in just a few short hours.

there is word this morning her new lawyer, robert shapiro, has just quit the case which means she could be going it alone today, tuesday, july 20th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to "today" on this tuesday morning. i'm meredith vieira. >> and i'm matt lauer. with lawyer once again leaking out of the busted pipe, the government is telling bp it can keep the cap in place by now but should be ready to open it immediatefully there's a sudden pressure change that's detected. >> engineers have determined the seep detected over the weekend is not related to the ongoing integrity test. also ahead, something we're going to cover later in the show, have you ever heard of hoarding? it's a disorder where monot one of

the 66 million americans who care for their aging parents, chances are you will be. there is a big mistake most of them are making. let's begin on this tuesday morning with the oil and gas leak. nbc's chief environmental affairs correspondent ann te thompson's in venice, louisiana, with the latest. anne, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. the cap and this well are not passing the test with flying colors. there are some problems but none serious enough for officials to want to open that cap and have oil flowing into the gulf again. for three months these are the sights that have sickened gulf coast residents and the nation.

oil polluting some of the most unique coastline and beautiful beaches in the world. the out-of-control well that spewed the oil remains te temporarily capped on the gulf floor, but there are signs of trouble. nearly two miles from the well head there is seepage of oil and gas on the ocean floor, but officials don't believe it's connected to the latest test. >> i think there is some natural seepage out there both of oil and natural gas and the question is trying to separate what we are seeing from what would be normally expected out there. >> reporter: there is also a leak at the bottom of the new sealing cap and bubbles at the base of the blow-out preventer. bp and the government say none of these issues point to serious >> i think with this extensive monitoring we have going we're in a good position to not have a catastrophic event. >> reporter: the pressure level inside the cap now reads 6,811 pounds per square inch, lower than what government scientists hoped but encouraged by the slow and steady increase. >> if we thought that the

pressurization test itself potentially did damage to the seafloor, obviously, we would stop that immediately. >> reporter: onshore, in many places, the damage is already done. his scooter shop is a tourist favorite in orange beach, alabama, when there are tourists. his business is down 80%. >> it's out of our hands. what do were we do? what we do? we're sick. we're sick to our stomach. >> reporter: bp also has yet another idea to stop the flow of oil, it's something called a static kill which is basically top kill part 2, where they say they would pump heavy drilling mud through the blowout preventer. they think it has a better chance of working this time because a cap is on the well however they do not have approval from the government to try this just yet. matt? >> anne thompson in louisiana this morning, thanks so much. four minutes after the hour. here's meredith. >> thank you.

now to washington, the senate is expected to extend unemployment benefits to millions out-of-work americans today after the president blasted republicans monday for blocking the bill. savannah guthrie is at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the white house feels a political winner championing benefits for the jobless at a time when unemployment has dragged the president and his party down in the polls. accompanied by three out-of-work americans the president tried to shame republicans into extending unemployment benefits. >> the same people who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest americans are saying we shouldn't offer relief to middle-class americans like jim or leslie or denise who really need help. >> reporter: republicans say they support unemployment benefits but not unless they're paid for with spending cuts and won't add to the deficit. >> we're all for extending unemployment insurance. the question is, when are we going to get serious about the

debt? we recently passed a $13 trillion cumulative deficit threshold. when are we going to get serious about this? this administration has been on an incredible spending spree. >> reporter: but today's vote, the fourth, maybe the charm for democrats with a replacement for the late west virginia senator robert byrd sworn in later today, they have the votes they need by highlighting the issue, the white house hoped to drive a wedge between republicans and the jobless. >> it's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to washington politics. >> reporter: persistent unemployment has dogged the president and his party in the polls. democrats had hoped the economy would heel more quickly and over time the public would warm to huge reforms in health care and for wall street but analysts now say democrats are in serious danger of losing control of the house and perhaps the senate. >> time is running out on the democrats. they are starting to panic. they can see november and also

see losing their majorities in the house and maybe in the senate, too. >> reporter: the vote expected later today is going to pass they've got two republicans and that new west virginia shart to put democrats over the threshold. matt? >> thank you very much. former republican speaker of the house newt gingrich a fox news contributor and author of "to save america stopping obama's secular socialist machine" good to see you. >> matt, good to see you. >> help me on the math what she just talked about and the president talked about yesterday. some republicans saying we're not in favor of extending unemployment benefits with a price tag of about $33 billion unless there are offsetting cuts in spending, the same republicans, newt, who didn't ask for those offsetting spending cuts when they wanted to make permanent the bush tax cuts with a price tag over half a trillion dollars. is it funny math? >> no, i don't think so. the second biggest concern of the american people after jobs

is deficit spending and the fact this president has been like a teenager with a credit card who has run up, he will -- if he serves eight years under current plans he will double the national debt. that is he'll borrow more than every previous president combined. the average american is beginning to respond with great concern about that amount of debt. >> traditionally speaking, when you cut taxes, don't deficits go up, as well? >> only in the short run. that's the other difference. i mean, we proved with reagan, with the three-year tax cuts in the 1980s, we proved again with the contract with america with the first tax cut in 16 years, that, in fact, job-creating principles of cutting taxes are far better than job-killing principles of big government and regulation. if you look at rick perry, governor of texas, i think it was in 2007, texas created more jobs than the other 49 states combined. and the reason was simple. it's a much lower tax, much

lower regulation state in which people found it more convenient and easier to start a business and invest in a company or create a job. >> let's talk about cutting the deficit here. you said you are thinking more seriously than ever about running for president. let's say i make you president right now, congratulations, and give you what a lot of people are predicting, a republican-controlled house and senate that means you have to make some really tough choices. >> sure. sure. >> in terms of kutding this deficit. what are you willing to say, name it by name -- you will be willing to cut right now to cut deficits? >> first of all, you just created a nightmare for virtually every democrat watching the show, so i apologize to them. but, to work out your scenario, in the four years i was speaker of the house, the average rate of increase was 2.9% a year including all of the entitlements, that is the lowest rate of increase since calvin cool laj in the 1920s, we did it by carefully setting priorities. let me finish a second. >> go ahead. >> we doubled, for example, investment in national health

research at the national institutes of health we'll be having tough on other spending. i would start and go through this budget pretty dram clickly and eliminate a great deal of federal bureaucracy and reform unemployment compensation and workmen's comp at the state level. i would have a very pro jobs, very pro sayings, very pro takehome policy. when we rechld welfare, 65% of the people either went to work or school and we saved billions and bill krons of dollars, part of how we managed to -- >> would you make cuts in social security and medicare or take those things on? >> first of all, we've proven at the center of health transformation with "stop paying the crooks" about 70 and 120 billion dollars a year is paid to crooks in medicare and medicare so, sure, that, by the way comes out to $700 billion to a trillion 2 hundred billion in savings over the next decade just by not paying crooks in the federal health system. >> the worst-case scenario we talked about to democrats the

loss of both the house and senate how likely is it, in your opinion? >> about 50-50. it gets worse every month partly because you showed the president with very shallow politics assuming the american people are dumb enough to follow the latest headline. this is a job-killing administration and job-killing democratic congress and that's why those people are unemployed. >> newt gingrich, good to see you. thanks for your time this morning. >> appreciate it. thanks, matt. >> now a check of the rest of the morning's top stories with anne curry at the news desk. >> good morning. in the news, more news from afghanistan, the united states set to begin withdrawing troops next year, today the u.s. reaffirms its support for afghanistan at a conference on the country's future. we have our chief foreign affairs correspondent with more on this. andrea, good morning. >> good morning. hillary clinton acknowledged growing a sition to the war here but pledged the u.s. will stand by afghanistan even as

u.s. troops begin to withdraw next july. with kabul locked down and under threat of attack, more than 70 foreign ministers gathered for the largest meeting ever held here even as criticism mounts over the war strategy and over rampant corruption in the karzai government. >> citizens of many nations represented here, including my own, wonder whether success is even possible and, if so, whether we all have the commitment to achieve it. well, we will answer these questions with our actions. >> karzai's timetable to take over all security for his country in four years. >> i remain determined our afghan national security forces will be responsible for all military and law enforcement operations throughout our country by 2014. >> reporter: with the afghan military police and police face serious challenges. as his government negotiates

with the taliban, women fear they will once again lose their rights. today, clinton met separately with afghan women, promising they will not be left out. >> we want to continue to support afghanistan, the afghan people, and particularly women and women's interests and rights. >> reporter: and one of the trickiest issues here, how and even whether to negotiate with the taliban. today, there are reports the white house is considering a policy shift to at least go ahead and bless secret negotiations with senior taliban leaders by third parties. >> a major development. thank you so much. also in the news the senate judiciary committee expected to approve elena kagan as supreme court justice today. confirmations begin today hearings begin, rather, for this retired air force general nominated to become the new director of national

intelligence. a powerful storm in central kentucky monday, forcing hundreds of people to flee. three people were hurt. and 10 people were indicted after a daring heist in sweden last year caught on tape accused of using a helicopter to break into a security company and then using explosives and a powersaw to make off with more than $5 million. the money has not since been found. it is 7:14. back to meredith, matt and in for al this morning stephanie. >> that's right. al is on assignment. steph me abrams on the weather channel and al's partner in crime filling in. good to see you. >> you, as well. unfortunately a threat for severe weather in the middle of the country in the form of flooding rain seeing that already this morning and, also, the threat of hail, damaging winds and can't rule out tornadoes, as well. we could see up to three ijes of and we've got a lot of low clouds, misty skies over san francisco. if you look closely you can see the windshield wipers going

across the golden gate bridge. winds pumping in the marine air all the way into fairfield. low clouds banking up along the altamont pass. we will continue to see misty skies at times this morning heading towards lunch time i think clouds will start to break up inland but it's going to take some time for those low clouds to break up. 2,000 thick marine layer will take some time in terms of clearing inland today. look at the temperatures. mild through the end of the week. a bit warmer for the weekend. meredith, over to you. >> stephanie, thank you very much. britain's new prime minister makes his white house debut today. among topics he will talk to the president about, the growing controversy surrounding bp's possible role in last year's release of the pan am flight 103 bomber. our justice correspondent is in washington with more for us. good morning, pete. >> good morning, meredith. the british government under growing pressure to reopen the case. senators from the new york area are pushing for it, so is the u.s. state department. but there's nothing to indicate

that that's actually going to happen. britain's new prime minister, david cameron, leaving no doubt he thinks it was a mistake for officials in scotland, which has its own separate justice system, to have released abelbaset ali mohmed al megrahi from jail last year, serving a life sentence for bombing a pan am flight that crashed in scotland in 1988, killing 270 people, including 189 americans. he was allowed to return to libya after a doctor said he had cancer and only three months to live. but nearly a year later, he is very much alive. >> i thought the decision to release a megrahi was completely and utterly wrong. he was convicted being the biggest mass murderer in british history. i saw no case whatsoever releasing him from prison. >> reporter: the secretary of state in pakistan says the u.s. is encouraging scotland to review its decision but a spokesman for their government says it has no such plans because there's no new information to justify reopening

the case. scotland also says bp, which was eager to get trade agreements with libya, played no role whatsoever in the decision to release al megrahi but some u.s. senators insist that question should be examined further. >> we want to make sure they didn't improperly push the british government to allow the release of this terrorist in exchange for drilling oil off the coast of libya. >> reporter: and relatives of some of those killed in the terrorist attack say they believe the obama administration has failed from the beginning to push hard enough on the british. >> president obama should have picked up the phone and said, he cannot be released. this will hinder our relationship. and he would have not been released. >> reporter: the prime minister will also meet with congressional leaders and four new york-area senators. they'll also urge him to prescott land to reopen this case but the lockerbie bomber remains safely in libya. meredith. >> thank you. 7:17. matt. >> sarah palin is wading the

controversy surrounding a proposed mosque near the world trade center site. the language she used on twitter to express her opinion is getting the most attention. peter alexander is nor manhattan. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. this is what the battle is all about a proposed 13-story building to go right here with a jimmy jimmy and auditorium and mosque but as we spin the camera around let me show you what the problem for many people is, the proximity to what many americans view as sacred grounds at ground zero, blocks away. add sarah palin to the mix and it's a full-blown controversy. she's america's self-proclaimed mama grizzly now she's dipping her paws into another polarizing debate. criticizing a proposal to build a mosque near the world trade center site in new york city. palin tweeted peace-seeking muslims, please understand ground zero mosque is unnecessary provocation. it stabs hearts. please reject it in interest of healing. the latest controversy has unleashed a wave of strong opinions from visitors.

>> she does not need to be saying anything about anything that's over here. she doesn't even live over here. >> it's per personal opinion. i don't think she's speaking for, you know, speaking for new york or for alaska or for america. i think she's speaking out of her own thoughts and opinions. >> reporter: developers of the planned $100 million community center and mosque had this response. >> i wish she would pick up the phone and come down and say hello to us. where we are today is all about healing, all about building bridges, all about outreach, all about reaching out to the community to let them know there is a moderate muslim, that there is a voice for the moderate muslim. >> reporter: the former vice presidential candidate herself under fire for both her substance and style. palin tweeted ground zero mosque supporters, doesn't it stab you in the heart as it does ours throughout the heartland? peaceful muslims, please refudiate, it is isn't and actual word more like two with

similar meanings. bloggers quickly pounced. if republicans can demand immigrants speak english, one tweeted, can't we demand same of sarah palin? for what it's worth, palin has refudiated before. >> they could refudiate what it this group is saying. >> reporter: she's not the first politician to get creative with words she reminded followers in yet another tweet, refudiate, misunderestimate wee-wwee sdeedz up. she will have plenty of time to coin new words going forward. the scheduled groundbreaking is still years away. >> peter, thank you very much. just ahead, lindsay lohan's new lawyer reportedly quits. so, will anyone be representing her at a hearing today before

she heads off for jail.

just ahead, could you imagine living in a home with 260 cats? we'll go inside the shocking world of animal hoarding and talk to a woman who suffered from that disorder. plus, the bitter custody battle between mel gibson and his ex-girlfriend headskd to court today. will those tapes make any difference? for something more nutritious to eat? i was! well, you could enjoy the taste of decadent dark chocolate, the crunch of almonds, plus 35% of your daily fiber... plus antioxidants in a kellogg's fiber plus bar. mmmm. right then. two more wishes? i'm good. oh. back to the lamp then. see ya! [ female announcer ] kellogg's fiber plus bars. you couldn't wish for more.

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white meat chicken, or seabass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment. good morning everybody. time now 7:26. i'm brent cannon checking in with mike for the morning commute and looking at the east day. >> things are moving relatively smoothly but we had an earlier accident, slowing westbound 880. around central avenue an accident. it sounds like it's cleared the lanes but it's caused some slowing approaching berkeley and emeryville. then you're reaping the benefit at the bay bridge toll plaza. look at the light volume of traffic there just starting a little build off 880. we just see an ebb and flow of traffic just to the edge of the screen so about a dozen cars at most waiting in the cash lines from time to time. we have low clouds around the area as well impeding your view

of the east bay hill so it may be an issue over the water as well. might find mist so you have to use the windshield wipers time to time. >> maybe getting more of a workout than sunglasses around the bay area this morning. we'll see temperatures slowly warming around lunch time, 70s inland. it will take time for low clouds to break up inland. look at the highs mid to upper 70s san jose. low 80s inland. san francisco and oakland staying in the 60s today. we'll stay mild through at least thursday then trend a bit warmer fo trheweeken time right now 7:27. more news after the break.

oakland city leaders could move forward today with a controversial plan that defies federal law. the city council will decide whether to approve four marijuana farms that would handle all the cannabis growth, packaging, and processing. places like the harborside health center a medical marijuana dispensary has concerns that this is going to push many of its 400 small and mid sized growers out of business. i grow, in oakland, says it is going to apply for one of the four permits. the owner says the city proposal would make money for oakland as well as create new jobs. right now back to the "today" show.

7:30 now on a tuesday morning. it's the 20th of july 2010. 41 years after man first walked on the moon, these folks have stepped on the rockefeller plaza. one small step for man. one giant leap for fans of the "today" show. that was awful. we're going to head outside with those people in just a moment. >> cheapening something that was so significant. >> that's was we do around here. inside studio 1a, i'm matt lauer along with meredith vieira.

lindsay lohan, the troubled actress is set to begin serving 90 days in jail. how is she feeling about it? coming up, what she had to say on twitter. plus the latest why her new high-profile lawyer robert shapiro has reportedly quit. also ahead, an unsettling disorder, animal hoarding. could you imagine living with more than 250 cats in your home? in a moment, the shocking story of a couple who did just that. and we'll talk to a woman who is currently being treated for the disorder. plus, mel gibson and his ex-girlfriend take their bitter custody battle to court today. we'll have the latest on that also coming up. but let's begin this half hour with the day that lindsay lohan has feared for some time. she is scheduled to surrender for the start of her 90-day jail sentence. now there are reports that her newest attorney, robert shapiro, will not be with her. nbc's lee cowan is at the courthouse with the latest on all this. lee, good morning to you. >> reporter: well, good morning, matt. if shapiro is, in fact out, it would be the second attorney in

as many weeks that lohan has lost. robert shapiro of o.j. simpson fame, has said he would accept the case but only if she agreed to take jail time, which some say is something lindsay lohan is finding hard to accept. since her last court appearance, aside from a few public outings, lindsay lohan has largely stayed off the tabloid radar even checking herself into a drug rehab facility where some say the waiting is wreaking havoc on her nerves. >> she's had trouble sleeping. she's had trouble eating. she ooze been crying a lot. >> reporter: "people" magazine reports she's a fidgety mess. the reality of jailhouse food and jailhouse bedding is now start to go set in. even her tweets sound different. "the only bookings that i'm familiar with are disney films," she wrote last night, "i never thought i'd be booking into jail." >> she's sort of been in denial about it right after she was sentenced. now she's thinking to herself, what is it going to be like in the cell by myself alone with not many things to do? >> reporter: one possible strategy for limiting her jail time was getting her in rehab first.

the sober living facility she preemptively checked herself into last week was the one robert shapiro opened himself after his son brent died of a drug overdose. but while the rehab may improve lohan's image with the court, it may not convince the judge to postpone jail time. >> most people feel like while it's a good thing she went into this sober living house, i think most people also think that it's too little too late and that's probably what the judge is going to think as well. >> reporter: it's not that rehab isn't part of lohan's sentence, it is. in fact, the judge ordered her to complete three months of in-patient care but only after jail. >> the only fear i have is that by going to jail first, she'll be hardened and won't be open to the treatment process and the fact the judge has only mandated three months about lindsay clearly needs at least a year. >> reporter: now, you're looking live at the jailhouse where lindsay lohan is expected to report later on this afternoon. it's an all-women's facility about ten miles from the courthouse here in beverly hills. most people, however, do not

expect that she will do the full 90 days in that facility. time off for good behavior and other things will probably result in her only doing about three weeks instead. that would get her out of jail, perhaps, in time for her first movie premiere in september. matt, back to you. >> lee cowan, lee, thank you very much. jeanine pirro is a former attorney. judy holland is an actress and author of "weekends at bellevue." good morning. >> good morning. >> jeanine, let me start with you. first of all, rehab, sober living facility, what's the difference? and if you're the judge -- and you are -- do you want to take her out of that to make her go serve 90 days in jail? >> i tell you i absolutely would take her out of it and i believe the judge will do just that. joesh livi sober living is not a rehab facility and what you've got is a woman who's been in rehab three to four times and gets arrested almost immediately after coming out. it's time for her to go to jail and serve the sentence. >> let me ask you about this report that robert shapiro, her

newest of a string of attorneys, may have decided, no, thank you, i don't want to be a part of this case. justice, i would imagine, is supposed to be blind to the person representing you in court, but does all this turmoil impact her case in some way? >> i don't think it does. i think that the judge has made the decision that she's violated probation. the judge has bent over backward to give her every opportunity. she's given her an alcohol education program that she lied about, she didn't go to. she goes to cannes, she parties. any judge would have put her in jail long before this. so, enter robert shapiro, a guy with a great pedigree, but the bottom line is, it's about her pedigree and her lack of respect for the court. it's time for her to go to jail irrespective of the change in lawyers. >> to go to jail for how long? prosecutors have asked for 30 days. the judge gave her 90 days. i think a lot of people raised their eyebrows at that. in reality, how much time will she spend behind bars? >> she'll spend 25% of that because it's lank and there's no truth in sentencing and people are skeptical of the justice system. >> so three weeks. >> three weeks, at the most.

>> dr. holland, this is a troubled young lady. there have been numerous reports of her trouble with alcohol in the past. over the last several months, according to published reports, she has been on several prescription drugs, including adderall, zoloft. if these were prescribed for legitimate reasons, will she be allowed to continue taking them behind bars? >> typically, the prisons decide what the patient can or cannot take, and my assumption is that they're not going to be okay with her taking addictive medications like stimulants and opiates. whether they decide to let her continue with the antidepressants, i think she'll have to see a psychiatrist there and they'll make that determination. >> when you hear reports, and i think "people" magazine is reporting that she's extremely fidgety and nervous about that, my first reaction is, good! i mean, you know, you want to be her nervous about this. it's supposed to be a deterrent so it avoids bad behavior in the future, isn't that right? >> yeah, well, you know, this in some ways is really just what she needs, you know? she needs a time-out.

she needs to sort of be pulled away from the attention and the gawking and the enabling. she needs to be with herself and have some time to really be present and conscious and self-reflecting and figure out what's going on in her life and where she can take it from here. so, i think in some ways, the judge and other people, they're trying to help her. however, you know i really think that treatment is better than incarceration, and you know, what would be best for her is to have a good psychotherapist and psychiatrist. i don't know that lawyers and prison guards are going to do much to really help her change her behavior. >> before i let jeanine jump on you for that one, i've always heard that addicts can't be cured unless they're ready to help themselves. if a court orders you into rehab and a court orders you to jail, is that the same thing? >> it really isn't the same thing, you're right. she's got to want to make changes in her behavior. she needs intensive psychotherapy. she needs family therapy. she needs to learn new ways of behaving and coping and she's not going to get that sitting alone in that jail cell, but at

least she'll get time to self-reflect, and i think she needs it. >> the court system didn't pick lindsay lohan and say, look, this is a woman with a alcohol problem, let's get her into rehab. she's convicted of driving with a 0.08 blood alcohol in her system, under the influence of cocai cocaine, reckless driving, commandeering someone else's car. this is not about alcoholism and whether she should get treatment. it's about a woman who gets drunk and gets into a car and puts all of our lives in danger, who snubs her nose at the criminal justice system and says the rules don't apply to me the way they apply to everyone else. if she gets rehab, that's great, but the bottom line is, she's a criminal, she's been convicted, she's been given a break, it's time to go to jail. >> jeanine pirro, dr. julie holland, appreciate it. we'll watch and see what happens today. let's get a check of the weather now from stephanie abrams, who is in for al. >> announcer: "today's weather" is brought to you by advil. make advil your number one choice. >> all right, so, what would possess someone to wear no makeup, curl years and a ba bathrobe to the plaza on

national television? that's what people at home want to know. what are you here for? >> my sister's 60th birthday is today. she's in florida and we wanted to say happy birthday to her. >> and no make xup. >> i love this. i'm so impressed. can you believe that? no makeup on national television. let's have a look at where we will see the sunshine across the country. it's going to be basically through the southern tier, where we had the heat as well. otherwise, where you see the jet stream is where we will see more storms. so, forget about your makeup! leave it at home bec in san francisco right now a lot of low clouds. fog machine turned on last night and spilled the low clouds into livermore and fairfield this morning. you'll see our temperatures, 50s all around. toward lunch time we'll see it warming up a little bit inland. southwest winds through 24 through fairfield. a mild day all areas around the bay area if not somewhat chilly on the coast. 70s around san jose. some 80s inland. same story through about thursday. then we warm up for the weekend.

and for your weather needs 24 hours a day, go to weather.com. matt, over to you. >> stephanie, thank you very much. up next inside the shocking world of people who hoard -- nom ctbut animals. one couple owned more than 250 cats. [ female announcer ] fact. when pain keeps you up, nothing is proven to help you fall asleep faster than advil pm liqui-gels. rushing real liquid relief to ease you to sleep fast. for nighttime pain, make advil pm your #1 choice.

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back at 7:42. what happens when the desire to rescue animals becomes more of a compulsion than a good deed? how many cats would be too many? five? ten? how about 260? a special series premiering this week on animal planet takes viewers inside the world of animal hoarding. >> they mean more to me than any human could. >> in six months, maybe not even that long, you'll see my name in the obituary because i can't live like this. >> i'm not going to be able to keep doing this. >> you spend more time with the dogs than you do with your grandkids. >> if i had to choose between my animals and my husband, i would pick the animals.

>> my cats are healthy and content with their life. >> i don't know how you can come home every single night and say this is my clean room. >> i would lose my wife. i would lose my house. i would lose everything if i went to jail over this. >> i think you have 150 too many cats. >> i don't have any desire to give up any of my animals. >> you don't care about yourself and i'm afraid you're going to die. >> robin, who was in that piece, is a recovering animal hoarder. dr. karen cassidy is a clinical sipsychologist specializing in hoard i hoarding and has been part of robin's treatment team. doctor and robin, good morning to you.

i think people are going to look that, robin, and say, first of all, not only why but how? how do you live with so many pets inside your home? how do you explain that? >> for me it's probably an issue of coming from a large family and so there was always chaos and, you know, disruption everywhere in our home when we were growing up. so the animals to me were part of that. they're part of the family to me. >> when people rescue animals, often you hear others say what a great thing you're doing. aren't you a wonderful person? is it a situation where you develop a need for that positive reinforcement and that's why you just keep going? >> partly. partly it is. for me and i'm sure a lot of other animal hoarders it comes down to an issue of feeling needed, wanted, loved. sometimes there are situation that is go on in your life that you don't feel you're getting that from your human companions. >> and yet when it gets out of

hand, did you have a turning point? did you have a moment where you looked around the house and said, wait a second, this is no longer a good thing? >> no, i didn't. i didn't until the show came in and i realized at that point. >> so they were tipped off to you by someone else. >> by me. >> by you. so you went and said to them i have x number -- >> no, no, when i contacted the show, i thought it was going to be a different vein. i thought it was going to show me in a different light that, wow, i am this wonderful person who can handle all of this. and it turned int a different situation for me. >> dr. cassidy, where do you start with someone like robin? how do you point out this has crossed a line? >> the difficulty for all animal hoarders they have wonderful intentions. they are wonderful people and it's gone awry. and you want to help them understand that there's a big gap between their intention to love these animals and their ability to fulfill that love. and to help point out in a

gentle way that actually they're harming the animals and they're harming their human relationships. >> you can't go into a home like robin's home or that gentleman in the piece and clear the pets out. you just can't say, okay, all of these animals are gone. so how do you start? is it a one step at a time program? >> well, you start one step at a time. the first thing is to help the person understand how actually they are harmful to the animals and harmful to their family relationships and it shows them the avenue to really care and love these animals is to adopt them out and to have a small reasonable number that they really can care for well. >> robin, when you hear, and you've heard about this, this couple that was living with 260 cats, now you shake your head. so you can't imagine prior to contacting this show that you could have ever gotten that far down the road with something like this. >> no, i would not have been allowed to.

my family would have put a stop to it way before that would have happened. >> can you imagine the stench? >> oh, i know. we like cats but imagine walking into a home where there are 260 cats living. >> not even just that. it's like there's no surface for human contact. there's no safety for your food. there's no way to make a meal and not be sure there's going to be something in it other than what's supposed to be in there. >> you mentioned your family a second ago. what was their reaction when you were getting up in numbers with the pets you had? you had 20? 15, 16, your family was still okay with it? >> no, but i'm a stubborn animal rescuer, if you want to call it that and you saw in the piece they asked me would i get rid of the animals or my husband first and my logic was if my husband was thrown out or left, he could handle himself but my animals needed me. >> dr. cassidy, do people like robin, even as she is recovering, often have setbacks much like an alcoholic would? >> right. unfortunately without treatment, 100% of animal hoarders relapse.

and it's necessary to get treatment, to not just bring them to the attention of the criminal system but to understand they're people with needs. most hoarders have been through traumatic life disorders, initiated or exacerbated their hoarding issues. >> robin, you brought in a new dog recently, didn't you. >> yes, for four days. >> and? >> he was brought in with the intention of finding him a home and we did. it happened. he's gone to, i hope, a loving home. >> so what's your goal? how many pets? >> the ones we have now. >> which is what number? >> we have four cats and three dogs. >> and that would be fine, cap it at that? >> yeah. i'm okay. >> good. and i appreciate you sharing your story. i know it can't be all that e e ch.nksmuery . >> robin, thanks very much. thank you very much to you as well. > and animal hoarding premieres on animal planet tomorrow night.

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good morning everybody. time now 7:56. i'm brent cannon checking your commute with michael. a new accident? >> the traffic is starting to slow in the southbound direction around the bend and the further you get up the hill heading toward mission boulevard overcrossing you have an accident there. sounds like a car hit some debris and the hood is really jammed, banged up there and causing a bit of a jam as folks are slowing. see what's going on there around mission but slow through sinole here and before you get here coming out of the altamont pass area very slow coming into livermore. made possibly even slower because of visibility issues. there is fog making its way inland over to this area as well. >> and with the marine layer as thick as it is this morning we'll see very slow clearing inland. we'll see temperatures today only in the 70s around san jose and freemont, low 80s from sinole out toward livermore but

down from the 90s we had over the weekend. 60s san francisco and oakland and look at these mild temperatures. we'll start off the same way over the next few mornings. lots of low clouds. mist in a few spots. then as i think we head toward the weekend we'll see less low clouds inland and a bit of a warmup mid to upper 80s inland for the weekend but hanging on to the 60s out along the coast but a little more sunshine headed our way beginning saturday. time right now 7:57. more news after the break.

police were offering a $20,000 reward in the shooting death of a father of three. 45-year-old jinghong kang be flew to the bay area from virginia for a job interview. he was in a parking lot on wester street in oakland last night when two men robbed him and shot and killed kang and took off with $17. the father of three planned to move his family to the bay area if he got that job. more local news in half an hour and the "today" show returns in less than a minute. have a great morning. we'll see you back here in a bit.

8:00 now on this tuesday morning, the 20th day of july, 2010. right around 78 degrees on the plaza, but we are heading into the 90s later this afternoon. not a bad day. some serious sunscreen. alongside matt lauer, more drama for mel gibson and the mother of his youngest child. their custody case heads to court today and a sixth audio tape has surfaced. we'll have the latest on all of that just ahead. also ahead, if you are one

of the 66 million americans who is now caring for your elderly parents, well, obviously you're in good company but you may be doing something wrong. in fact, some people think most of the people caring for their eld elderly parents are making a major mistake. we're going to tell you what that is and give you some inters in just a little while. >> okay. joy bauer will answer your questions from everything how to calm a major food craving to lunch meat and how off actually you should be eating it. >> before we go any further let's go inside. ann is standing by at the news desk with a look at all the headlines. good morning once again, everybody. in the news the millions of unemployed americans who have used up their state benefits could be getting some relief soon. the senate is expected to approve extending federal benefits today and send it to the house. the extension would give people $309 a week on average. as the votes from west virginia democrat goodwin takes over the late robert byrd's seat today, to overcome a filibuster by republicans who have been arguing the benefits should be

paid for with spending cuts. with the cap on that ruptured gulf oil well holding now for a fifth day on monday, bp is now considering making a temporary fix, something more permanent. bp says that it's considering what it's calling a static kill, pumping a heavy amount of mud through the top of the new cap to seal the well. the government is urging caution so far on that idea. today the u.s. joined other nations in endorsing a plan by afghanistan's president to have his nation take charge of its own security by 2014. that is three years after president obama's deadline for the start of u.s. troop withdrawal. for the first time a gel has been shown to be effective in blocking the aids virus in women. the vaginal gel containing an antiviral drug cut the infection by 39% according to a study conducted in south africa. scientists are saying this finding is groundbreaking and a game changer. researchers are saying they're confident the gel can be improved before it is made

available. overseas markets are mostly high higher this morning. cnbc's erin burnett is at the new york stock exchange. erin, some real earnings jitters today. after an up monday investors here at least are a bit nervous and part of that is because of ibm. it's a huge tech company. earnings were a little bit short of what investors were looking for and that is setting a little bit of a negative tone this morning. it's not all bad news and it's a sign government stimulus has worked in many places. whirlpool which, as you know, makes maytag and kitchenaide appliances, says thanks to federal rebates for efficient appliances results are way better than anyone had looked for. there are good news news spots out there. will the good or bad win out? we're going to get housing data. we've seen a lot of weakness there and earnings from apple. how the ipad does and goldman sachs and whether the bulls or bears win today. and finally now broadway stars were shining at the white house last night during the celebration of "show tunes." president obama praised musicals

as an optimistic art form that calls on us to see the best in ourselves and the world around us. there you go. it is now 8:03. back outside to matt and meredith. >> remember the man from "seinfeld"? >> absolutely. >> based on a real business that went out of business and opening again today. today. >> i'm in the mood for a nice hot bowl of soup. >> no soup for you. stephanie abrams for weather. >> she's in for al. thanks, guys. who doesn't want to get a free college education, right? you can actually get one today? >> i can. if you go to richmont.edu and look at the wonderful university i go to, i could get free tuition. please help me, america. >> that was a pitch right into the camera. that was good. richmont. >> a wonderful graduate program

in counseling. >> let's take you across the country and talk about the weather and where we will see the nice weather. that is around the bay area. fog will gradually clear. otherwise gorgeous weather in the rocky mountains westbound. the around san jose this morning, we have overcast skies. low clouds way inland this morning and a breeze pushing in those clouds. southwest at 25, southwest at 12 in napa. even a southwest breeze in larosa this morning. we'll see highs in lands. 73 70s in san francisco and oakland and a bit of a warm-up as we head toward the weekend. matt, over to you. >> all right, stephanie. when we come back, the ongoing custody battle between mel

gibson and hislf-girdrienex-gir heading back to court. how will those tapes we've all heard factor in? we'll talk about that after these messages. you know what, this looks just like the tree house i built with my dad. (girl) really? yeah. there you go. okay, i'm gonna work on the roof. dad, i'll be right back! (announcer) it's more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. you made that for me? well you're making this for me.

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battle between mel gibb sob and his ex-girlfriend oksana grigorieva. the two are in the middle of a vicious custody dispute over their 8-month-old daughter. kristen welker is in los angeles with more. good morning, kristen. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. well, that custody hearing is set to take place at this downtown courthouse earlier today, later on today. in the meantime, radaronline.com has given nbc news a preview of tape six. now we have not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of this tape, but we have had an expert look at previous tapes for signs of possible tampering and he found none. but this latest installment shows just how bitter this custody battle really is. >> i'm just saving my child's life because you are a monster! that's all. you're a monster! >> reporter: in the latest radaronline reporting, the woman reporting to be oksana grigorieva is clearly fighting

for custody of the child she has with gibson. on the same day lawyers for gibson and grigorieva are due in family court, nothing fires up both parties as much as the discussion both share, their 8-month-old daughter. >> you have my child and she doesn't need a gold digging [ bleep ] russian [ bleep ]. >> you're acting as a crazy man right now, and you have been for many, many months, and you hit me and you hit her while she was in my hands. >> reporter: grigorieva has turned over the tapes to authorities and she has told l.a. county officials that gibson hit her while she was holding her daughter back in january. radaronline recently release this had photo claiming it shows grigorieva with damaged front teeth hours after. some dental experts say the picture is inconsistent with her allegations she was hit in the face. >> the main thing i'm looking at is the trauma to the face.

there are no cuts, no swelling of the lip because it's pretty instantaneous when there's that type of trauma. >> reporter: some in the gibson camp have reportedly said the questions surrounding the authenticity of the photos cast a cloud over grigorieva's entire story. they've also questioned whether grigorieva altered the tapes. but legal analysts suggest that's blaming the victim. >> it's too soon for the tables to turn against oksana, a potential victim of domestic violence, who made this tape in theory to get help for herself. >> reporter: it seems likely grigorieva knew she was being taped and gibson didn't. still, if it is discovered grigorieva faked allegations of abuse, she could face legal troubles of her own. for now, though, the most pressing legal issue is focused on who will end up raising little lucia. now it's still not clear grigorieva and gibson will appear in court later today.

in the meantime, l.a. county officials continue to probe those allegations of abuse but still no charges have been filed against gibson. meredith, back to you. >> kristen welker, thank you very much. dan abrams is nbc's chief legal analyst. good morning, dan. radar on line has released what seems to be one tape they've cut up and they're releasing installments of it. is any admissible in a court of law? >> maybe. the question is, was it even legal for her to make the tape? california is a two-party consent state. if she made it and he didn't know it was being made, which seems pretty clear, then she would have had to have believed that she was in imminent danger, that she was doing it to prevent violence to a child. she'd need a specific reason that she was making this tape without his consent to make it -- to even avoid criminal liability. then the question would be admissibility. but i think if she passes the first test, it likely would come in certainly in a custody battle. >> she said something in the

latest recording, we hear her saying, quote, you hit me and you hit her while she was in my hands. her obviously meaning the baby. that sounds like someone who is under a lot of duress there. >> absolutely. the question becomes, is that why she made the tape? meaning, if she made the tape effectively to get more money in a custody battle, then that's probably not going to allow her to introduce it. it could lead her to face criminal charges, et cetera. >> how do you determine that? is there anything that would suggest that it's extortion? >> it's always tough. it seems the gibson camp is now essentially claiming that this is extortion. her ka camp is going to claim this was totally legitimate, totally aboveboard, that this was a tape made because she feared for her safety. and i think you're right. based on what you hear on that tape she's going to have at least a very legitimate argument that she made it out of fear. >> and the fact when she said on that tape that he had struck her and he did not deny it, in fact, i believe he said you deserved it and certainly did not deny

the fact that he had struck the baby when she just said that as well, that can't work to help him. >> well, that's right. so let's even assume for a moment that no criminal charges are filed against mel gibson in connection with this. it could be in his custody battle. you look at the best interests of a child in a custody battle. the minute there's an allegation not just of striking a parent but of striking a child, that's a really big deal in assessing who should get custody. >> meanwhile, if the tape, the indication is it's not authentic, if they decide it's not authentic or the picture of her with the broken teeth is something that's doctored, could she be in real legal trouble? >> i don't think -- it depends on who she gave it to. let's say she submitted a picture of herself to the media and it isn't totally authentic. that's not going to get her in legal trouble. if, on the other hand, she is lying to the authorities and giving the authorities doctored photos and doctored tapes.

but, again, let's be krrl with regard to the tapes. it clearly was edited. radar on line clearly edited it putting it out in six parts. that doesn't mean it's not authentic. the concern, when i hear the word doctored, i think of someone literally taking words that weren't said and moving them around, moving questions, et cetera. that's significant. if there are literally chunks here that actually happened as we heard them, and let's say there was stuff that was taken out, well, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't be admitted. what it could mean, though, is that the court will say we need the whole tape. we want to hear everythinghere. you can't just give us parts of it. and then a ruling would be made as to admissibility. >> meanwhile, his soon-to-be ex-wife, robin, with whom he was with 28 years, i believe, reportedly gave a statement to the courts saying he was a good husband. he never abused her. how would that play into a

custody case? >> it's relative to a witness. just because he didn't strike his ex-wife doesn't mean that her allegations in this case aren't true. it's like in any case where you bring in effectively a kashg it ter witness. now when it comes, again, to custody, character witnesses are more important than they might be otherwise because a judge is really trying to make a broad determination of what's right here. what's going to be the best interests of this child. and so a parent, a mother who has brought up children with mel gibson would be a relevant witness. >> dan abrams, thank you so much. and up next, what you could be doing very wrong if you care for your aging parents. ♪ freedom is all that i need [ female announcer ] ladies, raise your spoons. now there's nothing left standing between you and a satisfying breakfast. introducing special k low-fat granola. with 50% less fat than the leading granola and 5 grams of fiber per serving, it's a satisfying way to help you manage your weight. special k low-fat granola -- a taste of freedom.

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dale atkins, a primary caregiver for her parent. good morning to you both. you said, dale, this affects millions of people. on the surface seems like a real role reversal. the child becoming the parent. your parent is still your parent. >> your parent is always your parent. >> so how do you take on this role of caregiver while allowing your parents to maintain their dignity and their independence? >> it's very important challenge and one that does have a lot of stress with it and so many caregivers become unaware how important it is to take care of themselves in the process. what you need to do is really try to understand where your parents are, what's important to them, and what they would like. and you have these conversations -- >> before they're in a position where they can't communicate? >> oh, you do. you have to. there are so many things that are important to talk about but really understand what you need, also, because it's not just a role reversal because your parents are always your parents. even if you're doing the most primary care giving but you have

a compassion for them and empathy for them and try to remember where they are, what their needs are and what your needs are. >> your dad is 86. your mom is 83. >> right. >> last year -- you live in virginia. you moved into the family home in arizona because they're in an assisted living facility close by and you are the primary caregiv caregiver. what has this past year been like for you making that kind of a change in your life and for your parents? >> it's been a huge change. i proved across the country. i changed my working situation. i left my support system back east. so it's been quite a journey for me and for my parents it's been a lot of change, too. they lived in their home almost 30 years so they moved from this nice big home to a much smaller apartment. they've had trouble with the dog adjusting to the transition as well. >> so, dale, what advice would you give somebody like amy in terms of managing care giving without losing a sense of themselves? >> you have to take care of yourself for sure and get a team of people you can rely on so

you're not doing this alone and be sure to talk about the kinds of issues that most people don't want to talk about that have to do with care and with eldercare, older care, end of life issues, financial issues, anything having to do with what you need to know, who their medical team is and you're there so you probably know but a lot of people who aren't there don't know and to have conversations that sometimes are very difficult but caring for yourself is one of the most important things to do and whatever that means, to understand that the aging process takes time and sometimes it seems like it drags on and sometimes it happens overnight so that you have to be aware that there's always change. this whole world is about change to get the support you need from online support groups. i know aarp has one that's quite wonderful. family caregivers association has one. you get information and you also get support. >> there's also the sibling component. you have three other sisters, but you were the primary

caregiver even though one of them lives close by and that's a struggle with families and oftentimes can break families apart. >> that's true. we need to work together as a family to do what each of us is capable of doing, what we have time for. my sisters have extenuating circumstances. they backed me up when they can and even do long distance research online for me sometimes. my sister orders the medications for my parents. that's something she can handle while she's working and has a daughter to raise. so we really try to be a family team. >> and one day at a time. we're out of time, dale atkins and amy, good luck to you. and now here's matt. thank you. it's 8:23. let's head down to washington and check in with mr. willard sco scott. everybody should blow out birthday candles and we have some to blow out today. 100 years old today, clifton, new jersey, frank scancarella.

and we have selma vonnoh out of chattanoo chattanooga, tennessee. worked out of the munitions plant to help defeat the nazis. and we have verda vanalstine of cobleskill, new york. 103 years old today. wish her a happy birthday. also goes to play the stock market and has fun doing it and loves ballroom dancing. you can't beat that. take a look at george. good old george gordon of lauderhill, florida, 100 years old today. played baseball when he was just a kid. happing greenberg was on the same team. and he says kosher hot dogs has kept him living 100 years. can't beat that. and ferne austin of laingsburg, michigan. lives on her own and says she has a sweet tooth for m&ms. and who doesn't? and finally virgie jarrett from

alexander, louisiana. a proud member of the alpha delta kappa sorority. keeps busy going to lunch. i've been doing that almost 100 years. that said, that's all. back to new york. >> hey, willard, thank you so much. while those people enjoy their birthday, someone else enjoying a birthday today. >> who might that be? >> it is our executive producer jim belle having a birthday today, busy at work in the control room. >> they're bringing in the cake. >> we wanted to sing to you but we're not allowed. we wanted to light the candles but we're not allowed. upside-down -- >> every morning in the control room. >> a big smooch. we love you, jim. >> thank you. >> happy birthday. >> hey, kathie lee and hoda? >> yeah?

>> if you had any guts at all you'd put that right in his face. >> they came close. >> came a little close there. good morning, everybody chl. time now is 8:26. this time mike takes us to san francisco. >> we're in san jose where traffic flows slowly right now. an accident on brokaw road. now all lanes are cleared, butd look at the back heading up to the accident area, right on i-80 where things start to clear near brokaw. in oakland, starting to see some

slowing past the coliseum. >> lots of clouds there. right in oakland to san francisco. santa clara valley still socked in by low clouds. marine layer is about 2,000 thick. the sea breeze going to keep our temperatures very mild for this time of year. 70s and 80s inland, same story on the coast and then it will get warmer as we head into the weekend. more news after the break.

america's cup could bring big tourism dollars to the bay area economy. a study by the san francisco chronicle says that race could bring in $1.4 billion with most of that benefiting san francisco. the specific event itself would bring about 9,000 jobs. they see it as far more lucrative than even the super bowl which typically generates between 5 and $8 million. see you back here in a bit.

8:30 now on a tuesday morning. it's the 20th day of july, 2010. smiling faces and warm temperatures. a good combination out on the plaza. and we're joining these nice people. i'm matt lauer along with meredith vieira and ann curry who is kissing babies and

running for office over here. and coming up in this half hour you're saying cabbage, move over. >> that's what you think of when you think of irish foods. the most popular is dish. today we're cooking up crabs and a seafood coleslaw on the menu. delicious recipes just ahead. >> we love him. >> the coleslaw includes sea weed. >> a lot of people love it. >> what about your people? >> my people eat mcdonald's and -- daniel silva is here, out with his tept novel featuring the spy/art in "the rembrandt affair." he has done something outrageous. >> take him to task.

also coming up, we have some diet questions people have. and now another check of the weather from stephanie abrams. >> down there. >> hey there, guys. we have a birthday. never too old for a crown, huh? >> never. >> do you think we should give this crown to jim bell? >> sure. why not? we'll pass it along to him. >> let's have a look at e weather and seeing the nicest of weather in the northeast. you're from indiana. unfortunately, severe weather in indiana.

for your birthday forecast 24 hours a day, all you have to do is logon to weather.com. meredith, over to you. >> stephanie, thank you very much. and still ahead, great activities to keep your kids occupied this summer. those people are happy 'cause they're gonna have a good time, and they've got extra money in their pocket. those are happy passengers.

how much does it cost for those snacks again? nothing. at southwest airlines, when we have a sale, it's a sale. [ male announcer ] southwest airlines has flights starting at $49 one-way. book now only at southwest.com. [ rand ] how can you not want to get on the plane? come on and get on t plane. we're saving you money. now that's a plane full of happy. [ employees ] grab your bag. it's on. [ ding ]

we're back at 8:35. this morning on "today's hot summer reads" the return much of master assassin in "the rembrandt affair." he is drawn into a web of intrigue when a portrait by the dutch master rembrandt is stolen. daniel silva is the author. he's also married to "today" national correspondent.

good morning. you have gone too far. >> what have i done now? >> i have three distinct problems with this book. one, you have defiled the art world. two, you have broken a long-standing personal principle and, three, you have threatened your marriage. how do you plead? >> not guilty. >> not guilty? where do you want to start? >> defile the art world. >> you have made up out of thin air a masterpiece by the artist rembrandt. it doesn't exist. >> it does not exist, but i have to give myself some latitude so that we should help our listeners. there is a portrait of rembrandt's mistress, a woman who was with him in amsterdam. and i created a fictitious portrait of a mistress. >> this is a master. this is a master. you don't just go around creating artwork. >> i didn't just go around creating artwork. i spent a long time looking at and studying all the paintings that he did during that period. i took a real -- >> a portrait does not exist, correct? >> it does not exist but a picture very similar to it does.

and i needed a clean provenance. >> thank you for explaining it. >> i had to help you with that one. i'm sorry. >> how does it fit into the plot, this portrait of a young woman? >> it connects a terrible deed that was done to a family during the holocaust in holland, and it is a conspiracy of evil stretching back to the darkest chapter of the second world war to one of the gravest threats facing the world today. i bet you can -- >> that's well put. that's good. >> can you figure that one out? >> yes, i can figure that one out. let me go to the second thing that bothers me, you broke a long-standing principle. you said you don't know how a book is going to end until you write it because you like it to unfold. you knew how this book would end. >> i did it backwards. i knew how it was going to end. i had no idea, and i mean no idea, how to get there. my wife and i would take our

children to europe to research hopping from art museum to art museum and tough cities like paris and geneva. it was drudgery. but we would ride around on trains and sit there and jamie is my primary editor, my sounding board. the four of us would sit there on eternal train rides thrashing out this plot, how is this all going to fit together? but i still -- there's points in every book where you're lying on the floor in tears with all your junk around you and i finally got there. >> it's a book about greed. >> it is. >> plain and simple. and your villain in this book was inspired by someone who became quite a villain in real life over the last year or so. >> his name is bernard madoff, and i was fascinated by the fact that bernie madoff was a pillar of a man respected by everyone, the person you wanted to give your money to. he gave away millions to charity through his charitable foundation. and underneath it all, he was a

thief. a criminal. one of the biggest thieves in history, arguably, and so that dichotomy, that split, how a person can go through life like that -- behind a great fortune there's a great crime. >> he served as the inspiration for my have i lynn t. >> called st. martin by a lot of people who love him. and finally, you have threatened your marriage with this book. you admit, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, he admits that in writing his heroine in this book, a woman by the name of zoe reid, that you fell in love with her. >> i did. >> a -- she's a work of fiction, like your rembrandt. >> not to me, though. to me she is a part of our family for six months to a year. she is a hotshot british investigative reporter. she makes mincemeat out of corrupt businessmen. but zoe has a secret of her own that she's keeping from her

colleagues. >> but you fell in love with her in the literary sense then? >> well, you know, these characters do take on a life of their own. they inhabit my world. they live with us in our hope. they really are there and we all fell in love with zoe, not just me. it's a platonic love, trust me. >> because jamie called me last week. >> i know. i know. >> not a good thing for you. >> i've had to retain counsel myself on this one. i think we're going to pull through it. it's a work of fiction. th>> tenon in the series "the rembrandt affair." good to see you and your continued success. always a pleasure. a meal you might not expect from the emerald isle.

>> announcer: "today's" kitchen is brought to you by capri sun.

i can respect that. this morning on "today's kitchen" back to basics to the emerald isle. the land of meat and potatoes has far more to offer than you may think. the author of the country cooking of ireland, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> before i went to ireland with al for the "today" show, i just assumed it was all meat and potatoes but the irish love their fish. it's very popular. >> they have 3,500 miles roughly of coastline on the islands so there's anything you can imagine, any kind of north atlantic fish, shellfish, lobsters, crab, of course. >> and that's what we're cooking up. >> this is a man named ivan allen, a farmer, and he liked to prepare crab this way. there used to be crabs where the lobster men would say we have these crabs and can't sell them for as much and he'd make it like this. he went on to become the most important famous restaurant in the south of ireland. >> so what kind of crab are you using in this recipe today?

>> we have -- what they use is spider crab, the guys with the really long legs. these just regular, good quality, lump crab meat. what we're going to do, start mixing the crab meat with bread crumbs. i have more bread crumbs here with butter. >> you like to make your own, right? >> oh, yeah. and they're very easy to make. we're going to toast these, get them nice and but theory. irish butter is the best in the world and luckily you can buy it here. >> why is that? >> it just is. the dairy products are so good. the grass is so rich there and nutrient rich. >> so i have my crab and my bread crumbs. >> everything else here, tomato relish which comes from the restaurant, a little mustard, vinegar, butter. >> mustard is a little hard to get out. a little vinegar, a little butter. >> and this is white sauce, simple, made with cream, butter and flour, all of those good noncal orric things. bread crumbs that are but t theory. mix this all together. a little salt, a pinch of salt, as they say. a little pepper.

>> so it's to taste? >> exactly. >> pretend it's all mixed, blah, blah. >> into the dish here, we'll do this. into this dish. we're going to put it in the oven. >> for how long? >> about 20 minutes. >> you can also put these, you say, into dried crab shells. >> the shells. >> cleaned, dried shells. >> absolutely. >> now you put a little bit of the bread crumb on top as well. >> all of these nice bread crumbs on top of that. and we're going to get them nice and golden brown. >> what's the trick? i never do that. >> you trim the crust off the bread and you want the bread a little bit dry, a day or two old. put it in a food processor, get crumbs like that, melt the butter and you have those nice buttered bread crumbs. and we thought with the crab, nice to have a little coleslaw. this is unusual because it has sea weed or sea vegetables they prefer to call it. >> now dulce is irish? >> it comes from ireland.

they've eaten sea weed for many years, many centuries. the first was from st. columbia. >> that's pungent. >> when you soak it, chop it up, add it to the cabbage. >> you can't eat it the way i just ate it? >> no. i should have warned you. i thought it would be fun to see what happens. the dressing is great. it's mayonnaise and apple juice mixed together and it makes a wonderful dressing for coleslaw, a little unusual. that's really good. >> that goes well with the crab. >> great lunch dish or you can serve this as an appetizer. >> and then to wash it all down. >> that's the most important part. a good irish beer. >> why does this go good with crab? >> crab meat and beer, why do they go good together? come on. >> i don't know. i don't know. >> classic combination. >> i have sea weed stuck in my

teeth. >> i'm terribly sorry. >> that looks very good. the book is absolutely gorgeous. whether you're a cook or not you learn so much reading about the irish heritage. it's called "country cooking of ireland" with chef colman andrews. t

we're back now at 8:48 with

the overwhelming response to a story that first aired on "nbc nightly news" over this past weekend. it's about some of the innocent victims of the disaster in the gulf, the animals, and how many of you are stepping up to give them loving homes. here's michelle kosinski. >> reporter: they almost do speak for themselves, the puppies looking for their playmates, the soulful eyes of faithful friends more accustomed to beds than cages. there's frisky alex, shy meadow -- >> she came in with her two puppies. >> reporter: and big benny. >> that's okay, benny. there's somebody out there that wants you. >> reporter: it all started in may, hundreds of owners started heart wrenchingly handing over their pets. >> i just keep thinking that it's going to end soon, and it just doesn't. >> reporter: well, now something has changed thanks to you, our viewers, who saw these faces in the story we aired on nbc news

saturday. and the phones started ringing. full of second chances. >> the chihauhau's name is lucky. >> reporter: now lucky really is. meadow was terrified, now headed home with a new best friend. >> she looked sad, like she need add home, she needed someone to love her, like she missed her family. >> reporter: by far the biggest crowd pleasers have been these little puff balls, purebred maltese puppies brought in only days old with their mother. now, though, they've been getting dozens of calls to adopt them from as far away as massachusetts. and benny, 130 pounds of sweetness, yes, now someone really does want him. ten people, in fact, a waiting list for the dog who had to be downsized out of his owner's apartment. an outpouring from around the country making all the difference to the huge hearts and little bodies. >> he's going to be well taken

care of and i know he's a handful but we can handle it. >> reporter: for today, michelle kosinski, violet, louisiana. how can you resist? >> it's impossible, but we're happy our viewers have big hearts. we appreciate that. >> absolutely. and mao to one extremely opinionated guy this guy doesn't just spout ideas from his bar stool, he gets hurt in a big way. here's nbc's mike leonard. >> reporter: doing a story on 74-year-old gary boyd is a risky endeavor. >> identify the problem. >> reporter: well, what if i made a mistake? >> well, well, well. >> reporter: might that spur a letter to my boss complaining i messed up his scottsdale, arizona, home, that i didn't take more pictures of the replicas in the pool, that i never took a bite of the clam dip he made just for that? >> you have to be brief. >> reporter: sorry. g gary h. boyd, coast guard veteran, retired texaco executive, married to olga, four sons, three grandchildren, friendly guy, laughs a lot.

used to have a habit of pocketing motel keys. took a 33 on the same golf hole he had previously scored a hole in one. his take on the golfing disasser? >> 15 balls in the lake. i was on the green and two-putted for a 33. >> reporter: gary is good at summing things up concisely. >> yep. >> reporter: which is why -- >> i'm probably the king. >> reporter: getting letters published to magazines and newspapers all over the country. a hobby started ten years ago after his retirement from texaco. why did you start writing letters to the editor? >> because i was bored. >> reporter: and how many of your letters to the editor have you published? >> 561 as of today. >> reporter: major magazines, national newspapers, local newspapers, a lot of opinions. somehow gary has figured out the entry code in 200 words or less and now he's made a name for himself certainly at the arizona republic where editorial page

editor phil boas has come to recognize the work before the name. >> you're going, this is good. this is good. this is gary boyd. which means i don't know if i can run him because we may have just run him five days ago. >> reporter: do you write every day? >> yes. >> reporter: more than one topic? >> yes. >> reporter: its prose is civil. its technique -- >> i write it out and then he reread it and then i rewrite it and then i reread it and then i rewrite it. >> reporter: a simple formula that has paid off 561 times so far. when will 562 happen? >> that's a great question. i don't know. >> reporter: well, that was a monday and now it's tuesday and here he is again, published letter number 562 for gary boyd. >> he's prolific. >> you know, when he first started i thought, oh, i wonder

how long it will last. >> reporter: a decade later, dysfunction has seized america, gary h. boyd. is the thrill gone? >> of what, writing this stuff? >> reporter: yeah. >> no. hell no. >> reporter: for "today," mike leonard, nbc news, scottsdale, a arizona. >> i believe gary boyd wrote me a letter and kind of told me about his prolific letters to the editor campaign there and i think that's why we ended up doing that. >> that's a great story. a man of few words unless he's writing them. >> have you written a letter to the editor? >> i have never done that. have you guys done it? >> no, i haven't. >> a long time ago, yeah. >> about what? >> i don't know. ranting and raving about something. >> going to go through their files to find it. >> he now has 566 letters in print so he keeps churning them out. >> keep going, gary. >> i love the wife wondering how long this would last, one of

those silly hobbies a decade later. write it, reread it, rewrite it. >> we should get a second chance on this show. >> exactly. just ahead, we'll teach you some sneaky ways to save. i just reread it. only on "today," the incredible lady gaga. then enrique turned up the heat. this friday john mayer. the toy ota summer concert seris on "today."

good morning, everybody. time now, 8:56. a check in with mike and your morning commute in san francisco. >> an accident reported in the 280 interchange, so you'll see some additional slowing. slowing all the way towards

melbourne on the southeast side. things really getting slow in the tunnel. east shore holding pretty steady there, but about a 27-minute drive off the bridge. here's a live look in the direction right past the coliseum. slowing in downtown oakland. head keepts, o that in mind. if you find fog, low beams, folks. more news after this.

a rally against smart meters will be held in san francisco today. organizers want pg&e to stop using those digital meters until they start looking at the environmental impact. they also want the company to provide the radio frequency

radiation and say it's not harmful to humans. another update in 30 minutes today. the show coming back in about a minute.

♪ i'm going to soakp we are back now with more of "today" on a tuesday morning 20th of july 2010 and a hot, steamy day here in new york city, but a nice crowd of people gathered in rockefeller plaza. thank you for joining us. we are happy you came out to say hi. i'm matt lauer with tamron hall, and natalie is on assignment, so it is nice to have you here. >> nice to be here. >> well, folks, good to see you. coming up the troubled actress lindsay lohan is expected to go to jail now for a 90-day

sentence and all kinds of questions in this one, including will she serve the full sentence anded who will represent her in court? we will have much more on this in a couple of minutes. >> a lot of drama there and a lot of drama another los angeles courtroom. the judge will hear both sides in the bitter custody dispute between mel gibson and his ex-girlfriend. we are hearing a new part of the recording that allegedly featured gibson once again in an ugly rage, but there are those coming to his defense, and we will listen to what his friends and others have to say about that. and far from l.a. and hollywood, we will talk about health and nutrition and a lot of questions answered by joy bower about pregnancy cravings, and ice cream and pickles and all of those thing, and we will talk about a healthy protein option there. and a tasty treat there. >> and we will talk about the bottom line, certain negotiating tactics and doing your homework can pay off in the bottom line from the car loan to the credit cards, and we will show you how

to save yourself some very big bucks. >> i love that segment. >> but first, we will go inside to ann curry who is standing by at the news desk. >> hi, matt, and everybody. that new blown out cap on the blown out well is holding up and bp is talk about perm neranentl sealing the well. they want to pump mud down into the camp that has been puming in since last thursday, but the government is urging caution in this approach worried about the potential leaks. for the first time since becoming prime minister in may, david cameron is meeting with the president at the white house and today's agendas is the projected cost of the bp oil spill, as well as the timetable for withdrawal of british troops in afghanistan. at a conference in kabul today the u.s. and other countries agree that afghanistan should be in charge of its own security by 2014. that is three years after the scheduled start of the u.s. troop withdrawals. meantime secretary of state hillary clinton also told a

woman's group that any future government of afghanistan the rights of women must be safeguarded. a powerful storm tore through this fairground in central kentucky monday forcing hundreds of people to flee. three people were killed and weather forecasts are raging for the next few days. and lindsay lohan is expected to turn herself in for probation violation. and we have a report on that. >> a very composed lindsay lohan turned herself in to officially begin his jail sentence. she sat silently as the judge remanded her into custody a few moments ago. the official sentence is 90 days, but it is up to the jail just how long they will house her. >> reporter: since her last court appearance, aside from a few public outings, lindsay lohan has largely stayed off of the tabloid radar and even checking herself into a drug rehab facility where some say

that the waiting is wreaking havoc on her nerves. >> she is having trouble eating and sleeping and she has been crying a lot. >> reporter: "people" magazine reports she is a fidgety mess, and the isolation and the jailhouse food and the jailhouse bedding is starting to set in. even the tweets sound different. the only bookings i'm familiar with are disney films she wrote last night. i never thought i would be booking into jail. >> she is in denial about it right after she was sentenced, but now she is thinking to herself, what is it going to be like in this cell by myself alone without many things to do. >> reporter: one possible strategy for limiting the jail time was getting her in rehab first, and the silver living center that lohan checked herself into last week is the one that robert shapiro opened himself after his son brent died of a drug overdose, and it is not that rehab is not part of lohan's sentence, because it is. the judge ordered her to complete three months' inpatient

care but only after jail. >> the only fear i have is that she will be hardened to the process, and the judge remanded only three months and clearly it will take at least a year. >> reporter: the judge however did not see it that way, and again, to recap lohan is beginning her 90-day jail sentence a few moments ago. it is going to be in a facility a few miles from this courthouse in beverly hills and she may be -- >> thank you, lee. listen to, this a texas teenager is giving back to a texas hospital that treated him for free when he was a child. he said a vow that before he went to college he would raise $1 million for texas scottish rite hospital in dallas, and now after eight years of fund-raising and golf tornments he has done it with to spare. go ben. it is now five minutes past. let's go back outside to matt. how cool is that? >> that's a nice story. very nice. congratulations to him. good luck to the hospital. let's get a check of the weather. al is off today. stephanie abrams is here with

the forecast. we have a plan, i love new york shirts. what state is this? >> the upper peninsula of michigan. >> and where exactly are you from? >> right here. >> right there at the lower bottom corner. the city name again? >> manomany. >> y.ananom we are going to see severe weather through the midwest and there is going to be hail and very heavy downpours. i'm most concerned about the very heavy rain. we could see over three inches in some locations. oth

tamron, over to you. >> all right, stephanie, thank you. now more on the child custody dispute between mel gibson and his ex-girlfriend, oksana grigorieva. the couple have an 8-month-old daughter. it just seems to keep getting uglier. another recording has surfaced that allegedly features gibson in a violent tirade once again. nbc's kristen welker has the latest. >> reporter: good morning, tamron. that custody hearing is set to take place at this downtown courthouse later on today. in the meantime, radaronline.com has given nbc news a preview of tape six. now we have not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the tape, but we have had an expert look at previous tapes for signs of possible tampering, and he found none. this latest installment shows

just how bitter this custody battle really is. >> i'm just saving my child's life because you are a monster! that's all. you're a monster! >> reporter: in the latest radaronline recording the woman purported to be oksana grigorieva is clearly fighting for custody of the child she had with gibson. on the same day lawyers for gibson and grigorieva are due in family court, nothing seems to fire up both parties on the recording as much as discussion about the one thing they both still share, their 8-month-old daughter, lucia. >> you have my child and she doesn't need a gold digging [ bleep ] russian [ bleep ]. >> you're acting as a crazy man right now, and you have been for many, many months, and you hit me and you hit her while she was in my hands. >> reporter: grigorieva has turned over the tape to authorities, and she's told l.a. county officials that gibson hit her while she was holding their daughter back in january.

radaronline recently release this had photo claiming it shows grigorieva with damaged front teeth in the hours after the alleged incident. but some dental experts now say the picture is inconsistent with her allegations that she was hit in the face. >> the main thing that i'm looking at is the lack of trauma to the face, to the lip, to the gum. no cuts. no real bleeding. no swelling of the lip because it's pretty instantaneous when there's that type of a trauma. >> reporter: some in the gibson camp have reportedly said the questions surrounding the authenticity of the photos cast a cloud over grigorieva's entire story. they've also questioned whether grigorieva altered the tapes. but legal analysts suggest that's blaming the victim. >> it's too soon for the tables to turn against oksana, a potential victim of domestic violence, who made this tape in theory to get help for herself. >> reporter: it seems likely grigorieva knew she was being taped and gibson didn't. still, if it is discovered that

grigorieva somehow faked allegations of abuse, she could face legal troubles of her own. for now, though, the most pressing legal issue is focused on who will end up raising little lucia. it is still unclear if grigorieva and gibson will show up for this court date today. in the meantime, l.a. county officials continue to investigate those allegations of abuse. at this point no charges have been filed. tamron? >> kristen welker, thank you. up next, answers to your nutrition questions from pregnancy cravings to balancing your diet. joy bauer has the skinny. and later, we'll check out some great activities to keep your kids entertained this summer orn whetthey're stuck indoors or are roaming around the backyard. , i was concerned. now i take a more active role in their health like insisting on lots of play time and making sure they eat right. like when i make burgers i use lean jennie-o ground turkey.

i'm proud i got them off the couch. well, sort of. anncr: be well... with all the great tasting ways to eat lighter. only from jennie-o. [ female announcer ] only roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream is clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. diminishing the look of even deep wrinkles. 10 years? i'll take that! [ female announcer ] roc® we keep our promises. because new chips ahoy made with reese's peanut butter cups are here. our real chocolate chips... and reese's peanut butter cups... crammed into one exciting new cookie. so now, more than ever, there's a lotta joy in chips ahoy! oh. so now,hee!e than ever, [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] the foaming power of antibacterial scrubbing bubbles bathroom cleaner. ♪ it expands into those hard-to-reach places. [ fizzing ] you can even hear it working on dirt, grime, and soap scum, so it's already starting to clean by the time you pick up a sponge. scrubbing bubbles foaming bathroom cleaner.

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we asked real people to film themselves taking the activia 14-day challenge. hi. my name is toni. they say that as you get older your system gets more sluggish. i'm a skeptic. however, this stuff tastes pretty good. really good. yeah, i like the way i feel. it's not a gimmick. it really, truly works. i would highly recommend it to anyone else to take this challenge. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. [ puppy ] oh yeah, time for a little "me time." ♪ perfect paws. a little rub. bit of a trim. looking sexy! [ female announcer ] when you demand the very best... [ puppy ] oh yeah, it's a dog's life!

[ female announcer ] ...you have to try cottonelle ultra toilet paper. [ puppy ] come to papa. [ female announcer ] it's the ultimate way to be kind to your behind. [ puppy ] i'm in the lap of luxury. this morning on "joy's diet s.o.s." getting the proper amount of foods, fruits and vegetables can be tricky. we have joy bauer here to answer some of our questions. good morning, joy. >> good morning, ann. >> our first question comes from a woman named laura. she's in atlanta joining us on skype. what's your question? >> hi. my question is what are some healthy options for pregnant women who are challenged with nausea and aversions to certain foods like vegetables and poultry? now that i'm pregnant i'm craving fats, carbs and sugar when normally i would have a very clean diet.

>> you are not alone. >> no kidding, laura. this is really pretty common. and you have to wonder why is it -- why is it that pregnant women crave these items? should we be eating them? >> also you're nauseous. the good news is as horrible as you feel right now, the pregnancy nausea and the aversions typically dissipate about week 10 to 15 but you're in survival mode so you have to sort of go with whatever makes you feel good. here are a few tricks to get in some healthier foods. they worked for me and hopefully they're going to work for you as well. try some of the chilled juicy sweet fruits. they're soothing and they go down easier and it's a great time now to get them, things like pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, anything cold and juicy. also, any kind of the pops, ice pops that have full fruit in them. you can pick them up in the grocery store or you can make them yourself if you're motivated. pop them in a blender with whole

fruit pureed with 100% fruit juice and put them in the freezer. you like the starchy carbs so let's switch you over to those healthier starchy carbs for you to snack on, you can nibble on whole grain cereal, rice cakes whether they're plain or flavored and whole grain crackers. and another thing you may want to try are beans and lentils because it has that starchy, velvety consistency. they have a lot of nutrients that vegetables have that you're not eating now and have protein, you need more of when you're pregnant. and you can try a lot of these things. lastly, don't give up on vegetables. try them pureed. mashed sweet potatoes go down easier. if you're craving sweets, maybe try juicing carrots and beets because they are sweet juices. and maybe something like ginger because that could alleviate an upset stomach. you can chew on ginger candy or make some ginger tea and in terms of prenatal if you're taking it in the morning now,

push it to the end of the day because i think it's going to be easier on your stomach. >> you look wonderful, by the way. my suggestion is have your husband do the cooking in the house. thank you so much, laura. >> good luck. >> susan woods in pennsylvania is on the telephone. hey, susan. >> hi. how are you, ann and joy? thank you for taking my question. >> you bet. >> caller: what filling but low calorie foods can you eat to stave off your hunger pangs while prepping and cooking dinner? >> great question. since you're cooking dinner and it's right around the corner, first two nonfood strategies, so simple, pop a piece of gum in your mouth. sugarless gum is not going to take the edge off your hunger but it is going to keep your mouth busy and prevent you from sampling that dinner recipe over and over and over again. the second thing is sip an interesting low-calorie beverage. whatever is your favorite, or you can brew a couple of interesting teas, berry blends, pomegranate, and pour it over a glass of ice and have deliciously unsweetened iced

tea. i like to do things with a cup of coffee, either decaf or regular, a few shakes of nutmeg or cinnamon or unsweetened cocoa brings it to a whole new level. if drinks or gum don't do the trick and you have to eat, nonstarchy vegetables are your best bet. anything goes. anything you have in the fridge, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, green beans, or double up on whatever vegetable you're using in the dinner recipe. then you can eat the extras while cooking. i hope that helps. >> thanks a lot, susan. we have laura dugan in illinois and she writes, you often talk about eating a lean protein like turkey or chicken. what are your thoughts about lunch meat? >> lunch meat falls under the umbrella category of processed meats, and you don't want to be eating processed meats a lot because it has salt and preservatives like nitrates. i appreciate how convenient they are.

so what i would say is only eat them on occasion. and when you do eat them, when you go to the grocery store, there are great brands out now that are nitrate free, like applegate farm, wilshire farm, ask questions. see if the deli counter carries these brands, buy them for your home and also a lot of the deli counters will in house oven roast their own meats and then it's perfectly fine to enjoy them and choose the leaner cuts. chicken, turkey, lean ham and lean roast beef. you definitely want to avoid the salami, the bologna and hot dogs. >> joy bauer, thanks a lot and thanks to everyone for their questions. still to come here on "today" some sneaky ways to save big bucks. we'll tell you how to negotiate the best deals on dscarcaav, ndeltrn adit cards, travel and even your rent. winning at losing on weight watchers. i have never been this size in my adult life. so it's a special place, for me.

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to create a technologically advanced clog-buster and pipe-wall cleaner. ♪ liquid plumr foaming pipe snake. unleash the power of the plumr. we asked real people to film themselves taking the activia 14-day challenge. hi. my name is toni. they say that as you get older your system gets more sluggish. i'm a skeptic. however, this stuff tastes pretty good. really good. yeah, i like the way i feel. it's not a gimmick. it really, truly works. i would highly recommend it to anyone else to take this challenge. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. ♪ ♪ da da-da, da, da, da-da ♪ da-da, da, da, da ♪ da, da, da-da-da, da, da-da-da, da, da-da ♪

[ 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. discover four more ways to make vegetables delectable with farmhouse originals from hidden valley. we've got a real hero on the plaza with us. he is 27-year-old nels matson, just launched a 3,700-mile cross-country bike ride from santa monica all the way here to new york city. you just finished, nels, just this morning a few hours ago, just got here, and you're doing it for a really wonderful cause for the children's heart foundation, basically focusing on congenital defects. why is that? >> i am focused on that because i was born with a congenital

heart defect and i want to spread awareness and also fund research for congenital heart defects. >> and you've raised thousands of dollars doing this. >> we've raised almost $25,000 but we're not done yet. we definitely want to continue -- >> that's a long ride. >> also when you were riding your 4,000-mile journey, kids would join you in different cities, give you that inspiration to keep going. >> yeah, they would. >> look at that. >> he's moving. >> that's ben in chicago. >> what's the biggest message you want to tell people about that? and by the way, the kid is right behind us. is this ben here? >> this is camden from philadelphia. >> camden from philadelphia, did you ride a bike? did you ride some bikes, too? >> he's shy. >> i'm sorry. he was shouting earlier. what's another message you want people to know about in terms of this malady? >> i want people to know 1 in 100 kids are affected so it's every 15 minutes a kid is born

with a congenital heart defect and many are very severe. >> well, you're proof it doesn't have to stop your life and you can go on and do inspiring things. >> i'm actually one of the lucky ones. >> you are. >> it's great to meet you. for those of us who have lactose intolerance, let's raise a glass to cookies just out of the oven.

to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. [ female announcer ] lactaid®. the original lactose-free milk. good tuesday morning to you. it's 9:26 right now. mike taking us to dublin. >> beautiful city but the traffic bad. we have a signal in the westbound section of 580. three lanes are blocked. look at that backupstarting to form as you head into dublin out of livermore. a report of a tour bus on the left side of the ride. west of 580 getting hurt now at the slowing. seminole not looking too bad, just a little gray. >> clouds are going to hang on

today, and you notice our temperatures inland that should be in the upper 80s, only warming up to the low 80s at best outside livermore, san jose. san rafael today kind of a cool day. staying mild all the way through tuesday. we'll see some low-lying clouds inland just in time for the weekend. more news right after the break.

twizzlers. the twist you can't resist. police don't think the paroleie behind the 15-minute highway shootout acted alone. byron williams drove a truck loaded with ammunition and body armor more than 100 miles from his home in groveland to oakland. he is still in the hospital after officers shot him. investigators say they have an idea this is part of something bigger, but they're not ready to give out specifics. his mother said he was angry at

left wings and congress. by the size of the ammunition they found, they took a binder to california. he has two strikes and could go to jail for life. they may have affected riders. everything is running smoothly today but it was a different story yesterday. more than 200 bus drivers called in sick when transit imposed a new contract. transit agency faces a $56 million deficit. the proposed contract saves $56 million by changing overtime and the pension plan. i'll have an update in about a half hour or so. the "today" show returns. have a great morning. done with. and driving all over town. i want one list. for one store. [ female announcer ] at safeway, you get it all. great quality and great prices. so you just need a safeway list. [ male announcer ] with thousands of everyday low prices you'll save all over the store. [ female announcer ] with club card specials

like breyers ice cream just $1.99 and safeway hot dog or hamburger buns only 89 cents. [ male announcer ] quality and low prices. so there's one stop for everything. [ female announcer ] at safeway, that's our promise. that's ingredients for life. ♪ only in my dreams ♪ as real as it may seem it was only in my dreams ♪ debbie gibson singing her break through hit 1987 hit "only in my dreams." we'll find out what she's up to now when she stops by with kathie lee in just a little while. and i'm ann curry alongside msnbc's tamron hall in this morning for natalie. coming up in this half hour, school is out for summer and the kids are all right as long as they're kept entertained. whether it's too hot to go

outside or too nice to stay in, we have some bubbles and some big backyard safaris to get to this morning to avoid that whiny, i'm bored chorus that sometimes sounds in people's homes. >> that looks so cool. i want to play. and on "today's money" the secrets to saving big bucks on everything from your rent to your car, credit cards, and perhaps even your next vacation. it's all about learning to bargain for the best deal and we're going to have tips. >> and whether you are a kid or grown-up, who doesn't like a cupcake? well, the little sweet treats are all the rage these days. they're kind of a comfort food. we're going to show you how you can whip up two favorite frostings in five minutes. that's the problem, making the cake seems simple enough but how do you make a great frosting? we're going to show you how. but first, guess who's here sitting in for al while he's on assignment. stephanie abrams with a check of the weather. hey, stephanie, what's going on today? >> how do i get involved in the cupcake making? how do i get invited? those look delicious.

we are still feeling the heat here throughout the northeast. they need to make a kiddie water table for adults if they can, and it's going to be hot into the 90s here in new york city. otherwise severe weather stretching from the ohio river valley back towards the ce we've got a mist of some of those low clouds around san francisco and it will take some time for those to lift up. you can see the sea breeze pumping in the low clouds, and notice our temperature inland. that's when it will start to climb in the low 70s. it will continue to be cloudy and cool on the coast. mild weather to wrap up the work week, then warmer for the weekend. so still alittle bit warm, but it's july. what are you going to do? it's supposed to happen in july. mu ech thano s.ch and up next from your credit card bills to your rent, the secrets of negotiating. next fr

card bills to your rent, the secrets of negotiating. i'm a skeptic. however, this stuff tastes pretty good. really good. yeah, i like the way i feel. it's not a gimmick. it really, truly works. i would highly recommend it to anyone else to take this challenge. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. no pills, no pain. how can you get pain relief without taking pills around the clock?

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[ male announcer ] chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably -- not that it always has to. but even in your 30s bones begin to change calcium and vitamin d help keep your bones strong. yoplait has calcium and vitamin d in every cup. keep your bones strong, with yoplait. this morning on "today's money," sneaky ways to save whether you're looking to dump your clunker for a new car or fight for a lower interest rate on your credit card bill, learning what to ask for and how to bargain could save you a fortune and carmen wong ulrich. she is a personal finance expert. good morning, ladies. so i'll start with you because a

lot of this is about having the courage to just ask. why do you think women have such a hard time with this? >> it's that worry i'm going to seem pushy if i ask. >> or they're going to say no? >> you have to be confident, persistent and polite. you can be completely friendly and yourself. >> that sounds easy enough. >> it is easy and you're leaving so much money on the table if you don't try to negotiate. >> it's worth the money to try to build that confidence and go in strong. we look at a couple of categories and we start off with a car and there's research that says women pay more for vehicles, that we have higher interest rates. how do we sneak in and save money? >> for a lot of us, the thought of going to a dealership and actually haggling on the dealer floor with the dealer gives us a stomach ache. we don't want to do this sort of thing. here is the trick to do, do your haggling online so at sites like autotrader you can go on there and pit dealers against each other without them really knowing and pick a dealership that gets you the price you want, print that paper out, that agreed upon price, then go to the dealership and of course you

have to make sure to negotiate the price of the car and the financing separately. >> now is that time consuming because you are going back and forth? it's worth it. >> if you can get another $1,500 off a car it is worth every little bit. >> jill, what do you suggest? >> i agree, do them separately and do your price first. they can lose all your savings if you say, okay, get me a great rate. you can get that rate but if they jack up the price, you've saved nothing. >> and so what about some of the incentives and things like that they offer? you want to get your established price and then negotiate? >> and then work on the loan rate and incentives. >> let's look at credit cards. this is an important one this time in our economy. it's very significant. carmen, what do you sunlight? what do you suggest? >> listen, they're not budging very much on credit card rates. the average rate is 16%. there are a couple big card issuers that instead of taking down your rate, they'll give you half of your interest back for a year in order to keep you as a customer.

there are other wiggle room ways to negotiate down. the real key here is two things. one, you have to have fantastic credit and, of course, if you pay off your card sooner, there's your interest rate deduction. listen, you are not going to pay as much interest that way. you save so much paying it off early. >> there's a fear you call the credit card company, you have a balance, you start to wiggle with them and they say no. >> keep trying. be persistent. you never know who you're going to get on the other end of the phone. we've had people who got it the first time or they call a different day and get the rate. >> use credit card companies? >> absolutely. >> i have another card offer here. >> absolutely. if you have a credit score of 740 or better, you have a lot of leverage. >> rents, everyone is negotiating. >> this is a big time for renters nationwide. >> is this a trend? >> most markets rents are much lower and what you can do here is you can bundle up your leases so instead of a one-year lease if you can stay put for several years, i had a friend who

negotiated a three-year lease and got one month free every year because he meat the commitment and is a great tenant. >> go to craigslist.org, compare your rent. if other people are paying less, go to your landlord. this is only fair and reasonable. if you get just $50 off a month, that's $600 a year. >> that's a lot of money. >> if the rental person is not willing to negotiate on the rent itself, can you get things like getting the place painted or ask to freshen up the kitchen? >> definitely. or tell them you want less of a security deposit. keep asking. be persistent and see what you can get. >> they're either going to hang up or do what you want. >> if you have great credit again, great credit saves you a lot of money these days. they want a great tenant who is dependable and if you could take out the garbage or something like that, they'll give you a discount. >> let's get to vacations. jill, you did a little study here. you called about 20 different hotels and what happened?

>> we did a great study at "redbook." 12 of them gave us instant room rate cuts just by asking. just for calling. $40 to $400. >> what did they say? did you say, i got a better rate? >> listen, i'm hearing nobody is paying full room rates, can you do better on this price? $40 to $400. >> that's your spending money on vacation right there. this is the thing. i negotiate everything. i just don't believe in paying retail. part of it is, visualize that money in your pocket. imagine having that $400 in front of you. that could give you confidence to be able to talk to them and feel comfortable saying, i know you can do better. >> and what about the internet? >> use the web as your tool to basically see what everyone else is paying. check for the lowest rate on hotels. like you said, call up the manager and ask and say, you know what, i see this is going for that. can you match it? the longer you stay, of course, the bigger discount. >> you do homework, you get real savings. >> car minute and jill, you have me ready to go, charge! thank you both. great advice. >> thanks, tamron.

keeping kids busy all summer long with fun stu we'll show you the hottest toys right after this. superstar and mom, martina mcbride and sunny d love to see kids' spirits shine. ♪ sunny taste. sunny spirit. sunny d. brings out the best in kids. ♪ sunny d ♪ now i know ♪ freedom is all that i need [ female announcer ] ladies, raise your spoons. now there's nothing left standing between you and a satisfying breakfast.

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th this morning on "today's family" summer fun and games your kids can enjoy inside or outside. stephanie oppenheim is here with some activities that will keep your kids happy and occupied all summer long. stephanie, good morning to you. >> good morning, ann. hi. >> and pretty weather, some days are great, you want to send them outside, an outside safari. >> the trick is to have your kids want to go outside. hi, harper. come here, sweetie. harper has been helping us. you can have a safari in your backyard or in the park or at the beach and having some props for them to look at things is great. >> i saw a grasshopper and all his hair. >> you did. this is the creature keeper and you can put a bug safely inside. you can look at it at the top or the bottom part. >> it's kind of glued on there.

>> but then we can do this one. >> i want to touch it. >> it is just a toy. >> now this is a big, superduper magnifier. >> you can touch that one. you can hold it. it's not real. you can use it for real things. >> that's really good. if you're having trouble reading the newspaper. >> look at ann. >> it makes things look really big. >> it's not glued on. >> that one is not glued on. you're absolutely right. >> some kids really like playing safari. they can put a vest on. >> and what they find -- and what you find outside, harper, you can use it to -- you can basically make notes and everything about what you found. >> what i like to do is for kids to come inside -- for younger kids like harper, you can take dictation about what they found or for older kids can write their own stories. these are from ebu and they come with stickers. if you're techie and go online and make a digital book about

your safari together. >> that sounds fun. >> or a little science and art here, you can use little flowers that you find along your travels together. a lovely craft to do with your kids. >> stephanie, we have another question from harper. >> aren't we going to do painting? >> painting is so much fun outside, you're right. what they love, also, is this new pirate table from little tykes. if you have older toddlers or preschoolers this keeps them well occupied for a long time. henry is here. >> henry and his dad are helping out. you can help them play. >> harper and henry were very busy filling this up before. >> what is it about water tables? >> they are so much fun for kids to explore. >> go, henry. way to go. good job. >> i also love bubbles. harper, i thought you loved the bubbles and now you're running away. >> harper is the daughter of a member of our staff, ed, but she wants a hug. >> which is always good. i love bubbles for any age. these are dip sticks and they are about $10.

if you have older kids like we do, this is the perfect thing to have at a family event. now watch. >> here we go. here we go. >> look at this, harper, whoa. harper really liked this before. >> bubbles are rocking. >> and they are really super big. >> oh, no. did it get in your face? just don't do it over children. do it away from children. this looks like a lot of fun. >> we grew up with styrofoam planes. this is on steroids, right. this is the titan and this is from air hogs from spin master. it is $9.99. we put it to the test and it flies 45 feet. >> no batteries? >> no batteries, also a plus. a lot of airplanes have a lot of battery requirements. >> here we go. whoa -- i hit my head. are you okay? >> we're all good. >> the good thing -- it hit my head. there we go. there we go.

crash landed. okay. that's fun. actually my teenager would like that. >> outdoor crafts that are messy, no one cares whether the grass gets dirty, tie dye kits, this is by alex. you make a nice little bag, but this is a new line for tweens and teens, it is called project runway. >> good job, harper. >> lots of fun, silk screening in here as well. indoors, you need to have crafts to keep them busy for a while for video games. this is a new wind-up robot kit from kree eye tiffty for kids. from creativity for kids. it comes with five robots. >> look at that. look how cute they are. you can make your own robots? >> you make your own. >> oh, are you okay? are you okay, henry? that's good. >> that was funny. >> that was funny, huh? okay. >> what else?

>> having indoor games to play, twister hoopla, and i was a little skeptical but our testers loved it, you have to go blue to blue on our shoulder so you have to toss it. lego games. >> all right. stephanie oppenheim, thank you so much. it's been a little crazy but it's been fun. harper, henry, good job. good job, dad. maybe you want to stick around and talk about vanilla or chocolate. we're talking about cupcakes, baby. two creamy cupcake frostings in five minutes, they say, or less. [ meg whitman ] if we could only do one thing, putting people back to work

would be the most important thing. the human cost of 2 million californians out of work is devastating, and i think, often, politicians forget about that because they don't see it every day. i see it every day. i think raising taxes on californians today is absolutely the wrong thing to do. we have to streamline regulations, we have to cut taxes for businesses, and then we have to stand up and compete. california needs to lead the nation again, and i think we can do it.

♪ how sweet it is to be loved by you ♪ this morning in "today's kitchen" two quick and easy cupcake frostings with sophie and katherine. they gave up their careers in fashion and finance to open up a georgetown cupcake place. well, it's called georgetown cupcake in washington, d.c. the bakery became an overnight sensation and now not only do they have a successful bake shop but she is hot chefs are the stars of the tlc show "d.c. cupcakes." sophie and katherine are with us today. good to see you. >> good morning.

>> i've never been so happy to see two guests in my life. you guys have delicious cupcakes. it's an overnight sensation. what a risk it was, sophie. >> yeah, it was scary to quit our jobs for something unknown but katherine and i love baking. we did it growing up. it was a huge part of our childhood and we always wanted to open a bakery one day. what if? what if? if we don't do it now, we'll never do it. we took the plunge. quit our jobs. >> took the leap of faith. katherine, i hear the lines are around the corner, and you're beating people away. >> people are coming in from all over the country. they come in and experience what it's like to be there. >> we're going to experience a day in the life of you guys. you have two easy frosting recipes and the first one is a chocolate ganoche. >> melted chocolate and heavy cream. it's chocolate and heavy cream. >> that's what it is. >> two ingredients. you can't get much more than that. pour a cup of heavy cream into two cups of chocolate chips and mix it up on medium heat and stir it until it's well mixed and a nice glossy, shiny mixture here.

>> patience pays off, keeping the temperature low and wait it out, don't rush it? >> keep stirring until you get a nice glossy chocolate like this. this is so great. all you have to do is dip your cupcakes in and you have your frosting. it only takes a couple of minutes. >> how long does it take for it to set? >> it only takes a minute or two and you can pour this on your ice cream, that's what i do. >> or just straight into my mouth. katherine, this is a popular frosting. >> we make over 500 pounds of this cream cheese frosting at our cupcake shop every day. about two more pounds for me. >> so simple. all it takes is half a stick of unsalted butter, six ounces of cream cheese, low-fat cream cheese if you want, and then a quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract and then you're just going to put in four cups of sifted confectioner's sugar. that simple. >> i hear ann is peeking through. >> this is so delicious. >> we saw you peeking through. starting to feel sorry for you. >> and it smells so good.

only five ingredients. >> it's so easy. you know what you can do? zest fresh lemon in here. a lemon cream cheese frosting and you put it into the bag and i'm going to teach you. this is the signature swirl we do at our bakery. the quicker we decorate, the quicker we can eat. >> come on over here. you have a signature swirl. we do. >> all of our cupcakes sort of look the same, but you just start by holding the top of the bag and you're going to put a little pressure on the bottom. i'll do one and then you push pressure around in a circle and then down at the end. >> beautiful. >> perfect. >> so push pressure down and all the way around. >> you've got it. >> look at that. >> go ahead. >> you can put it in a squeeze bottle. lovely. >> katherine and sophie, thank you. which one can i eat? >> any of them. >> thank you so much.

congratulations. you rock. >> really yummy. to me that looks so easy. i love that. finally, we have hoda and kathie lee talking with debbie gibson about how to unplug your family without causing world war iii. i. i say eat a cupcake.

good morning to you. it is 9:56 right now.

>> the ceiling we had half an hour ago, it's cleared. should be okay in the next half hour or so. southbound 680, not so bad. 880 starting to bog down a little bit but no accidents there. stevens creek, there is an accident in the left lane, but starting to speed back up. 101 coming into the north bay, nice easy drive across the golden gate bridge. a slowing past the toll plaza. no shift in those clouds. >> the clouds haven't budged at all. it will probably take until lunchtime for these low clouds to break up inland. look how deep that marine layer is, all white on the screen. keeping those temperatures well below average this time of year. san jose typical high should be 85.

today we'll call for low 70s. mild weather will continue for the next few days, and we warm up as we head towards the weekend. laura? a tragedy for a family during a sightseeing trip near mere woods. they were walking on a trail near the mural beach overlook when their 12-year-old fell off the cliff. when rescue reached him, they could not revive him. there is no evidence of foul play. two dogs in golden gate park are now dead. officials decided the male and female pit bull were not fit for adoption, so they were euthanized. it sparked an extensive police patrol in the area, targeting spots know to have illegal activity and cracking down on leash laws. i'll have more in a while. the "today" show returns in about a minute. have a great morning.

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1 as d in rockefeller plaza. >> it may be tuesday, but around here it's booze day and moon day. apparently it's the day the man first walked on the moon in 1969. in case you need a history lesson, this is the daily neil arm stroj placed one foot sxsd what? >> one step for man -- one small step for man, one giant leap for

man kind. >> something like that. >> it's an important day because our xex if i have producer jim bell has a birthday today. >> most importantly. >> we delivered a cake to him especially and tried to deliver it. we were egging us on to drop it there and put it where we shouldn't. >> we gave him a smooch. >> then came on the egging on of cake throwing. >> does anyone have any idea how old mr. bell is today? >> i'm going to guess. he's a boy wonder. >> i was really going to do it. >> you were going to do it. >> everybody obeys matt around here. >> matt said we were chicken and had no guts. no guts, he said. >> let's see if we have guts on his birth da whether it comes around. anybody know when matt's birthday is? it's december 30th? good. we'll be on vacation. forget it. it's bad day for lindsay lohan or maybe a good day for her

depending on how you look at it because it might end up actually putting her on the road to recovery. >> today she goes to prison, and there are reports that she's antsy and nervous, bigt her fing biting her fingernails and freaking out. she's no longer with mr mr. shapiro. it's unclear whether he said see you later or she did. according to him before, he said you have to listen to what i say, or i won't work with you. you have to go into the rehab facility. >> which she did. >> this continues on. some people say she will do probably about 25% of the time actually. >> there's another debate going on about her and her addiction to alcohol/whatever. they say should she be treated or should she be thrown in prison? should they treat the illness or should she pay in jail? what do you think? >> i think both. she has defied the law. you know how i am about that sort of thing. she's defied the law several times now, and i think the law

stands for nothing unless we keep the law and encourage people to do their time. do your time and the crime. i think she also needs to get -- she's had help and gone into rehab several times. it hasn't worked. but jail doesn't always change you either. i don't think you could say that paris hilton has changed much since she went to jail, do you? >> no. >> i don't see any huge change, but i don't know. maybe this will be her wake-up call. nothing else has worked, hoda. i honestly think we're going to -- we're going to see -- i'm terrified it will be a heath ledger kind of headline someday. and all the way who said we told you so, didn't help her at the time. if i knew her, i'd try to help her. >> i think she's afraid not to be on the pills for pain or whatever she takes, she's afraid not to have cigarettes because she smokes a lot and she's locked in a small cell for her own safety's sake.

i mean, there are concerns, i guess, if you're her. >> what do you think? >> i think, look, i mean, she was caught driving while intoxicated. >> she could have killed somebody. >> if she hit someone and killed someone, everyone would say how did this happen. she didn't hit anybody or kill anybody, but she's supposed to do the 90 days. >> next time out she could. >> can we talk about an issue i'm having? >> today it's my hair, or what? >> it's not a hair issue. i have ants in my apartment. >> how many times have i told you you need to get a new apartment, hoda? >> i've tried raid all over everything. my whole apartment reeks like it. what do you do? >> you shouldn't breathe those fumes. >> i woke up, and guess what was there? ants like this, hey, this morning. i sprayed yesterday. >> bug science. >> just ants. >> but ants lead to bedbugs.

it's like marijuana. it was a little stupid joke. >> on my twitter page i said how do you get ants out of your house. you cannot believe what people say? >> parsley, apparently stuffing parsley in the holes they might come out of. some lady said cinnamon works. >> do you know what your apartment will smell like with the raid and cinnamon and parsley. >> simon in tila cinnamon in th they are and that should do the tricks, parsley flakes and then they say powder or corn starch chokes them. >> i think you need a new apartment, hoda. you're not a destitute woman, right? >> i'm interested in the way they get them. t terro base are the thoij that works most people say. bounce sheets. >> mel gibson is sitting at home waiting to hear about him e.s to

know what we think about him. >> people have ants in their apartments, and this is more relevant to them. i will try the parsley, cinnamon and the rest of it. >> why don't you try what i suggested? move! >> i know. i'm working on that. >> what do we do about mel? >> it just keeping filing on. i'm starting to get numb. the more tapes i hear, i go here goes that again. i'm starting to get confused. one is worse than the next, but i tune them out. >> she calculated this and set about to tape him and egged him on about certain things to get certain reactions? do you think she had any part in all of this? >> i think by the looks of it it sounded like she was planning on taping him, obviously. think about this. let's say someone egged you on, whatever, pushed all the worst buttons. >> every day of my life. >> would any of that stuff that mel gibson said ever come out your mouth even if you chugged

ail bottle of vodka? who cares? i'm just saying on your worst day if everyone pushed all your buttons, would any of those things come out? >> i don't know, because that's never happened to me. i think what you believe is what comes out during times like that. we just hide it better whether we're sober. >> let's listen to the latest rant. >> why not. >> okay. >> i'm just saving my child's life because you are a monster. that's all, you're a monster. >> you have my child and she doesn't need a gold digging [ bleep ] russian [ bleep ]. >> you're acting as a crazy man right now. and you have been for many, many months and you hit me and you hit her while she was in my hands. >> okay. it's hard to -- >> i'm really upset now that the fcc got rid of the bleeping thing. now we're going to hear all of

it and all of its glory, right? >> you can't intentionally put it on. if it's a live slip, it's okay f. it's a planned thing like that, we have to bleep it. >> let's go to the next thing. >> do you know that ants rip off the other ants' heads. >> we were with joan rivers yesterday. we can't talk about it until later. she's been reading a book about ants. >> she said they decapitate the other ant and take the head back to the queen ant. that's what they do. that's what she wrote a whole book on apparently. >> hoda woman. it's a slow news week. we can talk about ants or mel. >> i guarantee everyone has the same -- >> we know what we need to do. remember i talked about the spanx yesterday. they're not spanx. they're called hug meez,

m-e-e-z. go to vestiny.com. >> someone suggested a great show idea. we should do a whole area of that. >> that's a good idea. >> i don't think it's enough. >> vestiny.net. they have a phone number and your picture on there now. they armed themselves and they're ready for you or order via e-mail from the website. >> the young lady that started spanx is unhappy with us. >> she's the anti-spanx one. >> i just feel like i found something i like better. she got in touch and said they have new stuff that i need to try out. >> really? >> i started a spanx war. >> real quick, these are shoes called bangles, and the good thing is you can buy a pair of shoes like then, and if you want to mix it up for another outfit you just take this thing off, and it comes right out. okay? then you can put in another one. slide it right in.

very simple. >> the same thing with these little ones. what are they called? they're called bandals. you can change them up. 34.99 for the base and buy the strappies for 11 oot 11.99. >> what would you be most terrified of going to jail for 90 days. no one will see you. >> it would be terrible. i'd have to have a baseball cap. what would you be? >> not being able to pluck. >> no plucking. >> oh, no. god! jim gaines. is he in there? why is that picture living? that was third grade. it was a bad -- okay. okay. >> up next, it's not only in her dreams anymore. >> debbie gibson tells us why she's flying high after this. maybe it's cooking over an open flame.

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until this day debbie gibson holds the world's record as the young person ever to write, produce and perform a number one single. did you know that, hoda? >> i knew that. she was an '80s pop star, a teen idol, a broadway show girl and a musical mentor and a mother, mother nature that is. hey, debbie. >> good to see you. >> we notice it's not deborah gibson. you gave up? >> i just gave up. i created this brand and went back to deborah. the name belongs to the people really, and the people are comfortable calling me debbie so i'm going with it. >> now you work in this fabulous new show as mother nature, but most of the people are foreigners from all overed world? >> yes. ethiopia, mongolia, russia. there's a ballet troup from china. it's like a front row scene in olympics. >> call me that and keep it

simple. >> this is circumstance deseo lee and this is -- >> surf dreams is an american company neil goldberg created. it's a more family friendsly affordable thee at cal experience. >> $35. >> you have to be in shape to do this kind of deal, right? >> unfortunately, they won't let me do that right there, even though i really want to. you have pink and her ribbon catastrophes and stuff. we want to keep you intact to sing. >> so you sing how many songs? >> on and off for 40 minutes throughout the show. i weave in and out of the different scenes, but he lets me kind of really use like a more kind of exotic body language with this. i said it's not your mother's mother nature. it's definitely -- because i'm the liaison between the audience and what's going on on stage, ii want to use my more pop persona.

>> we're saying everything but you singing. >> i haven't done a show yet. i've not been with the company before, so i'm rehearsing this week for the first time and open next week. >> you are staying in terrific shape. who is helping you out? who is helping you? >> i have a rock star anti-aging doctor fwroiboyfriend. >> he's so cute. >> i was showing them pictures. >> how did you find that so quickly? >> that's how we are. >> he's a southern gentleman. >> stands every time i get up from the table. come on. >> two and a half years you've been with him. you've lost how much weight? >> 15 to 20 pounds all with the eating thing. it's all about the peting. you can object that elliptical all day long. >> what did you cut out and change? >> it's the oldest thing. a lot of starch and sugar cut. >> xhoalcohol?

>> i didn't order my first glass of wine until a year ago. i was the opposite of teen stars now. i didn't want to screw up my career, and about a yearing a took -- year ago i took to red wine. >> you tramp. >> i know. now i have to have it in moderation. >> let's talk about what's happening with lindsay lohan. what do you think about what you are watching with her? >> gosh, you know, i don't know, and i just feel like -- i'm glad i didn't grow up as a teen sfta in this day and age because the scrutiny is insane with the internet. i think celebrities have a weird addiction to be in the media for any reason. the sad part is she's a good ak stress and all the antics upstage her talent which breaks my heart. i wish she would get back to the skills and basics. >> she has to change her friends, too.

>> her family, i think, needs to kind of really rally. i'm lucky. my mom is here today. she's managed all these years. >> i don't think i've been with you when your mother's isn't there. >> if i'm in new york, mom's around. she wasn't always very popular with people, but she protected me. every teen star needs that one person to do that. i don't know that she has that. i don't know. >> good advice. >> debbie, deborah -- >> three aul three of us. i'm seeking therapy for my multiple personalities. >> great to see you. >> jungle fantasy runs until septtr the mgm grand in connecticut. symptoms that beg for medical attention. tune in for this one. >> ants. ♪ look, they fit! oh my gosh, are those the jeans from last year? how'd you do it? simple stuff... eating right...whole grain. whole grain? [ female announcer ] people who eat more whole grain tend to have healthier body weights.

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and now with more of the whole grains your body needs. nutri-grain can help you eat better all day. we're back talking about strange symptoms you may feel and what they may mean. >> when you notice an unusual rash or feel a strange pain, it's easy to jump for the worst-case scenario. we're here to tell you when to relax and whether to react quickly. amy is the health director at "woman's day" magazine and we're happy to have you here. people have a lot of things to be concerned about. a lot of women are concerned with hair loss. you look in the shower drain. >> it's normal to lose 100 hairs a day, he is special fli you go through a hormonal change. >> what's your points? >> if you had a baby, miscarriage or going on and off birth control pills. now, if you're worried that

you're not able to tell how much is too much do the pull test. take a small patch and pull gently and if more than five hairs that have the root on them come out. if nothing comes out it's better. more than five hairs have the root on them, that means you could have an iron deficiency, a zinc deficiency, so you should call your doctor. they will test your blood. >> what about fingernails, discolored fingernails? >> white spots, it's almost always the result of impact. you might not remember it. >> it's like a bruising? >> maybe like slammed your hand against a door, and it doesn't show up until a couple weeks later. if you see a black or bluish line going from a cuticle to your fingertip could be melanoma. >> right up through the middle? >> black or bluish, a vertical line g-to the dermatologist

right away for that because melanoma is deadly but if caught early it's curable. you could have fungus on your nails if they're yellow or peely or sore rye sis, a skin condition on your nails, too. >> you feel numb or tingling in your feet or hands, and you just don't know why. >> it's usually a reaction to a change in temperature, something called -- if gu from being hot outside to a freezing air-conditioning or being in the pool or wintertime when it's really cold outside, that's when it's normal. if it's not in relation to cold, you could have a pinched nerve in your neck or back, especially if the tingling travels. you could see your internist, and if she can't treat it she's send to a rehabilitation doctor. it can rarely be a sign of a heart attack, but usually if it's accompanied by another heart attack symptom like

tightness in your chest, fatigue and shortness of breath. >> don't men have the left arm thing? >> you can get numb, so if you have that, you should think do i have these other symptoms of a heart attack. >> hoda saved this for me. whether your urine changes colors. >> what you eat shows up in your pee basically. >> it's unseemly whether a doctor of your stature says pee. >> it shows up if you eat beets or asparagus. >> don't panic. >> they're so good for you, but don't panic. >> there can be many colors and shapes. if it's really dark tan or dark brown, that means you're dehydrated. brown,[ female announcer ] does your smooth pass the second day test? or does frizz make you start all over? get ready for a revolution. the new pantene. frizzy to smooth system. medium to thick hair absorbs up to 40% more moisture. so we customized a pro-v system

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to bring art to the people. without my health i wouldn't be able to do anything. [ male announcer ] to keep doing what you love, keep your heart healthy. cheerios can help. the whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. it's simple; love your heart so you can do what you love. good morning to you. it's 10:26 right now. a couple low spots still hanging on out there. >> livermore, it's been clear about 40 minutes now, but now the ripple effect happens closer to livermore rather than dublin where that accident occurred. a little bummer for folks who thought it was clear now. looking to golden gate bridge where there are definitely some low clouds hanging around. a crowd growing outside.

not much in terms of activity but low clouds. >> livermore, 60 degrees, close to 60 in san jose. we'll see a mild day inland. a taste of summer in san francisco for pretty much everyone today. 70s inland, maybe some 80s in the tri level valley. we'll see more as we wrap up the work week trending ait t leit b warmer just in time for the weekend. more news after the break. my mercury moment came when i got caught in this insane dust storm on the way back from vegas. the paint had been completely sanded off my new truck! i called my mercury agent, sarah, but i didn't really expect to be covered for dust damage. mercury was cool though... they took care of everything including a brand new paint job. in the end, switching car insurance saved me hundreds of

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san francisco firefighters, police officers and city workers will meet today to talk about pension reform. the balance initiative would make city workers pay 20% of their salary toward their pension and pay half their health care benefits. a rally at the state capitol this morning. they will hand-deliver a bill to governor schwarzenegger that would let farm workers get paid overtime if they work more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. jeremy lynn could become one of just a few american born asian americans to play in the nba. he's from palo alto. he made a big splash at harvard, just wrapped up the summer league. now he's negotiating a contract with several teams. >> your attitude going in to be humble and to be loving and to be patient, there is numerous different ways to approach the

game of basketball in a good fashion, and that's what i try to focus on. >> we'll let you know when and if jeremy signs. righnd a early tomorrow morning. have a great day. irchltsz we're back on this tuesday. no booze day today, but with more of "today" and a challenge to send any family to the edge, especially if you have a teen in your house. >> on average 8 to 18 years old dedicate more than 7 hours a day to entertainment media which includes texting. >> imagine how much extra time your family would have if everyone completely unplugged? >> we put one san diego family to the test for an entire day. the very brave family turned off everything but the microwave.

>> my e-mail and text. those would all be going crazy. >> i have an iphone 3g with my zebra case. it's like my child and always in my pocket. >> i'm going to be out of the loop by tomorrow. i'm not going to know what happened. it's devastating. >> this last phone bill, she's doi doing 5,000 texts. >> i wouldn't say addicted. i would say it's a choice of life to be on my phone as much as i am. >> we'll kill each other if we just sit in the house. >> we have to do something. >> we're going to go -- turn into a family day. we're going to be more

conversation driven. >> i want to go home and watch tv and have my cell back. >> i haven't checked the e-mail once. >> what's your favorite? i have a three. >> tonight when it starts to get dark what are re going to do. it was fine up until now. now i want that on, i want that on, and i want to check my phone. i'm going to read. that was a little harder than i thought it would be. >> i think it was fun family time. that wasn't as fun for some members of the family. >> the nettles family is home in san diego today and also with us is tony schwartz. hi, everybody. >> hi to you, tony. >> taylor, are you and maddy out there. what on earth are you texting all day long? >> hopefully you have free texting, right? >> we have unlimited.

that's good. i don't know. we talk about anything, really. we plan something to do the next day or just talk. >> did you discover during your day off texting that it was actually harder or easier than you thought it was going to be? >> oh, it was really hard. i was really bored, and i wanted to go home. >> greg, did you notice any family bonding that happened during this day? >> you can't bond with a miserable teenager. >> maybe there was something. >> no. it was fun. we had a good day. i think by about three-quarters of the way through the day, though, taylor was done. she wanted her phone back, but we had a good time. >> i think, tony, the stats are crazy. she said 35,000 text messages in a month. is that normal for teens? >> kids are on average two hours a day texting, and it's about oon na form of communication is one step above a gorilla that

grunts. it's in little tiny pieces at great expense to kind of any real sort of communication. it's not that i think there's anything wrong with texting. it's become so dominating. >> it's a moderation issue. zulg >> absolutely. >> we're training add at this point. we're training kids not to pay attention. >> or be able to hold a conversation in a normal setting. it's also incredibly rude, you know. maddy and taylor, do you take your phones into restaurants and sit there when you're trying to have dinner and just text each other? >> we don't. we're not allowed to use you're phones during dinner. >> that's a good thing. >> you set limits. >> that's true of only 3 out of 10 families. 7 out of 10 families the parents don't set limits, and when they set limits the kids use that technology way, way less. what's happened is people have lost chroontrol of their lives because these texting, tweeting,

facebooki facebooking, they're addictive. they're a hot stimulus. they're not unlike a hot cup cake sitting in front of you fragrant out of the oven. if you don't find a way to move your attention away from them, you're consumed by them. >> mom, how will you get your girls to cut down on all of this texting? >> we're talking about having one day that we're going to completely unplug, sundays is going to be family day. >> really? >> uh-huh. >> look how thrilled the girls are. >> the girls are not thrilled, but i hope over time they like it. >> it's easier in the winter months, because in the fall the kids go back to school. they can't text. do you text during school, too? >> no, absolutely not. >> they're not supposed to. >> tell the truth. >> in the lavatory. >> was it different communicating? i notice with a lot of kids who text, having normal conversations doesn't come as easy. what did you notice with your girls? >> you know, they were more

looking at us. they weren't looking down. they were looking at us whether they were talking. they weren't looking at their phones. >> what was the upside of it for you? >> you know, i think we played a board game at end of the game, and i think that's the first time we've played a board game in a long time and actually talked and conversed with each other. we had a really good time with it. so it's something that we get into a habit of when we get home we go to our computers and cell phones and do our own thing. it was really good to come together and do something together. we talked more, and it was really nice. >> what we're trying to do -- what we were trying to do with the energy project is to teach people how to take back chrome of their lives, not to turn over their lives to technology. you lose in this kind of situation if you lose subtlety and communication. that's what we're trying to teach. >> we could talk for a whole hour about it.

>> thanks notals family out there. up next, using your dna to create very person art right after this. ♪ pop-tarts®! i'll have a frosted strawberry... as an ice cream sandwich. ♪ chocolate fudge... on a stick please! ( crunch ) with the endless possibilities of kellogg's® pop-tarts, it's sure to be a picture perfect summer. pop-tarts®. made for fun. hey, here's a good call: new whole grain helper. try some! mmmm... honey mustard chicken. with 100% whole grain rice. hey, can you catch? no, sir, i cannot. new whole grain helper. one pound. one pan. one whole grain meal. as a juicy flame-grilled cheeseburger on a delicious bun. and when you get it all at walmart's guaranteed unbeatable prices -- it somehow tastes even better.

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if you're looking to turn your ordinary room into an extraordinary space, it may mean adding a little bit of your yourself, and we mean that literally. >> here to explain is designer candice olson. she's a judge on "designer star"

as well as devine design. >> you have such an interesting segment. you make an art piece uniquely yours, right? >> there's this whole trend towards authenticity and having your house reflect truly who you are, and what better way to do than through art that is personalized, customized but it doesn't need to be super expensive like a custom art piece people would traditionally think of. >> it would cost $200 get your own dna. >> turning your dna into art? >> yes. i can't wait to do this. there's many ways of getting your dna, but this company, dna 11 will send you this handy kit. inside that kit is what you need. >> anything that looks like that makes me nervous. kathie lee, may i? >> what are we swabbing? >> your cheek. >> we are making art. i bet you didn't realize this.

>> i'm so glad i had my teeth cleaned yesterday. >> so was can das. >> you send this off to dna 11. they have a transfer method of doing it. then they take your dna and they transfer it into a genetic code that becomes artwork. they send you a proof. you can pick your colors and formats. look at this. >> this is not my dna. >> it looks like it is. >> it does, it does. this says tall, blonde, blue-eyed. the great thing is nobody has this in the entire world. this is truly you. >> okay. >> it's a beautiful, modern piece of art. same company does fingerprint art. >> these people are strange, aren't they? a little. >> maybe we should give a shout-out to lindsay lohan, because she might want a way to decorate her cell. i thought of her. >> that was bad. >> dna 11 sends you this ink

pad. that's why i thought of lindsay. >> she's already done that. >> look it. i'm sure she's going to take that fingerprint, send it off to dna 11. >> you turn it into the artwork behind us? >> this same sort of idea where they send you a proochlt you can pick your colors, pick your format. what i like is you can do a family portrait. >> that's getting strange. >> all right. this is -- >> they're running out of ideas over there at hdtv. you know what i'm saying? >> this is frame wallpaper from a company called -- >> this is interesting. >> what it does is it creates this kind of prefabricated gallery, an organized gallery. the sky's the limit here. >> she has little notes, pictures. >> think of kids rooms. >> you could have a hanna room. you could have a shrine to her little niece. >> what do you do with all this? >> you made this?

what did you do? >> this is the wallpaper. >> and it's kind of this random format, so double-sided tape. what do you do with all this? >> i love it. this is fun with kids in a playroom or something. >> it's adorable. >> teenager's room, jonas brothers, justin bieber, zac efr efron. >> in my day it was beethoven. >> if you wanted the clean classic look, black and while photography, get the forecasts oft fridge and you can have this rotating. think of it for like a guest bedroom, powder room where people come and visit a lot. you can ask people to -- >> you don't want people leaving pictures light that. >> all right. >> you could customize. >> phone numbers on the bathroom call. >> for a really good time. >> last but not least, pet

portraits. >> uh-oh. >> they're part of the family. boyfriends and went with me, but my jack russell has always stayed there. you send off a picture. >> look at this one down here. they transform is into various types of art, of modern art. surre surreal, andy warhol style. >> we like most of it. it's great. from your walls, you don't want to know what's on your floors, ants maybe? that's right after this. have the white smile you want with the rembrandt 2 hour whitening kit. proven to visibly whiten teeth in just 2 hours! rembrandt is a name that i trust. my teeth are whiter. can you see? i am so confident when my smile is white. there's nothing that can stop me. move aside, here i come! [ male announcer ] save up to $8 off rembrandt products at 1rembrandt.com.

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with summer in full swing, your dog is spendsing more time in the great outdoors, which is great for her or him, but what she brings in may not be great for you. >> dr. laura janna is a dog loving pediatrician. she's here to tell us how to minimize the dog germs throughout the house.

welcome to you. we love our lie saysol. >> whether a dog is outside, you think the dog will track in all the icky stuff on its paws and that's part of the problem? >> what we see we worry about the most. you see the paw prints and think it's -- what they swabbed the dogs it's not their paws but fur that came out germier. >> their tail is really the germiest part. what do you do? >> the tail and coat. it really comes back to washing your hands. if you're aware of the fact that there are germs on your pet's fur, then you wash it off after. not just a quick rinse but soap and water. >> every time they go outside? >> again, any about what's on their coats. it's not only germs on their

coats. you get into allergens. a lot of people have pet allergies, but dogs can track in allergens on their fur that aren't just dog related. pollen, spores. >> nobody is washing their dogs every day. what are other things we can do? >> washing your dog does help. as a physician i would tell you the best thing to do is get rid of allergens, you'll get rid of the dog. nobody wants to hear about that. >> there are dogs that are supposedly high powe allergypo-? >> length of fur doesn't predict that. look around your home. keep a dog out of the bedroom. it makes a big difference. >> people sleep with their dogs. >> i know they do, and that's a big allergen exposure. >> what about this dog right here? >> this dog has longer fur. it may not be more allergic, but you're exposed to germs and allergens.

i would wash my hands. think of all the surfaces your dogs are exposing to you in your home. be more aggressive about cleaning your house home, cleaning hard surfaces and the disinfecting wipes. >> many people let their dogs kiss them, but they're really licking them. >> that's why the licking dog is further way. >> the problem is have you ever seen what dogs do after other dogs do their thing. they check it out to see if it's better than theirs or something. i don't know. >> kathie lee i get asked whether or not we should let pets lick our children, that's lying say 2-year-olds shouldn't pick their nose. it's a nice idea but it's not realistic. >> if a dog licks your face, how bad is it? >> i personally recommend trying to limit that sort of germ exposure, and when they lick the rest of you, you wash your hands and clean off the areas.

>> i wonder if the dogs want to clean themselves off after we pet them. has anybody thought about that, you know? thank you. thanks a lot. >> thanks for bringing your pets in. >> thank you, everybody. we'll be back with more of

ilts are it's time for miss sarah haines. are you just sitting there talking to people on facebook? i'm chatting usually about you. we have a lot of suggestions for ant problem. kelly says bay leaves and troy says dawn dishwashing liquid and amy says cinnamon and laura says win decks. >> i tried windex. >> and connie says step on them, all of them. thank you, connie. >> i like connie. >> i say move. >> tomorrow we have city sense.

we get to compete and you get to learn about the best and worst fooding at the ballpark. >> have a great day, everybody. >> have a great booze day, everybody. >> have a great booze day, everybody. bye. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com