good morning. close call. nbc news declares mitt romney is apparent winner in ohio in super tuesday's most important and tightest race. romney picking up a total of six states, three for rick santorum, one for newt gingrich. and they all say the race will go on. father's day. the dad who took aim at his daughter's laptop after she trashed him on facebook. what does he say about the controversy he started? does he have regrets and have they worked things out? this morning they are speaking out for the first time. and lucky to be alive. the mom who shield eed her

children from a tornado as it ripped through their home. why she says the outcome is happy. why she says the outcome is happy. wednesday, march 7, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcome to "today" on what is a big political morning, a wednesday morning on "today." i'm matt lauer. >> i'm ann curry. oh, what a night. we knew the key primary to watch, ohio, would be close. but it wasn't called for mitt romney until well after midnight on the east coast. >> let's get you caught up this morning. to go with the win in ohio, romney took massachusetts, virginia, vermont and alaska.

rick santorum picked up tennessee, oklahoma and north dakota. as expected newt gingrich won his home state of georgia. >> so checking the delegate count let's break it down. romney leads with 319 to 105 for gingrich, 101 for santorum and 23 for ron paul. it takes 1,143 delegates to win. you don't need to be a math major to know it will go on for a bit. we'll break down the results with david gregory, chuck todd and savannah guthrie. let's begin with peter alexander who is in boston with more on this. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, ann. you put it right. this was a nail-biter late into the night super tuesday, spilling over into wednesday. this morning romney campaign senior advisers are trying to characterize this as a huge night. he won the most votes, the most states, the most delegates. but he didn't win over critics including his republican challengers vowing to stay in

the race. with a barn burner in the buckeye state mitt romney and rick santorum addressed supporters early tuesday night. unable to claim victory in ohio, but unwilling to acknowledge defeat. >> i'm not going to let you down. i'm going to get this nomination. >> we have won in the west, the midwest and the south. we're ready to win across this country. >> reporter: while romney hosted his super tuesday party at a fancy hotel in downtown boston. >> it's wonderful to be able to go home tonight for the first time in two months. >> reporter: santorum picked a high school gym in a blue collar community. the campaign released a photo of the former senator pretending to work out. >> not many presidential candidates come to steubenville, ohio, much less hold the victory party here. >> reporter: and the background contrast wasn't lost. >> we need a fighter and someone

who learned what america was about by growing up in communities just like this. >> reporter: still unable to deliver a knockout punch, romney congratulated his opponents. >> thanks, you guys. nice races. >> reporter: and emphasized his growing lead in the delegate race and his inevitability as nominee. >> tonight we are counting up the delegates and it looks good. we are counting down the days until november. that looks better. >> reporter: newt gingrich celebrated in georgia where voters gave him yet another boost to his candidacy. >> there are lots of rabbits that run true. i'm the tortoise. one step at a time. >> reporter: gingrich picked up the vote of his party's self-proclaimed mama grizzly. >> who can best bust through the orwellian, obama rhetoric. the one who can do it is the cheerful one, newt gingrich. >> reporter: with no victories

under his belt ron paul called it a night. >> we're on the right track. make sure they hear our message all the way to d.c. [ cheers ] >> reporter: but the bottom line of super tuesday, despite an onslaught of ads. >> rick santorum just another washington insider. >> reporter: he still hasn't forced santorum out of the race. >> we have given up our jobs. we're living off our savings. yeah, we're making a little sacrifice for a very, very big goal. that's replacing this president on november of this year. >> reporter: a goal all four campaigns share. but romney has more work to do and will have to keep slugging it out. >> tonight we have taken one more step toward restoring the promise of tomorrow. tomorrow we wake up and we start again. >> reporter: with upcoming contests in kansas, alabama, mississippi, state where is rick santorum is expected to do well

a senior santorum strategist says the santorum campaign will call on conservative and tea party voters going forward to pressure newt gingrich to leave the race, matt. today, the gingrich campaign insists it's not going anywhere. >> peter alexander in sboboston this morning, thank you very much. david gregory, chuck todd and savannah guthrie are weigh in on the results. good morning. >> good morning. >> if i pressed you to come up with a headline from yesterday can you do it? >> i think so. >> probably. >> yeah. >> probably would have to do with math versus perception. >> meaning what? >> mitt romney had a great mechanical, mathematical night. won a majority of of the delegates. he's closer. he needs less than 50% of the remaining delegates to get the nomination. but he has a perceived problem with the working class. >> he won a big prize. he won ohio. it was a better morning than a night for him. the night wasn't good.

looked like he was losing. this morning he won the big prize he had to win. he has the most delegates. >> savannah, if i had to come up with a headline it would be everybody except ron paul got something they needed yesterday to have a reason to forge ahead. >> that's it. the race goes on. super tuesday is an opportunity for mitt romney to put the process to an end. he didn't do it. for me the headline is mitt romney wins but doesn't do so convincingly in a way that ends the nominating process. >> who thought rick santorum exceeded expectations yesterday? >> i did. >> oklahoma, tennessee, north dakota. >> he denied santorum the ability to expand support. if you look at tea party folks, evangelicals, the cultural conservatives of the party, they really did rally around santorum. romney has to do better. >> you're not sure? >> no, no. look at how much he was outspent. that's the problem here if you're mitt romney.

it all looks good. seven states he got delegates out of. the majority of those things. you realize how much it costs to win ohio by one percentage point. it cost him millions. rick santorum barely spent over $1 million. >> the rumbling out of the santorum campaign is they are looking to newt gingrich saying, pal -- >> you're killing me. >> you're killing me here. is there a chance they can force newt gingrich out? when you listened to him, he told supporters he's going to alabama and elsewhere. >> i doubt it. now the santorum campaign is saying out loud what they have been saying for weeks. they want a one on one with mitt romney. they think they could prevail over mitt romney. but there is no incentive for the candidates to get out. >> newt embarrassed himself last night. he won georgia? he didn't get any other silvers in any other state. third or fourth in every other

state. >> a tidbit out of georgia, although he won by a wide mar jich gin. when people in georgia were asked who's likely to beat barack obama, mitt romney took the top spot. >> gingrich is saying rick santorum can't win. he lost his home state by double digits when he ran for re-election. i don't know that he's inclined to cede that ground. >> barack obama took the opportunity yesterday to hold his first press conference in quite a while. let's take a quick listen. >> what's said on the campaign trail, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they're not commander in chief. and when i see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, i'm reminded of the costs involved in war.

>> the immediate strategy seems to be they can talk about running for president. i'm the president of the united states. you like the strategy? >> this was specifically aimed at mitt romney. they were really -- i can tell you this. senior advisers were struck that mitt romney was talking about moving warships in his speech to apec about iran. they think mitt romney needs to be called out, questioned on this and forced to defend these calls and declarations of war almost. >> chuck, david and savannah, you had a late night. thanks for getting up. here's ann. >> the economy is one of the key issues in the presidential race and investors hope for a rebound after wall street's worst day of the year. the dow lost 203 points. the sell-off was global spreading west from europe. jim cramer from kwoez m"mad mon joins us. good morning.

>> good morning. i feel greece will be resolved. in the end it will be a neutral. it will not hurt or help us here. >> the s&p and also nasdaq fell. the snowball accelerated with a news conference that the president gave. >> right. the substance of most of the questions was about the iran/israel missile crisis, so to speak. people feel every time that's discussed, gasoline goes higher. gasoline is the weakness of the american consumer. >> it's $3.76 on average a gallon. at what point does it start to hurt our recovery? >> we have never seen above four not hurt the recovery. when we get to $4, $4.50 the economy slows. no way it won't. that's the big worry for the stock market. >> on the flip side, a correction was expected, right, jim? >> one of the things that's happened is we have had a great market, ann.

it's been one of the best i have seen in 32 years of investing. you don't want to get greedy. understand that if oil doesn't come down and gasoline doesn't come down we won't be able to go much beyond where we are this year. >> even with good news possible in the jobs report? >> everything balances out. this country is doing fine. better than china right now in terms of the trajectory. better than europe. but if we don't get gasoline down people will be reluctant to hire going forward. >> you can watch "mad money" weeknights at 6:00 and 11:00 eastern time on cnbc. thanks, jim. >> let's get a check on the top stories. savannah is at the news desk. good morning again. >> good morning. in the news the u.n. humanitarian chief arrives in syria today to push the government to allow relief workers into areas hardest hit by president asad's brutal crackdown on an uprising here.

this as president obama warns unilateral action by the u.s. would be a mistake calling the situation more complicated than the u.s. intervention in libya. decorated green beret edward cant cantrell died when his home caught fire. he and his wife escaped. cantrell ran back inside to save his daughters. the 36-year-old and the girls never made it out. he had just returned from afghanistan last summer. he served in iraq and had been awarded four bronze stars and one purple heart. a solar storm could be headed our way after one of the strongest solar flares of the last few years. a direct hit from the flare could cause a worldwide radio blackout, but this flare is said to be more likely to deliver a glancing blow to our planet. sometime thursday or friday. tech fanatics are buzzing ahead of a major apple event

today that many believe could be the unveiling of a third generation ipad. tech blogs speculate a new ipad would be faster and have a sharper screen display. according to intercepted manufacturing orders, some blogs say it won't be called the ipad 3 but rather the ipad-hd. and the indianapolis colts are reportedly set to split with star quarterback peyton manning today. manning is the four-time league mvp and super bowl winner. he's said in the past his goal was to play his entire career with the colts. but an injury left him sidelined for all of 2011. an official announcement is expected from the colts at noon eastern today. it's 7:15. back to ann, matt and al. >> twitter was abuzz with that yesterday. >> back to the ipad. some people say it will have siri. couldn't you just use your iphone and ask siri if she'll be on the new ipad? >> you could do that.

>> she's mysterious. >> try it. meantime -- >> mr. roker. >> first of all, we have a lot of warm air to talk about. in fact, big changes. temperatures that will be anywhere from 10 to 25 degrees above normal. the jet stream way up to the north. we'll see 20 degrees above normal in cleveland. 73 in nashville. st. louis, 70 degrees. this is the way it's been all winter long. the jet stream has been to the north. the north atlantic oscillation. we are talking about temperatures anywhere from four to five degrees above normal for the entire winter. most likely december to february will be the warmest on record. we'll get official confirmation of that in the next 24 >> good morning. high pressure on the east coast.

we expect mostly sunny skies. nice and mild this afternoon. that's your latest weather. matt? >> al, thank you very much. now the alarming rise in the number of preschoolers with a mouthful of cavities. nbc chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman is here to talk about it. >> this took people by surprise. it happened to kids at all income levels and the decay can be so severe they are requiring general anesthesia just for general treatment procedures. just 5 years old, owen wilford is used to the dentist. he's had two cavities in two weeks. something his mother is trying to avoid with 2-year-old hudson.

>> hudson doesn't have cavities yet. so we're working on it. >> reporter: tooth decay in 2 to 5-year-olds is on the rise. according to a recent new york times article, dentists are regularly seeing preschoolers with as many as 6 to 10 cavities. and dentists say the reason for the increase isn't hard to find. >> every time a child has a snack with a sugary item, their mouth becomes acidic. it's the number and frequency of exposures in that environment that can cause tooth decay. >> okay, everybody. time to brush your teeth. >> reporter: is brushing twice a day has long been the prescription for healthy teeth, but it's a habit too many kids aren't developing. >> my son turned 4. he hates brushing his teeth. it's a fight, a battle. >> reporter: dentists say it's a battle worth winning. >> which one's hurting you? >> reporter: some toddlers require extensive work including root kanls so general anesthesia is necessary. these procedures can cost

parents from $2,000 to $5,000 depending on insurance coverage. >> it's in their best interest to get the treatment done at one visit. that requires either sedation or general anesthesia. >> reporter: though the cost of tooth decay can be steep. >> my wife says we need to get him to the dentist. >> reporter: taking steps to prevent it can be as simple as a play ground game. >> we try to give him natural foods and give him a good toothbrushing every night before bed. hopefully that will keep him healthy. do the best we can, of course. >> reporter: besides brushing, if you want to limit your child's problems, limit the number of cavities, well, guess what. sit down, cut down on the snacks, all the sweet stuff. raisins which parents pack have a lot of sugar in them. and tap water is a great natural source of fluoride. we have turned to bottled water. good old-fashioned tap water is great. >> nancy, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> 18 after the hour.

here's ann. >> now to the caribbean where prince harry is enjoying his first official solo tour to mark the queen's diamond jubilee. his latest stop is jamaica. kerry sanders is in kingston with details on this story. hey, kerry, good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning, ann. at 27 years old, his royal highness known as prince henry of wales. that's officially his name. he's doing like most people do when they come to the islands. he's relaxing as much as a royal can do, but prince harry, as we call him, is a soldier. he's the unmarried one and now we can add one more description. he's among the fastest people on earth. the proof? right here in jamaica. >> set, go! >> reporter: prince harry, the royal versus jamaica's own usain bolt, the three-time olympic

gold medal sprinter who many say is still the fastest man on earth. but in a head-to-head matchup, with a little regal deception, that all changed. prince marry won not one, but two races. stealing not only the finish line, but also bolt's signature pose. >> i'll get him back though. one day. >> reporter: it was especially great said usain to give the prince the victory considering what's afoot here. >> the island called for the queen to lose her title as the head of state on the island. despite being known as the party prince harry revealed he's versatile at matters of state, becoming a prince charming with the prime minister. >> he's very, very nice. a wonderful person. >> reporter: and then there was the prince's visit to the unofficial royalty of the island. the late king of reggae, bob

marley's widow rita. later at a formal dinner, the prince had bob marley on the mind. >> her majesty extents her wishes to you all and i'm sorry she can't be here so you're stuck with me. don't worry, because every little thing's gonna be all right. [ laughter ] >> reporter: in the last six days the prince has danced in belize. >> he's cuter in person. >> definitely. >> reporter: island hopped in the bahamas. >> i think really buckingham palace will be pleased with how well he's gone down here. >> reporter: while harry's sister-in-law kate, the duchess of cambridge, might be known as the style icon, for some reason his suede shoes have become all the rage. in case you would like a pair, they are called russell and bromley, cost about $180.

look at matt's feet. he's wearing the blue ones now. >> they're red. they look amazing. >> everybody will be wearing these in three days. >> sweet assignment for kerry. meantime, coming up, we have a father who was seen by more than 31 million people shooting up his daughter's laptop over her comments on facebook. he's here with his daughter to talk about it for the first time. first, this is "today" on nbc.

just ahead, nicollette sheridan's lawsuit could be falling apart. >> plus the mom who shielded her kids from a tornado and lost parts of her legs in the process. she'll join us live after your local news. nice ring. knock it off. ignore him. with the capital one venture card you earn... double miles on every purchase. [ sharon ] 3d is so real larry. i'm right here larry. if you're not earning double miles...

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i hate you. and i got one for you, too. i love you. [ male announcer ] the magical, minty flavor you'll covet with all your heart. mccafé shamrock shake from mcdonald's. the simple joy of... mint. ♪ >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> time is 7:26. ballistics tests are underway i at a baltimore city police officer is suspended in connection with the shooting death of monae turnage. sources tell 11 news that the gun that killed the girl was found inside the police officer's car.

there is still no word on who the gun belonged to. >> still tracking delays on southbound 83 of over from an earlier accident. normal volume is coming into play. just south of york road, continuing to shawan road, we look at the latest there. you may also see them at greenspring ave. northbound 97 and 100, disabled vehicle to keep an eye out for. outer loop west side, north side outer loop, 12 minutes to get you through that stretch. also seen delays out of the white marsh area towards the beltway northeast. 83 tanyard road at parkton, there are delays heading southbound. we will switch to in my view of traffic at j.f.x. that is the latest on traffic

pulse 11. >> it is a chilly start for us, but it will turn out to be in a beautiful afternoon. temperatures should jump into the 60s, but right now we are in the low 30's. forecast today, mostly sunny skies. southwest winds will turn temperatures from the lower into the mid-60's. the next couple of days, it will drop back into the fifties as we start the weekend.

that right there is your laptop. you see it's out here on the ground. this right here is my .45. [ gunshot ] >> that was the first round. >> 7:30 now on this wednesday morning, the 7th day of march 2012. that's the youtube video with more than 31 million hits. a north carolina dad shooting his daughter's laptop after he read something he didn't like on her facebook page. well, i think maybe he was angry, matt. >> we asked our viewers to weigh in on that a couple weeks ago. 120,000 of you shared your opinions. a lot of people have questions about those actions.

for the first time this morning we're going to hear from them and what is their relationship like now? does tommy jordan have regrets? does hannah marie have a new laptop? we'll talk to them in a live interview. >> also coming up, a harrowing story we brought you on tuesday. an indiana mother who protected her kids by laying on top of them as a tornado ripped apart their home and because of her brave actions she lost part of both legs but her kids survived without a scratch. this morning she'll share her story. and a new drama at nicollette sheridan's wrongful termination lawsuit. how the central argument that she was fired from "desperate housewives" in re-al tags got a big hit on tuesday. >> let's begin with the act of tough love from a north carolina father who fired nine shots into his daughter's laptop. we'll talk to them in a moment. first mark potter has the story from the very place where it all

began. mark, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. when tommy jordan got up from this chair in this field and shot that computer those were shots heard around the world and seen by millions of people. now he, his wife and daughter are speaking about it publically for the first time after apparently burying the hatchet -- or at least the handgun. tommy jordan and his teenage daughter hannah are back on good terms despite a war of words over the internet. >> i'm sorry. that's why you're the next generation and i'm the dumb old guy. >> reporter: at their home in north carolina there is a truce. >> want to say grace? >> reporter: and family peace. last month it was a much different story after their father-daughter spat went public, then viral for all to see. >> this is for my daughter hannah. and more importantly for her friends on facebook who thought her little rebellious post was cute. >> reporter: it began when jordan posted a youtube video

confronting hannah about a message she posted on facebook using foul language to complain about her life at home. jordan read the note. >> i'm tired of picking up after you. you tell me at least once a job that i have to get a job. i love this part. you could just pay me for all the [ bleep ] i do around the house. seriously? are you kidding me? >> reporter: jordan said he was disappointed with how disrespectful his daughter was. what he did next got everybody's attention. >> this right here is my .45. >> reporter: at close range he destroyed her laptop with hollow point ammunition and nine shots. the video sparked a firestorm of comments. jordan's youtube site drew 31 million viewers and ten times more likes than dislikes. a poll on "today" found 72% supported the dad. but also, dr. phil mcgraw said jordan should have acted more like an adult. >> you never, ever humiliate

your child publically. >> reporter: jordan fired back calling dr. phil a hypocrite. >> you do realize that not all, but a large majority of the premise of your show is you bringing troubled kids on and troubled teens, parents and all age groups and publically humiliating them in front of the entire world for profit, right? >> reporter: back home in north carolina when the dust finally settled, hannah faced the music and wrote an apology note. tommy admitted he really wasn't proud of his response but stands by it. so things are better now and less sons have been learned. hannah's facebook access is restricted, a lingering wound from the brief but viral internet war here. matt? >> did you make sure tommy is okay with you sitting in his chair? >> reporter: we asked permission. we'll put it back behind the house when we're done, we

guarantee you. >> thanks, mark. tommy jordan is here with hannah marie and wife dr. amy jordan. good morning. good to see you. it's been a month to the day, tommy. how has life changed for you? >> wow. it's changed a lot. we had a lot of scrutiny, a lot of people keeping an eye on every little comment we make and everything we do on facebook and the internet. >> mark mentioned we did a poll on "today." he said 72% of the people supported you and you were quick to say 73% actually. you have been following this. have you had tough attacks? have you gotten rough e-mails? >> yeah. 10,000, 20,000. i couldn't keep track. i'm pulling in probably 1,000 a day on a slow day. i'm trying to filter them for good and bad. i have folders called good, bad, press.

there's more good mail than bad, but there is a large amount of bad mail. >> hannah marie, one of the comments i heard is how is this young lady doing? what's going on behind the scenes at that house? share that with me. in the day after your dad's video went public, i know there were tears on your part, you were upset. what happened next? >> we got home, talked about it. and we went our separate ways for a while, but we came back together. we were laughing about it afterwards. >> you say you were able to find humor in it. when you look at what you posted on facebook it was rough. you used a lot of expletives in referring to your parents. do you understand you did something wrong? do you think you did something wrong? >> yeah, i know that i did now. >> is that to get out of the grounded situation or do you believe that? >> i believe it. >> how do you feel about the way your dad handled it publically? >> i think he overreacted a

little bit, but i understand. >> have you said that to him? dad, i think you overreacted. >> i don't know. have i? >> yeah. that first day, i think you did. >> tommy, the part of the story that get it is most attention -- and i don't think for the right reasons -- is the shooting of the laptop. you could have put it in the trash, run over it and accomplished the same thing. the question i have is this -- and dr. phil brought it up. you felt hannah marie did something wrong by publically hue mail yating you guys on facebook. and the way you punished her was to publically humiliate her. why do two wrongs make a right? >> i forget who it was, but tommy, you got down to her level. you shouldn't have done that. well, we tried the adult level. we tried talking about it. we tried taking the laptop away. twice we tried taking it away or

grounding her. it didn't work. so, yeah. i put it on a level -- i got down on her level, the exact same format she used. she put it on facebook. i put it on facebook. >> you couldn't have gone in the living room and had the same discussion with her without the camera, shot the camera in the backyard but done it privately and kept it a family matter? >> possibly, in hindsight, considering all the cps and d.s.s. is involvement and that sort of stuff. maybe that was the right thing to do. i can't change it. i did what i did, i stood behind it and i still do. >> i hope tommy take this is the right way. i think there may be some and according to our polling it would be a minority. but there might be some people looking at the video saying, here's a yahoo with more ammunition than brains. i think people will be surprised to know that in my experience with your husband he is a very thoughtful, very caring, very

intelligent, very articulate guy. what's your experience in all of this been? >> i totally agree. people may look at the video that don't know him or us and think we're just completely uneducated country people. that's not the case. he's very intelligent, very thoughtful. he rarely does anything without thinking it through or even consulting me on a lot of occasions. this wasn't any different. >> i think it's a good opportunity now that amy has talked about you, we have heard your rant against hannah marie. tell me about her. what's she like as a daughter? >> i have a great kid. people took eight minutes to judge me and 30 second where is i read hannah's note to judge her. i have a great daughter. she made a mistake that day. i made a mistake that day. i stand behind what i did, but the consequences were larger than hers were.

i have a great daughter. she's smart, intelligent, all honors classes. she's socially adapted well with other kids, with us. >> is she still grounded? >> oh, yeah. >> does she have a new computer? >> i get asked that a lot. no. we had people that same day on facebook. i had a guy that tried to start a conversation who said, i will send you one right now. give me the address. you don't get the point. >> i want to mention you have been able to stay anonymous in this at home because your last name is your mom's last name. it's not jordan. what's it going to be like at school now? you will go to school and everybody will know you were the young lady involved in this episode? >> i think it's going to be different, but i don't think it will be that bad. >> a little extra attention maybe? >> probably. >> tommy, i was up front with you when we talked on the phone and met in person. i said, i don't agree with what

you did. >> i respect that. >> and you said, you're not a perfect parent, you struggle with decisions on a daily basis. what have you learned from this? >> hard to answer that. there's been a lot of things. the biggest thing we learned from this, i think, all the public scrutiny that followed this, every single thing we did was watched for almost a month and still is. every comment. everything we do on facebook is watch. i'm on facebook a lot as part of my job. there are 100,000 comments to everything we do. it makes you stop and think about everything you do. the public scrutiny has helped me. i hesitate to say us, but all of us, think about everything that's going on in our lives. we were asked a lot of questions about things that people previously didn't care about. >> you had always told hannah marie everything she did on

facebook could come back to affect the rest of her life. >> that's the point. a lot of what we were trying to make with her in the beginning is don't post anything on the web -- this goes for all parents and children. don't post anything on the web you don't want the entire world to see. that was why we were upset with her in the first place. all of this has driven the point home. >> you have learned the lesson. you have something to give hannah marie? >> i do. everybody assumed -- i don't know why, but it was kind of a hot headed rage when i did it. just for proof, there's hannah's hard drive. all her data was saved. all her pictures were saved. i didn't go out there and empty a clip into my kid's laptop. there was thought in it. i saved your data. when you get a laptop, you can put that back in it. fair enough? >> yeah. >> you may want to grab it and hang on. thanks for joining us. i appreciate it. this story has generated so much

response among our viewers. it's nice to get to know the people behind that short eight and a half-minute video. thanks for coming in. they'll be back later to answer your questions. to join the conversation go to today.com. we'll have much more with them on "rock center with brian williams" tonight at 10:00/9:00 central time on nbc. let's get a check of the weather now from al. >> announcer: today's weather is brought to you by advil. make the switch to advil now. >> we have a bunch of hard hats. where are you from? >> mississippi state. >> reporter: the engineering department? >> building construction. >> even better. thanks for coming by. let's show you what's going on today. risk of strong storms developing. texas into the mid mississippi river valley. snow back through the rockies. tomorrow, we are looking at a lot of rain, a risk of strong storms, isolated tornadoes from austin to little rock. rainfall amounts anywhere from three to eight inches of rain in

parts of texas. generally though about two to five inches of rain. expect flooding. >> good morning. looks like a beautiful day today. the temperatures will jump into the 60's spirit that is about 12 and that's your latest weather, matt? >> thank you very much. up next, who made the ultimate call to fire nicollette sheridan? the revealing testimony at her "desperate housewives" wrongful termination lawsuit. and later, an exclusive live interview with the indiana mother who lost parts of her legs shielding her children from a tornado. first, these messages.

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back now at 7:47 with a new blow to in this case let sheridan's claim that her character on "desperate housewives" was killed off only after she complained about being hit on the head by the show's creator. tuesday a former studio chief told jurors the decision was his. mike taibbi is in los angeles with details on the story. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. it was a tough day in court for the 49-year-old sheridan. not just testimony refuting her claim that her firing from the nighttime soap was an act of retaliation but that her career once worth $175,000 per episode has all but ground to a halt. arriving for court in business suit and ponytail the british born actress who made edie a key player on "housewives" heard how valuable her character was for five seasons.

she also heard the decision to write her character out of the show wasn't made when she complained about being struck in the head by marc cherry, the show's creator. he called it a light tap while rehearsing a scene. but from mark pet owitz. he said the character had run its course. there was a decision about killing off edie britt. since "housewives" her only tv credit is a hallmark movie last year "honeymoon for one." her career stalled. >> it's been difficult to find an agent and work. >> reporter: sheridan had not only sued her former boss. he testified her conduct was sometimes unprofessional. not pung wall, forgetting lines, nasty to a prop man and critical of her scripts and costars. hollywood's take among some movers and shakers. >> that nicollette sheridan is

not very different from her character edie on "desperate housewives." she's brash, opinionated and can be difficult. >> reporter: marc sherry described sheridan as beautiful, smart and funny. at that time height of her fame she was one of people magazine's 50 most beautiful people and blackwell's worst dressed. sure marks of bold-faced celebrity. now cherry's lawyer says the case for termination is falling apart. >> we feel good. >> reporter: her costars including eva longoria, teri hatcher and felicity huffman could be called against her. >> i really would like all of it to go away. i'm like no. >> reporter: but it can't go away. only sheridan did from the show that once made her a household name. with the ratings in decline the show has confirmed this season will be the last for the women of wisteria lane.

>> mike taibbi, thank you. coming up, the mother who lost parts of her legs protecting her children from a powerful tornado. that mom, her husband and her children will be joining us live. but first, this is "today" on nbc. i've been growing oranges my whole life, ever since i can remember. my name is paul fabry, and i grow oranges in florida for tropicana. my grandpa taught me that there's no orange like a florida orange. they're grown in just the right soil... with the perfect amount of sunshine. see, that's how you get that beautiful colour and ripeness. tropicana pure premium is made with 100% florida oranges. because the best oranges make the best juice. ♪ quaker oats. in every way, a super grain. ♪ super for the fiber that helps fill us up. super for the energy it gives to get us going. super for the oats that are so good for our hearts.

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>> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning, i am mindy basara. time for sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> tracking a new problem on southbound 95 at fort mchenry. left lane, left to closed. backing up traffic. take the harbor tunnel as your alternate. moravia road and belair road, we have an accident coming in. delays around big area. liberty road and ward chapel road in marriottsville, accident location to avoid.

delays we are holding onto on southbound 83 from york road down to show moderate 16 miles per hour all due to an earlier accident. here is what it looks like on 83 and york road. we will switch over to a life of traffic at the fort mchenry. still closed in the left tube. up like this by taking the harbor tunnel. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. tony, over to you. >> a lot of sunshine to start the day. temperatures in the chilean side. 40 at the airport, 36 in columbia. 33 degrees in taneytown. forecasts for the day, mostly sunny skies. high, thin clouds later this afternoon, but generally sunny. average high is 51. we will make it all the way up

to 67 on thursday. we will see a chance for rain thursday night into friday morning. temperatures back into the low 50s on saturday.

♪ we're back at 8:00 on a wednesday morning, the 7th day of march 2012. an unbelievably nice day in new york city today. we've got perfect blue skies and temperatures going up around 60 degrees. we are still in winter. what a winter it's been. i'm matt lauer along with ann curry and al roker. >> even warmer. this will be the warmest winter on record in this country ever probably. >> i wouldn't be surprised. >> coming up in this half hour, a remarkably brave mother. >> we first brought you stephanie decker's story on

tuesday. she used herself as a human shield to protect her son and daughter as a tornado was destroying their home. she lost part of a leg and a foot. both of her children survived without a scratch. you are looking at the entire family joining us coming up for a live interview, matt. >> also ahead, the idea of living alone. more and more americans are doing it, but do the joys and benefits of living alone -- like you can eat all the oreos you want in the bathtub, do they outweigh the pitfalls? >> is that the most important thing? >> for me, it is. >> a lot of people said they love being able to do whatever they want including eating without judgment. he's not off the mark. >> and drinking great beer is another thing we'd like to do whether you're single or a couple. martha stewart will help us throw the ultimate beer bash. martha and a kegger. >> a lot to get to. natalie is on assignment today.

savannah is at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning. in the news today, mitt romney picked up six states and the most delegates in the super tuesday republican primaries and caucuses. his opponents are fighting on today. nbc news declared romney the winner in the pivotal ohio race. but rick santorum prevailed in three states and former speaker newt gingrich captured his home state of georgia. overseas financial markets were mixed as they tried to regain footing after tuesday's sell-off on wall street. the dow industrials dropped more than 200 points, the worst showing this year amid investor worries about the greek debt problem and china's economic slowdown. texas tycoon r. alan stanford could spend life behind bars after his conviction tuesday for running a $7 billion ponzi scheme. the jury will decide if he should forfeit $300 million in remaining assets. dramatic video shows an

avalanche last weekend in san francisco. it disabled a ski lift with people on board. nobody was hurt. the lift is closed for the season. now for a look at what's trending today, our quick round-up of what has you talking online. demi moore was photographed returning to los angeles after weeks of vacation and reported rehab. it was the first time moore was seen in public since she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital in january. monkees drummer mickey dolan says that surviving band members will probably skip the private funeral being planned for davy jones. he says the family wants the service to be low key to avoid a media circus. an old twitter rant coming to life now is haunting the newly crowned miss seattle who won on saturday. back in december, after coming

home from school in arizona she tweeted, ew, i seriously am hating seattle right now. she tweeted, take me back to arizona, ugh, can't stand cold, rainy seattle and the annoying people. she tweeted an apology this week. 8:04. now back to matt, ann and al. miss seattle, everybody. >> let that be a lesson. be careful what you say. >> or stay off. you don't have to worry. like matt lauer. by the way -- >> from our friends at uconn -- [ cheers ] >> it's willard scott's birthday and you have a song. >> we do. >> go, fight, go, fight, go, happy birthday, willard scott! >> there you go. everybody got nervous because if you sing that happy birthday song we have to pay big bucks. happy birthday uncle willy, 78 years young. he's still got 22 years before

he's on the smucker's jar. today's pick city decatur, illinois, nbc 17 hd, partly sunny, mild, windy, 67 degrees. we have a little bit of wet weather working it way into texas. in the meantime, gorgeous weather finally in the pacific northwest. gorgeous day. lots of sunshine. temperatures in the upper 40s, low 50s. high surf advisory southern california. rip currents along the atlantic coast. a fantastic day in the eastern third of the country for sunshine, temperatures in the 60s and as you get to the south, even into the 70s. >> good morning. high pressure on the east coast. we expect mostly sunny skies. nice and mild this afternoon.

>> and that's your latest weather, ann? >> coming up, we'll meet the indiana mom who shielded her children to protect them from a tornado. she lost parts of both of her legs, but she's alive and her kids survive without a scratch. her husband's there. we'll talk to them in an exclusive live interview coming up after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ grande caramel macchiato. iced grande caramel macchiato. make that iced. actually, hot, please. [ male announcer ] come into starbucks for the espresso drink you love, hot or iced, and get half off your afternoon espresso

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we are back at 8:10 with the latest on the heroic actions of a mother to save her children during a deadly tornado outbreak. stephanie decker lost a leg and a foot while shielding her son and daughter. they'll join us in a moment. first tom costello is at the university of louisville medical center with more. tom, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. stephanie is lucky to be alive. she could have so easily bled to death as she was being rescued or waiting to be rescued from the are you able of hrubble of . the doctors say she's making tremendous progress. there may be no greater love

than a mother's love for her children. >> i love you. >> i love you, too. >> reporter: stephanie decker insists she is no hero for losing part of a leg and a foot while protecting 8-year-old domenic and 5-year-old reese from friday's tornado. >> i just love my kids. and i still worry about how they will react after this now. >> reporter: stephanie and the kids were home alone when the tornado took aim at their house. huddling in the basement, stephanie wrapped a blanket around the kids, then laid on top of them while texting husband joe. >> first thing she said was the windows are shaking. right after that she said the whole house is shaking. >> i saw a brick coming at my daughter's direction. so i would maneuver my back left and right, dodging so i would take the hit and not my daughter or my son. >> reporter: when the tornado passed, the home was gone, wiped

from its foundation. stephanie and the kids were buried in the rubble and not responding to joe's messages. >> are you okay? are you okay? are you guys okay? you've got to answer, babe. >> reporter: stephanie was pinned, one leg severed at the knee. neighbors saved her life, pulled her free, applied a tourniquet and rushed her to a waiting ambulance. the kids didn't have a scratch. >> she's alive and the kids are alive. >> so i told her -- i'm like, the kids get to see you. you get to see the kids grow up. that's all that matters. >> i could have easily walked up on this house to three dead people. >> reporter: the decker family house is gone. so many of their belongings scattered, but a house is just a house. family is the foundation. >> i'm just happy they're here. we get to spend the next 50 years together, however long we've got. >> the biggest reason i fought

for is for my children. i'm just so thankful that they lived and they didn't have a scratch on them. >> reporter: stephanie is scheduled to have surgery later in the week. doctors say she should be up on her prosthetic leg and foot in three months. her dad said, i know her. she'll be up faster than that. matt, back to you. >> tom costello, thank you. stephanie and joe decker are with us exclusively along with 8-year-old domenic and 5-year-old reese. good morning to you. it's great to see you. >> good morning. >> stephanie, i have so much i want to ask you. how are you doing? >> well, first i want to tell you that i appreciate all of your support and your help during this time. you have been gracious, matt. your phone calls and all your staff have been wonderful in helping us get this story out.

so first i want to tell you thank you. >> my pleasure. >> i'm feeling much better. it's been a rough road. i have up days and down days. today i'm a little tired, but other than that, i think we're doing pretty good. >> stephanie, i have three kids. once in a while you go through the scenario, what would happen if something were to happen? we don't live in a tornado area. would i know what to do in the event of a real sudden emergency. had you gone through scenarios like this in your mind? >> the extent of our scenarios are typical get in the basement and wait for the storm to ride -- you know, ride it out. never in my life have i gone through a scenario of a tornado taking my entire house. you always feel your basement is

safe. that's why we have them in our area. you never think that it's not safe. so, no. i was not prepared for this storm. >> where did you come up with the idea of wrapping the kids in a blanket? i had never heard of that. it's a brilliant idea. where did you figure it out? >> instinct is the only thing i can tell you. we were in the basement. i could tell that this was not a typical storm. i could hear the sounds of a train coming behind me. and i did not want to take a chance. so there was a blanket in our basement with all of our things that are down there. i just wrapped them up, tied it tight to make sure -- to protect them just in case. >> and then got on top of the kids and rode out this tornado. do you have any idea -- and i'm sure time felt like it was

standing still. do you have any idea how long the storm was over your house? >> i don't. you know, that's one of the things. i still don't know. i don't know how long it took. i know the storm wasn't very long, but it felt like eternity. >> when the tornado passed, you realized instantly that you were in really severe trouble in terms of your injuries. you knew one leg was either severed or barely there, another leg was crushed. you managed to get your son domenic out so he could go for help and you did something so many people have thought about because you were afraid that you weren't going to make it. you took out your cell phone and recorded a message for your husband. joe, have you seen that message? >> no. i haven't seen it. probably going to be a long time before i have the courage to look at that. i can't look at that right now.

>> the idea that at that moment she thought to communicate to you and make sure you understood how she felt has to be pretty powerful. >> yeah, it's very powerful. that's probably why i can't look at it. that's going to take a long time to take a look. >> stephanie, it's personal, but would you share anything you said on that message? >> no. that's not probably something i would. honestly, i don't remember a whole lot that i said. it's more the i love yous and things like that. i wouldn't disclose that. that is something sacred and very private and also very difficult for all of us at this time. >> i'm looking at domenic and reese, 8 and 5. physically they are perfect. i'm wondering -- and i hate to say this in front of them, but they have been through something very traumatic with the storm

and watching their mom get injured so badly. how do you think they're doing otherwise? >> currently, i think they are doing well. i do worry about post traumatic stress with them from this. i think some counseling for all of us. i think that's going to be helpful for all of us to have a little bit of counseling. >> i know -- i'm sorry. i was going to say i know the neighbor who came that domenic managed to alert who came and put a tourniquet on you is a hero. the doctors at the hospital are heroes. you say after all you did, you are no hero. all i can say is, really? it's extraordinary what you did. >> well, thank you. but, really, it was instincts and it was protecting my

children. you know, you have three children. you understand. there's nothing you won't do for them. and you get a mama bear out there and they're vicious. they're going to do what they have to do. so i honestly feel like it is just me protecting them. and once i knew they were safe, i knew i could rest. you know, if anything were to happen to me, as long as i knew they were safe i was okay with that. >> joe, you've got a heck of a wife. domenic and reese, you are awfully lucky kids to have a mom like this. stephanie, take care of yourself. be well, okay? >> okay. thank you. >> thank you. keep us posted on your recovery, okay? we wish you the best. >> i will. >> we're back after this.

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>> reporter: beautiful sanibel, florida. i have been coming down here since 1972. anyway, it was a lovely resort and they set us up for this. happy birthday from smucker's. they were nice enough to pay for it. happy birthday to lena romano. i love that name. woodstock, vermont. pretty town. beautiful hotel up there. 100 today. the secret to longevity is attitude. also olive oil and jack daniels. i never tried jack with olive oil. bertie ketner. great name. jefferson city, tennessee. 104 years old today. enjoys word search puzzles. and visiting with pals. isn't it nice to have friends at that age? people go to special shows.

arthur birnbaum of ashland, oregon. that's nice country. 1 is 100 today. follows the stock market and enjoys a shot of bourbon every once in a while around 5:00 p.m. cocktail time. you got it. janie gonsalves is 100 today. generous to everyone she meets. she loves to garden. i like to eat fresh garden vegetables. kora hollinger from houston, texas. 107 years old. her granddaughter wrote a book about her life. isn't that nice? pat old, how nice it is. keep that name in mind. he's from pullman, washington. he's 100 and said it was inevitable he'd be a hundred

because his last name is old. that's it. back to new york. okay, willard. have a great birthday. willard mentioned cocktail time. up next, martha stewart is throwing a beer party. that's after this. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. that's get a final check on the morning commute. >> delays on southbound 95 left over from an earlier accident. both tubes are open. you are going to experience delays for a little while. 895 may be a better bet. southbound j.f.x. backed up from the belt way towards 28 at the street. accident at marriottsville towards chapel road. west side, a 15 miles per hour

from the outer loop to edmondson. southbound 83, looking at delays from middletown to mount carmel. here's a live view of traffic. here is what looks like in parkton at parkton region. looking pretty good here. below that is middletown. at least all lanes are open. >> it is going to turn out to be a nice day. we will make it into the 60s. plenty of sunshine right now. 39 at rising sun. 32 degrees at frederick. mostly sunny skies. high temperatures between 60 and 65. we will make up to 67 on thursday.

from goes through on friday morning and then it will clear up into the weekend. >> we will have another update at 8:55.

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8:30 now on this wednesday morning. it's the 7th day of march 2012. we really could not ask for a better late winter day in midtown manhattan. 42 degrees already. al says it will get up to 50 degrees today. how great for the crowd in rockefeller plaza. coming up just ahead, two words -- beer party!

>> martha stewart says forget about a wine tasting. have a beer tasting. >> apparently involving parsnips. >> and the man behind a number of popular sites on the internet. also people not happy including gawker. we'll interview him in a moment. >> and more with the man who posted the video on facebook shooting his daughter's laptop. he's agreed to stick around and answer some viewer e-mails. we have gotten a lot of them since the segment this morning. >> meantime -- but first let us mention that nine years ago our dear friend and colleague david bloom died suddenly of deep vein thrombosis while covering the war in iraq. >> dvt awareness month is march and his wife melanie is the spokesperson for the coin addition to prevent dvt.

she's here with a member of the steering committee. nice to see you. >> nice to be here. >> we want to get the information out. what exactly is dvt and how does it relate to what happened with david? >> dvt is a blood clot that develops in one of the blood vessels of the legs. this blood clot could break off and go to the lungs causing a pulmonary embolism and in this case took david's life. >> melanie, because of your efforts, more people know about this. they know some 2 million people are affected every year. now that the coalition has a new survey that indicates who specifically is at high risk. >> that's right. 2 million americans develop dvt each year. there are people at greater risk like cancer patients. we released a survey showing almost 75% of cancer patients haven't been informed by their health care provider about the increased risk for developing this condition.

we are focused on reaching people who fall in this higher risk category. >> what are the symptoms that you're having experienced with dvt? >> symptoms are swelling or pain in the legs, cramping. if it travels and hits the lungs becoming a pulmonary embolism it feels like chest pain, shortness of breath. >> doctor, how do you avoid the symptoms? what can you do to prevent this? >> if we become more aware of risk factors. surgery, obesity, cancer. and that patients are more aware of the process then they can talk to their health care provider for appropriate assessment and evaluation. >> how many people die of this every year? >> about 300,000 people. that's more than aids and breast cancer combined. we are moving the needle on awareness. there is more that needs to be done. >> thank you very much. good to see you. how are the girls? >> is great.

>> can we quickly mention that at their school which is in greenwitch, connecticut, they have our "today" show set and it's being used by students -- >> the girls use it for broadcast journalism class and "today from the heart" is what they call it. "today" donated the set after david passed. so they are sitting at the same set their daddy did and learning about journalism. >> thank you so much. >> good to see you all. >> thank you. mr. roker? >> let's look at what's going on for today. we have showers and thunderstorms developing down through texas also up into the mississippi river valley. rip currents on the southeastern atlantic coast. tomorrow a risk of strong storms texas to arkansas where we'll be looking at anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of rain. sunny and mild in the southwest.

upper ohio river valley. snow in michigan. >> good morning. looks like a beautiful day today. the temperatures will jump into the 60's spirit that is about 12 don't forget. get your weather any time you want it on the weather channel on cable or weather.com. >> sounds good. ready to taste some beer? >> yeah! >> we're going to have a beer tasting party with martha stewart coming up. first, this is "today" on nbc.

♪ we're back at 8:37. this morning on martha on "today" we're throwing a beer tasting party. forget the college party. now it's about cold brew and hot snacks. straight from the march pages of martha stewart living. >> good morning. i don't know if you want to have beer this time of day. >> yes. >> is that a trick question? of course we do. >> a beer tasting party is like the new thing because there are so many artisanal beers. if you go to the local brewery and find good beers, bring them home and treat your friends. >> make it casual. >> this is chalk board, oil cloth. you can write on it. people can write impressions of the beers. we have numbered glasses. they each have a specific quality. >> grab a beer and let's go. obviously you have to have beer and food.

we're going to make great recipes starting with a shrimp dish. tell me about it. >> this is delicious. these are roasted buffalo shrimp. they have the same flavors of paprika, one and a half pounds of beautiful fresh shrimp. we have two cloves of garlic chopped up. cayenne pepper, salt, honey. mix it together, put it on a baking sheet and bake at 450 for five minutes. >> buffalo leads me to believe there is a blue cheese dressing for this. >> this is a different taste. this is lemon juice, sour cream and celery leaves. it's a light version of the buffalo chicken wing. >> i can't believe i'll ask you this, but how do you keep your meatballs moist? >> don't overcook them. and have the correct proportion of fat to lean.

>> you have beef chuck, pork and you mix it all with -- >> with pancetta. you can make them by scooping. scoop it out, roll it in your hand. >> in your hand. >> yeah, roll it like this. >> wash your hands first, which i did not. >> oh, okay. >> and as you said, this is onion, egg yolk, cayenne pepper, thyme and pancetta. those will be rolled in bred crumbs and flour. >> you want to give them a crust before you fry them. >> we brown them first in oil. then put them in the oven for ten minutes. >> mm. >> not overcooked and make sure they are well cooked because of the pork. >> voila, cocktail meatballs. >> look how cute they are. >> they are cute. >> i love this sandwich. this is good. >> blue cheese sandwich. have you ever had one? >> never. >> he just tasted it. >> i treated. >> onion jam made with balsamic,

salt and pepper. slather on the onion jam on good white bread. you can use brioche or a country white and a little bit of artisanal blue cheese. >> instead of bacon you're using canadian bacon. >> it's precooked already. that goes on the sandwich. two slices of that and maybe a little bit of butter on one side here. put that on. butter the outside of the sandwich. we're not calling it a grilled cheese. we are calling it a blue cheese, onion jam sandwich. >> amazing. >> and the favorite thing here are the parsnip chips. >> smoky. >> they go with the beers. the dark beer has the smoky flavor. they taste so great. you just peel the parsnips first. then strip them like this with

the potato peeler. these strips go into -- see if the oil is right. it goes into oil around 300 degrees. >> you say it takes a while but it's worth it. >> oh, it hardly takes any time. >> oh. >> and it's still worth it. >> situation normal. >> be careful when frying. tend to it. and did you taste one? >> not yet. >> taste one. they're so good. >> martha, thank you so much. cheers! >> up next, doing what you want when you want. the growing appeal of living alone. first, this is "today" on nbc.

back now at 8:44 with a growing number of americans living alone, one in seven adults now do it. in fact, time magazine is reporting that the group is now

tied with childless couples as the most common type of american home. many of those singles are saying they would not have it any other way. 38-year-old terri has lived alone for more than a decade and loves it. watch what you say about her and her cat. >> crazy cat lady has to be one of the most insulting things. >> reporter: with the freedom to live how she wants she finds comfort in the fact that she can do things at her own pace without stepping on anyone else's toes. >> i get to do a lot of things at once. make dinner for myself, or e-mailing and reading something. i feel i can move around and i find it comforting. >> reporter: about one of seven adults in the u.s. lives alone. it's mor common among women. 17 million live alone versus 14 million men. >> we often think of people who live alone as isolated and lonely. we worry about them. but the truth is that the

typical person who lives alone is quite social. in fact, more social than the typical person who's married. >> reporter: "going solo, the extraordinary rise and appeal of living alone," eric clinenberg is the author. >> you have to get out and see other people. >> reporter: pop culture sings the praises of going solo. >> before i was married i would study my pores in a mirror for an hour each night but i'm afraid trey will think it's weird. >> reporter: it gave seinfeld the ability to shower and prepare meals at the same time. singles are weighing in saying, i have the tv to myself. no one knows how many thin mints i eat. and so i can eat ice cream in the tub. a recent feature in the new york times found similar testimonials. >> when you live alone it magnifies your personality and

the quirkier parts of your personality. >> reporter: trespisio is open to living as a couple some day but says it won't come easily. >> i would have a hard time giving up the space i have, i would. i don't see myself doing it any time soon. >> reporter: here to talk more about it is psychologist dale atkins and laura shocker, senior editor from the huffington post healthy living. good morning. >> good morning. >> in 19504 million americans lived alone. today, 33 americans, 28% of the population are living alone. what accounts for the dramatic increase, dale? >> there are so many issues that have to do with it. one is that people are feeling much more comfortable living on their own and our society is kind of saying it's okay and it's been a large rise in the divorce rate. people who are between 34 and 54, mostly women, are feeling they can take care of themselves well. they work hard. they want to come home to a

situation where they are the master of their own home. >> significantly, a lot of young people are choosing to live alone. i wonder if it has something to do with the social internet media aloneness we have as part of our culture now? >> i agree. i think we are living in a society where we're together, together, together. group work, team work, brainstorming together. we're never alone. i think it accounts for part of the rise. people want time to go home, recharge and spend time regrouping without other people around. >> some people used to think as living alone as sad and lonely. you're talking about living alone being joyful. what are the joys of living alone? >> there are a lot of them. and it has to do with recharging and being able to get to know yourself and be able to pursue a passion to really be at a place in your life where you can pursue something with meaning and also be ready to be your

true self, go out and socialize. so many people who live alone have active social lives and they create great social lives. >> is there a reason why men are less likely to live alone than women? >> i think women have been socialized to find their support networks and recognize when they are feeling lonely. being alone doesn't have to be the same thing as being lonely. i think they recognize when they need time alone and when they need to reach out. >> you have an answer, too, dale. >> i do. in our culture men are used to being taken care of by some of the women in their lives. >> you said that very diplomatically. it could have been said far worse. >> i think women are used to taking care of people. when it comes to living on our own, i think we all have positive and negatives about how we care for other people. i do believe it's one of the reasons men are more likely to get married after divorce or after they are widowed than

women. the support network is mostly at work and women's support networks, although at work, are also within the social realm. it's easier for women to live alone. >> thank you so much, both of you, for putting a new spin on this. up next, the man behind the popular gossip website called gawker. first, this is "today" on nbc. @

we're back now at 8:51 with one of the most powerful men in media who's a force to be reckoned with and is breaking all the rules. jamie gangel caught up with the founder of gawker media for an exclusive interview. >> some call him a vi lane and others a visionary. either way nick denton is fascinating and if you have spent time on the internet you probably know his infamous sites. gawker, gizmodo and deadspin to name a few. if not, you're about to find out why so many people are obsessed with them. if you want to rule the blogosphere, this is how it's done. gossip, gadgets, sports, scandal. the more outrageous and sensational, the better. it's made gawker media and its eight sites the envy of the internet and raised curiosity about the man behind it all.

45-year-old nick denton, a transplanted brit who calls himself the gossip merchant. >> you tell me true or not true. snarky. >> yeah. >> sexual. >> yes. >> nude photos of private parts. >> fit's interesting. >> you report rumors. you don't always check it out? >> yeah. >> shameless? >> yes. >> irresponsible. >> defined by who? >> mean. >> mean. occasionally. >> his victims might argue more than occasionally. but denton insists the blogs are really about the truth. >> this is going to sound really pret pretentious, but i believe the truth is arrived at in a rather messy fashion and gossip is part of the process. we put out a story and it's rough and ready. frankly television and

newspapers come and follow on a day or two later once we have done the dirty work. >> reporter: the dirty work started a decade ago when he moved to manhattan and launched gawker out of his apartment. educated at oxford, a former reporterr from the financial times, denton found young bloggers, paid them $12 a post and had only one rule. nothing off limits. >> reporter: what was your vision for gawker when you started? >> that it should be authentic. it should capture the real conversations, things that people talk about. whatever we know, whatever we think. >> reporter: they pay for scoops, publish rumors, settle lawsuits when they have to. if they get it wrong, they update. >> people need to get their head around the fact that the web is different. we publish faster. we change faster. we correct faster. and frankly the standards of publication are lower.

>> reporter: the standards are lower. it's the wild west of the internet. >> is there any place you won't go? is there a subject that's off limits? >> i get asked that question sometimes. i try to -- i don't like to define the answer. >> reporter: along the way, gawker has reported original stories that went viral. remember when an apple engineer accidentally left his iphone 4 prototype in a bar? gizmodo paid for it and scooped steve jobs three months before the official release. >> now stop me if you have already seen this -- [ laughter ] >> reporter: gawker also broke this story. reporting that married congressman chris lee sent shirtless photos of himself to a woman on craigslist. >> the fastest moving capitol hill sex scandal ever. >> reporter: he resigned in a record two hours and 27 minutes.

>> most things never get broadcast or published. those are the stories we run. we run the off cuts. >> reporter: tonight on "rock center" s," we'll show you how gawker will push the limit. >> thanks, jamie. you can see her full report on "rock center with brian williams" tonight at 10:00/9:00 central time on nbc. >> just ahead, more with the dad who shot his daughter's laptop. they will answer your e-mail questions after your local newsn >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. the mother and brother of an 18- year-old killed in a crash in anne arundel county suffered another blow. they were issued civil

citations for supplying alcohol to minors hours before the crash that killed three teenagers. another driver

>> it will turn out to be a beautiful day. a little on the chilly said, but it will warm up quickly. 67 tomorrow. 67 tomorrow. chance for rate in the f

i'm drinkin' dunkin'. definitely dunkin'. you know, i need to get that jolt in the morning, but i want something good to do that. i love the aroma, i love the taste. you can't mistake the flavor. i run on dunkin'! america runs on dunkin' coffee.