes that people can follow, they understand, they understand right, they understand wrong, they understand good guy, they understand bad guy. what gets me juices flowing are people who don t dress appropriately to the court. come thinking they re going to the beach and all of a sudden they re at the microphone. they are on tv. you came here from omaha. where did you think you were going when you got on the plane. that gets my negative juices flowing. but the positive part is that i think people subliminally are learning a couple of message, maybe a message of responsibility, when you make a mista mistake, learn from it, put a period and move on. people see the good guy winning and the bad guy getting a good smacking around. they see justice handed down. yes. and i think probably 95% of the time that s true, that a story usually, if it makes sense, that s true. we listen to you in that clip there, you were kind of going after that lady in the courtroom. has your tongue changed at all as you ve matured? you like that, matured? yes. has it changed? i think my temperance for different behavior has expanded over the course of my judicial career. i don t know if that s obscure enough for you. you know, i used to say this is right and this is wrong. and then, you know, as you get older you have children get older, they, you know, sometimes make mistakes, your grandchildren, they get older. you learn more about the gray areas. yes. and you incorporate that because you re just a person. you incorporate that to work. rather quickly. there were some reports circulate that you had some difficulty during a taping healthwise. yes. slurred a little bit of your speech. i didn t hear much about it afterwards. what happened? you know, i didn t see it or feel it, except that when you have six cameras by you for 15 years, the people who were watching said she s not right, she s off, she s a little slow. did you get checked out? and you know, by the time the case was over, they did, in fact, wait until the case was over. right. cameras, right? is everything okay? everything is fine. everything s fine. everything s fine with you. you are the queen of daytime the tv. don t make it 12 years. thanks for having me. come back to see me. and the new season of judge judy premiers next monday. and right now, here s arne. matt, thanks. washington say hey to mr. willard scott. hello. one of the most exciting women in the world. judge judy, i like her. she s cute. matt s cute, too. smucker s, come see us in ohio. when you re in the neighborhood you will love it. we have the fabulous smucker s four, i love that. and speaking of ohio, from mt. vernon, ohio, eloise hagan and every morning she has her smucker s. and mary luxeder from copley, ohio. i said that right, didn t i? copley. anyway, she s a wonderful cook and bakes strudel. she brings out the strudel and everybody the dogs are barking in the neighborhood. helen prinzing in rock xhesterrw york. enjoys reading and loves to play card. great card player. and ruth kobin of no, new york, new york. a lot of new yorkers today. enjoys doing all kinds of craft work. we love her, too. nice lady. pretty hair. nice lady. i can see it here, see? palma, good old pomegranate. guida, 100 years old today. she lives in wilmington. she has a great spirit about life. love people and they will love you back. mary guzzi from clarks summit. has a wonderful love of family and a great laugh. everybody goes crazy over her laugh. and no one in the world ever leaves her house hungry. let s see. uh a great laugh and everybody loves her laugh. no one in the world ever leaves her house hungry. how do you like these? do i, willard. thank you so much. coming up matt damon after your local news. good morning. 8:26 on this wednesday morning, september the 7th. i m joe krebs. a lot of rain out there. let s go straight to meteorologist tom kierein for a look at the forecast for the rest of the day. one wave of heavy rain come through washington about an hour and a half ago. another one coming up near fredericksburg. getting some thunder and lightning and heavy rain across spotsylvania county. advancing to the north. opportune metro area in about a half hour and 35 minutes with more lightning and thunder and heavy rain. we have flooding under way in parts of montgomery county. under a flood warning until further notice. those counties in green, panhandle west virginia washington county under a flood fromciis. of the beltway ja 8:30 now on this wednesday morning. 7th day of september, 2011. year looking at all the fine people out this morning to spend some time with us on a rainy morning here on rockefeller plaza. i m ann curry along with matt lauer and savannah guthrie and al roker. 9/11 is coming up this sunday. one of the people we got to know right after that tragedy was lauren manning in one of the tower buildings and was burned over most of her body. now she has recovered. she has written a book about her life since then. she s a remarkable young lady. we re going to be talking to lauren in just a couple of minutes. also ahead, matt damon is here to talk about his new thriller contagion. it talks about what would happen if there was a worldwide pandemic and the race to stop it. high creep-out factor in this movie. matt will be here. talk to matt about that. i like his hair. looks good. very nice. he s finally caught on. if there was a wor worldwide pandemic. i like his hair. that looks good. very nice. he s finally caught on. remember we all had crock pots in the 70s. they are back better than ever. we ll show you how you can make great meals and save money. mean time a check of the weather first. first all we show you for tay we got the lemons of lee hanging out. strong storms along the mid-atlantic states. sunny skies out west. toasty in portland. strong rip currents because of katia. tomorrow the wet weather hangs around the northeast. more hot weather, pacific northwest into the gulf coast. good morning. another round of some moderate to heavy rain with thunder and lightning is coming in to charles county, stafford and spotsylvania from the south and advancing towards the metro area. closer to washington within about half an hour. from the earlier rains we have these counties under green with flood warnings. flooding under way. watch for high water in montgomery county, panhandle of west virginia and and that s your latest weather. coming up, we re going to talk to a survivor of flechb who talks about rebuilding her life, and her incredible story of resilience and determination. but first, this is today on nbc. [ cherie ] i wanted to make a difference in my community. [ kimberly ] the university gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people s lives. [ carrie ] you re studying how to be an effective leader. [ cherie ] you re dealing with professionals, teaching things that they were doing every day. [ kimberly ] i manage a network of over a thousand nurses. [ carrie ] i helped turn an at-risk school into an award-winning school. [ cherie ] i m responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah. [ kimberly ] and university of phoenix made it possible. learn more at phoenix.edu. [ kimberly ] and university of phoenix made it possible. one taste, and you ll understand. delicious dunkin donuts coffee. pick some up where you buy groceries. mm! america runs on dunkin . as you know sunday marks the tenth an veannirsary of the terrorist attacks. lauren manning worked at the time and suffered burn on more than 80% of her body. now she s telling her story of survival and healing on the book unmeasured strength. we re going to talk to lauren in a moment, but first, her incredible memory. you can make odds work in your favor. reporter: lauren manning arrived for work at one world trade center on that september morning on a day that seemed like any other. as she entered the lobby the plane struck and a fireball raised down the elevator shaft. i was engulfed in flames. i struggled to run out of the building. pain was overwhelming. and i saw my son, and i made a decision, a very conscious decision to live. reporter: lauren s husband greg who worked in the second tower was home that morning and saw the plane hit his wife s building. he assumed the worst, but 40 agonizing minutes later, the phone rang. i got this amazing phone call from the man who helped lauren. all he said was, mr. manning, i m with your wife. she s badly burned was we ve got her in an ambulance. reporter: lauren ended up at the burn unit barely alive with more than 80% of her body covered in burns. lauren was critically ill. she was on a respirator right from the gibeginning. reporter: for the next three months lauren lay in her hospital bed clinging to life. but against all odds she survived, and then became determined to heal. she endured more than 25 surgeries, spent years in physical therapy. she said her young son tyler kept her going through her darkest days. so much of what i did was just to get back to him, to finally be able to hold him again, to play with him, to see him grow, to see him become what he is now at 10 years old. reporter: lauren and greg hoped for a second child. two years ago he arrived. and now lauren says she s telling her story to share it with her boys and also to thank those who helped her find the strength to make a way back home. and lauren manning is back with us this morning. lauren, it s great to see you. great to be here, matt. six years since you were here last time. you look amazing. thank you very much. it s been a long road. you describe your life now as a new normal. how different is it from the old normal? i think that i ve reconciled with the fact that i live with mass degrees of imperfection and i ve learned to inhabit the body that i have. and i think emotionally just feel much more relaxed with the notion that not everything in life turns out the way we think it will. i think through the times you had been here in the past there s been a lot of concentration on your physical wounds. and i wonder, though, about the emotional wounds. how are you different today emotionally than you were on september 10th, 2001? i think that much of me is very much the same. it was a decision i made that day to live based on, i think, a lot of my upbringing that said things are going to happen, you ve just got to get over it and get through it. what i find today is that i m a lot more forgiving of myself and more patient. just enjoying the moments in all their simplicity. even as you say that you write eloquently in your book about the ten-year anniversary that is approaching and you write, it s now been a decade since that day and sometimes i look back and wonder, have i accomplished anything of note or great worth? people have called me a hero, but i can only say that i did what i needed to do. explain this idea that in some ways you feel as if you must do something of note or great worth because you survived. i think that being touched as i was by this tragedy in such a visceral way, it really allowed me to reflect that we all are wounded in some way or another by illness or violence or other tragedy. and although we can be touched by it, we need not be held by it. and for my family, for certainly my children and all those countless thousands that supported me and prayed for me, i felt that i had a job to do. i was going to avenge those of my colleagues and friends and others who could not fight that day. i had been dealt a tough hand but at least i have one to play. i tried i remember one time you were here and i was trying to put myself in your shoes and i was trying to play that what if game. you know that game where what if you had been in that building 30 seconds later or five minutes before or you hadn t gone to work. do you ever allow your mind to go in that direction? yeah, i think i think that s a natural thing that happens in life. it was a dog eating an apple pie where key was nestled amongst the bag that basically saved my life. we have k. all retrospect on a daily basis, what if, should i, could i have. at the end of the it all there s nowhere to go but forward. i thank god for that. my husband ran late and as a result both our children obviously, they re not orphans. your son tyler was 10 months old, i think, at the time. yeah. and not long ago you welcomed jagger into the world. that had to be some kind of a turning point in your emotional recovery. it was an extraordinary turning point. one of the things that i most felt had been taken from us was an opportunity to have another child. and we struggled for years with great disappointment and heartache, and finally on october 22nd nearly two years ago a gestational carrier helped us deliver our wonderful little guy jagger thomas. and tyler and he getting along famously? so far, so good. but they re getting to this stage where it s getting a little dicey sometimes. it will be that way for a while. lauren manning, the book is called unmeasured strength. we re thrilled to have you back today. thank you, matt. we re back in a moment. this is today on nbc. my fashion blog is about my personal style and things that inspire me. i like to think of myself as the voice of real girls. since i post new looks almost every day. i have to shop almost as often. t.j.maxx is great because i can score designer fashion. without spending like there s no tomorrow. that s what it s all about. fashion direct from designers. savings direct to you. i post for fashionistas. but i m a maxxinista. t.j.maxx. let us make a maxxinista out of you. is. this morning on today s kitchen, what s for dinner, slow cooker magic. the summer is over, the kids are back in school, but you don t have to sacrifice a good meal just because you re busy. we have chris kim bol, editor of cook s country magazine and the host of america s test kitchen. now with tips on the crock pot. this is doing stuff in a slow cooker you didn t think you could do. this is not my college crock pot, whole new breed. this is not the beanery, the round thing that costs 25 bucks. this is more expensive, high settings, low settings. the shape is better, bigger. you can do what s really gourmet cooking. including a brazed recipe. we ve got three separate recipes. you buy five pounds of you cut the meat off the bone. you take this is interesting. put this in a microwave for 10 or 15 minutes to brown it and get rid of some of the fat. but putt that in. we have the meat which we sauteed briefly in a pan. that sears it? gives you a little flavoring. add a few venlg tagetablevegeto carrots. put in wine. you need to put a lot of breakfast, by the way, short ribs and wine. i saved some for kathie lee and hoda. we put a lot of liquid in? this is all going to go in here now. a little bit of chicken stock.  okay. i ll do that for you. so is there a rule of thumb in terms of how much liquid to how much sort of in this case meat? this is a braze so you want liquid in it. you have to cover it all the way? no. nine to ten hours on low. do it before you go to work. come back, it s done. there s our lovely plate. who knew you could make lasagna in a crock pot, what i call a crock pot. i do. of course. this worked well because in a oven it tends to dry out. now you have a nice, low gentle heat. four hours on low. lasagna noodles, ricotta, parmesan. you do this the same way? very similar but we wanted to get the right mix. put sausage in here. it s very similar to regular. but you may want more moisture because of the circumstances of the way it s being cooked? what s nice is it doesn t dry out. on oven tends to dry out. we used the tomato sauce we got in a jar so we didn t have to make that. sausage that goes in. a little bit of sausage on top. mozzarella. you build it in layers like you would normally? yes. how long? four hours on low. mozzarella. and then tomato sauce on top. we do the normal thing. here s how it ends up with a little bit of a different recipe. look how moist that looks. very moist. you don t get the top to dry out. and four hours, you don t have to worry about it. i worry a lot about risotto because it takes a long time to look. is this what a television host does, worry? i do. i don t cook it because it takes to long. three minutes, a little butter, a little garlic, a little onion on top of the stove. two cups of the rice, starchy grains. three minutes. i like fat, starchy grains. a little bit of wine. you and the alcohol. i m loving this. it s the morning. i have to get going. i know. you re doing this to kind of get it started? you want to get it started. a little flavor development. flavor development. okay. i like that. and now you need to put a lot of liquid? here s what you do. lly riso time to cook. you marry this together. you need a prenup. did you say i need a prenup? no, i didn t say you did. chicken stock and water. this is a lot of liquid here. it s going to suck up the water. two to three hours on high. leave that. you come back and then. after two hours, here s what happens. it cooks and absorbs. you re going to add two more cups, okay? okay. mix that up. and you get a nice creamy risotto. it ends up just like this. little clivhives at the end. always great to have you here. coming up next, we ve got matt damon in our studio talking about his new movie and his new hairstyle, or maybe lack thereof. hairs[ male announcer ]k at the safeway pharmacy you can get a flu shot with no hassle at all. i don t even need an appointment. [ male announcer ] it s about as easy as flu shots get. get your groceries and a flu shot, all in one trip. at safeway. [ female announcer ] have you ever seen a glacier while sunbathing? why not? have you ever climbed a rock wall in the middle of the ocean? or tried something really wild? why not? it s all possible in the n. royal caribbean s floating nation. where you are free to do anything you want. which may be nothing at all. royal caribbean international. why not cruise from baltimore? visit royalcaribbean.com today. and you ll get a bonus. you get 10% off your groceries. [ male announcer ] save 10% on your groceries when you get a flu shot. that should make you feel better already. safeway. ingredients for life. we re back now at 8:49 with actor, screenwriter, and oscar winner matt damon, one of the stars of the new thrill ever contagion. in the film his wife returns home from a business trip and is stricken with a lethal illness. honey? no, no, no. stay there, clark. no, just go go up to your room, honey. honey, honey. her eventual death sets the medical community racing to find a cure for a virus that quickly becomes a pandemic. matt damon, good morning. hey, man. we ve known each other for a while, right? yeah, years now. so you know i m a guy that uses purell six, seven times a day, right? yeah. why would you do this to me? this movie, you re not going to like this movie. i saw it yesterday. i haven t taken this off since. this is this is scary stuff. yeah, yeah, scary because, i mean, well, steven who directed it really wanted to make it a completely realistic pandemic movie. rather than doing an over the top thing, do the most accurate science we can and that will be the most terrifying. you re a little like me and your wife nicknamed you red alert because you re constantly saying what can go wrong. after you dive into this for six months do you walk away confident or panicked about what could happen? good question. i think confident. that we can handle it? i m optimistic. one big take away for us is that all of these scientists who work at the cdc and who, amazing. like crime solvers. they re really competent, capable, just dedicated group of people. and so, you know, the doctor who was the neurologist who worked with us who consulted for us, he s the guy they will send samples to. so i feel like there s a great group of minds that really just are kind of constantly vigilant about protecting us. so that s the good part. the bad part is that how quickly something can spread. yeah. the movie makes a great deal of travel. we live in an age where people jump on a plane and go around the world in one day. and along that route they could spread something like this to countless people. sure, yeah, if it was the right kind of thing. the movie talks about that. and then it goes into the other area. not only the logistics of the spread of a virus but the ethics involved. how much information should people have. how much is too much. who should perhaps benefit from a situation like this. what s the message that you want people to take away? well, i think don t panic, is a good one. i mean, that s the quandary that a lot of these people that have this information, how do we disseminate this information in a way that creates the least amount of panic because the panic can be the most dangerous thing. when we think about anthrax that killed two people and shut down the entire airline industry. so if if we can t kind of take a deep breath and count to ten and kind of make a reasonable assessment of what we need to do. and the media is a big part of that. i was going to say that. there s a slight touch of that in the movie. we have covered in real life things like sars and bird flu. right. do you think, because i ve often tried to analyze it s, that we make too much of these things and scare people too much or would we be criticized if we didn t prepare things. you have to strike a balance. like the hurricane that just came. right. but you re under pressure to get people to tune in, but in a real situation like that, i think the media would have to resist the temptation to sell the panic because that could be putting gas loon lien on a fire. no question, buzz on this. what s happening with the li liberace movie? what is it about him that you work so well with? he s just he s i could talk your ear off act him. he s a a brilliant director. this movie, you know, he used just two lenses, used a 35 and 18 for master shots and then he used the cameras at eye level the entire time. it moves only when characters move. he s a established a bunch of rules for his. he s rigid about forum and he s just kind of doing it at a level that very few people can and ever have been able to do it. and so when i m standing next to him he s directing, i just learn so much. and i m always very proud of the movies that we make. you re also involved, shooting another movie right now. i would like to they thi your hairstyle is an homage to me but it more has something to do with the role you are playing. it is. but it is called the laure, you know that. me. what is that movie? it s going to be out at 2013. the guy that directed district 9. he s a fantastic director. big day tomorrow. girls head back to school. yes. one heads to school for the first time. right. and the others back to school? yes. is red alert going to be there? red alert is going to be there. a lot of dropoffs tomorrow. do you like that part? i love it. i love the you know, here because it s walking to school, i used to walk to school when i was a kid. i just love that part of it. and just particularly the first day, you know, the jitters. do they have the jitters? the 3-year-old doesn t. she doesn t know where she s going. what time is snack time. she still doesn t know she s going to school. but we have a seventh grader starting a new school. and you know, my kine kindergars going. good to see you. see you soon. just ahead, fashion trends, but first, your local news. fri. good to see you. just ahead, false s hottest fashion trends but first your local news. good morning. 8:56 anthony wednesday, the 7 dath dave september. let s go straight to meteorologist tom kierein who well tell us about this very wet wednesday. tom? we got another batch of moderate to heavy rain with thunder and lightning now in stafford county that s moving north into prince william county and continuing to advance to the north probably into fairfax county in the next ten minutes or so and the district of columbia and montgomery county after that. montgomery county itself, this area in green as well as the panhandle of west virginia and virginia under a flood warning. v[ woman ] i was pretty confused by everything i d been hearing about high fructose corn syrup. so, i did a little research and learned from experts, whether it s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can t tell the difference. sugar is sugar. [ female announcer ] learn more at cornsugar.com. right after this. stay with us. good morning. traveling 395, 3rd street tunnel a disabled vehicle block your lane. congestion still going on. look at 270 at father hurley. very slow. inner loop at robinson terminal, speed sensors traveling at about we re back now with more of today on a wednesday morning. it is the 7th day of september, 2011. a rainy one here in the northeast. but you know what? we ll get through it. it will be a fine day no matter what. i m matt lauer alongith ann curry, al roker and tamron hall. coming up in this half hour we re going to talk with our money 911 panel, our experts going to be dealing with everything from saving for retirement to rolling over a 401(k) into an ira. okay. also coming up this morning, a lot of people after hurricane irene are looking for ways to, you know, hurricane-proof their vacation. you want to sort of avoid a hurricane, we ve got tips for you coming up this morning. plus, it is feeling a little bit like fall. you mocked me yesterday when i said it was cold. nobody mocked you. it is a little chilly out. fall-like temperatureses already. that means we ve got to start thinking fall fashion. we re going to clue you in on the hottest trends at the most affordable prices. that s right. and in entertainment news, i don t know if you ve ever seen a donkey fly but the man who has done the voice of donkey, eddie murphy is going to be hosting the academy awards coming up in february. we re going to be taking a look at that, why the producers are going with mr. murphy. i say why not. looking forward to it. i know exactly. he s so funny. it will be fun. let s go inside, savannah guthrie is at the news desk filling in while natalie is off this week. good morning. goods morning. in the news today, a fourth person has died over the night following that shooting rampage at a nevada ihop. kristen dahlgren is in carson city this morning with the latest. good morning. the attack here just took minutes leaving four dead, three national guards troops and a woman sitting nearby. appears the gunman walked deliberately toward the table where the uniformed troops were sitting as he was unloading his ak-47 though they say they have no indication that 32-year-old eduardo sencion knew anyone inside the restaurant. his family said he had a history of mental illness wabut wasn t acting out of the ordinary the day before. he left no note. they have no idea on a motive. but of the seven other people wounded, several are described as clinging to life and that death toll could still rise. all right. nbc s kristen dahlgren, thank you. now to the out of control wildfires raging through central texas, two people side in the huge blaze burning near us a ten. it s destroyed 600 homes as well. overall, four people have been killed in those fires statewide. president obama is expected to propose $300 billion in tax cuts and federal spending when he outlines his jobs plan tomorrow night to get americans back to work. the plan reportedly includes a one-year extense of payroll tax cuts and an extension of jobless benefits. a russian passenger plane has crashed about 160 miles northeast of moscow killing at least 36 people, according to local news reports. a security official says the plane crashed and burned while attempting to take off. stunning new images of the moon let us retrace the steps of history. a nasa probe has sent back highly detailed images of the 40-year-old landing sites of the apollo missions and amazingly even to this day, you can make out the footprints astronauts left on the lunar surface. and finally, my, what big ears you have, two feet of them to be act. meet harbor the dog happy hound winning the guinness world record for the longest ears on a living dog. as a puppy me used to tumble over he s ears. in case you thought those ears help him hear better. no, they use their floppy ears to cup sense on the ground toward their noses. it s now 9:04. let s go back to al with a check of the weather. all righty. let s check it out. show you what s happening as far as our weather is concerned. their nose. it s 9:04. let s go back to al with a check on the weather. show you what s happening as far as our weather is concerned. and you ll see, basically looking at a lot of left over rain from lee and there s nothing to kick it out so more rain. look at these rainfall amounts. anywhere of three to five inches of rain over the next 24 hours. we re keeping an eye on what s going on out troings. katia. good news is that will split the difference between bermuda teechk. rip current there s. tropical depression number 14 could be marie a later on. models are not all together on this one. we have to keep an eye on it over the next several days. another wave of moderate to heavy rain is just about to move into the metro area. the closest approach is coming in to fairfax county out of prince william. they are getting some heavy downpours, torrential rain along interstate 95 through prince william county into stafford county. another area of heavier rain farther south coming up our way as well so prepare yourself for and that s your latest weather. savannah? all right, al. thanks. now to today s money 911 where our experts answer your biggest financial questions. jean chatzky is today s financial editor and author of money 911, david bach mman, author of debt free for life and nicole is a financial expert. good morning. good morning. by popular demand we re going to do our twitter questions today. everything was tweeted to us. we ll start, this one is going to be for you, jean. the question is from john. he tweets under the handle mule man. he sayse, i have about 12,000 i an ira and i need to withdraw to pay credit card bills, car, and rent. what penalties can i expect? you can expect penalties of about 10% and then you have to pay income taxes on that money. the key as we say is to avoid doing this if at all possible. i want him to see a credit counselor. you can find one at debtadvice.org. this is from k.c. krab. my family s income is $140,000 a year, but we have zero retirement and little savings. where do we cut to be able to save and retire? you cut quick because this person has a great income, $140,000. there are people watching over america saying i want that income. he s got $1,000 a month in expenses starting today. go through fixed expenses, download them into quicken. in a matter of minutes he can see where all of his money is going and cut $1,000. save $1,000 a month in 25 years at 8%, he s a millionaire. $1,000, though, that s hard to cut. nicole, this next one is for you. it s from somebody who tweets under the title intrepid educator. he has two college age kids and a love for travel. i m wondering, should i keep buying real estate or a time share? my savings is good. bills are low. 401(k) is $30,000. i guess the question is, is the real estate still a good investment? great deals for vacation homes. they re off about 11% compared to primary homes which are off 5%. intrepid educator, great twitter handle, asked about time shares. searches for time shares online has increased especially if you want to own half of a quarter of a home with another family depending on the situation. i will say if you do have a roof over your head, a second home is an important exponential investment that you don t even want to consider just the sticker price. you also have to consider the taxes, if you re in another state, for example, or mate nance costs. if you re going to buy at a ski resort, somebody is going to have to clean up that snow. here s the question from gina bruce. she says, when buying a car is it better to pay cash to hold on to the heloc for emergencies or use heloc? will interest be deductible in new york? apparently that s a home equity line of credit. less. we all knew that. i want to choose option c. i want to say neither one. hold on to the cash. if you don t have an emergency cushion you should to the be taking money out of your home to buy a car. if you do have an emergency cushion, weigh the cost of that heloc. the rates are 3.5% to 4%. versus seasan auto loan. you might be able to find a great deal on an auto loan. i ve seen uone at 1%. take the auto loan. cash is good. david, this one s for you. dusty from illinois writes, i can transfer funds in a 401(k) to an ira without penalties? absolutely. it can be done in minutes. in fact, you can go back to the company that has your 401(k) plan and ask them to do an ira roll. they can do it for you in minutes. transfer the money from a 401(k) plan right to an ira. it s called an ira rollover. no taxes and no penalties. if for any reason the company sends you the check directly you have to get that money into an ira within 60 days or you will have taxes and penalties. they can do it for you. all automatic. great. nicole, from paul. tick tookck. we are getting more certainty from the federal reserve right now saying interest rates could remain low into mid to late 2013 that is great compared to the extended language period we had been hearing. a little bit more clarity. this is great news for homeowners looking, of course, at mortgages at 4.22% for a 30-year fixed rate. exactly. if you re looking to refinance though there are some issues, tighter equity line requirements and tighter credit scores. you have two years to do so, paul. or take an advantage of low interest rates in another way. great advice. as always, jean chatzky, david bach, nicole, thank you. coming up, you may not be able to control the weather but you can hurricane proof your vacation. there is a new sheriff in town, or shall we say a hollywood hillses cop. eddie murphy will host the os skers. . . o. s. oscar. s. a, choose your sauce, as many times as you want! cop. eddie murphy will host the oscars. cop. eddie murphy will host the oscars. the never ending pasta bowl is back. for just $8.95 try new sauces like roasted mushroom parmesan and hearty pizzaiola meat. enjoy any sauce and pasta combination, then try others. have all you want along with our unlimited fresh salad and warm breadsticks all for just $8.95. try it tonight at your olive garden. when you re here, you re family. [ female announcer ] there s a place called hidden valley where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can t get enough. hidden valley ranch, makes vegetables delectable. 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. for people who sleep in their lenses. on a recent trip to france we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french yogurt. so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. it was a grueling trip! try new activia selects french yogurt. turn it on. power it up. ignite your youth gene now. introducing anew genics. an avon breakthrough, 10 years in the making. our first to use youth gene science. unleases your youth potential and helps undo up to 10 years from the look of skin. clarity and firmness.reborn. and wrinkles? transformed. the power is yours now. with anew genics, only from avon. visit avon.com to find a representative today. this morning on today s travel, how to hurricane-proof your vacation. all the weather may be out of your hands, with some careful planning you can make sure your dream vacation doesn t turn into a stormy nightmare. good morning. good morning. this is the peak season where most people are effected. we re snack dab in the middle of it. the regions effected are the caribbe caribbean, the gulf coast, the south and middle of the united states. everyone you like to vacation. as we saw in irene, it can get up the coast. we saw the subway systems affected here, amtrak. a lot of things can be impacted in hurricane season. i mean, i was flying out to maine. my flight was canceled. last train on the amtrak. people couldn t get to the airports even if they had flights because the roads. reporter: flooded. you have to be careful in whatever it is that you re going to be doing and really plan ahead. that s what we re trying to do. planes, trains, and automobiles. let s talk about some of the tips you have. the first thing seems to obvious but it s probably the first thing we overlook. checking the weather repeatedly. i think it s important if you re going to take advantage of the great prices that there are for the season in the caribbean, for example, to be vigilant with the weather when it s coming up to your trip. the ways to do that, first of all, the national weather service has an incredible hurricane website called nhc.noaa.gov. you can go there to check on the updates on storms we have. katia coming up. for specific storms in the caribbean you can go to stormcarib.com. that s the first step. next step, buy insurance early. it s not a new phenomenon but one people are appreciating more. we all think of health insurance and we forget about trip insurance. if you take a risky trip, insure your trip. it s a fraction of the cost of your trip. what you can go do is go to insuremytrip.com. you can do comparison shopping. one important thing when you re thinking about buying trip insurance is to buy it early enough. better rate? no, it s more important than that. if you don t buy it before the hurricane that s going to affect your trip is on the hurricane maps, you don t get coverage. the coverage is contingent on that. you also say look into the airlines hurricane policy. i thought acts of good nature could never be protected by an airline. this is the thing with airlines because they see how many people get inconvenienced and how many people s plans are effected, they waive a lot of their change penalties. for example, the american airlines did that. jetblue in my case when i was flying out last week was willing to waive their fees and, in fact, returned the first portion of my fee for the flight. nice. however, that was great. they didn t get in touch with me to tell me my flight was canceled. another moment where you need to be vigilant. check in with your hotel to find out their policy. i mad friends heading out to maine during hurricane your marine and their hotel is basically, like, you re out of luck. interesting, some hotels have to close, that s all they can do. however, in bermuda, all the hotels in their association have a policy where it s a hurricane guarantee. if there s a hurricane anywhere within 200 miles of bermuda within three days of your trip they will refund your money. if you re stuck there during a hurricane they won t charge you for room or food or beverage. choose a destination outside the hurricane belt. that s a tough one because you get great deal it is you travel during a hurricane season. think about aruba, think about the south, the west of the country, san diego, there are lots of other opportunities. also, if you have caribbean on your mind and you will not give up, think about a cruise. that s another alternative. why? because if cruise lines see there s a hurricane coming in their itinerary they can change ports. you take a lot of the pressure off you to be vigilant and let the cruise line bs vigilant for you. nice advice. all right. now we can go on a vacation and not worry about the next tropical storm or hurricane. thank you very much. thanks. coming up, he s ready for prime time, comedian eddie murphy s is tapped to host the academy awards. we ll look at everything right after this. l mickelson, pro golfer. 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. against new kellogg s fiber plus caramel pecan crunch. really? 35% of your daily fiber. chocolate lava cupcake. [ indistinct conversations ] mmm. that s great cereal. mmm. this is fiber cereal? it s great cereal, but.cupcake. [ female announcer ] kellogg s® fiber plus™. taste the plus. eddie murphy has been picked to host the academy awards for the for the first time next february. so excited. the announcement makes it clear, oscar organizers are looking for more laughs in 2012. of course, many comedians have already tried and failed at what they call one of the most prestigious jobs in hollywood. it s one hell of a day in the neighborhood. a hell of a day for a neighbor. would you be mine? could you be mine? it s a beautiful day in eddie murphy s neighborhood. this is how you answer the door in my neighborhood. who is it? on tuesday they knocked on eddie murphy s door asking him to host the 84th academy awards in february. is there a problem, officer? reporter: by selecting the 50-year-old comedian, the academy which faced criticism after last year s award ceremony is choosing to go back to its comedic roots. past hosts have included legendary comics as bop hope, billy crystal, steve martin, and whoopee goldberg. this is not exactly, you know, warm and fuzzy billy cryst crystal, but i think it will get people talking about the oscars in a way that the academy really wants to happen right now. reporter: but the choice is still being questioned, why eddie and why now? some say it s his connection to oscar director brett ratner whose also directing murphy s next movie tower heists. murphy who earned a supporting actor oscar nomination in 2007 for dream girls hasn t been seen on the screen since the 2009 flop imagine that. but over his almost 30-year film career murphy s movies have grossed more than $7 billion, with such hits as trading places that s like jackson from the jackson 5. reporter: beverly hills cop can i stay for a while? reporter: and coming to america. bark like a dog. if he comes out and nails it and gives you that eddie murphy you love from 48 hours, that s genius. you know, all of a sudden eddie murphy is back in such a big way. looking good, billy ray. feeling good, lewis. i can t believe you, tamron hall, you have never seen trading places ? no. i m sorry. i had to tell america because it s a travesty. i have not seen ghost busters or, what is it, blues brothers, a lot of them. i did see snl in the eddie years and he s going to rock during the oscars. i think it s a brilliant choice. i got to say it s such a hard task because it feels like people really? you go out there and put your heart on stage and everyone in hollywood says they didn t really do a good job. i don t envy him, the pressure. he s a pro. wool see what happens. he s got to do hot tub. yeah. she s seen that. all right. still to come, we re going to bring you up to date on the hottest fall fashion trends. plus, how to throw an italian cocktail party for your guests that you in never forget either, after your local news and weather. think twice. it may be a sign that your digestive system could be working better. listen to this with occasional irregularity, things your body doesn t use could be lingering in your system, causing discomfort. but activia has been shown in clinical studies to help with slow intestinal transit when consumed 3 times per day. 7 out of 10 doctors recommend activia. and the great taste is recommended by me! a dab of concealer here. a flurry of powder there. what if there was a makeup that didn t just hide your breakouts. but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup. it has our proven blemish fighting formula blended with silky gorgeous makeup. so it gives you a beautiful flawless look while undercover it works to clear breakouts. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. prices.c cocktail party for your guests that they will never forget and neither will you. good morning. 9:26 on this wednesday, the 7th of september. good morning i m joe krebs. let s go straight to meteorologist tom kierein. we ve had a rainy ri tom. we ve had some heavy andv + rain in fairfax county and prince william county right along interstate 95. along with some thunder and lightning and that s continuing to advance to the north and there s some warning:;r to inc. that s moving into charles county and heading up towards the district over the next hour sore. these counties in green are under a flood warning including [ agent ] so your policy looks good, is there anything else? why did you buy my husband a falcon? thanks for the falcon. i didn t buy anyone a falcon. sure, you did. you saved us a lot of money on auto insurance. i used that money to buy a falcon. ergo, you bought me a falcon. i should ve got a falcon. most people who switch to state farm save on average about $480. what they do with it, well, that s their business. oh, that explains a lot, actually. [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] another reason people switch to state farm. aw, i could ve gotten a falcon. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. good morning. we re seeing red on i-66 as well as 395. i want to show you i-66. your and so maybe i vam trying to nub myself a little, trying to change. you can only handle not self destructing by being self destructive? what do you want from me? i don t know, alex. that s how we re all used to seeing the multi-talented actor but now he s singing the blue on his debut album called let them talk. and tomorrow on today, house will be in the house to sing live. as a matter of fact, tamron, britain s gq named him music man of the year. his voice is beautiful. i know. who knew? meanwhile, coming up in this half hour, as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches we re going to talk to a husband and father and the decade since his wife died in the world trade center, how he and his two children are looking back but also moving forward. and then moving on obviously to something very different, we re talking about fashion, fall fashion. it s already chilly at least in the northeast. but rich colors, textures, and a little more length. bobbie thomas is here with the big styles at the smallest prices. savannah, i hear you have a burning question for bobbie. what is it? get to the bottom of it, can you wear white after labor day? yes, of course, you can. okay. everyone says yes in you do and then people write you and say, why are you wearing white after labor day. and then write, why are you writing me. exactly. and then today s kitchen, modern twist on your next italian feast. delicious hors d oeurves and cocktails that are tasty and light on the call rays. and a programming note, who doesn t like to save a little bit of money. today.com is hosting a live web chat at 1:00 p.m. eastern time today with coupon expert colin, she s the main writer at today.com s new blog hip to save which posts up to 40% online discounts every single day. i ll be there with you online. head over to today.com for all the details. now let s get a check of the weather from al. and let s see what s happening over the next 48 qy the main writer at today.com new blog which is hope to save. save up to 40%. now let s get a check of the weather from al. and let s see what s dn;eni rip currents and some strong waves. we got wet weather with a high surf advisories in the northeast. slight risk of strong storms rres the heat continues in the southwest. sadly no relief for our friends in texas with those wildfires and the drought, the prime drought that continues. ic countywn th into the. that s what s going on around the country. thunder11ing. . advancing to the north. coming up into the metro area we could get heavy downpours that may cause flooding with thunder and lightning. highs near 80. lower and[ and that s your latest weather. now back inside to tamron and savannah. al, thank you. up next, we ll get the answer to savannah s burning question, can you wear white after labor day? bobbie thomas is here with all that and some fashionable ideas for this fall, right after this. [ birds chirping ] mmm! hot fudge sundae?!? new wild strawberry?!? [ female announcer ] over 25 flavors of kellogg s pop-tarts. and they re all for fun & fun for all. pop-tarts. made for fun. and they re all for fun & fun for all. fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido yep! (mom) i m so proud of you. the bus is here, gotta go mom. okay hunny, have a great day. look in your bag, made you something. (announcer) it s more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. choosey moms, choose jif. (telephone ring. pick up) usa prime credit. my name .peggy. you got problem? peggy? third time i ve called, it s time i speak with a supervisor. supervisor is genius.i transfer. transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! hello.my name is. peggy? come on!!! hello? want better customer service? switch to discover. ranked #1 in customer loyalty. it pays to discover. on a recent trip to france we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french yogurt. so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. it was a grueling trip! try new activia selects french yogurt. reduces the visible signs of aging. minimizes the look of wrinkles. hydrates. renews. seems like an amazing moisturizer? actually. it s an amazing makeup. introducing revlon age defying with dna advantage. its powerful skincare ingredients and spf 20 help protect skin s dna. 96% of women saw flawless, younger-looking skin in just 2 weeks. new revlon age defying with dna advantage cream makeup. age. defy it! this morning on today s style, fall s hottest trends. everyone s favorite fashion season is here. if you re looking up to date your wardrobe for the cooler temps, today style editor bobbie is here. good morning to you. good morning. what trends are you looking for? i know this is a big week in the fashion world. fashion week starts. i haven t seen a runway yet. we re going to be looking at spring, so i know. i can never get used to that. i know. i m really excited. i love the new season and i have so many pretty things to show everyone. everything is pretty much under one h100$100 expect for a jacke first trend is go longer. we ve got julie and shirley. what is this look about? i wanted to help break this down not so much by trend but what you can do. go longer, like you said. a mid-length. julie has this great look on. the dress is below the knee. this is a practical look when it s colder out. you can wear boots with this. if you wear that length you feel like you ve got to wear a heel? yes, or do a nice casual boot, riding boot. julie takes off this jacket and this is a pretty dress. this dress was only $36 on sale from the summer that you can wear into fall. great buy. on shirley i wanted to take how you can take a summer, almost white cardigan belted, add this great longer pleated skirt. it s from macy s and then add a boot and a scarf and you winterized a look you could have had on with flip-flops and a tank. thank you, ladies so much. our next trend this fall is to embrace color. here we are wearing black and white. but you say color is all the rage on the runways. yes. i love the classic black and white combo. i m a big fan. but i think you re going to see color everywhere. we saw color blocking all summer long. on nancy what i really wanted to show is how you can make that warmer. these are richer autumn hues, cranberry, orange, mustard bag. pairing them together in a fresh way. it looks very fall. are there any dos and don ts when you are doing the unorthodoxed color combinations because that looks fantastic but i could never put that together. just have fun with it. play around with the skirt and top in the mirror, add a little color with the bag. maybe stick to three colors max or just do two that complement. this blouse, the tie neck blouse, you re going the see it vry where. $9.95 at h and m. what? something i want to let you know, these store tras additionally didn t sell online and czar is now selling online and h and m is ramping up. anybody can getting a cess to these stores. nancy looks great in her color. where do you come down on this no white after labor day rule? i am a huge fan of seasonless style. i do think that you can wear white. i think you may want to leave the white linen pants or something that just doesn t look prakt cat in the winter behind but you can wear white. i do a whole segment on how you can wear white. i will be there on the front row. thank you, nancy. next we re talking about going bold. what do you mean by that? marie, come on out and show us. she has a great outfit on. it s all about clashing and contrast. normally you would see pieces like this and think do they really go together? yes, the top is from mink gango. i bought them separately but i like how the colors are repeated. i think they re both so bold they needed each other to balance out. it almost looks like a nice outfit that would have been put together. if you try to put these patterns together, are you looking for one color to tie it together or one texture? how do you do it if you re looki looking your own closet. you see how she has brown to the skirt and shirt. that picked up the pink offset each other with the blue. you can mix the patterns as long as you stick to a color scheme that complements each other. thank you. let s bring out andrea because she s bringing out the next rule which ask is add texture. this is from new york and company. a lot of women are afraid to the faux fur. if andrea turns to the side, it has a knit back. it s a great secret. you only have half the volume. so you can indulge in this faux fur look without feeling like, you know, a chewbacca on top. i love my favorite new things. under 25, from new york, the iconic are those leg warmers? yes, long leg warmers that go past your knee. manage gener imagine when you leave the studio freezing you re going to be set. i love the layering. only a few seconds. let s have judy come on out for the glisten up look. this i love that. this is still about texture but about glamour. she s got a look on that was jenner lopez from kohl s. this is her new item. she kind of looks like jennifer lopez. it s on trend. ufl these are, of course, i put everything online. you say you can do the makeup sparkly, too. yeah. let s bring the models out. judy has the sparkly eye makeup. i fell in love with chanel s collection. if you have a question e-mail me at today.com and i ll be sure to answer. bobbie, thank you so much. and you can wear white, too. coming up next, a family touched by the tragedy of 9/11 moves on building new memories. but first, this is today on nbc. -i love this card. -with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. it s 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that s 1% cash back on oscar. .tony. oscar! 2% back on whatever she ll eat. 3% back on filling up this baby. [ male announcer ] now get 1-2-3 percent cash back. it s that simple. [ male announcer ] apply online or at a bank of america near you. we re talking 3% back on gas. should we order panda blossom, panda moon. how about chinese at home with wanchai ferry? you can make it in just 14 minutes. mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn t feel like going out anyway. [ male announcer ] wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese in your grocer s freezer. [ male announcer ] there are snacks. and there are better snacks. quaker chewy, 25% less sugar than the leading sweet snacks, no high fructose corn syrup and the goodness of whole grains. quaker chewy, 25% less sugar than the leading sweet snacks, lose those lines for up to a year! juvéderm® xc is the gel filler your doctor uses to instantly smooth out lines right here. temporary side effects include redness, pain, firmness, swelling, bumps, or risk of infection. ask your doctor about juvéderm® xc. with two children and no way to support them. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people s lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. and off 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. this morning on today s american story with bob dotson we ll meet victoria who lost her mother on 9/11 and what she wants most in life is the day before when her mom kissed her good-bye. reporter: we all tell our kids i ll be back. you know that. no, daddy. reporter: but since 9/11 victoria alonso doesn t always buy that. her mother janet went to work at the world trade center that morning and never returned. watch your head. reporter: object robert, her dad, was left to care for their 2-year-old daughter and a baby boy with down syndrome. alonzo waited a long time for this family. he and janet tried to conceive a child for ten years. then, gave up. and two months later she was pregnant. lo and behold, she was pregnant. reporter: their victory, victoria. now nearly a teenager, victoria looks in the mirror and sees her mother. i love her. reporter: they are much alike. victoria is an honor student. janet studied nights and weekends for years, graduated from college in her late 30s, just before she died. if mom were sitting here today, what questions would you ask her? what would she want to do with me today. reporter: since 9/11 robert has taut his children to treat every moment like an unopened gift. fruit snacks. don t you eat them. they re for me. reporter: he coached victoria s softball team to the new york state championship this summer. we all went out and bought rounds of lipitor. reporter: and toasted brother robbie, too. back to two steps. reporter: robbie learned to walk before most kids with down syndrome because his dad plays with him every day. shoot. reporter: he doesn t put off anything that will bring his children joy. what size are these? reporter: robert figures when his kids smile, the terrorists lose. i am going to florida. florida. reporter: good times keep the bad memories at bay. it was. was hot. reporter: alonzo s plan to spend 9/11 in a bark where they play, near the monument their neighbors built for janet and all the other parents in new york city suburb who went to work that day and didn t come home. janet just returned to her job after giving birth to robbie. her body was found on his 2nd birthday. this was my mommy. reporter: we all think of 9/11 once a year. the alonsos live it every day. for today, bob dotson, nbc news, with an american story in stone any point, new york. 12k3w4r and we are back in a moment. this is today on nbc. state farm. this is jessica. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i m so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it s funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it s taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. if morning in today s kitchen, an italian cocktail party easy as one, two, three. what better way to transition from summer to fall than by celebrating with light, easy, and seasonal italian bites. yummy, marisa is here in new york. good morning. good morning. so amazing. what inspired this menu? my family is from napless, italy. these are all my favorite fruits and vegetables and liquors from the coast. i love the recipes you re going to show us because you make this filling once and serve it two ways. what do we do? this is an eggplant, so we have some beautiful eggplants here. what i m going to use today is japanese eggplant because is that hard to find? i want to make this this weekend. will i search all weekend for japanese eggplant? you can go to a latin market, farmer s market. there s some right there. thank you. these are all the end of the summer vegetables. wonderful, and fruits. perfect. right there we do have the japanese eggplant, i love to use because it has thinner skin and sweeter. my italian grandmother would be very upset with me but italian eggplant is more bitter and you have to salt them. you have to cube it. i did this before we started. we did saute. we cubed the eggplant in about half-inch cubes. saute them until they re sort of golden. here i already have sweating in the pan. i have olive oil, some onions and some garlic. should we add thogs in? yes. those in the celery. okay. and than the eggplant? no, that s for later. we throw in also the anchovies. this is an acquired taze. do you have to use it? you don t but it adds a great saltiness to the dish. this should simmer and sweat for a couple of minutes. okay. we ll fast forward ahead and in that base i did there i added tomato sauce. at this point we re going to add in some of the pitted green italian olives and some golden raisins. nice. and some capers. i love that yen-yang. the sweet and saucy. they simmered a couple minutes before. how long do you get that going? a couple of my under the circumstances minutes. you don t want it to get too mushy. you gently add in the eggplant. savannah, just don t dump it? you have seen my cooking segments before. need a little splash guard when i m in the kitchen. yes. so now we ll just stir this in gently. and then there are two ways now. let s show that so we can get to the other things. yes. we can actually put it on toast or also put on ceramic spoons for the people who are garnish. yes, garnish it with basil. i want to get to, this watermelon balls? yes. this is a great hors d oeurve. do you need seedless? you do. put that in and add some extra virgin olive oil. little black pepper. and fresh mint. okay. nice. refreshing. and you let it marinade for ten minutes. they can serve it ins this little ramkins. let s get to the cocktails. this is a cocktail i call it the sunset, reminds me of the capri, the color. we are using peached puree, apple and limocello. membeix that up. thank you so much. okay. i know. all right. coming up thank you. coming up, what to do when a friendship wanders toward more than friends. umm, that s right after your local news and weather. cheers. is. we re following breaking news at 9:56. a big break in the search for the serial slasher. fairfax police have issued an arrest warrant for a man they think is responsible for stabbing women in their back sides. is that picture of who police are looking for. 40-year-old johnny pinato. we ll follow this story and look for the latest on news 4 midday and on our website as well, nbcwashington.com. let s find out about the weather. heavy rain montgomery county, fairfax county, across the potomac into charles county and king george and caroline. thunder and lightning and causing ponding of water. watch out for high water. more on the way likely later today with highs near 80. perhaps thunder and lightning and possible flooding into this evening. a smaller chance of any more rain on thursday and friday and then as we get into the weekend on lay slight chance of an additional thunder shower mainly in the afternoon on saturday and sunday. monday and tuesday looking partly cloudy with highs in the mid-80s. let s check the late morning traffic. we re seeing that rain right now on the american lightning bridge. cars are traveling very slowly across. just be careful as you make your commute across the american legislate bridge. i m seeing volume there. volume here no rain which is good and as we shoot over to the 14th street bridge much better. still seeing some delays but you re not jammed and that is a good thing. barbara, back to you. coming up on news 4 midday coming up on news 4 midday two of the captions paid for by nbc-universal television from nbc news this is today with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. hello, everybody. it s wines day wednesday, and it s a wet one here in new york. it s september 7th. yeah, the u.s. open was rained out yesterday. you were going go. i was going to go. but we still have die hard fans. fans in the house with umbrellas. we are so glad that they came to see us. i wouldn t stand in line or out in the rain for anybody. not the rain. i would stand in line, but not in the rain. did i say stand in wine? that s what i meant. madonna is getting attention and not the good kind. she was in venice for the film festival and there s a film out there that she s very proud of. it s her baby. she financed it pretty much and directed it. it s called w.e. she did a news conference and she s about to talk about this film and a fan walks up and hands her a hydrangea, some flowers. it s her reaction when she didn t realize her mike was on. thank you. thank you. i absolutely loathe hydrangeas. look at her face. look, look, and ooh, down. ooh, eyes out. oh, dear. loathe what accent is she speaking with? she s in venice. i thought she would use an italian accent when she s in venice. oh, that madge! we reached out to liz rosenberg who we love. she is her representative. we haven t heard from her yet. the funny thing is this has happened to all of us at one time or another, we re handed a gift that we don t like, whatever it is and the person is right in front of you and you have to be gracious. you have to be. and you to remember that you re miked which we don t do around here either. we should be careful. if someone givious a gift that you re not fond of, what do you do? i wait until they re certainly out of ear range and out of eyesight and a lot of times on trips and you can t take it to the plane. i often leave a tip for the housekeeper and i leave her flowers and she thinks i really like her a lot. it is awkward, though. i always ooh and goo over gifts whether i like them or not. you re a self-professed liar. we all know that. it s about but you re also a very sweet person, hodi. it s the gesture. kath, i want you to have this bracelet. i gave you a big painting that you promptly stuck in a closet. it was too big. it was too big for my apartment. gorgeous. she loves new orleans, right? i have a painting, a gorgeous, this thing is five or ten feet of new orleans. i take it to hodi and i take it to their new york apartment as a house warming gift because she loves new orleans and thought she loved me. she promptly sticks it in a closet some place and throws up i don t know, what did you throw up on the wall there? no, it was beautiful and huge. you know my apartment is not that big. it was the perfect spot for it right over your sofa. busted. i want it back, by the way, because i have friends who might appreciate it. totally busted. would you like it for your new home? it would look so pretty in your living room. we ll have it bussed over there to you in new jersey. just solve that water problem that you have. all right. i don t want mold on my painting. eddie murphy is hosting the 84th annual academy awards. we brought it up yesterday. i think it s a really good choice. he really is a terrifically funny man. yeah. he s, you know he hasn t had a great run with the films lately, except for shrek i m sorry, he is donkey. he was my favorite part of the whole thing. can i say i loved him in trading places. i loved him in trading places. i wish him all of the best. i think he ll be terrific. do you think he ll have a co-host? maybe madonna! i think he ll go solo. and he s very funny on your feet which you also have to be. there was a topic of discussion that got us all lathered up in the makeup room and it was something that was in the new york times. it talked about a guy who was giving his sperm to one of those sperm donor places. i just hate the word sperm. i don t know. i just do. apparently, he has 150 children as a result of his sperm. good sperm. there was another guy interviewed in the piece that had 75 of his sperm or children what happens when they all get together and fall in love with one another and have weird children? that could happen. how in the world would you know? you wouldn t know. i just can t believe an industry like that is not regulated given that there are diseases and history and all those things. i can t believe that you can give that you can have 150 siblings you don t know about out there somewhere. yeah. yeah. we d love to know what you all think about that, too. i think it s wonderful that people that are infertile and can t have a child have option. i think that s wonderful, but again, we have to think things through sometimes, people. the american society of something that said something about that that we should have sndz. no. call liz rosenberg if you want to know. last night i was watching with brian williams you are in love with so on the show they kept teasing there was a dog. a dog that talked. so i was like, this can t be true and you re not going to believe it, the dog can talk. 55 million youtube hits and ann did the story on the dog who talks. watch this video. i love you. i love you. good girl. i love you. i love you. i love you. i love you. i love you. i love you. good girl. i really love you. is that unbelievable? how is that possible? the dog is talking and saying words. i love you. that s what the dog said. i feel like lola does that. ever since i got lola i feel like there s a person in there. you should videotape her talking. my other dogs are dogs, i know that. lola is a woman stuck in that beautiful body. that s why i wanted to name her hoda. the longest, gorgeous legs. she s so beautiful. okay. all right. there s something else that s long and beautiful, too, right? oh, not that. all right. anyway. so there is a pooch that made the guinness book of world record, the 2012 edition. there is an 8-year-old coon hound. watch it. look at his ears. his name is harbor. i think the ears are 12 oh, my gosh. he came from a sperm bank. you just don t know what you re going to get. anyway, that s sweet. isn t that the sweetest thing. we have a top take we re talking about today about can men and women who have a mra tonic friendship, is it possible for men and women to have platonic friendships? sure it s possible. if it s a beautiful man and a beautiful woman who are attracted to another is what they re talking about. if there is an attraction. then they say no, it s not possible. a lot of you guys are obviously married and maybe your spouse has someone, an old friend of the opposite sex who calls the house and things like that and the question is is that okay? would you like it if a girl from frank s past called your house? don t make a joke. no, i wouldn t like it. it has happened and i don t like it, but i didn t like it with girls calling cody when he was 6 years old. listen, you little tramp, get off the phone. i did. i ll tell your parents about you. she was an older woman. she was 8. if you re in a committed relationship is it okay to have friends of the opposite sex. it did spark a lot of controversy. some people think it s perfectly fine because you ve had friends for a long time, tammy. and guys that you dated, tammy. and guys that call your house. tammy. any former friend before your current relationship should be your friend continuing on. jay should understand there are male friends of yours that you ve known much, much, much longer than you have known him. he would understand. if it made him uncomfortable i wouldn t have the friendship. would you explain it to the friend? yeah. would you be truthful? i wouldn t want to feel, if a girl kept calling jay, pretend. yes. i would say i m not really crazy about that, and i would hope he would tell her. would you believe him? because frank never believed that i was just friends with people. i was just friends, why would i tell you i wasn t? i don t like the idea of people calling your house and asking for relationship advice. would you prefer they would go elsewhere on something. when someone is leaning on your husband for something, it s trouble. you don t know you re in trouble until you re in trouble. that s a line from saving aimee. it s a big day today, we are launching our cutest baby contest. you guys always send us cute pictures. we want your cutest baby picture on our facebook page. here are the rules, though. the child how cute is that? can only be from 0 to 2. don t try to slip a 3-year-old in. don t cheat. so you go to facebook, all right? go to facebook and type in kathie lee and hoda and you ll see the oh, stop! the cutest baby contest. oh, i can t take it. one entry per person and the deal is that there will be a group of selected children that will come here and there s going to be a baby fashion show. and you re going to model with your baby if you win, okay? follow all of the instructions. klg and hoda. facebook.com/klgandhoda. very complicated. what else is going on today, hoda? we have wine in honor of wines day wednesday. it s a delicious wine and lots of the proceeds go to somewhere. somewhere. i want to get it because it s important. we ll have it tomorrow. did we have it up, you guys? apparently not. yeah. a portion of it go to four new york city animal charities, okay? let me tell you the name because you just went by it. the tony project. rain from the heart. new york save and the gotham kitten. yes, but the wine is called les companion. delicious, too, by the way. you were asking about this yesterday. you guys were asking on the facebook page what were the lollipops we had on the front. they are alcohol-infused lemon vodka suckers. there you shave it. sucker born. is there really vodka in it? if you see your 12-year-old sucking on that. be very careful. we ll discuss the whole thing about the men and the women and the friends. and photos that stop you and say what? and we ll go out into the rain. and we ll go over there and do it about football this time. we ll be back after these messages. cheers. cheers, hodi. ugh, time to color. woohoo! whoa. haircolor is a chore no more! you gotta come see what s new. c mon! tadaaa! welcome to haircolor heaven. aa-ah-ahhh! courtesy of new nice n easy colorblend foam. permanent, dimensional color, now in a delightful foam! just three shakes, foam it, love it! simply saturate hair root to tip, front to back. with tones and highlights. it s foamtastic! home haircolor, make room for foam haircolor! new nice n easy colorblend foam. your right color. [ laughter, snoring ] [ male announcer ] of all the things that happen on your shiny surfaces, disinfecting has to be one of them. clorox disinfecting wipes. kills germs. dries clear. having good friends, but things can get complicated when one of your close friends happens to be of the opposite sex. here to weigh in on the potential plusses and pits palls of the relationship ask is brenda, and dating coach and relationship expert. hi, guys. we were just talking about this. i was just asking hoda woman. you know she s in a very committed relationship now, and you think that any friend before jay in her life should continue to be her friend? absolutely. keep your friends even if they re male. very important. what if you dated them and dated them recently? how does jay feel about this? is he secure enough? we ll talk about that in the segment. very, very difficult for a man and woman to be just be friends after they ve been intimate and have had sex. i believe it s almost impossible. everybody has sex with everybody, so you re not going to have any friends. men have a very hard time when they become sexually attracted to a woman and thinking about their repercussions of what their actions might be. they don t have sex and they don t care and they don t have the ability to forward think. that s when problems begin. you ve had a friend for a long, long time and you get married and this friend calls you at night and he tells you he s having problems with his girlfriend and do you think that s all legitimate and okay? it s fine. except for theity in time part. he should not be calling you at night. when the husband isn t loam? exactly. he should be calling you during the day. he should be asking your husband? does he become a family friend? there s also history with an ex that you might not have with your wife if you re a guy, you know what i mean? there s a lot that goes on that you don t understand the dynamics that used to be. so you misinterpret things and it becomes very, very difficult. i m actually in business with one of my wife s exes which is very difficult and honest to god if you ask me i still don t feel comfortable when they go on their own and do things. she s not comfortable hearing you say that right now. what about these days? we have something these days, called friends with benefits. women are not capable of that. they get emotionally attached after they become physically connected to a guy and they have a much harder time doing it. yes, it s sexist. i m saying it. i don t care. i don t think women are capable of friends with benefits. some women are. some women are. you can t be friends. that s the problem. you re friends with benefits and just more sexual, but if you re friends with someone, you like them. you have a history and you want them in your life and that s different. a lot of people say of course, you can be friends with the opposite sex. my best friend is a man or my best friend is a woman. but if you re sexually attracted to them, that s the thing. if you re sexually attracted it s a problem. you should get married. you shouldn t marry everyone you re sexually attracted to. who s the expert here? women have a harder time dealing with that when they re sexually attracted to a man and they re just friends and the women maintain a friendship. a man who is sexually attracted and he doesn t care he ll wreck the friendship. he doesn t think. he thinks down there. where? he thinks south of the border. yes. that s the problem. maybe not. you never know! this is called the wrap portion of the program. take hold of it, hoda woman. thanks so much for joining us. coming up next, funny photos that will have you saying, what the what? right after this. the best way to design a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can stitch together a better deal. that s a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won t let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. it s a new totino s pizza stuffer. [ male announcer ] give your kids the new totino s pizza stuffers. new, minimum mess, maximum fun! listen to this. three out of four americans don t get enough vegetables. so here s five bucks to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that s a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us. five bucks. that s a lot of green. purina cat chow helps you well-being. we re all striving for it. nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. we re back with one of our favorite segments called what the what. sara is here with the photos that you sense in and made her stop dead in her tracks and made her say what? our first was sent in by emily in las vegas, nevada. maybe these should be called the wah, wah cookies. that s cute. it s a smiley face and someone was going through a breakup or something. our next photo was sent in by rebecca whirly from new jersey. shouldn t it be the other way around? you can t have the cabbage and you we got that turned around. rick from flushing, new york, sent us this photo. so what can you do in this park if you can t kick, you can t litter. you can t lay out. you can t feed the ducks. you can look at it from a distance. you can t even smell the roses, just keep going. next up, we have a photo from samantha basset from chesapeake. i hope that s a binky and not his tongue. that s his tongue! it s their own dog! oh! i think it s adorable. no! it was like a his mouth is so little and susan mathis from williamstown, new jersey, how many days are there in a week? we have sundays, too, though. all seven days. you wonder this passed through before somebody caught it, you know? come on! does anyone check these signs? finally michelle taylor from dubuque, iowa. iowa! submitted this photo, no parking or 30-minute limit? are these do these really exist? are these really confusing? i would sit there for about an hour. i like to see where my taxpayer dollars are going and it s going this stuff. send a photo in to her at klgandhoda.com. we ll have questions about diet and nutrition. and football. and rudy. i love that rudy. 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. good morning. i m meteorologist tom kierein. we ve had some waves of moderate to heavy rain moving through the metro area over the last several hours. we got another wave with thunder and lightning that s just about to come in to fairfax county from the south and unloading a lot of rain moving right through the district and then heading into fairfax and montgomery county over the next few minutes or so wines day with our weekly who knew game and we re testing our football knowledge. kathie lee is across the street at the nbc experience store and she s ready to hand out $100 buck to those who answer the questions correctly and to those who don t get her cd. helping us out is sports author and president of femalefan.com. betsy, are you ready? i m very red. let s go across the veet to kath. this loverly dad and his two boofrl girls are from tennessee. which nfl team won the super bowl last year, the saints, the steelers, the packers or the giants? steelers. you were wrong the second time, too. really? it s fabulous. they re going to love it. and the winner, the green bay packers won last year. yes. and our defending super bowl champs the green bay packers are taking on the new orleans saintses tomorrow night to kick off the season. it will be a great, great game. a terrific one. gentleman is from boston. which college team did daniel rudy ruettiger play for football. notre dame or ohio state. notre dame. i just can t eat cabbage. all right. so, by the way, what a great movie. you could watch that a hundred times. all time favorite ever. it s a great story, a true story about a boy who didn t have the i nate natural talent to play football and he worked harder than everyone else and never gave up and it s a heartwarming story. everyone will cry no matter how many times you see it. this song is dedicated to what nfl team? he said pittsburgh steelers. yeah! yes, the steelers. by the way, that s one of the best songs ever written. just saying. i knew you would love that song. i just knew it. it became a huge sensation and when they played the packers it went to number three on the pop charts. and in the video they had the terrible towels. back across. nice lady from saratoga, new york. finish this motivational quote from the tv series friday night lights. i know this is a tough one. clear eyes, full hearts, what is it? will win, strong will, can t lose or smart thoughts. the second one? strong b. oh! play the clip. clear eyes full hearts. can t lose! what did they say? can t lose? can t lose. okay. it wasn t actually in the original movie, but the theme was carried over that winning isn t everything. it s about having the love of football in your heart. back across to kath. that man is from the great city of grand rapids, michigan. which nfl football team did frank gifford play for? the new york giant, san diego chargers, new york jets or cleveland browns. new york giants. yeah, baby, you would have gotten hurt if you didn t get that right. the legend frank gifford. did you than when he started playing offense and defense look at that picture. let s look at frank. just look at frank gifford. oh, wow! he went to eight pro bowls and appeared in five nfl championship games. he was a legend. amazing. back across to kath. especially when he furls his mouth like that. this lady is from california. who is the highest paid player in the nfl? eli manning, frank gore. who s he? michael vick or peyton manning. michael vick? does it have to be so loud and rude? michael vick is about to get a big contract or just did, but no, so sorry. you ll love my record. it is peyton manning. how much is he making? 23 million. michael vick is making a mere 60 million. how will they make it? how will they survive. the nfl season kicks off with the matchup of the super bowl champs, the green bay packers host the saints right here on nbc. we ll head over there tomorrow and this will feature musical performances by kid rock, ma roone five and lady antebellum. up next, something we can all support. the right underwear for exercising. you need to know this. you know you do. right after this. [ female announcer ] there s a place called hidden valley where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can t get enough. hidden valley ranch, makes vegetables delectable. if you think occasional irregularity is no big deal, think twice. it may be a sign that your digestive system could be working better. listen to this with occasional irregularity, things your body doesn t use could be lingering in your system, causing discomfort. but activia has been shown in clinical studies to help with slow intestinal transit when consumed 3 times per day. 7 out of 10 doctors recommend activia. and the great taste is recommended by me! [ gasp ] [ mom ] my husband he thinks it s a 3-sheeter. i say 1-sheeter. bounty can clean the mess with less. [ female announcer ] in this lab demo, 1 sheet of bounty leaves this surface as clean as 2 sheets of the bargain brand. dance cooking? bring it. super durable. super absorbent. super clean. bounty the 1-sheet clean picker-upper. and try bounty napkins. but sometimes i wonder. what s left behind? [ female announcer ] 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 ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. sfwloot best underwear for your exercise. you wouldn t jump into your workout without lacing up the right shoe, would you? it will give you the support and flexibility you need. jena bergen from prevention magazine has the scoop on the underwear you need to wear. hi. thank you for having me. sure. we really wanted to find underwear that worked for women of all shapes and sizes so we have prevention readers try some of the very best brands out there and we had them doing everything from yoga to running to jumping on a trampoline which is the ultimate tester. i wear the regular bike shorts. and then i just wash them. these are great. what are we starting with? tell us. mary is wearing the support sport by lucy which is great for a to b cup sizes for medium workouts. it s just enough padding so you don t feel there s false advertising. that won t give you a whole lot. and this is the moving comfort workout hipster. really comfortable and it will keep you dry, odor-free and it has a nice built-in mesh in the back which is instant air conditioning. do they ride up? not at all. the testers love them for running and cardio. over there on donna we have the safe t-back by champion for medium workouts. for power walking and power yoga. it eliminates the uniboob. we paired that with patagonia s active boy slort and they re cute, they re low rise, super comfortable and our testers love it. it has the extra waistband. what is it down the list? phyllis is wearing the adorable feminine bra for women and it s great for low-impact workouts and everything from walking to yoga and it s a supple polyester that s super soft and we paired it with the barely there briefs on. you have that feeling. anyway. they felt like it disappeared under their clothing. no panty line. and then over there on lauren we have the endure by under armour, great for a to b cup sizes and great for the medium to lore impact workouts because it s super cushiony and super soft and it s very easy to get on and off. not for running. not for running. what if you have a bigger chest and you want to run? that would be the very last bra. that s the x support and that s great for high impact workouts for anyone from a b to d cup size and it has the great adjustable straps that have velcro. you can fit it to your body and we paired that with the under armour ultrastretch thong. another thong. i m telling you, our testers really loved this and they said they would invest in it. the prices are they expensive? it s a wide range and you have to think of these underwear as you would the same wear you would a pair of sneakers. you ll make an investment up front and it will last a long time and make your workout much more comfortable. coming up next, we ll weigh in to your questions about diet, nutrition and help. we ll help answer the question. and then how to send off your kids to school with an allergy-friendly lunch, but first these messages. kicking off our new series weighs in to answer questions about diet, nutrition and overall health. madeleine is here with her own cartoon. people were sending in questions that were confusing. confusing or controversial and we wanted to hear what they had to say. this is colleen in warwick, rhode island. she writes is eating fruit bad for you if youor a diet which is a good question? there is a big deal. there are rules that go along with fruit. it s nature s candy and nature you are s cash hide rate. if you re using fruit to replace an apple pie, it will be helpful. even healthy things have calories. an apple the size of your fist has about 100 calories. if you re grazing all day it will not be good for losing weight, but it will be good for your health, so you have to be careful. also don t confuse people who are healthy with people who have diabetes. they have to watch fruit sugar. what do you girls do? i eat a couple of apples a day, but i figure it is so much better. it s crunchy, there s substance to it. more fruit, actually. would you eat berries? i do. my daughter eats grapes all day long, you know? and i m not sure that s so great, but she looks great. i m in menopause, and i would like to know what foods will help me with hot flashes. i prefer to not take medz kagic and i am miserable. join the club. the big thing about this is it would be great if there were medicine and it s not. food can have some effect. the biggest connection is with soy if you can take it. it doesn t work for everybody. i have a glass of soy. you need four, five or six servings because in asia where people have a soy-based diet they have very low incidents of hot flashes, but it doesn t translate here to an occasional grabbing of soy nuts, but what can help is ice water. it helps to cool your body core. what did you do? what did i what did i do? it was a problem for you? yes. i kept thinking to myself women have gone through menopause for centuries. you re not the first and you re not going to be the last. just get through it. i find exercise helps. that really does, too. that can help you sweat and lower your body temperature. embrace it as a part of life. that s right. attitude is everything. if you live long enough to reach menopause, be grateful. i read a lot about intuitive eating versus counting calories, however, i don t know if i can trust my body to trust what i consume. your body is supposed to tell you when it s hungry. your body tells you when it s hungry and you re eating from boredom. so you can t listen to your body all of the time. sort of think if you had a big exercise day, yeah, you ll eat a little more, but you ll have to monitor what you eat and be more mindful. not every calorie every day and batter, learn to exchange. are and set a realistic goal. it sounds like these ladies are saying i want this target weight. this one people care about. the amount of fat you eat matter as long as you stay within your calorie range? it s all about the calories, but when you cut down your fat because it s so dense and it has carbohydrates and protein, you will naturally cut it down, but that s only step one. the problem is people start focusing on fat, but the carbohydrates and protein adds up counts. if you re trying to lose weight? i just cut carbs. i avoid pasta, bread and cheese. and it comes off. you re not excluding fat and it comes down to calories. some people cut out carbs. some people cut out fat and you want to moderate and say what s the calorie balance that works for you. know your own body, too. thank you, madeleine. you cartoon, too. if you have a nutrition guide or healthy question e-mail it to us at klgandhoda.com. and up next, how to pack a now on eat smart today, packing an allergy-friendly lunch for your kid. an estimated 5.9 million kids now have food allergies and that number is on the rise. here with the easiest alle y allergy-free food options is regina ragone. from family circle magazine. there are eight. and we ll cover five over here because these are the ones that are most affecting kids in school, and the first one we have is a milk allergy. milk is in so many things. it s in baked goods, it s in butter so you have to really read labels as a mom and it s really hard packing a lunch and it s hard to pack a lunch when you don t have allergies. it s a pasta salad that you can make a night before. the pasta has no egg in it, no milk in it. cookies are another thing. kids love cookies and you don t want to deny them. no-milk cookies? this is a company, enjoy life foods that has no milk in it. the next one is egg. what do you have to worry about eggs? mayonnaise has egg in it and a lot of times you put mayonnaise on a sandwich. it s delicious and kids like it. you have to read labels because you d be surprise whatt eggs ar in. yeah, but i don t know too many kids. oh, yeah, with hummus. love it. love it. love it. we ve all heard what a big problem it is and in some schools you can t have peanuts and this product is sun butter made with sunflower seeds and it doesn t havaler jens. some companies make food and they make peanuts on the same line. this doesn t. it s a fun butter. this is delicious. it s trail mix, but made with seeds instead of nuts. that is good. sunflower seeds, dry fruit and coconut. wheat allergy is not glutin intolerance. that s an auto immune disease. it s in everything and it s in cereals and in breads. it s easy and portable and it can be brought to school and rice cakes, to have something crunchy instead of crackers? doesn t this need to be refrigerated, though? pack your kids lunch make sure they have one of those cool packs and a lot of lunch boxes have that. don t make your kids feel strange, just grapes and cheese. this is the tree nut allergy which you can have the most severe reaction to, and you can go into anaphylactic shock. this is again, a salad and a sandwich that doesn t have any nuts in it and it s mixed with corn chex. thank you, regina ragone. we are launching the cutest baby contest. logon to facebook.com, klg and hoda and hit the tab. hit the tab. it s the cutest baby. see it? we made it here with our big arrow. we want to see your babies and we want you to model on the show. go on! hugh laurie is in the house and ten things every woman should know. have an awesome wednesday because tomorrow is thursday. captions by vitac www.vitac.com hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i m so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it s funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it s taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. 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.