good morning. historic decision. a federal judge overturns california's same-sex marriage ban, leading to cheers on one side, and anger on the other. is this controversial issue headed all the way to the supreme court? pain and panic. one of the eight victims in that deadly workplace shooting in connecticut is laid to rest. as police release the 911 calls from the morning of the tragic rampage. >> oh, my god, i'm in the back storage paper closet. please help me. >> okay. stay back there. we'll come to you. all right? >> help me, please. help me. >> this morning, more of those chilling tapes. and diamonds, not a girl's best friend. supermodel naomi campbell

testifies at a war crimes trial overnight. why an anonymous gift she was given could hold the key to convicting a ruthless warlord "today," thursday, august 5th, convicting a ruthless warlord "today," thursday, august 5th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to "today" on this thursday morning. i'm meredith vieira. >> and i'm matt lauer. this ruling that overturned california's ban on same-sex marriages is probably going to have major implications from coast to coast. >> it certainly seems that way. this is the first time that a federal judge has declared a ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. opponents are already working on appeals this morning and it all but sets up a supreme court showdown on the controversial issue. we're going to have the latest straight ahead. >> a little later in the show we're going to talk about a dangerous decision that more americans appear to be making. we're talking about people choosing to cut back on

important medical services and doctor visits, apparently to save money. coming up we'll get into why that can be so dangerous. we'll also run down the medical tests that are okay to skip, and which ones you should never, never avoid. plus, a lot of people are talking about the case of he said, she said. on tuesday we talked to a woman who claimed to have stumbled across pictures on facebook that showed her husband getting married to another woman. now that man says she has it all wrong. he is here, along with his current wife to tell us his side of the story in an exclusive, live interview. >> before we get to all that, let's get to the other top stories of the morning. ann is office. cnbc's carl quint nil la is over at the news desk. >> good morning, everybody. today opponents of same-sex marriage are preparing their legal appeals now that a federal judge in california has ruled that laws against it are unconstitutional. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more. pete, good morning. >> carl, gay marriage has been debated in the states for more than two decades, but this is the first time that a federal judge has ruled that banning it

violates the u.s. constitution. and that's a ruling which potentially nationwide implications. outside the san francisco federal courthouse, advocates of gay rights cheered the history-making ruling. ♪ this land was made for you and me ♪ >> we have a very happy life together and we want to make sure the next generation has a happy life, too. >> reporter: the ruling came in a legal battle launched by two gay couples in california against proposition 8 approved two years ago by 52% of the state's voters. >> voting yes to a traditional marriage. >> reporter: passed after gay marriage became legal in california it amended the state's constitution declaring that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. but the judge struck that down, ruling that prop 8 violates the u.s. consequence tulgs guarantee of equal rights, treating same sex couples differently without a good enough different reason. federal judge walker said the time has passed when the roles of the genders in marriage were distinct, when marriages were

male-dominated. marriage under law now, he says, is a union of equals. evidence from the trial showed that same-sex parents are of equal quality and proposition 8 makes it no more likely opposite sex couples will marry and have children. a prominent lawyer argued for the gay couples. >> we have other battles ahead of us. but with this decision, carefully analyzing the evidence, we are on our way toward an ultimate victory. >> reporter: but opponents of gay marriage who supported proposition 8 denounce the ruling and began preparing to fight back. >> the judge has shut the constitution, imposed his own agenda, he's made a lot of people happy in the gay community in san francisco. but he is the most dangerous type of judge in america. >> reporter: there won't be any new gay marriages right away in california. the judge put a temporary hold on his own ruling, as the

appeals begin. in a case that may ultimately wind up at the u.s. supreme court, where a decision there would apply nationwide. carl? >> nbc's pete williams. thanks for that. today, bp plans to start pumping cement into the well in the gulf of mexico, now that that static kill mud is holding. federal officials approved the cement plan as long as it does not delay the ultimate solution. of finishing those relief wells. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani's daughter was arrested wednesday on a shoplifting charge. caroline giuliani is accused of taking items at a beauty supply a milestone for new york yankees slugger alex rodriguez. on wednesday a-rod hit his 600th home run. he's only the seventh player, and the youngest ever, to do that. and a sudden end to a police chase in maryland. the driver of a stolen suv put the vehicle into reverse, and drove onto the hood of the police car. the driver was arrested after the suv flipped over. it is now 7:05. back to meredith and matt.

i think insurance is going to cover that. >> i think that guy's in a lot of trouble. >> oh, yes. >> some explaining to do. thank you very much. mr. roker. >> oh, very nice. >> why is that? >> we've got a risk of strong storms today from new england all the way down to mississippi, alabama and georgia. possibility of some tornadoes, airport delays are going to be likely, as we put the radar into motion, you can see heavy showers and thunderstorms now from the carolinas on up into new york. those will be fired up again today. a cold front dropped about half an inch to a quarter of an inch of rain around the region. rest of the country today, beautiful weather in the pacific northwest with sunshine, temperatures in the low 80s. upper 90s in parts of idaho. we've got the sizzling weather continuing through the southeast on into the gulf coast. what's happening in san francisco this morning, seen around most of the bay area. low clouds, misty skies getting you started. 50s around breakfast time, lunch

time. we'll see the clouds break up inland. notice the temperatures today, having a tough time getting out of the 70s. most of the inland valleys, 70s to near 80. really the same thing into tomorrow and to kick off the weekend. morning drizzle summer fizzle continues to kick off the weekend into next week. that's your latest weather. meredith? >> al, thank you. a war crimes trial in the hague is not out of the ordinary. but what's not so common is when the trial's star witness is a supermodel. nbc's martin fletcher is in london to explain. martin, good morning. >> reporter: meredith, good morning. that's right. blood diamonds, a supermodel, an african dictator, all came together at the hague war crimes tribunal this morning. naomi campbell, she testified that after a charity dinner in south africa 13 years ago she was woken by a knock on the door at night, and two men gave her what she called dirty pebbles. they were diamonds, big ones.

she said she didn't know who they were from until she spoke to the actress mia farrow. >> the next morning, after breakfast, i told miss farrow and miss white what had happened, and one of the two said, well that obviously is charles taylor, and i said, well i guess it was. >> reporter: potentially critical evidence that charles taylor, the former dictator of liberia, who sat next to her at a dinner, used blood diamonds to finance wars. the kind of conflict featured in the movie "blood diamonds." >> a stone so rare men will do anything to possess it. >> reporter: he's accused in the hague on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including conscripting child soldiers, murder and rape. but campbell didn't want to testify. she had to be subpoenaed. her reasons -- fear. >> i really don't want anything to do with this. i care about the protection of my family. >> and why would you be concerned about the protection

of your family? >> because this is someone that i read up on the internet that killed thousands of people, supposedly, and i don't want my family in any danger in any way. >> reporter: she also testified that before she'd met him, she'd never heard of taylor. his country, liberia, or blood diamonds. and that she'd had no contact with him since the dinner. as for those pebbles, those diamonds, campbell says she immediately gave them to one of nelson mandela's children's charity, intending he use them for the charity. but she testified 13 years later, he still has them. meredith? >> martin fletcher. thank you very much. now here's matt. >> all right, meredith, thank you. we're now hearing the chilling 911 calls placed on tuesday from inside that connecticut beer distributor where a man went on a shooting spree, killing eight co-workers and then himself. peter alexander has details on that. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. this new 911 calls offer a glimpse inside that gigantic beer warehouse.

77,000 square feet, this crime scene was. as the gunman, omar thornton, was still in the middle of his attack, he was eerily cool, according to police. but this morning the story is as much about heroism as it is about loss. including the employees who tried to warn their coworkers and physically stop the gunman. here now some of those calls for help. >> 911 -- >> shooting. >> what's going on? >> somebody got shot. i got shot. >> reporter: when he called police early tuesday morning, the company vice president was already a survivor. grazed by two gunshots. including one to his jaw. >> there's blood all over the place. >> okay. how many people are shot? >> i don't know. >> okay. you don't know. and you're shot where? >> in my head. >> he's still shooting. he's shooting a girl. >> reporter: hollander and dozens of coworkers at his family-owned beer whole saler hid as the gunman, 34-year-old omar thornton, continued his murderous rampage with two handguns.

>> i just fired him. >> today? >> today just now before he started shooting. >> at times police say, picking and choosing his victims. >> oh, my god, i'm in the back storage paper closet. please help me. >> okay. stay back there. we'll come to you, all right? >> help me. please, help me. >> they're trying to get ems to you. >> i know for a fact two people are dead in here. inside the building. not in my office but in the hallway. they were both shot right in the head. >> reporter: it would be the deadliest workplace shooting in connecticut state history. nine lives lost, including the shooter. >> okay, are you in the back hiding? >> do you have him? >> we do not have him yet. >> unbelievable. it's like a nightmare. i just can't believe it. can't believe it happened. i can't believe the guy is gone. >> reporter: late wednesday, this tight-knit connecticut community gathered for a memorial. still searching for answers, even as they mourned an

unthinkable loss. and police say the death toll here could have been much larger. thornton walked past some coworkers, including one woman who was in a wheelchair. the pastor last night said tragic deaths are like a black hole, in a minute or two our whole world is turned upside down. i think that's how that whole community feels. >> it really is a chilling story. peter, thank you very much. >> now to the war in afghanistan. it has been a difficult summer for u.s. troops there. july was the deadliest month yet for americans. and a new commander took over after a controversial "rolling stone" article led to the end of general stanley mcchrystal's military career. now the pentagon is refusing to let that report and the reporter who wrote it embed with another unit in afghanistan. we're going to talk about that with michael hastings in a moment. but first jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon >> good morning. it's been a couple of months since the story that forced general mcchrystal out of the

army. but the fallout in media relations is far from over. on his last day as a soldier general stan mcchrystal managed to joke about the article that ended his career. with a word of warning to his fellow soldiers. >> i have stories on all of you. photos on many. and i know a "rolling stone" reporter. >> reporter: that reporter is michael hastings. in an interview on "today" in june, hastings explained how he landed that "rolling stone" scoop. >> actually, it was almost a throwback to the old days of fly on the wall reporting, where, nowadays, it's almost so controlled, it's always very so controlled. so it was very rare to get this kind of access anyway. >> reporter: but not anymore. the u.s. military has revoked hastings' recent request to embed with american forces in afghanistan. after first granting the request last month. pentagon spokesman insists it's not retribution but explains a key element of an embed is

having trust. and essentially commanders in afghanistan no longer trust hastings. but as a freelancer, hastings has covered the wars in iraq and afghanistan for various publications, and internet news blogs with no apparent complaints. military officials have, in fact, praised hastings upcoming piece in the men's journal on army combat helicopters saying it accurately portrays the army's warrior mentality. so what is going on here? media watchdogs claim the military is striking back. >> since they have all of the power, all of it, once he's published his story, if he wants back in, they have all the power. if they say they don't trust him to do what they want him to do anymore, they're just not going to play in the sandbox with him anymore. >> reporter: meanwhile, the army inspector general still investigating whether any of mcchrystal's aides were blindly quoted in that article should face disciplinary action. and as a reporter who's often been embedded with the military, there is, indeed, a fine line between trust and control.

and while the military can control a reporter's access, there must be no control over the reporter's content. meredith? >> mik, thank you very much. michael hastings, good morning to you. >> good morning, thanks for having me. >> just so people are clear on this, you were offered this embed in june, when the article on general mcchrystal comes out at the end of june, between then and now you didn't hear anything, and then you get this letter this week. who is it from, and what did it say? >> the letter was from a public affairs official in kabul, and it just basically laid out the case that i -- noting that i had approval and that approval is being revoked because the military was unhappy with, first, the helicopter story, and actually, they mentioned the helicopter story, and then they mentioned the story that i wrote about general mcchrystal for "rolling stone." >> so they specifically pointed out two stories? >> two stories, yes. but the more important part of their case being, what seemed to be the general mcchrystal story. and in fact, what they refer to as the political fallout from the general mcchrystal story.

so nothing to do, really -- there was no specific cases where they mentioned accuracy or anything i got wrong, or any rules i supposedly broke. >> when asked about this, a spokesperson for the defense department said this, and i'm quoting. there is no right to embed. it is a choice made between units and individual reporters. and a key element of an embed is having trust that the individuals are going to abide by the ground rules, the command in afghanistan decided there wasn't the trust requisite, and denied your request. in other words, they didn't trust you to accurately report. >> and that's what's very troubling about this. i've been doing this for five years. i've gone on dozens of embeds with american troops, accompanied them on many combat missions. in fact i have many great friends, both marines and soldiers, who i've met along the way for this. i think what also should be made clear is my travels with general mcchrystal were not considered an embed at the time. and if the military solution now is that it was an embed, then the rules for embeds are very

clear. rule number seven says all comments are on the record. all interviews with service personnel are on the record. >> did you take comments off the record? >> no. >> in that interview with general mcchrystal at all? >> no. and, in fact, if you look at the people who are making that assertion, and what appears to be their case about why they're saying i can't do this embed, the assertions are being made by people who, unfortunately, lost their job as a result of the article, and they're currently under investigation. so they're not necessarily the most credible sources. >> but then why do you think, ultimately, you lost this -- this right to an embed? i mean, what do you think is going on? is it the mcchrystal article or something that's bigger than that? >> i think it's much bigger. this is not just about a "rolling stone" reporter being banned from an embed. this is a system of essentially the war, and how the war is going. june and july were the deadliest months that we've ever seen in the war in afghanistan. the war is at its all-time low in approval ratings, so clearly there's great concern in washington about how the war is going, and the response to this

embed. the response to me on this embed sort of indicates that. i think it's important to let you know, with the helicopter story, these are stories that i'm very passionate about telling. and it is a great -- >> but do you think the military is trying to say to reporters, we will stifle you if you don't tell the story the way we want it told? >> that appears to be the case. you'd have to ask the military if that's what they're doing. but i think if we look at just, say, the story about the pilot, kind of an attack helicopter, you know, sometimes reporters will do a story about policy. sometimes that's going to be very critical. i think that's a good thing to be critical about policy, especially if the policy is not doing well. and sometimes you do it about the people who are fighting the war, the american men and women over there who are actually implementing the policy, and these stories deserve to be told. for that i've always said it's a privilege to be able to see that. >> all right. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. appreciate it. >> once again here's matt. >> meredith, thank you. what would you do if you had a

billion dollars? would you give it away? well, dozens of u.s. billionaires have now agreed to donate at least half of their fortunes to charity. carl quintanilla is back with details on that. carl, it's i lot of jack here. >> it's an interesting concept. it's called the giving pledge. a philanthropic campaign organized by two of the world's richest men, warren buffett and bill gates. and they say it's off to a terrific start. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: they're names you know, like filmmaker george lucas and some you may not like bernie marcus, the co-founder of home depot, but they all have more money than most americans can imagine. and 40 of them have agreed, after being prodded by one of the nation's richest men, warren buffett, to give at least half of it to charity, rather than taxing it down to their kids. >> the fact that so many americans are now thinking about giving away as much as half of their fortunes to charity, and declaring that intention now, is a huge difference in the way we say charitable giving happening.

>> reporter: it all began a few years ago, when buffett and microsoft founder bill gates said they'd give away most of their fortunes. arguing the wealthy have a responsibility to make the world a better place. since then, they've worked the phones, enlisting others like media pioneer ted turner and new york mayor mike bloomberg to follow suit. >> i'd like to encourage other people to do the same thing. this isn't going to change what i'm doing. i've set up my foundations, taken care of my kids, and the thing that gives me the most pleasure in the world is knowing that i'm making a difference. >> reporter: how much money could this bring in? fort rn magazine estimates if every person on the forbes 400 list of wealthy americans did it the total could be $600 billion. individuals gave to nonprofit causes in the u.s. last year. >> i think it is the most powerful effect in the years to come because this money will flow over generations of time, and so that's the really

transformative effect. >> reporter: of course, many wealthy americans already give anonymously. but buffett's message to them is, don't be shy. andrew carnegie, the steel tycoon who practically founded modern thinken tloppy has his name on carnegie hall and carnegie mellon university. spawning a generation of wealthy boners that buffett hopes will shine again. of course these pledges are not legally binding. they're more of a moral commitment. what do the kids of these rich parents think? buffett says in some cases they were the ones that helped convince their parents to join the cause, even though it means less money for them in the will. >> was this a soft sell or a hard sell? larry ellison in "the wall street journal" says he never goes public with philanthropy but the call from buffett kind of forced them out there. did they have a choice? >> that's a good question. buffett said he reached out to about 80 families and about half of them said okay. he called it a soft sell and now he hopes some of the 40 will make some calls of their own and

try to get more people on board. >> but we're not going to hear the names of the 40 who said no. >> true. >> that would be a bad thing. all right, carl, thanks very much. just ahead the man accused of being married to two women at the same time is getting busted for it on facebook. well, he and his current wife explain their side of the story in an exclusive live interview. we'll get to that. but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ male announcer ] how can rice production in india, affect wheat output in the u.s., the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry, in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it's just one reason 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information to read and consider carefully before investing.

a budget disaster. california on the brink. jerry brown's plan? you run for office and the assumption is,

oh, i know what to do. you don't. i didn't have a plan for california. [ female announcer ] with our state in crisis, we need a governor with a plan. you need a real plan, something i'll acknowledge i did not have. [ female announcer ] jerry brown. no plan then. no plan now. meg whitman. a plan for jobs. log on. learn more. coming up, enough is enough. why stay at home parents are fighting back against doing so many favors for their working neighbors. >> plus tips that could help save you a lot of money, time and aggravation. @x@x@x@x

7:26 right now. i'm laura garcia-cannon. want to check in with mike. >> a lot of folks are headed to the bay bridge, a backup has started to form there. filling in the screen over the last 20 minutes. metering lights have been turned on for an hour, but this didn't happen until the last quarter hour. an earlier accident at the skyway is cleared. the peninsula, some fog coming over the san mateo bridge. over here, where there was an earlier sig-alert, has that has been lifted. >> misty skies around this morning. we are look at 50s and 60s.

even towards lunch time. inland today, eventually warming up to the 70s. 59 in san francisco. low 70s in san jose. a look at your seven-day ooks fore aca b lks a bit more like fall. more news after the break.

the big ruling over turning proposition 8 is headed for several appeals. first up, the stay. the judge struck down

proposition 8 and the judge said that gays can begin getting married, but not right away. if he decides same-sex couples can begin to get married, prop 8 backers could ask for an emergency stay. they would get that from the ninth circuit court of appeals, the same court that will hear the overall appeal to yesterday's ruling. the road to the supreme court could be a lengthy one and may take few more years. we'll cover it all for you here. another local news update in a half hour. the "today" show in a half minute. ks

7:30 now on a thursday morning. the 5th of august, 2010. we've got a mix of sun and clouds in new york city today. temperatures now about 80 degrees. it's going to get warmer, and humid. later we're going to get al's forecast coming up in just a little while. meanwhile, inside studio 1a, i'm matt lauer alongside meredith vieira. and just ahead, a new twist in the story that we mist told you morning. >> we spoke to a woman who claimed that she discovered pictures of her husband getting married to another woman on facebook. well, now he says that's not what happened. and this morning, he is here, along with his new wife, for an exclusive, live interview. >> also ahead, yes i'm home, but

no i can't pick up your children. that's the name, kind of a paraphrase, of a new article in "the wall street journal," exploring the frustrations of stay-at-home parents who feel like they're being taken advantage of by their working neighbors. one woman shares her story coming up. >> they call it the doormat rebellion. >> it does happen. you know, if you're home can you do this for me because i'm working. well, they're also busy. >> yes, they are. darn it. and dodging the doctor. more americans are doing it simply to save money. still ahead, just how dangerous that can be to your health. >> let us begin this half hour, though, with the man who allegedly had his double life exposed on facebook. who's now fighting back. in a moment we'll talk to him and his wife exclusively. but first nbc's jeff rossen has the latest on what is an unusual case. jeff, good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, matt, yeah. to say the very least. good morning. people get caught cheating on facebook all the time. a photo leaks out, and the spouse is busted. not what happened here. john france and the "other woman" posted the photos

themselves. then they got married and posted those pictures. meanwhile, his other wife logged on and couldn't believe her eyes. one man, two beautiful brides. >> -- your wife. >> reporter: in 2005, the wedding of john and lynn france. the ceremony along italy's stunning amalfi coast. then in 2008, the wedding of john and amanda france, this one in disney world. complete with fireworks. >> married to me, with our children in one state, and with her in another state. >> double life? >> complete double life. >> reporter: lynn, the 2005 wife, had two kids with john, living in ohio. things seemed great. >> and you click on facebook. >> clicked on facebook. >> reporter: and there he was. proof, she says, john was cheating with another woman in florida. in fact, the other woman, amanda, posted photos of the

relationship on facebook for everyone to see. including lynn. john's wife in ohio. >> what did you see? >> their life together. from their engagement, to their photos from that wedding. >> reporter: lynn says, despite the second wedding, she and john reconciled last year. but this past may, he left her for good, and took the children with him. did, john is living his new life with his new wife, amanda. and they continue to post photos on facebook. including shots of amanda playing with lynn's kids, writing comments like, putting my little loves to sleep. >> to the two of them this is a big joke, and to me it's devastating because it's my children. >> you're saying she's lying? >> big time, yes. >> reporter: wednesday, john and his new wife agreed to sit down for an exclusive interview. you've heard what lynn said. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: you're leading a double life. >> right. >> reporter: you're flaunting it

on facebook. what is your response to her accusations? >> completely absurd. facebook isn't where she found out about the marriage. she knew about the marriage months prior. >> reporter: john france says his marriage to lynn wasn't even legal because of a filing error. >> you're saying your marriage to lynn is invalid? >> correct. >> reporter: there's no marriage? >> there's no marriage. >> reporter: you basically lived like husband and wife, you had rings, you had children together. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: isn't that just a convenient excuse, to pardon your cheating? >> no. i don't think i was cheating. if you have a -- if you have a marriage and it's not right from the beginning, it's not right at the end. >> reporter: lynn also accuses john of keeping their kids from her. she hasn't seen her boys in ten weeks. >> she hasn't seen her kids because that's her choice. >> reporter: you're saying right now if she wants to come down and see the kids? >> absolutely, any day. >> reporter: john and amanda say they just want to move on with their lives together, and want primary custody of the kids. allowing lynn visitation.

do you have any regrets? >> no. i regret that we let her get away with the accusations for so long. >> reporter: now this bizarre case is headed to court in florida. both sides are fighting for custody. late last night we called lynn's lawyer. he told us the marriage is valid, and they have the documents to prove it. and they called john's actions reprehensible, saying the kids should be returned to their mother, lynn, in ohio. matt? >> all right, jeff rossen, thank you very much. john and amanda france are with us now exclusively, along with their attorney gary williams. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> let's start with jeff left off, this marriage. the first marriage to lynn. she says that she's got documents, her lawyer says they've got documents that prove it is legal, it is still in effect. can you prove otherwise? >> yes. this goes back years ago. this is not new news. i hired an attorney to go and confirm if the marriage was legal. the attorney came back with affidavits stating that it is invalid. and i have affidavits with that. >> gary, are you in possession

of those? can you prove legally that the marriage to lynn never was valid, and is not valid today? >> that's our position, matt. we filed a petition with the courts in florida to that effect. and expect that once the evidence is presented we'll find out that that's the case. >> and there was a time, john, where you went to lynn and said, look, our marriage is not legal, we are not married, you had that conversation face-to-face with lynn? >> yeah, we discussed that a number of times. >> and her reaction at that time was what? >> at first she believed it, and then she keeps on flip-flopping, okay? but this goes back years. at least two years. >> did you also sit down with lynn at some point and say, look, this isn't working out, i'm going to florida, i am now involved with another woman. that woman being amanda. i have a new life, i'm no longer involved with you, and nor do i want to be involved with you any longer? >> she knew about lynn in 2007. okay? and she knew about -- >> amanda? >> i mean amanda. >> even you're confused about

this. all right she knew about amanda in 2007. you told her this was a serious relationship? >> yes. >> so when she says that she didn't know about any part of this other side of your life, the relationship, or in particular, the marriage, until she looked on facebook, you respond how? >> that's very untruthful. because, and i told her in 2008 she confronted both me and amanda about the marriage. when we did get married on december 31st we had the boys with us. she had a couple nannies at that time. to make her feel comfortable we had one of the nannies, who is one of her friends, watch the kids in florida. >> when you say you had the boys with you at the time you two got married, did she, and i read this, and i want to make sure i'm clear on this, did lynn send the boys to be with you on the occasion of your marriage? >> she did not send them, no. >> no. okay so the boys were there simply for what reason? >> well, for one, it was a previous case where she was on supervised visitation.

>> okay. >> that's another issue. >> okay. >> the boys have now been with you two for ten weeks? >> ten weeks now. ten, eleven weeks. >> and you've heard lynn said here on tuesday and said again in jeff's piece, that she has not been able to see these boys. that you are keeping your children from her. amanda, why don't you weigh in here. >> it couldn't be any further from the truth at all. we bought her tickets to come down for mother's day. she canceled on the cell phone, not us. every day, every weekend she'll call and talk to the boys. come down. >> we've made numerous efforts to negotiate with lynn's attorneys. and she has elected not to exercise. >> i'm not trying to jump in the middle of your domestic dispute here, but would you take the boys to ohio to see lynn? >> i can't. >> why not? >> because we have a florida order that they can't leave the florida jurisdiction because florida has the jurisdiction. there are motions in ohio,

they've all been dismissed. florida has jurisdiction, and until the court approves, we have to get court approval for -- for me to bring the kids to ohio. >> so, again, just to reiterate, you would have no problem, in fact you would be willing to pay for lynn to fly from ohio to florida to visit with your two boys. >> absolutely. we -- i have discussed this for many -- so many times. you have to remember, this has been going on for two years. the children have gone back and forth. we have all the travel records going back and forth of the time they were with me and the time they were with her. it's pretty much slit. more in florida. >> you are filing a petition for primary custody of these boys in the state of florida. >> for majority custody. >> for majority custody. normally in a situation like this, it would seem to me, and i'm not a legal expert, and gary, i invite you to weigh in here, that the primary custody or majority custody would go with the mom. unless the mom is proven to be unfit in some way. do you feel that lynn is unfit in any way to be a mom to these

boys? >> i'll tell you something, lynn has a history, okay? and i'm not going to bad mouth the children's mother on national tv. she -- we feel that the kids are more stable, comfortable, and secure and safe with me. >> amanda, it seems that one of the things that bothers lynn the most is when she looks on facebook and she says postings of photos with you and the boys, and, i'm putting my little angels to bed, that sort of thing. that you refer to them almost as your boys. do you understand that at all? >> yeah, i understand that perfectly. but, you know what, i love them more than life. and they're not my kids. but when they're with me, you know, i treat them like they are mine. you know, they're not mistreated. i don't know why there's a problem. it should not be a problem. i'm not taunting her. in my mind, taunting, the definition is going on national tv and making false accusations. >> why do you think -- that is

really at the crux of this is that lynn did come on this program on tuesday, under the headline of, i found out my husband was cheating, or was married to another woman on facebook. it's catchy. i mean, there's no -- there's no question about it, that gets attention. >> that gets attention. >> why do you think she did it? simply for the attention? >> simply for attention because she's losing the court battle. >> this is not the first time she's contrastic things for attention. it's not the first time. >> how do you want this to end? >> well, i want it to end, you know, civilly. i want it to end with both parents, me and lynn, having a relationship with our children. i would never prevent the mother from seeing the children. anybody knows me knows i would never do that. >> and you'll look at me in the eye, john, and say you did nothing wrong in this, that you did not cheat on her and were not carrying on a double life. >> i was not carrying on a double life. no way. i'm not an angel. okay. but i did not carry on a double life. lynn knew everything i was doing. for two years -- where did she

think the kids were going? where did you think the kids were going? now she brings it up 2 1/2 years later. >> one other real quick point. she says you got back with her, after you two married you begged her to come back and in 2009, you reconciled. is that true? >> no. >> you never went back? amanda? >> no. why would she say that? >> i mean -- >> we have proof in documents, you know, i'm going back and forth from ohio to florida. i try to make it as convenient as possible for her, i would do all the legwork, all the traveling and we'd do the scheduling ourselves. >> when will this be settled, gary? >> it's going to be some time yet, matt. but we do expect to prevail once the facts are presented in a family law court that john and amanda should have the boys with them the majority of the time. >> gary, amanda, john, thank you very much. appreciate you being here. let's get a check of the weather now from al. >> "today's weather" is brought to you by advil. make advil your number one choice.

>> and we've got a nice group of folks here. where are you guys from? >> tennessee. >> tennessee, very nice. chattanooga. all right. let's check your weather, see what's happening. it's awfully hot but the oanre won't go away. low pressure now, 100 miles of the northern leeward islands. may pose some problems this weekend for the bermuda area. and afternoon temperatures, we've got the heat continuing. 80s, 90s, 100s.n, jackson, columbus, charlotte. it's going to feel like it's well over 100 in memphis. jackson, shreveport, oklahoma city on into norfolk. make sure you drink plenty of fluids. nonalcoholic fluids. unlike this young lady. what's your name? >> maurice. >> and how old are you today? >> 87. >> all right.

a look at san jose, cool temperatures, 57 degrees. san francisco, misty skies. 54 degrees. look at this. effects of the ocean air conditioning on overdrive now 73 degrees. san jose, 50s for san francisco. mid 60s oakland this pattern that we have been in off and on through the summer will continue through the weekend. lots of clouds along the coast. temperatures inland trying to warm up a bit. probably not until the middle part of next week. and don't forget you can check your weather any time of the day or night on weather channel on cable, or weather.com online. matt? >> all right, al, thank you very much. up next, searching for a new home? how to spot the difference between a diamond in the rough, and a real money pit. that rht afterhi

back at 7:47, and this morning on "today's real estate" is it a money pit or a hidden gem? many potential homeowners are searching for bargains but it can be tricky to figure out if a house is an easy fixer-upper or an expensive dream. barbara corcoran is here to tell us what to look for. >> good morning. >> it's all about discriminating between the big problems, and the little problems. >> you're right. >> exactly. so we're going to put up some of the potential problems that the home buyers might come across, you're going to tell us which is the sign of a hidden gem, or a money pit. first one, signs of water in the basement. >> oh, this one is a money pit big time. it takes a heck of a lot of

money to repair. water in the basement is very easy to spot. you look for the water rings on the basement wall, or on the floor, and you can also look certainly on the damage that's on the storage items within the basement. there's a great shot of an obvious sign but sometimes you don't see it. you have to look at the stuff being stored there. >> what kind of money are we talking about? >> big money, $20,000. you've got to excavate around the entire house to fix a leaky basement. not a good job. >> next problem you might come across termites. >> who likes termites, nobody. but there's a reason for it. it's a money pit. a money pit is a bad idea here, as well. the termites, along with their creepy cousins those carpenter ants can munch right through the floor boards as well as the plate of the house that holds the entire house up. >> okay. when i'm looking for homes if i came across kind of a crumbny kitchen that totally turned me off. was i right or wrong there? >> you were really wrong. i don't mean to tell you you're wrong, but kitchen is the easiest fix in the house. it's always, always an easy fix. you can do surface appliance

repairs. you can refinish your cabinet tops. nothing substantial is going to keep you away from a good house because of the kitchen. >> the same true of a bathroom? >> even better with a bathroom. what's great about a bathroom is it's not a money pit at all because you go to salvage yard, ebay, you can get very inexpensive appliances. you can fix an entire bathroom floor for about $500. >> if you look at a home and there san asbestos problem, money pit? >> oh, come on, asbestos? definitely a money pit. the kind that is airborne, wrapping around some of those old pipes, you've got to bring in the big guys in the white suits to get rid of it. a big expense. going to cost you $20,000. >> and then poor landscaping. curb appeal is what most people go for. if you've come across landscaping that's really bad, should you steer clear? >> not at all. this is a sweetheart of a deal, you get a house that simply needs landscaping. it's really a lidden gem. the reason for that is you put a little bit of money in landscaping you get it back in

sfads. a typical landscape is $8,000. you'll get a 10% increase in the value of your home. >> but if there's an overgrown tree in the front yard, beware. >> it's expensive. it just looks like a tree that you can chop down but it's going to cost you $10,000. if it's a weeping willow, it still grows undergroud looking for water. >> that's right. barbara cochran, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> the tragic end to the search for a missing arizona toddler who wandered into the desert alone.

just ahead, a stay-at-home revolt. more of fe ad upayre havingy'rer unfeup havr g to run your errands all day. 9 9ohohohoh 9 z papcin

good morning to you. it is 7:56 right now. i'm laura garcia-cannon checking in with mike who has a sig-alert. >> peninsula northbound 101 is where the accident was reported, the fast lane both north and southbound at university avenue currently blocked. it sounds like lanes are not expected to clear until maybe 8:30 at the earliest. an overturned suv there, also a lot of traffic heading up north through palo alto this time of day. southbound slow heading towards highway 84. slowing approaching the dumbarton bridge. oakland clearer as far as the traffic goes. >> still clouds there, what is not helping your commute is misty skies around san francisco. you can see some of that hitting the camera lens. 54 degrees, southwest wind at 6. august temperatures, 50s today.

65 in oakland. 73 around san jose. it looks like we will head into the weekend with the same weather pattern, cool temperatures taking us into the beginning of next week. time right now is 7:56. more news after the break.

the step grandfather of a ground boy killed by the family's pit bull will be in court today.

he owned the three pit bulls that mauled the 2-year-old to death. he is charged with felony child endangerment and keeping a vicious animal unleashed. a mistrial in a san jose case left the jury in tears. 11 of the 12 jurors were certain that jason cai was guilty, but a lone hold-out kept them from make the decision. after the judge read the decision, many jurors cried and even approached the family to apologize. another local news update in a half hour. the "today" show in less than a minute.

♪ 8:00 on this thursday morning, august 5th, 2010. hearing music from the band train, our way of reminding you that they will be taking over our summer concert stage tomorrow on "today." and we look forward to that. i'm meredith vieira here with matt lauer and al roker. if you are somebody who works during the day you probably know a stay-at home parent or a work-from-home parent and you probably at some point have asked them for a favor. maybe to pick up some kids or run an errand. a lot of these parents say they're fed up with that. they're tired of being the neighborhood doormat, and being taken advantage of. it's become quite an issue.

>> it's an extreme case because in a lot of cases people in neighborhoods do chip in and really help out. it's only when one person is being taken advantage of. also we're going to talk bay troubling trend a growing number of americans are apparently cutting back on trips to the doctor, preventive tests, things like that, simply because money is tight and they're trying to save money. but we're going to talk about how dangerous that can be, about the tests you simply should never avoid, and the ones that you can get away with skipping. >> took a -- >> was it a louse? >> was it a bug? >> you didn't kill it, did you? >> wow. it's like wild kingdom out here. and from last-minute getaways to cool gear, everything you need to wrap up the summer and get ready for the school year for you and your family. >> all right. meanwhile carl quintanilla is standing by at the news desk filling in for ann. >> that's right. >> meredith, matt, al, good

morning. opponents of gay marriage are preparing ton appeal now that california's ban has been struck down. a federal judge said wednesday that the state's ban was an unconstitutional violation of gay couples' civil rights. both sides believe the case will ultimately be decided by the u.s. supreme court. in arizona, there's a tragic end in the search for a missing 2-year-old boy. the body of emmitt trapp was found wednesday. nbc's lee cowan is in dewey, arizona. lee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carl. yeah, sheriff officials here say that that little toddler walked an astonishing three to four miles all by himself out in this desert. but apparently he was walking in circles. in the end, 2-year-old emmett trapp was found less than a mile from his desert home. barefoot, in his dinosaur pajamas, in a muddy ravine. >> just hug your children a little closer tonight. it's been tough for everyone all the way around. >> reporter: emmett had been missing since monday when he walked away from his home while the rest of his family was

napping. all along investigators insisted that there was no foul play. that emmett had simply wandered off. >> a 2-year-old doesn't even know that he's lost. he's just out on an adventure at first and he's walking around, and then he starts needing things like food and water and that's when he gets turned. >> reporter: nearly 100 rescuers scoured the desert to find him using horses, helicopters, and more. but it was actually hikers who accidentally stumbled on some tiny footprints that led investigators to the remote and very rugged spot where emmett was finally found. >> that little boy, he went through a lot. he went really far. >> reporter: and residents fear, he endured even more. >> knowing that he could have possibly been out there for three days, by himself, hungry, thirsty, wanting his mama. you know. >> reporter: this morning, a family in mourning. after a little boy's curiosity of the outdoors turned deadly.

carl, an autopsy is expected to be performed but every indication is at this point that this little boy just died of exposure out here from the desert's harsh elements and nothing more. >> it's just heartbreaking, lee. nbc's lee cowan in dewey, arizona. overseas markets are mostly higher this morning. cnbc's trish regan is at the norkz stock exchange. what are we watching today >> good morning, carl. the ecb, as well as the bank of england, left rates unchanged. that's one good reason we're seeing some upside overseas this morning in europe. investors are rather cautious on this side of the pond. this is ahead of tomorrow's big jobs report. all eyes on that. the other thing very much in focus today is retail sales. stores are going to be reporting their monthly same-store sales and the expectation is that it will be a little bit better. that, in fact, we did see a little bit of demand. we shall see, carl. >> all right, trish regan at the big board. supermodel naomi campbell testified this morning at the war crimes trial of former

liberian ruler charles taylor. campbell confirmed she received some dirty-looking pebbles after a dinner in south africa in 1997. prosecutors contend they're actually blood diamonds that taylor got for supporting rebels in sierra leone's civil war. it is 8:05. let's go back to matt and meredith out on the plaza. >> the other end of the plaza. >> we've got a birthday here. matt, oh, matt, you're 10 years old. how does it feel being in double digits? >> i have no idea. no idea. all right. you're a lot like our director. no idea. all right. nice. happy birthday, bud. let's check your weather, see what's happening. st. paul, minnesota, our pick city. kare-11. partly cloudy. 81 degrees. gwee'vot a cold front from new england all the way back into the mid-plains. heavy thunderstorms along that. we've got a risk of strong storms from new england all the

way into the central southeastern atlantic states. also out in the rockies. beautiful weather, partly sunny skies in the pacific northwest. the heat continues throughout the south. dangerously hot conditions. heat advisories throughout 20 states today. and we've got sunshine around the western great lakes. where are you guys from? >> louisiana. >> louisiana. all right. lake charles, louisiana. here's a hook look at san francisco, looks like a spray bottle there. 50s all around. lunchtime, we'll start to see clearing inland. we're not going to warm up a whole lot. things will be quite mild by august standards, mostly 70s inland. 50s and 60s along the peninsula and coast. same story tomorrow and the weekend also running quite cool. and we have a freshly minted teenage per who is 13?

well happy birthday. now let's go back over to matt. >> all right, al, thank you very much. when we come back, some at home workers who say enough is enough. why they're tired of running your errands. we'll talk about that. but first, these messages. g ] look in the glove box. [ children laughing ] suitcase? huh? ♪ where do gummy bears hide? under the seat. look! yeah! ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ male announcer ] the all new chevy equinox. [ man ] guess who? dad! [ man ] enjoy the trip! okay, daddy! [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it takes you farther... and brings you closer. because grandpa said that our name goes on everything we make. [ male announcer ] tim and richard smucker grew up knowing that putting your name on every jar was a guarantee of quality. with a name like smucker's, it has to be good.

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we are back now at 8:11. around 35 million americans now work predominantly from home. a decision that can come with a lot of extra work that has nothing to do with their careers. "today" national correspondent amy robach is here to explain. amy, good morning. >> meredith, good morning to you. it's not only people who work from home, but also stay-at-home moms and dads, and many of them are now saying they are tired of being the unpaid personal assistants of friends and neighbors who work outside the home. the stay-at-homers are angry and they say they're not taking it anymore. diane fitzpatrick is a mom and freelance writer who works from home. she says she's tired of helping out moms who work in an office. >> it's hard enough to take care of your own family, your own

housework, things like that, but when you're one of the few stay-at-home parents in a neighborhood, it can be a little bit overwhelming. >> reporter: fitzpatrick and others like her are the subject of a recent "wall street journal" article called "yes, i'm moment, no i can't pick up your child." >> if i'm stopping at school to pick up my own kids, there were a lot of times when parents would say, oh, hey, while you're there could you get my four kids and the neighbor's three kids. >> reporter: there are about 35 million people who work from home, according to the telework coalition. and when you add the more than 7 million americans currently out of work, the pool of potential helpers for working parents is bigger than ever. >> i think that working women feel like stay-at-home moms have it really made. that we really -- we might say we're busy, but really, how busy can you be if you don't go in to work. >> reporter: when elke's job was

cut back to three days a week, friends and neighbors had plenty for her to do. >> i hate saying no. that's the problem. i don't like saying no. so i would do it and be a little bit disappointed in myself for doing something i didn't want to do. >> reporter: but she and others in the stay-at-home club have had enough. she found a way to turn favors into cash. signing up to work part-time for taskrabbit.com, a new website connecting people and their errands with people at home who can do them. >> now i don't have to say no. it's on taskrabbit. i can get paid and they get their task done. if i can't do it, someone else can pick up the task. so it's great. you know, the friends are happy. and i'm happy. >> reporter: but for fitzpatrick the line in the sand is clear. >> i've gotten very good at saying no. i've been doing this for more than 20 years. so, i mean, you do anything for 20 years you're going to get pretty good at it. >> so how can you improve your ability to say no? if you have a home office consider having two phone lines, one for business, one for home

and only give out your home number to friends, and let the answering machine pick it up if it rings from 9:00 to 5:00. >> good idea. jeffrey fastlow is the columnist for "the wall street journal" who wrote that column, "yes, i'm home, no, i can't pick up your child." good morning to both of you. jeff in your article you write that diane fitzpatrick, the woman you just saw in that piece, somehow feels like the doormat of the neighborhood, that's a quote of yours, aand that she is part of a doormat rebellion. what is fueling it right now? >> well, i think there's this option that people have to vent, which is the internet. and on all this mom chat rooms they're saying, you say you're my friend, but you're only using me to pick up your kids. are you really my friend? i think there's a way for people to connect which is helping. >> is part of the problem, harriet, problem areas, that these people, you know, the at-work folks and the at-home people have not figured out how to interact with each other. >> you have a concept that it takes a village. in order to have a village you have to communicate. it's fine that one time, it's an

emergency, i need help and you know that your neighbor's there and you ask for help. i think we should all be willing to help out once in an emergency. but it's the repetitive nature of what's happening. oh, you did it once, therefore you can be my go-to person even if i haven't asked you. like you wrote in your article that people put down other folk's names in case of emergency, but they forgot to say, you are my in case of emergency person. i think that what needs to happen is that you talk about it. we all do need help. sometimes people are willing to help, but nobody wants to be taken advantage of, you know, just the assumption you'll do this for me a thousand times. >> and taking a necessity and turning it into a convenience. >> and people getting paid, i love the taskrabbit idea. because a lot of people who are out of work are out of work because they got laid off. and they don't want to talk about it. you don't really want to talk about it with your neighbors. but if you could make money helping people out, i think that that's a good balance. >> with so many people out of

work, they need a self-esteem boost in a way. and helping someone out with an errand is a way to do that. some work-at-home people are helping. they should be out looking for work, not helping their neighbor with errands. >> but elke seemed to find that solution for her, which is getting paid, because she's someone who had such difficulty saying no. how do you say no? >> well, she said she wished that she could stand up -- >> it's really hard to do that. >> in english it's your native tongue. that's how you say no. >> a little easier said than done with the neighbors. >> i love the idea of letting the voicemail pick up the phone. and also, you can claim, you know, i'm working. now my office is in my home, but i'm working. i'm sorry, i can't do this for you. >> let's say you're not working, our i-stay-at-home. >> i would say that any stay-at-home mom is working, probably working harder than many people at a nine to five. she can say i'm busy right now, i'm so sorry that i can't do that for you.

maybe i can do it another time. >> it's about saying yes slowly, not about saying no. you've got to say, let me think about it. let me look at my schedule. let me see what my kids are doing. wait to say yes. >> what about this still commonsense, old-fashioned courtesy here, that in the neighborhood, if you do a favor for somebody, or you ask a favor of somebody, you will return it? >> well, i think that happens sometimes. but again, going back to the village concept, communication is the most important thing. and i believe that especially as parents and children, that's where like the laundry, watering the plants, whatever. but when it comes to kids, parents are in a panic if they need help. and some parents need help a lot. if you know that that's true, ask in advance, would you be so kind as to help me in case of emergency, or in these various cases. >> maybe at that point offer to pay a little something. >> absolutely. you should. >> or a gift er certificate or d over dinner, kindness should be repaid in kindness.

>> thank you so much. up next, why you could be putting your health at risk if you're skipping doctors visits to save money. right after this. ♪ whoa ♪ ♪ ♪ one tribe, y'all ♪ one tribe, y'all ♪ one tribe, y'all ♪ we are one people [ female announcer ] when you choose pepsi, you support the pepsi refresh project. which is giving away millions of dollars to refresh communities across america. ♪ one, one, one people [ female announcer ] so choose pepsi. ♪ one tribe, y'all [ female announcer ] every pepsi refreshes the world. ♪ one, one, one people

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to you by fiber choice. a fast, easy way to get the same natural fiber found in fruits and vegetables. this morning on "today's health," dodging the doctor. according to the latest numbers from the healthcare industry, americans are cutting back on visits to the doctor. and many cite financial reasons. what can you do to stay healthy for less? jean chatzky is "today's" financial editor. dr. nancy synderman is nbc's chief medical editor. ladies, good morning to both of you. basically what we're hearing from "the wall street journal" report is that insurers, lab testing companies, hospitals, doctors, all report the same findings. patient visits, drug prescriptions, proceed sures down in the second quarter of this year from the same period a year ago. why? >> seriously, if you look at unemployment up at 10%, it's stuck there for a long time. people are losing their insurance. those who were covered by a c.o.b.r.a. subsidy are starting to lose that, as well, so they're having to pay for it. and we've seen a huge number of people opt in to this health savings accounts where they have

to pay thousands of dollars before the insurance kicks in. >> are we finding, according to these numbers, that people are simply becoming more discerning, nancy, and they're cutting out the extra procedures? >> i think it's a little bit of both. i think for the worried well, who don't have to worry about putting money out of their own pocket they're going to be more discerning. that's exactly what those health savings accounts are about. but it's the people on the fringe i worry about. the people who never have overt access to health care system who might now not be seeing a doctor. remember at the same time that she and i are talking about aetna reported profits last week of 42%. and that means they're saving because not as many people are using. >> let's go back to, are we seeing -- is there anecdotal or real evidence that people who are sick are simply not going to the doctor because they can't afford it? >> why i. >> i think as nancy says, yes, we're seeing a little bit of both. but we're also seeing patients who need knee replacements and other things -- >> elective procedures. >> just pushing them off.

>> what concerns me about this is that if you have a chronic problem and you don't access a doctor, you end up accessing it later in the emergency room, which is more expensive, and you end up consuming more health care dollars. >> if this continues, what's it going to do to the business model of the health care industry? >> this is actually the silver lining. if this continues, and there's a basic supply and demand kind of a curve, prices are going to have to come down. aetna and other companies are going to be under pressure to bring down the price of insurance, doctors may have to bring down prices of their procedures in order to -- >> but will they really do it? i mean, under what pressure will aetna be to say we're now going to take our prices down. >> under congressional pressure. there are certain representatives in washington who are saying at least if you're not going to bring them down, don't raise them as much, and maybe we'll see a halt to some of those price increases. >> let me go to something else that's kind of as advertised. one of the things we talked about when we said we'd be doing this segment, okay if you're in financial tough times and you

have to make decisions about what health care services you will and will not take part in, what are some of the tests you simply cannot avoid, do not cut corners on? >> don't skip your she'dhood immunizations in your kids. because those are the things that we know actually prevent illness. and we tend to think that the dentist is just an odd-on health care item. i happen to think the dentist and dental hygienists pick up gum disease and tooth disease that lead to diabetes and heart disease and cancers and you don't have access to those, at least go and get your blood pressure taken at any local pharmacy for free. get your cholesterol checked. at least know your waist circumference. >> remember that some of these prices are, in fact, negotiable. you can go to a doctor, you can go to a hospital, they pay different insurers different rates and you say i can't afford this -- >> they will give you a better price. >> and your point is a good point, also. take advantage of these free screenings, health care fairs and things like that.

>> they're there. >> all right. jean, nancy, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. just ahead, the hottest new back-to-school gadgets and gear for you and your kids. good morning to you, it's 8:26. mike has a lot going on. >> we have a sigalert, a lot of traffic, it has been canceled. the lanes are cleared 101 around university avenue. first had the first lane blocked for about a half hour. add another ten minutes on your drive heading towards the bridge. >> and on the west side of the bay, over on the peninsula, enough rain to wet the roads, that may cause problems on the

commute. not warming up much at all around san francisco. we're in the 50s now and we'll stay there throughout the day. 70s inland today. about the same story tomorrow with more morning mist and drizzle. mild temperatures continue for e th ekwed.d.enen more news after the break.

this week construction crews are getting ready to tear down the trans bay terminal.

the examiner reports a new temporary outdoor bus terminal could be congested and may confuse commuters. the terminal is between beal and main and some say it's too small for the amount of bus riders who come through. a long hanging bus ramp that hangs a quarter over the temporary site. "today" show returns in less than a minute. have a great morning.

8:30 now on a thursday morning. the 5th day of august, 2010. we've got a nice crowd on the plaza this morning. there will be a little less elbow room tomorrow when the musical group train rolls onto the plaza as part of our summer concert series.

they will be here in our 8:30 half hour. they've been here before. we like them. and if you're in the area, get here early. >> it should be fun. >> yeah. >> out on the plaza i'm matt lauer along with meredith vieira. al roker and carl quintanilla are joining, as well. ann is off this week. we're going to meet a woman in this half hour who is changing the world one post-it note at a time. >> that's exactly right. she's having body image issues and self-esteem issues and she went into a public bathroom and kind of wrote this note to herself and anybody else who might be in there saying, you are beautiful. what she did was start an international movement. we're going to meet the woman behind operation beautiful coming up. it's quite something. >> and now, i know the background, i understand why you've got that sign up all over your dressing room. >> oh. >> we're moving along. >> and you know as a kid heading back to school, you may be thinking, one more vacation in. with or without the kids. ear going to show you how you can do that. great last-minute getaway

destinations. and also we're going to check out some cool new items to help everyone survive the rush back to school. >> plus how many times do you guys splurge on an expensive cup of coffee, but then spent hours looking for the cheapest airfares, groceries online? we're going to talk about what it means to be a schizophrenic consumer. >> mr. roker how about a check of the weather. sticky. >> it is sticky. let's take a look, show you the weekend. we've got mild, warm weather all the way up and down the eastern seaboard. hot in the mid-atlantic states. sizzling conditions in the midsegz of the u.s. late risk of strong storms in the mid-plains. sunday, sunny and mild through the new england states. nice and warm in the mid-atlantic states. we do have showers an thunderstorms in the southwest. mild in the pacific northwest. and we've got sizzling conditions and gulf coast showers and storms along the gulf coast. also want to mention, we've got some moms and some viewers from across the country, they're all

part of a group called blog her b-l-o-g-h-e-r, blog her, and they're all hanging out here. just want to say hi to them. >> convention here. >> a big convention of blogher. here's a look at some heavy drizzle, a little bit of light rain around san francisco. we're in san jose now, 57, a northwest wind at 3 miles per hour. cloudy skies north to south, east to west this morning. sunshine inland but still cool temperatures for this time of year. 70s inland, 50s and 60s on the coast. temperatures inland warming up a little bit after the weekend heading into next week, the mild pattern continues for the next seven days. that's your latest weather. now, let's say hello, live to mr. willard scott. how are you, my friend? >> hey, baby, that's a big crowd

you've got up there. give them my love. i don't know about you, but 100th anniversary of the boy scouts of america. so many good things. during world war ii, you can't believe. i think irving berlin gave them the rights to "god bless america" they were so well thought of. i was a scout by golly, and my grandson is an eagle scout. very proud of the scouts. we love them. they're here in town today, 100 years old. as they celebrate. and as we celebrate, we have irlene mccoy of south carolina, where it all began. 110 she is. enjoys listening to christian music on the radio. got a lot of those stations, clifford, look at old cliff order, clifford schwind, 100 years old, ann arbor, michigan. still drives and enjoys the car. we have mary ann rosenberg of

tarzana, california, 100 years old today. secret to longevity is clean living. that's like our crew here. and says she eats every m&m she can get her hands on. samuel -- i like that name -- good, lib bical name, samuel sandberg, fort lee, new jersey. retired motion picture account auditor. also loves bingo. bingo's good sport. and what do you call these things? computers. louise noon, naples, florida, 100 years old. rides a three-wheel bike. on i-95. no, just kidding. all around the neighborhood. everybody loves her. and you can't beat that. finally we have betsy rosky of scottsdale, arizona. 101. began swimming laps at 80 and won the senior olympics when she was 97. last seen crossing the atlantic. and now, speaking of powerful swimmers, here is matt. >> all right, wird, great to see

you. thank you very much. when we come back, one woman's attempt to change the way women see themselves one post-it note at a time. we'll talk to her. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

it's time to start a revolution. she wants women to give themselves a break and learn to love themselves just the way they are. she is spreading her positive body image one post-it note at a time. and she is documenting it all with her video camera. ♪ you must have been a beautiful baby ♪ >> my name is caitlin and i love in charlotte, north carolina, with my husband, and my two dogs. i started "operation beautiful" because i believe we have a body image crisis on our hands. the average girl begins a diet

when she's 8 years old. and shockingly, more women have anorexia or bulimia than are suffering from breast cancer. "operation beautiful" wants to spread a positive message. leave random post-its in public places with simple messages on them. true beauty comes from the heart, not the mirror. this is not a trick mirror. you look this awesome. stop the negative thoughts now. you are beautiful. it's about changing the way you think, not the way you look. it's truly amazing that one little note can make such a big difference in someone's life. >> caitlin boyle with "operation beautiful" transforming the way you see yourself one post-it note at a time. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> you started "operation beautiful" about a year ago at a time when you were feeling bad about yourself. what happened? >> i was struggling with

negative self-talk and i wanted to do something positive for someone else to make myself feel better, too. so i put a note on a public bathroom that just simply said, you are beautiful, and i took a photo and i blogged about it, and the rest is history. and you know, the book, and the website is just a really uplifting and positive way to change the way you think. >> the book is a compilation of some of the post-its that you received. you received literally thousands of them. and also the stories behind the post-its, the women who put them up in the first place. what are some of your favorites? >> some of my favorite notes are when people put notes on the scale at the gym that say, scales measure weight, not worth. once a girl put a note in a diaper changing station and it said, you're a beautiful mom, thanks for doing all you do. and i think my favorite one in the book is, a note that's on a stop sign and they use the stop sign and on a big poster board there's stop the negative thoughts, you're beautiful. >> and the book is divided into seven chapters, addresses a variety of topics, including

food, fitness and fat talk. something you said so many women suffer with or suffer from. what is fat talk? >> fat talk is just negative self-talk. but women and men do, too, when we talk down about ourselves and our bodies, and i really want to put an end to fat talk, and you know, encourage a conversation about health being the most important thing you can do. >> i know a lot of moms are using this book to address issues with their little girls, you say kids start dieting at the age of eight. did you ever feel given the exposure that they have to the media on a daily basis that you are tilting at windmills here? >> i think it's amazing what one note can do. when people post these notes it really affects them. when they find the notes, sometimes they feel like it's divine intervention. they found it at the right moment, at the right place, and i think that a message from a stranger can do a lot for someone. >> you've had literally people from all over the world respond to this. why -- why do you think that is? why does it resonate so much with women these days?

>> unfortunately when we see so much negative messaging from the media, society, i mean so many images and magazines are photo shopped, and especially young girls don't understand that that's not reality. so girls and women are striving to reach this unattainable ideal, and you know, we're making ourselves miserable in the process. >> and you do try to target anorexics, and people suffering with bulimia. what kind of response have you gotten from them? >> i think they really love it. they see it as a tool in the recovery. just to get out there and be positive and think about themselves in that positive way, too. some girls who have found them in treatment centers say that it's been a turning point in their recovery. >> really? >> yeah, it's really helped them. >> and something that simple, too. that's what's amazing to me. it's just a very simple, clear message. >> i don't think you can ever underestimate the power of kindness. >> there are three things that you want everyone to know, so i make sure before you go you get those out. the first one is you're never alone. >> yes. i think this community comes together and shows people that you're never alone. you know, people have a great capacity for goodness.

i have so many e-mails from people who just want to help others. you know, and three that you can really change your life just with a positive outlook. >> and do something nice for strangers that will make you feel better about yourself. caitlin boyle, thank you so much. the book is called "operation beautiful." >> up next, perfect last-minute summer getaways for the whole family. first this is "today" on nbc.

we're back now at 8:45. this morning on "today's travel," a final summer fling. with the school year fast approaching it's the perfect time to play hooky one last time with your family. kate maxwell is the articles editor at conde nast traveler. >> good morning. >> congratulations on the new title, by the way. let's talk about this. we talk about exotic vacations, we talking about kind of down-to-earth vacations, what? >> a bit of a mix actually. you've still got a few weeks

left before school so get out there. we've got some here in the u.s. and a few further afield. >> the first one we want to talk about is belize. i actually went there once for the show. it's a great place. it's my impression it's under the radar still. >> it's only an hour and a half flight from miami, so it's fairly close. it's been guatemala and mexico and it's a beautiful peninsula i've been to. gorgeous beaches, wonderful rainforest. all sorts of things for the kids. >> does belize have the amenities the average american traveler is looking for? >> yes, it really does. it's $117 a night for eight nights and then that includes everything from food to activities, you can go and see a mayan ruin. you can go hunting for howler monkeys, snarkling. belize has got the second largest barrier reef in the world. so diving and snorkeling is amazing. >> let's talk about jamaica, and it's famous for a seven mile beach. you like a particular end of it.

>> beaches, sandy fair which is on the quieter part of seven mile beach. this is really the kind of luxe, relaxed caribbean as opposed to belize. >> all inclusive? >> $100 a night. that includes everything, all meals, even alcohol. for the parents, not the children, and activities for the little ones. sesame street characters. hang out with big bird. martha stewart craft academy. really something for everyone. >> let's move on to one of the national parks, and just a beautiful one. this one is yosemite and has a nostalgic feel for you. >> it does. i had my 6th birthday at yosemite. i still have very vivid memories of it. >> is that you in the corner of that picture? >> that's me, yes. also great things. we went biking and hiking. sang songs around the campfires. you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great time with the family. >> you like the rustic cabins at curry village. >> and all sorts of different

categories. tents, cabins, and some slightly more luxurious accommodation as well. >> you talk about luxury. you're talking about palmia at los cabos. this is known as a celebrity magnet. >> yes, it is. >> during the holidays in particular. what's it like in the summer? >> they've been more and more family friendly. and the one at palmia is where gwyneth paltrow and chris martin had their honeymoon but it's really good for families. they have a good rate at the moment. it's down from $500 a night to $375. again all inclusive. the great thing about this is there are kids activities. you can drop the kids off at 9:00 in the morning and leave them until 5:00 in the afternoon. >> that's all right. you like one for leaving the kids home you like savannah, georgia. >> such a romantic destination. our readers really like it. scores very highly on readers choice every year. it's really charming -- >> a little warm right now. >> it's pretty steamy.

but $209 a night, historic property, four poster beds. they've got things like free wine in the afternoon, and afternoon tea, and it's in essential savannah. >> why don't we wrap this up a little closer to home, a resort about an hour and a half to two hours from here, the hamptons on the east end of long island. >> the hamptons is known for being the playground for the jet set. but, quark is a very small village that's less known, in east hampton, an hour and 20 minutes from the city and they have a really good week rate. if you go monday, tuesday, wednesday it's half price. it's about $162 a night, which is really good for the hamptons. beachy feel. they've got a private beach. you can rent bicycles, and cycle around, and the amenities of east and west hampton. >> and people go out there to montauk there's a chance they see you surfing out there because you're an amateur surfer. >> very small chance. >> all right kate maxwell good to have you here.

appreciate the information. up next, cool items to get you and your kids ready to heed back to school. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >> ...berber carpet. it was a whole bowl of stew. nooo. why? i could have saved this one. i could have saved this one. ♪ call 1-800-steemer

this morning on "today's" moms, cool mom picks for back to school. whether you've got a week or a month to get kids reedly we've

got some great items for the elementary school set. a mom, publisher and editor in chief of coolmompicks.com. she's also attending blog her. a conference for women bloggers in new york. you should note that nbc universal is an investor in blogher. liz, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> about 2,000 women attending this blogher conference. we've got almost 2,000 here in the audience this morning joining us. maybe not quite. and 20 million women a month go to that website. why has it become such a phenomenon, do you think? >> i think self-publishing is incredibly empowering, particularly for women. the idea that so many of us can come together and connect in person is really amazing. >> and very powerful, too. >> very. >> you have run this website over the past few years, coolmompicks.com. you've come up with your choices for going back to school. first category is to tote around and we're going to start with lunch boxes. or they look like bunch boxes. >> a very cool little company made these lunch bags that look

really different than the kind of licensed characters you tend to see. >> absolutely. >> and they're neoprene type fabric. >> and from there to the back packs. they're very personalized, these. >> yeah, yeah some if you want to pick something up from a simple monogram, emily tanner this designer down in knoxville, she completely customizes these back packs to your specifications. >> you pick the face you want? >> exactly, skin tone. my daughter had a hat so we put one on this little girl. some moms don't like to monogram for safety reasons so you can do it with an image. >> and then the messenger bags, also very cute. >> these are for bigger kids who are handle a messenger bag. rebags repurposes bags and cools them into messenger bags. >> i love that, recycling. >> there's a discount for "today" show viewers on the website. >> we don't have a lot of time. things that kids can wear.

everybody knows the silly bandz craze. this is a nice alternative. >> a company called life wear has kind of copied the design and put it onto t-shirts. >> this is my favorite item. i hope this come in adult sizes. the dr. seuss converse sneakers. >> yeah, they're in youth sizes and adult sides. but i think it's the little preschool sizes that are making everybody want to have babies again. >> i can't have that. now you put a kid together with a thing and you have a lost thing. these are labels. >> oliver's labels did something really cool. used designs inspired by designer prints. this is as close to burberry as you're going to get right now. >> and what about the stamps here? >> this is a small etsy shop called scribbling club. they'll create a likeness of your kid to make a book stamp so your books will come home at the end of the day. >> kids neat to get organized.

parents need to get organized. it's a way to save your child's art. >> i own two of them. they're springloaded so you can put your kid's artwork right in and layer more on top of them up to 50 pieces. >> very cute. and the last item here. this is a way to sort of save papers, and sentimental items through the years -- >> i call it a lazy mom's scrapbook. so mom agenda came out with this, casey's club. at the end of the year you're going to have something really fantastic to store all your kids' keepsakes in. >> it's one of the things i wish i had done. >> you get one for each kid. >> are you good about this? >> no, terrible. >> all right, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> again, all cool items for kids going back to school. just ahead from the barks to the wags, what your dog is really trying to tell you after your local news and weather.

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back now with more of "today" on a thursday morning the 5th day of august, 2010. we have a great group of people gathereded out on the plaza on a hot and sticky morning here in new york. it is going to be hotter and stickier before the day is over an don't forget that we have a big summer concert here tomorrow morning as train hits the plaza. al is on the plaza along with tamron hall and al roker and natalie morales, and ann is off this week, and she will be next week. will have a look at a dictators and diamonds in the rough.

naomi campbell is testifying this morning about how some diamonds she holds could hold a key to convicting a man. we will have more on that story coming up. and this san interesting question, are you a schizophrenic shopper? it is a term coined by "businessweek magazine" and maybe you hunt for bargains or clip coupons burk at the same time you are buying the fancy new car or splurging or the the starbucks coffee, you may have a split personality when it comes to consumer goods. >> a penny wise and dollar foolish. >> well, people are having a better outcome. >> and we are going to teach you to think like a dog. don't say anything. >> i was going to say. >> according to a news poll, a majority of the dog owners like myself say they know what their furry friend is telling them

with a wine or a pant. and apparently, we have it wrong and an expert is going to come on to tell us to think like our furry friends, and if this requires me to sniff anyone, i am not coming back out. dogs sniff. >> okay. go, go, go. >> and you know, if you hold on to anything long enough, it will come back again. that is right. we are talking about hippie clogs and swatch watches and glasses, and june martin is here to show us old-fashioned favorites that are part of the latest trends. >> very nice. >> okay. >> if it forces know sniff anyone, i'm not coming back. i know. >> we have things to do, and people to see. >> inside carl quintanilla is inside at the news desk while anne is not here. carl, take it away. >> thank you, everybody. the next stop in california's fight over the gay marriage ban is the 9th circuit of appeals. the popponents of prop 8 are filing an appeal calling it a

violation of gay civil rights. eventually the supreme court could confront whether gays have a constitutional right to marry. today, bp is pumping cement into the well in the gulf of mexico now that the static kill is holding. officials approved the cement plan as long as it does not delay the final solution of those relief wells. the president is touring an sem -- assembly plant in chicago. and super model naomi campbell is on the stand. martin fletcher has more. >> good morning, carl. blood diamonds and an african dictator came together at a hague trial this morning. naomi campbell said that after a charity dinner 13 years ago she was awoken by a knock on her door at night and two men gave ler what she calls dirty

pebbles. it is a different spotlight for the super model better known for the courtroom. >> i solemnly swear on the bible -- >> those pebbles were rough diamonds. >> they were dirty pebbles. i am not used to seeing diamonds, but used to seeing diamonds shiny and in a box. >> reporter: she said she did not know who they were from until she spoke to the actress mia farrell. >> the next morning at breakfast i told mrs. pharoah afai farrowd it is charles taylor. >> reporter: charles taylor, who is the former dictator of liberia who used diamonds to finance a war. a concept in the movie "blood diamonds." >> it is so rare that men will do anything to possess it. >> reporter: he is accused in

the hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity and including scripting child soldiers and rape. but campbell did not want to testify. she had to be subpoenaed. and her reasons? fear. >> i don't want anything to do with this, and i care about the protection of my family. >> and why would you be concerned about the protection of your family? >> because this is someone that i read up on the internet killed thousands of people. >> reporter: and she also testified that before she met him, she never heard of his country liberia or blood diamonds and she had had no contact with him since the dinner. as for the diamonds campbell said she gave them to a man working for the nelson mandela's charity and she testified 13 years later, he still has them. carl? >> thank you, martin fletcher. deadly high winds lead to a deadly barn collapse in ohio. the barn collapseded in severe thunderstorms that packed winds

up to 70 miles an hour. it is five minutes past the hour and now back the matt and tamron. >> thank you, carl. let's check in with mr. rocher as we hear about the cold front today. >> that is right, we have a cold front near manassas, virginia, right here. >> i work in the pool. >> but you are working at the pool, but you are not in the pool right now. never the pool. let's check the weather and show you what is going on for today, and we have a risk of strong storms from maine all of the way to rome, alabama, and we are talking about really hot stuff. rome, georgia, i should say, and possibly of isolated tornadoes and that weather is working its way further south, but again, we have the heat to talk about, as you can see, temperatures, we have got temperature levels that are going to be heat advisory and heat warnings over 20 states. you can see the rainfall amounts from one to two inches of rain and slight risk of storms back through the west. that is

>> and that's your latest weather. natalie? ♪ what's going on >> thank you, al. this morning the schizophrenic shopper. why is it someone who shops at the dollar store for toothpaste and soap could be toting the latest iphone or designer bag? well here to explain the rising trend and the psychology behind it is diane brady and

psychotherapist robby ludwig. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> diane, let me ask you first, the schizophrenic consumer. what does that mean? what are the signs? it sounds like a lot of people i know. >> we're seeing an odd situation where we're seeing dollar stores and walmart do very, very well. but then we're seeing record earnings for apple, for starbucks because of frappuccinos, mercedes. so we're basically seeing people skimping on things that maybe that don't matter to them, they're moving down the food chain, feeling anxious. but yet, they're going out and splurging at the same time. >> still, though, they're managing to save money, though, as we saw from the latest statistics, right? so there is some good news to this as we're saving. question is where are they making the cuts? >> exactly. the savings rates are up. it's up from 2%. we used to save almost nothing to, you know, 6%. we still owe households oh, $2.5 trillion. so americans have a lot of debt. and the main situation that has them nervous, obviously, is jobs. if you don't feel your job is secure or if you know somebody who's out of work, until you

feel that's going to stabilize, it makes you nervous about splurging everywhere. >> so where is the rationalization to being able to afford that latest, you know, hot new car or ipod or iphone? >> i think we're well trained. i think americans prop up 70% of the economy as consumers. that's much higher than other countries. and what happens is we're a cannot have a substitute for the ipad or an iphone. a frappuccino is a frappuccino. it's not the same as joe's diner. so we like to splurge on the things that make us feel good. toothpaste -- >> you can take more about the whole retail therapy aspect of it. a lot of this is sort of not wanting to deprive ourselves completely, right? >> and for some people, when they do feel poor, or if they do feel like they don't have, it actually produces the opposite type of spending behavior. they spend in order to feel like they are ahead, that they are doing well. so for some people who have addictive behaviors, that's where they can get into trouble because they really don't have

the money to spend on luxury items. yet they're doing it as a way to monitor their mood flp >> is that the danger here? what starts off as the occasional splurge, could this lead to a shopping addiction? >> i think if somebody is inclined to have a shopping addiction, sure. and as you said, we are a society that cares about status. and competing with the jones or comparing yourself to the joneses, no longer the person next door who has more or less what you have, but looking to television and really the middle class is comparing themselves to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. you know, and then what do you do with that? do you splurge on things that help you feel like you are doing well in life. >> what's very interesting is we saw regional differences in our reporting. and when you think about where all the subprime disasters were, maybe in orange county, vegas, miami, that's where you see a lot more splurging behavior now, too. >> interesting. >> there's a certain element where this is where you have the good life, you want to continue to have the good life. you just don't have the cash to

do it. >> and also, what's interesting, it's not only about buying. it's not about the object. it's about being. so i think when people are purchasing, it's who do they want to be? who do they want to become? and that's what they're feeding into. >> so what are some of the signs, robi, that you should look out for, and diane, as well, jump in here. >> you know, if you're really spending money that you don't have to change your mood and you feel terribly guilty afterwards. if you're dodging phone calls from creditors or you're on overdraft, that's not a good sign. >> right. >> and basically, you know, if you're not being thoughtful about the long-term plans of your financial well-being, then perhaps you want to reconsider how you're spending. >> and it's credit card debt. that's always been the big indicator, we've been a nation that tends to run up huge credit card debt, the risk right now is credit card companies are not going to be giving you the same kind of easy credit. your house is not an atm that you can draw on -- >> interest rates are a lot higher on that credit, too.

>> that's an issue. if you're using a credit card just to sort of sustain yourself from month to month, that's one thing. if you're using it to splurge and you can't pay it-zpsh >> and -- >> on the economy really quick, diane. >> well, the impact is unfortunately, we love -- shopping is good. it's good for america. >> bad for -- >> our patriotic mission was to go out and shop. on the one hand it is great. it gets the economy going. on the other hand, we have high debt, and people are starting -- >> and high unemployment, and consumer confidence at all-time low. so diane and robi, thanks so much, ladies. coming up next on "today," what is your dog really trying to tell you? we're going to help you try to translate. then a little bit later, fashion flashbacks. we're going to show you which of your favorite trends from the past are now back in style. but first these messages. ♪ ♪ da da-da, da, da, da-da ♪ da-da, da, da, da ♪ da, da, da-da-da, da, da-da-da, da, da-da ♪

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>> this morning on "today's pets" it may be puppy love when your dog barks or wags its tail, but he could be trying to tell you something else. so how do you know? here to help us break down every bark, wag, and shake is victoria stillwell, a drawing trainer and the host of animal planet's "it's me or the dog." victoria, good morning. >> good morning. >> i can't tell you how many people are interesting about this. you say we need to think like a dog. what does that mean? >> i believe you can understand your dog better if you try and think how your dog perceives the world. that means for example, we human s, our most dominant sense is sight. for dogs, their most dominant sense is smell. a dog has on average about 220 million scent receptors in their noses. we humans have 5 million. so their experience of the world is very, very different. so if you take time to understand your dog, you'll get a lot more information about what he's thinking and feeling. >> this is so interesting because i'm a dog owner and we

assume we know what our dogs are feeling and what they're thinking. in fact, 90% of the people surveyed, that's my dog -- i love. he's very mean. but we think we get it, but we don't. that's her on my shoulder. >> yes. you know, certainly little dogs, you know, you can be scared of all your big dogs, pit bulls and rottweilers but really the biggest fighters in the dog world are the chihuahuas. >> you're telling me. okay let's get to some of the things we dog owners misskwerpt. first of all wagging i always assumed that meant they were happy. >> yes. a lot of dogs do wag their tails. but there's a different way of wagging the tails that can display their emotions to you. not every dog that wags its tail is happy. if you see a dog wagging its tail and it's kind of a helicopter tail the dog is happy. if it's wagging very fast, they're excited to see you. if the dog is wagging pretty slowly, the dog's cautious. >> that's a good tip. i notice with my dog, people have children and they think if the dog's tail is wagging they send the kid over to greet the dog. that may not be a good thing.

>> no, no. that wagging is overstimulating, as well. >> shaking. what does that mean? >> sometimes it means anxiety. but also sometimes it means the dog is so stimulated it's just very, very excited. it can also mean a medical condition. certainly the small dogs like the chihuahua, it could be lack of glucose. so there's various reasons. >> barking. again something we assume we understand. what does it mean in dog world? >> so many different causes for barking. it could be because the dog's anxious. it could be because it's bored. it could be because it just likes hearing the sound of its own voice. if it hears another dog barking in the distance. there's so many different reasons. but you've got to find out why the dog barks and if the barking is too much there are various ways you can help control it. >> and whining, doesn't that mean the dog is uncomfortable? >> sometimes wine whining but whining is begging it's like hey, mum, let me have a treat or let me out. that's the kind of whining. whimpering means i'm hurt. i feel very uncomfortable. very unconfident. >> and you also say that some of the things we do as doggie

parents give off the wrong signals to dogs, like reaching out your arms. >> i think when people go and great strange dogs, you cwe peo we naturally like to go into dog's space, reach our hand over dog's head, smile at it. really from a dog's point of view you're coming from a huge paw over its head, you're smiling, showing all your teeth. that can be threatening. >> we can improve communications. understand how your dog learns which is what you kind of taught us now. use positive reinforcement. >> positive reinforcement, all about saying, catching the behavior, saying you know what, if this is behavior i like, i'm going to requart you. and if you reward a behavior you like, there's more chance of that behavior being repeated. >> and observe body language. my dog shows her teeth to everyone, and i'm observing that. what do i do? >> the important thing with body language is know when your dog is tense and know when your dog's body is fluid. like humans when we feel

uncomfortable we tense up. when we feel relaxed our body relaxes. you can get a lot of information just by looking at that. >> you're like a gift from the doggie angels. thank you victoria stillwell. coming out, don't throw out those neon leggings. and later, the newest housewives in the nad. the real housewives of washington, d.c. are stopping by. but first, these messages. ♪ think fast, go slow ♪ 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. 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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smalltown texas -- study for the nbc hit drama "friday night lights." >> this season she's been dealing with a hot button issue, abortion. and the parents are calling for her dismissal. good to see you again. and congratulations on your emmy nomination. >> thank you. >> so what was your reaction when you heard it? how did you find the? >> my cousin who actually lives here in new york, of all people, was the first person to call me. and i was in austin, barely awake, and my phone was on silent but i kind of was up because my dogs were barking and i saw the light going off on my phone. i was like, why is she calling me? she was in tears. she was like, you just got nominated for an emmy. >> meanwhile we're seeing a little clip of your character tammy. it's a really rough season because she's principal of the school, and she's actually being forced to resign or to leave because it's believed that she was giving -- or giving advice

to a young girl to have an abortion. >> right. >> really a hot button issue here. >> yeah. >> how has that been to play -- >> it was a really interesting topic for us to address and it was very important for all of us. it really was we wanted to do it very authentically, very truly without commenting on the issue at all. it was important to me to not depict a picture of texas like everybody in texas was, you know, out to get her. i really wanted it to be very specific. so i feel like we did a pretty good job with that. >> you did a great job. let me ask you, people have such strong reaction to the show. they say they love it. i never hear anyone say i like it. it's love it. >> people are rapid about the show. >> it's -- >> sadly. >> well, we have -- we just actually wrapped up, we wrapped our last season. season five. but that hasn't aired yet. so everybody still has that to look forward to. the one that's finishing up this week is season four. >> okay. >> and you can -- >> yeah. >> -- start from the beginning.

watch the whole thing. >> thank you so much. the season finale of "friday night lights"wros torrow night at 8:00, 7:00 central. today is your tasty lucky day! sure, why not? isn't this the yogurt that, you know... helps regulate your digestive system. ooh, i think i'll pass. no, no, no! trust me. it is beyond tasty. okay! mmm! wow! i can't believe it, i love it! mmm, this is really good! new best tasting activia ever! taste it, love it, or it's free! ♪ activia ♪ everyone wants in on the petperks super summer sale & sweepstakes. use your petperks card and save up to 20% on hundreds of items... ...plus you'll be automatically entered in our sweepstakes which will award hundreds of prizes. petsmart. we love to see healthy, happy pets. blend it. sprinkle it. sweet! [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. [ male announcer ] savory. fluffy.

yummy. sweet! [ female announcer ] splenda®. america's favorite no calorie sweetener. good morning, the time is 9:26, i'm brent cannon, checking in with mike, still seeing the residual effects from a sigalert. >> we have slowing on the peninsula, northbound and southbound towards palo alto. slow through san jose but a little lighter overall. heavier southbound 17. still the landscaping work blocking one lane towards the summit. golden gate bridge, this is changing a bit. a clearer view. >> we're starting to see low clouds back away from the mid span of the bridge deck. look at san francisco, we have drizzle or heavy mist, hairspray

rain as i've been calling it. cloudy skies, look at this afternoon, does not look like august. upper 70s towards the tri-valley, mid-70s san jose. and we'll be stuck in this pattern as we go into the as upnd as well. 9:27 right now. more news after the break.

san jose mayor chuck reed wants to hear from firefighters about the recent layoffs of 49 firefighters. the city and union went back to the bargaining table but negotiations hit a stalemate when the city flatly rejected a new offer. mayor reed says every city department needs to make cuts and the firefighters did not make enough concessions. >> in many other departments, the unions agreed to 10% reductions in pay and benefits by some of our unions to avoid layoffs and we managed to save a lot of jobs. but the fire union has not been able to give us significant

concessions to avoid layoffs. >> reed wants the union to vote on a 8.9% cut. safety teams will be at muni stations to walk riders home from high crime areas. they'll wear yellow votes and carry phones from at&t. the examiner says 100 crimes happen each month on muni buses and it must stop. they say the new pilot program is meant to help passengers feel more comfortable. more local news coming up in a half hour. the "today" show returns in less than a minute. have a great morning.

♪ grammy winning song by the band train, spent more than a year on the charts as fan favorite. now train has a lot of new hits. they're going to be here to play a few tunes for us live on the plaza tomorrow on "today." you're going to want to come on down for that. meanwhile, we're heading back a few decades for a style flashback. >> shoulder pads are back, baby. >> no. >> yes. dynasty, alexis carrington --

>> -- neon nail polish, old vinyl record collections. some of your favorite trends from the '80s and '90s are back in style. >> what's old is new again. >> pull out some of the things because you'll be hip again. >> you got your parachute pants? >> i never got rid of them. >> m.c. hammer. >> i could see you. >> hammer time. >> i had -- >> and if your kids are looking for a good read this summer, al's book club for kids is back in session. this month's pick dark life about adventurous pioneers living deep under the sea. we'll talk to the author. >> and in "today's kitchen" the pioneer woman is here. the website is a huge hit. she's here for the blog her conference. she's going to create what she calls a cowgirl dinner party. although i think cowboys are invited. >> she has her cowgirl friends with her.

>> okay. first a check of the weather. >> all righty, let's show you what's happening. at least for your weekend. sunny skies throughout much of the east, showers from the southeast and gulf coast. risk of some strong storms, upper mississippi river valley. sunday, mild weather and sunny along much of the eastern sea board. showers around the gulf. we got some more wet weather around the four corners of the rockies. also, sunny and mild in the here's a view of san francisco where we have mist along the camera lens. if you want to be an optimist we had a sunny break two minutes ago. it's gone now. a few breaks in the clouds will allow for sun to break through. with the all day seabreeze and that ocean air conditioning doing a number to our temperatures today. we're looking at 50s and 60s towards san francisco and oakland. the warmest places with not a lot of change through the weekend.

>> and that's your latest weather. >> up next, al, blast from the past. >> yes. >> i think -- >> yeah! >> -- that's -- >> back to the '70s. >> the glasses are very run-dmc. it's like that. >> but we've got some old favorites like you saw al sporting that are back in style. i'd love to see al --. [ girl ] bye mom! bye sweetie! you'll do great. [ laughs ] this is it! [ all ] 10...9...8... a new school year has so much potential! any resolutions? my resolution is the same as always; keep her full and focused with my fiber. [ all ] 3...2...1... happy school year! [ female announcer ] this school year, make a resolution to give your kid kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal. an excellent source of fiber from 100% whole grain. that helps keep them full so they can focus on the day ahead. keeps 'em full...

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[ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. this morning on "jill's fun finds" everything old is new again. if you're one of those people who never throws anything out, you're in luck, because today and "us weekly" contributor jill martin is here with some trends that are now back in style. good morning, skril. >> good morning. where's your '80s pick? >> you can't bring me back there. that was a bad decade all around. stay in the closet as far as i'm concerned. but you say it's back, right? >> it's back. >> the question is how do you do it without making it look too costumey. >> and ridiculous. let's start with neon. you saw madonna in the '80s. >> yeah. >> everything was neon. how do we wear it now? let's start with the accessories. these are bangles by jewel smith design. if you're a teenager you can stack them up and look great. these are more for us. a more adult version. you can wear it with just a

solid color as to not look like a clown. >> right. because this adds pop of color. >> leggings are great especially if you're younger. a solid top -- so much fun -- >> and how about with nail polish? these are great for getting a pedicure. i wouldn't necessarily recommend it on your nails. kids do it. but these are great. $8. >> so you got the orange and the pink. >> over here the sunglasses, okay. >> yeah, going back to -- >> don johnson on "miami vice." >> i was going to say, yeah. >> those look good on you. >> they look much better on you. >> $98. these are just a throwback and a fun way to accessorize. again with a solid outfit. >> swatch watches are all the rage again. i remember when i had one in almost every color. >> of course, with every pattern. now this is the more adult version, $50. and they're fun. and they're waterproof. so it's great if you -- for the summer. and $50, you can't go wrong.

>> okay, keds. >> remember keds? >> love them. >> these are great $35 to $80. and it's just all different -- these are actually a younger version. but the solids for us. they're so comfortable. >> they're great and i love how they updated them. moving on over to the clogs which are also back in a big way, too. >> right and clogs in the '70s and '80s the heel was so thick. now it's a thinner, more feminine heel. these are by steve madden. >> i love the thick heels, too. >> just a little more of a mem nine look, a nice way to update it. >> the dr. scholl's. >> i love these. just with jeans and a t-shirt. and $49. and over here you've got -- >> the jellies? >> remember those? >> we all had a pair of jellies. used to have the vent holes. these are an updated version. $59. >> overalls are back? >> overalls are back. i wear them. you have to be an overalls person. and from gap. these are great.

>> shoulder pads. >> who watched "dynasty," linda evans, joan collins. i'm actually wearing a dress right now with this -- >> yeah -- >> minimal. but these have minimal shoulder pads. it just gives a great look and really balances out -- >> structure. >> -- thins you out. i got a lot of compliments on this dress already. >> all right. acid washed jeans. ooh. >> down to earth kids dotcom. this is not the acid wash of the '80s. it's a little less. still fun. >> the jean leggings. real quick you can get your vinyls back out. >> into the computer. >> it will make that record on digital now. >> and the sound quality -- >> right. you can get that -- >> something like that for my dad for christmas. >> this is a nice gift. >> okay. and over here. >> candy. >> candy necklace. do you remember all of these? >> kids will love these. >> candycrate.com and it comes

in all the decades. what a great gift. a little over $20. >> and really quickly you can make your own cotton condi at home as well as popcorn. >> starting at $29. and these are just great for parties and throwbacks. jill martin, no, we're not going there joe michaels. the director. this is my graduation picture. >> is that true? >> look at you. >> thanks so much. >> that hair. >> i told you it was a bad decade for me. al's book club coming up next. they take a journey through the dark life. oh, max! and you want to do the same for your laughable, lovable dog. [ barks ] that's why purina fit & trim is specially formulated... with high-quality protein, including delicious real chicken, to help him maintain lean muscle and a healthy weight, so he can make the most of every day. long live your buddy. long live your dog.

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♪ kraft singles. the american cheese. ♪ i'll never forget the day i read a book ♪ >> this morning on "al's book club for kids" dark light. imagine a world where rising oceans forced humans to live in crowded stack cities. the only ones with space are pioneers who move to the ocean's floor. that's where we meet ty and jenna as they venture through the rough underworld learning dark secrets along the way. cat falls is the author of "dark light" and with the help of scholastic book club we've got our critics, spencer, ava, miles, sabrina and via skype we've got guest critic nicolas.

hey, nick. >> hi. good morning, al. good morning cat. >> all right. so, cat, this book, it's only been out a few months. already been optioned as a major motion picture by robert zemeckis, not bad. did you ever think it was going to be this big? >> no, i didn't think about it, actually. i was just trying to get the prose right, get the story good. didn't go there when i was writing. >> all right we want to get right to our book club critics. spencer, what's your question? >> well, cat, my question is, why did you make most of the setting take place under water? >> when i was coming up with the story, i was doing a writing exercise. and i decided i would try and combine my son, who at the time was 11, his three favorite things to read about, and one was pioneer kids. he loved old yeller and stories like that. and he loved the ocean was the other thing. and the third thing was x-men. and we spent a lot of time by

oceans, my family, and i grew up in maryland near the ocean. so, that's why. because i love the ocean, also. >> so you kind of owe this all to your son? >> i do. who is now 14. >> all right. ava, what's your question? >> the way that you describe the subsea lifestyle makes it sound like it could almost be possible. so, do you think that in the future living under water could be a real-life scenario? >> i think that would be exciting. it's certainly a frontier we haven't explored very much. because i wanted it to be science fiction, and not fantasy, i tried to keep everything in the realm of the possible. and i did a lot of research looking at what scientists and architects thought could possibly exist subsea as a house, and a train station. >> it's a really cool world you created. >> good, thanks. >> let's go to our skype now. we've got nicolas, he's in lake city, minnesota.

joining us live via skype. nicolas, how you doing? >> good. >> great. what's your question for cat, bud? >> well, there -- what will the future bring? >> in book two it's called "riptide" and it follows them. the territory is still not a state and so they're still struggling for independence, and ty is struggling for independence, and gemma is trying to live subsea and it's very difficult. it's not coming naturally for her. >> who would it come naturally for unless your name was submariner. anyway, let's go to -- >> my question is in the book some of the characters have supernatural powers. now, if you were to have any, what would they be? >> it's a lot of fun coming up with them. i'm trying to base them on marine life traits, so to pull a marine-like trait i'd like to be

able to shock people with an electric charge now and then. >> that could be useful. >> that could be good. >> in certain situations. >> and finally we've got sabrina. what's your question? >> hello, miss falls. i really enjoyed your book. i can't wait to see the movie. my question is, putting aside the entertainment value of your book, what would be the ideal moral of the story you would want your readers to walk away with? >> that's a great question. i was really interested in pioneering spirit. it was, i wanted the boy, ty, to be the quintessential pioneer boy. and also, i think it's such an american thing, pioneers, and it's also what's going to take us into this future that we -- people who think outside the box. >> the pioneer experience. >> and are tenacious and won't give up, and yet are adventurous. that is how we're going to solve some of the problems that we're facing in the environment. >> let's see how our kid critics rated this book on a scale of

one to five stars. highest being five. 4 1/2 stars. very good. >> thank you. >> cat falls, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> if you are between 9 and 12, go to todayshow.com, ask your parents permission, and you could be selected as our next guest critic. our next book is called "ninth ward" by jewel parker rhodes. this is going to be your assignment, guys. ready? thank you so much. >> thank you. >> congratulations on a great book. and coming up next in "today's kitchen," a cowgirl dinner party. yee-haw. but first this is "today" on nbc. [ fjobs leaving.er ]

a budget disaster. california on the brink. jerry brown's plan? you run for office and the assumption is, oh, i know what to do. you don't. i didn't have a plan for california. [ female announcer ] with our state in crisis, we need a governor with a plan. you need a real plan, something i'll acknowledge i did not have. [ female announcer ] jerry brown. no plan then. no plan now. meg whitman. a plan for jobs. log on. learn more. "today's kitchen" is brought to you by kraft singles. the american cheese. this morning in "today's kitchen," the pioneer woman is here to create a cowgirl dinner party.

she went from city life to ranch wife, started a blog, thepioneerwoman.com, complete with pictures and amazing recipes. >> and four years later the site is a smashing success. her new book is called the pioneer woman cooks, recipes from an accidental country girl. with us is brie drummond. i have to confess i'm obsessed with you. i went on your blog last night for the first time. i stayed on for two hours. the recipes, the photography. >> thank you very much. and the food. >> the food is out of this world. i love that you include recipes from some of your people who follow you. we're making something that's pretty interesting. >> yes. >> cowboys love texas -- >> this is a cowgirl dinner party that i'm preparing. and sometimes on the ranch we just need to kick the guys out of the house. and make things that, you know, that the girls like to eat. and these are mushrooms that take nine hours to make. >> what did you just pour in?

>> wine. so this is filled with wine and but your and lots of spices and -- >> yum. and you kind of toss it all in there? >> you put the lid on, you cook it for nine hours and go and do laundry or whatever it is you want to do. then we're going to move in to beef tender loin. now on the ranch the cowboys grill steaks. but the girls, you know, eat these delicious tender beef. >> right. >> what's special about the tender loin is i used bacon grease. >> would you say everybody in the country has some? >> right. any self-respecting ranch wife has a little bacon grease. >> okay. you know, it's interesting, your recipes are -- part of the appeal >> that's right. >> very comforting. >> it's real food. real food. >> you've got some other stuff over here. we've got some bloggers, as well, who i think are going to come help us eat it afterwards. >> yes. >> you've gone to blog her three times. >> yes, i have. >> nbc universal is an investor.

what do you like about it? >> we bloggers were mothers and we sit behind a computer and blog, and it's just nice to be able to get together with women who do the same thing you do, and you know, talk about the struggles and travails of blogging. >> sangria? >> tasty. >> this goes in the oven. >> we're making a lot. >> we're making a lot in a few

good morning, everybody, the time is 9:5 6. the latest on the commute through the south bay? >> it will be slow for folks on

northbound 101. coming from the 680, 280 interchange to the scene, all lanes are clear but speeds about 20 miles per hour. southbound 17, slow because of landscaping work on the southbound side it switches direction at 11:00. then the bay bridge, which is a light volume of traffic right now, changes there in a few minutes. >> we have slowly warming temperatures around the bay area for the afternoon of the san francisco to oakland, we have a lot of low clouds from mist. a few breaks in those clouds offshore down towards areas of half moon bay. even with the sunny breaks on the coast and inland, we'll see temperatures well below average. we're talking mid to upper 70s. brent? >> it's official, oakland mayor ron dellums will not run for re-election. he said five years ago my wife

and i accepted the call to service based on our love of oakland and lifelong commitment to public service. i dedicated 35 years to the community and now it's time to pass the baton onto the next leadership. he broke the news to several reporters and city and community leaders, telling the crowd he is not running so he can focus on family. >> he shared a story that when he left home, a congressman, when he came home, all of the kids had grown up and left. he needs time for himself and family. >> he is credited with getting millions of dollars of federal stimulus money for oakland and criticized for what some consider inaccessibility. the "today" show returns in about a minute. see you in a bit. "know the species, know the stain." lanolin-free coat, i know it's an alpaca. walks in here, looks says "hey look, it's a llama!" cleaning the stain like he would a llama stain. time he's wasting. ♪ call 1-800-steemer

c-nberivtee on

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1 a in rockefeller plaza. >> it's thursday, 5uaugust 5th. we're going to have the new housewives of d.c. with us, but we only have one. >> let's get the shot of the one. we can see where the rest of the people are. not yet arrived. they're coming. >> either not yet arrived or not talking to each other. >> we will wait and see. >> already met of the laedies

downstairs, and there's palpable tension. >> i don't know if you saw "the view," hopefully you watch us and they're on after us. by chance you were, there was some controversy that happened. >> there was an altercation of sorts. >> at the end of the altercation, we'll tell you what happened that you didn't see. according to some folks miquel was in tears after the segment was over, and there was an altercation that came about between her and whoopi goldberg. there was some tension that happened, and apparently lots of words were exchanged. so that was the aftermath of the conflict. >> well-done, hoda. >> here's the deal, though. >> i've seen it non-confused. >> i'm confused, too. we're going to show you a tiny clip, and in this clip a housewife and her husband threw

drinks on each other. >> happens at my house every night. >> every single day. let's watch this clip. >> who started it? who threw the wine first? >> it was the anorexic. >> because you've been abusing me. you're a woman abusing me. >> i want to go forward. i want to go forward. >> that was whoopi goldberg, and she leaves when she's passionate about someone. >> what you saw at the end, the whole thing is all about -- there's a moment where whoopi comes out from backstage, and you can tell puts her hand on her arm. she wants to get back on track. >> i think what she was saying to her, let's get back to washington and the white house conversation about the party crashing business. then after that apparently it was a very emotional time to be had. >> yes. what we don't see is what happened, obviously, afterwards.

we've always told you all that. if you could see what goes on before and during commercials and after the show, we'd be a hit. >> we'd be on fire, but we're going to hear what happened after the show, we're going to hear from the housewives of d.c. by the way, they're show is debuting tonight. >> it debuts tonight. >> it all bodes well for the opening. >> is everyone here? we have some. >> they're dribbling in. >> they're all here. the gang is all here. >> but phoenfireworks will ensua little bit. >> i wonder if her husband is here. >> i haven't seen him. it's frustrating because we're observers on the whole thing. you know how i feel about these kinds of shows from the beginning. don't like programs that glorify the worst of human behavior. i'm sure a lot of these ladies have wonderful qualities, but the way the producers set up these episodes, that kind of

stuff ends up on the editing floor because it's frankly boring to people. >> i think it's interesting. if you are miquel and the other housewives -- we know her because of the big party crashers. here's the art section of the "new york times." who is on the front? here's "usa today." >> of course. i saw is that one. >> i found one with a whole cast. thank you. this was "the washington post," and this is a picture of the entire cast. it's interesting the different takes from the newspapers about it. this one calls it capital cattiness. that's what "the new york times" calls it. and then the other ones just say salahi opens the gate for d.c. it's curious because d.c. is one of the places where discretion is the rule. this is different from the other

housewives shows, because in l.a. you expect things in your face a little bit. d.c. everything is sort of behind the scenes. it will be curious to see what the story is. >> we're going to spend time with them in a few moments. i guess there was -- there's been statements back and forth from the salahis' attorney, who is gloria allred's daughter. >> lisa bloom. the statement abc released after the quote-unquote verbal altercation, as the broadcast sleerically shows the ak cushion was completely unfounded ander rhone yus. after the show and after being told she was higts miss salahi, whoopi proceeded to defend herself verbally from this. >> it's like a david mammoth play or it's like what we saw yesterday. >> i think mikell will say she

never used the word hit. it was a different world. >> it's perfect because you couldn't pay for this kind of publicity on the day you're going to open up a show for a debut. >> i think the numbers will be high. i think people like to see this sort of thing play out on tv. i think they like to watch it. >> an awful lot do, apparently. there is other news believe it or not in this world we live in today. >> there is. there's this cool thing about the billionaires. >> it's a group of 20 billionaires from all around the country, it's a campaign organized by bill and melinda gates and also warren buffett who long give their billions away for charity. she strong armed 18 others into agreeing to give away at least half of their fortune to charity. mike bloomberg and george lucas and ted turner of cnn. they say the wealthy have a responsibility to make the world

a better place. many of the wealthy already do. they do it anonymously, and i think it's cool. >> i think it's cool. >> i wish i had that much to give away. >> i think it is. when you have that much and i think more power to everybody, like how many cars can you drive, how many houses can you live in? how much does one person really need? i'm not saying need. sometimes i wonder. there's a saying that says love grows best in small places. i believe that. when houses get so -- when you start losing everybody in the -- in all of it. >> i don't think that -- if you've never experienced what it's like to give to someone and see their world be transformed, then you don't know what you're missing. that's really, really the essence of great living i think. i'm not a real housewife of anything. >> yes, you're not. >> we're in okay and not okay again. >> this time is the first time it's like not what i meant to say. >> are you sure? >> should we roll the crawl? >> no, it's not there.

is it okay to stalk your crush on facebook? >> stalk your crush. >> kathie lee says i would not recommend it. these things don't usually end well, especially for the crush. >> what i meant to say was especially for the person with the crush. >> with the crush. >> with the crush. it's the exact opposite of what i meant to say. i don't know how that got lost translation. probably me. couldn't be perfect miss christine. hoda said stalking crushes is fine. stalking the ex is a big no-no. >> when you stalk the ex tap your brakes. it's easy to do, because you wonder what happened. facebook -- >> you set yourself up for failure. >> you see him with a girl with a better figure than you do and they're all over each other. then you start hating yourself more. >> i swear, there are -- we've all done it. >> i haven't. >> you haven't stalked any of those -- >> i don't go on the computer. >> if you knew how to google, you would do it. it's terrible.

i've definitely -- >> move forward. isn't that what it says? >> it does say to move forward. >> hi, sarah. have you ever stalked? >> i think we all have a little. i think that's why you're not online. if you saw the pleasures of stalking online -- >> i don't want to see what people write about me. >> right now the fans are buzzing about questions for the d.c. housewives. what's the motivation to do the show? there was a cute question from a 12-year-old. i'm 12 years old and love d-c-and politics. do you get to meet politicians. >> we're not asking that questions. >> narz a beautiful picture of her shaking the president's hand. >> that's your answer. >> coming up they're stirring up controversy already. >> just imagine the amount of estrogen on our set. >> the real housewives of d.c. are here. >> every single one of them right after.

this @@

thanks to ail little incident that took place at 1600 pennsylvania avenue last november, there's a lot of early buzz. >> there's much more to the washington installment of the franchise. here's a tiny sample of some of the drama that's in store. >> all of sade five or six secret service guys come over and say you can't be here. >> that's an snumt i have an

eating disorder. >> excuse me. excuse me. >> i started bashing obama and tyra banks and they all happened to be black. >> love is better than being bitchy towards everybody. >> we agree with that. here is michaele salahi, model and founder of america's polo cup, stacy scott turner, harvard grad and realtor. >> we have cat, writer and interior designer. linda, owner of d.c.'s top modeling agency, and mary smith, mother the five. hello ladies. we need to get right into this. >> we have to solve that. >> yesterday on "the view" we saw what happened on the air. then they said you were crying and very upset off the air. what was so upsetting that made you cry after the show was over? >> you know, i walked off the

show at the end. we said good-bye, and i was in the back. and whoopi came into the room and said, you know, f this, f that. did you say i f-ing hit you. i'm just sitting in a room waiting for the car. i already went through being called a crasher. she snuck up behind me. >> one of them also said she thought you should be in jail. >> then they flash an applause sign so you'll hear the crowd go baish they don't tell you that applause sign went up. >> what made you cry until you got off the set? >> na didn't bother me. they were just spinning their story. >> you've had quite a year. >> whether i got off, i was still fine, but i think her coming in saying f that, f this. >> did you say she hit me? >> no. the producer. i said bring me the person, whoopi. i never lsd you hit me.

i'm not the producer of the show. bill or the co-anchors. she should have grabbed they are arm sxsd hurry on to the white house. i'm just there as a guest. it's my first time, and i think i started crying because now i have someone i don't even know, i'm a guest of their show, and they're berating me with this f this. at the end, she said you have to know me, i say f this. i don't mean it. i say f you and f no. i don't mean that. you understand that. i don't know her personality. i knew her from "sister act" so i don't expect a sister to be saying f you. >> whoopi is very passionate about many things, as joy is. that makes the show so long-lasting actually, but that's what sets apart these housewives franchises. you get to know the different women and their personalities. we feel like you're the only one we know, and you think we don't know you at all because of what has been presented about you. >> what's been presented is she said she was a cheerleader but

she really wasn't. she said she had this, but she really didn't. you see the image that everyone has of you. >> it's a great one the media created. >> it must be a difficult one to live with. hu do you do it? >> you know who you are within yourself. i have a great mom. my dad has passed, but i have a great family. no matter what people say, just like whoopi yelling at me yesterday, i know who i am. you can hate me. you can flash applause signs. i didn't do anything. i went as a guest, and i was proud to be there. >> i think the thing that everyone can't get past when it comes to showing up at the white house dinner, everyone wants to know was there a formal invitation when you showed up there, and was it something that was drummed up by the show like let's bring the cameras, let's make a thing out of it and see if we can get you on the tv show. >> the show has to speak on its behalf. i can only speak on mine. we were invited and had a white house official we phoned at 5:30

at night. >> that was desiree roberts that was replaced? >> no. she resigned i'm sure. no. our official was michelle jones and she spoke at our america's polo cup. we were actually called at 5:30 that evening -- we had never been to a state dinner. where do we go? how do we enter? we're mr. and mrs. salahi. we gave our name and were anunsed and you saw that image a hundred times. the crasher thing was a media storm. >> you were talk tking the fift asked in congress. >> it's not right, but it creates the -- what's the word i'm looking for? it makes you feel like they must be hiding something, the impression. >> we weren't allowed to talk by other attorney and by bravo. >> that's when i'd quit. that's whether i'd quit and say, wait a minute. this is my life and reputation. i don't care about some stupid tv show. i'm going to tell the truth about what happened in my life. >> i wanted to, but congress had

prejudged us. many of the people that went to our event enjoyed wine at it were saying they're con artists, whatever. >> cat is over it. >> we're so tired of hearing it and talking about it. >> tell us why. >> this is a show about five people, not one couple. >> we haven't seen the show yet. >> all of this press, you know, occurred yesterday, it's -- we're so finished with it. >> i can tell on your face. >> i'm so sorry. until we see the show, we're not going to -- >> in general are you over her? >> completely, yeah. >> have you been friends at any time? >> no. >> we're going to come back and continue that parts of the discussion right after this. p@o

we're back with the real we're back with "the real housewives of d.c." as we left off, you guys say you're over her basically right? cat, why don't you tell us how you feel. >> well, i was over michaele about nine months ago after the second time meeting her because we don't have much in common. and i had to film with her and be associated with her and to have to be around her and her husband and yeah. >> why is it on your nerves? >> well, for me, i've known michaele for 15 year, we did have a friendship. i did have what i felt was a

trusting, loyal friendship, and i feel that, like many other cases, they have misrepresented themselves, they make things up as they go along. they live a phony, fake bonnie and clyde life, and i'm frankly tired of living in a city that i'm so proud of, that i work so hard in, and when you spend as much time trying to raise money for charities as we do as individuals, and you see people running wild saying it's for a charity and then it goes if your pocket, it's just -- >> are you accusing her of that? >> oh, absolutely. i'm not the only one. "the washington post" has, like, 15 articles about it. >> serious allegations. >> and you just laugh, you laugh. >> you're so angry and jealous. >> we're not jealous. >> if you would let me respond. you would never want to go through what i've been through. >> you put yourself in that position. >> let me finish. the media has made this person,

right? and then all -- >> and all the lawsuits -- >> i don't know. >> you want to own your own stuff. >> just say it. >> we do want to talk about the show. you'll see all this kind of stuff on the show. >> give us a taste of what we're going to see tonight, stace. >> what's interesting about this show is that we think it's more sophisticated as some of the other series have been. >> really? >> you won't see the hair pulling. >> i don't know, we may see it soon. >> it's no less entertaining. the drama comes from the conversations we have, from having very outspoken, you know, very strong willed women, from having experiences that people haven't seen before. and from the backdrop being interesting and of itself because it's d.c., it's politic, it's power. it's really interesting events. so we're hoping this show will be different but no less entertaining. >> and it's much less about the

drama and the cat fights. it's more focused on the women. we're each involved in charity work. >> but people don't tune into tv shows to see charity work. they don't. really>> it's actually pretty funny. >> we just have a couple seconds, but i have a feeling you're going to have a huge audience this evening. are you willing to do a second season? who's willing? >> i definitely. i have a lot more to say. >> all right, again, the premier of "the real housewives of d.c." is tonight at 9:00, 8:00 central. >> much more after your local news. 9:00/8:00 central. much more after your local news. n

good morning, it's 10:26, i'm brent cannon. another update on the morning commute with mike. >> very slow, brent. same couple of spots, 101 still slow heading up to the earlier accident at dela cruz. also slow southbound 17 down towards the summit. but the construction is scheduled to shift. landscaping going on there in another half hour. bay bridge, folks coming into the city before the midday lunch hour, things getting calmer there. the golden gate bridge, look at the beautiful partly hill you

see. >> you got the gray skies and had drizzle earlier. 55 degrees, you can see the low clouds from san francisco to oakland. but san jose, we're starting to see hazy sunshine, currently 60 degrees. this will be one of the spots into the 70s today. 70s inland. 50s san francisco and looks like the same for theweekend. weeken. 10:26 right now. more news after the break.

before voters head to the ballot bay, tom brokaw will moderate in the north bay. you can see it here on nbc bay area news. it will be held at dominican university on october 12th. it will be an hour-long debate and brokaw will be the sole questioning. >> i hope the voters of california will have a clear idea of who they are and what they believe in and how equipped they are to lead california through in difficult time. >> he'll ask about gay marriage, the state's economy and legalizing marijuana. that debate begins at 6:30 on october 12th. a new deal on a web traffic is aligning the world's top internet providers, google and verizon are close to a proposal for network neutrality laws to

prevent phone or cable companies from delaying or blocking internet traffic. ne.y csh" nuonowomesti next . we're back on this thursday with more of "today." if you're headed into rush hour traffic today, this is one sure way to beat it. eric scott is known as the rocketman. you can see why. he's getting around at an altitude higher than a ten-story building. >> he's profiled in a new national geographic fran economize that includes a tv show and book. and melina is the author of that bo book. >> it really does wow you. welcome. >> what a great concept, by the way. >> you think you just look at the book, and you can't put it down. >> i like to think of it as

brain candy for busy people. it's xhokful of interesting, amazing things all over the world. >> one is interesting, it's called dolphins blowing bubbles. it sounds like fun. >> you have to say this footage. the dolphins at seaworld in orlando and no one taught these dolphins how to blow bubbles, but they do this and throw them back and forth like frisbees and doing it just to play. it's incredible. >> it's like kids doing it. >> exactly. it speaks to how intelligent these animals are. >> they like to have fun, too. >> they love to have fun and have an audience. >> tell us about the sand artist. >> i love this artist. he's from northern california, and he does these incredible sand installations. he uses a beach at low tide as an empty canvas. >> only a certainly number of hours. >> he uses the whole time. he started to do this whether his mother developed alzheimer's disease and did he it to

self-soothe. >> it's hard to know from his perspective you're getting that done. and then it washes away. he loves that, because it makes room for his next idea. >> what a great attitude to have. >> whoopi -- >> joy. >> if you're a thrill seeker, you have something for us. >> oh, this book is filled wi with -- >> base jumping. >> this is called base jumping. i kau call it crazy. >> it has to be from a solid, standing, fixed point. >> their goal is to stay in the air for as long as possible. >> how does one land? >> at the very end they use a parachute. the record is and like three minutes. can you imagine being in the air for three minutes? >> the guy that did and made the

world record that day and went up the next day and try it had again and died. that's how dangerous it is in norway. >> they do this all over the world. >> it's fascinating. >> next is a good one. you'll love this one. frog licker. this takes kissing a frog to whole new level. this woman valerie clark is a professional toad licker looking for toxins that the frogs find in plants and insects that are hard to find. >> how does she know? >> she spits it out right after, but she knows what it tastes like and she wants the toxins because they make medicines out of the toxins. >> she licks the toad and findsfinds out what the toad is eating? >> exactly. >> where did she go to college for na? i've kiss aid few frogs, but -- that's amazing. >> these people do incredible things, and they're so passionate about what they do.

that's why we wanted to celebrate these people. >> tell us about the balance artist. >> we call him the norwegian daredevil. look what he does. sths craz is this crazy or what? he goes to incredibly high places on a tight rope under a hot air balloon. >> does he have a parachute? >> he does not. the other thing i love about in guy is he goes into villages in narobi and teaches kids self-empowerment through balancing and teamwork. he's taking his passion into the streets to empower children. >> hopefully they don't try his stunts. >> you have crystal palace's photos. what is that? >> it's an unbelievable find. they discovered this crystal palace in mexico in a sacave ju 1,000 feet below the surface. these crystals are 33 feet high.

they look like icycles. they're hot. it's 140 degrees. it's like a sauna in there. they're hot to the touch. can you imagine the new age vibes going into that crystal cave. it's fascinating. >> thanks so much. >> nits bookstores called natt geoamazing, 1 monday hundred people, places and things that will wow it. it airs friday nights on national geographic channel. one very special woman fills the spotlight for all the good she's done when we come back. everyone has a story. ú?

♪ everyone has a moment ♪ that changes their life no♪ >> angela is a mother of four that wrote us about her youngest daughter riley. >> we'll met her and all of her children in a moment. first, listen to angela's letter to us. >> my name is lang brock and i'm the proud mom of four wonderful kids. the main reason i chose to write you because of 19-month-old riley. she was born december 30, 2008. i had an easy pregnancy and went into labor december 29th. wheth when she arrived into this world she was blue and lifeless. i could hear her making noises, but no crying. the nurses whisked her off and three doctors came in and told me something was wrong with her heart. she had a heart defect called

transposition of the mane arteries. the two main arteries of the heart are switched causing the blood to flow in a circle. her first surgery was at eight hours old and we flew to d.c. for open heart surgery at five days old. she will always have a cardiologist and she may need small surgeries and another open heart surgery. you can never prepare yourself for seeing your newborn with tubes everyone and not being able to hold and comfort them. i'm krochosen to hepts others w children with con gental heart disease. the feeling of feeling depressed is helped with support groups. i help others by supporting the whole family and their precious baby. my life was turned upside-down but i chose to stay strong and try and bond. you never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice. >> angela is here with lie and

her sisters and brother ashley, noah, lindsay. >> welcome, everybody. >> first trip to new york city? >> yes, ma'am. >> a little overwhelming? >> it's a lot different than home. >> you're a single mom. you've been raising these children on your own. >> there's your mom. >> obviously, you've been through xhild birth three times before and expect everything to be the same. >> i did. >> what was your first thought when she sathey said she needed heart surgery? >> what did i do wrong? my first thought was what could i have done to, you know -- >> come here, reriley. what did i do wrong? but it was a feeling of, you know, my newborn baby, who is supposed to be perfect and, you know, should look so normal once they had gin her the medicine and given her air and stuff that --

>> you'd been given no warning by your obgyn that anything was wrong with this baby, she developed normally in the womb. >> yes. what's amazing to me is -- is -- >> she's the performer in the family. >> like you said, i had been through three, and i had no idea what congenital heart defects even were. after three children, you pretty much know a lot. >> whethat what point -- how di tell your kids what was going on? that was probably important. >> they didn't know or understand at the time. she knew and understood. i guess we somewhat sugar-coated it until it came time for the surgery. then, i mean, it is a reality when your child comes home and does have scars and staples and tubes and stuff like that. >> nothing prepares you for it. >> nothing does. >> what was your first thought,

sweetheart? >> that she wouldn't make it. but she did, and we're just glad to have her. >> and then she needed another one. she may need another yet in the future. >> right now, her arteries have been switched back, but her aortic valve is leaking, so we're just monitoring it. she will have to have it repaired, but it may be -- >> they can do miracles now, can't they? >> where do you find the strength through this? it seems to be one battle after the next. >> god, first of all. my faith. three times stronger than it was. i'm a member of the support group called mending little hearts, and i really think of it zooish you kn -- >> it's to know you're not alone. >> i know there's other parents and children and to know i'm helping other people not feel like i did. >> that's the very thing, the lyrics, i look for something in the letter that sparks

imagination in me, and it was your line about -- tell us the line about being strong is -- whether being strong is your only choice. >> that was my only choice. >> you had to be strong for all your children. >> right, right. it's hard to be a parent in two different states, too. very, very hard. >> we're going to take a little break and come back with the son that kathie lee wrote with david friedman. >> and flo lacey is going to bring it to life for you. guess what it's called? "being strong." we'll be right back right after th

and we are back with more of everyone has a story, and angela brock and her four beautiful children. >> now it's time for you to hear the song that david friedman and i wrote just for you. please welcome broadway performer and beautiful friend

fl florence lacey, and the song is called "being strong." ♪ we take it for granted ♪ when things go right ♪ the sun every morning the stars every night ♪ ♪ knowing what we're to expect every day ♪ ♪ thinking that it always will be that way ♪ ♪ it always will be that way ♪ but then without warning ♪ the wind can turn ♪ we wake up one morning with lessons to learn ♪ ♪ impossible choices that we need to make ♪ ♪ unchartered highways we're forced to take ♪ ♪ we know that we have to be strong ♪ ♪ and we ask ourselves can i be

strong ♪ ♪ and we cry and complain and we rail at the sky ♪ ♪ and we struggle in vein and we ask ourselves why ♪ ♪ did this happen to me ♪ then a voice from above said maybe this happened so we can know love ♪ ♪ if only we'd learned to be strong ♪ ♪ so we try our best to be strong ♪ ♪ and as we get stronger ♪ to our surprise ♪ we not only grow stronger we also grow wise ♪ ♪ and learn we have power not only to thrive ♪ ♪ but to help other people ♪ to heal and survive ♪ to help other people survive ♪ and because of the struggle

we've had to face ♪ we can now make the bhoel world a better place ♪ ♪ be sharing with others the pain we've been through ♪ ♪ doing whatever we have to do ♪ whatever we have to do ♪ and we look back and see ♪ we have come so far ♪ because we have found a new strength a new voice ♪ ♪ we never can now how strong we are ♪ ♪ until being strong is our only choice ♪

>> wow. >> gorgeous, flo. >> beautiful, beautiful. >> gorgeous, gorgeous. we'll be back with the best part of "everyone has a story" but first this is "today" on nbc.

we're back with "everyone has a story" honoring this special family. >> florence lacey sang "being strong." that was drop-dead gorgeous. also with us is composer david friedman and david wild as well out in hollywood right now. >> what did you think of the song? >> it made me cry. it was very beautiful. >> we have a little something to you guys, by the way. >> next for the song, our favorite part. our friends at lowe's know how you like spending time together. they have generously donated a

backyard play set for your whole family. >> look at that. >> it has three levels and some slides and swings and got a picnic table. it's going to be right for everything for rye lie and the rest of the kids. >> thank you so much. >> would that be fun? >> it will have to be a front yard one? >> you don't have backyard? >> also, ashley made kathie lee and me some very nice -- look at this. >> you're an artist. >> and a t-shirt that says the southern bells. here. >> thank you very, very much, sweetheart. >> who knew we were going to get gifts, too. >> those are from our support group in mississippi. >> southern bells have big hopes for mended little hearts. that's great. thank you so much. flo, thank you. that was gorgeous. flo plays a major role in the musical we're working on right now hopefully coming to broad way one day. she's working in hollywood. david will be at broadway with ten shows at once.

>> tomorrow we have jenny garth and a bunch of people. >> in the meantime we're going to survive a day with all these ki kids. ki kids. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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