good morning, was it a twister? one person dead after a violent storm tears through new york bringing hurricane force winds and spawning a possible rare tornado. we're live in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods. face to face, natalee holloway's mother confronts s joran van der sloot inside a peruvian prison. beth holloway's attorney speaks out to us in an exclusive live interview. and why would she do it? that washington state woman who claims a random attacker who

threw acid in her face admitting she did it herself "today," threw acid in her face admitting she did it herself "today," september 17, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning, welcome to "today" on a friday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> i'm meredith viera. wild weather here. >> i was in my apartment on the phone, it looked like it was 10:00 at night, it got pitch black, the wind started ed tee. >> it was like coming down in sheets. it was like being in a car wash. >> hurricane force winds ripped roofs off of houses.

one woman was killed when a tree crashed on to her car. we're going to have much more on this storm and the damage it left behind in just a couple of minutes. a toddler trapped under icy water for more than 20 minutes when he was finally rescued. his heart was not beating. nearly an hour later, he was brought back to life. coming up we're going to meet that boy and talk to his family exclusively. your daughter's a cheerleader and the lyrics to one of the cheers is about booties and tight skirts. imagine your daughter the cheerleader is only 6 years old. what one woman felt about that and what happened to her daughter when that mother complained. but first that sudden and violent storm here in new york. peter alexander is in queens with the latest. >> reporter: good morning to you, it's going to be up to the national weather service to

officially determine if a tornado struck new york city. if you push the camera in as the bus passes by, you can see this three story apartment building. it was struck by winds late yesterday afternoon that literally peeled off the roof like the top of a sardine can, trees and branchs have been littered throughout this neighborhood, power lines knocked down as well. and in this building alone, 24 people were forced to relocate. the violent and fast-moving storms crashed through new york city with little to know warning. >> we had an umbrella turned inside out and we were holding on to the gate for dear life. forget it. i couldn't even catch my breath. >> reporter: in a matter of minutes, neighborhoods were punched by hurricane force winds, uprooting trees and snapping branches. >> i looked up and i saw the rain going -- you couldn't tell which way it was going, just blowing all over, and things

were just flying, all the furniture in the backyard was flying. >> reporter: the famed new york skyline looked like gotham city. >> it just got real dark and the wind came down like it was a spaceship literally landing on the block and started shaking and the trees and i got scared. >> reporter: dramatic video caught this rare scene, an electrifying bolt of lightning striking close to the statue of liberty. while photos like these turned up on twitter. one woman was killed when a tree fell on her car. officials believe she pulled off a busy highway to try to escape the powerful winds. cars crushed and windshields shattered. the storm paralyzed traffic for hours, local reporters called it the worst congestion they have seen in decades. and with rail lines temporarily shut down, many stranded passengers were left hot, sweaty and frustrated. >> all these people, what are we

going to do? how are we going to get home tonight? >> reporter: michael bloomberg hit the streets to survey the damage firsthand. >> which is unof those things that while it's an act of god, doesn't make it any easier for us. people are concerned, they have a right to be concerned. >> reporter: concerned neighbors worked hard overnight, picking up the pieces and sorting through debris. >> i know it was raining very heavily, but i never imagined this. this is not what i expected to come home to. >> reporter: take a look at some of these photographs that give you a better understanding of the strength of these storms, the destruction that was left throughout the three borrows of new york city. brooklyn, squequeens and staten island. throughout new york city, schools will be open "today," students returning to classes. matt and meredith, there was actually a tornado that touched down just in july, just two months ago. before that it had been three years.

>> let's hope it's another three years. nbc's peter alexander, thank you very much. it is 7:05 and now it's matt. christine o'donnell following a surprise victory in tuesday's republican senate primary in delaware. kelly o'donnell is in washington with details. >> reporter: being the tea party's latest overnight sensation turned one of those get to know your candidates night at a local community center in delaware into a national platform for christine o'donnell and the anti-incumbent movement. they talked about issues like taxes, jobs, immigration and the republican candidate herself. >> it's no secret that there's been a rather unflattering portrait of me painted these days. >> reporter: taking on the elephant in the room, republican senate candidate christine o'donnell acknowledged her image has been battered. >> i'm not counting on the national media to vote for me on

november 2, i'm asking all of you to vote for me. >> reporter: her conservative opinions about sex and social issues examined. >> while you may not agree with me on all of the issues, what i want to do is bring a common sense approach. >> reporter: her upset victory triggered a surge of old quotes going back to the '90s when o'donnell regularly appeared on tv shows advocating abstinence. >> we choose sexual purity in our lives. >> reporter: o'donnell told me this week that could re-enforce her appeal as a political outsider. >> to prove they didn't always want to run for office. you know, i was a pundit, touting my opinions, thinking they would never come back to haunt me. >> reporter: but it did come back at the forum. >> you have taken a strong stance in the past about people's private sexual behavior. what do you think is the role of government in regulating these

matters. >> it's personal. >> reporter: o'donnell drew a line. >> when i go to washington, d.c., it will be the constitution on which i base all of my decisions, not my personal beliefs. >> reporter: instead of attack, her democratic opponent chris coons brushed that aside. >> i don't think there's any weight in statements we made 20 or 30 years ago. delaware's next senator should be somebody who's prepared, who has concrete ideas. >> our country is going broke, it doesn't take an expert to figure out that we can't continue to spend our way to recovery nor tax our way to prosperity. >> reporter: republicans question whether o'donnell is prepared. >> the candidates are very unpredictable, this is what makes republicans nervous. >> reporter: she has never held office and currently has no job,

but she claims she can change the president's health care reform. >> uncle sam has no business in the examination room coming between you and your doctor, i would seek to repeal the bill. >> reporter: and one measure of the intensity of this campaign is fundraising. on primary day she raised about $30,000 since then more than a million dollars. today she'll be speaking in washington at the value voters summit. and biden will be in his home state appearing with the democratic candidate "today." >> david gregory is moderator of "meet the press." something interesting going on here, christine or donnell has been blistered, she's began questioned not only by democrats, karl rove has gone on the attack and as we just heard kelly say in the 48 hours since her primary win, she's raised

about a million dollars online. what are we watching here? >> a lot of energy on the republican party and the tea party express, tea party sort of regular brand is behind all of this. that's where this woman is right now, it's anti-establishment, it's anti- washington. it reflects government spending too much, being out of control. it's a kind of common sense request, let's change the ways of washington. and she's tapping into that. she's also becoming an underdog now, the more the establishment piles on, the more the democrats piles on, the better she can look. and she did better in that session last night that kelly o'donnell reported on, i've matured on some of the things i said way back then. >> when you look at the profile of the tea party, david, and how it's changed over the course of this primary season, by my count, tea party candidates have claimed six seats, from ms.

o'donnell out to alaska. how has the profile of that party changed? >> i think it's just gained strength, the notion of the revolutionary part of the party. it's sweeping away those who are too -- here you have a group of mostly conservative, some independents, but this is mostly conservative based saying the is conservative party under george w. bush got -- there is a populous aspect to this on views like immigration and personal the role of government. >> you mentioned sweeping aside some of those republicans associated with the past, how does that impact president obama's strategy where he likes to talk about the upcoming elections and say a vote for republicans is a return to the past. if these are new faces, that strategy doesn't seem to work. >> that's right and that becomes

a real problem because whether they are seen as being too extreme, they are still challenging the establishment that's in line with what a lot of people think. the challenge is are they going to fuel the candidates. what does it mean for solving the problems that the country faces? >> what's on your radar for sunday, david. >> we're going to talk to former secretary of state colin powell and former president clinton. >> we'll see you sunday morning, david, thanks. let's get a check of some of the country's top stories. >> good morning, everybody. also in the news "today," eight days after that huge natural gas explosion in california, investigators are still trying to determine just how many people were killed. the coroner's office are examining remains found on thursday. three people are still missing and the discovery could raise the death toll to seven. police say a doctor who was

shot and wounded on thursday at johns hopkins university in baltimore is expected to survive. the gunman was the son of an elderly patient who then killed himself and the patient who was his mother. the pope was given a welcome in britain, calling on teachers to create trusting safe environments for young people. stephanie gosk reports from london. >> reporter: the pope reached out to young catholics this morning at st. mary university just outside of london, his message, education. the pope conducted the first of three open air masses late thursday afternoon in glasgow, 65,000 worshippers took advantage of a rare break in the scottish clouds to welcome the holy father with fanfare. the pope only stopped twice, rolling down windows so the pope could say hello to the smallest of his flock.

john paul ii gave the -- the current pope lacks his predecessor's star power and faces one of the most daunting challenges in the church's history, the priest abuse scandal. a subject the pope avoided in the first eulogy in his four day visit. the mass concluded with a star turned from scotland's sweetheart suzanne boil. there are reports that boil fainted when she found out she would sing for the pope. the scottish crooner sang flawlessly as the entourage left a cheering crowd behind. stephanie gosk, nbc news, london. the census bureau reports that poverty in america increased to 14.3% last year, that is a 15-year high and it means that 4 million people are living below the poverty line.

and a toddler is lucky to be alive after he woke up from his nap and crawled on to a busy highway this weekend. take a look at that, a truck driver finally spotted the child and stopped traffic. the boy's mother was later questioned but not charged. give that truck driver a medal or at least a pat on the back. >> absolutely. that's wild. thanks very much, stephanie is here for al. >> we have a rarity out there in the atlantic. this is the first time we have had three hurricanes in the

inns nbc's michelle kosinsky is in peru. >> we heard that tv interview from behind bars in which he talks about teaching the prison guards english lessons in his private cell, now denying he knows anything about what happened to natalee holloway.

beth holloway hearing this has simply had enough. she went to peru, teamed up with the dutch tv crew, got inside that jail and let joran have it. >> i will proceed with every understand of energy i have and i'm not going to stop. >> reporter: that was beth holloway five years ago, her daughter had just disappeared in her high school graduation trip to aruba. today beth has kept her promise. has not stopped. this week headed down to the dusty hills outside lima, peru to castro castro prison, to confront joran face to face. beth with a dutch news crew got inside the lockup where joran is awaiting trial for murder. her attorney says for several minutes, beth holloway did all of the talking, very difficult emotionally for her, telling joran that the united states is

still watching him, that whatever happened in peru, he still faces an indictment for extortion here, that if he knows something about what happened to natalee, it's time to tell it now, not ten years down the road, but now. and this, her lawyer says is what inspired beth's jailhouse visit. joran in an hour-long tv interview behind bars telling a dutch reporter how he's been mistreated. >> people bothering me, lying to me, you name it, anything else. i have a lot of anger because of that also. >> reporter: even admitting to extorting a huge sum of money from beth in exchange for made up information about where natalee's remains are, but then blaming beth and her family. >> they were the ones that just kept contacting me and kept asking for it so i just said, at one point, i thought, okay, you know, i took advantage of the situation. >> reporter: his lawyer says beth told joran directly, she

has no hate in her soul for him and then joran handed her his attorney's phone number saying he couldn't talk about it. prison officials realizing this was part of a television taping hustled beth and the group out of there. from the start, natalee's mom has taken this case into her own hands. even then in aruba what, confronting joran and his family. >> i still feel that there is a potential for information, the real information to come. >> reporter: on that very same day in peru, student stephanie flores was murdered in joran's hotel room, a trip he financed from the money he took from beth. he's now accused of killing flores, and beth holloway is still searching for those same answers about her daughter, from the same person she started with on day one.

and she felt this was her chance, even aruban investigators lately have been in no hurry to go down there and talk to him because they feel he won't tell them anything. >> john, good morning to you. >> meredith. >> this came as a total surprise to you as well, she never told you she was going down to peru? >> she had already been down there a couple days before i knew she was there. >> i think she knew if she asked me what i thought, she might not like the response or i would ask her to think about it a little more. >> you would have advised her not to do it? >> i think she made up her mind to do it and she didn't want to hear anything to the contrary. >> what did she tell you she was going to do there. >> she said she went to see joran, she didn't give me any of the substance of what she was going to talk about, the purpose

or how she was going to accomplish this, she just wanted me to know that she was down there so i could get her back if something happened. >> this is a maximum security prison, how did she get in there with a dutch television crew? >> i have no idea. >> you don't know what went on. >> i don't know. i know she was in castro castro, she saw joran, she definitely wasn't arrested, nothing was taken from her, it was done without violating any laws or breaking any regulations, but she did it. >> you talked to her since she had that meeting with joran. >> sure. >> obviously you did. what did she tell you about the conversation? >> not much. she's been very guarded, she's down there on a cell phone, i'll certainly talk to her when she gets back, but i do know she saw him, but the substance of the conversation, i can't share right now. >> last may you brought $10,000 to aruba as part of an alleged extortion plot.

and you came on this broad cast and called him a pathological liar. >> right. >> do you believe going down there you can get anything out of this man? >> i don't think that was her purpose that she was going to get answers, i think it was more to deliver the message that he might be in peru, but she wants to bring natalee home. >> could her trip to peru do any damage to that case. >> not at all. it has no impact on it it will have no impact on it. this is just a mother acting on her instincts not trying to think of what the legal impact will be. >> you're not just her lawyer, you're her friend. >> sure. >> as her friend, do you think she did the right thing. >> if that's what he felt she had to do as a mother and this is what's driving her, sure, she did the right thing, she's very determined, she's very motivated, she's very focused,

she loved her daughter dearly and she's being driven from the heart right now and god bless her. >> thank you very much. just ahead, the alleged victim of a brutal attack in washington stated as that she actually splashed acid in her own face.

ahead, a 6-year-old thrown off her cheerleading squad when her parents complained they didn't like one of the cheers. why are you writing your name so much?

because grandpa said that our name goes on everything we make. [ male announcer ] tim and richard smucker grew up knowing that putting your name on every jar was a guarantee of quality. with a name like smucker's, it has to be good. >> live, local, late breaking, this is wbal tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i'm stan stovall. time for a morning check on the commute. >> we got a pretty serious situation on the northbound jfx right near parker. we have the two left lanes

northbound blocked. and the ramp there is closed because of an accident. northbound jfx near parkway -- near parker wrote is closed. in carroll county, westminster, and report of an accident near brown road and houlton road. you can see the outer loop traffic is moving a bit slower than normal. a bit of traffic from there to edmundston ave. and kate nabih new, and looks like things are moving fine north and south. -- kecoughtan avenue, looks like things are moving find north and south. >> 67 downtown ancilla less humid it right now. the high pressure will continue to build and we will see an increase in wind. 5 to 15 miles per hour, with

some gusts higher than that through the afternoon. 84 degrees this afternoon. beautiful all weekend long under the presence of high pressure. in books like right around 80 saturday and sunday with -- it looks like right around 80 saturday and sunday with plenty of sunshine. >> be sure to check the bottom of your screen with updates on news throughout the morning. we're back in 25 minutes.

7:30 now on this friday morning, september 17, 2010. i'm meredith viera alongside matt lauer. and just ahead, what is appropriate for a 6-year-old child to say? a michigan family voiced concerns about the lyrics used by their daughter's cheerleading squad. here's how it went, our backs ache, we shake our booties from left to right. but instead of changing the cheer, officials removed that little girl from the team. we're going to talk to her and her parents just ahead. a toddler comes back to life

after his heart stopped for nearly an hour. he's here along with his family for an exclusive interview. looks like he's doing great. and how would you like to drive 100 miles on a single gallon? we're going to show you some remarkable cars that can do just that. >> we will begin this half hour with a stunning development in that acid attack in washington state. the 28-year-old victim has admitted that she carried out the attack on herself. nbc's kristen welker has the latest. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt, vancouver police say they got a search warrant to investigate bethany storro's home. they say among other things they found an emotionally fragile young woman, so fragile, she maimed her own face. >> ms. storro admitted her injuries were self-inflicted. >> reporter: bethany storro, police say, now admitting she

burned her own face with acid. >> she is extremely upset, she's very remorseful. in many ways, this is something that just got bigger than what she expected. >> last month the 28-year-old spoke out shrouded in bandages, painting herself as a symbol of strength in the face of adversity. >> if anybody knows any information of the girl that did this to me, you know, if we can all come together and help find her. >> reporter: in what seemed like a brave act then, she told the world that an african-american woman with a pony tail whom she didn't know approached her and said, hey, pretty girl, would you like to drink this, before throwing acid in her face. >> once it hit me, i could actually hear it bubbling and sizzling my skin. >> reporter: a dramatic account that quickly raised questions, if acid was thrown at her, why didn't it splash her neck, why was her face the only thing

injured? and then the sunglasses, storro claimed divine intervention, claiming she didn't like sunglasses but bought a pair just moments before the attack. >> about 20 minutes. that's jesus, for sure. that's a miracle. >> reporter: a freelance writer said a major red flag for him was when storro pulled out of a scheduled appearance on "oprah." >> she backed out when she suspected she would be asked questions t very same questions i was posing to her. >> reporter: storro is now avoiding all media requests. one of her friends simply posted heart broken on a facebook page, everyone asking one question, why. >> instantly, they become very important, they're the center of a lot of attention. and that feels real good, they get a lot of sympathy, they're usually pretty needy people who are searching for that.

>> reporter: ironically, just three days after storro's attack, a mesa, arizona mother had acid thrown in her face, a copycat speculated some. mesa place are still searching for that perpetrator, but a different story in vancouver. >> i'm glad there isn't someone out there perpetrating this kind of attack. >> reporter: police say bethany storro is a victim of only one person, herself. police are still trying to determine the motive here. once they're finished with their investigation they'll turn the case over to the prosecutor's office who will determine whether or not charges will be filed. a lot of people in this community are frustrated that an african-american female was painted as a perpetrator here and also frustrated that so many community resources went toward this. matt? >> kristen welker out in vancouver for us. commander mar la schuman is with the vancouver police department, commander schuman, good morning

to you. >> good morning. >> i don't even know where to start, our hearts went out to this young lady for the last several weeks, now this stunning turn, it seems as if the pressure was mounting on bethany, when were you sure in your own minds that this was not an attack? >> to be honest, we were sure when she told us herself that it was not an attack. obviously the clues were mounting up, as the investigate went forward, things were not coming together well, but until you actually hear it from her own mouth that she in fact was the one who inflicted it we'll keep investigating. >> i would imagine as part of this investigation, your law enforcement officials were interviewing people close to bethany, were you hearing any suspicions from them? were you hearing about emotional distress, mental instability, things like that? >> absolutely not. that was not something that was on the radar screen.

her family, her friends, they were all devastated that this had happened to her, i think it came as a shock to most of them that she was actually in a state of mind and could inflict something like this. >> you mentioned state of mind, you mentioned you have spent some time with her, what's her state of mind right now? >> i actually have not spoken to her directly. the detective in charge of this case spent a good a lot of time with her yesterday. i did have the occasion to see her in the office and she was visibly upset, shaking, crying, very sad, very sad little girl. >> you're a law enforcement official, you're not a psychologist, but let me just ask you, in your opinion, why? why would you risk this kind of physical injury to yourself? would you even try to get your arms around that? >> i think that's the million dollar question, most of us don't know how anybody could be in that state of mind and

inflict what obviously had to be incredible pain upon themselves. >> any chance that she will face charges, i know this has been a drain on the manpower of your department, and a demand on resources as well. do you think she'll be facing charges. >> we'll hand this over to the prosecuting attorney, there is a chance for all the reasons you stated, this was incredibly expensive and wasted a lot of very valuable resources. >> commander marla schuman out in vancouver this morning. thanks for your time this morning, we appreciate it. >> thank you. let's get a check of the weather now from stephanie abrams who's filling in for al. >> a category 3 hurricane about to make its second landfall here in mexico, looks like it will do so today. it could threaten to a category 4. otherwise here throughout the lower 48, we will be clearing

out in the east, looking much, >> i hope you're having a great friday. it's going to be beautiful this afternoon, drying out and less breezy with wind out of the north at -- northwest. >> and these people threw almost 3,000 miles to make to it the plaza. >> up next, a 6-year-old gets kicked off of her cheerleading team after her parents raised concerns about the lyrics in one of their cheers. they'll tell their story right after this. allergies put me in a fog.

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now to a cheerleading

controversy in michigan where a 6-year-old girl has been thrown off her team after her parents complained that one of the cheers was too risque for young girls. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> jennifer, remind our audience again of the lyrics to this cheer that you found so offensive and the first time that you heard it. >> the first time i heard it was a few weeks ago after my daughter came home from practice and she told me one of the cheers and the lyrics are, our back's fake, we shake our booties from left to right. at that point i was just kind of in shock and right away, the next day i addressed it with the coach and the general manager of the wolverines. >> what did they say to you. >> at that time the general manager was kind of like, well, we have been doing it they way for years. the coach said she really doesn't have any power, she

would take it to the general manager, she would like me to address it with the general manager, but since she doesn't have any of the power, we'll see what they say. they came back the following day and at that time, she said, you know, they have been doing it that way for 20 years t board is aware, so you can either have your daughter sit out or that's it. now, she also told me that the cheers were mandated at that time by the association and they were given a list. so i said i'll take it up with your association since you're mandated by them. >> and so you did that? >> i did. i went to the association and the association, the director of cheerleading at that point told me that they're not mon dated, they don't mandate cheers at all and that she would talk to the general manager of the cheerleader for the wolverines. >> sounds like you're going around in circles here, jennifer. >> yes. >> did you ever call another

parent of a child on the cheerleading squad who said we think they're okay? >> the last talk before i had with the general manager of cheerleading we talked to a few of the parents and they didn't like the cheer as well. so i had gone back to the general manager after i had talked to the association and i told -- you know, we told her that some of the parents don't like it and her response was at that time the board was aware, they have been doing this cheer for about 20 years and that was it. and after insinuating that, you know, me and my husband were thinking were kind of perverse in thinking it was incorrect or inappropriate, that's when we got mad. >> so that's when you went to the media? >> after a couple of weeks yes. >> and that's when people got really crazy and you were notified that your daughter was being thrown off the team, out of the league and couldn't reapply next year if she wanted to or try out for another league? >> the result was they were going to keep the cheer, the

coach could decide whether she does it or not because she does have that power, but ultimately because of the drama that we have created about this, she was going to remove the family from the organization for the year. >> kennedy, honey, do you understand why you're not being allowed to cheer anymore? do you like cheerleading? >> yeah. >> you like it? mom, let me ask you, are you going to continue to fight this or at this point is the story over for you? >> at this point, you know, i don't even think that i could continue to fight it. they removed us from the organization, i don't think i have any way to fight that. and at that point, i don't know that i would ever want to go back anyway, because if they think it's okay to remove a 6-year-old from the team, i wouldn't want my daughter in that organization anyway.

you know, a lot of people have reached out, a couple of teams have also reached out as well which is great. and we're talking gymnastics, so i wish they would acknowledge what they did to her was incorrect. >> thank you so much. we'll be right back after this. how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? flying there? how about eating soup to get there? delicious campbell's soups fill you with good nutrition, energy, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. helping you get to a happier place. have a nice trip. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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new york giants here on nbc. what is it like to be their parents watching their two sons compete against each other. we sat down with the parents to find out. >> reporter: you're the parents of two super bowl winning quarterbacks, they don't often play on the same field. but this sunday, they did. is that a source of only pride and excitement or is it also a source of dread? >> all of that. mixed together. >> it's a source of pride and we're very proud of them. we still pinch ourselves. we didn't find this, it was ant plan. we're trying to raise kids not m.v.p.'s in the super bowl, but it happened. we feel very blessed, very proud. >> how difficult is it? forget about the two of them on the same field at the same time, just each time they play, this is a very dangerous sport.

how difficult is it to watch your sons play? >> i'm very nervous for them when they play. i mean i don't take that for granted. i each that offensive line every night in my prayers that they protect them so well. i do. >> reporter: turns out he's okay, but initially blood is gushing, multiple stitches, what's your immediate reaction when you see that. >> it brought back some memories of when she was a little boy and we have been in that situation before and when we would would get to the doctor, it would be this tiny little thing that needed maybe a half a stitch. so i was kind of hoping it was like that. >> i was downstairs and she was upstairs and i was thinking, i hope she's not watching that. >> but of course i was. >> i went up there and said did you see this? >> you get a sick feeling.

>> olivia, which of the two is more like his dad? >> i have to say payton over eli. everybody thinks eli is the most like me. nobody ever suspects he's like me. i don't know. maybe i don't know where payton came from. >> who's your favorite football player. >> my dad. >> your dad's your favorite football player? you're on the right track, are you going to be a football player when you grow up? payton would have to be a combination, but he is very intense and very focussed and driven, but so were you, you just weren't very vocal, payton is very vocal. >> i think a lot of people just see that side of payton when they see him on sundays. but they're thoughtful to their mother and that's the most important thing in my opinion sons can be. >> it was scary when eli took that shot to the head with that

helmet earlier in the year. again you can catch the manage showdown sunday night starting with football night in america, that's right here on nbc. >> the toddler brought back from the dead after his heart stopped for nearly an hour, we're going to talk exclusively. [ horn honks ] ...but we're pretty sure it wasn't leftover pizza. quaker instant oatmeal. now some of your favorites have 25% less sugar than before and delicious all natural flavors. so you can be amazing. does your breakfast make you amazing?

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>> good morning, everyone. i'm stan stovall. >> that accident that has shut down eastbound ramp north parkway from the jfx, that is clear. we do still have an accident approaching that ramp that is causing some problems both northbound and southbound. southbound is jam from the beltway down and northbound is

jammed to the parkway. 95 at bluhm road and westminster there is a report of an accident. as far as delays go, a live look at the west side of the beltway liberty. it is going to be a stop and go all the way down to edmonds and ave. our live traffic coming toward us -- outer loop traffic coming toward us. >> we're looking at all the showers and storms that rolled through last night. they are well offshore. high pressure is going to building today and plenty of sunshine and winds will pick up out of the northwest sustained at 5 to 15 miles per hour, but we could see some higher gusts. 83 for that high today and right around 84 the weekend.

plenty of sunshine for the next several days. >> be sure to check the bottom of the screen for updates throughout the morning. back at a 25 for another live update. -- 8:25 a.m. for another live update. update.

8:00 now on a friday morning, it's the 17th day of september, 2010. i thought it was kind of a nice morning out here, but the rain has come back and we have still got a great crowd. we thank them for sticking it out. in fact it's raining a little harder right now. i'm matt lauer, here with meredith viera. coming up with an incredible story. >> he wandered away from his family's home and fell into a ditch with icy cold water near his family's home. talk about fuel economy?

a lot of people want more miles to the gallon. take a look at some of the cars we have on the plaza here. they are prize winners that can get you 100 miles per gallon of fuel. we'll talk about those. >> they look strange. >> a little strange, yes. good morning once again, everybody. in the news, police in london investigating a suspected plot to harm the hope have arre-- po arrested five men. meanwhile the pope was greeted by thousands of young student s today and he again referred to the church abuse scandal saying teachers must make schools safe places. three hurricanes are swirling around in open waters this morning. karl strengthened to a major category 3 storm, set to roar ashore in mexico "today today.

workers are cleaning up after a fierce storm with winds of 100 miles an hour ripped through the city. at least one person was killed when a tree fell on her car. and in ohio and west virginia, powerful line of thunderstorms tore through some buildings and may have spawned some twisters there as well. no serious injuries however are reported in either of those two states. after the worst oil leak in u.s. history, that well could be capped for good. the final step will now be to pour mud and cement in it to make the final seal. a fight broke out between police and suspected drug traffickers right in the middle of a crowded mall. take a look another this,

rome's famous coliseum on fire. don't worry, it's not real, as you can probably tell, it's virtual, two artists did it to raise awareness about the fragility of rome's monuments. >> by the way, sunday is talk like a pirate day. sunday has to be drink like a pirate day. let's get a check of the weather from stephanie abrams. >> two girls who got caught in the storm on a boat on the hudson. what was it like? >> it was so crazy. >> i'm pregnant. >> so much improved here in the northeast as we head through the weekend. how about chicago, our pick city, mostly sunny skies, that system is exiting the northeast and the next system ramping up br

>> a very happy friday to you. in sparkling to try out this afternoon with temperatures in the 80's. >> happy 75th to the golden eagles, by the way. >> all right, steph, thank you very much. when we come back, the toddler who came back to life when his heart stopped for nearly an hour. we'll meet the whole family right after these messages. hey ! chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry ? chocolate !

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yeah! we've got big shoes to fill! back now at 8:08 with a medical miracle. a toddler brought back to life after he spent more than 20 minutes under water and his heart stopped beating for nearly an hour. that's him, exclusively along with his family, a very grateful family. we're going to talk with them in

a moment. >> reporter: he's just a little under 2 years old, in fact his birthday is next week, he almost never made it. while on a fourth of july family vacation in gunnison, colorado, he wandered away unseen. >> absolute panic, i was crying so hard i couldn't even run anymore. >> reporter: just a few hundred yards from the family cabin was an eirrigation ditch. a relative found gore, pinned to the rocky bottom. he had been under water almost a half an hour. his grandfather, a retired orthopedic surgeon started cpr. >> he looked like somebody who

was dead, and that's what he was. >> after nearly an hour, doctors finally got gore's heart beating again. but by the time he was flown to the medical center in denver, doctors gave him a 1% chance. >> how near death was he? >> he was as close as they come. >> reporter: there's one element that the colorado rockies give to almost every drop of water that rolls out of them that in this case was potentially life saving, the water was cold. gore's temperature had dropped to just 87 degrees. his body was almost hibernated. so in a last ditch effort, doctors decided to keep him that way, stone cold in hopes of protecting his brain. >> so they pumped it's cold lick quids into him. >> for two day, they sat huddled by his bedside, frozen themselves from fear. >> is he going to be brain dead?

is he going to wake zblup after two days, doctors slowly warmed him up and gore came back to life. >> all i really ever hoped for was to be able to hold him again and here he was waking up. >> he was rushed in for an mri, and the results shocked everyone. >> it came back no abnormali abnormalities, not one thingal thing in his brain mri that was wrong. >> reporter: since then he's undergone almost every test imaginable. was it the cold. >> there's no way of knowing if that had anything to do with his remarkable recovery. it's promising, but we don't know that for sure. >> gore didn't understand all the fuss when he walked out of the hospital that day. for him it was just the end of a big adventure, for his family, it was faith renewed. lee cowan, nbc news, denver. >> and the family is with us exclusively, dave and amy along with gore and his older brother and sister, ryan and kerry, good

morning to all of you. a look at gore now, it's truly amazing to me. it must be to you as well. he seems absolutely fine. he's been wandering all over the set. >> he's absolutely perfectly the same little boy that he was the morning of july 6 before the accident. >> does he have any memory of it at all? >> no. >> nothing? >> no. all he wanted to do is go back and get in the irrigation ditch when we went back to the cabin. >> take us back, this was july 5? >> july 6. >> that moment when the panic set in for you, you had been bathing the other two children and you look and he's not there, he's not in the house. >> i had bathed all three, and put his pajama shirt on and maybe walked back in to get his pants or something and walked back out and said where's gore?

and within a few minutes, ran to the porch and saw that the screen door had been unlatched and knew he had left the cabin and i just went into an absolute panic and started looking for him and running around and screaming and immediately all the family that was there jumped in and started helping us look. >> and eventually found him in this irrigation ditch. you had gone back to denver to work. you get a phone call from your mom, what does she say to you. >> annie's mom called and she was very difficult to understand. she was hysterical and said that gore had fallen in the irrigation ditch, that amy's dad had been working on him, but it may be too late and i immediately called a couple of friends from church and asked them to pray for two things, one a miracle and two peace for my wife. >> and when he got to the hospital, the doctors are not

holding out much hope at all? >> it was 15 minutes when they got him to the hospital that they got his heart started again. >> 10 to 15 minutes, they got his heart started and then after we arrived at children's in denver, it was less than 1% chance they gave. >> so this thing, the experimental treatment that they tried on tried on him, they said they were going to start pumping these cold fluids into his body, what was going through your mind? >> please do everything you can. and that's what the doctors communicated to us, they wanted to give gore every chance they could. they weren't optimistic that it would do anything at all, but because it was in this experimental phase. >> did you think you were going to lose him? >> i thought i had lost him. i thought that for almost an hour that he was dead. >> and so when they started to warm him up and you saw movement

in his body, what was that like, that moment when you realized, my son is back? >> absolutely -- we know that a lot of prayers had been answered. it was just complete and total relief. a lot of people started praying for him and that's what we said, we needed a miracle. >> is that what you believe this was, a miracle. >> absolutely. >> 100%. >> we want to give credit to everybody that worked on him that day, did everything they needed to do and they all did an amazing job. but ultimately, we know that it was all the prayers and we know that it was, you know, god healing him, truly. that's what it was going to have to be. >> good luck keeping a leash on him now, he is ready to go. thank you so much, and we're so glad that the outcome is what it was, that your little boy is fine. we're back right after this.

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at first the army said he was shot by insurgents, but it turned out he was actually killed by friendly fire. in a moment, we'll talk to tilmon's mother, but first, nbc's mike tiabbi has details. >> pat tilmon lived a very private life never giving a single interview about why he left football to join the army. when he walked away from his multimillion dollar nfl contract to join the elite army rangers, pat tilmon became the most famous inlisted man in the american armed forces. tilmon became a story of myth logical proportions. movie star handsome and fueled by a patriotism and a sense of post-9/11 duty he refused to talk about. he received the silver star and

praise from a commander in chief who was waging a war that needed heroes. >> corporal tilmon asked for no special attention. he was modest because he knew there was many like him making their own sacrifices. >> reporter: but within weeks it was learned he had been killed by friendly fire in a tragic burst of confusion. as the director tells the story, the cover-up needed the cooperation of tilmon's fellow soldiers. >> they told me you need to keep your mouth shut about it, i was told your career's on the line. >> reporter: and plausible deniability up the chain of command. still the whole story was slow to unravel. most of the physical evidence from the incident had disappeared and no commanders took responsibility for concocting the original story. in 2007, almost exactly three years to the day after tilmon's death, his family appeared before a congressional committee to say the myth making and the

cover-up during the controversial war were equally political in nature. >> revealing that pat's death -- and alternative narrative had on the constructed. >> the documentary's director says it's hard for any film not to have -- you'll get the verdict on his version from movie goers and from tilmon's family. >> pat tilmon's mother is with us now. mrs. tilmon, good morning to you. >> good morning, thank you for having me. >> it's our pleasure, i'm curious, for those people, let's say that there are people who don't know anything about this story. if they sit down and watch this documentary, do they get the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> well, they get the truth in the sense that the film tells what they know based on documents, based on what we have heard.

in terms of getting the truth as to exactly what happened, we don't have the answers for that. and so the film is just presenting information that we actually have. >> you have been relentless in your pursuit of the truth, what are the major discrepancies that have been cleared up in the making of this film? >> well, it doesn't so much clear up discrepancies, as point out the discrepancies in a much more visual way, obviously. for the public to understand. this isn't just a family who's grief stricken because their loved one was killed by friendly fire, friendly fire is a part of war, it's a reality of war, and we're quite aware of that. this is a film to point out that the military and the government deliberately covered up what happened to pat in order to use

him as a propaganda tool to promote the war. >> and as you try to unravel this mystery, this is something that is damaging, embarrassing to the government, to the military, so it's not like people were bending over backwards to help you here. as you went about this mission, did you ever think, my god, this is my own government, this is our own military, why are they treating me like an outsider? >> yeah, i felt that all the time. but i want to make it very clear that, you know, pat's situation isn't an isolated one, that's why the film and the message is so important. the government, the military, they -- this is a systemic problem, i mean soldiers' deaths are lied about on a regular basis and have been for years. but i think that, you know, pat having a public persona, gives us voice to bring that to the

forefront and i think we would be negligent if we didn't. >> so obviously the damage can never be repaired to your family. so what is your hope for the future? >> well, i think that the film serves as an educational piece, as i said. if this film prods someone to come forward to give information that we don't have, that would be good, of course, but i think the film is just an educational piece for the public, so they can see that we need to be vigilant as a society. soldiers lose their voice and we are their voice once they enlist and we have to take responsibility. >> dannie, thank you so much for joining us this morning, we appreciate it.

>> this is wbal tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. let's get a final check on your morning commute. >> good morning, everyone. mostly delays around the area. just a few incidents to report on. an accident at allegiance bill lane and in annapolis at cherry grove ave. the jfx is jammed up in both directions. it 95 southbound is slow from

695 to 895. 795 is slow to the beltway. a live look outside at the west side of the beltway, liberty road is jammed up there. delays to edmonton on 95. it will be slow from bel-air to york. also some delays you cannot see on camera. >> a happy friday to you. we are starting to see high pressure building in. a friend still has to clear the area. the winds will pick up this afternoon with breezy conditions and plenty of sunshine. we will dry out quickly. 81 to 84 degrees today. when normal high for september 17 is 78 degrees.

84 saturday and sunday. sunshine for the next seven days. -- 80 on saturday and sunday. sunshine for the next seven days. >> we will have another update at 8:55 a.m.

8:30 now on this friday morning, september 17, 2010. rain still rolling through new york city. just ahead, imagine being buried alive with just a few tools to try and free yourself. that's the terrifying premise of

the new movie "buried" with ryan reynolds. he's here to tell us all about this film straight ahead. another intense topic that maybe we have with our children is given the economy, how do we talk to our kids about money and is it okay to scare our kids? that question has been raised by jean chatzky, one of our favorite experts around here. and some of the cars of the future. not only do they look good, but each car gets you more than 100 miles per gallon of fuel. and you'll start seeing these things on the road in the not too distant future. and just to our left, let's say hello to jack shepard, one of the stars. nice to see you. >> it's a wonderful show. >> thank you. >> you play opposite laura

graham, peter krause and many others, what's the dynamic like on that set? >> it's a riot, there's so many of us on the show, we have to park in another studio. it's really fun because there's so many cast members, you get to work, oh, i get to see craig t. nelson "todatoday and i haven't him in more than a week. >> the comic relief of this crowd. >> comedian slash sex symbol. >> how do you like that? >> it's great, that's the role i played in my family growing up. i think all middle children are charged with -- don't let my size fool you. so, yeah, i fit right into the braverman clan. >> so you're working with children. you seem to be particularly good working with children. >> yes, because i don't listen a lot. so i'm able to deal with 12 hours of the same question over

and over again. but it's great. the kid i work with, tyree is great, fun, and really a blast. >> friday is flattery day here on the "today" show. we want to say that your mother that's coming up, the freebie that's coming out. >> i'm in town with angeliqua, you can meet me. >> on tuesdays at 9:00 central. parenthood. >> let's get a check of the weather from steph. >> we're down here at the end of the plaza, we have four college roommates who are celebrating their 40th birthday.

it's not really your 40th birthday, is it? >> no, they ran out of 20-year-old sat ssat sats. >> that rain in the midwest kind of stays put, only moves a little bit to the east, into the >> i hope you're having a great friday. it's going to be beautiful this afternoon, drying out and less breezy with wind out of the breezy with wind out of the north at -- northwest. and we have more birthdays, triplets here. take that thing off, put on your

headband, happy birthday. let's celebrate more birthdays with willard scott down in d.c. hey, willard. >> i mean the whole month of september, fall is almost here. unbelievable. and time flies, happy birthday, take a look. beautiful alma matthews. washington, d.c., our hometown. lives independently and is a member of the child community and she delivers food to senior citizens, god love her. we have paul dreibelbis. takes care of his 89 acre farm and attributes longevity to exercising mentally and spiritually. two good ones. rose zorn, 100 years old, exercises on the elliptical.

that would break any neck. every single day does that, loves cross word puzzles. take a look, excuse me, i'm going to cough here. and we have joseph waroguier. he's 101, a retired real estate agent. he's known for making the best wine in the whole state of ohio. and lillian carpenter, west greenwich, rhode island, 105 years old. and we have laura dory, williamsville, new york, started a beauty shop and started oil painting when she was 60 years old. >> all right, willard, thank you

very much. when we come back, actor ryan tax on everything you buy?

that's in andy harris' unfair tax plan. 23% sales tax. a 23% sales tax will cut my business in half. would be devastating. andy harris' 23% sales tax absolutely makes no sense. 23% sales tax would really make things unaffordable. that's too high for the average american out here. i don't know how we would manage it really.

don't like that idea. we can't afford andy harris' idea. i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. ryan miller had a fast ride to a-list fame in the hit movie "the proposal." in his new movie "buried" he plays a contractor in iraq who wakes up buried with just a flashlight and cell phone to try and save his life. >> my name is paul, i'm an american citizen from michigan. i'm a civilian truck driver. i have been taken hostage anywhere in iraq. i need $1 million by 9:00 tonight or i'll be left to die here in this coffin that i'm

buried in. >> ryan reynolds, why. we're going to stick you in a coffin for 90 minutes? >> yeah, i read the script and it was probably the most terrifying script i ever read not because people were chasing me and there were any special effects. it's just one guy in a coffin, you never leave the coffin and you can't help but think what would i do? it's just an incredible story. >> it's very disturbing emotionally. here you are in this coffin, you say you have the lighter, you have the flashlight and you have the phone and that's about it. and there's a snake in there? >> that does happen at one point. it was incredible director rodrigo cortez, it was sort of a modern day hitchcock film. >> there's a fire in the coffin

as well? >> yeah, this guy goes through the full gamut of emotions and challenges you could ever imagine in this very, very small space. but this director found a way to marry this incredible narrative challenge to this incredible technical challenge. >> you suffered cuts bruises. >> you burned your fingers on a lighter? >> yeah, i emerged skinless from the coffin by the end. but that stuff was really all before the war. to sit there with an audience and watch them at a perfect 45-degree angle? >> do a lot of people want to watch the film? >> the next thing we knew the movie created sundance to an

incredible reaction and it's just been like a snowball since. it's just been building and building. >> have you had any residual feelings from this? i'm very klaaserphobic so this would mess me up for a while. >> even elevators, elevators are starting to feel more like large glass sweaters to me. >> it's very, very exciting, were you a fan of that comic book as a kid. >> i knew the log line. i kind of knew the basics of it. but i won't pretend that i was always a fan of it at all. but when i dove into that universe, it's basically kind of the star wars of the d.c. universe. it was just a huge world to jump in. >> i want you to explain what you said, you said filming in new orleans in the summer in that outfit was like shooting an

entire movie inside alec baldwin. what did that mean? i have been trying to imagine what that means. >> i can't believe somebody pulled that quote out of the interview. >> you said that. >> i did say that, but i just watched the departed and it was the most intense portrayal of anything i had ever seen. i thought this is what new orleans feels like, it's like shooting in his aorta. >> are you shooting another film with sandra bullock? "most wanted"? >> there's not even a script yet, but we both would love to do it. >> so you'll do it? >> yes. >> "buried" opens in select theaters. everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases.

as you know, there's a big difference between fees and taxes. but...they're the same. it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. there's a big difference between fees and taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it's a tax. now he says it isn't true. we didn't raise taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely.

we're back at 8:45 this morning on "today's" money teaching kids about financing. "today's" financial editor jean chatzky who's bringing her message to children. home run new book called "not your parents' money book." i don't think there's ever a time that could be considered too early to start putting these thoughts on your kids minds. what's the age appropriateness of this book? >> this book is for middle school aged kids who typically don't get this education in school and rely on their parents to give it to them and sometimes parents don't know what to say. >> parents in a recent survey say they do talk to their children about finances are they giving the wrong messages or are they sometimes so influenced by their own financial situation that it's not clear? >> i think it's a little bit of both and what we learned from the economic crisis is that even parents sometimes don't have a

grip on the very basic information that kids told me that they want to know. >> what were the concerns on their minds? >> they really are very practical, they want to know, how much money am i going to need to live independently? how do i earn that much money? how do i get more money "today" was a big question on their mind and the book includes all of those things. >> i think a lot of people worry if we put too much emphasis on money. there's a part in the book i want to ask you about. you tell kids if they don't have money, they'll probably be pretty miserable. you might not be able to see the doctor, you might live somewhere that's not convenient to your works or school, and nights out and trip to the malls and vacation will be new and far between. you're saying wake up kids, and that's a tough lesson at an early age. >> our kids need to understand the reality that they have to go to work, they have to make a decent living and they have to spend less than they make in

order to have enough money to do the things they want. >> so let's say you're my parent and i'm in middle school. so what is the dialogue we need to have? what are the things you need to talk to me about? >> you need to talk about how much things cost on a regular basis, monthly bills are very important. >> you lay out the monthly expenses? >> you absolutely can, but i would do it one at a time. your kids probably have a cell phone but probably have never seen the bill. go through it line by line and ask them what could they do to help you spend a little bit less. >> there's a lot of parents in this country that are hurting right now, one or both parents may be unemployed, how honest do you be with your kids without scaring them to death? >> you want to reassure them that they will be okay. they know you're stressed, even if you haven't come right out and tell them. one of the reasons that i worked on a national money night conversation that you can have with your kids and we have got

conversations up for free on the website on money night.com. >> when you get to high school students, you really need to sit down and talk to them about expenses for college. what a great opportunity to talk about finances. >> because many kids do not understand how much of the college cost they will be asked to bear. and it's important to give them that information before they go and borrow. kids are coming out of school with about $20,000 in student loan debt these days. they then have to pay those bills. >> and finally, one exercise in the book, you want parents to discuss with their children and get the children to tell them whether they consider themselves to be spenders or savers, why is that so important? >> it's important that you understand how to be a saver i even if you feel inside that you're a spender. it's the most important thing a

parent can teach area kids. >> if you have a fine age e tee needs to learn about finances, go to the website and jean might work with you. and how far can a car go on a single gallon of fuel?

a couple of years ago, a --

hundred miles or more on a single gallon of fuel and we're revealing the winners of the progressive automotive x price contest. good morning. hundred miles on a single gallon of fuel, how big an achievement is that? >> huge, considering that the white house is pushing us to get 35 miles to the gallon on average by 2013. >> the cars we're going to see, do they travel 100 miles on a single gallon of fuel because you have to be 35 pounds in other words to drive them? they're very light. it looks kind of futuristic on the inside, made with alabama -- aluminum. >> the wave 2. >> that runs on what?

>> that runs on e-85 rhett noll. >> this gets 171 miles equivalent per gallon. there's even space in the trunk. >> we want to mention, one of the criteria, they have to be able to make these things. >> absolutely. >> and lyon is out of charlotte, north carolina. two passenger. >> two passenger, top speed? >> i don't know the exact top speed, but it's going to take care of you on the road. >> highway drivable? >> highway drivable, definitely. top speed, you want 200 miles on the highway. >> this is more of a motorcycle than a car. >> it is a motorcycle, it's the e tracer. this is electric and it gets the equivalent of 197 miles per gallon. the equivalent of that because it's electric. what you're looking at here is technology, and there are some

of these already on the road in europe. in the future, this is what is possible. >> because they have to make these cars so light or these motorcycles so light, what's the safety element here. >> they've got to be crash worthy. and this has all the safety features that you would have if you were on the roads in europe. here in the u.s.? they have go to through a lot of testing to see that. >> real quickly, i want to mention these people. these are the team leaders. oliver kutner, ron servin and ron reger. we can be doing more of this in the near future. >> technology here, slowly getting incorporated into our cars every day. >> and if these guys can accomplish 100 gallons or more, why can't this goal of 35 miles per gallon be achieved in the near future.

>> absolutely. >> cool cars and motorcycles, thank you very much. we are going to be back with much or of "today" on a friday morning, but first, these messages and your local news and weather.

>> this is wbal tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. here's a look at one of our top stories. a triple shooting at johns hopkins hospital is being investigated as a murder- suicides. shortly after 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning 50-year-old paul pardus became distraught after being briefed on his mother's medical condition there. he shot the doctor. the then barricaded himself in his room with his mother, prompting a response from police tactical units. tactical units. around

everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there's a big difference between fees and taxes. but...they're the same. it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. there's a big difference between fees and taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it's a tax. now he says it isn't true. we didn't raise taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. back with a check on

the forecast in a moment. >> now let's take a look at your forecast with sandra shaw. >> high-pressure is going to build intraday -- in today. partly cloudy and clearing in the afternoon. gwenn set 5 to 15 miles per hour for the afternoon. -- the wind it will be at 5 to 50 m.p.h. for the afternoon highs right around 84 the weekend. >> we will have another weather update at 925 a and