good morning. alarming abduction. a mother shot and killed outside her doctor's office. her 3-day-old baby taken. this morning investigators have found that child alive, and have a person of interest in custody. was that family targeted or was it a random attack? scrat him. mitt romney distancing himself from rocker ted nugent after he made some very harsh comments about president obama and his cabinet. >> our president, attorney general, our vice president, hillary clinton, they're criminals. they're criminals. >> an angry speech, and we'll tell you which part of it is even getting the attention of the secret service. and 100 days to go.

olympic fever catching on in london, with the opening ceremony now just over three months away. are the venues ready? how will the city handle the crowds? we're throwing an olympic-sized party on the plaza with many of the athletes who are hoping to shine "today," wednesday, april the athletes who are hoping to shine "today," wednesday, april 18th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, everyone, i'm savannah guthrie. the olympics today. but we'll start with the news, that newborn in houston you talked about, not even a week old. witnesses say they could hear his mother yelling for her baby as she lay dying. >> this morning that child is in state custody as investigators are trying to find a possible

motive in this case. we're going to have the latest on the investigation in just a couple of minutes. >> also ahead the search is intensifying for a missing ft. bragg soldier. the 23-year-old woman was last seen on saturday morning and officials fear she may be in danger. we'll hear from the woman's sister. and a rare wednesday edition of "today's professionals." just wait until you see who is joining our panel this morning. then an exclusive interview with madonna. this morning the material girl opens up about trying to stay on top of the music world at the age of 53. and the madonna we don't see when she's at home. plus how she reacted to a photo of her 15-year-old daughter lourdes smoking a cigarette. >> but we want to check with the top morning -- top stories of the morning. natalie morales over at the news desk. >> good morning, savannah and matt. good morning, everyone. as you heard a newborn baby has been found safe and alive after his mother was brutally gunned down outside a houston pediatrician's office. baby keegan is less than a week old but he's already been

through so much. keegan's mother, 28-year-old kayla golden took the newborn for a routine checkup tuesday in a houston suburb. police say the mother and baby were leaving the office when kayla got into a verbal altercation in the parking lot with a woman sitting in a lexus that was next to kayla's pickup truck. >> i seen the lady get out and struggling. >> reporter: during the scuffle the woman pulled out a pistol and shot kayla several times in the chest police say. she then grabbed baby keegan, put him in her car and sped off with a male companion. witnesses say kayla screamed, my baby, my baby, as she lay dying. after a manhunt of more than five hours, police found little keegan safe and sound, but they aren't saying where and who had him. earlier, officers stormed a nearby housing complex, forcing their way into one apartment. outside they recovered the lexus. family and friends are now left

to mourn little keegan's mother, who died trying to protect her baby. >> keegan's only 3 days old. he needs to know his mom. he can't do that now. >> police have detained one person of interest but haven't released a motive for the shooting and kidnapping. they also say they want to complete background checks on baby keegan's family before he's returned to them. u.s. and nato are preparing to enter the final stages of the war in afghanistan. military and diplomatic officials meet this week to finalize an end game for international troops on the front combat lines in afghanistan. democratic-led senate committees get their chance today to grill the general services administration officials at the center of a spending scandal. earlier this week, gop lawmakers questioned the agency's use of taxpayers money to fund conferences and parties in lavish resorts. well this next video might be disturbing to some of our viewers. havoc at a florida grocery store last weekend, when a car careened through the glass

doors, injuring ten people. the youngest of the injured was a 3-month-old who was hospitalized. the driver was a 76-year-old woman who has been charged with careless driving. police say alcohol was not involved in the crash. luck may have run out for a michigan lottery winner. 25-year-old amanda clayton has been charged with fraud for collecting $5,000 worth of public assistance, even though she took home a $735,000 lump sum of a $1 million jackpot. clayton has pleaded not guilty, and vows to fight the charges. a heart-pounding moment on a track as drag racer matt hagan's car became a wild fire ball at 260 miles per hour. though he should have felt lucky to be alive, explosions are par for the course in this sport. hagan angrily threw a piece of the smoking wreck, and stormed off, disappointed at leaving the four wide nationals qualifying race. and jamie moyer proved that age is just a number last night

as the 49-year-old became the oldest pitcher ever to win a major league game, leading the colorado rockies to a 5-3 win over the san diego padres. and now cooperstown has come calling. the baseball hall of fame has asked moyer for some sort of memorabilia to commemorate his record-setting night. congratulations to him. that is a great feat. back over to matt, savannah and al. >> he was on the show not long ago. >> proud of him. >> mr. roker with a check of the weather. >> -- came in for peyton manning and threw at least two touchdowns. >> mr. roker with a check of the weather. >> let's see what's going on for you for today.h a check of the weather. >> things quieting down rather nicely we have heavy rain through the southeast, good news for texas and louisiana, all the rain in march, the drought is now over, we're looking at wet weather moving into the pacific northwest as another system makes its way in with showers along the coast. beautiful day through the southwest. look for sunshine in the

northeast. temperatures a little cooler than the last couple of days and some hit-and-miss showers and thunderstorms through the central great lakes. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's going on in your neck of the woods. >> tom kierein, storm center 4. this is a welcome sight. some much-needed rain about to move into the metro area to wash the pollen out of the air and give us some needed rain. we've been dry, running around five inches below average rainfall for the year. and a cool morning, we're in the 50s, so grab an umbrella and a light jacket before you head out. we're going to stay into the 50s to low 60s the rest of the day with o >> that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right, al, thanks very much. the white house is defending the director of the secret service in the wake of that prostitution scandal involving his agents, and members of the u.s. military. this, as new details emerge about just how many people may have been involved. nbc's mark potter is in cartagena, colombia. mark, good morning to you. >> and good morning, matt. the scandal unfolded at this

posh cartagena hotel but officials say it actually began several miles from here at a strip club. in a working-class neighborhood. u.s. officials tell nbc news this strip club, known as the pley club located in an industrial section of cartagena is where members of president obama's advanced security detail went last week and hired prostitutes. residents say the pley club at night is crowded with international tourists. its website shows scantily clad women and promises to turn fantasy in reality. a u.s. source says 11 u.s. secret service agents took prostitutes from the pley club to the hoe till caribe where they were staying. the source also told nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isikoff at one of the prostitutes was shared by two agents. who afterwards got in a heated dispute with her over the fee she demanded. less than $60. >> she wanted to be paid for both of the agents. they wanted to split her price.

she complained to local police. the local police went up to the agents' room, banged on the door, and when they weren't saturday fayed called the u.s. embassy. >> reporter: officials say other agents in the group then were also discovered because they had paid a hotel guest fee. and the women with them had to sign in and leave i.d. residents say the legal sex trade in cartagena is a booming business. with women and customers out on the streets long into the night. this woman says she works as a prostitute in the area near the pley club. she says while she didn't see the secret service men, americans are frequent visitors. seeking sex, drugs, and alcohol. meantime, on tuesday, the scandal widened to include ten american servicemen now under investigation. u.s. military officials tell nbc news they include five from the army. two from the navy. two marines, and one from the air force. all of them connected to the secret service advance team. on capitol hill tuesday, the

secret service director, mark sullivan, met with lawmakers. as the white house expressed confidence in his quick response to the scandal. now, in public accounts, employees at the pley club denied the agents were there hiring prostitutes. meantime officials say investigators of the secret service and the military are in cartagena trying to unravel the scandal. among those they hope to question are prostitutes allegedly hired by members of the president's advance team. savannah? >> mark potter in cartagena, colombia, thank you. now to presidential politics. mitt romney's campaign is dealing with fallout over controversial statements made by one of his high profile supporters, rock musician ted nugent. nbc's andrea mitchell has the details on that. andrea, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. once again the political world is buzzing about controversial comments by one of a presidential candidate's supporters. this time, threatening and obscene comments about president obama by a romney supporter that were disavowed by the republican campaign. but it may not be that easy to

ignore the outrageous words of hard rocker ted nugent. ♪ rocker ted nugent, the self-proclaimed motor city madman makes no secret of his language-standing contempt for barack obama. here is nugent in 2007. >> obama, he's a piece of [ bleep ] and i told him -- >> reporter: mitt romney welcomed nugent's endorsement last month when asked about it on a st. louis radio station. >> ted nugent, he said he had a great conversation with you, and if ted says okay, he endorsed you, i'm pretty tempted to do the same thing. >> that's good to hear. it's been fun getting to know him, ted nugent. >> reporter: nugent delivered his endorsement on twitter on march 2nd, tweeting after a long heart and soul conversation with mitt romney today, i concluded this good man will properly represent we the people, and i endorse him. romney's son tweeted less than two hours later, ted nugent endorsed my dad today.

ted nugent? how cool is that? he joins kid rock as great detroit musicians on team mitt. on saturday, at the national rifle association convention, which romney also attended the day before -- >> i will protect the second amendment rights of american people. >> reporter: nugent urged the crowd to support the likely gop nominee, and delivered a violent rant againsthe president, the cabinet, and liberal members of the supreme court. >> we got a president, an attorney general who doesn't even like the constitution. we got four supreme court justices who don't believe in the constitution. if you can't galvanize and promote and recruit people to vote for mitt romney, we're done. we'll be a subof indonesia next year. our president, attorney general, vice president, hillary clinton, they're criminals. they're criminals. we are braveheart. we need to ride into that

battlefield and chop their heads off in november. >> reporter: that raised questions for the white house. >> i think the president has said, and i and others have said, that, you know, we canton policing the statements of supporters across the board. >> reporter: the romney campaign issued a statement saying divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. mitt romney believes everyone needs to be civil. but they did not mention ted nugent by name. and last night, the romney campaign told nbc news that contrary to nugent's claims, they never solicited his endorsement. although clearly they were pleased about it at the time. the secret service said it is following up on nugent's violent speech. but they've not launched a formal investigation. matt? >> all right, andrea mitchell on this story. andrea, thank you very much. ted koppel is a special correspondent for nbc anticipates "rock center with brian williams." welcome back. >> thank you, matt. nice to be here. >> let me start with these comments from ted nugent and i'd like your comment less on the specific comments, more on the preview they probably give us as to the level of discourse we're

going to be seeing in this campaign over the coming months. what's your take on it? >> look, we live in the age of twitter. and anything that can be reduced to 140 characters is going to have resonance. it's going to explode, you know, across the blogosphere, and that's what's been happening. and the sillier the issue is, the greater resonance it seems to have. i don't know how candidates can disassociate themselves from it. but they're going to have to. >> but in terms of the ability to get some level of civility back in to the political process in this country, when you've already heard the kinds of comments coming out of the republican primary race so far. we know the democrats are capable of the same kinds of things. are you cynical that we can see an improvement? >> i'm almost without hope that we can see improvement, because the nature of media today is such that it thrives on that kind of fueling. >> series of gotcha moments? >> the more you can put gasoline

on it the better it is for the blogosphere. >> let me ask you about another story that's been in the headlines over the last couple of days. this secret service scandal down in colombia. you're laughing already -- >> no. >> but the accusations are extraordinary. >> they are very serious. there is no greater responsibility that either the u.s. military or the secret service can have than securing the physical well-being of the president. anything they do that in any way undermines that is bad. >> so should we view this as an unfortunate isolated incident? or might it sound a larger alarm? >> i think we should view it for what it is. and that is an unproven allegation at the moment. and let's see how it turns out. and i guarantee you that congress, which is probably licking its lips already at the prospect of a good investigation here, will get to the bottom of it. >> back to presidential politics. we know the match-up pretty much now, and we're talking about sums of money, ted, that will be spent in the upcoming campaign that are mind boggling.

>> unbelievable. >> some say a billion dollars on the part of obama campaign. i heard a figure this morning that perhaps mitt romney may raise $800 million. what role is money going to play in who we choose as a leader? >> we're talking about super pac money here for the most part when you talk about those $800 million numbers and that billion dollar number. i just came back from france, as you know, doing a piece for "rock center" and on the french elections. let me just put it this way, matt. the leading french candidate in the course of their entire campaign are not going to be spending more than a barely adequate morning show host earns in one year in this country. >> and so what do we learn -- good dig. so what do we learn from them? and what can they learn from us? what's the major distance in the system? by the way, their campaign is four months long? >> their campaign, it starts in the first -- on the 1st of january, and at that time anybody can run. and a guy who runs around in a bumblebee costume is running and a lady in a see thru blouse who

is a stripper, she is running. the actual campaign is only about six weeks long. and during the course of their campaign, no political advertising. zero. which i think is a good thing. but the crazy thing about the french campaign is they have to be absolute equal time. not just equal time. for these last two weeks of the campaign, and there are ten candidates, every one of them has to have equal time, every one of them has to be on at exactly the same time of day. and because that is a physical impossibility the way the french found equal time is to keep everybody off the air for those two weeks. >> i know you spent a lot of time in paris. >> wouldn't be a bad idea. >> no, it's true. you spent a lot of time in paris covering this story. you said that was an assignment? ted koppel. you can see more of ted's report on "rock center with brian williams" tonight at 9:00, 8:00 central time. always good to have you here. >> i'm glad to be here. >> turning now to the olympics. as we mentioned today marks 100 days until the opening ceremony

in london. we've got our countdown clock up and running and there's a live look at olympic stadium where the host country is gearing up to welcome the world's best athletes. in london this morning, they're saying it with flowers, only 100 days to go before the games finally come to town. >> london will be ready. on time. and on budget. ready to welcome the greatest sporting events on the planet. >> reporter: more than 200 countries will compete. 15,000 athletes. 9 million tickets, largely sold. the main olympic stadium in more than 30 venues throughout the united kingdom are all but ready. among them, iconic new and venerable old buildings. still to come, some temporary structures like the beach volleyball arena. just a stone's throw from buckingham palace. and 10 downing street. >> i think it will be quite amazing. the atmosphere, like a bit you

don't normally get in london. >> even stoic londoners are getting a little excited. >> it's going to be absolute chaos. it's going to be fun. >> the covers are coming off and things ready, taking shape now. so it's good. >> reporter: there are final tests to be done, and final qualifying rounds to be won. final touches to the huge bell that will ring in the opening ceremony. and some 8,000 torch bearers to rehearse. britain's royal olympic ambassadors, william, kate and harry, will cheer them on as they run through the grounds of buckingham palace. and the sporting royals will do their bit to help inspire a new generation of britons to go for medal glory. >> we'll help out as much as we can. >> reporter: british police and defense forces are coordinating the biggest-ever peacetime security operation. on the streets, in the air, and on the water. but you'll still be able to ask a london bobby the way. >> i'm very confident that we'll be able to make sure that it's not just a safe prelolympics, b

fantastically fun as well. >> reporter: if the new cable car over the thames is ready on time, visitors and athletes can avoid potential traffic snarls and get a bird's-eye view of what many call the greatest show on earth. london is a great city at any time of the year. >> sure. >> or in any year. but given the olympics coming, i think it's going to be a blast and we're all going to be there. >> it's very exciting. i know you've dry cleaned your spandex. you're going to be ready to go. >> we've got a whole new suit. >> we haven't actually discussed what our event will be this time around. >> ball room dancing i think comes to mind. >> maybe olympic snuggies for you guys. >> we're going to have much more on the countdown to the olympics when we catch up with some of the u.s. athletes who are hoping to dazzle the world in london. again, 100 days away. first, this is "today" on nbc.

just ahead, madonna on her

music, motherhood and her 15-year-old daughter smoking a cigarette. >> we'll hear what she says about that. plus new problems for pippa. we're live in paris with the fallout over these racy photos of her at a racy costume party. but first your local news. [ sniffles ] you gonna be ok, hon? yeah. [ sneezes ] [ female announcer ] jim's allergies are becoming an issue. [ sneezes ] [ female announcer ] what can he do? he can get answers at walgreens with the guidance and information he needs to help manage his allergies. like claritin.

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start out softer and more vulnerable? new aquafresh kids fresh and fruity toothpaste gently cleans their teeth with natural calcium and fights cavities with fluoride. try new aquafresh kids fresh and fruity toothpaste. good morning, it's 7:26 on this wednesday, april 18th, i'm aaron gilchrest. prepare yourself for little bit of a surprise when you step outside this morning. tom's got the latest on our changing forecast. tom? >> much cooler and some much-needed rain moving in. it should be right into washington over next half hour. right now across northern virginia, southern maryland, west virginia, getting some light rain now. most locations and temperatures are only into the low to mid 50s. not going to warm up much today. we'll stay in the 50s, maybe reach the low 60s later this afternoon. sun back on thursday and friday and a bit warmer. over the weekend, could get some more rain. that's the way it looks right now, aaron. >> we'll check the morning >> we[ male announcer ]ing this was how my day began.

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across the line! >> wow! >> stunning. >> well deserved. >> those are some of the stars from olympics past. question is, who will be the heroes of team usa in 2012? you're looking live at olympic stadium in london where the opening ceremony will be held in 100 days. and coming up in our next hour, we're going to introduce you to some americans who are hoping to be there, and compete and even strike gold in london. 7:30 now on a wednesday morning. it's the 18th day of april, 2012. i'm matt lauer alongside savannah guthrie who is in while ann is on vacation. >> and have a lot of great,

world-class athletes on the plaza this morning. maybe one of the worst as i attempt to learn to hurdle. >> you're going to jump over an olympic height hurdle? >> i didn't say an olympic height hurdle. but a hurdle will be there. i will attempt to jump over it. also ahead, madonna getting set to go on tour. she's had a hard time selling her new album. recently a picture emerged of her 15-year-old doubter lourdes smoking a cigarette. what does she have to say about that? we'll find out. >> it's wednesday but "today's professionals" are in the house and we should have a lively discussion this morning because look who's joining the group. that's star and donny. but we have kathie lee and hoda joining us for professionals this morning. one of the topics they'll discuss, why your marriage could be doomed to fail if you lived with your spouse before tying the knot. we'll find out their take on that. but we begin this half hour with the search for a young ft. bragg soldier who was last seen on saturday morning. today national correspondent amy

robach is here with the latest on that. amy, good morning to you. >> matt, good morning to you. kelly bordeaux had just recently joined the army, something she was eager and excited to do. and it's only adding to the mystery of what exactly happened to her. this is 23-year-old kelly bordeaux. an army private first class stationed at ft. bragg. young and promising, her future full of possibility. but now kelly has gone missing, and detectives believe she may be in danger. last seen leaving this local bar, froggy bottoms, around 1:30 saturday morning, officials at ft. bragg reported kelly missing on monday, when she failed to show up for duty. >> being a soldier to kelly was something she wouldn't jeopardize for anything. missing is not something that is in character for kelly. >> reporter: speaking outside fayetteville police headquarters, kelly's sister said she had no theory as to why kelly went missing. >> sorry, i'm trying to hold it

together the best that i can. my sister is missing. she is -- she's the most amazing person i know. >> reporter: kelly has been married for two years. on her facebook page in june of 2010, kelly posted, today is the first day of the rest of my life. i can't wait to be kelli bordeaux. i love you, mike. a u.s. military official says kelli was estranged from her husband. asked how he is doing -- >> mike is holding up the best he can with his wife missing. >> reporter: the two sisters were just in touch on friday. >> i texted her and we laughed and joked and everything was happy. and everything was on the up and up and that's why this is so out of character. it's not something that was anticipated. it's not something anyone expected. it's not -- it's not kelli. >> reporter: the military official also tells nbc news that an employee from the bar drove kelly home that night. he is not considered a suspect. and the military says that kelli

used her cell phone afterwards but so far there are no clues as to what happened to kelli. >> i just want kelli bordeaux to be brought back to us safe and sound. i just want my sister. >> reporter: so much still unknown, the heartbreak is clear. >> please bring her back. i just want her to come home. >> reporter: now investigators are not commenting on who bordeaux called and texted once she left that bar. but they say so far, there just appears to be nothing unusual about her cell phone use. >> amy robach. thank you very much. by the way, if you have any information on this case you are asked to call crime stoppers, the number is 910-483-tips. 910-483-tips. and now here's savannah. >> all right, matt, thanks. pippa middleton is facing new scrutiny this morning over her weekend in paris. now it's the party she attended the night before that incident involving what appears to be a

fake gun that's getting all the attention. nbc's michelle kosinski is in paris again this morning. michelle, good morning to you. >> hi, savannah. that gun incident caused such a stir that now the viscount who was in the car at the time is explaining to his spokesman what was really going on the morning after his possibly more over-the-top, to say the least, 30th birthday bash at which pippa and friends partied like a viscount. the gun looks real. it was pointed. the others laughed. but the reaction was deadly serious. so much so that pippa middleton's friends, young aristocrat the viscount soultrait is explaining that the group was playing with the paparazzi. it was a game. saying the gun was a toy, and the photographers following pippa knew it. which at least one paparazzo, anonymously, admitted. well now comes more wondering about what pippa was doing.

the night before there was a risque bash for the rich and connected. the theme, the tragic french queen marie antoinette. the entertainment, a stripper, and little people. pippa behaved herself, chatting politely, modestly, in somewhat period dress. unlike many of the other high society partiers. it's a little bit of a decadent life, said the viscount. like the movie marie antoinette, young, wealthy aristocrats at play. in the 18th century, they were face the guillotine. but no worries today. here's pippa posing with the viscount on gilded throne, dog collar and chain included. this makes two times in 24 hours the public asks what was the sister of the future queen thinking? >> personally it does seem inappropriate for pippa to be hanging out at parties where people are flashing the cash, you've got little people serving

champagne. it seems a little decadent in what are very strained financial times for people. >> she may be a party planner by trade. hopefully not this one. she now has her sister and extended family to think about. the party slogan was long live the viscount. the king is dead. one day plus fake gun later, mortified, the viscount reportedly said they were feeling. today the tabloids are all excited that pippa was allegedly seen kissing the viscount's brother. you know it's really interesting, when the paparazzi sold all of these mysterious gun photos for piles of money around the world they never let on that they might have been in on the laugh, laughing along with this prank, all the way to the bank. savannah? >> michelle kosinski in paris, france, thank you. now let's get a check of the weather from viscount al. >> "today's weather" is brought to you by the make ares of centrum.

>> arise, sirloin of beef. friends here from the host country for the olympics, great britain. good to see you guys. happy to be here. >> hi, very happy. >> 100 days. >> 100 days to go, very ready. >> very nice, all right. and like the hats, too. let's check it out, see what se got for you. man, is it chilly in the northeast. on monday we're talking records, temperatures in the upper 80s to the 90s, then a front moves through. temperatures drop a little more, highs only 78, 84 in boston, 51 in buffalo, 77 d.c. today, 65 in new york with a stiff breeze, 55 watertown, d.c., 61. the rest of the country, chilly conditions around the great lakes as well. 40s and 50s. 80s and 90s in the southwest. 80s down through florida, look for the chilly 50s to continue in the pacific northwest where it's going to be a little on the damp side. here's what's going on in your neck of the woods. yeah, the big change occurred here, too, good

morning, tom kierein, storm center 4. we have some much-needed welcome rain moving across virginia, west virginia and into maryland. and just about to move into washington. a few sprinkles now beginning to show up in the district. and we'll have that advancing into the rest of maryland and the eastern shore as the morning progresses with occasional rain the rest of the day. not going to warm up much from where we are now, only in the 50s to near 60 >> don't forget, you get that weather any time you need it. go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. savannah? >> all right, al, thanks. coming up next, how did madonna react to her 15-year-old daughter lourdes being photographed smoking a cigarette? the pop star opens up about that and more in an exclusive interview coming up right after this. ?tl aren't you getting a little industrial? okay, there's enough energy right here in america. yeah, over 100 years worth. okay, so you mean you just ignore the environment. actually, it's cleaner. and, it provides jobs. and it helps our economy. okay, i'm listening. [announcer] at conoco phillips we're helping power america's economy

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with one flavor in the granola bunch and one on the flake. try some. mmm! two flavors. in harmony. yummy. four nutritious grains and two big fruit flavors to make your day bunches better. we're back now at 7:42. madonna is one of the biggest pop stars of all time, and no stranger to making headlines. but recently it was her daughter, 15-year-old lourdes, who got some attention when she was photographed smoking a cigarette. nbc's harry smith sat down with madonna for an exclusive interview and talked about the challenges of parenting in the spotlight, and her future in music. and harry joins us this morning. harry, how are you? >> good to be here, matt. the last time most of us saw

madonna was at the super bowl. in fact, more people watched her extravaganza during the halftime show than actually watched the game itself. proving that, like her or not, america still can't turn away. for 30 years now, madonna has been seeking and getting our attention. like her, or not, the super bowl proved we cannot ignore her. nor, apparently, do we want to. so when her new album was released last month, once again, she got our attention. it debuted at number one. >> it's hard to be number one. it's hard to sell records. you know, there's a lot of competition, and i was -- extremely elated. yes. >> but in the second week, it plunged down the charts. leaving some to wonder if the mistress of reinvention had lost her touch. turns out, it's not so easy maintaining her place at the center of the pop universe, and being a single mom with four kids. is it hard being you? >> i imagine it must be.

yes. it is. it must be hard, because i complain all the time. >> i'm serious. >> that's a strange question to ask someone. is it hard being you? >> only on certain days. >> yeah, i mean i think it's hard. we all have our challenges. to be a single mother of four, and to work as much as i do, with my life in a kind of metaphorical fishbowl, it's pretty challenging. yeah. but, so far i've survived with sanity and humor intact. >> are there two madonnas? >> i struggle to be about 25. but to my children, there's mostly the one that comes home and says, have you done your homework? and why are you wearing that? and why did you say that? and what are you eating that for? >> her oldest daughter lourdes is now 15. the two of them have their own clothing line. and she sang backup on one of the songs on the new album.

but at this moment, lourdes is in the doghouse. there's a picture of her the other day in the paper with a cigarette. >> yes. >> and i thought how did madonna react to that? >> she wasn't very happy. >> are you a tough mom? >> yeah, i think i am. but honestly i don't think i'm as tough as i should be. i think i need to be maybe tougher. it's hard, though. it's hard. every day is a negotiation. but cigarette smoking i'm not very fond of. for anyone. >> yeah. >> i don't approve of anyone smoking cigarettes. most of all my daughter. >> but there's a video of you with a cigarette in your mouth. >> i don't smoke. that's just an accessory, harry. it's different. she smoked that cigarette before i did that video. so she didn't get that from me. okay? >> unless you wonder if she's about to morph into the material mom. fear not. madonna is not done. do you have stuff left to prove?

>> i don't know about prove, but i certainly have stuff left to say. and i think that's really why i'm doing it. i still feel like expressing myself that way, and i'll keep doing it as long as i do. >> this is the madonna you don't see all that often. very relaxed. comfortable. funny, even. >> and by the way, just want to mention, you told me you shot that very late at night, so perhaps her guard down even further than it normally would be. >> she'd been rehearsing all day. so that's probably the perfect time. >> good tactic, mr. smith. harry, thank you very much. you can see more of harry's conversation with madonna, that's tonight on "rock center with brian williams" 9:00, 8:00 central time right here on nbc. up next the names included in a new list of the most influential people in the world. that courtesy of "time" magazine. plus we'll meet some of the american athletes hoping to strike gold in london when the olympics kick off in 100 days. but first these messages. the capital one cash rewards card

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back now at 7:49. "time" magazine is out with its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. and here to reveal this year's movers and shakers is "time's" managing editor. rick, good morning. >> good morning, nice to be here. >> we've got five categories. breakouts, pioneers, moguls, leaders and icons. it's most influential. not necessarily most liked. >> right. it's not most liked. it's not a power list.

it's about the power of influence, people who through their acts, through their accomplishments are influencing others. >> you've got people like the president of syria, the supreme leader of iran, american politics, including mitt romney, president obama, ron paul, hillary clinton there. marco rubio is also on the list. i'm just curious why. >> well, the hispanic, latino voter in america now has become a dominant class voter coming up. he is the leader of latinos in america. the crossover artist, as it were. he could be mitt romney's vice presidential nominee. >> one of the interesting things about the issue is you always get big names to write about the other big names. >> right. >> you have president obama writing about warren buffett. i know what he wrote surprised you a little bit. >> a little bit. he talked about warren buffett as a value investor and obviously what he's using now with the buffett rule, he's trying to piggyback on warren's kind of integrity to pass some other things he thinks are really important. >> so warren buffett, another mogul in the world of business is sarah blakeley, remind people why sarah blakeley is famous.

not you. she invented spanx. >> she invented spanx, yes. >> why do you include her on the list? >> well it's influential, many women, when we talked about it everybody said well, you know, we you go to a party every woman is going to be wearing spanx. it's kind of a secret. i didn't know about it. and people really like her, and it's about the way we live now. and, matt, don't deny that you don't know her. >> i know what they are. i've never tried them on. i will tell you that. >> you're missing out, let me tell you. you also have the middleton sisters on it. you've got both pippa and kate. you left william out this year. >> well the sisters, we put them on because they're the un-dianas right. the middle class middletons are teaching the royals how to actually have some class. they're keeping their mouths shut, they're no drama princesses. >> did you choose these before pippa was photographed in that car with the gun? >> she can have a good time. >> oh, okay. >> e.l. james. someone we had on the show just in the last day or so is also on your list. she's the author of "fifty

shades of grey." she said in the interview she did with us she doesn't think there's anything remarkable about the book. why did you include her? >> well, she's not a great writer by her own admission. but what she's tapping into is something apparently working women are interested in. the kind of ripping off the surface of things about modern life, about the way we live. she gives insight to that. >> tim tebow is in here but perhaps more importantly the man who insists we call him an icon, matt lauer. why is he on this list? >> well, he influences me a lot. matt is like the walter cronkite of the morning. you know, he takes serious things and treats them like a sort of lightness -- >> oh. the peanut gallery is over there. >> we are out of time. thank you so much. >> thank you for being included. big event next, a lot of these people get together and it's always a wonderful time. thank you. >> thank you so much. >> just ahead another influential group, "today's professionals," and we got a couple of ringers in the house this morning. we've got them after your local news.

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7: 5 is your time on this wednesday, april 18th, 2012. breaking news on the roads, anne arundel county, a crash involving a school bus, danella sealock has the latest. >> this is on route 170, telegraph road, right now your closures are between route 32 and route 175. the crash did involve a school bus and another car. and so far, one person was transported to the hospital. with serious injuries. right now your alternate road is burn's crossing road. but just be aware of that intersection right now. back to you both.

storm 4 radar showing some sprinkles just now beginning to reach the ground around the metro area, farther to our south there's light rain now falling. and temperatures are chilly, we're only in the mid 50s to near 60 degrees. not going to warm up a little bit today. rain off and on, ending late tonight. sun back tomorrow and friday. eun? >> thank you. another news update in 25

8:00 now on a wednesday morning, it's the 18th day of april, 2012. and have you heard, the opening ceremonies for the summer olympic games in london now just 100 days away. and a number of team usa athletes or hopefuls are taking a break from their training, and are joining us out on the plaza this morning, welcoming in what else, a double decker bus. and we're going to have a chance to talk to some of these wonderful and elite athletes coming up in just a couple of minutes. >> and when we said road to london we meant it with the double decker bus.

we've got quite an array of athletes including missy, the 15-year-old swimming sensation hoping to make her first olympic team. her fellow swimmer rebecca who won three medals in beijing and individual gold and from track and field three-time medalist allison, they are joined with beach volleyball, equestrian riders, you name it. we will introduce you to many of them in our next half hour. >> pretty cool. >> looks like the opening ceremony itself. a lot of countries. over 200 countries competing in london. so it's going to be an amazing time. >> we're looking forward to it. >> what else do we have coming up? >> we've got a lot of great stuff including the one, the only, jewelry andrews. >> right. >> is goes to be here? she's got a new book she's going to be telling us about that. >> also "today's professionals" are here for a rare wednesday edition. and two additions this morning. we've got kathie lee and hoda

joining the professionals. it takes two people to fill in for dr. nancy when she's not here. we're going to talk about some things, including that photo of hillary clinton, drinking a beer. some people have said it's inappropriate. we'll get their take on that. and is it appropriate for a teacher to text a student individually? some people not fond of that, as well. >> all right, hoda and kathie lee stressing the name, the professionals. but we think they fit the bill. >> threw them under the bus, the double decker. >> all right let's get to natalie morales over at the news desk with a check of the top stories. >> good morning, everyone. the u.s. is condemning the behavior of u.s. troops in newly released photos today from the "los angeles times." nbc pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has more on the fallout from the graphic pictures that date back to 2010. good morning, mik. >> good morning, natalie. the first reaction here from the pentagon is, not again. this time it involves soldiers from the 82nd air born who were first dispatched to gather up forensic evidence from bodies of

taliban suicide bombers. but instead they ended up taking personal photos. in this photo, which is blurred because it's so graphic, it shows afghan and american soldiers holding up the severed legs of those taliban suicide bombers. in another photo it shows a couple of soldiers posing with a dead body. now, these photos were taken two years ago. but they follow the release just recently of pictures of u.s. marines urinating on the bodies of some dead taliban fighters. now the concern here, of course, is that these photos could incite some kind of retaliatory strikes against americans there in afghanistan. in the past they proved more embarrassing than inciteful. nevertheless, the u.s. military and secretary of defense panetta condemned these photos. they say that those responsible will be held accountable. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon for us this morning. thank you, jim. the prosecution scandal involving the secret service and

u.s. military personnel is growing. officials now say at least 20 women may have accompanied 11 secret service agents and 10 service members to a hotel in colombia, where they were part of president obama's advance security team last week. on tuesday, the white house expressed confidence in the secret service director's response to the scandal. president obama's traveling to ohio and michigan today to promote his economic policies. he'll try to draw distingzs between his views and the built tightening proposals of house republicans and mitt romney. billionaire investor and philanthropist warren buffett revealed on tuesday that he's been diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer. the 81-year-old head of berkshire hathaway says he feels great and will begin radiation treatment in july. buffett gave no indication what he's planning to retire. now for a look at what's trending today our quick roundup of what has you talking online. a tale of two haircuts has 2004 presidential candidate john edwards trending on today.com. edwards facing a corruption

trial now sporting a thrifty $13 coif from supercuts. but people are saying online it looks just like the one he sported on the campaign trail that cost more than $1200, including travel costs for his beverly hills stylist. it was a hairstyle that exposed a pentagon prank now trending big online. this portrait said to be of a 19th century officer lost at sea hung in the pentagon for nearly a year, but someone noticed the blow-dried hair and investigated, and it turns out it's actually a 30-year-old picture of a now-retired captain that's been passed around in military circles for years as a running gag. and political ambition has kim kardashian trending on yahoo! kim says she wants to run for mayor of suburban glendale, california, in five years. unfortunately, glendale doesn't elect its mayor, it's the city's five council members choose one of their own each year to serve

in the post. imagine calling her mayor kim? let's go out to al with a check of your weather. >> "today's weather" is brought to you by k-9 advantix 2. help prevent fleas and ticks from bugging your dog. >> and we've got our olympic athletes here. team usa. this is very, very exciting. are you guys pumped? oh, yeah. they've been drinking coffee on the bus. they're ready. all right let's see what we've got as far as your forecast. our pick city of the day, lima, ohio, lima, ohio. wlio, we like it, sunny and mild, 66 degrees. as we check the forecast for you, we've got a lot of rain making its way from the gulf up along the eastern seaboard and this is going to be sticking around through monday. some areas pick picking up two to four inches of rain, from parts of northern florida, into

the northeast. snowshowers in the inner mountain region, plenty of sunshine from texas on into the southwest, here's what's going on in your neck of the woods. >> good morning, we've had some light rain moving into the metro area, initially just a few sprinkles trying to reach the ground here at washington. but there's some other rain that is falling. almost some thunder and lightning south of richmond, advancing to the north, more stable air, the darker green areas, yellow areas, the rain is coming down and reaching the ground in southern maryland, over to prince william county. temperatures are cool, in the 50s now and we're not going to warm up much today. a cool day >> that's your latest weather. what's your name? >> katherine. >> where are you goes from? >> massachusetts. >> all right. now say it with pride and conviction. >> boston! >> yeah, all right. savannah? >> all right, al, thank you so much. coming up next, hoda and kathie lee join the professionals and one of the hot topics, are couples who live together before they get married more likely to get divorced? we'll be back right after these

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we're back now at 8:10 with "today's professionals." here to tackle the hottest stories of the day, star jones, donny deutsch and heaven help us, kathie lee and hoda are filling in, two for one dr. nancy. good morning to all of you. >> yeah, right. >> see your expression when you walked out -- >> the end of the world as we know it. let's start with a survey, i think it will help our viewers put the comments into perspective. raise your hands if you've been divorced. more than once? okay, good. according to an article in "the new york times" -- >> not yet. >> nice. according to an article in "the new york times." according to a survey, you are more likely to get divorced if you cohabitated with your eventual spouse before actually tying the knot. why is this the case? >> why? >> i think having daughters now, what i say to them, my oldest

daughter, is i think you can live together without living to the. in other words you can spend five, six, nights a week. i think there's something wrong. you take away the excitement and the newness of marriage. not to be an old fuddy-duddy, i think when people live together and then go get married it takes away the sanctimony of marriage. >> the problem with living together is, it happens gradually. like first it's a weekend, then it's three days, then it's five days, you never made a real decision to be together. sometimes it just happens that way. when you decide to get married, you make a choice. right? and i think that's why they fall apart. >> so it's less special? you're less satisfied with your marriage? >> i think so. >> it's not getting a distinction. >> i think younger people tend to live together. older people like right now i'm not sure that i'd want to. i kind of like my own personal space. as you get older you do want your own personal space. unless you're getting married. >> it's easier to walk away when you've made no commitment. >> absolutely. >> the minute there's a problem, you know what? we have such a disposable

society. instant coffee. we have instant careers now on reality television. nobody works for anything. >> living together is involvement, marriage is commitment and there's a difference. >> a picture making news over the last couple of days, says secretary of state hillary clinton on this trip to colombia. >> yeah. >> over the weekend having a beer with some colleagues. it appears she's blowing off a little steam. some people got on twitter and were really rough on this. keeping in mind, only need opposable thumbs to send out a tweet but still they were rough on her. is there anything wrong with what you see in that picture? >> no. nothing whatsoever. >> i think there's something wrong with somebody taking the picture and sending it all around the world, isolating one moment in a person's life. and it was complicated further by all the allegations coming out about the secret service at the same time. >> i liked her more after seeing those pictures. >> she unbuttoned her top. >> i would imagine that in the past times, the secretary of state, the males, have taken their staff out and had a good time. and no one had a problem with

it. wasn't like she was dropping it like it was hot. >> let me bring that up, according to a columnist for the telegraph in the uk, donny i'll let you weigh in in a second, it's hard to imagine condoleezza rice, colin powell, or henry kissinger, living la vida loca on the world stage. hillary clinton's colombian antics are an embarrassment for a high level cabinet member on official duty and lowered the office of the secretary of state. >> to hoda's point, makes her more likable. this is a woman who has earned her sometimes as far as her gravitas goes. when you look back at the old pictures of jfk, you look at the pictures of him sailing and being a human being. i think it's wonderful. >> and her husband actually played the saxophone, and it's cool. he can do anything. >> i'm going to skip ahead here. let's take a look at this one. after some scandals recently involving teachers and their students, where teachers were caught sending sexually explicit

messages to students, some school districts and states are considering a ban, where they will no longer allow a teacher to text or e-mail an individual student. is that a good idea? >> they can call them on the phone and say something lewd. are you going to ban telephones? it's not the technology that's the problem, it's the personalities that are doing the -- that are using the technology. >> there should be no contact outside of the school. >> what? >> what? >> do you think -- did a teacher ever call you at home when you were growing up? there would be something strange about that. i think outside the school unless it's a school event there is no reason for a teacher and student to be speaking. i think as somebody who is once again raising daughters i don't want any teachers interacting with my kids outside of school. >> you don't mind if they interact as a group, a text about a homework assignment. >> as long as it's about the schoolwork. >> but individual comments over electronic communication should not occur? >> an individual comment for any kind of technology should not occur. why do you need to talk to my kid? talk to me if my kid is not doing what he's supposed to do.

>> i think technically they can lead to trouble and you guys know it. one text has some innuendo, you don't know tone. another one comes back and pretty soon it gets to be -- >> it isn't the technology. >> just being that much more casual opens the door. >> let's end on this one. career cast conducted a recent survey and they asked people to list the worst jobs or professions in the country. television broadcasters and reporters made the top ten worst list at number ten. >> yes. >> does that surprise anybody? >> why are so many people trying to get into this business? >> this is not work. i mean -- >> speak for yourself. >> oh, stop it. you get to work every morning -- >> wait a minute. that is not true. >> i come here and i think it's an honorable profession when you do it ethically. yes it is it's an honorable profession when you do it ethically. >> you know what came in as the number one worst profession?

lumber jack. oddly enough, hoda, you were a lumber jack. anything you care to discuss? what would make your top list? top worst list. >> bus driver. >> really? >> yes, i think that would be a really hard job. and a traffic reporter. i think that would be terrible. because i don't have any sense of direction. >> your worst jobs ever? >> traffic director. okay. that would -- >> producer. >> this is a little elite view of things. there are a lot of people with really bad, tough, tough jobs. >> well, the worst job is not having one, to be honest with you. that's really the worst job. >> "today's professionals," plus two. not that you weren't professional but you handled yourself in a very professional manner. >> we tried. we didn't want to embarrass you further. >> thank you for filling in. >> when is the good doctor coming back? >> two weeks. >> actually 12 days, 13 hours -- still ahead, the legendary julie andrews on her new book. that's right after this. twinkle twinkle little pie

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from toyota. ♪ and the cravings begin... again. for nights like these there's special k chocolatey delight cereal. an unguilty pleasure. what will you gain when you lose? back now at 8:21. julie andrews has been entertaining audiences for more than 50 years. she's not only an award-winning actress and singer, she's also a best-selling author and she's teamed up with her daughter emma walton hamilton once again for their newest book, "the very fairy princess: here comes the flower girl." it is such an honor to meet you and be in your presence. and you're used to it emma, but for us, you have had every accolade, every award, movies, music, now books. do you ever just think, how did i do that? >> i just am amazed that all of it happened.

and i'm thrilled and grateful. and i love to be busy and i love working with emma. >> we mention that you have had your hand in nearly every aspect of the entertainment industry. is it even possible to say, this is my favorite thing to do, i love the books or the singing? >> i love the books. and it means that i can spend some quality time with em, and her family and my family, and we can be sometimes coast to coast, by i-chat or whatever. and then sometimes we get to work together, which we love. but we're always working together. but, sometimes not in the same room. >> i wanted to ask you about that. because you were quite the collaborators. you have more than 20 books now. >> we do. >> but not everybody thinks, oh, i want to work with my mom, that's a great idea. how do you make this partnership work? >> well, it actually works really well, happily. we weren't sure that it would to begin with. but we generally know when to defer. whichever one has the best idea wins essentially. >> enormous respect.

and we have very different strengths. >> strengths, yes. complementary strengths, i think. >> who is the better writer? who is the idea person? >> she is. >> not at all. she's the big idea person. i'm the describe, and the nuts and bolts person. >> we do the arts and the characters. >> i love -- and i actually read, you just mentioned a couple of minutes ago is you get on i-chat because you don't live in the same place -- >> sometimes i get up extremely early in the morning, and she's already, you know, 6:00 or 7:00 for her. >> i love that. and emma you said that your mom always looks fabulous, even on the i-chat. >> she does. and she always has a little protein. >> i feel better. >> you know that it's flowing fantastic even if emma can't smell it. >> i caught myself doing it. i thought, whatever. >> i know these books are based on your daughter hope. >> yes. >> and you have said that it's about obviously a princess. but you're not exactly the

princessy type. >> no. i'm very much the jeans and t-shirt type. there's my daughter hope. she's 8. but she is very, very feminine. and very fashion savvy and she's my fashion coordinator all the time. but i'm a jeans and t-shirts kind of gal. and actually the books are more about inner sparkle than outer sparkle. they are, of course, you know, lots of princess fun with tiaras and wings and glitter and so forth. but our character often has her socks around her ankles. >> that's a good example. >> it's more about letting out your inner sparkle. >> in this particular book, she gets to be a flower girl. >> well, she thinks it's going to be so grand and glorious and she's going to be in the cathedral, and everybody will be smiling, and, in fact, it's the wedding in the garden at home and she has to adapt. >> and it rains. >> and it rains. and everything goes wrong. but the thing about the books is that nobody is a fairy princess but by the end of the book she's

pulled off some seemingly magical thing that everybody says, well, she may be. >> she believes it. it's been ten years, speaking of princesses, of "the princess diaries." i know and there's a wonderful now dvd out where the two are packaged together. this third book of ours in a series is fitting in to the most wonderful national princess week, this week. at target stores everywhere. and disney has collaborated with it, so this dvd is now packaged with blu-ray and all kinds of things. >> you are wonderful. it's so great to hear about the book. just ahead olympic athletes on the plaza. ahead, olympic athle

the plaza. good morning, 8:26 on this wednesday, april 18th. we have breaking traffic news in anne arundel county this morning. news4's danella sealock here with details. >> good morning, aaron, right now you can see that route 170, telegraph road, this is closed between route 32 and 175. chopper 4 recorded video earlier this morning, the crash involved a school bus and another vehicle. the driver of this vehicle has been rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. no children were on board the school bus. which is a good news right now. right now, this intersection, still shut down in both directions. aaron, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. we'll take a look at the

good morning, color on storm center 4 is light rain falling in the metro area, a few sprinkles and there's some areas where you see the yellow, it's going to be a little bit hard anywhere fairfax, prince william and charms county.

advancing to the north. occasional showers through the day, have an umbrella handy, it will be cool, 50s and low 60s. sun back and warmer thursday and friday, over the weekend, could get more rain, may ling near monday. aaron?

8:30 now on a wednesday morning, the 18th day of april, 2012. turned our plaza into a training ground. right now jason richardson doing his thing on the hurdles, as we get set to mark 100 days until the opening ceremony of the 2012 summer games in london. we've got athletes out on the plaza, signi ining autographs,

waving the flag. we've got savannah guthrie out on the plaza, ready to do here part. >> work it, work it. >> look at the form. >> are you -- >> i'm sorry, i'm so excited. >> not saying this sarcastically, but are you athletic? >> i guess. >> oh, no. >> we've all seen -- >> let's put it this way, i am an athlete the way i'm also a chef in the kitchen. >> okay. this is going to be interesting. >> might want to put the padding out all over. >> more bruising expected. we have a lot of real athletes on the plaza and we'll get to meet them coming up. >> also some new faces so we're getting to know all the athletes here today. and we're going to make sure that you guys get to know a little bit of the team. >> and we've got a little music for you. we've got the great group neon freeze they're going to be performing live in our studio. >> all right. but first we want to mention that the usa, team usa is launching a new way for the public to support our wonderful athletes. and in london, three-time

olympic medalist allison felix is here to tell us about something called raise our flag. it's great to see you. >> good to see you guys. >> what's the idea behind this? >> it's a great campaign. we're just everyday americans, so help out and donate. we're a team that doesn't have government funding, so they can buy a tip that will be a part of our flag that we take to london. we can take the flag, it's only $12 and we can see the support. for us it's big to see something physical and see how much support we have at home. >> how do the donations then go to supporting the olympic team? >> it's great. they go to our everyday expenses like massage therapists and our insurance and all that good stuff that we need for the training. >> this is going to be i have to imagine, a huge emotional boost to see that flag at the opening ceremonies. >> definitely. i mean you know what a big deal the opening ceremonies is. and to see this flag and to know, families donating, these great people out here it's going

to be a tear jerker. >> looking forward to your own competition are you getting ready? >> i'm getting ready. so excited. i just can't wait. >> it's going to be here before we realize it. >> it is. >> very fast. get ready. >> it's great to have you here. again, to learn more about raise our flag, you can go to our website, at today.com. all right. mr. roker, let's have a check of the weather. >> starting off with today we've we've got wet weather from northern california into the pacific northwest. along the coast. wet weather stretching from northern florida into the mid-atlantic states today. showers and thunderstorms in the central great lakes. tomorrow, sunny and mild, new england into the northeast. some wet weather along the mid-atlantic coast. heavy rain in the upper mississippi river valley. rain along the pacific northwest coast. sunny and warm from the gulf. texas on into the southwest. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's going on in your neck of the woods. tom kierein, storm center 4. good morning, we do have some

light rain now falling in the metro area, coming from the south heading north into maryland out of virginia and west virginia. it will be with us off and on through the rest of the day. the other big story is cooler weather as well. highs reaching low 60s this afternoon. much of the region will stay in the 50s the rest of the day. but this rain should help to wash some of the pollen out of the air. sun back on thursday and friday. some more beneficial rains >> and that's your latest weather. >> all right, mr. roker, thank you. we're joined now by emily blunt, the lovely and talented who stars opposite jason siegel in the new movie "five year engagement" about a couple that keeps getting tripped up on their way to the altar. emily, it's nice to see you. >> nice to see you. >> i think people are going to identify this because very few trips to the altar are without some detours and hurdles. >> yeah, i mean, they are a really great couple together, but life sort of keeps getting in the way. there are a couple waiting for the perfect moment. it's very hilarious the situations they find themselves in. >> i know you and jason siegel

are good friends and pals. >> yeah, yeah. >> but you take it to the next level in this movie. >> i know, how awkward. >> was it awkward? >> it was, actually. for me. he's -- he's really good friends with my husband, you know. so it was quite strange. you know, it was the good thing was that the scenes were never really romantic. they were either awkward or rather sad so in that way we had a laugh. i think it helped that we were friends because i think that moved the rapport we had off of it makes it onto the screen in some ways. >> -- be romantic in freezing conditions and snow? >> in ann arbor, michigan. >> harder for the guy than the woman, but that's all right. >> meanwhile you're realizing -- >> wow. >> it's a bit awkward, memory. thanks for stopping by. >> all right.

>> note to agent, never do the "today" show. >> i would say watching trailers for the movie it looks very, very funny. >> it's really fun. i'm surrounded by the funniest people i've ever met. and so every day there were tears of laughter. which is good. >> well, the movie is called "miff year engagement." great to have you here. >> thank you. >> you're on the olympic team. >> yes. >> all right we're going to have much more on the plaza with all of our olympic hopefuls and athletes. ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ]

♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

"today's" countdown to london is brought to you by kellogg's. proud sponsor of the 2012 u.s. olympic team. >> and this morning on "today's" countdown to london we are just 100 days away from the opening

ceremony for the summer games. we're going to meet some young olympic hopefuls in a moment. but first, some veterans who are hoping to add to their legacies in london. >> world record in olympic gold. >> usain bolt sprinting ahead, winning. >> michael phelps' astounding eight golds in beijing brought his career total to 16 olympic medals. he wins three more in london he'll become the most decorated olympian ever. >> i want to be able to look back at my career and say i've done everything i wanted to do. then i could say my career has been a success. >> watch him coming home strong. >> his teammate ryan is now his top rival. lochte won five golds at last year's world championships, beating phelps twice. >> it's your time to shine. pretty much prove to the world who's best.

>> misty may, kerry walsh repeat. >> the teams of beach volleyball are vying for a third straight olympic title. >> i want to have that moment of spazzing out in london so bad. the feeling will never leave you because it's that special. >> wow! stunning. >> the golden girls of american gymnastics, shawn johnson and all-around champ nastia liukin are hoping to be back. >> to be able to experience it once is a dream come true. to be able to experience for a second time >> breakout jamaican sprinter usain bolt dazzled the world in beijing, shattering world records and bringing home three golds. he says that's just the beginning. >> people say sit back and think about what has happened. >> american sprinter alison felix who won silver in the 200s

in the last two games is hoping for her first individual gold. namtly coughlin has won a medal in all 11 races she's competed in at the olympics and plans to continue that incredible streak. >> in the prelims of the olympics, the semifinals, the finals, i'll be on the top of my game when i need to be. >> speaking of the pool, 16-year-old swimming sensation missy franklin from centennial, colorado, is hoping to make her first olympic team. >> it's so good to see you. >> it's cold out here isn't it? >> it's freezing. >> last time getting ready for beijing you were 13 years old. >> i was. >> swimming along sooird legends from the pool. what was that experience like for you? >> it was unbelievable. i had probably swam in front of a few hundred people at most before and i walked in to omaha and swimming in front of 7,000, 8,000 in prelims and it was just absolutely incredible. >> it's a big difference this time around. at the world championships last year you won a whole host of

medals. what did that do for your confidence level going in to these games and these trials? >> i think it was huge. i really exceeded my expectations on worlds. it was such an incredible meet. i had so much fun and i learned so much. so getting all that experience under my belt, i think it's going to be really great for this summer. >> and you know what i'm going to say here. you're going to shake your head. all of the experts and all of the analysts who know swimming backwards and forwards are saying you are going to be the breakout star of these games. they're predicting multiple medals for you. do you ever want them to just stop talking? >> you know what? for me, i just don't even pay attention to it. i love what they're saying. >> doesn't that put extra pressure on you? >> no, because i love what i do and i have fun with it. that's the most important part. to be able to represent my country at the olympics would be the most incredible honor. >> so what expectations have you placed on yourself? forget what the experts are saying what do you want to achieve? >> honestly the one thing i want to do is make my country proud. >> no medal count?

>> it's not about winning for me. it's just going out there and again learning, taking this experience. i'm only 16, i'll be 17 this summer. >> tell me about balancing your life right now. because you're a junior in high school. right? >> yeah. >> so you've got american history, you've got all the math courses. you're taking ap courses. you're a very good student. >> thank you. >> how do you find time to balance that with trying to be the very best in the world in a particular sport? >> it's superhard. but i go there, they are absolutely incredible. my teachers work with he. my friends always get my work when i'm away. my family is so supportive of me. always taking time to help me remember. >> you have no agents. >> no. >> your mom handles that. >> yep. >> you have turned down sponsorship deals which would have meant a lot of money for you, why? >> swimming in college is something i've always dreamed about and just hearing about the college experience and seeing what it's done for athletes it's something that i always wanted to do and something i'm so looking forward to and i want to be able to enjoy that experience. >> that's a wonderful way to look at it. you skrust got your driver's

license. are you ready to drive on the other side of the road? >> i'm not sure. that might take a little more practice. >> make sure you're prepared before i get on the road with you. we're going to spend a lot more time with you. >> thank you. >> let's go over to savannah. >> i'm about to learn how to hurdle. my instructor is 26-year-old jason richardson from cedar hill, texas. he's the world champion in the 110 meter hurdles. he's going to show us how it's done. jason, good morning. >> good morning. >> that looked pretty hard, actually. you're the world champion, hoping to be a first time olympian. >> i'm just honored to feel like that. but everybody's a competitor. in the olympics, everybody brings their best to the track. >> i know you're say that you're allergic to stress. >> i am. how do you handle all that pressure? >> you know, a lot of prayers. a lot of deep breaths. a lot of good music.

and just, you know, camaraderie with my teammates. you know, team usa is the best team in the world. so i'm just happy to be part. >> you're kind of a renaissance man. you have a lot of different talents. what made you choose hurdles. >> i chose hurdles because it came naturally. and i felt like it was a gift. you know, god gives you a gift. >> i know you said hurdling is kind of like a metaphor for life. >> it is. >> that's deep, jason. what do you mean? >> funmi you should say. no. just like in life, you know, when you hurdle you can't be afraid to fall, you can't be afraid to fail. you have to stay on your feet. when you kind of get banged up and knocked around you got to keep going straight. >> that's a good segue for me trying to hurdle. what do i need to know real quick? you hold that. >> okay. >> this is my hurdle. >> okay. first of all three things i can teach you how to walk over the hurdle, jump over the hurdle. >> we don't have 30 seconds. okay technically i just hurdled. >> this one, just hop as high as you can and get over it.

>> oh, my goodness. >> i'll catch you. >> you said no one ever died from hurdling, right? ah! that was so embarrassing. let me try that again. what did i do wrong. got to get both electrics up. >> oh, the other leg -- have you ever tried this way? oh, my gosh, yes! new olympic sport potentially? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> all right. that was so embarrassing. i need to practice a little bit more. jason richardson, we'll see you in london we hope. and a reminder, opening ceremonies 100 days from now. bob costas and matt lauer, meredith vieira hosting. we'll be back in a minute. this is "today" on nbc.

the toyota concert series on "today," brought to you by toyota. >> neon trees burst onto the

music scene with their hit song animal. it was named the top alternative song of 2011 at the billboard musical awards. now they're out with a new album, "picture show" and they're here to perform for us this morning. ladies and gentlemen, neon trees. ♪ yeah baby won't you look my way ♪ ♪ i can be your new addiction ♪ hey baby what you got to say all you're giving me is frict n friction ♪ ♪ i found out that everybody talks everybody talks everybody talks ♪ ♪ it started with a whisper ♪

♪ ♪ when everybody talks back ♪ hey honey you could be my drug ♪ ♪ you could be my new prescription ♪ ♪ too much an overdose everybody talks everybody talks everybody talks too much ♪ ♪ it started with a whisper and that was when i kissed her ♪ ♪ and then she made my lips hurt i can hear the chitchat ♪ ♪ take me to your love shack mama's always got a back track when everybody talks back ♪ ♪ i never thought i'd live to see the day when everybody's words got in the way ♪

♪ ♪ show me all your love all you're giving me is friction ♪ ♪ hey sugar what you got to say it started with a whisper ♪ ♪ and that was when i kissed her and then she made my lips hurt ♪ ♪ i can hear the chitchat take me to your love shack ♪ ♪ mama's always got to back track when everybody talks back ♪ ♪ everybody talks everybody talks everybody talks everybody talks ♪ ♪ everybody talks everybody talks back ♪ ♪ it started with a whisper

it started with a whisper ♪ ♪ and that was when i kissed her everybody talks everybody talks back ♪ >> neon trees, thank you very much. once again the album is called "picture show." we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc. ♪

oh yeah, this is what a weekend getaway should feel like. and does. if you're here that is. feel the fun. feel the hamptonality.

quarterfinals wrapped up on "the voice" last night with coaches christina aguilera and blake shelton eliminating two of the youngest singers in the competition, ashley de la rosa and ray lynn. good morning. >> good morning. >> ashley, i understand you had a birthday yesterday, and so happy delighted birthday. >> thank you very much. >> what was this like? you had a lot to be proud of especially just at this young age, just turning 18, achieving all this. >> yeah. you know for both of us being really young in the competition, it was just a really great learning experience. we got to work with really experienced artists, and really thankful for it. >> ray lynn it seemed like blake eliminated you for your choice of song. any regrets for that? >> you know, i don't regret anything i've done on this show. you know, they gave me that song

as my second song and i'm so happy to see erin go through. she's been amazing person. the show's been nothing but good to me. so i can't be upset about it. >> because you really achieved so much. and ashley -- >> thank you. >> you admitted after your audition that second choice for you was really christina. do you wish you had maybe gone with adam levine as your coach? >> no, i don't think so. i think i made, you know, i was happy with my choice with being on christina's team because she really believed in me and she pushed me. and she gave me so much confidence. you know, it took me awhile to sort of convince adam of my talent or ability. and christina has always been in my corner. so it's really nice to have her. >> ray lynn what do you see going forward? what do you hope for to get out of this? >> you know, i just hope to one thing i've gotten out of this show is i've gotten fans. i mean i wouldn't have 300 followers to 40,000 poll lores and that is just amazing like, little things that just, you

know, the show has done amazing things for the both of us, and i would have never been able to e be -- >> there's so much more coming ahead for both of you. thanks so much. catch more of "the voice" next monday at 8:00, here on nbc. an lynn, thank you. 8:56 is your time now on this wednesday, april 18th, 2012, good morning, i'm eun yang. trouble on the roads, let's head straight to danella sealock for a look. danella, good morning. >> we've been watching this accident all morning long, right now you still have route 170 telegraph road shut down between route 32 and route 175. earlier today, choppers shot the video of a school bus crash.

you can see the school bus here, no children were on board. and the driver of this vehicle has been rushed to the hospital right now. the road is still shut. an alternate if you want to travel on this road is to take burns crossing road. now other traffic, if you're traveling on new york avenue right now, you are slow, delays start on 50 at 202. eun, over to you. >> we'll be back with look a

good morning, jst a few sprinkles of light rain from time to time. through the day and into this evening. and then tomorrow, and friday, some sun back over the weekend, though, some more substantial rain moving through. washing pollen out of the air, saturday, sunday and into

we're back now with more of "today" on a wednesday morning. it's the 18th of april, 2012. that, by the way, is a live look at olympic stadium in london, where the nations of the world will gather 100 days from today for the opening ceremony of the 2012 games. we've got a countdown clock active in our plaza right now. the excitement building. we had some fun with some really elite athletes this morning. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. not one of those elite athletes. >> ah. >> who we saw just a couple of minutes ago. are you all right? >> no. it's really mostly just humiliation more than anything. >> but certainly a could have

been a lot worse. >> how could it have been worse? >> that was the baby hurdle. >> by the way, it's the first time you did it. so come on. give yourself a break. >> we're here with al roker and tamron hall joins us, as well. what else is happening? >> we're going to meet a bunch of new athletes, current around former olympians next hour. we're also going to be checking out the olympic fashions we're going to be seeing also the closing ceremonies outfits. >> that's exciting. and we've got our "today's money 911" crew all assembled, ready to address your questions. our money 911 team has advice on whether it's better to pay off student loans or save for a down payment on a house with your tax refund. plus what to do with an upside down mortgage and what you need to know before cashing in an i.r.a. >> am i the only one cold? >> get a coat that actually buttons. >> that doesn't even have buttons. >> it's got nothing. >> okay.

>> anyway, speaking of other embarrassing things, "today's health," your embarrassing health questions answered from smelly breath to smelly feet to saggy breasts, we're going to cover some of the common issues that people are afraid to ask their doctor. plus the reality is, so many people want to ask. >> that's just one person. >> i'm doing the dirty work for you. >> great. >> shall we main nameless. >> natalie is standing by with the headlines. >> good morning, everyone. officials in texas say a woman has been charged with capital murder after a mother was shot to death and her newborn son was kidnapped. the 3-day-old boy was found safe about six hours later. the shooting happened outside a pediatric center outside houston where the mother had taken the boy for a checkup. witnesses say she got into an altercation in the parking lot with a woman who opened fire, took the infant, and sped away. the suspect is being held without bond. the "l.a. times" is publishing controversial photos showing u.s. troops posing with

the bodies of afghan suicide bombers. defense secretary leon panetta says the photos are from two years ago and do not represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of u.s. troops serving in afghanistan. an investigation is now under way. the pentagon had asked the paper not to publish the photos. today, top military and diplomatic officials from the u.s. and nato are mapping their way out of afghanistan, meeting in brussels, they're working on plans to pull away from the front lines and hand over combat operations to afghan officials after 2014. the u.s. is already drawing down troops from afghanistan. the director of the secret service is handing his agency's prosecution scandal over to an independent government investigator. on tuesday, the scandal in colombia widened to include ten u.s. servicemen now under investigation, in addition to 11 secret service agents. according to u.s. officials, some of the secret service personnel under investigation have been offered a polygraph

test. they were in cartagena setting up security in advance of president obama's weekend visit. a police official in central georgia said a kindergarten girl was handcuffed for her own safety, as well as that of his officers. 6-year-old selesia johnson was accused of throwing a violent tantrum at school last friday and knocking over furniture in the principal's office. she was cuffed with her hands behind her back, and taken to a police station where her aunt picked her up. officials say the girl will not be charged. the man accused of last year's massacre in norway is refusing to give details about the militant group he claims to belong to. the trial is now in its third day in the bomb and shooting massacre that left 77 people dead. he claims to have carried out the attack on behalf of the group knights templar. and a new role for angelina jolie. after serving more than ten years as a goodwill ambassador for the u.n. high commission on refugees she's been named now a special envoy. she will meet with government

leaders and diplomats, focusing on large-scale crises that result in huge numbers of refugees. five minutes past the hour right now. let's turn it over to al with a check of your weather. >> thank you so much, natalie. let's see what we've got for you as we take a looyou. as we take a look. look at the temperatures. we had on monday in the northeast, temperatures upper 80s to the low 90s, a lot of records, a front moves through and yesterday, temperatures for highs only getting up into the mid 80s in boston. everywhere else, 50s back through buffalo, watertown, 70s in washington. today, big difference, temperatures in the 50s and 60s with a stiff breeze. it feels even chillier. the rest of the country, you can see we've got plenty of cold weather back through the great lakes, also into the pacific northwest. nice and warm as you get through the southwest on into texas. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's going on in your neck of the woods. good morning, tom kierein, with storm center 4 radar showing areas of rain rolling across virginia into the district and maryland. west virginia this morning.

mostly just sprinkles of light rain now. but there's more moderate showers near richmond. those may move in by middle of the day. and certainly yes, going to be a cooler pattern than it has been the last few days. right now just in the 50s, later today, remaining in the 50s most areas, around the metro area and parts of virginia may lit the low 60s, occasional showers through the aftern ♪ time now for "today's money 911." it's where we answer some of your biggest financial questions. we've got our panel of experts this morning, jean chatzky, "today's" financial editor, and the author of "money rules." david bach is the founder of finish rich and the author of "debt free for life." and farnoosh torabi is the host of financial assist on yahoo. we're going to start off with skype, say hello to sally coming in from arizona. good morning, sally. >> good morning. >> what's your question? >> i have a question about

earning interest on my bank account because, of course, it doesn't earn any interest in the bank. and i wondered if tax liens on real estate is a good way to go? >> david? >> i don't even know what that means. >> okay so what's a tax lien? first of all, a tax lien when you don't pay your taxes, guess what the government does? they come and slap a lien on your property. but the government doesn't want to wait for you to pay them so they auction those liens off to investors. now from what i've seen, most great tax liens are gobbled up by bigger investors. by the time someone small like you goes out and says i've got $5,000 and i want to buy a tax lien often what you're getting is garbage. so the rates can be very, very low and they're not liquid investments. so, if you've got a small amount of money, and that's what they told me in the green room, i think it was $5,000, i don't think you should be doing a tax lien. i think you should be putting that money somewhere very safe like a certificate of deposit. so rates are very low.

you're looking at 2%. i'll give you some other things you can do. you can look at a short-term bond phone. low duration bond fund has short-term bonds in it, not a high rate of return but it's a better rate of return than cds. or look at a couple other funds under preferred stock fund, the symbol is psf. the dividend yield is about 6.5%, 7%. i also like a high yield bond jmk symbol, that's about 7%. but again, do your due diligence. those are riskier funds but they're liquid. so you can buy them and also sell them. >> all right. let's move on. thank you so much, sally. the phones now, we've got karelin from winter garden, florida, calling in. good morning karelin. >> good morning. thank you for taking my question. >> pleasure. what's your question? >> my mortgage is upside down with a 6.75% rate. i have an "a" credit rating and never missed a mortgage payment. wells fargo is stating that i'm not eligible for the a.g.

settlement refi due to investor code of wxalt-2007-pa2. what exactly does this mean and what are my options? >> carolyn, could you be a little more specific? just kidding! >> clarify for everybody. the a.g. settlement refi was added to the new $25 billion settlement program between the state attorneys general and five of the biggest banks in this country, including wells fargo, which is her bank. what this letter is telling you, carolyn and i contacted wells fargo on your behalf and i learned the following. in order to qualify for this particular settlement refi, one of the criteria, among many, is that your loan must not only be serviced by wells fargo but it has to have been originated by wells fargo. unfortunately her loan was originated by a separate third party private mortgage company. it's still owned by them. so with this new program you don't qualify, unfortunately. and a lot of people are in her shoes. about 10% of wells fargo's loans

are not theirs. they're owned by an outside third party. what you could do and this is what wells fargo has told me to tell you, and they're going to call you, is that you should stay in touch. frankly these rules could change. and the people that you talk to, the education, unfortunately, is kind of thin right now because the rules are changing, they're new. stay in touch, talk about maybe an alternative program. of course, this is a harder option, you could take, which is to pay down your debt so that you have some equity, so you can qualify for a traditional refi, which we know we need at least 20% equity. that's a harder thing to do, but stay in touch with wells fargo. >> thanks so much. now let's get one more call in from alicia, from mark center, ohio. good morning, alicia. >> good morning. >> your question? >> my question is, i am bart of an i.r.a. which put me in a higher tax bracket. i am 60 years old, and i thought if you cash an i.r.a. in at 59 1/2 you don't have to pay taxes on it. was my taxes done correctly

since i inherited this when i was 60 years old? >> so you're a little bit confused. if you're above age 59 1/2 you don't have to pay penalties. but you're still taxed on the money that you pull out. and because you already pulled the money out, you do have to pay the taxes. for everybody else, who is inheriting an i.r.a., and this happens a lot, you can stretch the withdrawals over your life span. so that's a better way to not get hit with the taxes all at once. >> not just a little bit confused, totally confused. >> that's okay, alicia. jean skat ki, david bach and farnoosh torabi. thank you very much. still ahead from morning breath to unpleasant smelling feet we're answering some of your most embarrassing health questions. then later, no more boring days. going green gets a makeover with color house wares. man, i'm glad aflac pays cash. aflac! ha! isn't major medical enough? huh! no! who's gonna help cover the holes in their plans?

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>> >> this morning on "today's health," your embarrassing questions answered. certain medical issues that aren't exactly easy to bring up with your doctor, so lucky for you, we have our own dr. on call this morning. dr. roshini raj is "today" contributor and author of "what the yuck." dr. raj, i love that. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> this is reality. some of the things we're going to hit on, people will say i have that problem but they've never asked their doctor about it. >> yep, it's just so embarrassing. >> the first one, why does my stomach rumble really loudly, even if i'm not necessarily hungry. >> okay. it happens to all of us at times. basically our intestines are always moving. they're supposed to move. that helps move along food for digestion, helps move along gas and air. but there's certain foods in your diet that can make really rev up that system. >> such as? >> broccoli, beans, cabbages can produce a lot more gas in your intestines, you're going to hear that moving around. and caffeine is going to get your intestine contracting which will also cause more noise.

there are hormones released when you're hungry, but also after you eat to help the intestines move more. >> should you worry about it? >> well, if it's kind of a chronic issue that happens once in awhile i wouldn't worry too much about it. but if it's unusual for you, sometimes in rare cases it can be a sign of something else. >> all right up next. why do i wake up with bad breath? what causes -- i always think of those commercials when someone wants to kiss in the morning and you're like no way. >> actually. so this is an issue of having too dry a mouth. saliva really helps us wash out bacteria in our mouths so when we sleep our saliva production goes way down. and that means bacteria are really able to multiply and feed on the little food particles that are left in your mouth most of the time. >> the solution is to brush your teeth before bed. >> blush your teeth and floss, drink a glass of water before you go to sleep. if you wake up in the middle of the night, drink another glass of water. and avoid alcohol because that can also further dehydrate you. >> next up certainly an embarrassing question for women, but i'm going to ask it for all of my sisters out there.

my breasts are sagging, what should i do? i would think a better bra. but apparently that's not the issue. >> part of sagging is a normal part of aging. unfortunately the ligaments that hold up our breasts tend to overstretch and sag as we get older so the brethss themselves are going to head south. there are some things you can do. first of all a good bra is important, mostly when you're exercising because there's a lot of motion with the breasts. >> a good sports bra. >> really important. quit smoking if you smoke because that can decrease the elasticity of your skin and those ligaments. and if you're overweight you want to lose weight. the more weight in your breasts, they're just going to sag. >> what about those breast creams, i see these -- >> yeah, there are creams -- >> they say they tone this area. >> there's no cream that's going to affect that. >> what about sleeping in a bra? >> it's not really been shown to work. but exercises that increase your pectoral strength can help the appearance of sagging. >> do push-ups. >> exactly. >> last but not least, what can i do about dark undereye circles

and what causes them? is that because people wake up too early for work like the folks around here? >> it's not just due to fatigue. some people even if they get a great night sleep have the dark undereye circles. part of it could be genetics. but it could be a sign of allergies, nasal congestion. certain medications, even some birth control pills can do it. >> do you talk to your doctor? >> but you can try some things first. try a nasal decongestant. cold compress on the eye can decrease puffiness. as we age we get hollowing of the skin there. there's some plumbing creams or even some fillers if you want to go that route. but there are things you can do. >> get to the source of the problem. >> don't assume it's lack of sleep. it's not always. >> and i'm going to get on those push-ups. >> all right. >> dr. roshini raj thank you so much. up next a sneak peek at what the u.s. olympic team will be wearing at the summer games in london. flo, and karen for a girls night out talking about activia. i tried it and my body felt so right, for a change.

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london is brought to you by p&g. proud sponsor of moms. >> all morning long we have been counting down to london, the olympics now just 100 days away. time to get a sneak peek of some of the olympic fashions that team usa is going to be sporting. for our first look we've got natalie, savannah, tamron and yours truly. >> look at these. >> i feel like i could run faster. >> official sponsor. >> that's right. >> really good for sporting activities. >> you've got the team usa. >> and you've got the miss conda. >> these are the london lens. >> ah-ha. >> you can change the lens out. i can't even figure out how to do it. but you can change the lens. >> that's right. >> i have the usa radar. >> nice. >> all right. >> we're going to look at some of the looks that are providing

to the american athletes. these are for the clothing ceremonies i believe. >> come on out here. >> so cute. >> first we've got diana. you've got crisp white blouse, u.s. olympic team -- >> tae kwon do. >> and her brother. >> steven. >> and my son takes tae kwon do. >> how excited are you guys? is it great to be part of not only the team but to go with your brother. >> it's always a great experience to have my older brother and my olympic coach. >> it's a family affair then. >> if you get in an argument who wins? >> she always wins. you know it. >> all right. you guys look good. >> thank you. >> let's check out some of the village wear we've got. >> and here we have olympic gold medalist swimmer rebecca, and

hopeful ali, olympic silver medalist in water polo tony, and decathlete brian. this is village wear. red, white and blue. >> they're customizable so you can actually just the track jabates, the dresses, you can put your name on them and personalize them? >> right. real quick we wanted to show you guys what they looked like so we brought a shirt out for al. >> oh. >> great. >> customizable olympic polo. this is what people can use. starts out today, they can get online and check it out. that's kind of what they look like. >> very nice. >> do you have real names on the shirts or do you do crazy nicknames? >> i have mine. >> nice. >> excellent. >> you represent real well for us, okay, we're so excited. >> hopefully it will be warmer when you're wearing it. >> this is not summer weather right now. thanks so much, you guys. it was great. >> 100 days to go. >> thanks so much. >> and coming up we're going to meet some americans who walked

away with gold the last time the games were london. they were 64 years ago. can you believe that? we're going to meet them right after these messages. ♪ [ lopez ] the red white and blue means so much to me. it means opportunity it means anybody can attain whatever they want to do just 8 years ago i was in a refugee camp and i didn't even have a country now i had a country that i was given the flag to carry in opening ceremony everything is possible this is what red white and blue means to me. what does it mean to you? ♪ what does it mean to you? (belhi.ings) good morning. big news. we're spreading the word about new honey bunches of oats fruit blends and their unique taste combinations. like peach/raspberry... and banana/blueberry. we're telling everyone. with one flavor in the granola bunch and one on the flake. try some. mmm! two flavors. in harmony.

yummy. four nutritious grains and two big fruit flavors to make your day bunches better. good morning, 9:26 on this wednesday, april 18th, i'm aaron gilchrest. we're starting to see trouble on the roads out there, danella sealock has details. >> good morning, aaron, yeah, it's tough on a lot of our roads, the beltway very slow outer loop in montgomery county. slow travel speed, just 21 miles per hour, 27 minutes to get from i-95 to i-270. inner loop in virginia, a mess at little river turnpike. your travel speed, even slower, just 19 miles per hour, about 40 minutes to get from the interchange to the dulles toll road. it's tough, pack your patience. aaron, back to you. aaron, back to you. >> thank you, never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles in 3 days is-- is huge.

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good morning, tom kierein, storm center 4. we've had some light rain moving through the metro area, south to north out of virginia. and all of those areas in green, some still sprinkles falling around much of the region. although the bottom of the screen are more moderate showers, those may be moving in by noon time. and between now and then, expect a few sprinkles and tempts holding steady in the low to mid 50s. later this afternoon, may briefly touch low 60s, but a

very cool day. and that should help the pollen count with the rain. though that should reduce the pollen. sun back tomorrow and friday. aaron? >>

♪ ♪ on the radio stereo ♪ >> one of the great songs of all-time. you cannot get it out of your head. back in 1994 in san francisco, the band has been going express ever since. infectious songs like tracks with jupiter and calling all angels. they've got a new collection out. they're going to be here to give us a sample tomorrow right here on "today." >> nice. >> oh, it is? want to see it? no. >> mean tile, i think -- >> looking forward to warm up. coming up this half hour, going green, and vibrant colored. usually don't go hand in hand. these days say bye-bye to bland

old beige, environmentally friendly styles are bolder and brighter than ever. look how cute. everything from pillows to welcome mats, even running shoes. we're going to show you these green products that are pretty cool. >> i like the running shoes. >> green products that aren't beige. we like that. also ahead, as we mark 100 days until the summer olympics we're looking back at the last time london hosted the games more than six decades ago. right after world war ii. it was the first olympics after world war ii that they cansing 1940 and '44. team usa collected more than 80 medals then. and this morning we've got a real treat. we've have four gold medalist from the '48 games including the first asian-american, and the first african-american woman who earn gold medals. so we're honored that they're joining us here today. >> yeah. >> the history of the olympics. >> really. >> it's remarkable. >> that's cool. then we're going to head to "today's kitchen" and we are headed back to school, cooking school. going to get a jump on summer with a lesson in grab. three different ways. it's going to be very crabby

morning up there in the "today" kitchen. >> oh. >> mr. metaphor, two can play at this game. >> all right. >> full steam ahead. >> oh, i know. >> we rack our brains here. >> try to keep it interesting. >> i know i'm getting on the wrong track here. let's show you what's going on as far as our forecast is concerned. wet weather today in the as far as our forecast is concerned. wet weather today in the pacific northwest coast. sunshine in the southwest, showers along the mid-atlantic coast into the southeast. some heavy at times, tomorrow we are looking at wet day along the southeastern and mid-atlantic coast, rain along the pacific northwest coast. heavy rain in the upper mississippi river valley. mild, getting more mild in new england with plenty of sunshine, hot from west texas into the southwest. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's going on in your neck of the woods. good morning, tom kierein, with storm center 4 radar, showing an area of rain advancing south to north, across virginia to west virginia, maryland and the district.

the areas in green, sprinkles of light rain. much of northern virginia and maryland. although at bottom of the screen, we have more moderate rain south of richmond and charlottesville advancing to the north and it's a cool morning, we're in the low to mid 50s, upper 50s in washington and by the way. later today, only the low 60s. occasional >> and that's your latest weather. >> all right. thank you, al. coming up next, going green. while it doesn't have to be boring we're going to show you the hottest trends in house wares that are good for the environment. right after this. you didn't think, did you? [ chuckles ] you didn't think what life was gonna be like for me? mom, dad. for your son. [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] it's a snack like nothing else. kraft milkbite bars are a calcium-rich mix of real milk and delicious granola. find me in the dairy aisle -- please.

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sounds like a mini-wheats day to me! and becka's science fair is on the 8th. she's presenting the solar system. hey i've got just the whole grain fiber to help keep her full so she can stay focused. um...you rock. she'll be ready to rock. right here! [ female announcer ] make your kids big days, mini-wheats days. packed with fiber and nearly a day's worth of whole grains kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal helps keep your kids full and focused. now available in cinnamon roll flavor. keeps 'em full... keeps 'em focused. this morning on "today goes green" good for the earth doesn't have to be mean earth tone. environmentally friendly products come in many vibrant

shades and styles these days. "today" contributor and author of "flip for decorating" elizabeth mayhew is here with the hottest, colorful, green products. good morning. >> good morning. >> it's often bland, beige, oatmeal when you go green with some of these products. >> not anymore. this is like all cool stuff that will bring color and be good for you into your home. >> and good for the environment? >> okay, so these are very cool. these are made out of the rope that maine fishermen used to use to tether together the lobster nets. well, it happened to be very bad for marine life. so now they've switched to a totally different kind of rope. but this company, the new england trading company, takes the old rope, rather than putting it into landfills and weaves it into a great-looking striped door mat. and it's perfect as a door mat because obviously it's meant to be in the ocean, so it's all-weather. >> absolutely. now this flip-flop mat? >> so this company takes the leftover scraps from making flip-flops and turns them into mats. so you can get these at both

shopgaiam.com and also remodern. what's great about it, they're very cushy like a flip-flop so they'd be great in front of your sink in your kitchen. very comfortable. >> if you cook a lot and you're standing around. perfect. next up. >> so you've got to have, you think of green living, seeds are a wonderful thing. i think these would be an amazing mother's day gift. basically it's the hudson valley seed library which harvests all organic seeds. and actually hopes to keep them all alive, in the seed library. but what i love is they've commissioned all of these artists to do the covers of their seed packets, and they compactaged with the removable sticker that you can then take and frame, so they're colorful and they'd be really cute addition framed in a kitchen. you get two things for the price of one. >> the garden mom. next up bamboo, which is so popular with organic and environmentally friendly. >> bamboo is the fastest growing plant. in some places it can grow three feet a day. so it's a great renewable resource. >> these looks like they're

melamine or plastic but they're made out of bamboo, so they're completely biodegradable. you can even put them in your dish washer. you get a set of four so one of each pattern. >> and storage never looked so good and friendly for the environment. >> great in a kid's room, made from recycled cotton canvas. and it's also dyed with soy based dyes so nothing bad for the environment. great, you know, collapsible, put -- >> can you wash this? >> you can wash it, as well. >> and storage bins? >> these are so cool because they're actually made out of paper. but they're super durable. if you go to buygreen.com you can seen see a video of the 200 pound guy jumping on top of them. you can stack them. they come in nine different colors. great for a kid's room, as well. >> then storage jarred glass. >> we think of recycled glass as being very popular. this artist takes recycled glass bottles,00 cuts them, hand hands them and makes canisters or really pretty colored bottles that are joined together and

beautiful vases, they're even like an art collection. >> it's like color blocking. >> these are from remodern.com, as well. >> and a little pillow to pop your home? >> right, these are all pillows made out of natural jute and burlap and the artist uses non-voc paints to do the dots. even the filler that's inside, you can attest to it it's squishy. but it's made out of recycled water bottles. >> even the feel of the texture is not so rough. you don't want a rough pillow just so it's environmentally friendly. >> and a little fun with the polka dots. >> now to the running shoe. >> okay these are super cool. they're from brooks running, and they are made out of multiple things like recycled rubber. recycled compact discs, recycled water bottles. these shoes actually have 26 parts put to them which is to make the shoe as opposed to the average running shoe which is 54 parts. so they've actually really tightened down -- >> and they're durable.

>> come in all these bright colors. it's pretty amazing. >> this looks right up my alley. >> this is a shopping bag. it's from a company called art techniquea. they have partnered up with an advertising firm where they take all of the recycled ibmboards and they make these bags out of them and they die-cut them. it holds up to 3 pounds. if you go to the farmer's market. and you're using something that would normally go into a landfill. there's no glue used. >> you can even sit some of your tomatoes and onions on the storage shelf in your home and still looks cool. >> absolutely. hang them in a closet with the potatoes. >> now baby and mommy. >> so diapers, 500 million diapers go into landfills a day. and it's estimated it takes 500 years for them to break down. so this company called g-diapers, has come up with this system where you buy the little pant, it comes in all different colors, and then you buy inverts which are completely

biodegradable. you can flush them. you can put them in the garbage or you can put them in your come post and they totally break down. and they also do wipes, as well. you cannot flush those, but they are biodegradable. >> you just insert? >> you insert a little layer, a little liner. >> the cutest thing ever. >> and it's so much better for the environment. and that's essentially there's just a little liner that goes in, and your baby stays wet -- not wet, dry. >> but this is great because it's a combination of kind of the old cloth diaper with the innovation of disposable. >> exactly. and it's all online from g-diaper. >> all right, elizabeth. thank you very much. >> up next another color we're seeing, gold, as we count down to the olympics in london. we'll meet some olympic champs from the last summer games 64 years ago. [ male announcer ] this one goes out to all the allergy muddlers. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts.

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as we celebrate 100 days to

go before london hosts this summer's olympics we want to introduce you to four extraordinary americans who competed in the last london olympics. that was in 1948. so 64 years ago. and these athletes walked away with gold. ray luck, alice coachman, sammy lee and mal whitfield. good morning to all of you. what an honor to have you here. ray, let me start with you. you earned this gold medal playing on that basketball team. >> correct. >> team usa. i imagine, and you went on to play professional basketball. i imagine it was nothing, though, quite like representing your team. do you remember what it was like walking into wembley stadium? >> yes, i do. to be an olympian was a dream come true. but what i remember most is the olympic awards ceremony, in wembley stadium. here we have 80,000 people in the stands. we have the victory stands. they award you a gold medal. they play the national anthem. they raise the american flag.

and there's a moment in time that you never forget. it lasts forever. >> not even 64 years later. you never forget that. >> so proud to be an american. >> there you go. and alice, you won the gold medal for the high jump. and you're the first african-american woman to walk away with gold. what was that experience like for you? >> it was fine, fine to have the king to award me the gold medal. >> king george, that's right. >> and i went through and they played the national anthem, it was all over with then. >> there you go. i know you made your mom and dad proud. we talked about that. sammy, you were a diver, also the first asian-american to win gold. did you know you were going to win? >> well, i went up to do my last dive, i thought give me 16 years

to tell you i hope i don't blow it. fortunately i did a dive that won the gold medal. the second time in the history that man walked on water, i achieved my gold medal. >> there you go, good answer. all right, and mal, you earned three medals at the 1948 olympic games in the 800 meters race. and how confident were you that you were going to win? >> a few -- a few medals. >> a few medals. just three. >> well, a thousand medals. >> just three medals. but you all unbelievable accomplishments. congratulations again. you know, it's an honor to have you all here as we celebrate olympic history, past, present and future. thanks again. >> thank you. >> nice to have you. your grandson right here. looks just like you, by the way. right there. isn't he a handsome young man? very proud of grandfather.

coming up next a little taste of summer. we're going to show you how to make crab cakes three different ways. that's coming up in "today's kitchen."

"today's kitchen" is brought to you by hellmann's. make it real. make a difference. >> this morning in "today's" cooking school, crab, three ways. >> chris kimbell our teacher, with simple and mouthwatering crab recipes. >> only natalie could have made it -- >> i'm exhausted running up those stairs. >> it was olympic. >> chris kimbell the editor of cook's country magazine the host of america's test kitchen one of the best tv shows on cooking on tv. >> why, thank you. >> it truly is. we are talking about some of the best eating. we're talking about crab. >> okay. >> three ways. >> get the jokes out of the way.

>> no, no, no. >> first thing you want to know, you want large lump crab. when you get it home sometimes it has a fishy smell. >> right. >> it's nothing wrong with the crab it's just what happens when it sits around so we soak it in milk for 20 minutes and it actually completely makes it perfect. >> for 20 minutes. >> 20 minutes in milk and all that smell goes away. we add a little bit of tomato. this is crab louis which was invented in 1904 in san francisco. simple salad. has crab, scallions, tomato, and then it has a dressing which is very typical. which is mayonnaise. hot sauce. >> oh. >> ooh. >> worcestershire. >> a little more hot sauce. >> there you go. >> that's it. >> so you're going to put this on now, put this on this plate.

on here. like that. okay. >> that's got a lot of heat to it. and a lot of these recipes mix the mayonnaise which the crab which makes them a little bit, you know, lady luncheon. >> it's not crab cake. >> it's a crab salad. >> this is from a restaurant, a hotel in seattle, the mayflower and they came up with the concept of a flee layer crab salad. the first thing we're going to do is make a little bit of dressing with mayonnaise. >> that's a basic vinaigrette you have there? >> vinaigrette with some mustard, put the crab in like that. >> perfect. >> now what you can do is take the avocado, and take one-third cup, fill it with avocado. >> okay. >> put that as the base. that's a three-inch mold. >> flatten it in there a little bit? >> so this is actually very easy to do. it's my go-to, let's impress the guests kind of thing. >> and it seems so easy. >> yep. and just flatten that out. >> flatten that one out. now you want to add a third cup

of this. diced peppers, celery onions, a little bit of heat in there. yeah, put some in there. >> nice job, natalie. >> very good. >> i'm impressing the guests. >> you are. >> now we're going to actually tap this down. >> you just need the food mold. >> you can use a tuna fish can on the top. don't use a cat food can. >> that would be bad. >> a little frise on top. and one or two -- >> now you're really going for the impressing. >> look at this. >> perfect. >> this is so neat, isn't it? >> okay. >> top that, tamron. take that. >> i can't and i won't. but my oil is heat being up. >> you put those in. you can start cooking those. >> start cooking. >> so crab cakes have a problem it's all binder, all eggs, so we are making a binder of shrimp. >> shrimp? >> amazing. >> right. we're going to process that for about -- >> all in one pan?

>> yes, put four in that pan. you can also, a little bit of cream goes in to it, too. >> mm-hmm. >> a little cream. >> we mix that up a few more seconds and what we have here is really, it's a shrimp binder instead of bread. >> okay. >> and then we have a little bit of lemon juice. >> all right. >> watch my cooking space. >> mustard? >> okay, watch -- >> watch. >> it's a food fight. >> and then? >> that goes in here. then these you let sit for 30 minutes and refrigerate. >> why? >> well when you cook them they hold together better. >> chris kimbell, thank you so much. hoda and kathie lee coming up with julie andrews. >> all right we're going to eat now.

good morning, i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrest. tomorrow morning on "news4 today," it's time to rock the red. we'll get you ready for the capitols critical game four at verizon center. >> plus nasa knows how to throw a retirement party. a celebration of the shuttle discovery and you are invited. we've got everything you need to know about the official welcome ceremony at the udvar-hazy center, including how you can get spectacular pictures of the shuttle and watch the megamove

as "discovery" is rolled into its permanent parking spot. >> and one thing that the best party planners can't control -- we're talking abouted weather. >> and tom kierein is here and he's working on your out-the-door forecast. >> much-needed rain for the rest of the day coming out of virginia, in towards the district, maryland, west virginia throughout the day. we'll be drying out a bit tomorrow, the latest on that and the latest look at our weekend, that will be tomorrow morning. danella? >> and i'll be watching the roads and the rails. updates every ten minutes with your weather and traffic on the 1's. eun and aaron? >> from just down the street to around the globe, we'll have all around the globe, we'll have all the news that happens while you

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. we can do this. we can all do this together. (man) register today for the...

and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. be captions paid for byes nbc-universal television from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> hello, everybody. yes, you have mad it to winesday, wednesday. it's april 18th. we're so happy you're here with us today. >> two more wake-ups till friday. >> how about that? don't wish your life away, hoda. you'll get to my age and say why did i wish for friday when i hadn't been through winesday, wednesday yet. >> is that true? >> take it from the old broad. >> you know who's having a great

wednesday? >> tammy! our producer had her second child yesterday. there's her husband dan. >> alana victoria. >> alana. >> alana. that's what i said. >> she was born at 10:21. right in the middle of her favorite television show. >> i think we were doing the kids' "voice." >> everybody's great. 6 pounds, 15 ounces, i think. >> a special shout out to a special doctor. his name? >> dr. kukuchara. >> we're just having fun with it. >> his name is dr. kuchara. >> we were trying to make a song out of it. >> we thought that was fun. apparently not everybody thinks so. they shall remain nameless. joane lamarca. >> last night was "the voice" again. >> i love giving it blow by blow

with you, hoda. >> you're like one of the judges. last night team blake and team christina, they each had a couple of singers. they had to vote one person of the bottom two off. there were two people. they had to blurt out who they were cutting. >> last minute, like a -- >> we're going to start with team blake. let's watch team blake's two singers. ♪ ♪ rolling, rolling, rolling on a river ♪ ♪ if i die young, bury me in silence, lay me down on a bed of roses ♪ ♪ lay me in the river at dawn, send me away with the words of a love song ♪ >> okay. those two. >> i would have let the first girl go. >> they let the second girl go. the little country girl. >> no. i think she has a much more

distinctive sound. the first girl, once you've seen tina turner sing that song, you better be able to sing it as well or better than tina. in my mind, she didn't. this girl made this other song more distinctive. more her own. >> i think the criticism of that second girl was that she was very twangy. they didn't say it like that. >> never hurt loretta lynn. >> the first girl is kind of like what's her name? winona judd. she seems like her when she sings other songs, too. >> winona judd is a much better singer. i'm sorry. >> next up, team christina. here are the bottom two from team christina ♪ you and i, yeah, you and i, love you and i ♪ ♪ please don't go, if i wake up tomorrow will you still be he

here ♪ >> kristen stewart, is that her name? >> kind of looked like her. >> from the side she looked like her. i would let the second girl go. >> they let the first girl go. i agree with you. i would have kept the first girl. that's team christina now, you saw what her team's like. >> yeah. i think blake's got the superior team, though. >> he does have a strong team. next week we hear from adam and cee lo's team. another good show that's on. >> we'd rather watch the clips. >> betty white's show "off their rockers." >> they send us a couple clips. this is going to be on today. let's take a look at this clip. >> she's got a really hot date tonight. it's a third one, you know, so she's going to get -- anyway, you're the guy's age. which one should she wear? >> oh, baby.

>> what do you think? >> this is tough. >> what would you like better? >> let's go with the -- >> black. >> the black. he said the black. >> so you think this will guarantee that i'll get lucky? >> you think? >> you think? >> i'm thinking what would cody have done. this lady is becoming too recognizable. that's a third time we've seen her. >> is that her again? >> yeah, yeah. i want them to use my mother and your mother. >> oh, my gosh. >> my mother is the funniest -- >> she's really funny. >> she doesn't know it. that's what's so funny. >> she doesn't. >> all righty. here's another one, apparently. we got one more. >> uh-huh. >> here you go. >> thank you. >> sorry for the gloves. i'm dealing with a nightmare thing in the toilet back there.

i'll be back in a minute. >> he's scaring me. >> we should probably swap these out. you didn't drink out of it, did you? good. okay. >> ew. >> did you drink any? >> i did. >> oh, no. [ flushing ] >> that show is genius. >> "time" magazine came out with its most influential 100 people. a lot of great people were on this list. including -- >> matt lauer.

we're really, really proud. well, well, well deserved. >> we've got to talk about this story. i find it shocking. >> i know. >> a kinder gardener in georgia was having a melt down in school. >> 6 years old. >> threw a terrible tantrum. threw some things off the walls. knocked off a little furniture. >> don't minimize it. throwing furniture, knocking thinks off the shelf. >> as much as a 6-year-old can do. they called the cops. what else are you going to do? the police officers handcuffed -- >> tried to calm the child. she resisted. >> because she's 6 and having a tantrum. and they charged her with some things. they dropped the charges. but i just want to say handcuffed and charged the girl with whatever it was. >> this is the first time i'm seeing the video of the little girl. here's the thing. they called in the police. the police tried to get her. she is railing around. she's a danger to herself and to others.

if he had tried to hold her, people would have been upset. you know? what can you do? by getting her hands cuffed, she can't do any damage to other people. >> you should not handcuff a 6-year-old, period. >> what should they have done? what should he have done? you've been reading "50 shades of gray" too much. >> otherwise parents would be calling the cops all the time when their kids have meltdown. you're at school. >> they keeps them from harming themselves, too, hoda. >> handcuffs say criminal. handcuffs say criminal. i think. >> she's 6. >> she had a meltdown. she did something ridiculous. i don't know anything about the kid. whether she has add, adhd. i don't know what she has going. maybe nothing. maybe something. >> she's one student in a classroom with other children as well. you say it could scar her for life. i said maybe it could. better it do that -- sorry. i work with child abuse victims all the time. i don't think you should be abusive to any child. but if it scars her this way a little bit but keeps her from

scarring another child and the child loses an eye -- >> take her out of the school. >> you have to grab her. then you get in trouble for pulling a child. >> you've got to be able to grab a 6-year-old, i think. >> hoda, you haven't seen one completely out of control. >> no, i have. i have. >> have you tried to keep them -- calm them down? >> there are parents who have kids who throw tantrums and have medical issues and are trying to figure out how to restrain them. >> we disagree. we'd love to hear what you all think. team hodhoda. team kathie lee. i don't think they should taser. i don't think they should do that at all. you said have a janitor come in? what's he going to do? >> the cops should be doing police work. >> that is police work. police are trying to keep the world safe for its citizens. you know what? if it was my child doing that, i would want the police to handcuff my kid. i would want them to do it before my child hurt somebody else.

>> we don't know the story. >> we find out afterwards. before somebody can be badly hurt. >> i think people with mental -- if there's a mental issue or problem we don't know about, you can't be handcuffing those kids. >> would you feel differently if they hadn't handcuffed her and this child hurt somebody really badly. >> that didn't happen. we're addressing what we know about. i'm addressing what i'm aware of. a 6-year-old in handcuffs taken down to the tank and she was charged. even though they dropped the charge. >> i'm going to tase you. >> mother of the year contest. >> something we agree on. are you the mother of the year? do you think you're the best? we've teamed up with salary.com contest to find the mother that deserves the title. sadly, i'm not eligible. >> the prize is $112,962. >> we'll pick up a collection

right here. anthony's good for 3 cents. we'll take a collection up for the 45 cents and make it exactly what it's supposed to be. joanne lamarca, we're not talking to you right now. >> do your thing. when's the deadline? it's coming up. we're going to pick three finalists to come to new york city. >> deadline is april 27th. okay? >> we're going to pay for everything. >> all travel and all accommodations are provided by salary.com. you're making legal go crazy. i'm going to handcuff you. do we have some handcuffs, please? >> do you like these? >> i do think these are adorable. >> something for the olympics. a new charm bracelet which has -- i can't see anymore. >> it's got the british flag. i think it's got -- >> teacup. >> teacup. yeah. all kinds of cute little london charms on it. where's the tower of london and the torture chamber? where's that? >> anyway, they're really cool. 98 bucks.

>> a crown, phone booth and suit of armor helmet. >> $98. nbc universal store. order them where they sell our mugs. >> does it go to a charity? >> no. goes to nbc universal. >> we also have a kentucky derby contest, don't we? >> sara. >> yes, we do. the kentucky derby is right around the corner. just like last year, we want to see your original designs of your hats. go to our website, klgandhoda.com to post your picture. right now through mex monday, april 23rd. you are fweting the chance possibly to win a trip to the kentucky derby. so get crazy and creative. >> thank you. >> great, thank you. big show. up next -- >> the one and only, julie andrews here with her daughter emma watson hamilton. they're having a mother/daughter moment. isn't that sweet? so sweet. right after this. for the cameras. onday...

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first of all, thank you for the lovely meal jane. mom. and let's hear it for sara's paper mache eiffel tower. it's the washington monument. and dad, i'll never forget what you said to me this morning. you said "brian, it's 11:15. get up." so maybe this is just the cake talking but let's celebrate! [ male announcer ] celebrate the little things. buy any kfc 10 pc meal or larger and get a free double chocolate chip cake. yes, i know. >> more to come. >> we are already talking with oscar winner, mary poppins herself, her unforgettable role as marie in "the sound of music." actor, singer, best selling author and apparently the greatest mother that ever lived. >> a triple threat. julie and her daughter emma walton ma'hamilton have teamed

to write "the very fairy princess." >> it's very sweet. >> we want to go on record saying it was not a phony mother/daughter moment. >> it was as phony as they come. come on. >> shame an you, kathie. >> tell us about this book. first of all, the fact you guys work so well together and you can do multiple books tells us about your relationship. >> how long? >> 14 years. 25 books so far. >> it has been really fun. we love it. i love it as a mom. >> any time you can spend time with your adult children who usually want to get away with their parents. >> to play in that sand box. >> imagination. >> getting away from any other problems of the day. just literally working on the books is a joy. >> what starts the germ of the ideas? usually one or the other of you that has the idea for the story? >> this particular series was inspired by my daughter, hope, who is 8. and who is fiercely feminine.

and so this is "the very fairy princess" series in which our heroine, geraldine. >> socks about her ankles. holes in her tights. grubby fingernails. >> it's about her inner sparkle. >> does she get so excited when these books come out? does she want to tear into them? >> she's our best critic and our best source of ideas. >> what does she say? if she criticizes it, what would be the kinds of things she would say to you? >> it's not so much critical. it's i like this cover better than that cover. the color better. >> do you listen to her? >> absolutely, yeah. >> that's your target audience. >> that's our demographic. >> it's interesting watching you two. we obviously grew up and know you from so many different things. what is it like being julie andrews' daughter? >> it's such a difficult question to answer, hoda. that's all i know. she's mom. obviously i realize i'm very blessed. she's a wonderful mom.

we have a lovely relationship. so i'm grateful. >> we should mention, though, that we're also celebrating national princess week. >> yes. >> this week. >> every week should be national princess week. >> it should be. >> thank you. it's actually quite special for us. because target and disney have actually come together to combine all their wonderful princess merchandise and everything to do -- >> with princess. >> with princess is in the target stores all across the country. and our serendipity is that the books are front and center this week. >> awesome. i don't know if we have time for me to say one thing. you don't know this about your mom and i. but when you and your husband asked me to do one night, remember, when you were doing victor, my daughter was 1-year-old. i wanted to do broadway more than life itself. i remember talking with you about it. i said, julie, my daughter is only 1. and she'll never be 1 again. i have to say no. and she said, i cry when i think. she said, kathie, i had to make those same kind of decisions

when my children were little, too. and you will never regret putting your family first. >> she is the best mom. >> she is. that was not a phony moment. >> how old is your daughter now? >> 18 1/2 and going off to college. >> another tear jerker. >> another tear jerker. i hope we can be as close all these years as the two of you are. pleasure to see you. happy early mothers day, julie. >> and to you. >> and congrats on the ten-year anniversary of your movie. >> all falling together at once. >> poor anne hathaway, her career went down the toilet after that movie. can't get a job. >> is there going to be another "princess diaries," i don't think so. anne is on her way, has moved on. unless disney can come up with some extra magic, which they often do. >> they are in the magic

business. up next, the awfully funny fphotos that will make you say "what the what?" right after this. rk done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in.

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it's that time of the week where we take a look at all those photos that make you say "what the what?"

>> sara picked her favorites. >> i laughed my way through. veronica from sanford, florida. either terrible or ingenuous. this bar is conveniently located next to the funeral home. >> oh. >> i can't see. >> conveniently located to the funeral home. >> maybe if you drink too much you're not going to have to go very far. >> that really made you scream with laughter? >> it's awful and morbid. my sense of humor is sometimes dark. next, kimberly glen from atlanta, georgia. i wonder if this place is next door to that bar. your arlington funeral chapel. and there's an open house. >> that's nice. how morbid. >> take a look-see lou before you go in. michelle from columbus, georgia, submitted this photo. i don't think i'd want to eat here. >> where friends and family mate for great food. >> where is that? >> in georgia. avoid it.

and we have a photo from debbie blankenship from sebastian, florida. can't say we didn't warn you. >> survivors will be ticketed. that's good. >> finally, julie ann watts. if you violate and park here, you will be forced to wash clothes. hoda, i have to mention the tweet i did about the toaster. i don't mean to offend hoda. i don't really see her in the kitchen. >> that's mean. >> nobody else does, either. >> by the way, should we point out the toaster in studio 1a takes forever to toast bread? it's like a bread warmer. >> if you're lucky enough to have any bread left. >> all righty. >> to actually eat. >> send your pictures into klgandhoda.com. how much do you know about being green? we're going to play "who knew?" and find out. >> plus, the wine on your dinner

table. >> and actress blythe danner. >> and on her way to the olympics. >> hoda's going to take her on. yeah, hoda. >> she should be afraid. i've been eating activia and i feel great! i'm used to having irregularity. i feel like that's normal. if you are not feeling like trying this on, that's not normal. activia helps with occasional irregularity when eaten 3 times a day. feeling regular to me was a new feeling... i came to find my 'new normal' and i love it! ♪ activia and try new silky, fruity activia harvest picks. another way to enjoy activia. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios

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never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles in 3 days is-- is huge. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. you just put one foot in front of the other, and you know that you're walking for such a great cause that you just keep going. (man) that you have all these people coming together for one common goal. (woman) the goal is to bring an end to breast cancer. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. (woman) i'll never stop walking, not till we find a cure. (woman) and it has to end, but it starts with us. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. it is the most rewarding experience i have ever had in my entire life. we can do this. you can do this.

we can all do this together. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime.

we are back on this winesday, wednesday, with more of "today." ready to play our weekly trivia game we call "who knew?" it is earth week. we're going to test your knowledge of all things green. kathie lee is across the street at the nbc experience store. she's ready to hand out 100 bucks to those who get the questions right. to those who don't, they get kathie lee's cd. all right. here to help me out is practicallygreen.com's editorial director alexandra. are we ready? >> i am super ready. >> across the street to kath. >> look at this 75 and fabulous lady from amarillo, texas. is she beautiful? what is vampire energy? number one, a great new halloween themed energy bar?

an energy that appliances suck when turned off by still plugged in. what happens when characters on "twilight" kiss. or all of the above. >> all of the above. >> you're 75 and fabulous, but you're wrong! >> all right. the correct answer here is, "b," the energy that appliances suck when turned off but are still plugged in. is that a lot of energy? >> it can be up to 10% of your monthly bill. who knew? you turned it off. you think it's off. there's an easy way to fix that. plug those things into a smart strip. when you do that and turn that off, they actually will be turned off. >> so turn them off. unplug them. all right. back across to kath. >> look at this beautiful lady with these gorgeous kids from boston. hi. which of the following does not apply to organic wine? if you know the answer to this i'm going to be upset. "a," it doesn't taste as good as regular wine. it's made with grapes grown without certain synthetic pesticides and fertilizer. it's safer for you, the farmers

and the earth. and it's widely available. >> i'm going to guess "c." >> that sounded extra rude today. i don't know why. no. but here you go. you're going to love this cd. >> all right. the correct answer here is, again, the question is which of the following does not apply to organic wine. it doesn't taste as good as regular wine. it tastes as good. >> my job is super tough. i've tasted a tremendous amount of ar begorganic wine. it's widely available. at certain shops you won't see a certification label. you can ask somebody. >> usually more expensive? >> not actually. it's fantastic. >> back across to kath. >> you're going to let your son do it. smart kid from massachusetts. true or false, smart kid? 85% of u.s. dry cleaners use perchloroethylene which is a likely carcinogen.

>> true? >> you are smart. >> the answer is true. >> i'm not sure why this thing isn't banned yet, but it's not. in the interim, and i think it will be banned at some point, you can actually wash most of your clothing. quite easy to do. wool or delicates. or send it to a co2 cleaner or wet cleaner. >> back across to kath. >> this gentleman is from providence, rhode island. what's the biggest energy drain this your house. flat-screen tv, microwave, refridge traitor or computer. >> i'm going to guess my flat-screen tv. >> you'll be wrong! you'll love my muse zblik the biggest emergency drain in your house is your refridge trait zbler it's true. unless he has his flat-screen on all the time, your refrigerator is on all the time. >> what do you do about that? >> you can take steps to mitigate that. if your fridge is older than 1993. get a new one. get an energy star rated one.

recycle the old one accordingly. >> look at this lady from vegas, baby. true or false. even natural or organic lipstick can contain lead. >> true. >> you cheated. >> helped is the operative word. >> don't think we all don't know it. >> i found that unusual. lead is in -- >> even though i'm an organic expert, i'm here to admit that. it's a trace element in a natural pigment. of course there'll be a trace element. it hasn't been added. there's still plenty of reasons to be using organic or natural lipstick. >> time for one more. >> lady from arlington, massachusetts. what is the dirtiest thing in any home including yours. the dog bowl. the bathroom faucet. doorknobs. your hands. >> probably doorknobs. >> your hands! >> you got it. yeah. your hands are the dirtiest thing in your house.

>> absolutely the dirtiest thing in your own home. that's what's touching the doorknobs. wash your hands with regular soap and water. you don't need anything with an anti-bacterial agent or pesticide. when it comes time to clean use a natural cleaner. clean the things that have been touched by your hands. doorknobs, faucets, handles. >> are you a fan of purell type things? >> i am not a fan. >> good to know. thanks for coming to see us. great takeaway advice. coming up next, one of our favorites. actress blythe danner is here. she teams up with a young heartthrob. we're going to talk to her right after this. ur eyes will do the .

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of the romantic drama "the lucky one." >> based on the novel by nicolas sparks about a u.s. marine who returns home from iraq convinced that what kept him safe and alive was a photograph of a beautiful woman who he then begins to search for. >> the emmy and tony award winning blythe danner co-stars in that film with zac efron and taylor shilling. >> we're always delighted when you come to see us. >> great to be with you. you already had your wine, right? >> just a tiny little. >> you're the emotional glue in this family. >> oh, really? the glue. i mean, she's -- i love her because she's feisty and funny and she kind of weaves in and out with wise little pithy

complementary things. i like the fact i'm there to be a mother that doesn't say a lot. >> you don't manipulate your children. >> we all strive to be like that, right? >> zac efron certainly made the transition from kind of teen heartthrob. a lot of people know him in all those other movies. and stepping into this role as a war veteran, really. >> yeah. he had three tours in iraq. he beefed up quite a bit for the role. >> he sure did, didn't he. >> he was working out. but, you know, he suffers -- his character suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. it's really very, very touching. i choked up several times. in the beginning when he goes off to find this gal who, you know, who saved his life, which she actually literally did, her photograph. >> you have a history with taylor, too. we're seeing her on that show "mercy." >> i saw her on "mercy" and called my agent. said get me on that show. this girl's so wonderful. when i heard she was doing this i very much wanted to. to go to new orleans. one of my very favorite cities in the world. >> yeah.

>> zac was heavenly. he treated his mother so wonderfully that i knew he was a good kid. >> when he's around here, we get to see the real people around here. because sometimes people are very different on camera than they are off. he's very, very gracious to everyone and polite. as you are. >> yes, indeed. >> well, i hope so. don't give me any wine. >> oh, really? >> you'll see the other side. >> you know what being a mom and grandmother is like. is there anything you would change with mother's day coming up? what would you do differently? >> oh, gosh. i just would watch my -- my daughter. because she is an extraordinary mother. she just sort of knew just what to do. i can't say she learned it all from me. this generation, i think, is just extraordinary. the way they mother. it's a little -- it's a little more three-dimensional, you know. it's not -- it's really finding out what kids are feeling and talking about their emotions. >> so if one of your little grandchi grandchildren wanted to become

an actress? >> i think it's sort of inevitable. i'll be amazed if she isn't. she's already -- >> tell us about what you want to talk about, too. >> this month is oral cancer prevention month. we're really wanting people to go to their dentist and be tested. it's a very painless five -- three to five minute test to see if anything is percolating. there's a real epidemic going on with oral cancer among younger people. which is really terrifying. so we urge people to go on to oralcancerfoundation.org or oralcancer.org to find out where these free testings are taking place. they'll really learn about why -- why younger people are getting it. which is sort of a really terrifying thing. which we don't go into great detail about. >> but you can find out. >> people should know. >> you lost your precious husband from that. >> yes. >> you did this in his honor. >> we did. >> thank you for coming. >> thank you. >> and the movie, "the lucky

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we're back with something we never touch. booze. to ease your tax day blues. okay? whether you're expecting a refund and have money to splurge or owe uncle sam everything and you're looking for a steal, we have some delicious drinks. >> we're going to get to that in one quick second. first, i don't know if you guys remember. last week a big glass of red wine splashed on my cream dress. >> bob did it. >> we want to point that out. you know, by the way, that kind of a dress, if you can see. i don't know if you'll be able to see it, the stain. >> bob! >> okay. look at it. it was soaked. soaked through.

>> look how i came to your help. >> nobody cares. we want to point out, this is that dress. not even, like, usually you see rings. >> it's called perk. >> thank you, donna. >> leslie sbrocco is in the house. you always have something cooking for us. >> i'm going to put you to the test today. i'm going to make you work a little bit. i want you to be a double fisted drinker. grab a glass. grab a glass. kathie lee, you can have three. it's okay. you can have a third glass. i want you to try each one of those wines. we've got a splurge and a steal. one of these bottles of bubbles is true champagne from the champagne region of france. about $75, $80. another is from california. it's got a little champagne heritage. >> i like the cheap one. >> a little bit less expensive. >> i'll tell you the cheap one. because i like cheap champagne. >> it's sweeter. >> this one. >> that's what i think, too. >> you think that's the steal. >> that's a cheap one. that's a steal. >> that is the splurge. >> oh, it's delicious!

>> isn't that delicious? i'm not easy, i'm just cheap. this is beautiful. this is actually a fantastic little mini. this is a cheap one. this is about seven bucks. >> come on. >> it's a steal. chandon. fabulous. bathtub wine. what i want you to try here is this. this is chardonnay. they're making so many beautiful wines under $20. i just, you know, there's beautiful wines in all categories. this one's from california. do you think that's a splurge or a steal. >> i think it's a steal. >> i think it's a steal, too. >> it is a splurge. i'm kicking them today. >> you are. >> this is the shafer red shoulder ranch. about 48 bucks. this i brought because you love chardonnay, honey. >> i do. i like it really chilled. this is room temperature.

>> this actually i did for you because train shot their last video there. >> i love train! >> they shot it at shafer's. >> wow! >> okay. >> i want you to test these two. take a little virtual vacation with these two wines. >> my kids are going to be very disappointed in me. >> you guys aren't getting anything right right now. i think i'm winning. taste these. steams or splurges. >> i'm going to say that's a splurge. >> i'm going to say that's a steal. >> you know what, it's a steal. under $10. >> i'm sorry. i meant -- i really did mean -- because i didn't like it. >> you didn't like it? >> she didn't like it. >> sometimes i don't like the most expensive wine. >> that's right. try this one. actually, this is from italy. most people think of italian -- this is from tuscany. they think of chianti. >> i love it when you speak italian. >> i use my hands, too. this is a crisp, light white.

>> i like that. i'll say splurge. >> steal. worst segment ever. ever. >> i want you to taste these. these are both from south africa. >> both? >> big ole glasses. >> a big and a small. >> size matter on this one. >> we got to wrap it. this is it. >> i want you to tell me what you think. splurge or steal. >> steal. >> the little one is a splurge. >> you got it! hoda got it right! woo hoo! chocolate block! this is the herding cats. 24 bucks. >> thank you. >> all right, girls. >> you're a doll baby. up next, hoda and me against each other in the ring? >> oh,

today's countdown is brought to you by walmart. save money. live better. walmart. >> today's countdown to london. women's boxing. >> a new event at this summer's games. fly weight marlen esparza is here to teach us some moves. >> how are you? >> good. >> can you take my card? >> marlen, congratulations. you are our hopeful, right? for the olympic gold. >> yes, i am. >> is there a certain weight class. is that how it works? >> 112 pounds. 51 kilograms. >> how did you get into this in the first place. >> i started boxing when i was 11. my dad wanted my brothers to box. that's what he wanted.

that was his goal. >> what happened? >> i kind of snuck my way in there. >> do your brothers box as well? >> no. they're not athletic at all. one is a chef. another one's like, in school for music. >> it must be a great workout. at the gyms they always have -- >> so aerobic. >> boxercise, they call it. >> all right. show us what to do. >> okay. let's show you a jab in a right hand. first two basic punches everybody learns. are you left-handed or right-handed. >> put your left hand in front of you. >> okay. >> put your elbow -- >> don't mess with us, marlen esparza. >> we can take her. >> go straight. >> oh, go straight. >> all the way straight. >> she could take you in one second. be careful. >> like that. >> that was good.

>> yeah. >> don't go near me. >> here's the right one. make sure -- there you go. >> oh. >> now your right hand. >> we only have 30 seconds. >> turn, turn, turn. >> marlen esparza, la la la la la la. >> you're a lot faster, i think. >> i know. >> now you should box each other. >> oh, really? you know what? this could be bad. i don't want to hurt her. marlen. >> why don't we just put hoda in handcuffs! tomorrow, eva longoria, zac handcuffs! tomorrow, eva longoria, zac efron, taylor schilling. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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