good morning. digging in. republican senate candidate todd akin releases a new ad this morning. does this mean he will not meet an afternoon deadline to lead the race. >> the mistake i made was in the words i said, not in the heart i hold. i ask for your forgiveness. >> but can he go on without the money or support of his own party. happy to be alive. that's how rosie o'donnell said she's feeling after suffering the kind of heart attack that's often deadly. this morning what she said she did right and wrong. rough seas. 62-year-old diana nyad facing a setback on her fourth attempt at a record swim from cuba to florida. overnight yet another strong storm. we're live in the florida keys today tuesday, august 21st,

we're live in the florida keys today tuesday, august 21st, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> good morning. welcome to "today" on tuesday morning. i'm savannah guthrie. >> i'm matt lauer. congressman akin lost support. if he withdraws the gop would choose the replacement. >> it would make it easier for missouri republicans. but there's no sign of that in this new ad he apologizes for using the wrong words in the wrong way when he said the female body has ways of taking care of things with a legitimate

rape. >> also a high school valedictorian denied her diploma for a single word she used in her graduation speech. it's a four-letter word but perhaps one that might surprise you. the school wants a written apology, the 18-year-old is refusing. this is one of the topics we'll discuss with today's professionals. also ahead. sounds like something out of science fiction. cars that can talk to each other to prevent crashes. it's being tested right now. we're going to take you for a ride and show you how it works. >> begin with the call for congressman todd akin to abandon his race after his comments about rape. kelly o'donnell, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. there's new developments today as the pressure around congressman todd akin has been swift and crushing from national republicans. he's turning his defiance into a tv ad to tell missouri voters

he's asking for forgiveness. he used the wrong word but has compassion for rape victims. it's an effort in the final hours here to try to save his candidacy telling voters he is not a quitter. the political implosion for republican senate candidate todd akin began on a sunday local tv show when he made the stunning and false claim that women's bodies can reject pregnancy after what he called legitimate rape. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> reporter: by monday night akin was mocked on cable. >> looking at an olympic chair, nice olympic chair. >> reporter: a no show with cnn interview with piers morgan. >> if you don't keep your promise to be on the show you are what we call in britain a gutless twerp. >> reporter: they call akin a threat to their goal of winning the senate and taking the white

house. >> his comments about rape were deeply offensive. i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. >> reporter: political analysts say mitt romney had to step up his criticism. >> i think the romney campaign is very worried about this. so you saw a very quick response condemning akin's statements. that wasn't an accident. they need women voters and they know it >> reporter: the six-term congressman and strong opponent of abortion rights scrambled to say he was misinformed about the medical facts and to apologize, first in a radio interview with conservative mike huckabee. >> i made that statement in error. let me be clear. rape is never legitimate. it's an evil act. it's committed by violent predators. >> reporter: minutes later president obama made a surprise stop in the briefing room. >> the views expressed were offensive. rape is rape. >> reporter: republican leaders circled the wagons pulling $5

million in tv ads planned for akin's missouri race but he dug in. >> my belief is we're doing to take this thing forward and by the grace of god we're going to win this race. >> reporter: the rnc chairman is among those urging akin to step aside. >> the thing he should consider is what's in the best interest of the things he believes most deeply, what will help the country at this critical time. >> reporter: this has all been moving quickly. just in the last couple of weeks akin was favored to be the next u.s. senator from missouri. now he's in this kind of trouble, resistant to give up his seat. he has until the end of the day for the easiest path to end this race and the party will step in. it will be a tougher go if it goeson beyond today. >> michael steele is the former chairman of the republican national committee. michael, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> you have the republican

establishment with drawing its support of akin. you have outside groups like karl rove's group with drawing support and virtually every major republican condemning akin. can he really stay in this race? >> yeah, he can. absolutely. the reality of it is, he's banking on the fact he was duly elected by republican voters in a primary. he used that word. he wants to use that as an anchor to go forward. now, the question is what kind of support is he getting on the ground. yes, we focus on the big reason that's coming from karl rove or national senatorial committee but he's a grassroots guy. he's anchored in the community. he worked his way through a tough primary, came out on top and is going to use that as a base of support. that's why you have the ads this morning. the question is does he start to lose that race, does it peel away from him. does this race become too intractable to pursue. i think it does. >> the other question is the

romney campaign. it was very quick to distance itself from these comments. how damaging is it to the campaign this is suddenly the topic of conversation, abortion, when the romney campaign has been working hard to woo women voters. >> it's not just the topic of abortion, the overall negative narrative between the gop and women. i think the romney campaign very smartly and adroitly got out of this thing -- more importantly got in front of it saying we don't support the guy, we don't support the message. a week before the national convtion, this is not what the gop wants to be talking about. they want to be talking about those moms out there still trying to balance budgets, hoping they or their spouse or family members gets the job they have been unemployed from for the last 18 months or so. so that's the reality that mitt romney and the r inform c is facing going into this next week of convention. they don't want this to be a topic. you don't want to be talking about wacky congressmen in the

sea of galilee nor crazy comments from congressman about rape, you want to be talking about the economy. >> yesterday we saw the president come out and do an impromptu press briefing, something he hasn't done with reporters in months. is there any doubt it was making the best of this opportunity. >> you bet. the president hasn't been seen for quite sometime in the press pool and he pops in. yes, this is taking advantage of the political opportunity that's been handed to the campaign. again, furthering the narrative about the distance between women and the gop and playing up those comments and being presidential. yeah, it was all political theater. >> former chairman michael steele. thank you. it's 7:08. here is matt. >> thank you. swimmer diana nyad making her fourth attempt to swim from cuba to flida. she's about halfway through but

there's word this morning she's facing a crisis and may not be able to go on. nbc's mark potter is in key west. mark, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. last night there were more thunderstorms offshore. we are now hearing from a leading crew member with diana nyad on the boat out at sea there's some sort of unspecified serious issue facing diana nyad. she described this as a time of crisis. she also mentioned a problem with jellyfish and said a decision is being made on what to do for this swim in which diana nyad has been facing numerous problems. the most serious problems facing diana nyad so far have occurred after sundown during the long hours at night in the florida straits where she's been making her fourth attempt to swim from cuba to key west. on one night of her adjourn y, she ran into a powerful lightning storm. it caused her to change course and her crew said cost valuable

travel time. if that wasn't bad enough, she also ran into swarms of jellyfish which rise to the ocean's surface at night and which stung her on her neck, lips, hands and forehead despite her wearing a new protective suit. a jellyfish expert wrote, "we responded with make treatments. she got some confidence back and reduced her pain. she went back out just soldiering on. later problems resulted from nyad's long hours in the water. she suffers now from swelling lips and has been shivering and trying to ward off hypothermia in the 85 degree lanolin with b food covering to reduce her body temperature. the report on the website says, "there will always be a point where a human body can't go any further. what no one knows is where that line is with diana nyad.

in previous interview she has talked about how important it is to her. >> i am not going to quit until i stand on the floor in florida. no more to say about it. i'm not a quitter. >> reporter: in key west supporters are amazed by her will to succeed. >> if anybody can do it, diana nyad can do it. she has strength of spirit. she's physically strong and in terrific shape. >> reporter: they are concerned about the problems she's facing at sea. >> there's so many things she can't control, the weather condition, jellyfish and sharks. the waves, the mechanical things that could go wrong. >> reporter: to protect her from sharks divers swim near her and keep a close eye out to. keep spirits high a group of family and friends pulled up close on monday to show their support. for a while she was even joined by scores of dolphins as she slowly made her way toward key west. nyad, who turns 63 years of age

tomorrow, was originally scheduled to arrive here early this morning. now there's serious questions about whether that swim can even continue. matt. >> mark potter on this story for us. mark, thank you very much. more from angie solenger who is a member of diana nyad's team. angie, can you hear me? >> yes, i can. >> we've been told there's a crisis in this swim right now. can you elaborate on that? >> well, we have her now under care. she experienced some jellyfish stings. so i can't elaborate too much because i'm not qualified. but i'm the person you've got to the phone. the whole team focuses on her of and she just needs to be checked out. she's tough and strong and hardheaded, which is what we love about her. we don't have anymore updates. we're checking her out to make

sure she's good to go. we had a pretty -- night. >> as they check her out, angie, is she on the move, continuing to swim right now or are you in a holding pattern? >> she's not on the move. she's in a holding pattern. she's not out swimming. the doctors do assessments, do visuals, talk to her and make sure she's clear to go. the challenges, we stop and float, we don't get off course. her health is the number one priority right now. beside from that, i wish i had more to report. >> let me ask you this. we talk about how tough and how determined she is. will she be the one to make the call, whether she continues or stops or would a member of her team in her own best interest make that call? >> no, that is her call unless there's some huge challenge. but that's always her call.

unless she's incoherent, that's her call. >> a member of diana nyad's team with her now as we await further word whether she'll complete the swim. thank you very much. now here is savannah. >> former secretary of state condoleezza rice is a trail blazer in the political world and now on the golf course. she's one of two women invited to become the first female member of augusta national in the clushb's history. janet shamlian, good morning to you. >> reporter: a move that's long overdue. women are being allowed into the man cave here at the home of the master's. the boys' club is taking one on the chin. augusta national, one of the last bastions of male exclusivity has changed course. after 80 years of no women allowed they have invited women

into the hallowed turf. >> it's a momentous day for the world of golf. it's like the berlin wall finally coming down in golf. >> reporter: in a club known for counting titans of american business among members, including ceo of comcast, the parent company of nbc universal, these two will fit right in. former secretary of state condoleezza rice and south carolina finance darla moore, the first to land on fortune magazine which called her the toughest babe in business. >> gender aside they fit the profile. they have respected in their field, a passion for golf, civic minded. >> reporter: augusta national may be business minded. the issue of admitting women flared up this year after one of its sponsors ibm made a woman chief executive. past men had been given

membership. even president obama weighed in saying he believed women should be admitted. >> they have come to realize this is the right thing to do and they are doing it. now they won't have to feel the burden of guilt that must have been there. >> reporter: perhaps no more. this fall rice and moore will receive that iconic green jacket reserved for augusta's members and a champion as women in the city of augusta told us it's about time. >> it's time women got into augusta. we're just as good as you guys. >> i feel the same way. i had a husband years ago that thought women were second class citizens. i'm sure he would roll over in his grave if he knew women could play at augusta. yea, yea, i think you did a wonderful thing. >> reporter: no word what prompted the move. the club keeps the closed door mystery of who gets in. many believe it was motivated by money. some of the sponsors were

increasingly concerned about no women allowed policy. savannah, back to you. >> janet shamlian, back to you. we're going to talk more about this with today's professionals later on. >> let's head to the news desk and get top stories of the morning for natalie standing by. good morning. >> good morning, everyone. an overpass attack in afghanistan has slightly damaged the plane of the join chiefs of stat. martin dempsey was visiting afghanistan at the time but was not near the plane during the attack at the bagram airfield. two workers sustained minor injuries. stunning new images of the wildfires out west. these pictures of the trinity fire in idaho showed the fierce blaze that forced thousands from their homes. the wildfires are visible from space as seen in this nasa image. some hope in california where firefighters say shifting winds have helped to divert the flames from home. meantime low water levels have left nearly 100 boats and barges stranded as an 11-mile stretch of the mississippi river has been closed.

the coast guard says they don't know when the river will reopen. a new question this morning after director tony scott jumped to his death off a lank bridge sunday. the coroner's office there has conducted an autopsy but said it has not determined whether or not he had any health problems before his apparent suicide. and according to the "los angeles times," scott's family was denying reports he was suffering from inoperable brain cancer. a legal setback for cycling champ lance away strong if a federal judges dismisses his bid to stop the u.s. anti-doping agency from investigating whether or not he used performance enhancing drugs. a previous bid was knocked down last month. armstrong has the option to file another revised complaint. they have charged armstrong with doping and if proven the charges could strip him of his tour de france title. let's jump inside the mind of the college freshman as the

list reveals the mind-set. for these, kurt cobain, jacqueline kennedy onaz have always been married. it's michael jackson's family, not jackie o's considered royalty. robert de niro is not vito corleone but jimmy conway's father. the twilight zone is more apt to conjure images of vampires. speaking of a year older, al roker. >> a year older. hey, beats the alternative. let's show you what's going on right now. we are talking about a lot of rain in florida. we've got flash flood watches and flash flood warnings out as we see rain along the stationary front. heavy rain anywhere from two to three inches of rain, central,

southern, northern florida. and we've got a tropical depression to worry about. tropical depression number nine. it's 750 miles east of the leeward islands moving west at 20. it becomes a storm. it becomes isaac. right now it makes its way into cuba sometime early sunday. by early monday could be threatening southern florida. guess what, the republican national convention will be taking place. >> good morning. we're starting out with dry conditions. we have a 20% chance for a shower this afternoon. >> that's your latest weather. matt. >> thank you very much.

coming up, rosie o'donnell opens up about suffering a heart attack last week. what she did that may have saved her life and what she wants other women to learn from her. but first this is "today" on nbc.

still ahead a high school valedictorian denied her diploma for using a four-letter word in her graduation speech. >> we'll talk about it with today's professional after your local news. can't join his friendsiles because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare. oh, thank you. but, with the capital one venture card... you can fly any airline, any flight, any time. double miles you can actually use. what's in your wallet? alec jr? it was a gift. [ male announcer ] sometimes, it's hard for james to make up his mind.

but corolla was an easy choice. over 80% of all corollas sold in the last 20 years are still on the road today. ♪ it's a choice well made. dang, son! [ male announcer ] another reason you can always count on corolla. from toyota. ♪ i get the power of claritin-d. sinus pressure? nothing works stronger or faster than claritin-d. get non-drowsy claritin-d at the pharmacy counter. live claritin clear. that keep you connected are sucking moisture from your eyes, causing irritation and dryness? [ thud ] really? [ male announcer ] revive your eyes with visine®. ahh. [ male announcer ] only visine® has hydroblend, a unique blend of 3 moisturizers that soothe, restore and protect eyes for up to 10 hours of comfort.

which means all day comfort... for my non-stop day! [ male announcer ] visine® with hydroblend, find it in these visine® products. yeah go hide. one, two... [ son ] come and find me! three! [ male announcer ] bite-sized chicken's grown up. new kfc bites. freshly hand-breaded in the colonel's original recipe. try 10 bites with an 8 piece meal for $19.99. today tastes so good. for $19.99. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you,

usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. we have been falling breaking news of a train derailment in ellicott city. two people reportedly killed in the accident. the freight train derailed just after midnight and 20 of those cars overturned, spilling corn. we know that the train was heading from cumberland, maryland to baltimore. the accident is still under investigation. let's get a check on the morning

commute. kim dacey and traffic pulse 11 have the very latest. >> bad situation on southbound 895. never crash blocking the left lane still. we are still at 21 miles per hour purging the harbor tunnel. in the city at perring parkway, crash reported there as well. closures related to the train derailment. take 40 west as a detour there. we will give you a live looked outside at the corner of the beltway. traffic is crawling from the outer loop down to edmondson ave. live view of 81 and 95 and childs street, you can see that the accident blocking the left lane. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> we are off to a quiet start. there is a little bit of cloud cover and some fog in some neighborhoods. 61 degrees at the airport.

temperatures in the upper 50s and at the northwest suburbs. take a light jacket if you are sensitive to cooler temperatures. we will take a 20% or 30% chance of a thunderstorm this afternoon. high temperatures between 80 and 85. seven-day forecast is pretty good. temperatures won't change all that much. 83 tomorrow. mid-80's by the middle portion

it may not seem like an awful lot of money. but as you can see it's enough to bring big smiles to stranger's faces. coming up we'll talk to the family who is fulfilling one man's final wish. one big tip at a time. it's even inspired other acts of generosity. it's a really nice story to send you off to work to -- work with on this tuesday morning. 7:30 now august 21st, 2012. i'm matt lauer alongside savannah guthrie. >> also today's professionals, the fallout rihanna brown

forgives chris brown and still loves him even though he assaulted her years ago. is it fair to criticizes the pop star. we'll talk about that and more with star, donny and nancy. >> there's been a lot of reaction so far. if you live in a swing state you probably know presidential campaign ads are flooding the airwaves. president obama defended his while criticizing mitt romney. how effective are these ads. how much of what you see could you and should you believe. we'll get into that coming up in a few minutes. >> a sneak peek at experimental technology that could save your life. cars that can talk to each other and warn you of an imminent crash. we'll begin with a health scare for rosie o'donnell. she recently suffered a heart attack. mara schiavocampo has more on this story. >> reporter: good morning. according to o'donnell this was a close call. in fact, a miracle she survived.

she had what was known as a widow maker, a clogged artery with the potential to cause a massive heart attack. though she's known for being funny. >> what am i clown for you? do i muse you? >> reporter: rosie o'donnell had a serious message for fans announcing for the first time she suffered a heart attack last week. in a post on her blog, o'donnell writes, "i am happy to be alive." she started to feel sick last tuesday after helping a woman in the car, i had an ache in my chest, both my arms were sore. i became nauseous. i was very hot. i threw up. though she googled symptoms for a heart attack, o'donnell didn't go to the doctor until the next day. that's when she found out her arteries were blocked. >> 200,000 women die each year. symptoms not typical of men. >> reporter: o'donnell credited awareness, saying after her

symptoms started, i took some bayer aspirin. thank god. saved by a tv commercial. >> it was really very powerful and compelling, made you stop and think, my gosh, what would i do in that situation. now i might actually know what to do thanks to rosie o'donnell. >> reporter: o'donnell has shared with her share of stress. this spring her short-lived talk show on the oprah winfrey network was canceled. >> i want to say thanks to the people that watched, thanks to oprah. >> reporter: she recently announced her fiancee had been diagnosed with a rare medical condition. early this year o'donnell spoke publicly about her efforts to get healthier. >> every piece of food i have put in my mouth since that moment isd a conscious thought about. that has never happened in 49 years. >> reporter: announcing she started dieting and exercising more and had lost 15 pounds in the months leading up to her 50th birthday. >> i feel better. i feel healthier. i feel like a more responsible

person. >> reporter: heart disease is the number one cause of death for all women in the u.s. prompting national awareness campaigns like go red for women's day. >> you may have noticed a lot of us are wearing red today. >> reporter: "today" tributer star jones is the national spokeswoman. >> it's been almost two years i had open-heart surgery myself. one in three women die from heart disease. >> reporter: and rosie is now urging women to, quote, know the symptoms. save yourself. strong words after a very close call. in her blog post o'donnell said she ended up having a stint placed in her artery. she's now at home resting comfortably. savannah. >> thank you. dr. nancy snyderman is nbc's chief medical editor. let's do our public service announcement. what are the symptoms for women in heart attacks because they are differ. >> rosie had for women, didn't have crushing pain like an elephant on her chest, she vomited, nauseated, ached all over a lot of women present for

the first time with symptoms of the heart attack that ends up killing them. she came darn close to it. >> she didn't call 911 right away. she acknowledges now that was a mistake and said she hit google and looked up heart attacks. how crucial was that delay. >> it could be killed her. she did some things really smart. she sensed something was wrong. she took her aspirin. the next thing to do is call 911. you don't drive yourself to the hospital. you don't wait 24 hours. the artery she's talking about is the left interior descending, lid. it's the widowmaker. in the past men dropped dead and left widow's behind. it's just as applicable for women. it supplies blood to a lot of heart muscles gets blocked it can mean instantaneous blocked. >> it was 99% blocked. >> she may have had symptoms but weren't so typical she thought oh, this is a heart attack.

women talk themselves out of it. overintellectualize, couldn't be me, doesn't sound typical. the vomiting, nausea and sweats, profound exhaustion. the achiness helping the woman out of the car, that was her symptom. it had nothing to do with helping the woman out of the car. >> i was going to ask you something, had nothing to do with bringing on the heart attack. >> i would say to women, if your gut is something is wrong here, just overreact and call 911. rosie is lucky she's here. i hope the takeaway from women is you, too, can learn from this. i appreciate her publishing this. >> shines a lot on this. dr. snyderman, thank you. we'll see you in the next half hour with today's professionals. now a check of the weather from al. >> today's weather brought by the seven bold flavors of bush's grillin' beans, bolder side of bush's. >> we have a birthday girl here. what's your name? very nice, nice candle.

let's see what we've got for you. we're looking at a big area of high pressure. above normal temperatures out west, cooler in the east. out west those temperatures we have fire danger, temperature in the upper 80s, low 90s from medford oregon all the way to minot, north dakota, and as far southeast as denver. look at the 80s and 90s, 100s in southern texas. >> good morning. the morning commute should be just fine. there is some fog in some neighborhoods. >> and that's your latest

weather. matt. >> al, thanks very much. what if cars could talk to each other and prevent crashes? it may sound like science fiction but the technology is already here. the government is now launching a new year long pilot project to test it. nbc's tom costello got a sneak peek. tom, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. we're talking about alarms, about warning lights, about even buzzers in your seat to warn you of a daernnger. if there's a danger on your right-hand side you get a warning or your right cheek. a lot of us have controls that keep us away of the car ahead of us. as we saw on the test track, this takes safety to a whole new level. what if there were a way to warn you that another driver was about to blow right through an intersection or warn you of a crash ahead or ice on the road. now researchers at the university of michigan, dot and

eight car manufactures launching a program involving nearly 3,000 vehicles testing the latest crash victims. we got the car actually broadside us. >> i have led, seat is rumbling. >> reporter: it's called vehicle to vehicle communication. here is how it works. each car, truck or bus on the road would constantly transmit a 360 degree status report via a light system to every other car on the road constantly updating its position, its speed, whether it's turning or braking. if a car is in your mind spot, you get a flashing light in the side mirror. if you signal you want to turn alarms go off and the seat even vibrates to warn you of danger. >> i feel this rumble, really catches you're attention, the rumble of the seat. >> yes, to let you know there's somebody in the right lane. >> reporter: the system can even

determine if a car isn't yet in your blind spot but approaching too quickly to change lanes. >> they are all transmitting the exact same message, position, vehicle speed, acceleration. >> reporter: watch again what happens when i pull up to an intersection where i have the green light but an oncoming car blows through the red. >> if i hadn't hit the brakes, he would have t boned me. >> yes. this is one of the most fatal crashes. >> reporter: if the technology works on a grand scale the government could require it in all cars. >> our number one goal is safety. trying to prevent crashes, trying to prevent injuries, trying to prevent death. >> the system can warn you if the car ahead has braked hard trying to avoid a pileup even if the road ahead is wet or icy. >> this is the information of the technology. information technology has the potential to prevent crashes in the first place and that's what we want to do. >> reporter: one big challenge here is for the technology to be

an aid to drivers and not a nuisance. that's something they are going to have wo work the kinks out on in ann arbor. matt, you and i could see this in our cars. >> sounds linebacker a great idea. thanks very much for the information. up next, what should you believe, what can you believe? a truth about the attack ads in the presidential race. we'll go through a couple of them right after this. [ male announcer ] there's chicken

and there's juicy chicken hellmann's is the secret to making parmesan crusted chicken so juicy so delicious it's your secret to making dinner disappear hellmann's. bring out the best just trying to look our best. gonna take more than looks. from what i hear, ms. haskins is a toughy. oh we had a good breakfast, so we're ready. [ female announcer ] packed with fiber and nearly a day's worth of whole grains. kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal... keeps 'em full. keeps 'em focused. [ annoyed ] i'm pure milk chocolate on the inside.

and i love that about you. and here i thought you loved me for my brain. is that made of chocolate too?!!! ♪ hi, i'm new ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got nine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. back now at 7:43 with the ad war well under way in the presidential race, spending has already crossed the $500 million mark and election day still more than two months away. should you believe everything you see? here with reality check chuck

todd, nbc's political director and white house correspondent. bill adair, editor of politifact and ad director. take this from three perspectives, who is the ad targeting, is it true, is it effective? let's start with the romney campaign released yesterday. this accuses president obama of gutting welfare reform. >> this bipartisan reform successfully reduced welfare roles. on july 12th president obama ended the requirement gutting welfare reform. one of the most respected newspapers in america called it nuts saying if you want to get more people to work, you don't loosen the requirements, you tighten them. mitt romney's plan for a stronger middle class will put work back in welfare. >> check, it seems fairly obvious but who is this targeting? >> white working class voters in particular states, ohio,

wisconsin, states romney is underperforming in this voting group as vulnerable as any place the president would be. he's overperforming there and that's why they are going with this. >> barbara, what they are saying in the ad, hey, some of you guys are out there working your butts off trying to make a living and support your family. other people are cutting corners. is it effective? >> i don't think it's effective because it's such a battle of images. first he starts with clinton, with this golden age of welfare. you don't understand why. then they show obama coming from outside of a tree like he's the ultimate outsider. then don't understand gutted. he gutted welfare or the reforms to welfare. it's too complicated. you have to turn it around in your mind. >> all right. bill, most importantly, you. is this ad true? >> no. we rated it "pants on fire" which is our "liar liar pants on fire" lowest ri esest rating. >> what's wrong about it? >> it relies on a memo the obama

campaign wrote and romney shows that what ended the work requirement. that's not what the memo said. it says clearly they want to give states the flexibility for the work requirement. >> and want to increase the work requirement by 20%. >> exactly. really how they can interpret that is surprising. >> so pants on fire on that one. let's go to the next one. this is an obama ad. it goes after mitt romney for the rate of taxes he pays. take a look. >> you work hard, stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. mitt romney made $20 million in 2010 but paid only 14% in taxes, probably less than you. now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break and raises taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he pace less. you pay more. >> chuck, it's been running in some swing states since the beginning of the month. >> this is why the romney folks

were desperate to find something to counter-act this. that's what the welfare campaign ad is about because this ad-in particular and this issue on tax returns has kept the white working vote in ohio, iowa, kept that either in undecided or even in the obama column more so than romney. >> barbara, talk about the key images. what makes it effective or ineffective? >> it's effective. the trump is a killer. if there's ever guys that needed reform it's not them. the rich guys, makes him look like mr. burns sitting at the table by himself, an evil don draper. they give him a moneybag and mond monacle, he couldn't look more like a rich guy. >> is it true? >> half true.

depends how you calculate taxes. if you include payroll taxes, the ad is correct. if you don't, the ad is not correct. the other thing that's relevant the image suggests the lady comparing the tuna cans that it's the middle class that would be paying more than romney. it's the wealthier paying higher rates than romney. >> half true, half false and misleading. we're going to do this each time they release a new ad. >> it's unbelievable the amount of money they are spending. i can't underscore. never been seen before. >> we'll try to educate consumers. still ahead should mark zuckerberg step down as ceo of facebook. we'll talk about that and other topics with today's professionals. but first these messages. [ radio ] it's a scorcher out there...stay refreshed!

[ female announcer ] new lipton tea & honey. sweetened with honey, made from real tea leaves and real fruit flavors. ♪ it's never felt so real ♪ no, it's never felt so right ♪ [ female announcer ] only 5 calories. new lipton tea & honey.

with tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] tums freshers. fast relief, fresh breath, tributes are pouring in for the original queen of comedy. phyllis diller died at the age of 95. diana in los angeles with this

story. >> the loveable phyllis diller had a equip for every situation. her one-liners were usually aimed at herself. she laughed her way to our hearts and paved the way for women who followed in her footsteps. >> i was the world's ugliest baby. when i was born, the doctor slapped everybody. >> reporter: you couldn't help laughing at phyllis diller. after all, she laughed the lo loudest. the midwestern housewife with the wicked sense of humor. >> she was such a pioneer for female comments. she never did what she did. >> i resent what a great woman comedian she was. she was just a great comedian. >> reporter: born in 1917, diller said he never felt pretty so she decided to be funny instead. it was a gift that years later kept her family afloat. at the age of 37 with five children and her husband out of work, she gave standup a try. despite repeated rejection

diller persevered and eventually earned an invitation to "the tonight show." she later performed with bob hope performing on television and uso tour. >> such a thrill for me, all these men whistling and screaming. >> yeah. they have been in the jungle too long. >> reporter: going where no female comic had dared go before. she poked holes in the facade of the happy housewife acknowledging the pressure. >> there's one man in the world who is actually crazy about my legs. colonel sanders. >> reporter: she made endless fun of her fictional husband, the infamous fang. >> i told fang i was going to have my face-lift, he said who would still with it. >> reporter: she punctuated with wild outfits and wig but her best accessory was her life. 84 years old diller took the stage for her last standup performance. >> the best contraceptive for old people is nudity.

>> look at me, crying through the whole thing. she liked her own jokes. she knew she was funny. she had as good a time on stage as the audience had. and they felt that, too. >> reporter: america couldn't help but love phyllis diller. every joke she made came from the heart. >> i always said i would like to become a gracious lady and be known for kindness. of course i -- >> you are. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. >> reporter: she spent her last years painting, playing cards and enjoying her family. her son said she died with a smile on her face. savannah. >> thank you. we're back with today's professionals after your local news. why don't we play a game of hide and seek? right now?

yeah go hide. one, two... [ son ] come and find me! three! [ male announcer ] bite-sized chicken's grown up. new kfc bites. freshly hand-breaded in the colonel's original recipe. try 10 bites with an 8 piece meal for $19.99. today tastes so good. ♪ wow... [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. ♪ now discover new caramel apple filled werther's original.

>> this is wbal-tv 11 news and a baltimore. >> i am jennifer franciotti. time for a check on your morning commute. here is kim dacey. >> we have an accident reported just coming in southbound 95 approaching white marsh boulevard. we will give you a live look at that in a minute. one of lane is blocked there did causing some delays. hillsway and perring parkway, with the crashed there at parksville. owings mills, with a crash there with possible lane blockages as well. because of the train derailment, we have closures in ellicott city. your detour is going to be 40 west.

avoided the area if at all possible. southbound machine highway and oak grove road, crash there as well. old court road, you will see delays on the outer loop from 795 down to edmondson ave. switching to a live view of the accident scene, 95 approaching white marsh boulevard,, at joppa road. you can see that the right lane is blocked because of the accident. traffic is crawling to get by there. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> not a whole lot happening, weather-wise. in a little bit of fog and in some neighborhoods, but that is it. dew points is 62. a little shower activity in ohio. 20% or 30% chance of a

thunderstorm later today. most of you are not going to see rain. a mixture of clouds and sunshine otherwise, high temperatures

8:00 on this tuesday morning, the 21st of august, 2012. they are playing matt lauer's favorite song. as we bounce along, carly rae jepsen will be here on the plaza thursday morning along with owl city. >> a good time. >> working on your dance moves. >> practicing, yeah. >> better take care. >> exactly. >> i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer the dancer and al roker. >> coming up today's professionals inside. one of the topics they are going to handle today, a high school valedictorian, she used a

certain four-letter word in her graduation speech. as a result the school is withholding her diploma. interested to see how you feel about this. we're going to be talking about it with the professionals. >> a four-letter word but one we can say on tv. see what y'all think about that. then just ahead a kentucky man's last wish. 30 years old he died suddenly. in his will he made an unusual q he asked his family to go to restaurants and leave a tippah big tippah $500 tip. they started to do that. it's really inspired other acts of generosity. we're going to talk to the family and some of those that have been helped by that. >> great story. a little later on princeton review is out with their new list of the best colleges. we're going to tell you who they are. >> let's do inside. natalie is standing by with a look at the headlines. hey, natalie. >> i know you've been following the story of diana nyad. we have an update. endurance swimmer diana nyad had to abandon her swim from cuba to

northwest. the 62-year-old's bid has ended due to extreme exhaustion. she was suffering from jellyfish stings. her team made a collective decision to pull her out of the water for safety reasons. nyad made it about halfway to florida. missouri senate candidate todd akin is asking for forgiveness this morning amid pressure from his own party to drop out of the race. in the new ad akin called rape an evil act, saying he used the wrong words when saying a legitimate rape would likely not lead to pregnancy. a massive train wreck outside baltimore killed at least two people. the train was carrying coal when it jumped the tracks, flipped over crushing cars below. casey anthony's probation for check fraud ends this week. the exact date is secret amid security concerns. the orlando mother has reportedly received death threats since being acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old

daughter. an occupies showed junior seau had no alcohol or drugs in his system when he shot himself back in may. an initial examination showed no brain damage from his years of football. michael j. fox will be returning to a tv series. the comedy loosely based on fox's life will air here in 2013. fox left fulltime acting 10 years ago after being diagnosed with parkinson's disease. what's trending today, what has you talking only. when you think disney, you think feel good children's movie. two boys became in consolable after watching the odd life of timothy green because of the sad ending and the video is quickly going viral. >> i didn't want him to die. >> i know but it's the circle of life. >> timothy green. >> all his leaves came off. >> i didn't want him to go.

>> apparently every generation has its bambi and old yeller. sad for those kids. on youtube singing his apparent theme song. pretty good. of course the creepy theme from ""the addams family."" sunny also knows the theme from harry potter. a remix of inside the actor's studio based on ten questions of every celebrity is quickly making the rounds online. it shows great minds really do think alike. take a listen. >> what professional other than yours would you like to attempt? >> architect. >> architect. >> architect. >> history teacher. >> teacher. >> teacher. >> teacher. >> what is your lacy favorite word? >> no. >> no. >> no. >> no. >> i've never been a fan of no.

>> hate. >> hate. >> hate. >> hate. >> moist. >> moist. >> moist. >> asked their favorite curse word, of course, we can't show you here on "today." it's 8:05. back outside to al with a check of the weather. your least favorite wore, al. >> bad weather. bad, bad, bad. >> bad. >> one of my favorite things is air force week. we've got members of the air force here, and we have very cute bird of prey. don't want to get those confused. what is this you've got here? >> this is a falcon. >> would she fly and maybe land on matt's head. >> we could attempt later. >> what's her name. >> luciana. >> you're much cuter. let's see what we've got as far as your weather. pick city today happens to be the beautiful town of dash port iowa, nbc 6.

sunny, 82 degrees, as we check out satellite imagery. we see wet weather along southeast atlantic coast, heavy weather making its way into dallas, more rain in central and southern florida. we are executiving beautiful weather in the northwest. although the temperature is still onre >> good morning. we're starting out with dry conditions. we have a 20% chance for a shower this afternoon. father and son sharing the same birthday. how many years have you been here? >> 11 out of 13 years. >> very good. savannah.

>> coming up, today's professionals discuss the valedictorian denied her diploma because she used a four-letter word in her speech. we'll have that coming up. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!! [ male announcer ] get 1-2-3 percent cash back. apply online or at a bank of america near you. ♪ with more birthdays.at a bank of america near you. join the american cancer society making strides against breast cancer walk and help us get there faster. sign up at makingstrideswalk.org. [ male announcer ] notebooks...it's guaranteed they'll go through a lot. that's why you get guaranteed savings

for back to school at staples. now get staples one-subject notebooks for just a penny. ♪ and now she's made us breakfast. [ male announcer ] eggo nutri-grain waffles. you know it's made with 8 grams of whole grain and is a good source of fiber. all they know is it tastes great. eggo nutri-grain waffles. all they know is it tastes great. what makes hershey's pure chocolate goodness that brings people together. hershey's makes it a s'more... you make it special. pure hershey's. hi, i'm new ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got nine grams of protein.

that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. [ music playing ] [ music playing ] ♪ i got it made ♪ i got it made ♪ i got it made fresh at subway ♪ ♪ breakfast made the way i say ♪ i got it made ♪ i got it made ♪ i got it made ♪ i got it made fresh at subway ♪ ♪ breakfast made the way i say [ male announcer ] get breakfast made the way you say, like your very own egg white & cheese topped with that creamy super food, avocado.

want jalapenos? red onions? done and done. on toasty flatbread? you so got it made. ♪ at subway here's what the kids will n-e-e-d. ♪ pens and markers, paper wide ruled. ♪ ♪ hoodies, sneakers, tape, sticks of glue.♪ ♪ large boxes pencils, highlighters. ♪ ♪ sneakers and t-shirts. ♪ notebooks and jeans, ♪ notebooks and jeans, ♪ notebooks and jeeeeans, yeah! ♪ ♪ notebooks and jeans! announcer: school takes a lot, target has it all. break down topics. star jones, donny deutsch, dr. nancy snyderman. guys, good morning to all of you. let us start with representative todd akin, the guy out in

missouri who is running for the senate there finds himself in the middle of a firestorm because of comments he made when asked about his opinions on abortion in cases of rape. he said the following, basically, that victims of legitimate rape, those were his words, rarely get pregnant. he went on to say this. if it's legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down. let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something, i think there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be on the rapist. nancy, start me off. medically speaking, what's wrong with those words? >> everything. there's no -- first of all, there's no term legitimate rape in medicine. there's no situation where the female body can shut down a sperm megan egg. the risk of getting meetingnant after a rape is 5%. the risk with unprotected sex is 5%. a woman exposed to sperm runs

the risk of being pregnant. this is basic junk. >> let's take the medicine out of it now. this is a guy who has now come out and apologized, asked supporters for forgiveness, saying he used the wrong words in the wrong way. donny and star, weigh in, what's going to happen here. should he pull out of the race. >> depends on the perspective. for gop it helps them for him to pull out and he's got a few more hours to do it. if he doesn't, the romney/ryan ticket will be tarred with this feather for the entire campaign. they sponsored bills together that pretty much echo this sentiment. >> two issues. first of all, was it a slip of the tongue? sometimes in the media we can over react and jump. this is not a slip of the tongue. when you say a calculated point of view, thoughtful -- anything but thoughtful, a blithering idiot point of view.

if he stays in, it gives them the ultimate poster boy. >> oh well, does he mean to do it. this was purposeful. >> he actually did mean to. >> let's move onto augusta national golf club for the first time in 80 years after a lot of pressure, they are allowing in two female members, condoleezza rice and darla moore, respected in the investment field. applause? >> hello. >> did they do it for the right reasons? >> i've never been this big fan of they must let in women. i just am not. >> because of private clubs. >> because it's a private club. >> blacks also? >> absolutely. they could make the decision. i explained this to you before. >> explained -- >> you sometimes are dense. legally you do not have to allow people into a private club if they are not accepting government funds. they don't. they did not. this time they made a decision

within the confines of their membership. >> but beyond the law, this is not about girls playing golf. this is about women having access to power. this is where deals are made. forty years after a woman named ceo, 40 years after a woman named members of the stock exchange, they are finally getting with it. shame on them for not doing it sooner. >> star, they did it for one reason, one reason. i think there's a turning point when there's a female ceo of ibm, one of her predecessors. >> four previous. >> they are keyed up. sponsors. this was dollars and cents. >> does it take the heat off? now is it going to be a numbers game, how many women are you going to have in your membership? >> takes the heat off. they did it for that prone. >> mark zuckerberg, facebook closed around 20, roughly half of its price when it came out with the initial public offering back in march. is mark zuckerberg's job in

jeopardy the way a normal ceo in a normal company's job would be in jeopardy? >> yes and no. interesting history with this. you have steve jobs, the founder. all of a sudden they tossed him out, corporate executives, company went down, they brought him back. we know the history there. this is a guy who obviously was a visionary. what's frankly happened now, the stock is where it should be. it was never a hundred million dollar company. is he the guy to take it into the future? i don't think so. >> interesting how it plays out. cheryl stanberg is there. she could be a phenomenal ceo. >> weigh in quickly. he's never been the person that should take it this direction. >> finally, a valedictorian in a high school speech used the word hell in that speech. the school told her she should not get her diploma until she apologizes. >> fire the principal. that word we can say on this

show here. how dare this principal say she can't get her -- he should absolutely be fired over this. >> it was jock lar, how the hell should i know what i'm going to do when i grow up. >> fire the principal. >> the way you think, should that young lady apologize and get her diploma or stand her ground. weigh in on today.com. up next, one man's final wish to leave a $500 tip inspired generosity. we'll talk to family members after this. with prevacid24hr. with one pill prevacid24hr works at the source to prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day and all night. and with new prevacid24hr perks, you can earn rewards from dinner deals to music downloads for purchasing prevacid24hr. prevent acid all day and all night for 24 hours with prevacid24hr.

and there are game-changers. and all night for 24 hours those ideas that start with us rolling up our sleeves... ...and end with a new favorite room in the house. and when we can save even more on those kinds of projects... ...with advice to make them even better... ...that's a game-changer in itself. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get flooring for every budget with pergo gunstock oak laminate for just $1.88 per square foot. [ female announcer ] new lipton tea & honey. sweetened with honey, made from real tea leaves and real fruit flavors. ♪ it's never felt so real ♪ no, it's never felt so right ♪ [ female announcer ] only 5 calories. new lipton tea & honey.

♪ look out baby 'cause here i come ♪ ♪ and i'm bringing you a love that's true ♪ ♪ so get ready ♪ so get ready ♪ gonna try to make you love me too ♪ ♪ so get ready ♪ so get ready ♪ 'cause here i come ♪ get ready 'cause here i come ♪ i'm on my way ♪ get ready 'cause here i come ♪ every day ♪ get ready thanks to new jif chocolate flavored hazelnut spread. ♪ now anytime of the day can be delicious time. ♪ choosy moms choose jif. ♪ you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

you have a plan? first we're gonna check our bags for free, thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you. next, we get priority boarding on our flight i booked with miles. all because of the card. and me. okay, what's the plan? plan? mm-hmm. we're on vacation. this is no plan. really? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in. ♪ grab a kleenex® tissue to help keep your hands clean ♪ ♪ shield sneeze swish ♪ check out my swish [ female announcer ] only kleenex® brand has sneeze shield in all their tissues to help keep stuff off kids' hands.

back now at 8:20 with a harm warming story born from one family's difficult loss. erin collins died unexpectedly last month but left his family with a very specific wish. leave someone a $500 tip. they have done more than that. we'll talk to the family in a moment. first kerry sanders has the story. kerry, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. i'm at the old fort lauderdale breakfast staff where the wait staff hasn't seen this big tip but it's a movement you may have heard tips, to in sure prompt service.

now it has taken on new meaning, the inspirational power of sharing. it can be one of the hardest, most thankless jobs in america, serving food and surviving on tips. erin collins knew that. he worked at a pizzeria in kentucky. 30 years old, aaron died unexpectedly. he left his family a challenge to do what he hoped to do someday, go out to dinner and leave a $500 tip. for fun, the family videotaped. >> are you kidding me? oh my god. >> his brother posted it online. >> he was trying to think about people who don't necessarily get a lot of appreciation but who no one is out there thinking of. >> reporter: it went viral leading to donations like 13-year-old nathan who sent $20 and wrote "inspired by your story." >> are you serious? can i have a hug? oh my god.

the unbridled joy touching his mother. she grew up in the appalachians in a house that cost less than the first $500 they scraped together. >> he left great joy for us. i don't know that i could have survived the loss of aaron without this. >> reporter: now there's more than $50,000, enough for more than 100 $500 tips. waitress sarah ward, studying ecology always said she wanted to change the world but didn't expect it would be like this. >> always wanted to touch people but didn't know it would be on the receiving end as a waitress. i thought it would be for the environment or polar bears, not a tip. >> that's for you. it's $500 from him. >> reporter: 22-year-old

graduate student was tipped wednesday. >> helps to know there's good people in the world. >> where does it end? >> hopefully it doesn't end. >> reporter: a sign this is a movement that is spreading. a passenger took a short ride in a cabin san francisco. ette out and gave the cabdriver a $500 tip and said it was in memory of aaron. savannah. >> kerry sanders, thank you. aaron's family is with us. his brother seth, mom, tina ray collins and sister and joined by jamie fuller, one of the great waitresses that experienced this act of charity. good morning to all of you. this is a sorry about inspiration and generosity but i know your family has suffered a terrible loss. how are you doing, tina? >> i'm doing a lot better than i would have expected. i think it's because of this. it gives us something to focus on instead of our grief. >> apparently aaron wrote this in a will a couple years ago. it had a pretty simple

instruction, right? >> to leave an awesome tip. i'm not talking about 25%, i mean $500 on a pizza. that's where we started. >> he was pretty clear. don't go to the fancy restaurants. >> pizza, $500. that's a big tip on a pizza. >> what has it been like to be the giver of this generosity? >> it's been a huge blessing for me just to be able to touch people like that and see their reaction. i'm really nervous going into it. then as soon as i hand them that money, i sort of get to step back and let them control the situation and see how they are going to react. it's different every time. >> rachel, is this something in keeping with your brother's personality? >> yeah. he always wanted to do something to help people and to make people happy and bring joy to people. he was always about having fun, bringing joy to other people. >> and what is the reaction, generally, when you tell them, i'm leaving you this $500 tip? i imagine people are stunned. >> always been disbelief.

that's where it starts. you're joking, kidding, not serious. that's always the beginning. >> let's go to the source on that jamie, you worked at a restaurant in kentucky. how did you feel? >> shocked. i thought it was a joke at first. you're getting through your workday and you're rushed. then this guy just hands you $500. what? this don't happen. so it's very shocking, emotional. >> i know one of the things you did was give back some of your tip? >> i did. i sent $50 back. >> that's really caught on, tina. you've gotten a lot of donations. so is the plan to keep on giving out tips? >> as long as the good people giving the money will keep gig, we will continue to give out the tips. i just want to say how thankful i am this is not just aaron's week, it's people all over the country and the world now. >> you've done an amazing thing. i know you're keeping his memory alive as well. i want to thank you, collins family, for being with us and

jamie fuller. appreciate it. we'll be back with more news after. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news i baltimore. >> good morning. i am jennifer franciotti. let's get a check on the morning commute with kim dacey. >> we have a crash at southbound 95 approaching white marsh boulevard, and quite a backup associated with that. 17 miles per hour approaching that. most of the lanes are squeezing to get by. also, at york and evans, another at owings mills, and in ellicott city, because of the train derailment, frederick road is closed between old columbia pike and 00 ave. catonsville, held in between a wild and ridge road, possible

lane closures. southbound ritchie highway, and that the crash at there -- another crash there. outer loop is just crawling all the way from 795 down to edmondson ave. switching over to a live view of the accident scene. white marsh boulevard, this the camera from a job or road looking south. traffic is just drawn to get by. tony come over to you. >> touch of fog in some neighborhoods, but that is about it. watching a little disturbance out of ohio that may produce a shower or thunderstorm. only a 30% chance. partly cloudy skies. high-temperature between 80 and 85. wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, and sunday, highs in

the low-to-mid-80's. >> back with another update at 8:56.

tuesday morning, 21st day of august, 2012. we have a crowd out on the plaza. looks like a beautiful day today. they are listening to some music that is our way of reminding you carly rae jepsen in concert thursday morning with owl city. they are live in concert. >> owl, not al.

>> live in our 8:30 half hour. if you're in the area, come on down. by the way, i'm matt lauer with savannah guthrie, natalie morales and al roker. that's not the only one of the week. >> train on friday. you had a chance onpick one of the songs they play. the choices are drive by, if it's love, save me san francisco. cast your vote at today.com. >> meanwhile, picking the right college if you're thinking about heading off in the next year or two. the princeton review is out with the list of the best 377 colleges in america. wide variety of categories. we're going to break them down for you. >> all right. then a new look at the final days of the late penn state coach joe paterno. what was it like inside his home as the jerry sandusky scandal erupted. was paterno in denial. did he show any sympathy for the victims? we're going to talk to a journalist that was there for the last interview of coach paterno. >> first a check of the weather.

>> a lot of wet weather through florida. we're expecting a beautiful day in the northeast, through the great lakes. thundershowers in northern texas. tomorrow we expect to see more wet weather, heavy rain down through central and northern florida, also pacific northwest, gorgeous, plenty of sunshine. sunny and mild through the great lakes. >> good morning.us the morning commute should be just fine. there is some fog in some neighborhoods. >> don't forego, get that weather any time you need it.

go to weather channel on cable and weather.com. >> more of our series, anxiety in america. we'll talk about the newest treatments, whether they work or don't work. first this is "today" on nbc. all this walking i've been doing is

that it's given me time to reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

back at 8:35 with our special series, anxiety in america. by some estimates, 117 million americans suffer from anxiety disorders. here is one man's story. >> i've been anxious now for close to 20 years. i'm very practiced at hiding it from the world. >> daniel smith is a writer, author and college professor who says the anxiety he's experienced most of his life is still a daily struggle. >> i will happily go to social gathers, dinner parties and have a good time while i'm there. almost invariably i'll wake up

early the next morning, 3:00 or 4:00 obsessed about the things i said or didn't say, did i talk too much. >> in his new book, "monkey mind." a memorial rahir of anxiety. going to college. >> i was consumed by anxiety from the moment my parents dropped me off in front of the dormitory. college is your first taste of freedom. freedom is a terrifying thing. >> throughout his life, his anxiety has even affected his personal relationships. he and his wife joanna have been married seven years. when they were dating he broke up in large part because of daniel's anxiety. >> it was, i want to be with you, i don't want to be with you. i want to be with you, i don't want to be with you. it was a real push and pull. it was exhausting for me. >> it was exhausting for me as well to sort of toggle back and forth between desire and fear between this woman that i'm with

that's me happy, and this woman i'm with is seeing me so unhappy it makes me ashamed and uncomfortable. >> after two and a half years apart, the two reconnected. >> i think the first time we were together, he wasn't even really aware that he was experiencing extreme anxiety. >> it's not debilitating anymore because i do things to mitigate the problem. i take medications. i medicate. i engage in other disciplines i've learned from cognitive behavior therapy which allow me to hold my anxiety at bay. i'm married. i have kids. i refuse, if i can help it, to have the anxiety take over. >> smith says that while his struggle with anxiety may be a daily one, it's also a livable and workable one. >> there's only one good thing i know about anxiety and that is that it's treatable. there is hope for people who struggle from bad anxiety. >> a director of adolescent and

child psychologist from presbyterian hospital. doctor, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> how do we distinguish from every day anxiety all of us feel from time to time and a real serious medical disorder. >> anxiety is a normal, healthy part of life. there are people too anxious. major characteristics of people too anxious, they are hyper vigilant. they are always looking for something around them to worry about. they react to new things. they react to new things with a bias. they react as if new things are threatening to them. they are set up to have a normal experience when experiencing daily activities. that's the difference between people anktious naturally and normally and those who have a condition. >> you might quibble over the numbers. fair to say there has been a huge explosion in the last 20 years or so in anxiety diagnoses. my question is, is it because we're more anxious as a nation,

we're more aware or there are more drugs available and this is a popular diagnosis. >> whenever we have treatments effective, it was nice to hear the gentleman talk about effective treatment. when you have effective treatments you see more people seeking help, therapists used evidence-based treatment more often. >> there's two treatments, long-term solution and short-term solution. the antidepressant drugs. >> three big treatments, cognitive behavioral therapy, which he talked about in that trip. benzodiazepine, valium, ativans of the world often used short-term. they function quite briefly to reduce acute states of anxiety. but the evidence-based treatment for long-term is really the antidepressants. >> antidepressant because they happen to have -- they have noticed anxiety. this is something not a quick fix. >> these medicines take four to eight weeks to work. you have to take them every day.

with chronic use, these are medicines that can be extremely helpful and reduce people's anxiety. >> as a note of caution particularly with short-term benzodiazepine, xanax, there's a potential for abuse. would you caution people using them? >> well, they are so effective short-term that people really get used to taking them when they anticipate they might be anxious. that's one of the hall marks of anxiety, people anticipate a situation where they are going to be anxious and may get into the habit of taking pills and use too many of them. over time they will develop tolerance so they have to take more. it's a tricky drug. >> a tricky illness as well" doctor, thank you for your perspective. thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up next, a man inside the home of joe paterno as the jerry sandusky scandal exploded. we'll talk to him. but first, this is "today" on .

he was revered for victories on the field and charity work. in the end he was fired and disgraced. in the wake of the jerry sandusky child sex abuse case. sports writer was chronicling his life when the scandal erupted. he conducted the last interview. he writes about it in a new book called "paterno." good morning. >> good morning. >> when you had to throw things up in the air, you were in the middle of this project when the scandal broke. did you completely change the mission statement? >> i think the mission from the start was to write as honest a book as i could about joe paterno. obviously the story changed and in the end that throws you up in the air. >> you had access to joe paterno and the family. you were in the home when some

of the headlines were being revealed. what was the dynamic like inside that home? >> there was absolutely a lot of panic. nobody understood what was going on. it was such a whirlwind. it was difficult. it was such an odd place to be as a writer. i knew as i was writing this book, i knew that what i wanted to do was put the reader there. >> when you say no one really knew what was going on, but you do write that his family members, in particular his children, tried to convince joe paterno that this scandal was enormous and might consume him. you make it sound like paterno himself was in denial. >> i think that's true. certain members of the family understood this thing was going to be huge quite a bit before when it broke. even those people that did not understand how bad. >> was he in denial about what happened with sandusky or was he in denial about how it might impact him. >> i think more the former. i think he was in denial somewhat about what the story really was, how bad it really

was. yeah, i think at the end, i think he always felt to the end that he did what he was supposed to do, not to the extent he would have liked but what he was supposed to do. >> you write that his family members almost had to force him to read the grand jury's presentment in the jerry sandusky case. it was graphic, damaging stuff. after they read it, he said, quote, what are resaying about me? that's not so what do we need to do for these victims, or let's talk about the victims of abuse, it's what are they saying about me? >> what i really wanted to do as we were talking about, i thought it was really important to put his words out there and let people decide for themselves. obviously that's one you can decide what you think about. clearly when he said that, everything was -- he was in the process of being fired. he was in the process of being disgraced. he did not feel like certainly openly, did not feel like his

role in this was being fairly portrayed. that was his response. that's right. you can't read that and not wonder those questions. >> did he come around from that state of denial? you conducted what turned out to be the last interview with joe paterno. he had been fairly disgraced at that point. he had been fired. he was ill, we should mention. what was his state of mind? >> him being ill was a big part of it. he was dying of cancer. the last interview i did in his hospital room was very, very emotional for him. i think his state of mind was exactly, you know, as i tried to write in the book. he wished he done more. he said he wished he had done more. he always said in the end he didn't cover this up or purposefully intend to hurt anybody. he felt -- he would say again and again he felt terrible for the victims. but again, it's a tough one. obviously he did say some things that later proved out to be not necessarily 100% accurate. >> i started this by saying you

set out to write a different book, or at least you thought the circumstances were different. here is a guy who preached honesty, integrity, character. now that you've had a little time to step back with a little distance between you and joe paterno, how do you think he should be remembered? >> i wrote 125,000 words if you remember. it's very, very complicated. this is a man, when you read the book, you see how many people felt like their lives were changed by him, inspired by him, galvanized by him. you can't ignore those people. at the same time you can't ignore the evils of jerry sandusky and the horrible things that were done. joe paterno, among others, were in a position to stop him and didn't. i don't think you can ignore any of that. but to me the book is the book. the life is the life. >> the legend but an im perfect legend. >> maybe so. >> joe, the book is simply called "paterno." great to have you here. >> thanks for having me.

>> up neck, princeton review's best colleges in the country. when it comes to everything from the professors to the food. first, this is "today" on nbc. this is the plan that revolves around you. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to 10 different devices, including smartphones and tablets.

the first plan of its kind. share everything. only from verizon. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. back at 8:49. if your teenager is starting to think about college, listen up. the presenceton review out with annual rankings of 377 best

colleges in the country. the senior vice president and publisher of the guide. good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. >> 377 schools, not 375, a more round number. >> it is a good question. i spent a heck of a lot of time on the road visiting undergraduate schools. we have such a high opinion, they are exceptional. >> these are student surveys that form the basis. >> exactly, 122,000 current colleges. all their opinions went into the current book. >> 62 unique categories. we pulled out a few. the first one is, this is the one, the student loves their college, clairemont, virginia. >> based on student and part of the system out in california, 40 miles from los angeles. these kids rave about their experience, academically, career services, best financially. said in the princeton review survey. i can't believe i considered an

ivy. >> the college with the best professors is? >> sarah lawrence. the usual suspect on this list. number one this year, students again talking about the energetic and brilliant faculty. there's a system between students and faculty, meet twice a week for four years with the faculty. >> those most satisfied with financial aid. two words you don't always see with regard to financial aid. >> princeton university. been on the list, in the number one spot. might be a surprised, $52,000 sticker price but princeton was the first school in the country to do away with financial loans in your aid package. once you get into princeton, you're guaranteed 100%. >> what about the best setting, the most beautiful college. >> i've been there many times, florida southern, lakeland, 30 miles outside of lakeland, outside of tampa. awesome school academically, built by frankie lloyd wright, 12 of the original buildings, frank lloyd wright.

>> best food. this is important. if you're going to study, a full stomach. >> people in college do it really well. they do it for two reasons. one, great sustainability, great local farms. two, they ask students their opinions all the time. >> best career services. which school gets the top prize there. >> northeastern university in boston. 16,000 kids at northeastern. they spend one full year of study outside the classroom. five-year undergraduate diagnosis, over 2,000 internships to choose from northeastern university. this is one of my favorite categories, can you guess which one it is? >> i think i know. >> biggest party school. if only i could go back to my college years. since i can't, let's tell the younger generation. >> west virginia university. they have been on this list 14 times over the last 21 years that we've been publishing the best 377 colleges. this year they are number one. the number one spot three times already. so we focused on lots of different things. we asked students rate of hard alcohol, beer consumption, drug

consumption and popularity. >> sounds good. the opposite. flip side of the coin, most stone cold sober school. >> again, number one spot now 15 years running, brigham young university, affiliated with the mormon church. great school academically, pretty strict with alcohol. >> any others pop into your mind from the survey. >> so many of them are great. lgtb friendly campus, emerson up in boston. so many different when it comes to social diversity, all on princeton.com. >> thank you so much. we'll check out the guide. appreciate it. still ahead, first lady michelle obama on her worries as a mother. what the next year holds for her daughter, sasha and malia. a lot more news and weather, but first your local news.

>> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning. i am jennifer franciotti. two people are dead following a massive train derailment in howard county. a freight train derailed just after midnight. 21 cars overturned, spilling coal. the cause of the crash is under investigation. we will bring

>> not a bad start for us this tuesday. slight chance for a shower or thunderstorm. most of you will not seep rain. nice stretch of weather into next weekend. >> we are back