cia, u.s. military, fbi without miranda rights because they want the most immediate information. after interrogation he could end up on trial in the united states. >> richard engle, good to have you here, thank you very much. in washington, the united states sedging closer to the first ever default on the government's debt. speaker john boehner ruled out a house vote on a bill to boost the borrowing authority unless there are concessions from president obama. peter alexander has the latest. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. we are now in week two of this government shutdown and there's no indication that it will be resolved before the next significant deadline over the borrowing limit that's just ten days away. there's no meetings scheduled between the two sides meaning americans maybe forced to swallow a double dose of washington dysfunction. >> reporter: back on the job, more than 300,000 civilian defense department employees

returned to work today recalled by chuck hagel including 3,000 in hawaii. >> this is huge relief for the federal workers. >> but families are still being hurt by the shutdown. their daughter, abby, suffering from a rare disorder can't participate in a new clinical trial at the national institutes of health. >> we're angry. angry for my daughter. how can they not get along to make this work? >> in washington, president obama is sticking to his guns demanding republicans end the shutdown bypassing a so-called clean c.r. a budget extension without any changes to the president's health care law. but house speaker john boehner insists that wouldn't pass. >> there are not the votes in the house to pass a clean c.r. >> reporter: the white house is challenging boehner to put that to a test and the pro obama group is accusing the gop of being irresponsible. >> we're all losing out. >> reporter: as many as 22 republicans would likely vote with democrats to reopen the

government today, no strings attached. that's more than the 217 votes needed. and now the clock is ticking toward another potentially disasterous deadline, october 17th when the u.s. hits it's borrowing limit, the debt ceiling, when the country runs out of money to pay it's bills. on meet the press, jack lew offered this warning. >> it's very dangerous. >> he said congress is playing with fire. you know if congress does nothing we'll be headed to the first default in this country's history. both sides insist they don't want that to happen. both sides say they're looking for a way out but at this point it's entirely unclear what that is. >> another tough week in washington, peter, thank you so much. natalie is here with the story of a 9-year-old that gets on a flight without a ticket or boarding pass. >> that's right. a lot of questions about how that 9-year-old boy traveling by himself got on a plane in minnesota and flew to las vegas.

tom costello joins us with more. >> where else would you go, right? >> especially if you're 9, right? >> this happened on thursday. somehow this 9-year-old stow away got on board it in minneapolis and boarded a flight flying all the way to vegas without a ticket or assigned seat. he told the flight crew his parents were in the rear of the plane but the crew became suspicious and alerted las vegas police that met the plane and took the boy into protective custody. it's not clear how the screening and security failed in this place. one is that the boy managed to attach himself to the family moving through the ticket screening and tsa checkpoint process but airport police have had previous run-ins with this boy and he was suspended from school. his parents thought he was at a friend's house and told police

they hadn't seen him on thursday. the child was screened in minneapolis along with other passengers. the minneapolis airport says this is the first time that it happened there but the fact that he was able to fool the tsa and delta airlines raised a lot of security and screening questions this morning. >> something tells me he will be answering to a lot of questions at home as well. thank you. new violence in egypt. a massive explosion, possibly from a car bomb hit security headquaters. there are causalities. on sunday, clashes broke out between protestors and security forces leaving more than 50 people dead. in some neighborhoods street battles raged for hours. today, tensions there remain high. the supreme court opens today for a new term. justices will consider a number of key issues including campaign contributions, government sanctioned prayer and presidential recess appointments. the good news about gas prices, they are down once again. the average price of a gallon of

regular dropped 14 cents a gallon over the last two weeks. the average price now about $3.38 a gallon. >> it happened to three time indy 500 winner who was here on the program a few weeks ago but on sunday during the last lap of the race his car went airborne, slammed into a fence showering spectators with debris. he suffered a concussion, a broken ankle and two fractured vertebrae. at least 13 fans were hurt as well. the olympic flame has begun it's 39,000 mile relay through russia with a rocky start. the flame actually went out as it was being carried through a passage way -- >> whoops. >> the runner kept on going, though. this is odd. got help from a nearby man with a lighter. >> come on. >> it will now chris cross russia, 13,000 torch barers

heading to sochi for the ceremony. >> that can't be good. >> pass the torch, pass the lighter. just keep going. natalie, thanks. >> you had a busy weekend. >> we had all sorts of weather to talk about. let's show you what we've got going on. we're talking about a big storm system. a big fire storm down in southern california. then, we've got blizzard in the dakotas. up to four feet of snow falling there. wayne, nebraska seeing a rare ef-4 tornado. amazing there. thankfully, nobody killed. and massive flooding in the louisville, kentucky area where up to nine inches of rain fell. here's today's top weather. part of the system pushing it's way through the region, we'll be looking at the stormy east coast. a frontal system is pushing it's way in. as it does, we do have a risk of strong storms stretching from new england all the way down into the carolinas. we're watching that.

in fact, along this system, we'll be looking at heavy rain pushing in. the heaviest rain down through the southeast stretching from wilmington, north carolina all the way down to georgia, up to two to three inches academic performance in the u.s. is uneven. so 45 states and the district of columbia have voluntarily decided to raise the bar with consistent educational standards. now, students in those states will have a better chance to succeed in college and careers and to compete in the global economy. which means a better future for our students and our nation. join exxonmobil in supporting the common core state standards. let's solve this. it is a muggy morning. the rain mostly between

we had tropical storm karen die out but the effects will still be felt all the way up the east coast later this week. >> all right, al, thank you very much. family members of miriam carey that was shot and killed trying to breach security at the white house last week are trying to find out why police used deadly force to stop her. first, let's get the latest from justice correspondence pete williams. good morning to you. >> good morning. investigators say that the shots were fired at miriam carey in her car by officers of the washington d.c. police department and the u.s. secret service. only later did they discover she had no gun but did have a small child in the backseat.

so now the question, was the shooting justified? officials say both times that officers fired on miriam carey's car she was trying to get away. once after jamming her car into reverse at the foot of capitol hill, and again near a senate office building just before she crashed her car into a capitol police security booth. the secret service says the chase began after she turned her car into a security checkpoint on the perimeter of the white house grounds and hit temporary fencing and struck a uniformed officer that tried to stop her. members of congress applauded the law enforcement response as a prudent one in view of what happened, especially since the white house and capitol building are considered potential targets of terrorism. >> car bombs are so common in some parts of the world and we're wary of vehicles that may be used to harm innocent visitors or people that work in the u.s. capitol building. >> reporter: most police

departments have rules banning the use of deadly force against a fleeing car either by ramming or shooting at it. police in washington d.c. say their rules also prohibit shooting at a moving car unless deadly force is used against the officer or another person. but the director of an organization that advises police departments he says exceptions maybe justified. >> policing in washington d.c. is a lot more complicated. they have to protect the u.s. capitol and the white house. they're concerned about terrorism and also they're concerned about other citizens that might be injured as well. >> authorities are promising more than a routine investigation of why deadly force was used this time and they say that will include a reconstruction of every step that officers took in chasing the car and opening fire, matt. all right. pete williams on this story for us. thank you very much. we're joined by two of miriam carey's sisters, valley carey and amy carey-jones who are looking for answers in the death

of their sister and they're joined by their attorney. thank you. >> thank you. >> my condolences on the loss of your sister. it's been a few days i'm sure you've asked yourselves a thousand questions trying to put this into perspective and try and figure out how it could have happened. have you come up with any answers? >> we have not come up with any answers yet because we haven't been disclosed exactly what happened. we still haven't been properly notified and we're just trying to make sense of it. there is an investigation going on but we still have a lot of questions. >> a lot of us have sat and seen footage of news breaking and tragedies occurring but for you to see this footage now of what happened, realizing it was your sister in that car, can you explain what it's like? >> it's horrific. it's horrible to actually get phone calls from reporters as opposed to being notified by police personnel and being asked to turn on your tv to see a car

that your sister drives and then to see your niece on the television and knowing that the person in the vehicle could only be your sister my niece would only be with my sister. >> let me ask you about her mental health over these last several weeks, months, and perhaps years. federal officials involved in this investigation have said she your sister believed she was monitored by the president and her apartment was under surveillance. does any of that sound familiar to you? >> no. >> no. those things don't sound correct which is why we're speak egg out for her. that's not the miriam that we knew. >> did she ever talk about the president in a way that raised your eyebrows or raised a red flags. >> she never had disputesor political agenda. she never talked bad about president obama. she is not talking about delusional. she was not delusional. >> she did suffer from postpar

tum depression. >> yes. she was. she was under treatment and doctor supervision and being tapered off her medication. >> she ended up in washington, basically at the white house, went 80 miles per hour down pennsylvania avenue. was surrounded by police as you have seen with their guns drawn, did not stop. struck a police officer and lead them on a chase. i know you have a lot of questions about the use of deadly force, but would you concede that it was your who determined the outcome in some ways. >> no. not at all. >> no? >> what i do see is that perhaps maybe my sister was a little afraid being surrounded by officers with their guns drawn. if she wasn't supposed to be in a restricted area. how is she allowed to be in that area. if you hear gunshots it's like i'm afraid.

i don't want to be here. i have a baby in the car. my sister was trying to figure out how to get out of there. >> even with the specktor of terrorism we live under right now in a location like the white house or the capitol, you think the police perhaps did not do what they needed to do to ensure your sister wasn't trying to bring harm on a large scale? >> i feel things could have been handled differently and maybe there was some overreaction or negligence. we don't know. we're still trying to find out but we still feel that there was maybe another story than what we're being told. >> i just want to interject one thing. but that's part of what the problem is. we have this siege mentality -- we're all afraid of each other now. that doesn't excuse the police behavior. they have very specific protocols in all major cities and i'm sure the same in washington d.c. and the fact that someone may be a threat, there's certain protocols you're

supposed to follow before you use deadly force. >> can i just ask quickly about her daughter. 19 months old -- >> no, she's not. >> how old is she? >> 13 months. >> how is she doing? where is she? >> we know that she is safe and we're confident that she is okay. and we'll continually be in touch with her. >> ladies, my condolences. i appreciate you talking to us and we'll follow the developments in this story. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. >> matt, thank you. coming up, there's new developments today in the violent confrontation between bikers and an suv driver in new york. why investigators are now taking a closer look at the actions of an undercover police officer. plus an exclusive live an undercover police officer. plus an exclusive live interview we lith elizabeth

oh, please don't call me "pumpkin." no, white chocolate and pumpkin. oh! pumpkin. ha-ha! pumpkin is back at dunkin' donuts. hurry in for delicious pumpkin coffees and lattes today. america runs on dunkin'.

let us head into the orange room. carson is off today but that doesn't mean the orange room is empty. no, tamron hall is there. >> happy miley, i mean, monday. it's all about miley cyrus this morning after her snl performance, the twitterverse all lit up with rave reviews for miley. just in case you missed it, take a look. >> okay, you're really the old me, then what do i say every single morning when i wake up. >> oh my, god, it is like total the morning and the birds are chirping and stuff like that. >> guys, i just don't think we should do that wrecking ball sketch. >> what? come on. >> it's our party we can say what we want. >> and we did stop.

>> that is miley cyrus and michelle bauchmann. she might become a member of the five timers club. but i love this. after her performance sunday, this is what miley sent out to her fans. a little video there to show she is actually in on the joke and people received it well. look at this facebook entry i just got. carlo says raunchy but hilarious. proof positive the fans are in on the joke and don't forget miley cyrus coming up in the 8:00 hour. she is pretty much unstoppable. >> i'll never look at the government shutdown the same way. [ rob ] our daughter is all kate.

same grin, same walk. and the same beautiful hair. [ female announcer ] nice 'n easy. in one step get expert highlights and lowlights. for color they may just think you were born with. [ rob ] i'm a lucky guy. [ female announcer ] with nice 'n easy, get the most natural shade of you. [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant. when managing your weight, bigger is always better. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant he actually told me that a lot of the foods that i thought were really healthy for me can do damage to the enamel on my teeth. i am a healthy girl, i love salads, i love fruits, and it's not something i want to give up. my dentist recommended that i use pronamel twice a day as my daily toothpaste. pronamel will help protect the enamel from future erosion. it's just so great because all of those foods

that i enjoyed so much, i didn't want to give up, and now i can continue to have them. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore.

>> good morning. i am stan stovall. lockheed martin says it will furlough 3000 employees beginning today. more workers could be forced to stay home from work if the shutdown continues. the baltimore location employs roughly 530 people. the company also operates a site in middle river. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse larman. miles peraround nine hour prior to franklin boulevard. this is what it looks like leading up to this. traffic at a standstill but that is impacting your right and eastbound 140. another problem of note in harford county. we have a crash-injury accident and that location those delays stretch back to i-95 towards the

house in region. snowden river parkway and brokenland parkway, we have an accident. this is impacting traffic at powder mill road. grand oak drive, 2 right lanes closed with an accident. >> this warm weather trend is coming to an end. you can fill the humidity out there right now. the bay in centreville third we have a lot of cloud cover building and and showers are developing. sprinkle early on in baltimore. heaviest of the rain will come in through the midday. maybe some strong thunderstorms with in that.

it's the 7th day of october, 2013. you're looking at a large miley cyrus crowd. five years ago, she was a teen sensation playing hannah montana much to the delight of two of my

kids. and now, at 20, miley cyrus changed her imagine considerably and even had some controversy. we'll talk to her about her transformation. inside the studio, i'm matt lauer along with al roker, natalie morales, and savannah guthrie. >> in the news, u.s. special forces carey out high risk raids in africa and libya capturing one senior al qaeda leader. >> and the first ever default on america's dealt. >> and wild weather from coast-to-coast. fires in california, snow in south dakota and everything in between. >> still to come this morning, elizabeth smart opens up about her 9 month ordeal after being abducted. she is here for her first live interview. we'll talk with her in just a bit. >> and then tom hanks will be in the studio. he has a great new movie. captain richard phillips that was taken hostage on the high

seas in 2009 by somali pirates. >> we got the first interview with captain phillips. so you know the ending and what's going to happen. i watched it and i had my heart in my throat. >> it was intense and the final ten minutes will take your breath away. it's an amazing movie. >> first up, an update on the violent confrontation between the bikers in new york and the suv driver. >> that's right. there's new developments including new questions surrounding the role of an undercover policeman. did he witness the encounter but fail to report it. stephanie gosk has the latest. good morning. >> good morning, savannah. residents in the neighborhood are still rattled by what they saw on the street corner. prosecutors have video and told the court that it shows five or six men surrounding alex lien as he lay on the ground kicking and

stomping him in the head. >> reporter: the nypd is asking for the public's help in finding two persons of interest seen in these photos released overnight. this as the biker using a chrome helmet to bash in the window of alexian lien's suv. he was arraigned on first degree assault and criminal mischief. one week after the infamous altercation and beating. but his attorney says he never actually hit lien. >> my client obviously overreacted and smashed in the window. but beyond that, he was not a participant in any assault on that victim. >> 35-year-old robert simms was also arraigned and faces charges of gang assault and felony assault. his lawyer says he is cooperating with police but worries simms may not be fairly treated. >> they need a fall guy. they need somebody to take the

weight for this. >> but while the investigation moves forward, the police are now coming under fire. senior nypd officials tell nbc news an undercover officer may have been on the scene as well during the final moments of the attack but that he didn't intervene because he was worried about blowing a sensitive operation. there may have been as many as five other off duty police officers who took part in the unauthorized rally as well. in the end, it was residence of this uptown manhattan neighborhood that stepped in to help the family before on duty police got to the scene. >> this family was in clear and present danger. they could have been both killed. not just the man, the driver. but they wanted to get after the wife as well that was holding on to her child, unacceptable. >> internal affairs is investigating the possible role of off duty police officers in that rally. they are specifically looking at why that off duty undercover officer took three days to come

forward. back to you guys. >> all right. stephanie gosk, a lot of questions there. thank you. al has a look at tropical storm karen and it may have an impact on millions of americans. >> announcer: today's weather is brought to you by edward jones. nearly 7 million investors already know face time makes a difference. >> and as we look, we can see we have showers now off the florida coast. what's going to happen, this is basically the reminisces of what we're calling tropical storm karen. it fizzled out. not a big deal. it's going to reform off the southeastern atlantic coast and as it does we look for it to hang out in the southeast and it will eventually make it's way up the coast. it may effect new york as we get into friday but in the meantime, look for wet weather along the southeastern atlantic coast. today temperatures are mild in the northeast but kind of cool out west. that's going to switch as the jet stream changes a bit and

moves up to the north. chicago up to 72 by tomorrow where as we drop down to 70 in new york city. temperatures about 5 to 10 degrees cooler in the northea >> a few showers will give way to rain through the midday. there could be a couple of thunderstorms. temperatures in the mid to upper and that's your latest weather, savannah. >> al, thank you so much, it has been ten years since elizabeth smart was rescued. her story captured the country after she was abducted at the age of 14. she was held captive for nine months.

since then she has become an advocate for kidnapping victims. she has never publicly spoking about the details about her abduction until now. she is breaking her silence in a book called my story. she is here this morning for an interview. good morning, it's so nice to meet you. >> thank you. >> this book is called my story. i thought it was apt because a lot of people may think they know what you went through but this is the first time you told it. >> this is my story and i share as true to my story as i possibly can and i want to go into a lot of detail about it because i want other survivors out there to know that they're not alone. to know that these things, they do happen but that they can move forward. that they can be happy. that they can come back and have a wonderful life. >> that's one of the things that's notable about this book. you don't dodge any of the ugly details. was it difficult though to relive it. >> it was really interesting. i'm really glad i did it and, fortunately, i know my outcome.

i know how happy i am right now. i have a wonderful life right now so going back and writing it, it was okay because i knew my ending and i knew how happy i am right now. >> let's talk about the beginning. that night, you were asleep in your bed. you're 14 years old. it should be the safest place in the world. what do you remember? >> it was the scariest moment of my life. as far as 14-year-olds go i probably was the naive side. i had lived a very sheltered life. so when i woke up in the middle of the night to see a strange man standing above my bed holding a knife at my neck. i couldn't believe it was real. i couldn't believe that this was happening to me. it was the scariest moment of my life. >> he lead you out of the house. rugged terrain and there you were in captivity, in a camp, out in this desert area for

several months. can you describe what life was like there? >> it was really, really hard. i mean, every time i thought, oh my goodness i have hit rock bottom. life can't get any worse. i thought being forced to give up my pajamas that i had been kidnapped in and forced to wear a robe was as bad as it could get then as soon as we got to the robe wearing he'd say well you're going to go naked tomorrow. somehow every time it would get worse. when i thought it was bad enough that i had been forced to drink alcohol, he would force me to drink it so much that the next morning i'd wake up and my face and hair would be crusted to the ground in vomit. bad to worse every time. >> horrifying for anyone. but you were 14 years old and a girl of deep religious faith. it's as though he took everything that mattered to you so deeply. >> he did. at least he tried to. >> he tried to.

>> he tried to. >> well as we learn in the book he most certainly did not. i mentioned that it is very graphic and you talk about very openly being raped every single day. what does that do to a 14-year-old girl. >> to me, that was the worst thing that could possibly have happened to me. i felt like death would have been better than being raped every single day. that was my perspective as a 14-year-old. now that i'm 25, i can look back and say, yeah, that's -- i can overcome that. i can get over that but at 14 i couldn't and it seemed like everything that my two captors did, they got away with and it seemed like i couldn't get away with anything. so it made me want to survive. it made me do whatever i had to to survive which was a lot of the time things i never wanted to do. >> well, we're going to tell the story of how you were rescued

and you had a lot to do with how that happened. elizabeth smart it's a pleasure to talk to you. stand by and we'll be back right to talk to you. stand [ woman ] if you haveright the audacity to believe your financial advisor should focus on your long-term goals, not their short-term agenda. [ woman ] if you have the nerve to believe that cookie cutters should be for cookies, not your investment strategy. if you believe in the sheer brilliance of a simple explanation. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do: face time and think time make a difference. join us. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, here we honor the proud thaccomplishmentsss. of our students and alumni. people like, maria salazar, an executive director at american red cross. or garlin smith, video account director at yahoo. and for every garlin, thousands more are hired by hundreds of top companies. each expanding the influence of our proud university of phoenix network.

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it's 7:44 and we're back to talk to he lelizabeth smart. there were times when you came very close. there was an installed denlt in particular where a detective walked up to you and you were in a veil and your kidnappers were right there. if you can explain to people how afraid you were that you weren't able to cry for help because i think people need to understand what it was like to be in your shoes. >> it's really important to realize that i was just 14 and, yes, looking back you think well why didn't she run? why didn't she say something? there was a police officer right

there. i mean, that is very easy to say looking back and not being in that situation right now. but 14 years old. i had only ever seen him be successful. >> he didn't just threaten you. he threatened your family. >> yes, he told me if i ever screamed, if i ever yelled, if i ever did anything they didn't want me to do or say they would kill me and if they didn't kill me they would kill my family. what a perfect target my family would make because one tragedy already happened to them. >> he knew where they all lived. >> what would stop them from a second. >> there were months when he moved you to california. you outsmarted him and through a series of -- i don't even know how to explain it. you have to read the book but you were able to convince him to go back to salt lake because you knew that was your best chance of rescue. >> i hadn't been found in

california. and they started talking about new places to go like new york and boston and all i could think about is if i wasn't found here there's no way i'm going to be found anywhere else. i have to get back to salt lake so i thought about what he did and how he got away with what he did and i decided to try it myself. >> so you got him to go back to salt lake. there you were in the walmart. you had just looked at some missing children's posters. this got me. you said he told you they're not looking for you anymore. you walked outside and tell us what happened next. >> i remember walking upstate street when all of a sudden all of these police cars drove up and jumped out of their cars and came and surrounded us and they started asking all of us questions and i was really, really scared to answer because i had lived with threats every single day and i can tell you that words are stronger than physical chains and i've had both so i know. but they were asking me questions but i was just too scared to answer until finally

the police officer separated me from my two captors and they started asking me are you elizabeth smart? well, if you are, do you know that your family misses you so much and they love you so much and they have never given up on you. don't you want to go home? and it was only at that point i could finally tell them i was elizabeth. >> the book tells the story of the sweetest reunion with your family and then years later you had to confront this man and this woman who was just as much a tormentor in court. what was it like to look him in the eye one last time? >> it was -- because i didn't know how i would feel looking at him again, being around him again -- but looking at him again and realizing that he no longer has any part of my life and he will never control me ever again or make me feel bad

ever again that he no longer exists in my life and i never have to let him. >> your mom gave you a wonderful piece of advice that has really helped you. can you share it with everybody. >> yes. it was the best piece of advice i received. so i'd love to share it. she said the morning after i was rescued this man has taken so much from you. there aren't words strong enough to describe how wicked and evil he is. he has taken nine months of your life from you that you will never get back. the best punishment you could ever give him is to be happy and to move forward with your life and do more than you want to do. by feeling sorry for yourself that's only allowing him to steal more of your life away from you and he doesn't deserve another minute. >> you're married and back at home and playing your harp. >> yes. >> how did you heal? >> healing takes a lot of different forms and it's

different from everybody. there's not a wrong way. there's not a right way. for me, i've had lots of different therapies or healing. i mean, music has played a huge part in my life. i've played the harp since i was 5 and if you have ever listened to the harp it's about the most relaxing instrument so that's been a huge part. my family. i couldn't ask for a better family. i have the best family in the world, and i have loved horseback riding my whole life. my grandpa smart and i were very close and we used to go out riding a lot and although he has passed away riding is still a part of my life. >> well, elizabeth smart such a joy to talk to you. i'm glad your story has such a happy ending and you have been a wonderful advocate as well. elizabeth smart foundation. you're helping others. thank you for being here. is this the bacon and cheese diet? this is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the...

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coming up, we have two big stars, tom hanks and miley cyrus. >> after a check of your local news and weather. wow, i've been claritin clear for 10 days! when your allergies start, doctors recommend taking one non-drowsy claritin every day during your allergy season for continuous relief.

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to calculus, trigonometry, finance. you can really just get what you need at your own pace. and so, bank of america came and reached out to us and said, "we are really interested in making sure that everyone really understands personal finance." we're like, "well, we're already doing that." and so it was kind of a perfect match. .> good morning i am mindy basara. time for a check of the morning commute. >> let's bring you up-to-date on the major roadways. 795 is where we have the biggest

problems this morning. we have a crash taking up the left lane. 8 mi. per hour as a result of that. you want to avoid this as long as you can until they are able to clear it. it's like we have this delay in place towards the house and agent -- thompson region. earlier accident now clear. 33 mi. per hour from support towards 50. as for traffic at patuxent river and on every road, delays due treat lane closures and downed wires. harford road, another accident of note. normal delays on the north and west side. >> busy on the roads.

the weather has yet to get started. heavy rains and from the west to. 76 downtown, 72 at the airport. humidity running high as well. this is going to be moving towards baltimore, especially after 10:00 a.m. nine some of the downpours make it harder to see. there could be stronger thunderstorms and added this afternoon. the rain clears out this evening

it's 8:00 on today, coming up, a tiger mauls an oklahoma zoo keeper. now the debate on what went wrong and what should happen to the tiger. plus tom hanks stops by to talk about his modern day pirate

tale. and she's the hottest artist in music both on and off the stage. miley cyrus hits the plaza for a live concert today, monday, october 7th, 2013. >> miley. >> we're miley's biggest fans. >> we love you miley. ♪ we can't stop and we won't stop ♪ >> i came to see miley cyrus. >> i'm the only grandmother rocking it here. ♪ and we won't stop >> we're back on this monday morning. you would think something is happening out here. >> something is happening. >> some little event. some occasion. anyway, miley cyrus is going to take to the stage in about a half hour. a big crowd. >> i see a lot of miley inspired

hair dos. very excited to see her. we'll talk to miley and get a concert in a few moments. but first, the top stories of the morning. >> good morning guys. good morning, everyone. we do have new details on the american military raids overseas this weekend. u.s. commandos tracked down al libi. he was taken to a u.s. navy ship for interrogation. he was indicted for the 1998 attacks on u.s. embassies in africa and navy s.e.a.l.s struck the hide out of al shabaab but reportedly missed the group's leader. if her first live interview elizabeth smart says she is now sharing her story of abduction, rape and abuse to let other survivors know they can move forward and find happiness. earlier on today with savannah she described what she felt when she faced her abductor in court. >> but looking at him again and

realizing that he no longer has any part of my life and he will never control me ever again or make me feel bad ever again. that he no longer exists in my life and i never have to let him. >> kidnapper brian david mitchell was sentenced in 2011 and is serving two life terms. an oklahoma woman is recovering in the hospital this morning after been mauled by a tiger. kerry sanders is in oklahoma good morning. >> good morning, natalie. the 27-year-old zoo keeper let her guard down. the tigers are in cages and in those cages there are fences. for reasons not explained she reached through with her left hand and it got caught on her jacket or a glove and that's when the tiger attacked. >> reporter: the tiger that

attacked the zoo keeper is in guarantee ordered by the local sheriff. a 14-year-old 450 pound male that clawed and chewed the 17-year-old's left arm. >> even this morning shows no aggression. never, ever has showed aggression. >> the zoo owner says the tiger is more than 150 big cats here at the 46 acre exotic animal park. the humane society issued a report last year calling the park a reckless tiger cub petting zoo that endangers both animals and the public. >> i have no fear of the government trying to shut me down because we have done nothing wrong. >> reporter: he says he is able to work closely with the cats because he has 30 years experience. the zoo keeper who was attacked has only worked here for one year. still pending, a federal investigation by the united states department of agriculture. >> we are open for business. as of right now, we don't even

have a usda. >> because of the government shutdown. >> because of the government shutdown. so there is nobody that is governing the animal welfare act right now. >> doctors were able to save the zoo keeper's arm but they say infection could still be a problem, natalie. >> all right. kerry sanders, thank you so much. we do have some sad news this morning. we lost a long time member of our today show family, linny boyette. he passed away due to a heart attack. >> good to have linny back. >> good morning, linny. >> linny boyette has been a part of today for 25 years. >> how you doing lin? you all right? >> boom. >> such a fix tour on the plaza he was known as a super fan. >> linny has his first sign with a picture on it. >> but to us he was parts of the family. >> pondering the question is

kate middleton better prepared for life as a royal. >> he woke up earlier than some of our staff, 3:30 a.m. to take a post outside the studio. he road the subway to watch the broadcast. always wearing a hat and sunglasses and giving his signature point to the camera. >> it's something i enjoy doing. sort of like a draw. >> despite the countless offers to come in he preferred to watch from the plaza until he was coaxed in. >> bring linny. >> really, i will. >> you're coming in. >> a member of the u.s. military, linny served in vietnam, korea and europe. while stationed overseas he became a fan of today watching the show via satellite. after retiring he was such a fix tour that fans lined up for photos and photographs. he was profiled by the new york times twice. around here we considered ourselves lucky to know him.

>> he's more than just a person in the audience, he's a part of the show. >> almost like a good luck charm. you walk out and it's like, hey, linny. >> a good luck charm now gone leaving a space on the plaza that will never be feeled. linny boyette was 71 years old. >> and we actually get more you viewer mail about linny than any of our on air team and we understand because we love him too and we'll miss him a lot. i know you have lots of thoughts on him as well. >> natalie, thank you. for so many years the first-person we saw. we would stand in the studio and look out and he would be there and give you the finger point or a fist pump. >> when he wasn't there he was missed. people always asking where's linny. that's the first question. >> people have been asking that for month. it's so sad. so many people loving him. meredith who just adored linny said so saddened to hear of his passing. i always loved seeing him every

morning on the plaza. he had a wonderful smile and so tweet. >> left a remarkable legacy of love, loyalty and life. we will miss his presence on the plaza. our condolences go out to his family. >> won't be the same without him. >> we'll take a turn now and get >> good morning. it is a muggy morning. the rain mostly between and that's your latest weather. >> all right, al, coming up, it may be one of the hottest movies on the planet right now, we're

talking about gravity but not everyone is impressed. an astrophysicists picks it apart a little bit. >> and then tom hanks on captain phillips. >> and the woman everyone is talking about. miley cyrus takes to our concert stage. her fans are out in force. but first, these messages. about buying the latest windows touch laptops with intel inside on layaway. here's what they say. i do love the touchscreen. i find it much easier to use. this is so much faster than my old computer. i like that you can personalize it - that you can have the things that you like. it's an awesome price for what i am getting. i love the price and i love the layaway plan. free layaway is amazing! i want to take it home! (laughing) walmart has top brands of windows touchscreen computers powered by intel -- and you can put them on layaway today free with no opening fee. i don't miss out... you sat out most of our game yesterday! asthma doesn't affect my job... you were out sick last week.

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all right. we're back now at 8:13 with what's trending today. let's go right to twitter. the movie gravity starring sandra bullock and george clooney earned $55 million. it's getting rave reviews but one notable movie goer had others. he took to twitter to question the science in the film. here's a look. mysteries of gravity. why bullock a medical doctor is servicing the hubl space telescope. >> she's a doctor. >> here's another one, mysteries of gravity, why bullock's hair in otherwise convincing zero-g scenes did not float freely on her head. >> it wouldn't look good. come on. >> it is hollywood. >> we should point out he actually really did like the movie. my tweets hardly ever convey opinion. mostly perspectives on the world

but if you must know, i enjoyed gravity very much. >> end of story. >> we do love that. trending on esquire, the magazine is revealing it's sexiest woman alive for 2013 today. any guesses? none other than scarlet johansson as you see on the cover. the 28-year-old actress on the cover of the november issue. it's the second time the magazine has chosen her. the last time was seven years ago. on a roll with don jon out right now. she was on broadway earlier this year. >> really good. >> and then tom hanks is here to talk about his new film captain phillips. but in a reddick chat he was asked about forest gump and if there's a scene that always gets to him emotionally. so which scene is it? take a look. >> you got new legs. new legs. >> yeah. i got new legs. custom made. titanium alloy.

it's what they use on the space shuttle. >> magic legs. >> wow. such an iconic movie and character. hard to believe it was out almost 20 years ago. >> i know. i know. >> mr. hanks is sitting there in our studio. >> tom, other than forest gump is there a movie that makes you cry every single time? >> gravity. >> oh my gosh. >> as soon as that hair didn't float up. >> you lost it right there. >> i thought we were going to get a buddies joke. >> that makes me cry in different ways. >> that makes me cry in different ways. >> we'll talk to tom ♪ as your life changes, fidelity is there

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tom hanks has a brand new movie out that's getting tons of buzz. it's called captain phillips. it's based on the 2009 hijacking of the u.s. cargo ship by somali pirates. hanks plays the title character that has to prepare his crew when the pirates come on board. >> we stay locked down until help arrives. no one comes out until you hear the password. if the pirates find you, remember, you know the ship, they don't. make them feel like they're in charge but keep them away from the important things like the generator and the engine controls. stick together and we'll be all right. good luck. >> hey, tom, welcome back. good to see you. >> words for wisdom all across the board. stick together. good luck. >> don't get ahold of the engine room. did you follow this story

closely as it unfolded in 2009. >> other than a quick couple of headlines. it seemed to be over pretty quick but i wasn't hanging on every word. it was like that happened fast, didn't it? they got them. okay. >> when you decided to play this part, you went up and met richie phillips. >> yeah a couple of times. >> what stood out about him? >> he was wearing socks watching an ncaa basketball game. my kind of hero. i'll take that. he is very happy go lucky. he is very grounded. he's kind of goofy almost when he's not working and when he's on board the ship, even his wife doesn't want to see him then. he's all business. >> to bring home the reality of what he went through in that lifeboat for those days you have to take people in that boat. you have to convey the heat and the fatigue and the thirst and the pain, how did you do it? >> well we had a small little lifeboat that we shot in.

it was actually a couple of days literally at sea. it smels horrible in there. it's got the worst lighting on the planet earth. it became trashed instantaneously. the other guys, you know, we were living close enough in order to see the pores on each others faces. so it became a very tactile experience for us all. >> you mention your costars in this movie and i want to mention a couple of things about this, first of all, they're not trained actors basically. >> they're not trained actors but story telling type guys. >> they were found in minneapolis and answered a casting call to be in a movie with tom hanks. >> that's right. >> i have to tell you i thought they delivered an intense performance in this. >> the first time i met them was the day -- the scene, the take where they stormed the bridge. we had never -- we were kept -- we had kept separate and they were the skinniest most terrifying human beings i had ever come across.

it was wild. and once -- i finally saw the movie, we never knew what they were saying to each other. it wasn't necessarily in the script. there was so much other stuff going on so hi to wait until i could read the subtitles in the movie. >> and you talk about not meeting them until the scene where they stormed the bridge. that's coming up with what i thought was an interesting piece of strategy. he didn't want you guys to get buddy buddy before that scene. he wanted you to see them for the first time when you were confronted with them. >> that was a tactile experience. he never made an announcement. we just figured out we're not going to see these guys. he was working them like crazy. they were there five weeks before we showed up. >> we talk about the physical side of this. the heat and the pain of being in that lifeboat. there's also the emotional side and in talking to captain phillips, he said he was sure he was going to die. >> yeah. >> and at times he said i almost wanted to die. >> yeah. >> so you're an actor and you're trying to bring people to that

level. at night you get to go home and have a nice meal and maybe a glass of wine. how do you jump back into that emotional place the next morning. >> i'm a professional. that's one thing. it does hang with you. you get a sense of a marathon. there is no breaks. you pick upright where you left off the day before. it's almost in real time. it takes about five days. you ride an easier life. you keep your life more simple than it might be otherwise and you're always having this interior dialogue going on with yourself that is always reminding yourself of where you got to be the next day. >> the movie starts in somalia and you get to meet the pirates, the would be pirates before they actually take over the ship and i think people might think it's funny for me to say it this way, do you think there's almost more of a sympathetic view of these pirates, keeping in mind they commit crimes, but after you get to meet them in their home. >> i wouldn't call it

sympathetic. i would call it comprehensive. i think you can understand a bit more of the hopelessness of the place. and when you realize that they are hungry. that they are surrounded by corruption and there's nothing but poverty and hopelessness you might almost begin to think well what would i do if i lived in somalia as opposed to where i live now. >> it's an extraordinary movie. having followed the story for a long time, it's amazing to watch it come to life. >> you had richard on the show at some point. >> we were the first to talk to him when he was freed up in vermont. >> he was dizzy. >> it was probably awhile before he got his feet on the ground. you're fabulous in this, tom. >> thank you. >> good to see you. >> i got to spend three months on a gorgeous cruise ship. >> luxury cruise liner. >> always good to see you. captain phillips hits theaters on friday and the real captain will join us on that day on today. >> thank you so much. well, he garnered millions of

fans by turning conventional wisd wisdom on it's head and now he's out with david and goliath, underdogs, misfits and the art of battling giants. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> we all thought it was david's faith and a miracle that helped him prevail. you see something different in that story. >> the story is much more complicated and interesting. i think we underestimated, for example, just how powerful a sling is. the weapon that david chose is a devastating weapon. and also we -- i am not going to give it away but there's a secret to goliath that many medical experts have been speculating about in recent years. so i start the book by retelling that story and it makes you understand, wait a minute, it's not this improbable victory by a one in a million chance. underdogs actually have a real chance against goliaths.

>> if i could sum it up that's the thrust of the book. sometimes something that appears to be a disadvantage can be an advantage. you give a lot of real world examples of that. can you give me one right now? >> sure, i have chapters on education. i have a big chapter on class size that says we have a -- the conventional wisdom that says the smaller the class the better it is for a child and i say that's true but only up to a point. when classes get too small, the affect starts to reverse and your child may have been worse off than they would have otherwise. so there's a case where spending more and more money and hiring more and more teachers doesn't always create the advantage we think it's going to create. >> you have the theory of desirable difficulty and tell stories of people that suffer with dyslexia and went on to enormous success. >> yeah, if you look at successful entrepreneurs and innovators a hugely disproportionate number of them

suffer with disabilities. i sat down with incredibly successful business men and asked them what did that mean and they think they did as well as they did not in spite of their disability but because of it. that in learning to cope with it and work around it they learned things they would never have otherwise figured out. >> it's a very interesting insight. makes you look at difficulties you might encounter in your own life in a different way. it's always good to have you here, thank you. the book of course is called david and goliath. coming up we'll have miley cyrus live in concert. but first a check of your loca >> this is wbal tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning. im have mindy basara. here is sarah caldwell. >> the accident was cleared on 795 near franklin boulevard.

we are looking at delays on the west side. 27 minutes on average to get you from 795 down to 95. marriottsville all the way towards the beltway. let's update you on accidents. dulaney valley road old bosley, injury-accident. another one at some and avenue. wolfe street and orleans street, watch for closures due to a crash. j.f.x. on average 18 miles per hour. patuxent river road shut and mt. airy road due to annex and down wires. outer loop traffic owing away from us. that extends to the towson region. in the area of dulaney valley road, that is what it looks like. heavy on the outer loop towards towson. mild right now, he. 76 downtown.

70 in parkton. humidity through the midday. heavy rain west of hagerstown. indication of stronger storms along the front edge. could be a strong to be a thunderstorm. and inge of taper off will give way to sunshine tomorrow. much cooler on wednesday and thursday. we may go back to the rain. >> another update at 8:56.

8:30 now on this monday morning. it's the 7th of october, 2013. the crowd is getting more and more excited because we're just moments away now from the concert of one of the hottest stars in the country. >> we think she has been a little busy lately. she hosted saturday night live over the weekend to really strong reviews. she had the most talked about performance at the vmas. a new album out and the music is burning up the charts. we'll talk to her and listen to her coming up in a little while. >> that's right. because she is taking over our concert stage in just a few minutes. we know how excited everybody is here. lots of buzz where miley is. so you can help power our buzz meter by tweeting with the #mileytoday. >> al, a check of the weather. >> we'll show you what's going on for our week ahead. we talk about showers and thunderstorms moving into the northeast during the week today. we're also looking for more wet weather making it's way into the pacific northwest. as we get into the midweek, we're expecting to see more wet

weather along the east coast. above normal temperatures in the central part of the country. and then the latter part of the week, rain in the northeast and below normal temperatures for a good portion of the western half of the >> a few showers will give way to rain through the midday. there could be a couple of thunderstorms. temperatures in the mid to upper don't forget, you can keep track of your weather any time of the day or night go to the weather channel on cable or weather -- >> weather whatever -- >> weather.com online. savannah.

>> all right, al, thank you so much. as part of our education nation initiative we sent jenna bush-hager back into the classroom to learn about some of the issues today's teachers are facing. always good to send a teacher herself. good morning. >> good morning. i liked being back. having been a teacher myself, i know it's a constant juggle between lesson plans and bigger policy issues. i met up with a brand new teacher and a veteran to get their take on some of the challenges. >> reporter: over 3 million public schoolteachers stepped into the classroom this year armed with study aids, signs and smiles. like samantha, over 300,000 are new to the profession. >> today is my first day in my own classroom as a head teacher. i'm feeling realdy excited. >> reporter: others are veterans. she has been in front of a class for 25 years and is still as

enthusiastic as ever. >> this is that part of the year where anything is possible. >> reporter: along side the reading, writing and arithmetic, teachers this year are planning for reforms. policies that will impact classrooms across the country. one receiving the most attention, the common core standards. a set of consistent academic goals for all students. so far 45 states and the district of columbia adopted the benchmarks. they're endorsed by the department of education and both teacher unions. but teachers have mixed feelings. >> there's no discussion about are they appropriate and do they engage all students. >> the politicians don't know what's best. the people that know what is best are the people in the classroom. >> reporter: it will go hand in hand with testing. results which will impact teachers evaluations. >> providing a rigorous

curriculum was always my goal and i didn't need the state coming in and telling me that. last year, i had a child who said to me if i don't pass this test are you going to get fired? and i thought to myself, no 8-year-old should have that burden on their shoulders. >> reporter: while the year ahead may present policy challenges, selena and samantha insist their passion in the classroom won't subside. >> what do you love about your job? >> i love the fact that after 25 years i still have so much i need to learn. >> what about you after two weeks? >> being able to transfer the passion that i have and share with my students, it's the most amazing thing. >> it doesn't get old. >> i know, i love it. >> so neat to see you back in the classroom. there's an initiative called 30 million words. i was fascinated to learn about it. >> we're rolling this out at education nation today and basically what we found is that kids that are entering the

classroom from more marginalized neighborhoods have a vocabulary less than their peers by 30 million words by the time they're 3 years old. so early childhood education is key. reading to your kids is key. even as little as my baby. we read to every day. it's important. >> it's an amazing work you're doing. great way to kick off education nation, jenna, thank you. >> thank you. >> we'll have more on it all week on all the platforms of nbc. coming up next, the moment our crowd is waiting for. miley cyrus live in concert. but first, this is "today" on nbc. pumpkin's back at dunkin'? now you tell me. try the new pumpkin pie donut or any of our other many pumpkin treats today. america runs on dunkin'.

the toyota concert series on "today" brought to you by toyota. >> our crowd is ready, miley is ready with the hit off her new album we can't stop. ladies and gentlemen, miss miley

cyrus. [ music playing ] ♪ it's our party we can do what we want. it's our party we can say what we want ♪ ♪ it's our party we can love who we want ♪ ♪ we can kiss who we want ♪ we can sing what we want ♪ red cups and sweaty bodies everywhere ♪ ♪ hands in the air like we don't care ♪ ♪ cause we came to have so much fun now ♪ ♪ bet somebody here might get some now ♪ ♪ if you're not ready to go home ♪ ♪ can i get a hell no? ♪ ♪ cause we're going to go all night until we see the sunlight all right. so la da di da di ♪ ♪ we like to party, dancing with molly ♪ ♪ doing whatever we want ♪ this is our house ♪ this is our rules ♪ and we can't stop ♪ and we won't stop ♪ can't you see it's we who own the night ♪ ♪ can't you see it's we who bout that life? and we can't stop ♪

♪ and we won't stop ♪ we run things things don't run we ♪ ♪ we don't take nothing from nobody ♪ ♪ yeah, yeah ♪ it's our party we can do what we want ♪ ♪ it's our party we can say what we we want ♪ ♪ it's our party we can love who we want ♪ ♪ we can kiss who we want ♪ we can sing what we want ♪ to my home girls here with the big butt shaking it like we at a strip club ♪ ♪ remember only god can judge ya ♪ ♪ forget the haters cause somebody loves you ♪ ♪ everyone in line in the line bathroom trying to get a line in the bathd room ♪ ♪ we all so turned up here ♪ getting turned up yeah, yeah. ♪ ♪ so la da di da di ♪ we like to party ♪ dancing with molly ♪ doing whatever we want ♪ this is our house ♪ this is our rules ♪ and we can't stop ♪ and we won't stop

♪ can't you see it's we who own t the night ♪ ♪ can't you see it's we who about that life ♪ ♪ and we can't stop and we won't stop because we run things things don't run we. we don't take nothing from nobody ♪ ♪ it's our party we can do what we want ♪ ♪ it's our party we can say what we want ♪ ♪ it's our party we can love who we want ♪ ♪ we can kiss who we want we can sing what we want ♪ ♪ it's our party we can do what we want to ♪ ♪ it's our house we can love who we want to ♪ ♪ it's our song we can sing if we want to ♪ ♪ it's my mouth i can say what i want to ♪ ♪ yeah, yeah, yeah. ♪ ♪ we run things things don't we ♪ ♪ we don't take nothing from nobody ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ yeah

♪ we can do what we want ♪ we can do what we want to thank you. >> miley cyrus. thank you. we won't stop either. more music from miley in a moment. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

she has a country music singing father, a mom who is in talent management and what every girl wanted, a fairy god mother who was dolly parton and now at 20 years old she is in a new area of her career. a new album called bangers and music on the top of the charts and a great showing on saturday

night live. how did you do? >> it was awesome. it's two very opposite things. we went on a little late because of the game so now i'm up very early. it was very late to very early. >> were you nervous? >> no, i'm excited to be there. this is what i'm born to do just from doing sitcoms and balancing both. it was a dream thing for me to do it. it was fun. >> we started promoting you were going to be here. >> did people start sleeping here already. >> they started sleeping here but i had people come up to me and say i know what i want to hear. are you surprised by the attention you're getting right now? >> not really, i mean. it's kind of what i want. i'm an artist so i'm hoping i get a little attention otherwise my record sales might be a little sketch. >> you talked about the vmas and you said people called it a hot mess but it was a strategic hot mess. did you go there and say i'm going to do something. some people are going to love it. some people are going to be offended by it but people will be talking about it the next morning, was it your plan?

>> i don't ever really plan to offend people but sometimes that just happens because i think people, they're not open to what they don't understand but that's why what i'm doing is for my fans because they're all really young so they understand what i'm doing. >> did it go exactly as you planned? >> it went exactly as planned. it's a month later and we're still talking about it. >> it's amazing. a lot of it was very provocative. i'm never going to go to a sporting game and seeing a foam finger. >> without doing this with it. >> i probably won't do that but i'll be thinking about it. add to that the naked shot on the wrecking ball for your video, it's very clear that you are navigating. >> that also you can't help but every time you go by a wrecking ball you want to get naked and get on top of it. >> i don't pass a lot of wrecking balls. >> i've seen a trillion. >> that's true. >> you're navigating tricky territory between child star and adult performer. is it harder than you thought it

would be. >> no. because this is just like who i am. i think it's only hard if you're trying to be something you're not. being who you are is really easy if you're really true to that. >> is it a phase? is this a phase? is the sexual side of you that we're seeing a lot of something that's going to be here for awhile and move on to something else. >> i heard when you turn 40 things start to go a little less sexual. so probably around 40, i heard that's when people don't have sex anymore. i guess maybe around then. >> do you know how old i am? >> i'm going to guess 40? >> i love you again. >> 55. >> 55. oh, well, then you're really definitely not sexual. >> any do overs? terms of your career right now? is there something you would like to do differently than you have done. >> i can't change anything. i can't go back. i can do a lot of things but i can't change the past. nothing. anything i can't control i don't really think about. i just live my life the way it

is and i don't really regret anything. >> one of the things you have done is you have answered some of your critics. one comes to mind in particular, sinead o'connors. your thoughts on her. >> i think she is an incredible artist and i was inspired by her for my wrecking ball video which started the whole thing. i don't know how someone can start a fight with someone that's saying i respect you and love what you did. you suck and i don't like you. that was crazy but i'm a big fan of hers. so it doesn't really matter. >> do you wish you would have stayed out of the fray. you did fire back. >> it's all good. you can write as many open letters as you want. that's what blogging is. i get open letters every day. it's nothing too new for me. >> what are you going to do next? do you have a five year plan? you said you don't plan things a second ago. i think you meant overnight but do you have a five year plan? >> not really. i'm focused on when i get to go

on tour which is going to be next year which i'm really excited about so that's really my focus. my plan is focussing on right now and continuing what i'm doing. i'm the happiest i've ever been in my whole life. i'm happy to be here. >> you're getting a lot of attention. everybody i talked to about you miley says this young lady has real talent. do you ever worry that some of the things that go on around you draw people's attention away from the talent. >> i don't worry about anything because i know who i am and i know that i'm an artist and put this time and effort into my record and my record is proof of really who i am and, you know, i said something before where for me the most important thing is being a really good person and that doesn't depend on what you do on stage. that depends on how you treat people when you're off stage and i know how i treat people so i'm not too worried about it. >> talk to me about your parents. >> my mom is over there somewhere.

there she is. so that's pretty awesome. >> do they still have influence over you at 20? the same kind of influence they may have had over you at 14? >> yeah, for me my parents have always been about being really who you are and figuring that out and what's good about that is as i trust them a lot so i can go to them with pretty much anything than a lot of kids that have to hide things from their parents that i don't have to. my parents are accepting. that's what real love is is unconditional and that means it doesn't depend on what you're doing. it's just that means they love you no matter what and that's what parents are supposed to be. >> you're going to stick around and sing another song. we're going to hear "wrecking ball" next. >> yeah. >> ladies and gentlemen, "wrecking ball" from miley cyrus in a moment. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

here she is with her number one hit off her new album bangers, miley cyrus and wrecking ball. [ music playing ] ♪ we clawed we chained our hearts in vain ♪ ♪ we jumped never asking why ♪ we kissed, i fell under your spell ♪ ♪ a love no one could deny ♪ don't you ever say i just walked away ♪

♪ i will always want you ♪ i can't live a lie running for my life ♪ ♪ i will always want you ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ ♪ i never hit so hard in love ♪ all i wanted was to break your walls ♪ ♪ all you ever did was wreck me ♪ ♪ yeah, you, you wreck me ♪ i put you high up in the sky ♪ and now you're not coming down ♪ ♪ it slowly turned, you let me burn ♪ ♪ and now, we're ashes on the ground ♪ ♪ don't you ever say i just walked away ♪ ♪ i will always want you ♪ i can't live a lie, running

for my life ♪ ♪ i will always want you ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ ♪ i never hit so hard in love ♪ all i wanted was to break your walls ♪ ♪ all you ever did was wreck me ♪ ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ ♪ yeah just closed my eyes and swung ♪ ♪ you left me crashing in a blazing fall ♪ ♪ all you ever did was wreck me ♪ ♪ yeah, you wreck me ♪ i never meant to start a war ♪ i just wanted you to let me in ♪ ♪ and instead of using force ♪ i guess i should have let you

win ♪ ♪ i never meant to start a war ♪ i just wanted you to let me in ♪ ♪ i guess i should have let you win ♪ ♪ don't you ever say i just walked away ♪ ♪ i will always want you ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ ♪ i never hit so hard in love ♪ always i wanted was to break your walls ♪ ♪ all you ever did was wreck me ♪ ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ ♪ yeah i just closed my eyes and swung ♪ ♪ left me crashing in a blazing fall ♪ ♪ all you ever did was wreck me ♪ ♪ yeah, you, wreck me

♪ yeah, you, you wreck me >> thank you guys. >> miley cyrus, thank you so much. the new album is called bangers. and we're back with much more of today after a check of your >> this is wbal-tv 11 news in

baltimore. good morning. i am mindy basara. a state trooper is in critical condition after being struck while helping with a field sobriety track. officer jacqueline line was struck on catherine avenue. stay please remind drivers to move over if you see an emergency vehicle. it is the law.

>> a few showers could break out anytime now. there could be thunderstorms as well. the rain tapers off this evening and we dry out tomorrow. thank you for joining us.

another weather update at 9:25.

>> announcer: from nbc news, this is today's take with al roker, natalie morales, and willie geist. live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. welcome to today on this monday morning, october 7th, 2013 inside studio 1-a. i'm willie geist along with al

roker and natalie morales. >> miley monday. >> miley mania on the "today" show. rock it out there. >> it was great. >> some of the interview with matt was fascinating wasn't it? >> wow, yes. >> let's just start with sex after 40. >> should we set the record straight on this. >> you're not quite 40 yet. >> what's it like after 40? >> how many years do you have to go? >> i have two more years. >> enjoy those two years. >> it's the greatest 30 seconds you'll ever enjoy. >> it's wrong. that's not true. >> i'm kidding. >> wrong, not true. >> not true. >> she talked to matt about the sinead o'connor. she attacked me but i'm used to it. >> the foam finger thing came up. we'll never look at foam fingers the same after this. >> you put snl together with her performance out there, through all the smoke and mirrors and everything she is really talented. she can sing and she can

perform. >> and we're talking about miley cyrus. >> she will last because of her talent. >> it's part of the strategic hot mess plan. we're still talking about her a month later. >> we'll hear more from miley cyrus later in this hour. she will do a song from us as well. >> terrific. >> early on today savannah talked to elizabeth smart, this after friday when meredith did the one hour special. elizabeth was the kidnapping victim. the nine month ordeal. she has a book called "my story." she was 14 years old taken from her salt lake city bedroom in 2002. she described her experience to savannah. >> it was the scariest moment of my life. i mean, as far as 14 year olds go, i probably was on the naive side. i mean, i had lived a very sheltered life. so when i woke up in the middle of the night to see a strange man standing above my bed holding a knife at my neck, i

just couldn't believe that it was real. i couldn't believe that this was happening to me. it was the scariest moment of my life. looking at him again and realizing that he no longer has any part of my life, and he will never control me ever again or make me feel bad ever again. that he no longer exists in my life. >> yeah, and the other thing she said was -- >> so incredible. >> talking about the idea that the greatest punishment for her abductor is that she is happy and living a fulfilled life was his life is over. >> and she wanted to speak out now and she wrote this book just so that victims of these kinds of crimes realize that there is happiness. that you move forward. you move on in life and what an incredible young lady. it gives me goosebumps. >> she is 25 and she is married and meredith went back with her to the place where she was taken when she was snatched from her

bedroom and meredith said she was struck about her poise and her strength to be able to go there. didn't shed a tear. wanted to show how strong she was. she is an incredible young woman. >> she doesn't want to remain a victim. she's a survivor. >> she's more than a survivor. >> incredible young woman. shutdown continues today. old story. 7th day of the shutdown. let's look at the bright side, the snl side. >> there you go. >> weekend update had an interesting take on the shutdowns winners and losers. >> loser, john boehner, i feel sorry for you buddy. it's exhausting watching you trying to maintain your dignity while wrangling the tea party maniacs. >> loser, the obama care website which had technical issues all week because of too much web traffic. you can't campaign on the fact that millions don't have health care and then be surprised that millions don't have