good morning. deadly crash, six u.s. marines killed when their helicopter went down in southern afghanistan. an investigation now under way. we're live at the pentagon. the x factor. newt gingrich lashes out during a gop debate after being asked about his second wife's claim that he wanted an open marriage. >> i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate with a topic like that. >> as mitt romney is pressed once again on releasing his tax returns. how much will all of this matter to south carolina voters who head to the polls tomorrow? and what a mess. seattle iced over. massive flooding in oregon. now a strong snowstorm that

could cause major travel troubles from illinois to massachusetts today. friday, january 20th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a friday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry. that helicopter crash in afghanistan is the deadliest there since 30 soldiers and 22 u.s. navy seals died when their chopper was shot down in eastern afghanistan last august. we'll get the very latest from the pentagon in a moment. meantime turning to politics. what a wild day in the gop presidential race. >> trying to keep track of it all. rick perry dropped out. mitt romney actually finished second behind rick santorum in the iowa caucuses. then that all led up to the debate where newt gingrich's past took centerstage right out of the gate.

he said the claim being made by his second ex-wife that he asked for an open marriage so he could carry on an affair is completely false. >> it's an issue i talked to the former house speaker about on "today" on thursday. >> intruding into family things that are more than a decade old are simply wrong. now, i'll have my daughters speak for it. i'm sure they'd be glad to come on and chat with you about it. >> we followed up with mr. gingrich's daughters but late last night they canceled. also ahead the latest on the 12 girls suffering tourette's like symptoms at that same high school and have an exclusive live interview with the doctor twe treating ten of the 12 girls. and also dr. oz will be here to talk about what he calls the most overlooked problem in this country, inadequate sleep, and the dangerous effects on our health. he says he has solutions to help

us rest more. >> look forward to that. let's begin on a friday morning with that helicopter crash in afghanistan that killed six u.s. marines. nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon. mick, what are they saying about this? >> reporter: those six u.s. marines were killed when their c-stallion helicopter crashed in helmand province in southern afghanistan. u.s. military officials tell us there was no evidence of any enemy activity or hostile fire in the region at the time. it could have been a mechanical problem. an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash. but it's just another indication that even the most routine missions there in afghanistan can be dangerous for our troops, matt. >> mick, it was also a deadly day for french forces. more servicemen from the french army killed in a separate incident. how are the french responding to that? >> reporter: not well. president sarkozy immediately suspended all french military operations in afghanistan and is threatening to pull out 4,000 french troops entirely. that's where it gets complicated

because those french were on a training mission, training up afghan soldiers to take over the country's own security when one of those afghan soldiers opened fire killing them. that training mission is absolutely critical to the white house strategy to pull all american forces out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. if the foreign troops, our allies, start pulling out ahead of time that whole strategy could unravel, matt. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon for us this morning. as always, thank you very much. it's four minutes after the hour. here's ann. matt, thank you. now to presidential politics. the gop field may be narrower this morning but that's not stopping the fireworks on the campaign trail on the eve of south carolina's gop primary. nbc's peter alexander is in charleston, south carolina with more. peter, good morning. >> reporter: ann, good morning to you. you'll excuse the people of south carolina as they wake up this morning asking themselves what just happened? just one day ahead of this state's primary. yesterday was the most wild, jam

packed day of the entire campaign season as you've noted. it began with one candidate dropping out and ended with another candidate's ex-wife speaking out. >> she says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take some time to respond to that? >> no, but i will. >> straight out of the gate newt gingrich unleashed a fiery assault. >> i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate with a topic like that. >> reporter: gingrich attacking the media for focusing on his second wife's claim during an interview with abc's "nightline" that he wanted to continue his affair with his then mistress now wife. >> he was asking to have an open marriage and i refused. >> he wanted an open marriage. >> yeah, that i accept the fact

that he had somebody else in his life. >> to take an ex-wife and make it two days before a primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. the story is false. every personal friend i have who knew us in that period said the story was false. i am tired of the elite media protecting barack obama. >> gingrich and rick santorum now battling to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney traded attacks on their contrasting styles. >> the grandiosity has never been a problem with newt gingrich. he handles it very, very well. >> i think grandiose thoughts. this is a grandiose country of big people doing big things and we need leadership prepared to take on big projects. >> newt is a friend. i love him but at times he just sort of, you know, has a worrisome moment that something is going to pop and we can't afford that in a nominee.

>> reporter: santorum argued both romney and gingrich have strayed from conservative ideals by supporting health care mandates. >> i've been fighting for health reform, private sector, bottom up the way america works best, for 20 years. you guys were playing with the left. >> when will you release your tax reform specifically? >> an hour ago. >> putting pressure on romney to release his taxes gingrich put his online just before the debate but romney appeared to stumble again when asked if he would follow his father who also ran for president and release several years of his tax returns. >> maybe. you know, i don't know how many years i'll release. i'll take a look at what the -- what our documents are. >> reporter: the contentious debate concluded a head-snapping day that began with rick perry abruptly dropping out of the race and endorsing gingrich. >> i believe newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country, and newt is not perfect, but who among us

is? >> reporter: and more than two weeks after the iowa caucuses santorum claimed new momentum after a recount determined he actually won there by 34 votes. >> i also want to thank the people of iowa for a little delayed but most welcomed victory there. >> an entirely different question. >> reporter: at times thursday night's debate got so intense it was even hard for the candidates to keep track. >> beats me. i don't know. where are we at, john? >> reporter: as for newt gingrich and tax returns they showed that in 2010 he and his wife made more than $3 million and paid nearly $1 million in federal taxes. by the way, if you're ready for all of this to come to an end, ann, not to worry. exactly one year from today is the presidential inauguration. >> all right. that's worth noting. thank you so much. peter alexander this morning. chuck todd is nbc's political director and the chief white house correspondent in orlando, florida this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, ann.

>> even the word tumultuous seems inadequate to describe what has happened in the gop race in the last 24 hours. where does this race, the republican race, now stand as we're now looking at the day before south carolina? >> reporter: we're at a moment where we could see about 48 hours ago we thought mitt romney was going to make history. he was going to be the first nonincumbent republican to win the first three, go 3-0, become -- go from being front-runner to defacto nominee. now we may be making history because three different people, rick santorum, mitt romney, and newt gingrich might win the first three. i think at this point gingrich has momentum, nothing last night probably stopped that momentum in south carolina. we're here in florida. we've got that next debate on monday night. florida is supposed to be one  mitt romney's fire walls. the polls here may show romney ahead big right now. that will change overnight if newt gingrich indeed pulls that upset on saturday. right now he's got all the

momentum. >> you say he's got all the momentum. on thursday we asked about this, the charge we heard about earlier from his second wife and what she might say in her interview but last night the daughters who said that they were booked for this interview pulled out saying that their father had already addressed this enough. did he address it enough to satisfy the evangelicals who are potentially a key factor in this race in south carolina? >> reporter: that's a great question because there is a gender gap in the polling. we've seen it in our own poll. women, evangelical women, but women as a whole definitely seem to be less inclined to support gingrich. the assumption is it is over, his past infidelity. long term i think that's an open question about whether he has done enough to explain his personal infidelity, explain why he's had three marriages. that is going to be a challenge for him down the road. short term, he may be well on his way to win south carolina. the bigger picture here, though,

ann, is mitt romney still has an inability to win over conservatives and what does the party establishment do if gingrich indeed does win south carolina and, frankly, makes florida a contest? do they try to rally around romney one more time? do they try to say, you know what? maybe it's time to look for somebody else again because we don't think gingrich is electable but now we're worried romney is not nominatable. >> romney's tax returns. how much longer can he wait before it becomes a real liability for him to not release them? >> reporter: it's become a liability because he's made it a liability. that's what's so bizarre about this. his answers have changed. i first asked him the tax return question 28 days ago. the first time he was asked. and he said, no, he probably wouldn't do it. he's changed his answer every time he's been asked, whether by one of us, by debate moderators, by candidates. at some point now he's boxed himself in. he probably needs to hurry up and get this out of the way sooner rather than later because

he's acting like somebody who's got something to hide. at this point it only adds to sort of head scratcher, like what's going on here? do you guys have your stuff together to be the nominee and go up against obama? >> all right. chuck todd, always good to get your perspective. thank you so much this morning. a quick programming note. new jersey's republican governor chris christie, a romney supporter, will be david gregory's exclusive guest this sunday on "meet the press." let us get a check of the other headlines making news this morning. natalie is over at the news desk. good morning. good morning, matt and ann. good morning, everyone. we begin with a raging wildfire burning near nevada that forced thousands of people from their homes and is blamed for at least one death. nbc is just south of reno with the details. >> reporter: this fire was moving so quickly that crews couldn't get an exact handle on the number of homes destroyed. they believe it is roughly 20. they say when the sun comes up here that, quote, there certainly won't be any good

news. containment is at 50%. burning into the morning, a wall of flames could be seen near reno, nevada. a state of emergency in washoe county. home after home destroyed. hundreds of others in danger as 10,000 people were forced to evacua evacuate. >> the area that's been burned is absolutely devastated in many ways. >> reporter: hopscotching from yard to yard the inferno grew to at least five square miles, nearly 4,000 acres. thursday highway 395 was shut down. entire neighborhoods, schools, and herds of animals evacuated away from erratic, 40-foot flames. in november a 74-year-old man died during a similar blaze that destroyed 30 homes in this same neighborhood. >> it's inconceivable that this community has been struck by tragedy once again. it's almost two months to the

day since the collin fire. >> reporter: with gusts topping 80 miles per hour thursday and the wind to the fire's back the moving monster swallowed acre after acre. hundreds of firefighters could do little to slow its path. the national guard called in. choking smoke in the eerie orange sky could be seen for miles. though the winds are certainly still stiff there is some good news. they're expected to lighten to 20 to 30 miles an hour. crews will certainly have their hands full. there is no cause yet for the blaze. natalie? >> all right. you can see how the wind is blowing there. miguel almaguer, thank you. more weather in the pacific northwest. in washington state, many roads are still covered in ice this morning. officials in seattle are asking people to stay off roadways and dozens of flights there have already been canceled. meantime, torrential rains in oreg oregon flood rivers and highways. we'll have much more coming up.

champion free style skier sarah berg has died while training in utah last week. the canadian skier was considered an early favorite to win the gold at the olympic games in russia. doctors say berg suffered severe brain damage. she was just 29 years old. several websites including that of the department of justice are back up and running this morning after getting hacked allegedly by the group known as "anonymous" and the group says it was in retaliation for the arrest in new zealand of four executives of the popular file sharing website megaupload.com. officials have shut down the site charging its founder with violating piracy laws. could a solar blast be headed our way? nasa has released this spectacular footage of solar flares that could stir up an amazing light show in the sky this weekend and unfortunately could also cause brief radio blackouts and minor disruptions in the power grid. meanwhile, a cat from texas has just eight lives left. this 2-year-old tabby cat was shot with an arrow that pierced

his shoulder blades. luckily, no vital organs were struck. the stray was seen walking around houston with the arrow in his body for three days before anyone helped. after surgery the feline is now doing okay and has been renamed cupid. she is a cutie. i'm sure she'll find a good home. 7:16 right now. let's turn it over to matt, ann, and al. >> what's with these solar flares? can you fill us in a little more on that? >> doesn't sound good. >> the good news is the northern lights will look spectacular. we'll see it here in new york. anyway, let's show you what's happening out west. it has been a mess. again, icy conditions, a lot of -- in fact, over 130 school districts were closed the last couple of days. they're starting to reopen now. and in oregon they continue to have big problems with flooding and they're going to have more today as we're going to be looking at anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of rain that's going to be falling in the area.

let's go to the map. you can see a big storm coming onshore. this is another big storm system with a lot of moisture attached to it. that moisture is going to bring anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of rain from san francisco on up into portland and then we're talking snow here from minneapolis all the way to new york city and boston. generally about 1 to 3 inches. cleveland about 3 to 5. 2 to 5 inches of snow in pittsburgh, new york city 2 to 4 inches. boston about 1 to 2 inches. >> good morning. the weather will turn slippery with some freezing rain and some snow. partly cloudy skies today.

snow starts in the midwest the next couple hours and gets to the northeast by afternoon. >> all right, al. thank you. rescue crews working on a cruise ship grounded off the coast of italy are running out of time to find any more possible survivors. overnight the operation was delayed yet again. nbc's michelle kosinski is in giglio island with more on the story. good morning. >> reporter: hi, ann. we saw searchers dropping these sensors down on to the ship. they worked, picking up vibrations that could mean it is settling into the reef or slipping down toward the edge of the drop 300 feet. either way divers can't search because they're at risk of being trapped themselves. the concordia may be lying down on the rocky seabed but it is still moving. almost every day a shift keeps the divers from working and puts the thousand-foot wreck in danger of slipping down the slope with many of its victims

and half a million gallons of fuel still inside. thursday was some of the deepest diving yet, 30 feet down, looking like a modern day titanic. you can see the ship's bell, the upper deck where passengers would have gone to be saved. here is the enormous chain, the anchor the captain put down to swing the ship, beaching it, after he hit these rocks. with the changing dangerous conditions putting a stop to the diving searchers have been tackling it from above. lowered down from helicopters, met with this immense silence. until they made another hole in the hull determined to find every one of the 21 missing while their families arrived. suzy albertini came for her 5-year-old daughter diana missing with her father both last seen slipping into the sea. new video from friday night shows passengers navigating the maze of huge hallways and the

chaos onboard in the dark. in an audio recording you hear authorities call the ship. the crew member who answered said the problem is just a blackout. and no help is needed. now police say they'd like to interview this young woman. she reported she worked on the concordia but that night was off duty and had dinner with the captain. she said she was not on the bridge when the accident happened but was called there afterwards, making announcements for passengers in russian. she said the captain stayed on the ship until at least nearly midnight, about three hours after the crash, and defends him. he did a great thing, saved more than 3,000 lives by beaching the ship, she says, where it now res rests, taken over by the sea, and sinking. so now carnival the parent company says it is going to do this systemwide review of all the safety and emergency procedures and an outside review

of this disaster. ann? >> all right. michelle kosinski, thank you so much. it is now 7:20. once again, here's matt. >> thank you. in health news this morning a possible change in the definition of autism. and it's leading to controversy among doctors and parents of children currently labeled autistic. dr. nancy snyderman is nbc's chief medical editor. good morning to you. what is driving this review? >> good morning, matt. what's driving the review is the need to put some scientific parameters around this. as you know, we've talked about the autism epidemic for years and a lot of psychiatrists have said, then questioned the numbers, have we made the tent so large that kids with all kinds of problems have been brought under what we call autism-like disorders? so there is now a call for review to narrow the parameters, to really define what is autism, what is asperger's, what are these other parameters, so the kids who really need help can

get help. >> but is this about diagnosing the condition or is this having to do with money in some ways bringing into control the vast cost of this for insurance companies and also by the way states that have to provide special education for children who fall under this umbrella? >> your question is going to be answered differently depending on whom you're speaking to. scientists will tell you that it's a very, very important to define autism with very strict criteria. in fact, those criteria have become quite mushy over the last few years. so the american psychiatric association has a task panel and i have to tell you this is a blue ribbon panel, matt, with the best scientists we have in the country really looking specifically. advocacy groups will tell you there is a concern kids are going to be left out. school districts will tell you there is not enough money to give special needs kids a lot of funding that they frankly don't have the money for.

but at the bottom of it is a need to scientifically hone in on what is autism, what causes it, and we haven't really specifically found that yet. the environmental factors. and specifically, i think, narrow the bridge. we've been a little squishy in this over the years and scientists are really now calling, i think, for a new world order if you will. it's not going to be -- i think what scientists are going to say is we want to make this right and we want to get rid of a lot of the terms that we've included and say, look. for kids with social problems, for kids with wording problems, for kids with strict autism problems we are scientifically going to make it right. so expect a final report sometime this fall. >> thank you very much. nancy snyderman. just ahead the mother of a maine toddler missing for more than a month takes a lie detector test but fails to complete it.

we'll hear from her exclusively. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

>> 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. gov. martin o'malley plans to balance the budget by creating new tax proposals. the governor wants to cap income-tax exemptions at 9% in state households with an annual income of $100,000 or more, 80% for those earning $200,000 a year or more.

opponents say the thresholds are too low and that they should be raised to $250,000. time for the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> it is not a bad ride out there. if you delays and incidents. what the boulevard and joppa road, we have an accident. reisterstown road, heavy on the west side, but not as much as we normally see. it begins at security down to edmondson, at 34 miles per hour through that stretch. south of 32 in howard county. that's give an idea of traffic. we will start as security. going away from us, outer loop traffic. that started york road in the mark felt region, looks great. >> partly cloudy skies.

the upper 30's down south. 38 in annapolis. 34 degrees at the airport. mixture of sunshine and clouds. if you're going out this evening, it is going to be dry. late tonight and early tomorrow morning we are going to see a mixture of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. and snow.

7:30 on this friday morning, compared to yesterday, warmer. later tonight al says we'll be dealing with snow however across the region. we'll get his forecast coming up in a moment. inside studio 1-a i'm ann curry alongside matt lauer. coming up something millions of americans suffer from and that's a lack of sleep. >> that's right. dr. oz is with us this morning. he says a lack of sleep can lead to everything from cancer to heart disease, obesity. he believes it's being grocery overlooked. so what can you do to get a better night's sleep? dr. oz is going to share some creative solutions including why

you should change the color of the light bulbs in your bedroom. also, we have some new details on that story that riveted a lot of our viewers and that is the tourette's like symptoms suffered by a dozen girls at the same high school. what's causing it? are any of the girls showing signs of improvement? we'll ask the doctor who is treating ten of those girls, matt. and a little later on maybe you've seen this video on youtube. the unexpected encounter at the safari park in texas. we begin this half hour with new developments in the search for a missing toddler in maine. the girl's mother has now taken a lie detector test and spoken exclusively to nbc. she is in waterville, maine with details on this story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. it has now been more than a month since little ayla reynolds went missing from her father's home behind me. now both of her parents say they've taken polygraph tests.

her mother says she couldn't finish hers. one month to the day ayla reynolds disappeared, a candlelight vigil tuesday for a little girl who is still missing but not forgotten. police have said foul play but there are still no major breaks in the mystery. both parents say they've taken polygraph tests. ayla's mother trista reynolds says she took hers on wednesday answering hours' worth of questions about ayla's disappearance. >> it just, you know, like if i had taken ayla or if i know who could have gone and taken ayla and obviously no. i have no idea who took her or where she is or anything like -- i never took her. like i have no reason to hide any of that. i would never do that. >> she said she had to stop in the middle of the test because of a medical condition. she won't disclose that condition.

ayla's father justin dipietro who was at tuesday's vigil denies any wrongdoing. his polygraph results have not been released. he declined an interview on camera but when asked by nbc news if he will take another lie detector test he responded how i'm dealing with this deserves no explanation. dipietro says he put ayla to bed december 16th. the next morning he says she was gone. he had been caring for ayla because reynolds had been in rehab. police say both parents are cooperating with investigators and they're not naming any suspects. authorities have combed the area, even using dive teams to go into the water last week. while dipietro has gone door to door handing out flyers. >> people want to get involved. >> reporter: a friend of the dipietro family who organized tuesday's vigil says they're just trying to keep the public focused on ayla. >> this is a national, nationwide search for ayla reynolds. >> reporter: a conviction shared by reynolds, who is still holding on to hope. >> i think she's alive and she's

holding on and being a strong little girl right now. i love her so much and i want her home. >> reporter: reynolds says he, too, will be going door to door handing out flyers and bracelets like this saying bring ayla home to keep the public focused on the search. >> if you have any information on the case call the maine state police at 207-624-7076. and now a check of the weather from al. ann, thank you so much. and it's your tenth birthday. you're double digits. what is your name? >> carlina. >> where are you from? >> pittsburgh. >> i like your hat. let's check your weather and we'll show you for today. we're basically looking at the weekend ahead. it is going to be wet from almost southern california on up into the pacific northwest with heavy mountain snows, icy conditions tomorrow in the

northeast and snow in new england. along the mid-atlantic, southeastern atlantic coast. sunday we'll have more showers in the southeast. frigid and cold in new england. the heavy rain continues southern california into the pacific northwest probably with some flooding on sunday as well in that >> good morning. for now the weather is nice and quiet. a mixture of sun and clouds. high temperatures in the upper 30's. that's your latest weather. >> thank you very much. there have been a lot of stories about air traffic controllers whose performances shall we say fell below expectations. but what you probably don't hear

enough about are the actions of some controllers that save lives. nbc's tom costello is at reagan national airport with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning you to. every year air traffic controllers honor their own and this morning we have the audio recordings from some of the most dramatic saves. saturday, a typical morning when an urgent call cut through the chatter. private pilot jim lawson was in big trouble. he had flown in from wyoming to visit a son and now was circling in his single engine plane above the clouds but unable to find a hole to get down. >> i can't get down through. i'm getting low on fuel. >> reporter: very low on fuel and 7700 feet in the air with mount rainier looming in the distance. his only hope was controllers could lead his tiny plane through the crowds to the

nearest airport and soon. >> i didn't know where it was. it didn't matter. i just needed a runway. >> reporter: ken greenwood was the controller on duty. >> worst case scenario he never gets out of the clouds and he hits a hill or something. >> reporter: slowly greenwood talked him down through the clouds when things suddenly got worse. >> i think i just ran out of fuel. >> reporter: lawson would have to glide in. he could see a runway five miles straight ahead but controller greenwood knew there was a closer runway just two miles away if he could just turn him to the right. >> i never told him you're not going to make it to that one. i just kept telling him you need to look over here to the right. that's the airport you need to get to. >> i started to turn back to the right. it's a single runway at 2:00 and 2 1/2 miles. >> goit >> i got it, sir. >> cleared to land. >> reporter: and his wasn't the only life controllers saved in 2011. last may chicago controller steve mcgreevey was doing all he

could to help the pilot of a piper seneca land in dubuque, iowa during a spring storm. but something was wrong. >> i show you turning hard right. come back to the left about five degrees. >> reporter: time and again the plane drifted off course. >> we're trying to figure out why at the last minute you're turning there. >> reporter: controller mcgreevey realized ice was weighing down the plane pushing it off course. the worst case scenario is the aircraft is no longer able to fly because of the amount of ice built up on the air frame. >> don't make any dramatic changes in your heading or anything. >> reporter: repeatedly he reoriented the pilot and plane and tried again until finally the runway was in sight. >> the tower says you are cleared to land. >> thank you. thank you. >> mcgreevey and greenwood both say they were just two of the players in this. entire teams were responsible for getting the pilots down, rather. matt, these are just two of ten

dramatic saves in 2011 and the controllers will be honored in atlanta in about two weeks. back to you. >> tom, i'm happy we're taking the time to look at that side of the coin as well. tom costello, thank you very much. up next dr. oz on the sleep crisis in this country. he'll share some unique solutions right after this. -one. -two. -three. -one. two. three. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...1. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

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morning on "today's health" the dangers of exhaustion. up to 70 million americans suffer from sleep disorders. according to a new study this cannot only lead to serious medical complications but also explain why you struggle to lose weight. dr. oz is here with us. good morning. >> good morning, ann. >> you make a bold statement. you say the lack of sleep is the single most overlooked health transgression in america. that bad? >> that bad. the operative word here is overlooked. we don't realize how important sleep is to our well being. we feel tired but most folks watching don't realize it dramatically increases the chance of high blood pressure and related heart disease. it weakens your immune system so you can't fight off viruses but you also get more cancers and it shortens life expectancy. it's a big deal. >> you were writing about this in this article for "parade" magazine about to come out and specifically about obesity. what is the link between lack of sleep and obesity? >> the human brain craves four things, food or water.

it craves sex. and it craves sleep. if you don't get enough of one you'll crave more of the other. so in "parade" i'm talking about a brand new proof of this case. one instance they took people sleep deprived and showed they lit up like fireworks in parts that control hunger. if you don't sleep well you'll crave food especially carbohydrates. >> so it really is something that happens to our brain that is almost impossible to control. >> you won't be able to control it. you cannot beat the biology. if you don't sleep you'll crave carbohydrates and gain weight. >> you have some interesting and very unique ways we can sort of counteract the problems getting sleep. first of all you say we need to chill out and by that you mean lowering the temperature in our bedroom. >> the worse you sleep the colder it should be in the room. start off about 68 degrees. you can get down to 62, 63 degrees by the time you're done. there is one catch here. folks cannot sleep when their feet are cold. matt complains about this all the time on the air. but cold feet will awaken you.

get some socks, put them on before you go to bed, then cool the temperature down in the room as much as possible. some people see their breath before they go to bed but it will help you. >> interesting. also you say put electronics away. even when they're near your head it's a problem because it emits a kind of light or blue light that creates a problem. >> there are two factors actually. it turns out that independent of the light having the phone on near your head will worsen the quality of the sleep again. you still sleep but you won't have the kind of deep, restorative sleep. so any cell phone you have needs to be at least five feet away. a body length away from your head when you go to bed. >> five feet. >> the most easy thing to do. more than an arm's length away. that way it won't affect the way your brain puts you to sleep. >> you say we want to include orange light? >> any blue light like a phone would emit but also the light in your house, a computer screen, will keep you awake. you want orange lights because orange lights mimic what happens when the sun goes down. that turns on the creation of

melatonin in the brain. by doing that you'll effortlessly slip into the deep sleep you want. >> thanks for letting me cough. you do however say we need to think about using herbal remedies rather than pills and how we use these herbal remedies is important. >> a lot of folks have written off melatonin, as i described earlier it is turned on by orange light. it can be taken as a supplement but take it in a low dose. probably half the dose you normally take and early in the evening. remember it's just a couple hours from when the sun sets to when you fall asleep. take it right after dinner. take one milligram, and then that will allow you to effortlessly sleep. if that doesn't work try valarium root. you can get it in a tea form. >> with my coughing maybe that's a good idea. you say you can take in too much

melatonin and be counteractive and make you not sleep? >> it will inhibit your ability to naturally slide into sleep. you want to take a lower dose and give time for your stomach to absorb the melatonin and get it up to your brain. that natural process will happen but it takes two or three hours. again, most americans think about it too late, think about it at dinner you'll fall asleep better at night. >> the tea helped my cough. thank you so much. >> i knew i could do it. >> by the way, i don't let the lack of sleep and being here every morning be an excuse for not showing up. we really love having you here. >> you are very kind and cheer me up. >> i am so glad. by the way, he's also dedicating his entire show on monday to sleep. >> we're almost at a million people. sleep is one of the big episodes. it's on monday. more important, go to dr. oz.com and take advantage of it. it's all yours to make yourself better. >> check your local listings. coming up next the president shows off his singing voice. hum.

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tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. is today your day? talk to your doctor and go to cymbalta.com for a free trial offer. depression hurts. cymbalta can help. ♪ tell me what you really mean ♪ do you know what you want? ♪ while beating up on yesterday ♪ ♪ rolling on, moving on [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv. and more ways to connect to your world. ♪ do you know what you are? the all-new prius v from toyota. ♪ do you know?

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>> you have to hit that note. he could be on "the voice." >> very good. it makes up for him blocking traffic. >> nice. >> maybe a little bit. >> maybe partially. >> on the eastside it was a mess. goodness. 4:30, 5:00 yesterday afternoon they just shut down the east side of manhattan. >> i got out of my cab and walked. >> exactly. anyway, we decided to get a little creative. >> our editors actually did and they did a little mash up between a little obama, a little al greene. let's take a listen. ♪ i-i -- am so in love with you -- so in love with you ♪ >> come on. help me sing this. ♪ i -- i -- am so in love with you ♪ >> see it's hard when you only have one sentence to work with. >> we obviously had too much time on our hands. we have much more coming up after your local news. hey, aren't you...

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>> this is wbal-tv 11 is today in baltimore. >> time for a check on the morning commute. here is sarah caldwell. >> still in pretty good shape on the area roads. at 29, watch for a minor accident. should not impact traffic to much through the area. things were slowing up in liberty to edmondson on the outer loop. 25 miles per hour on the north side. if you want to travel this morning on 70 and 29, what it -- for a top of the banks.

live view of traffic on 95 and 395. we are problem-free all the way towards conaway. >> so far so good. upper 30's down south. 32 at b.w.i. 23 in taneytown to start the day. during the day, weather is going to be fine. even if you go out this evening, no problems expected. not going to move much temperature-wise. after 10:00 or 11:00, double develop. freezing rain and sleet in the morning. snow and icy accumulations starting the day on saturday. it will change to rain in the afternoon. rainshowers could come back on sunday night and during the day on monday. 40s for tuesday and wednesday. chance for rain again late on

thursday.

8:00 now on a friday morning. it's the 20th day of january, 2012. we've got temperatures in the upper 20s. that's a perfect condition for a storm that's moving in a little later this morning. going to bring some snow to the northeast and the midwest throughout the day and into tomorrow. i am matt lauer with ann curry and al roker. >> ooh la la. >> like your outfit. >> sure do. >> be careful. >> okay. >> coming up in this half hour new details on a story we've been following for several days now. a medical mystery at one high school in upstate new york. 12 girls there have developed uncontrollable tics. this morning we'll talk to the doctor who is treating ten of

the 12 girls. he says he believes it is a case of mass psychogenic illness and will explain what that is and what causes it hopefully. we also have in the house bill and juliana ransek. she will tell us how she is feeling and they have written a book about marriage and have different ideas about some of the hot topics happening regarding marriage. we'll address them. one question is who gets more stressed out, men or women? >> i think one causes the other to be more stressed. >> there we go. >> very diplomatic. and yips stripes stripes. have you stheen video? a woman gets bit by a zebra. now we'll talk with her in just a little bit. >> we're labeling that segment things you don't do in the

safari park. like keep your window open. >> ouch. >> let us go inside. natalie morales standing by at the news desk with a look at the headlines. good morning. just a day to go until south carolina's pivotal primary and mitt romney was on the spot again last night when newt gingrich asked him during a televised debate if he would release his tax returns. romney answered maybe. gingrich also batted down a question about one of his ex-wives claiming he wanted an open marriage. >> rick santorum challenged the conservative credentials of both gingrich and romney. a new witness is defending the actions of the italian cruise captain accused of abandoning his ship. a ship's hostess and translator claims the captain stayed aboard for nearly three hours after the accident and saved 3,000 lives by maneuvering the ship closer to shore. some residents are being allowed to return home this morning after a wind-driven brush fire forced 10,000 people to evacuate south of reno, nevada.

officials say the fire, which broke out on thursday, is suspected in at least one death and has destroyed more than 20 homes. protesters say they will occupy the areas around federal courthouses in more than 100 cities today. they're marking the second anniversary of a ruling that removed most limits on spending by corporations and unions in federal elections. now to wall street and cnbc's courtney reagan. >> good morning. ongoing talks between greece and private lendors will be in focus today as the two work toward restructuring the country's debt. meantime, disappointing google earnings will likely weigh on tech stocks today despite good results from microsoft, intel, and ibm. and part owner of nbc universal general electric is often seen as an economic bellwether. the company reporting better than expected profit but disappointing revenues. natalie, back to you. >> all right. courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange. thank you. now for a look at what's trending today.

our quick roundup of what has you talking online. open marriage is a top search term on google. that's the claim as you heard by an ex-wife of newt gingrich who says he wanted her permission to keep his mistress. the candidate called the allegations false in last night's debate. well, this video of a close encounter with a zebra is taking off on youtube. you just saw it moments ago. megan sweatman was at a drive the safari park in texas when the zebra poked its head through the open window and bit her. megan is here today to tell us how it felt and why she got so close in the first place. coming up. and volkswagen scored a touchdown last year with its darth vader boy super bowl ad. a preview of this year's version is already going viral on youtube with nearly 3 million hits. that is brilliant. of course you can see the entire commercial during nbc's super

bowl coverage on sunday, february 5th. i love it already. 8:05 right now. let's go back outside to ann and matt. a sure fire hit. >> very creative. >> unbelievable. okay. al, let's go to you now. what's going on with the weather? >> these are not the dogs you're looking for. you can bark about your business. i love this. you guys have been friends since navy boot camp? >> yes. 1974. >> what's your name? >> lynn. >> janice. >> all right. well that's terrific. nice to see you. >> thank you. >> nice you've had that friendship. let's see what's happening. our pick city today, amarillo, texas. kamr nbc 4. sunny, windy, mild. 66 degrees. and another storm coming onshore in the pacific northwest bringing a lot of heavy rain. you can see snow getting itself together in the upper midwest making its way across the great lakes into the northeast later today. rain down in the lower mississippi river valley with some heavier showers and thunderstorms. the heavy rain from central california up into the pacific

northwest may cause some flooding. snow exits northern new england >> good morning. the weather will turn slippery with some freezing rain and some snow. partly cloudy skies today. and that's your latest weather. ann? >> all right. al, thank you so much. we'll be talking about coming up next the 12 girls who are all from the same school suffering tourette's like symptoms. a doctor who treats ten of them is joining us in our studio. we'll be asking him questions coming up right after this. [ female announcer ] when your child has a fever,

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haven't been cured. since october, sarah sanches and at least 11 other girls at le roy high school have been suffering from severe tics and verbal outbursts. now a doctor treating some of the teens says the diagnosis is a rare condition called mass psychogenic illness. >> it's happened before all around the world in different parts of the world. it's a rare phenomena. physicians are intrigued about it. >> reporter: the doctor says the illness is a physiological problem that can happen in groups like female teenagers. >> reporter: sarah sanches had the symptoms for months and says she is missing important moments of her senior year. >> to go out with my friends, do whatever. i used to work. and i used to love going to school every day. now i'm not in school. i start home tutoring soon.

i'm very behind. i feel very behind. now i am. >> reporter: on tuesday sarah told ann she is frustrated by the lack of answers on how she contracted the illness in the first place. >> i want an answer, a straight answer. i've had psychological treatment. they say this is stress induced. all it does is stresses me out more and i get worse. >> reporter: that frustration is shared by her friend katy who also has been suffering from the same type of outbursts. >> i can't explain it. they told us it was traumatic but i really don't think any of us had that traumatic of a life before and that it would happen. >> reporter: the state health department conducted a three-month investigation and ruled out environmental factors or infection as a cause. the le roy school district did

their own private testing and came up with the same conclusion. still, parents want answers. >> we're not getting anywhere. we're not, you know, it's a couple months into this, three months now. and you have no conclusion. they say there is a diagnosis and a cause. we don't know this. is there a treatment plan? is there an end date to this? and the frustration of not having these is too much to bear. >> now the school district says the high school building is safe and that students are not at risk. some of the girls have improved, matt, but not everyone has. >> all right. amy robach thank you very much. we have the vice president of the dent institute in buffalo, new york. ten of the girls of under his care. good morning. some of the girls are improving? >> correct. >> how much improvement have you seen? >> some have gone back to school. some of the improvement has been significant. some of the individuals are

plateaued at this point. >> you were saying that the diagnosis here is these girls are suffering from a mass psychogenic illness. what exactly is that? >> well, it's a disorder that occurs in small groups especially in young girls in schools in small towns. and what happens is that one individual so-called the index case which means one person may have a neurological disorder. >> like a conversion disorder. >> or a conversion disorder. then all of a sudden several other young ladies have similar symptoms. >> what it sounds like to someone who is not well versed in this is that the others are copying the first and thus people say they're faking it. you say that is not at all the case. >> that is definitely not the case. this is a subconscious effect that occurs in patients with -- who may be prone to anxiety or mood disorders but this is definitely real symptoms. >> is it inappropriate to use the word that it spreads within

the group in i mean, that makes it sound like an infectious disease. >> it sounds like an infectious disease but should not be perceived as one. the state health department made a complete review of the air quality, mold, and everything was negative. we do not think this is an infectious cause. >> you're in agreement with that that this is not environmental or infection. >> i am in agreement. >> there have been cases of this in the past though i know this is rare. what have been some of the examples? >> it goes back 600 years. in the last 100 years most of the cases have occurred in either factories, schools, or nunneries. this is in the literature. it's been poorly evaluated because it is very rare. but when it does occur it is very important for us to be knowledgeable in this because, you know, the old term for this is mass hysteria which we don't like to use. i think mass psychogenic illness is more appropriate. >> hysteria has a negative connotation.

>> exactly. the point is these young ladies have real symptoms. they are truly affected. >> but will also get better. >> will get better. >> why is it only affecting girls? >> that's a good question. historically it's been often seen in young ladies but it is seen in men. there have been army barracks with just men involved so it's -- part of it could be hormonal and the fact that young teenage girls are more prone to anxiety. >> if you could give one piece of advice or nugget of information to the many parents who have contacted us and other facilities looking, first of all, worried about this, and looking for more information, what would it be? >> well, i think they're under the care of dr. mcvieg and myself at the dent institute. we have a good relationship with the patients and their families. i like to reassure the community this is not an infectious disease. that it's not contagious. these are real symptoms. these young ladies will get better. we have to give them time and space. >> doctor, thank you very much for your time this morning. i appreciate it.

up next, he said/she said. bill and guliana rancic weigh in on pressing issues between the sexes and share the latest on her recovery from breast cancer surgery right after this. ♪ mountain-grown aroma coming through ♪ ♪ a new challenge waits for you ♪ ♪ ♪ jumpin' into something new ♪ you really see all you can do ♪ ♪ ♪ the best part of wakin' up ♪ is folgers in your cup chili's lunch break combos are full of delicious choices, starting at just 6 bucks. choose from savory favorites

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choose my investments. not just with my savings plan here at work. they help me with all of my financial goals. looking good, irene. thanks to fidelity, i can stay on top of my financial future, huh? good one. why, thank you. whether it's saving for retirement, college, or anything else, contact a fidelity investment professional today. back at 8:20 with a case of he said/she said. are women more stressed out than men? which sex is the better driver? guliana and bill rancic are stars of the reality tv show called "guliana and bill" and are here to tackle these topics and more and also the authors of the book "i do now what?" secret stories and advice from a madly in love couple. good morning, guys. >> good morning. >> now that you are published authors. >> yes, yes. >> there are a couple topics that are developing this week.

number one there is a story in the london papers that for just $8 you can actually hire a guy to break up your relationship for you. you're shaking your head saying yes. what do you say? >> no. >> this is so ridiculous. you need someone to break up your relationship? i mean, to me that is the lowest of the low. if a guy has to hire someone to break up the relationship it's like was your mom not available to do it for you? >> it's a great business model. think about this. supply and demand. this guy is busier than ever. i have a buddy in high school. it took him three years to break up with this girl because he was afraid of her father. he could have paid $8 and this guy would have taken care of it for him. >> that is ridiculous. you need to man up and do it yourself. you have to do your own dirty work. imagine the girl, how she feels. then when she finds out it only costs eight bucks? i mean, you have to feel awful. >> people have a hard time taking no for an answer. when you bring the hit man in they get the picture. >> let's move on. this is kind of ridiculous. let's move on to something a little more serious. a new survey by the american

psychological association shows that women continue to be more stressed out than men. agree or disagree? >> i completely agree with that. >> disagree. >> women are busier than ever. come on, bill. women are busier than ever. we're taking care of the kids and our husband like we always have done but also working longer hours and we're trying to maintain our friendships. we're on facebook. we're shopping online. we just fill our days with more tasks than we ever have before. of course we're stressed. >> that is precisely why men are more stressed. women are taking on more. you're on facebook. we're tending to the kids, car pooling, coaching. gone are the days of father knows best when men would show up and a martini and dinner is waiting. when i show up i have laundry waiting. >> you're saying you're more stressed out than your father was not more than women. what is your argument there? >> men are taking on more than women these days. now it's not just the provider. we are coaching the teams, doing the car pooling, cooking. >> he does have a point. but the reason they're having to do that is because the economy is in the toilet. we're working longer hours. we're working more than ever having to contribute more

financially to the family unit. so it's not a choice where we necessarily want to do. you know, a lot of us would like to be at home. >> women are better at expressing their feelings and men tend to bottle things up. that's why women are more stressed. you can share that easier. >> you're saying they've seen more stress. >> they vocalize it more. >> that is a good point. that's why we tell you communicate. just talk to us. >> okay. >> how do you feel? >> exactly. men don't do that enough. >> it's hard for them. i think for a lot of reasons. >> yes. >> there is a new study that hits close to home because it's out of canada suggesting delaying parenthood can have serious consequences not only for women but also for men as well. >> right. >> you want to take this? >> i know a thing or two about this. we waited until i was 35 and bill was 38 to start trying to have a baby and my doctor told me, hey listen. you're not like you were at 25 years old. so can i look back and kind of regret the decisions i made in my 20s?

should i maybe have frozen my eggs or done something differently? no. at the time i did what was right for me. in my 20s i was busy chasing my career and not chasing guys. that was a decision i made. >> right. >> what about -- >> some of the guys weren't worthy of being chased. >> first of all you haven't seen his ex-girlfriends. >> i think where men and women differ on this is women typically wait for mr. right. they wait for the right man. men wait for the right time. men want to be financially stable before they bring a woman and start a family and i think that's delaying this whole process because things are different now. >> i think the point is, you know, okay. it's a small risk that something is going to happen if you wait later in life but it depends. are you willing to take that risk? i think if you talk to people in their 20s a lot of them are willing to take that risk. >> i noticed just at this moment bill put his arm around you which was very sweet. >> i thought he took off his wedding ring. >> no he did not. >> okay good. i wasn't paying attention. >> last major point, another new study says women are actually better drivers than men.

you want to take this one? >> well i think the numbers are flawed a little bit. >> what? what makes you a scientist? >> men spend more hours behind the wheel. we see more professionals. taxi cab drivers, truck drivers. when we go to dinner i drive more. so of course with more hours behind the wheel i've got a bigger chance of getting a ticket or getting into a car accident. >> come on. all in all women are less emotional than men. we don't suffer from road rage quite like men do. you know, we just want to get from a to b safely whereas men if someone cuts them off, you know, they have a point to prove. >> i've seen a lot of women with a lot of road rage. >> by the way, it's great to see you looking so well. >> thank you. >> thanks so much for joining us this morning. thanks, ann. >> we're back after your local news we think.

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 is today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. let's get a final check on the morning commute with traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. shipping up to be a pretty price commute. this one is off to the side on moravia road. tapping the brakes a bit from the particular region towards the harrisburg expressway. if you want to head out on the west side, 18 miles per hour. we are clearing this accident.

everything starting to flow smoothly through that area. here's an update on the j.f.x. that is the pace of things approaching northern parkway. all volume-related delays. here is what it looks like on a dulaney valley coming towards us on the outer loop. a little sluggish there. over to you, john. >> sunny skies now, clouds to our west, a new storm coming in tonight and tomorrow morning. obie's now, some of it will be eight -- some of it will be snow, some of it will be a wintry mix with sleep. let's look at the forecast for today. clouds this afternoon and evening. hydrometer 35 to 40 degrees -- high temperatures 35 to 40 degrees. >> another update at 8:55.

8:30 now on a friday morning, january 20, 2012. a nice crowd on the plaza this morning. some of these people huddled together because even since we've been on the air the temperatures have dropped, started a little over 30. we're down to 26 degrees and breezy here in rockefeller plaza. i'm matt lauer with natalie morales and al roker. ann had to leave a little early this morning. she'll be back on monday. meanwhile coming up in this half

hour we're actually going to talk to someone you mentioned in today's trending segment. >> that's right. you saw the video. it's astonishing when you look at it. this is at a texas safari and that happens. a zebra just reaches into the window and bites her and of course she is all shocked there. we'll check in with her in a little bit to see how she's doing. also ahead a lot of families struggle with finding the ability to pay for college education for their children. we have a couple experts in the house this morning. they're going to talk to you about how you can make the most and get the most out of the financial aid system. then from the don't try this at home category we're going to go to the back trails and back ski trails and show you some thrill seeking snowboarders who found a new way to get a big rush. then we'll check out some great homes. >> wow. >> all across the country for $250,000. >> sounds good. before we get to that how about a check on the weather? >> that would be you. >> that would be me.

for the weekend, we're looking at some rain, snow, a real mess out there. look for showers and thunderstorms down through the southeast. icy conditions in the mid-atlantic states. snow in new england. then on sunday we are looking for frigid conditions in new england with plenty of sunshine, heavy rain from northern california on into the pacific northwest looking for some more flooding possible. frigid conditions across the plains. plenty of sunshine, warm weather texas. mild in the >> good morning. for now the weather is nice and quiet. a mixture of sun and clouds. high temperatures in the upper 30's.

and got some nice friends here. what are your names? >> nicole. >> allison. >> sarah. >> where are you guys from? >> we're from new york. we all work together at reed smith and we're here to say hi to everyone. >> and you just did. worked out very nicely. everyone is very appreciative and are all saying hi back. don't forget you can always check your weather any time of the day or night by checking the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. did you know that? >> yes i did. >> now you know as well. matt? today's money is brought to you by fidelity investments. turn here. al, thank you very much. on today's money maximizing financial aid. finding the best college at an affordable price is a priority for a lot of families but do you know how to get the most out of the financial aid office? monica inzer is dean of admission and financial aid at hamilton college and jacques is senior editor of the "new york

times" blog "the choice." there is something new this morning. it's a tool. this is called the net price calculator and it's supposed to make it easier to get the kind of information you need to figure out what you might end up getting in financial aid. >> this is basically a federal requirement that every college on its website as of the fall has to have a calculator that families can use to plug in their financial aid information and get a sense of how much money they might be entitled to. but there are some caveats. you know, some are better than others. while they provide information, families need to be very, very careful about how they use that information having said that how do you use that information? >> well, you know, it's a good news/bad news. i think my worry is that families look at this too early in the process and don't give themselves a chance to experience colleges, look at value. families used to look at schools and wait until they got in. wait until they got the financial aid to sit down with the family and say what can we afford? now if they look at cost up

front they may never get to consider value. >> which you don't think is a good idea. even if you don't think it's the right fit financially you should still make the application and then see later. >> i think so. and have a conversation because the calculator isn't always perfect. >> there are a lot of families out there that kind of fall just above the income level that would qualify them for financial aid and yet they really still can't afford to send their children to pricey, private colleges. what's out there for them? >> first of all, everybody should fill out the federal application for financial aid. don't sort yourself out. you may be pleasantly surprised. one of the interesting things is sometimes for some families a private college, even an elite private college can be more affordable than the public university. there are new financial aid programs at several dozen colleges including the ivys where there are no loan policies if your family income is a certain amount and sometimes that income may surprise a family including over $100,000. and also there are caps. some of the ivys and others will

say you only have to use a certain percentage of your income for tuition. >> because the economy is so tough and colleges clearly recognize there are some difficulties out there are they providing more merit-based aid than in years past? >> there are a handful of colleges offering merit scholarships and they can be an incentive. what families should keep in mind is you're not always going to get merit at your top choice college. usually it's a school that would love to have you and they're using it as an incentive to turn your head and get you to consider them. >> you mentioned fafsa and the form you have to fill out. one of the sad facts is a lot of times parents mess up and they make mistakes on that form which can really cost them down the road. where do they find help? >> there are two terrific websites. they are really worth spending time on. there is excellent advice there. i think the ymca also does something called college sunday where they provide free resources almost like a tax preparation. >> monica, let's shift to the colleges' perspective now. when they're sitting down trying

to determine how much financial aid to offer a student how do they determine it? >> well, a lot of it is numbers based. this is about dollars and numbers and income and back on the fafsa the biggest mistake we see on the financial side is families who estimate wrong. so if you fill out your forms before you have your taxes, estimate well because you don't want to be surprised later when we verify. but we're looking to try and help people. i think sometimes people have a misperception that financial aid offices want to gouge families. really we know that financial aid can make a difference for families and we care about it. the colleges care. >> but if i get the offer, if i get the financial aid offer as a student or a parent and i'm not satisfied with it what recourse do i have? >> i think you should call. i don't know that a school can always match other offers but we want to hear. maybe we made a mistake. maybe we missed something. maybe you're experiencing economic hardship that didn't show up in the formulas and we want to have an opportunity to help you. >> when do you think students should start to search for scholarships? >> i think you can start even

before the senior year. it's not too early. there are some scholarships even that are made available in the middle school years and so it's never too early to search but certainly some of these deadlines are coming up. >> go ahead. >> if the net price calculator works, who it will work for is people who look at it early and they will find that colleges may be more affordable than they thought and it will be very reassuring. if they are in that little bubble too rich to be poor and too poor to be rich it'll help them saving early maybe starting to put money in a 529. >> overall are you optimistic about what is out there for students in the upcoming year? >> you have to be really aggressive in doing your research. unfortunately we are getting into a period where i think it will be even more difficult for low income and middle income kids. you have to do your home work. >> thanks very much. we appreciate the information. a lot of people care about this. coming up next the wildest snowboarding event you'll ever see but first this is "today" on nbc. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

back at 8:41 with some daring athletes. we kick off 35 hours of breathtaking action sports adventure tomorrow and today national correspondent jenna wolf recently headed to british columbia for a preview of one of the events. good morning, jenna. >> good morning, natalie. travis rice one of the best snowboarders in the world is planning what is called a snowboard lollapalooza deep in canada's mountains. you have to take a helicopter just to get to the top of the mountain to his venue. just endless runs of deep powder and an equally deep commitment to blowing the minds of his guests. all i can say, buckle up. >> reporter: everyone has their idea of paradise. a perfect spot where every dream

comes true. legendary snowboarder travis rice agreed to meet me at his little piece of eden just over the border in canada's british columbia. and that's travis now. last year travis rice set a heart-thumping standard with his film "the art of flight." known as a big mountain rider rice and friends rip up the back country launching themselves off cliffs, outracing death, and constantly pushing the thin edge of what can be done on a snowboard. now he's throwing a high stakes party on a course of his own design. >> travis, what was the goal behind building this? >> basically being able to crown the best, most well rounded snowboard in the world. >> reporter: snowboarding's elite athletes fall into two groups -- the back country free

stylists like rice -- >> there's the setup. >> reporter: and the half pipe and slope style kings like the two-time gold medal olympian shawn white. on rice's hand made course, 18 of the best riders in the world will duke it out for ultimate supremacy. you designed this and then sat down with a bunch of guys and sort of carved it out. do you see yourself as an artist? >> yeah. i mean, sure. an ash terchitect. i was living in a fantasy putting this together, almost a dream state as far as, hum, what would be incredible? >> reporter: a high alpine party planner rice and his team got to work nearly two years ago pe reforming the mountain with over a hundred jumps and features. >> ah! that was great. >> someone can come and do a

slash, drop in, traverse over, air off this, touch that next pillar. >> there has to be a sense of fear before you start a run like this. >> it's just too damn sexy to be scared. >> reporter: at the speeds these guys hit, guts are mandatory. but so is a more surprising quality -- creativity. >> the beauty is that everyone approaches the slope a little different. part of the challenge with this is selecting a line. that's where the kind of creative challenge comes in. >> reporter: though it may have the look of a late night turn on the dance floor, this kind of snowboarding takes precise planning. with serious injury, one wrong turn away, riders are just as pains taking in choosing the routes they'll take as the moves they'll make once in the air. have you had any of the guys call you and ask, what should like out for? what are you excited about? >> i've spoken with a few riders and, you know, all i can really

say is, you'll see. >> reporter: with the course almost ready travis rice's supernatural event is the next chapter in winter's hottest sport. pushed to the edge by the creative genius of a man who is more than just a little crazy. >> wow. that's about all i can say here is this athlete who is wide eyed and crazy and has this little boy in him who had the discipline and business sense to carve out the side of this mountain and put together this amazing event. it was so fun to spend time with him and see both sides of him. >> i notice you're pretty fearless and tough. >> a little bit. >> you could handle it? would you want to give it a whirl? >> that is pure crazy. i'm a little bit crazy. that's 100% crazy. these guys are so good. >> some would say you're a hundred percent crazy too. >> thank you. >> the red bull series kicks off tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern right here on nbc. catch travis rice's supernatural event in march. can't wait for it. still ahead, the woman who is trending online for getting

bitten by a zebra. but first, this is "today" on nbc. ♪it's the way you bring out the sun♪

my mom makes any day sunny. sunnyd does, too. with 40% fewer calories than most regular soda brands. ♪

we are constantly hearing about new studies often the best ways to raise children and now as nbc's kevin tibbles reports, there are even ways for prospective grandparents to learn a thing or two about new ways to take care of babies. >> do you want to wake up? come on, sweetie pie. >> reporter: baby sophia is barely a week old and, boy, is ann dearling loving her new role as a first-time grandma. >> i just love to hold her. >> reporter: it's been more than 30 years since ann's own kids were born and just weeks before baby sophia arrived when ann's son mark and his wife denise were still attending prenatal classes at seattle's swedish medical center and ann decided

she might be in need of a refresher. she went to grandparents' school. >> it's right up here. grandparent tips. we know that some of the things we did 30 years ago we can do a little bit better now. >> reporter: the expectant grandparents are taught the new way to swaddle a baby. >> and this is going to come up over the shoulder. >> reporter: and everything from nutrition to nap time. >> when i raise children the only thing we had was a dr. spock book. >> reporter: things have definitely changed. no bumpers in the crib, no toys or mobiles either. and always lay baby on its back. instead of the age old practice of on its stomach. for mark and denise and sophia presumably grandma is already getting an "a." >> just one way for her to kind of participate in the pregnancy. >> she's been waiting for grand kids for a long time. >> reporter: and now time to put her grandparent graduate degree to good use. >> and then bring this piece up.

from the dummie we'd practice with in the class and then have this real live living little beauty. >> reporter: while grandma ann learns the new ways denise's father eric chang now grandpa eric introduces the can us toms of his native taiwan and cooks for the new mom. oh, and he also gets to serenade his new granddaughter. ♪ anything to help the exhausted, overwhelmed, and sleep deprived new parents. >> it was really nice to see them both have time with the baby and enjoy getting to know her. >> now you're not going to be a doting grandmother are you? >> oh, me? >> reporter: of course she is. >> there we go. >> reporter: now she is also up to date on how to do it. for today, kevin tibbles, nbc news, seattle. up next the young woman's close encounter with the hungry zebra caught on tape. we'll talk to her right after this. >> ow! he

if i could turn back time ♪ >> when you go to a starry park you expect a close view of the animals. one woman got more than she bargained for. check it out. >> kind of like -- ow! he bit my shoulder, oh, my god! >> megan sweatman is the zebra's

victim there. she is with us now. megan, good morning. >> good morning. >> wow. >> that had to hurt. >> yeah, just a little. >> left a mark for quite a while, right? >> yes, ma'am. >> oh, boy. >> so you're holding some food and the window is open. >> yeah. i was trying to get a picture with the zebra before that. he had stuck his head in and got in the bag and so then i thought it was a good idea to get a picture with him. and i turned my back and he was hungry. >> so lesson learned in this is don't turn your back on the zebra. especially if you've got food. >> you're holding it in front of his face. >> i know. so mean. he got me for that. >> what did the people at the safari park say and do about this? >> so we go into the gift shop and i like show -- it's this old man working in there. i was like, look what happened. the zebra bit me. and he goes, oh, no. he didn't bite you. that was his lips. he said, he was like, the lips

are real rough and they just pinched you. he just pinched me apparently. but, no. when you slow it down you can see his teeth like chomping. >> yeah. i can see it there. >> but he gave me some ointment so -- >> that was nice. and another bag of food. >> yeah. >> now get back out there. >> show us something real. did you have to have any medical attention with this? >> no. >> that's good. >> the ointment just fixed me right up. >> and 200,000 people have now gone online to see your misadventure. how do you feel about that? >> crazy. i just posted it originally for like friends and family to see it. we thought it was hilarious. >> megan, we brought the zebra in here. >> don't worry. she actually looked over her shoulder. >> i think the most amazing thing is we didn't have to bleep any of that tape out.

>> my mom was in the car so, you know. >> there you go. >> megan, thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. we're back after your local news.

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. here's a look at one of our top stories. a utah doctor faces murder charges related to a botched abortion and elkton and will go before a judge this morning. she is charged with first- and

second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder with the alleged crimes.

>> today before sunset looks fine. temperatures, variable winds, 10 to 15. tonight we start of with the snow, then sleet and freezing