good morning. medicare moment. vice presidential candidate paul ryan heads to florida's largest retirement community to defend his plan to overhaul the massive program, and today he's bringing along the person he hopes will be his good luck charm, his mom. without a trace, a california woman disappears during a diving trip. now family members want the investigation to take a closer look at her husband. and ballroom battle. olympic soccer star hope solo makes some shocking allegations in her new book about her reality tv dance partner, saying he slapped, pushed and manhandled her. the dancing pro is fighting back today, saturday, august 18th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a saturday morning. i'm lester holt. >> and i'm tamron hall. it's great to be back from london. you look great, by the way. >> thank you. >> look very dapper, got the uk flavor going on. >> i'm still waking up at 4:00 in the morning, although it works for me today. >> oh, right. >> this wasn't such a shock. >> how many days have you been back? >> i got back on monday. how about you? >> on monday. still got a couple more days, so we're in the game today. >> we're in the game. nice to be back. i had a great time, but it's great to be home. we'll talk about a big day in the race for the white house. paul ryan is drawing praise as well as fire for his plans to overhaul medicare. he's today going to a floda senior community to face tough questions. how will that he do in that key battleground state? and much more on the msive wildfires burning across the

west, stretching firefighters to the limit, and unfortunately, they're getting no help from mother nature. and then, chilling details about how a young woman fought for her life until the end. the gruesome story came from the registered sex offender who pleaded guilty on friday to the murder of louisiana college student mickey shunick. >> plus, we'll have an exclusive interview with a teenager who was actually shot through the head with a speargun. it's an unbelievable story. amazingly, this young man survived and he is here to tell his story and give us an update. can you believe that? >> every time i see the x-rays, it's hard to believe they're real. it will be fascinating to hear what he has to say. but we begin with vice presidential candidate paul ryan's first campaign trip to florida today. nbc's ron mott is near orlando. this is a high-stakes trip for ryan, isn't it? >> reporter: it is indeed, lester. good morning to you. it's a big speech he is set to give today on medicare here in the villages billed as the world's largest retirement community. about 60,000 people call this place home and a lot of them

want to hear about the plans he and mitt romney have for transforming medicare. now, it's been mostly a pretty good week for the most part for paul ryan. he had, of course, the encounter at the iowa state fair with a medicare protester, and over the past 24 hours, he's had to come clear on denials for stimulus funds in his home state of wisconsin after denying he did that. he of course has been a vocal critic of the president's spending package, then yesterday he said he did in fact send one of the letters. one of the organizations received $20 million-plus in stimulus funds. that issue has now gone behind. an issue that doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon is the issue of taxes and mitt romney's taxes. yesterday the obama campaign made an offer in writing to the romney campaign that if he would release five years of tax returns, in return, the obama campaign would stott criticizing him for not releasing any more than that. the response was thanks, but no

thanks, see you in denver, which is the site of the first presidential debate. paul ryan, incidentally, just last night, lester, released his two tax returns. so we hope, perhaps, that issue has come and gone for him, at least. big speech coming up with his mom in tow. >> ron mountain, thank you. mark halperin is an analyst for nbc as well as "time" magazine. good morning. >> good morning. >> a lot made about him going before retirees to talk about medicare, but as i understand it the changes he's talking about wouldn't affect that group, but us, right? >> it would affect the younger people and that's one of the main points he'll say today. he'll say i'm here to talk about medicare. with the changes i propose and governor romney proposes, it won't affect any of you. that's a tough message to get through, because the people who care about medicare, there can be a lot of confusion and concern and fear, are the people who have it now. he's going with his mother, and this is not a special retirement community, it's a pretty pro-republican community, so this isn't as hard as some people think. >> when romney picked him, he

didn't know medicare would be a front-and-center issue. is this time for them to take back the narrative on this? >> it is, it is to try to make a couple points democrats will try to obscure. one is that it doesn't affect older people. also they're going hard after obama care. obama care took some money for medicare and moved it for other purposes. that is what republicans believe is a real vulnerability. this is a huge fight and debate. paul ryan hopes everyone has the debate. not everyone in politics wants to be serious. he's a serious guy. they're trying to keep him from being too serious on the romney campaign because the details can make things more controversial. >> the obama campaign released its first tv ad on the medicare issue, an attack on paul ryan, but also the president defending his own plan and that's got to be critical as well. >> pretty surprising to some. it wasn't to me. this is not a traditional attack ad. they're not going viciously hard after paul ryan and mitt romney. the president's side clearly feels they need to defend a bit. both sides have vulnerability on medicare. that could change. republicans traditionally have been purely on the defensive.

now the president's at least a little bit on the defensive. he doesn't have a detailed plan to save medicare and he also, again, took some money from medicare. both of those things, along with obama care, make it a little bit more of an even fight. and democrats are confident they can win the fight. every democrat likes to say we will win this fight over medicare. republicans hope they can win. they're glad they have paul ryan on their side, even though he's a lightning rod. he's the best explainer they have, republicans believe, to go to communities like florida to say we have a plan to fix things. it doesn't affect older americans. it's not a fair, each fight, but both sides know they have to engage. >> the obama folks know they have found traction on the tax return issue for romney. then later comes the challenge, give us more and we won't talk about it anymore. has this jumped the shark? >> i think the press likes this story a lot. the media is susceptible for doing what the obama campaign wants, which is focusing on

this. i don't think there's any chance. romney was on "rock center" saying that's it, no more. i'm pretty sure this is all he'll put out. do voters care about it? i don't think so. the economy is still front and center, the medicare debate's important. i think it's mostly something that the press and insiders care about. it's an important issue about transparency, but there are bigger issues in the campaign, i think. >> mark halperin, good to have you on. >> thanks. >> thanks very much. now here's tamron. >> lester, thank you. now to those raging wildfires burning across the west. some residents who were forced to flee are being allowed back to see whether or not their homes are intact. nbc's chrikristen dahlgren is ie elum, washington with more. >> reporter: good morning, tamron. they did make some progress on the fire here yesterday, now 40% contained, but that is far from out. there were worries about flare-ups late yesterday. there are still 100 homes here in the danger zone. for the fifth day, the flames

raced through the dense, dry pine forest, little to stop them, but the herculean efforts of firefighters and an almost nonstop assault on the blaze from all sides. >> oh, my goodness. >> reporter: those with homes nearby keeping a close eye. >> what do i do? i mean, continue along, but oh, my god. >> reporter: making the decision on when it's time to flee and what to bring. >> the neighbor said the first day, we have 20 minutes to evacuate. what would you do in 20 minutes? >> reporter: the awful reality and the fear over what will be left isn't just playing out here. 52 out-of-control wildfires are still burning across the country. in idaho, the vacation community of featherville, population 500 in the summer, is bracing for a blaze. the trinity ridge fire just 4% contained. >> contact is still inevitable. it is going to get here. >> reporter: residents could only listen as officials tried to prepare them. >> it makes you absolutely want to cry.

>> reporter: even idaho's governor is preparing to evacuate his vacation home. >> i'm going to leave when they ask me to leave. i hope everybody else will, do. >> reporter: there's already been 1 death and 14 injuries fighting fires in idaho. these pictures taken of the state spring fire show just how intense the fight is on the front lines. as temperatures across the region continue to soar, back in washington, a new fear of what the weekend might bring. >> we've also got thunderstorm activity that's predicted, dry lightning for saturday. >> reporter: lightning that could spark new flames and make this just the beginning. and if there were lightning strikes, tamron, they could come in areas that haven't seen rain in more than a month, so in a lot of places today really could be critical. >> all right. nbc's kristen dahlgren. thank you, kristen. let's get a check now of the morning's other top stories from cnbc's courtney reagan, who's at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning to you, lester. good morning, everyone. well, the u.s. military is

taking steps to clamp down on betrayals in afghanistan. there have been seven attacks in the past two weeks where afghan security forces killed 32 allied troops. atia abali has more in this report from kabul. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, courtney. well, the pentagon has issued new guidelines. among those is the fact that u.s. service members here must carry fully-loaded magazines in their weapons at all times. this follows two more american deaths yesterday. it happened when u.s. special forces went to farah province in western afghanistan to train the afghan local police, villagers trained to protect their home towns. as they were handing out weapons, one of the afghans turned his on the americans, killing two in cold blood. so far this year we've seen more than 30 of these so-called insider attacks, also known as green-on-blue attacks, killing 39 coalition members, most of those being americans. and in the end, it's eroding the trust between the u.s. and afghan forces at a very crucial

time as the united states wants to withdraw from afghanistan. courtney? >> atia abawi, thank you. police in arkansas are investigating the reported suicide of a man who was handcuffed behind his back in a patrol car. police video hasn't resolved questions about whether 21-year-old chavez carter shot himself in the head with a hidden gun as the two arresting officers reported. carter was arrested for an outstanding warrant. the officers say he then shot himself after being searched, handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car. police have asked the fbi for assistance. much of the western world is voicing sharp criticism of russia after three women from a russian punk band were given two-year jail sentences friday for protesting against president vladimir putin in moscow's main cathedral. several people were arrested at a protest in new york city. the united states calls the sentences disproportionate. and nasa's curiosity rover will take its first road trip on mars tonight.

it will aim its laser blaster at a rock formation, part of a two-year mission to determine if the planet most like earth could have hosted microbial life. the $2.5 billion rover landed on mars on august 6th. that's the news. now back to lester, tamron and bill. i can't decide if i want the rover to find microbial life or not. >> well, it's interesting, the rover has a twitter account, an actual nasa twitter account and then a really funny sidebar twitter account, what curiosity is seeing and thinking. it is genius. >> it's also recording live weather conditions. >> really? take your shot. >> what's the temperature? >> usually if the sun is out, it's like 160 degrees, but when, you know, when it's dark, it's like colder than antarctica, so extreme. >> and very little chance of rain. >> it gets the winds, too. >> what about the earth forecast? >> oh, the earth forecast? >> you've got that covered. if you can. >> i never trained for mars. well, good morning, everyone. it's amazing what's happened this summer. june and july were off the charts, dry and hot all through the middle of the country.

then all of a sudden, the middle of the country has cooled off and gotten wet weather and now the west is extremely hot. we didn't even have summer in the northwest through june and july and now we've been baking. we'll get a little cooldown for big cities like portland and seattle along i-5, but the inner mountain west where all the fires are burning remains extremely hot today, and unfortunately, we have a chance for the dry base thunderstorms. that's literally a thunderstorm where the rain doesn't make it to the ground, it evaporates. in other words, you don't even get the benefits of the rainfall. all you get is the lightning, >> good morning, our tower cam shows haze in the atmosphere. clouds and rain are moving east and the forecast today, partly cloudy day with a lot more sunshine and cooler temperatures. we will have highs in the low to mid 80's.

that's a look at your saturday forecast. tamron? >> bill, thank you. illinois congressman jesse jackson jr. is in the fight of his life today, battling bipolar disorder at the mayo clinic. just this week, a former congressman who also has a famous father visited him in an emotional get-together. more now from nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: after almost 70 days of secrecy, nbc news obtained the first photos of congressman jesse jackson jr., who is hospitalized for treatment of the mental illness bipolar disorder. visited thursday by his friend and former congressman patrick kennedy. >> this has taken him down. i mean, nothing like a mental illness can threaten your life like what depression has done. >> reporter: kennedy, who had also been treated for depression at the same hospital, the mayo clinic, traveled to minnesota to offer jackson support. >> there's the political story, but i was there really to see someone who is in a lot of

personal pain, who is suffering from a very serious illness. >> reporter: jackson has spent 18 years in congress and a lifetime in both the spotlight and the shadow of his famous father, the civil rights leader. the democrat from chicago's south side simply dropped out of sight in june. at first, his office blamed his absence on exhaustion, but under mounting public pressure finally said more, that jackson has a mood disorder. this week, the mayo clinic confirmed bipolar disorder. >> for jesse, i think understandably, he did not want to acknowledge that what he was suffering from was something that was so stigmatized and would affect the way people would view him. >> reporter: with pressure on jackson to resign, kennedy says he hopes these photos reveal a more human side of jackson, not his political face. >> and you get to empathize with that person because you know he's struggling with a very real

physical illness, and my heart goes out to him. >> reporter: jackson is on the ballot in november for a tenth term in congress, but so far, there is no timetable for his treatment. for "today," kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. >> dr. janet taylor is a psychiatrist who works with patients with bipolar disorder. she's with us now. dr. taylor, good morning. >> good morning. >> help us understand, first of all, what's bipolar 2 disorder. what's that mean? what are the symptoms? >> so, bipolar disorder is a mood disorder and bipolar disorder has two things, they have high highs and low lows. so, you have a major depressive episode or recurring episodes and then mania or hyplamania. that's an episode and then hyplomania generally lasts between four to seven days, where you have irritable, self-esteem decreased, need for sleep, maybe more talkative than

usual. >> obviously we don't know his past medical history, but it seems like the information from his wife as well as his famous father, that this happened suddenly. is that usual with bipolar 2 disorder, which he's been diagnosed with? >> one of the symptoms is major depression, so you can develop that, although typically with bipolar disorder, there may have been underlying signs of depression with increased depressed mood, increased sleep. so maybe it can develop suddenly, but more often, by the time you get to be the age of je jesse jackson jr., you've had some signs and symptoms of depression. >> and perhaps the signs weren't understood by family members or the patients themselves, they don't understand what's happening. >> there's a tendency to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs like marijuana, so it clouds the picture. and so, you may think maybe i'm not feeling well, so i'll use something else to make myself feel better and there can be a complication in that regard. >> how treatable is this

diagnosis? kelly o'donnell in her report says it's unclear when he'll be released. >> people need to realize this is very treatable, as long as you take the right medications, typically mood stabilizers, follow your doctor's orders, right exercise, nutrition and getting psychotherapy or support for yourself. it really is a condition people can do well with. >> with all those things you laid out, would an individual, includi including the congressman, be able to return to work and have a happy, functioning life? >> my hope certainly is that he does return to work, because people should realize you can live with mental illness, but you typically need to take medication and also stay in touch with your doctor. >> dr. taylor, thank you so much for your time and insight. now here's lester. all right, tamron, thanks. this week marked the 35th anniversary of elvis presley's death. natalie morales was grant ed a rare sit-down interview with his ex-wife priscilla and their own daughter, lisa marie. it's their first ever interview together at graceland. >> he loved this home.

he always came back here, no matter what. this is where he felt safe. this was his sanctuary. >> lisa marie, what feelings do you get here? >> i'm always happy when i'm here. it reminds me of when i was the happiest in my life, so, and it always brings me right there when i come back. >> what were your fondest memories of him? >> gosh, there's so many. he set up a little sort of station in my room, which is a tv set and a chair. so, whenever i was here, he would sit in there with me. him waking me up to take me on the golf cart, different things like that. >> so, when he was here, he was a very hands-on dad? >> very, yeah, when he was awake. >> i guess the hours were different -- >> he was on tour, so he was nocturnal and i would become inevitably nocturnal if i wanted to spend time with him. >> and priscilla, you had a good relationship with elvis, even after the divorce, right? you continued to be friends until the end? >> up until the end, yes. i mean, when we were together, you never knew we were divorced, for sure.

we had a lot of feeling for each other and we were very good friends. >> good evening. elvis presley died today. he was 42. >> tell me about that day 35 years ago. priscilla, you remember getting the call? >> i do. i'll never forget that day. i could hear the phone ringing and ringing and ringing, and i was hesitant to answer the phone. i'll never forget that. it was -- in shock and not being able to want to believe it. and lisa was in her room at the time and i first thought about her. >> lisa marie, you were 9 at the time. you were at the house, i understand, here at graceland. >> mm-hmm. >> did you know what was going on? >> i knew something was going on. my room was right next to his bathroom, so i knew that something was very wrong, all the commotion and everything. i was a wreck. i was a mess. i was confused because i was so upset, but then i also was

watching the reactions of everybody else, so it was a bit -- i had to stop and watch people coming through this door right here and viewing him and passing out and being taken in ambulances, and just the pandemonium that happened after was a little bit confusing. >> how much did that moment stay with you for years later? >> it stays with me, you know, a lot, especially when i'm here, you know, substantially. but i try now to focus on the good that he did in his life and celebrate his life and what he did. ♪ in the ghetto >> what do you want to say to the fans? >> if it wasn't for them, i mean, it's something to keep his legacy. i don't know of too many other entertainers at this level, you know, especially after 35 years.

it's awesome. ♪ falling in love with you ♪ >> natalie morales with priscilla and lisa marie presley. still to come this morning, chilling details about how a louisiana college student fought for her life and how that struggle helped convict her killer. but first, this is "today" on nbc. ñi

still to come on "today," everywhere you look, prices for gas, checking accounts, bank fees, food, all on the rise. this morning, what you can do to fight back. plus, pictures that will take your breath away. the winners of the "national geographic" photo contest, all taken by regular tourists. can you believe that? first, these messages.

>> this is wbal tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning, i'm jennifer franciotti. the time right now is 7:25 and here's a look at the morning's top stories. the aclu is requesting anne arundel county police hand over documents that will show county executive john leopold ordered officers to illegally access a

criminal history database. the group believes it has information that the embattled republican was snooping around for information on enemies. the civil liberties group says at least 16 people were targeted. this request follows a response from another request earlier this year that shows criminal history searches were made on same individuals. >> they're engaged in this essentially cover-up forcing us to keep on expanding the number of people we represent and forcing us to guess who the victims of this were and it's wrong. >> anne arundel police wouldn't comment specifically on this request. leopold is awaiting trial on criminal misconduct charges. we know the identity of the remains of the body found in the woods earlier this month. the body was identified as 20-year-old jessica lynn lee. investigators say she went

missing from her home in brooklyn park in may. meantime, a man in towson arrested after police say he robbed a bank. 11:00 friday morning at the giant along york road in towson, police say he went into the store, handed a teller a note and demanded cash. police have not released the identity of the suspect. back in a minute with a look at

>> all the clouds and rain, mostly east of the bay now.

the shower activity is mostly offshore around here and to the sun is coming through nicely, showing up on the radar, just a couple of sprinkles left in parts of northern delaware. currently outside at the airport, 65 degrees. the dew point is 63. the humidity still a little on the high side with these temperatures. 29.89. the key is that the sun is breaking through. here's a look at the satellite imagery with radar. the front stalls south and east so not everybody is free of a rain chance today but around the metropolitan area, partly cloudy skies, the forecast, with 78 to 83 the temperature range. late in the day, shower to the east of us wouldn't be out of the question. the ocean city forecast, higher chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms later today. tomorrow, minimal rain chances, temperatures around 80. all in all, the weekend will be fine on the boardwalk. >> thanks for joining us. we are back in 25 minutes with another update.

and we are back with more of "today" on this saturday morning, the 18th day of august 2012. as you can see there, a wet morning here in the big apple, but a good day to stay inside and watch tv. or if you're around, come hang with us like these folks. just bring your umbrella. we'll get the forecast from your neck of the woods in a moment. meanwhile, coming up this hour, new ways to stretch your budget. >> because everything is getting more expensive. if you drive, you're probably feeling the pinch with gas prices spiking, up 30 cents in the last few days alone, food prices, and of course the bank fees. you look at a transaction, there's some kind of fee attached to it, so we have tips on how you can avoid paying more. >> certainly great information. plus, you love her from the classic movies of the '80s. of course, molly ringwald, but

the movies were "sixteen candles," "breakfast club." that's the best one, i think. >> the one where they were in the classroom. >> classic. molly ringwald is now an author and she'll tell us what inspired her line of work and how she got into the business. >> what's your best photo you took on vacation? >> i took one of you in london with me doing this. >> yeah, and i wasn't looking, by the way. >> yeah, that's why it's a great photo. >> i saw that one on twitter. >> i picture-bombed lester. >> i'm looking all serious. anyway, we say all that. oh, this is why we're saying this, because "national geographic" is out with the winning entries of its 2012 photo contest taken by regular travelers like you and me. one of the magazine's editors will be here to talk about some pretty stunning images. >> absolutely. they'll take your breath away. first, let's take a big turn and begin with a story we've been following from the beginning, the murder of a louisiana college student. on friday, a registered sex offender pleaded guilty to the crime, and as part of the plea deal, revealed just how hard

mickey shunick fought for her life. here's nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: when mickey shunick went missing in may, there were pictures of her all over louisiana. the 21-year-old college student was last seen biking from a friend's house, recorded on a traffic camera pedaling home. >> we need your help. she needs your help. >> reporter: days later, her bike turns up along a river bank miles away, but no sign of mickey. police put out a call for a white pickup truck cameras captured trailing her. it was later found burned in texas and linked by police to brandon lavergne, a registered sex offender who was arrested later during a traffic stop. >> brandon, did you kill mickey shunick? >> reporter: friday, he pleaded guilty to the murder of mickey shunick and also another one in 1999. prosecutors say what she did helped bring her killer to justice. >> much of what she did to the defendant, leaving the injuries

she did led in large part to us being here today. >> reporter: prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for details on mickey's last moments. it is a chilling account. >> i'm not surprised that she was ferocious and that she did not quit until he blew her head off. >> reporter: in court documents, lavergne admitted stalking mickey from his truck and then armed with a gun and knife forced her to get in. she tried to call for help and then maced him and wrestled for the knife. he wrestled it away and stabbed her at least four times. she slumped over. he thought she was dead. when he went to dump her body, like something out of a horror movie, mickey got up, grabbed the knife and stabbed her attacker again. lavergne said he pulled his gun and shot her in the head before dumping her body near a ceremony. he drove to a new orleans hospital for treatment, then returned the next day to bury her. >> i hope in his dreams he sees her coming at him with the knife and putting it in his chest.

i hope he wakes up to that image over and over and over again every night. >> reporter: a tragic ending for a young woman who may have lost the battle but never gave up the fight. for "today," janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. now let's get another check of the weather forecast. bill karins, little rain coming down here. >> yeah, big changes around the country, and now that we're getting towards the end of august, everybody wants to know what's happening in the tropics. but now we're getting towards the peak of the hurricane season when the storms can get very strong and intense and can be devastating. helene formed in the gulf of mexico yesterday, and that would normally be a concern, but this is a very weak storm, and it's heading inland, so it's not going to be a problem for anyone. just some beneficial rains around tampico. hurricane gordon is going the wrong way in the atlantic, actually heading away from the u.s. there's another strong tropical wave coming up the coast of africa. if that did get a name, that would be isaac, and even if that happened, it would be ten days away from anywhere in the land area from the u.s. all the way down through the caribbean. so we're looking really nice through the end of august, and

that's good news. as far as today's forecast goes, it is a sunshine smiley forecast today. in chicago, sunny and 76 degrees. after the summer you have struggled through in st. louis and indianapolis and everyone, this is your reward weekend. that's a look at there's definitely a lot of changes going on in the weather this weekend. if you want your hour-by-hour forecast, you can get that at weather.com. tamron and lester. >> bill, thank you. still ahead, we loved her in "pretty in pink," "sixteen

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♪ is that all you get for your money ♪ this morning in "today's money," managing your budget with rising costs. gas prices, bank fees and grocery bills are all on the rise, so is there anything you can do to avoid paying more? cnbc's kayla tausche is here to help. good morning. >> good to see you, lester. >> let's start with gas prices. last year we thought it was the highest ever, the average $3.59 a gallon, now it's $3.72. >> it's a role reversal because economists say we'll go down by the end of the year, expecting $3 on average, but a series of unexpected events, like fires at refineries which make oil into gasoline for us to drive has meant that instead of prices coming down in the fall, they're actually going up. and as we see from that national

average, they are climbing. a month ago they were $3.43 a gallon. now economists expect $4 a gallon by the end of the year. >> right, and you can only cut back driving so much. you can hold off the vacation, but we're hitting a season now, people who need to drive more, right? >> i think the answer is carpooling. you can't cut back on driving your kids to school because we're entering a season where driving is a necessity. you can't really get around it. you're going to have to get creative with your solutions here. >> what are the solutions? which states have the most expensive gas right now? >> if you're living in california, california did suffer a fire at a chevron refinery, so you'll see gas prices above $4 in california. the pacific northwest. in the midwest, michigan and wisconsin, and of course, new york state as well, but you're lucky if you live in the middle states, in utah, arizona, nevada, colorado, also if you live in mississippi or louisiana. those gas prices are below the national average. >> all right. i want to turn to banking fees now. there's been a lot of added regulation to the banking

industry. they lost a lot of sources of revenue but quickly found them in terms of fees. there is a survey, the cost to maintain a checking account has increased over the past six months. let's start with the basic checking account. what's the minimum requirement? >> it's gone up by $20, lester, in the last year, so you'll now need $409 to open a checking account. that's going to be tough for students and people without a lot of disposal income, because even though a $20 increase isn't that much, the banks really get you there, and you're right, they're searching for those creative solutions themselves. >> and what about those service fees that they add on? i mean, those really add up. >> right. would you guess that those have gone up, too? $12.08 a month to just maintain your account. that's up from $11.18 last year. >> and a lot of them have -- if you maintain a minimum amount, then you don't hit those fees, but that's gone up as well. >> right. it's a trend, going up across the board. you now need $4,447 in your account to avoid just that $12 fee every month. one solution for that, though,

is direct deposit. if you do get paid on a regular basis and you sign up for direct deposit, even though that involves some red tape, you will get to avoid those monthly fees. >> and what about going smaller, independent banks, is that an option? >> it's definitely an option. it's one that we've seen a lot of big corporations and entities do. the "wall street journal" reporting that the democratic national party actually changed its accounts from bank of america to the union-backed amalgamated bank. oftentimes, if you go to your local credit union or the smaller banks, they have zero to lower fees, and you can also avoid some of those minimum requirements. >> and very quickly before we run out of time, food prices going up. what are some ways people can save a few bucks on food? >> well, because of the drought, grains prices are going up in exorbitant amounts. that's your breads, your pastas. the key with breads, buy toward the end of the day. oftentimes, your grocery stores, instead of throwing out the freshly baked loaf, will mark down the price of that. of course, if you have a big family, that's the answer, but if you don't want the bread to go bad, that may not be the

answer. with produce, buy what's in season. know what's in season. on the usda website, there's a list of what produce, what fruits and vegetables you can buy. in the summer right now for fruits, watermelons, strawberries, cantaloupes, cherries. for vegetables, bell peppers, green beans, and i'm sorry, kids, peas, but that of course will change into the fall. kids still won't like it broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts -- >> call them sweet peas, maybe they'll like them. kayla tausche, great to have you on. >> thank you. >> great to see you. up next, molly ringwald's new role, trading in a script for a pen. [ female announcer ] back to school means back to busy mornings.

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molly ringwald was the it girl of the 1980s, starring in such movies as "the breakfast club," "six teen candles" and "pretty in pink," but now she's taking on a new role as writer with her new book "when it happens to you." molly ringwald is with me now. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> i love that we were admiring you and behind the scenes you were writing. that was your passion behind the scenes. >> that's right. >> how did this get started? >> it was something i took to in school. i was never very good with math or chemistry, i was all about -- >> that makes two of us now! >> i was just really good at writing and i was always interested in storytelling, so yeah, it was always something i did, you know from creating character bios to writing journals. >> so, was it therapeutic for you? here you had this fantastic career, you have a fantastic career, but you were admired by teenagers and boys all over had

crushes on you. was this an outlet for you? >> i think so. you know, my parents just -- you know, i had fantastic parents and they always said that it was very important that i had something other than acting, you know. it was something they always drummed into my head was you have to have something else. they wanted me to go to college. they didn't go to college, but i sort of educated myself and just kept writing, kept singing, and i just think that it's made me a more -- >> a well-rounded person. >> right. >> absolutely! interesting, this book, your first work of fiction, and it deals with a series of connected stories, but the central message is about betrayal. >> yes. >> i'm intrigued by that. why does that stimulate you to write about it? >> you know, i just think that it's one of those universal subjects that you can't meet anyone who hasn't been betrayed or betrayed someone or betrayed themselves. it's just one of those things -- or had a best friend or a sister or a brother, you know? and i just felt like it was very rich material. and so, i wanted to get inside of it and sort of understand it and write about it from as many

different angles as i could. >> it's interesting. i know that you just mentioned your parents were great and fantastic, and for your own children, you've kind of wanted the idea of hollywood or acting not to be in the picture. what about writing? >> i completely support writing. i just don't want them to be in the public eye because i think that you need to have a time in your life where you get to be awkward and that you don't suffer a lot of rejection, and i just really want to protect my kids. and my parents say the same thing. if they had to do it over again, they wouldn't have gotten me involved. >> really? >> at such a young age. because they didn't know anything about show business. my father's a jazz musician, but it's different. >> i love that you mentioned jazz, musician, as you pointed out, writer, still acting. how do you make time for it all? >> i don't know. some days i don't, you know. it's a daily negotiation. we figure out how we're going to sort of get through the day and how we're going to get everything done, and some days it feels like we almost make it and then some days, you know,

the balance is off, but you know. >> a lot of women can identify with that. >> yes. >> thank you, molly. it's a great pleasure to meet you again. the book is "when it happens to you," molly ringwald. thank you. we'll be back in a moment, but first, this is "today" on nbc.

♪ photographs help us remember an amazing vacation or a trip to a far-off destination, but not many come close to these stunning snapshots from, get this, amateur photographers took these pictures you're looking at, capturing images and moments in places from fiji to norway. they are some of the finalists in the 2012 "national geographic" traveler photo contest. >> george stone is contributing editor at "national geographic" "traveler," he was a judge in the contest. george, good morning, good to see you. >> good morning. >> are you guys scared? >> they're going to put us out of business soon. >> these were stunning images.

first-place winner called "butterfly" was taken by a brooklyn traveler in a pretty remote section of afghanistan. >> very remote, and in a turkish village, too. and not only that, but within a tent of a woman and her daughter. and so, it's a very intimate shot. it's gorgeous. >> a sewing machine there. >> yeah, it's a sewing machine, but there's also a stereo and a tv in the background. there's this fantastic textiles and rich reds, and it just is a beautifully composed and beautifully lit shot that is very intimate and poignant. >> intimate is a great way to describe that one. second place is "my balloon"? >> "my balloon" was shot in a mung village in vietnam, and -- >> it's black-and-white. >> it's black-and-white. it captures a kind of timelessness. it feels like a dream sequence, these suspended balloons. >> i love it. >> and children playing, as they do all around the world, and here it's just, it captures the joy that you discover when you travel. >> i think the one that we've all been staring at and keep wanting to look at again is the

surfing picture. >> i think -- >> this is the third-place -- >> no, it's one of the merit winners. >> this is one of the merit winners, okay. >> but i think maybe it's riding on the michael phelps wave. >> how did they capture this? how did they do this? >> well, it took a lot of planning. the photographer was under water. you could spend a year under water and not get this shot, so it's about timing -- >> you could also drown. >> yeah. >> but that's another issue. >> it's about planning and serendipity. it's about capturing that moment when it happens. the surfer is under water, is diving with his board, and it's just the rippling motion of the waves. very powerful. >> what was the viewers' choice? >> viewers' choice is a magnificent shot in norway. it's the aurora borealis over a cabin, and i think it's the viewers' choice, because who doesn't want to be there? it's exactly the sort of shot we love in "national geographic traveler" because it takes you there. >> is there a secret to capturing something that phenomenal? >> a shot like that, you need to time it, you have to have your exposure correct, you want to

think about composition, and you want to put a lot of intention into the shot. you do there have more opportunity and more time, but really, you have to compose it. and all these shots and the rest of the shots, which are on nationalgeographic.com, demonstrate just a remarkable talent. >> well, unfortunately, we couldn't get our entry in in time, but we'll show you it from london. >> this is next year's winner. >> oh, you could win a trip to the galapagos islands if you wanted! that's the number one prize here. >> can you imagine that? we'll be right back. >> thank you, george. [ birds chirping ] are you a fan of demoisier? uh, um... [ thinking ] demois-a-who? okay, you can't get by on just your looks forever. okay. [ thinking ] you just ordered a premium roast coffee and a savory sausage mcmuffin for only a dollar each off mcdonald's dollar menu at breakfast. so you know you're smart. he has a certain... je ne sais quoi, you know? [ speaking french ] yeah. oh, yeah. all the time. [ male announcer ] the simple joy of being smart.

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to relieve nasal congestion due to seasonal allergies. [ female announcer ] nosebleeds, infections of the nose and throat and slow wound healing may occur. do not use nasonex until your nose has healed from any sore, surgery or injury. eye problems, including glaucoma or cataracts may occur. have regular eye exams. nasonex can increase your risk of getting infections. avoid contact with infections like chicken pox or measles while using nasonex. side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat and coughing. [ bee ] why suffer? ask your doctor about nasonex. >> this is wbal tv-11 newstoday in baltimore. >> i'm lisa robinson, it's 7:55. residents in canton are outraged over changes to parking in the neighborhood, concerned a new layout may endanger school children. reverse angle parking is the solution to alleviate the lack

of parking on win -- kenwood avenue in kenton. kraft says residents have a misconception as to how the layout will look. >> i think a lot of folks thought the angle parking would be in front of the school and in front of the church and the angle parking will not be installed in front of the school or church and in addition, we are going to be installing special parking hours alongside the church on o'donnell street between kenwood and lakewood at the request of the school. >> councilman kraft tells us he expects to have angle parking along the kenwood road within a week. he also plans to add more reverse angle parking throughout southeast baltimore within the next year. vandals have struck one of baltimore county's newest speed cameras. we are told that the camera was

put back in service hours after the vandalism was noticed. the camera is one of five new cameras put online by the county. baltimore city police need help to identify a scam artist they say is taking advantage of the elderly. a female is calling victims, imperson impersonating a city tax official and informing them a person will come to collect outstanding taxes. anyone with information should contact the special investigation section, check and fraud unit, 410-396-2400.

>> good morning, we are getting sun into the picture as this weather disturbance with the cold front moves to the east slowly but surely, reducing rain chances west of the bay today. the font does stall just to our east so the rain chances hang around a little bit south and east of us. today, on the cooler side of that front so we only expect mid 80's for highs around here with 70's off to the west of us. a little muggier down to the south and east with more clouds and maybe that rain chance this afternoon but around the area, partly cloudy skies with an afternoon or evening shower to the east of us, 78 to the 83, the high temperature, for boaters in the bay today, in the morning, small craft advisories, winds dying down in the afternoon. >> thank you for joining us.

welcome back to "today" on a saturday morning, the 18th day of august 2012. nice crowd on the plaza, in a little, actually, a lot of bit of rain. that's why we're still in here. as they wave to their friends and family back home, our thanks to them for spending part of their saturday with us. if you're in the neighborhood, stop on by and say hello. i'm lester holt with tamron hall. coming up, the search for a california woman who's been missing for a week. >> rebecca weiss's husband says she vanished during a snorkeling trip, but her mother says he's been acting strangely. we'll have the latest on the case. plus, what would you do if you saw fiery wreckage on the side of the road? most of us like to think we would do what these folks did. they pitched out as a team to try to get the fire out and save two women trapped in the wreckage after their car crashed in mississippi. we're going to hear from some of

the good samaritans coming up. >> they are that, for sure. and it's common to see actors get injured during dancing, but hope solo says she was hurt and it was no accident. her surprising allegations, coming up. a lot of people talking about this. then, can you imagine surviving this? an x-ray we'll show you of a three-foot spear that went through a teenager's head. it happened during a fishing trip. he joins us in an exclusive interview to tell us what it was like and how he's doing now. but we begin this half hour with battleground florida. vice presidential candidate paul ryan will talk about his plans for medicare this morning. he's in florida at the world's largest retirement community. nbc's ron mott is there as well. ron, good morning. >> reporter: hey, lester, good morning to you. in the weeks since he first stepped out on to the national stage, paul ryan's vision on how to transform medicare has taken center stage in this campaign, and he says he is ready for the fight.

paul ryan's whirlwind week through election battleground continues in florida with a speech about the future of medicare as he sees it. >> we want this debate, we need this debate and we're going to win this debate on medicare. >> reporter: it's ryan's first foray into the sunshine state since mitt romney tapped him as running mate. romney, pictured here alone earlier in the week while ryan was in iowa, fueling attacks by democrats that the wisconsin congressman was avoiding the medicare issue in the country's retirement destination. not so say republican campaign strattists. >> paul ryan has spent most of this week talking about medicare. he's going to spend most of the next ten weeks talking about medicare. it's going to be really important for them not to back down on that fight. >> reporter: meantime, the obama campaign kept up its side of the fight in a new ad. >> and the ryan plan? aarp says it would "undermine" medicare and could lead to higher costs for seniors. >> reporter: ryan criss-crossed the country, eight states in

seven days, hammering obama about the economy much of the way. much of the talk has centered around medicare, a discussion democrats much prefer, says one political observer. >> so far, the polls have actually showed that ryan's helping romney's campaign. the big challenge, though, is the obama campaign is highlighting ryan's medicare plan and trying to tell seniors it would really hurt medicare. and can ryan survive that and can his poll numbers be maintained in the face of those attacks is the big question. >> reporter: and a big question democrats continue to ask is will mitt romney release more tax returns? in fact, yesterday the obama administration made an offer in writing to the romney campaign, saying if mitt romney released five years worth of tax returns that the obama campaign would in turn stop criticizing him for not releasing any more than that, and in the meantime, quietly paul ryan last night released his past two tax returns, lester. >> all right. ron mott, thanks. time now for a check of the morning's other top stories. cnbc's courtney reagan inside the news desk for us.

hi, courtney. >> hi, good morning, tamron. good morning, everyone. an outbreak of salmonella that sickened 150 people nationwide is linked too cantaloupe grown in southwestern indiana. health officials say consumers should get rid of infected melons purchased since july 7th. a third of the illnesses were reported in kentucky, where two people have died. well, storms again cut short planned aerial spraying for mosquitos in texas friday night. officials there are trying to stop a west nile virus epidemic. more from nbc's michelle franzen. >> reporter: for the first time in 45 years, dallas-area officials are spraying aerial pesticide to kill off mosquitos carrying the west nile virus. >> it is not a risk to you, an unreasonable risk to you or your family. >> reporter: health officials say the virus is blamed for killing ten people in the dallas-ft. worth area and infecting others including teen jordan connor. >> we were babysitting the dog and five mosquitos bit me on my leg. >> reporter: the centers for

disease control say the epidemic is spreading with nearly 700 cases of illnesses reported across the u.s. the most recent death a woman in michigan. experts say hot, dry conditions have turned standing water stagnant, ideal conditions for mosquitos to thrive. health officials are hoping that by launching their own aerial assault, they can quell the outbreak. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. an nfl preseason game between the oakland raiders and the arizona cardinals turned ugly friday night in the parking lot. a fan was shot during a fight. he's reported to be in stable condition after originally being taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. no one else was hurt and police have arrested the suspected shooter. the cardinals won the game 31-17. the united nations spokesperson said today the last u.n. observers in syria have started to leave the country. their mission officially ends at midnight on sunday. they acknowledge the international efforts to end the fighting between the syrian

government and rebels has failed. witnesses say a man in a kayak pulled in a big shark about 200 yards off the new jersey beach this week. the man apparently kayaks with a bucket of chums and usually catches smaller brown sharks, but the marine mammal center says this was a 6-foot sand tiger shark. after taking some pictures, the shark was released back into the ocean. sand tiger sharks usually don't threaten humans. and for $20, a utah woman got much more than a camera to add to her collection. paisley weston bought a vintage camera with accessorieaccessori including undeveloped rolls of film. now that she has the pictures of family events, she's trying to find the rightful owners. ised to love getting the rolls of film back. can you imagine how happy that family's going to be? >> interesting. you think over the years you've lost the rolls of film because you don't use it anymore with the digital camera. now you worry about your disc. >> i'm worried about some that might be found at some point. >> well, what's going on in your life, sir?

the 20s. >> i'm kidding. it's all good. >> it's going to go viral when i find them. ha ha! courtney, thank you. bill karins is on the plaza with a check of the forecast. bill, i hope you don't have any pictures we should be worried about hitting the internet. no, i hope not, either. and you have some 'splaining to do. they look warm and dry inside, don't they? i'm trying to cover up people that don't have umbrellas and if we had you out here, we could cover them a little more. but these hardy folks are in buffalo, so they don't mind. heading to the yankee game later today, where it will be dry. that's the good news for us on the plaza getting wet this morning. we have some beneficial rain to talk about out there. we had the horrible drought, of course. this is the drought monitor from last thursday morning, updated once a week. you notice the dark red is where the drought is the worse, kansas, missouri, through parts of arkansas, but guess what? we've been getting rain in this area over the last week or two with the cold fronts and now we're getting drenched. this is the run out in the streets and how fabulous is the heavy rain right now? little rock, texarkana, over the

heart of the drought in arkansas, probably picking up an inch or two of rain this morning. we could get more rain in oklahoma later today. so with the cooler air, it becomes a collision with the humid air in the south and that's why we're getting storms throughout the deep south as we go through the weekend. so, we have some beautiful weather and we also have beautiful weather in terms of beneficial rain. >> good morning, our tower cam shows haze in the atmosphere. clouds and rain are moving east and the forecast today, partly cloudy day with a lot more sunshine and cooler temperatures. we will have highs in the low to mid 80's. it's so sad. it's almost like cassidy and graci are crying out here, but they're very happy anyway.

tamron, hope to see you out here soon. back to you. >> all right, bill, thank you. it's been a week since a california woman went diving with a snorkel and disappeared. rebecca weiss's family is frantic to find her and want to know why her husband is not doing more to find her. nbc's diana alviar has more from los angeles. >> this is horrible. she's my only daughter. >> reporter: velma causey is desperate to find her daughter. she's been watching search teams comb the waters rebecca weiss was reportedly free diving last saturday, using just a wet suit and a snorkel. the last day her husband says he saw her. alan weiss told investigators his wife of 18 years left their condo wearing her wet suit. when she did not come home, he went to the cove they often free dive together. he didn't find rebecca, only her diving bag and car. that's when alan reported her missing. homicide detectives are reviewing surveillance video from businesses in the area

where alan said he thinks his wife was headed. they tell nbc news he's cooperating with their investigation and not considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance. however, rebecca's family says they're having a hard time believing her husband's story and that she knew better than to free dive alone. >> my sister is a strong swimmer, and she was wearing a wet suit, you know, according to my brother-in-law. so, it would have to be something out of the extraordinary for something to happen to her out there. >> there has to be somebody who must have seen it. this is not an isolated place. this is a resort. there should have been people. >> reporter: and she's determined to find them. together with the los angeles county sheriff's department, she will hand out flyers this weekend. she believes rebecca is alive and wants her home. for "today," diana alviar, nbc news, los angeles. once again, here's lester.

>> tamron, thanks. a violent accident on a mississippi highway turned into a moment of humanity as dozens of drivers put their own lives on the line to pull two women from a fiery wreckage. an "associated press" photographer was able to capture the dramatic moments after wrapping up his role as secure. we get details from nbc's mark potter. >> back up some! >> reporter: moments after an suv careened out of control, struck a tree and caught fire in a highway median strip, 15 to 20 fellow motorists stopped their cars and rushed to help. giovanni demonte suffered a severe head injury. her sister, disabled, was strapped in the back seat. when this petty officer arrived on the scene, she found them both in extreme danger. >> i started yelling for fire extinguishers, because that's when i realized the entire front of the suv was engulfed in flames. >> reporter: "associated press" photographer gerald herbert arrived shortly afterwards and saw the driver trapped behind

the wheel begging for help. >> that was one of the most horrible feelings in my life, to run up there and see her pinned and to hear her screams as those flames were getting bigger, her screams for help. >> reporter: herbert and others flagged down other cars and trucks looking for fire extinguishers and water bottles. as the rescuers worked feverishly to save the driver from the flames, unexpected relief finally arrived. a big cement truck with a hose and lots of water. >> i backed into the ditch, turned my water on and sprayed it with the hose and they got it out good enough where we could get the two women out. >> the cement mixer was critical because he was the first one to get water on her to keep the flames off of her, and that was her guardian angel. >> reporter: when firefighters arrived, the driver was finally extracted and flown to a hospital. her family most grateful for all of her rescuers. >> when i saw all these people, i'm like, it was amazing. and only god's hands could have

did that. >> it makes me feel really good to know that there are motorists traveling the roadways in mississippi that would stop and this would not have happened, families would be grieving today. >> reporter: pictures and video of the incident were taken by the "ap" photographer who waited for the rescuers before taking out his cameras to record the heroics of strangers. for "today," mark potter, nbc news, miami. >> love the way people saw this and they started problem-solving together and came together as a team. >> and your point that we would all like to believe that that's what we would do. >> sure. >> you know, run in, help out. great story. >> glad they were all there. still to come, "vogue" gone viral. this 20-year-old bar mitzvah video is now a sudden hit on youtube. we're going to catch up with the star. but next, is the duchess of cambridge playing cupid for prince harry? right after these messages. it's time to live... wider awake.

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now the woman who found love with a prince may be playing cupid for his brother. nbc's duncan golestani is live. good morning, duncan. >> reporter: good morning, tamron. prince harry is 27 and he's spoken openly of wanting to meet the right woman. what's reassuring for the rest of us, apparently even he needs help getting a date. so, you can be an apache helicopter pilot, you can be a prince, you can even outrun usain bolt, kind of, but despite all that, he's still stuck in the lonely heart club. >> i'm recently single, too, so call me. >> reporter: coming to harry's resc rescue, kate, his duchess in shining armor, if you believe magazine reports. apparently, she's going to help her brother-in-law find love. and she's enlisted some other windsor women to help -- harry's cousin princess beatrice and

zara phillips. >> i was thinking he's a good bachelor candidate. >> reporter: perhaps she played cupid as his date in the closing ceremonies of the olympics last week, or maybe it was when harry was third wheel at the cycling, at the equestrian event, in fact, all through the games. >> he's always been with them, he's living right next door to them at kensington palace. you know, it's almost like you, me and harry instead of you, me and dupree. >> reporter: but why is harry finding it so tough to land a date? has he heard about the harry hunters, the young women who come to london determined to track down their prey, i men prince. harry's even had offers from miss bahamas, who said she wanted to marry him. >> well, prince harry is careful about the girls he goes out with, because the last thing he wants is them rushing to the papers with a kiss-and-tell story. >> reporter: of course, harry had that someone special once. he dated chelsy davy on and off for six years, but recently, it's been 0 for 1.

now, harry is ready to get serious again. earlier this year, he told an interviewer he wants to have kids, but he's just waiting to find the right person. >> i like my privacy, but i think i could handle it. so, prince harry, i'm interested. >> reporter: fun crowd at buckingham palace this morning. you know, it's actually not the first time a royal wife has come to the help of her brother-in-law. princess diana helped fix up prince andrew with fergie, the duchess of york, but we know that one didn't end quite so well. tamron. >> all right, duncan golestani, thank you. and still ahead, a look at whitney houston's final movie, "sparkle." but first, this is "today" on nbc.

still to come on "today," hope solo makes some surprising allegatio allegations about her time on "dancing with the stars." we'll have details. plus, take a look at this

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priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. >> this is wbal tv-11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning, everyone. i'm lisa robinson. it's 8:25. here's a look at the top stories. the aclu is requesting anne county police hand over documents that will show county executive john leopold ordered officers to illegally access a local criminal history database. the group believes it has

information the embattled republican was snooping around for information on his personal and political enemies. the civil liberties group says at least 16 people were targeted. the request follows a response from another request earlier this year that shows criminal searches were made on many of the same individuals. >> they're engaged in this essentially cover-up, forcing us to keep on expanding the number of people we represent and forcing us to try and guess who the victims of this were and it's wrong. >> anne arundel county police would not comment specifically on this request. leopold is awaiting trial on criminal misconduct charges. we know the identity of the remains discovered in the woods in pasadena earlier this month. anne arundel county police say the victim has been identified as 20-year-old jessica lynn lee. lee's body was found in a wooded area off the highway earlier this month. investigators say he went missing from her home in

brooklyn park in may. a man in towson was arrested after police say he robbed a bank. sky team 11 was over the scene after 11:00 a.m. at the giant along york road in towson. police say he handed the teller a note and demanded cash. police have not released the identity of the suspect or how much money was taken. back in a moment with a

>> good morning, cold front moving to the east of us taking the clouds and rain with it. the front will be stalling just

to our east and south. so somebody later today could see something well up along the front but i don't think chances around the baltimore metropolitan area are very high for that. our basic forecast today, then, skies becoming partly cloudy. working on that right now. a shower east of us this afternoon, this evening, not out of the question. 78 to 83, the high so temperatures will be cooler, more comfortable. north winds at 10 to 15 miles an hour. for ocean city, they'll be closer to that front so there's still a lingering thundershower chance this afternoon and this evening. otherwise, partly cloudy skies, around 80. mix of sun and clouds on sunday, rain chances minimal. so part of the weekend will be fine along the boardwalk of the then rain chances going up sunday night and monday at ocean city. basically, the seven-day forecast, cooler temperatures, low to mid 80's for highs, rain chances, low saturday and sunday but high monday. >> thanks, john. thank you for joining us.

we are back on this saturday morning, august 18th, 2012. it's been a wet start today, but some gray skies, i understand, are expected to clear up, especially here in new york city. i feel like a celebrity are you holding the umbrella for us. we've got a great crowd. thank you so much for coming in, being wet with us on this day. >> you know i'm not going to do this after the show? you're on your own. >> oh, man. all right, let me enjoy my celebrity while i have it. meanwhile, we are talking in the next half hour about a story of survival. absolutely incredible. three months ago, this teenager was shot through the head by a 3-foot spear while fishing. he didn't know if he would make it. well, now he's recovering and speaking out about this

accident. we'll talk to him and his mom. >> this is unbelievable. looking forward to that. soccer star hope solo has a reputation. i think it's fair to say she's been outspoken at times, and she's at it again, talking about her partner on "dancing with the stars." she says the pro dancer manhandled her during rehearsals. we'll find out how he's responding to the allegations. also, "sparkle" is in theaters right now. it was supposed to mark a comeback for whitney houston, but now it's her silver screen good-bye. we'll hear what jordin sparks and some of her fans are saying about the performance. i understand some people were in the screening and left crying, so moved by her final performance. >> looking forward to seeing that. talking about your past coming back to haunt you. 20 years ago, scott sperling struck a pose to "vogue" at his bar mitzvah. now it's online, recently posted. we'll see if he still has the moves, coming up. >> i think people will be

surprised by the transformation. >> check out the shirt on the back. >> if you hold the umbrella properly, i'll get you that shirt for your birthday. >> let's not and say we did. anyway, that's coming up. first, bill karins is going to strike a move with the weather. we'd love this rain to go away, but so many people have been telling me from around the country, they're enjoying it. what's your man, young man? >> jean paul. >> and how old is jean paul? >> 15 months. >> you're a big boy! you like that microphone. do you want it? all right. let's talk about your weekend forecast. for jean paul and everyone else that's getting rain in new england and the mid-atlantic, it's going to be exiting throughout the day and will turn out to be a pretty nice saturday afternoon, and especially sunday, throughout much of the mid-atlantic and new england. the great weather continues throughout the middle of the country right through your sunday. really, the worst of it as we go throughout saturday and sunday, we could have tropical downpours at any portion of the day from texas to louisiana, alabama, mississippi and even areas of florida. of course, we do need the wet weather in many spots of the country, but you don't really want it to wash out your weekend plans, anyways.

unfortunately for the fires out west, no rain in sight, and we're talking most of the rest of the month it looks like we're going to be dealing with the fires in vwi how nice it is to turn 13, at least for you. we're not so sure about mom, but happy birthday to you. let's send it back inside to tamron. >> bill, thanks. a florida teenager is lucky to be alive today. he was recently on a spear fishing trip with a friend when he was shot through the head by a 3-foot spear. we'll speak with him exclusively

in just a moment, but first, the latest from nbc's kerry sanders. >> here, over there, leads to the rock where i was fishing. >> reporter: 16-year-old yasser lopez visits the lake where he nearly lost his life. >> i was almost dead in this water. for a simple fishing trip. >> reporter: he was spear fishing with a friend using a 3-foot, gas-powered speargun, when somehow, the gun went off, striking lopez in the head. his friend called 911. >> the speargun just went through my friend's head. we're on a lake, a lake. please come. >> reporter: lopez was rushed to the hospital, the spear through the skull. >> it went front to back. that's mighty unusual. i've never seen that, exactly that combination. >> reporter: doctors say a series of miracles helped lopez survive. the spear missed important blood vessels and vital structures of the brain.

in a delicate surgery that lasted more than four hours, they were able to remove the spear from the teenager's head. >> okay, grab the bar. >> reporter: now, lopez faces months of therapy. the accident left him with partial paralysis on the left side of his body. >> right there, like that. >> reporter: and memories of what happened are now slowly starting to come back. >> i remember being in the ambulance when they picked me up. i was telling them, take the spear out, feel it inside the head, so i wanted them to take it out. >> reporter: doctors say if he had pulled the spear out, he would have died, but that didn't happen, thanks to the kindness of a stranger. >> right here. half of his body was in the water. >> reporter: astrid cardoza was near the lake that day. she heard yelling and ran over to help, telling lopez not to pull on the spear. >> i just hold his hand and i said, you can. and he told me, please, don't let me die. and i says, you're not going to die. >> reporter: lopez and his family were overcome with emotion during a reunion with

cardoza at the accident scene. >> oh, my god, he looks terrific! >> reporter: lopez knows the road to recovery is going to be tough, but he's not giving up. he says he may even go fishing again some day. >> if i do ever spear fish again, very safely and with a grown-up near me. >> reporter: for "today," kerry sanders, nbc news, miami. >> yasser lopez and his mother are here for an exclusive interview. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> you're making progress and you're feeling good? >> mm-hmm. >> i understand from kerry's piece, slowly the memories are coming back from what happened that day? what do you remember? >> i remember holding a fish that my friend had caught, then following it to the water, then just seeing the spear in my head. >> you could see it in your head. >> yeah, i could see it. i could see it. >> that spear through your head.

did you realize what had happened? >> no. >> you get the phone call from your husband that your only son, your only child was in this terrible accident. >> we got to the hospital. there we found yasser with the speargun in his head. oh, my god, i am so -- >> how did you keep standing? i can't imagine you didn't collapse. >> i thought my son is going to die, mm-hmm. >> and doctors told you to still talk to him, even though he was unconscious. >> yeah. the doctor said you can tell something, he can hear you. i said to him here, yasser, mama and daddy are here, everything is going to be okay. that said, we are very frustrated with that. >> when you look at him now and he's making progress with physical therapy, he's smiling, you probably didn't think you would get to this point. you thought you would lose him.

>> it's incredible. >> it's incredible. >> it's incredible, yeah. >> yasser, do you feel like you're a miracle walking? >> yes. >> and i imagine around the neighborhood, everyone wants to talk with you about how you survived this. you're one tough man, young man. do you feel that way? >> mm-hmm. >> we're very happy to see you, and i know you're going to get better every day. thank you. up next, surprising allegations by hope solo about what happened behind the scenes at "dancing with the stars." but first, these messages. [ snoring ] ♪ [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] introducing zzzquil sleep-aid. [ snoring ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] because sleep is a beautiful thing. [ birds chirping ] introducing zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil. ♪

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soccer superstar hope solo is fresh from winning olympic gold in london, but people are now buzzing about her performance off the soccer field, which she writes about in her new book.

nbc's michelle franzen has the story. >> reporter: u.s. olympian hope solo, who won gold with her teammates in london, is now making the rounds promoting a new memoir and defending her allegations "dancing with the stars" partner maksim chmerkovskiy was too rough during rehearsals. >> when you write a book like this, you're not free to just, you know, throw words out that aren't true, you know. you don't think people fact-check the book and there's attorneys involved. at the end of the day, i rewrot this book and everybody knows that i speak the truth. >> reporter: in her book, "solo: a memoir of hope," she writes maks "manhandled me from the start, pushing me, what canning my stomach, bending my arms roughly." she says at first she thought that was usual but says it got worse, writing he "wanted my head in a specific position. to achieve that, he slapped me

across the face hard." 's abc's "dancing with the stars" has not commented and maks didn't mention solo but said "always hated hypocrites and liars, but when someone is both and an opportunist, i just feel bad for them. can't win at someone's expense." later he wrote "i'm bullet-proof, fire away." >> i'm the bad girl and he's the bad boy of the ballroom. >> reporter: during the 2011 season, the pair sparred playfully for the cameras. >> there is going to be no fighting. >> no fighting. >> i enjoy fighting with you. >> reporter: behind the scenes during a group rehearsal, cameras captured this intense interaction. >> can you stop? >> reporter: whether it was all for show or crossed the line is now playing out offstage. for "today," michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. now here's tamron. >> lester, thank you. it's been more than six

months since whitney houston died, but after years in the works, her last movie is hitting the box office this weekend. here's nbc gabe gutierrez. ♪ i hope reporter: she was best known for that voice. ♪ and i will always love you >> reporter: but thanks to movies like "the bodyguard," whitney houston was also an actress. >> only if you want to. >> reporter: when she died in february, drowned in a hotel bathtub, houston had just wrapped up shooting her last movie. >> it's going to be a spectacular film, and i really hope that everybody really enjoys it. >> reporter: in "sparkle," a remake of the '70s musical, she plays washed-up singer emma williams, a mother of three girls who dream of making it big in motown. >> sparkle, you can have a gift. it's how you use it. >> reporter: at times, art imitates life. houston's character even warns her daughters not to end up like

her. >> it will strike a chord with whitney houston's fans and with the world because we are all going through something. ♪ >> reporter: "american idol" winner jordin sparks plays one of those daughters. she told "today" what it was like working with her idol. >> you know, her legacy and my story are forever in this intertwined, and if i think of that too much, i get kind of overwhelmed. it's like, i can't believe this is happening, you know? >> reporter: this is houston's first silver screen appearance in 15 years, and after months of anticipation, the film is opening this weekend to many positive reviews. >> it was amazing, it was emotional seeing whitney. i had to prevent myself from tearing up a little bit. >> i thought jordin sparks was great. >> the movie was so amazing. to actually see her again doing what she does best, being fabulous, was excellent. >> legacy's intact, as is even without the movie. >> reporter: houston's former sister-in-law expects this movie will further solidify the pop

icon's place in history, but for houston's biggest fans, she says it will be an emotional experience. >> it's going to be very tough. it's been about six months, and now at this point, i can just start to hear her music again. ♪ >> reporter: a voice that touched so many, leaving behind memories that still "sparkle." for "today," gabe gutierrez, nbc news, atlanta. all right, up next, a viral video 20 years in the making. we talk to the star about why this dance is still in vogue, dare i say, but first, this is "today" on nbc.

♪ ♪ vogue all the things we did 20 years ago. as much as we may try to forget them, the past can catch up with you, especially when it's caught on videotape. that's what happened to chicago lawyer shawn sperling. his bar mitzvah video from 1992

has gone viral with nearly 700,000 hits. and here's why. check out his performance of madonna's hit "vogue." ♪ vogue, vogue, let your body move to the music, hey, hey, hey ♪ ♪ come on, vogue, let your body go with the flow, you know you can do it ♪ >> shawn sperling, two things, good morning and, dude, why would you repost that? >> well, you know, i think it was just time for me, now that i'm becoming more established in my career as an attorney, i've been doing some creative work and thinking about madonna and my lifelong love of her. and so, i dug the video out and posted it on youtube. >> i love it. >> okay, quick back story on this. your mom signed off on this? >> yeah, believe it or not. i mean, they were so incredibly supportive. and you know, that's like the message of the video, is i had this support system of my family

and my friends to just be the person who i was. >> and so, tell us about the madonna obsession. >> yeah. >> when you went to your folks and said this is what i want to do at my bar mitzvah. >> i was thinking about this for a while and was fantasizing about it and didn't dare ask. then i casually mentioned it and my mom said, yeah. >> and she made the shirt? >> the morning of the bar mitzvah. >> your mother made the shirt? >> well, she had it made and surprised me, so that was the big reveal. >> where is the shirt now, dare i ask? >> who knows? we're hoping it's -- >> lester's closet? >> yeah, right. >> what's your reaction been to this? you posted it. you didn't expect this many hits on it. >> no. it's been so incredibly positive, and i think people are just really having a ton of fun with it. it's bringing tons of joy. and also, i think people are touched by it, about people being themselves, and it's so timely to have that message of love your kids, love your family. >> yes, yes. >> and be yourself. >> should we find out if he still has it?

>> yeah. why don't you touch us in person? not literally. over there, bust a move. >> okay. am i going to get music? >> yeah, good idea. >> okay. ♪ ♪ vogue, vogue, let your body groove to the music, hey, hey, hey ♪ ♪ come on, vogue, let your body go with the flow ♪ ♪ you know you can do it ♪ >> this is my favorite part. >> bring it on! take it all home. okay, are you ready? >> no. >> come on, come on! >> here we go. >> you just have to sort of go like this. just do any move. then you go to the other side. >> lester! >> yeah, and then maybe just do this. >> do this, lester. here we go. >> boom, boom. >> come on, lester.

>> you grab a little -- >> that's it. >> come on, lester, grab your leg! okay, i can't bend. okay, that would have been the worst bar mitzvah ever. >> that's a lot of fun, though, a lot of fun. >> thanks. >> thanks so much for coming on. >> you're a great sport! >> thank you. >> and good luck with your new career, an attorney. >> thank you very much. >> and we're going to bust a move. come on, lester. after these messages. ♪ the capital one cash rewards card >> my favorite part, onus. and everyone likes 50% more [ russian accent ] rubles. eh, eheh, eh, eh. [ brooklyn accent ] 50% more simoleons. [ western accent ] 50% more sawbucks. ♪ [ maine accent ] 50% more clams. it's a lobster, either way. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. with a 50% annual cash bonus, it's the card for people who like more cash. [ italian accent ] 50% more dough! what's in your wallet? helps you earn cash

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♪ ♪ saturday, saturday, saturday i really thought we'd put the dancing to bed for the show, but this morning in "today's summer saturdays," it's a dance-off. we had actually outdoor plans, but it's raining, so the thought was let's do something inside. a good opportunity to play some video games for our summer saturday? >> good idea. >> anybody want to be the lead dancer? >> yeah. >> saturday morning dance fever. >> it's "just dance," popular video game. kids love it. >> you know, they have sports and other video games.

>> but here's the thing, they selected this because we can play it together. it's called family fun. >> that is a sport. >> you walk over to the monitor, apparently. i don't know how i'm the signer, but we're dancing to katy perry. courtney, i think you're on that side. >> there you go. >> so, bill, and the point -- how do you know if you win? okay, here we go. it started. >> what do we do? >> with the green hand, follow the green hand. >> i'm going to pull my hair out now, what she's doing. ♪ >> really? this is what it's come to? >> come on, courtney! >> i keep getting them perfect. i don't know about you guys. >> i'm doing good. i'm not getting anything. >> wrong way, bill karins. >> boom, shakalaca. time to say good-bye yet? >> yeah. >> this is the longest dance segment ever. >> ten minutes of this. ♪ >> oh, yeah, there we go. >> bust it out. >> wait, green hands.

>> oh, my gosh. >> that's the easy one. >> our families are watching this. >> they turned it off already. >> we've got 30 seconds to do this? >> are they going to tell us who wins or who made the biggest fool of himself? >> i got it good, okay! ♪ >> are we supposed to shoot something in this game? >> where are our scores? i'm not working out. >> all right. thankfully, that's it for us on a saturday. courtney reagan, bill karins, thanks. >> we did that without a winner?

>> this is wbal tv-11 news today in baltimore. >> i'm lisa robinson. >> and i'm jennifer franciotti. baltimore county place are investigating a deadly hit-and-run. police say around 11:00 last night, a person was killed after being hit by a vehicle in essex. there's no word on the description of the vehicle. in towson, a man was arrested after police say he robbed a bank. the scene at 11:00 friday morning at the giant along york road in towson. police say the man went into the store, handed the teller a note and demanded money. hall-of-famer and former oriole, eddie murray, has been accused of insider trading and will hand

over more than $350,000 to the government. the securities commission and exchange commission allegation made approximately $235,000 in illegal profit by acting on insider information on trades with advanced medical optics stock. murray has agreed to pay the charges but not admitting or denying allegations. >> 71 degrees on tv hill. here's a look at what's coming up next. >> a possible change in parking in a section of baltimore city. the the area affected. time is running out to take advantage of tax-free shopping in maryland. we will show you what's new this year. >> and today, we will call it warm but not hot. it's a nice compromise. coming up with the insta-weather coming up with the insta-weather plus we need to look for a new van. yeah. i just don't know where to start.

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>> you're watching wbal tv-11. live, local, late breaking. this is 11 news saturday morning. >> good morning and welcome to 11 news saturday morning, i'm jennifer franciotti. >> i'm lisa robinson. let's take a look outside with john collins. >> getting better. when we came in this morning, there were showers in the area. they've been pushed aside and are well off shore and temperatures responding nicely to sun breaking through the clouds. 72 is the reading at b.w.i.