on wall street and supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. harris even opposed making big insurance cover cancer screenings. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning, last man out brought to the surface and the crowd explodes in celebration. their 70 day underground ordeal over. how have their lives changed? natalie morales live in chile. and a debate about everything from health care to a past. >> miss o'donnell has experience running for office but not running anything. >> you're just jealous because

you were not on "saturday night live." >> the question that left miss o'donnell struggling for an answer. the suit shot outside a high school in utah speaks out as he is released from the hospital. we'll speak to him on "today," october 14th, 2010. welcome to "today" on this thursday morning. i'm meredith vieira. >> i'm matt lauer. >> you think about what this rescue operation achieved in chile. how long it took opposed to expectations and what the results were, it's flawless. >> did you watch last night? >> not up to the very end. until miner 31. >> i watched the last miner come out. as everybody said, it's truly as dramatic for the last as the first. a remarkable story. they thought it would take up to

two days to bring the men to the surface. it actually took less than 24 hours when that last miner came out, a little past 9:00, i think. >> i amazing success. we were talking here yesterday morning, you had the rescue workers still there after the miners. imagine being the last rescue worker thinking, baby, don't break now. i'm alone down here. they got out as well. today, national correspondent, natal natalie morales had a front seat, live at the mine. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it struck me there's a real sense of calm here, a peace they haven't felt in the last ten weeks until last night, when that last miner was pull out. this morning, the families, who remained here at "camp hope" will pack up, they get to go home once again, get back to their lives with their loved ones now safe. mission accomplished.

just before 10:00 p.m. local time wednesday, the shift manager luis urzua became the last man out. before he even knew they were alive, he helped them survive on two days of food. like a good captain, you leave last, said chilean's president. he told the president, i'm proud to be chilean. in the end, the remarkable rescue of the 33 miners took less than 24 hours. his 7 year old son's tears brought the wrorld to tears. 23-year-old richard got out just in time, his wife at home having

contractions. he got out just in time. and yonni barrios was welcomed not by his wife but his mistress of 10. his wife chose not to come to the rescue. barrios was known as the doctor, trained emt, monitored the men's health everyday. and marios had health problems. i spoke to his daughter. >> it was so beautiful, like a re birth, she said. now, the family is back together. the world has come to know who they are. especially this man, now known as "super mario." he practically burst out of the capsule telling the world, i met god, i met the devil, god won. 33 times, the chant kept coming.

>> chi-le! chi-chi-chi-! >> reporter: the rescue mission many thought impossible, now complete. the rescuers held up a sign saying "mission accomplished." now, rescuers here say they do believe in miracles. of course, these miners now, what's happening the next 48 hours, in the hospital, they really be thoroughly evaluated, get medical attention they now need. if they need no further treatment, they'll soon be allowed to go home and get back with their families and make up for lost time. matt. >> we haven't seen anything quite like this, there have been similar circumstances. we all know what happens, these miners or people that get rescued, become hot commodities and book offers, what are they expecting with these 33? >> reporter: they made a pact when they were down in the mine shaft and said they will stick

together. it will be very interesting, i think, to see what they decide to do as a group collectively or if they start to break away. who knows. we have to stand by for that one. the chil chilean government askr now, let them get back to their routines and daily life, as much a normal life as they can. their lives have changed so much, with that last one coming out last night, they're international celebrity, superheroes now, one of them, even "super mario" and their future is pretty secure. they're certainly not going back into the mines, i can tell you that, their families say no way. >> i can understand that. great job covering the story. thank you so much. >> reporter: thank you. >> here's meredith. here at home, the mid-termite electimid-term elections are just 19 days away

and in delaware for vice president joe biden's old senate seat. they faced off last night. kelly has more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. there has been so much since christine o'donnell's win in the primary and a lot about things she said years ago on television and little notice to the democrat actually leading on the polls. here nor a longer than usual 90 minutes, it was nearly all about substance. stark differences on policy and personality. delaware democrat and county executive chris comes ons. miss o'donnell has experience running for office but not really running everything. delivering catchy phrases. >> my opponent has a history of

making promises on the campaign trail and then breaking those. >> reporter: coons seemed to break from snoob i support tax cuts for the majority of americans and don't think we should draw an arbitrary line at $250,000. >> reporter: o'donnell wants more and deeper cuts. >> on the capital gains cuts -- >> reporter: polar opposites on the president's health care reform. >> i would stand for it. >> i would fight to fully repeal so we can begin to re enact real reform. >> reporter: o'donnell differs from many tea party candidates that say the department of education should be eliminated. >> i don't think we need to go that drastic of a step. >> reporter: on the supreme court, o'donnell stumbled. >> oh, gosh -- >> reporter: much like sarah palin had -- >> well, let's see. >> reporter: when asked to name a recent decision she opposes. >> i'm very sorry off the top of my head. i know there are a lot. i will put it on my website.

>> reporter: coons comes from a wealthy family with two graduate degrees from yale. his irritation to o'donnell shows. >> we will try to have a conversation rather than a diatribe. if you can reconcile all those comments you are even a more talented reporter than i think you are, nancy. >> reporter: o'donnell turned aggressive cooling coons a marxist. >> my opponent recently said it was studying under a marxist professor that made him become a democrat. >> reporter: coons called himself a bearded marxist and said that is a joke. >> i am not anything but a clean shaven capitalist. >> reporter: her controversial witch comments- >> i never joined a comment. >> reporter: but didn't mind saying it to coons about snl. >> you're just jealous you were

not on "saturday night live." >> i'm dying to see who will play me. >> reporter: not long after the debate, o'donnell came up with an answer to that question, put out a written statement pointing to a 2005 case, where the court allowed local governments to take private property in order to make way for commercial development. she said it was tough to come up with a recent case. that was the question, because she complimented the four conservative judges o the court. meredith. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. who is going to win in 19 days? nate silver crunches the number for the "new york times." good morning to you. we all know how unreliable polls can be. you came up with this computer model accurate. in the last election, you correctly picked 48 out of the 50 states. don't get too technical on me. how do you do it? >> any one poll can be fairly n inaccurate we know what happened in new hampshire, the proposal

primary. and which polls can be more reliable, you can do pretty well. we might have more misses than most, hard to gage exactly how angry the electorate is in delaware. >> you say this is harder. >> i think so. in 2008, every sign pointed towards obama winning. we know the gop will gain seats in both parts of congress. how many is an open question, while they take over the house or senate or both? it's tricky. >> you say there's a big storm headed democrats way come november. what category storm are we talking about? >> it will not be a tropical storm, a hurricane of some magnitude, but a category 3 or 4? everything is on the table. there are scenarios like if if it breaks against them could lose 60 or 70 seats exceeding 1994 but holding the house of voters, if they get the enthusiasm gap to break a little bit. >> normally mid-term elections

is bad news for party in power, this year, the democrats. you see a sea of red actually, likely republican victories. >> partly because in the midwestern part of the country, you have high unemployment and unpopular democratic governor palins, where the gop is doing well. and in the midwest states like michigan, we have 14% unemployment. democrats are not losing t the -- not winning the toss up races there. >> you are clearly seeing this house will go to the republicans? >> we want to hedge. we think it's a three out of four chance right now because there are three weeks in the campaign and voters are making up their minds. you have so many races in play where 70 or 80 or 100 seats could go either way. we try not to be too certain where it will come down. the momentum favors them. if you had to place a bet, the safe side is there. >> how about to the senate, democrats hold an 18 seat margin ahead of the republicans?

>> there, republicans will gain some seats but running out of enough seats to take over the chamber, where a state like delaware, which looked to be republican leaning before, maybe now won't be as much, we have chris coons favored there and some on the west coast, washington and california have broken towards democrats. they will do very well, might get to 50 but 51 looks tough based on the math. >> you mentioned delaware, your computer model shows o'donnell will not win in delaware. >> no. you can't find too many cases where a congressional candidate comes back this late. it's a special race in some ways, i think, a lot of voters have made up their minds already, when she was the nominee, not like castle, coons had 55% of the vote. he would have to lose some votes to lose the election, hard at three weeks to go. >> how about in nevada, harry reid is fighting for his political life? >> we have this as a tossup,

slightly towards sharron angle. it's really hard to get re-elected. the fact he's so close, it's basically a tie right now. testifies to the fact maybe she's not the most compelling candidate. that's a dirty race, not a pleasant race to watch, how will that affect candidates in that state, won't know until november 2nd. >> you have lisa murkowski, who lost in the primary and now a write-in and joe miller and scott mcadams. >> you shouldn't trust the polls. you don't have to go through the mechanics of filling outs the oval and trying to spell murkowski in the polling place. i think she would have to have a lead in the polls to get a shot on election day but miller has not run a very good campaign, you have a three way race there. she could do it. it's pretty tight. >> the predictions is she may. >> she may, miller is a 75%

favorite republican and she has 1 in 4 chance and had momentum lately and might improve by election day. >> thank you for your perspective. >> thank you. >> to the newsdesk and ann curry for a check of the other top stories. >> good morning to you. new numbers today show more americans are struggling to keep their homes. lenders seized more homes from july to september than any other three month stretch since 2006 when the housing bubble began to burst. more than 288,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in the last three months up 22% from the year before. states are accusing banks of evicting people without reading documents and some of the foreclosures may be challenged. more than 70 people are under arrest coast-to-coast in the biggest medicare fraud case ever. they are accused of trying to cheat medicare out of $163 million. michelle obama was on the campaign trail wednesday for the first time since 2008. she campaigned in wisconsin and

also for an illinois democrat trying to win the senate seat once held by her husband. today, iran's president, ahmadinejad is in lebanon and visiting in an area near the israeli border and they're calling it intentionally provocative. >> gold is up and the dollar is down on the world market. we have more on this. good morning. >> good morning. inflation is sending gold to a record high and dollar to a 10 month low. we see all these reports about the demise of the dollar but still stronger today than one month ago. two stocks to watch. apple closed up at $300 a hair, the second most valuable company in this country. if it were an economy, would be almost the same size as south africa. apple pc sales are growing 24%. five times faster than its rivals. back to you. >> erin burnett this morning. thanks. a you saw teenager struck by

lightning last week, along with another boy is speaking out about the experience. >> reporter: it was a high school homecoming that almost didn't happen. >> thank you guys so much. >> reporter: the 16 said he was lucky to be alive. he and friends got caught in a storm as they were leaving school, took cover under a tree. he doesn't remember anything else. >> we had just finished a conversation apparently with a few people. they were like walking away when it happened. >> reporter: a lightning bolt struck both teens. >> just exploded. they both just fell like rocks and their backpacks were blown clear off their back, clear off their bodies. >> i was dead like 20 minutes. >> reporter: doctors brought him back to life and he was released from the hospital just a week after he had gone in. >> right now, i have two burns on my feet, a little scar on my face. my hair is a little burnt.

>> when i think of the alternative, i can't -- i can't even imagine. >> reporter: and while these students mark one homecoming, they're also focused on alexander lamson still hospitalized for burns. >> i feel bad leaving him there. >> reporter: the school is holding on to hope they can have another celebration soon. >> let's go back too meredith and al. it's really sweet how everyone welcomed him back. >> for sure. >> how about a first check of the weather, m

>> the rain is in our forecast as well. . s -- periods of rain likely into the afternoon. that's your latest weather. matt. the role american forces may have played in the tragic death of a british aide worker during a rescue attempt in afghanistan.

a joint investigation is under way. michelle kosinski is in london with details. good morning. >> no one was really questioning this rescue mission was extremely dangerous or the right thing to do at the time. the mystery was how the ex-explanation of this british aide worker's death changed from a bomb set by one of her captors to one thrown by u.s. troops. it prompted a question from president obama to the u.s. prime minister. at age 36, linda norgrove was ready and willing to take on the world. studied in scotland, england, had a phd and worked in loss and afghanistan for an american aide organization. where she and two colleagues were captured from their cars two weeks ago by a group known as al qaeda, and all were

released but linda. >> linda's life is in grave danger. >> reporter: friday night, known as "the valley of death." u.s. forces launched a daring raid to save linda. something went wrong. u.s. explanation was specific. >> the hostage was killed in the end by her captive. >> reporter: an insurgent right next to linda detonated a bomb vest just before troops could reach her. monday morning, the u.s. said further review said friendly fire, possibly a grenade from american troops may have caused linda's severe injuries. she died soon after. >> the british aide worker killed -- >> reporter: confusing news here. >> the account of what took place has completely changed in 24 hours and highly embarrassing. >> the suspicion of a cover-up is something embarrassing -- >> take a deep bret. it's war. she was killed by an explosion and they would have assumed it was one of her captors.

it's curious to me why any hand grenades were used during the assault. normally, they break in, in the dark and shoot people at point-blank range using night vision equipment. they don't use lethal fragmentation grenades. >> reporter: now, from the mountains of afghanistan to scotland, linda's home, in westminster and washington, there are questions. a brave young woman working for the best of human intentions died being saved from the worst. now that the u.s. and britain are working together on the investigation and today, u.s. general petraeus, the top commander of forces in afghanistan will meet wit david cameron in london, matt. >> michelle, thank you for your report. jury selection begins in the trial of the u.s. master mind of a disturbing bank robbery that ended in the death of a pizza man fitted with a bomb collar.

remember that story? we'll have the latest.

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if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. your sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> not to back, but things will change as the rain comes into the area. just past lombard street, off to the side. we're also dealing with a crash at old frederick road and the

exchange. if you aren't travelling at westbound 100 approaching march 10, westbound delays there due to a crash. as far as drive times, 20 minutes on the outer loop west side, 19 on the northeast outer loop, only six minutes on the 890 but split to port mckendrick. harford road is backed a pretty heavily. inner loop accident at white marsh has been cleared. but said these delays are left over from the earlier accident -- it's like the delays left over from the earlier accident are gone. >> so far, the heaviest rain is in the western suburbs. moving to the extreme western part of montgomery county. a few sprinkles around baltimore city. this will be moving into the baltimore area over the next hour or so. rain likely into the late morning and early afternoon hours.

high temperatures expected between 55 and 60 degrees. >> check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back i

it's 7:30 on a thursday morning, october 14th, 2010, that's the empire state building as seen from our building, the top of the rock and mid-town manhattan, the rain arrives a little later today. we'll take the weather while it lasts. we will get out and say to people out on the plaza in a little while. i'm matt lauer, alongside meredith vieira. coming up this hour, a talented

painter who has already made a big name for herself in the world of art. there she is right there. she happens to be adorable. her name is autumn and she is 8 years old. she has really got a lot of people raising her eyebrows. >> she is so talented, her work goes for $25,000 apiece. >> she is being compared to some of the late painters of the last century. very cool. >> the new crowd in the real estate market, a national investigation launched into the fiasco that put a freeze in foreclosure sales. how will that impact you? details ahead. we want to begin with a tragic death played out on live television. jury selection now under way at the trial of a woman accused of masterminding a bizarre bank robbery that resulted in the death of a pizza delivery man. you probably remember this story. ron allen is in eerie, pennsylvania with more on this. good morning to you.

. >> reporter: good morning to you. federal investigators say this is one of the most bizarre strange cases and all along said it was more than a bizarre bank robbery. the trail led to a former schoolteacher with a violent criminal history. marjorie diehl-armstrong is already serving a 20 year sentence for shooting and killing a former boyfriend, his body stuffed into a refrigerator. now, prosecutors accuse her of masterminding an even more bizarre and related murder that made world-wide headlines. >> what's your emergency, please? >> you're reporting a bank robbery. >> reporter: it was august 28, 2003 in broad daylight, when brian wilson walked into a bank and demanded a quart over a million dollar. locked around his neck was an elaborate bomb and shotgun made from a cane.

police surrounded him in the parking lot. wells claimed he was a hostage, warned the bomb was ticking and said he was forced to rob the bank by a group of thugs. suddenly, the bomb exploded, killing wells. for years, the crime baffled investigators. several suspects died. authorities came to believe the pizza delivery man wasn't an innocent victim but willing if naive conspirator. in 2008, a break through, another local man, kenneth barnes pleaded guilty in the case to conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and named diehl-armstrong as the ringleader intent to kill again. >> marjorie diehl-armstrong solicited kenneth barnes to commit bank robbery and also solicited him to kill her own father. she intended to use the proceeds of the bank to pay her would be

father's killer. >> reporter: the motive, they believed her father was squad andering a would be inheritance. >> money was the motive and everything else paled to that motive. >> reporter: her attorney says s she's mentally ill and not capable of plodding such a gruesome crime. jury selection i under way and opening arguments is tomorrow. meanwhile, the pizza man's family are trying to clear his name and said he didn't know they wouldn't take the bomb from him and let the bomb explode. >> allen, thank you. >> pat, author of "the profiler." >> good morning, matt. >> prosecutors say she planned

this entire bomb robbery plot and convicted in killing one man and suspected killing others. she will have, it would seem to me, an uphill battle to convince jurors she wasn't involved in this. >> i think so. the defense attorney is saying she doesn't have the brains to do this. she is a smart woman, master of manipulation. if you look at this bomb, it didn't work very well, almost too grandiose to be very successful. it shows her behind this very very well. >> you talk about her being a smart woman. she is intelligent. she was a straight a student. from what i understand, she has a masters degree in counseling. does she fit the profile? >> she certainly fits the profile of a psychopat. and kind of like a black widow. killed one man earlier and shot another boyfriend and put one ma man in the freezer and that's two down and tried to kill her

father. i call her a preying man tis and manipulates men into her life and trying to get them to help out whatever she's trying to do and bite theirs head off and keeps moving on. she's extremely dangerous, whatever she wants, a lot of power and control, not just about the money, manipulating everybody and always being the one in control and the one who wins. she doesn't like it when people get over on her. >> jury selection began tuesday and already a scene in the courtroom she basically had a dispute with her own attorney and cursed him out. is it likely she will be the biggest obstacle in her own defense? >> i think so. she really doesn't know how to be a demure lady and say, i really didn't know what was happening. she can't sit back. right now, she's trying to sue somebody at the moment over her father. she's still doing things, even from prison. she will not stop. she will be her own worst enemy in that courtroom. >> pat, as always, thank you very much. a check on the weather from al. >> thank you very much. these ladies, real housewives

from iowa here. nice group. your shirts even have a map to show us where your city is. let's check your weather to see what's going on. we have hurricane paula right now, barely a hurricane, 30 miles north of the western tip of cuba. winds at 75 miles an hour, moving northeast at 5, basically will move through cuba and weaken and become just a tropical depression by early saturday night. saturday morning, i should say. look how hot it is out west. 15 to 20 degrees above normal. rapid city to 77, and vegas and gulfcoast temperatures, 50 in new orleans and we will be looking at a lot of windy >> good morning. we expect periods of rain, especially later this morning and into the afternoon.

it will be kind of chilly, with high temperatures only in the high-def joe? >> jumanji. >> any time you need to check your weather, go to your weather channel on cable or online. >> thank you very much. just ahead, are police any closer to finding the killer of a virginia tech student who vanished during a concert a year ago. her parents speak out. a major investigation of home foreclosures being launched in all 50 states, what that will mean for you right after this. [ woman ] we try to be perfect.

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he's not tucking in his shirt. ♪ everybody, now! he's not checking messages every 9 seconds. and now this? ♪ i don't want to play ♪ i just want to bang on the drum all day ♪ [ ship horn blows ] ms. morning on "today"'s real estate, a massive probe of the mortgage industry and they launched a joint investigation wednesday that they used flawed paperwork to justify foreclosures, just days after one of the nation's biggest banks announced a nationwide

freeze on one of the biggest sales. what does that mean to you? barbara and sharon, good morning to both of you. the president has rejected calls for nationwide moratorium on nationwide foreclosure. you said it doesn't matter what he said. >> it's governed by state laws and the fact that the attorney generals are looking into it and the largest lenders have already called for a moratorium, this will create basically a nationwide freeze on foreclosures anyway. >> let's talk about dollars and cents, impact on lenders. >> we're talking $6 billion approximately. if you look at the fact it will cost lenders $2 billion per month, this could linger three months or more, that will create this situation. >> you move to the housing market in particular, the effect it will have on the price of homes. >> i personally believe it will have a good effect in the short run on the price of homes.

they should either stabilize or go up. the reason being, if you remove 40% of all the product from the shelves, usually, the remaining houses are worth more. that's exactly the percentage being re moved from the marketplace. >> what if you're somebody in the midst of foreclosure right now? >> ironically, like being able to stay rent free, almost like being in line for the electric chair and the governor says, sit tidy for a while. >> maybe they can come up with plan and call a non-profit counselor and credit counselor. you're already delinquent on your mortgage, we know this. that won't change and you need to figure out how to better your financial situation. >> once you're on her to side and have a great deal on a foreclosed home, what will happen to you? >> you won't be able to close. many people are stuck in between, nowhere to go. thought they were moving in next monday, they're not, the banks

of frozen everything. >> you're really stuck. for me, i'm not interested in buying and selling and not in foreclosure. >> thank god. >> it could have an impact on the housing industry overall. these houses will not be sold and that will create problems for real estate agents, they will not be able to be working. painters and carpenters working on these homes are not doing anything and will create an economic problem for the industry and credit problem. now the lenders know perhaps they will not get any money back if a homeowner defaults on their mortgage so will we see tighter credit? that will have an economic impact as well. >> which is probably why the president is rejecting this moratorium? >> it would be a hardship for the economy overall. when you look at the housing industry, that this is key for coming out of the economic problems we have and if we continue to have this moratorium, that could create a lot of problems and what lenders are saying and why they're saying, we can't have this

nationwide moratorium. but a lot of folks are still in this situation. >> consumer confidence is at an all time low. you have that as well thmt this won't help it. >> we have more information coming out tomorrow and this won't help consumers who say, what if i am paying on time, what is this doing for me? a lot of borrowers say, if this mess is going on with the lenders, what's stopping me from walking away from my home? >> exactly. >> there could be one piece of good news. to date, the banks have been sitting on their backside. i almost said the wrong word, sitting on their backside, taking their time working out all these modifications. maybe with the attorney generals on their back, they will wake up to the fact they have to move just as fast to clear up the problems on the foreclosures. really a shame. >> thank you so much. up next, an 8-year-old painting prodigy wowing the art world, right after this. [ female announcer ] letting go of your cigarettes can be hard.

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i hired someone to make my website... five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves. announcer: there's an easier way. create your own small-business site with intuit websites. just choose a style that fits your business and customize, publish and get found in three easy steps. sweet. all from just $4.99 a month, get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. sugtrue. bltds. we are back at 7:48 with one of the world's youngest stars, 8 years old, almost 9, and compared to those like andy warhol and her paintings have sold for $20,000. her parents are here. good morning to all of you. you are a pistol. you are fun, you really are. i have three kids. everything they draw and paint, i think is a masterpiece. i'm not shoe so sure anymore.

when did you realize there was something special here in her work? >> she was in her late 5s. she came out to the garage. >> her late 5s, like her late 40s. >> i was staining wood, came out, asked if she could mess with the brush. i turned away and turned back, like a modern art masterpiece. >> did everyone agree, like all parents did, look at what my daughter did. did others agree? >> no. we didn't show. it we were scratching our head and thought it was an anomaly and interesting. the thing we noticed was she seemed to have passion and seemed to enjoy it. >> autumn, is this your favorite thing to do? painting and drawing? >> i do it everyday and try to do as much as i can. >> what inspires you when you sit down with a canvas and some of these canvass are bigger than you are, what inspires you to

paint? >> you know what, i love to paint. you know -- >> just comes from the heart? >> yeah. it just -- every single day, i'm like, i do this, and i'm trying to do it, maybe i can't do it. i do my best and i feel like i -- i just want -- i want to do it, i want to do it. >> no formal training, is that correct? >> no. >> you didn't want to mess her up and have someone try and take her in another direction. what about the technical part of painting, how did she get so good at that? >> well, actually, if you're asking about texture -- >> yes. >> well, i kind of maybe viewed other words, but i take different texture, right out of the tube, which, when you mean, like you see a tube of paint. >> right. >> when it comes out very thick,

and then -- and then i might mix it up with some water or something and i make it fast, when i say fast, very liquid. when i pour it out of the cup, it goes very fast, like water. >> this one is called "autumn colors," right? >> yes. >> if people look carefully, high schools a self portrait, right? >> yes. >> is this one of your favorite paintings? >> yes, kind of, yeah. >> mom and dad, let's slide over. autumn, tell me about this next painting. >> this painting is actually called "barbie marilyn." >> what inspiretude do this? andy warhol thing? >> yes. andy warhol. he did marilyn monroe. wasn't a barbie but marilyn monroe. the real reason why i think he painted her is because at that time she was the best example as a sexy one.

>> let's move over, this is called "good night moon." you like that book? >> yes. my mother used to read it to me when it was over. >> i notice you don't say how long did something take, the product not the process. how long did this take? >> well, you know, it really depends maybe how big it is, but i think it's definitely a few weeks, definitely -- yeah. not one week. >> you are amazing. keep going, young lady, all right? >> okay. >> great to meet you. happy birthday almost the end of the month, mom and dad, thank you so much. keep it going. just ahead, the fine art of country music. what makes it so cool these days. first, your local news. southwest low fares online?e ond southwest.com. southwest.com. southwest.com. [ southwest employees ] alright!

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>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i and stan stovall. time to get another check of the morning commute. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> dealing with delays in several incidents as rain moves into the area. we have an accident off to the site on lombard. delays on 95 leading up to the 895 split or frederick road in st. james rowe, an accident is blocking all lanes. these are all volume-related

delays. southbound 29, if you are headed in that direction, little patuxent parkway, watch for an accident there. right lane closure on westbound 100 approaching. 10. -- approaching group 10. if you travel in annapolis, another accident location to avoid this morning. plenty of delays out there to go around. west side sitting in traffic from 795 on the out of towards edmondson. 95 jammed packed towards white marsh all the way down to the split. >> good morning, everyone. so far the rain is out in the western suburbs of moving into carroll county. moving to the extreme western part of howard county as well. this will be in baltimore city within the next half hour. periods of rain into the forecast. the temperature is on the chill inside the upper 50s to 60

degrees in most neighborhoods. the rain will taper off, and during the day tomorrow, breezy and chilly, with temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s. seven-day forecast, things will clear over the weekend. >> thank you very much. we are

8:00 on this thursday morning, 14th day of october, 2010. nice weather this morning but al roker says it won't last. i'm on the plaza with matt and al roker. >> do you remember this story a year ago, a college student's mysterious disappearance at a rock concert and no arrests have

been made. we will find out where that investigation distanced and what has been done to keep the investigation alive and help other young people. >> had a chance to meet them. also ahead, washington d.c.'s schools superintendent michelle, and also the subject of controversy, featured in the movie "waiting for superman." she announced her resignation. we will find out what caused that in a couple minutes. a little later on, a new york photographer uses her camera to show what makes country music so special. jenna bush hager will interview her. >> hey. all 33 miners in chile are rescued and hospitalized this morning and most in good shape

after being trapped understand ground 70 days. the man who helped them survive was the last one rescued in a flawless operation. many could leave the hospital within a couple days but always are nervous and unable to sleep and one is being treated for w pneumon pneumonia. squaring off in a nationally televised debate. tea party christine o'donnell portrayed chris coons as a masksimas marxist who would increase spending. he called her a sound bite with no solutions. and wednesday, michelle obama returns to the campaign trail for the first time in two years in milwaukee and chicago. and visiting hezbollah supporters in southern lebanon, near the israel border and

they're calling it intentionally provocative and hezbollah is a powerful military tan group that fought a month-long war in 2006. considering a proposed rule to prevent cell phone bill shock, requiring wireless phone and data companies to alert customers by voice or text messages when they are close to going over their monthly limits which can result in sizable penalties. the warning would also apply to roaming charges. a pennsylvania man who had just passed his test for his driver's license wednesday, crash in the front of the driving center with his instructor in the passenger's seat. there were minor injuries and the man said he thought the car was in park. it's 8:03, back outside to matt and meredith. >> thank you. >> actually lovely, like a lovely fall day. >> you're surprised. >> i'm waiting for the you know what. >> mr. roker has a check of the

weather. >> i do. i have a happy forecast for a birthday. what's your name? >> megan. >> you're double digits today. where are you from? >> ft. lauderdale. >> having a good time? >> yes. >> happy birthday. >> haguerstown, maryland, named after bob haeger. rain and cool, 62 degrees, we have rain working its way up the coast today, thanks to the nor'easter and also rain in the northwest and also heavy rain, moisture from hurricane paula making its way to southern california -- i mean southern florida. beautiful day tomorrow in florida, the rain goes away but heavy rain stays in new england with strong winds thanks to the nor'easter, much of the country looking gorgeous with showers and lots of sunshine and warm and normal conditions. are you walking in the breast cancer walk this

>> things are going to change as we head to the day. a lot of rain, and will be breezy and chilly. high temperatures that's your latest weather. matt. al, thank you very much. when we come back, the search for the killer of morgan harrington, the young college student who disappeared during a concert last october. her parents will speak out, right after this. ooth last into a second day, or does frizz make you start over? pantene knows thick hair absorbs more moisture, so we customized a pro-v system to make smooth stay into the second day. frizzy to smooth system. pantene. healthy makes it happen.

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♪ stretch and yawn ♪ blow a kiss to mom ♪ cause pop-tarts mornings are the bomb ♪ ♪ so, rise and shiiiiine gotta get that bacon! dog: yummy. crunchy. bacon. bacon. bacon. there, in that bag! mom: who wants a beggin' strip? dog: me! i'd get it myself but i don't have thumbs! yum, yum, yum... it's beggin'! hm... i love you! beggin' strips! there's no time like beggin' time! this morning on "today"'s update, what happened to morgan harrington. the virginia tech student disappeared almost one month ago and her body found one month later and her killer remains at large. we talk to her parents, but first, more on her story. >> she was young, beautiful, and

full of promise. 21-year-old morgan harrington, a junior at virginia tech was attending a concert when she became separated from her friends. she called to tell them she was okay and would find a ride home. they never saw her again. >> morgan is out there. please come home. if someone has morgan, please let her come home safely. >> her parents held ginvigil, hopeful for her safe return. >> morgan's last words to me were, i love you forever, one more time. >> but their nightmare was realized. >> i stopped and there was a human skull. that's when i called 911. >> a local farmer found morgan's skeletal remains in a remote field just a few miles from the bridge where she was last seen. >> the remains are those of

mortgage ga harrington. >> her parents desperate to be close to her rushed to the scene and jill harrington hauntingly described seeing her for the first time. >> i will tell you, having seen that girl even had some lovely bones. >> finally, in july, nine months after her disappearance a crack in the case. police tied evidence from the crime scene to a predator on the loose. >> a predator is on the loose. >> somebody can help identify that predator and help make the link to morgan's case. >> three months later, her death and link to the killer are still a mystery. >> closure is not possible because i now have a beautiful almost 21-year-old daughter that you cannot replace. >> morgan's parents, dan and joe herri harrington are with us. good morning. i want to talk about morgan and

all you have done to honor the memory of her daughter and keep her memory alive. first, i want to put the picture up again, the sketch released in july of a suspect in an assault case in fairfax, virginia, five years ago, they have forensically linked to your daughter. we know he could have changed over the past five years in appearance. what have they told you, the police, in terms of the status of the case right now? >> the case really has not moved much beyond what we found out when the forensic leak was made. we know the case from 2005 is somehow connected to morgan, but -- >> dna connection. >> dna connection. what is confusing is how does fairfax, charlottesville and even more importantly, the remote area of the 700 acre farm she was found on, she wasn't just placed by the side of the road, she was deliberately placed in an area of that farm. i think they thought they would

never find the body. >> you think whoever placed her on that farm knew about that area before. >> the police feel that's a very important connection. >> i wish we did have a very big ah-ha moment and there was something that changed everything. i'm afraid, what will happen, real life crime, i've come to learn, doesn't work like tv shows. what's going to happen, i think, is just the day in, day out dogged police work, chasing down leads, re-interviewing people and trying to put the pieces to this really complicated puzzle together. it still is an active case, a year after morgan was killed, i still have weekly contact with the agents from virginia state police, who have worked with us. they've been not only professional but compassionate, because after a year, you know, we have a relationship with them. >> right. >> i don't think they want it as bad as we do, but we all want

it. >> sunday marks one year since the last time she was seen on the bridge at the university of virginia. you have gone back to that bridge many times over the past year. why? >> we, very quickly, after morgan was abducted, found that the last place morgan was, was a place that we needed to remember and remind the community that a death had occurred or abduction had occurred and a bad person remained at large. we started a memorial that was like a stone that gathered a lot of moss on it through the last 12 months. we had people sending momentos from all over the world, literally we had what was called "morgan rocks" and people would paint rocks or send rocks from literally every continent around the world. those have all been removed about two weeks ago in preparation for the memorial that will be placed on sunday.

>> that's how you mark the anniversary by being there. you also worked with the university of virginia to raise awareness, alert young women in that community of the risks involved. talk to me about the progress you have made. >> it's a difficult thing. we're doing several things. you can measure walls and buildings that you do. but to shift a culture, it is not as measurable and it's probably harder to do. it's like turning an ocean liner, it takes a while to make it happen. but we do feel that president sullivan at uva really was handed a difficult agenda in her new role, but took it on. they have programs with entering students, to act together as community, to look out for each other, to limit opportunities for violence on their students. >> absolutely.

you also work with a group called omnithat does medical outreach to orphans in africa and that group recently started construction on a school annex in your daughter's name? >> right. >> some of her ashes are actually mixed into the cement of the foundation because she was studying in education and interested in education. >> i did not want to just be left with ashes. when i was feeling sorry for myself early on, i said, god, all i have is this box of ashes. i realized from ashes, you can make cinder blocks and use them as foundation to build something more. in an odd way, morgan is likely to impact more lives than she could have done if she were allowed to live. >> in some ways, the picture that you brought that she painted sums up who she is, doesn't it? >> yeah.

she was multilayered, a complex for someone who is 20 years old. >> the symbolism of the eye. >> she has been all around the world. she was going to go to africa, to travel with me with omni. she packed supplies and helped with that. she did not go, her ashes did. her teacher, jane vance, took her ashes to nepal because morgan was i going to travel with jane. she's going places still. that is, i think, how you trump evil. he stopped her life but he did not stop the goodness that she could accomplish. >> you're accomplishing so much in her name now. thank you so much. greatly appreciate your being here. >> thank you. >> if you have any information in the case of morgan harrington, contact virginia state police at 434-352-3467. we are back after these messages.

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nation," a woman some consider to be a national face on education form. of washington d.c. public schools, michelle wie received praise from some and criticism from others for laying off d.c. school teachers she said were under-performing. she announced her own resignation. good to see you. so many headlines, why can't we compete? why are americans behind. you were seen as the hope for the education system. why leave now when a big job lies ahead. >> this is a sad day for me. i have so enjoyed working with childrens and families in washington d.c. i hoped to do it four more years. envelo unfortunately my boss lost the election and the new mayor and i decided it made sense to be able to continue these reforms by

having his own team in place, somebody he felt comfortable with. i think that's the right thing, moving forward. >> you've been credit accomplishing a lot, test scores on the rise, got rid of under-performing schools and under-performing teachers, gave principals power to hire who they want. you were also criticized for your style, kind of a bull in a china shop. let me read you an interview in "time" magazine, the team that kills me about education, so touchy-feely. test scores don't take into account creativity and love of learning. i don't give a crap. don't get me wrong, creativity is good, if the children don't know how to read, i don't care how creative you are, you're not doing your job. >> anything you wish you had done different style-wise? >> not really. one of the problems in public education today is people really shy away from talking about the real issues. the fact of the matter, this

nation is falling further and further behind internationally and we're not able to compete with other countries globally because we're not preparing our children in the same way. that means we have to take a really hard look at our education system and know what is going wrong so we can improve those things. >> i sat down with the president recently as part of our "education nation" series and i said, you have done a lot in d.c. for public schools, there is still a lot to do. let me show you a clip and i'll get your reaction on the other side. >> good morning. thank you for taking my question, president obama. as the father of two very delightful and seemingly very bright daughter, i wanted to know whether or not you think that malia and sasha would get the same high quality rigorous education in a d.c. public school compared to their very elite private academy they're attending now. >> thanks for the question, kelly. i'll be blunt with you. the answer is no right now. the d.c. public school systems are struggling.

>> how did it feel to hear that? he basically said, my daughters can't get a great education in d.c. schools. that agency your school district? >> actually, i found it refreshing because the president was telling the truth, he was speaking from the heart. he's absolutely right, because even though we have some schools in the city that are serving children extremely well, we actually can't say that about all of the schools. certainly, the school that the white house is zoned into is a school that still has a really long way to go. i think he was being very honest about his assess many he and the first lady made about what's best for their children. >> in the 45 seconds i have left, do we need longer school days in this country zplchlkt. >> absolutely. we won't catch our kids up without it. >> do we need longer school years? >> without a doubt. >> what's next to you? some talk you'd come to newark or what will you do? real quickly if you don't mind? >> i will trying to figure out how i can have the great est

impact nationally on education moving forward. >> good luck to you. coming up, the best of the best when it comes to travel. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. let's get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> got this year on southbound i-95. accident coming in just passed white marsh. there will be additional delays leading up to that. 23 miles per hour is what our speed sensors indicate. we have one at woodlawn and

security. heavy delays on the west side. all of this impacting the morning rush. southbound 795 back up approaching the beltway. in the southbound direction past 175, we have an accident, and one clearing westbound 100 edwin raynor boulevard. morris drive and tyler avenue, watch for a crash. in the white marsh. , just off the branch from 705, all volume-related heading towards edmondson. as we switch over to a live view of traffic, additional delays in the white marsh area. that is the look at you. body rested. stress gone. mind sharp. because unisom gave you deep restful sleep all night. morning early birds. unisom. good night. good morning.

bob ehrlich says he wants to fix maryland. but he increased state spending by record amounts. ehrlich raised $3 billion in taxes and fees... including property taxes... and a 40% increase in college tuition. and now he's made over $1 billion in new promises... with no plans to pay for them... except for cutting education. cuts that will lay off teachers and increase class sizes. that's not a budget. and bob ehrlich's not the kind of leader... we can trust. i like a party as much as the next gal but, come on. $60,000 for one dinner held by the department of justice.

$66 per person just for bagels at one of the nasa's shindigs. i cracked down because big government shouldn't be funding big banquets with your money. some people say i'm a bit of a tightwad. i say, i'm barbara mikulski and i approve this message so you'll know i'm fighting for you.

8:30 on a thursday morning, the 14th day of october, 2010. pretty here in the northeast, the calm before the storm. al predicting a nor'easter for this area and much of new england over the next 36 hours. a little windy, a little wet.

but these people don't seem to mind on a thursday morning, out here on the plaza, having a good time. i'm matt lauer along with meredith vieira, al roker and ann curry. when we get going in this half hour, we will talk about the best of the best. every year, doing the best of the best cruise awards in resorts and cities and airlines, we will find out which things pop that list. that looks nice right there. >> i thought it was another name. i'm sure you're right. we will find out. i have no idea. i don't know. coming up -- >> actually, jenna bush hager. >> she interviewed a new york photographer and had no interest in it and taken pictures of

country music stars and fell in love with it and will share it will jenna be highw jenna bush. >> how you can prepare these meals at home and have less than 390 calories each. >> that's a big sandwich. >> also coming up, happening a this time of the year for a lot of people, parent-teacher conference. it causes people a lot of stress. advice what to ask and how to get through that. >> other people say that to me. they're much better at it a. >> saturday, as we head to the weekend, rain in new england, windy conditions in the northeast coast. beautiful weather in florida and southeast texas, thunderstorms along the southwest. sunday, we have a lot of rain, i

didn't say sunday sunday, i'm sorry. we have a lot of rain into the southwest, a few showers through upstate new york. the rest of the country looking pretty good, sunny and cool through the pacific northwest.he >> good morning. we expect periods of rain, especially later this morning and into the afternoon. it will be kind of chilly, with high temperatures only in the up that's your latest weather. don't forget, you can check your weather any time of the day or night on weather channel on cable or weather.com. now, let's say hello to uncle

willie scott in washington. >> ah, the pumpkin, the money crop, a lot of people make more money selling pumpkins than anything. i like pumpkin pie, all good. happy birthday, take a look, if you will to some of our birthday buddies from smuckers. elizabeth will from charlotte, north carolina. her key to longevity is her christian faith. tony desiderio, oakland, new jersey, played in vaudeville in the peeve 30s. happy birthday to you, sir. and carl rogge, baldwin, missouri, 100 years old today, helped deliver meals on wheels for many, many years, likes to ice skate. i can barely stand up on them.

angel ly angelina deluca, brooklyn, new york, makes beautiful floral arrangements at her church. and rayfield griffin, 100 years old and worked for national geographic many years and wish him a happy birthday. sweet myrtle mjaanes, of rice lake, wisconsin, 102 years old today. likes to help other people. make hers feel young. can't beat that. lovely and exciting anna wahler, from cranberry, new jersey, next to stuffing, new jersey, one of the oldest living alums from gettysburg, college. that's it, all now, back to new york. >> thank you very much. when we come back, jenna bush hager introduces us to a new york photographer who developed a real love for country music.

york photographer who developed a real love for country music. first, this is "today" on nbc. bob ehrlich is desperate, and he'll say anything to get elected. negative attacks the media have repeatedly called "dishonest" and "total malarkey." and why can't we trust bob ehrlich? because he raised taxes and fees by $3 billion then denied it... because he says he's for us, but made $2.5 million at a special interest lobbying firm. and ehrlich says he'll cut education again if elected governor. bob ehrlich-- a career politician we really can't trust.

yee-haw. we're back at 8:37 an about a book putting country music at the spotlight. jenna bush hager. >> and photographing some of the most influential and powerful people in the world. for the latest book, she decided to turn her lens to the biggest in country music. melanie didn't know anything about country music when she set out to tell stories through her photographs. >> i know one prong. >> reporter: as a new yorker, trying to focus her lens on a brand-new subject, melanie knew she had to immerse herself in nashville culture, several days a week for a year.

>> reporter: how did you decide to capture each subject? >> i put together a list of 50 artists. i met one person and they say, you have to have blah blah blah. and then i would google blah blah blah. >> reporter: those highly placed recommendations helped her create "my country," a dazzling collection of country icons, each framed in a setting to capture their essence. >> i am trying one image to show you who that person is. you look and you say, that is barbara mandrel. >> reporter: she began with country's traditional roots with god and america. >> george jones is very steeped in history, has an amazing collection of old jackets, boots, everywhere you look in every corner of his house c there's a gem. i thought we have to do it in almost his home museum. >> reporter: more than just a snapshot, the old timers gave her a lesson quite they believe country music is the heart and soul of america.

>> country music is the poetry of everyday life. >> what the song says means everything. the words and the lyrics. >> it's not what we wish we were, it's what we are. >> reporter: as each nashville door opened, she learned, too, the business of country music is changing. >> it's becoming more mainstream. we have the taylor swift grammys. they're desperate to stay traditional, local and true to their roots. >> reporter: surprisingly, this northernerer found herself bitten by the nashville bug. she took me on a tour of the town she has come to know so well. first stop, sparkling threads, fit for a star at manwell's. taylor, costumer of wells, everyone. >> a little porter wagner, johnny cash. >> reporter: manwell says the new stars of new country are

starting to sparkle, too. >> this generation is starting to dress up because they're tired of looking at the kids with dirty jeans and holy t-shirts, to be more deserving of looking and listening. >> reporter: next stop, a visit to hat show print, where they still roll outposters the old-fashioned way. our last stop, a local watering hole. can we order? to try the recession special, a bst blue ribbon and fried baloney sandwich and listen to musicians trying for their big break. ♪ >> reporter: throughout melanie's travels, youngsters and old steres alike told her the core of their music is their faith. >> josh is actually quite a religious fellow. we decided to shoot at the

reiman's church, a deacons traited church. >> reporter: but staying true to the performer, her favorite honky-tonk, because of her unbridled energy and enthusiasm. >> melanie's photographic journey, she hopes, will be a celebration of country music for all americans, paying respect to its past and looking forward to its future. so are you a country music fan? >> of course i am. i know more than one song now. >> reporter: she certainly does. >> caller: melanie entered the country music world knowing nothing, she calls herself a converted nashville enthusiast. "my country" is now in stores. it was fun to see nashville through her eye, a self-proclaimed yankee is now converted. >> jennifer, thank you very much. a great piece.

up next, the best of the best, we reveal the winners of the readers choice awards and find out what the right name is first on nbc.

we're back at 8:44, the best in the world, conde nast, awards. welcome back. how do these people travel around, come up with this list and you come up with a list of nominees and they vote on them? >> they suggest it theirselves and 10,000 were nominated and they voted on places and properties and karen tals and airlines. >> as long as it made for a great vacation and made travel better, they would vote on it. >> all sorts of ambience to good value and food. >> let's get right to the headline. we will go to the best resort in

the world. it scores a perfect 100 points? >> the 10 seasons in northern thailand. it's the first time it got 100 out of 100. >> nothing they didn't like about this place? >> nothing. it's gorgeous. 19th century style camp, if you were an explorer. six elephants you can care for. you can see laos and miami at the same time. >> not cheap. >> inclusive property. >> this is surprising to me. there is a brand-new resort named the best resort in the united states. that's out of beaver creek? >> yes. western there. on a hot list last year and gone straight to readers' choice, from editor's list to readers, wonderful. >> has it happened where the first year of a resort actually makes it to the top? >> a couple times but pretty rare. this is something different for beaver creek, very deluxe

resort. have a gondola that takes you to the lift so you're there in three minutes. >> san francisco does so well on this list year after year. why? what do people say about it? >> 23 years in a row. it's particularly friendly, has great ambience, wonderful scenery, wonderful food, also very compact, you can get around it very quickly. new york, not so good this year. >> that's all right. >> number 4 and number 5. >> hats off to the people in san francisco. that's okay. down to the caribbean, great year by escape, number one was ritz carlton in grand cayman, why? >> the ultimate beach destination. pretty accessible. we have great restaurants and the golf course by greg norman and every amenity you could want and don't have to leave the resort. >> in mexico, we hear a lot about one.

i hear about celebrities going going there. good for celebrities? >> al roker is a frequent guest and jennifer aniston, not necessarily at the same time. if it's good enough for them, good enough for us. people love to go on cruises, as well. >> the one that gets the honors is one cruise line, yachts of seabor seaborne. >> this is the antithesis, you will only get to a smaller amount. you can go down and everything is included. you can have as much champagne and caviar as you like. >> and airlines, now, a lot of people cruise but a lot have to jump on that plane. when you asked your readers for the best airline in the world, they came up with singapore. >> not a surprise to us because they win a lot. puts the pleasure back to flying, whether you're at the

end or front, you get treated like a vip. >> and they like virgin american, a fairly new airline. >> three years on the top every single time. someone described it as multimillion ipod, and the food is that good. and many routes. >> whether planning a vacation, whether simple or exotic, this is the list to come back to. appreciate it. restaurant meals you can have for 350 calories and make at home.

bob ehrlich says he wants to fix maryland. but he increased state spending by record amounts. ehrlich raised $3 billion in taxes and fees... including property taxes... and a 40% increase in college tuition. and now he's made over $1 billion in new promises... with no plans to pay for them... except for cutting education. cuts that will lay off teachers and increase class sizes. that's not a budget. and bob ehrlich's not the kind of leader... we can trust.

this morning on "eat this not that," eating out can take a toll on your wallet. if you whip up your favorite menus at home, they can be cheaper. >> great to see you. >> nice to see you. everybody loves to eat out. everybody loves to eat out but cheaper to stay at home and better for nutrition. >> a lot of people do not realize. it blows their mind when they realize you can take these favorite restaurant meals and do them at home in minutes and turn them into fat blasting super meals and you can save 5, 10, 15

pounds by new year's eve and that's what the book is all about. >> let's start with the i-hop, the ihop version of harvest grain cinnamon apple compost. it looks good. >> yeah. the problem is the only thing you're harvesting is a bumper crop of belly fat. this is over 1,000 calories. you have some of the cheap fillers, you have ingredients that, if you look at what we've done ain "cook this not that," you go to 200 calorie version, saving 800 calorie, a ton of fat. if you're a family of four, this one meal helps you save 3200 calories together and $30. >> wow! >> that's what happens here. this is a great way to start your day. >> absolutely. >> a really smart breakfast. >> you move to lunch. i'm shocked by this cheesecake

factory grilled cheese, 1,050 calories. >> a mom favorite turned into a dietary disaster. you should be able to make a grilled cheese for 300, 350 calories. that's exactly what we did with "eat this not that." the difference, this is a lot of cheese and butter and end up with 31 grams of saturated fat. here, you save 21 grams of saturated fat, over a day and plus five grams of saturated fat because the flavor is not coming from the butter and the cheese. >> is there cheese in here? >> there's cheese in there and mushrooms. >> not a lot of cheese. >> you're tearing it apart. i don't want to eat it. you're using the sauteed onion, caramelized mushrooms. >> okay. >> that's the difference. you can have three of these for the caloric price of that one. >> that's worth it. now, we head to olive garden,

people like that place, fettucine alfredo, it will be on your hips. >> that's where people get hammered. they go in there, there's so much oil and cream in the sauce. in this case, 1200 calories. i have 47 grams of saturated fat, over two days worth. what you do instead, you cook it at home, make a smart swap like this, only costing you $1.49 per serving. >> right. >> you end up saving 830 calories, $10, in between now and christmas, you'll be able to afford buying an ipad for a loves one. >> exactly, this is red pepper alfredo? >> using red pepper, using butter. basically a lighter sauce using milk and butter rather than cream and oil. >> amazing how many calories you saved in these three meals and budget-wise. finally, dessert,

baskin-robbins, their traditional classic banana split. >> this should be split your pants verse, over 1,000 calories. it's simply not necessary. you can make it at home, enjoy ice cream every single night. you're talking about 290 calorie, 11 grams of fat. you're saving 23 grams of fat, and you still have the ice cream, the fruit, the brown sugar, coconut, everything. >> you put some sauce on this. very nice. thank you very much. looking good, kid. back after your local news and check of your weather as well.

i like a party as much as the next gal but, come on. $60,000 for one dinner held by the department of justice. $66 per person just for bagels

at one of the nasa's shindigs. i cracked down because big government shouldn't be funding big banquets with your money. some people say i'm a bit of a tightwad. i say, i'm barbara mikulski and i approve this message so you'll know i'm fighting for you. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. >> this storm is developing in

the first of the drizzle and rain moving into the area. we will see much more of this as soon as the storm really begins to crank out over the atlantic. this will be an all-day affair, with a good chance for rain. 100% chance for rain and likely today. with the rain and winds, as temperatures will be held down. we expect mostly in the 50's to near 65. a terrible winds at 10 to 15. -- a variable ones that tend to 15. rain tapers off on friday. temperatures near 60. the weekend looks great, lots of sunshine. sunshine. temperatures and the 60's bob ehrlich is desperate, and he'll say anything to get elected. negative attacks the media have repeatedly called "dishonest" and "total malarkey." and why can't we trust bob ehrlich? because he raised taxes and fees by $3 billion then denied it...

because he says he's for us, but made $2.5 million at a special interest lobbying firm. and ehrlich says he'll cut education again if elected governor. bob ehrlich-- a career politician we really can't trust.