with chase quickdeposit. just snap a picture, hit send and done. take a step forward and chase what matters. good morning. breaking news, at least five people are dead after storms rip through the plains overnight. over 120 reports of tornados were recorded across oklahoma, kansas, iowa and nebraska as the residents wake up this morning to assess the damage. we've live in the hardest hit areas. deepening scandal, international embarrassment involving prostitutes and secret service personnel is overshadowed the president's trip to columbia. and deadly race, one death and four others missing after a

yacht had issues. today is april, april 15th, 2012. storm sirens failed to warn residents in the town of woodward, oklahoma. two children are among the fatalities the the mayor says lightning disabled the town's storm warning system. officials in thurman, iowa, say 75% of that town has been destroyed. no one was killed or injured.

many have taken up refuge in city hall. and in wichita, kansas, a tornado called what's being described as uncontrolled chaos. there was damage at mcconnell air force base and at least one mobile home park. we have live coverage throughout the plains. we want to begin with nbc's jay gray. >> reporter: good morning to you, lester. first light here in oklahoma. crews getting out to assess what's going on here. the worst of the damage to the north and east. woodward, at least five people dead, two of those children, more than 20 injured and they're continuing to comb through the debris there and through the midwest right now. >> let's just call it like it is inspect is becoming a killer torn. >> reporter: sirens sounded warninging of monster storms that were moving fast and touching down for pockets of quick strike leaving pockets of damage like this in thurman,

iowa. rescuers say three-quarters of the town has been wiped away. >> we have a fire from the downed power line. >> deskrupgz spread from iowa to oklahoma. storm chasers from affiliate station kxar kept up a steady drum beat of warning. >> go to their safety spot. this thing is a crazy. >> reporter: the weather service warned this could lead to a high end event. advanced notice was extremely important to getting his state ready. >> when you guys put out the warnings that you put out, we take them very, very seriously. normally, we don't get this much warning. >> reporter: but at times, the twisters were covering so much ground, it could not be avoided. >> it's following us. >> but we're okay, right? >> yeah. >> reporter: we're really just

getting the first assessments from these storms. the light is beginning to shine. it's going to show a dramatic picture across much of the midwest, lester, and i think we're going to learn a lot more as the crews get in and find out what's going on. lester, the small town of thurman, iowa, has been devastated by the storms. the weather channel's jim cantore is there. good morning. >> good morning. you can see the homes like the one mind me where a tree fell on the roof and pretty much popped the side of it. that's really as far as i can see this morning. we're just at sun up, as well. a lot of damage, trees, power lines down. the good news is, no reports of casualties, just minor cuts and bruises. good news, indeed, for a tornado where we had about three minutes of warning here. according to the mayor, the sirens went off and they had about three minutes. this is one of the weaker tornados. it didn't stay on the ground for very long. obviously, for this town, lives were turned upside down and they have a lot to do.

curfew picks up in about a half an hour. residents will be able to get in here and assess the damage to their homes. power crews are hoping to get power in here. a marked improvement certainly for some of the tornados so far this year, but a small town has been hit pretty hard. back to you. >> jim, thank you. city hall is the only building in thurman that has power. some residents have taken refuge there. others are staying in the shelter. cleanup is expected to start later today. rod humphreys is the mayor of thurman and tina is with the red cross. mayor, our thoughts .mayors are with you. about 250 people live there. how certain are you that everyone is accounted for? >> we did primary and secondary searches last night and with members of other fire departments and local communities and we're certain that we accounted for everybody. >> mayor, as mentioned by jim cantore, you've got light now

and about 30 minutes, half hour, people will be in and assess the damage. what is your first impression of what you're seeing there? >> well, it's bad. we probably have 100% of the homes in town have some damage. we have some that are completely destroyed. and it's a path of destruction right in the middle of town. >> tina, only one building has power. that's the city hall at this time. as i mentioned, people are seeking refuge there. what do you believe folks need most there at this early hour? >> you know, the red cross is always on the scene to provide food, shelter, clothing, comfort and care. that's what these folks need. they're a great community supporting each other. we will be here throughout the day. >> how big of a challenge is it, tina, when you have just one building that has power? >> it's always challenging. we set up shelter nearby, as well. we have a shelter operating at the high school in taber and we

will have our emergency response vehicles, mobile units in the area and be doing feeding. these folks are out here. it's a challenging circumstance but we're all pulling together. >> tina, thank you. mayor, our thoughts are with you and the entire xunt. now to kansas where the governor has declared an emergency as the weather channel's mike seidel is in wichita with us. mike, good morning to you. >> good morning, lester. the tornado roared through the area, skipping through the south side of wichita in the 10:00 hour last night just down the road from where i am. 100 mobile homes were damaged, at least ten destroyed. but we can't get in there this morning because of blockadebloc. this is barbara cline with her chihuahua, daisy, this morning. barbara, thanks for joining us. tell us what happened last night as you arrived home before the storms were hit. >> we were out and we got in about an hour before they hit.

we were watching it on the news. we gathered up everything about 15 minutes before it actually hit and we were in the basement. we weren't in the center of the basement, we were in the basement and thought we were secure. >> then what did you hear? >> then we heard a roar, a huge, huge crash. basically, at that point we ran for the center of the basement. but then i lost daisy. >> holy cow. >> she took off and went upstairs. after it settled down a little bit, i started hunting for her, looking for her. we have a spot right on the couch where she likes to sit and she was sitting on that spot. >> and where did you ride out the tornado? >> in the bathroom. my husband had come down on top of me and was kind of over me and we rode it out. >> we're glad to see you're okay. daisy is still shaking from last night's traumatic experience. everybody is safe here so far. no fatalities in wichita, but 19 injuries across the metro area. back to you.

>> mike, thanks so you and all the weather channel folks who rode it out. we have one of your colleagues with us. now we want to turn to crystal to tell us what to expect here with the storms? >> good morning, lester. it has been voibt start to the weekend already. we expect more s se weather today. take a look at the satellite and radar composite. you can see the showers and thunderstorms advancing to the east now. most of the tornado reports yesterday across oklahoma and kansas. and now the threat shifts farther to the east and farther north across the upper mississippi river valley. some strong stoths expected. these are going to be fast movi s cells,mo which could produce strong tornados once maain, the main threat being ging winds andda large hail down into texas. new severe thunderstorm watch box out until 11:00 a.m. you see that shaded in yellow. as we expect that line of storms to quickly move off to the east there. severe storms on monday, as well. only in a slight risk for the interior northeast. pittsburgh, you're including around the eastern lakes all the

way down into the mountain states of west virginia. and we could see hail and damaging winds once again on monday. the extra vigilant today on this sunday. a lot of es, lester, still in the danger zone. >> crystal, we'll check back with you in a few minutes for the day's national forecast. now the president obama's meeting with world leaders in south america. the trip is being overshadowed by the widening scandal involving secret service personnel. kristin is in colombia with details. good morning, kristin. >> good morning to you, tamron. the secret service has launched an internal investigation into the matter. they have interviewed all 11 personnel involved and placed them on administrative leave. in the meantime, the alleged incident occurred right here at this hotel which is just a few minutes from where the president is staying. according to u.s. officials, the allegations involve 11 members of the secret service and five u.s. military service members here in colombia on assignment

to protect the president. they're alleged to have brought prostitutes back to their hotel room. sources close to the incident say there was a dispute over a payment which brought it to the attention of the authorities. according to the defense department, the service minutes are now confined to quarters here. the secret service says their personnel were sent home before the president's arrival and replaced with others. >> the president was made aware of the incident in question yesterday. the white house was informed thursday evening. >> representative peter king, chairman of the house homeland security committee has been briefed of the evolving scandal. >> 11 secret service personnel, 11 had brought women back to their hotel rooms on wednesday evening/thursday morning. >> in a statement, the secret service says it takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. white house pretty secretary stressed the president was never

compromised. >> the president has full confidence in the united states secret service. >> this is the biggest scandal in the history of the secret service. >> ron kessler who wrote "in the president's secret service" says the incident could be indicative of a bigger problem within the agency, a problem brought to light in 2009 when the salahis gained entrance to the state dinner. >> there was a culture of the secret service of just nodding, winking, favoritism. the agency needs an outside director who can come in, clean house, change the standards. >> this was wrong from beginning to end. if the facts are what they seem to be, this was something that just cannot be tolerated. >> now, prostitution is legal in some parts of colombia. but the secret service says it

has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct and says it demands more of its personnel. experts tell me the fact that this happened during a foreign trip makes it hugely embarrassing not only for the secret service, but also for the white house. busy morning around here. we'll head to the news desk with lynn berry. >> good morning to all of you at home. what appeared to be a series of coordinated attacks by mill at that points hit afghanistan's capital today. nbc's sohel yudine has the latest. good morning to you. >> good morning. it all started with small arms fire. the assault took place in possibly seven different places. our contacts who were on the scene, on the ground told us that these plays included the u.s. and uk embassy compound. a four-star hotel and a super market which is also used by ex

pat's. there also reports that the afghan parliament is under attack, but they're in no further details about that. these compounds are basically all within the same area and this is basically a hub for western officials. witnesses say the attackers used a combination of small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. now, the taliban spokesman told nbc news that these were deliberate, coordinated attacks, what they call a spring offensive and they are deliberately targeting the u.s., uk and german embassies. >> all right. live for us in kabul, thank you very much. after a year of sanctions and saber rattling over iran's nuclear ambitions, negotiators are finally talking about. ali russi reports from istanbul, turkey. >> reporter: after nearly a year of saber rattling and sanctions,

iran resumed super power talks yesterday and found enough common ground to have another round of talks in baghdad next month. the but the two sides are still pulled apart. iran wants sanctions lifted. the united states says iran needs to take concrete measures and that yesterday's talks didn't yield enough results to lift sanctions. and even though the threat of war still looms, the real danger to the regime is economic stagnation and the burgeoning number of young, jobless iranians and that's just what might make iran come to make some recessions, which would revive the economy and restore the fortunes of the regime. back to you. >> thank you so much. back here at home, the coast guard is searching for four people missing during an annual yacht race off the coast of california. it was a low speed chase on saturday and it hit rocks while attempting a rescue.

one person was killed and three others were rescued. there are prayers today for bgs singer robin gibb. gibb, who is 62, contracted pneumonia while battling cancer and is reported to be bravely ill. finally, animal control officers are praising the loyalty of a 2-year-old black l labradore retriever. he braved traffic to stay with a dog that had been fatally hit. if no one comes forward to claim gracie, she will soon be up for adoption. that's the news. now back to lester, tamron and crystal. >> that took my breath away. crystal is here with a look at the forecast. a lot going on throughout the midwest, crystal. >> it has been an active start

to severe weather season. we're not out of the woods today. the threat moves to the east and north across the upper mississippi river valley, down into eastern texas. we could see strong storms. some may produce t and here's a look at our temperatures this morning. 40s and 50s outside. we have some low clouds and a bit of a sea breeze to keep those low clouds in around the bay, breaking up around midafternoon. later on, you might see some high clouds drifting in from the north, but thanks to high pressure, should be pretty nice. today close to 70 in the warmer places, 60s for most of the bay area. a bit warmer tomorrow, and a bit of a midweek cooldown, and temperatures rebound heading toward next weekend. you, lester. >> crystal, thanks. up next on "today" the fbi's ten most wanted list. who replaced osama bin laden on that list? but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry !

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the fbi has enlisted a time-tested method in trying to catch a man accused of producing childpornography. they've placed them on their list of the ten most wanted fugitives, filling one of the gaps left by the death of osama bin laden. nbc justice correspondent pete williams has the details. >> reporter: the fbi believes someone knows where this man is but may not realize he's wanted on child pornography charges. he's eric toff. just turned 30, charged with a crime four years ago after a teacher at a private school in washington, d.c., where he was also teaching, found what police say were pornographic pictures of children on a camera he'd been using. fbi agents are worried he may still be in contact with children while he's on the run, so they've put him on their ten most wanted list, along with a description. 6'3", green eyes, mole under the left eye. hoping the attention will generate a critical tip. >> we believe he is a current threat to the community. and number two, we believe with the public's help, we'll be able to locate him and apprehend him.

>> reporter: the ten most wanted list has come a long way since the days of black-and-white pictures at the post office. now it involves electronic posters like this one at a washington bus stop near the school where eric toth once worked. and it's thoroughly digital, too. >> an alleged child pornographer -- >> reporter: with postings on the internet, facebook and twitter and on electronic billboards along busy highways nationwide. agents can call up the top ten list along with mugshots on their cell phones, too. >> the criminal underworld -- >> reporter: since jay edgar hoover, the fbi's first director, launched the list to generate publicity, who's on it has changed over the years. at first, bank robbers, kidnappers and mobsters, then drug lords and '60s-era radicals. serial murderer ted bundy was a top-tenner, along with james earl ray, wanted for killing martin luther king, identified first by an alias. osama bin laden was on the list before he was killed, and accused boston mobster whitey bulger was on it before his

capture last year. >> the magic of the top ten list is that it projects these images out to the world. people will going to be able to see this individual, pick up the phone and call law enforcement so that we can apprehend them. >> reporter: something the fbi now hopes will catch eric toth. for "today," pete williams, nbc news, washington. still to come on "today," nursing student holly bobo disappeared from her tennessee home a year ago. see what her family is doing to find new information in this case. but first, these messages. ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. [ female announcer ] this week only, save up to $11 on zyrtec® products. see sunday's newspaper. yeah, it's the new quaker cookie,

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still to come on "today," on her own. oprah winfrey's struggles running her tv network and "o" magazine. and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years...

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it's complete luxury in a class full of compromises. see your lexus dealer. good morning, everyone. 6:26 is the time sunday morning. thank you so much for joining us. live look out at oakland. i'm gaving thomas in for kris sanchez. meteorologist rob mayeda promised us a dry week. >> wee due for one. you saw a bit of clouds around oakland and the marine air keeping our temperatures close to 50. 46 san jose, and still enough of a sea breeze, which has actually pushed some low clouds as far inland as livermore, so week wake up to the patchy low clouds that will break up indianaland,

and obviously high pressure is taking the storm track moving it off to the north, so low clouds to start by noon, clearing inland and our inland temperatures mostly mid 60s close to the 70s. and the three-day forecast shows a bit warmer tomorrow, and we'll see brief cooling, showers just to the north of the north bay on wednesday. by next weekend, that looks pretty good. mid 70s coming back to the bay area. >> fantastic, rob, thank you very much. a toddler is in safe hands after being fouj it is scene of a disturbing murder/suicide. it took place in the marking lot of mcdonald's in the gould center. a man shot a woman he had been dating before taking his own life. a 17-month-old girl belonging to the vietnamese couple was found in his car. people living in the area are upset a child was in harm's way. >> it destroys me.

no child should be around that, especially a baby. i'm glad -- i really hope everything is okay with the baby as well. police say the little girl is now in child protective services. it has not released any details of the couple or what may have led to the shooting. . the super bowl could soon return to the bay area. the 49ers plan to break ground on the new stadium on thursday. sources say the team hopes to snag the 2016 super bowl. the formal bid process is expected to start this summer. the team hopes to have the stadium in santa clara completed in time for the kickoff in 2014. the last time the bay area played host to a super bowl was in 1985, at stanford when the miners beat the dolphins. dust off your bikes, roller skates and strollers. send streets in san francisco will take you on a new route today soon. the new path will take you off jfk drive to mlk drive for a quieter setting, as well as the

usual stret of great highway from fulton down to slope boulevard. a great way to enjoy the commune, catch a free yoga class or watch a band perform. coming up at 7:00 on today in the bay. a yacht race accident near san francisco leads one person dead and four others missing. we'll have the latest on the overnight search. that plus all your top stories coming up at 7:00. right now back to the "today" show. [ glass clinks ] i just wanted to say a few words. first of all, thank you for the lovely meal jane. mom. and let's hear it for sara's paper mache eiffel tower. it's the washington monument. and dad, i'll never forget what you said to me this morning. you said "brian, it's 11:15. get up." so maybe this is just the cake talking but let's celebrate!

[ male announcer ] celebrate the little things. buy any kfc 10 pc meal or larger and get a free double chocolate chip cake. we are back on this sunday morning, april 15th, 2012. it was a little rainy earlier, but it's absolutely a beautiful morning right now in the heart of new york city. i want to thank all these people from all around for visiting us this lovely sunday morning. outside on the plaza, i'm tamron hall alongside lester holt. jenna wolfe, jenna is off this morning. and still to come, a new -- you know when oprah winfrey says ah-hah moment, do you know what that means? >> no. >> it's like a revelation of life and she has had one in her life. >> i think that ah-hah moment has to do with her network, own. we know there have been documented issues getting that going, and then there's apparently problems with "o"

magazine. we'll look at the challenges winfrey is facing these days. plus, a fellow by the name of smackman, have you heard about him? the internet? you're the big guns. >> that's why i watch the news. >> look at this video. this guy is called a subway superhero. his name is charles saunders. he was calm, cool and collected, eating a bag of chips when he broke up a violent altercation on a subway and it's gone viral. we'll talk about his new-found man by the name of nutman. and this big, big dog. do you know marmaduke? >> of course. >> this puts marmaduke to shame. we had the smallest dog on last week. look at this guy. >> are you kidding? >> he sleeps on a queen-sized bed. he's seven feet long. we'll learn about him. >> i have a 4-pound dog and picking up after him is dramatic, so that's -- >> you went right there! >> i'm a dog owner. we go there. >> we were all thinking it, but

i wasn't saying it. we'll talk about life with big george. first, another check on the weather, including the deadly storms in the plains. crystal y crystal egger is standing by with the weather report. >> the severe weather is continuing today, moving farther to the east and to the north. take a look at our maps. this is our severe risk area, shaded in red from the western lakes down into texas. could see some fast-moving supercells once again that may spawn strong tornadoes, damaging ndwiand large hail being the main threat with these storms. showers and thunderstorms still ndropushacg ss eastern oklahoma right now. severe thunderstorm watch box out in the area in yellow there as we continue to watch the storms move off to the east. we have visitors all the way from california, enjoying the beautiful weather here. how did you get here? >> drove. we drove. >> you drove across the country. and you're all still getting along? you still like each other? >> yeah. >> it was a surprise and i didn't even know they were coming. >> oh, well, glad to have you and glad the weather's going to cooperate, at least here across

the northeast. and outside right now we have 40s and 50s outside s patchy low clouds, fog an santa rosa. visibility is reduced in some of our valleys this morning. we have a sea breeze keeping our temperatures pretty comfortable today. i think we'll be warmer than yesterday. some cooler 50s closer to the coast, and that satellite radar looks dry. it will probably stay that way for most of the week. maybe a chance for a few showers in the far north bay, but after that we warm up again as we approach next weekend. all right, we have folks out here from the plains as well, where we continue to keep an eye on severe weather. you can do the same at weather.com 24/7, monitor the weather as we watch some dangerous storms move across the country today. tamron, back to you. crystal. thank you. last year at this time, a family in tennessee was franticly trying to find their daughter. a whole year has gone by and

there's still no sign of missing nursing student holly bobo. nbc's mark potter reports. >> reporter: hundreds of bikers drove the country roads to darden, tennessee, then stopped at the corinth baptist church to return for the safe return of holly bobo. >> why give up? you just can't, can't do that, not in a situation like this. >> reporter: inside the church, holly's parents spoke on the anniversary of their daughter's disappearance. >> it has been a year since our daughter, holly, was taken from us. >> we know a year seems like a long time to each of you, but for us, holly's family, each day seems like an eternity without holly. >> reporter: holly bobo was reportedly last seen being taken from outside her rural home into the woods by an unidentified man wearing camouflage. police theorize the abductor was from the area. >> looks like he was a resident of this community, and this is a very tight-knitted community

where people know each other. >> reporter: widespread searches by volunteers and police turned up some physical evidence, including holly's lunch box. >> the person who owns this property back here, he found a lunch pal down in this area. >> reporter: but the searchers and a reward, which grew to $250,000, fail to find holly. >> when it's been a year and you haven't gotten any clues enough to find a suspect or charge anybody and you have no body, very little evidence, you've got a really difficult case that may never be solved. >> reporter: investigators say they still continue to run down tips but have no new, credible leads. still, holly's parents urge the public to keep in touch with police. >> it is possible that someone does have a new tip or knowledge extremely important to the case. >> reporter: outside the high school where holly graduated, hundreds of people released pink balloons with her picture attached, hoping someone will finally reveal her whereabouts. for "today," mark potter, nbc

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no, too much. jennessa. ah! a round of applause. [ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. even though it's highly unlikely your child will ever be snatched by a stranger, every parent, of course, makes an effort to teach them how to be safe. the question is, are they listening? natalie morales is here to tell us about her "dateline" hidden camera series that puts parenting skills to the test. natalie, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, lester. we really wanted to see what a child would do when a stranger used free ice cream to lure them into a truck. would they remember what they've been taught or would they put

themselves in danger? >> hey, guys. >> hi. >> i'm matt the ice cream man. >> reporter: our fake ice cream man approaches these twins, mia and dallas. >> what are you guys doing? >> reporter: as their father and sister watched them on cameras. >> we're doing a cost. >> for who? >> people that served in the war. >> you know what? i usually give out free ice cream for anybody who does things for the troops. would you guys like some? >> reporter: will they take the free ice cream? >> well, we have to ask our parents. >> no, it's fine. i have the truck right here. >> come on. >> reporter: mia is reluctant. so our actor tries another tactic. >> have you guys ever been in an ice cream truck? >> no. >> have you ever seen the inside of one? would you guys like to try that out? >> reporter: their dad watches, hoping his twins will continue to ignore our ice cream man. >> i'm nervous right now. >> reporter: but our actor turns on the charm. >> come on, guys. i'll show you. >> reporter: maybe they'll just peek in.

>> right here. >> reporter: not get in. he gets out a stool, inviting them to climb up. >> check it out, guys. i can show you i've got the freezers, i can show you how the music works and everything. go ahead. >> reporter: while dallas marches right in -- >> oh, god. >> reporter: -- mia hesitates, looks around, unsure of what to do. >> it's all right. >> reporter: then, she climbs in. >> watch your step. >> oh, she's not going to. >> reporter: their father is visibly upset. >> no matter how much you talk to them, it just takes something that catches their interest, and they forget everything, and it's innocent. they're so innocent. >> you guys like spider-man or dora the explorer? >> i like spider-man. >> you need me to pay? because i think our parents -- >> no, it's free, guys. it's free. >> i didn't think they would do that. >> reporter: and they're in there a long time, and he could easily shut that door and take

off. >> somebody else inside there, they could just grab them. >> reporter: and as soon as our ice cream man leaves -- >> bye, guys. >> bye. >> bye. >> keep doing the good work. >> you, too. >> reporter: maya tells her brother something just isn't right. >> dallas, we don't know him. stranger danger. >> ice cream. >> yeah, but we need to tell our parents first. >> reporter: parenting expert michele borba said maya had the right instinct. the rest just takes practice. >> you role play it over and over again. you play what-if scenarios. as a result, it's more likely to seep in. show, don't tell. >> well, if you're thinking my kid would never do that don't be so sure. that is what i thought and i put my own son to the ice cream test, and lester, i've got to say it was so emotional, but a real eye-opener for all of the parents who were part of this. >> you had all of our stomachs in knots here watching that. why did you put josh in this test? were you assuming that he would do everything you've told him?

>> you know, i mean, i watched all of these kids in this scenario, and as we were developing the scenario, there were so many stories in the news, with the jerry sandusky case and all that, going on in the background. but knowing how hard it would be to resist the lure of free ice cream, i wasn't sure how josh would do, so i figured, let me put him to the test. and this is very scary and a hard-to-watch moment as a parent. >> and watching that little girl, she knew something was wrong. >> yeah. >> obviously, she had been taught well, but -- >> good gut instincts, as you saw, and that's what our parenting expert says, you know. these kids just really have to learn to go with their instinct. >> i really hope people will watch this because this is an incredible lesson for kids and parents. you can watch more of a special "dateline" "my kid would never do that," join us tonight at 7:00/6:00 central time here on nbc. nat, thanks very much. just ahead, oprah's ah-hah moment. how the queen of talk is revamping her empire. first, these messages. [ school bell rings ] ♪

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for 25 years, oprah winfrey had been known as the queen of talk, but as her latest venture, own, is struggling to connect with viewers, her successful magazine has now hit some challenges. nbc's mike taibbi has more. >> the brand-new oprah winfrey network. >> reporter: there were hints from the beginning that oprah winfrey's network faced what she would later call a kilimanjaro of a climb. ratings for first two months were lower than the sparsely viewed discovery health channel it had replaced on the crowded cable dial. and when she brought rosie o'donnell back to daytime talk -- >> just know there are many parents who struggle with parents in that condition -- >> reporter: -- anemic ratings fell in five months. >> this was supposed to be a show that would put own back on the map and revitalize the

network that was in a lot of trouble. and now, it feels like that never happened. >> reporter: in fact, own's mix of mostly talk and reality shows was dismissed by one critic as a nonstop televised self-help book. nothing worked. and winfrey admitted on "cbs this morning" that she flipped the on switch for her network before it was ready. >> if i knew then what i know now, i might have made some different choices. i would say if i were writing a book about it, i could call the book "101 mistakes." how are you? >> reporter: one high point, her exclusive interview last month with whitney houston's daughter, bobbi kristina, that drew more than 50 million viewers. >> doing good. just trying to keep going. >> reporter: but before and after that special, own's daily ratings have languished to fewer than 250,000 pairs of eyes. own's first-year scorecard, more than $100 million in losses, say financial analysts, and more

than 30 employees laid off. now, oprah's long-successful magazine is also reporting a 24% drop in ad sales, a tough task for one of the industry's superstars. >> had i known that it was this difficult, i might have done something else. >> reporter: but she didn't do something else. she did this, giving her name and reputation to a network struggling to make it on its own. for "today," mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. it's now 48 minutes after the hour. here's tamron. >> thank you, lester. and now to a viral video that's turned a mild-mannered young man into an internet superhero with a pretty unique name. check out this fight on a subway right here in new york city. in comes charles saunder to break it all up, all while casually -- you see him there, snacking on his stack of potato chips. the video has gotten nearly a million and a half hits on youtube, and people are now calling him, what else? snack man! charlie saunder is with us. good morning! >> good morning. >> so, do i keep it form and call you charlie or can i call

you snack man? >> you can call me whatever you want. >> this has to be crazy for you, to see that video and watch your own composure. when you look at it now, do you remember it or was it happening so fast? >> no, i remember it. it was -- i mean, it's a little blurry, but i like that i could just help people on the subway. i mean it was a nice thing to do. >> it was the right thing to do, but a lot of people wouldn't have stepped up the way you did. i know you were a wrestler and used to wrestle, but you're wrestling with the chips at the same time. why didn't you give up the chips? >> i don't know. i just didn't want to cause a scene or escalate it at all. they were having a fight. i just wanted to calm things down, get in the middle so they didn't hurt anybody else on the subway and keep kicking each other. >> i understand you're so popular these days that the ladies are loving the snackman. tell me about this, charles. >> you know, i've been working all week still, so i haven't maybe noticed it too much. >> no, no, don't be modest. i've heard that women are buying you drinks. >> actually, no one has bought me a drink.

i've bought a few drinks for people -- >> you're not working it the right way! i've got to give you some tips later. i've heard that women are proposing to you online. come on! >> yeah. i mean, i haven't been responding too much. most of them are high school girls or older women, people's grandmothers, i think. >> so, you're hot with the cougars? >> yeah, it seems that way, yeah. >> and your mom sent you a text message about all of this. she kind of alerted you to what was going on. >> yeah. >> what did it say? >> i woke up to a message, i guess from my sister and my mom both text messaged me and said, "hey, snackman." so, i had no idea what they were talking about, and i said, what are you talking about? >> right. >> and they said check my e-mail, and it was just flooded with -- >> crazy. >> -- facebook stuff. >> peter parker, he would rip open his shirt and he had on the spider-man gear. superman had, you know, his alter ego. if you pop open your shirt, what's in there? >> a special suit, but i'm not going to do it here on live tv,

so -- >> oh, darn it! well, on live tv, i understand you've reached out to pringles and maybe they are going to, i don't know, hit you up. but we have something for you, while we wait on pringles to see what a stud you are. look! >> oh, wow. >> a basket of snacks. >> great. >> it's not like kryptonite, so it won't hurt your super powers. >> awesome. >> it will only make you more awesome. >> those are all my favorite snacks right there. >> really? >> so that's great, yeah. >> next time we'll get you to pop that top. >> oh, yeah. >> not the top of the chips. >> yeah, i got you. >> charlie, you're awesome. thank you very much, charles sonder, snackman. just ahead, meet the world's tallest after t messages. with the capital one cash rewards card you get a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more cash -- well, except her. no! but, i'm about to change that. ♪ every little baby wants 50% more cash... ♪ phhht! fine, you try. [ strings breaking, wood splintering ] ha ha.

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if you were with us last week, you'll recall we had the world's smallest puppy visit our studio. look at this little guy. actually, this is a little girl, it's beyonce. this morning, we'd like you to meet the world's tallest dog. his name is giant george. take a look at the two of them side by side. yesterday, i spoke with giant george's owners, christie and dave nasser, who wrote the book "giant george: life with the world's biggest dog." well, dave and christie and george, welcome. thanks for joining us. i have to tell you, when your picture popped up on the monitor, everybody in the studio gasped. i have to ask a.

often you'll get the cute little doggie bed. that's not going to work. where does he sleep? >> he has his own queen-sized bed and it sits right at the

foot of our bed. >> a queen-sized bed? >> yeah, yeah. early on, he had a twin-size bed, but he outgrew that pretty fast. >> yeah. >> i mean, his legs were sprawling all over the twin-size bed and we had to bring it up to a queen-size bed. >> now, i hesitate to ask this question. is he active? does he like to run around? >> oh, yeah. well, you know, you guys wouldn't know this over there, but it's pretty early in the morning over here, so he might be a little more lethargic than normal, but he's actually very active. he runs and almost gallops like a pony. it's pretty incredible for a dog this big, to see him running the way that he does. yeah, he is very active. >> nothing like a pony running through the living room. has he knocked a lot of stuff off? have you lost a lot of items to the wagging tail? >> he's pretty careful, actually. >> pretty good, but he did dent our drywall corner one time, and actually, the dent is still there because i didn't fix it properly, so you can see where his tail did a little damage. other than that, he's pretty good. >> give us a sense of his size. compare him to, what, the sofa

you're on is, what, a 6-foot sofa? >> no, this is actually bigger than that. this is probably 7 or 8 feet long. this is actually a pretty tall sofa. he's a big guy. i mean, the thing is about him is he's like the shaquille o'neal of a dog because he's -- all his weight is stretched out lengthwise. and so, if you just saw a still shot of him, he just looks perfectly proportioned. only when you really kind of see him next to something visually do you realize how big he is, or if you see him in person. he's just so huge. >> i wonder how his free throws are. dave and christie nasser and giant george, thanks so much for coming on. what a treat. we enjoyed having you guys here. what's that, shaquille o'neal on the line there for me? i'll pick it up in a second. >> could you handle that dog? we're both dog owners. >> i like big dogs, but that's a lot of dog. that's a horse. in fact, he's running in the kentucky derby. did i mention that? >> my money's on george. awesome. >> you were thinking of the question i wanted to ask but

couldn't bring myself to. >> yeah, how big is the pooper scooper? >> i wasn't going to say that word. i was just going to say that responsible pet owners. >> okay, fine. time to check with david gregory, see what's coming up on "meet the press." hey, david. >> thank you for that segue. i appreciate that. coming up, the fight for women voters heated up this week and we'll talk about it with kirsten gill brandt and michele bachmann. plus, tim geithner talks jobs, taxes and the sluggish economic recovery. it's all coming up this morning on "meet the press." >> david, thank you very much. that does it for us. thanks to tamron hall, lynn berry and crystal egger. there they are, in the dark. >> in the dark! keeping it classy. >> we'll see you next weekend and i'll see you back here tonight on "nbc nightly news" have. a great day, everybody. so long. when i get terrible congestion from my allergies,

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