good morning. lifelines. president obama unveils his new plan to ease the housing crisis as gop presidential candidate rick perry gets set to announce his flat tax proposal, and herman cain releases a new ad that features his chief of staff smoking a cigarette. this morning we'll talk about it all with the always opinionated bill o'reilly. today the two friends of the

diver who was killed off the coast of australia speak out to remember their friend. and one spectacular show. the northern lights make a once in a lifetime appearance in the southern states. we have some amazing pictures to show you today. "today," october 25th, 2011. captions paid r by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a tuesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, everyone, i'm savannah guthrie in for ann this morning, and the economy of course is the big issue in the presidential race. it's probably where this campaign will be won or lost, matt. >> some details are already emerging about the plan that texas governor rick perry will lay out in south carolina today. it could give you an interesting choice when it comes to the amount of taxes you will pay. will it help perry regain some of the momentum he's lost during recent debates? that's one of the topics we'll

discuss live with our friend bill o'reilly. surveillance video emerges from the night michael jackson died? how could this help the defense's case? we'll get the latest in a live report from los angeles. and a little later on, the divine miss "m," bette midler will show off some of her most incredible costumes and gowns, all going up for auction which should be interesting, for a lot of our fans. we begin at the news desk with the top stories of the day. tamron hall is filling in while na natalie is on jury duty. moammar gadhafi was buried this morning along with his son and top aide. several were present as islamic prayers were read over the bodies. his bullet-ridden body was on display in for several days.

thousands spent the night outdoors in turkey after a massive earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks as rescuers race against time to find survivors amid the rubble. nbc's michelle franzen is in erc ercis, turkey with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, tamron. there is a new sense of urgency in ercis and other quake damaged areas, crews working to remove debris to reach new areas. there have been new rescues today but along with that the death toll is also rising and that has searchers working even harder to reach those trapped before it's too late. a baby, just 2 weeks old, pulled out alive from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in southeast turkey. the baby was rescued after 46 hours of the earthquake striking the region. rescue crews are working around the clock to find victims before it's too late. more than 300 have died so far in the quake. their bodies taken to local

mosques, where families are planning funerals. in the hardest hit city of ercis, hundreds are still missing and thousands are displaced from their homes. nearly three days after the quake struck, shock is turning into anger for many. at aid trucks, the chaotic scene as people grab for blankets and other supplies. survivors say there is not enough aid and not enough shelter. a tent city has been set up at a stadium, where as many as 15 family members are sleeping in one small tent. but along with frustration, there are also stories of undying love. barely alive and waiting, school teacher was trapped for 18 hours beneath a collapsed restaurant. her fiance determined to find and save her stayed by her side and comforted her until she was finally rescued. and there is still no electricity here in the city of

ercis. people are keeping warm from the nighttime freezing temperatures by huddling around makeshift fires. aid workers say they are expecting more tents to arrive today. tamron? >> michelle franzen, thank you. and this online campaign ad for herman cain is sparking controversy, features an odd moment as cain's chief of staff mark block talks about his boss and then lights up. >> we need you to get involved, because together we can do this. we can take this country back. >> cain's camp says it's just mark block being block and chalked it up as a joke but the video has since been unlisted from youtube. cain did fight himself against smoking bans when he was a lobbyist for a restaurant group. to wall street, cnbc's courtney reagan is at the no, new york stock exchange. >> as the countdown continues toward the european bailout plan investors are hoping for a

little bit better news than what we saw after the bell on monday. net flix quarterly profit did beat expectations but that dvd rental and online streaming company said it lost 800,000 subscribers and warns there could be even more defections to come. that march toward dow 12,000 continues on with stocks at their highest fleflz nearly three months. back to you. >> thank you. the text tech rangers won last night on their home turf beating the st. louis cardinals 4-2. texas leads the world series 3-2. game six heads back to st. louis wednesday. it was not a nice day for a white wedding has the unsuspecting couple got blasted by a dust storm or as al makes us familiar with a haboob. they finished the ceremony as the storm whipped through her beautiful white dress. he's whipg his face but all you

need is love. 7:06, back to matt, savannah and al. that's true love because i would have been out of there. >> windbreaker would have been good for that moment. >> thanks for not doing a cartwheel after the texas rangers win. >> you may kiss the bride if you can find her. >> we've seen a lot of those it seems. >> we are. another thing a lot of folks got to see last night the northern lights, the aurora borealis, unusual this far into parts of the south, missouri, when the sun emits the energy articles toward our ionosphere, and the reflection is the northern lights. as we look down toward the caribbean, we've got something else to worry about, hurricane rina, 210 miles southwest of grand cayman, 100-mile-per-hour winds, just barely moving, the path brings it across the yucatan and on into cuba by early saturday but take a look

at this, not all the models agree. some bring it across southern florida so we are going to have to continue to keep an eye on this system as it makes its way very slowly through the caribbean. we've also got winter storm warnings and watches throughout the rockies, we're talking about anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of snow in denver and parts of the >> good morning. it will be a beautiful tuesday. the temperatures will be above average. we expect mostly sunny skies. >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> al, thanks very much.

on monday it the obama unveiled his plan to fix the housing crisis. here to talk about that and the gop field is bill o'reilly, host of "the o'reilly factor" on fox news and author. president obama unveiled this new slogan yesterday, "we can't wait." when you consider the economy right now and what president obama is facing, couldn't that also be a republican bumper sticker, we can't wait until november? >> i can't wait until the debates are over. >> you've had enough of the debates? >> 97 defwats. it debates. >> it's going to be a new cable channel, all republican debates. they have their slogans and rallies and they've been doing this forever so it's nothing new. >> ten days after he took the oath of office, sat down with barack obama he said look if i can't fix this economy in three years it's going to be a one-term proposition. you look, there's 9.1%

unemployment, 2 million homes fell into foreclosure this year, 10 million are underwater. is there any reason right now in this snapshot in time that the republicans should not be able to beat barack obama? >> no. >> in the election? >> if the election were held tomorrow the president would probably lose but you know, a year is a long time and the economy could get better, things could rise up and president obama is a nimble guy, a smart guy, so the republicans would be foolish to count him out but of course they have the advantage. the president's going in very weakened. >> over the last 20 years or so, bill, it seems republicans have run on a perception that they are tougher on national security, that they're the ones who can keep americans safe. we've seen that in campaign ad after campaign ad. when you consider over the last several months barack obama oversaw the killing of osama bin laden and awlaki and gadhafi is now out of power and in fact dead, has barack obama done a lot to erase that perception, that idea that republicans have run on for so long?

>> yeah. it's all about the economy. i don't think foreign affairs is going to be much next year although iran is a wild card. if iran causes trouble in iraq because the president is withdrawing all of the troops at the end of the year that could become a campaign issue but right now it's all about the wallet. >> right now you're saying republicans have no right to claim the mantle of we are the party that's tough on national security. >> they can claim whatever they want, lauer, but i think president obama has done a good job on the war on terror with the exception of iran. >> how do you think he played libya? >> played it well. we didn't lose anybody, cost us between $30 million and $50 million to bomb -- you know, look, all it is is nitpicking. american is on the decline of power, there's no doubt about that but it's all economically based. >> last friday president obama announced he pull all u.s. troops out of iraq by the end of the year, fulfilling a campaign promise from 2008. >> right. >> when you heard him say it, bill, did you think wow that is

great military strategy or pure political strategy? >> look, the reason he had to do it is because the iraqi government wouldn't give the united states troops a pathway to be tried by the usa. they wanted to try them in iraq if somebody misbehaves over there. no commander in chief could agree for that. the iraqis made it possible to keep his force there is. he should have kept 20,000 there to make sure iran doesn't misbehave and turkey doesn't brutalize the kurds in the north. he had to do what he did. >> let's talk about the gop field. if you look at a lot of the polls right now, herman cain is leading the republican pack by a couple of percentage points. he's a guy who has basically turned his back on the early primary states, new hampshire and iowa. he does not have an infrastructure to speak of. he's outselling a book. is he a serious candidate? >> he's serious but he's doing it in an unorthodox way.

if the election were held tomorrow mr. cain would not be the nominee >> serious in terms do you think he really wants to be president? >> yeah. >> 27% of the people polled on the fwop sigop side say we woul for this guy. >> herman cain what you see is what you get. who wouldn't want to be president? you get a jet, live in a great house, but cain is running a populous campaign. i don't think can he win but i was wrong last year. i didn't think obama can beat hillary. >> can mitt romney win? >> of course he wican win. >> is he a true conservative? >> if he's smart he's america's ceo that will restore the economy and put people back to work. that's all he's got to do. guys like you and me make a living out of it but the folks don't really care. they want somebody to get the economy back on track. >> that's the question, say he goes on and wins the white house. >> yeah.

>> is he as a moderate republican, going to face an incredibly uphill battle against conservatives? is it going to make the john boehner tea party look like child's play? >> romney's been around for a long time. he makes deals, okay? he governed massachusetts and he had to make deals with those pinheads there. >> it's not a particularly deal-making period in our history. >> it doesn't matter. could he govern? yes. can he win? yes. >> rick perry in the last eight weeks has lost about half of his popularity according to the polls. what happened to him? >> he was in inarticulate in the debates and perception is reality. i got perry coming on "the factor" tonight for the first time. we tried to book him for months and he stayed away from the venue so we'll see what he's got tonight. can he make a comeback yes. he's got a lot of money. he's much more conservative than money. >> do you think his flat tax -- >> i don't know. >> do you think that's the kind of thing that can help him claw back? >> flat tax is what people want.

tax code has to be revised. if he's decent, he'll get some currency, pardon the pun. >> you get the new book -- >> you didn't read it, lauer, because you're in bed at 5:00 in the afternoon. >> i'm reading things for other guests. >> you're not reading things for other guests. >> it's a best seller, i know you haven't mentioned it on your show yet. "killing lincoln the shocking assassination that changed america forever." >> right. we need leadership in this country and abraham lincoln is the gold standard, the best american president ever. we need to find somebody with that kind of fiber to bring us back and this was a departure for me, i took less money for this book but i wanted people to know in an accessible way, not some pinheady book, i'll send you an audio so you can listen to it, lauer. >> on my commute in. >> he goes to bed at 5:00, he's old. 5:00 in the afternoon he's in bed but that's why i wrote it. i wanted people to really understand what good leadership is.

it's not a knock on obama, bush or clinton. we need somebody special to bring us back because we're on the decline, there's no question. >> bill o'reilly good to see you. >> all right, matt, good to see you man. >> you called me matt, you slipped. >> lauer sounds good. >> 7:15, now here's savannah. >> all right, lauer, thanks. the search for the missing baby lisa irwin is entering its fourth week and this morning for the first time we'll hear for the man who is still married to lisa's mother. peter alexander is in kansas city with the details. good morning to you. >> reporter: savannah, good morning to you. we will hear from sean bradley in a moment. he says he and deborah bradley, baby lisa irwin's mother are still married because they simply can't afford to get a divorce. police say they have no suspects, they have made no new progress here but we are learning the new details about deborah bradley's personal family history. while baby lisa's parents, deborah bradley and jeremy irwin

live together, she's still married to another man who we're now hearing from, for the first time. sean bradley who has a 5-year-old son with his estranged wife, deborah, and didn't want to go on nbc news tells "she's always been a good mom." he says "i'm still confused by what's going on. this is craziness to me." bradley an army reservist, interviewed by the fbi, says he hasn't spoken to deborah or seen their son in two years. "i'm concerned with him and want to make sure he's safe. i miss him and would love top him back." this weekend the irwin family invited nbc news inside their vacant home, even after investigators finished their exhaustive search experts say it is a sign the children were cared for and loved. >> this is important on the wall, you see the hand print and the footprint of baby lisa. they're very proud of their child, and they're proud of this kind of baby-like picasso,

almost that goes on the wall. this all suggests a family unit here that cares about this little girl. >> reporter: while police say they have no solid leads in this case the irwin family is hopeful that investigator also continue their search. checking out places like these woods, just three miles away from the family home, and only a short distance away from that intersection, where a witness says he saw a man carrying a baby just after 4:00 a.m. the night baby lisa was reported missing. deborah and jeremy are still coping with their daughter's disappearance and growing public scrutiny. their local lawyers spoke out on their behalf monday. >> it's very painful to have people not like you, to think that you've done something terrible, and so that is painful, sure. >> reporter: deborah is no stranger to grief. relatives say her mother died in her sleep when deborah was just 15. they say deborah always dreamed of having a daughter and when her baby girl was born deborah named her after her own mother, lisa. deborah bradley and jeremy irwin

have not spoken publicly in nine days since nbc news interviewed them. when approached by reporters yesterday who asked why they have not spoken to media, they said, savannah, "because we're grieving." >> peter alexander in kansas city again, thank you. it's 7:19 and here's matt. >> thank you. it looks like the trial of michael jackson's doctor is entering the home stretch. the prosecution rested on monday, now the defense is under way. nbc's jeff rossen's been following the trial out in los angeles, jeff, good morning. >> reporter: hey matt, good morning to you. if it feels like the trial's going on and on and on, you're right it is. this is the fifth week of testimony and could very well be the last. conrad murray's defense lawyers say they don't need long, just a few more days to make their case. >> -- evidence the people are prepared and would ask to rest at this time. >> reporter: with that it's dr. conrad murray's turn. his lawyers telling their side of the story, monday they showed the jury this grainy surveillance video from michael

jackson's mansion. 12:50 a.m., dr. murray arrives in his bmw, just ten minutes later, 1:00 a.m., michael returns from rehearsal with his entourage. he would be dead just hours later. on day one of the defense, they whip through six witnesses, including michael's former doctor. >> shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. >> yes. >> reporter: dr. allen metzger treated michael on and off for 20 years and says the singer reached out again in 2009. ♪ >> reporter: just as rehearsals for starting for michael's upcoming tour jackson told metzger he needed sleep. >> asked me about intravenous sleep medicine. >> did he happen to use the name of the medicine? >> i think he used the word juice. >> reporter: the defense is building a time line of the day michael died and a narrative about the months leading up to it.

>> what the defense is doing is trying to make michael jackson appear to be an addict and through that, they are making conrad murray look like the victim. >> reporter: but on cross-examination, prosecutors turned it back around on dr. murray, basically saying he would do anything for his $150,000 a month salary, as jackson's personal physician. >> did you ever give michael jackson propofol? >> never. >> is there any amount of money that you would have, that would have convinced you to give him introvenus propofol in his house? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: the jackson family was back in court monday, as they have every day. ♪ janet jackson on tour in australia is postponing this week's shows, and flying home to l.a. to join her family in court. "we must be together right now" janet said. "this saddens me in so many ways." murray's defense team plans to call about 15 witnesses. keep in mind how fast this case

is moving on the defense side at least. they've already gotten through nearly half of them and a quick note about timing here, both sides, both the prosecution and the defense met with the judge after court yesterday, and it looks like the jury could get this case, matt, early next week. >> jeff rossen in los angeles this morning, jeff, thanks so much. coming up, the latest on the tragic death of an american diver, killed by a great white shark in australia. we'll talk exclusively to two of his friends, who were with him on that fateful day, but first, this is "today" on nbc.

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i've never tasted anything so delicious. richard, why are you wearing grandpa's jacket? i'm not richard. i'm grandpa smucker. male announcer: tim and richard smucker always looked up to their father and grandfather knowing that one day they too would make the world's best jam. grandpa says it like, i've never tasted anything so delicious! i've never tasted anything so delicious! tim: [ laughing ] you got it! male announcer: for five generations, with a name like smucker's, it has to be good. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. here's a look at one of our top stories. a blue ribbon commission will make recommendations on how the state can raise $800 million

annually for transportation funding. the panel has tossed around a number of ideas, such as of 15- cent increase and the gas tax. recommendations will go to the governor and general assembly for consideration in january's session. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> checking on problems out there bank it had several accident and delays to add to the mix. this crashes after the shoulder but leaking fuel. there are delays as you approach the beltway. 24 miles per hour i-95 it down to white marsh approaching the split. outer loop delays on the northeast corner from belair towards dulaney valley. if you want to head out and 8 finksburg, deer park road and tupelo road, watch for an accident in the clearing stages. if you want to head out on

westbound 50 at davidsonville road, we have a tractor trailer fire taking up two right lanes. as we switch over to the live camera, you can see the smoke and right lanes taken up. this is what it looks like on southbound 295 coming towards us at 175. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> it is going to be a beautiful day to day. it's a little bit of fog in some neighborhoods, but chilly as well. 44 in parkton. forecast for today, mostly sunny skies. high temperatures it will climb into the upper 60s. 70's tomorrow. then it will cool off with off and on rainshowers thursday andt

to fly away ♪ :30 on a tuesday morning, 25th of october, 2011. you couldn't ask for a nicer start to the day in manhattan, we look south from rockefeller center, empire state building in the foreground, one world trade center being constructed in the background. lenny kravitz, here not long ago, providing a little inspiration to these folks down

on the plaza. we'll get outside and say hi to them in just a couple of minutes. inside studio 1a, i'm matt lauer alongside savannah guthrie who is in for ann and just ahead the latest on the great white shark attack off the coast of australia that claimed the life of an american diver. two of his friends were with him at the time. they'll remember their friend when they talk to us exclusively, straight ahead. also, is today's high cost of college even worth it. coming up, why some experts say kids now have to start thinking a lot harder about where they aattend and what they plan to major in with all of the financial aid bills wracking up. she's one of the talked about stars on tv, nicole "snooki" belizzi, living the guidette lifestyle and tips for love. >> one tip, her hair should make you six inches higher, makes you six inches taller. >> the power of the -- >> poof, exactly. the divin miss "m" bette

midler will be here with some of the fantastic costumes she's worn in her career. they'll be auctioned off. we'll have her live in our studio. the friends of an american killed by a shark in australia are speaking out now and we'll talk to them in a moment. first nbc's sara james is in melbourne with the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. there have been seven fatal shark attacks off the coast of west australia since the year 2,000, three occurred in the last few weeks, prompting authorities to spend an additional $1 million to try to stop attacks in the sea from the air. in the skies overscenic beach near perth in western australia, day one of a helicopter patrol on the look for any sign of great whites. this aerial surveillance the state's best hope of keeping divers and swimmers safe and

preventing another deadly attack after three so far here. the latest this weekend killing american diver thomas wainwright. >> to have had three fatal shark attacks in the last few weeks is an unprecedented situation and it does call for urgent action. >> reporter: what's behind the surge in shark attacks this year? both here in australia and elsewhere, including back-to-back attacks near south afri africa, where an eyewitness captured this dramatic video of a great white. we asked u.s. marine biologist andy dohart. >> generally speaking when we have this rash of shark attacks in a short time frame there is some weather pattern going on that's bringing the prey items like the bait fish and the sales and sea lions closer to shore which brings the sharks closer to shore. >> reporter: like the whales off the coast of western australia making their annual migration, prime prey for great twhits. >> when sharks attack humans

it's a case of mistaken identity, someone on a surfboard or boogie board might look like a sea lion underneath. >> reporter: or someone in a wet suit. saturday, wainwright and two american friends had taken a boat to a picturesque island offshore from the city of perth. he was scuba diving when the shark struck. wainwright's family said he had a zest for life. >> tom was one of these unique, rare individuals. he was funny. he had a great sense of humor. he was kind, and he was incredibly intelligent. he had a great passion for life. everything he did. >> reporter: a man who will be missed by many here and of course back in america. matt? >> sara james, thank you very much. justin and alison branner were with him when he died. good morning to both of you.

my condolences. >> good morning. >> good morning, thank you. >> tell me about your friend. you had been diving with him on a number of occasions, known him for a very long time. he was someone who took the sport of diving seriously. he focused on safety, didn't he? >> absolutely. we all do. it's kind of engrained in us. we look at all the risk and you put the measures in place to have the safety factors and, but yeah, he was a very safety conscious individual, but you can't account for everything and just about in everything you do there's going to be some sort of risk you can't prevent. >> when it comes to the risks, alis alison, there had been some shark attacks in the area in the recent past. was it something that you all would talk about? >> we talked about it that morning actually, those were conversations we had on a regular basis and certainly we're aware of what was going on, and the risks that we took by getting in the water.

>> our passion is being on the water, so the odds of something like this happening are so slim that it wouldn't be right for it to keep us from doing what we love. >> alison, you and justin had been diving together, gone down for a while while tom was back on the boat. while you surfaced, it was tom's time. ordinarily he would have gone with another buddy, correct, but this day he went aileen. >> right, we normally dive with four people, two on the boat, two in the water. today there were three of us, so we changed our dive plan that day, justin and i were going to dive first and then thomas and i, and then justin and thomas, and just spaced it out so we had the proper surface intervals and that sort of thing. he was never, that morning we were never intending for him to dive alone. >> he went under, heading off to swirl reef. he told to you watch his bubble trail, you're supposed to track

him and tell if everything's okay based on the bubbles. when did you realize something was terribly wrong? >> right, i don't think that we're going to really get into the details of that today. we've spoke within his family and certainly willing to tell the story of people who really need to know but i don't think that's something we're going to talk about right now. >> there was no indications -- everything was going as planned up until we knew there was something wrong, but it happened immediately. >> again, i'm not asking, i don't want to ask you to go into details you don't want to go into. was there anything you could do for tom by the time this had happened or was it too late? >> no. absolutely not. there was nothing we could do. it was, what happened happened, and there was no alternate course it could have taken. >> it's my understanding that at some point you actually think you saw the shark that attacked him? is it true that shark perhaps circled your boat? >> after the incident, yes, it

did appear. >> we saw it, there wasn't any sort of circling or any aggressive behavior, but we did in fact see it, yes. >> you mentioned you guys always were aware of the risks and you talked about it. was there any talk of shark repellant? i'm not a diver, anything that you could carry or tom could have carried with him to protect him against an attack like this? >> they have stuff on the market that you can buy. we focus on the more calculated risk, the mechanical failures of your equipment and mitigating and having the safety features for accounting for that stuff but like i said the shark attacks and these incidents are so far and few between. >> you talk about your love of the water, being on the water. tom shared that love with you. what do you think he would want people to know about the sport he loved so much, about diving? >> i think the biggest thing with us is he wouldn't want it to slow us down.

i think he would be disappointed if we all loved the water, a passion and life is on the water. i think he would be disappointed if we altered that because of this incident. >> the weeks leading up to this weekend, we spent every weekend that we could on the water. we were doing all sorts of wakeboarding and skiing and whale watching and diving as well, so it's not just restricted to diving. we're very avid about most water sports, so something that we just really love to do and thomas loved to do with us and one of the things that drew us together in the beginning of our friendship. >> please accept my condolences on the loss of your friend and i appreciate you sitting down and talking to us this morning. justin and alison branner, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. let's get a check of the weather now from al. >> thanks, matt. we've got some big changes coming temperature wise, the mid sections of the country from des moines to san angelo,

temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal, it's going to be 83 in kansas city today, tulsa a high of 87. 87 in san angelo as well, as we look at the rest of the temperatures, you can see that cold air diving down through the plains, 30s and 40s there, that's going to be the big changeover in denver t will go from rain to a lot of snow. beautiful weather up and down the eastern seaboard, breezy conditions in new england, rain along the great lakes into the mid plains and plenty of sunshine through the gulf coast >> good morning. it will turn out to be a nice day. we expect mostly sunny skies.

and don't forget you need your weather, go any time of the day or night to the weather channel on cable, weather.com online. matt? >> al, thanks very much. coming up next dealing with the skyrocketing cost of college, why it may be time for your kids to consider not getting into the school of their dreams. plus the divine miss "m" bette midler shows off some of her treasures going up for auction. but first these messages. ♪ yummy, yummy, yummy, i got love in my tummy ♪ [ female announcer ] kellogg wants to help make kids happy, one tummy at a time. because 9 out of 10 kids don't get the fiber they need. froot loops, apple jacks and frosted mini-wheats have good-for-you fiber in every yummy bowl. they're the cereals your kids love and the fiber their tummies love, which makes for a whole lotta happy. froot loops, apple jacks and frosted mini-wheats... a good source of fiber and made with whole grain. kellogg's makes fiber...fun!

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back now at 7:44, and this morning on requesting tooled's money" the price of a college education. student loan debt is expected to exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year, and americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards when you add it all up. so what should you do if you or your kids are saddled with a big loan? jean chatzky is "today's" financial editor. >> good morning. >> that's amazing to think the

aggregate debt for student loans is higher than credit cards. how did you get here? >> tuition rates have been climbing at four times the rate of inflation for the last two and a half decades. it's really no surprise that the average student is now borrowing about $5,000 a year. >> in the great recession, too, parents don't have the income they once had to help more people borrowing. >> that's right. >> defaulting on any debt is bad. why is defaulting on student debt particularly bad? >> because it's not forgivable. you can't get rid of student loan debt in bankruptcy and the student lenders can actually garnish your wages, up to 15% of what you earn. so they're pretty relentless in coming after that money. >> you know, it's hard to even talk about this, because you never want to curtail your child's dreams, if your child wants to go to a certain school, but being realistic about it, what do you advise parents? i mean, when their kids are looking at particular colleges, whether they should even go to college at all. >> i would stop there actually.

what we've seen through this recession is that people who have college educations have held up much better in the job market than people who haven't, so i think going to college is still a really good thing. the question is, how much do you pay for that education, and yes, we have to look at the value that we're getting these days, and what we can afford realistically. good rule of thumb, don't borrow overall more than you anticipate you'll earn in your first year out of college. and i get, right, that that means asking a 17-year-old, 18-year-old, what do you think you're going to do when you get out of school, which is a really, really tough question, but it argues for being conservative on borrowing. >> that's where parents can help out, too. would you advise parents to co-sign a loan or come to the rescue? another tough question for parents. >> parents are so emotional about helping your kids, but we say it all the time. your retirement has to come first and the reason for this is that if you sabotage your own retirement in order to pay for college for your kids in 20 years when they're trying to pay for college for their own kids you're going to get a call that

says hey, i need help, and those kids are going to have to support mom and dad, which is not a good scenario. >> are you suggesting that students when they're looking at what to study should be more practical like good-bye poetry degree? >> i'm an english major. >> you've done well for yourself. >> i do think what we've learned is that the importance of internships and summer jobs that lead someplace to actually augment those liberal arts degrees is crucial. >> practical experience can be so essential. jean chatzky good to talk to you. thank you so much. coming up next, is ketchup too fattening and sugary? some schools are now banning ketchup, coming up after this. it starts off as a gel... transforms into a foam and actually surrounds your teeth. it gets into all those nooks and crannies. dentists recommend pronamel. pronamel iso-active re-hardens the enamel that's been softened by acid you're consuming.

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>> reporter: in the shadow of the eiffel tower, a move to save unsuspecting schoolchildren from a red menace. of the tomato variety. >> perhaps they think of it by rationing ketchup they can somehow ration the influence of fast food. ♪ eat it, eat it, eat it >> reporter: so promote healthy eating and combat obesity school lunchrooms across france have banned the use of ketchup. >> food is pleasure but food is health also so you need to eat everything and you need to eat healthy. you can not eat ketchup when you're a kid and when you're growing you cannot eat ketchup every day. >> reporter: sacre bleu! ketchup for lunch just won't do. >> sorry but i don't like ketchup. >> reporter: this is what french cuisine is all about, at the cooking akad know in paris, nary

a whiff of the red sauce. today they are preparing potatoes and rabbit. are you going to put ketchup on these? >> nope. it would be a crime. ♪ ketchup on my ketchup >> reporter: a crime zutaleur! too much sugar, fat and salt in our diets, says celebrated chef alain ducass. >> my advice for young american boys and girls, if you eat the right products now, that's better your entire life. >> reporter: they teach the three rs in school, although here it may be le toisares. on the menu today, bread, salad, cheese -- hello -- chicken with couscous and vegetables, and, of course, an apple. for kids with working parents, a

balanced meal. [ speaking in french ] would you like ketchup with that? not everyone is sold. do you crave ketchup? >> wi! >> reporter: in french one puts ketchup on the gooey if not slippery slope to junk food and that is a no-no. for "today," kevin tibbles, nbc news, paris. >> ketchup? oh contrare, frenchies, i love ketchup. they give us the french fries and now want to take away ketchup? >> calm down. when we come back, snooki on life, love and her famous poof. >> first your local news and weather. in hands-free toilet cleaning. introducing the one-step toilet bowl cleaner from scrubbing bubbles. just step on the pedal. the 360 degree sprayer delivers a powerful cleaner to tackle lime scale, hard water and toilet rings.

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>> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. time for a check on your morning commute. here is sarah caldwell. >> looking at problems in anne arundel county due to a tractor trailer fire at westbound 50. the backup extends all the way back to 97. also, northbound 97 towards 100, from 50, those delays in place.

southbound 295, slow ride from 195. westbound 100, if you travel towards 295, tapping the brakes. 95 south looks good through howard county. inner loop past belair road, accident on the northeast corner. 95 towards the 895 split, still dealing with an accident. inner loop right around reisterstown, filling up quickly from the belt way down to 28. westbound 5424 -- westbound 50 and 424, there is an accident there. 295, towards us, southbound traffic. those delays extend back to 195. tony, over to you. >> it is going to turn out to be a nice day. a little bit of fog in some neighborhoods but it will burn off quickly.

it will warm up into the sixties this afternoon. mostly sunny skies. it is going to be pleasant later ron. a little breeze out of the northwest. high temperatures in the upper 60s. rain will hold off until tomorrow night. end of the week it turns chilly. off and on rainshowers thursday, friday, and saturday. 40s to

we're back, 8:00 now on a tuesday morning. it's the 25th day of october, 2011. 51 degrees, a beautiful day here in new york city and thanks to these people for stopping by and checking us out and saying hi to the people back home. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. savannah is here while ann is enjoying a couple of days off and mr. roker joins us as well. you know who else is joining us? >> who? >> nicole "snooki" paluzzo is on

the plaza with us right now. she's got a lot to talk about, including the recent trip to italy as part of "jersey shore" got a new book out telling people how to be a guedette and talking to us about her search for love as well. >> all right. >> also ahead bette midler is here, auctioning off some of her most prized possessions including costumes from "the rose" from "beaches" from the famous mermaid outfit which i cannot wait to check out up close and personal. bette will be here to talk to us all about it. >> the divine requesting miss m." on monday our annual halloween costume contest on the plaza on monday, finalists will receive vip passes to our live concert from justin bieber on the day before thanksgiving. and the big winner, the overall winner gets to meet him. so make your plans now to be

here on our plaza monday, halloween day, october 31st. and then wednesday, november 3rd, 23rd i should say, justin bieber, november 23rd. >> the day before thanksgiving. >> i think they're already spending the night here, they're already here. >> let's go inside, tamron hall is at the news desk filling in while natalie is off on yojury duty. moammar gadhafi, his son and top aide were buried at dawn, prayers were recited over the bodies. ga daf east's corpse had been on public display in a commercial freezer after he was shot to death last thursday. president obama continues his west coast swing with a fund-raiser tonight in san francisco, on monday in las vegas, he unveiled his plan to help struggling homeowners modify their mortgages and avert foreclosure. tonight president obama will be a guest, special guest on "the tonight show with jay leno."

women who belong to the same college sorority are apparently being stalked by a sexual predator and police in texas have launched an all-out manhunt. jay gray has details. >> reporter: investigators in north texas released this surveillance video as they continue to search for a serial rapist who has attacked four members of the delta sigma sorority. >> all black females, mid-50s to mid-60s. >> reporter: and all home alone in their upzal sbur bab dallas neighborhoods at the time of assaults. >> kicked the door, no other knocking or warning. >> reporter: late monday they urged dallas members and alumni to remove sorority paraphernalia and refrain from wearing clothing that identifies them as members. the string of violence has rocked the normally quiet

communities. >> it's unheard of any crime even i don't think that's occurred in this area. >> reporter: investigators have requested a list of north texas women who have been a part of the sorority, while stopping just short of calling the man in these pictures a suspect. >> we're not saying that the person that's in this video is the actual perpetrator. he does match the description we've received from each of the assaults. >> reporter: victims tell police the man who attacked them also seemed to know details of their personal lives, one of the reasons delta sigma theta is urging members to remove any information or posts currently listed on social websites. for "today," jay gray, nbc news, ft. worth. >> thank you, jay. now here's brian williams with what's going up on "nbc nightly news." brian? >> 40 years later, the book that changed everything in women's health care, "our bodies, our selves. "it's been 40 years. what women are saying about the book when it came out back then, that's tonight. we'll look for you then.

tamron, back to you. >> for a look at wh"what's trending today." it's mcback. mcdonald's announced the mcrib sandwich will be available in u.s. stores until november 14th, usually found only in a few stores at a time except in germany, where it's a mainstay on the menu. tmz is reporting lindsay low han is shooting a pictorial or "playboy," currently doing community service at a los angeles morgue. she'll be reportedly paid close to $1 million. neither the magazine or low han's camp will comment. this is melting hearts on youtube, listens to bedtime stories recorded by her dad before he left for air force basic training in texas. >> when the evening comes it's not at peace, mickey counts his sleeping chiefs. can i have a hug?

mwah! >> kiss you! >> the toddler's mother posted the video because she couldn't keep something so adorable to herself, and we're sure happy she shared it with us. it is 8:05, back to al with a check of the weather. isn't that the cutest thing in. >> that is so sweet. >> yes. >> wow, that is fantastic. all right, thanks so much, tamron. we have friends from houston, texas. what are you guys doing here? >> we're here from schooled woods. >> for our junior trip. >> you're already out of school? school just started. what's going on? >> we're that far ahead. >> you're that far ahead. that's right. how excited are you about the mcrib? woo! man! i'm a-quiver. let's show you what's happening. hurricane rina, 215 miles southwest of grand cayman, 100-mile-per-hour winds category 2 storm moving west-northwest at three taking its tie. we have to keep an eye on this. we show you a satellite closer

to home, a storm system getting itself together, going to dump 5 to 12 inches of snow in the central rockies, rain moving up out of new england, showers coming across the plains into the western and central great lakes, plenty of sunshine in the pacific northwest, a little on the cool side including l.a., fog and a high today of only 65 degrees. >> good morning. it will be a beautiful tuesday. the temperatures will be above average. we expect mostly sunny skies. and that's your latest weather. savannah. >> all right, al, thanks.

coming up, confessions of a guedette, matt sits down with snooki and later, bette midler shows us some of her greatest gowns and they're up for auction. your favorites, in pieces. we earn more cash back for the things we buy most.

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"confessions of a guedette." what have you been up to? >> promoting the book. >> despite the headlines and what we saw in front of the cameras, did you get a chance away from the cameras to enjoy it at all? >> not really, it was 24/7 filming. >> does that bug you a little bit? one of the most beautiful places on earth? >> we saw a lot. i'd like to go back without the cameras and explore. >> how would you say the italians reacted to you and how did you react to the italians? >> the italians loved us. right when we got off the bus they were like woo! screaming and stuff but me to them, i had no idea what they were saying. i was like okay. they could have been calling me nasty names and i was like thanks. it sounded beautiful. >> as long as they were smiling when they were doing it. you have a certain style to you. >> um-hum. >> do you think the italian

women got your style and what did you think of their style? >> well i tried to dress their style with the big hats and stuff like that but nobody wore big hats there. the style there was just normal. it wasn't anything really different. >> but did you think they were more stylish than perhaps american men and women are? >> i think the guys are definitely more stylish, yes. >> guedette, the name of this. you want to tell people how to be a guedette. >> yes. >> when i was growing up calling a guy a guido was not the nicest thing to call somebody. do you see it as something other than a compliment in. >> it's not really a compliment. it's a lifestyle. you can be punk, a prep, gothic, we're guedettes. >> how do you define guedette? >> a girl with a strong personality, doesn't let anybody bring her down, she likes tanning, very independent and loves to be like flashy, like gaudy. >> do we ever get to see snooki the real you on this show?

i mean, i think you even said something about the fact that reality tv is not normal life. it's the most dysfunctional moments rolled up in a ball, in your case, a meatball. >> yes. >>o we ever get to see the real snooki or the real nicole probably more appropriately on tv? >> i think you see more of like the party side of me which i call snooki, that's kind of my alter ego. that's what you see on the snow. right now you're talking to nicole. it's like the soft, calm, like you know, business ready person. >> so is this person, is nicole a good role model for young women versus snooki on tv? >> snooki is definitely not a role model. snooki is there to have fun and live her life. nicole i am strong and independent and you know, i'm just loveable i guess. >> one of the things you write about in the book, chapter called "snookin for love."

it starts out funny but you do talk about wanting to be in a relationship and perhaps haven't made the right relationship. i'm not asking you to put a name on it, what type of guy would be a good partner for you? >> i would say right now my boyfriend is amazing. i like a guy that makes me laugh, doesn't care about this, you know, the fame own the show. he just likes me for me. he likes me as nicole. so you know, you just got to make me laugh and keep up with me and you got my heart. >> someone with a big heart. >> yes. >> what can match hearts with you. >> and has a big family and loves their mom. >> and has to be italian. you say you want to have babies with an italian because you want your kids' last name to have a vowel in it. >> very true. a little picky. >> nicole great to have you here. >> thank you very much. >> "confessions of a guedette." coming up, bette midler, how you can have some of her most iconic looks.

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bette midler has conquered music, broadway, television and movies over her 40-year career and now auctions off some of her most famous looks. here with a sneak peek is the divix "miss m" herself and dan julian. good morning to both of but >> good morning. >> bette midler, what a warehouse of treasures you must have had. how did you come to decide to auction them off? >> i decided it was time. i've had, i've hung onto this stuff for over 40 years and i just, i just thought it was time to send this stuff out into the world. i'm not really a hoarder but starting to feel like one. >> this must be emotional. >> it was terribly emotional. when i saw the catalogue, one of the most beautiful things ever i burst into tears. it happened in the blink of an eye. it was so fantastic, the ride was such a wild ride and it was just, and, but it was 40 years.

you just can't get over it. >> it's amazing. you have been so kind to bring some of your best items to show us. darren we'll ask more about the logistics of the auction first. first the jaoutfit if you jump t of a clam shell. >> this was designed by tony walton, the set designer and the costume designer also on "clams on the half shell" my first big broadway show under my own name and i didn't exactly jump out of a clam shell, i was helped out of a clam shell, and it's held up after all of the years. >> the next one comes from the bette divine madness show. holy feathers. >> this was designed by bob mackey, and it was one of the greatest entrances i ever had. it has a kind of a fabulous headdress that goes with it. when you open this up it has a little, you know, it has a little reveal. >> yes it does.

>> which i thought was divine. >> you're auctioning off the original sketch from bob mackey. >> here is the sketch, one of the great sketch artists who ever lived. i kept that. no, he gave me that, a huge file, huge archive. when he found out i was auctions this off he said i'm going to give you stuff. he gave us this. >> i have an exhibit, for example these shoes. tell us about these. >> cher gave me these shoes in the early '70s, when these shoes, these kinds of platform shoes were all the rage and we were all wearing them, everybody was wearing them, and there was a shop on sunset boulevard, i think it's still there called eric's and they were the first ones to actually bedazzle the shoes. >> can you walk in the shoes? >> no, you can't take a step in them. they're like any low shoes. you can be photographed in them and that's about it. my daughter was panic stricken when she found out i was

auctioning them. maybe not. >> this dress i remember from "beaches." >> yes, this dress was, this is from my own wardrobe and this came from, i bought this in paris at, i actually went to the showroom, which i had never done before to jean patieu, i don't think they're in business, l la coix, and i'm excited to get it. when beaches came around i wanted so silly. >> so '80s. >> look, i'm out in sleeves. i've worn it a lot but it wound up in "beaches" and i think it's one of the funiest scenes in the whole movies. >> this is a showstopper. >> this is bob demarra, i hope he's watching, made some of my most iconic costumes, we were together for many, many years, close to 40 years and we worked in and out, sometimes the great bob mackey would do things and bob demarra and constance

hoffman. this was the record of "bathhouse betty." i think i was standing on 17 apple boxes so i looked really, really tall and my wonderful dog, queen puddles was in the picture and it was a successful album for me and actually this was the basis of a show i did called "the divine miss millennium" in the year 2000 when the century turned. >> we have items from "the rose" some of the cool clothes you wore are awesome. >> that was one of my favorite show business experiences ever. this movie i had so much fun making it, and i saved absolutely every item, every shred of clothing. >> i was looking through the catalogue, those clothes are so cool. your daughter may want those, too. >> i've hidden -- she has some of them. i've hidden them, i've given some of them away to the rock 'n' roll hall of fame but most of them i have. >> i love this, the famous color's delago, mermaid outfit. >> this is my last dolores, my las vegas dolores, it was a

symphony in pink and blue. i am the star because i'm wearing pink and the chorus girls are wearing blue. it was a beautiful, that was one of the most beautiful shows i did, and we have a lot of stuff from that show in this auction including entire sets of i think they're entire sets, including entire sets of the chorus girl costumes which are extraordinary. >> i hear you're helping lady gaga. >> i have a couple of wheelchairs and i do know that gaga has tried a wheelchair, a mermaid in a wheelchair, not successfully, but i am willing to give her the entire routine including the music and the outfits. >> and the yukelele? >> that's not dolores. this is one of the most fun things i have, i think in the collection. there's a mate to this and i gave, i had two of them made and gave one to president obama for his daughters, and i mean i don't know if they're playing it around, but he's from hawaii and i thought oh, a treasure, there you go. >> darren logistics, how can

people auction? >> they can go online if they can't come to the live auction, juliansauctions.com, a free public exhibition, everything set up beautifully in beverly hills to the gallery, free to the public october 31st through november 12th and live auction takes place saturday, november 12th. >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> was this hard to do or what? >> to tell you the truth, it was, i can't believe i'm doing it. i might have to change my -- no, no, no, really truly it's not. the truth about these, about being in this life is that a lot of people save their things, but a lot of people burn it or give things away. >> don't do that. we say buy it. we'll be back. thanks so much.

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> the time is 8:26. let's get a check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> new accident within the delay we have had. westbound 50 at i-97. those delays stretch back to ritchie highway and 44, where we had nearly a tractor trailer fire.

new accident off to the side. southbound 295, 195 to 97, was down 100 between 97 and 295. inner loop past belair road, watch for an accident still clearing. out of the accidents from belair towards the harrisburg expressway. slow-go on the j.f.x. southbound all the way down into town. eastbound i guess 70, watch for an accident. west side, 11 miles per hour on average. 83 from padonia down to the beltway. 50 from 97, not far from the accident scene. jammed back to ritchie highway. live view of traffic as we switch over to i-70 in the eastbound direction towards the beltway. traffic not moving, with an accident at the beltway and delays in place.

>> good morning. at least to the weather is nice and quiet. it will be a nice day. a little bit on the chilly side, but we will make it into the 60s. 48 in west mr.. mostly sunny skies. high temperatures this afternoon will climb into the upper 60s. things will change tomorrow. clouds will thicken up. we will hit 73 of and on rainshowers are possible thursday and friday. >>

♪ boy you think that you know me, know me ♪ ♪ that's why i'm leaving he lonely ♪ we're back at 8:30 on a tuesday morning, october 25th, 2011. happy to have these folks joining us in the plaza, as they

plan in the background to one of the latest hits from kelly clarkson, that's right, the first winner of "american idol" is joining us in our studio this morning. she's got some brand new music, but the same great sound and she is fun to talk to. we'll talk to kelly in a couple of minutes. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie, al roker and tamron hall. natalie and ann are enjoying the morning off this morning. what else is coming up? >> natalie has jury duty. we hope she's enjoying doing her civic duty. >> don't tweet while at jury duty. >> al learned the hard way. coming up something snooki should have stuck around for, italian cooking the american way. everybody's favorite recipe, lydia will show us in a couple of minutes. >> imagine this, i know you guys are athletic, 42 miles a day every day for two months. >> wow. >> isn't that incredible? we'll meet the guy who is doing

just that, and i love this, it's all to say thanks to his mom, 42 miles. >> he ended up 2,400 miles from home. >> thanks but i'm gone. >> could have called her and said thank you. jill martin is here with the often duplicated but never equalled -- >> well -- >> a low flying bird. new batch at it. there we go, just stole jill's steals and deals. jill will be here with steals and deals, exclusive discounts for our viewers and "today's professionals" star donny and dr. nancy weigh in on everything from letting your underaged kids run the house to flirting on facebook. >> okay. do you want to move him? he's in your hair, you know. >> so mean. let's get a check of the weather. it could happen. let's get a check of the weather from mr. roker. >> okay. that's pretty good. that's what's going on in the

country. >> good morning. it will turn out to be a nice day. we expect mostly sunny skies. >> don't forget you can get your weather any time of the day or night, go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. now let's say hello to uncle willie scott. >> hey, we got some birthday buddies today. >> hey uncle willy! >> catch this gang out there, a good bunch. here is delma kollar, eugene,

oregon, where the sun comes up twice a year. 114 -- is that -- 114 years old, good lord, have mercy, and has a lot of springtime in her step. that's very good. loves and enjoys having people come by to say hello, how are you. art walker from murfreesboro, tennessee, 105 years old today. loves to attend church, good church music and all over tennessee, good musicians. and an all-around fan of everybody he ever meets. you can't beat it, golden. delma ouellette, how about that, jaffrey, new hampshire, 104 years old today, lives independently and still very, very energetic, up all the time. we wish her well. god bless.

theodore -- ♪ christmas, christmas remember him, the chipmunk? theodore wattenberg of prospect heights, illinois, 103 years old and loves to read newspapers and very active in all kinds of community affairs. and we have hariet sands, rocky river, ohio, is 102 and loves to read novels and also attends concerts and also likes to go to plays, a lady of the theater. how do you do? and we have carroll miller, st. louis park, missouri -- minnesota, minnesota. ahead of myself. 100 years old today, and also has a pilot's license. how about that? loves to fly. also enjoys being an avid watcher of the weather. a guru of the sky. that's it. that's all now. back to new york. >> all right, willard, thanks. coming up next a slice of italy here in the u.s., the best

italian-american recipes. later on, kelly clarkson live in our studio. first this is "today" on nbc. dinner? candles? i wanted it to be special. oh, what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. mmm, it's good. honey, i love you and... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. yeah but honey, i love you and... is that what i think it is...it is... it's bacon. honey look. [ male announcer ] progresso rich and hearty... 4 new flavors, you can lose yourself in. what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

"today's cooking school" is brought to you by bertolli premium male soup for two. a fresh take on soup. it's frozen. >> we're back today at :37, this morning italian american cuisine. italians adapted old world recipes to foods found in the new world. a new cookbook "lidia's world in america." you traveled a lot for the book, went to some of the most popular ports of entry for italians in the country. >> i brought italy, all the regions to america for a long time. i found that america really

harbors a great deal of recipes based in the italian tradition but sort of americanized by the immigrants, when they came, they found different ingredients. >> some cases did you find the recipes got better with the adaptation or are you kind of a traditionalist? >> i'm a traditionalist, i'm italian of the region but italian american food is good. it is not what you will find in i talia. you will not find spaghetti and meat ball when you go to italy. >> but one of the traditional italian american dishes. let's tackle it. >> there's always change in evolution. three kinds of meat. a put a little bit of vegetables. this is my addition, you make modification, pass it through a food processor, egg, parsley, salt and oregano and this mixture. >> you say in italy you would never find the size meat balls americans tend to serve in their portions. >> in italy you get these little meatballs and put them in soups and you can fry them but you don't cook them in sauce like

this. >> you put them in the oven. >> put them in the oven and make the sauce, while this is baking in the oven, you make the simple sauce. people are always complex, complex. onions, crushed tomattomatoes, pepperocino and salt, baked meatballs go right in here. >> how long do you like to simmer them in there? >> about half an hour, because they're cooked here. >> they'll absorb some of the flavor of that sauce. >> and release some of it and this is how it comes. isn't that beautiful? one of the things when you're young especially and the night before you were out and you say mom is cooking this, and i remember, used to come under the door into my bedroom. >> the smells, yes, the odors. >> i used to be awoken by this. you take a little bit of the sauce and we'll just put it right in here. and the pasta right in. you dress it right there. >> a lot of people do it the opposite, they take the sauce and pour it over the pasta. you like to put everything and let it work together for a

while. >> absolutely, gives it much more, because the pasta you make it al dente and it absorbs the flavor of the sauce. that's it. sometimes you get the pasta and a puddle of sauce on the bottom just like that. you take it off, a little bit of garnish and you're ready to serve it. >> show me other things. one of the other dishes you want to talk about today is a grilled caesar salad. also not italian. >> this i found in baltimore, caesar salad was invented in las vegas. i went to a los cala restaurant, this is delicious. so you take your romaine and grill it which a little bit of cheese on top and croutons. >> drizzle it on. that's fantastic.

again that's italian american. >> it is. >> and real quickly describe what we have over here. >> boston cream pie. i went to rhode island and the shallow sisters, there's two of them, three generations italian, they did the italian custard and the boston cream pie effect into cupcakes. it has rum in it, it has orange so the italian flavors but it is american. >> i lived in providence, rhode island, some of the best italian food i've ever had in my life in providence. lidia, this is fantastic. thank you for bringing the recipes home. the book is called "lidia's italy in america." up next, the man running from canada to mexico to say thanks to his mother. we'll meet them both. first this is "today

back now at 8:44, how far would you go to show your mom you love her? "today" national correspondent amy robach is here with one man's answer. good morning to you >> quite an answer, savannah.

100 marathons in two months. yes, that's 42 miles a day, all one son's way to demonstrate what it means to run while you can. 23-year-old sam fox is stretching his world to an unthinkable limit in the run of a lifetime. >> i'm doing this for my mother. i'm doing this to honor her, thank her for everything she's done to me. >> sam takes on the pacific crest trail, a 2,650-mile knee-buckling challenge from canada to mexico, along the way he hopes to raise a quarter of a million-dollar for parkinson's research, a disease his mother, lucy, suffers from. >> i think it's gradual for most people and certainly is for me, so it's not, you don't wake up one morning and suddenly not be able to do things. >> reporter: while her son hammers his way through the wilderness, lucy remains rooted in her lifelong commitment to growth. >> i like the sequence of one flower moves into another

throughout the season, and i really like growing things to eat. >> reporter: sam has always had an appetite to live on the edge, fewer people have successfully hiked the trail that have reached the summit of mt. evere everest. his effort is being captured by "run while you can" a documentary film. >> i'm drag so long hard. yesterday i managed to get in maybe 40, 41 miles maybe. took me 17, 17 hours i think. >> i'm not a soft person. i'm not a soft mother. i was kind of a tough mother. >> reporter: lucy was diagnosed with parkinson's ten years ago, before that her children were raised on high adventure and exotic travel. it was parenting with a purpose. >> i'm hoping that he's taken some of the toughness that we had together, just as mother and son, i'm hoping he's taken some of that with him on the trail because he's certainly going to need it.

>> this is the hardest day of my life. no joke. my mother in essence fighting just like i'm fighting each day, fighting pain, fighting discomfort. i know that my pain will end, and hers won't. >> reporter: worlds away from one another, sam is propelled by what his mother helped to plant early in his life. >> my job as a mother is to raise my kids up to a state of independen independence, and you hope that state of independence and everything else combines to make a really good human being. >> sweet trail tricks. whoa! damage. >> first i thought he was nuts, and i continued to think he was nuts until he said that he wanted to raise money for parkinson's disease research. >> reporter: just hours from his finish line, sam has already got on it where his mother wanted him to go. >> my mom continues to remind me when i talk to her on the trail

just to remember that this will end, you know, regardless of how fast and how painful. i will get through this, and i won't regret a single day of it. >> sam is expected to finish his journey later this morning, and since he started at the end of august, he has covered 2,236 miles and raised almost $140,000 through his website, runwhileyoucanfor parkinsons research. we have more on our website. >> a few more hours for him, talk about a long road, amy thank you, great story. coming up a live performance from the original "american i l

the toyota concert series on "today" brought to you by toyota. >> you probably remember kelly clarkson was the first merican idol" and gone on to sell 20 million albums worldwide. her latest release called "stronger." welcome back. good to see you. >> nice to see you, too. >> you say this is your best album yet. >> it is. >> why is it different from the others? >> that sounds narsiciistic.

people know me better as a singer, the mikes we use, the producers that worked with me. it was really smooth. >> by this time you must know people like you. they like your music, they like the sound and yet as you're releasing a new album like this do you get the nerves? do the jitters start all over? >> no, because it takes two years to release the record, we go all over the world. by the time the record comes around, there's no time to be nervous, i'm anxious. >> let me read you a couple of reviews. >> i hate reviews. >> entertainment weekly, kelly clarkson makes a breakup album for the ages. you're never too old for a wag your finger at the boys story. guys if you go out with a girl who tells you she loves this album, run away fast. >> which is funny, i haven't had a boyfriend in a while but -- >> maybe it's these songs. >> i know i'm scaring them. >> you love performing live. >> i do. >> you're going to spend a lot of time on the road?

>> yes. you want to come out on the road and sing with us? >> i'll come on the road with you. i will not sing with you. all right, you've never heard me sing. >> it will be even more fun if you're bad. >> stevie wonder's career, look it up. >> i'm going to google you two. we're doing the new single "mr. know it all." >> ladies and gentlemen, kelly clarkson. action ♪ ♪ mmm, yeah ♪ mr. know it all, well ya, you think you know it all but ya don't know a thing at all ♪ ♪ ain't it, ain't it something y'all when someone tells you something bout you ♪ ♪ think that they know you more than you do ♪ ♪ so you take it down another pill to swallow ♪ ♪ mr. bring me down, well ya, you like to bring me down, don't ya ♪ ♪ but i ain't laying down baby,

no, i ain't going down ♪ ♪ can't nobody tell me how it's gonna be ♪ ♪ nobody's gonna make a fool out of me, baby ♪ ♪ you should know that i lead, not follow ♪ ♪ oh, you think that you know me, know me ♪ ♪ that's why i'm leaving you lonely, lonely ♪ cause baby you don't know a thing about me, you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ ♪ yeah, you ain't got the right to tell me when and where to go ♪ no right to tell me, acting like you own me lately ♪ ♪ yet baby you don't know a thing about me, you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ mr. play your games only got you got yourself to blame ♪

♪ when you want me back again, but i ain't falling back again ♪ ♪ cause i'm living my truth without your lies ♪ ♪ let's be clear baby this is good-bye, i ain't coming back tomorrow ♪ oh you think that you know me, know me ♪ ♪ that's why i'm leaving you lonely, lonely ♪ cause baby you don't know a thing about me, you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ yeah, yeah ♪ you ain't got the right to tell me when and where to go, no right to tell me ♪ ♪ acting like you own me lately ♪ ♪ yet baby you don't know a thing about me, you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ so what, you've got the world at your feet and you know

everything about everything ♪ ♪ but you don't, you still think i'm coming back, but baby you'll see ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ oh you think that you know me, know me, that's why i'm leaving you lonely, lonely ♪ ♪ cause baby you don't know a thing about me, you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ you ain't got the right to tell me when and where to go, no right to tell me ♪ ♪ acting like you own me lately, yet baby you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ you don't know a thing about me ♪ ♪ mr. know it all, well ya, you think you know it all ♪ ♪ but ya don't know a thing at

all, you don't know a thing about me ♪ you don't know a thing about me ♪ >> kelly clarkson, the album is called "stronger." kelly great seeing you. thanks for coming in. just ahead ""today's" professionals" donny, star and nancy tack willile the morning' topics. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning.

i am mindy basara. in harford county community is on the lookout for a suspect who allegedly tried to abduct a 14- year-old boy as he walked to the bus stop monday morning. the boys said that the suspect threatened to hurt him if he did not get into the van. back in a minu

>> it is going to turn out to be a nice day. after a chilly start, temperatures will make it into the upper 60s. mostly sunny skies. clouds will thicken up tomorrow. high-temperature near 70. rain at the end of the week. >> thank you for joining us. we will have another weather update at 9:25.