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. good morning. high alert. a failing levee prompts an evacuation in wisconsin. now hundreds are being hold it could be up to a week before they're allowed to return home. bracing for impact. passengers get the scare of their lives as the landing gear malfunctions forcing pilots to make an emergency landing at new york's jfk airport. >> stay down! stay down! >> this morning the harrowing moments caught inside that plane. and education nation, the most powerful country on earth, but our students rank 24th in

math and 17th in science. what's wrong with the system? what can we do to give our children a better future? we're live at the white house to ask those questions of president barack obama "today," monday, ask those questions of president barack obama "today," monday, september 27, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on this monday morning. i'm matt lauer live at the white house. ann curry is actually back in new york to kick off education nation over in the learning plaza, ann, good morning to you. >> good morning, matt and take a look at what we have done to the place. we have turned this entire area into a learning plaza and we're

bringing together some 300 -- >> anne, thanks very much, every single american president says they want to become the education president. studies show that the situation over the years has actually gotten worse. 12th graders who were tested for reading levels in 2005 actually scored lower than 12th graders tested for reading in 1992. 70% of our students graduate. that means 1.3 million student who is should get a diploma don't, they drop out. and roughly half of all teachers leave the profession in the first five years of being in the profession. the problems facing our education system. the question of course is can we fix those problems? we're going to ask those questions of president barack obama in an exclusive, live, 30-minute interview coming up in our 8:00 half hour.

>> and i'm sorry if you couldn't hear me earlier, we have turned this entire 30 rock area into a learning plaza. we have got lots of people coming out to speak, parents and teachers and government technology experts. also coming up from new york, we're going to be speaking to that megachurch pastor who's accused of luring young men into sexual relationships. and also we're going to meet the man who survived a very scary crash, we have some pictures of that very scary crash when a guardrail sliced right through his suv. he survived, and he'll be talking to us about that. first let's go back inside studio 1a. tamron hall has all the headlines. we began with more flooding in parts of the midwest. a levee is leaking in portage,

wisconsin, some people have been evacuated. officials say if more evacuations are needed residents will have to get out by boat. "today"today a panel appoin president obama begins its investigation into the oil spill in the gulf of mexico and the administration's response to it. hyundai is recalling more than 131,000 sonata sedans sold in the u.s. because of potential steering wheel problems. the recall involves sonatas built before september 10. gas prices are holding steady, the average price for regular now $2.69 a gallon. steve berk will become ceo of nbc universal. burke will replace the current ceo who will step down when the deal closes.

overseas markets are higher on wall street. erin burnett is on wall street. >> we're talking about the best september since 1939, we'll see if we can hold through the end of the week. and this week we'll hear about the government's plan to get out of the aig. taxpayers put $100 billion into aig. elsewhere tamron companies doing deals, you've got walmart buying the biggest retailer in south after karric africa. so today, confidence is our headline, back to you. an effort to rescue 33 miners trapped in chile, heavy pipes that will be used to make a rescue tunnel arrived on sunday. it will hoist the men up one by

one. it is not 7:05, back to ann. >> we're going to go outside and find al >> it looks like the rain is

going to be with us subleased off and on as we had through the monday. give yourself as much extra time as you can. >> and that's your latest weather. all right, al, thank you very much, now to politics and countdown to the midterm election now about five weeks away. president obama will hit the campaign trail a little later today after our conversation in the 8:00 hour. the president's going to try to recapture some of the campaign 2008 magic with a big rally on a college campus in wisconsin. this as congress decides to hold off on a very contentious vote

over taxes. >> reporter: five weeks until election day, the president leaves "today" for a three-day campaign swing. while on the sunday shows it was clear the biggest fight in washington will likely not be resolved until after the midterm, whether to extend the bush tax cuts for the middle class only as the president wants, or for all taxpayers, even those with the highest income. >> we're absolutely going to get this done before the end of the year, we may well take it up before the midterms. >> reporter: the white house has been ratcheting up the pressure on the gop. >> they're going to have to explain to their constituents why they're holding up tax cuts for the middle class. >> the administration wants to extend the tax cuts for middle class families but not those making more than $250,000 a year, saying to give the wealthy tax breaks will add $700 billion to the deficit, but the

republicans are holding out saying not even the highest paid taxpayers can afford a tax hike. >> without preventing these tax increases on the american people, it will be the most irresponsible thing that i have seen since i've been in washington, d.c. and i've been here a while. >> reporter: with five weeks to go, many analysts think democrats will lose control of the house this fall. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell was expressing optimism sunday. >> we're competitive in a lot of places. will we win them all? who knows. the delaware congress race was interesting. >> reporter: this time from october 1998, on the subject of evolution. >> you know what? evolution is a myth and even darwin himself -- >> evolution is a myth? have you ever looked at monkey?

>> why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans? >> and in a sign of her growing national profile, o'donnell was parodied on "saturday night live" which had fun with her comments that she once dabbleded in witchcraft. >> and live from new york, it's saturday night! >> speaking of elections, this could be the week we hear whether white house chief of staff rahm emanuel is moving on to run for mayor of chicago. every indication he will the only question is when and who will replace him. >> savannah guthrie at the white house. it's now ten minutes past the hour. lawrence o'donnell is the host of "last word" with lawrence o'donnell. five weeks before the midterm

election, just how much trouble is the democrats in? >> in 1994 when we had that huge shift and the democrats lost the house and the senate. at this point in the process, no one knew that that would happen, there were no polling indications that that would happen, no pundits predicted. this is the worst shape the democrats have ever been in. >> so the president's team is now putting him on college campuses in a series of appearances to too toy bring in those surge voters from 2008, would you characterize that as a hail mary pass. >> what it really is a move back to things that worked in the past. we have seen the president go into the town hall venue, didn' work so well, having people ask him questions, so now they're putting him back on stage in that celebrity mode. remember what obama's problem was? he was a celebrity, that's when he was the most popular, so now they're going to put him back in that giant arena with all these

fans and try to re-create that feeling. >> some really good news for republicans, a pugh research poll found that 49% of independents are likely to vote for a republican. also at the same time last week, we had these young guns come out with their touted pledge to america, how effective do you think these two bits of news were in changing the spotlight? >> well, footnote on the young gun republicans, they range in age from 40 to 47. so a nice definition of a young gun. the young gun stuff that they're advancing, the policies that they're advancing, people aren't really hearing it, what's controlling this is the unemployment numbers. it was bad in 1994 when the democrats lost everything, it's 50% worse now, the economic conditions control this morning anything else. >> people say they don't want these unemployment numbers, they

want to -- the incumbent is in trouble. >> this kind of economy creates a vote for change and unfortunately for the democrats, since they're in control, the word change appears on the ballot as the republicans in a two-party system. >> all this attention about christine o'donnell, we heard about this videotape that emerged over the weekend. >> we are not related if that's your question. i think kelly's related to her, maybe nora is, i don't know. >> what i want to know is, is the delaware seat as important as all the attention that she's being given? >> absolutely, because if the republicans could take the delaware seat, they could probably take the senate. and if this nomination by the republicans is what loses it for the republicans, i'm afraid the phrase senator o'donnell, which i have been trying to give my whole life. but you can tell "saturday night

live" wants her to win because they gave the part to a regular cast member, that means they want to use them again and again and again. >> good luck to you on your broadcast. it's great to have you here this morning. and "last word with lawrence o'donnell" is on at 10:00 p.m. eastern time here on nbc. a scarey scene at jfk airport over the weekend when the crew of a delta connection flight was forced to make an emergency landing after the landing gear on that plane failed to deploy properly. now some passengers aboard the plane actually used their cell phone cameras to capture the tense moments, tom costello covers aviation for us, tom, good morning to you. >> good morning, the crew was getting an awful lot of credit for keeping their cool and making it very clear what the passengers should do as they came in for a very dicey

emergency landing without all the plane's landing gear. >> reporter: final harrowing moments as the pilot tells passengers to prepare for an emergency landing. >> brace forrism pact. >> reporter: and the warning from a deadly serious flight attendant. >> stay down! stay down! >> reporter: among the 60 passengers on board, chase and alsondra returning from a business trip. >> the flight attendant was yelling. >> stay down! stay down! >> reporter: delta connection, flight 4951 was flying from atlanta to new york's white planes airport when the plane's right landing gear refused to come down, realizing they may need a bigger airport, the pilots diverted to jfk and ask controllers there to clear a run

way. >> the right gear is stuck up, the other two are down. >> would you prefer the 3-1 left or 3-1 right? >> when the landing gear is not coming down, you know you're going to have an accident for sure. the plane is going to swerve in the direction of the retracted gear. >> reporter: the delicate balancing act, putting the plane down on two of three landing gear. these images from a cell phone captured the sparking flying as the plane's wing dragged on the cement. once out of the plane safely, relief. and praise for the pilot who pulled it off. >> no complaints from me. >> reporter: and from one curious passenger, a question about his interrupted trip to white plains.

>> do we still get frequent flier miles? >> reporter: delta praised the professionalism of a crew. these days getting a landing gear stuck is rather rare, though it is mechanical, you can get malfunctions, the ntsb will be investigating to see why the gear didn't come down in the first place. >> tom costello in washington, thank you very much. let's go back to new york and ann. as we have been reporting this morning, this week nbc news is going to be taking an unprecedented look at the state of america's schools. we have got nbc's tom brokaw here to set all things off on learning plaza. >> i have been covering this subject for 40 years and i have done a lot of documentaries for nbc and for other outlets as well. there has never been a time in america when education is a more critical issue and understand the magnitude of this issue, you

simply have to look at the numbers. >> reporter: today, american 15-year-olds rank 24th in math, 17th in science, tenth in literacy. more than a quarter of american students don't graduate from high school, those that do, only half are prepared for college. in just one generation, we have dropped from number one, to number 12 in college graduation rates. >> pretty stunning numbers. and as you have been just mentioning, 40 years, what have you seen in terms of what has changed? why are we in this situation. >> there's been a sea change in terms of attitude, everybody understands that president bush's 43, no child left behind, this president's race to the top, the silicon valley billionaires are getting deeply involved. they got to where they are because they were highly

educated. they know they have to have an educated constituency to get workers. >> tom brokaw this morning. it's fantastic that you're going to be lending your perspective as we take a look at this all this week. >> we're going to have mark zuckerberg on later who founded facebook who gave $100,000 to newark. >> let's go back to the white house with matt lauer. >> all right, ann, thank you, and tom thank you as well. politics took center stage this weekend during the season premier of "saturday night live," just in case you missed any of it, here are some highlights. >> now the latest polls have you trailing but that's because of the media's fixation on trivial things, like your talking about

dabbling in witchcraft on bill maher's show. >> you guys, i was 16. >> can you think of anything at all from your past that might be problematic? >> no, nothing. >> this race is going to tighten up and when it does, it's going to be a real dogfight. >> please don't tell me about dogfights, i know all about dogfights. for your information, i used to run a business staging dogfights. >> we probably shouldn't be hearing this. >> exactly, you know what the people of delaware don't want to hear about it either, they want to hear about the future and taking back the country and restoring the founders' vision. things like that. >> this has gone on long enough. working in albany is just like watching "saturday night live." there are a lot of characters,

it's funny for ten minutes and then you just want it to be over. >> finally on a serious note, nbc universal's ceo justify zucker announced that he will be stepping down this winter. and i just want to take a chance to express my -- >> they take no prisoners, do they? >> oh, well, it was very funny, i thought on saturday night. >> still ahead from here at the white house, our exclusive half-hour long interview with the president, he has said that the success of our students will determine success of this country in the 21st century. so how do we fix our schools? we'll talk about that with the president at 8:00, but first, this is "today" on nbc.

coming up, how early should

you start your kids in school? i'll take you to a kindergarten class to take a look at some of the challenges facing students and their teachers. and we'll take a look at whether lindsay lohan will go back into rehab. that's coming up after your local news. [ female announcer ] "i can't believe it's not butter" with no trans fat and 70% less saturated fat than butter. butter taste, better health.

it was a real shock. i remember being at the hospital thinking, "i should have done more to take care of myself." you should've. that's why i'm exercising more now. eating healthier. and i also trust my heart to lipitor. [ male announcer ] when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering medication that is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. lipitor is backed by over 18 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications,

or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. dean will never forget what he went through. don't take your health for granted. [ male announcer ] have a heart to heart with your doctor about your risk. and about lipitor. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. here is a check on the morning commute with more on what rain will bring to the roadways. >> you will need some extra time this morning. an accident at the outer loop on loch raven. miles per hour approaching 95. harford road, overturned vehicle

still clearing and glenarm. honeygo are and belair road, another accident to watch for. we are also dealing with heavy delays on the west side. eight miles per hour on the outer loop. that stretches from reisterstown road down to edmondson. you can see the delays out of the white marsh area. 97 in the southbound direction approaching general highway, another accident. let's give you a live view of traffic in the white marsh area. that is the pace of things. stop and go down to the 895 split. live view of traffic at 97. very heavy ride there. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> the rain has tapered off. not as heavy as it was earlier this morning.

still, light-to-moderate rain showers this morning. the will be the case as we had through the day today. you will see ring go through, and then our break. high temperatures may be sneaking into the low 60s. maybe a thunderstorm tomorrow. cried a cool weekend. -- dry but cool weekend. >> check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back in 25 minutes with another live update.

four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle class marylanders do.

7:30 now on a monday morning, it's the 27th day of september, 2010. you're looking at a live shot of the white house in washington, d.c. on what is a rainy morning here in washington. just a reminder, in 30 minutes we'll have a exclusive, live, half-hour interview with the president on the state of education in this country. i'm making my way into the green room, a little different than the green room we have in studio 1a. >> i hope you're not having to keep your voice down so you

don't wake up the family. >> i think everybody's probably up and getting ready to go to school, even though we're disrupting things down here. we're going to look at the state of education in this country, many people feel it's in a crisis mode right now. and if you want to know what's happening inside schools, you've got to get inside classrooms. i'm going to start in just a couple of minutes by taking you to an innovative school up in boston where they think they have found a way to give kids a head start. and also ahead this morning on a much different subject, a pastor of a georgia megachurch is speaking out for the first time about allegations that he used his position to seduce young men. we're going to begin this half hour with actress lindsay lohan, she is reportedly planning to check herself back into rehab following friday's

drama that she was ordered to jail without bail only to be freed a few hours later. >> reporter: for lindsay lohan, the trip from court to jail to rehab and back again is becoming a well worn and tired path. her fans, directors, the courts, everyone, it seems, wanting the h merry go round to stop. just weeks after getting out of rehab, lohan found herself back in court, she had nailed yet another drug test. before meeting the judge, a message on her twitter page read, substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn't go away overnight. the judge seemed hardly sympathetic. he ordered lohan locked up without bail for four weeks. >> his message was i don't care if you're a celebrity, you're going into jail and then we'll sort things out.

>> reporter: but no sooner had she been cuffed and taken away, freedom cost lohan $300,000 and she has to wear that monitoring bracelet. any trust she had built up is gone. >> lohan spent 12 hours and ten minutes in custody. and while most people believe that jail is no place for treatment, freedom isn't making her any better either. >> treatment is for surrendering and admitting the fact that you can't trust yourself to always make the right decisions. >> reporter: and now her vicious circle continues, due in court for a probation hearing next month where the whole process starts all over again. for "today," lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. and now let's get a check from al roker. >> we have got some moos from

minnesota, and you've got your christmas ornaments on. let's check your weather and see what's happening, we'll show you, could this be nicole? we're watching the tropics, 30% chance of development, this thing right around the eastern caribbean, we are looking to see, it may actually work its way up into the gulf, across florida and then along the eastern seaboard. we'll see. week ahead, it's going to be wet in the eastern third of the country. for the midweek period, above normal in new england, much of the western thirds of the country, with more wet weather along the eastern seaboard, and then as we move toward the latter part of the week, more rain on the east coast, we have had a drought, so we could use the rain, above normal >> we are off to a wet start this morning. the rain will be with us off and on. there will be breaks in the precipitation, but

>> and don't forget you can check your weather any time of the day or night, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. >> all right, al, thanks. now to the scandal that has rocked one of the country's biggest megachurches. eddie long vowed to fight allegations that he coerced young men into having sex with him. >> reporter: eddie long got a hero's welcome at sunday services though there was a mix of opinions about whether he should stay or go. he made it pretty clear which option he's taking. hand in hand sunday morning with

his wife, accused of pressuring young male church members into sex, long told his megachurch of 25,000 members he isn't leaving them unless they're leaving him and he left little doubt about his future. i am not the man that's being portrayed on the television. that's not me. that is not me. i am not a perfect man, but this statement i'm going to fight. >> reporter: after denying the allegations through an attorney last week, long broke his silence at the spate of lawsuits filed against him by former members. robinson was charged this year in connection with a burglary at long's church, he's yet to enter a plea. a fourth lawsuit was filed by a former member of the a satellite church in north carolina.

>> by a counsel of my lawyer, they have advised me not to try this case in the media. i am not going to try this case in the media, it will be tried in the court of justice. and dealt with in the court of justice. and please understand, that's the only place i think i'll get justice. >> the men claim long who travels in first class style, rolls royces, private jets, proximities to president, showered them to jobs, attention as teenagers calling them spiritual sons after coaxing them into sex acts after reaching the age of maturity. >> when i heard the story and i saw how they acted and i saw how they said it and i did it all privately and individually, it's that gut feeling you know, and any jury is going to know they're telling the truth. >> terry williams said she was

struck by what long didn't say. >> what's most important is the notion of a young person having their innocence taken away and being traumatized. whether he confesses to that or not, that's an issue that i think should be on the front burner. >> reporter: whatever the truth, long appears ready for the battle of his life. >> i feel like david against goliath. but i have got five rocks and i. >> reporter: prosecutors here in dekalb county, georgia say they do not pl-- >> ron mott, this morning, ron, thanks. and coming up next, matt goes back to kindergarten to find out how to prepare our children for a lifetime of learning. and live at the white house for

a candid discussion on the state of education in america. [ boy ] there's something new inside your mcdonald's happy meal. it's called hope. hope? 'cause every time you get a happy meal or a mighty kids meal some of the money goes to ronald mcdonald house charities. happy meals. the simple joy of helping. ♪ happy meals. the simple joy of helping. the chill of peppermint. the rich dark chocolate. york peppermint pattie.

get the sensation. we're part of nature, and as we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. it's a selfish thing to want to protect nature. i never intended to be a businessman. we made the world's best climbing equipment out of here. we realized that putting in and taking out of all these pitons was causing damage to the rock. so, i made these little soft aluminum chalks that you just put in with your fingers. and i'm a dam buster.

we've been working for years to take this dam out. the reservoir behind it is only 4 feet deep-- the water gets real warm, kills a lot of the life in the river. when you take out a dam, that's a real victory. i mean, a concrete victory so to speak! when i get an idea to do something, i like to take the first step. if that feels good, i take another step. to do good, you actually have to do something. no matter what you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate at membersproject.com. and they're at your house. yea, i know. well... did you see that? my mom just took a bite of my kraft macaroni and cheese. just wait she'll do it again. i mean who am i because i'm not saying that i did it perfectly either, but, i don't know. mhmm. honey, eat. the crime wave continues. ♪ [ male announcer ] gooey creamy delicious kraft macaroni and cheese. ♪

you know you love it. as they do at the beginning ? only air optix® contact lens materials have tricomfort™ technology. they let up to five times more oxygen through the lens than traditional soft contact lenses... ...are designed to retain moisture for comfort all day long... and have superior deposit resistance for cleaner lenses. air optix®, the lens you can survive a long day in. go to airoptix.com for a free one-month trial offer. education nation is brought to you by the university of phoenix, an educated world is a better world. welcome back, everyone, to a special edition of "today" live from the white house. we're going to be sitting down with the president in just a couple of minutes. but first, 67% of our nation's fourth graders are reading below

the national reading proficiency standards. according to a lot of educators the problem is that many kinder ga gartners are already behind. i recently visited a school in boston where they feel they have a solution. before you got here, you had to start somewhere. and for most of us, that was kindergarten. blocks, finger paints and learning your a-b-cs, but what about words like curriculum, assessment, academic

achievement. these are no longer foreign words to a kindergartner. it's a standard. >> is everybody ready for the first day of kindergarten? >> the first day of kindergarten in boston is filled with themes happening all over the country this month. excitement, a few tears, even by parents. what's different about this class is their age, most of these kindergarteners aren't five, they're four, and they're part of a growing trend to get children started on their educational journey early in life. here in boston they call it kindergarten 1 or k-1. most know it as pre-k. >> tracey griffith became principal at the elliott four years ago, it was so important to have pre-k in her school, she said she wouldn't take the job without it. >> we're fully immersing our

4-year-olds in a school day and getting together with the routines and rituals of being a student, being a learner, and starting earlier. >> see, i hear you saying fully immersing 4-year-olds and i start to get a little bit nervous. are you immersing these kids at the cost of fun? >> no, we're immersing them in fun. >> we have a special game "today," it's a guessing game, who knows who this is? >> spider-man! >> this is spider-man. who is this? >> big bird! >> even if the fun was at my experience. >> you might know it, this is a man. do you know what his name might be? >> maybe peanut butter? >> you think it's peanut butter? >> he's going to come and visit us. >> hi.

how are you? >> peanut butter? >> one of the differences between pre-k and nursery school is the qualification of the teachers. at the elliott, pre-k teachers must have their masters degree. >> a hat? a heart, sure, where do you want it? you want it right here? >> you want a big heart or a little heart? >> the statistics are there to support the case for pre-k. student who is attended pre-k were 36% less likely to be held back in kindergarten, passed a literacy test at a 34% higher rate and were 34% less likely to repeat a grade later on. >> if you get a 4-year-old in the program who's not emotionally ready, do you suggest that that child not be here? >> no, i make sure that he's here. because if he's not ready, he needs to be here.

>> it sounds a little like tough love? >> tough love? >> just that you'll get through it, don't cave in to the tears, you'll get through it, you'll be better in the end. >> i never thought of it as tough love, i think of it as love. >> according to the most recent study about 75% of our nation's 4-year-old do not have access to a pre-k program and the basic reason given is funding. coming up, our exclusive live interview with barack obama on the state of education of in this country right after these messages. with blackberry torch i can have multiple tabs going, scroll over to it -- there it is. i call it a "future phone." [ laughs ] i use maps if i need to find an obscure address. it's awesome. and it really makes me feel like this is my city, you know? [ laughs ] ♪

♪ i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪ grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you

♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ your favorites, in pieces. it's called hope. hope? 'cause every time you get a happy meal or a mighty kids meal some of the money goes to

ronald mcdonald house charities. happy meals. the simple joy of helping. ♪ 0 to 60? or 60 to 0? [ tires screech ] the quarter-mile, or a quarter-century? is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving? to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing everything well. because in the end... everything matters. the best or nothing. that is what drives us. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class.

this call to action for education nation has a lot of us thinking about our own education and i was wondering if your parents actually went to college. >> both were high school graduates. >> and my father and mother did not go to college until i did. my mother and i went to college together. we were the first of our family to ever graduate. >> if we want our children to be able to do that, obviously we have got to fix this. >> we have been talking about how to fix it. we have an exclusive live

interview with president obama half your local news. [ animals calling ] ♪ [ pop ] [ man ] ♪ well, we get along ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you ♪ i could hang around till the leaves are brown and the summer's gone ♪ [ announcer ] when you're not worried about potential dangers, the world can be a far less threatening place. take the scary out of life with travelers insurance... and see the world in a different light.

ancr: on september 2nd we took over a restaurant just for a day. then we made lunch for the neighbors. thousands of turkey burgers on us. to show people there's a burger that's as lean as it is delicious. it's really good. he loves the turkey burgers. if i can give her something that's good for her and lean, i'd totally make this for her. ancr: make the switch. look for jennie-o at a store near you.

you want to replant a forest? maybe you want to rebuild homes for those in need? or, maybe you want to help improve our schools? whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference.

♪ but i really love my bank ♪ i hate-- didn't quite catch that last bit. i said i really love my bank. right... is there a problem ? it's not really raging, man. uh, we were hoping for more raging ? well, you said write from the heart. yeah... don't do that. at ally, you'll love our online savings account. named the best of 2010 by money magazine. ally. do you love your bank ?

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> we have a pretty nasty accident involving a vehicle fire at southbound '95. it is at chesapeake house, and all lanes are temporarily blocked. fire crews on the scene. there are delays forming in that direction. a fire truck on the right shoulder. traffic on 97, and all of these

delays are associated with an accident. we will show you that there are other problems to watch for this hour. heavy delays on southbound 95 out of white marsh. in the red beyond the beltway. northeast outer loop from 95 towards the harrisburg expressway. another accident at ellis road and sinclair lane. -- belair road and sinclair lane. this backs of traffic on southbound 795. inner loop delays towards the j.f.x. this accident clearing on southbound 97. tony, over to you. >> the rain has tapered off a little bit. we still have the scattered light-to-moderate rain showers. we have periods of rain, but it

will come through in waves. high temperatures on the lower end of the 70's. wednesday looks like a nice day. sunshine with a high near 74. sunshine with a high near 74. >> back

four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout.

ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle class marylanders do. from nbc, this is education nation. an interview with president barack obama live from the white house. here's matt lauer. >> and good morning, everyone. i'm matt lauer live at the white house on this monday morning, kicking off a week long initiative here on nbc universal, we're calling education nation and i thank you for watching on all the different networks of nbc universal. it's important that we give our kids a good education and yet it seems very difficult to plich. a recent poll found that 67% of

you feel that the education system in this country right now is in crisis. the most important question of course is can we fix it. i'm joined now by the president of the united states barack obama, mr. president, thank you for your time. >> thank you for being this program, there's nothing more important than the issue we're talking about today. >> a third of our opportunities in this country continue graduate. a third aren't college ready when they get their high school diploma and 35 percent of 12th graders are proficient in reading. how did it happen? >> it's been a long time coming. historically, when we first set up the public school systems across the country, we were leaps and bounds ahead of the vast majority of the countries around the world, that's not true anymore. they're surpassing us in math and science.

it ahappened over decades. but part of the challenge is to understand that how well we do economically, whether jobs are created here, high end jobs that support families and support the future of the american people is going to depend on whether or not we can do something about these schools. >> when it comes to crisis in education, it's not just a money thing, but it's a money thing. can we spend our way out of it? >> we can't spend our way out of it. when you look at the statistics, our per pupil spending has gone up in the last few years. ev they don't have up to date textbooks, they don't have computers in the classroom. so those who say money makes no difference are wrong, on the other hand, money without reform will not fix the problem. what we have got to do is

combine a very vigorous reform agenda that increases standards, helps make sure that we have got the best possible teachers inside the classroom, make sure we're clearing away some of the democratic underbrush that's keeping kids are learning. >> one of the ways you want to accomplish that is with your initiative called race to the top. states will compete for money that goes into their education system at the state level if they bring about reform in their communities. while some are applauding it, some have criticized it because it's a competition, it's kind of a march madness surrounding this money when we should be funding all the states. >> the federal government provides assistance to all states under a formula system, especially to help poorer school districts so they can buy

supplies, make sure they can hire supplemental reading instructors and so forth. so that hasn't changed. but that money because it was in a formula, everybody was getting it no matter what you did, wasn't really a catalyst for reform. so what we said is let's set aside a small portion about $4 billion and let's say you've got to compete for this and you've got to compete around things that reformers know make a difference. high standards, accountability, really training teachers effectively, making sure low performing schools are being boosted up. 34 states already have changed their laws, where previously all that stuff that was stuck in state legislators, now suddenly they're starting to make changes. it's probably the most powerful reform in a century. >> why $4 billion sounds like a lot, but it is a fraction, why

not make more federal funding dependent on the kind of reforms you just talked about. >> what we want to do is make sure that we're still helping poor school districts that just don't have enough money. but it turns out that $4 billion, although a small fraction of the money that we spend on school is enough to get people's attention. i'm not going to lie to you, there's going to be resistance as we move forward, a lot of members of congress say to themselves, if my state loses the competition, i don't feel as good about this, even if i initiated reforms. >> how do the kids feel if their state didn't compete as well as another state, they're out of luck. >> that's why we want to make sure that every state is getting help from the federal government. there's no state that can't win this thing is because all they have to do is say we're going to take seriously those things like making sure you've got a terrific teacher in each classroom and making sure we have got high standards and

accountability, every state can accomplish that it's just getting through the resistance that often times builds up in these states. >> there are some good and great teachers in this country, there are also some mediocre and poor teachers in this country. can real reform take place unless you identify those mediocre and poor teachers and remove them? and when i say remove them, i don't mean shuffle them from school to school or put them in a room, i mean fire them. >> first of all i think everybody who looked at this said the single most important ingredient inside the classroom is the quality of the teacher and there are some terrific teachers out there. my sister teaches and when you hear stories about how hard they work when they come home from school, they're still doing lesson plans, often times in tough schools serving as mentors.

one of the things i want to do is lift up the teaching profession to honor the way it needs to be honored in our society. and by the way, when i travelled to china for example and i sit down with the mayor of shanghai and he talks about the fact that teaching is considered one of the most prestigious ones and a teacher is getting paid the same as an engineer, that, i think accounts for how well they're doing in terms of boosting their education system. having said that, what is absolutely true is that if we can't identify teachers who are sub par, give them the opportunity to get better, but if they don't get better at a certain point saying these teachers should not be in the classroom, if we don't do that, then we are doing a disservice to our kids and the school system has to be designed not for the adults, it's got to be designed for the children. >> there's a new documentary out there right now that's called

waiting for superman. they're saying that teachers iss unions are set up to protect their members and protect those mediocre and bad teachers and getting in the way of real reform. is that a fair assessment in your opinion? >> here's what is true, oftentimes teachers unions are designed to make sure that their membership are protected against arbitrary firings, i am a strong supporter of a notion that a union can protect its members and help be part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem. what is also true is that sometimes that means they are resistant to change when things aren't working. to their credit, you have had a lot of unions who are now working with states on his reform plans that include things like charter schools, include

things like pay for performance and higher standards and accountability for teachers and so we have seen states be able to work with teachers unions to bring about reform as opposed to resist them. >> if you could speak to the membership of the two most powerful teachers unions right now and tell them what they must do starting today to be a legitimate partner in reform. >> as president i can speak to them and what i have said to them is that we want to work with you, we're not interesting in imposing changes on you because the truth of the matter is that if teachers aren't feeling god about their profession, they're not going to do a good job in the classroom, but you can't defend a status quo in which a third of our kids are dropping out, you can't defend a status quo when you've got schools across the country that are dropout factories where

more than half of the kids are dropping out. in those schools you've got to have radical change and radical change is something that's in the interest of the students and ultimately in the interest of teachers. the vast majority of teachers want to do a good job, they didn't go into teaching for the money, they went into teaching because they want to make a difference. we have got to identify teachers who are going well, teachers who are not doing well, we have got to give them the support and the training to do well. and if some teachers aren't doing a good job, they've got to go. >> you want to identify the l lowest 5% of schools and turn them over to charter schools. that could double the number of charter schools. are you worried that you would dilute some quality in charter

schools? >> charter schools are not a panacea. one of the things when you're looking at school reform, it turns out there are no silver bullets here, reform is hard, it's systematic, it takes time, but we know that there are some charters who have figured out how to do a very good job in the lowest income schools with the kids who are two, three grade levels behind and yet they can achieve 95% graduation rates, boost reading scores and math scores very high. what we have got to do is to look at the success of these schools, find out how do we duplicate them and make sure that we are still holding charter schools accountable the same which we are all the schools. we shouldn't say just because a school is a charter they're an excellent school, because there are some poor performing charters. what i'm interested in and what my secretary of education is

interested in is fosteringhese laboratories of excellence. if we lengthen the school day here, or we give them a little more home work there, or we're setting aside time for personal development for teachers here, or we're building a culture of excellence among kids at that school, that works, once we find out something works, we want to import that into every school not just charter schools. >> i think people are going to be talking about a documentary, they talk about the lack of choice that people, you mentioned charter schools in those very bad neighborhoods, the lack of choice that people in our poorest of neighborhoods have, if there's a low performing school and there's a charter school, the number of applicants for the few positions at that charter school can be enormous and so what happens by law is that the kids are put into a lottery and literally and figuratively they future is down

to their name being drawn out of a hat. >> it's heart breaking and when you see these parents in the film, you are reminded that i don't care what people's income levels are, their stake in their kids, their wanting desperately to make sure their kids are able to succeed is so powerful and it's obviously difficult to watch to see these parent who is know that -- our goal is to make all schools high quality schools, make every classroom one where if a kid is showing up, taking the responsibility seriously, doing what they're supposed to do, they're going to be able to succeed, they're going to be able to read and have high math scores. what we now know is that there are schools that the work even in the toughest circumstances

and once we know that, it's inexcusable that we don't make sure that every school is performing at that same level. >> we ask parents to give us some e-mail questions. we had bethany who wrote us, one of our biggest concerns in education is that parents are rarely held accountable for their children's education t blame for failing test scores always falls on the teacher. the responsibility of education should be shared by teachers, administrators and parents. why doesn't anyone ever hold parents accountable. >> there has not been a speech i have made on education over the last five years in which i haven't said the exact same thing. if the kid's coming home from school and the parents aren't checking to see if they do their home work or watch tv, that's going to be a problem. and that's by the way true here in this white house. malia and sasha are great kids and great students, but if you gave them a choice, they would be happy to sit in front of the

tv all night long every night. at some point you have to say, your job right now, kid, is to learn. and i'm going to check with your teachers and i'm going to make sure that you're doing your home work and you're not doing anything else until you've done your home work and that kind of attitude, i think makes a huge difference at every level. one thing i want to point out is that there's no doubt that the schools in the toughest neighborhoods and the poorest neighborhoods are often times the ones that are poorest performing, they are in crisis. but one of the things that everybody needs to understand is that across the board, in middle class suburbs in schools that are considered actually pretty good, you are still seeing a decline in terms of math and science performance and one of the things that we are very excited about because we need to focus on math and science, my administration is announcing that we are going to specifically focus on training

10,000 new math and science teachers, we have got to boost performance in that area. we used to rank at the top, we are now 21st in science, 25th in math. that is a sign of long-term decline that has to be reversed and so we're going to be putting a big emphasis on math and science education and part of that means getting better teachers, but part of it also means parent understanding that their kids need to excel in those subjects in particular. >> you're going to make a lot of friends or a lot of enemies here. mr. cohn's sixth grade class in cincinnati, president obama, we understand there are discussions regarding the idea of attending school year round, do you think we should attend school year round? if so why? >> we now have our kids go to school about a month less than most other advanced countries. and that month makes a difference. it means that kids are losing a

lot of what they learn during the school year during the summer, it's especially severe for poorer kids who may not be -- may not see as many books in the house during the summers, aren't getting as many educational opportunities. here's an example of where you've got a good idea, make sure our kids are in school longer, that means the school is open, you've got to pay teachers, custodial staff, et cetera, but that would be money well spent. >> kelly burnett on our plaza, she's from nassau county, florida, kelly, good morning, what's your question for president obama? >> thank you for taking my question president obama, as a father of two very delightful and seemingly very bright daughters, i wanted to know if you think that malia and sasha

would get the same kind of education at a d.c. public school compared to the elite private academy that they're attending now. >> thanks for the question, kelly and i'll be blunt with you, the answer is no right now. the d.c. public school systems are struggling, they have made some important strides over the last several years to move in the direction of reform. there are some terrific individual schools in the d.c. system. and that's true by the way in every city across the country. there are some great public schools that are on par with any public school in the country. a lot of times you get tests in, or if the lottery pick for you to be able to get into those schools and so those options are not available for enough children. i'll be very honest with you, given my position, if i wantsed to find a great public school formal leah -- for malia and

sasha to be in, we could probably maneuver to do it. but for a mom and a dad who are working hard but who don't have a bunch of connections, don't have a lot of choice in terms of where they live, they should be getting the same quality education for their kids as anybody else and we don't have that yet. >> kelly, thank you for your question. >> one more question, how do you inspire those teachers you talked about, the ones that are so important, how do you inspire a young college student who's considering going into teaching, who sees budgets being slashed, seeing teachers have to dip into their own pocket book for classroom supplies and now sees new pressure to get their kids to perform in a system that a lot of people think is broken, how do you inspire the next generation of teachers? >> first of all, there is nothing more important than teaching, i genuinely believe

this. i don't know a teacher who can't look back and say, you know what? here are so many lives that i have touched, so many people who i have had influence over and each of us have memories of some great teacher who steered us in the right direction. what i also want to make sure is that if they go into teaching, they can stay in teaching, they can afford it which means that we have got to raise teacher pay, and to professionalize it if you want to be a master teacher, you can make more money. that's true of any profession. we have got to make sure they have a structure around them in which they can succeed and if we do those things, i think there are tons of kids who want -- the teach for america program, you see some of the smartest kids in the country applying and often times having to be on waiting lists to get in. the problem is that we can't attract great young people to go into teaching, the problem is

after two or three years they start dropping out. they feel discouraged because no matter how hard they're working in the class room, they just can't afford it once they start trying to raise a family, particularly in urban area where is the cost of living is higher and they don't feel they're getting enough support from the principal and the school district. >> so you reform that system and they will come. >> they will come and anybody who's watching, we're going to have to fill about a million teaching slots around the country and i want young people to understand that there is not a more important profession for the success of our economy over the long-term than making sure that we have got great teachers in the classroom. >> some other topics, recently the poverty rate in this country was announced, it's at 14.3%. that means roughly 44 million americans are living at or below the poverty level. the poverty level is $22,000 a year for a family of four. so consider a family of four making $30,000 or $40,000

they're not living the dream either, they're struggling every single week. how can a president hear those numbers and not decide to declare this some sort of national emergency. >> we have gone through the worst recession since the great depression and although the steps my administration has taken to stem the crisis and stabilize the situation, we're still in the midst of the after effects of that, when you've got a lot of people underemployed, it means that the poverty rate is going to go up. that means taking the steps that i've been pushing for, making sure we have tax breaks for companies investing here in the united states, making sure that the small business bill that i will sign today makes sure they

encourage investment, building infrastructure so we are improving our ability to perform internationally, all those things are going to make a difference because the single most important anti-poverty program we can initiate is making sure there's enough job growth out there. >> last time we sat down you said that the recovery would not be a jobless recovery. it seems to me i'm listening to more and more economists who don't agree with that. >> here's the challenge. it's not that this is a jobless recove recovery. we have seen eight months in a row of private sector job growth. we're actually seeing more job growth so far in this recovery than we did in the last recovery back in 2001. the problem is we just lost so many jobs because of the crisis that we have got a much bigger hole to fill and that means we're going to have to accelerate job growth and we have got to do everything we can to focus on that and that means

making sure that anything we do, we're spending that money wisely, and one of the major disagreements i have got with the republicans right now has to do with tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. you and me. you and i, matt, we're not likely to spend any additional tax cut because whenever we need for our families we can afford right now. what we need are tax cuts for the middle class who are struggling and if they get a tax cut, they're likely to spend it, which means that a small business is potentially going to get a customer and we're going to see job growth. so we can't spend $700 billion on a tax cut that is not going to spur job growth. we can spend money on things like infrastructure, on things like school construction, on making sure that small businesses are getting loans because those are the things that are more likely to generate the job growth we need. >> you remember velma hart, who

was a woman who said she was one of your biggest supporters, and she was exhausted defending you. it seems to me what she was saying and i have heard others say as of late, mr. president is that there's a feeling that in some way you have lost touch with the struggles of the average person on the street. i say it with some sense of irony because you began your career in public service as a community organizer, that is all about getting in touch with people on the streets, so how can this criticism be coming up? >> velma i think subsequently was interviewed and she talked about the fact that she said look, the president's really trying, a lot of things i think are right, but it's just not happening fast enough. everybody's feeling that frustration right now. i feel it, acutely. and, you know, the fact of the matter is that as long as

unemployment is as high as it is, as long as we haven't recovered as quickly as we should have, people are going to be hurting and even if they think that i know they're hurting, what they're asking is, when are you going to be able to do something concrete that allows me to get a job or make sure that i can pay my bills or make sure that i don't lose my house, and all i can communicate to the american people is that every single day, the thing that i wake up and the thing that i go to bed with is the fact that there are too many people out there who are doing the right thing, working hard and are having a tough time in this economy, we're doing everything we can to make sure they have an opportunity to live out the american dream. >> we have five weeks before the midterm election. you said in a speech recently,

you said the republicans, they're treating me like a dog. former president clinton said he doesn't think that democrats and you included have been rigorous enough in pushing back against some of the republican attacks. mr. president, do you intend to change your tone or your emotion in terms of your pushing back. >> well, i think that you have heard me speak around the country over the last several months, i think that it's clear, i have got a very sharp difference on a lot of issues. when i say republicans, i really should say republican leadership, i think there's a lot of wonderful people out there who consider themselves republicans or independents who have maybe some criticisms of my administration, but basically recognize we have got to solve some big problems, we have got to be serious, we have got to base our decisions on facts.

what i'm seeing out of the republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible and we saw in their pledge to america a similar set of irresponsible policies, they say they want to balance the budget, they propose $4 trillion worth of tax cuts and $16 billion in spending cuts and then they say we're going to somehow magically balance the budget, that's not a serious approach. so the question for voters over the next five weeks is who is putting forward policies that have a chance to move our country forward so that our schools have improved, so that we have world class infrastructure, so that we're serious about helping small business, we're serious about getting a handle on our spending and who's just engaging in rhetoric, and if that debate is taking place over the next five weeks, we are going to do just fine.

>> rahm emanuel, your chief of staff is considering a run for the mayor's office in chicago. a lot of people think his time is getting short to make that decision. has he communicate his decision to you? >> i think that rahm will have to make a decision quickly because running for mayor in chicago is a serious enterprise. >> has he told you what he wants to do? >> he hasn't told me yet. >> would you support him and endorse him in that race? >> i have said i think he will be an excellent mayor, but until he makes that decision, i'm not going to be to speculate -- >> some of you will return to regular programming, others back to the "today" show after this.. today these factories are full of dot com businesses. and now my job is helping maryland create new economy jobs.

training new math and science teachers investing in our institutions of excellence pioneering new cyber security jobs and giving an old gm plant a jump start building electric motors. i'm barbara mikulski. i approve this message so you'll know i'm fighting for you. 8:30 on a monday morning. it's a wet morning in the northeast. look at these people who are still with us in rockefeller plaza.

a huge structure has been built temporarily for a call to action over our current education system, what needs to be done to fix it. we have got al roker and tamron hall out here in the rain. and we'll be talking with mat after his interview with the president. we're going to meet a man who survived a very frightening accident when he fell asleep at the wheel and impaled his suv on a guardrail. >> september is prostate cancer awareness month, what are the warning signs? at what age should men start being screened? we have got some important life saving information coming up. >> and the five best places to retire, interesting topic "today."

>> tamron does not like to be outside in the rain. >> i like the rain. > one of the stars of nbc's new show. >> nice to see you. we have jason vitter on just last week. he's an adorable young man. he doesn't know the plot, he doesn't know where this thing is going, but rumor has it you know where this thing is going, is that true? >> yes, i have all the secrets. i can't divulge anything. >> at the end of last week's episode, there's a lot more to tell. >> there's so much more to reveal tonight in episodes two and three and we're having a blast making the show wonderful,

writers, directors, producers. >> a blog looking at people and their theories, everyone wants to know what's going on. so if you want people to love it, they are. >> that's great to hear. >> what's really cool is that the part of sophia maguire is actually written for a man and she's a tough go get them. and they changed it so that you could -- and that's very cool. >> they had originally talked to me about another part and i wasn't so keen on it and they said what if we turn this character to a woman and it's such a juicy figurative -- i cannot say anymore. >> all right, we can't wait. >> thank you so much and good luck to you, not that you need it. you can watch an all new episode of "the event" tonight at 9:00,

8:00 central time here on nbc. >> we know it's raining, what else can you add? >> it's raining up and down the east coast. our pick city of today, kwoc. temperature of 68 degrees "today," and as we look at the rest of the country, you've got that wet weather, that's the big feature, from tallahassee, florida, the heavy rain lifts up into new england tomorrow. we have got strong storms along the mid-atlantic states. plenty of sunshine over the western half of the >> we are off to a wet start this morning. the rain will be with us off and on. there will be breaks in the precipitation, but

>> and as we kick off ore special look at education in new york, our friends are showing a special education challenge. john hayes from american express, good to see you. tell us about this challenge. >> first of all, i'm pleased to announce that american express will donate $1 million for school supplies if we can get 100,000 people to come to members project.com/pledge this week and pledge to do something good for their local school system. >> why are you putting that challenge out there. >> because we want to get as many people as possible involved in education, education is the future and we believe it is important and members project is about giving back to the

community. >> how long do people have to do this. >> they have until october 1, so they have until friday of this week to go on to members project.com/pledge and pledge to make a difference. >> thanks a lot, al, and coming up next, we're going to be talking about how to protect men up next, we're going to be talking about how to protect men from prostate cancer. bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side.

"today's" health is brought to you by dannon activa. september is prostate cancer awareness move, a disease that affects one out of every six man. and as one new york man found out, early detection can be the dishes between life and death. >> i'm a lot yearses old, i was

diagnosed with prostate cancer when i was 55 years old. i was totally shocked that i had cancer, i lived a charmed life until then. i was active playing softball, i was a basketball player, i did everything outdoors, i was always knock on wood healthy. i wasn't in my family history either. around the time i turned 50, i started to see a doctor more regularly. he saw that there was a little elevated psa, a psa is a part of the blood test that they take a reading for. initially it was over 6, when i went to the doctor it was over 4. they couldn't feel any growth or any swelling in the area so he suggest they would do the biopsy at that point. the biopsy determined that i had the beginning stages of cancer. my family was probably as astonished as i was when i was diagnosed. i don't think they would have

ever thought it because i was always the little league coach and the soccer coach and the guy on the sidelines that's always around. there are no symptoms for prostate cancer, there was no difference in any lifestyle other than the fact that they said that i had it. and if you didn't believe them, you would think, geez, i'm still the same person, but if i ignored it, i wouldn't be here as long as i am right now. >> joining us now is the a urologi urologist, a chief of robotic surgery and he also treated howard. tell us about what is prostate cancer? >> prostate cancer is a tumor of the pros fate. and we see this in younger and younger men. it's known as the silent killer. so there are no symptoms, howard had no symptoms, so it's found by checking the psa, and lz the

physical exam. what we saw with howard is that i see these kind of patients coming through the office all the time and i feel i'm privileged to be in a position to save their lives, but there are families behind these prostates, so we're not just taking care of the prostates, but their quality of life also. >> are there certain males at risk more than others? >> if the first relative's father, brother, uncle has prostate cancer, americans are 3-1 at higher risk. certainly screening helps starting at the age of 40 and every year after that. the key is not necessarily to act on that number, we want to have the psa, but look at the velocity of the rise of that. no doctor will ever act on just the number. look at the whole patient, look at their history and see how it's going up and based on that you can make a good recommendation to your patients. >> and i was kind of surprised to hear you say that you should start getting screened at 40? >> it's interesting, because in

the last 3,000 surgeries that we have done, about 10% of them are young men. as we see in howard's case, he's around 55, but we see patients in their early 40s where they have a significant prostate cancer. you're acting like a detective who really see who has an aggressive cancer, who has a low risk prostate cancer. >> and the good news is if this is caught early, it's 90% curable. >> what's interesting is that in 2010, we have many options, we have radiation, we have surgeries, my work is mostly robotic surgery which we have focused on saving the quality of life, which is a sexual function. these patients are only spending a day in the hospital, going home early with no blood loss. but the take home message is find the experienced surgeons because technology the hands of people who are not qualified can actually hurt the patients.

so the centers of excellence where they do a lot of these cases those have good outcomes and we're talking about national education week, if as a surgeon "today" you constantly look at your date and you're constantly looking to make it better and better for your patients. >> are there steps that men can take to lower their risk for prostate cancer? >> exercising, a healthy diet, checking up every year with a physical exam and psas absolutely will lower the risk. but you have the genes and as we get older, we have higher risk of prostate cancers, those are not really avoidable. >> and we'll be back in a moment, but first this is >> and we'll be back in a moment, but first this is "today" on nbc. bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%.

and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side. es 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.

martin fletcher has covered

the middle east for more than 340 years. all 110 miles of it from lebanon to banza. the new book "walking israel" a personal search for the soul of a nation. martin, good morning. >> good morning, thank you. >> having seen you for so many years, going so fast, covering every thinkable, unthinkable disaster, war, familiar anyonnee you the idea to slow down and walk? >> i needed to slow down and also i needed to look at israel from a fresh perspective. i did a two week walk and i did another week of -- i wanted to look at not only the country at war that i had reported on for so long, it's another country there. it's a country of incredible achievement and wonderful people

and excitement as you know. that's what i wanted to show in my book, the view of israel, a country that -- certainly people used to call me and say is it safe to come and visit israel? and then i would say sure it is, then a week later they call me and say it's a great place, i had no idea. so i wanted to write a book about that great place that people had no idea about. >> still you also had a surprise or two ahead. you're a man who knows the story, both sides of it and you're restricted because of the needs of news to look at only one side of it, in other words the intensity, the difficulty, the war, so what was surprising to you? >> well, you know, it didn't surprise me, actually, because i knew that this was a different place than the one -- we only look at it from one perspective. so what i enjoyed so much about it was the people in it. and the extra dimension

reporting on the place. >> for example, rogers cafe, the men there, you immediately laughed, what was it that you learned from them? >> when i went through there, i thought this was a boring place. and then i went to this cafe to begin my coverage every morning for coffee and i went around chasing the bombs for weeks. and in this cafe, i met some people, who came from other countries and they all said the same thing, which i have heard many times before, by the way, if it was up to us, we would make peace with the arabs in five minutes. they went you better win, you better kill as many as you can. it was a revealing place to be. because all these people were having coffee in the morning. it just showed you how resilient

these people are. >> what about the lesson which you're intimating about the idea of living together. was there hope that you had found that you hadn't found before about the possibility of peace? because this is one for decades we have won, but you've been reporting on the possibility of ch. >> one reason i stayed so long in israel reporting was because i always believed in the peace process. i thought i want to be here because this time it is going to work. and i have been wrong every time. what you see when you walk along the coast of israel, especially in the north, with 70% of israelis live in the coastal plain of israel, we don't report on those people. a million arabs are actually israeli citizens and they live side by side with israel, not in perfect world harmony, but they get on well enough. and it shows you if there was a peace agreement there's no reason at all why jews and arabs can't live in peace.

>> there is such a close genetic connection, there ought to be peace. >> cousins. >> cousins, the book is called "walking israel." martin fletcher, thank you so much this morning. we're back in a moment. bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out...

he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side.

back at 8:51 p.m.. >> a man was driving back to his college in idaho when he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed impaling his suv into a guardrail. >> not a scratch? >> one scratch, maybe a few bruises, but that was about it. >> you are a lucky man, this guardrail pierces your car, pierces the engine block, makes its way into the passenger compartment, when you woke up and you realized what happened, how long did it take you to realize how lucky you were? >> it wasn't until after everything was done when i was getting my stuff out of the car that i was actually able to figure out how close i was to getting hit by the guardrail and

how wonderfulfully blessed i was to come outen ska eunscathed. >> you were actually 2/3 into the long drive. what do you want to say to those sclej students who have to make that long drive? >> i just want to tell them that you shouldn't drive alone, if you do drive alone, get plenty of sleep before hand and, like, with my accident, i would have been completely okay if i had had a passenger with me because i could have switched off with them or they could have taken the steering wheel when i fell asleep or something. >> this is a big problem, people driving while fatigued, falling asleep. what precautions are you going to take so something like this doesn't happen again? >> every time i go on a big

trip, i'm going to get plenty of sleep, see if i can get somebody to drive with me and take basic precautions of the seat belt, make sure everything on the car is working okay. >> do you think it was the seat belt that saved your life? >> the seat belt and the air bags as well. >> we're glad to have you here and stay safe and i think you have given somed a advice this morning. still help ahead, i know a lot of people, something that adam is not going to be thinking about for a long time. but for those of us who are getting closer -- >> what are you talking about? >> the next five best places to retire. >> but first, your local news and weather.

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. a white supremacist will appear before a judge later this morning for sentencing. he pleaded guilty to armed carjacking, assault, and i hate

crime. back in august 2009, prosecutors said he and two other suspects attacked james privott while he was fishing because he was african-american. he is expected to receive a sentence of 31 yeaold gibbs can. today these factories are full of dot com businesses. and now my job is helping maryland create new economy jobs. training new math and science teachers investing in our institutions of excellence pioneering new cyber security jobs and giving an old gm plant a jump start building electric motors. i'm barbara mikulski. i approve this message so you'll know i'm fighting for you.

>> let's take a look at the forecast with tony pann. >> looks like the rate will be with us off and on throughout the day today. there will be breaks here and there, but it should be with us all the way through the evening. otherwise, cloudy and cool. seven-day forecast, a little bit warmer tomorrow. still a chance for a shower or thunderstorm did wednesday looks like a nice day. at this point, it looks like a dry weekend. high temperatures in the 60's and overnight lows in the 40's. >> back in 25 minutes with another live update.

(sfx: coach's whistle) "the car coach" - lauren fix. >> in case your car repair shop hasn't noticed - there's been a shift. sfx: shifting. over 70% of women make the car repair decision sf shifting. auto service plus is one auto repair shop that has geared their business to earn women's respect. sfx: shifting. 'cause when it comes to car repair, it's women who are in the driver's seat. announcer >> auto service plus. service you can trust.