thanks for joining us this morning. we'll be back with a local news upat a time at 7:25. >> see you tomorrow. . good morning. fire and nice. in their third and final debate, president obama fires some schwab barbs while governor romney emphasizes where the two agree. >> in the 1980s or now, calling to ask for their foreign policy back. >> attacking me is not an agenda. >> this morning reaction from both running mates. vice president joe biden and congressman paul ryan as the campaign enters the two-week sprint to election day today, tuesday, october 23rd, 2012. from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today," decision 2012, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza.

and good morning. welcome to "today" on this tuesday morning. i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm matt lauer. >> the presidential debates wrapped up with a high-energy performance from president obama. meanwhile, governor romney criticized the president for his foreign policy record over the last four years, and it had a different feel from any of the other two. >> yeah. we have had three very distinct debates. debate season is over. two weeks to election day, but here's how it's all playing out this morning in the papers. the headline in "usa today," obama, romney go on attack in sharp final debate. while the liberal-leaning huffingtonpost.com declared chief in command. >> the "los angeles times" says obama reverses roles and comes out swinging at romney in the final debate and "the miami herald," verbal punch esbut no outright knockout. let's get right to nbc's chuck todd, political director and chief white house correspondent, in boca raton, site of last night's debate. chuck, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it's just two weeks until election day, and what was

interesting about this third and final debate, it was a clash only in styles as an aggressive president was met with very little resistance from his republican opponent who chose to believe that simply showing up was enough to keep his momentum intact. the final debate, a study in contrast. an aggressive president obama trying to disqualify mitt romney as a potential commander in chief and also seeming like the candidate with more to prove. >> i know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you've offered an opinion you've been wrong. when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s. what we need to do with respect to the middle east is strong, steady leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map. >> romney rarely hit back directly. attacking me is not an agenda. attacking me is not talking

about how we're going to deal with the challenges that exist in the middle east. >> as the debate went on, romney seemed to settle on a strategy of staying above the fray, searching for areas of agreement. >> would you have stuck with mubarak? >> no. i believe, as the president indicated, and said at the time, that i supported his -- his action there. >> we had to go into pakistan. we had to go in there to get osama bin laden. that was the right thing to do. >> yet, despite agreement on specifics, romney did criticize the president's overall foreign policy record. >> look at the record of the last four years and say iran closer to a bomb? yes. is the middle east in tumult? yes. is al qaeda on the run? on its heels? no. >> but romney let some charges go completely unanswered, not responding to this seemingly rehearsed zinger on defense spending. >> i think governor romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. you mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets

because the nature of our military has changed. we have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. >> in a debate designed to focus on foreign policy the two candidates often tried to steer the conversation back to the economy. during a question about china and trade, the two clashed over the auto bailout, with both clearly concerned about battleground ohio. >> and if we had taken your advice, governor romney about our auto industry, we'd be buying cars from china instead of selling cars to china. >> i'm a son of detroit. i was born in detroit. my dad was head of a car company. i like american cars, and i would do nothing to hurt the u.s. auto industry. my plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks. it was president bush that wrote the first checks. i disagreed with that. i said they need these companies, need to go through a managed bankruptcy. >> governor romney, you keep on trying to, you know, air brush history here. you were very clear that you would not provide government assistance to the u.s. auto

companies even if they went through bankruptcy. you said that they could get it in the private marketplace. that wasn't true. they would have gone -- >> you're wrong. you're wrong, mr. president. >> no, i am not wrong. >> people can look it up, you're right. >> people will look it up. >> in the debate's final moments the candidates made their final pitch to voters. >> we've been through tough times but we always bounce back because of our character, because we pull together, and if i have the privilege of being your president for another four years i promise i'll always listen to your voices. i will fight for your families and israel work every single day to make sure that america continues to be the greatest nation on earth. >> we need strong leadership. i'd like to be that leader with your support. i'll work with you. i'll lead you in an open and honest way, and i ask for your vote. i'd like to be the next president of the united states to support and help this great nation and to make sure that we all together maintain america as the hope of the earth. >> reporter: now we know there was a lot of attention to the

bayonet lines. while it's true the u.s. doesn't use bayonets as much as they did a century ago a quick search of the marine corps bayonets among the weapons actively used in action. from 500 yards every marine is accurate with a rifle, c-3 bayonet and that weapon becomes as effective and it's a weapon of choice when shots can't be fired. >> we've got our bayonet trivia this morning. thank you so much. following the debate i spoke with governor romney's running mate congressman paul ryan, and i began by asking him if romney, who is known for his stinging critiques of the president's foreign policy, made a strategic decision to strike a more moderate tone in the debate. >> you know what we saw with this debate. we saw that mitt romney is ready to be a great president. we saw a man with a command of the facts, with the kind of temperament and demeanor that makes for a great president. we saw a man with a vision for foreign policy. there are areas where we agree and clearly areas we disagree,

and we fleshed that out pretty well in this debate. >> congressman, this has someone who has launched scathing criticisms on issues like libya, on iran. he's come right out and said under my administration iran wouldn't get a nuclear bomb. if you stick with president obama he will, and yet we heard none of that kind of talk tonight. is this somewhat misleading? is governor romney trying to portray somebody? >> no, not in the least, savannah. look, on iran, we're four years closer to a nuclear weapon. mitt romney spelled that out very clearly. the sanctions in place now are only in place because of bipartisan opposition to the president's unwillingness to put these sanctions in place in the first place. look, what we see was a huge difference in defense. we have $1 trillion in defense cuts coming down the pike which will hollow out our military, we don't agree with that. >> sir, you voted for those defense cuts? >> no, i did not support the president's -- you have to understand we have a third round of defense cuts coming.

we obviously oboes the obama budget and let's never forget it was the president who insisted that these defense cuts be part of this sequester bill. i wrote the legislation preventing them from happening to cut spending elsewhere so that these devastating defense cuts don't occur but the president has not done a single thing to prevent them from happening. >> tonight governor romney said that the sanctions against iran were working. >> that's right. >> would a romney administration sit down and have bilateral talks with iran? >> first off, these sanctions are in place after a bipartisan agreement in congress overruled the obama administration. now with respect to bilateral talks or multi-lateral talks, we are fine and happy with having talks but not with preconditions, not with any chance of tempering our sanctions. we want to push sanctions further. if they want to talk because of these crippling sanctions, that's fine, but the bottom line is no enrichment, no nuclear program. that's the bottom line, and so

if -- if iran wants to talk, that's perfectly fine but not as an excuse to lessen the pressure. >> but in the last couple of months even governor romney has said that iran is not a rationale regime, that the engagement rewarded bad behavior and that the administration's policy of engagement was naive. is this a major change of heart for governor romney? >> no, no, no. i think the administration's notion of meeting with no preconditions, that was naive. hillary clinton called it naive in the primary debates when they were running in 2008. i think it was naive for the obama administration to try and block tougher central bank sanctions in congress. we finally got them in place in spite of the obama administration's posture on this. i also think it was naive for president obama to come into office and say that we need to have more daylight between ourselves and our ally israel. that's the naive policy that we're criticizing. what we have to place needs to be buttressed and made more

forceful and we don't think the president's policy has been credible because if we're going to peacefully resolve this dispute with iran, the mullahs in iran have to themselves decide not to pursue nuclear weapons. they clearly haven't made that decision. they are moving faster towards nuclear weapons. >> you've been talking about foreign policy naivety. john kerry said this is the most inexperienced foreign policy ticket to run in decades talking about you and governor romney. what specific national security experience qualifies governor romney to be commander in chief? >> we have had fantastic governors who have made very effective foreign policy presidents. look back to bill clinton and ronald reagan what. matters is policy, doctrine. mitt romney did a fantastic job of spelling out his foreign policy doctrine. i know it sounds like a cliche but peace through strength is a doctrine. i've been in congress 14 years. i've been running the budget committee for my party six years. 20% of our budget is national security, homeland security, it's security. that makes a big difference. voting to send men and women on

war on ovations that gives you experience. mitt romney has the demeanor, the temperament, the principles, the skills to be a great foreign policy president. >> congressman paul ryan, the election two weeks from today. thank you, sir, for your time this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you, savannah. >> now for the view from the other side. i spoke with vice president joe biden last night after the debate and started by asking him if he thought governor romney is a qualified candidate when it comes to his vision and understanding of foreign policy. >> no. he's not. he's a good man. he's a decent man but he demonstrated an overwhelming lack of understanding in international community. he demstrated a lack of understanding in the military, and -- and i was amazed that even just a couple of weeks ago when i debated congressman ryan, congressman ryan was laying out the foreign policy with regard to what he and what governor romney believed. the overwhelming criticism our positions in syria, iraq, iran,

across the board, and tonight governor romney seemed to be rushing to agree with everything the president had done already. >> if you compare mitt romney today to barack obama at this time four years ago when he was running against john mccain and his extensive military experience and foreign policy experience, does mitt romney have the same level of expertise in foreign policy that barack obama did in 2008? >> not even close. barack obama, i was chairman of the foreign relations committee. he was on my foreign -- our foreign relations committee for four years. he demonstrated a grasp and a gravity. he had a world view of where america's position should be, how we should interact in the world, how we needed to rebuild alliances, et cetera, et cetera, acted on those from the time he came in. governor romney didn't demonstrate any breadth, any breadth of understanding, and -- and it -- it was a little bit, quite frankly, surprising. >> let's go back to the point you made a second ago about how

governor romney seemed to agree with many of the positions that the administration has taken over the last three and a half four years. in your opinion what's the most significant difference in foreign policy between mitt romney and barack obama? >> governor romney showed absolutely no vision of what he thought america's place in the world -- role in the world should be. >> i'm talking about a specific. in a particular country, in a particular situation, what's the biggest difference? >> well, i mean, the -- quite frankly in light of what he said tonight i don't know. he agreed with everything we've done on iran. agreed with everything we've done on syria. he's agreed with everything we've done in libya. >> i think if you were to talk to people six months ago they would have said that foreign policy was something that was firmly in the pocket of president obama. he could say we killed osama bin laden. we're out of iraq. we're winding down in afghanistan, end of story, and yet if you look at some recent polls, mr. vice president, they are tightening considerably.

people seem to trust mitt romney on foreign policy as a commander in chief and in his dealings of how he would deal with terrorism. why do you think that's happening in. >> i don't think it's happening, number one. i don't believe that. i don't believe there's any understanding demonstrated on the part of a governor that he in fact is ready to be the commander in chief. as i said, he's a nice guy and was a great businessman, but i don't -- i mean, my guess is, again, i'm not a pollster and i'm -- i'm -- i'm out of my depth here, but i would be dumbfounded if day, two and three and five and six days from now they thought that they had demonstrated a command of the international circumstances and america's vision of the world that he would be a credible commander in chief. >> 14 days to go until the election. ohio, virginia. >> yes. >> and florida. it seems those three states are going to decide it all. is that the way you see it? >> i think they are going to be critically important, and i think we have a chance. i think we'll win ohio.

i think we will -- i think we're going to win florida, and -- but, look, this is going to be close. we always knew the end of the day this was going to be a close race, no matter who the republicans nominated. >> you think it's fair to say that in states like where you are in ohio and florida and virginia this is going to boil down in some ways to disappointed voters, voters who voted for barack obama back in 2008. i want you to speak to those disappointed voters and tell them why they should stay the course. >> well, to the disappointed voters, and there are disappointed voters. this will be a choice. i've been convinced of that from the beginning. people are going to and some reluctant to make the choice because they -- because things haven't turned out for them yet, but they are going to look and say is governor romney going to better my circumstance, or am i better staying on this path? and i believe they are going to make a choice, and they are going to pick the -- the

obama/biden ticket as opposed to the romney/ryan ticket. >> good to see you, sir. >> good to see you. >> vice president joe biden last night and congressman paul ryan last night as well. so the debates are in the books, and they have made things like big bird and binders full of women hot topics online. last night the president was trending for that line about horses and bayonets. >> how do you know something is about to enter the cultural phenomenon? you look at twitter, of course, and it became the most tweeted moment of the night, helping drive a total, i can't believe this, of more than 6.5 million tweets. >> but you knew it as you heard it. >> when the line came out, whether it was practiced or spontaneous you knew that would be something that people would talk about. another common theme online, reaction to governor romney's apparent agreement with president obama on a lot of issues, take a look. >> i want to underscore the same point the president made. the president was right. i believe as the president indicated and said at the time that i supported his action there. i congratulate him. i felt the same as the president

did. >> i guess you could say it's nice to see the candidates agree about some things two weeks before election day, and the other line was one to governor romney used that phrase several times as he turned from foreign policy to domestic issues. moderator bob schieffer quipped i think we all love teachers. no question that they both took the foreign policy debate to domestic issues. >> a programming note, brian williams is joining president obama for a series of interviews over the course of two days on the campaign trail. you can see those interview s wednesday here on "today" and "nightly news" and thursday night on "rock center." >> meantime, we're following a lot of other stories this morning, including the fda investigating reports of five deaths that may be associated with a popular energy drink. disney's defense of its newest princess is making news. is she latina or not, and then possible evidence that whales can talk. we'll get to all of that coming up.

but first let's head over to the news desk. natalie is standing by with the other headlines of the morning. good morning. good morning, everyone. the british phone hacking scandal has spread to the tine during piers morgan's leadership of "the daily mirror." a lawyer for a number of phone hacking victims are suing the mirror where more began was once editor. among those who said they were listened to is a former nanny for david and victoria beckham, and a soccer coach. piers morgan has denied any wrongdoing and the details are not clear. the phone hacking scandal that's rocked rupert murdoch's empire

clearly continues. >> keir simmons, thanks. police in southern new jersey have found a female body that likely belongs to a 12-year-old missing girl. autumn pasquale was last seen riding her bike it a friend's house on sunday afternoon. the body was found in a recycling container blocks from the girl's home. an autopsy is under way this morning. a congressional committee is investigating the massachusetts pharmacy at the center of a deathly meningitis outbreak. so far, 23 people have died. nearly 300 people have been sickened by the fungal strain of the disease linked to steroid injections distributed by the new england compounding center. the facility was cleared by a state inspection just last year. on monday the house committee on energy and commerce sent a request to the facility seeking ten years worth of documents on safety. well, good news this morning for commuters as gas prices are tumbling. on monday the week-over-week price made its biggest drop in nearly four years, and while the average driver will still pay 3.66 at the pump today, aaa expects that price to drop as low as 3.25 by thanksgiving.

wild weather in northern california. a tornado touched down just 40 miles north of the state capital sacramento bringing some minor damage there. several funnel clouds were also reported in the area, but no other twisters touched down. the san francisco giants are heading to the world series after clinching the national league title in a rainy game seven monday night. the giants shut out defending world series champs 9-0 battling through the downpour. the giants kick off the world series against the detroit tigers tomorrow night in san francisco. and with a title of how to pick up a girl at the gym, it's no wonder this video has racked up more than 1.1 million hits on youtube in the last 24 hours, but before you take notes, be aware. his approach is a bit literal. ha, ha, ha, ha.

>> yeah, yeah, yeah! >> of course, you might want to clear that with the be mail weight lifting partner before you try it. 7:21 right now. back over to savannah, matt and al. not recommended to try that. >> a good way to ruin a relationship right there. >> what's the opposite of having game? throwing someone down on the gym mat. >> thank you very much. >> mr. roker. >> not going anywhere that. let's see what we've got. tropical storm sandy, not the dog from annie, 345 miles from from kingston, jamaica, 45-mile-per-hour winds and hurricane watches up for jamaica. tropical storm watches up for santo domingo as we take a look and show you the path of the system. it will come across, jamaica probably as a hurricane sometime wednesday and make its way out along the atlantic and then it gets a little dicy as to what it's going to do. we'll continue to track it for you. that's what's going on around the country. here's w

7:22 tuesday morning. look at this spectacular sunrise over the bay bridge. we're going to get a little bit of a break from the showers as we head throughout this afternoon. highs are going to be cool, though. we had a cold front come through. 63 in livermore, 63 in gilroy, 62 for los gatos. right around 59 degrees in san francisco. tonight more rain on the way that will clear the second half of wednesday. nice and dry through the weekend. . >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> thanks very much. coming up, a popular energy drink cited in the deaths of five people. the fda is now investigating. we'll have details on that story, and the college student who has caused a stir online with this picture. why she hopes it will change the way you think about beauty and your body. but first this is "today" on nbc.

coming up, the new defense from douglas kennedy as trials

are trying to take a newborn son out of the hospital without permission. >> and the whale who may have taught himself to talk after the local news. means living with pa. it could also mean living with joint damage.ith pa. help relieve the pain and stop the damage with humira, adalimumab. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira is clinically proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. so you can treat more than just the pain. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist about humira, to help relieve pain

and stop further joint damage before they stop you. it is 7:26. good morning, everybody. i'm jon kelley. in about a half hour from right now a los gatos mom will take her kids to school only to be met by police. she says her two daughters have been kicked out of four different schools for their severe nut allergies. this month van meter elementary school telling edwards her girls cannot go back to that school. the district says it's pause they don't live at the los gatos address they provided. this morning edwards will take her daughters to school even though she has been told not to. >> i'm really hoping that it's not something that's going to scare the girls. i have all of my residency paperwork, everything that we brought to the district originally to sign the girls up for school, we will have with us. by law, the girls are entitled to go to the school in the district they live in, which is los gatos, so there should be no

reason for us not to be allowed on campus. >> the family has hired an attorney to file a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. last night we saw the giants dancing to victory in that rain. christina loren will tell us if we're in store for more showers. >> yeah, what a game last night. congratulations to our san francisco giants. we want to start with this live picture over the city by the bay. you can see a gorgeous sunrise. still mostly cloudy but we're done with the showers. the last batch of rain has cleared the south bay of as i widen out for you, you can see a nice, dry, greater bay area. this afternoon highs are not going to be warm even with some breaks of sunshine. 63 in livermore, 61 in fremont and 60 degrees today in san jose. by tonight another wave of moisture comes through moistly between 7:00 p.m. tonight into the early morning hours. after that, we'll clear you out by thursday. let's take a look at your drive. hey, mike. >> we're looking over here to the san mateo bridge. westbound really slowing over the last few minutes. slick roadways as well but the

incident-free westbound span is starting to build up. on the hayward side, look at south 880 on our map. it is just jammed coming out of san leandro. an earlier accident at 92. another one a little farther south both to the shoulder, both causing all the slowdown heading into fremont. northbound routes through san jose really slowing, especially 280, but look, 85 and 87, earlier accidents on the all maden expressway caused this backup. back to you. we'll have another local update in one-half hour. the "today" show rolls on. [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents

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here's a question for you. would you ever post a picture of yourself like this online? well, a brave young college student here in new york city did, and she did it to draw attention to issues of beauty and body image, and in just a couple of days this has been viewed more than 4 million times. along with her biting message to anyone who has a problem with this image. we're going to talk to her just ahead. 7:30 now on a tuesday morning. it's 239rd day of october, 2012. i'm matt lauer alongside savannah guthrie. >> also ahead, can a whale imitate a human voice? one beluga whale, sure sounds like he was trying. sounds like me right before my first cup of coffee in the morning. >> good to know. also the economy is issue number

one in the presidential campaign. polling tells us that time and time again, but no matter who wins in two weeks families need some strategies now to make ends meet. we're going to get some very practical advice from jean chats z coming up. speaking the election, we should mention president obama is going to be jay leno's guest tomorrow night on "the tonight show." >> we want to begin this half hour with the fda investigating reports of five deaths potentially linked to highly caffeinated monster energy drinks. nbc's tom costello is with us via skype from san antonio, texas. tom, good morning what. can you tell us. >> reporter: savannah, good morning to you. you may remember back in march we did an investigation on the "today" show looking at the high caffeine energy drinks that are specifically targeted to young people, to high school people, college students, and we talked about a 14-year-old who died last december after going into cardiac arrest, and the official cause of her death was cardiac arrhythmia due to caffein toxicity. well, new as her mother prepared

to sue the maker of the drink, monster, the fda is saying that a total of five people may have died over the last three years after drinking monster energy drinks. monster says it's unaware of any fatality anywhere that may have been caused by these drinks, but in the 23 hours before anais' cardiac arrest she had consumed two 24-ounce monster energy drinks, with five times the amount of caffeine that kids should cink at that age and she had an underlying heart ailment called mitral valve prolapse. the doctors said that that should not in any way affect her ability to carry on a normal life, but that was something that was going on at the same time. monster denies the allegations that in any way its drinks contributed to anais' death, but doctors are warning too much caffein, plus energy, the sugar,

rather, can in fact start to cause really big problems in kids. last point i want to make sure you understand is that the number of caffeine toxicity reports from emergency rooms around the country has skyrocketed. 1,100 in 2005 to 13,000 in 2009. so doctors are becoming very concerned about caffeine toxicity. back to you. >> tom costello, thank you. madeline fernstrom joins us and joins us from a cardiologist from nyu medical center. good morning. >> good morning. >> there's no causal link, to be clear. the fda has reports of deaths after someone drank these drinks, but they haven't established this causal connection yet. >> they haven't established the direct link, but what we do know is that toxic levels of caffeine can cause pretty dangerous heart rhythm problems. >> in terms of reports to the fda for beverage like this that is consumed one presumes by millions, how significant is that number, five deaths, and

then there was another report of a non-fatal heart attack. >> it's a very significant number because we're talking about young people who are drinking these drinks, and any time you put a young person dies it is a concern, you know. they mentioned that she had a heart valve problem. that probably didn't play a role in her death, but in fact having toxic doses of caffeine can cause chaotic heart rhythm that lead to sudden death. other symptoms of caffeine overdose are abdominal pain, severe cramping and tremors. >> and madeline, do these companies have to label how much caffeine, and how much would you have to drink to get to that point of caffeine toxicity, as the doctor says? >> first you have to remember caffeine is found in nature. no regulation in terms of what you put on the can. would it be a good idea to have a 24-ounce can with 240 milligrams? that's a cup and a half of coffee, so when you look at it like that, you're saying at one time, is that a lot? it's a moderate amount. 300 milligrams, two cups of

coffee, maybe one large energy drink in a day is what's recommended but there susceptible people, very young, very old, have heart conditions. if you take certain medications you have to be aware so you have to look for information so it would always be a good idea. >> thank you both for your perspective. now we want to get a check of the weather from al. >> all right. thank you so much, savannah. as we show you what's going on. big changes temperature-wise coming up. we've got the jet stream dipping way to the south in the western part of the country. inner level ridge in parts of the east and that means warmer than usual temperatures. memberies in ten degrees above normal and chicago 73 degrees. look at boise, 49 and reno 49, almost 20 7:35 now. what a beautiful sunrise we're getting from san bruno mountain. temperatures today are not going to be that warm, but we're going to see a lull from the rain at least until tonight.

more rain on the way tonight into tomorrow morning. 63 in livermore, 60 in san jose and 64 in redwood city. seven-day outlook tells the story. wednesday we'll clear out for the second half of the day. the sun comes back out by thursday. cool sunshine. friday, the 70s return and then more rain on the way for the start of next week. >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right. al. thank you very much. the trial of douglas kennedy, son of the late robert kennedy, is now under way. he's charged with child endangerment and harassment following an incident at a hospital involving his newborn son. nbc's andrea canning is in mount kisco, new york, with more on this trial. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. back in january douglas kennedy said he wanted to take his newborn baby boy out for some fresh air at the hospital, but two nurses tried to stop him, and things got heated. monday here in court his attorney, he said that those nurses acted abracively and that his client was simply acting on instinct when he kicked one of

them. a confident douglas kennedy arriving to court monday with his wife molly by his side. >> feeling ready for this to start, and i thank you very much and hopefully everything will turn out okay. >> reporter: kennedy is fighting the charges from a january scuffle all caught on surveillance video. two nurses say kennedy became violent after they tried to stop him from taking his two-day-old son out of the hospital without permission. things only escalated when a code pink and a code purple were declared indicating a missing baby and a dangerous person inside the hospital. on the witness stand monday the "new york times" reports nurse anna lane wiped away tears while describing how kennedy allegedly twisted her arm from the doorknob she was guarding, but under defense cross-examination lane acknowledged hiring a personal injury lawyer shortly after the altercation but says she wasn't seeking money, just a public apology, according to reports.

the defense also questioned lane's motivation for speaking out to nbc news about the alleged assault back in march. >> to be assaulted because you're protecting the best interests of a baby, that's not okay. i was doing my job. >> reporter: kennedy, the son of the late robert kennedy and a fox news reporter has pled not guilty to the charges of endangering the welfare of a child and harassing nurses. >> it's been very difficult for douglas and his family. >> reporter: in opening statements monday, kennedy's attorney argued the hospital had no policy banning fathers from taking their babies outside, and when kennedy, a father of five, kicked a nurse, he was acting out of instinct as a parent. legal expert karen de soto. >> the defense is mainly going to say it was a spontaneous act, that he was merely trying to protect his child and, therefore, it doesn't rise to the criminal charge of endangering the welfare of a child. >> reporter: in april douglas kennedy defended his actions publicly. >> it is okay for a father to

hold his son in his arms, and it is okay for a father to want to be with his newborn baby. >> reporter: today in court more nurses are expected to testify. if douglas kennedy is convicted, he could face a fine or even up to a year in jail, and, matt, this trial is expected to last throughout the week. >> all right, andrea canning. andrea, thank you very much. coming up next, you tell us it's the number one issue in the economy. we'll talk about it and get some real advice on how you can save money. and is this whale talking? we'll hear from him, but first these messages. look i made a face. awesome. why don't we make a pumpkin. what do pumpkins look like? what's... like this. you're my pumpkin! what do you think? i made a bat. [ boy ] i made a sword. [ both laugh ] ♪ you're gonna love those.

[ female announcer ] carve out some time with your little pumpkins. boo! boo! [ female announcer ] happy halloween... from rice krispies. [ sad music playing ]

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we're back now at 7:42 with a new series we're calling "issue number one, the economy." according to a recent gallup poll it is the most important issue facing the country, and with many families struggling to pay bills and save money, it could be the deciding factor in the presidential race. here's "today's" financial editor jean chatzky. >> reporter: living paycheck to paycheck in phoenix. the dibburn family is struggling to make ends meet. >> we've made the best of what

we can because we're a family, but it doesn't mean that it's not difficult every day. you still like that one. >> reporter: parents of four adopted children, dawn and walter used to feel they had it all, a beautiful home they owned, two cars and enough money to take the kids on vacation. >> in 2008 things started to go down. we cleaned out our 401 which we had over $40,000 in, and we kept trying to hold on to our house. >> we're basically cold off everything we own just to keep it going. >> reporter: a car mechanic by trade, walter took a significant pay cut during the financial crisis. >> i was there for 28 years before all this happened and then had to find a different job because it wasn't paying enough, and it's still not paying enough. >> reporter: the most painful sacrifice, losing their home to foreclosure. >> she looked like mini mouse. the kids said i just want to go home, mom. it just breaks my heart.

>> reporter: david kelly, an economist for jpmorgan funds, says we now have an hour glass economy. >> the middle is getting squeezed and people are moving up and moving down, but staying in the middle is pretty difficult. >> reporter: even though walter works 12-hour days, the family has not found a way to start saving again. >> i don't have time to think about saving. i couldn't even find six cents to save if i had to. >> we don't make enough money to save anything. >> no, we don't. we have zero savings. >> reporter: in the upcoming presidential election they are looking for a leader that can show those they call the real people how to move forward financially. >> you hear about the stock market. you hear about $8 billion going out of the country. those aren't numbers that mean something to my family. $168 to get groceries to get through the week, those are the numbers that mean something to my family. the $20 a day in gas that it takes me to get my kids to school every day. i want to know how to go forward from 2012.

>> jean, good morning. >> good morning. >> i would imagine a lot of people watching are either in the exact same situation the dibburn family is in or know someone who is. without getting into the specifics of their financial situation, what general advice can you offer them in. >> two general pieces of advice. if you can't say or can't find the money you have to work the other side of the equation which means you've got to work on income. she's home with the kids. maybe a part-time job is possible. maybe taking someone else's kids in is possible. the second thing to keep in mind, there is a tax break called the savers credit which for lower and middle income families is a dollar for dollar reduction of the taxes that you pay for putting money into an i.r.a. or 401(k). it's worth about $2,000 a year. >> and it struck me when she said we can't even save six cents. i mean, this is a family really struggling. you have some tips now for people who possibly can save a little. the first is save before you spend. it sounds obvious. >> it sounds obvious.

the problem is we are so focused on the here and now that if the money lands in your checking account, you're very likely to spend it. you've got to get it out of there before it lands into a 401(k) and i.r.a., somewhere where you're not going to touch it. >> and prioritize your savings. >> right. >> we work in an order. we do our emergency cushion first and then we do anything that gives us matching dollars and then the accounts that give us tax breaks and finally discretionary accounts if they have the ability to do more. >> and you want everyone to set a realistic percentage of savings per month. what would that be for a family struggling to make ends meet is this. >> start low. financial experts say all the time saturday 10%, 15%, like a crash diet, people fail. start with 2% and ramp it up sl slowly. >> opportunities are few and far between these days. jean chatzky, appreciate it. coming up. is the cost of college actually worth it? up next, the whale that may have

taught himself to talk like a human. that's right after this. ♪ ♪

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well, can whales talk? a team of marine biologists in san diego is convinced that a beluga whale was at least trying. nbc's mara schiavocampo is here with more on that story. mara, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. this is such a fascinating story. the whale spent most of his life amusing an amazing marine biologists, and the team has spent decades studying him saying this whale was definitely different than the rest. these sounds may not seem clear to a lot of people, but to some marine biologists what you're hearing is a whale mimicking the human voice. the star of this research project was a beautiful white whale named noisy and he was found in manitoba, canada and

later flown to the national marine mammal center for a study. the study team first began to notice human-like sounds in the dolphin and whale enclosure pack in 1984, sounds they soon figured out had come from the whale. >> he was the only one who did it to lower the pitch of his voice quite drastically. it was my impression and that of just about everybody that heard it that he was trying to imitate the human voice. >> reporter: convinced they had no ordinary whale in the study group ridgeway and his group built a special underwater listening platform to capture the sounds and voices coming from the whale. >> we concluded the whale was making a sound that was very unlike his own normal whale sounds and unlike that of other whales, and he was going to great effort to do this. >> reporter: their findings reveal a rhythm similar to human

speech. frequencies much closer to that of the human voice. several octaves lower than typical whale sounds. >> yes. >> reporter: in the 1973 movie "day of the dolphin," george c. scott teaches a pair of dolphins to speak and understand english. but while some animals and mammals may sound like they are communicating with us, ridgeway says we may never know for sure if the whale actually understood what he was saying. >> we didn't think that the whale knew what he was saying, and now we may have been wrong about that. >> reporter: sadly the whale died five years ago, but scientists will continue studying his voice. now at least we know what whales think we sound like. >> we don't know what he was saying. mara, thanks. >> we don't speak whale. >> just ahead, a new spoof on brad pitt's new commercial. >> after this. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork.

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it is 7:56. good morning, everybody. i'm jon kelley. actually make that a spectacular morning with your san francisco giants headed to the world series. >> just when you think we're down, we stand up again and now we're going. >> that is right, they completed the comeback last night in the rain knocking out the st. louis cardinals. it is the first game seven win in team history. oh, by the way, the giants are helded to the world series. they play the tigers tomorrow night at at&t park for game one. that is set for 5:00. barry zito will be on the mound for the g-men pitching in that game one. i know, christina loren is feeling the magic this morning. how is mother nature feeling out there? >> she's feeling cool and cloudy today. what a game last night. you want to give yourself plenty of extra time to reach your destination safely, although most of the shower activity has subsided at this point. you're getting a little sunshine here. we'll see breaks of sunshine over the course of the day, but cool air in place.

it's not going to mix out for a couple days. 63 that's it in livermore, 62 in santa teresa, 60 this san jose and 64 degrees in redwood city. just 59 degrees in the city by the bay today. we'll have a few isolated thunderstorms develop over our local mountains later on this afternoon and finally clearing out and drying out for the second half of wednesday. let's check your drive with mike. >> we're looking at the peninsula as we take this full screen. the right side southbound 101 approaching the embarcadero there's an accident just past where the camera can see. the map shows the slowdown for southbound 101. actually both directions coming in through palo alto and menlo park. a lot heavier than normal. south 101 coming towards san mateo, an instancident there at. a smooth drive both directions are both north 101 and south 280 between 380 and 101 interchange and then there's your east bay slowing as well, jammed for the east shore freeway, jon. back to you. >> for the latest traffic and news updates, check us out on

facebook. we'll see you in a half hour.

♪ ♪ it started with a little kiss, like this ♪ >> 8:00 now on this tuesday morning. it's 239rd of october, 2012. the countdown is on to the epic concert on our plaza. aerospace will be here. >> epic. >> epic. >> ten days from now. >> i'm looking forward to this. >> i know. you agree it's epic, right? they have never done a morning show performance live so we will have them here. the crowd will be huge. meantime our crowd is saying hello on this tuesday morning. >> i'm not sure steven tyler has ever been up that early. >> maybe will just stay up late. >> right, exactly. >> you know what else is happening, "law & orderer svu,"

a lot of crime-solving. got the cast live in our studio this morning. there they are, mariska and the gang. already a headline ripping the headlines a moment ago. >> almost had to put a chalk outline around richard belzer. everybody is okay. nobody got hurt. an interview with them. needless to say belzer was at the center of it. >> the facts do it every time. >> slippery floors around here. also ahead. imagine posting a photo of yourself in your underwear online? i know. >> again. >> how many times has that happened to you? well, you know what, this young woman decided to do that. it was really a commentary. she said she was tired of being picked on about her weight and she wanted to challenge opinions about beauty and size. the response has been overwhelming, and we'll talk to that young lady coming up >> you know, that's brad pitt chanel commercials are the gift that just keep on giving. we've got a fantastic spoof coming up. >> we chase after it. training disappears.

>> the question is who is going to be laughing christmastime? are they going to sell record amounts or numbers of that perfume? >> getting a lot of free publicity. >> that's for sure. >> let's go inside. natalie is standing by with all the headlines. natalie, good morning. >> good morning, matt, savannah and al. good morning, everyone. president obama and mitt rom launch a two-week blitz of swing states following last night's third and final debate. both candidates turned down the verbal attacks of their previous debate. republican romney did criticize the president's foreign policy record in the middle east, and the president accused romney of refusing to support government help for the u.s. auto industry. meantime, today, president obama campaigns in florida and ohio, while romney heads west to nevada and colorado. an autopsy report concludes that the death of "top gun" director tony scott was a suicide. it says scott suffered blunt force injuries and drowned when he jumped from a bridge into los angeles harbor two months ago. there had been some media reports that the 68-year-old scott had a brain tumor, but the

los angeles coroner says scott did not have cancer or any other underlying condition. now let's head to wall street where cnbc's courtney reagan can tell us what will be moving the markets today. good morning to you, courtney. >> reporter: good morning to you, natalie. stocks could be under early pressure today after a late-day rally on monday saw the dow erase a triple-digit loss for the first time in three months, thanks widely to the tech sector, and tech again today will be a market focus. facebook reports its second earnings report as a publicly traded company. traders will be reacting to earnings reports from after the bell monday from the likes of yahoo! texas instruments and western digital, and apple, widely expected to release a new smaller ipad mini. natalie? >> courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thanks. as courtney mentioned, apple is expected to unveil its new ipad mini at a pre-scheduled event this afternoon. tech bloggers and analysts expect it will be about half the size with 57.8-inch screen and much cheaper than the regular ipad, making it more competitive with other smaller tablets, like

amazon's kindle fire. a man who claims he was once britney spears manager is set to take the stand today in his defamation suit against spears' parents. sam luftke is seeking a share of the superstars efortune. on monday a recording executive testified that he was gopher, not a manager. spears' mother has portrayed him as a controlling figure who gave her daughter drugs. now for a look at what is trending today. our quick roundup of what has you talking online. disney is defending its newest princess against a royal backlash online. it started when a producer described sophia as disney's first latina princess. while critics then said the character didn't look latina enough. well, now, a disney official says all our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities. i guess case closed. humans aren't the only ones spoofing the new channel number 5 commercials reflecting a

rambling brad pitt. >> wherever i fetch, there you are. my wag, my treat, my belly rub. kennel number 5. >> the pet collective describes kennel number 5 is the timeless scent for the classically adorable dog. and anything for a good cause. george clooney, a good sport, when he sang this duet with neil diamond at saturday's carousel of hope charitiy ball in beverly hills. take a listen. ♪ so good, so good ♪ so good, so good ♪ and i've been inclined >> oh, oh, oh ♪ >> i think al roker set the standard for "sweet caroline" duets here on the plaza. ♪ >> all right. i've been replaced right here now.

that's terrible. ♪ warm, touching warm reaching out ♪ >> we've got it. ♪ touching me, touching you >> here we go, now, everybody. ♪ sweet caroline >> can't help but sing along. let's go back outside. al roker, come on. >> so good, so good, so good! >> i love it how nobody knows the words until touching you, buh, buh, buh. all righty, mr. roker. >> there's the store bet religious local bread. god our friends here from brookline. who is retired? >> joy. >> joy. >> all right! >> what did you retire from? >> verizon. >> verizon. >> all right. well, can you hear me now?

>> well, happy retirement, joy. let's see what we've got weather-wise for you. we've got the latest on tropical storm sandy. 325 miles south southwest of kingston, jamaica. 45-mile-per-hour winds and it's moving north at about three miles per hour. it will come across jamaica sometime as a hurricane early thursday morning and then right into the weekend. that's what's going on across the 8:07 now. good morning to you, taking a live look over a partly cloudy sky over the embarcadaro. we do have the potential for isolated mountain thunderstorms later on this afternoon. 673 in livermore and 60, that's

it, bring your coat with you, in san jose. as we head throughout tomorrow, little bit warmer, we'll get rid of the rain chance for the second half of your wednesday and by wednesday, cool, crisp sunshine. t's your latest weather. >> mr. roker, thank you. when we come back, the overwhelming response to this young lady who posted a picture of herself online and said this is my body. deal with it. we'll meet her life right after these messages. right here at table 19, a secret crush turned out to be a mutual attraction. the westgate cousins went old school to decide who pays the check. a local book club raved about the cliffhangers in the new crime novel. and some bff's from college joked about looking up old flames on facebook. all over delicious entrees like new santa cruz steak from our $20 dinner for two. chili's -- more life happens here.

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. back now at 8:12 with a young woman who sparked a new debate over body image. 18-year-old stella boonshoft posted this image on her tumbler site to send a message of body acceptance. picked up by other blogs, and it's now been viewed more than 4 million times. stella is with us along with brandon stanton the photographer who reposted this picture on his site. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> stella, you're 18 years old. you gave us permission to post the photo and your parents are cool with it, too. >> yes. >> let's talk about how it is that you decided, first of all,

to pose in your underwear and take this picture and then to put it online. >> well, i found that after years of struggling with my body image that really there was no way to justify the bullying and the torment i endured as a child and as a teen, and it took a lot of years of self-searching to understand that like this isn't right. we don't have the authority to go judge other people's beauty, and we don't have the authority to make, you know, assumptions about other people's health based on the way they look, and i finally came to a place where i was really happy with the way i looked, and, you know, hi found on tumbler there's a huge body positive, body acceptance movement, and i wanted to, you know, give a message to the bullies who had tormented me and show them that it didn't work. >> part of your message on the blog that accompanied the posting was, warning, picture might be considered obscene because subject is not thin, and we all know that only skinny people can show their stomachs

and celebrate themselves. well, i'm not going to stand for that. this is my body, not ours. mine. how did you get to that place of acceptance, and beyond acceptance, wanting to show the world? >> well, i didn't expect the world to see it, so this has definitely been a whirlwind couple of days, but way i saw it was that, you know, every single day i'm bombarded, especially living in new york city, with images of naked women or half-naked women, and they all look the same. they all have the same kind of body type, and somehow that's okay, but, you know, god forbid we put someone like me, who is a size 12 on the billboards. >> let me bring brandon into this. you didn't know so much people would see it and that's partly how all this happened. brandon, you have a website called humans of new york. you take pictures of people on the street. you ran into stella and then what happened? >> well, i ran into her. she approached me while i was taking a photo of somebody else. i stop people in the streets all day and i take photos of them, and i took her photograph, and

as i normally do with my blog, i'll take a photo of somebody and then i'll start asking questions, and so she started telling me about her blog and, you know, her interests, and she told me about this picture that she put up, and then when i got home she kind of e-mailed me, you know, a full bio along with a link to the picture and i looked at this, and i think that this is something that's going to resonate with my audience. >> stella, you didn't know he would post the underwear pictures. you cried when you first saw that he had done that. >> right. well, i don't want people to get the wrong idea that he somehow did this without my permission. i shared the information with him openly. it was on the internet. >> it had been shared about 80,000 times on tumbler already. >> shared 80,000 times on tumbler already, so i think the reason i cried was because it was so amazing, you know. i got an outpouring of love, like pretty much instantly, but it was also extremely overwhelming because i made myself so vulnerable on the internet. it's a one-way conversation with

people. >> people have been incredibly supportive, more supportive than not, but people can be cruel, and you know that very well. did you ever think, what, gosh, why did i do this and open myself up to it? >> i did think that, but i think that, you know, people being cruel, it doesn't really get to me because i have to remind myself i have a real life and i have real people who support me. you know, i think people are cruel because they are uncomfortable with seeing images of someone who, you know, is not thin, and they also don't understand what the body acceptance movement is. it's not to promote being unhealthy. it's not to promote anything like that. it's to take await stigma of overweight people in america because, you know, a lot of us are, and -- and that's all right. it doesn't mean that you can look at someone and know what is wrong with their health. >> well, you've go the a lot of people talking. brandon and stella, thanks for coming by and telling your story. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> coming up the cast of "law & order svu" on their

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airing its 300th episode. in the latest whodunit the squad leaps into overtime when a young boy is kidnapped setting off a race against time and a closer look at the boy's parents. take a look. >> you know, maybe david morse got tired of paying for two sets of legal fees. >> and has his own son kidnapped? >> or the wife wants to make him look bad. >> nothing is fair in love and war. >> does want to make him look bad. got a point of saying he got there at 11:00 today, two hours late. >> 11:00, the train didn't leave until 12:15. >> did david tell you he stopped anywhere? >> no, and i asked. >> the "svu" cast is with us, ice-t, marisa hargitay and great to have you all here. when this show went on the air, we were worried about y-2-k virus, britney spears was singing "one more time," what a

gift. 300 episodes. what a gift. >> it's not the thing that we look younger. at least for me i always look 60, that's how it works. >> when you think about shows that come on the air and go off the air in two, three weeks these days, what does it mean as an actor to have something like this on your resume? >> well, it's a dream for an actor to have the same job for more than one season let alone 14, and what we're blessed with is we all get along. that may sound corny, but we have literally become a family, and danny and kelly have just joined the show in the last couple of years, must have set some kind of record in fitting in with our group because we have catch phrases in our in jokes. are we supposed to not talk while this is going on? >> you're supposed to watch and add mire your own work. quiet. look at belzer and how he moves his -- anyway, these guys are great. just delirious we're on 14 years with great new actors.

>> how many shows have you played? >> 11. >> this year i tie matt dillon as james or necessary on "gunsmoke" for 20 years. i've played this for 20 years so i don't want to say i'm old. >> that's a good achievement. >> going into my 18th year in the "law & order" brand which i believe is now the longest running character. >> let me ask you about that because let's talk about this. the cliffhanger last year, so your character finds a dead escort in bed? >> yeah. >> yeah, i know. >> ripped from the headlines. >> what's up with that? >> leave my private life out of this. >> this was, well, we kind of worked that out. you know, it was a setup. >> okay. >> but it -- it always puts a crimp in your evening to wake up with a dead hooker in the bed. >> one of the producers was interviewed recently saying they are trying to push you guys out

of your comfort zone in this 14th season. does that make sense to you? >> it does. one of the things about the show being such a marker of the 300th episode, the most interesting thing about it after 14 years the show is completely reig rated, and it feels to us, who have been here, fresh, and like a new show, and that's pretty exciting. instead of it being tired and you're done and i've done this a million times, it feels truly like a new show, and it's -- you know, danny and kelly have infused the show with such incredible new energy and warren light has completely brought a different spin to it >> exactly. >> again, really pushing us to our limits which is really exciting to play to. >> a lot of fans out there. let's do a lot of trivia. just take a beat before you answer, give folks at home a chance to answer. which of your characters has been shot. now raise your hand? >> yeah. >> just the two of you. >> i thought you'd all been shot at one time or another. >> are you talking about television or real life?

>> all right. >> what type of needle did you -- >> no, no. >> which of your characters would be in a stable relationship? which would or are right now? >> none. >> or have been? >> no one. >> on the show. >> the true answer is none. >> that's right. >> and last one, how many romantic interests has delinquent difficult olivia benson had over the years? >> aside from us? >> how many. >> anybody at home? >> got to be about six. >> come on. >> 15 seconds? >> four, eight? >> more. >> six. >> seven is the correct answer, sir. >> when you ask the question how many episodes, check it out this week, guys. great to have you here. congratulations.

good tuesday morning to you. it's 8:26. apple will unveil a new, smaller version of its ipad at 10:00. it will make the announcement in downtown san jose. scott mcgrew will have the details on the announcement, including a look at ap's new product coming up at 11:00 this morn. let's not wait until then to find out the morning commute. what is it looking like, mike? >> north past the coliseum, northbound side over on your right is slow basically as you approach the coliseum up to downtown and, of course, the maze, that is slow approaching the bay bridge toll plaza. look at the map, we'll show you the southbound side from the shoulder at 92 all the way down to newark and fremont, as well.

680 jamming up as you are coming in towards mission area. we're looking at the funnel. both sides looking slow as well as mission boulevard and south bay also slow near northbound direction. 101 looking lighter. it's north 680 off the interchange that shows slowing heading back up into millipedes. back to you, laura? >> thank you, mike. thank you for joining us. for the latest traffic, and news upda updates, check out bay area on facebook. ♪

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we're back now. 8:30 on a tuesday morning. it's the 23rd day of october, 2012. it's a great start to the day here in new york city. bright blue skies, but you know what? that sky is going to give way to some clouds later today. some rain in our future. doesn't matter. we're going to have a good time. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie and al roker and natalie morales. coming up in the studio, one of the most prolific authors of all time. >> john grisham out with his 30th book, can you believe, that

an action-packed legal thriller with a twist and we'll talk to him about some of his other favorite novels. >> and one of our favorite singers is in the house, mr. tony bennett, the legend first hit the charts back in 1951. well, he is out with a new album, and this one has a little bit of a latin flair to it, so looking forward to that. >> sounds great. don't forget our annual halloween extravaganza. did you know it's just eight days away? >> no. >> i couldn't believe that. >> so if you're coming down to the plaza, better get going on that costume. we're going to crown a winner, as we always do, and, of course, we all will be getting dressed up as well, so be sure to join us for all the fun next wednesday here on "today." >> i have a fitting today. costume fitting. >> interesting fitting. could be interesting. >> mr. roker, how about a check of the weather? >> let's see what we've got for you starting with today. we are looking at snow out back

through the rockies, the cascades and inner mountain range. rain throughout the great lakes. that shower activity moves into the northeast later today. rain along the pacific northwest coast. southern skies will have plenty of sunshine as they will tomorrow. risk of some strong storms through the upper mississippi river valley. rain lasts into tomorrow morning here in the northeast, and we've got mountain snows again back tomorrow throughout the inner mountain region, the 8:32 on a tuesday morning. finally getting significant break from the rain. this is a live look over san jose. mostly cloudy for today, but some breaks of sunshine from time to time and sun comes back out in full force tomorrow afternoon. 63 in livermore and 62 in santa theresa and 60 in san jose. we do have a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms over the mountain wednesday into thursday. we clear out and finally warming up friday into saturday. the mid-70s return. hope you have a fantastic tuesday.

>> any time you need that weather, can you always check out the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. >> good advice. when we come back, what your birth order might tell you about your parenting skills, and we'll have a live performance from the one and only tony bennett, but first this is tase tase on nbc. you've mastered the art of rising and shining. you carry the weight of the world before carpool. you keep your cool in most uncool situations. all while looking really, really...good! there's no stopping you with natrol fast dissolve vitamins and supplements.

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back now at 8:35 with our special series "the new normal" where we take a closer look at the changing american family. this morning we follow along as one writer takes to the stage to tell his story in his own words. >> after five loving fulfilling years with my boyfriend drew, i suddenly found myself online looking to meet a woman. to become dads we needed an egg donor, and finding one wasn't going to be easy. it was hard to imagine any of these women contributing half of our child's dna and then most

likely disappearing forever. am i picking a woman because she's pretty? am i picking her because she helps, you know, kids after school? how can you tell who the perfect person is? >> you feel like you want to make the right decision, and it feels like it's very loaded. >> that's what when suzy called. >> i told him i don't know where you are in this sequence or if you're interested, but keep me in mind because i'm -- i want you to have everything. >> suzy was everything an egg donor should be, kind, beautiful, smart, a gifted artist and at 28 she was practically at the peak of her fertility. she was also drew's little sister. >> i thought i could give them the happiness and joy that we always had as kids. >> we knew having a baby this way could be messy, but drew and i grew up in a time when coming out meant putting an end to your dreams of fatherhood, but now we can picture having a baby with a

little bit of both of us. we decided to go for it. unfortunately, mother nature had other plans. >> most women susie's age would produce dozens of healthy eggs. when she went in to have her eggs harvested, drew and i were in the waiting room, and the doctor came out and he was kind of shaking his head, and we knew right away it was bad news. it turns out she had only produced seven eggs. of those two failed to fertilize. the doctor warned us that if our surrogate couldn't get pregnant with susie's eggs it was highly unlikely that susie ever could either. the outlook was bad for us, crushing for susie. this could be her only chance at having a baby, a baby that would be ours, not hers. >> at that point i realized things don't happen the way you necessarily plan, and you just kind of go with it. if i don't have my own kids, i know my brother, if this worked out for them, would have that. >> just before christmas the nurse called from the fertility

doctor's office. jerry, she squealed, i have some exciting news! a few weeks later we had our first ultrasound appointment with our surrogate. >> we couldn't believe that we were potentially going to be parents, and the doctor walked in and started examining the surrogate and said, yeah, the two embryos are there and i said we're what? >> from the grainy soup of the sonogram monitor two distinct peanut shapes emerged, twins. >> pretty loosy goosey. >> she gave the chance for jerry and i have to equal parts in our children, and i think she gave us the chance to have a life that we never thought we could have. >> now thanks to susie there are two tiny people running around our house. i see a little bit of each of us in them, my nose, susie's eyes, drew's chin. they fight and cry and laugh and sing. they cost a fortune.

they are ours. we don't consider sues' mother to our kids, but she's a very special aunt, and we know some day our kids will fully appreciate the amazing gift she's given us. >> a little over a year ago susie came to us and told us she had some big news. >> my surprise little miracle. >> good girl. >> when they tell you that you can't have and then all of a sudden when you're not planning and things definitely aren't going that way, surprise. >> oh, very nice. >> families aren't made by a mold. they are made by people who love each other. sometimes they look weird to outsiders. our family has no mom. maybe yours lives in a winnebago or has a reality show on e. nobody's perfect, but even though we can't always give our kids everything we want them to, have we do our best. >> things happen.

miracle happens. life happens, and we're lucky. >> sometimes i'll see people looking at us funny, maybe doing a double take or muttering under their breath. it takes me a minute to remember oh, yeah, they are not used to seeing families like mine. >> down the block. >> may not be a typical family, and we're not perfect either, but to me we're perfectly norm a. i guess you could say we're the new normal. [ applause ] >> you can find more of jerry mahoney's log on our website and thanks for taking part in the open mike. up next, john grisham talks thirty-eight. schools. trouble, we all should help out. under thirty-eight they do. more a year. bucks. money for schools. every school dollar must be... spent on student learning. student wins. vote yes on thirty-eight.

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appearance on the "today" show back in 1919 for his second novel "the firm." 21 years later he's become one of the most successful authors of his generation. now his 30th back, an action-packed thriller called "the racketier." welcome back. >> looked so young. 21 years ago. >> everyone looked young back then. 30th book, and this is the first time that your main character in a book is an african-american, so i say congratulations, or what took you so long? >> what took so long, i guess. >> how was it writing this? >> i didn't think of him as being black or white. he's a character, a lawyer in trouble, a lawyer in prison. it was a little bit of a challenge, you know, because it was a lot different, but once i got into the story and the plot it was a pretty easy story to tell. >> when we first meet malcolm bannister he's in prison. >> right, right. >> serving a ten-year term, white collar crime. throughout the entire thing he said i shouldn't be here. don't belong here.

this is a theme you like to dig your teeth into, the guys who either shouldn't be in prison for legal reasons or the priorities being screwed up in our legal system. >> well, we have far too many people in prison, non-violent people who shouldn't be there. we have the highest incarceration rate in the civilized world. no one else is even close, and it costs 40,000 a year to incars rate an inmate, and 8,000 bucks a year to educate a kid. we've lost all sense of perspective when it comes to incarceration. i'm not talking about violent criminals. they belong and get what they deserve, but we have a lot of non-violent people in prison that shouldn't be there. >> this story snowballs and really starts to gain momentum when a federal judge is killed. >> yeah. >> here's your main character malcolm, and he uses something called rule 35 that a lot of people haven't heard of. tell me about rule 35. >> every federal inmate knows about rule 35. if you are in prison and can help the authorities solve a crime that they really want to solve, you know something from the outside, can you basically cut a deal.

>> it's a get out of free card. >> get out of jail free. you may have to go back and testify against this person, drug cases, mob cases, stuff like that, but if you can solve a high-profile crime from inside a prison you can get out. >> to get to know white collar crime a little better, you studied it, as you do for all your books. you went to prison and actually interviewed some lawyers who were serving time. what was the experience like? what did you learn from those conversations in. >> well, i've done that with several books. this time i real he to go back and do the research and talk to some guys in prison. well, first of all, just the nature of prison, daily life, how you survive, how you, you know, you take a very powerful rich lawyer and you put him in prison for six, seven years, whatever. that's -- that's some pretty rich material. you talk to the guy about what it's like to lose everything and be incarcerated, you know, you're ostracized and lose your license to practice law. >> no control over your own destiny myomore. >> very little, and these guys

are broken men, obviously. they are in prison. it's fascinating research. >> 30 books. how do you keep reinventing the wheel or do you even try? >> read the headlines. it's given to me every day. i mean, we -- we have so many great cases in this country. we have such a fascination with the law, lawsuits, trials, there's always another story. >> you're as big a consumer as you are an author? >> sure. i'm always looking. >> let me do this. when you come on the website lights up, people always have questions for you, and some of these you've heard and have probably answered before. let me get into a couple. this is from roamsy in salem, oregon. i'm sure you get this a lot. do you ever plan to write any sequels to your books? >> i've never planned on it until now, and i'm giving serious thought to writing a sequel to "a time to kill." >> why now? >> well, because it lends itself to a sequel. can you go back and visit jake, our hero in "a time to kill" and

tell all the stories from small time mississippi. that was the life i lived for ten years, and i'm very familiar with it. over the years i've been waiting for the great story, some other trial jake could have, a couple years after the trial in "a time to kill." >> have you come across it in. >> finally got the story. >> by the way the rumor is that story is also coming to broadway, true or false? >> it's true. >> when is that happening? >> casting "a time to kill" now and plan to open on broadway, plan to, in 2013. >> all right. this one is another one. this is from andover, massachusetts, gary says out of all of your books which one is your personal favorite, and what's your all-time favorite book by a different author? >> i'm partial to my first book, "time to kill" because it -- it's very personal. it's become the most popular of all books. books by other people, i don't know. there's so many i like. i go back to the "grapes of wrath" by john steinbeck is a book i still read periodically. read it in high school. i'm not saying it inspired me to write, but i remember thinking i

sure wish i could write as clearly as john steinbeck. i love the story. >> well, you've put out some amazing material. 30 books. this one is called "the racketier." >> stephen king has written 48. trying to catch him. >> don't be jealous. >> so far ahead of me. >> you're doing well. >> my pleasure. >> and the book again is "the racketeer." out today. up next, a live performance from the legendary tony bennett, but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ maraca shaking ]

♪ ♪ oh dole-dole-dole ♪ it is a juice for the soul ♪ you can't go wrong with dole ♪ so many flavors ♪ it's hard to control ♪ it's like a carnival ♪ in your mouthhole ♪ dole -- it is a juice for the soul ♪ [ male announcer ] dole. never dull.

tony bennett is an entertainment icon, the winner of 17 grammy awards and still going strong. his latest album is called "viva duet." it's bennett's third duet-themed project, this time featuring top latin recording artists, and he with us now along with talia who appears on the album. good morning to both of you. tony bennett, latin music. whose idea was it to put these two things together? >> my son danny is my manager, and he came up with the premise of duets, and it's phenomenal. it sells internationally all over the world. >> did you like this kind of music before? did you think your music would translate to it well? >> well, the minute i heard the artists on this album, a revelation to me that to me it's real music, you know.

they are playing. they all sing right from the heart, and they mean it, and it's the kind of music that lasts. it's not obsolescence. >> you have great artists, christina aguilera, marc anthony, cheyenne and, of course, talia who we'll hear from in a moment. you're very well known as a recording artist. some people remember you from the soaps back in the 1990s. what was it like to work with tony benet? >> such an honor. i'm a big fan. >> thank you. >> such a legend, and, of course, he reinvents himself every time. it's a surprise. he sings better than ever, and he's here singing with all of this great latin singers, thank you for doing this for all of us. >> thank you. you sick beautiful. >> and before i let you sing, is i want to ask you about a documentary your son is producing called "the zen of bennett." what will we learn about you? >> it's basically the philosophy of how i feel about life and how beautiful it is to just be alive and -- and that's what it's all about. >> all right.

well, renowned singer and painter tony bennett and talia. we'll let you take it away. >> thank you. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ but you're lovely with your

smile so warm ♪ ♪ and your cheeks so soft ♪ there is nothing for me but to love you ♪ ♪ just the way you look tonight ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ and that laugh that wrinkles your nose ♪ ♪ it touches my foolish heart

♪ lovely, never, never change ♪ keep that breathless charm ♪ won't you please arrange it ♪ because i love you ♪ just the way you look tonight ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ love me, never, never change ♪ keep that breathless song ♪ won't you please arrange it ♪ because i love you ♪ just the way you look tonight ♪ ♪ just the way you look tonight ♪ [ applause ] >> a beautiful song like we've

never heard it before. how's your spanish? >> thank you. the album called "viva duets." we're back after this. >> thank you. good tuesday morning to you 8:56 i'm laura a garcia canb. the giants are headed to the world series. >> the rain never feltd so good. >> that's right, soak it up. mvp soaking in the team's easy victory over the cardinals last noit. yeah, pretty heavy rain out there but didn't dampen the crowds spirits. game one of the world series tomorrow night at 5:00.

christina loren is here. >> looks like we will see residual showers at game time but we'll clear out for the second half of the game and into the weekend, temperatures clear up and sun comes back out. hope you have a fantastic tuesday.

we're back now with more of "today" on a tuesday morning. it's the 23rd day of october, 2012. so nice here in the northeast. hopefully it's nice where you're getting up as well. nice people out on the plaza. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie and mr. al roker. eight days to go until our halloween extravaganza here on the plaza. this morning we're revealing the three finalists in our quest for the best hand crafted halloween costume. we asked you to send us your entries. boy, did you guys deliver. >> that's a good one. >> we got some great entries, and this morning the finalists will be announced by none other, someone who knows a little bit about hand crafting miss martha stewart. >> oh, yeah. >> the queen of crafting, and then speaking of craftiness, if

you've ever had a fashion emergency, maybe you've had a button pop off or you've ripped your tight. >> that's an emergency. >> if it happened to you you would understand. we're going to get some quick and easy solutions to help you keep looking your best on the go. >> where are you in birth order? >> the second of two. >> the middle child. >> second of two. that would be the youngest. >> sorry. i'm blaming it on sleep deprevation. i'm the youngest, too you? >> i'm the oldest. >> embarrassing. rewind. >> birth order will actually play a big role -- what's the color of washington's white horse? >> what time does the 9:00 bus leave. >> we'll tell you the five things you need to know about family birth order in today's five facts. man, could i see that one coming down the track. >> i know, i know. he'll enjoy that for years. >> we'll keep playing that over and over. >> let's go inside. >> natalie has a check of the headlines. >> no worries, savannah. we all fall for it.

>> the final presidential face-off in florida had both candidates taking strong stances on foreign policy. republican challenger myth romney went on the offensive saying president obama should have done more to halt iran's nuclear weapons program. the two did manage to find some common ground, both expressing support for israel and opposing direct u.s. military intervention in syria. meantime today, president obama campaigns in florida and ohio while romney heads west to nevada and colorado. good news for commuters as gas prices are tumbling. on monday the week-over-week price made its biggest drop in nearly four years, and while the average driver will pay 3.66 a gallon at the pump today, aaa expects that that price will drop to as low as 3.25 by thanksgiving. the san francisco giants are head together world series after clinching the national league title in a rainy game seven on monday night. the giants set out defending world series champs the st. louis cardinals 9-0 battling it

out throughout a downpour. the giants kick off the series against the detroit tigers tomorrow night in san francisco. the fda is investigating reports of five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack possibly linked to caffeine-rich monster energy drinks. last week the parents of a 14-year-old maryland girl filed a wrongful death suit claiming their daughter died after consuming two 24-ounce monster drinks in 24 hours. the girl did have an inherited disorder that can weaken blood vessels. monster says it doesn't believe its products caused any deaths. more nurses are expected to testify today at the trial of douglas kennedy, son of the late robert f. kennedy. he's accused of scuffling with nurses in january when they tried to stop him from taking his two-day-old sound out of mount kisko, new york hospital without permission. kennedy has pleaded not guilty to physical harassment and endangering the welfare of a child. on monday one nurse describes how kennedy allegedly twisted her arm away from the doorknob she was guarding.

under cross-examination she acknowledged hiring a personal injury attorney shortly after that confrontation. well, it's no longer pom-poms and side kicks. the nation's pediatricians are calling for stronger safety rules as cheerleading becomes increasingly dangerous. here's nbc's janet shamlian. >> you never think that something like what happened to me could happen to someone from cheerleading, and i never thought that going into. >> reporter: on the day laura jackson tried out for her high school cheerleading squad she did a flack flip and landed on her neck. she was paralyzed from the neck down. for nine years she's been breathing with the aid of a ventilator and need around-the-clock care. >> had this been a sport where i broke my neck and had to have stricter guide lins and regulations this might have been prevented. >> reporter: with big lifts and tall pyramids cheerleading has become more dangerous. according to the american academy of pediatrics, which on monday called for it to be classified as a sport.

that designation would mandate trainers and physicals and more qualified coaches, just like other high school sports. >> because these cheerleaders are now falling from heights of up to 15 to 18 feet, a fall from that height can have terrible consequences, including skull fractures, broken next, in addition to broken bones. >> with more difficult routines have come severe injuries. cheerleading now accounts for two-thirds of all catastrophic accidents among high school girls. >> i definitely think that this has been needed for a while. this -- it really is a sport. >> reporter: cheering for safety. doctors push for more regulations for america's 3 million cheerleaders. for "today," janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. and this video is so cute it hurts. a visitor to the southwest coast of australia made friends with an unusually curious koala bear and while meeting face-to-face was nice came a little too close

for comfort when the little guy decided to climb her like a tree. may look like furry little teddy bears but they do have sharp claws. six minutes after the hour, still adorable. let's go over to al for a check of the weather. >> oh, yeah, yeah, real adorable. thank you very much. let's see what we've got for you. let's take a look right now. this is the latest on tropical storm sandy, 325 miles south southwest of kingston, jamaica. 45-mile-per-hour winds. it's moving slowly to the north at 3 miles per hour. it will come across jamaica sometimes early thursday. right now we've got hurricane watches up for james camp we've got tropical storm watches up for hate, and they do not need a lot more rain there. that's for sure. can you see all that comes across, intensifies to a category one storm early thursday morning, and then once it gets out in the atlantic, still anybody's guess where that's going to go. have to keep an eye on tha

good tuesday morning to you. taking a live look over san bruno. you can see we still have quite a few mid-level clouds overhead. showers have come to a close for the brief time. as we head throughout this afternoon we're setting up for isolated thunderstorms over our local mountains and the best chance in the west bay and 63 degrees, that's it, grab your jacket on the way out the front door and 58, oh, that's it today in san francisco. we'll get warmer bringing that sun back out for your weekend. three of us give our take on the stories that have caught our attention and yours, too. adding her two cents is host of the new nbc lifestyle show "first look" alifedotenski. >> tell us about your show. >> we travel around the country and do cool fun things from night life to food. >> sounds great. >> let's get to our takes. weigh in on this, all right. first it was the controversy

that the latina princess at disney turns out she's not latin after all. that's settled, but disney now facing a controversy along with barney's over the new mini minnie mouse. this is the new holiday display. >> what? >> that's not minnie mouse. wearing haute couture fashion. the idea is, as -- as disney -- >> that's just goofy. >> this is a light-hearted holiday project. apparently it's a whimsical. minnie steps into the high paris fashion world. >> and she's a twig. >> and she's a twig. over 125,000 people have weighed in on the controversy, signing a petition on change.org saying this is sending the wrong message to kids. what do you think? >> the studio says it's meant to be light hearted. it's a fantasy world. >> i'm 125,000 and 1, i'll sign that petition. that's crazy. that just looks dark to me. it looks dark and they look sick. i would never want my kids to do

something like that. >> i think it looks like the characters we all love. >> here's another question. >> those are icons. >> donald doesn't wear pants. how come daisy's got a dress? >> i'm sorry. >> but we digress, i think. >> thought to be some artsy kind of take on it. >> the same way they did gaga. had a whole gaga display window last year, barney's. they say once again this is all art, and it's an artistic interpretation. >> do they have to make them so thin? >> that's the thing. parents are saying, you know, they take their kids to see the windows and what message is that sending our kids that if you want to step into a high-end fashion designer dress you've got to be a model. >> yeah. >> that's the point that's being made. whether or not you agree, we'd love to you weigh n.send us on our wednesdayite today.com, your thought and opinions or tweet any of us. let us know what you think about that. >> pays to be popular. there's a study that finds popular kids in high school actually earn more later in life. 40 years after graduation those who were said to be in the 80th

percentile of popularity, how do they measure that, i have no idea, earned 10% more than their peers in the bottom 20th. i guess the theory is popular teens know what they need to succeed later in life. i always thought it was bad to peak in high school. like you don't want to be the most popular person in high school and then you peak too soon and then everything falls apart, but maybe that's just what i told myself >> i think it depends on where you live honestly. like, for instance, i've talked to a girlfriend about this last night and she said that in l.a. she thinks that might be the case, like if you rule the school, you rule the world later, but in san francisco, let's say silicon valley, i don't think that's the case. i think the kids that sat in the back with the books are the ones that are creating facebook. >> that's true. >> i was on the a.v. squad, not that popular. >> again. >> a.v. >> that's how nerdy we were. >> i do think there's something to be said that the popular kids develop more social skills and that's the point. this is a study by the national bureau of economic research. basically saying maybe there's leadership skills involved here. these are kids who know how to

make friends and know how to make peace and know how to bring people together and perhaps those skills should be applied later on in life. >> the popular kids drive people apart. >> good managerial part. >> they drive people apart because if you're not with the popular group because then you're with the not so popular group. >> i think there's always the in-between group. i was always the in-between group >> i always knew where the party was. people would call me on friday night and say where's the party are and i would say, okay, well there's one here and one there. >> is that still the case? >> no, i go to bed at 8:00. >> savannah in high school, heard stories. for another day, entirely. >> do we have video of you in high school? >> i hope not. it was pre-video. just sketches. >> all right. take three. we have seen the cute and adorable babies all the time, but it's halloween, so we want to talk evil babies. parenting blogger alana wiles created an evil baby glaroff on

mommy.com. take a look. ♪ >> oh, my goodness. >> from 0 to 5 were selected from 300 entries and created a bracket and pared up kids against each other. ultimately it came down to lil d versus kadence. >> i think lil d gets this one. >> she's like crawling. >> kadence by 59.3 percent. >> liking that starbucks too much. >> don't you take that away from me. >> she's got her own go-go juice. >> don't you mess with the go-go juice. >> finally we do have a bonus take, and this one is certainly a bonus. probably one of the best

halloween costumes you'll ever see on a dog. take a look. >> oh, wow. oh, my. if he sneezes, back away. >> oh, my god. >> that is just plain wrong. >> that is wrong. >> take it away. >> i know. >> he doesn't like it either. >> you don't know whether he's coming or going. >> meanwhile, the dog is like what? what did i do? what? there's something on my tail. ali, aren't you so glad you joined us? >> come back any time. >> nice having you. >> yeah. we look forward to the show on nbc. >> "first look." >> thank you. >> coming up next, the three finalists in our quest for the best halloween costumes, although i've got to say that dog costume will give a run for the money. the judge of this is none other than the queen of craftiness herself in martha stewart right after this. that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin

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this morning on "today's quest for the best," koss sume creations. we asked you to submit pictures of your homemade halloween getups and narrowed it down to three finalist here to compete for the title of today's best. also a return appearance on the halloween show next week. here to weigh in on the ghoulish getups the one and only queen of crafty herself martha stewart. >> they don't look so ghoulish to me. they look like halloween costumes. >> there you go. >> what are you going to be looking for? >> i'm looking for creativity, originality, do-it-yourselfness. >> do-it-yourselfness, lie take. >> and fun. >> and fun, okay. >> yeah. >> let's see who has got some do-it-yourselfness. mike briggs from brookline, massachusetts. his version of the cookie

monster. >> hey, mike. >> hi, how are you? >> good to see you. >> how do you do? >> how does your back look? >> oh, wow, very nice. >> how many -- what did you use to make your costume? >> mostly newspaper, cardboard and tape. >> duct tape. >> masking tape. >> and then i covered it with duct tape and paineded it. >> i think you have oreos on your wrists. >> paper plates there. >> fortune cookie on top of your head? >> that's a fortune cooky. >> and what are the little eyeballs on the fortune cooky in. >> some powdered cookies with a thing i saw online. on a big tray. >> is it true you spent 180 bucks on tape alone? >> trying to go cheap on this costume by using newspaper and cardboard. >> and it cost $1850. >> i kept taping and taping. >> how much does it weigh? >> it's light. on like lacrosse pads. >> you wore this last halloween i understand? >> yeah. >> good -- great response? >> yeah.

it was fantastic response. a lot of fun. >> you just got back from your honeymoon two days ago. >> i did. >> and got the call. >> with your koss talk? >> yeah, no, i didn't have it on there. >> must have been quite a honeymo honeymoon, mike. >> let's bring in katherine smith from marietta, georgia. talking a walk on the wild side. >> very lion kingesque. >> very charming. >> they nice a. >> very cute face on the giraffe. what's the whole neck made out of? >> a garden copilotio cage. >> oh, clever. >> and everything is covered in two colors of duct tape. >> it's duct tape. >> how much did you spend making your costume? >> around $50. >> that's not bad. >> i understand you can actually dance in this thing. >> it's not impossible, no. >> it's not impossible. >> can you bust a move for us. >> i can always bust a move, al. >> there's a little music. a little bust a move music for you. >> graceful giraffe, wouldn't you say? >> yeah. >> and it's not too heavy.

it's manageable. >> can't get into a taxi no. >> but this is very easy just to come on and off. this is just a -- >> what are the front feet? >> swim into theles. >> cool. >> swim noodles. >> very lightweight, very nice. >> okay. katherine, thank you so much. john mulgrew from new york, dressed as a winning nfl coach. >> wow. >> nobody we've seen in new york. >> oh, well. >> that's not true. >> just kidding. >> oh, my gosh, and look at his ring. >> wow. >> oh, that's a big diamond you've got there. >> so who is your favorite team? >> the jets, but i don't really look too much like rex ryan so i figured i'd go generic sportscoat. >> i like the idea. getting dunked with gatorade after winning the championship, a pipe run up my back which i bent and have it all supported. >> and what's holding it on? >> a weight belt and a series of

belt going up which i screwed into the pipe. >> but not -- >> not in your rib cage? >> no, no. >> it's a little tight, but i don't care about comfort or practicality. i just like the silly costume. >> all righty. >> gatorade, not champagne. >> they throw gatorade on the coaches. >> oh, gatorade, wow. >> you'd rather champagne. >> of course. >> martha, you've got mike briggs, katherine smith and john mulgrew, who is your "today's" best homemade costume. >> having just seen the costumes without too much ado, it's hard, hard, hard. they are all creative. they are all clever, but only one really gets me. >> and that would be? >> the giraffe. >> katherine smith. >> congratulations. >> i like the giraffe. the face is so cute. look at it. lack at the long eyelashes. >> oh, we've got the flag. >> uh-oh.

>> unbelievable. >> i throw the flag on that one. >> personal foul, martha stewart. >> i don't know if a giraffe can carry a trophy. >> mike, katherine, john, thank you. >> congratulations. >> congratulations to all of you. >> katherine, we'll see you next week. >> to see more costume contest submissions, don't forget. go to our website today.com. holding our annual halloween costume halloween morning on the plaza. we'll be back. >> cuteness wins. [ ding dong ]

hey -- little m&m's! wow! great costumes. what are you guys -- like four or five? forty-six. alright, yeah ok. here you go. you don't understand, slick. we're here for the party. whoo! yeah, that's cute! [ laughing ] put your hand down. . . . [ male announcer ] pillsbury grands biscuits. delicious. but say i press a few out flat... add some beef sloppy joe sauce... and cheese fold it all up and boom! i just made an unbeatable unsloppy joe pillsbury grands biscuits. let the making begin. busy in here.

yeah. progressive mobile is... [ "everybody have fun tonight" plays ] really catching on! people can do it all! get a quote, buy and manage your policy! -[ music stops ] -it's great! well, what's with the... -[ music resumes ] -music? ♪ have fun tonight dude. getting a car insurance quote. i'll let it go to voicemail. [ clears throat ] ♪ everybody wang chung tonight ♪ putting it on vibrate. [ cell phone vibrates ] -[ loud vibrating ] -it'll pass. [ vibrating continues ] our giant store and your little phone. that's progressive mobile. coming up, we have quick fixes for fashion emergencies. >> that's right, and, of course, we're also -- one of our favorite shows, of course, "guys with kids." >> yes. >> and one of the stars of the joe jamie-lynn sigler is going to be here. we've got that, and, of course, we're going to be up in "today's" kitchen. all that coming up. >> a very different role for her. nobody gets whacked. >> that's right. she's a mom for god sakes. >> we like that, exactly. >> all coming up after your local news. >> and weather.

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good morning to you. 9:26 i'm laura garcia-cannon. this morning san mu dayo county could give the green light on a ban innen incorporated communities. nearly two dozen peninsula cities also considering that ban modeled after san mu dt san mat. an investigation is under way as many as ten big rigs smashed after two separate crashes on the same stretch of road. it happened this morning near the truck bypass tunnel just north of los angeles. the truck route was closed, but the route is open for cars. it appears rain and speed may have been factors in that crash. crews are cleaning up diesel that spilled on the roadway.

rvelth we' . we're going to take a quick break, but we'll look at weather and traffic right after this.

welcome back time now 9:28. live sky over san francisco. we do have very slight chance of isolated thunderstorms over our local mountains later on this afternoon, otherwise a little bit of a break from the rain, but not the cold. look at your temperatures. 44 degrees right now in sonoma and cold in san jose at 51 degrees and temperatures are not going to warm up all that much as we head through the second half of the day. behind the front, very cool air trailing into the bay area and that will keep your temperatures in the 60s. 63 in livermore and 63 in gilroy and just 59 degrees in san francisco. your seven-day outlook looks like this. as we get into tomorrow a few more showers and return as we head to the weekend. let's check your drive with mike. >> slowing here for 880 southbound at the bottom of your

screen, heading to the bottom of your screen around mission boulevard before you get there and also for 680 coming out of sonoma, tough morning as you're coming over the hill and sticking around until either direction of mission boulevard. we're looking at south bay, as well. northbound routes looking good and still very slow from 280 to 101 and palo alto cleared very early on and through san mateo. laura. >> thank you. another news update coming up in half an hour.

i'm the last person in the house, and it's really lonely about everybody. i mean, i don't even know what to do right now. why not. cheer, party house. to you. next summer. >> kind of like a time machine. honey boo boo grown up. snooki will have less time for bar crawls and beach lucking come next summer. "the jersey shore" star is a new mom, and she'll be here tomorrow on "today" for her first live interview since the birth of her son. and thursday on "today" adam lavigne will be here with his band maroon 5 and the latest song with a live performance. so come on by if you're in this area. >> i like that song. >> that's going to be good. >> i'm al roker along with savannah guthrie and natalie morales. now we know that you're the youngest. >> that's right. >> and i'm oldest. so where are you in the birth

order? >> the middlest. >> could you guess? >> the middlest. i'm the one that you thought was, you know, when matt said i'm the middle child. >> thanks for bringing that up, yes. >> i'm a little brain dead today. >> i'm the middle child, yes, if you had any doubts. >> well, just ahead, we're going to have the five facts that you may not have known about birth order and what impact it may have had on your personality. >> and also how you become as a parent, apparently, because it does translate. also ahead, we're rescuing you from some fashion emergencies, whether it's a blister from new shoes, maybe a little bit of that deodorant that leaves a mark on your black dress, well, we've got some fast fixes when you're on the run. >> all right. in the kitchen we'll let you make an easy french pastry, making anything from cheese puffs to an eclaire. looks good. but first, you know her as the mob princess meadow soprano on the award-winning series "the sopranos" but jamie-lynn sigler

says forget about it to mob life and today she's playing a new parent on the nbc comedy "guys with kids." good morning. >> good morning. >> this is a role reversal, in the only are you not doing the dramatic thing anymore, but you're a funny girl in this new sitcom. how do you like it? >> thanks, i'm trying to be. it's a lot of fun. definitely a new chapter being a mom. i grew up always being the kid, and i think no matter how long "the sopranos" went on, i always would have been the daughter, so it seemed like the only way to sort of have a departure from that and move on was to play a mom. >> are you the funny girl in real life? >> i do like to make people laugh, and i think that i sort of took it as a personal challenge to always be known, you know, for something so heavy and dramatic. i wanted to do something light and fun and sort of stretch myself with my range a little bit. >> you say comedy is actually harder than drama. >> comedy is a lot harder. everybody has a very specific sense of humor, and it's hard to make people laugh, and you

always have to be willing to make a fool of yourself, and, fortunately, i'm willing to do that in my normal life. >> called timing. >> called "guys with kids," but you are obviously not a guy. what is like? what is the cast chemistry like when you guys are on camera? >> from day one we had a ton of chemistry. i mean, obviously the guys need the laid toys have the kids. >> really? >> we definitely serve a purpose, but i love my castmates so much and temp et bledsoe who plays anthony anderson's life, her and i have a similar history because we're both from the iconic tv shows and played the daughter, and so we both feel like together this is sort of a new journey for the two of us, and i was such a fan of hers and she was such a fan of my show, so it's a fun thing. >> and the executive producer is jimmy fallon. >> who we're all fans of. >> not a bad boss. >> you're really into halloween, right? going to have a big barb. >> my best friend lance bass,

transforming his house into a haunted house and every area is going to be a theme, and we're just going to scare a lot of kids. >> i want to go. >> let's all go. >> we love halloween, too. >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much, and "guys with kids" airs wednesday night at 8:30, 9:34. taking a live look. we still have quite a bit of cloud cover over the south bay. as we head throughout the afternoon, this is generally the sky we will see. more sun sln towards the second half of the afternoon and then you'll see the nimbus towers building surrounding san jose with a slight chance of isolated thunderstorms today. 59 degrees in san francisco. little bit warmer. we clear the showers out for your wednesday and then we hit the 70s by the weekend. our latest weather. >> all right, al. thanks. coming up next, five facts about birth order right after this. ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm...99 bushels of wheat! ♪

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could be due to where you fall in the lineup. good morning. >> good morning. >> it does make a difference. >> it does make a difference. research has shown it makes a difference. not the kind of difference that says the temperament that you're born with or the parenting that you get are all kinds of environmental factors and all kinds of things can switch it up. are there stepchildren, adopted children, big spacing between children? research shows this definitely makes a difference. >> okay. so, let's start at the top, the best. >> okay. >> the oldest child. so does being a leader among your siblings translate later in life? >> it seems to, absolutely. apparently over half of all of u.s. presidents were first born. first-borns are definitely -- feel like the leaders, their parents look to them to be leaders, so it absolutely enhances that. it actually also makes some potentially more reliable and more conscientious on the upside. on the downside,

perfectionistic, a little more rigid and more difficult to move on things. so they can be aggressive. they tend to be people pleasers at the same time. so you see, you know, newscasters and anchors are often first-borns. >> walter cronkite, peter jennings, dan rather, ted koppel. >> phil donahue. >> geraldo rivera. >> al roker. >> they are leaders and assert themselves looking to please. >> that's our al. >> go to take care of the others. meanwhile, the middle child, not sure i'm liking this description. how do they differ from the older siblings? >> they tend to be more secretive. doesn't mean they are totally underground, but because they are not the leaders and because they are not the babies, they often feel kind of stuck in the middle. >> that's me. >> and in that they may keep their feelings to themselves, and they may in fact not turn to parents as much but turn to peers which actually makes them very engaged with their peers potentially. they often have strong

friendships, and they often read people well because they are very focused on what's going on. >> pretty good at reading people. >> you think? >> i think so. >> peacekeeper, i'll take that. >> you're flexible. >> independent, inventive. >> inventive. >> independent. >> those are all good things. >> some of the other things, my older sister. my little sister is somewhere in there, too. >> but as the research shows, the youngest child is pure joy and a delight? >> and a delight. >> to themselves. >> you are a delight, but maybe babies are babied, and that makes them usually the most financially irresponsible. i am not saying that you are a spendthrift and you are bankrupting your home. >> no. >> but i am saying that babies do tend to be a little more on the spoiled side because they keep being treated as the baby. >> let's focus on the positive. >> the positive is they are also very social, also very outgoing, and they are often the big entertainers of the family. >> strong sense of humor. >> big entertainers, so we see a

lot of comedians end up being -- >> does it affect how you parent? >> actually it does. it carries through all the way so the parent -- the person that you were in your family, you tend to see that child in your own family the same way you see yourself, so it does affect how you parent very much so. >> really interesting. >> fascinating. >> i like that. >> thank you, people-pleasers. coming up next, fashion fixes for your next style emergency. ♪ ♪

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on the go. camille, good morning. >> a lot to get to. let's get right to t.starting off if you have a wrinkled shirt and you have a flat iron you've got a cure. how do you do this in. >> wipe it down, you might not have an iron handy. many girls have their flat irons on hand so use that in a pinch. >> okay. meanwhile, if you do have an iron, some baby powder on hand, wearing a white shirt and need to get the stains under the shirt, this is a good way to remedy that. >> it's a good way to preserve the shirt so you don't have to get rid of it. sprinkle it under the collar, under the arm, anywhere where there's stains. it creates a barrier so the sweat doesn't get into the threads of the shirt and you'll look out stains. >> and you'll smell like a baby. >> over here, every woman has the terrible blisters from a new pair of shoes. >> absolutely. >> here's a way to take that clear deodorant and prevent blisters. >> so many products out there to prevent blisters, don't need

them if you have some clear roll-on gels. apply them to the inside of your shoe, wherever you get blisters. put them on your feet and it will create a barrier so there's no friction between your feet and your shoe. >> and your feet will smell good. >> hairspray has multiple uses along with protecting your hair. good with static, but other things you can do. >> one of the most annoying things when you get laundry, getting lint on your close out of the dryer. don't need a lint roller, take hair spree and a clean cloth. spray the hair spray on the cloth and rub it over the lint and comes right off like a charm. the stickiness of the hair spray works like a charm. >> and also helps to reinforce pantyhose. >> all dealt with annoying rips and runs. before you put them on in the morning, spray up and down the leg. put the pantyhose, you won't get rips or runs every day.

the hairspray for thefies the elasticity in the pantyhose so they don't tear. >> and then use them for another purpose. >> if you've got, it why not flaunt it so who hasn't dealt with a white deodorant mark on a dark top. take the pantyhose applied to the deodorant and see how easily it comes off if it rubs away and it's like an eraser. >> running out of time. a loose button. what's the fix? >> grab a trip tie, strip off the paper and thread it through the button. thread the button and wire through the shirt so it couldn't poke you and you have a button fix. >> great tips. learned a lot. coming up next, a simple pa pastry dough that you can make now and save for the holidays. but first, this is "today" on

this morning in "tape of's kitchen" it's easy as 1, 2, 3, pastry chef reveals the secrets to classic pastries. nothing better than walking into the kitchen and smelling something baking. you're demystifying, people are intimidated by it. >> it's absolutely right. we get intimidated by baking because baking is really about equations and exact measurements. >> precise. >> more so than savory we need to use exact measurements. here in our book we really emphasize weight, weight by grams, because it's precise. >> and we're making a pastry concoction that basically you can use for different sweet and savory. >> exactly. >> it's pretty simple. >> very simple. this is cream puff dough so water and sugar and flour and got it in here. want to cook it until it scrapes

away from the sides of the pan. you see how simple that is. >> boom, just like that. >> and then we have it in our mixer, and we're just going to turn the mixture on and go ahead and add the eggs, a little bit at a time and let them incorporate, perfect, and you can see how simple this is. >> that's it. >> and here we have it already done. >> this is kind of the texture we're looking for, kind of that stickiness to it. >> okay. >> so you're going to put that in a pastry. >> we're going to make eclaires, of course, which is a very famous french dessert so sebastian is our expert piper so he'll show us how to pipe it using a star tip because we want to get that edge on it. that edge will help us when we dip it in chocolate, kind of like the rigatoni, the same thing. >> right. >> there we go. nice and straight. >> that's pretty simple. >> very simple. >> and it's portable teflon.

>> they are great. >> what you want to do is take a little bit of water. see the tip on there, just knock it down. put water on your finger prevents it from sticking. >> and how long do these bake? >> they will bake for about 45 minutes in a 380-degree oven. >> really get it so it hollows out. >> so it expands. >> expands. >> and then the little cream puffs. >> we have a trick for them. >> a little bit of a cheat. >> for people who are really good at piping or who wasn't the precise size each time. again, they will bake depending on the size of them. >> like a silicone mold. >> yes. >> smart. >> same philosophy. >> once they bake how do you fill everything up? >> okay. we're going to do an eclaire here which is a little different than a classic eclaire, and sebastian has made some cream. >> and we're going to pipe in the bottom of it. >> just pastry cream, flavored

and then he'll put whipped cream on top of that, candied pecans and then we'll finish with nuts. >> this is the savory said, guyere cheese in it, mix it with the dough, a little more pepper and salt, piped them out like that and piped it and have this that goes wonderfully with champagne. >> very simple. >> these can always be filled. a classic cream puff may be bigger, have some over here. >> oh, were going to sample. >> thomas geller and sebastian wasell, thanks so much. coming up next, kathie lee and thirty-eight. schools. trouble, we all should help out. under thirty-eight they do. more a year. bucks. money for schools. every school dollar must be... spent on student learning. student wins. vote yes on thirty-eight.

good morning, 9:56. just a few minutes from now apple will make a big announcement and things like this are never a secret and pretty sure it is going to be about an ipad mini. the smaller version is expected to have a seven-inch screen

compared to the current ten inch one. the mini is expected to cost less, though we don't know how much. today's announcement happened at the california theater in san jose at 10:00 and join us for our 11:00 newscast. let's get a look now at the forecast with christina. good morning. >> hey, good morning to you. we're going to get a mini break from the showers. more rain arrives tonight, 45 degrees and cold has settled into sonoma. and 46 degrees in petaluma. take you into the south bay where temperatures are in the 50s. we're in the low 50s here in san jose. grab your coat and only headed towards the low 60s as we get through the second half of the day. live satellite radar compilation more showers, too. not expecting anything heavy and isolated thunderstorm over our local mountain. 62 degrees in santa theresa and 60 in san jose. we head through tomorrow, a

touch warmer and clear showers out thursday into the upcoming weekend. let's check on your drive. good morning, mike? >> look at the san jose, easier drive 101. not the case for all your freeways. also 101 just north of the shot we took to the top of the arrow as we approach the interchange in oakland road accident now moving to the shoulder there. expect some slowing in a few minutes. south 680 slow towards mission and now we'll get another look outside and the south bay and live look out there, there we go, palo alto little different view. >> thank you, mike. for the latest traffic and news find us on facebook. just search nbc bay area. we'll be back at 10:26. see you then.

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. >> hey, everybody, booze day tuesday, october 23rd, we're so glad you're with us today. >> what is today? >> bobbie thomas' birthday is what it is. >> happy birthday to our girl, bobbie. >> we love bobbie, everybody around here loves bobbie. in fact, we have a special drink here for bobbie. it's called a rocky mountain oyster stout, locally sourced with roasted and mixed with grains, and it's locally sourced

whole bull testicles. >> that's what's in it. >> it's available at denver's wynkoop brewing company. we're going to ask bobbie's biggest fan over here, anthony, to take a sip of it. >> where's anthony, is he here? >> oh, no! i thought that was anthony over here. sara, come over here and have some bull testicles. sara will drink anything. look at this little boy we found outside, he's from calgary, alberta, canada. >> what is in it? >> bull testicles. >> i thought it was beer! >> it is. >> okay. >> that's how you start a show. >> okay, if you were snuggled up -- >> you don't die from them, it's okay. >> if you're watching "the voice last night" --

>> i was watching the debate. >> "the voice" was on. again, we're going to show you two people and you're going to choose the one. this is team adam's team, brandon and nicole and they were singing "ain't no mountain high enough." mix may be a little funky, but you'll get it. ♪ oh no darling ♪ no wind no rain ♪ nothing going to stop me baby ♪ ♪ no no no baby ♪ i'll be there on the double just send for me oh baby ♪ >> all right. who do you think? >> i'd go with nicole. >> you would be right, at least according to adam. >> i didn't get a chance to see much of the young man, but she shined. >> okay, now this one's very difficult, okay, this is christina's team, there are two of them. the song is called for your

mind. let's watch. ♪ ♪ free your mind ♪ the rest will follow ♪ >> before you answer it, the one not in green is the youngest one. she's 15 years old from long island. they both have those kind of cool voices. of the two, the green -- >> the older girl. i didn't get to hear the other girl sing as much. >> you chose like christina, she chose the older girl, the girl in green, but marissa ann, the youngest girl from long island, was stolen from blake. >> good, hoda. >> speaking of singing, who else was singing yesterday? >> george clooney.

it's called the carousel ball, i believe, held every year out in los angeles. it's one of the star-studded events in beverly hills. and i guess neil diamond was the headliner. >> he was trying to get george clooney to sing with him. he said he threw back a couple, then he was kind of willing, right? >> kind of, let's watch. ♪ ♪ i'm feeling fine ♪ ♪ sweet caroline ♪ good times never seem so good ♪ ♪ so good so good so good >> so cute, so cute, so cute.

>> i just like to look at him. he doesn't have to sing. just seems to enjoy life, doesn't he? why not? he's like carey grant. he's old hollywood glamour to me in a new nice package. he's no spring chicken, hoda. >> how old is he? >> got to be in his 50s. >> can you taste this just because it's sitting here? we have to. what do they taste like, you know what i'm saying? >> how is it? >> get in there. >> no! >> no, no, no. let me wash it down with something better. ellen received an award for, what else, her humor. >> she brings joy, light and joy for everybody. congratulations to ms. ellen

degenerous. >> george is 51. >> i like the fact he doesn't color his hair. doesn't look like he's been all shot up. speaking of that -- speaking of that -- >> what, you're going? >> i am going for a little freshening, we like to call it, on friday. but there's another thing you can get fluffed these days, hoda. we weren't going to talk about it today, but too bad. >> it's out. now you have to set it free. >> apparently, a lot of women have trouble reaching -- we like to call it some women have trouble getting to poughkeepsie. that's going to be the word. apparently now there's a poughkeepsie jab. instead of getting collagen in your face, you inject it in your g-spot. >> you do. >> i don't. you don't inject yourself, a doctor does it. apparently -- >> it increases your trips to

poughkeepsie ex poughkeepsie. >> then you have to redo it. >> here's the thing, if you're jabbing down there, there's going to be something not great that's going to come of that, don't you think? collagen? >> not everybody can have collagen. >> it makes the area bigger, that's the point. it's a bigger target. that's what the note said. i don't really know about it. all right, if you think you work for the -- the boss from hell, from "the huffington post" says if you think there's nothing worse than being trapped inside a an ambercrombie and fitch store. >> lawsuit alleges this ceo has a play pen up in the sky, he has a plane, and puts down very,

very strict rules of what can happen on the plane. >> they are all male models. >> all male models and they are told they have to vacuum the plane in perfect rows. their cologne has to be sprayed at intervals at all time, like the store, i guess. there's a manual. pages and pages long. everything from how to arrange the toilet paper to what type of cologne should be warn. >> when the flight attendants are allowed to be jackets. they say it has to be below 50 to wear jackets. or below 40. >> there's a discrimination suit against him. >> everyone's had the kind of boss, though, that's laid down the law and said you can't do this, you can't do that. >> they knew the rules when they hired up. >> you know the people who need things done just so? a little bit? i remember one time you were talking to me and you were like this, hey, you were looking

down. i was like, what is it? there was a lamp shade that was just like that, a little. you couldn't stop looking at it and you had to fix it, then you were fine. >> when i go to certain restaurants, gallagher's or palm that have pictures, there's hundreds of pictures. all of them, i could spend all afternoon getting them straight. >> what is that? >> it's ocdc. >> ocdc, that's what we'll call it. >> i'm bicoastal. it's ridiculous and i have to fight it. i see you zone out on me on occasion. >> i do, but i'm daydreaming. i'm not fixing or cleaning anything. i'm not wiping. >> by the way, we reached out to abercrombie and they have not gotten back to us with comment. we have a big halloween show. we can't reveal what our costumes are going to be, but

some of our facebook friends are dressing up. some of them, she asked her husband to dress up like us. i wonder which one i am. any who, he did, and there we are. that is so cute. by the way, i was at kay unger yesterday, we're doing halloween costumes, i said what are you going to do? she said for you, we're going to wear the same green dress you wear all the time. the one you always wear, yeah, i do. anyway -- all right, we have a big show for you today, everybody. >> talk about -- >> breast cancer awareness, of course. >> we have a bunch of things from the nfl network, boots, t-shirts, and we should point out the presidential candidates are here in cabbage patch form. they have joined hands and are

kumbayaing. >> we're missing ann romney. i love joe biden. look at the gray in romney's hair. >> the cabbage patch dolls are, i guess, out there and available for everyone to see. all righty, he played the adorable nerd in the hit show "family matters." >> you know we're talking about urkel! [ female announcer ] with the 2-in-1 swiffer sweeper, a great clean doesn't have to take long. i'm done. are you thinking what i'm thinking? ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ okay. all right. oh! [ female announcer ] the 2-in-1 swiffer sweeper uses electrostatic dry cloths to clean better than a broom. and its wet mopping cloths can clean better than a mop in half the time so you don't miss a thing. mom, have you seen my -- hey! hey! he did it. [ female announcer ] swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back.

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actor jaleel white is best known from the early '90s hit tv show "family matters" where he played steve urkel. >> such a funny character. the pesky super dork with the nasally voice and sky-high pants. >> now he's back to host the highly rated sci-fi show called "total blackout." it's a great hit, congratulations. >> thank you, people love the show, stop me on the street all the time, how can i be a contestant? >> it's done in total darkness, first of all. >> people competing for cash, prizes in pitch-black darkness. you cannot see your hand in that room. >> what are they trying to do? >> they might be trying to guess the weight of something, could be a sumo wrestler, obviously, been told something way more horrible is in there. could be lobsters, crawfish, never know, anything from pineapples to an actual

crocodi crocodile. >> really? >> yeah. >> you have to take out a lot of insurance. >> that's why we have these big companies to do that for. >> what do you win if you win this? >> $5,000. you would be surprised in these times. they are talking to each other, look, we got to get the air conditioning fixed, let's do this. i'm serious. >> probably a big part of the success because times are so hard right now. >> they are focused and do have a good time, though. >> did you expect something like this? it's not only a great hit on sci-fi, across all the cable properties it's in the top ten, which is something. were you expecting something like that? >> i don't think anybody ever expects a hit. i knew that when they had me come in and audition for it, i had to hold a tarantula and talk to the teleprompter at the same time. >> when people see you on the streets, we saw the earlier clip of you, obviously, you don't resemble your former self.

do people walk up to you and want you to do stuff from the old show? >> a variance of reactions, people know me from "big fat liar" and "dancing with the stars" now. >> what do they say to you, jaleel? >> they want to know, did you have fun, was it tiring, you know, are you going to go back. >> we're going to play a little bit of your game ourselves. we've got in these, i guess, tanks, some sort of something. we're going to put blindfolds on. i think we start with this one. >> there's no wrangler? >> oh, wonderful. >> and we have to guess, first person who guesses what it is? >> yeah. go right here. >> where's your hand? >> okay, right here. here we go, right here. stick your hand under there. >> i can see a little under here. >> close them! is my hand in there? >> yes, your hand is in there.

>> spaghetti. >> total spaghetti. >> come to the left, come to the left. >> i hate being blind. is your hand in it? eww! you know what it is, it's oatmeal. >> i can smell it. it's cereal. it's gross. it's cereal. it's just cereal. >> oh, it's cereal! >> we, obviously, gave you guys the very g-rated version of our game. >> i was expecting bull testicles. >> good luck with the show. >> thank you, jaleel. >> all right, "total black out" premiers next tuesday, 10:00/9:00 central on sci-fi. sara ventures into the city right after this. that was me still taking insulin with a vial and syringe. me, explaining what i was doing at breakfast.

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we're back now with sara in the city. this time our sara haines p found herself against the ropes. >> she was dangling from one of jersey city's tallest skyscrapers. >> that's right, i was invited to rappel from 33 stories up in a fundraiser appropriately called "over the edge." it's 480 feet to the top of the harbor side financial center plaza 5 building in jersey city. people are actually braving the elements and rappelling down to raise donations for the american cancer society. look at that guy, he's showing off. jimmy saldana agreed to rappel for me for morale support. at only 34 years old, jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer. she went through chemotherapy and a mastectomy, and now she's been cancer free for almost seven years. you look amazing, so today, is

this one of those feats to overcome anything, why are you doing this today? >> i think it's really important to raise awareness. it's a difficult journey, but if you have someone leading the way, it's not as hard as you think it is. >> after her dancer diagnosis, jenny left her corporate job, diving into acting and writing. why is this -- why do you do all this? hooray, hooray. >> i was alone, i was diagnosed at 34 with no family history, no doctor wanted to see me. they kept dismissing me. there was no way that i had cancer. that's why i do it, to be there for the women who are at the beginning of their journey, because the journey never ends. i'm always looking back wondering if cancer is still near me, but i'm far enough to hold the next person's hand and say, i got you.

>> jenny led the way to get h harnessed in. she chose a ma da that classic to get us pumped up. we made it! we get a quick lesson and practice rappel, and then it's time to climb down. reality is sinking in. the skyline is definitely reminding me how high i am. i love you, hoda and kathie lee. >> hi! >> can we sing or something? ♪ holiday it will be your -- >> jenny, the wonder woman, left me in her dust. with my partner gone, i reflected on why i was rappelling. i love hoda. hoda had a much rougher journey

than this. i'm just climbing down a building. this one's for you, hoda girl. finally, i could feel the ground beneath my feet. >> sara! >> and jenny and i crossed another one off our bucket list. >> rappelling, rappelling, rappelling, rappelling. >> before you even read your tag -- >> that was great, sara, we're really proud of you. >> thank you, guys, they raised over $275,000 in the two days for the american cancer society. it does cross your mind, though, as you're going down. i thought this is nothing compared to what people like you go through. >> i can't believe you did it. that was really great. >> it was the scariest thing i've done yet, it was really scary. >> you haven't walked down the aisle yet. >> i would do that with pretty much anyone at this point.

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[ female announcer ] pillsbury cinnamon rolls. let the making begin. ♪ good morning, it's 10:26. the jierants headed to the world series. >> it's been amazing. san francisco, all the fans out here and we're all loving it. >> it's unbelievable. what else can you say? we're down, again, and we come

back and win, unbelievable. >> they completed their comeback last night knocking off the st. louis cardinals. the first game seven win in team history. they play the tigers tomorrow night at at&t park. game time is 5:00. barry zito will pitch game one for the giants. good luck to them. we will be watching. we'll take a look at the forecast and the roads after the break.

welcome back. 10:28 and now taking a look at mount cam.

we have quite a bit of cloud cover. we're not out of the woods when it comes to our showers, if you take a deep breath in, just how good the air quality is. this is san jose and a fair amount of cloud cover and producing thunderstorms the best chance of that will be over the western facing slopes surrounding san jose and over our higher elevations an isolated storm pass through. today that's it in livermore and 60 in san francisco and your full forecast today at 11:00. let's check your drive, once more, with mike. >> not quite as pretty of the picture that you slowed but san mateo bridge. looking over towards the peninsula side and southbound 101 passing by 92. 92 itself a little slow here and through halloween getting over towards the pumpkin patches and half moon bay. recovers into palo alto and northbound routes both cleared after earlier incidents. back to you. >> thank you, mike. more of the day's top stories

coming up in just 30 minutes jon kelley and i will see you at 11:00. back now with more of "today" on this booze day tuesday. time for our main event. three lucky ladies who are bored with their hair are going to get a new look. >> heading to the rescue is the one, the only louis licari. >> waited a long time. >> it's from the billboard charts, that song. >> what are the main complaints you're getting, you've seen a lot of women, obviously, sick of their hair. >> that's just it, they are sick of their hair. they want change and don't know how to afraid it. >> they are afraid of it. >> yes, because it's safe. it's safe. so what i'm telling everyone is go a little bit out of the safety zone, even if it's the smallest change. always keeps your looks up to date. >> sarah, 51 years old from long

island, new york. works full time, describes her hair color as mousey brown and scraggly. this is her before look. come on out, let's see what louis did to you. >> nice, beautiful! you kept it long-ish. >> yeah. makeovers don't -- you don't have to look totally different, but, boy, does she look different. ray gave her this great haircut, slightly layered around the face, but gave her bangs, this fashion edge. her hair, look at it, it turned mousey. she played with hair color herself. it was lighter, darker, all these colors, turned into no color. i made it into this great-looking blond and it looks younger, edgier. >> look at it, you're blond. >> he's a genius. i love it. >> good job, all right. >> let's move on to dr

dr. josine vikka. she's in her 40s from brooklyn. she neglects her hair because of her career, she usually cuts her hair once a year and has never colored her hair. >> wow. >> here is her before picture. all right, come on out. let's see what happened. wow! okay. >> oh, my goodness. >> you look great. >> va-va-voom! >> oh, my gosh. >> josine is one of the rare obgyns who delivers the babies herself. she doesn't think about herself at all. >> she should, look at her. >> look at her! >> i gave her a little help. these are highlights, cut above the collar, has movement. it's modern, edgy. because her hair is naturally curly, she can jump out of the shower or she can wear more

styled and finished like this. >> okay. >> moving on to our third lady. >> shannon is in her 40s from new jersey. she works full time in a local government office. she has four kids, two in the military. she's been coloring her own hair the last eight years and has had the same hair style since high school. here's the before shot. all right, shannon, come on around. let's see what we've done. >> oh, nice! have a seat. beautiful. tell us. >> okay, now shannon colored her hair at home. this is one of the most common hair color mistakes when you color your hair at home. obviously, what happens is your hair becomes progressively darker and darker. it's almost black. black is a very harsh color. once your share dark, you have to short softening it up. i made her this chocolate brown.

ray gave her this textured bob, swept-away bangs. it's a simple haircut, but it's modern and edgy. she can wear it and this is wash and wear. all the makeup was done by enid. her big trend, little bit of purple on the eyes makes everyone look up to date. >> thank you. thank you, ladies. how clean is your kitchen? we'll help you find out. might surprise you right after this. 100% juice blends with no added sugar, just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very fruit-tritious. or, try ocean spray light 50, with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry-pomegranate and cranberry- concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle. just...you know... demonstrating how we blend the fruits. try all our tasty ocean spray 100% and light 50 juices.

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most of us think our kitchens are cleaner than a restaurant's kitchen, but if a health inspector dropped by unannounced, would you get an "a"? >> carly roni, welcome back, carly. >> got a quiz in store for us. >> yeah. >> come on. >> let's start. before you cook, you wash your hands, right? true or false, the best place to

wash your hands is the bathroom? >> probably not. >> false, because it sounds true. >> i like your logic. actually, no, you should wash your hands in the bathroom. it's true, because otherwise you have -- if they are dirty, putting it in the sink, bacteria in the sink that could get on your hands. stay in the bathroom to wash your hands. >> okay, remember. >> wait a minute, i'm stupid, let's clear this up. if you're going to go in the kitchen, you go to the bathroom first to wash your hands. >> not going to happen. >> here's another one, what temperature should the water be when you are washing your i dishes? >> scalding, scalding. >> you both won on that one. some people think it's just soap, but scalding. secret here is rubber gloves, that hot. which is the dirtiest thing in your kitchen, your sink, your cutting board, or kitchen towels? >> cutting board. >> i knew you were going to

think that. it is this. the research that they've done is these get so disgusting. >> never wash them. >> throw it in the wash. >> that's exactly it. wash it every single day. >> not every day. >> next one -- >> see, this is why. >> once a week, right, hoda? >> how often should you swap out your kitchen sponge? once a week, once a month, once every six months? >> once a month. >> not in my house. >> if you want to give them some sanitizing, stick them in the microwave for one minute or dish washer. once a week, though. so then throw them out at the end of the month. when should you get rid of your cutting board, as soon as it gets scratched up, once a year, or never, just keep it? >> probably once a year. >> no, as soon as it gets these rough areas. if you cut raw meat on there, that bacteria can stick in there. >> if that happens after a week,

get rid of it, that's what you're saying, carly. okay, moving on. the spoon, you can saute some raw beef or chicken and use it to serve the meat afterwards. same spoon to cook with your raw meat -- >> as long as it doesn't touch the raw meat. >> two spoons, one for raw meat and change it out when it gets cooked. >> i never get sick and i don't do any of this. >> we don't see it. >> okay, here we go. the trash can should be open or closed in your kitchen. >> what? closed, because no one wants to look in there and see what's going on. >> what do you think? >> open, because the look you just gave hoda. like she's the dumbest you've met in your life. >> you actually want it closed, because bugs can land on your dirty garbage and land on the food. last one, the refrigerator. what temperature should your refrigerator be set at?

20 degrees, 40 degrees, or 50 degrees? >> 40. >> 20 is frozen. >> exactly. actually, 40 is the optimal temperature because less than that you're wasting electricity, more than that, food is going to rot. >> frozen sometimes. >> what else? that's it? >> who won? we tied. we tied. >> you won, you won. >> we tied again. >> there is a gift! no, i don't want it. no, no. no, no. >> i'll take it, thank you, jason. thank you, darling. coming up, easy no-carb decorating ideas for your coming up, easy no-carb decor[ male announcer ]ur there's everyday chicken and then there's juicy chicken with best foods ♪ best foods is the secret to making parmesan crusted chicken... [ bell dings ] ...so crispy

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ideas to make your pumpkin the best on the block, no carving involved. family fun deputy editor has brought along some friends. >> this is no carving at all, huh? >> no carving. there's some great advantages to going with no carving. you can get amazing results in a fraction of a time, a lot less mess, and you don't have to bring out sharp knives. >> exactly. >> when you use some of the decorating materials like i'm going to show you today, you can get a lot more creative than when carving. the first one -- look at isabelle. she's here to show us our veggie head pumpkin. to make these, pull out old produce you've got in your fridge. it's really easy to just stick toothpicks into pumpkins and pop that produce right on top. apples, squash, radishes, whatever you've got. great results. see how easy that is to do?

>> perfect. >> thank you. >> next we've got the ninja! >> what are you making? >> wise guy, stack two pumpkins, then he's literally made out of construction paper and glue. he's just using glue and glue dots to stick together construction paper. then you just use glue dots to stick that paper on to your owl. so easy. doesn't take any time. i like the glue dots because you don't have to wait for the glue to dry and your pumpkin is ready in no time. >> that's not going to last outside. >> good job. >> next we've got jazzy. >> hi, jazzy. >> jazzy is showing masked pumpkins. you're dressing your pumpkins up in their own halloween costumes. you can get templates for both the cat and the dog mask at our website, familyfunmag.com. as jazzy is showing, she's

peeling off adhesive-backed felt to put dots on the puppy dog mask and add glue to add details like noses and googly eyes. >> is it fun, jazzy? >> yeah. >> super easy. >> those are cute. >> little mess, and you get absolutely adorable results. >> i like those. >> baby from the top of the show. >> look who we have as a s.w.a.t. team down here. >> how are you? >> good. >> coming in great. >> thanks. >> bryce is one of our producers nephews, who's here. >> we've got three finished ones here. they are called junk-ins because you throw everything out of your junk drawer, hardware drawer. i'm going to twist on bryce's pumpkin to show what he's been working on. you can see what he's got going. just pull out anything from the junk drawer. this is a pot scrubber. we've got a zipper. these were milk caps.

measuring spoon. >> clever. >> anything you got at all and hold them on with tacks or brads or nails or anything that will stick into a pumpkin. pumpkins are surprisingly easy to stick nails or anything into. they look hard, but they are not. they are soft. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. capture all the right moves. how you can take the perfect photo. first, this is "today" on nbc.

have you ever tried to capture the perfect picture of your kids, pet, funny expression, and it never comes out right, hoda? >> blurry faced or washed-out background can be very frustrating, but you don't need to be a professional photographer to create the perfect and to capture the perfect pose. he's sharing some of his extraordinary images in this book. it is called "dancers among us."

>> look at that cover. >> gorgeous. >> welcome, and what a fun idea. tell us how this book came to be. >> i have two children. my son, when he was three, playing with his toy bus. you know when you watch children play and there's an incredible joy and enthusiasm, i was watching him, and i had no idea why he was so excited, because all i saw was a toy bus. i decided i wanted to capture that joy and enthusiasm for small moments in life through photographs. >> that we tend to lose when we get older. >> often, you think you can't capture it. whenever there's motion or movement, usually, the picture doesn't look so great, but yours are different. look at these shots. these are professional dancers, is that true? you found them through social media? >> what would happen is i would tweet and facebook when i was going to a city and they would come out and volunteer. some of them drove for hours and hours to be a part of it. >> look at this. >> very spontaneous.

we would go to a street corner, okay, what can we make happen in this street corner, buy a fish in seattle, come up with a pose together. it was all very collaborative. >> photography is in your dna, right? >> tell us about that as we're looking at these pictures. >> my grandfather was a photographer and graphic designer, my father, a filmmaker, mother a model and grandmother a painter. >> everybody, everybody. >> how can people at home take something away from this? these are beautiful. look at this. you catch it like at the perfect moment, but is there a trick to it, if you have a child and see they are in the middle of doing something fun, you want to capture that moment? >> hope a train doesn't come by. oh, my gosh, it's coming. >> certain elements in photos if there's an element of danger or unexpected, that picture represents to me a little bit of a fear factor. that's really happening. he said to me, if i fall, on the way down, make sure to tell me

if you got the shot. dancers are -- they'll do anything for a shot. >> there's another one just like that. everything in the book is real, nothing is photoshopped. >> give us a one-on-one lesson. >> scary. >> 100-degree day, too, that camera was really hot. so here i think this one is for you. >> okay. >> this is for you here. >> make it easy, baby, or forget it. >> just a couple of -- is that on already? >> no, it's not. >> okay, we just have about 30 seconds. >> there's a couple quick rules of thumb. one, always want to zoom in, get all the way to the zoom. it will blur the background a bit. >> i can't see anything. >> it's hard on this. if you just look here, like this. if you just zoom in. oh, my god. can you just take our picture right now.

then if you just get really close to your subject like this and tweet this to the world, everybody will love you forever. oh, my god, you just made my life. >> it's a beautiful book. absolutely beautiful. >> great to see you. tomorrow, we have the houston family. pat, sissy, and gary. have a great day. thirty-eight. schools. trouble, we all should help out. under thirty-eight they do. more a year. bucks. money for schools. every school dollar must be... spent on student learning. student wins. vote yes on thirty-eight.

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