good morning. nightclub chaos. starting new details this morning on the fire that killed more than 230 people in brazil. in the confusion, the security guards actually prevent some patrons from fleeing that building. side by side, president obama and hillary clinton sit down for their first joint interview. was it a passing of the torch? >> i don't think, you know, either he or i can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year. >> so whose idea was it? and was vice president biden watching? and remembering whitney. whitney houston's mom opens up about details for the first time of her daughter's death and the

questions she still wrestles with every day. a candid conversation with cissy houston "today," monday, january 28th, 2013. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. welcome to "today" on a monday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie. just a terrible story out of brazil. that country is declaring three days of national mourning now for the victims of that deadly nightclub fire as the investigation gets under way. >> it's a huge tragedy. consider the loss of life. it was apparently started, that fire, by some kind of an on-stage stunt. some kind of pyrotechnic device, many victims under the age of 206789 this morning we have new details on that tragedy, including reports that the bar

was well above its legal capacity at the time of the fire. we'll get a live report on that, straight ahead. also ahead, a cia officer se celebrated for helping to bring down one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. now he has been sentenced to 30 months in jail for leaking classified information. is he a hero or did he betray his colleagues? he is with us for an exclusive interview. also new information in the jon-benet ramsey case. reports that a grand jury actually indicted john and patsy ramsey in connection with the death. why did the prosecutor decline to try that case? we begin with that tragic nightclub fire in brazil. mike taibbi has the latest. mike, good morning. >> good morning, savannah. it has been a dead lly combinatn in the past, a nightclub filled with revelers and pyrotechnics

and few too ways to escape led to panic. in santa maria, it was packed with its usual saturday nightclub when, at 2:00 in the morning, disaster. a swift-moving fire filled the ground-floor club with thick smoke. witnesses said club security initially blocked several emergency exits, thinking p patrons were leaving without paying and that left only a few ways out. in the ensuing panic, some victims were trampled. most died of smoke inhalation. many witnesses told police this fire was triggered by the use of some incindiery device on stage. >> the band used fireworks and as we heard it was usual for this presentation but the ceiling was too short. >> reporter: some club goers who did make it out joined firemen and onlookers in their attempt to open new exits using sledge

hammers and axes. victims were carried to ambulances and other vehicles and were quickly moved to the trauma center. >> scattered around the hospital. those waiting outside are desperate. >> reporter: desperate, too, were those waiting for the worst news, the numbers of the dead rising so quickly. they were moved to a school gymnasium. >> we had themd laying side by side. >> reporter: a packed club, too few escape routes and a fire from an on-stage fireworks display brought to mind other similarities. but as brazil's president, dilma rouseff, con consoled victims

here, getting ready to host the olympics. well above its legal capacity. one witness said the tragedy unfolded in seconds. the fire and the panic spreading equally quickly. savannah? >> mike taibbi, thank you very much. >> mike mentioned the warwick, rhode island, tragedy in 2003. 100 people died there. people in the new york area remember one further back, 1974. unfortunately i lived right up the hill from gulliver's nightclub. 200 and so people died in that. the formula seems to be the same, too many people, not enough exits, not a plan of what to do when something goes wrong. >> and utter chaos and confusion when people are trying to figure out what is going on. it's a terrible story. here at home a lot of people are talking about that interview with president obama and hillary clinton as the secretary of state enters her final week on the job. what does it mean? white house correspondent peter alexander has details on that. good morning to you.

>> reporter: matt, good morning to you. the president simply wants to thank hillary clinton for being what he called one of the finest secretaries of state we've ever had. the mutual gushing didn't end there. they were side by side, at times finishing each other's sentences. a joint interview, their first together that even clinton acknowledged in 2008 would have seemed improbable. what a difference five years makes. >> i consider hillary a friend. >> i mean, very warm, close -- i think there's a sense of understanding. sometimes it doesn't even take words, because we have similar views. >> reporter: on "60 minutes" sunday, bitter rivals turned partners show how far their relationship has evolved. stamina and thoughtfulness. >> friendships involve a sense of trust, being in the fox hole

together and that emerged during the course of months when we were making some very tough decisions. >> reporter: the secretary of state will officially step down friday, dismiss the 2008 campaign battle as ancient history. >> despite our hard-fought primary, we had such agreement on what needed to be done for our country. >> made for tough debates, by the way. >> it did. >> we could never figure out what we differed on. >> we worked at that pretty hard. >> reporter: clinton wearing glasses, instead of contact lenses, says she now empathizes with athletes and those who suffer from concussions. >> unleashed speculation, as whether viewers should see it as an endorsement for 2016, especially when reports are that

vice president joe biden is intoxica intoxicated with the idea. >> you guys in the press are incorigable. i was literally inaugurated four d days ago and you're talking about four years from now. >> reporter: still she left the door open for a presidential run. >> i don't think either he or i can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year. >> reporter: as if to emphasize how quickly their nasty campaign, old feelings had evap rised, they quickly agreed it had a much bigger effect on their spouses than it did them. making people wonder if there's any expiration on this endorsement. >> chuck todd, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> since we are incorrigible, let's take it one step further. what did we watch last night, an

incoming president give a warm farewell to an outgoing secretary of state or did we watch a president pass the baton now? >> reporter: had hillary clinton not taken his invitation, the possibility of a democratic party that was split in two, senator hillary clinton sort of being the arbiter of any policy proposal the president was going to put out there, it would have been reminiscent, negatively in democratic party circles of the jimmy carter, ted kennedy years, which hurt the party for nearly a decade. this really was a thank you. because getting her to come in and the fact that she was such a team player once she went in, this was really the president doing that. i'm with you, matt. i think the picture speaks louder than any words can say and there is this running joke of whether joe biden is still being peeled off the ceiling when he found out about this

interview. >> no major headline coming out of the interview. however, headlines were made about the time we were watching that interview by a bipartisan group of senators who put together an immigration reform. this ahead of the president's plan that he will lay out. >> it's an agreement in principle. the players are just as interesting as the proposal itself. republicans that are coming to this agreement are john mccain, marco rubio, jeff flake, lindsey graham, the democrats, chuck schumer, dick durbin, michael benn bennet, robert menendez. probably the most controversial part will be all of these folks here in this country illegally under this proposal, should it pass, would not be asked to leave the country. they would have a path to citizenship, a path to being legal and that, of course, the devil is going to be in the details on this.

but that is going to be the test, whether conservative republicans who have been against this for a long time, whether they can sign on to it. >> we'll get a chance to listen to what the president has to say on this, as i mentioned, tomorrow in las vegas. chuck todd in washington. thank you very much. >> you got it. let's check in with natalie morales with the days top stories. >> good morning, savannah and matt. violence raging on the streets of cairo for the fifth straight day this morning. eamon . >> reporter: clashes taking place between protesters and police, as you mention ed, for the fifth straight day. all weekend long, intense fighting in the city of alexandria. that led president mohamed morsi to issue a stern warning last night in addition to declaring a state of emergency, imposing a curfew on those cities and, more

importantly, giving the country's powerful military the authority to arrest civilians. that has triggered condemnation from the opposition here, refusing an invitation from president morsi to meet later today to try to resolve this crisis politically. natalie? >> thank you very much. turkish airline jet struck by lightning. the strike caused the plane to catch fire and flames can be seen shooting past the passengers' windows as the cabin lig lights flickered on and off. the fire could even be spotted from the ground. the plane landed safely, fortunately. no one on board was hurt. small plane crash in the d hudson river has ended with a rescue. both people on board that single engine plane were plucked from the water wearing lifevests. they're in stable condition and treated for hypothermia. incredible stunt at the x games almost had disastrous

resu results. snowmobile spun out of control during a black flip. he managed to fall away from the vehicle, but the snowmobile sped off into the crowd. one boy was thrown out of the path of the snowmobile by his father. he was checked out and is okay apparently. top honor of the evening went to ben affleck for his cia thriller "argo," which won for best ensemble cast in a movie. daniel day lewis won for best actor in "lincoln" and "silver linings playbook." what may or may not have been a wardrobe malfunction. did her christian dior gown tear and reveal the sheer mesh? no. for a moment it was visible as she climbed the stairs to the

stage. >> if we could do that replay one more time, matt and al are wondering. >> soma ward shows now. finally, this one has managed to distinguish itself from the others. >> you have a pair of pant that is do that. >> tear away pants. >> thank you, natalie. mr. roker? >> we have a mess in the northeast starting from washington, making its way into boston next 12 hours. it's going to be a real mess. we've got winter storm watches, winter weather advisories, freezing rain advisories from verge yain all the way up into the northeast. we've got snow up in new england and upstate new york. icy conditions through the ohio river valley on down into parts of the northeast. we are looking for about a tenth to a quarter inch of ice in central pennsylvania and new york state up to three to six inches of snow in northern new england. but the icy conditions are going to make for a mess on the roads and making their way into the airports. we'll get to your local forecast right after this message. ♪ this is amazing, how did you find us? i thought we might be related,

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weather. savannah? >> al, thank you. sarah palin says the door is wide open when it comes to her long-term plans after parting ways from fox news. does the former vice presidential candidate already have her next move mapped out? kelly o'donnell takes a look at that for us. >> good morning. sarah palin has people guessing this morning again. it's not about will she or won't she run for office, but what will she do next? after a breakup that seemed unlikely between the conservaticonservformer governor and her conservative home at fox. in the four years and five months since sarah palin jolted the political world, she konked out at an unusual space, at the corner of politics -- >> only dead fish go with the flow. >> reporter: celebrity and pop culture. >> the only poll i care about is the north pole and that is

melting. >> she's doing her home tls work. >> reporter: even husband, todd, is on the current cover of "alaska" magazine, but her main gig is over. >> she now wants to be more of an outsider. she wants to pose as someone different than fox. >> fox says we have thoroughly enjoyed our association with governor palin and wish her the best. palin turned to the conservative website to hint at her future saying i know the country need morse truth telling in the media and i'm willing to do that. so, we shall see. while some tea party candidates palin championed won in 2012, like senator ted cruise and fisher, many say palin and the tea party movement have lost interest. new gop stars are on the rise and more visible. on "meet the press," palin's successor as vp candidate paul ryan on his 2016 prospects. >> i think it's just premature. >> reporter: the republican party has its own job, trying to

retool its brand and broaden its appeal. with a place for palin unclear. >> sarah palin had so much star power, it's possible that she can be at least part of the conversation, if not a dominant figure in the republican party. >> we know sarah palin has both loyal supporters and very vocal critics. sources close to her say fox did sly they didn't come to come to terms and she does plan to stay part of the national conversation. with this move she says she's taking her own advice by, quote, jumping out of the comfort zone. savannah? >> kelly o'donnell in washington, thank you. now here's matt. >> savannah, thank you. new information is coming to light in the jonbenet ramsey case, more than six years after her death. in 1999, the district attorney announced there wasn't sufficient evidence to file charges against anyone. evidently a grand jury had a different opinion. erica hill is here with the

story. >> good morning to you, matt. a grand jury voted to indict john and patsy ramsey, jonbenet's parents. nbc news spoke to them that they remain anonymous. >> a little girl's body was found in the basement. >> reporter: john and patsy ramsey pleaded to find their daughter's killer. they even offered a reward. yet from the beginning investigators focused on jonbenet's parents. >> they do remain under an umbrella of suspicion. >> reporter: the 6-year-old beauty queen's parents were never charged in connection with their daughter's death and strongly deny any suggestion they were somehow involved. >> i did not kill my daughter, jonbenet. >> i did not have anything to do with it. >> reporter: in september 1998, the case was brought to a boulder grand jury. more than a year later on the day they concluded, alex hunter, then boulder d.a., addressed the

public. >> i and my prosecution task force believe we do not have sufficient evidence to warrant the filing of charges. >> reporter: now more than 13 years later, we're learning the grand jury didn't agree. according to the boulder daily camera, which spoke with members of the grand jury on condition of anonymity, they voted to indict both ramseys on charges of child abuse that resulted in the death of jonbenet. >> we don't see this scenario, grand juries wanted to indict and prosecutors saying no. >> reporter: confirms the grand jury voted to indict the ramseys. he believes hunter's decision not to prosecute was courageous. >> there just simply was a lack of evidence. >> reporter: one juror, who spoke with the daily camera told the paper, quote, we didn't know who did what, but we felt the adults in the house may have done something, or they certainly could have prevented or helped her and they didn't. in a 2001 interview, hunter told

nbc he had no regrets about his decisions in the case. >> i have enough people that i respect that have said to me, you know, you made a tough call. you made a call that the public didn't like, but you were true to the law. you were a good prosecutor. and that's plenty for me. >> in a statement, john ramsey's attorney told nbc the dna tests performed after the time of the boulder grand jury not only prove the ramseys to be innocent and the grand jury wrong they also make d.a. alex hunter a hero who wisely avoided a miscarriage of justice. >> this is going to open up a whole new round of conversations. >> yes. >> about this 16-year-old case. erica, thank you very much. first cia officer ever sentenced to leaking classified information. why he considers that to be a badge of honor. rare possessions of president kennedy in our studio

before they hit the auction block. we'll tell you about those but first this is "today" on nbc.

coming up, whitney houston's mom, cissy, on her daughter's delth and their sometimes strange relationships. >> after your local news. ♪ [ ding! ] losing your chex mix too easily? time to deploy the boring-potato chip decoy bag. then no one will want to steal the deliciousness. [ male announcer ] with a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix is a bag of interesting.

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dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. simple pleasures shouldn't hurt. talk to your doctor about cymbalta. depression hurts. cymbalta can help. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news and a baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. crews are working to treat the frozen road race. wintery mix of suite and snow falls over maryland. baltimore county sent their crews out around 5:00 this morning. if you're heading out soon, give yourself extra time on the roadways. a matter where you are

traveling, it is messy out there. >> the roads are very slick. use extra caution if you are traveling. harford county remains closed between mountain road and riverside parkway because of a crash. they are directing traffic off of mountain road. turning around some cars that are trapped there in the accident area. southbound 97 at baltimore and annapolis boulevard, we have a crash there. another one at pioneer and fleetwood. there is a crash here as well with the car off into a ditch. 46 miles per hour on the west side of the beltway. camera at liberty road shows the the inner loop and outer loops are looking pretty wet this morning. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> not a great start for us this

morning. we are still showing some light snow, sleet, freezing rain in some neighborhoods. you have got to be careful. temperatures are just below freezing. as we go through the morning, conditions improve. by the time we get into the afternoon, temperatures 30's. it will be icy this morning, and i got it when we could download an hd movie in like two minutes. [ male announcer ] once you've got verizon fios internet, you get it -- the difference 100% fiber optics makes. but don't take our word for it -- ask a real fios customer. ask me why fiber optics matters. ask me about the upload speeds -- they're sick! [ male announcer ] so go online and send a tweet to a real fios customer. last chance to get fios for just $89.99 a month

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we're back at 7:30 on a monday morning, the 28th day of january, 2013. we're getting images from the severe flood raging in australia, cars cutting through seafoam and nearly hitting a crowd. we'll have more on that. and severe weather heading our way. we'll have more on that. good morning. i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer. 50 years after his death, president john f. din remakenne remains a fascination. we have some personal items in

our studio that will be up for auction. that's coming up. cissy houston is out with a new book about her daughter. her battle with drugs, what she never forgave her for and why cissy wonders if her daughter ever loved her at all. genetic test for expectant moms that can reveal a lot about a baby very early in pregnancy. it is not without controversy. we'll get into that. tomorrow here on "today," former vice president al gore will be here live to talk about politics, business and some of his predictions for the future. then on wednesday another rare interview, billionaire philanthropist bill gates will join us live in our studio. we want to start off this half hour with a former cia officer sentenced to 30 months in jail, the first former cia officer to be sentenced to jail for leaking classified documents. first his backstory with andrea

mitchell. >> reporter: john kiriakou is enjoying family time. his last few weeks before going to jail. the first cia officer to be impris imprisoned for disclosing classified information to a reporter. >> i want to say i came out of court positive, confident and optimist optimistic. >> reporter: kiriakou plead guilty toevealing the ooit identity of a convert cia officer involved in interrogating al qaeda terrorists, an officer whose own family didn't know he worked for the cia. his identity later became public, after turning up in a defense motion for guantanamo detainees. >> it led investigators to mr. kiriakou who admitted in court that he knowingly intentionally outed the identity of this agent. >> reporter: identifying himself as a whistleblower for leaking the waterboarding techniques.

>> in your opinion, torture or not torture? >> yes, torture. i'm not saying it wasn't necessary at the time. i'll let the lawyers decide whether it was legal, but at the time i think it was necessary to disrupt terrorist attacks. >> reporter: playing a key role in capturing al qaeda leaders but prosecutors say he is no hero. initially they charge him with leaking other names but dropped those charges when he agreed to plead guilty. >> he revealed other classified information to other reporters and this was really just the tip of the iceberg. >> reporter: in court friday, federal judge leoni brinkama called the sentence, frankly, way too light. signed a letter urging president obama to commute the sentence. >> it is terribly ironic that in an administration that outlawed the use of torture for interrogating detainees, the only person going to prison is

the person who spoke out against torture. >> reporter: joining others who say kiriakou is being used as an example for an administration determined to crack down on leaks. andrea mitchell, nbc, washington. >> john kiria kchkou is joining. good morning. good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> some say you betrayed your former colleagues in order to sell books and get a consulting firm going. others say you were wrongly convicted. >> i wear this conviction as a badge of honor because it's not about leaking. this case was about torture from the very beginning. if every cia officer or former cia officer was prosecuted for referring a reporter to a former colleague for an interview, prisons would be bursting with cia agents. >> let me stop you right there. you acknowledged, you pleaded guilty and you admitted you

identified a cia officer who was, in fact, convert. that's against the law. you don't disagree with that? >> no. i never should have done that. that was a terrible mistake. >> do you think prosecutors should have let this slide? >> i think there are administrative matters that certainly could have been taken. when this happen with his current cia officers, you get a letter of reprimand in your file, two weeks without pay. there are other laws or other government regulations that can be used to take care of something like this but to pursue me for the intelligence identities protections act was heavy handed. in fact, the author of the intelligence identities protections act volunteered to testify at my trial because he said that's not why the law was written. i have come to learn that most whistleblowers don't believe they're whistleblowers in the beginning. i do meet the legal definition of whistleblowing, bringing forward waste, fraud or

illegality. and that's what i did. >> you're saying that the government started targeting you after you spoke out first in 2007, a time when you said these practices, in your view, were torture. you said that officials high in the government authorized them. you also said they worked. in fact, in 2007, you told msnbc you were coming forward then because you thought that the agency had gotten, quote, a bum rap on waterboarding. that's someone who is defending these practices not -- >> yes, i did defend them. because i was relying on what officers told me in the building, these methods were effective. that turned out to be a lie. >> fair enough. how does that make you a whistleblower? >> in that first interview in 2007 i said it was torture and it was official u.s. government policy. >> if your purpose was to blow the whistle by talking to these reporters -- you admitted not just to the leaking of one name

but you also acknowledge giving classified information to yet a second reporter. did you ask these journalists, hey, what are you going to do with this information? >> let me correct you on one thing. this is something that the prosecution has been saying from the very beginning. they actually charged me with espionage for, quote, unquote, leaking a namative former colleague to a "new york times" reporter. the colleague was never undercover. i did not leak the name. the reporter came to me with a name. >> you disclosed the connection of that officer to a classified operation. that's what you acknowledge in your statement of fact. >> the classified operation being the rendition, interrogation program. it was no secret that the cia in 2008, 2009 was seeking to capture and detain al qaeda leaders. >> let's try to clear something up. in a recent "new york times" article you express remorse about disclosing this man's identity. you said if i'd known the guy was still undercover i would never have mentioned him.

you said in an interview, he was always undercover, how the heck did they get him? in connection with this guilty plea you said, yes, i knew he was undercover. >> yeah. >> which is it? >> i knew he was undercover during the course of his career. i also heard he retired and was living somewhere in northern virginia. i didn't realize he retired undercover. that's not an excuse or a defense. it's an explanation. >> are you hoping that president obama will commute your sentence? you have many supporters who think that he should. >> i've been very fortunate. there are many prominent americans from the left, from the right and from the center who are asking the president to commute my sentence. i hope that he does, of course. i have believed in president obama, i still do. i voted for president obama. and i know that in his heart he's anti-torture. this case is about torture. and i would hate for there to be only one person going to prison related to the torture program and it being me when the torturers are walking free and those who conceived of the torture are free, those who

destroyed evidence of the torture are free and even the attorneys who papered over the torture are free. >> does that absolve you of your wrongdoing in this case? >> no, no, and i accept responsibility for my wrongdoing. >> you disclosed the name of this officer to the journalist, who in turn passed it to a defense investigator, a picture of this officer ended up in the jail cell of a terror suspect. >> uh-huh. >> how do you feel about that? >> i feel awful. and i wonder why the justice department didn't investigate the journalist. because he really wasn't a journalist. he was working for the defense. >> john kiriakou, thank you very much. good to have you here. >> thanks for having me. we want to go outside and have a check of the weather from al. >> thanks, savannah. northern australia is getting huge amounts of rain, causing massive flooding. check it out as this car tries to pass the bus, seafoam covering the car. it distracts the officers. they don't see the car until the

last moment. a tragedy averted as that car comes out of the seafoam. as far as your weather today is concerned, we've got this mess. temperatures will be reaching out into the upper 70s aheadative cold front that's going to be bringing temperatures back down into kansas city, dallas, 78. 77 in houston. afternoon temperatures, 20s up into new england, northern plains, rockies looking at a big snow storm. temperatures there in the teens and 20s as well. that's what's going on around w >> good morning. we will start out with light snow, sleet, and freezing rain. minor ice accumulations are possible.

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going on the auction block. appraiser from massachusetts is giving us a sneak peek. dan, good to see you this morning. >> thanks for having us be part of the show. >> these are from david powers. tell us who he was. >> he knew him from 1946 right up to the assassination. >> he had a vast amount of items pertaining to john f. kennedy. >> yes. >> talk about these photos and this invitation to the wedding. >> this is all kind of wedding related. this photograph right here, bachelor party. you can see the irish mafia in the back. jack, his sister and -- jack, right there, bobby. this is signed to the powers, from jackie, a wedding photograph. this is the actual invitation that the powers were sent. >> any idea what items like that will fetch? >> we estimate it's $150, this may be $400. >> tell me about the bomber jacket. >> this is the air force one

leather bomber jacket, given to dave in 1960 or 1962. this was his pride and joy. it was talked about during his lifetime. romd reagan signed a letter, used it in his first exhibit. >> one of his responsibilities was to make sure that the presidential flag was flying when he traveled with the president. >> yes. >> this is one of the two presidential flags. >> yes, there's two now. it says president of the united states right on the inside on the original label and everything. it's quite very rare, unique item. >> signed copy of profiles, and kennedy signed this while he was president? >> it makes it so great. >> the pen signing the order to stop the delivery of defensive weapons to cuba. >> yes. >> given to dave powers.

birthday card signed by john jr. >> yes, on what would have been jack kennedy's last birthday. this is john's signature, xxo. >> these are haunting. these are notes that dave powers wrote up for the trip to dallas in november. it includes notations after the president was assassinated. >> minute by minute. it's just so earth shatteringly -- chills you to the bone when you read it. >> the last entry my president is dead. >> yes. the president before he died and was in the hospital, you open it up. open the first page says dave powers, the president was going to give you this and you can basically read it, but the key to it is that you and i will miss him the most, signed jackie. this was the day after he was murdered. look at our website and you will find all the information you need. you can bid right from your computer at home. >> dan, thank you very much.

>> thank you. >> fascinating items. >> thank you. >> the auction will be held february 17th. coming up, whitney houston's mom, cissy, talks candidly in a live interview about her daughter's struggles with drug addiction and their sometimes troubled relationship. but first these messages. ] fast! ok, what's fast? um, my mom's car and a cheetah. okay. a spaceship. a spaceship. and what's slow? my grandma's slow. would you like it better if she was fast? i bet she would like it if she was fast. hm, maybe give her some turbo boosters. tape a cheetah to her back. tape a cheetah to her back? seems like you have thought about this before. [ male announcer ] it's not complicated. faster is better. and the iphone 5 downloads fastest on at&t 4g. ♪ oooh. [ female announcer ] ...is all grown up. oooh. [ female announcer ] jared presents beautiful, natural levian chocolate diamonds and chocolate cultured south sea pearls. levian is the only company on earth to make jewelry with chocolate diamonds. levian -- the leading family in jewelry --

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local drugstore to fill a prescription, develop some photos. remember those days? times have changed. kristen dahlgren explains. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. i'm here down on wall street. looks like i'm in an upscale supermarket complete with a sushi chef. that is just one of the surprises here. it's the hip new sushi bar, juice joint, liquor and cigar store and hot hollywood salon all rolled into one. this is definitely not your grandfather's drugstore. >> anything i can do back here? >> no. >> reporter: in new york, chicago and lmplths a., the company that owns walgreen's has

opened new glitzy stores. >> you can get smoothies, sushi. i can get my diapers, wipes. >> reporter: some aren't used to the idea of buying diapers and sushi in the same place. but for others -- >> i've gotten sushi here, made-to-order sandwiches, espresso bar. >> reporter: hollywood a-listers helped to open the l.a. store. and jim cramer happened to stop by while we were shooting. >> there isn't anything i've looked for that they don't have. >> reporter: they say the idea is to provide a high-end shopping experience at all levels. >> one of the first things you'll see when you walk into our store is obviously strong architectural design. >> hi. thanks for dropping into the store. >> reporter: from the virtual assistant that helps guide you to the automated perfume bar,

technology is on full display. >> if you've ever bought makeup at a drugstore, you know how tough it can be. not being able to try anything on. here they have the virtual makeover station. you're wondering how you would look in something like blue eyeshadow, take a picture, scan the product and there you go. if your look still needs help, there's a hair salon, and you can get your shoes shined. >> get your eyebrows waxed. not that i did, but -- >> reporter: if all that just makes your head spin, don't forget, can you still get good, old-fashioned headache medicine here. i have to admit i was one of those sushi skeptics but did have some for lunch the other day. not bad and i didn't even have to walk around the corner to get any pepto bismol. >> anywhere jim cramer goes -- >> boo-yah.

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>> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >>. good. -- good morning. i am sarah caldwell. let's get a check on your morning commute. >> northbound 95 grains closed from mountain road to the riverside park way. traffic is being diverted to riverside road. crews are still working to clear the scene. otherwise in harford county, crashed to watch for. travel lanes are open.

in this city, paca and fayette, crashed to watch for it. loch raven and taylor, perring and the northern, several crashes to watch for there. roads are wet out there and they are slick. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> there is a break in the precipitation in the mountains. that will take until 10:00 or 11:00. a mixture of sleet and freezing rain will take place now. the careful pit especially the streets that have not been treated, the side streets and sidewalks, there could be some ice.

this afternoon will get above freezing. 61 on wednesday.

♪ i want to dance with somebody i want to feel the heat with somebody yeah i want to dance with somebody ♪ >> whitney houston there, singing. she was one of the most talented and celebrated singers of her generation. now, nearly a year after her death, her mom, cissy, is opening up in a brand new book about her daughter, her troubles, their troubled, at times, relationship. and cissy houston is joining us live in our studio right now. we'll have her first extensive interview about that book, coming up in a couple of minutes. i'm matt lauer, on the plaza along with savannah guthrie and al roker. couple of snow showers starting

to fall right now. >> a new blood test that will help you learn the sex of your baby earlier than ever. we have a couple that tried it and they'll find out live, with us, whether this baby is a boy or a girl. we've got "today's" friday field trips. we'll hit a road and visit a new city each friday. this week it's a double whammy. natalie and i will be hitting the road. there's a wager involved in this. >> we're not telling you where we're going? >> not yet. we'll tell you the next half hour. >> i heard that. came right through the other side. >> that's amazing. >> what are you saying, there's nothing in there to pass through? >> speaking of natalie, let's go in and get a check of the headlines from ms. morales. natalie? >> thank you. good morning, everyone. victims of a deadly nightclub fire in southern brazil. at least 233 people were killed

early sunday morning when the blaze was reportedly sparked by the band's pyrotechnics. many died from thick, toxic smoke that rip thud the nightclub. firefighters said they had trouble getting inside of the club because of the bodies blocking the only entrance. president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton are presenting a united front. the two heaped lavish praise on each other during last night's joint appearance on "60 minutes." the president says he considers the outgoing secretary of straight a strong friend. clinton's last day on the job is february 1st. the appearance has launched speculation, was the president endorsing clinton for a possible presidential run in 2016 or was it just a public thank you for a job well done? a new road to citizenship for some 11 million illegal immigrants could be paved today. a bipartisan group of senators are introducing new legislation that would increase border security and help ensure that

visitors leave the country when their visas expired. some negotiation remains and it is uncertain. the president will unveil his p proposal in las vegas tomorrow. the probe into the maker of the lithium ion batteries found no evidence that it was the source of the problem. now investigators are looking at the manufacturer of a battery monitoring system. all boeing 787s are grounded until it is determined what caused one plane's battery to overheat and another to catch fire. grammy-winning singer chris brown is being questioned by l.a. sheriff's deputies about an alleged assault over a parking space. witnesses say that brown punched another man saturday night outside a west hollywood recording studio. that man hasn't been identified but singer frank ocean tweeted last night that he was jumped by brown and a couple of other men. now for a look at what's

trending today, a quick roundup of what has you talking online. beyonce may be dropping a hint about the inauguration lip syncing. on saturday night the singer posted this picture of herself to instagram that says "can i live" or "can i live" while practicing for the super bowl. it's also a title of her husband's song. you be the judge. online resume turned into an exact replica of an amazon product page and he invites you to add him to your shopping cart if you are interested. but hurry, as the ad says there is only one left in stock. jennifer lawrence told the crowd how she earned her s.a.g. union card at age 14 while working on a commercial for mtv.

didn't take long for that clip to pop up on youtube. it is now going viral. you see jennifer hamming it up in a pro mo for my super sweet 16. very cute girl then, too. 8:05 right now. out to al for a check of the weather. >> thanks so much, natalie. got these fine-looking folks. and big news. you're pregnant? >> i'm pregnant, yes. >> what's your name? >> amy. >> mom and dad know yet? >> not yet. >> i guess they do now. >> yeah, they do. >> congratulations. >> thank you. wilmington, north carolina, pick city. as we look for today, icy conditions in the northeast with snow into new england, snow out west. big snow storm making its way throughout the rockies. for tomorrow a risk of strong storms from texas all the way into the mid mississippi river valley, snow in the midwest and northern new england. that risk of storms wednesday makes its way into the southeast with record highs in the midatlantic states, more snow in

the central and northern >> good morning.ving we will start out with a wintry mix including light snow, sleet, and freezing rain. minor ice accumulations are >> and that's your latest weather. matt? coming up, we'll talk to whitney houston's mom, cissy, about her brand new book. also ahead, a new test that can reveal the gender of a baby about a month earlier than you're used to. and a little later, we're going to show you how to build the perfect nachos for super

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back now at 8:10. it has been nearly a year since the tragic death of whitney houston. now her mom is out with a new book about her life. we'll talk to cissy houston in a moment. first the highlights of whitney's incredible career. ♪ one moment in time >> she was called, quite simply, the voice. ♪ when i'm race iing with desti♪ >> with her vast arsenal of soulful ballads. ♪ where do broken hearts go >> and top hits. ♪ there's a boy i know >> it's easy to understand why whitney houston was the most honored female artist of all time. at the pinnacle of her career, she also starred in box office

hits. ♪ will always love you i ♪ ♪ didn't we almost have it all >> but behind all that profound talent there was a troubled marriage to singer bobby brown and drug abuse. her musical legacy will not soon be forgotten. ♪ >> cissy houston's new book is called "remembering whitney:a mother's story of life, loss and the night the music stopped." i see you smile when you look at those images. >> i have a lot of smiles for her. she's great. >> so many people loved your daughter from afar. but she was your little girl.

>> not as much as i did. >> how has this last year been for you? how are you feeling? >> i'm all right. i'm getting through it, hopefully. >> you write of terrible grief in this book. you write i would be sitting in a chair crushed under a burden of grief and suddenly i would hear someone screaming and then i would realize those screams were coming from me. >> yeah. >> how did you want to tell this story? >> because they have it all wrong about her and our relationship. we had no troubled relationship. we had a great relationship. just because kids, when they get to a certain age, they want to do and don't want their mothers to know. i think people just make up thing things, you know. and it's not like that at all. she and i were very, very close. she knew i loved her and i knew she loved me. there were troubled times with her husband. i think other things troubled her so much, you know. >> the last time you saw her, i think, was at christmas, right

before she passed away in february. >> right. >> it sounds like there were some tender moments. >> very tender. >> what do you remember? >> i remember coming there, i was kind of angry, because they didn't come for dinner and all that kind of stuff. but i went some place else. and i was kind of punishing them. but they called me and said, mom, we're here. are you going to come? i said, yes, i will, after i come back from where i'm coming. the next day i did. christmas day i went to new york and i met my children, all of them. and i was so glad to see her. i didn't see her that much but we always communicated in some manner. >> then you got that terrible news in february. the l.a. coroner's report ultimately concluded that she passed of a combination of a heart condition but also the use of cocaine. there were many other drugs found in her system. and this was a lifelong struggle, it would seem, with drugs. were you surprised at that

point? did you think she was doing better at that point? >> i did think she was doing better. and drugs stay in your system a long time. she didn't have to do that that day, you know what i'm saying? it could be a week ago or whatever, what i know about it. i don't really know much about it. >> this is a very honest book. you ask yourself some tough questions. you write, should i have done things differently? was i a good mother? was i too hard on her? and the worst one of all, could i have saved her somehow? >> i think good mothers, good fathers, good families don't always have great children. bad people have good children. it's all their responsibility when they get to a certain age to choose their way. she was taught, she knew the way. >> was there a moment when you knew, i have lost her to this illness, to drug addiction? >> yeah. but when i did that, i went and

got her. >> is that when you went -- >> yes. >> what did you see when you walked into that house? >> she told on oprah what i saw, you know what i'm saying? it's not the way she had been brought up and lived and all that kind of business. things that she didn't do, but things that i thought her husband did, you know. >> let me ask you about bobby brown. >> i don't know too much about bobby brown. i don't want to talk about bobby brown. >> you are very restrained in the book. you say you don't blame him but you're not sure he helped her. >> i know he didn't help her. i don't blame him. everybody is responsible for their own actions up to a point, you know. and i think that she was raised, she knew better. and whatever took her to that position, i really don't know. >> you write about a woman in the book, somebody that you didn't care for all that much. you say they were very good

friends. >> they were. >> lived together for a time. you say there were rumors that swirled around that relationship. you come to the conclusion you don't honestly know what that relationship was about. in your heart of hearts, what do you think that relationship with that woman was about? >> that they were good friends. like raquel welsh, she had a lot of women around her. they thought the same thing about her. she was living her life the way she wanted to do it. >> you must miss her terribly. >> i miss her so much, i can't even express it. >> there's so much heartbreak in this book. you talk about times when you feel like she wasn't in touch as much. >> no. well, when children, i think, are doing what they want to do, they don't always call their parents, you know. or whatever. they seem to stay away. >> a lot of people come up to

you now and say, whitney, she was taken too soon. and you write in the book, you're not sure about that. you have a different perspective on that. >> well, i trust in god. and we never know what his -- his ways are not our ways so we have to go with that. and there's nothing i can do about it. i loved her. she was wonderful. i'm very proud of her accomplishments. and i was very proud of her, and i still am. >> cissy houston, such a delight to talk to you. i know it's not easy, but we appreciate you being here. we'll talk to you more in our next hour. we look forward to that. >> thank you. >> the book is called "remembering whitney." you can read an excerpt on today.com. we'll be back after this. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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sometimes and you get to see multiple destinations in one vacation. >> you want us to book even though it's snowing outside or maybe because it's snowing. >> you don't have to travel during wave season, but you should, because cruises offer the best deals. >> buyer beware. what do you need to know before you book? >> shop around. just as flights and hotel prices tend to fluctuate, cruise prices do, too. they can be cheaper one day than the next. do your research. >> and do some homework about the ship that you might be spending a week on? >> older ships perhaps coming up for renovations, cruise lines offer good deals on those and brand new ships, inaugural voyages. april for the caribbean, april, may, september for europe, cheaper prices. >> let's talk about specifics. royal caribbean, majesty of the

seas. what do i need to know? >> it was renovated about five years ago, a climbing wall, spa, loads of restaurants. they have a really good, fantastic value cruise to the bahamas. $209 per person. that includes a $50 on-board credit. it goes to their keys, a private keys. >> $209 per person? that's very cheap. >> exactly. >> disney dream, this is like going to disneyland but you're on the open seas? >> exactly. it starts at $399 for adults and $141 for children. and that, you'll see all your favorite disney characters there. there's a mickey pool, nemo pool, musicals, screenings and parties. disneyland at sea. >> i've got three little kids. i understand it's all about the kids. as an adult, am i going to go slightly batty on this cruise? >> you're a huge mickey fan,

aren't you? >> are there things for adults to do? >> lots of things. lounges and bars. plus it's second to none. if you don't want to see your children all weekend -- >> take them on a disney cruise. you never have to see them. >> exactly. >> this one is called the breakaway. >> brand new cruise going from england to new york at the end of april. it costs from $999 per person. >> priceyer. >> but that includes your flight to london. i looked at flights this morning and couldn't find one for that much money. brand spanking new ship. it holds 4,000 people. it's like a five-star hotel at sea. incredible restaurants, spas, fantastic bars. >> at the end of april you won't get super warm weather but at least it will be nice out on the open seas? >> exactly. >> kate maxwell, appreciate it. >> good to see you. >> good to see you. >> the art of the perfect nachos. you might want to stick around. right after your local news.

>> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning, everyone. let's start with good news. 95 northbound, the accident that was there earlier did clear. we have a situation on the outer loop at 170 on the off ramp take off ramp is closed for crashed there. perring and northern parkway, possible lane closures in effect. starting to see some delays on the southwest side. 23 miles per hour. our camera at baltimore national

pike, outer loop is slowing a bit. a lot of brake lights towards that area as well. harford road looks good on the inner and outer loops. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> unfortunately, what we have found there right now is light freezing rain did it comes down in liquid form and looks like it is not doing anything but raining, but as soon as it hits the surface, it freezes. there is still going to be an icing problem. it will not be a major ice storm, but temperatures below freezing in the northern suburbs. we have a south wind, and that is a good sign. it will take another couple of hours to get temperatures above freezing. ice will still looking at the next couple of hours. precipitation will taper off later on today.

61 on wednesday. >> that is a big change. another update at 8:56.

8:30 now on this monday morning, the 28th day of janu y january, 2013. another chilly morning here in new york city, but nothing compa compared to the ice box like temperatures we have been experiencing. it's getting a little bit warmer. good morning, i'm savannah guthrie, alongside matt lauer, natalie morales and the weather man, al roker. >> that's me. >> he's so much more than the

weather man. jack of all trades. >> we don't have time to get into all that he is. >> no. super bowl weekend is coming up. nachos, done right. >> is there anything better than a well-prepared tray of nachos? is there anything worse than those naked -- >> soggy. >> the answer to the perfect plate of nachos courtesy to that man right there, adam "nachos" rappaport. and speaking of the super bowl, our first friday field trip. natalie and i are taking a trip this friday. we are going to be live. i will be in san francisco, home of the 49ers. >> home of the ravens, baltimore. >> that's right. >> little rivalry going on. >> are you a ravens fan? >> no, but i will be for the day. so what's the deal? >> if i -- if the ravens win --

>> yes. >> -- i have to dress up like a raven. >> yes. >> if the 49ers win you have to dress up like a miner. i don't mean a little kid, but a miner from 1849. >> we'll have that on monday. >> for the whole show? >> no, just a portion of the show. i can see natalie with a little mining outfit, pick ax. it will be great. >> friday we are in san francisco and baltimore. >> cool. >> sounds good. >> go, ravens! >> go niners. >> i don't know. i think i would rather see you dressed as a miner. >> female miner? >> come on. let's get a check of the weather, mr. roker. >> let's see what we've got for you. ♪ whistle while you work sorry, wrong movie. rockies, we've got snow. 20s in the plains. 80s and 70s throughout the southwest and on into the mid

mississippi river valley. it's going to be toasty. look for showers, making their way into the ohio river valley. icy conditions in the northeast and new england, rain along the pacific northwest coast. got some snow showers making their way into the northern portions of the southwest. that's what's going on around ng >> good morning. we will start out with light snow, sleet, and freezing rain. minor ice accumulations are possible. >> and that's your latest weather. >> mr. roker, thank you very much. can we say hello to pamela

gao? she's the latest contestant to be cut from "the biggest loser" ranch. what was with you and jillian? what was the deal there? >> jillian? she has a real tough love approach and it doesn't necessarily work on anyone -- everyone, i should say. at the end of the day, we really got it together. unfortunately, it was my last week at the ranch. she's a great trainer. she knows what she's doing. we just had a little friction. >> is that what led to you doing the victory dance on the scale? >> well, that was following our chaotic last chance workout, where we screamed at each other. i was so nervous i was going home and that was to be my legacy. clearly, you can see i lost it. >> wow! when you look at that video and you look at yourself today, can you believe it's the same person? >> no. >> because you look terrific. >> put a shirt on before you do a victory dance. i can't believe it's the same person. i feel incredible. >> how much have you lost at

home? >> i've lost 30 pounds. >> a little over 60? >> correct. >> changes completely, doesn't it? >> it really does. >> congratulations. good luck. >> thank you so much. >> and continued success. pamela, it's great to have you. by the way, you can catch "the biggest loser" tonight at 8:00, 7:00 central time here on nbc. a new blood test that reveals the gender of the baby and much more at an earlier stage than before. we'll tell you more about that. but first this is "today" on nbc.

>> announcer: "today's" health is brought to you by alka-seltzer plus, available in a liquid gel. we're back at 8:37 with "today's" health. this morning a new genetic testing for expectant moms. in a couple of moments we'll meet a couple who just tried it

and are about to learn the sex of their baby live. first here is janet shamlian. >> don't you love that one? >> reporter: expecting their first baby together this summer. >> go back to the planning and just be as prepared as you can for your child coming into the world. >> reporter: at almost 35, she's at a higher risk than younger mothers for delivering a baby with genetic abnormalities, like down syndrome. to screen for those, doctors would use tests like amniocentesis, which are invasive and can give false positive results. doctors suggest something relatively new and different. >> it's the best test that we have that's noninvasive today. >> reporter: a simple blood draw as early as the tenth week of pregnancy, allowing some of the fetus' dna to be extracted and tested. according to robin's doctor, now using the test in her practice. >> you're buying that patient an

extra either month or even two that they can opt to do other testing, see a specialist and things like that. >> reporter: it costs about the same as amniocentesis, around $2,000. results come back in a week. the manufacturer claims an accuracy rate of 99%. >> the advantage is that there's no risk to the test, no invasive testing. >> reporter: it can lessen the chance of miscarriage. experts caution it does have limits. >> you can do, for instance, the test we're discussing right now and you will know about trisomes. that doesn't guarantee that there couldn't be some other problem with the baby. >> reporter: robin and her husband, getting an earlier answer on potential jeannetgene issues was important. >> one less thing for us to worry about, being 35 and older at delivery. >> reporter: that's not the reason for the test but it is a benefit for some, it will reveal early on the baby's gender. >> that would work. >> reporter: for "today," janet

shamlian, nbc news. >> and robin and jason vossler are with us now along with nbc's chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman. >> hey, matt. >> good morning to all of you. i hate to gv a woman's age on the air. you had the test a week ago. you'll be 35 when you give birth. is that the reason you decided to have this test because you're in that high-risk category? >> yes. first doctor's appointment, the doctor sat us down and said we would be considered advanced maternal age at delivery and went over the precautionary tests they want you to take and checking for down syndrome is one they begin at 35. >> you took the test about a week ago. you just received the results from this test. >> yes. >> and those results told you what? >> the test came back negative. they check for three different kinds of down syndrome. it just meant that that chromosome wasn't showing. so the baby does not have down syndrome. >> had the test come back in another way, would you have gone

off for other testing, gone to see a specialist? what would the course of action have been? >> i think for us it would have been what is the next step? do we need to see another doctor, are there precautionary tests? >> this is less invasive than amniocentesis where they put a needle into the uterus. are you in favor of this? >> it's not that i'm in favor of it. it's the next scientific step. for a couple to say, look, it's not a gender issue. if we want to rule out some problems that are incompatible with life, and yes, we want to know about down syndrome. this is a way to find out early and then abort because we want the perfect baby, critics will say. >> exactly. >> voslers have said it's not about that for them. it's about being able to plan. we talked about this. they said no, we're going to go ahead with the pregnancy but we would line up specialists, talk to pediatricians, plan for extra

daycare. and i think in that regard, it allows people to really think, okay, what's the realistic expectation of this pregnancy and what is my life like with this new baby? >> it's going to be an individual choice? >> very individual and it allows you to plan three to four weeks earlier than amniocentesis. >> i did mention that there's another side benefit. you get to find out the gender of your baby about a month before you would normally find out and you decided that you would like to know that? >> yes. >> we're not breaking any hippa laws or anything. >> no. >> because nancy has found out, she has spoken to your doctor and she has found out the sex of your child. >> yes, found out friday afternoon. >> the sex of your child in that box right there. >> are you ready? >> i'm ready. >> go ahead. lift away. >> jason? this is a time where you normally say do you have a preference and you would be smart not to answer. >> i don't. >> of course they don't. >> oh, it's a boy.

>> lots of blue. you do not have a preference. >> yes! >> were you expecting one over the other? >> i had no idea. there's a lot of boys in his family so we said it's probably a boy but we're really excited. >> now we want to know names and everything else. >> will be excited, first little brother. >> congratulations and happy, healthy baby and life together. how to build your nachos with the perfect balance of toppings for super bowl sunday. first this is "today" on nbc. i got it when we could download an hd movie in like two minutes.

[ male announcer ] once you've got verizon fios internet, you get it -- the difference 100% fiber optics makes. but don't take our word for it -- ask a real fios customer. ask me why fiber optics matters. ask me about the upload speeds -- they're sick! [ male announcer ] so go online and send a tweet to a real fios customer. last chance to get fios for just $89.99 a month for 2 years with a 2-year agreement. plus get $300 back. visit got2getfios.com for america's fastest, most reliable internet. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. "today's" american story

with bob dotson comes from colorado where one family reminds us that work and life are not the same words. good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. on vacation last summer, and born that simple truth. now they're doing something that most of us only dream. the kids love kayaking so much, they found water cold enough to slide on. so no one was really surprised when they set out this winter on a much bigger adventure. traveling the unknown. >> now we've got the entire country as our backyard. >> reporter: they're giving up this childhood eden to -- >> get rid of the mortgage, the car payments and breathe.

>> what time is it, daddy? >> reporter: dan and susie kellogg plan to live full time in this rv. with enough kids to field a football team. >> carrie. >> brody. >> kylie. >> mattie. >> that's 11. >> dan thought our family was complete. >> then this little bench warmer, cody, was born last october. >> i think everybody already looks at us and says my gosh, 12 kids. how on earth do you cope? >> living so close together. it could be like putting kittens in a sack. ♪ >> reporter: how do you handle the chaos of 14 kids and adults on the road? >> we do try to lead and not

bar bark. >> reporter: to ease overcrowding, kids camp outside when they can. cutting edge technology make this is pioneer lifestyle possible. dan doesn't need an office to be a software engineer. the internet links them to the necessities of everyday life. this is the kind of family that would have been first in line on the oregon trail. they would have fit right in with those folks in covered wagons. the ankkelloggs set off for the same reason as pioneers, freedom from ordinary lives. >> this is what freedom is when you go after it. >> reporter: we do not always travel words of wisdom. >> say them and rewrite them. >> reporter: kelloggs home school their kids each morning. afternoons are set aside for

exploring. >> how am i going to get down? >> i want them to live life in the moment and not living for tomorrow. every single day is a weekend. >> reporter: such freedom is tough. to survive will take grit and a pioneer's optimism. >> there are times where it's hard, of course. life is hard. if you have faith and you just keep forging ahead, it works out always, always. >> reporter: at first their oldest daughter, carrie, wasn't on board zblie thought going in an rv wasn't normal and it was weird. >> reporter: but she quickly realized. >> we could do anything we want now, anything, and nothing is holding us back. >> reporter: the 19-year-old passed up college to start her own company, creating art for clients on the internet. all but the youngest kellogg kids have a job to do. >> if it doesn't get done, we

don't get going. >> i really want our family to stay this close forever. >> reporter: even when life twists and turns and pulls them apart. >> i have no clue how this is all going to work out. >> reporter: but susie and dan don't dwell on the uncertainty ahead, just possibilities. they are teaching their kids the glorious feeling of starting every day new. >> yeah. what an adventure, an education. but only one bathroom on that rv, right, bob? >> i learned that the hard way. >> we're all thinking it. thanks so much. great story. the art of making perfect nachos for your super bowl party. no naked chips. first this is "today" on nbc. ♪

♪ i'm halfway to your heart

♪ you have to let me know ♪ so i don't make my worst mistake ♪ ♪ turn around and let you go [ female announcer ] when sweet and salty come together, the taste is irresistible. made with sweet, smooth peanut butter and salted, roasted peanuts. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley. nature at its most delicious. this morning on "today's" kitchen, we're giving you some help with your super bowl spread. we're talking about step-by-step information that could help you build the perfect nacho. >> how do we make sure that every chip is treated with tender loving care? our nacho guru, adam rappaport is here to tell us. >> first of all, i was told we were going to be doing this outside in new orleans.

my people lied to me. >> how do you make sure you don't get the dreaded naked chip? >> first of all, think of it this way. we're not making nachos. we're building nacho. you start with a good sheet tray. you need the sides. you don't want cheese oozing everywhere. you need the good chips. you need to support everything that's going on there. start layer of chips. cheese, meat, beans. >> can we stop? >> oh, boy. >> cheese. never, ever the stuff that's the liquid goop. >> if you have to pump it, you don't want it. >> that's not cheese. >> we like a mix of sharp cheddar and monterey jack. >> yes. >> use a lot. when it bakes it sort of cooks down. it's like a bag of spinach. where did it all go? be generous. be liberal with it. a lot of cheese.

if you want meat, we love pulled pork. we have a great recipe on bon appetit.com. you sort of sprinkle that on as well. >> is there going to be another layer on top of this? >> there will be three to four layers. come on, matt. >> last you all four quarters. black beans, canned is fine. rinse them before you put them on. >> to reduce the soginess? >> yes. first of all, nachos are a personal experience. beyond the cheese it's kind of up to you. >> all right. >> another layer. you're going to layer them and layer them. as i said, go for it. get on that cheese. >> my pork is frozen over here. >> yes, natalie. >> there's the -- >> all the cold stuff goes on after it comes out of the oven. when you're done layering, you have a mountain of nachos. >> that is a mountain of nachos.

you want ten pounds. >> this will feed an army. >> how long will you have to cook that to make sure they get done all the way through? >> 20, 30 minutes, around 350 degrees. you don't want to scorch them. you want them to cook through. you want that nice, melty, molten mound of nachos. >> when the cheese is melted? >> they're done. magic of television, we've got our nachos. here they come. >> nice. >> you want them hot. be careful with the tray. the tray will be hot, obviously. >> thank you. >> i put radishes on nachos. al, come on. >> no. >> you have avocado, radishes, salsa. >> you're missing my favorite nacho topping. >> which is what? taco sauce? >> sour cream. >> there you go. some people like -- i'm an avocado guy. you have nice crispness with the

radishes. you can put fresh cilantro on there. >> no technique. >> no. and you can kind of, you know -- >> there you go. >> we're just going to eat? >> dig in there. >> that's the point. >> get them while they're hot. have a big tray. people can customize their own. >> adam "nacho" rappaport. we're back after this. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning. i am sarah caldwell. fire investigators are investigating a dundalk house fire that claimed the life of a 10-year-old girl. the fire broke out at the 6600 block of parkway -- hartwait street. three siblings had to be taken to the hospital with non-life-

threatening injuries. it is not known if the home had

>> conditions will be improving as we head to the next couple of hours. for the next few hours there is a possibility of sleet and freezing rain. >> thank you, tony. we will be back with