nbc's tom costello is in rockville, maryland, this morning with a preview. and tom, ray lahood, the transportation secretary, is calling this an epidemic. >> reporter: yeah. and i think that really he's probably accurate on that, in terms of the pure numbers. you know, a few weeks ago we got information that the total number of road fatalities was down year over year. that's good news, but the proportion of those accidents attributed to distracted driving has remained the same. and in fact, it's up dramatically over five years ago. and the stories, of course, are heartbreaking. >> we're probably going to need an ambulance for sure. >> reporter: the 911 calls warned the accident in davenport, florida, looked awful. >> a tractor-trailer just slammed a couple cars behind me. it looks really bad. >> reporter: within minutes, rescuers would learn just how bad. a 61-year-old truck driver, texting while driving, had plowed into eight cars at 65

nbc's tom costello starts us off in chevy chase, maryland tonight. tom, good evening. >> good evening to you. in fact, the east coast has been struggling through drought conditions, but today it got hammered. it started out with heavy rain, then flash flood and tornado watches from the outer banks of north carolina all the way north to new jersey. it was the dead of night when howling winds and the heaviest rains in months swept through the mid-atlantic. flooding neighborhoods, homes, roads, and making a mess of the morning rush. in metro washington, it caused one city bus to slam into another, injuring 26 passengers, including eight high schoolers. >> neck pain, back pain, minor lacerations and abrasions. >> reporter: the d.c. area is expecting seven inches of rain by the time this moving out tonight. >> we've got many creeks and streams out of their banks. >> reporter: in myrtle beach, south carolina, the water has much to have city in a stand still. >> hopefully it will drain off in the next day or so, but right now we can't get out. >> reporter: i

>> tom costello starting us off in washington tonight. tom, tnks. >>> with that as the setup, shortly after she appeared with the president in the rose garden this afternoon, she joined us from washington. professor warren, it is said that you're not being appointed to the job we all expectedou to be appointed to because of the opposition that the banks and the wall streeters would have pitched threatening senate confirmation. the first question is, why not take that fight to the floor of the senate? why not have that conversation so people can see it and hear it? >> well, you know, i have to say i've never walked away from a fight in my life, so you can ask my three older brothers about that. but the point is, the time spent fighting is the time not spent doing the actual work of this agency. right now, millions of american families across this country are hemorrhaging money on credit card tricks and traps, on mortgages that are deceptive, on check overdrafts, on car loans. this lis and at some point, we have to get this agency stood up.

>>> tom costello from our washington bureau tonight. tom, thanks. >>> we'll take a break. when we come back, what's in a name? which common household ingredient is anxious to be known as something else? >>> for the second straight year, president obama addressed the nation's school students today. you may recall it was hugely controversial last year as critics feared kids would somehow be indoctrinated, nothing of that sort this year. the white house released his remarks a day early so educators could all see what he was going to say. there was a lot about hard work and making the effort specifically and what it was like, as he put it, growing up a skinny kid with ears that stuck out with a funny name. >>> reggie bush is giving back his heisman trophy, college football's top honor, awarded to him in '05 at usc, bush, these days, the great new orleans saints running back, gave the heisman back after the ncaa determined he had received improper benefits and should have been ineligible for the '05 season. rather than being stripped of it, he's giving it back. the first time a

we get more tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> go, go, go. up, up, up. >> reporter: it's been four years of struggles since zachary collapsed and nearly died at his junior high school football game in seattle. he had gone back into the game after suffering a concussion. >> you know, i always knew that zachary was going to pull through and zachary just needed -- you have to look at it, he's here still. >> reporter: each year, e.r.s treat 135,000 sports related concussion among kids 18 and under, though the unreported number is thought to be higher. concussions on the soccer field are evenly split between boys and girls. one high school soccer player told congress today she still struggles with a concussion she suffered last month. >> the headaches lingered and i began to forget things, not just day-to-day, but mornings, evening or even moment to moment. >> reporter: at the brain injury research center, dr. julian bales says concussions can change forever the way the brain works. >> i'm of the opinion more and more that a concussion is not nece

first our own tom costello in washington. tom, good evening. >> reporter: the white house felt this contentious senate confirmation process could drag on for months and wanted to start building this new agency now. so rather than nominate her to be director, she was nominated to be a white house assistant. what she decides could affect everything from credit card practices to wall street profits. in the rose garden today, elizabeth warren, the woman whose very idea was to create a new consumer protection agency was given the job of building it from scratch. >> elizabeth understands what i strongly believe. that a strong growing economy begins with a strong and thriving middle class. >> reporter: the new consumer financial protection bureau will have broad authority to write and enforce standards for credit cards and home mortgages and be empowered to go after the deceptive practices that helped fuel the subprime lending crisis and the explosion of debt. a hero to liberals -- >> what's going to be different now, mr. secretary?

our own tom costello was on scene covering it all in silver spring, maryland. tom, evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. the stand-off finally ended when police shot and killed the suspect. they believe he was threatening the lives of the three hostages. all three men got out unharmed. during the crisis, nbc news called discovery. the suspect grabbed the phone away from the operator. we chose out of caution not to reveal that information until this incident was over. it all began about 1:00 this afternoon when an armed man entered the discovery channel's headquarters in maryland, about a mile over the washington, d.c. border. >> having lunch in the cafeteria. someone came and said, don't go into the lobby. there is some action going on there. there are cops inside. >> reporter: police say the building was immediately ordered to be evacuated and most of the 1,900 employees managed to get out. >> panic, nervous, afraid. we weren't sure if the gunman was going to come up to the other floors or anything. they told us to get into the interior offices and lock the doors an

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> and when we come back tonight, remembering the high school gym teacher who made rock 'n' roll history. ♪ rgies are ruining our camping trip. i know who works differently than many other allergy medications. hoo? omnaris. [ men ] omnaris -- to the nose! [ man ] did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed, and sore throat. [ inhales deeply ] i told my allergy symptoms to take a hike. omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for $11 at omnaris.com. hey what's going on? doing the shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh. priority mail flat rate

our report on it tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: at a fish farm in cana, scientists are turning these tiny atlantic salmon eggs into a sort of super fish, injecting them with a growth hormone from chinook salmon. that causes them to grow twice as fast, meaning twice the harvest. the company, aqua bounty, says the scien can relieve overfishing and put more salmon on dinner plates. >> in terms of the appearance, the taste, the texture, and the biology, the salmon is the same. >> reporter: but consumer health and environmental groups have dubbed the salmon franken fish. and ben and jerry's ice cream has launched a something's fishy campaign. against the salmon and any genetically altered animals for consumption. >> today, it's the fish we're talking about. buvery soon it will be a genetically engineered pig, chicken. >> reporter: at a fish market in d.c. today, mixed reaction. >> just common sense. i think it not sposed to be health >> would i eat genetically enhanced food? we're already doing it in processed foods. >> reporter: since no one has ever eaten genetically engin

the questions whether any actions should be warrant or rather an overreaction. >>> tom costello from our washington bureau tonight. >>> when we come back, what's in a name? which common household ingredient is anxious to be known as something else? . and ignoring it can lead to... sipping water can help but dentists recommend biotene. biotene moisturizes and helps supplement some of saliva's enzymes, providing soothing relief when you need it most. don't ignore dry mouth. look for biotene in your oral care section today. this has been medifacts for bioten hey what's going on? doing the shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority il flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flarate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. [ man ] then try this. new and improved freest

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> here in new york city today at a meeting of world leaders at the u.n., the united states, along with britain, france and five other countries, got up and walked out of the general assembly chamber over remarks made by the president of iran, mahmoud ahmadinejad. he said the majority of americans believe the u.s. orchestrated the september 11th attacks as part of a propaganda campaign to fix the declining american economy and to help save israel. earlier in the day, president obama had his turn at the podium and he had a lot to say about the global economy, u.s. relations with china, the middle east peace process, but it wasn't just a day for diplomacy. there were some domestic issues to deal with as well. our white house correspondent savannah guthrie here in new york covering the president tonight. good evening. >> as you say, on foreign policy today was the main event. the president addressed the full u.n. assembly, a speech that covered the terrain of u.s. foreign policy, but it was striking how much time he devoted to middle east peace, maki

we are looking for needles, powders, the legal street drugs. >> that was tom costello reporting. parents are to asked to question it if they find used cough medicine bottles in their children's rooms. >> adde rinkles caot just make you look older, the shape of your face can ch >>> it is no secret that aging causes visual changes to a person's face. what you may not know, why your in seems to be getting looser. gravity is not your only enemy. de dermatologist explains. what is the enemy in there? >> obviously, skin that is what we see on the surface there. is five things that occur, the sketital or bony structure, the teeth, the fat, the muscle and the skin it is almost like the table cloth fits nicely when you are 20, as you get older, the table starts to shrink, the table cloth stays the same. a wrinkled line. >> the skull shrinks? >> it does. the jaw lne diminishes, if you look at the opening of the eye area, on a skeleton, it goes from round almost oval. there a a lot of struckeral change that we see in everyon >> what do you suggest that we can do to stop the skull from shrin

nbc's tom costello has more. >> friday night, and i just want to have some fun. >> they call it robo tripping, and youtube is filled with teenagers demmenen straighting how they get high with cold or cough medicines. it's called tripping on dex, or dxm. now, 8% all teenagers admit they've tried it. doctors say drinking a little too much cough syrup can make kids feel like they're drunk. but drinking one or more bottles or mixing it with alcohol can lead to brain damage, seizures or loss of consciousness. >> there's a belief in kids minds that this is completely safe. t as we know, you're opening yourself up to risk. >> i found out about abuse of dxm servep be years ago, i found out too late. i found out after my son had passed away from abusing this product. >> reporter: a california nurse found her 18-year-old son carl dead in hisbed after he oded on cough syrup and prescription drugs. nationwide, overdosing jumped 73% between 2004 and 2008 to nearly 8,000 cases. at children's hospital in boftp, dr. sharon levee seize half the kids being treated for substance abuse have also used dx

tom costello joins us. , obviously everybody is worried now that we're getting more and more studies of the brain and figuring out this stuff, whether it's not just pee wee football but now soccer, lacrosse, lots of dangers out there. >> yeah. baseball, basketball, soccer, and here's another statistic that i think a lot of people are surprised at. on the soccer field, boys and girls are evenly split on concussions. and then once women actually play soccer in college, they have a higher rate of concussions. here are the statistics from the centers for disease control. they point out each year emergency rooms tweet 135,000 sports and recreation con suggestions in kids 18 and under. the unreported number is much higher indeed. here's the problem. a hard hit can cause significant damage to the brain, they think. in fact, what they think is that it can actually rupture. the fibers of the brain can rupture against the inside of the skull. it can be very serious. and doctors believe that can lead to headaches, diff

our own tom costello is there for us. tom, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we're at the museum, waiting for "superman's" premiere. michelle rhee has been the national symbol on education reform and she admits she probably played a part in the mayor losing his job. so the question now, what happens to d.c. schools? for nearly four years, michelle rhee has been on a warpath. along with the mayor, overhauling a school district many regard as a national disgrace. with an on-time graduation rate of 49%, closing 26 schools, laying off 470 teachers, she called underperforming, and demanding accountability from those who remain. there are signs of slow improvement. in three years, math proficiency scores have gone from an abysmal 27% to 43%. reading proficiency from just 29% to 43%. still not good enough. >> the bottom line is, it's still only half of our children that are on grade level. slightly less actually. so when i look at how much still yet has to be done, it's still quite daunting. >> reporter: championed by education reform activists, she appears in the a

. >> tom costello is following the story. he joins me from washington. t thing that strikes you, tom, professional football players getting a concussion. not so surprising. but when you see a young girl like that or hear stories about what has happened to male high school athletes, it's really shocking. >> and that girl alison is talking about what has happened to her in the last month. she just suffered that injury on the soccer field in august and she's still struggling in school, even though she's an honor student. it used to be we believe the we can blow these off. the child can get back on the field relatively quickly. now the thinking is these things are serious indeed. we know somewhere in the neighborhood of 135,000 e.r. visits every year are attributed to kids 18 and under with concussions. the total number thought to be so much more than that because so many parents, teachers, coaches and students get back up on the field and try to play it off. >> for a long time we didn't know as much. there was an attitude. you got hit, you got the wind knock

our own tom costello starts us off from washington. he's in a store there tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. in fact, most grocery stores nationwide, all stores should be free of those bad eggs. today, the iowa farm at the center of this mess suggested that a third provider, a feed supplier, may be responsible for the salmonella that has led to the recall of 500 million eggs. on capitol hill today, the man at the center of the biggest salmonella egg recall ever said he's personally sorry for the outbreak. >> we apologized to everyone who may have been sickened by eating our eggs. >> reporter: for 30 years, records show austin jack decoster's egg farms have run afoul of health, environmental and animal cruelty laws in several states, paying millions in fines. today, congress released photos taken by fda inspectors inside decoster's egg farm in iowa. after the recall of half a billion eggs was under way. the photos showed dead hens, dead mice, and barns bursting with chicken manure piled eight feet high. even as the company insisted it takes health

here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it was last january's suicide of 15-year-old phoebe prince in massachusetts that many believe was the ultimate example of school bullying. having just emigrated from ireland, phoebe killed herself after being tormented for months by six fellow students now facing felony xharncharges. >> called her names, followed her home, smart remarks and dirty looks. >> reporter: across the country principle pals, tea principal, teachers and psychologists say something has changed in america's schools. >> the prevalence of abuse of children by other children is getting worse. >> reporter: the department of education agrees. recently in washington it gathered the first national school bullying summit. >> i have to tell you, i have very little patience with the argument that kids will be kids, and there's not much schools can do to make their environment safer. >> reporter: the government reports nearly one out of three students in middle school and high school reported being bullied during the 2007 school year. one out of nine high schoolers, 2.8 million stude

. >> that was tom costello reporting. poke to a council staffer, they said the most likely scenario is thatrey will remain on board at least until a replacement is found. tom? >> begging for rain. we have a decent chance of rain coming in later on today. right now, the clouds are coming in. a hopeful sign. temperatures around the region are near 70. blue ridge to the bay and the eastern shore, near 80, 79 in washington. where you see the moving color that is rain, coming into pennsylvania and west virginia. advancing to the valley by mid to late afternoon. the blue ridge after that until around midnight, there is a chance of a passing shower. we may get only a quarter of an inch of rain, and thunder as well. a dry pattern for several more days, each day dry, that is the way it looks. >> and we have a traffic alert for some of you who travel through downtown washington, starting tomorrow at noon, fourth street, between well, street and massachusetts will become a two-way street. it is currently one-w southbound. there will

passengers aboard the plane actually used their cell phone cameras to capture the tense moments, tom costello covers aviation for us, tom, good morning to you. >> good morning, the crew was getting an awful lot of credit for keeping their cool and making it very clear what the passengers should do as they came in for a very dicey emergency landing without all the plane's landing gear. >> reporter: final harrowing moments as the pilot tells passengers to prepare for an emergency landing. >> brace forrism pact. >> reporter: and the warning from a deadly serious flight attendant. >> stay down! stay down! >> reporter: among the 60 passengers on board, chase and alsondra returning from a business trip. >> the flight attendant was yelling. >> stay down! stay down! >> reporter: delta connection, flight 4951 was flying from atlanta to new york's white planes airport when the plane's right landing gear refused to come down, realizing they may need a bigger airport, the pilots diverted to jfk and ask controllers there to clear a run way. >> the right gear is stuck up, the other two are down. >> would y

>> tom costello in silver spring, maryland. thank you, tom. >>> two sides that have been at odds for generations are coming together today in washington, working towards the ever-elusive mideast peace. benjamin netanyahu and mahmoud abbas are holding face-to-face talks after meeting with president obama at the white house on wednesday. the president is hoping for a peace agreement within a year and says he is cautiously hopeful. >>> we're following a developing story right now out of the gulf of mexico. there's been another oil rig explosion, this one about 80 miles off the coast of central louisiana. everyone on the rig is accounted for, but there are reports of smoke and fire. the rig is owned by mariner energy. >>> and do you know what day today is? it is 9/02/10. and the beverly hills show is celebrating the day. the city and fans of the series are throwing a huge party with big-name celebrities and a food and wine festival. >>> now, seven minutes past the hour. let's go back outside to matt, ann, and tamron. >> that would h

nbc's tom costello is in washington, d.c., now. so what are they doing about it?er: well, this is day one of a second annual summit into distracted driving and the bottom line is, there's a public now to have a national ban on texting while driving. at the moment we've got state bans. let's start out where we look in teams of states banning the use of handheld cell phones. eight states plus the district of columbia right now ban handheld cell phones. that is essentially while driving. you can still use a bluetooth, but you this is a ban on cell phones. look at the 30 states, 30 plus d.c. to ban testing while driving. this is really gained a lot of national traction here. and the talk is that in congress they may tie states' highway funds to their decision to ban texting while driving. if they do that, that may be an incentive for state legislators nationwide to decide to also ban texting while driving. if they don't, they could lose like a kwaet of their highway funding, clearly not a good idea in this day and age. meanwhile, in washington today, they continue to

here's nbc's tom costello. >> this is one of the yes but stories. the pilot is 52 years old he is from new jersey. he was in the cockpit of this delta flight preparing to leave amsterdam for newark yesterday when a member of the crew felt the pilot was not fit for duty. police were called to the plane. removed the pilot. once in custody the pilot had a blood alcohol level of .02. barely above the maximum allowed above max law and not above the faa standard. the pilot cannot have a blood alcohol level above .04 and not had a drink in the last 8 hours. the dutch standards is .02. in the u.s., by comparison .08 for driving. .023 the pilot barely above what the dutch law allows and not falling down drunk. nonetheless, the flight was canceled, the pilot suspended and delta airlines rebooked all of the passengers affected. the pilot paid a 700 euro fine, that's about $900 and released. back the you. >> all right. tom, thanks. >>> to denmark an american airlines employee's out of jail arrested for stealing a passenger's laptop. investigators reportedly fou

tom costello has more. >> reporter: hi, good day to you. a lot of stores require an i.d.ike this. they stopped selling these common cough medicines to anyone under the age of 18 because too many kids have found this is a cheap way to get high. >> it's friday night. and i just want to have some fun. >> reporter: they call it robo tripping. youtube is filled with teenagers demonstrating how they get high on robotussin or nyquil. it's called tripping on dex, or dxm. doctors say drinking a little too much cough syrup can make kids feel like they're drunk, but drinking one or more bottles can lead to an irregular heartbeat, brain damage, seizures or loss of consciousness. >> i found about abuse of dxm about seven years ago. i found out after my son passed away from abusing this product. >> reporter: california nurse misty fedko found her 18-year-old son carl dead in his bed after he od'd on cough syrup and prescription drugs. nationwide er visits related to overdosing on cough medicines jumped 73% between 2004 and 2008 to nearly 8,000 cases. at children's hospital in boston, d

nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: from inside a regional jet saturday night, the final harrowingoments as the pilot tells passengers to prepare for an emergency landing. >> brace for impact. >> reporter: and a warning from a deadly serious flight attendant. >> heads down. stay down. heads down. >> one lady in front of me is going into tears a little bit. another lady behind me is panicking. >> stay down. >> reporter: among the 60 passengers on board, chase and alessandro returning from a business trip. >> it became surreal, once the lady's yelling, the flight attendant was yelling. >> stay down. heads down. stay down. >> reporter: delta connection flight 4951, a twin engine crj-900 flown by atlantic southeast airlines, was flying from atlanta to new york's white plains airport when the right landing gear refused to come down. realizing they may need a bigger airport, the pilots diverted to jfk, and asks controllers there to clear a runway. >> right gear is stuck up, the other two are down. >> the right gear is stuck up? okay. would you prefer a 3-1 left or right? >> when the land

tom costello in washington, thank you. >> okay. >>> investigators are trying to determine what went wrong small plane that landed on an interstate in the middle of rush hour. not a single vehicle hit the plane when it made the belly landing yesterday evening. mechanical problems forced that emergency landing and the faa says no injuries were reported. did you see that coming at you on the road? amazing. >>> from the wires today, a washington man is recovering this morning after a frightening bear attack 100 miles east of seattle. the city councilman from bellevue, washington, was with his wife in the rural part of the state and the man's wife saw the attack and right away she called 911. >> i'm at north shore road and my husband's been attacked by a bear. >> your husband's been attacked by a bear. >> yeah, he's at the bottom of my driveway. he said he's dying. >> how traumatic. the man did survive, but he suffered bite marks on his face, head, neck and puncture wounds all over his body. the bear involved in that attack was tracked down and killed. >>> some good news for a change about the

tom costello joins us from washington, d.c. want to know what is going on here. >> i don't think you can draw conclusions necessarily. these are made by the regional canadian planemaker. the plane involved in the incident last night was a crj 200 series, the one last saturday was a 900 series. essentially what you have is a regional jets that are involved in a series of landing gear mishaps. i think it's important to point out that these planes are flown widely around the world. 60 different countries fly the crjs and they are a very reliable plane, something like 22, 25 million flight hours already have been racked up with this particular series of plane. you know, when you have so many takeoffs and landings or cycles as they call them in a particular day, in the case of a regional jet, you're talking 15 to 20 30 psyc30 cycles per day. this is a mechanical type of structure and you can have problems from time to time. the question is, of course, why? the ntsb tells me it's looking at the case so is the faa and there have been

nbc tom costello joins in washington, d.c. explain for all of us.concussions are on the onset but what are some of the potential lasting problems of them? >> well, the trouble is i'm not sure that even, you know, this is permeated the national consciousness how dangerous concussions really are, because what they are now saying is it's not a matter of two or three or four concussions. a single concussion can have lasting impacts. and the situation is that inside the skull, it's rough inside the skull, and that it tears at the brain when the brain hits so hard against the skull and it can tear the fibers of the brain and that can have lasting impact. headaches, difficulty concentrating, vision, balance problem and each depression and suicide. and so now what has happened this movement across the country over the last ten years has really spread telling doctors, telling athletes, telling their coaches and the parents if you suspect that an athlete has a head injury, they have to come off the field immediately and we're not just talking football. we are

>> and that was tom tost costello reporting.he independent advisory panel recommended requiring prescriptions for cough medicine, but the decision is up to the f.d.a. it could also place age restrictions on buying cough medicine. >> if you feel your kids get too much computer time, think again. it may be a good thing. first, a look at events going on around town this weekend. ♪ [ monkey cheeps ] [ male announcer ] a bath becomes even more pleasurable when you know that your water is being heated in an environmentally- conscious way while saving you hundreds of dollars on your water-heating energy bill. the geospring water heater from ge with advanced hybrid technology. heating the water in your home any other way is just going to seem primitive. [ monkey cheeps ] ♪ maryland residents can save up to $780 while funds last. now it integrates your work e-mail, so you can be hooked up to everything you need to do. now it does 1 ghz speed on a more intuitive keyboard. turning you into an instrument of efficiency. introducing the new d

we've got nbc's tom costello now joining us with more on this. tom, what are the details? >> reporter: ann, good morning. the pilot is said to be 52 years old from new jersey, who was in the cockpit of delta flight 53, preparing to leave amsterdam for newark when a member of the flight felt the pilot was not fit for duty. dutch police were called to the plane, they removed the pilot. the pilot was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.023. that is barely above the maximum allowed for dutch law and not above the faa's standards. the faa's regulations says a pilot cannot have a blood alcohol level greater than 0.04, but the dutch have some of the greatest standards in europe. 0.02 is what they consider to be over the maximum allowed blood alcohol level. in the u.s., by comparison, it's 0.08 for driving. so, again, he was at 0.023. this pilot was barely above what the dutch law allows, not above the faa minimums, not falling down drunk. the flight was canceled yesterday and the pilot was suspended. >> tom costello, thanks so much. >>> gold is up again today for yet another

tom costello is here with more details. >> reporter: good morning, you know we learned recently thatr of fatalities on the nation's roads has dropped rather dramatically, but the percentage, the proportion of those people who died as a result of distracted driving, that hasn't changed at all over the years, in fact it's up dramatically over the last five years. the 911 calls warned the accident in davenport, florida looked awful. >> a tractor trailer slammed a couple of cars behind me, it looked really bad. >> reporter: within minutes rescuers would learn just how bad. a 61-year-old truck driver texting while driving had plowed into eight cars at 65-mile-per-hour causing horrific injuries and killing two women. among them, 26-year-old heather herd, on her way with her fiance to meet a walt disney world wedding planner. >> in four or five seconds, it cost my daughter her life and the family will never be the same. >> there wasn't a doubt that that was 100% preventable. no one should have to lose their life by somebody texting. >> reporter: the government reports distracted driving led

tom costello has the details. good morning. >> good morning to you. a lot of stores require an i.d. to buy the common cold medicines and they stopped selling them to anybody under the age of 18 because too many kids found it's a cheap way to get high. >> friday night. i wanted to have some fun. >> reporter: they call it robo tripping, and youtube is filled with teenagers on how to get high from robitussin and any other cough medicine. it's called tripping on dxm, and now 8% of all teenagers admit they've tried it. doctors say drinking a little too much cough syrup makes them feel like they're drunk. drinking one or two bottles or mixed with alcohol can bring irregular heart beat, brain damage, seizures, and loss of consciousness. >> there's a belief that it's completely safe. you know if you do any kind of product with this volume, you're opening yourself up to risk. >> i found out about abuse of dxm too late. i found out after my son passed away from abusing this product. >> california nurse found her 18-year-old son, carl, dead in his bed after he o.d.'d on cough syrup and prescri

tom costello, washington. >> thanks.al beauty could be flawless, too? new aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers, with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on, to even skin tone in four weeks. new aveeno tinted moisturizers. ♪ [ mom ] game time is all about the traditions. it's all about the tackles and the touchdowns... and watching my boys do what they do. but for me, it's even more than that. game time is about our time. together. [ female announcer ] get low prices on all your favorites for the game. save money. live better. walmart. >>> it's been minutes now since we talked about christine o'donnell. >> it's been more than minutes. >> that's why we need to get back to it. >> pat buchanan is with us. >> a good man, a good man. >> i can't wait to see how you get through this one. explain this one, please. >> christine o'donnell was a television pundit for 15 years or so, an awful lot of tape on her. it just keeps coming up. she was on o'reilly three y

here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it was last january's suicide of 15-year-old phoebe prince in psychologists say something's changed in america's schools. >> the prevalence of abuse of children and other children is getting worse. >> reporter: the department of education agrees. recently in washington it gathered the first national school bullying summit. >> i have to tell you i have very little patience with the arguments kids will be kids and there's not much schools can do to make their environment safer. >> reporter: the government reports nearly one out of three students in middle school and high school reported being bullied during the 2007 school year. one out of nine high schoolers, 2.8 million students, said they've been physically abused or spat on during the last year. and 900,000 reported being cyber bullied. 11-year-old stokes got so fed up with being bullied in her philadelphia school, she wrote president obama asking for his help. >> it's very hard to be a kid because, like, when you know you're going to school, you're trying to get your education and you still h

tom costello has the details. good morning to you. >> good morning. the third round of booster seat tests for the institute for highway safety. the majority of booster seats could do a better job of keeping kids safe. let me introduce you to a friend of mine, jesse. how are you? >> good. >> the point of a booster seat is to keep kids like jesse lifted up. he is 4 years old and the strap needs to come across his thigh like this, not across his tummy. the strap here needs to come across his chest and sternum. if it's not positioned well, the injuries could be serious. it's a crash test designed for children too big for car seats, but not too big for booster seats. at 35 miles per hour, the unrestrained dummies are catapulted into the dashboard and windshield, the injuries potentially life-threatining. nationwide in 2008, 700 children under 12 were killed in car accidents and 38% of them were not properly restrained. for nearly all kids under 8 and many kids older than that, seatbelts are not enough. booster seats are critical to lifting kids up, strappe

nbc's tom costello has the story. >> reporter: the man at the center of the salmonella egg recall issued mea cul culpa. >> we apologize to everyone who may have been sickened by eating our eggs. >> reporter: members of congress had little patience for austin jack and his son, peter. the video on the way documents after the recall was lrd under way show dead hen, dead mice, and a barn bursting open with manure. >> the conditions in your facility were not clean, they were not sanitary. they were filthy. >> this is a very big operation. we have a certain way we go about running it. >> reporter: meanwhile, the president of the second iowa farm involved took the fifth amendment when asked to testify. >> i respectfully decline to answer the question. >> reporter: the salmonella outbreak is thought to have sickened at least 1,600 people and thousands more in 22 states. >> i'm angry they have gotten by with it and haven't cleaned up their act. >> reporter: with investigators zeroing on their iowa farm, they're suggesting someone else, a feed provider, may be responsible for the salmonella though