hi, savannah.ice to meet you today. >> reporter: the results of savannah's first assessment just landed in nova's inbox. >> oh, no. wow. might be worse than i thought. going to be a long haul, but at least, you know, she can't get mad at us ten years from now, say, why didn't you give me the chance? >> reporter: savannah has a long way to go. >> did you have trouble listening? >> reporter: with scores of 75, 53 and 26, she has to raise each number to a 99 to be a contender. >> what helps us focus on what someone is saying? we what? >> reporter: even the pro's kid, finn, is having trouble concentrating. >> try one more? >> no. >> reporter: over the next six months, the kids, their tutors and their parents will get down to business. >> can you mark the toy that's different? good for you. i've seen her, probably 25 times, so, she's had a lot of practice. >> let's go to the car. >> reporter: as the christmas holidays close in, everybody seems to feel elaina is ready for the test in january. >> this is

this was in savannah. she erected a curtain across the board so the survey names would not be, their sensibility could not be shocked by seeing girls in bloomers. but curtains do occur in those do. they kept people out but they're also piqued peoples interest. both wanted, and look around a curtain to see what was going on. she got a bit number of girls from the curtain. juliette gordon low was always involved with the girls. here she is milking a cow. but she also set up a national board of directors. her family was involved. her mother was on first board of directors. she got her first large donation from her brother in law. she pressed one brother in to be an attorney for the the organization, another being an account for the organization. she created an oversold washington headquarters. she moved to washington, d.c. in 1913 when shed on a couple hundred of girls. such optimism. she decided she needed a national headquarters with only a couple hundred girls. i love that. she oversaw all the publicity as

i'm savannah guthrie in tonight for brian. from the moment word broke about misconduct by secret service agents advancing the president's trip to colombia. some wondered whether it was a one-time incident or part of a larger cultural problem. at the agency. now, one day after the homeland security secretary said she believed it was an isolated incident, tonight, the secret service is investigating another allegation. this one during the president pfsz trip last year to els salvad salvador. it's an allegation only, not yet verified, but it adds to the growing headache to the people charged with protecting the president. nbc's kristen welker has the story tonight. kristen, good evening. >> the white house says despite the new allegations, the president continues to believe the majority of secret service and military personnel behaved responsibly and professionally. the nagging questions persist in the wake of the cartagena prostitution scandal. lawmakers and the obama administration acknowledge today investigators are looking in

savannah? >> nbc's ayman mohyeldin. in cairo tonight, thank you. >>> health news, whooping cough is the kind of illness we think of as being a thing of the past, but there's a big outbreak going on in washington state, and it's putting lives at risk. here is nbc's chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman. >> with the birth of her daughter fast approaching, this woman ignored her cough, dismissing it as a cold, but at two weeks old, her daughter caroline began to show similar symptoms. >> she turned blue and was coughing and choking. and gagging. >> it was whooping cough, passed to caroline from her mother. that signature cough is easily heard here in the march of dimes public service announcement. caroline recovered. one of the growing number of cases in an alarming breakout in washington state. >> so far this year, 640 cases have been reported and confirmed as of march 31st. last year, we had 94. >> and four of those children have died. northern california, oregon, and vermont are also experiencing similar outbreaks.

savannah? >> john yang in washington, thank you. >>> over seas, one of the world's biggest media moguls, rupert murdoch, under sharp questioning, made a rare public apology for the phone hacking scandal at his newspaper, the news of the world, which he shut down in the wake of the scandal. >> the news of the world, quite honest, is an aberration and it's my fault, and i'm sorry i didn't close it years before. >> sources tell nbc news, national investigative correspondent michael isikoff that the u.s. justice department is looking into whether they broke laws here. we posted a fuel report on this story on our website, nbcnigh y nbcnightlynews.com. >> health news tonight, and chances are you may be able to relate to this story. a study from the centers for disease control showed a big chunk of the american work force, 41 million people, get far too little sleep. that's danger in more ways than one. here is robert bazell. >> it's a nightly struggle waged by tens of millions of american workers. be

savannah, i'm angry with you.gory, actually, which is the direct person. >> exactly. >> so would you count to ten and then try to address it? >> if you are the reactive type then you would do just that. you would notice, ooh i'm feeling like i'm going to blow up, i want to stop, think about what's going on, and respond in a way that i thought through that i think is going to help me resolve the conflict. which is not the same as making a snide comment, walking away, exploding, or saying you know what? you are a bad person because i'm angry with you. >> real quickly, just to be devil's advocate and don't get mad at me here gail, is there any value to having -- letting someone see your anger and that explosive reaction, a controlled reaction as opposed to the direct approach. >> no, the direct approach is the controlled reaction. yes, there's a definitely advantage to letting someone see that you're angry. you should work towards that. that should be the goal. let them see you're angry but in a controlled and though

savannah?you. >>> still ahead, the surprising fact that dick clark revealed about himself here on "today." and we'll talk to his very first musical guest on "american bandstand." but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> just ahead, the search intensifies for a young woman, a soldier at ft. bragg missing for five days now. >>> and the woman charged with stalking alec baldwin breaks her silence. why she says the accusations have ruined her life after your local news. ♪ hey, dad, you think i could drive? i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪ [ son ] you realize, it's gotta run out sometime. [ male announcer ] jetta tdi clean diesel. the turbo that gets 42 miles per gallon. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ >> interesting shot we thought we would share with you. it looks like clouds, but it was taken from our to our camera on tv hill. we are above the fog. it will burn off later and we will see plenty of sunshine. good morning. i am stan stovall. here is one of our top stories

savannah guthrie is in their home in arkansas. savannah, good morning. >> good morning, ann.anization, skill, resources, stamina, and patience. otherwise known as breakfast here at the duggars. but first a day in the life of this famous family. >> hi i'm jim bob. >> and i'm michelle. and these are our children. and we're going to share 19 fun facts about being a duggar. >> when i was 19. >> and believe it or not i was 17 when we were first married. >> we built this house as a family project. >> we thought it would take one year. it took almost four. >> people always ask me what it's like. the boys have one room. >> the girls have the other. it's a little quieter. >> we have nine bathrooms. but sometimes we still have to wait. >> this is a duggar family secret. we have one big family closet. >> around here, everybody has a job. >> we do 35 loads of laundry a week. >> we even have a laundry chute. >> this is one of our favorite lunches. my dad's barbecued tuna fish sandwiches. >> we all play an instrument. but not usually together. ♪ >> people always ask us if we have a hard ti

savannah? >> al, thank you.e're learning more about what may have contributed to the sudden death of renowned painter thomas kinkade. his brother says the artist battled alcoholism, and suffered a relapse right before his death. nbc's mike taibbi is in los angeles with the story this morning. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. this isn't a gallery around me. it's the home of a private kinkade dealer. 2,000 to 3,000 reproductions here. that's been nonstop work for the past ten days. the painter's death not hurting sales at all. >> i paint the world the way we all kind of daydream it would be and try to paint a world full of light and life. >> reporter: for the artist who delivered those daydreams to more than 10 million american homes, and whose fame won him vast riches and audiences with popes and presidents, this is how it ended. >> 54-year-old male unconscious, not breathing, apparently he's been drinking all night and not moving. we'll get los gattos pd rolling. >> reporter: it was his c

let me say this, savannah, should the supreme court overturn this law, it would be so far out of themainstream that the court would be the most activist in a century. let's look at it. for the last century, the commerce clause has been regarded as an ability of the federal government to do many things, the height was the wickard case in 1942, 70 years ago, never been repudiated where they told a farmer that he couldn't grow as much wheat as he wanded. just scalia confirmed a different case. >> that brings me to my question, actually, because of those writings, i think a lot of administration lawyers were quite confident they would get perhaps not an easy ride but not so rough a ride in the supreme court as they did this week. here you have justice kennedy, a swing vote on these issues, doesn't seem the administration can win without him, he's openly skeptical and said there is something unprecedented about what the administration did here. >> i would say this, anyone who judges how the court is going to rule based on the questions hasn't looked at the history of the questions before

savannah, tamron? >> all right, al, thank you very much.spired designs for your table from the man who always inspires us colin cowie. mommy's got a surprise for you. [ rattling ] wanna see what's in it? yeah! whoagasp! whoagasp! whoagasp! you put it in here? yeah. and then you wanna take this... are you making them for the easter bunny? no, you. ahhhhh. [ female announcer ] this easter...bring a tradition... out of its shell. [ cheering ] gives you a 50% annual bonus. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? ugh, the baby. huh! and then the baby bear said, "i want 50% more cash in my bed!" phhht! 50% more cash is good ri... what's that. ♪ you can spell. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? ha ha. ♪ ha ha. ♪ pop goes the world ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ pop goes the world [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful th

savannah? >> all right, al, thanks.ow 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 with cleaner affordable natural gas... more jobs, less emissions, a good answer for everyone. so, by reducing the impact of production... and protecting our land and water... i might get a job once we graduate. they claim to be complete. only centrum goes beyond. providing more than just the essential nutrients, so i'm at my best. centrum. always your most complete. you make a change with hellmann's. make parmesan crusted chicken surprisingly crispier, juicier. mmmm

now here's savannah. >> thanks. now to the presidential race and what is already shaping up to be a very tight election. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows president obama with a lead over mitt romney, but there are some bright spots for the likely republican challenger. let's get to david gregory, moderator of "meet the press," and chuck todd, nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent. guys, good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> chuck, let's start with the top line on this poll. the president is up by six points. but i know our pollsters are saying this has all the indications of a very tight campaign. >> well, it does, when you look at it. and yet the president's lead is thanks to largely, among women, among hispanics, and among pure independents, which, of course, for romney means he's got to close the gap in two of those three areas. one of the reasons it looks like 2004, when you look at the president's job rating it sits at 49-46. it is almost id

savannah's back with details on that. savannah? >> good morning, matt. well her name is mirlande wilson, and while she's done plenty of talking, there's one thing she is not doing, showing off her alleged lucky ticket. >> so how does it feel to win the lottery? >> so good. >> for a woman who says she just won more than $218 million, mirlande wilson doesn't exactly sound all that excited. maybe she's just having trouble taking it all in. >> i'm so shocked i don't know what's going on. >> reporter: mirlande is the 37-year-old mother of seven we told you about on monday, who claims she has one of the three winning mega millions tickets. but when a reporter from nbc's washington station wrc caught up with her monday night at her baltimore home, she wouldn't show the ticket to him. >> where is the winning ticket? is it here? >> i cannot show you. >> reporter: if mirlande does have that $200 million ticket, her coworkers at mcdonald's say they're entitled to a piece of it. 15 of mirlande's coworkers pooled together and asked her to go buy tickets for them. she

good morning, savannah. i'm the business guy from oshkosh, wisconsin.e 33 years experience in the private sector. i've been to washington now for 15 months. i certainly understand a big part of our problem is the fact that this president and members of his administration have no private sector experience whatsoev whatsoever. and governor romney has 25 years of experience in the private sector, plus, he has executive experience in government. and i never did intend to endorse anybody but i've had the opportunity to meet with governor romney over the last couple weeks,ç had long phone conversations with him. i've come away from those conversations fully convinced that governor romney is the person to lead our party, to lead our nation. he fully understands the gravity of our financial situation. he's dedicated toward solving those problems. he is ready, willing and able to lead this nation, unlike president obama. today i'm happy to announce my full support and my endorsement of governor romney to be the next president of the united states. i'm looking f

in fact, buel's advance division had reached savannah, tennessee, on april the 5th. he had not simply arrived at pittsburgh landing but he had made the juncture with grant and was in striking distance of reinforcing grant as long as grant held access to pittsburgh landing and the ability to get troops across the river. buel actually comes in on steam boat. meanwhile, nelson's crossing overland to a point opposite, and the remainder of buel's column is slowly filing into savannah. they're not all going to be able to march down. it's clearly evident grant will have to provide shipping to get buel's forces here, and that's what happens. nelson reaches a point opposite pittsburgh landing and begins to cross about 5:00, 5:30. he'll get roughly 12 companies on the field engaged against the confederate's last assault against what is grant's last line, and that's the sum total of buel's involvement on the first day. there will be a constant convoy of shipping between pittsburgh landing and savannah throughout the night. you can imagine boats taking wounded up to savannah, of

savannah?you. >>> still ahead, the surprising fact that dick clark revealed about himself here on "today." and we'll talk to his very first musical guest on "american bandstand." but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ girl ] my mom always tells me: if you want something done right, then do it yourself. that's the idea behind our children, our future -- the ballot initiative to fix our schools. we've waited years for the politicians to do it. now, we can do it ourselves. our children, our future sends every k through 12 dollar straight to our schools... not to sacramento. it benefits every kid in every school, with local control of the money. that's why the p-t-a supports it. my mom likes it, too. >>> just ahead, the search intensifies for a young woman, a soldier at ft. bragg missing for five days now. >>> and the woman charged with stalking alec baldwin breaks her silence. why she says the accusations have ruined her life after your local news. ♪ hey, dad, you think i could drive? i'll tell you

jeff, good morning. >> good morning, savannah. the message is, cameras are always rolling and they can get you in trouble if they're rolling at the wrong time. we want to start in florida. fascinating story and an amazing piece of video out of a publix grocery store. i want to show you the video. there is a car that plows right through. here it comes. there's a baby in a stroller there, by the way. comes right through. keeps going, by the way. the driver doesn't stop, right through the checkout line, watch this. there goes the car through the checkout line. and ends up in the aisles of the grocery store, as well. serious story, we should tell you as you're watching this. no one was killed in this believe it or not. ten people were hurt. but that baby in the stroller that the car just hit, unscathed. not a scratch on the baby. but you can see what happened here, turns out behind the wheel was a 76-year-old woman who's now been charged with careless driving. she later told police she hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. but a cau

i'm savannah guthrie, in tonight for brian. and in virginia, something terrifying and almost unbelievable happened today. a navy f-18 fighter jet fell out of the sky, crashing into an apartment complex there. and given the images you see there, perhaps more astonishing still, there are no reported fatalities at this hour. we have two reports. tahn chong is on the ground in virginia beach, but we begin with nbc's pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. >> it looked like a war zone. the navy fighter jet plowed into this virginia beach apartment complex, setting it ablaze. much of the complex for senior citizens was wiped out in the initial contact. eye witnesses were in shock. >> that one is on fire. look at the roof. the other roof is getting ready to go on fire. oh, my god. this apartment complex right here. this one is already ruined. firefighters are doing the best they can to get it out. >> in the burned out wreckage, the unmistakable twin tails and jet engines from a u.s. navy f-18. eye witnesses reported smoke and flames

savannah, thank you, as always. we want to go now to ron allen. also in sanford, florida, where he's covered this story for weeks himself. with some reaction to the prosecutor's decisions. ron, good evening. good evening to you, brian. i think the feeling here is one of relief that the special prosecutor has finally made a decision and made an arrest. this is a city of 50,000 that has been on edge and under siege by all of the protests, some people would say to you that have been going on for so long. no one is more relieved than the parents of trayvon martin. sabrina fulton and tracy martin. here is what they had to say after the special prosecutor's announcement. >> we simply wanted an arrest. we wanted nothing more, nothing less. we just wanted an arrest. and we got it. and i say thank you. thank you, lord. thank you, jesus. secondly, i just want to speak from my heart to your heart, because a heart has no color. it's not black, it's not white. it's red. and i want to say thank you from my heart to your heart. >> this is just the beginning. we

savannah, i watched today as a civilian, and i was surprised. you watch as a lawyer, do you think they took a risk in doing this? >> no question. i was surprised, too. it's very unorthodox to call a defendant to the stand to testify like this. at this stage of the hearing, and it could backfire. here you have george zimmerman apologizing to the parents, but remember, his story is that trayvon martin beat him so badly that he feared for his very life. so why is he apologizing? he also said, i didn't know he was young. i didn't know he was unarmed. that's almost a tacit acknowledgment that he was mistaken about the facts of the case. those statements may backfire at a future trial. on the other hand, it appears zimmerman and his defense lawyer are speaking to a wider audience. not just trayvon martin's parents, but potentially the jurors who could be out there watching and wanting to see some remorse from the defendant. >> either way, it felt like something of a moment today. savannah guthrie, as always, thank you. >> the unfolding secret service

and once again, our chief legal correspondent savannah guthrie is here with us in the studio. when you hear a woman like trayvon martin's mother who isn't a media pro, a civilian thrust into this, not looking for it, use the word, it was an accident, does it have a legal bearing even though she chose to correct it later? >> not really. it doesn't have legal significance, but it was interesting because what prosecutors allege is much more, an intentional killing. obviously, she walked back the statement, but what a mom theorizes about a case one way or another, has no relevance in a court of law. >> and documents are going to come out regularly. did we learn anything new factually today? >> we learned a few things. remember last night on "rock center" we talked about how prosecutors have to establish a state of mind, a depraved mind, intent, evil intent, ill will, spite, hatred. we see facts established in the affidavit. prosecutors will argue that zimmerman assumed martin was a criminal when he saw him, he profiled martin, those are the words the prosecutor used, he used dispa

savannah? >> mark potter in colombia this morning on the story. >>> let us swing over now to the news desk. natalie is standing by with a look at all the top stories. >> good morning, matt and savannah. new clues today in the 1979 disappearance of a new york city boy. investigators are now searching a basement in manhattan on the block where 6-year-old etan patz vanished nearly 33 years ago. wnbc's katherine craig is in downtown manhattan with more. good morning. >> reporter: natalie, good morning. investigators have brought in pickaxes and cameras. what they will be doing is digging up and breaking apart the concrete floor and detroit wall of a basement in a building here in the hope to find any time of the 6-year-old boy who disappeared 1979. nothing has ever turned up in this case since the child disappeared while walking just a couple of blocks from home to the bus stop. investigators recently interviewed a handyman they are calling a person of interest. his name is ac meal miller. investig

i didn't win savannah. you didn't win. for most people here it's a regular monday morning, we're headed off to work or we're already at work. but one or at least several of the people who were behind the three winning tickets, one of which was purchased right here behind me, it's fair to say, they're probably never going to have a regular monday morning again. it's the talk of red bud, illinois. >> if i won that much money, i wouldn't be telling everybody. you'll have more friends than you knew you ever had. >> i hope it's somebody local. and i hope that they spend the ney in the community. >> reporter: the center of everyone's attention, the moto mart. here one customer's use of the quick pick option yielded the winning combination in friday night's drawing, worth $218 million before taxes. >> wasn't me. >> darn it wasn't me. or darn i forgot to get my ticket. the language was a little more colorful than that. >> reporter: a second winning ticket was purchased in kansas. over the weekend lottery officials revealed the sal

>> i'm ken hanisgan from savannah, tennessee. which incidentally i thought got short shrift in the movie last night. but i'd like to ask the panelists what they know of the presence or experience of civilians at the battle of shiloh. thank you. >> not my question. i don't know. >> hey, jim, you haven't answered one. this is the last round. >> i think of -- well, the

. >> with us in the studio, our chief legal correspondent, savannah guthrie. savannah, you're the lawyer here, not me, but as i understand it, other than premeditated murler in the first degree, this is the toughest possible charge. you also said also tough to prove. >> tough to prosecute. these facts are ambiguous. one person who was a witness to this, trayvon martin, no longer with us. it's a he said, george zimmerman's account, versus perhaps the accounts of witnesses. but as far as we know, even some of the witness testimony is conflicting. this is going to be a fact-intensive prosecution. where there is ambiguity, in fact, our legal system sets it up so the benefit of the doubt goes to the accused. and you have the florida stand your ground defense law, and this defendant will have an opportunity to go before a judge before there's a trial and argue that he was acting in self defense. if he can prove it by a preponderance of the evidence, a much lower standard, a judge could dismiss the case. >> how are you feeling if you're say, the former police chief i