>> good morning. how did it happen? congress launching an investigation into that massive egg recall. they are going to be lots of questions about the farms involved and one man who has connections to both of them and a history of violations. silent treatment tiger woods and elin nordegren do not exchange words as their divorce is finalized in a florida courtroom. can woods now get his life and golfing career back on track? and air-borne, a driver speeding down a highway in ohio loses control, hits a ditch and slams into an overpass. that driver is now in the hospital and police say it's a miracle no one else was hurt

today, tuesday, august 24th, 2010. good morning. welcome to "today" on a tuesday morning. >> good morning. congress is asking a lot of questions about the two iowa farms involved in the salmonella outbreak and the recall of more than half a billion eggs. one man has ties to both farms. >> absolutely his name is jack decoster labeled a habitual virlt by iowa's department of resources back to the '80s y. do his companies do not face more rigorous inspections given his history? we'll of that that in minutes. also, new details of last february's deadly killer whale attack at seaworld in orlando.

did the theme park pu animal trainers at rick and did their practices contribute to the tragic death of the 40-year-old trainer there? coming up what a federal investigation has now uncovered. plus, is this the secret to losing weight? a new study has found drinking just two glasses of water before a meal can help you shed some pounds. we'll have more on that a little later. you actually have to drink them the not sit them on the counter like we do here. let us begin with the latest on the recall of a half billion eggs linked to an salmonella outbreak, and the congressional investigation under way. nbc's tom costello is following all this. tom, good morning you to. >> matt, good morning. the cdc says it hasn't seen any big increase in m numbers of people who have become ill with salmonella maybe due to a lag in reporting or could mean the worst is over. investigators still have more questions than answers. fda investigators at the two farms in iowa say they still haven't found the source of

salmonella that has force ad recall of more than half a billion eggs. but the top poultry vet yaern at iowa state university says the prime suspects have to be mice. if they invest a henhouse their droppings can quickly infest the chicken feed. >> if the chicken consumes the feed with the mouse fec fecal pallet, the chicken becomes infected and subsequently will transmit it into its own droppings to other birds. >> reporter: from there che can transmit it directly to her eggs. from the henhouse, the eggs go to grocery stores and restaurants like this one in kenosha, wisconsin, where nearly two dozen were sick kenned with salmonella. this attorney is representing one victim suing the farm. >> just the scope of the outbreak, the scope of the illness that has gone over three months really shows that, you know, they weren't doing the minimum things that, in my view, you need to do to prevent salmonella from entering the egg

supply. >> reporter: the fda says investigators are still tracing bad eggs back to the farm through a confusing web of suppliers and distributors in 22 states, if not more. >> i think it's possible that the recall may grow because the network for distribution of eggs in this country is pretty complicated. >> reporter: one sure way to eliminate salmonella, through pass sturization an hour-long bath in which eggs are he heated but not cooked. >> we're able to pass enough heat through the shell of the egg to kill any bacteria or viruses inside and yet not change the flavor, the performance characteristics of the egg. >> reporter: while some customers insist it does affect the taste of an egg, the pasteurized egg business says business has taken off the past week. back to the two farms involved in the investigation, the fda says there is evidence they were not following proper egg safety procedures before the salmonella outbreak. wright county egg tells nbc news quote any concerns raised

verbally during fda's on-farm visit were immediately addressed or in the process of being addressed. back to you. >> tom, thank you very much. we mentioned jack decoster one of the people in the center of the investigation the sixth largest producer in the country and owns one of the farms in the recall and supplies chicken and feed to the other labeled a habitual violators by iowa's department of natural resources pled guilty to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants in 2003 and two months ago his company paid a $130,000 fine for animal cruelty. robert wright served as secretary of labor and recently post ad blog on this recall called corporate rotten eggs and author of the upcoming "aftershock" the next economy and america's future." mr. secretary, good morning. good to see you. >> good morning, matt. >> we can talk about the number of eggs recalled and the number of sick. the questions are how did it

happen and how can we prevent it from happening again. when you heard he was connected possibly to this and this is a name you know. what wassier reaction. >> my memory bank switched on. 13 years ago as secretary of labor i came across him. at that time he had a big commercial egg business in maine and we discovered can only be described as kind of an agricultural sweatshop treating his workers like animals in trailers infested with rats. he had them picking up with their hands manure and dead chickens. i don't want to go through all the details at this beautiful hour of the morning. >> right. >> but, this guy, i suppose, you could describe him, himself, as a bad egg. >> so connect the dots for me, mr. secretary. how do we get from the labor violations 13 years ago to possibly those sending up a red flag and even maybe foreshadowing what we're seeing today? >> in my experience, matt, when you have a ceo of a company, by the way not a cottage industry

but a gigantic agribusiness. when you have one violating one set of laws, labor laws, it is likely they are also cutting corners on other laws, environmental law, food and safety laws. this is exactly what the pattern has been with jack decoster's firms. these farms and other farms related to his work have -- i just -- this is a serial violator. this is a guy who has a mile-long list of violations, you know, some states have a three-strikes you're out kind of penalty system for actual individuals. >> right. >> this company, if there were a three strikes you're out he would not be in business. >> in the time i have left, put him aside for a second and ask the question are there too many cooks in the kitchen, the fda supposedly looking into part of this, the usda, local agriculture agencies in the states involved. do we have a situation here they are not communicating enough and sharing information and that's

why these things fall through the cracks? >> certainly, matt, that's part of it. there is no national database in which regulators can say, this particular business violated environmental laws or violated labor laws at the state level, the federal level and there ought to beat. here, also, we have a kind of a chicken and an egg problem, if you permit me to say it. the agriculture department is in charge of inspecting chickens, and you have the fda in charge of inspecting eggs, and it's very easy for these things to fall between the cracks. you need that kind of overall and comprehensive regulatory regime. a lot of businesses these days tell me they don't want regulations. well, after something like this and after the bp oil spill and after the energy disaster, that mine disaster, you can list a number of businesses and terrible incidents that have happened because we haven't had the right kind of regulation and they haven't been enforced well. >> former labor secretary robert reich. secretary, thanks for your time

this morning. i appreciate it. >> thanks, matt. >> it is now eight minutes after the hour. here's ann. matt, thanks. now to politics. voters are heading to the polls in five states today headlined by primaries in florida and arizona that pit the political establishment against washington outsiders. nbc's kelly o'donnell is in phoenix this morning with details on this. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. from phoenix to florida to fairbanks, voters are deciding some of the most talked about races with well-known incumbents and some pretty colorful personalities among the challengers. so, let's start right here in arizona, where john mccain has been spending big trying to defeat his challenger, spending more than $20 million. and some of that campaign cash was left over from his presidential race in 2008. [ applause ] >> reporter: senator john mccain says he has something to prove. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: going for his fifth term in this anti-incumbent year. >> i appreciate your support. i ask for your vote.

>> reporter: -- means fighting off a conservative challenger, and that requires fighting against obama once again. >> i'm running against his policies and what he and his administration have done to this country. but at the same time, i'm running for arizona, i'm running for jobs, i'm running for keeping people in their homes. >> i'd really be honored to have your support in the primary. >> reporter: opponent j.d. hayworth, a former congressman, accuses mccain of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants. >> this is really true. >> reporter: mccain exposed a 2007 tv show where hayworth was a pitchman on how to get free government money, hardly the tea party conservatism he talks about today. >> you know, kelly, even if they have some concerns about me, and even shocking for me to feel that my personality may rub people the wrong way, the fact is, they know i'll vote against amnesty. >> reporter: turning to florida's crowded senate race, democrats are caught in a class struggle. >> i'm the true candidate for the middle class.

>> reporter: miami congressman kendrick meek has moved from long-shot to leader in the polls, up against self-made billionaire jeff greene, whose glitzy social life gets him attention. the winning florida democrat will be in a three-man race in november against tea party conservative marco rubio and governor charlie crist, who quit the republican party to run as an independent. and there's a cold snap in alaska's republican senate primary. >> hi, senator. how are you? >> reporter: incumbent lisa murkowski. >> i'm not working for the party. i'm working for alaska. >> reporter: and sarah palin is working against murkowski with a facebook page endorsement of challenger joe miller. palin writes, "alaskans can trust joe to not shed his conservative antlers in d.c." and palin defeated senator murkowski's father when palin became governor, so there's some history and some rivalry here. and of course, palin brings us right back to arizona. she campaigned here in the

spring with her one-time running mate john mccain at a time when he was particularly vulnerable. things have changed quite a bit. mccain now seems to be ahead with a double-digit lead in the polls. >> kelly o'donnell this morning. kelly, thanks. chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent for nbc news. chuck, good morning. >> good morning, ann. >> we just heard from kelly that john mccain is ahead, at >> we just heard mccain is ahead according to polls but had to spend like $20 million but his opponent spent about three million. what does that tell us about what is going in arizona, chuck? >> he had to do this the old-fashioned way in politics, winning ugly. the $20 million was necessary. he always had about 35 to 40% of the republican conservative electorate down there that wasn't crazy about him upset about him on immigration, taxes, a number of issues. so mccain had to disqualify j.d. hayworth. what we found out as upset at voters are these days about

washington politicians infomercial hucksters are worse. that's what mccain did, completely disqualified him. the big question people have in washington which john mccain comes back to washington, the new consistent conservative and a consistent thorn in the side of president obama, or is it the guy from the early part of this decade who was unpredictable and you didn't know which side of the aisle he would come down on a different issue. >> moving to florida, why should the country be paying attention to what's happening there? >> this democratic senate primary is kind of nuts, kind of this but a ken dick meek win by the miami congressman means the democratic establishment cannot flee the democratic nominee. they can't go over to charlie crist. the big picture is this, florida held up the country who would be president in 2000. because we don't know which way he is going to vote, if he will be the democrats or the republicans, on election night, if he wins -- and there's no guarantee he will win, this will

be a nutty three-way race maybe the best campaign in this state since claude pepper lost because his sister was a thespian. what we won't know is whether -- who will control the senate. charlie crist could hold it up for weeks. >> on the question who will control the senate and actually washington, are incumbents as weak as they thought they would be, chuck, and what is what you are looking at in terms of the races telling us about the true power of the tea party? >> here's what we know, incumbents are not getting defeated in the primaries at a clip a lot expected a. few high-profile exceptions but the bigger picture is this, democrats are in deep, deep trouble. the tea party provided an enthusiasm boost to the republican party and are as excited about voting as the republicans have been since 1994. democrats have about six weeks to turn this around. because if they don't they are headed for an historical defeat in november. losses that could not just include control of the house but, also, the senate, with or

without this -- what happens with charlie crist in florida, it is that bad now for democrats, ann. >> on that note we have to lead it. always a apprecislur. thanks. >> you got it. carl is at the news desk. always good to have you here. >> thanks. good morning, everybody a new milestone in iraq today the military says the number of u.s. troops in iraq has dropped to below 50,000 for the first time since 2003, the start of the war. president obama wanted troop levels below 50,000 by the end of the month. pakistan's president says it will take his country three years or more to recover from the devastating flooding and also said it will have a major and lasting economic impact. crews in chile monday dropped a communications system deep underground to 33 miners trapped for almost three weeks. family members gathered outside the mine were able to hear their voices, rescuers passed food and other supplies down to them.

it's expected to take months to get them out. in north carolina, a former marine was convicted monday of murdering a pregnant fellow marine who accused him of rape. laurean was sentenced to life without parole for killing her. iran's military says it is opg new facilities allowing it to mass produce assault boats. the announcement one day after the unveiling of a new drone iran calls the ambassador of death. nbc's tehran bureau chief is in london. why are the announcements coming now? >> reporter: good morning, carl. they want though show their military might to the west and want to show they are self-sufficient in the nuclear field, despite four rounds of sanctions. but, more importantlily by unveiling all the military hardware at a time when a possible attack on iran's nuclear facilities is heightened iran wants to send a message to the united states thing israel it can not only defend it self but also wreak havoc in the

region and beyond. it has always said it if attacked it would shut down the strait of hor messy, representing 40% of the world's sea-borne oil shipments. >> thanks for that. four americans among 14 killed when their plane crashed in nepal. the plane had been heading to the area around mt. everest. a close call for six people on board a blaen that crashed in the bahamas monday, able to stand on the wings until a rescue boat arrived. federal judge temporarily blocked the o obama administration xwanding embryonic stem cell research saying federal law forbids the use of taxpayer dollars to destroy a human embryo. a frightening crash caught on tape. look at. this the ohio teen was critically jaurtd monday when his car sped down a highway, hit a ditch then went airborne and broke apart. the dramatic crash caught on a police dashboard camera. "miss mexico" jimena

navarette the new miss universe crowned last night in las vegas with our own natalie morales hosting. congratulations to her. back to matt, ann and al. beautiful. >> probably will make her way to the plaza the next couple of days, i would imagine. >> i would think so. >> debra was a judge. >> she's here this morning and we can get the lowdown. >> the red-eye. >> whatever the lowdown is. >> al, welcome back. >> thanks a lot. the tale of two coasts out west the heat is back. palm springs, 115, phoenix, 111, san francisco is going to get to 92 degrees with heat advisories, record to near records in central california, even the pacific northwest 6 to 12 degrees above normal. but in the east on this unseasonably cool day only in the upper 60s to low 70s, temperatures from 5 to 12 degrees below normal from boston to washington, d.c.

good morning to you. i'm kris sanchez here. san francisco will be one of the cool spots for the day but still very warm. let's look at a heat advisory in effect until 8:00 tonight for all of the counties in the bay area. this morning, temperatures 69 in san francisco. 68 in fremont. 73 in san jose. and cooling up nicely, 100 degree temperatures by the 4:00 hour. and that's your latest weather. now to los angeles and the unveiling of the most expensive public school ever built in this country. with a price tag of more than half a billion dollars, it's grand and luxurious and it's being blasted by critics. nbc's lee cowan has more. lee, good morning to you. >> reporter: by any measure the students attending this school named after robert kennedy are going to be pretty lucky.

no expense was spared and that's good for the students, but it has become, as you say, a pr nightmare. how, critics say, can a state justify building the most expensive school ever built while at the same time cutting back on teachers and cutting back on programs? student auditorium at the new robert f. kennedy community school complex looks like a fancy nightclub. the l.a. school district modeled it after the coconut grove, a famous art deco hot spot frequented by the likes of sammy davis jr. if you think that's high end for a school auditorium, take a look at the teachers lounge. pretty ritzy retro. they are just some of the highlights of the soon-to-be open school spread across 23 manicured acres in downtown los angeles. >> the poorest children in this school system, the most congested area in this school system, the most diverse in this

school system are going to have one of the most beautiful learning environments. >> reporter: there are six learning centers for kids k-12, enough room for some 4,000 students to learn in educational luxury. >> it is the most costly school in the united states. >> reporter: how costly? the final price tag came in at $578 million. do the math and that's equal to about $135,000 per student next year. when ground was broken in 2006, it was a different economic time and the site was historic. coconut grove nightclub was part of the old ambassador hotel, the site of robert kennedy's tragic assassination in 1968. in deciding how best to memorialize him, many thought a state-of-the-art school on the site would fit the bill. now that california is laying

off thousands of teachers and cutting academic programs to fill a $600 million budget gap, some say opening a taj mahal style education complex hardly seems appropriate. >> when taxpayers see we're spending half a billion dollars to build one school, they're not going to open their wallets again to invest in teachers, to invest in textbooks and invest in kids. that's what we need. >> reporter: but school officials say that half a billion dollars didn't come from the state's beleaguered education budget. it came from a voter approved bond measure instead. >> you could not use any of this money other than for building that particular building. it cannot be used for anything else. >> reporter: nationwide there are dozens of other schools, matt, that surpass the $100 million mark. none quite this much. they were putting the finishing touches on this place.

they hope to have it ready for the beginning of the school year next month. >> lee cowan, the point he makes is so important, when they started this project it was a much different economic time. >> no question. >> and it certainly feels a little awkward. >> right. investing in poor children and the education of poor children is the really only way to lift this country out. but that said, maybe we don't need the taj mahal references. >> and we need teachers. where does tiger woods go from here now that he's officially divorced? who gets custody of his two children? details on that. is soft on cats. but deadly on fleas. so ask your veterinarian for advantage, the flea specialist, for effective, but gentle flea control.

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good morning to you. a couple minutes before 7:30. i'm kris sanchez here with mike inouye. >> it's spare the air day, but delays on caltrans. single tracking and delays for the system around the san antonio area. more cars on the peninsula, highway 101 no major slowing. the south bay getting hit today. we will see this adjust as folks get used to the fall commute, even though it's hot right now. >> yes, we are talking about a

spare the air day. it will be hot. the heat advisory will be around until 8:00 tonight. here's what you can expect, 69 in san francisco. 73 in san jose. by 4:00, we will see record-breaking heat. 100 degreesroegdheas e tt east . news after this.

a lot of folks will be watching nasa today where a controversial trial to same-sex marriage in the presbyterian church will begin. reverend james sparr is accused of violating church law when she married 16 same-sex couples in 2008. back then gay marriages were legal in california. sparr will face trial by the permanent judicial commission of the redwood presbytery. opening statement also begin today. and tonight at 11:00, we'll have a special report on the trial that could end reverend sparr's 36-year career. mosh

7:30 now on a tuesday morning, the 24th day of august, 2010. it feels like fall even though it's late summer. temperature is in the mid-60s. we have some on again, off again showers. people out on the plaza. inside studio 1-a i'm matt lauer alongside ann curry filling in for meredith. new details on february's deadly killer whale attack at seaworld orlando. did that theme park knowingly expose its animal train eers to drowning habits? we'll get the latest on that story in a couple of minutes.

also ahead, matt, if you're trying to lose weight, before you sit down to your next meal, scientists are saying you may want to drink at least two glasses of water beforehand. what exactly might that have to do with actual ly cutting pound? we have dr. nancy snyderman here with the results of an interesting new study, matt. later on, why the age of when people officially become a grown-up is now changing. we'll explain that. >> i hope that's good news. let's begin this half hour with tiger woods and elin nordegren, the couple officially divorced on monday, nine months after the golfer's infamous car crash that exposed a series of affairs. nbc's peter alexander now joins us with the latest on this story. peter, good morning. >> reporter: ann, good morning to you. i think it's safe to say this was a shock to nobody. pet tiger woods and his ex-wife in a court hearing that lasted no longer than ten minutes. reportedly not saying a word to

each other. theirs seemed like a fairy tale marriage pupg waited on countless 18 greens. tiger and elin's romance was officially extinguished in a florida courthouse with elin reportedly accompanied by a handful of lawyers, one of them her identical twin sister, the former couple released a joint statement saying we are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future. in these newly filed divorce documents the marriage between tiger, whose legal name is eldrick woods, and elin, is described as irretrievably broken. the judge restored elin's maiden name, elin nordegren, and they agreed to share parenting of their two children, 3-year-old sam and 18-month-old charlie with both mom and dad also completing parenting classes. tiger spoke about his children last month. >> i have two beautiful kids and i try to be the best dad i can possibly be, and that's the most

important thing of all. >> reporter: the terms of the divorce may never be known but some reports estimate elin's jaw dropping payout could be anywhere from $100 million to $500 million. >> it's a win-win for both of them. he gets what he wants, satisfactory custody arrangement with the children and most importantly confidentiality agre is. it's a wip win-win for both of them. he gets to help raise the which were and a confidentiality agreement. >> reporter: it's been nine months since his image was shattered by that car crash outside of his exclusive florida mansion and then a flood of tabloid headlines and awkward admissions of extramarital affairs. >> i'm deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior i engaged in. >> reporter: while tiger has returned to golf, elin, a former model from sweden, has been spotted throughout the orlando area, running errands and taking

her children to preschool, as well as reportedly enrolling in psychological classes at nearby rollins college. >> in this diversorce, she was e to drive some of the terms, which is to take the kids to sweden. >> reporter: tiger and elin reached their settlement agreement during the fourth of july weekend. at the same time that a rattled tiger posted one of his worst finishes all year it at the at&t national, winding up tied for 46th place. >> tiger is not making a -- >> tiger woods used to be this impenetrable golfer. he was unbeatable and now there are cracks in the armor. he's not the same guy. >> reporter: these days, tiger's golf game, like his personal life, is stranded in the rough. >> you wouldn't know it by watching him lately, but tiger

is still ranked as the world's top golfer. he'll be back in action this weekend in a tournament in new jersey. his first as a single man in six years. >> wendy murphy is an attorney specializing in women's rights and mike is the author of the upcoming book "hero." just how badly is tiger woods playing today? >> compared to the way he finished last year -- didn't even win a major last year. now he's playing like a scrub. he's become a head case in a mental game. i think this divorce was hanging over his head, finding out what kind of custody agreement was hanging over his head. building this mansion in florida he knows he's never going to live in. it's affected every single partnpart of his game.

>> now that the divorce is final, what are the chances he could come back? >> i think anybody that writes him off is doing so at their own peril. the guy that hit it all over the lot, can he put, pardon the expression, humpty dumpty back together again. >> moving on to the divorce. wendy, what does shared custody mean in this type of a case, especially when we understand elin can take the kids to sweden? >> good question. because really all it means is that as a matter of law they will both have the same rights to the children. clearly, they have to have a primary residence. that's absolutely going to be with elin, wherever she would have wanted to be. the law it typically says you cannot take the children really far away from their father.

they should be close by so he can have reasonable visitation. we know she's planning to raise them some of the time in sweden. i guarantee you this. tiger, if he agreed to that, only did so for a price. >> it's going to be a very, very tough time for the children. turning back to tiger, how much does his legacy matter to him? you've watched him all these years. how much time does he have to fix what's now been broken? >> most guys don't play great after the age of 40. he's got about five years. is he obsessed with his legacy? roger clemens may be willing to go to jail rather than admit to steroids because it affects his hall of fame chances. he's obsessed with his legacy. a guy that knows him well said he never would have said this last year.

he said jack nicklaus' record has never looked safer. you can't get your mind around what you thought of him before he started playing bumper cars last thanksgiving night. >> that's right. mike, thank you so much. wendy murphy, thank you also for your perspective this morning. >> let's get a check of the weather from al. >> thank you very much, ann. how is the weather up there? >> good. >> what's your name? >> slade, where are you from? >> richmond, virginia. >> dad's neck is holding up very well. let's check your weather. we've got hurricane danielle 1,100 miles east of the lesser antilles. moving west at 20. it will be maybe become a category 3 storm before this is

over. talking with dr. knabb, it will slow down later on. the big story for us today in the bay area, record-breaking heat. it is a nice start to the day here in san jose. looking at the map, you can see we have a heat advisory in effect for all the counties in the bay area until 8:00 tonight. by 8:00 this morning, 59 in san francisco. 68 in fremont. 68 in napa. by the noontime hour, we see some warming. and we'll leave you with that. 100 degree temperatures by this afternoon. record-breaking heat. keep you posted. heck nbcbayarea.com. weather. matt? thank you very much. new details this morning in and that's your latest weather. matt? >> new details in february's deadly killer whale attack at sea world orlando.

osha completed its investigation and it's coming down hard on the theme park. msnbc's tamron hall has the details. tamron, good morning. >> the federal job safety agency uncovered three violations it says contributed to the death of one of sea world's animal trainers. sha they've slapped the park with $75,000 in february. >> reporter: it was a routine dplem demonstration in february that turned into terrifying moments for dawn brancheau. she was pulled into the water by the killer whale who grabbed onto the trainer's ponytail. >> i didn't see dawn. all i saw was her sandals in the whau water floating. >> reporter: osha blamed sea world for the trainer's death, saying it had displayed intentional disregard for the

trainer's safety. the whale had known aggressive tendencies and was involved with other whales in a deadly accident with their trainer in british colombia, 1991. osha said sea world trainers had a history of dangerous incidents involving killer whales at various facilities and failed to make meaningful changes to safety procedures for its trainers. this is the former head of animal training at sea world. >> i helped develop some of the protocols. i think osha is overstepping their bunounds. >> reporter: osha also said sea world should minimize human/animal interaction if there is no safe way to predict animal behavior under all conditions. >> these animals are used to relationships that of taken years to build with these trainers. to say all of a sudden, boom, they cannot go near the animals, i think that's ludicrous.

>> reporter: sea world plans to contest the osha citations and said the findings are unsupported by any evidence and reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of the safety requirements. legal experts say the fine, $75,000, is more than a slap on the wrist for sea world. part of an $8 billion industry. >> some will say $75,000? someone died here. other organizations can deal with the cause of death, the effects of that. all osha is designed to do is deal with employee safety. and they're saying in effect, you sea world, are guilty. >> reporter: in the meantime, sea world trainers are no longer allowed in the water when handling all killer whales, awaiting further review by an independent investigation. and the killer whale is still at sea world being used for breeding. >> up next, why scientists say you might want to drink some

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back now at 7:45. this morning, can drinking water help you shed some pounds? we've all heard that eight glasses a day will help keep you healthy, but now new research shows drinking water before a meal can can actually lead to weight loss. dr. nancy snyderman is nbc's chief medical editor. good morning. >> hi, matt. >> this has been anecdotally talked about. you called it almost an urban my myth. now we have a randomized controlled clinical style. what did it show? >> right. this is now science saying the urban myth is true that if you drink two glasses of water before a meal, you will consume 75 to 90 fewer calories during that meal. >> it's not about boosting metabolism. >> it has nothing to do with metabolism. it has to do with making your tummy feel full so you consume less. some got water, some didn't.

those who consumed the water over a 12-week period lost five pounds more and seemed to keep it off. >> this is good news. you say it's because it tends to make you feel full. there's a second part of this, if you're busy drinking all of this water you're probably not going to have time to drink the sweetened drinks that have so many calories. >> i think that's really important. they looked atwater and the idea is water, makes your stomach expand, makes you feel full and you stop eating. if you are a disciplined person and you want to consume a diet beverage, that's fine. it's really about the volume of the liquid. here is where people get into trouble. we're not talking about substituting with juice or with cola or other things because that's where you add the calories. i'm not even a big believer of saying switch to the diet stuff only because the flavoring of the diet colas can trick your brain into wanting to consume more sweets. this really is the purity of just water expanding your belly. >> people are already figuring out how to beat the system here

saying, wait a second, if a glass or two will help me lose five pounds than five glasses will help me lose more. is that the way it works? >> no. more is not better. the reality is your stomach is about as big as your fist so when you expand it a little, it just sends a message to your brain saying, fine, don't fill me up anymore. five glasses, ten glasses, will get you to the bathroom more often. >> can you drink too much water? >> you can get water intoxication. if you're drinking too much water and not enough salt, you can delete your blood and that can can be a problem. very rare. those two glasses is what people should think about before lunch and dinner and, frankly, if you're hungry at night, do the same thing in the evening. >> i don't want to get up and go to the bathroom. >> well, you're old. you have to anyway. >> dr. nancy snyderman, thanks for reminding me.

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so i couldn't always do what i wanted to do. but five minutes ago, i took symbicort, and symbicort is already helping significantly improve my lung function. so, today, i've noticed a significant difference in my breathing. and i'm doing more of what i want to do. so we're clear -- it doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. my doctor said symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort, and it's significantly improves my lung function, starting within five minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing. now more of my want-tos are can-dos. as your doctor about symbicort today. i got my first prescription free. call or go online to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

good morning. it's 7:56. i'm scott mcgrew. let's check the commute with mike. >> good morning. out to the bay bridge, we have a back-up that filled in the space of our camera shot here. going back towards the foot of the maze, slowdown on the east shore freeway. a 20-minute drive off the carquinez. smooth through berkeley and emeryville. oakland jammed up northbound 880. the view past the coliseum. high street, that's traditional going on except for the summer commute. the next week folks sort out the end of summer vacation and back in school for the kids. >> even though it feels like prime time summer vacation, you

might want to take your coffee iced. it will be very hot today. heat advisory in effect until 8:00 tonight in most counties around the bay area. by noontime, temperatures breaking off and separating a bit. look at that, san francisco, 78. you may get a knock on your door by some friends if they are looking for cooler temperatures. brerdcoreeainrd hgt for the east bay and the south bay. more news after this. h

school is back in session and starting today schools across the bay area will crack

down on truancy. in richmond, students caught cutting class will be taken to the city community center for counseling and then after that they'll have to go to juvenile court. richmond is following in the footsteps of san francisco which has had a successful truancy program that prosecutes parents whose children skip school. businesses are being asked to help alert police if they see potential class cutters. state legislators are considering ma considering a bill making truancy a misdemeanor if kids miss more than 10% of the school year. more news in the next half hour.

♪ i kissed a girl and i liked it ♪ 8:00 now on a tuesday morning. it's the 24th day of august, 2010. a little wet out here. it's just overcast right now but cool temperatures with the wind blowing. nice people out on the plaza. we're hoping they get a little better weather on friday when we have pop superstar katy perry taking over our plaza as part of our summer concert series. she is a lot of fun. >> oh, yes, she is. >> she is a bundle of fun, so come on down if you want a great show, great music and some great e entertainment. >> she might bring her fiance.

>> he has been here a few times. >> he's fun. >> a fun couple. >> a ball of fun. >> yes. out on the plaza, i'm matt lauer along with ann curry while meredith is taking time off. we're joined by mr. roker as well. and coming up in this half hour we'll talk about bed bugs. not the actual getting of the bed bugs but the stigma, the side effects of bed bugs. >> in fact, the question is now that it is epidemic, bed bugs in some part of our country, ethically, what should we do? should we tell people when we have them? al is being very careful. we're going to get into the psychological impact. are you concerned? >> i am a little bit. >> and so -- >> lenny -- are you all right? are you okay? got more than he bargained for this morning. also ahead we hear a lot about women and body image.

what about men and their image of their body. we'll meet a guy who wrote "i'm with fatty." it details his struggle with body image and his quest to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks. fascinating. >> he calls himself fat. >> in the book. >> okay 0. also -- >> channelling tom newell, marilyn monroe movie "seven year itch." also, 20-somethings, for those of us who have 20-year-olds -- get out! enough already. you're driving us nuts. why is it taking these 20-somethings so long to grow up? we'll take a look at that. >> okay. >> i've got one. >> we have a lot to get to. let's go inside. carl quintanilla is manning the news desk this morning with all the headlines. hey, carl. good morning, matt. good morning, everybody. key primary races today in arizona, florida and alaska. arizona senator john mccain spent $20 million in a primary battle against tea party-backed radio host j.d. hayworth.

in alaska, it's personal. lisa murkowski whose father was defeated by sarah palin for governor faces attorney joe miller. and in florida's primary real estate billionaire jeff greene is challenging washington backed democrat kendrick meek. p primaries are being held in oklahoma and vermont. a former marine in north carolina is behind bars for life. on monday cesar laurean was convicted of killing a pregnant marine colleague lance corporal maria lauterbach in 2007. rescuers are sending foot and oxygen to 33 chilean miners discovered alive sunday after 17 days underground. they could still take months to free them. the men say they've stretched their supply by letting each eat two teaspoons of tuna every two days. the police force admitted it bungled monday's hostage siege

that left eight dead. the 12-hour standoff ended when a s.w.a.t. team stormed a tour bus and killed the gunman. a fired police officer who wanted his job back. overseas markets mostly lower this morning. cnbc's melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange. what should investors be watching today? >> carl, stocks hit a one-month low. home sales in focus. home sales have been on decline since april and the tax credit expired even though mortgage rates sit at historic lows. weaker than expected data and renewed concerns about the economic recovery. housing, of course, as you know, carl, a linchpin to the recovery. housing has led the u.s. out of recession seven of the last eight times. >> melissa lee at the stock exchange, thanks for that. congress is now investigating the nationwide egg recall asking two iowa farms when they first discovered salmonella contamination and when they notified federal inspectors. federal health officials say

they have not seen any large increase in the number of people becoming ill suggesting the three-month outbreak may have peaked. it is now 8:04. want to get another check of the weather from al. thanks so much, carl. we have a nice group -- where are you from? >> virginia. >> is the whole family here? >> yes. >> good looking group. very nice. all nice in virginia. let's check your weather, see what's happening. amarillo, texas, kkmr 4 on your side. morning showers, cooler. 75 degrees. and you can see this stationary cold front into oklahoma. we're looking at some showers down through much of florida. wet weather moving off the new england coast and the northeast. some windy conditions there. the heat is back in california. 97 downtown l.a. 91 in portland, oregon

good morning to you. a look at a live picture of san francisco, one of the cool spots, very warm but as we know, what's warm in san francisco is hot in other parts. 87 in fremont and san jose, triple digits in east bay and south bay. 104 for gilroy, concord and 104 fa fairfield. today is the hottest day, warm tomorrow and cooling for the weekend. and that's your latest weather. mr. lauer? >> bed bugs and the social stigma that goes along with getting those icky little critters. we'll talk about that right after these messages. with capital one's venture card, we get double miles on every purchase. echo! so we earned a trip to the grand canyon twice as fast. uh-oh. we get double miles every time we use our card. i'll take these. no matter what we're buying. plus the damages. and since double miles add up quick, we can bring the whole gang.

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[ laughs ] this is it! [ all ] 10...9...8... a new school year has so much potential! any resolutions? my resolution is the same as always; keep her full and focused with my fiber. [ all ] 3...2...1... happy school year! [ female announcer ] this school year, make a resolution to give your kid kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal. an excellent source of fiber from 100% whole grain. that helps keep them full so they can focus on the day ahead. keeps 'em full... keeps 'em focused. back now at 8:10. as we've been reporting bed bug infestations are on the rise across this nation and the impact goes far beyond that infernal itching. we have john yang explaining now. >> reporter: from head to toe robin boyd had the physical scars of being eat ep alive by bed bugs. >> my face, my back, my breasts, my buttocks, my legs.

>> reporter: what you can't see are the psychological scars. >> you're ashamed. you can't tell anyone you have bed bugs because they shy away from you. you're scared of everybody. you get paranoid of everybody, even at your work. >> reporter: missy hendricks of the test management association says it's an all-too-common story. >> people do off times find themselves dealing with anxiety, sleeplessness, oftentimes depression. i hear stories of people that truly are on the brink of holding on to their sanity because of all they're experiencing. >> reporter: having bed bugs means bites, itching, and trying to get rid of them. they can bring untold mental anguish and social stigma. >> unfortunately, if someone does find out their friends or neighbors do have bed bugs, oftentimes the social visits do stop, cocktail parties, dinner parties get canceled.

>> reporter: that can leave sufferers feeling isolated with no one to turn to for help and support or even worse. >> the anxiety, the depression. a great deal of reclusiveness that comes when people do have bed bugs and they're concerned to talk to other individuals about it. >> reporter: alone and ashamed robin boyd tried to fight. >> you know what, i'm going to get something. i'm going to get rid of this. they're not going to beat me. >> reporter: a life turned upside-down by the tiniest of pests. for "today," john yang, nbc news, chicago. >> dr. susan taylor is a dermatologist who has had bed bugs and steven broski is a psychologist. good morning to both of you. for you to personally experience these feelings we've just heard. >> i have indeed. i went on a business trip to las vegas, stayed in a very nice hotel, ended up being bitten. and it's traumatic. it's very upsetting. but i don't think it's anything

to be ashamed of. bed bugs are so prevalent not only in hotels but also office buildings, department stores. it's nothing to be ashamed of. it's another type of infestation. >> she's right. there's no reason to feel shame for this. it could happen actually to anyone that they have bed bug bites but what is it about bed bugs that makes them so traumatic as we saw especially given that they don't carry diseases? >> i think it's just the frustration and the difficulty in addressing the situation. i have a lot of people, for example, i treat for hoarding and so forth. some of these people as well as just an ordinary individual to basically throw out their possessions if not abandon their apartment entirely. it is an upheaval. >> it's often said you're only as sick as the secrets you keep. let's talk about how to be open about this stuff. we heard the woman in this piece

saying you really can't tell anybody. the truth is trying to figure out the rules of the road, what can you do? what should you do? what's your feeling? >> my feeling is it's important to be open and honest and to be a good citizen. i think you should say, my apartment was infested with bed bugs. i've had an exterminator. take your clothes to a dry cleaner. it's important to say i want you to know that i've had bed bugs and we're fighting this. and i think you can't go wrong by being open and honest and informing people. >> we heard earlier that people don't invite you over for play dates, don't want to hang out with your kids. there's a cost. >> there's a balance. clearly you have to kind of get your house in order first. i think that's obvious if you're going to have guests over or visit other people. having said that, i think that, you know, paranoia and stigma has never been helpful in any situation whether it's bed bugs, swine flu or anything else and basically if it keeps you from

reaching out for help that you need, that's really very damaging. >> and so, for example, you can also worry about -- people worry about picking them up at work and restaurants as you just talked about. so should you go to your bosses? should you go to your colleagues and mention that you have bed bugs? >> that's a very interesting question. i think that it's important for the corporate environment or the work environment to say, you know what, this has been a problem. i want you to be aware of it. and then they can be on the lookout for signs of an infestation in the office. so i think honesty is, indeed, the best policy. >> all right. so with that we've talked about that part of it but in terms of the practical part of it, the reason you weren't -- did not bring bed bugs home is you did the smart thing to keep your bag away from the bed. >> i travel quite extensively. i never put my luggage on the bed. i always put it on a luggage rack. i pull it out from the wall and i think those maneuvers made a big difference and people should be aware of that.

>> this too shall pass. >> absolutely. we've seen public hysteria about other kinds of epidemics. eventually it passes and stigma should not be a motivating -- should not be your motivation. you should get the job done. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> both of you for helping us through our psychological issues because it's scary. up next, the fatty project. one self-confessed food junkie's quest to lose 50 poueks.in depression is a serious medical condition it can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then... well... i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine.

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pediatrician recommended pain reliever for children. plus, children's advil® brings fever down faster than children's tylenol®. choose children's advil®. relief you can trust. we are back now at 8:20. in "today's relationships" weight and body image. women aren't the only ones that struggle with them. here's the story of edward, a self-proclaimed fatty. >> i love food more than most people, but often more than i should. still, food is not the villain in my story. to me food is culture, family, history, entertainment. if there's a bad guy, it's not pasta or peking duck. the bad guy is me. somewhere over the last few years food's gotten the best of me and my pants. what happened? i stopped eating like a food lover and started eating like a

food addict. where does one draw the line? i'm still trying to figure that out. being heavy in a culture obsessed with weight and food is a tricky thing for men as much as women. men, at least this man, suffer over body image, too. today as a husband and father of two young girls, my relationship is no longer about me. i'm trying to teach my girls to cook so they'll never have to rely upon others to determine what they put in their bodies. >> edward began a mission to shed his extra pounds and wrote about it in a new book "i'm with fatty: losing 50 pounds in 50 miserable weeks." good to have you. it's a serious subject but you have a great sense of humor and a lot of this book is very f funny. talk to me about this project. what did you set out to do? >> it was born of a serious health issue. my wife did something that most men wouldn't love, which is she recorded me snoring one night, and i asked her how long it went

on for and her answer was promptly forever. we went to the doctor. it turned out i had sleep apnea. though the book is really funny, i hope, and tells my story in a funny way, it's really born of something serious. >> you're candid in the book. you talk about the -- going to the sleep clinic. you talk about a colonic, about a seemingly endless binge. did you hold anything back when writing about this or was the whole idea you had to be completely honest? >> it was a brilliant thing to be able to write for a year, be paid to write about my health, food, my thoughts on my weight and food. i think the one contract i made with myself is to be honest and candid and not hold anything back. i think also when you write, the funny comes from the pain and so as long as you're honest about that. >> "i'm with fatty." even at your heaviest you were not all that fat.

>> tell my mother. >> but in your own mind's eye, you were fat? >> well, i think so. it was interesting as the book has come out and started to get reviews, you see more and more people have that same issue with their body image regardless of what they look like. maybe not someone who has been wearing the same size for the last 20 years. if they're big or little, they have the same issue with their body image. i remember when i was a kid and feeling the same way even though looking back on those photos i was a gorgeous, young kid, as you can imagine. >> clearly. it's clear to the eye. we have done so many segments on women and body image, so is there -- do men deal with body image in the same general way or do you think there are distinct differences between the two sexes deal with it? >> i think there are differences but i think a lot of that comes from our cultural identities. men don't write about this stuff, don't talk about this stuff. it's not very macho on the "today" show or write a book

about the fact you don't like to take your shirt off at the beach. >> what if you're helping other people? >> i hope so and i hope being honest about it and writing about it gives other people perhaps a little bit more clearance on their own life. >> one of the things that struck me, you write a lot about shame, which you say has been a part of your life for a long time and you mention your ability to tolerate shame increased proportionally with your belt size. can you explain that? >> shame is something funny. again, no one hands you shame. it's really something you grow in your own backyard and i think that as you get heavier you find a way to rationalize, how i look is not going to change. i love food so much that i would go and eat regardless of the fact that i didn't feel very good about the way that i looked but i would do things like go to the outskirts of town, go to a thai joint, maybe outside of the city where someone wasn't going to bump into me. >> you have two daughters, sasha and roni.

i love the name. body image is going to be something they have to deal with. quickly, are you going to sit down and talk to them about it? >> i not only sit down and talk to them but help them cook their way out of it. obe obesity is hitting our kids. that's where the epicenter of this is. and so my goal is to help them cook their way through this, teach them to cook, happy and comfortable in the kitchen like i am and give them a fighting shot in the next 20 years. >> the book is "i'm with fatty."

good morning to you, couple minutes before 8:30. we're watching the forecast. >> things are getting crowded out there. folks getting back from summer vacation. the commute is on in the south. look at 680 southbound toward northbound 280. typically through the fall and winter months, what we sue, return to traffic past san jose state as they get back in session. 85 slow up to 101. there you go, 101 slow through san mateo and palo alto. highway 12 is closed today and through thursday for road work. very hot for road work. >> would not want to be a member

of the road work. heat advisory until 8:00 tonight h make sure you watch your temperatures, check on neighbors if they can't get out. warmly quickly for noontime. 86 by 4:00 but the heat story in the east bay and south bay. hottest day today, still hot tomorrow, then coolining toward the weekend. more newses after this.

california schools could find more money in their coffers. later today national education

department will name winners second round race top to have program. california is still in the running and there is 3.5 billion at stake today. the bay area schools to get $700 million of the pot. the race to the top school reform come pe digs rewards schools that make ambitious reforms in an effort to improve performance. more leakal new a local new hour. it is going to be hot. be careful out there, especially in the east bay and south bay.

we're back now 8:30 on a tuesday morning, the 24th day of august, 2010. a little dreary here in the northeast, but you know what, we have the nicest group of people out here on the plaza. thanks to them for stopping by. and a pretty nice group assembled on the plaza on our end as well. i'm matt lauer along with ann

curry while meredith is taking some time off and al roker. we're joined by carl quintanilla. used to be kids would go to school, high school, maybe college, and go off and start a family. boom, you're a grown-up. >> that's right, boom. these days it's actually taking longer for young people to decide to start their careers, to get married, do all that adult stuff. why is that happening and is that a problem? what do we do about it? we'll be talking to experts about that. >> also from kalamata to sicilian, cooking. >> i love olives. >> and we love giada even more. >> it's the best of both worlds. my head is blowing up. all of that in the same segment. fantastic. >> as a reminder you still have time to vote for your favorite couple, the couple you want to see get married on "today throws a wedding." your choices, number one, lauren and greg. couple number two, melissa and

jeremy. couple number three shatera and marcus. and couple number four, genevieve and david. head to our website todayshow.com or our facebook page, facebook.com/todayshow. >> another option text your choice to 622639 and, remember, voting ends at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. we are going to reveal the winning couple live on the show tomorrow morning. >> that's not a lot of time. >> and we're off and running. mr. roker, how about a check of the weather? >> we'll show you first of all for today we are expecting to see showers along the northeast coast, windy conditions. heat out west. rain back to texas and some rain in central florida. tomorrow much of the country looking pretty darned good. sizzling weather continues out west. rain in new england, interior new york and wet weather throughout much of florida tomorrow.

>> heat's the story in the bay area. looking live at oakland, this is probably going to be another record-breaking day in terms of temperatures in oakland. it was yesterday. heat advisory in effect until 8:00 tonight in all of the counties for the bay area. by the noon time hour with expect temps about 70-so degrees in san francisco. getting warmer into the east bay by 4:00, that is when we go to big temperature change, a 103 in concord and livermore and if you have a pool, expect calls from your friends. nd that's your latest weather. now let's head on down to washington, d.c., and say hello to big willie scott. ♪ you know, september, i can't believe it. back to school. we do our thing, thanksgiving, christmas, hanukkah. happy birthday, how sweet. sadie is a friend of nancy, my beloved secretary i love with all my heart, forest hills, new york. happy birthday. lives independently and can balance her own checkbook.

hallelujah. we have adele berry, dania, florida. worked as a driver for jack berry. the old radio host, remember him? joseph madar of new haven, connecticut. 105. still drives and repairs cars for his friends. sharp as a tack. ann conley of westlake, ohio, 100 years old today. retired nurse and follows the stock market like a hawk making plenty of money, i hope. the reverend dermot swicegood. 100 years old. honored with the palmetto award and played golf -- i guess he still plays. at 96 he won the award. gene denenburg, owings mills, maryland, 102. secret to longevity is line dancing.

and we have lorene winkleby, of los altos, california. god bless. have a nice week. see you later, bye. willard, thank you very much. when we come back, why it's now taking 20-somethings so much longer to grow up than it used to. i think we're talking emotionally.ed to. i think we're talking emotionally.

back now at 8:37. this morning on "today's family" when do you become a grown-up? according to "the new york times" 40% of people in their 20s will move back home with their parents at least once and people are settling into adulthood seven to ten years later than they did 50 years ago. we have jesse arnett, the author of "emerging adulthood."

also joining us janet taylor. thank you for joining us. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> so if, in fact, this generation, these generations recently are becoming adults later than the generations before, why is that? >> there are a variety of reasons. the economy has changed for one thing from a mainly manufacturing economy to more on information and technology and services economy. that takes longer to prepare for. another reason is that now premarital sex and co-habitation are accepted. there's not the urgency when premarital sex was taboo. >> so if you're a young person at home not leaving the nest and they are 25 years old and hasn't done that, should we be concerned? >> i think we have to look at

other factors. part of this emerging adulthood is this process of finding out about themselves in terms of identity, looking at maybe what disappointments are. on the other hand, having a sense of possibilities and optimism so the point is really how can can we make sure that our young adults are more adaptable and stay engaged and motivated to make changes for their lives? >> one of the things you pointed out earlier that our brains -- their brains are really not developed until they're 25 years old. >> well, they continue to develop so that whole evidence once your child is a teenager, their brain development is over, from impulse control, decision making, really regulating emotions, that can continue until they're 25. so an extended adolescence at the same time we expect them to make adult decisions. >> so you're saying really that biologically this makes sense, that that prior generation didn't have a choice about when they sort of took on the responsibilities of an adult. today's generation might have that choice and if they do have that choice, what's wrong with it? >> yeah, what's wrong with it? they generally make very good use of it.

they do a lot of interesting things in their 20s, things like the peace corps, try an interesting place to live or travel. they move to a different part of the country or the world to do something interesting for a while that they can only do while they don't have adult responsibilities. >> so what is it we as parents should be doing or we should add in not doing since we have parents are often accused of maybe doing too much for this generation of kids? what should our role be, the rules of our roles as parents? >> i would think to be patient and to not expect that they're going to move into a settled adulthood in their very early 20s or maybe even their mid-20s. >> and i would disagree because i think part of it is the emerging adults are ambivalent but parents have to push more and prod and so you think that parenting is over, you know, 18. you still have to make demands and say, listen, i expect you to do this, to pay rent, or make these decisions.

>> pushing them into understanding that growing up means taking on responsibilities. on the other hand it sounds like what you're saying is encouraging them to use this time wisely. >> encouraging them and also realize that you just don't have that much power once they're in emerging adulthood. >> they're living in your house, eating your food, not paying rent necessarily and you have no control. that's really the problem. >> and they know it. parents are used to having control because they have a lot of control over their children in adolescence. it's hard to get used to the fact they're emerging adults. they can give advice but emerging adults are not necessarily going to listen. >> when should we become concerned? we're talking about them, this idea there's emerging adulthood we haven't factored in. being a child, being a teenager, and all of a sudden become an adult. there's an emerging place. at what point do we worry if a child is lackadaisical at home, struggling, really not looking

at anything in terms of a future? then we do have an issue. >> you have to worry if there's not a plan. if your emerging adult is not heading in any direction at all. if they're trying something at least, if they have to fail and have to try again, they're doing fine. it may take them most of their 20s to find what they really want to do. if they don't have a plan, they seem depressed and defeated, then it's time to worry. >> lack of motivation, expectation. >> okay, all right. there you go. you laid it out for us. dr. janet taylor and jeffrey arnett, thank you. and up next, all things olives with italian chef giada de laurentiis. [ male announcer ] when meg whitman arrived at ebay,

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that your family has always known and loved. ♪ i love olives this morning in "today's cooking school" we're making everything with olives from appetizers to sauces, flavoring with black or green olives can give them a great kick. chef giada de laurentiis has a great kick and she's a "today" contributor. giada, good morning. nice to see you. how are you? >> very well, thank you. >> raised your hand. like olives? love olives. this is a great segment. >> either you love olives or you really don't like olives. i'm so glad you all enjoy them. >> before we get to cooking with them, you have a great display. what's going to happen, i'm going to hand this off to al and then i'm going to start eating. give me the basic difference between the olives on the set. >> olives run from green to purplish black and they can be picked or harvested at any time. we'll started with pitted stuffed olives. here we have the kalamatas and

the little ones. >> is it true the green olives tend to pack more punch, have a stronger flavor than the black? >> they have more acidity but the sicilian olives that are really green and quite crisp, like an apple, can be buttery. >> people serve them as an appetizer. you're going to make stuffed fried olives. >> i've never heard of this. this is fantastic. >> this is really fun. a little bit of gorgonzola cheese. if you can mix those together and then why don't one of you do this. >> i'm better at the tasting part. >> here, matt, do you want to dump and i'll talk you through it? >> all of it? >> there we go. you mix this all together very easy to do. the little more complicated part is to put it in a little piping bag. but you kind of need it because with a spoon it's hard to get it

in there. >> unless you have really big olives. >> pitted olives for this and they're green olives. there you go. look how he does that. >> it's not that hard. >> let me give you a harder task. you can fill these then. >> it's not that hard so i can do it? that's great. appreciate that. >> dip them in flour first, a light bread crumb coating. flour first and then the egg. and then into the bread crumb and then into the hot oil. 350 and they only fry up for about 30 to 45 seconds. >> that's it? move them around? >> you can move them around for sure. nice job. >> thank you. >> and after they're fried, this is what they look like. it happens really fast. >> you serve them warm or at room temperature? >> either. that's the great thing about these olives. usually you have to do them way in advance but with these you can make them and they can kind of sick. >> they won't get soggy?

>> yes. >> a healthier version, however, is to make something called a tapenade which is to die for. what do you think about that? >> amazing. >> you weren't supposed to eat one. >> why not? >> how can you talk and still chew? >> tapenade -- i'm a pro, an expert. >> moving on. >> you have some chick peas. >> you add them in there and add kalamata olives. >> or if you don't pit them you're in trouble. >> parsley. >> parsley. come on, you get in here. >> are you going to talk like that and do this? >> some lemon zest. parsley! rosemary. and then some honey.

>> that's going to take a while. we only have a few more minutes in the segment. here, we're going to do that. then, will it work or won't it? >> it will. olive oil, start adding it. a quarter cup. >> you know doesn't really mix up so well. i want to add that. >> it kind of brings it together and then we can add a little bit of salt, about a quarter teaspoon and it turns out like this. and then you can serve it in an endive leave, on bread, whatever you want. actually this is really great on fish, chicken -- >> ooh. >> and it can sit in the fridge and you can add it it. >> i think it's better as it sits there. >> would you guys like some? >> speaking of things that get better with age, how long do olives last in your refrigerat r refrigerator? >> one month. >> that's it? and something else that gets better with age, and this is delicate here -- >> matt. >> i need this --

>> what are you doing? >> number 40. >> your birthday? happy birthday. >> 40. >> i did just turn 40. >> that's fantastic. you're beautiful. 40 and fabulous. >> i'm definitely getting a hug. >> won't say no to that. >> come back next year when you turn 41. >> olives! >> we don't have enough olives. >> who says you can't play with your food. >> nice to have you here. up next -- >> well done. >> the 84-year-old freshman.

back now at 8:52 with today's fountain of youth. most people think retirement means relaxes after years of hard work. one world war ii veteran who sees it differently. >> this is my class. >> reporter: in most places 84-year-old jack swatnik is considered a senior. >> i'm doing a poem. >> i am, too. >> reporter: at lane university in florida, he's just a sophomore. >> it's a different world than when i went to school.

>> reporter: an army veteran, he earned a purple heart during world war ii but in the years that followed, he never earned a college degree. >> i felt not inadequate. that's not the right word. i felt like something was missing. >> reporter: so after retiring from a successful career as a entrepreneur, he's now working towards a psychology degree next to students young enough to be his grandchildren and professors who could call him dad. >> the first time i walked into class they thought i was the professor. >> reporter: jack may be a minority on this campus but he's a minority in his own age group. only a tiny percentage of people over 65 ever go back to school. >> i think he's just saying that, you know, i'm older but i'm active and i have a good mind and i have a good body and i want to make use of that. >> reporter: there is a learning curve especially in technology. >> so that's the point. >> reporter: sometimes jack shows his age to his benefit. >> history is my best subject because what we're learning is what i've lived through, so i

have a distinct advantage. >> reporter: whether in the classroom or on the basketball court with some of the team's players, jack is proof that acting your age isn't always necessary. >> time! i am having the best time of my life. >> reporter: and that life is going to be busy. jack says after he gets his bachelor's degree -- >> one, two, three. >> reporter: -- this unlikely student will start shooting for his masters. for "today," nbc news, boca raton, florida. >> aging is underrated. >> it's just a number. >> he reminds me of your dad. >> that's a great compliment. thank you so much. go, jack. we're rooting for you. so much to get to including your information about tiger woods. >> that's right. where he goes from here now that his marriage is officially over. >> plus, the foods that can keep your mind sharp. i hope they involve olives.

good morning, it's 8:56. east bay commute? >> things are back in session as far as things go with the commute. travel times approaching maze area. 24 west, out of the tunnel, speeds below 50 mile per hour. 580 and 880 getting jammed through oakland.

80, east shore freeway jammed through berkeley and emeriville. south bay, northbound slowing all over the place. no major accidents but major amount of traffic hitting those roadways. travel times throughout south, red and yellow as far as speeds. red means below 20 miles per hour. we have more news after this.

the first in a series of community meetings wig kim off in san jose today to gather inputting on hiring a new police chief current chief davis plans to retire in october. a search for his replacement is under way and the first meeting for public feedback will be at 6:00 tonight at the roosevelt

community center. chris will have another update in 30 minute. "the today show" returns in about a minute. have a great day. >> digital text books or the future, california should embrace 21st. they support our editorial pushing for learning to save money but teacher jobs. d.j. says the opportunity to integrate digital books with online supported curriculum is huge. it's unfortunate that wonderful new teachers that understand this technology are among first to be cut when the economy turns sour. stan adds, textbooks are a nightmare, expensive, often outdated and politically manipulated but not everyone

agree. there is nothing like a book in the hand for real learning, start by cutting the national education department. which is a complete waste of taxpayer money. thanks for your feedback. for more logon to nbc editorials.com. ♪ i want to hold your hand we are back with more of "today" on a tuesday morning, the 24th of august, 2010. a great crowd of people. they've been standing around for hours this morning. many of them just to meet tamron hall who took the red eye in fromas vegas last night after judging the miss universe pageant. i have like the album. how are you feeling? >> i feel good. miss universe was an amazing experience. natalie was flawless hosting the show. >> she had more changes than --

>> she reminded me of diana ross. but bret michaels, i had a bet with a friend he would wear a bandanna. i bet he wouldn't. he was great as well. >> he only had one bandanna. >> that's right. >> he should have coordinated with natalie. matt lauer along with ann curry, tamron hall and al roker. if you had to say one beatles song was the best of all time what would you say? >> yesterday. >> norwegian wood. what about you? >> "i want to hold your hand." >> aw. >> no, seriously. >> a long way to go for that. >> anyway, we're going to talk more about that. >> that's right. "rolling stone" magazine -- it's written down. i so messed it up. "rolling stone" magazine will count down the top of all time

and the one they put as number one, i'm told, might surprise all of us. >> also ahead, tiger woods is back to being a single man. it is official. his divorce with elin nordegren. she has now changed her name even. got some details on what's being reported, the arrangement, who gets the children. also how much money and what kind of financial settlement was behind this divorce. a lot coming out about it. very sad but it is what it is. later on, one more family getaway. what can we do? well, from the bahamas to washington, d.c., great, affordable trips you can book just in time for labor day. >> oh, okay. >> lots to get to. let's go inside, carl quintanilla is standing by at the news desk. good morning, matt. good morning, everybody. in iraq a new milestone. today the military says the number of u.s. troops in iraq has dropped to below 50,000 for the first time since 2003 at the start of the war. president obama wanted troop levels below 50,000 by the end of the month. voters head to the polls today

in five states. among the closely watched primaries arizona where senator john mccain figures the challenge from former congressman and radio talk show host j.d. hayworth. candidates in florida, oklahoma, alaska, and vermont. pakistan's president says it will take at least three years for his country to recover from that massive flooding that began a month ago. the united nations estimates the crisis has affected 17 million people and today one pakistani official warpned that a half million are still in danger from rising floodwaters in the southern part of that country. crews in chile monday dropped a communications system deep underground to 33 miners who have been trapped for almost three weeks. family members gathered outside the mine. they were able to hear their voices. pplies down to them. and other it's expected to take months to get them out. a federal judge has temporarily blocked the obama administration from expanding embryonic stem cell research

saying federal law forbids the use of taxpayer dollars to destroy a human embryo. seaworld orlando says it will contest three federal safety citations stemming from the february death of a trainer who was dragged under water by a killer whale. and a close call for six people onboard a plane that crashed in the bahamas monday. they were able to stand on the wings until a rescue boat arrived. it is four minutes past the hour. now another check of the weather from al. thank you, mr. quintanilla and you ladies, where are you from? >> i'm from jamaica. >> came in number two at miss universe but did did great. very nice. let's check your weather, see what's happening. and we'll show you we've got w weather down around florida, also off the carolina coast.

long, strong cold front stretching down from wisconsin all the way back into texas bringing rain there, some showers to the midsection of the country. the heat is back on out west. 97 in l.a. 92 degrees with heat advisories. san francisco, some showers off the new england coast and breezy conditions here in the northeast. >> no kidding, the heat is the story in the bay area. live look at san francisco, great day to spend the day at the beach if you can. if you can't, then you might want to stay enside. take a look at the heat advisory that is in effect for our bay area counties until 8:00 tonight. things will warm up around noontime hour. quickly into the 90-degree mark and concord and by 4:00, 100 degree temperatures, we expect some records to fall today but a cooling trend is coming for the weekend. so wait for that. all right. that's your latest weather. now back inside -- why don't you say hi, tamron. >> hi.

>> tamron. >> oh, hi, tamron. how are you doing? >> i'm good, thank you. thanks again, al. nine months after he crashed his suv outside his home which expose add series of alleged affairs, tiger woods and elin nordegren officially divorced on monday. nbc's peter alexander has the latest. good morning. >> reporter: this was a shock to nobody. tiger woods and his now ex-wife, elin nordegren, were married six years ago in an exotic weeklong wedding celebration. but this all ended in a court hearing that lasted no more than ten minutes monday with both exes present so reportedly not saying a single word to one another. theirs seemed like a fairy tale marriage punctuated on countless 18 greens by a victory hug, but tiger and elin woods' romance was officially extinguished monday in a florida courthouse with elin reportedly accompanied by a handful of lawyers, one of them her identical twin sister. the former couple released a joint statement saying we are sad that our marriage is over

and we wish each other the very best for the future. in these newly filed divorce documents, the marriage between tiger, whose legal name is eldrick woods, and elin, is described as broken. the judge restored elin's maiden name. elin nordegren. and they agreed to share parenting of their two children, 3-year-old sam and 18-month-old charlie with both mom and dad also completing parenting classes. tiger spoke about his children last month. >> i have two beautiful kids and i will try to be the best dad i can possibly be and that's the most important thing of all. >> reporter: the terms of the divorce may never be known but some reports estimate elin's jaw dropping payout could be from $100 million to $500 million. >> it's a win-win for both of them. he gets what he wants, a satisfactory custody arrangement with the children, and most possibly a confidentiality agreement. and she became a very wealthy

woman. >> reporter: it's been nearly nine months since the golf icon's once carefully crafted image was shattered by that mysterious car crash outside his exclusive florida mansion and then a flood of salacious headlines, awkward admissions of numerous extramarital affairs. >> i am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior i engaged in. >> reporter: while tiger has returned to golf, elin, a former model from sweden, has been spotted throughout the orlando area running errands, dining out, and taking her children to preschool as well as reportedly enrolling in psychology classes at nearby rollins college. >> elin was always the quiet wife, always on the sidelines. in this divorce she was able to drive some of the terms. she will be able to take the kids to sweden when she wants. >> reporter: elin bought a sprawling $2 million sprawling waterfront estate in stockholm. tiger and elin reached their settlement agreement during the fourth of july weekend.

>> misses the par putt there. >> reporter: the same time that a rattled tiger posted one of his worst finishes all year at the at&t nationals winding up tied for 46th place. >> tiger is not making a thing. >> reporter: tiger woods used to be just this impenetrable golfer. he was unbeatable, invulnerable. now there are cracks in the armor. he's not the same guy and i don't think he can put that back out there. >> reporter: these days tiger's golf game, like his personal life, is stranded in the rough. and you wouldn't know it by watching him lately but tiger is still ranked as the world's top golfer. he will be back in action again this week in a tournament in new jersey. his first tournament as a single man in six years. tamron? >> peter, thank you. dr. gayle saltz and dr. murphy, thank you. let me start off with you. all of us here that in the documents, the court documents point out irretrievably broken,

how the couple cries their marriage. is there anything standard when you have terms like irretrievably broken? >> they have no dispute really that they're not going to stay together. it's legalese. what's standard here is that, roughly speaking, they have equal rights to the children and what's unclear is whether they got an equal breakdown of the marital assets. we don't know what that number is. this was a privately negotiated divorce settlement. so they don't have to abide all the standards. they don't have to make it look a certain way as long as they agree and the judge says it's fair enough, that's good enough. >> when you mention they agree, does that go back to a prenuptial agreement, something they agreed upon prior to these allegations of infidelity and even admissions on tiger woods' part? >> good question because they did have a prenup and that gets

considered to some extent alongside the guidelines of the law. but the prenup reportedly had a clause that said, you know, if there were adulterous behaviors on either side, at least to some extent the prenup goes out the window. now we don't -- again, we don't know the details of what that provided but you can bet because of his behavior she probably was able to argue that, for example, if the prenup said upon divorce she gets $20 million, i suspect she was able to say, oh, but that clause about adulterous behavior now entitles me to quite a bit more and i'm sure she did get quite a bit more. >> that would make sense. let's bring gail into the conversation. they are sharing custody of the children. talking to you, gail, is it difficult for a woman to see a man as a good father when he's been such a horrible husband? >> probably she greatly questions, appropriately, his moral compass and whether he can be a good father. but the fact is that for

children, it's best to have both parents remain very involved, very loving, and that this not be an abandonment for them. >> and obviously this is about starting over for them. it's intriguing elin wanted to take back her maiden name. what does that signify? >> i think that she probably has regrets about, you know, having gotten married in the first place. i will say that the settlement probably helps with those regrets that she's leaving with some very large chunk of money. >> financial stability. >> but the hurt of betrayal is probably hugely significant and i think that for both of them going forward, that's the piece that she's not going to need to work on, feeling betrayed and not be badmouthing him, which is so hard in light of what happened, but because the kids still need him to be a good dad for them. he needs to not abandon them by letting them go to sweden or

somewhere he's not involved but keep him involved in the picture. >> thank you both. i greatly appreciate it. up next, affordable last-minute getaways for labor day for the whole family. and the nine foods that will keep your mind sharp as you age. garden all the time. so sure i already knew the salad and breadsticks were endless. but the other night even the pasta was endless. whoa, whoa, wait. so i get to choose any sauce and pasta then just keep trying them in different combinations? yea, nice, huh? yea, real nice. announcer: the never ending pasta bowl is back. with delicious new sauces like hearty chianti three meat. and creamy parmesan portobello. combine any sauce and pasta, then try other combinations just $8.95. plus unlimited salad and breadsticks. and how's your pasta, sir? never ending. announcer: olive garden. when you're here, you're family. i'm more confident and i love this. [ male announcer ] to keep doing what you love, keep your heart healthy. cheerios can help. the whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. it's simple; love your heart so you can do what you love. what do you love?

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challenge the need for such heavy measures with olay. new regenerist micro-sculpting serum for firmer skin in 5 days. pretty heavy lifting for such a lightweight. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist. for such a lightweight. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. wow! you have got to be kidding me. 80 calories? light & fit has 80 calories versus 100 in the other leading brand. light & fit. irresistible taste. fewer calories. i love light & fit. we get double miles on every purchase. echo! so we earned a trip to the grand canyon twice as fast. uh-oh. we get double miles every time we use our card. i'll take these. no matter what we're buying. plus the damages. and since double miles add up quick, we can bring the whole gang.

it's hard to beat double miles. no, we ride them! [ male announcer ] introducing the venture card from capital one, with double miles on every purchase every day. go to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? oh, that's the spot! this morning on "today's travel" last-minute getaways. maybe you want to take advantage of the upcoming holiday but you're not sure where to go. the features editor has six great vacations. even you are amazed. let's get started. first of all you want us to go to paradise island in the bahamas. >> who doesn't want to go to paradise island? they're offering a deal that is too good to pass up. $75 a night for four nights. and kids stay for free under 11. >> wow. >> honestly -- >> can i just send my kids?

>> if you sent your kids, they would have a great time. there's 140 giant water park -- acre water park. >> huge aquarium. >> you can swim with sea lions, with dolphins. there's a lot to do there and it's so affordable and you can do it last minute. >> airfare? >> it's reasonable, around $400. i feel it's doable. >> to ft. lauderdale, florida. >> well, let's go to ft. lauderdale, florida. >> let's do that. >> it's fantastic and it's great -- >> easier airport to fly into. >> exactly. why steal my thunder? >> i'm sorry. >> so the great thing is there are these low cost carriers, it's very accessible and right on the beach where they're offering a deal from $169 a nig night. children under 18 can stay for free and there's so much fun stuff to do in florida and there's a little bit of risk of weather right now anywhere you

go down in florida or in the caribbean. again, a quick getaway, it's a good one. >> to our nation's capital which is great with kids, educational and fun. >> well, i think what's great about d.c. is when kids go back to school, what i do on summer vacation, how school to say i went to the spy museum or the great air and space museum? there's lots of great stuff to see. where do you stay? fairmont washington, d.c., is having a deal for $299 including two kids so you can stay there overnight. >> now do you have to bring two kids or do you have to get one in case you only have one kid? >> take me. i'm available for rent over labor day. i'm short. >> oh, my. >> it's a family show, al. >> i know. i'm not sure whose family. now let's move on to the mountains. >> so we're moving to keystone, colorado. now this is about 90 miles west of denver. you think about ski resorts in the summertime they're

fantastic. you love atv riding. they have atv riding, bungee jumping and $99 a night at the ski stone resort. >> amazing. >> and we made sure all of these are available for labor day so it's not like we're telling you things you cannot book right now. >> let's head out to san diego, california. i love san diego. >> what's not to love? they have 248 sunny days a year. they have 33 beaches. plus the san diego zoo. i'm obsessed with their panda cam because they have the gorgeous pandas on camera. what better way is to see them. one of their pandas celebrated the one-year birthday. i know too much about the pandas, i realize. now if your kids are into baseball, there is the omni san diego that is connected to the petco baseball stadium, so you can literally go see the local team on labor day they're having a home game. >> and, guess what --

>> what? >> they adibi panda to their lineup. and now let's head to a national park, acadia national park. >> i just got back from maine a couple of days ago and it is a beautiful time of year up there and acadia is one of the most magnificent places you can go in this country on mount desert. what's great about camping there the sea wall camp site reserves half of their camp sites for people on a first come, first served basis so you don't have to make advanced reservations and you can stay there for as little as $20 a night. >> that's pretty cool. all right. thank you so much. happy labor day. >> to you, too. coming up, the super foods that may help you actually fend off alzheimer's as you age. and then later country superstar mar martina mcbride playing co-host here on "today." interesting grooming.

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discover four more ways to make vegetables delectable with farmhouse originals from hidden valley. good morning. it's 9:26. we have breaking news, anchor rescue crews on scene of plane crash in northeast china. we don't have a lot of details but what we know is that 91 people were on board. we don't know yet whether there are any fatalities but crews are on the scene. we have a look at the commute and it's in full swing. >> full effect. take you to the south bay where we have northbound on all freeways looking very slow right now. just actually past san jose state, which is clearing up first and that is a big problem tomorrow when school starts, a lot of folks gets off at 10th and 7th, watch those exits.

eastbound 580, look at that slowdown, that may be also, may have a contributing factor of the sun in people's eyes causing early slow joundowns continuing this commute. westbound 580 continuing slow, 21 minutes out of the altamonte pass by livermore. today is exceptionally worm. >> a heat advisory until 8:00 for all bay area counties. 78 in san francisco and 82 in oakland but really it's going to be hot around the 4:00 hour and going to stay that way for kweet a few hours after that. 103 in concord, livermore and gillroy. expect a phone call from fend friends if you live cooler enland.

>> school's back in session and starting today schools are tracking down in truancy.

in richmond, kids caught cutting class have to go to counseling and then juvenile court. san francisco has a successful truancy program, who prosecutes parents whose children habitually skip school. businesses are asked to alert police if they see potential class cutter. the legislature is deciding whether to make it a misdemeanor for kids who miss 10% of the school year. heat advisory until 8:00, so be careful if you're headed outside. see you in a little bit.

we didn't actually start dating until our junior year of college. >> i'm marcus allen. >> i'm shatera kennedy. >> we met in a cvs. >> good morning from afghanistan. >> we waited three long years for each other. >> i'm david. >> and i'm genevieve. we're trying to have the wedding of our dreams. >> those are the four finalists, lovely couples, vying to get married live here on "today" in october. you get to plan each detail from the dress to the honeymoon. >> and to vote for a couple head to our website todayshe.com and

this year for the first time you can also vote on our facebook page. facebook.com/todayshow and don't forget to like us. >> if that's not too hard to do. >> like us. follow all the wedding progress. we'll be checking our page and looking for your comments and votes. >> okay. >> you like me, you really like me. >> i do. >> tell you now you can text 622639. and you have until 1:00 p.m. eastern time today to cast your vote and all the couples will be here live tomorrow here on "today" to get the results. >> we don't normally do it this quickly. this is fast paced. >> we're going to get done, get into the good stuff, what the wedding dress is going to look like. that's very important as you know. >> i'm into it. >> you love the wedding dresses.

water cooler talk around here, what is the best beatles song of all time? we have been telling you the past four minutes. groundbreaking musicians, pop icon, heartthrobs, plain old rock stars. now "rolling stone" has ranked the top 100 beatles songs of all time. we're going to run down the top five and the choice for number one. i don't think it may surprise you. i think it will surprise you. >> you get the background on how the songs were written and what motivated. >> who says who wrote what because there are some disputes on some of these things and a lot of history. >> "norwegian wood." >> i thought you were ann curry. >> i love "norwegian wood." >> if you're one of those people who notice you're forgetting things -- what was i just talking about? as you get older researchers are finding certain foods like sp spinach and fish boost your brain power, can actually help prevent alzheimer's and dementia. we'll run down the list of super

foods that should be participate of your diet every day. >> i just saw a cumquat. those are good. for today beautiful weather. sunshine out in the pacific northwest. warm temperatures in the upper 80s, low 90s. 90s in california as well. some showers in central texas. some wet weather, windy conditions off the new england coast. tomorrow much of the country sunny to hot. rain down in florida. showers in new england on into interior sections of new york this es chris sanchez. gorgeous picture of san francisco, nice and warm but mostly hot throughout the rest of the bay area. spare the air day today, record heat by noon time and afternoon hours, but cooling trend is ahead, by noontime take your lunch outside if you're along a coastal area but head inside by the afternoon because in the east bay, south bay it is going to be very hot.

amazing. >> very, very, very responsible. >> he has daddy centered. carl, you're nobody. over here! get carl. >> good job, nikki. got him. all right. camera work there. meantime -- >> up next, what's your favorite beatles song? we've been talking about it. "rolling stone" magazine ranks the top five of all time. [ 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...

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♪ oh, love me ♪ oh oh oh ♪ just love me ♪ ooh oh ♪ just hold me ♪ oh oh oh ♪ just kiss me ♪ oh oh oh ♪ just want me ♪ l-o-v-e ♪ love, love, love, love ♪ ♪ ♪v- l--oe ♪ ♪ love, love, love, love ♪v- l--oe ♪ activia has delicious news for dessert lov ♪v- l--oe ♪ often, the best part of a meal is the dessert. but sometimes after a busy day and a heavy greasy dinner... my system needs some tlc. now there's something new. introducing activia dessert.

rich, silky, smooth yogurt with desserty flavors like strawberry cheesecake, blueberry cheesecake, and peach cobbler. and because it's activia, it helps regulate my digestive system. mmm, works for me. new activia dessert. ♪ activia the beatles created one of the most enduring and beloved song books in history. when they first came to america in 1964 even the fab four could not have dreamed the wild success to come, a body of work critics agree remains unparalleled. this month "rolling stone" ranks the band's music in a special collector's edition, 100 greatest songs. contributing editor joins us and great to have you here. obvious lay huge number of fans, all with very strong opinions about their music. what was the criteria for choosing what's number one versus number two? >> these are songs everybody knows. i've been watching you arguing

during the break and it's hard to put formal criteria. we just got a bunch of editors and writers together and fought out which were the songs that held up the best, that had had the biggest impact, that were the most influential. with the beatles you get to 100, there's more to keep going and arguing about. we were negotiating this list down to the last page. >> we don't have the time to do all 100 but we'll do the top five. "in my life" some say was the first real song of substance for them. >> john lennon considered "in my leaf" a real breakthrough song for his writing, the first time he really wrote about his own life not just the kind of love song pop song. >> what was the collaboration between lennon and mccartney on this? there's been some dispute on who wrote what. >> this is a song they generally agree but this is one where paul says -- john says that he wrote sort of a big, long, sprawling poem remembering all these things and paul says he sort of

helped john shape that into this song with this melody. john says, really i did that. paul helped with the harmony. >> number four is the most covered song in history and that's "yesterday." >> "yesterday" is a song paul mccartney woke up with, went over to the piano and started playing the melody. he was convinced it must have been somebody else's song and he was then sort of embarrassed that it was this quiet ballad. it wasn't really a rock 'n' roll song but after they went and recorded it with a string quartet, more than 2,500 different versions of this song recorded. >> is it true he had place holder lyrics, scrambled eggs? >> it was the title for a long time of this song. >> scrambled eggs, lady, how i love your legs. >> i think that was the start. once they got it together there's never been a song like this. >> number three an intensely personal song for lennon which is "strawberry fields forever." >> he wrote about himself and

his own life. strawberry fields was an orphanage near where he grew up in liverpool and this is john looking back on his youth and his own complicated feelings. >> his parents abandoned him. he lived with an aunt and he would climb the walls of this orphanage and play in the gardens, right? >> his father left and wept off to sea and his mother handed him off to her sister. so his youth was a complicated thing he drew on again and again and his song "strawberry fields forever" is a culmination of that kind of writing for him. >> as we get to number two and then number one, we really are getting to the sweet spot of how they came to america. when you look at number two, it's the song that introduced them to the entire country. >> absolutely. >> "i want to hold your hand." >> they had a couple of hits in england but there had never been a band that came from europe and conquered america. it sounded crazy in 1964. "i want to hold your hand" started leaking over onto american radio stations and people started going nuts, this

was the song that just broke beatle mania wide open. >> this song is when they realized how powerful their own songwriting powers were, right? >> and this is when john and paul were really writing side-by-side, nose to nose, this chord or that chord and such a thrill of hearing those guitars at the top of the song. >> great clip. number one, a drum roll if we have it, "a day in the life" which i don't think a lot of people were expect iing. >> a little surprising choice that wasn't a hit. it wasn't a single but it was the climactic moment, the last song on sergeant pepper's lonely hearts band. really the absolute peak of their peak album and a perfect collaboration. john wrote the verse, paul wrote the bridge. incredible vocal from john and showing the ways they experimented with recording and just advanced everything that would happen. >> it wasn't a hit right away. >> there were no singles from "sergeant pepper." this wasn't a song that was important to that audience at the time. over time as the beatles history

has unfolded it's become really the classic representation of everything they did. >> come back tomorrow, we can do the other 95. al, thank you so much. "rolling stones" hits newsstands on friday. up next, a bride prepares for her fifth trip down the aisle in a wild wedding mystery. swipe your card please. excuse me...? this belongs to you... o...um...thank you. excuse me... this is yours... thank you! you're welcome. with chase freedom you can get a total of 5% cash back in your pocket. fun money from freedom. this is yours! thank you! what? that's 5% cash back in quarterly bonus categories all year long. does your card do this? sign up for this quarter's bonus today. chase what matters. go to chase.com/freedom. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. wow! you have got to be kidding me. 80 calories? light & fit has 80 calories

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and a delicious honey almond crunch. new total plus omega-3. and a delicious honey almond crunch. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? every spoonful is a little different. mmm. they got three kinds of flakes. this is delicious. it's the perfect combination of sweet and crispy. i love it. this is so good. this is great. the magic's in the mix. this morning on "today's hot summer reads" a bridezilla's worst nightmare, a wedding caterer is murdered before the nuptials and no shortage of suspects. tongues are wagging and the bride is out of control even though it's her fifth trip down the aisle. that is the amazing plot of "mama gets hitched." the latest in the maeve bauer series.

this is the third in your series. >> this is the third. >> i love it. "mama gets hitched." she is how old? is. >> 63 the next fourth of july. >> that's a good way to page it. >> she's a serial bride but she sees no reason to cut back on the over-the-top factor so she is planning the wedding of the century. >> and the wedding of the century includes, as i mentioned a murder/mystery. >> yes, it does. >> even before the first pig in the blanket gets passed, the caterer gets offed. >> i have to talk about how you celebrated this book with a wedding party idea. >> yes. to my great embarrassment i've been wearing this gigantic wedding veil. >> that's glamorous. >> quite embarrassing. >> these kascharacters, they ar southern, they are from florida, they are unique.

oh, there you are. that's not embarrassing. you look adorable. i wish i could have been there. so these characters are as rich in texture as the fans of yours. this exciting southerners, it's how you grew up. >> it is actually and it's a part of the state people don't even know we have in florida, and it is very southern. >> now you visualize these characters as, i guess, an extension of your own family. do they come to you in your dream? is that how you come out with the storyline? >> my own mama is 95 and has been married multiple times and she does like to gamble with the seminals but she's not like the mama in the book. >> amazing. and what made you decide to venture in this direction? i know you have history in journalism but why this direction? >> my husband, kerry sanderson, and i did meet on a story. we were both journalists. i got tired after 20 years of journalism always showing up on

the worst day of somebody's life. i just thought i want to do something fun. i want to entertain people and i hope that's what i'm doing. i'm having a ball with it. >> fans compliment you by saying they could eat the books up. they read them. they're fun. can you visualize a movie or a tv series? >> oh, yes, i would love that to happen. >> we're trying to think who would be a perfect mama. >> i know, that would be a great casting. do you watch any of these i did some research, yes. i went to tackyweddings.com. mama's wedding, as much as she likes to think it's very elegant, it is way over the top. five pounds of ruffles on the scarlet o'hara dresses. >> that's the theme. >> the "gone with the wind" theme. >> this is a great summer read, something you can just get into and eat it right up. congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for being here. to read an excerpt head to todayshow.com. up next power foods to help keep your mind sharp.

twizzlers. the twist you can't resist.

this morning on "eat smart today" feeding your braj as you age. health experts are finding certain foods when you eat them and spices can help you fend off alzheimer's disease and dementia. "cooking life" magazine has a list of foods to keep you smart. a "cooking light" contributor will help us figure this out. tanya zuckerbrot, good to see you. sp spinach, popeye's favorite food, besides giving you muscles can help your brain. >> it does. let's talk a little bit about alzheimer's. 5.3 million people in this country suffer from alzheimer's and it's the seventh leading cause of death in this country. so it's not just we talk about foods helping you live longer.

it's quality of life. >> to help you live better. >> so spinach, let's talk about spinach. spinach is high in vitamins which helps to fight off alzheimer's. in fact, half a cup of spinach contains five times the amount of vitamin "k" we eat in a day. people who eat three serves of dark, leafy greens, are 40% less likely to suffer from alzheimer's. >> so you can saute it, steam it, have it instead of lettuce in a salad. >> and sauteing it, if you saute it in olive oil, that will help to absorb the fat soluble vitamins which are in spinach. >> next one, fatty fish like salmon. >> fish is brain food that contains omega 3 fatty akids and dha. something else that is of interest for people with alzheimer's, studies show that those people who are the most deficient in vitamin "d" have a 40% increased chance of getting alzheimer's. now salmon is nature's number

one source for vitamin "b." >> better than milk. >> you need 400 of vitamin "b" a d day. three ounces of salmon will provide you with 311. you can get practically 80% in three ounces of salmon. >> you mentioned earlier olive oil. this is like -- not only does this make your food taste good but it helps you. >> at "cooking light" we use it in our recipes because of good flavor but there's a substance that actually disables the proteins that surround and impairs with them transmitting messages. olive oil has been shown to prevent cognitive decline. >> coffee. we keep hearing different things. it's good for you. it's not. you're saying in this study at least when it comes to your brain coffee is good. >> for those of us who cannot start our morning without a cup of joe, the study is going to thrill you. it's actually saying drink more coffee. 400 subjects showed that people in their 40s and 50s who consumed three to five cups of

coffee a day during their 40s and 50s had a 65% decreased risk of getting alzheimer's. >> does it matter whether it's decaf or caffeinated? >> caffeinated coffee. you may be jittery but things are working up there. >> chocolate? >> i personally was thrilled to see chocolate on the list. we all know that chocolate has heart health benefits like chocolate has been shown to increase brain power. >> dark chocolate. >> hi, how are you. the equivalent of two hershey kisses. not a lot. spices help to disable the proteins that interfere with the neurons communicating or to block them. curry which con continues cumin. >> we don't have her here. and the fruits. >> apples contain an antioxidant. make sure you eat it with the

skin. >> thank you so much. coming up, hoda's special guest host martina mcbride. [ indistinct conversations ] [ female announcer ] this is not a burger. it's better. because with 57% less fat than regular ground beef, it's better for you. you see, this is a morningstar farms® meatless griller. that's right, meatless. and it tastes as good as it looks. so you can still enjoy that grilled-burger taste you love... and everything that comes with it. morningstar farms® grillers® original. [ indistinct conversations ] now that's more like it. [ ding! ]

good morning. it's 9:56. we'll start with mike, everyone running behind in south bay. >> everybody ran to the road s

today, a lot of folks hitting 101, speeds in 20s, northbound past 680-280 interchange. slow again through downtown and approaching 237, getting a break but then mountainview, that slowdown again, both directions slowing through palo alto and san mateo, southbound still slow. other side of the san mateo bridge, slows out of oakland. jam up out of downtown. east shore freeway not a lot better but it is better. >> live look at oakland, one of the hot spots yesterday, likely to be one of the hot spots again today. that the the story for today. h-o-t hot what is you'll be complaining about. spare the air today, record heat today, 90 to 100 degree temperatures, kooming toward the weekend but not before very hot temperatures today. we are expecting warming especially in the east bay.

by 4:00 in you have that soccer practice, make sure you hydrate and wear sunscreen, triple-digit heat. with this spare the air day, air quality officials are asking us to leave car keys on the counter, take bart or the bus into work. the second spare the air day of the summer. people across the bay area being asked to cut down on any activity that adds pollution to the air. many commuters appeared to get the message as usual bumper to bumper traffic on the bay bridge, during evening commute almost nonexistent. john took the ferry into the city from the north bay. >> not to waste energy, not to waste -- look at our environment and the air and try not to put extra pollutants in the air. 4500 extra people took bart to work tomorrow on the first spare the air day. >> more local news in a half hour.

"today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. our special country co-host this week ishe one and only martina mcbride. welcome. how are you? >> good. kathie lee is on vacation this week, so yesterday we had blake shelton. >> who? >> exactly. he trash talked you a little bit when you were gone. you know each other, don't you? how did you meet? >> we met -- he opened some shows for me last summer, and we got to hang out a little bit.

he's fun, as you know. he's a mess. >> he is a mess. we're going to play a little something he said, advice for you, but first we'll play this song everyone knows. it's called "this one's for the girls." look at this video. look at your hair back in the day. >> oh, yeah. we had so much fun making that video and just dancing, and my daughters are in it jumping on the bed. they're little. there they are. >> three daughters. this song became an an they can. you sang this on the late day on the "today" show for katie couric. we're going to talk about your kids in a second. it's only fair we play what mr. blake shelton had to say. it's only fair. let's take a listen. >> these people are crazy, and you should know that they think it's cool that you drink gallons

of tequila a week. you should bring that with you. >> could she drink you under the table? >> martina may be the one person in country music that drinks more than i do. >> and that's saying something. >> we decided to bring you something. we know that your drink of choice is tequila, and we had to have a little applause. cheers to you on the first day to make the show a little earlier. we want to apologize to the guests at the end of the show. how was that? delicious? >> delicious. >> how old are your girls now? >> 15, 12, 5. >> they've started school. here's a family picture, the group shot. >> look at their model pose. >> hands on the hips. >> you have first day of school pics. >> that's me and delaney. we have a couple of pictures. tell us about this little girl. >> this is ava and her first day of school. she's five and started

kindergarten this year. she's very happy. >> she doesn't want to be pictured with the other two daughters. >> no. it was kind of a chaotic morning. we all usually take a picture. we have a big oak tree in the front yard. she refused to be part of the picture. this is delaniary and emma on the first day of school. she was running and screaming, so i had to take a picture of her separately. >> she likes to be left alone. they have school uniforms on. does that make life easier in the morning when you get your kids out the door? >> so much easier. there's no fighting or choices. put the uniform on. it makes it easier for them, too. it takes that whole thinking about what they're going to wear out of the picture. >> you seem to have it figured out, because a lot of people whether it comes to -- tell me if i'm wrong because i met your husband who is a little crazy upstairs. >> a little bit. >> you seem to balance family and your career. i know a lot of artists and singers and actors struggle with that. >> it's hard. i'm kind of these take it as it

comes people, deal with it. it's really difficult, especially as they get older in school. we travel on the road. they don't want to come anymore. they want to stay home and be with their friends. you know, when you're 15 your idea of a perfect weekend isn't on a tour bus with your parents. >> what if your kids said i want to go into this business? would you say yes? >> i would totally support it. i would like them to do it when they're older, finish school. obviously, it can be a great life, and they see what goes into it, the realistic picture, all the fun stuff and clglamour and a lot of hard work. i would totally support them. >> behind you there's a crazy crowd of people waving, and i can't help but remember yesterday when blake shelton was here and he looked out the window and sure enough it was crickets. there was nobody standing outside, and you seem to drum up a crowd. >> well, you know. what can i say. >> blake actually tweeted today, and he said that now nbc stands

for no blake channel, okay? he's out, and we're definitely over him. so you got -- >> we're over him. >> he's done. this is interesting. you have a song coming out, and we had t.i. recently and he mentioned it as well. you, t.i., and kid rock triple teamed for a song. how did that come together? >> kid rock asked me to be part of it. we've known each other for a few years now, and i said of course. we sang together a couple of years ago -- last year we sang at the music festival in national. we did "picture" on stage. he said after that show i'm going to write you a song we can do together. he was true to his word and did. i'm thrilled to be part of it. >> how did t.i. get involved in it? >> that was kid rock's genius. he's really good at bringing people together and pairing people up. i think it's going to be -- i've heard it, and i really love it. >> martina is so incredibly dow

to earth. everything is real. her husband was in the dressing room this morning, funny. your makeup team and people with you are so down to earth, and i love the fact you have driven the same honda since 1992, right? is it a clunker? what's the story? >> it's a great car. i love this car and everybody says get rid of the car. why do you hang onto this car? they don't make parts for if anymore. the transmission went out and this guy is trying to find a transmission to put in it. i love it. it drives so great. >> you're a real girl. you're doing something to help out -- it's for cheerios for heart health. tell us about that. >> i teamed up with cheerios to promote having a healthy heart, healthy lifestyle, which is very important, obviously. heart disease is the number one killer of women in america. so we team up to get out that message of take care of your

heart, and we had a contest and there was a winner who i get to meet tomorrow and her name is beverly. she weighed over 220 pounds and she lost over 100 pounds by running so she could be there for her kids and continue to be there for them. i get to meet with her tomorrow and hang out, go to the country music hall of fame and tour that and go to the studio and listen to music. i'm excited about that. >> that's awesome. that's very, very cool. >> they're still giving away prizes at cheerios.com/love and hell how you take care of your heart and win cool prizes. >> the cool thing is you like '80s rock. >> i did. >> "living on a prayer." >> that's not me. it's bon jovi. >> you sing is better is what your husband said. >> do you sing this at concerts or for fun? >> for encore song for the last year -- we play most of our hits in the show. for the encore we rock out and

have fun and pull out '80s rock. everybody in the audience can relate to that. we all grew up at the same time listening to that music. >> "don't stop believing" is another one. >> "hit me with your best shot" is another one we do. >> i want to sing so bad. i love music. drown me out, and i'll do it. if you drown me out. i have a recurring -- >> let's do this before we start singing. >> don't you love this show? i knew you would. >> i love this show. >> i do have recurring dreams madonna is supposed to perform on stage and needs a few more minutes and someone says to get out there. everyone is screaming so loudly, they don't know i can't sing, and then she jumps out there and i had my moment. >> you can come do that at my shows. >> really? will you drown me out? if you promise to drown me out, i'll do it. >> the crowd will go crazy.

>> let us go to sarah. some fans have questions for you. >> i have heard you sing, and you do not have -- she sings every morning. we've heard her. she does not hold back upstairs, and you do not sound badly. i've heard it. amber wrote, martina, what is the greatest sacrifice you've had to make for your career? >> this is a weird question, because having three kids is -- i only tour during the school year on the weekends. we've turned down opportunities to go overseas and to do this and that because i want to be there for their school programs or whatever. even though i don't consider it a sacrifice, because i love my kids and wouldn't have it any other way, if it was just all me, me, me i could just go do tons of different things. >> are they showing a lot of love on facebook? >> hi, it's martina mcbride. does anyone remember blake shelton at all? >> blake who? >> exactly. coming up next we have the

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"white collar" is about the unlikely partnership of an con artist and fbi agent. >> kneel calvary helps the fbi in exchange for eventual freedom and tim decay plays peter burk the fbi agent that caught him and is using his expertise to capture our white collar criminals. hello matt and tim. talk about a hit show. this thing came out of the gate and was on fire. why do you think it was such a hot show? >> matt. >> i like how you think. >> i think there's -- >> it's fun and the character dynamics are really specific. it can be attributed to the writing. >> i think so, too. >> they tell the stories that people respond to. >> it's fun to see, because you want to be the criminal but yet you understand the relationship.

it's fun to see the two of them play off of each other. >> you two seem to like each other a lot. >> we call that bramance. >> yes, we do. >> that word has been used, is this real, this chemistry happening? >> yeah, it is. i think it started from right out of the gates. we've been having a good time together. >> ever since the first time we read together. >> ever since tim got his honorary doctorate. >> i got to do the commencement speech at my undergraduate school, and they now call me doctor on the set. >> congratulations. >> so if we can reintroduce the show and call and say doctor -- >> the good doctor. who was cast first? >> he was. >> you had to make sure there was chemistry between the two of you? >> i did. i sent him flowers and that helped. >> he bromanced me a little bit. >> we met in the waiting room

before. >> i was a big fan of his work from don't you love me, carnival de. we started to read, and within about ten seconds i realized this is mine to lose, i think. >> i sort of innaturely understood his sense of humor and enjoyed it. >> you got something in common with martina. >> what's that? >> you sing. >> my family sings. >> okay. you see, tell it. >> in texas i'm actually here with martina mcbride right now. >> you've arrived, buddy. >> you sing duets? >> when he sings, i join in. >> i think -- >> you sell yourself short. >> when it comes to singing -- >> we should call -- a quartet.

>> some barber shop quartet would be something. >> harmony is not my forte. >> go ahead and play a song. ♪ don't stop believing ♪ hold on to that feeling street lights people ♪ ♪ oh oh oh oh ♪ >> he went for the high note. >> martina is the judge. >> in the morning i went there. >> you had some cool like -- >> are you going to sing journey, you have to rock it out a little bit. you have to command it. have you done karaoke. >> you're asking if she's done karaoke? >> we wish you such great luck with the show. it's a home run. big shout-out to bonnie hammer in the house, too, who we adore.

catch white collar on usa tonight. coming up next from di accounta accountant, actor christopher gorman is with us. back right after this. ♪ this one thing i'll eat, any time of day ♪ pancakes! ♪ from dawn 'til sunset, i'll never walk away ♪ ♪ blueberry pancakes are so good ♪ [ male announcer ] bisquick. pancake lovers unite. when allergies make them itch, don't wait for your pills to kick in.

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actor christopher gorham charmed his way beau the living room as the loveable accountant on "ugly betty." >> he looks so different. he helps them get out of a tight squeeze every week called "covert affairs." you look so different from your nerdy "ugly betty" days. you're transformed. augie is not your typical person, right? >> he's not your typical tech guy. he comes from special forces so knows about 57 different ways to kill you, and he was injured while serving in iraq. >> what's that? >> he lost his sight.

>> he's blind, huh? >> he's blind. so he's become quite the lady's man, and in tonight episode he has two different love interests tonight. he gets into his first fight scene of the season, and he's impressive. >> it couldn't have been easy learning how to play someone who is blind, because i bet your instincts would be kourn counterintuitive. >> i had a lot of stereotypes about what it was like to be blind. i'm working closely with the canadian institute for blind in toronto where we make the show. i did research working cloesly with them getting instruction on how to walk with a cane and hanging out and becoming friendses with people that lost their sight to see what it's lyle physically but what it's like emotionally to live that way. >> wow. he looks like a kid, doesn't he? >> yeah. >> this guy was just talking. >> he has three children just like you. >> two boys and a girl.

>> 9, 6 and 19 months. >> martina was explaining how she juggled her life. why is there tape on everyone's mouth? >> it's for the no hate campaign. >> it's a casual tuesday night at the household, right? >> we thought let's take a family portrait and put duct tape over their kids' mouth. what parent doesn't want to do that somedays? >> martina fauktalked about juggling. >> i have an amazing wife. that's how i do it. you have to have an incredible partner to pull it off, and she's the best. >> do your kids dig what you're doing? >> no. my kids want me to quit my show because they can't watch it and want me to be on "wipe out." >> what do you think the magic is of this show? it's captured people's imagine snags. >> it's a humanistic look of what it's like to work for the

cia. it's complicated to juggle your work and home life whether your work life is lying to everyone you know. it comes from the producer of the bourne identity field and our lead piper is our lead in the show. that's the biggest selling pointd. >> what do you do when you're not working on your show? do you do anything when you want to totally relax and chill out? >> i don't remember what that was like. i think that was before -- somewhere between like bringing kid number one home from the hospital and kid number two is the last time i had free time. i like to read. i spend a lot of time at the gym lately. go to the movies, watching the "today" show. >> what do you think about what martina is doing here today? >> ingts inkr think it's incred. >> are you digging on country music at all? is that for you? >> i like country music, yeah, i

do. i like the dixie chicks. do they count? brooks & dunn. how about that? >> anybody else at all? >> anybody, anybody? >> no. oh, no! >> what? >> i failed. this is an epic fail. >> we love martina. we know you do. >> i love martina. >> we wish you good luck with the show "covert affairs." it airs tonight at 10:00/9:00 central on usa. the best back-to-school snacks. i like quizzes. you might beat me on this. also our chef will treat us in the kitchen today after your local news. did you know

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good morning. it's 10:26. check in with mike, the east bay clearing up? >> clearing. clearing. but not completely clear. still 880, northbound on the right, jams up past the coliseum and slow throughdown to downtow. slow drives past the coliseum and the tunnel. we'll get a look at the south bray, noshth bound 101 better than before, clearing, but not completely clear. now send you, still quite slow in that area and still quite warm. >> it is going to be warm

throughout the whole day long. especially in east bay and south bay, heat advisory until 8:00 tonight and we expect very warm temperatures, even in san francisco, maybe take your lunchtime outside but other side of the bay, east bay, and south bay, you might want to east indoors because it is going to be hot. if you have an afternoon soccer practice, tennis match or going for a jog because triple-digit heat in the east b is important than ever. at remax.com, you can find the experts you need, whether you're trying to sell of hoping to buy. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today.

>> baffled in the belfry.

investigators trying to figure out what happened to a bay area church bell. and how it was stolen. the bronze colored bell at the st. michael's korean catholic church is gone. police say it must have been stolen between 9:00 monday night and tuesday morning last week. the church says nothing else was stolen but the bell weighs several hundred pounds. so it must have taken several people and maybe even some equipment to take it. right now another swimmer is trying to swim the full 23 miles across monterey bay. marathon swimmer buckner chase is in the water, swimming from santa cruz to monterey. these are pictures of his training h he wants to highlight the importance of the national marine swaanctuaries and ocean health. he attempted the swim last year but had to stop halfway because of jellyfish stings. someone else tried to make the swim on sunday. you see her in the water on right-hand side, she, too, was

forced to stop about halfway after jellyfish repeatly stung her. she'd been in the water four hours. a dollar investment could make a multimillionaire, no one has won ga mencey.may. drawing's tonight. see you in a bit. and we are back with our back-to-school today and snacks. >> everybody loves a good snack after the school day, but we all have a thing or two to learn about which snacks are better for you and your kids. >> madeline is "today's" diet nutrition editor. are you ready? >> i've always wanted to do this. >> do it. >> this is going to be good. >> hoda is very competitive. >> there's a prize at the end. i know that. >> we're waiting. >> let's start with a snack that everybody loves, kids of all ages. co cookies and milk. does it have more or less than

200 calories? >> hoda. >> more. >> no. it has less. it has 175 calories, so cookies and milk -- >> what kind of cookies? >> not the giant bakery cookies. >> minor detail. >> so -- >> that was one me, 11-0. >> no we're to fruit. of these three -- they all have fiber, a medium banana or apple or kcup of blackberries, which has the most fiber? >> the apple. >> noch. >> i'm going for the berries. >> the berries are right. >> that's a third of your fiber. these have fiber, too. >> these were warm-ups. we have tougher questions. everyone loves yogurt. we have plain yogurt, low fat yogurt and mixed in fruit on the

bottom kind of yue gort. if you xhooz the low fat plain yogurt, how much sugar do you save, 3, 5, or 7 teaspoons? martina. >> 7. >> you are right. 7 teaspoons, so it's like chugging this cup of sugar. >> are you serious? >> naethat's a lot of sugar. stick with the low fat plain. you can add frozen fruit and fresh fruit. don't buy it all mushed in. here we are crunchy favorites. which one of these three does not have 100 calories? the pop chips, the pretzel nuggets or popcorn? >> i got this one. i got it. i could read her mind. i'm going for the pretzels. >> you're right, hoda. the pretzels have ten calories in each nugget. >> the popcorn has to be popped

without a lot of oil and stuff. >> whether itn it's popped it h lots of air in it. air incorporated will give you fewer calories. >> the kettle corn -- >> ketel one, whatever. >> you're going to get me in big trouble. >> we're going to talk about salt. which one of these three has the most salt? is it pop chips, pretzels or the popcorn. >> i'm going for pop chips. >> nope. martina gets a chance. >> i'll say the pretzels. >> you're right. 470 milligrams. it's almost 25% of what you need in a day. so not a really great choice. >> lindsay, what's the score? >> 3-2. >> who has 3? >> 2-2. >> it's 2-2. everyone is cheating. >> we only have four things. >> we've had five. it is 3-2. now we're getting to some protein, always a good snack.

here's something to figure out. of all of these things, which has the most protein in the serving? half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole kwhewheat, a fat cheese stick and soy nuts or 22 almonds, which has the most? >> i'm going for the soy nuts. >> you're right. wow. >> that's right. 12 -- >> i would have said the almonds. >> a lot of people think that, but there's 12 grams of proteins. the almonds have 6. these are good sources, but if you want to bulk up, go for the soy nuts. >> this is the final question. are you ready? >> can i have my hand on the buzzer? >> that's fine. >> this is it. sometimes or sweet tooth needs a little candy, so look at these five piece of red licorice, do

they have 50, 100 or 150 calories? >> 100. >> martina. >> 50, 100 or 150 calories in five. >> gosh. >> this is for the tie. >> i think you go for the high. >> 150. >> 150 is right. >> a close game. >> so close. >> what's the prize? >> the prize is some recipe books for snacking. >> look at that. you get a present. you want to point something out. hidden drinks. madeline, thank you so much. coming up next is the back-to-school fashion is happening downstairs for elementary school kids right after this. [ girl ] bye mom! bye sweetie! you'll do great.

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now on "today's style" it's back-to-school fashion. looking good is important for the elementary school set and saving money is important for the parents. >> absolutely. here with beautifully affordable options is kathy. how are you? it's nice to have you back. >> thank you so much. >> whethn you think about elementary school, fashion is very important. >>s in a big deal for kids, what are they going to wear. we provide insider access to some of the most coveted designer brands up to 70% off. it really comes in handy for back to school. >> 70% off? >> let's bring out the first two beautiful models, maggie and colleen. they have the patterned look. >> they're the dynamic duo, and really what we're talking about

is great smiles. >> spinning around, and it's beautiful. >> whether we're talking about patterns, really we're talking about the mixing and matching. maggie and colleen have sort of a degree in fashion calculus, because they put all these looks together and look amazing. colleen started with this wonderful i love you hat from olive juice, and then the girls added a floral scarf and check shirt and polka dots. >> i love the tutus. >> there's a major fashion statement for fall. the obama girls wear them all over the world. they're from old navy. >> thanks, guys. next we have devin. >> next we have our super prep boarding school look on devin. he looks so handsome and presidential, sort of jfk. boarding school cool is about the classics and moms love the classics because they never go out of style.

>> i love his lunch box. >> he's karg the it lunch box for 2010. you can get it for $15 on guilt. his navy blazer is fantastic made out of a very comfortable sweatshirt material. then he's got that great striped sweater from olive juice. we're seeing that everywhere. >> thank you, devin. >> localla has the lady-like outfit. boy, does she look beautiful. shelsd i don't like this dress. i love this dress. >> it's so pretty. >> this dress is $38, and normally it's $98 on guilt. that's a great savings. normally we're invite only, but today we have a special invite at guilt.com/today and it's about wonderful details and tailoring and bows. >> look at the ballet shoes. >> a little metallic ballet flat. >> look at the bracelet. >> show the bracelet.

>> look at the bling. >> charm it by high intensity, and they're all the rage. >> i love it. >> do you see your girls in any of these outfits? >> yes. >> next we do layering. >> here's mia. super cool. >> he's going into fourth grade? >> he's going into fourth grade. the greatest thing about layering is it's the biggest trend for kids this season, but moms love it because it's so practical. add or subtract a layer depending on the weather. we layered him up. we started with a long-sleeved shirt and a graphic tee and this great fluorescent windbreaker. it's fluorescent, which is another huge trend. wind resistant and rain resistant and it rolling up into a little clever fanny pack. >> a fedora. is that in? >> this is evan's own hat, and

kid vs so much style these days. i didn't look like this. >> loving that hat. >> this is smart and affordable. >> totally affordable. the skinny jean and the sneakers that are now classics. really fun tip for mom, switch out the laces. take last year's sneaker, make it new again. >> thank you, honey. >> thank you so much. >> let's bring out luca. with the jeggings. jean plus legging equals jegging. you throw a rock, you hit a jegging. they're everywhere now. >> look at the shoes. >> here's our floral combat boots from h & m. it brings together this rock look. she has a fun '80s tee with a roaring jaguar on it. >> can you she sing "don't stop

believing"? >> you guys did really well. great job. thank you for coming. next we have a chef upstairs. that's after the break. where? it's really good. do you see it? it's called hope. hope? yeah. hope. i don't see any hope. i don't see any hope in here. you can't see it there, but you can see it here... 'cause every time you get a happy meal or a mighty kids meal some of the money goes to ronald mcdonald house charities. to help lots of kids and families. hope's good! happy meals. the simple joy of helping. ♪ ba da ba ba ba delicious news for dessert lovers. introducing new activia dessert. rich yogurt with desserty flavors like strawberry cheesecake and peach cobbler. mmm. you've got to try this. new activia dessert. ♪ activia to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between,

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♪ [ laughing ] saying no to my kids when they want to load up on fattening foods is hard. but, to see them get teased about their weight would be even harder. [ mom #2 ] asking the local store to carry more fruits and vegetables, yeah, it can be hard. but finding out one of your kids has type 2 diabetes would be a lot harder. [ mom #1 ] realizing it was time for a change,

now that wasn't very hard at all. here you go, mommy. [ female announcer ] be a champion for your children. be a champion for change. to learn more from moms who have made healthy changes, visit us online. all right. now on "today's kitchen" we're getting saucy with chef ryan scott. >> we have a last-minute get-together for friends and family. why not serve tacos. >> can you believe you're with martina mcbride. he's a country boy, this one. >> my mom is like freaking out right now. martina mcbride, and i'm cool and never get nervous. >> hi, mom. >> i missed your birthday three weeks ago. i was at the store this morning looking at flowers and decided why get you flowers and got you tequila. there you go. >> it's your birthday, too. >> happy birthday to all of us. >> happy birthday.

>> i got the small version. >> oh. >> delicious. >> we've good to do a cooking segment. >> this is crazy. >> i'm going to put these guys in real quick since they're going. we're doing tapas. you need a drink in one hand and a little bite in the other. i'll show you in a second this is wrapped in meillon and we're going to make prawns. first thing is first. these jumbo tiger prawns. what i do is took these skewers and soaked them. gr grab one. this is your mom's favorite? she loves prawn. put two through. slide it through this one. slide one first. what in does is see how easily i flip this? if you have one on there, put two through. it stabilizes a prawn and makes it easier.

simple as that. you can literally throw it on there. hold on. you make a vinaigrette. lots of a great herbs. add this olive i have here, a little bit of lemon juice and a little zest. do you have one at your house? >> yes, do. >> are you getting that facial? >> yes, i am. >> she's a real deal. >> do you cook on the road? >> i try to, yes. >> a little bit of olive oil. you can find in vinaigrette online. you can puree it or make it chunky. adds a great amount of flavor a little bit of salt and pepper. this will go on the prawns once i get it done. turn it down a drop. it's done. they're going to curl up. >> i always overcook shrimp. >> it's better to go about

two-thirds of the way and pull off and carry over and put vinaigrette on top and call did a day. this is my favorite in melon whether it's when it's in season. >> why do you soak them? >> so they don't burn. you want to watch it, otherwise they burn through. >> should i put another one in there, too. >> you have two right there and stack them. you have a little nice appetizer. i did the salsa verde vineg vinaigret vinaigrette. pour nose on top and pour it on top when everyone gets there. take it and put it on top of the prawns. let's go to the back, and we can try these. meet you in the back. i have booze for you. >> we don't drink -- we don't do that. we try not to. >> you can try a tapa. i want to incorporated caba. it's a spainish sparkling wine.

i took strawberries and here's one martini glass for you. >> that's beautiful. >> i took strawberries with a little bit of alcohol and took them, macerated the strawberries? >> the longer it sits the better it is. >> pour this bad boy over the top. this is like heaven. lemon sorbet inside there and a little cabo on top tf of it. >> that's so smamprt. >> ryan, thank you honey. you can eat it or cheer it or drink it. what do you want to do? >> what's your mom's name? >> pat. >> hi, pat. >> we'll be back with more of "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

it is that time of the program where we go to miss

sarah haines. a lot of drinking and eating on this program. >> how do you stay looking so young, martina? do you have a special skin regime? >> first of all, thank you very much. i try to take care of my skin, drink a lot of water, simple things like that and use good products. >> drink anything else? >> you know that. >> what else? >> diana wants to know how old were you when you first performed in front of a large audience? >> i was 7 years old and approximate performed in front of people at a 4-h convention. i started singing when i was four in front of people. you get comfortable with it, i guess. >> i love that. >> lynn wants to know was there a ever a song you wished you had recorded? >> yeah. lots of them. one that comes to mind immediately is "it matters to me" by faith. i've always loved that song. >> you were terrific. so much better than blake.

tomorrow we have john rich on the show filling in for kathie lee. martina, you are a home run. thank you again. cheers to you. good luck with everything. cheers to you. good luck with everything. see you tomorrow, everybody. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com