good morning. mid-air collision. despite a last-minute warning, a small plane collides with a tourist helicopter over new york's hudson river. as divers search today, investigators are asking what went wrong. making history. >> congratulations, and welcome to the court. >> sonia sotomayor becomes the country's newest supreme court justice in a ceremony notable for who wasn't there. and caught on tape. torrential rains, rising floodwaters bring down a hotel. we'll show you where they're bracing for more trouble, "today," sunday, august 9th,

bracing for more trouble, "today," sunday, august 9th, 2009. captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome, everyone, to "today" on a sunday morning. i'm lester holt. i'm jenna wolfe. this morning the recovery effort continues for six people missing after a collision mid-air over the hudson river. >> these pictures show the impact as a single engine plane collided with a sightseeing helicopter. both aircraft plunged into the water and disappeared within seconds leaving only a small bit of debris on the water's surface. coming up, we'll get the latest details as investigators try to piece together the receive riz of events that prout these two planes together. another outburst at a town hall meeting on health care. this one in des moines, iowa on

saturday. similar scenes playing out across the country this week. now sarah palin is turning up the heat in the debate as well calling the democrats' plan evil. we'll have more of her words in just a few minutes. plus, when there's something strange in the neighborhood, who you gonna call? there's an historic hotel that some baseball players are afraid to sleep in. they say it is actually haunted. but never able to resist a challenge, i had to check in and check it out for myself. did you see how tired i was? i worked so hard on these stories. you'll see what i found coming up. >> looked like you were sleeping pretty soundly. we want to get to the fatal air crash over the hudson river between new jersey and new york. nbc's jeff rossen is in hoboken, new jersey with the latest. jeff, good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. police divers are back in the water this morning. you can see the new york city police boats behind me right in that search area. they're looking for more bodies. there are still we believe six underwater. they've only recovered three bodies so far.

but they're also looking for the wreckage itself, and that's difficult because we're told the current is strong and the water is choppy. in fact, investigators and divers have identified where the helicopter is under water but they still can't find the plane. this morning, our first look at the crash scene moments after it happened. in this amateur video obtained by nbc news, you can see the wreckage floating in the hudson river. hard to tell if it is the airplane, the sightseeing helicopter or a combination of both. >> i just saw the puff of smoke and the blade fly off. >> went right in, and there was a splash, and it was completely submerged, just like that, and there was nothing else. >> reporter: minutes later police divers drop into the water trying to save survivors. they wouldn't find any. nine people total all killed. the mid-air collision was so violent, it appears the airplane's wing was ripped right off. these chilling photos obtained by fox news show the actual collision. there's smoke and aircraft parts are falling from the sky.

the wreckage and most of the victims sank to the bottom of the hudson river. >> so then we saw the rescue boats, rescue helicopters, just went after like a minute. it was that quick. >> reporter: aboard the sightseeing helicopter, five italian tourists plus the pilot. on this airplane, a single eninpiper, three people including a child. friends of the family are grieving. >> i happened to be on the phone with his father. his father saw it. he knew exactly what it was. it's tragic. >> reporter: on this clear and sunny day, the airplane took off from new jersey teterboro airport and flew south toward new york city. moments later the sightseeing helicopter took off from the west side of manhattan. officials say the plane hit the back side of the chopper and from there, disaster. late last night ntsb investigators arrived on the scene. >> our team did talk to a witness to the accident today. it was another liberty helicopter pilot. he saw a small single engine

aircraft approaching behind the helicopter. he radioed the accident helicopter and told them, "you have a fixed wing behind you." there was no response from the pilot. he stated that he saw the right wing of the airplane contact the helicopter. >> reporter: this woman had tickets for that same helicopter tour and just missed that tragic flight. >> thanks to god, i think. because it's important. because we have a new chance in this life. >> reporter: this deadly collision happened at almost the exact spot as the miracle on the hudson. in january us airways flight 1549 made a splash landing here with 155 people aboard. >> this is not going to have a happy ending like when the airbus went down on the river where everybody survived. in this case, we believe that nobody has. >> reporter: while skyline tours over new york city bring

breathtaking views, critics say they bring grave danger. believe it or not, site seegs hpss and small planes are allowed to fly just feet from manhattan without ever speaking to a flight controller as long as they remain below 1,100 feet. >> this is a very busy travel lane here. maybe we will have to take a step back and look at the traffic flow here so that we can protect families in our communities as we go forward. >> reporter: investigators still don't know exactly why this happened, but i was speaking with the chimp of the ntsb this morning and she told me that some of the still pictures and video from just after the accident that we showed you this morning, incredibly helpful to thing to piecing all of this together, lester. >> greg rossen, thank you. greg fife is a former ntsb investigators. good morning. under visual flight rules the whole idea is see and avoid. i have flown that very route as a passenger in fixed-wing helicopters and as a passenger. your head is constantly looking

around for traffic. what do you suppose could have gone wrong this time? >> the question is going to be whether the pilot of the fixed wing airplane may have been distracted. of course they're going to be changing frequencies. they've just come out of toert b teeter bro. going to other airspace. they may have been in contact with newark but that's yet to be confirmed. if the pilot was distracted with other radio currencies, his head goes down, doesn't have the opportunity to be looking out the window. >> the fact that it's uncontrolled airspace, is it possible nobody made a mistake here, it was simply a product of chance, that it was unpreventable? >> absolutely. i mean that's always a possibility but what investigators are really going to be looking at of course is the flight path of both aircraft. they're going to want to know if the tour helicopter was on its prescribed route at a prescribed altitude. then looking at the fixed wing coming out of teeterborrow, or

looking out the window. another aspect is looking at blind spots of those airplanes. were both of these aircraft visible to each other. just like your car. you may have a blind spot in your car. have you the same thing in an airplane. >> i'm thinking because the airplane was a low wing airplane, the pilot's on the left side, hit on the right. if the chopper was coming up beneath him, is it possible he just would have never seen it? >> oh, that's definitely the case. it's going to be one of those things that the ntsb is going to have to look at, especially if they have good radar data, is determine the altitudes of both aircraft. if they were both level, then of course you're always going to have to look at those blind spots. they're going to have to look at the convergent angles of both aircraft to see if they would have been visible to each other. >> you've investigated a lot of crashes. when they get the wreckage, will they forensically be able to tell t angle and how the

aircraft came together? >> yes, they will. it will be laid out in a two-dimensional mock-up and they'll try to determine the actual collision angles. that will help them when they start looking at the visual blind spots. that wreckage will be very helpful to them. >> greg, thank you. you're very helpful. >> you're welcome, lester. nine minutes after the hour. here's jenna. two days after her confirmation by the senate, sonia sotomayor was sworn in as the 111th u.s. supreme court justice. saturday's ceremony made history in more ways than one. here's nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. >> good morning and welcome to the court. >> reporter: nearly everything about this ceremony made history. as her mother selena held the bible and her brother juan stood by, chief justice john roberts led her through the oath. >> i, sonia sotomayor do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: formally making her the nation's first hispanic supreme court justice.

>> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations, and welcome to the court. >> reporter: friends and family members applauded and she hugged her mother who raised her as a single parent after her father died when she was 9. for the first time, cameras were allowed in to record the event. just before in a private ceremony, roberts led her through another oath, federal law requires a special one for judges. the event was a big change from past swearing-in ceremonies for supreme court justices held at the white house. white house and supreme court officials all say it was president obama's desire to have sonia sotomayor's swearing-in at the supreme court and on camera. >> the president, somebody who studied the supreme court, believes it is simply best for independence to have the new justice sworn in where she'll do her work, independent of any interference from the executive or legislative branch. >> reporter: to emphasize his point about independence,

president obama even stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony. the president will host her at a white house reception next wednesday. sonia sotomayor becomes a jourt justice 74 days after she was nominated. that's one thing about this ceremony that did not make history. that length of time is about average. for "today," pete williams, nbc news at the supreme court. >> david gregory is moderate of of "meet the press." so sonia sotomayor's all sworn in. how did president obama handle his first nomination? >> by all accounts, very well. he got her through and more to the point, it was preetly low-key affair all the way along. she really was not that controversial and those areas of her record that were controversial were sort of played out and didn't become a huge distraction in the course of the confirmation hearing. so the president has made history with his first hispanic nominee to the supreme court. there will be other nominations that he's expected to make for the high court. i think you also saw from

republicans some effort to put the white house on notice that there will be a more difficult fight over ideology in the ones to come. >> health care's become such a volatile situation of late. tell pears flared over the weekend at the latest town hall meeting in des moines. with senators tom harken when he was talking, people were arguing, yelling and screaming. it is hard to imagine that any of the differences over health care can really be addressed when all of this is going on at these town hall meetings. whose responsibility is it to jump in and help sort of quiet some of this noise? >> the president wants to make it his responsibility because he wants to be the one who's really controlling the message and controlling the debate. not something that he's lost. the white house will argue all of this will backfire against the gop. they think it is extremism, that it is being coordinated. the reality is there is grassroots work being done, whether orchestrated or not, there's real opposition out there to the president's plan. he wants to take august and try to get control of this debate to try to re-assure americans about what he's talking about, that

they won't lose their health insurance or quality of care in the process. if he doesn't do that, he's not going to be able in prevail in september. >> some of the opposition is coming from former alaska governor sarah palin. she called this health plan of the president down right evil. she said "the america i know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with down syndrome will have to stand in front of obama's death panel so his brewer krats can decide whether they are worthy of health care. such a system is down right evil." what aspects of this plan is she talking about and is it true? >> the white house would say absolutely not true. they are talking about panels that are essentially government panels that have some relationship with the private sector as well that evaluate the effectiveness of certain procedures all in an effort to try to reduce costs in the health care system. opponents say that's just one element that makes this tantamount to a government takeover of health care. the white house says not at all the case.

nevertheless, you see a big political statement. a lot of respect thirnlg they can use this argument to tank this reform effort. >> david gregory, thanks for the time this morning. we want to get a check of some of the other morning headlines. for that, cnbc's melissa francis is waiting patiently at the news desk. good morning. we begin in japan where a strong earthquake has rocked the capital of tokyo. the 6.9 quake rattled homes and buildings just before 8:00 in the evening local time. there have been no reports yet of damage or casualties. meanwhile in china, 1 million people have been evacuated as they are bracing for a typhoon. the storm welcome wreaked havoc on taiwan on saturday where an entire hotel collapsed from the torrential rains. the hotel was reportedly evacuated before the collapse and the typhoon brought the worst flooding to taiwan in 50 years. back here at home, a riot breaking out late last night at a prison in california. prison officials say the fight involved 1,300 inmates at a

medium security facility in chino, california. the inmates evacuated into a yard as a fire erupted in one of the housing eunice. several inmates have been taken to the hospital. finally, secretary of state hillary clinton just can't stop dancing on her tour of africa. the secretary was toe-tapping with the locals in south africa on saturday, the second stop of her 11-day tour. jenna, i think maybe she's hoping for a call from "dancing with the stars." i can see her squeezing it into her schedule, maybe the practices. >> almost all the video we've seen of clinton overseas is her dancing in some way. either the toe-tapping or the grooving. >> that was kind of more rocking. her feet never left the ground. >> her head was moving a little bit. >> in my mind that's dancing. >> dancing with the politicians, a new show. >> janice huff has a check of the weather. >> i'll danan

>> we are having a lot of heat and humidity. sun is starting to come out. partly cloudy skies. can't rule out an isolated thunderstor the central appalachians as well. 93 in atlanta today. 90 in miami.

now here's jenna. up next on "today," the end of the road for gas guzzling cars. we'll show are where drunkers go to die right after this. clunkero to die right after this. like congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. (announcer) side effects were generally mild and included headache. viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds and coughing. ask your doctor about symptom relief with nasonex.

and save up to $15 off your refills. go to nasonex.com for details, terms and conditions. we've heard a lot lately about the cash part of the government's cash for clunkers program where owners of gas guzzling cars get thousands of dollars for trading up to more fuel-efficient vehicles. but what happens to the clunkers? nbc's lee cowan goes to the junk yard to find out. >> reporter: a car's end is hardly peaceful. in fact, it's a violent process. usually reserved for the ugly ducklings of the auto world. but clunkers aren't always junk. in fact, in many cases, their only sin is they sucked too much gas. this clunker's got less than 110,000 miles on it, hardly the end of its life. but it is the end of its life now.

it's about to be crushed into a pancake. time for me to get out. moments later -- this is the end result of cash for clunkers. taking big gas guzzlers and turning them into compacts. literally. >> there's some really good cars in here. that's why i made sure that i was going to get a good piece of the pie. >> reporter: nathan calls it a bonanza. he says he can sell the clunkers off one piece at a time. >> this is like a trickle. i'm waiting for the tidal wave. >> it's coming. >> it's coming. i can hear the rumbles. >> reporter: but used car dealers aren't so happy. their market has tanked. >> i see probably on average about three to five trades every day. now haven't seen any trades at all. >> reporter: the clunkers can't be resold whole. in fact, the most valuable part, the engine, gets the death penalty. >> it's sort of the lethal injection. >> reporter: at this toyota dealership, some 160 clunkers

sit waiting for the executioner. they have their oil drained, then replaced with a glass compound that seasons the engine. >> it's done forever. >> reporter: we watched the same happen with this mercedes-benz. in remarkably good condition. until -- >> you look at stuff like this, and it's like, wow, there's people that could actually use this. get that second chance. >> reporter: but you got to do it. >> you got to do it. it's the law. >> reporter: these clunkers may get a second chance, after all. theses of them, anyway. who knows? the clunker you left behind could one day be recycled and returned as your aluminum siding. lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. still to come on a sunday edition of "today," got an appliance, a computer, even a car that needs fixing? how to get the job done for free. but first these messages. ...i-can-get-him-a- math-tutor" button. it's my "save-so-much- on-school-supplies-

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>> good morning, everyone. i am kate amara.

it is 8:25. here are some of the stories we're working on this morning. we're learning more about the people who were killed in a plane crash in carroll county. that plane went around 7:30 in the moorning about a quarter mile from the keymar airport. police have identified the victims as 61 yeerlt robert kociemba and letty williams. the owner of the airport says the pilot flew several times a week. there will be a continuing investigation of this crash. >> there is continuing coverage of another crash on our web site, that collision that happened on the hudson yesterday. you can also hear from witnesses if you go to wbaltv.com. you will find that on our home page. >> police are investigating a shooting in east baltimore. a man was shot in the hip around 9:30 last night. the victim was treated at the

hospital. the search continues for the shooter. >> baltimore city police say they need your help looking for a couple. let's move onto the next story here. we're going to take a break, and then we will check in with jim nichols who is sitting in for nichols who is sitting in for john collins this morning and since re/max first opened its doors back in 1973, we've helped millions of families buy or sell a home. through good times and bad, including five previous recessions, re/max agents have provided the kind of experience america relies on to get the job done. today, in the worst housing market most of us have ever seen, that experience is more important than ever. find out what re/max can do for you.

nobody sells more real estate than re/max. >> jim nichols, give us the scoop. >> right now, temperatures are in the 70's. we have plenty of heat and humidity on the way. a closer look of what we expect for our heat index.

i-95 and points west it will feel like 95 to 100. down toward ocean city it will feel like 85 to 90. your forecast today partly cloudy. whenever we have this much heat and humidity we will run the risk of isolated thunderstorms developing in the late afternoon. that's what we will be watching for. 91 to 96 degrees. you can still have plans outside. you can still plan your bash g.r.u. cue outside. any thunderstorms we see will be isolated and scattered. the heat continues in your monday and tuesday. in fact, monday will be the woferts day. we are expecting your index value to get close to that 100 -degree mark. wednesday partly cloudy, and temperatures begin to settle down after that. we start to get into a stormy pattern for thursday, friday, and saturday with scattered thunderstorms and temperatures holding steady and lowering a bit into the 80's. >> thank you, jim.

"11 news sunday morning" continues in 25 minutes. we hope to see you then. we're back on this sunday morning, august 9th, 2009. one of my favorite scenes from any movie, probably one of the most beautiful little scenes right there, the 1991 movie "my

girl" starring a young macaulay culkin. if you ever wondered whatever happened to that little girl, we'll meet her in a few minutes. i'm jenna wolfe, along with lester holt. we're going to talk about what's called empty nest syndrome. >> i achieved that last september when my last one went to college. but it is a little bit of a shock to the system. we'll talk about what parents go through when kids finally leave the house for good. that sudden quiet in the house. it could be a tough transition. we'll meet one mom going through it now and get advice for parents about to letter in kids go in a healthy way. plus, there is a beautiful town in milwaukee, more than 100 years old, most baseball players stay when they plate brewers in milwaukee. but something's going on there that's scaring a few players enough to that they refuse to send the night there. some say the place is haunted.

was it really? i decided i had to spend the night. you got to love how good you look on that. you'll see what happens coming up. plus how to save a bundle on repairs. how to fix all kinds of things for free. but first as promised, we've got a special guest here on the plaza. after a few movies she abandoned hollywood to be a normal teen, now she's back, all grown up on the big screen now playing a big government aide in the political satire "in the loop." good morning, so good to see you. >> yes, likewise. >> we'll talk about the msh in a second, but first you got out of show biz for a while, went to school, worked an office job. what made you decide to come back to acting a few years ago? >> i took a lot of inventory in my life and i -- there were a bunch of steins signs being thrown at me that told me i had

to take a risk as an adult. i had a lot of respect in new york, seeing broadway. >> everyone in new york pretty much wants to get into hollywood. >> yes. this is a british political satire. >> what drew you to this role more than anything else? you majored in -- >> international relations. yeah. the subject matter is right up my alley. having studied international relations and international studies and all that in college. it's also something that's so great, it treats something as kind of like illusive and foreign to us which is something like politics behind all these walls, it treats them like real people because they are real people. middle management government. >> there is a lot of dead-panning in this. you're not trained in comedy and you were asked to do improv in this prelifilm. >> we knew the brilliant writing by our writers was already in

there. and the plot was already in there. it was just to loosen it up, have fun and play even more without the lines as we did within the lines. >> this movie's getting great reviews. congratulations on it. >> thank you. i'm so happy and proud of it. >> glad you have resumed your career. have you a lot of fans out there. >> well thank you! yes, i'm glad as well. thank you for having me. >> it is called ""in the loop."" let's get another check of the morning's top headlines. good morning. divers are back out in the waters of the hudson river in new york looking for the bodies of victims of that mid-air crash between the plane and a helicopter. nbc's jeff rossen is live in hoboken with the latest. jeff. >> reporter: melissa, good morning to you. a grim discovery just moments ago here on the hudson river between new york and new jersey. police divers have pulled yet another body from the wreckage. that makes four bodies they have recovered in total. that means five of the victims

are still underwater. investigators from the ntsb are now on-scene trying to figure out exactly how this happened. all authorities know at this point is that at some point this small plane, a piper with three people aboard, including a child, rammed into the back side of this sightseeing helicopter over the hudson river. on that helicopter, a pilot and five tie titalian tourists. everyone involved believed to be dead. this is now a recovery effort and no longer a rescue mission. >> nbc's jeff rossen, thanks so much. a police chase in central california ends with seven people dead including four children. police were in pursuit when the driver of the car went through a stop sign and crashed with a truck carrying a family. four children in the truck died, along with three people in that car. eunice kennedy shriver remains in critical condition at a massachusetts hospital. shriver's daughter maria shriver and husband california governor arnold schwarzenegger are among the relatives at the hospital.

the sister of president kennedy and founder of the special olympics has suffered several strokes. she is 88 years old. finally, the ultimate tug-of-war in california, except on the other side wasn't a team but a fedex plane. teams of 25 people taking part in a competition to determine who could pull the airbus jet a distance of 14 feet the fastest. all that muscle flexing raised money for the special olympics of southern california. jenna's going to do that on the plaza after the show. >> did you doubt it? of course i am. i'm going to go change. janice will tell us about the weather but i can give you a

>> plenty of heat and humidity expected for our day today. temperatures right now moving their way up into the upper 7870's. -- upper 70's. in some locations 91 to 96grees too. now here's jenna. janice, thanks. with the start of the school year right around the corner, are you about to face an empty nest? advice for coping with life

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amid all the shocking, packing, you may also be confronting feelings of loss and loneliness about your soon-to-be empty nest. atod ada has dedicated the last two decades raising her children. >> my son is 23, my daughter is 17. chris moved out in the summer, he's in the city. katherine is going to syracuse university in the fall. >> reporter: which means this month for the first time in 23 years, ada will be waking up to an empty house. >> i used to joke and tell the kids that they were the first thing i thought about in the morning and the last thing i thought about at night. and the joke isvy to find some other things to think about now that they're gone. >> reporter: they are nearly 80 million baby boomers in america today. ada's about to join a growing number of empty nesters. >> we're talking about people over the age of 40, 45. what it means is their youngest child has turned 18 and has left

home. >> it isheart-wrenching process. children bring a lot of movement into a household, friends and other people coming in. all of a sudden the house can be very lonely and very quiet. >> reporter: she knows that moving out is part of growing up. >> the job is, raise them, educate them, and make sure that they're okay so they can be on their own. >> reporter: but it doesn't make the good-byes any easier. >> bye-bye, honey bear. be careful getting home. >> dr. janet taylor is a psychiatrist and contributor to m momlogic.com. janet, i sent my last one off to college last year so a lot of feelings going on. what are some of the things typically couples go through? >> launching your last child, that empty nest, it really are a lot of emotions that can come. you can be sad or lonely but there's also some excitement and also relief in the sense that you have done a good job raising

your child. the point is that it's typically a temporary adjustment and that most families, most couples, do well sending their child off. >> it's funny, people come up and say how's your wife taking it, as if there is no emotion involved. dads feel it too, but do moms generally take this a little bit harder? >> again, if you don't have any outside activities or depending on your relationship as a couple, it can be tough on the mom or dad. but the point is more fathers involved with parenting and it is really the adjustment of the loss to the lack of parenting role and that can affects both moms and dads. >> what do couples then experience? what do they find out of this experience of sending the last one away? >> you mentioned there were 80 million baby boomers out there. you're not alone. i think 20% of those boomers are sending their kids off to college just last year. you're dealing with millions of people that have had this experience. they're all thinking about how can they connect? maybe this is an opportunity to being more intimate with their

spouse. uc berkeley did a study last year that looked at women between the mid 40s to mid 60s. what they found was that when you actually see what they thought would be the best benefit. benefit for them is an opportunity to connect with my spouse, won't get the knocks on the bedroom door like i had in the past. >> the school schedule used to affect when you could travel. now can you take vacations at any time. >> sni wife said that, this is the first september i won't have kids to worry about around the house. she said maybeky take a vacation with my husband. there's opportunities to connect. >> how does it affect whether you work inside or outside the house? >> again, you would think that moms who work may have an easier adjustment, but it is how many meaningful roles you have outside of parenting. whether you are a stay-at-home mom or work mom, develop activities that create meaning and fulfillment to you. volunteering at your church or

chu community but you have to have something. zpli . >> intellectually you know september's coming, they're going to college but you're so caught up in the day-to-day raising of this child, do folks behind themselves on the power curve? >> there are a couple things to do right off the bat. stay connected. the one good thing that boomers are very adept at using mobile technology. probably kept tabs on their house use cell phones. no you whether it is texting, cell phone, e-mail, stay connected so you somewhat know what's going on in the day to day activity when they go off to school. secondly, this is an opportunity to do some things maybe you haven't had an opportunity to go before. maybe you have been a schoolteacher, want to go back for your ph.d. maybe you want to be a chef. there's time to do that. if you see something coming up on the calendar, quality time, catch a broadway show or ball game. 20 years ago i remember my mom used to take my sister to go get

manicures and pedicures. obviously cost $20, not expensive but something that meant a lot and was a way to connect. something on the calendar to look forward to. >> these are also adult children coming back so you don't have to be the mom who pays for everything. it's an opportunity to renegotiate adult roles. >> that's what i'm talking about! i was going to cut you off. glad we got that last comment in. thanks so much for being here. appreciate it. now here's jenna. lester, thanks. when your car makes a strange noise or your computer freezes up, where do you turn for help? you could get help for free. janice lieberman, "today's" consumer correspondent and contributing editor with "reader's digest" magazine is here to tell us how. let's start with computers. there is nothing more frustrating when you got to get something done and that thing freezes up and you don't know what to do. a lot of places you call charge by the minute. >> we found in this column,

here's the deal. techguide.org. completely free. this was was 14 years old and said everyone's asking me for help, my parents, all my friends. let's do a website, not charge anybody and offer free help. only way they get their money is from donations and advertisers. that's cool with us. also computerhope.com. walk you through it, answer the questions. these are volunteers that are spending their time answering your questions. great deal out there. >> what about if you have a mac, mac users? is there anywhere they can go? can they subscribe to the same? >> they can. but there's also apple.com where they have forums and mac uses love to blog about what they're doing and talk about it. you probably find something that's wrong with yours on one of these forums. that's helpful and that's free. >> next stuff is a car. i think my dad spent six hours trying to teach me how to change a tire which i couldn't do. i don't know what's happening nund neath the hood. besides taking it to a mechanic which is going to charge you an arm and a leg, is there any way

you can get help online? >> listen to npr. there are two brothers, tom and ray, they're also known to click and clack to those followers. they talk about all the common problems, people call in and ask questions. maybe something will ring a bell. also can you go on to their website, action hadn't publicbroadcasting.net/car talk. you'll get some advice from them. there's also twocarpros.com. they're two professionals, they answer 10,000 questions a month on their website, completely free. even if you aren't going to get under the hood, can you go into your mechanic a little more educated. don't be like "completely rip me off. i have no idea what's going on." >> i've never done that before. >> me either. >> how about appliances? i wouldn't think you could try to fix them yourselves. i'm sure it adds up. dishwashers, walshing machines? >> just a service call to have someone come in and say all you needed was a filter or to vacuum

behind your refraj rater and everything's going to work great, go on repairclinic.com, pcappliance.com. they will walk you through it and not only that, they'll tell you where to find on your actual appliance where the model number is, where the warrantee is, so you could order the part and sometimes it's like a $35 part. i could even do it. not everything, but at least you can find out. >> if you have a problem with something, write a letter or call? which is better? >> i would do both and document everything, be polite, be concise, don't be so angry and state your case. >> janice lieberman, always good advice. next ahead, my turn as a ghostbuster. spending the night in a hotel that some believe is haunted. but first these messages. that just cracks me up. the spark began where it always begins. at a restaurant downtown. in a shop on main street. a factory around the corner.

entrepreneurs like these are the most powerful force in the economy. they drive change and they'll relentless push their businesses to innovate and connect. as we look to the future, they'll be there ahead of us, lights on, showing us the way forward. this is just the beginning of the reinvention of business. and while we're sure we don't know all the answers, we do know one thing for certain, we want to help. come see what the beginning looks like at openforum.com

there's something about an old hotel in wisconsin that has grown men spooked. when i heard reports that major league baseball players staying in a sister hotel in downtown milwaukee were hearing noises and experiencing the unexplainable, i had to check it out for myself. ♪ something strange in your neighborhood ♪ >> reporter: rumor has it there is something strange in this milwaukee neighborhood, though "strange" is up for interpretation depending on what you believe. this is the pfister hotel, built in 1853. it is the city's premier hotel, home to a lavish collection of victorian art and host to every president since mckinley. >> if you look the wall discover, if you look at drake, the broadmore, the historic hotels that are a sense of place, that's what you'd come and experience in milwaukee. >> reporter: but for all its history there also lives a bit of lore. so the story goes that late at

night long after the guests go to sleep here, a spirit arrives to check in, if you will. >> i've heard the story that there is a portly smiling gentleman in the grand staircase that comes, overlooks the lobby. >> reporter: that man, the hotel's founder, charles pfister, who passed away in 1927. let me get a sense, let me try to feel if i feel a presence. just give me a moment. no. i don't feel anything. while i still needed a little more proof, some don't need any more convincing. >> there are certainly people that have come through and had their story. the one that's had most play recently has been questions on baseball players and the different ball players talking about noises, creaks and squeaks. >> reporter: carlos lopez normally spends his day running.

now he's running from -- >> i look at my bed and saw -- i dropped everything and run to the lobby. >> there is a fundamental difference between the paranormal and the simply abnormal. i've seen plenty of the latter. >> reporter: after hearing the stories, i had to see for myself. but what exactly would i see? who might visit? it was time to find out. >> sorry. sorry. >> you scared me! okay, this is weird. the remote is missing -- oh, here it is. never mind. what is that? hello?

hello? >> sorry. me again. >> as it turned out, my producer was the only strange visitor that evening. and after a good night's rest, not only did i survive, but i can say i now subscribe to the company line. >> i can give you the 50 greatest things do in the city. finding a ghost here isn't one of them. >> all kidding aside, it was a lovely hotel. i had a wonderful time there. i found nothing. i would go back and stay there again. >> that's because the dead hotel owner didn't like the stuff on your ipod. that was the thing on the ipod. right? >> i'm still using a walkman. i don't know what you're talking about. we'll be right back after these messages. may i say... but nasonex relif bee-utiful! prescription nasonex is proven to help relieve indoor and outdoor nasal allergy symptoms like congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. (announcer) side effects were generally mild and included headache. viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds and coughing.

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well we got a dodgeball competition against the crew. i want you alan! i want you!! you're the best! i put that on the survey, by the way. the secret is really getting to know your team mates. we're all olympic athletes, so that, that's helpful. man, they're good, they are good. i'll give them that. i'm having a ball. i don't want to get off, that's the problem. they're going to have to push me off the ship.

coming up on "meet the press," david gregory joins us again from washington. >> coming up this morning, after the homecoming of two american journalists in north korea, we are left with some questions. we'll talk to the man in the middle of it all, the president's national security advisor, general james jones. then we are joined by mayors miami bloomberg of new york city and cory booker of newark, new jersey all coming up on "meet the press." that will do it for us on this sunday morning. melissa francis, janice huff, thank you both for being with us. next week we're going back to woodstock for the 40th anniversary of that three-day festival. peace, love and music. tomorrow on "today," an exclusive live interview with kate gosselin. the mother of eight sits down for the first time since her very public split from jon. i'll see you back here tonight for "nbc nightly news." i'll see you back here tonight for "nbc nightly news." so long, have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

robert >> swine flu and schools. it is our "sunday q & a." >> plus, our "smart shopping tips. >> a heat wave begins. i'll talk about when it comes to i'll talk about when it comes to an end in your full seven-day