papacy and ask the question, why was he chosen? and we'll speak to one of the cardinals inside the sistine chapel for the conclave, cardinal timothy dolan. >> we'll begin with you, natalie. >> reporter: it's already been a busy day, look at some of the headlines this morning. this one speaking about the surprise and thrilled reaction from catholics around the world with the election of the argentinian cardinal jorge bergoglio. another paper here calling him the pope of the poor, as he's known for his humility and common touch and even the fact that he chose to be called francis, for the st. francis of assisi, who rejected wealth and embraced the life of poverty is significant. st. francis believed he was called upon god to rebuild the church as that too is pope francis' mission to reform the

catholic church and bring it into the 21st century. pope francis began his first full day as pontiff praying at the basilica in rome this morning. last night, white smoke pouring from the chimney atop the sistine chapel signaling the pope had been elected. and after two days of conclave meetings and five rounds of voting, cardinal jorge mario bergoglio, the former archbishop of argentina, became papa of 1.2 billion catholics around the world. >> i was delighted. in latin america, i was really hoping that one of these times we'd come with a latin american and here we did. >> reporter: while his papacy became effective immediately, the newly elected head of the catholic church will be formally installed at a ceremonial mass here at the vatican early tuesday morning. from the balcony of st. peter's basilica, francis, the first

pope from latin america wearing the traditional white robe, addressed the tens of thousands who gathered at the square below and millions watching worldwide. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: the 76-year-old pope prayed for the church, the papacy and for retired pope benedict. and then asked the faithful to pray for him. [ speaking foreign language ] >> he's our papa, you know. we're behind him all the way. >> reporter: and pope francis will be celebrating mass about two hours from now at the sistine chapel with the cardinals who elected him. we should also note president obama one of the first leaders to send out his congratulations yesterday, saying as the first pope from the americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of hispanic americans,

those of us in the united states share the joy of this historic day. matt? >> we'll be at the mass on tuesday. there was a tug of war between the old guard and the reformers. earlier this morning, we spoke with cardinal timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york, who was there, and i began by asking him which side won. >> i've got to be honest, matt, within the sistine chapel, i didn't sense that tug of war. i sensed a rather remarkable resigned consensus we needed a man obviously who is holy, a man of theological precision like benedict was and john paul. we also needed a man, though, who had a good track record of sound effective pastoral governan governance. and we got one. as the cardinals began to look around and see the man we wanted.

jorge berg golly i don't came to the fore. the old-timers, veteran cardinals remembered him from the last time. the more we got to listen to him, to know him, to hear our brother cardinals speak about him, it was pretty clear that's where the holy spirit was leading us. >> do you think some cardinals felt an obligation to choose a pope from the americas, the latin america given the growth in that part of the world. >> i don't think i would use the word obligation. in addition to the ones that i just mentioned to you, the fact that he knew a lot of languages, and the fact that he was from latin america, the fact that he had a particularly radiant slittude for the poor, that was almost gravy that made even more attractive the man who had sound

qualities we already needed. that enhanced our eye traction. you've always encouraged me to speak frankly, and i hope you understand the tone that's intended. i think when he spoke out yesterday, there was some stunned silence for a second. i think some had expected a younger man. he's 76. some had expected someone who at least visually seemed to epitomize a more modern church. when you looked at that image of the new pope standing with some members of the church high arky, visually, cardinal dolan, it didn't exactly scream a modern church. do you understand what i mean? >> i do, matt, and i appreciate your candor. by the way, i just enjoyed here with natalie watching the events of last night, because i hadn't seen them. we were behind the scenes literally so thanks for showing them again. i know what you mean, but we always say this. the long-term people who watch the church universal, and i

would count you among them, you have the balcony moment, but then the real pontificate begins today. that's where we'll begin to watch. we cardinals noticed some things immediately that he was doing differently. i don't know if we have time to go into them. >> just give me one. >> very simple. the protocols calls for all the cardinals to come up. as soon as he's elected pope and changes, they put the white chair out up on an elevated platform. he's to sit there while we come up to express our love, gratitude and allegiance. when the he said, no 'em standing down here, so he greeted each of us as brothers, just literally on the same level we were. you heard the story. when we left to go over to st. martha, where we've all been staying, they had his limo ready, he got back on the bus with us, like he had been doing for the whole conclave. those are little signs that send

signals, matt. you mention an important signal last night on the balcony, you mentioned some of the pluses and minuses of that, but boy, let's watch close. i think we're going to see a lot of renewal. real quickly, personal disappointment at all? your mom was interviewed, by the way, and she said about you not being chosen as the next pope, i'm feeling relieved. it's not that he wouldn't have been good for the church, i know he would have done a great job, but i want him here. spoken like a true mother. >> ah, i haven't talked to mom yet, but i send her my love, and she's got a new grandson. i have a new great nephew, charlie. no, i had relief, matt, only because we've got a pope and a darn good one. you listen to the people last night in the square. all they want is the pope. the that we had the chair of st. pete you are was empty. now it's full again. that gives us hope, renewal.

that's the real relief i sensed last night. i thank you for your time, your eminence. >> matt, good to be with us. nbc's lester hold is? st. peter's square with more on the path to the papacy. good morning to you. >> reporter: there was almost a sense of bewilderment. there was almost a sense of, who? boy, when he stepped out on that loggia, the crowd erupted in cheers. he's a quiet guy, a simple guy, even media shy, according to his biographer. he was born in buenos airs, born of five children born to italian immigrants, he studied to be a chemist, but in 1969 turnds to the priesthood.

he joined the society of jesus. the formal name, and adopted an austere lifestyle. as archbishop, he could have lived in a palace, but instead lived in a modest apartment. he even rode the bus. >> this is a true man of god. >> this is a true man of god, a man of deep, deep spiritual life. a man who knows what the church needs in the 21st century. >> reporter: in his native argentina, bergoglio made it his mission to work among the people to fight on behalf of the poor. he was elevated to cardinal in 2001 by pope john paul ii. and in 2005, bergoglio was runner-up to cardinal ratzinger who would become pope benedict xvi, the man he succeeds. >> this is a man of dynamic orthodoxy, genuine missionary fervor. he could be very appealing to young people. this is a man who knows there's a lot that needs fixing in the central machinery of the church here in rome and i think he'll go about fixing it quickly.

>> bergoglio told the cardinals he was taking the name francis in honor of the 13th century st. francis assisi, who gave up his family's wealth to live in poverty. that spartan outlook was evidence in his choice of simple white robes as he was announced to the faithful around the world. he's never actually worked inside the vatican but some have no doubt he's up to the task. >> this is a wonderful choice. we have a decent compassionate, strong, smart man. >> a man who now becomes the first cardinal from the americas to head the roman catholic church, again. he went through a lot as a young man. as a teenager he suffered from a serious infection. they had to take out one of his lungs. he has only one. i'm notice that the souvenir shops here has new bits of souvenirs with the new pope francis.

>> how is he being receiving in his home country? miguel almaguer is in argentina. >> reporter: good morning. born and raised in this country, the pope has deep roots here, as well as in the cathedral just behind me. he's the first non-european pope ever elected. he wall street celebrated around the world and all across laden america. >> reporter: on the streets, joy, excitement, sheer pride. >> translator: incredible sensation, feeling like bursting into tears. >> reporter: argentina has the first latin-american pope in the 2,000-year history of the papacy. catholicism in this region is a way of life. >> one of the greatest moments in the history of our country. >> reporter: 4 out of every 10 catholics live here.

church insiders believe the election may build that base. >> we immediately knelt down and started to pray. >> reporter: known as a champion of the poor who lives a simple life. he first became archbishop of the largest church in 1998. regarded as conservative, church insiders say he's committed to the religious doctrine and social justice. >> he as all then cat in his poverty, prayers, commitment to study and to the poor. >> reporter: his appointment has led to pride spanning from sports to the spiritual. >> the saying right now is we have messe and now we have the pope. that means gourd is argentinian. >> reporter: the celebration crossed borders and seas. in the u.s., from denver to miami, catholics say they've always had faith one day they would witness history. >> it's new for all of us. we are all happy and excited about that. >> reporter: hope, excitement and a pope that marks a new

beginning. while the celebration ended just a short time ago, the controversy has already begun. many have criticized the pope for not doing enough during a bloody dictatorship that began in the '70s and ending with some 30,000 people disappearing. savannah? >> thank you, miguel. natalie is over at the vatican. tamron hall has some of the other stories making headlines this morning. passengers aboard another card van cruise ship facing disruption. it's docked in phillipsburg st. marten. passengers are not being left off the ship. the ship never lost power, though there were interruptions to elevators and toilets for a few hours last night. the situation comes to us one month after the carnival"

triumph" was stranded in mexico for almost a week. police stormed an abandoned building this morning in herkimer, new york, and killed a gunman. curt myers had killed at least four people, police say. they say officers opened fire today after myers shot at a police dog. the president heads to capitol hill today for more meetings with both republicans and democratic lawmakers. this after senate democrats revealed a, quote, concrete plan to spur economic growth with some $1 trillion in new tax revenues over the coming decade. now for a check of the market, mary thompson has the latest from cnbc world headquarters. good morning. >> good morning. stocks are higher this morning following the seventh straight record close, coming after mixed economic news. first time unemployment claims unexpectedly dropping last week, but producer prices rose last month mostly because of the higher gasoline prices which right now are turning lower.

samsung announcing its galaxy smartphone today. the first lady is next month's cover woman for "vogue." in an interview she fires back at critics who say she and the president don't socialize enough in washington. instead, she said, quote, our number one priority is making sure our family is whole, and she said she and her husband relieve the pressures of their job by spending time with daughters sasha and malia. it's now 7:17 on the west coast. what i like about this, she picked out her own clothes. usually they give you a stylist. and she's wearing, and forgive me, because i'm a hill billiy texas, reed krakof. >> it sounds great when you say it. >> don't look at me. i'm a hill billy from new york.

>> where's jed clampitt when you need it? >> second time for "vogue." we'll see what it looks like. >> i know you have to meet jethro, but in the meantime, let's talk about our friends on the west coast. we are looking at more moisture in the pacific northwest. nothing like they've had over the last few days. along the coast, we have dense fog advisories, dense marine fog advisories as well. the temperatures there along the southern california coast in the 60s but inland temperatures will be hitting the 90s. we'll gets to your local forecast in a moment, but first this message.

7:19. thursday morning. i'm christina loren. taking a look high atop san bernardino mountain. gorgeous day, not as warm as yesterday. you will hit about 80 degrees. great-looking weekend shaping up as temperatures will level off on saturday. 75 inland. a great looking st. patrick's day. hope you have a beautiful day! all right. we are back. and let's just kind of wrap up that huge story of yesterday, the election of pope francis. we were all watching, i would imagine, live. you were on the air. >> yeah. >> most of us were in front of the tv set getting closer and closer as the moment appeared. >> i was afraid to sit down. >> at one point, i had to go to the bathroom and i was afraid to. i didn't want to miss it.

>> i was afraid you were going to bring that up. >> what about the moment where, about 20 minutes before the pope emerged, that guy came to the window and pulled the curtain aside. i was like, that's not right. they're not supposed to be doing that. >> he's thinking, i wonder if there are people out there. >> yeah. a few hundred thousand. >> at one point on the handle and i'm live on msnbc, and i'm like, this door cannot be that difficult to open. come on out. >> there's so many moments of true suspension, any more, and this is one of them. we're all waiting, we're going to hang on the words, what is the name of the new pope? roll the tape. cardinal bergoglio. >> bergoglio. [ speaking foreign language ] >> francisco. >> francisco. >> your eminence? >> i know him very well. i like him very much. >> what's his name for those of

us who missed it? >> thank you, brian. we were all wondering the same thing. what did he say? >> nobody wanted to mess that up. there was no question about it. but it was exciting and joyous moment. >> and the faces of the people in the crowd to be there for history. >> it was great. well, coming up, a lot more on the historic election of pope francis and what it means for the future of the catholic church. >> and new opposition to the decision to allow knives back on planes for the first time since 9/11. this morning the head of the tsa addresses the concern right here. in an exclusive live interview right here. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

still ahead, a heated dispute involving spanx, why the same company is being asked to stop making some of its products. and why we love our morning coffee.

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it is 7:26. good morning. i'm jon kelly. a sex offender was, in fak, on board a busloaded with high school students on their way to a field trip. students from andrew hill high school and silver creek high school were traveling on a bus on february 13th when a sex offender was discovered. it is unclear how the individual got on board. the school superintendent tells us, per our discussions with the san jose police department, the preliminary investigative findings are that the individual in question did not have contact of any kind with any student on the bus that day. we'll, of course, have an update coming for you during our 11:00 a.m. newscast. right now, let's turn to a much

brighter note an take things outside. christina loren says another good look and feel. good morning, jon. you can see the sky from san bruno. really pretty live shots. the sun coming up now. beautiful start to the day here over the bay bridge. you can see the high in the mid-level clouds in addition to the other clouds. fairfield, a half mile of visibility available to you. these numbers have been drifting in and out as we have been heading through the morning hours. we are expecting the fog to be at its worse between 9:00 a.m., 71 degrees in fremont, 72, san jose and 72 in los gatos. mike, you have had that issue on the rhodoads. it seems like it is still out there. >> a tow truck driver finishing cleaning up the parts after the early morning crash. north of 680.

you see slowing at the scene, much improved. headed into the 50s as you are coming past the area. the slowdown back towards the 85 interchange. that will need to improve. your morning commute kicks in through the northbound routes through here. 880 where the traffic continues to build. the lou clouw clouds are drifti through. >> mike, thank you very much. we hope to see you back at 7:56 for another update.

it is 7:30 now on a thursday morning, 14th day of march 2013. a live look at vatican city at . it is 7:30 on a thursday morning. 12:30 in the afternoon at the vatican where pope francis is spending his first day as the leader of the catholic church. we are going to go live to the pope's hometown of argentina. savannah gurthrie. are you enjoying your morning coffee right now? as we often do. americans drink 400 million cups a day. is it the caffeine or is it the culture that keeps us coming back for more? i'm going to vote caffeine. do you know how much caffeine is in your favorite brands? we'll get into that and other

surprising facts about coffee. >> okay. >> we know we are addicted to it. let's be honest. we're going to begin this half hour with the growing backlash against the tsa's decision to allow passengers to carry small knives on planes starting next month. the head of the tsa is hearing it from all sides now including the nation's flight attendants. but first, tom costello at reagan national airport this morning. good morning. >> hi, savannah, good morning to you, the tsa continues to insist it will allow small folding knives about 2.36 inches on the blade no bigger than that because the tsa says they pose little risk because looking for them clogs up check points like this one and because the tsa says it needs to be looking for explosives. but the agency is also now facing a tsunami of protests. first, it was the frequent fliers who found the new knife policy unsettling. >> i don't know why they would allow people to carry knives on

the plane. it's ridiculous to me. >> reporter: now mounting opposition from all of the key players in aviation safety. the union representing the 45,000 tsa officers. >> we are opposed to it. we believe there is no place for knives on airplanes. >> reporter: the union representing air marshals also opposes the plan. and five unions representing the nation's flight attendants. wednesday, they took their concerns directly to the tsa chief. >> every single day, we experience passenger disturba e disturbances that we deescalate or ask passengers to help us contain the problem. you introduce a deadly weapon into that scenario, and it's not a good idea. >> reporter: at least three major airlines are joining their unions in objecting the tsa's decision. u.s. airways, american and delta. in a letter to the head of the tsa, delta airlines ceo writes, if the purpose is to increase security check point blow, there are much more effective steps to take together. but scissors and knitting

needles, small knives are allowed on flights overseas. and the man who runs the tsa says terrorists remain focused on using explosives to bring down a plane, not knives. >> i understand the concern of some of the constituents out there. our focus has to be on we're best poised to detect and deter a possible terrorist at a check point. >> reporter: this morning, chief pistole will be on capitol hill defending this plan. some republicans support him. but there is also a bipartisan bill on capitol hill that would prevent the tsa from putting this plan into action. >> tom, thank you. and let's hear from the man himself, john pistole, the administrator of the tsa is with us this morning. good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. >> we've heard you're taking a lot of heat for this policy. and i guess the first question is why fix it if it ain't broke? flying public is used to these rules, why the change in policy?

>> the policies have been under revision and review for a number of years. really since tsa was stood up after 9/11. and this was part of our ongoing initiative called risk-base security to move away from the one-size-fits-all approach to help us focus on the highest threat items such as the nonmetallic improvised explosive devices. those liquid bombs that could bring down an aircraft. and as noted by tom costello, the fact is since 2005 we've had a number of items that have been allowed on the aircraft and billions of passengers in the u.s. who have traveled and since august of 2010, billions of passengers internationally who have traveled with small knives and not a single incident involving a threat to an air crew and we recognize the concerns of the flight attendants and those others who have raised concerns. that's why we have been in a close partnership with them, for

example, allowing them to go through an identity base screening so they don't even go through regular screening. 95% of those, the flight attendants go through an identity screen. >> let's take this piece by piece. the organization not capable of both watching for and confiscating knives and watching for these improvised explosive devices that admittedly pose more of a catastrophic threat. why can't the agency do both? >> well, we can and we have, the challenge becomes if we focus on something that will not cause catastrophic failure to an aircraft and miss something that could, we haven't done our job to the millions of people, 12 1/2 million people who travel every week, 630 million people every year just in the u.s. we want our focus to be on the highest threat items. >> fair enough. but now you have tsa screeners, the union itself saying, in fact this new policy is more disruptive because now rather

than just a hard and fast no knives rule, you have set up a situation where they're going to be litigating potentially with passengers. how big the knife is. is it less than 2 1/3 inches long. isn't this more disruptive and counter to your goals here? >> well, if they were aware of the protocols we will be putting in place, i don't think they would have that opinion. i received input from the workforce prior to us having collective bargaining agreement with the union. it was recommendation from the workforce we modify this list. and as the protocols become apparent to all, i think people will see that we won't have that situation just as in 2005 with the change in list, there was a transition period and it's gone smoothly since then. >> another thing that people have been mentioning and that they're very scared about is while they acknowledge a small knife isn't going to cause a catastrophic event like the plane being brought down, can't you envision a scenario in which

it is incredibly dangerous where you have a coordinated group of terrorists like 9/11 getting on with some of these knives and causing great havoc among passengers and flight attendants. isn't that a real threat and perhaps hijacking the plane on that basis? >> it is a possibility. part of what we do is base our decisions on the intelligence that's out there. there's intelligence about terrorists continuing their interest and attempts to blow up an aircraft whether passenger or cargo planes as we've seen in three plots since christmas day. there's no intelligence about that scenario you described. the tsa is at one end of the continuum for the united states, with other agencies collecting intelligence overseas, others doing things here domestically and we are really that last line of defense with the federal air marshals, with the pilots and flight attendants and the passengers who, i think, will respond in a different way than what we -- people may be imagining. >> well, i know you've been getting it from all sides and

you're going on the hill to defend your policy. thank you for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you, savannah. now let's get a check of the weather from al. >> savannah, thank you so much. a little bit on the brisk side here. we've got another clipper coming across. take a look. starting tomorrow, this thing dives down out of canada, makes its way across the upper midwest. bringing rain to the south, snow to the north, and exits and drops a little snow into the northeast. snowfall amounts, nothing too horrible. we've got about a 6 to 9 inch band from fargo right through detroit on into erie. make that 3 to 6 inches and generally around that, about 1 to 3. it's nothing all that horrible, but we'll bring some snow. we are looking at a lot of wet weather in the pacific northwest. rip currents down in florida. plenty of sunshine with heat from texas, into the southwest and southern california. l.a. today getting up to 80 degrees downtown. but they have fog and temperatures about 20 degrees cooler right at the beach. 7:38 on a thursday morning.

you are so close to that weekend now. temperatures are actually going to hold up so you can get out and enjoy this. what a gorgeous sunrise we are getting this rng month. th that was the bay bridge. we have high clouds in addition to the fog. slated to hit some records today. 75 degrees on the way to the north bay as we head throughout santa rosa today touching on a temperature record but overall, a difference, 5-8 dropoff from yesterday. still ahead today's professionals weigh in on punishments that shame your children. up next, the man behind a major game changer in the presidential race. the video of mitt romney's 47% comment. he breaks his silence about why he taped those comments right after this. i've been claritin clear for 12 days ! when your allergies start, doctors recommend taking one clinically-proven claritin

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and at&t is the nation's fastest 4g lte network for your iphone 5. ♪ back now at 7:43. four months after the presidential election, a man who may have actually changed the course of the race. he's finally speaking out. that bartender who secretly recorded governor romney's now infamous 47% comments. nbc's white house correspondent peter alexander has that story. >> even today, political observers insist without that 47% tape, we might be talking about president mitt romney these days. instead, the infamous comments marked what was really a campaign game changer.

months later, the man behind that tape has finally come forward. >> 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. there are 47% who are with him, who depend upon him, who believe they're victims. >> the man behind that secret romney recording is scott, a bartender at that private florida fund-raiser last may. >> i was behind this whole thing. >> speaking publicly for the first time wednesday, scott, who says he's a ringstered empty, he said arrived at the dinner that night with an open mind. >> i was interested to hear what he had to say. i didn't go there with a bruj against romney. >> he insisted he brought his camera, initially thinking he might pose for pictures. >> i had a secret service agent behind me. we were never told this was a secret meeting or private meeting or don't bring cameras. there were plenty of people in the room with cameras. i realized this was not your

typical speech. >> for two weeks, he said he struggled with whether or not to go public with the tape before he decided he had no chose. >> i felt an obligation for all of the people who cant afford to be there, you shouldn't have to be able to afford $50,000 to hear what a candidate actually thinks. >> earlier this month, romney reiterated his commitment to all americans but conceded the 47% comments did real damage to his campaign. >> that was a very unfortunate statement i made. it's not what i meant. i didn't express myself as i wished i would have. you know, when you speak in private, you don't spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted and come out wrong, but i did, and it was very harmful. >> only after hearing that interview did proudy, who said he voted for obama, decided to come forward and reveal his role in a dramatic twist to an historic campaign. >> i had no idea it was going to

be this huge thing it turned out to be. >> we reached out to the romneys last night for comment and were directed to the recent interview we showed you. one of his advisers said the release of the tape last summer stunned the staff. the governor, i'm told, even apologized to them for the mess he called, and i still remember what another frustrated adviser told me at the time. he said when you're running for president, you have to know that the camera is always on. >> peter alexander in washington, thanks very much. >> still to come, the driving force behind america's love affair with coffee. but up next, on a mitch different note, the makers of spanx facing accusations that some of their products are actually knockoffs. that's after this. plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin.

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mara is here with that story. good morning to you. >> well, yummy tummy, another shapewear company claims some of the control top camis infringe on the design patents and wants spanx to stop selling them. now a legal battle is taking shape and has some wondering if these claims are a stretch. >> call it is a battle over the bulge, fighting over who really controls the control top. >> we've got to have it. we love to hate it. but yummy tummy has invented for you. >> reporter: yummy tummy founded by heather thompson makes a patented body shaping camisole. thompson says she realized spanx was selling several tops that she says looked strikingly similar. in january she sent spanx a cease and desist letter. >> they have copied my original idea which really was a game-changer for shapewear.

>> reporter: but spanx, apparently couldn't stomach the accusations. last week, they filed a claim asking the court to rule that there was no design patent infringeme infringement. in a statement to nbc news, the company says, quote, spanx designed our original shaping camisole in 2005 long before yummy tummie, spanx has not infringed on any valid patent. >> it comes down to whether there's a valid patent and whether or not it has been infringed. i mean, those are the two issues that the court will be looking at. >> reporter: spanx has become the world's most popular shapewear brand adored by celebrities. >> nothing but flesh colored spanx. >> willie and i are wearing spanx right now. >> man spanx. >> manx. >> now it'll be up to a federal judge to decide which one shapes up the best. >> i am still shocked and appalled that this whole situation. >> now, according to forbes, the spanx company is valued at $1

billion, clearly the shapewear market is huge and definitely a lot at stake here. >> thanks. we won't take sides, we'll be unified against back fat. >> these two ladies had a serious discussion during that piece. >> we did. coming up gerard butler stops by. but first your local news. for the rest of your face? [ female announcer ] new neutrogena® naturals acne cream cleanser with acne-fighting medicine from the wintergreen leaf. this effective cleanser cleans into pores. treats and helps prevent future breakouts. without dyes, parabens, or harsh sulfates. for clear healthy skin. naturally clear skin has never felt so beautiful. [ female announcer ] new acne cream cleanser. only from neutrogena® naturals. freshly prepared by real cooks. today at kfc get our freshly delt-5...4...le chicken [ man ] 7...6... taste why fresh is better. 3... and now for a limited time 2...1... you can try an 8-piece meal, 2 large sides and 4 biscuits all for just $15.99.

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good morning. the time is 7:56. i'm jon kelly. the man accused of shooting a rapper on the las vegas strip caused a fiery crash is scheduled to be in a lawns courtroom later today. lamar harris attending an identification hearing. he is now asking pros skew tors to prove he is, in fact, lamar harris, before they can extradite him to las vegas to fix charges. it is not clear who will testify at today's hearing. police say harris got into a fight with oakland rapper, kenny "clutch" cherry outside a casino. he chased him down a boulevard and fired shots into a maserati he was driving. he was hit, crashed into a taxi cab which exploded killing the driver and a passenger. right now, let's get a check on the weather and say good morning to christina loren.

san bernardino overlooking the bay. plenty of low cloud cover. it will burn off. it will take a while before we enjoy the blue sky. over the bay, 77 degrees. 68, san francisco. getting into the weekend, temperatures will maintain in the 70s. looking good for the st. patrick's day plan. checking your drive. see if there is any improvement. the bay bridge toll plaza, not so bad. we do see movement. the clouds are low. they are not on the roadway. they are just above that. open patches of fog. 880 both directions between the bridges. southbound just past 92. with he do have a crash over on the shoulder. slowing down. >> a slowdown for the south bay. typical commute to the south bay. this crash has completely cleared from the roadway. 101 north of 680. we'll have another local update in one half hour from right now. we hope see you then.

♪ 8:00 now on this thursday 8:00 now this thursday morning, the 14th of march, 2013. we have come outside with everybody. we have a treat. music this morning. ♪ >> this is the sour secret society band from syracuse. a show band. >> okay. >> the orange -- >> this is not the orange marching band. they are with -- they're from syracuse university, called the sour citrus society band. >> we have a band from marquette -- >> they left. >> did they? >> the cheerleaders. they left. they didn't have coats. >> seriously? >> we've got the band. they don't have any jackets. >> anyway, we're here. i'm savannah guthrie. this is matt lauer.

>> so glad you made it. ♪ >> meantime, we have natalie morales at the vatican with all the headlines this morning. big day for pope francis. she's at st. peter's square. we'll check in with her in a few minutes. in our studio here -- god, they are loud. in our studio here, we've got our professionals standing by including suze orman. one of the topics they'll discuss. a woman in maryland got pulled over on the highway for going two miles below the speed limit. got a ticket because she was in the fast lane. and they ticketed her for failing to move to the right. what's up with that? is that right or wrong? we'll talk about it. yesterday, we thought, you know, we had a piano player, let's kick it up a notch. >> we've done that. ♪ >> love it. that's right, nascar driver jeff gordon has a great time on line where he takes an unsuspecting car salesman for

the ride of his life. is he in on it or not? we'll show you, and you can decide. and why we are attached to coffee. surprising facts about it. do you think darker roasts have more caffeine? interesting answer to the question. >> what does that mean right now -- >> silence? >> yes. >> one more time! [ cheers ] >> let's go inside. we have more from the newscast on the headlines. hey, guys. the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion roman catholics began his first full day as pope by praying for about a half-hour this morning at rome's main basilica dedicated to the virgin mary. pope francis was elected last night on the fifth round of voting by the cardinals at the papal conclave. it was cheered by tens of thousands in st. peter's square. the 76-year-old former archbishop of buenos aires, argentina, is the first pope chosen from the americas who will be formally installed at a ceremonial mass at the vatican on tuesday morning. [ cheers ] in an apparent show of defiance, the web site that allegedly posted the personal information of celebrities and

politicians has now published what it says is the credit report of disgraced former penn state football coach jerry sandusky. the fbi, secret service, and los angeles police have teamed up to track the culprits who earlier published what appeared to be the credit reports of first lady michelle obama, donald trump, beyonce, and many others. president obama said wednesday that the case shows the government and private sector must continually improve their defenses against determined hackers. nearly two months after general elections, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has reached a deal to form a new more centrist coalition government. it will be the first israeli government in years that does not include ultra-orthodox religious parties. netanyahu's new administration is expected to take office next week just days before a visit by president obama. and now for a look at what's trending, our quick roundup of what has you talking on line -- more than five million views have made this day-old pepsi max

commercial a viral sensation. nascar ace jeff gordon dons a disguise and supposedly takes an unsuspecting chevy dealer on the test drive of his life. >> a standard, of course. ahhhh! watch it! watch out! stop the car! stop the [ bleep ] car right now! oh, my god. ahhhh! >> whoo! >> okay. people are raising doubts about whether this is real or some kind of re-enactment, it was staged, what do you think? you'll have to decide. and the teen detective drama "veronica mars," people have surpassed the $2 billion goal kick-starter to turn it into a

movie. the first million in the first hour. that kick-started a record. kick-start lets creative types propose a project and raise funds through a grassroots effort. as soon as a new pope was introduced, digital detectives searched the internet for celebrity lookalikes. take a look. examples include david letterman's musical sidekick, paul schaefer, and then there's "sopranos" star "uncle junior." others see the pope's likeness in comedy genius carl reiner. and this is interesting, woody allen? hmm. now let's head back outside to the guys. they can decide who they think -- my vote is uncle junior. let's go to natalie morales at the vatican. >> or me. which is closer. hey, so the syracuse -- the sour citrus society band, they're here for the big east. they're playing tonight, right, at the game. they're going do a little "can't turn me loose." all right. hit it. >> one, two, one, two, three, four! ♪

>> yeah. a little blues brothers music. we'll show what's going on in your neck of the woods. first of all, we're looking at catalina island. dense morning fog. 66 degrees. and it is hot out west. look at that jet stream way up to the north. palm springs, 92. phoenix, 93. amarillo, 79 degrees. you come to the east, temperatures from five to 15 degrees below normal. big finish -- ♪ >> yeah! all right. thank you very much, sour citrus that was really good stuff. thank you, al. good morning to you. a great-looking day shaping up. a little bit of fog is going to

linger over the san francisco bay almost all day long. otherwise, we're still headed towards near record warmth yet again. 77 for livermore. 80 in gilroy. 72 in los gatos. throughout the next couple of days, temperatures will stay mild. then we'll drop off sunday into monday. we bring in the rain wednesday of next week. hope you have a great day. all right. back to you, savannah. >> i can't take it. al has his own marching band. he's marching away. coming up next, "today's" professionals are here, does punishment of shame of your kids actually work? and why we're attached to our morning coffee. and later, gerard butler live in our studio. but first, these messages. how do we take an unpolished room and make it shine? we get doing... ...with a store full of ways to get it done. we can all throw on our work clothes...

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today, you will know you did something for your pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a pain reliever fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. anti-depressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not for children under 18. people taking maois, linezolid or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing.

take the next step. talk to your doctor. cymbalta can help. ♪ back now 8:11 with today's professionals. here to break down the stories that have you talking. star jones, dr. nancy snyderman, and suze orman, host of "the suze orman show" on cnbc. ladies, good morning to you. >> hello, mr. lauer. >> i have not had the pros together since the tsa rules have changed. before i get to some of the opposition to it, what do you think about it? >> i was on the united flight two days ago. two flight attendants came up to me and personally asked me if i could take this on. they said it's not about bringing down a plane, they're worried about their safety. i have to back them. >> i think it's nuts, number one. i think they -- listen, why don't they do something that makes sense? let us wear our shoes, let us

keep our belts and jackets on and let them keep their knives off the plane. >> the real issue that tsa says is that they're looking for things that can, quote, take down a plane. and they don't think these knives can. not that i agree with them, but that's at least their argument. >> john pistole was on the show this morning and savannah asked the question and i asked it, as well, after billions of dollars being invested in security and safety post 9/11 at our airports, don't the american people deserve a system that can do both things? >> yeah. and we also deserve a system that would allow you to look through the luggage. we don't look through everybody's luggage. >> do you think he should stand firm on this? when you've got the flight attendants, air marshals, airline executives, members of congress saying this is a bad idea, should they reconsider? >> they should listen to the people who are on the plane. they should stop thinking that they know and listen to the people who deal with the people every single day. >> that's exactly right. and when you fly as much as we

do, you know there's not even continuity among the airports. so until you get that stuff done, listen to the people who are on the front line. >> give me my shoes, i say. >> let me move on. we've done stories about shaming punishments on this segment before. this one is one with a twist, though. a mother in colorado, an 8-year-old daughter says she had -- the mother says the daughter has a problem with stealing from stores and everyone else. so she makes the daughter wear a t-shirt to school that on the front says "i steal" steal means taking property that belongs to someone else without permission. on the back it reads, "i steal, please watch me." what do you think about it? >> just because she can't parent her child well, she is now turning it over to the school. she's putting the school in the middle of a parenting issue. >> well, you're getting to the twist here. so you think the idea of sending the kid to school with that t-shirt is -- >> a modern version of a stockade. >> yeah. it's a lot deeper.

like mom, get real help for your kid. >> the principal at the school -- the girl goes to school with the t-shirt, the principal makes her cover it up. apparently the principal did not agree with this form of parenting. is it the school's place -- >> it is not -- no, yes, it is the school's place to say this is not appropriate attire. but if this child is a kleptomaniac and maybe problems for later times, she needs therapy, she didn't need a t-shirt. >> what do the other kids understand about somebody wearing this t-shirt? >> and i understand this little girl was teased. you end up setting the kid up for bullying. be a mother and stop trying to be a friend and getting your picture on youtube and we might be able to solve the problem with your kid. >> number three, this is the one that you three barraged me with this morning, okay. cheryl samberg, she's one of the top female executives in silicon valley, she's at facebook, written a new book called "lean

in," among many things in the book seems to be this idea about women in the workplace in corporate america not being held back by a glass ceiling, being held back by themselves. what do you think about it? >> my 24-year-old graduated, accomplished, brilliant young businesswoman called me the other day from d.c. crying because a man at work said you're too aggressive, you're too bossy. and she called me with self-doubt. and i told her to tell him to go screw himself. >> you didn't use that word. >> and to lean in. because the reality is, we learned later in life to lean in, and we've harnessed our voices later. we want our 16-year-old and 17-year-old and 18-year-old girls to know -- we want more ceos. >> the backlash she's facing. >> there's a special place in hell for women who don't support

other women as madeline albright said a long time ago. i'm not sure it's that basic hateration or you have your own self-doubt and you don't want to hear the truth. she's laying it out. >> you have to understand her true message. you can't go, oh, it's because we don't want to. you have to understand the socialization process between men and women and how that affects us unconsciously in every move that we make. if you read the book, listened to her, as i have. you will find out that one of the best books, most intelligent women with one of the most provocative and intelligent messages i've heard in a long time. >> it's not about being rich, not about having nannies. we got sidetracked. we're leaning in. everybody lean in. >> let me end on this one. draw that one to a close quickly. here's a subject that infuriates a lot of drivers, all right. a woman in maryland driving on the interstate in a 65-mile-an-hour zone gets pulled over and given a ticket for going 63 miles an hour. the reason for the ticket, she

was in the far left lane and she failed to move to the right. we've all been there. we've been behind one of these people. does she deserve a ticket, though? >> yes. >> yeah. >> yes. >> yes? >> absolutely. >> would she have gotten a ticket if she was going two miles above the speed limit? >> no. >> you give this woman a ticket for that? >> yes, because she was in the wrong lane and going 62 in the right lane, she wouldn't have gotten a ticket. >> go in the middle. >> you have to go exactly 65 miles an hour or faster in that lane? >> in the middle! >> leave the flow of traffic. >> what's wrong with you? >> you could cause an accident. >> i'm not sure i disagree with you but i'm trying to add sanity to the segment. what if she'd been in the hov lane? >> with a blow-up doll. >> isn't that amazing. >> you can only go as fast as the slowest driver. >> i'm sorry. and with three people. >> all right. up next, america's obsession with coffee and some things you

may not know about your morning cup of joe right after this. [ male announcer ] when you're at the corner of "i'm a new parent" and "i have no idea what i'm doing," you need a hand. well, walgreens is innovating to help. by making prescription refills this easy. and we're bringing our pharmacists out front to answer your questions. at walgreens, we'll do more than help you get well. we'll help you stay well and live well. because that's what it really means to be at the corner of happy and healthy. yeah we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. and i relieve nasal congestion. overachiever. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't. because every flake is double-toasted... splashed with sweet honey... and covered in rich double-roasted peanuts. mmm. [ hero ] yummy.

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we'll take care of dinner, you take care of everything else. and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette you celebrate a little win. nicorette gum helps calm your cravings and makes you less irritable. quit one cigarette at a time. back now at 8:21 with the start of our special two-day series, caffeinated nation. whether you drink your coffee hot or cold, black or with milk, you are not alone if you love java. it is one of the most consumed drinks in the world and america is officially obsessed.

>> sometimes with sugar with the brown sugar mostly. >> cream, no sugar. >> couple creams and two or three splendas. >> coffee, whether we take it black or with cream and sugar, it wakes many of us up, even on our "today" show set. >> i like a skimmed latte. >> a coffee with half and half. >> tiny bit of sugar, one cup a day at 6:30. >> i don't drink any. >> really? >> i'm not allowed. >> about 1:one in the morning a one around 2:00 or 3:00 in the day. >> in a nation that consumes about 400 million cups a day. >> this was like, what, $3? >> $5 now. >> under $2. >> according to a recent zagat survey americans pay an average

of $2.98 for their jolt of java at coffee shops. one cup a day adds up to $572 a year. our caffeine obsession a booming business, a $30 billion a year industry. and it's more than just a drink. coffee is now part of our culture, even used as an expression. let's do coffee. there's even a national coffee day on september 29th. coffee is not something we want to live without. >> i feel very grumpy if i don't get my morning coffee. >> i get jittery if i don't have coffee. >> people are obsessed with coffee because it's a vehicle that contains caffeine. caffeine has very real effects. it is a stimulant, and if someone is using caffeine on a daily basis, they become physically dependent. >> many are not willing to give up their cup of joe. >> i'd rather give up some form of food as opposed to coffee. >> i'd give up cake and cookies

to keep my coffee. >> in fact, in a today.com poll, 85% of you said you cannot do without your morning cup. and here to answer some of your coffee questions is monica, a licensed nutritionist and author of the "nutrition diva's secrets for healthy diet." good morning to you. >> morning, savannah. >> i think every day is coffee day, not just september 29th. >> i would have to agree with you. >> the first thing is, we actually test eed some of the major brands to determine which had the most caffeine content. what did we find? >> there was a pretty big range in the brands we tested. at the top with the most caffeine was starbucks with about 250 milligrams of caffeine in a 12-ounce, the tall size and that was the medium roast. and then on the other end of the spectrum was seattle's best which is owned by starbucks and half as much caffeine, 125 milligrams per 12-ounce. and right in the middle were dunkin donuts and mcdonald's both about 165, but the serving

size for dunkin is a little smaller. >> real quickly, how much is the recommended amount or safe amount per day? >> under 500 milligrams a day would be good. if you're drinking, you know, dunkin, maybe three cups, starbucks, maybe only two. >> we've got questions from our viewers. heather tweeted a question, do darker roasts have higher caffeine content? >> actually the opposite. the darker roasts have less caffeine, but not as big of a difference as i thought. the differences are small. what makes a bigger difference is how much coffee you're using, how strong you're brewing it. >> that's a surprise to me. rebecca tweeting, does coffee really stunt your growth? >> our moms used to tell us, coffee would stunt our growth as kids, that's not true. but caffeine you take during pregnancy can affect the growth of a baby and lead to low birth weights. definitely pregnant women want to stay away from caffeine. >> and i would assume you want to keep it down for your child, for your kids. >> i think it's a good idea to limit the caffeine. we don't need to give them an

unfair advantage. >> jodi tweeted i drink several cups a day, wondering if coffee hydrates or dehydrates me. >> i'm glad we got this question. caffeine is a diuretic, that means it makes you pee more, but coffee contains a lot of water. and in the end you end up taking in more fluid than you lose, coffee is hydrating. >> that's a shocker. i feel better about my intake. and we've got is coffee better than tea? well, two different plants. you're going to get different benefits. they both contain caffeine. the benefits due to the caffeine you get from both. three times as much tea, though, to get the same benefits. >> thank you so much. here's a good question. is it an appetite suppressant. some people think it is. >> maybe if it takes up a little room in your stomach. you get a tiny bump in metabolism, but not more than five or ten calories. >> well, good questions about our favorite drink. thank you so much, tweet us

ab good morning to you. 8:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. investigators have linked a san francisco company to the hackers who published credit reports for michelle obama and other u.s. officials and celebrities. computers from the company cloud fair were used behind the scenes to redirect visitors to a russian website where the stolen credit reports were being published. the hackers apparently used personal details about their victims to access the reports through a free credit report website. cloud fair says it does not comment on its users. let's check the morning commute with mike. >> we're looking over here toward the south bay where we have the low clouds and the fog drifting around the bay area. that's one of the issues you see here but also the traffic going off to the left, that's northbound 880 off of 280. we had an earlier crash at 280

and the interchange that has cleared. but look at the slowing coming toward us. we'll flip the map around, you see that 17 up to 880 up toward the airport, very slow for that stretch through the middle of your screen. the rest of your northbound routes are okay. southbound 880, slowdown. here's the peninsula. low clouds but not a problem for visibility. >> another local news update for you in half an hour. hope to see you then.

♪ it's 8:30 now on a thursday morning. kind of a breezy and chilly thursday morning here in new york city. the 14th day of march 2014. looking down at some of the people who have been gathered here in our plaza for the better part of two or three hours now. nice of them to stop by. and huddled together as a group. i'm matt lauer along with savannah gurthrie, al roker and tamron hall. tamron is here while natalie's over at the vatican. and coming up in this half hour, gerard butler is in our studio. he's starring -- and i mean this, in an action-packed new

movie called olympus has fallen. star jones gave he her review of the movie and said it's a thrill ride. and so we're going to talk to gerard about that film in a couple of minutes. also ahead, news about a new treatment that may provide hope for children who have got severe food allergies. >> and we want to be the first to wish you happy pie day. it's 3/14, celebrating the mathematical number. however, this morning, we're going to do it with actual pies. and gerard butler is going to help us. let's face it, who doesn't like pie? gerard, do you like pie? yes, gerard butler likes pie. >> and it's also national world kidney day. so you could have kidney pie. >> okay. all right. >> that's right. we'll go there. plus, also, don't forget tomorrow on "today" we're highlighting some of the stars

of tomorrow. we've got a baker, designer, singer and painter all on the edge of 16, who will be here to show off their skills. and the designer has something i'll be wearing. let's hope you can keep it. >> all right. mr. roker, how about a check of the weather? >> a little brisk out here, but all in all, not too bad. and we are looking for a little bit of a clipper coming across. snow showers in the great lakes, mid mississippi and ohio river valley. the heat continues in the southwest, phoenix today, 93, more heat tomorrow in the southwest on into texas. another clip will bring some snow from the dakotas right across into western new york. nice and mild through the gulf coast. sunny and cool in the mid-atlantic states downright cold in northern new 8:32 on a thursday morning. good morning. i'm meteorologist christina loren. this is san bruno looking down over the san francisco bay. and you can see we have plenty of low clouds. we'll have to wait for those clouds to burn off.

once they do, lots of sunshine is going to bring our temperatures up toward record levels. 75 on the way to santa rosa, rivaling a new record. i think we'll break that record. down in the south bay, also warming. gilroy, 80 degrees. down from 87 yesterday. 72 for san jose. and 68 degrees in san francisco. staying steady this weekend. weather. >> all right, al. thank you very much. starting this weekend, nbc and nbc sports network begin coverage of more than 200 hours of the formula 1 and indy car racing season. we want to welcome in some nice gentlemen right now. a four-time izot indy car driver. guys, good morning to both of you. >> morning. >> what do you think people don't understand about your sport other than that the drivers do not wear coats in cold weather? >> i think it's a physical aspect of it. it's difficult just to drive the car with the physical exertion we go through. with the g-forces, it's one of

the questions we get asked all the time. >> are you? >> yeah, five days a week in the gym, twice a day. i think that answers the question. >> you were actually diagnosed with type i diabetes in 2007. the first driver in indy cars to deal with that. how are you handling that diagnosis? and are you trying to send a message about it? >> well, it takes a whole team to manage diabetes, not just a race team, but a health care team and i've got good teammates like dario and together we're promoting diabetes awareness within the campaign to prove to people that you can still live your dreams with diabetes and do what it is you want in life. >> how fast are you guys going? do you realize -- do you feel the speed when you're going that fast? >> you only feed the speed when something goes wrong. as soon as something starts to go wrong and you have a slight, all of a sudden you want to go slower quickly. >> how fast do you go in your regular cars? >> i'm a car addict, yeah. >> how many cars do you own? >> too many.

>> any minivans? no? >> not a chance. >> not usually, not for race car drivers. >> you know what i want to ask you about. have you seen this jeff gordon video where he's supposed to freak out the car dealer. do you think that's real or fake? >> the road seemed very quiet. quite fun, nonetheless. >> most people that ride with us react similarly. >> all right. we want to mention, again, first of all, we're happy that you can catch formula one's grand prix sunday 1:30 a.m. nbc sports network will have complete coverage of that race, as well. guys, go get warm. thank you very much. and have a safe ride this year. >> thank you. coming up next, new treatment to help kids with severe food allergies. but first, this is today on nbc.

"today's" health is brought to you by nicorette. and we're back at 8:38 with "today's" health. and a radical new treatment for kids who suffer from multiple food allergies. here's kristin dahlgren. >> reporter: not long ago, a speck of her favorite whipped cream could've cost tessa her life. >> what were you allergic to? >> wheat, eggs, nuts, and shellfish. >> that's a lot. >> yeah. >> tessa wasn't even 2 years old when spilled milk put her into shock. >> were there times you thought she was going to die? >> yeah. when you suppress the whole thing, you walk out and say, my god, if i were five minutes later, she would have been dead.

>> and when you get that call. >> it's awful. when you get there and your daughter's in your wife's arms barely looking at you. it took years off me. >> reporter: despite extraordinary vigilance, she had more life threatening episodes taking a physical and emotional toll. >> she didn't want to leave the house. she stopped eating. >> did you always feel different than the other kids? >> definitely. some people actually teased me, which is really weird because like there isn't really something different, i just can't eat something. but i did feel different. >> that had to be hard, i'm sure. >> yeah. >> kim and i had gotten to the point where we'd said, we have to do this because we already know what can happen. >> this was a first. a treatment that would tackle most of tessa's food allergies at once. >> the first time my mom and i

were walking in, i actually said to her -- >> if i die, this is your fault. >> because she was the one who told me i should do it. >> there you go. itching our tingling? >> the children's hospital heads the study. >> this is called oral immuno therapy. we give them the very thing they're allergic to. and that might see paradoxical, however we start with small doses and work up and increase the dose about every 25% every two weeks. >> "new york times" reporter wrote about this new multiple food treatment after watching her son almost die. >> this treatment is really amazing. she doesn't use the word cure because she's a scientist and she's very careful so they use the word desensitizing the child and having them tolerate the

food. but the fact is, from a parent point of view, it is a cure. your child is eating the food and as long as your child eats the food every day, they're done with their allergies. >> on tessa's last day of treatment, she celebrated like most kids do. >> you are the first one in the country in the world to do this. >> wow. >> i'm proud of you. >> what's the biggest change? >> the biggest change is that i don't have to be scared anymore. and i don't have as much anxiety. and i can just be a normal kid. >> for today, kristen dahlgren, mountain view, california. >> and you can learn more about the treatment and how to manage food allergies on our website today.com. coming up next, gerard butler on his new thriller set at the white house. first, this is "today" on nbc.

♪ we're back at 8:44 with gerard butler, star of the new movie "olympus has fallen." plays a disgraced secret service agent who finds himself trapped in the white house after the president is taken hostage during a terror attack. take a look. >> yes. the president's in the bunker. >> being held hostage. >> what do they want? >> we'll try to find out. >> who's in charge? >> are there any survivors with you? >> negative, sir. they wiped us out. they're roaming the hallways with enough explosives to take out an army. >> gerard butler, welcome back, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> this movie is about -- without giving anything away -- the north koreans are the terrorists here. they take over the white house and capture the president and you have arranged just as you're promoting the movie to have the north koreans make all kinds of strange gestures toward the

united states threatening nuclear war. how did you do that? >> well, it wasn't so much me. we have a very powerful publicity department. we just make some noise and say some ridiculous things and then we called dennis rodman. >> got him involved. you're pulling all the strings. you're a producer of this too, i should mention. are you asking the audience to suspend their belief system here and just have fun with the ride? or is this something that you p want us to consider? i mean, this is not usually where we think of the threat coming from when it comes to trouble here in our country. >> well, i think it's important to point out that the north koreans are more involved with the political fallout of the movie. and it's obviously very relevant because of the tensions, but this is a terrorist organization that go in and take the white house. so it's more like an osama bin laden than an actual government force. and i think it's a bit of both. it's entertainment and it's very, very -- very, very exciting -- somebody's screaming

out there. >> no, that's you. that's you in the movie. >> oh, it's me. sounds like a maniac. >> you're hearing voices now. >> that's great. you know, but, no i think it's very provocative, as well. we live in this threat of terrorism. what would it look like? and we have totally pulled an audience in and that's what gets you, how real it feels. you're actually in there. and then you're in the crisis room involved in the nitty-gritty and what we wanted to do was get to the substance and meaning and humanize it. these are real people having to make decisions, you know, split second, they make mistakes. >> i'm listening to you talk about this. and i'm smiling only because i've watched you in so many movies. and i've heard you do these spot on american accents. and you've got this gorgeous scottish accent. and as someone who could never do your accent, i don't know how you do this. and just switch that heavy accent off and sound like you're from the heartland of america.

>> yeah. it didn't come easy, let me tell you. i did -- i've probably done 1,000 dialect sessions in my life. and there came a point when i realized i have to just walk around speaking like an american and my friends would be like, you sound like an idiot. it doesn't matter, i have to learn to breathe, sigh, laugh, to keep it all like that. >> do you catch yourself slipping in and out? >> totally. they give me such a hard time in scotland. i go back -- and i always go to the starbucks and say cafe latte please. and they click me back into that scottish accent. >> you're on twitter now, right? how are you enjoying that experience? it's a daily thrill ride, isn't it? >> i was never a fan of it before, never really went on it. and now -- i thought this is something i should embrace. i went on it. i'm kind of loving it. >> are you really? >> it's an exciting thing. >> you've already been asked to

dinner by someone. asked to take a bubble bath with a total stranger. so this is going well for you. >> someone asked what size is your bath? >> do you ever answer any of the negative comments? do you get negative comments? >> there was a point where we had a five minute break and i said i'll take some questions, we got 400 questions in five minutes. i'm in the middle of a press tour. i did 80 interviews in one day. you can't answer all of them, but i thought the bubble bath question was definitely worth taking a shot at. >> what's up next for you? >> i'm just doing this press tour then i'm taking some time off. i made too many movies i'm chilling. i really want to make the right choice for the next one. >> well, in a brave decision, you've also agreed to take part in a segment we're going to do right after this. a little pie tasting where we're going to blindfold you and you're going to join the group. and it has really nothing to do with the pie tasting, it's just savannah wanted to see you in a blindfold. >> i don't understand the handcuffs. >> i'm not sure about this.

>> i don't understand the handcuff thing, but -- >> i didn't know about that. gerard butler. good to have you here. coming up next, he's going to help us celebrate national pi day. but first this is "today" on nbc.

back at 8:50. we'll explain the pies in a moment.

but it is justin timberweek on "late night" with jimmy fallon. a few of it will highlights from last night. ♪ ♪ life is but a dream ♪ row row row your boat ♪ gently down the stream ♪ merrily merrily merrily >> you need a suit and tie. >> my partner is a suit and tie expert. i'll call him in. >> can you sing about how quickly you work? >> oh, you want me to sing? ♪ i will make you a suit and

tie ♪ ♪ let me measure your inseam >> seriously, let me measure your inseam. >> all right. well, time to explain these pies, it is march 14th, 3/14 also known as pi day to celebrate the mathematical constant pi. we're not as good at math as we are at eating. we have the food editor here to celebrate pi. >> happy pi day. >> gerard butler decided to stay with us. thank you. >> any chance to eat pie. >> exactly. you're going to have us try three rather unusual pies? >> yes, you're going to be blindfolded. >> okay. >> you'll have to guess what they are. >> okay. >> gerard, here's your blindfold. >> here, al, you have one. >> yeah, we all have them. >> will we be tasting that? >> maybe. maybe. >> okay. all right. they're going to walk these out. >> all right. is someone going to hand us the

fork? >> he's admitted his sense of taste is not the sharpest. i'm not going to say why. i'm not going to say why. >> will the pie be handed to us in our hand? >> well, he's handing you a fork. >> i'll step back. >> let's start here. >> all right. >> hold on. >> matt, can you smell it? >> can i smell it? >> do we taste now? >> we need pie feeders. >> this is a weird fork. >> i can't miss my mouth. >> this is horrible. that is horrible. >> this is a bacon. >> take a leap of faith and try that. >> this is macaroni and cheese. >> yes! ding, ding, ding. >> what do you think about that, gerard? >> it's macaroni and cheese. >> al blurted it out. >> and then bacon lettuce crunch. >> can we look now or no? >> there's another -- >> next. >> okay.

>> are you handing it? >> i'm going to hand it. >> okay. >> are any of them good? >> i hope so. >> thank you. this smells better. >> give gerard another section of that. i think he wants it more than i do. >> okay. >> be careful with this part. >> peanut butter and chocolate. >> how do i know you're not giving us rat poison. >> there's another element. >> caramel. >> yes! >> poor gerard is only eating the stuff and not getting a chance to guess. >> we're all blindfolded, matt. >> this last one is kind of the hardest. i'm really excited for you to try it. >> i'll take that. i'm going to take these off. i'll take that. hey, guys, taste it and hold your answers for a second. >> okay. >> what do you have here? >> here's your pie. >> i'm sorry.

>> there you go. careful. >> ready? >> is everyone ready? gerard is eating his now. go ahead, gerard, he's still getting the macaroni and cheese -- >> are we supposed to see? >> he's eating the last sample. let gerard go first. what do you think that is? >> pineapple? >> no. >> strawberry. strawberry. but that's not the secret ingredient. >> okay. i'm going to give you a hint. it's spring vegetable. >> turnips? >> no, it's green. >> lettuce? >> green. >> oh, my gosh. >> a letter of the alphabet. >> it's a beet? >> somebody should stop al before he gets to 49th street. >> where is he? >> what about the second one? >> can we take these off? >> i don't know. >> okay.

thank you for being a good sport. good morning to you. 8:56. i'm laura garcia-cannon. a documentary about palo alto native jeremy lin will kick off the cam fest tonight. it follows his burst to stardom with the knicks last year. let's check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. how's it looking out there? >> still have some fog but it is clearing quickly. daytime highs will be on the warm side. in san bruno, the fog is

starting to clear. it's going to linger over the san francisco bay for most of the day. good-looking st. patrick's day weekend. then the rain moves in tuesday into wednesday of next week. hope you have a fantastic thursday. it's not what you think.

it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz.

welcome to "today" on this thursday morning, march 14th, 2013. inside studio 1a, i'm willie geist along with al roker, tamron hall and e!'s jason kennedy. serious kicks. >> that's a comfort shoe. >> that's a nike bottom deal. >> very comfortable. >> i haven't heard men talk about shoes this much since ever. >> i'm with it. i'm game. >> what was happening the pie-eating contest. i walked in from across the street, you're wearing blindfolds eating pie. >> well, today is national pi day. since we're math idiots, we thought let's do real pie. >> they blindfold us, it's amazing how different things feel and sensation when you're blindfolded.

>> i didn't know where you were -- >> i could tell you didn't know where i was going with it. i didn't -- it was the way you looked at me. >> hey, natalie -- where the faithful are still celebrating the announcement of the new pope. francis. natalie, please save us. >> natalie, you know what i'm experiencing. you know. >> reporter: i will try. but perhaps i need to say some prayers here for you guys. it seems appropriate. good morning to you all once again. and, yes, as you mentioned, everyone here still celebrating the fact that they have a new pope. pope francis i. of course, formally known as the archbishop of buenos aires jorge bergoglio. he is, of course, getting about the business of his papacy today being the first full day in action already. earlier today, we saw him praying at the santa maria church, and later on this afternoon, he's going to be holding mass with the cardinals

who elected him as their new pope at the sistine chapel. now, he is very busy as you can imagine in the coming days preparing for the inaugural mass held here on tuesday in the morning. but we do expect tomorrow he will have a private meeting with his predecessor pope benedict xvi, and that is expected to be, again, in private tomorrow. the choice of the new pope francis, of course, being celebrated around the world by catholics. they see him as a compassionate man. yet still conservative in line with the thinking of the catholic values and the catholic church. but many hoping he will bring about the reform that the catholic church so needs right now. he's clearly the first pope. a lot of firsts. the first pope from south america significant, of course as 40% of the catholics in the world are from latin america and

south america and seeing that he will perhaps be the person who can bridge the gap between the old world and the new world. and already, guys, as you can imagine, they're very busily starting to turn out the souvenirs including i got my hands on the first rosary beads here with pope francis right on. that's something to hold on to. but you know what will really be something that will be, i think, worth a lot of money some day is the vatican stamp, which if you've been here, you know that you can only get the postmark here from vatican city. but this is the stamp. this is the only time they've ever produced this letter or this card and the stamp. so this right here, my friends, is coming home with me and i think it's going to be worth something some day. beautiful. there you go. >> couple extras too, natalie. natalie morales in vatican city. >> yeah. >> yeah. please help us. because -- >> do say those prayers. >> these two are almost like

they're married. he's talking, she's looking at him. no idea. >> no, i paused because willie was looking at me as if to say i agree. and i was trying to defer to you, it's your show, to let you say something and you jump all over me. >> did i jump on anyone? >> i didn't see any jumping going on. >> jason, stay out of this. let your parents argue, okay. >> tamron, we'll talk off the kids are in bed. okay. all right. let's go to our take two right now because we've got a really good one. we're already talking about it. it's a sitcom smackdown. this comes from new york magazine's always entertaining vulture blog. they're holding a bracket in honor of march madness. 16 of the greatest sitcoms of the past 30 years, remind you. it's important to point out there's old ones missing here. >> laverne and shirley, happy days. what's happening. >> this is the bracket we have it down to here. each week a different writer is

picking the winners. we have the final four now. let me rattle these off and you tell me what you think is missing here. this is from, cheers "the office," "southpark," "malcolm in the middle," "cosby show," "sex and the city," "30 rock." >> no "full house," no "everybody loves raymond," "30 rock" knocked out by "sex and the city"? >> delegitimatizes the whole bracket because there's no "curb your enthusiaiasenthusiasm." >> do you watch tv? >> i have a confession. willie, i know you're going to go in, i've only seen two of these shows. >> really? >> "sex and the city" and "30 rock." never seen an episode of "cheers" or "the office" or "arrested development." >> simpsons, it's been on for 20 years. >> mark's hyperventilating.

>> "south park." >> i've never seen -- i'm going to take my show on the road. >> "seinfeld's" going to win in my opinion. >> "cheers." >> i know what "seinfeld" is, i have not seen. >> "cheers" or "simpsons." >> based on what? >> 20 years and still as good as it is today as it was 20 years ago. >> one of these four is going to move on in the next couple of hours and you still have a week to go, it's my understanding. >> is it roseanne -- >> roseanne does not belong in this group. >> why? >> come on. >> the simpsons/seinfeld match-up is so great because they're so different and influential in their own way. it's hard to pick. but i bet you're right. >> "cheers"/"simpsons." >> and when will we know? >> why would you care? >> because i might watch the series. >> it's too late now. your loss.

mail in your votes. >> hey, but you're part of our take three. this is huge. >> this is amazing. take three, tamron's new tunes. tamron's got a show on msnbc. >> at 2:00 eastern. >> five days a week, i should say. it has a new theme song. >> wait for it. >> composed, performed by her biggest fan prince. >> unbelievable. >> roll it. >> by the way, this is the new "at newsnation" theme song composed for my team than none other than music icon prince. ♪ >> wait a minute. i've heard that before. this is the theme from "the cosby show." >> you are such a hater. >> no. >> that's one of the greatest theme songs of all time. and this -- this. >> now you're happy. >> i don't recognize that.

>> the a-team. >> i haven't seen that either. >> tamron, back to the story here. how does this happen? >> the song's title originally was seventeen and then prince decided to change the name of the song, that prince, the only one, to the newsnation theme song. >> but why? how? >> what do you mean why? >> do you know prince? he doesn't do that for most shows. >> he's obviously a fan. >> prince is a news junkie, he's incredible, thoughtful person, engaged with what's going on in the world and so it evolved into this amazing opportunity for me to have this song. it blew me away when i got the e-mail. and he's just -- he's -- >> you are the coolest person in the world. >> no, he's the coolest person -- >> you get the coolest person to do a theme song for you, that makes you cool. >> here's the best part. i had the song for about three weeks, his people sent the song to me. and i was so nervous i didn't want to reveal the song. i was grooving to the song by

myself at home. i'll show you my prince groove. >> okay. >> suddenly -- >> not the coolest person anymore. >> there's my other theme song. >> tamron, is he going to do one for take three. have you talked to him about that? >> would he do one for take three? jason, you're pushing it. >> i wanted to ask. >> this is the part i've never revealed. guess how long i can use my own theme song for? >> what? >> six months. i'm sure i can get an extension from prince, i thank him very, very much. he's one of the most amazing individuals. >> congrats. very cool. >> thank you. i'm blushing. >> the show every day 2:00 on msnbc, five days a week, right? >> is it -- >> by the way, jason's theme song is from "color me bad." fantastic in the '90s. >> i was 4. >> all right, tamron, pull yourself together. >> i'll try my friends. well, there's new research out

today on the long-term risks of radiation treatment for breast cancer patients. a study, in fact, of 2,000 women in northern europe found those patients were more likely to develop heart problems years later. doctors say there's no reason to panic because of benefits for radiation patients are the top priority and women can cut their risk of a radiation induced heart attack by controlling your weight and cholesterol. the president heads to capitol hill today for more meetings with democrats and republican lawmakers. this after senate democrats revealed a quote concrete plan to spur economic growth with some $1 trillion in new tax revenues over the coming decade. the budget plan also increases spending, a move that house republicans are opposing with their own counterproposal slashing spending by some $4.6 trillion over the coming decade. and a shift in attitude from american moms. according to a new poll from the pew research center, there's been a major spike in the number of moms who want to work

full-time. listen to this, 47% of moms now want to head back to the office. that's up from 21% five years ago. analysts attribute the change to the recession. that makes perfect sense. and mcdonald's is cutting some breakfast calories. the new egg white delight will be a yolk-free version of the egg mcmuffin served on whole grain version of the bread. the new sandwich will have 250 calories compared to 300 -- >> 50 calories, oh. >> every amount counts, it's on sale nationally this spring. it is now 11 minutes a of the hour. yo uh don't think 50 calories is a big deal? >> just do it. >> go big or go home. >> that's like diet spam. doesn't work. >> come on. >> it's an extra 50 calories allows you to put some jam on it -- or. >> go big. >> if you're going fast food. >> go with the egg mcmuffin. forget it. egg white delight.

>> prince could sing the theme song for the egg white delight. >> i don't think that's going to happen. >> he'll never talk to me again now. >> it's like the people go to mcdonald's and you order the biggie sized meal with a diet coke. >> it matters. >> whatever you say, tamron. how about a check of the weather? >> good idea. let's see what we've got for you. for today, we've got a clipper coming across the great lakes. that's going to bring light snow from minneapolis on into chicago. western new york, no big shakes there. we're looking for plenty of sunshine in l.a. today. although right along the coast, there'll be morning thaw, temperatures there only about 60, about 80 degrees as you make your way into downtown l.a. look for plenty of sunshine down through florida, but rip currents a problem on the east and west coast of florida later 9:12 on a foggy start to the day this thursday morning. taking a live look over san jose. we're going to check on that drive here with mike in just a moment. but i want to let you know that

fog is going to clear quickly and temperatures are going to be warm today. also you'll probably notice a layer of haze. we're in the good to moderate air quality range across the bay area. 77 for santa teresa. 68 degrees in san francisco today. getting into the weekend, temperatures stay steady into the mid-70s. have a great day. and that's your latest weather. >> all right, al, thanks. prince. >> quit saying that. >> we can't get over the prince thing. >> you're making me blush. >> will you sign my notes. >> you're going to make me blush, jason. >> jason wants your autograph. >> i think it's because i look like prince a little bit. >> oh, no, i didn't say that. >> yeah, by the way, there's no mustache, okay. >> because i shave it. >> oh, make it stop. >> i set them up, she kicks them through. >> jason kennedy, i'm sorry you had to sit through this today. thanks for raising the game with the shoes. how to look five years younger in an instant. >> shave your mustache. new honey bunches of oats greek yogurt and whole grain.

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this morning on "today's" beauty. what every woman wants to know. how to look five years younger in an instant. a celebrity make-up artist and president of mally beauty. good to see you. >> good morning, gorgeous. how are you? >> i'm fantastic. is this easier said than done? >> absolutely. just these little secrets and tips. all you have to do is know how to do them, do them every single day and they will take five years off you. >> it won't cost us a fortune and we don't need surgery, right? >> no, honey, that's not how we play. >> all right. and you still look amazing. always beautiful and these are tips you actually apply to your make-up? >> absolutely. for myself every day i'm 41, always trying to find these cute little ways to make you look fierce instantly. are. >> okay. let's get to our first proof in the pudding. the first model, let's look at her before picture. shayla 63 years old, here she is now. what did you do? >> here we go. ready? for me, the rule is this.

it is all about the translucent powder being the enemy. oh, girlfriend. hello. >> there she is. >> thank you. but look again how beautiful her skin looks. that's what we want to keep. translucent powder is the enemy, will make you look older instantly. >> why? >> because it sits in the wrinkles and fine lines and makes every pore look ten times bigger and looks dry and ashy. this is a clear powder. so when you use a clear powder, what it does, it does everything translucent powder wants to do without the nasty side effects. going to make your skin look amazing. fast, quick and easy without all of that cakiness. >> she still has a glow. >> absolutely. and if you have any warmth to your skin like you do, the sh. >> you look beautiful. >> let's look at our next before picture jen. she is 43 years old. >> yes, ma'am. >> you look beautiful now as

well, jen. and here she is. let's look at the after. >> flash that beautiful smile. >> work it, girl. >> okay. so, again, as we age, we all know we tend to lose color in the face. the cheeks, the lips, the whole nine yards. a beautiful pop of pink blush on the apples of the cheeks. i call it the cinnamon bun method. little in the middle -- >> do we really smile when we apply? >> yes, always on the apples of the cheeks like a beautiful little child. there we go, she got it and that gorgeous pop of lip color, that gorgeous pink. that that's going to make us look younger. >> the three of us are quite arranged here. >> yes, in fact, we can all wear it. a soft blue pink if that makes any sense. it has a little bit of a lilacy tone to it. >> do you feel like you look five years younger? >> i love it. yes. i really do. >> i also noticed her eyebrows. we need to make sure they look a little more full? >> absolutely. it's an instant way to make

yourself look younger. thicker eyebrows, lifted eyebro eyebrows, that's going to make you look younger, as well. >> you're so beautiful. thank you very much. and next up, let's look at the before picture of inga. apparently not disclosing her age because it's not on my paper. and there she is. >> yeah, there you go. isn't it great? >> and you focused on her eyes. >> absolutely. about lifting the eyes, opening up the eyes, curling the lashes. >> i've never used an eyelash curler. should we all be using? >> hello! somebody get her an eyelash curler. >> there's a walgreen's nearby. >> exactly, take it, hold it right at the base of the lash and let the three-pump method. squeeze at the base to the tip. curl the lashes and hold them up and open. opening up the eyes instantly will make you look younger. >> did you see the difference? >> definitely. >> did you have one before?

>> i did not. >> we'll get a two for one discount. ladies, you look amazing. mally, always a pleasure. coming up, go green for st. patrick's day with a do-it-yourself project. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair.

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i'm amazed you make so many great flavors that are gluten free. my guys are crazy for chocolate chex and honey nut chex. for me, it's cinnamon. we're the harris family. and we love chex. he opened up jake's very private world. at first, jake's family thought they saved ziggy, but his connection with jake has been a lifesaver. for a love this strong, his family only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein... ...to help keep ziggy's body as strong as a love that reaches further than anyone's words. iams. keep love strong. coming up, when is the right time for adult children to talk to their parents about money. and a delicious stew. >> after your local news and weather.

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good morning to you. it is 9:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. a man is under arrest this morning for allegedly stealing more than 10,000 prescription pills from palo alto medical foundation pharmacy. police say 34-year-old jerry sareria, a former employee of the clinic, was arrested earlier this month after detectives foundette done, oxycodone, morphine and other pscriptions inside his car. police say he stole st drugs from inside an expired medicine locker and locked cabinets in the pharmacy. a spokeswoman for the foundation says the suspect has been fired and that he had no direct contact with any patients. in san francisco, a court hearing is expected today for the 24-year-old woman accused of kicking a toddler for no parent reason in golden gate park.

sabrina bell walked past a man and his daughter and kicked the little girl in the chest on tuesday. the little girl was not seriously hurt. we'll have a look at weather and traffic right after this.

welcome back now. the time is 9:28. dealing with thick fog. most of the day over the san francisco bay we'll see these low clouds. elsewhere, we're forecasting near record lows. right at the sfas, your visibility is starting to improve. headed toward the upper 70s. a couple of low 80s today. 80 degrees in gilroy. 72 in san jose. 68 in san francisco. as we head throughout the upcoming weekend, yes, you are very close now, we're going to hold onto the 70s. things change getting into next week. showers arrive tuesday night, continue into wednesday. let's check the drive. >> looking over here, the visibility is improving, see the fog burning off. a little haze going on. south 880, look at the volume of traffic there. on the maps, the dumbarton

bridge, the earlier crash there around thornton, a smooth drive down toward mission. a little slow there. the remnants of the morning commute. northbound kicking in, 17 and 880 up toward 101. and toward camden, an earlier crash but big slowing from 87. palo alto south and northbound moving nicely. the eastshore freeway, the clouds burning off. a clear drive through berkeley. >> thank you very much. thank you for joining us as well. another local news update coming up in half an hour.

you need a suit and tie. my partner is a suit and tie expert. i'll just call him in. >> justin timberlake's week continues over at jimmy fallon. making a cameo there with steve carrell and jimmy in a suit and tie. >> i get it. >> i was thinking, you guys could do suit and tie. >> yeah. >> there you go. >> no. not for al? >> i would do that and then jay-z would find me and beat me. >> we don't want that. we don't want that to happen. i'm willie geist along with al and tamron while natalie is in vatican city this morning. celebrating st. patrick's

day. it is this sunday. we've got ideas on what to wear, what to serve and how to decorate your party with some do-it-yourself green projects. >> very nice. and speaking of the irish, we are trying out delicious home cooking with hearty beef and stout stew. >> that's right. we had a misspelling a little earlier said beef and trout stew. probably not as good. >> not definitely not good. >> and as kids get older and their parents age, when is the right time to discuss your family's finances and long-term care? really important advice you need to know. >> we'll get into that in a little bit. but first al has a check of the weather. >> let's look ahead starting off with today. we've got sunny skies along the eastern seaboards. lake effect snow showers, little clipper will bring snow from the dakotas into minnesota. plenty of fog along the california coastline, especially the southern california coastline. rip currents along the eastern and west coast of florida. beautiful day tomorrow around the gulf into the southwest, sunny and hot, nice and mild,

interior sections in nevada into california, look for showers continuing in the pacific northwest with a clipper bringing more snow from the dakotas across minnesota on into western new york. 9:32 on a thursday morning. good morning, i'm meteorologist christina loren. this is san francisco looking out from high atop san bruno mountain. we have quite a bit of low cloud cover lingering. a lot of this is going to stick to the san francisco bay throughout the day. if you want the sunshine, it will be out along the coastline today. you're going to get great beach weather. 97 in livermore. 91 in fremont. 72 in san jose. 68 degrees on the way to san francisco. we'll keep cooling you down just a touch for tomorrow. throughout the next couple of days, temperatures leveling off. nice st. patrick's day, 71 inland. >> all right, al. thanks, this morning on happy st. patrick's day today, diy green, this sunday going to need a little more than green beer and shamrock shakes for a good party.

lifestyle expert. >> today's your lucky day. >> this is it. we're getting lucky today. >> we're going with green diy today, keep you pinch-free for the weekend. now we're starting off with some wearables. the key is to keep it subtle. you don't want to overdo it with the green. >> all right. >> so the first one is fabric button earrings and cuff links. i don't know if you've ever seen this cover button kit. >> no. >> but it's an easy way to make your own fabric buttons. grab any sort of fabric, cut out a circle, you place the fabric on top of this button cover here, grab your button, press down. and all you have to do is actually tuck in the rest of the fabric into the button and add in the final back. press down pretty hard and once you remove it, look, you can see here. there you go. >> and it hooks into here? >> yeah, you add the fabric -- earrings to the back of them to create earrings and we make cuff

links for the guys. >> you're liking the head bands this year? >> every woman has ribbon and hair elastics at their house. cut them in half, measure about a foot or so of decorative ribbon, and you can see all of these beautiful head bands here. again, it's a little pop of color. you don't need to go crazy with the green. >> okay. >> next up, color blocking, i don't know if you've been paying attention to the runways. this is a big trend. >> very carefully. >> we're taking the color blocking to your shoes, green shoes to be exact. we've got green flats here. you put a plastic bag on and spray paint them gold. you can do the tips, the heels. >> just hardware store spray paint? >> yeah, super easy. great way to class up your heels or flats. >> and keep that look after st. paddy's day? >> something you wear year round. >> cool. >> moving to the guys. >> what do we got here? >> these are last-minute if you're in a pinch. see what i did there? >> yeah.

amazing. >> the tie bar. this is something i didn't know was popular. so we've actually used paper clips and nothing but this cord ribbon and all you do is tie a knot around your paper clips and start wrapping. and you can see at the end -- that's a paper clip? >> this is a paper clip. >> very cool. >> isn't that amazing? >> may i? >> yes, of course. and you can use the same with these little piles really, really simple way to go green. >> and if you want to go next level, bow tie. >> if you don't have your own tie, you can create a bow tie. again, last minute, if you have ribbon left over or even a scarf, you tie it in a bow, wrap it around your neck and make for a fun little tie to wear on st. patrick's day. >> that might be alittle aggressive. i think we'll start with the tie clip and go from there. >> moving on food to wash down the beer, of course. this is a fun thing i found on pinterest. put your cupcake liners in the

tin, use marbles, put in food coloring and creates these shamrock cup cakes. we decorated them with frosting and punch straws. >> this is wonderful. i introduced you to the concept of hombre. >> yeah, i didn't know it until you. now we do it with hair and now -- >> hair, fashion, and now pretzels. >> it's the lighter shade of a color to the dark shade of the color. like the gradient effect. we made it here. using white candy melts. melt them up, add food color to get a darker version of the green and we topped it off with yummy green circles. >> i like that. i want to get to the beers. tell me quickly about the bottles. >> yeah. quickly if you want to dye your white flowers green, put more food coloring in the water. and use painters tape and gold

spray paint to put interesting patterns. water, beer, all you need there. >> let's talk business here. we've got green beer here. >> how did you crease this? >> we create this? >> it's food coloring. we created a pretty chevron pattern. it is all about the beer this sunday. >> take a regular beer, couple of drops in. >> tastes the same, i promise. >> happy st. paddy's day. up next, getting parents and adults to see eye-to-eye about money right after this. [ female announcer ] the only patch for the treatment of mild to moderate alzheimer's disease is exelon patch. now with more treatment options, exelon patch may improve overall function and cognition. your loved one can get a free 30-day trial. and you can have access to nurses. it does not change how the disease progresses. hospitalization, and rarely death, have been reported from wearing more than one patch at a time. the most common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,

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♪ in today's money, the right time to start talking about your family's finances. good morning to both of you. >> nice to see you. >> this is one of these things as boomers age and their parents are getting older. you need to maybe at some point take over your parents' finances or work with them on it. >> you need to know how everything is going to shake out. and unfortunately, what we know from this new survey which came out from fidelity is those conversations are not happening. >> and gail, some of this is a

certain amount of discomfort. i remember with my parents, i had a discomfort, all of a sudden i had to take on an adult role with them. >> discomfort starts early. money is that taboo topic, and young kids you're not supposed to talk with your parents about what they have. and so even as we grow up, it could be uncomfortable to switch from the child/adult relationship to the adult/adult relationship where you talk about what's going to happen in life and how you're going to prepare for crises and so on. >> and on average adult children underestimate the value of their parents estate by some $100,000 or more. >> and if you think about that, combine it with social security, that's four or five maybe more years of support for those parents, and if that money isn't there, perhaps the kids are going to have to step in and provide it. the kids may also be expecting it to help them with college tuition on the other end. so it's really crucial to sit down and say i know this is hard. but my friends are going through this with their parents. we need to get it out on the

table. >> is it -- gail, is it more of a reluctance on the kids part do you find, or equally parents and kids? >> both, both. i think the adult kids are reluctant to put their parents on the burner there and say they feel like it's not respectful. and parents feel they shouldn't burden their kids. maybe both of them feel like it's none of each other's business, if you will. and there's a bit of denial going on because both adult children and parents are in a little denial about how much money they do have and don't want to think about planning for the future because it means illness or difficult things. >> speaking of illness, 97% disagree on whether the adult child will take care of their parents in the event of an adult illness. how come? >> they're not talking about it. if this happens in your family and you are the adult child and you've got older parents, you will step in and you will do something. but it shouldn't be an emergency. we know our parents are living longer. we should have these conversations, and it helps to

have them with an adviser in the room. that's what i felt was the most remarkable piece of this study. both parents and kids are more talking -- more comfortable talking with the financial adviser so bring one in. >> also helps to be analytic as opposed to emotional. if you wait for the crisis, it's emotionally charged and you don't resolve as much. but if you either bring someone in and/or sit down today, if you're watching a segment today, i say to people out there, no one's sick right now, no one's in crisis right now. today is the time to say, hey, i saw the segment on the "today" show and you know what, we really haven't done -- >> you don't fix the leaky roof when it's raining. thank you so much. and still ahead, we're going to show you how to make a great irish stew right after this. acne cleansers may be tough on breakouts, but how gd are they for the rest of your face? [ female announcer ] new neutrogena® naturals acne cream cleanser with acne-fighting medicine from the wintergreen leaf. this effective cleanser cleans into pores.

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there are things that are too good to be true... such as dannon oikos. thick, creamy, with 0% fat and twice the protein... of regular low-fat yogurt mmm huh. i want an oikos! dannon oikos greek non-fat yogurt... too delicious to be so nutritious. dannon this morning on "today's" melting pot, we have a cookbook author and a third generation farmer at her family's bed and breakfast in ireland. we have a hearty irish meal for st. patrick's day. good morning. >> good morning, tamron. >> pleasure to be here.

let's launch in. i can smell the flavors already. >> we have this lovely irish beef. you're going to cook it. >> irish beef, what does that mean? >> well, in ireland, our animals are grass fed. we have the most beautiful flavor coming into our ingredients, it's in our irish butter and cheeses and meats. >> how is st. patrick's day celebrated in ireland? >> well, it is a big national holiday because, of course, st. patrick brought christianity to ireland in the fifth century. we have a huge celebration. but this year is a year of celebrations. >> and you added butter. >> yes, a little butter in there. and we sizzled the meat away and get it lovely and brown. >> okay. >> what we want is color and sweetness. >> how long do we cook this on each side? >> we are coloring it. >> coloring it. >> very nice. it's not cooking through and through. we've got that going. >> let's pretend we've browned that. >> we've browned our meat. >> and put our onions in and the onions have caramelized. >> irish onions? >> of course they have to be.

>> pop in a little bit of sugar. this is irish stout. >> this is about what? 2 cups? >> a pint. >> makes sense then. >> that should do it. and i know normally we have our stout in a glass in ireland but we like to use it for cooking, as well. >> that's very nice. >> and we have some thyme and parsley. pop those in. >> what does the thyme add to this? lemony? >> just get the flavor. all kind of rustic flavor. we have some tomato puree here. >> okay. >> mustard. and the mustard gives it tang? >> mm-hmm. add to the broth. >> all that goes in. >> yep. >> and then what we're going to do is pour that in here with the mushroom. >> right now? >> we have our beef in here, mushroom. >> okay. i'm a little weak. >> you've got the hard job today. >> okay. so we got that in. >> yep.

mushrooms, any kind of mushrooms, or what do you prefer? >> we use the button mushrooms. >> okay. >> and here we have our potato and sweet potato and layers of that. >> nice. >> you layer potato, white potato and sweet potato. >> the sweet potato wouldn't be traditional, but i like the color. >> very nice. >> then you have a little butter. >> we have some butter there. and this recipe is a heritage family recipe, i grew up in an 1850s farmhouse, a bed and breakfast, and being a farmhouse, you need hearty meals for your family. >> and something that warms up. absolutely, perfect sense. it is interesting when you look at the background of a food and usually from the practicality standpoint feeding an entire family on a bucket. >> come on in. how long do you put this in the oven? >> for two hours, you take it out and brown the top of it. >> beautiful. >> great family recipe. >> mushrooms in there? >> no, they're button mushrooms. it's a traditional irish mushroom. i don't know, i guessed the name of a mushroom.

this is beautiful. and again, it's easy to serve, do it family style and you can warm it up a little bit later. gentlemen, would you like a little bit? >> yes, ma'am. >> you have soda bread made with your beautiful hands. >> have, indeed. what we're doing with our cookers school, running heritage cookery programs. people can learn about the irish history of food and it's all part of the gathering of ireland. >> i love cookery, i love that. >> love that. >> yeah, please. >> okay. >> delicious. >> isn't it? oh, gosh, well, catherine. >> that's incredible. >> a big plate here. thank you, again. this is fantastic. fantastic. you got a little bread, guys? happy st. patrick's day. beautiful, thank you. >> thank you so much. happy st. patrick's day to everybody. >> and this is "today" on nbc. i'm eating last.

of. coming up tomorrow, how to have a fit pregnancy. but coming up next, we haka lee and hoda. deals after your local news and weather. >> nice. [ female announcer ] this is speeding. this is fast food. this is the express lane. and this is the fast track. this is the fastest in-home wifi. this is xfinity internet. xfinity. the future of awesome.

it is 9:56 now. good morning. i'm marla tellez. an urban village built on the grounds of an historic racetrack in san mateo is about to open its doors. the bay meadows development includes nearly 1,200 new homes as well as office and retail space and 12 acres of parks and gardens. it's built on the bay meadows

horse racetrack which opened back in 1934 and closed in 2008. san mateo city officials will dedicate the bay meadows community park this morning. the development officially opens to the public on saturday. foggy start to your day but it's going to burn off. let's get a look at the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> we actually might get some near record warmth up in the north bay today. 75 degrees is what i'm forecasting for santa rosa, the old record is 74 set back in 2000. probably going to break some more temperature records today. you will notice a drop-off by 5 to 10 degrees on average from where we were yesterday. 71 in fremont. 68 degrees on the way to san francisco. throughout the weekend, st. paddy's day, looking good lt holding onto the 70s. the 50s and rain on wednesday. >> in fremont, there's a little haze. the fog is burning off. most of your bay area spots.

but the traffic is sticking around, south 880. both 880 and 680 slow down toward the fremont area. 880 both directions approaching montague has slowing. there is a crash at the montague off-ramp on the southbound side. the northbound also slow from the 17 to the interchange. over in half moon bay, 280 just off the freeway heading toward 92. that signal is having issues with back-up. there's the bay bridge with no issues. >> thanks so much. we're back with our next local news update at 10:26.

>> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today," with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live, from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. hello, everybody, it is thirst-day, thursday, it's march 14th, we're delighted that you're with us, and we're delighted we have a new pope. >> and we're delighted with a lot of things. >> we're so dan happy. >> we should start off with ourselves, we want to thank you guys again, because who is better than you? after we -- dressed up like two -- bitches -- female dogs, yesterday, you guys responded!

and you liked us on facebook. so we want to thank you guys, because now we're up to almost 520,000. and then we got another blast from everybody in texas. >> the texas people -- >> if you have any ideas how we can continue this roll, we'd love to hear from you on facebook. [ dogs barking ] >> hoda hasn't barked, are you going to make us wait? you gave us a little woof and that was it. >> i need to have a lot more incentive than you saying we should do it. last night, jimmy fallon had some fun with us. there was a study that came out yesterday that talked about how taking a resveritrol -- >> i can't say it i have to drink it. >> if you took it in a pill form. it would be the equivalent of 100 glasses of wine and that could keep us alive well into our hundreds. jimmy had some fun with that. >> a new study found that a chemical in red wine could help

humans live to be 150 years old. which explains why the fourth hour of the today show is renewed for 200 more seasons. we love those guys. >> no matter what he says, we never get mad at him. >> we love him. >> and justin timberlake has been killing it on that show. >> he's on a roll, boy. >> it's been such fun to watch. he and jimmy together. >> they're like little boys in a candy store, aren't they? >> yes. >> breaking news from yesterday, you guys know now there is a new pope and it was so interesting to watch this whole thing unfold on this particular day. from the smoke that came out of the chimney to the introduction of a person who a lot of us of course are seeing for the first time. and i got to say, my first impression just watching him on tv was there was such a warmth and a connection with him and the crowd. and the fact that he started off this moment, instead of blessing the crowd like i guess the way popes have done for so many years. he asked for a blessing for himself to pray for him.

so it was very humbling i thought in a nice way to begin his papacy. >> apparently that's not a show, that's the essence of the man. we all know how he lived so simply. he is actually living testimony to what the gospel really is. the gospel means good news. and it's good news to the poor. and he is a beautiful testimony of service. do you know that in buenos aires he would clean, wash and clean and kiss the feet of aids patients. >> yes. >> this is what's been missing in not just the catholic church, but in many churches around the world, is service in the name of a loving god. and it's really, really thrilling to see. i am not catholic, but i cried. i just loved his tender heart. i loved that he didn't wear all the robes and stuff. if he says he's a follower of jesus, jesus was the poorest of the poor. didn't have a stone was his pillow. you know. and if you're going to represent

him as the vicar, you know, then identify with him. and i think this is a brilliant start. >> he's 76 years old and a lot of people first looked at it and said, wait, 76? you know that's -- >> they thought maybe they would go a little younger. >> we're here to tell you and we're going to list some people who are older and really rocking it. okay? here we go. >> besides frank? >> besides frank gifford. who should be first on the list. queen elizabeth, 86 years old. >> she's ten years older. she's doing great. >> warren buffett, 82. >> uh-huh. >> the kink of saudi arabia, 88. the prime minister of india, 80. rupert murdoch, 82. the formula one ceo, bernie ecclestone. senator frank lawsuitenberg of new jersey, 89 -- lautenberg.

>> and ralph hall from texas, will be 90 in a couple of months. it makes me feel a little bit better about my milestone coming this summer. >> how do you feel about that milestone? >> you know what? it's just starting to dawn on me and it's like, i'm just surprised by it all the time. >> that i'm going to be 60 years old. how the heck -- in honor of the pope, did that happen? would i love to be 40 again? >> in some ways, but i had cass when i was 40 and i've got a beautiful almost 20-year-old and cody is going to be 23. and i think when you start thinking about ha you've lost in life, you lose the moment right now you lose the joy and the gift of right now. that's why it's called a present. >> i like that. >> it's right now. and you just, if you just concentrate, hoda on what you do have, still have a lot. you know a lot to be grateful for. >> and we talk about the james

taylor song kw" the secret of l is to be enjoy where you are at the time." >> so here's bad news, if you're on a carnival cruise ship. this is not great. another issue with carnival, you guys. the carnival cruise ship "dream" is docked, in port at phillipsberg in st. maarten. they're having according to some people on the boat, power outages and overflowing toilets. 5,000 passengers could be on board. apparently carnival cruise put out a statement that said there's a technical issue, but at no time did the ship lose power there were some periodic interruptions of elevators and toilets. >> i obviously have a soft spot for carnival, i worked with them for 20 years as their spokesperson. they got very big after that i'm not sure what the situation is here. but i know they take everything very seriously. i hope they solve the problem

very quickly. you can't have all of these kinds of things happening before it starts affecting things. i wish them all the best. but you can't blame this one on me, you know what i'm saying? >> blame it on george bush, okay? >> the best speeches in the united states, by trip adviser. here are a couple of suggestions. a bunch of people on the website weighed in. on their favorite beaches and here they are the third best beach is the gulf island's national seashore in pensacola, florida. >> i agree, you can camp on the beach, 150-mile stretch of it, it runs from cat island, mississippi, to santa rosa island in florida, it's like sugar. i've never seen such white sand in my life, it's glorious. >> number two, siesta key, a public beach in sarasota. clean, hard-packed sand there. >> the number one and i have to agree with this one as well, top beach in the whole country is

kanapali beach in hawaii. great for long walks, swimming, snorkeling, sunsets, and views. >> let's go. >> hoda needs to take her thong. this is so exciting, i have such a great i heart hoda. >> just when i was in a good mood. >> this is about people shopping in a thrift shop. people shopping in a thrift shop. we got the clean version, so no one freak out. it's by macklemore. so first you have to feel a little of the beat. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> are you feeling little bit of it? >> no. >> come on. >> okay, here it comes.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i get it, i get it. and i hate it. >> how can you hate it? >> i love it. >> how can you from singing cinderella yesterday, where there's actual music by rogers and hammerstein. >> we went to see -- we had to leave early because of the pope announcement. but your reaction was different from mine. >> yes, "cinderella" we just have a couple of seconds, because we have to talk to sara.

i loved it for my niece. i think she will totally go crazy over cinderella, the costume change, the beautiful scenery. they were all very excited. >> for people like me who grew up on the leslie ann warren one and whatever year it was, i missed that story and missed hearing all of those songs in their entirety. so that just shows you it's a generational thing. but everybody is good in it. very good. >> hey, miss sara haynes. >> today to announce johnson's baby of the week. celebrating new moms and their bundles of joy. first up is kiley james macarthur. next up, surprise, surprise, is elliott joseph holland dodson, who made his debut on january 11th, in california. mom and dad, are so happy 2-year-old ava is a big sister.

and finally our third today's johnson baby of the week is kennedy claire fagan, born to kelly and gregory of los gatos, california. a big congratulations to all of our babies. if you'd like your baby to be considered for johnson's baby of the week, go to our website, at klgandhoda.com. >> you're our baby, sara. our hair and makeup team have worked their magic. two lucky ladies reveal their ambush makeovers. and justin timberlake's new gig. >> and i believe our friend jason is here in our weekend chat is here, we'll be right back. you're doing okay, mom. i can call you "mom," right? i know we haven't known each other very long, but you seem like a real keeper. you're not perfect. but you're trying. anyway, i want you to know how much i appreciate you. you know, right?

how much i love you. you're doing okay, mom. yeah, he's a liquid gold digger. babe how about you make me some of that velveeta cheesy broccoli soup i love so much? oh and you're so pretty. [ cries ] [ male announcer ] liquid gold diggers love liquid gold.

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86% of women saw less dark spots. treat dark spots youth code from l'oréal paris a world of remarkable itastes comes together. rich, dark chocolate meets sweetened soft centers flavored with exotic fruit juices, like pomegranate, goji with raspberry, and acai with blueberry. it's chocolate like you've never experienced it before. and it comes from a place called brookside. discover brookside. time to reveal our ambush makeovers for two very happy ladies who were plucked off our plaza just today. >> "today" contributor and stylist to the stars -- ♪ louis liccari

♪ la la la la la >> and "people" contributor editor and new author very soon -- jill martin. >> how was the crowd? >> today was a great one. "today show" always has a great crowd. the kids were on break, today was big. >> wow, julie, what we started with our doggie outfits. 44 years old from fond du lac, wisconsin, so busy being a single mom to her two boys she had no time to focus on herself. she jumped at the chance to get pampered, let's listen to her story. >> well it's clear why were you picked out of the crowd. but sheryl, what do you think about this for julie? >> she works hard, she deserves it. she needs something new. >> you could barely see your mouth as you're taking. >> you have to take your udders off. >> i've never said that line before. i know you told me you've been through a lot and really want

this. >> yes. i do. >> ha do you think your boyfriend is going to think? >> a new me when i get home. >> julie is joined by her friend, sheryl, who also got made over. and she's here with a couple of friends and colleagues, janet and doc. let's take one last look at julie before. julie, come out and show us the new you. all right. doc, all right janet, take off your blindfolds. >> wow! >> we got a whoa and a wow. >> jill, you ready? step here and turn around. >> oh, my gosh! >> wow. >> spin right around and look at that camera. >> tell us about the hair. >> julie is a petty hair and i simply took, it was an effort to make her look prettier. i lightened and brightened her hair. >> and then maiuki gave her her this simple bob hair cut.

bobs are so flirty. this is a new length for longer hair. it's very attractive, very flattering and very practical. >> janet, what do you guys think? >> excellent. unbelievable. >> jodie foster there. >> oh. >> tell us about the dress. it's perfect. >> i didn't snow what she looked like. this is from maggie london. you're wearing one of the biggest trends right now, the exposed zipper on the side. and then just layering with gold and silver, metallics are really in. >> adorable. >> julie, why don't you stand with your pals and please face the wall. >> we'll bring our second lady, sheryl hershey, from elkhart lake, wisconsin. she told us her daily beauty routine, is taking a shower. and she's here with the crowd, let's take one last look at her there. and let's bring out --

>> besides taking off the udders -- ha else do you think about this? >> well sheryl works hard herself and she really deserves to have something new. >> are you excited for this? >> you bet. >> what is your husband going to think? >> i'm not sure he'll notice. >> we've heard that before. >> take off your hat quickly so everybody can see. are you ready for all of this? >> oh yes, you bet! >> they both have great faces and great senses of humor. you know the crowd, let's take a last look at sheryl and bring out the new sheryl. >> wow! >> sheryl. >> everybody, you ready? >> turn around, let's go, let's take a look. >> i can't see. >> you turn around, please, sheryl and look right in the

mirror. >> oh, my gosh. yeah! >> you like? >> it's different. >> give you a few moments to fall in love with yourself. >> lewis, big change? >> big change. this is we sovereigned the hair color, when you do have dark hair, once the dark hair starts to go, do go a little softer. you don't have to be a blonde, but you should be a softer brown, a big tip here and keep the makeup very natural. lighter, thin makeup keeps you younger, less is more. >> and miyuki's great haircut. >> ready for spring on this freezing day. this is from london times, this is paired with a skinny belt, she has a little waist, so we put on a bigger belt to emphasize it more. >> look at you ladies. >> louis.

a couple of students put the irish saying to the test. like when i ran to catch the train to work and a draft blew my skirt up and everybody here saw my unmentionables. yeah, and they aren't even cute. hello, laundry day. no... [ female announcer ] stress sweat can happen to anyone, anytime -- and it smells worse than ordinary sweat. get 4x the protection against stress sweat. introducing new secret clinical strength stress response scent. ♪ introducing new secret clinical strength stress response scent. looking for a litter with natural ingredients that helps neutralize odors. discover tidy cats pure nature. uniquely formulated with cedar, pine, and corn. oh, did you want it? yea we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light, buttery and flakey. that's half that's not half!

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in quaker chewy bars. today is going to be epic. quaker up. we're back with another installment of webtastic, when sara digs up cute videos to put you in a good mood. >> two college students decided to put the phrase "kiss me, i'm irish" to the test. check it out. >> just because i'm irish? >> all right. thanks. >> is this real? >> this is real. >> is this the real deal? >> i'm the real deal. right now, are you ready? >> yup? >> have a lucky day. >> real quick, real quick. >> i'm dating someone. >> are you irish? >> i am. >> it was shot at brigham young, university. the lucky girl is -- >> oh, my god, there was tongue. >> okay, i'm not sure --

>> well, and whoa! >> she's still going with -- please say that's her boyfriend. >> well? >> it might be. >> aw. >> thank you. you want a lot of luck? >> i have a test coming up. >> wow. >> i'm a little speechless right now. >> i feel like there's a point where he's held on too long. >> that only matters to the two people involved, doesn't it, sara in. >> she got 82% of people to kiss her. justin got only 32%. >> he only got 32. i think the girls are a little more tentative when a guy comes up. >> it can be a bit creepy from a guy. >> from the small screen to the big screen. jason kennedy has the scoop on what not to miss this weekend in his chatter. plus the five spring break destinations with great deals, you're going to want to know about. and irish cooking with a little irish whiskey on the side, nothing wrong with that.

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yeah, he's a liquid gold digger. babe how about you make me some of that velveeta cheesy broccoli soup i love so much? oh and you're so pretty. [ cries ] [ male announcer ] liquid gold diggers love liquid gold. good morning. it is 10:26. 9 i'm marla tellez. plans to put new seats on b.a.r.t. trains are going to take longer than expected. so far, b.a.r.t. has outfitted 250 of its 669 cars with the new vinyl seats. it's scheduled to finish work on 50 more soon. the agency recently contracted with a company to replace the

seats in 139 more cars. but the company hired to do the work suddenly backed out. b.a.r.t. now has to restart the bidding process which means it will take longer to outfit the entire fleet. coming up after the break, we'll check the forecast and mike will check the roads.

welcome back. the time now, 10:28. taking a live look at the green hills, the rolling hills of sunol where we have high and midlevel clouds left over. but the low clouds are sticking

to the san francisco bay. take a look at this, you can see the tippy top of the golden gate bridge above the cloud bank. it's going to take a while for the clouds to clear. inland cities will be just about as warm in near record territory. your full forecast today at 11:00. we're bringing the showers back as well. let's check the drive with mike. >> looking at interstate 80, this is the bay bridge toll plaza. there are low clouds but no big drama over here. still have the metering lights on as well. a smooth drive after the earlier incident cleared. still slow southbound 101 out of burling ame. there's a traffic signal over here, problems earlier but everything is starting to move a little better. maybe it's cleared up. >> thank you, mike. we'll have more of the day's top stories coming up in 30 minutes. jon kelley and i will see you again at 11:00.

we're back with more of "today" on this thirst-day thursday, hoda is going crazy over this song. time for the weekend chatter, everything you'll need to know in the world of entertainment. >> here with the scoop is our dear friend and e-news correspondent. >> our baby brother, jason kennedy. >> let's get started with the movies for the weekend. what shall we see? >> how about "the call"? with halle berry. she plays, pretty scary, she's a 911 operator, she gets a call from a teenaged girl, abigail breslin. that's one, she spends the hour trying to save her from her abductor. >> we're leaving out "wonderstone." if you want to lighten the mood and go to the box office, they pay competing magicians. >> is it funny? >> it looks cheesy, but --

>> that's my concern. it looks a little cheesy. >> if you're going to stay home and pop the popcorn, what should we watch? >> a lot of this stuff coming out, have been nominated nor oscars. visually stunning, it didn't win an oscar. by i thought it should. ang lee directed this. and "hitchcock" his relationship with his wife while they were shooting "psycho." >> was it "psycho"? >> i think so. >> if it was, i want to see it. >> and "life of the guardians" an animated movie, an all-star cast. they team up and take down an evil man who is trying to steal kids' dreams. >> can i tell you what i'm addicted to on netflix? "house of cards."

i watched 13 episodes. i'm done. >> it's so good. >> that's how you do it. >> i'm learning, i'm learning. >> you know hoda when she falls in love. >> celebrity news, adam sandler and drew barrymore are teaming up again. >> it's the "wedding singer" 1998 the first time they got together, and then they did "50 first dates." the third romantic comedy for them doesn't have a title, but they play a couple at a family resort. they get trapped there with their kids from a previous marriage. i think it will be fun. >> kyra has a beautiful picture with that baby. >> i love that she's doing this. because many times when celebs don't do photos like this the paparazzi go to crazy measures to get the shots. there's gerard pique, her man. he's a soccer player. and the little guy is rocking daddy's jersey. >> "the voice" is getting ready to start. >> your favorite show.

and shakira is gearing up to be a judge. >> blake shelton. >> it will be a good season with the two new judges, right? >> yes, and usher as well. no cee lo, no christine aguilera, she's great. but it's going to be, it's going to be good. i think this is going to be the best season. that's what they say every year. but i heard it's going to be pretty phenomenal. >> all right, jason, thank you. if you want to hit the beach, the best spring getaways. i remember the day my doctor said i had diabetes. there's a lot i had to do... watch my diet. stay active. start insulin... today, i learned there's something i don't have to do anymore. my doctor said that with novolog® flexpen, i don't have to use a syringe and a vial or carry a cooler. flexpen® comes prefilled with fast-acting insulin used to help control high blood sugar when you eat. dial the exact dose.

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did you take my truck out last night? 'tis tasty. on today's travel, if you haven't planned a spring getaway just yet, there's still time. >> whether you're dreaming of lounging on a beach in florida, or pulling up to a pool bar in st. kitt's, we have "travel and leisure's" digital project editor. >> there's time to get a good deal? >> all of these deals are less than $300 a night. so let's get to them. >> let's go to st. kitt's. >> st. kitt's, it's the island that the caribbean tourism forgot. it's the undiscovered beaches,

the st. kidt's marriott resort. beautiful blue umbrellas and lounge chairs on a white sand beach, there is your spot. there's pools and a swim-up beach bar. and a spa and a gym and a pineapple papaya body scrub. it sounds so good i want to eat it. and it starts at $199 a night. >> it's starting to be the off-season a little bit. >> exactly. >> how about jacksonville. >> it's lively crowds, popular, crowded, if you want some of that but want to stay a little away. one ocean resort rates their start at $179 a night. it's quiet and beautiful. you're just five minutes from the bars and everything, so there's lots to do. i was talking about affordability. i was searching for flights later this month. round trip from new york. $350. it doesn't get any better than that. a great affordable escape. >> what about the west coast, california? >> here we come. >> california, we know we love

it, the destination close to my heart. carmel valley, just 120 miles south of san francisco. this is quail lodge. what i love about it is that it's been recently renovated to the tune of $28 million. not even open yet, it opens on march 26th. so talk about a new car smell, this is a brand new resort. and they actually even have a great land cruiser experience. so if you want to turn around and do some adrenaline-pumping driving, this is your place and there's golf. >> and how far is that from carmel by the sea? >> just inland. >> a quick drive. >> that by itself has to be visited. >> it's so beautiful. >> quiet, if you're looking for something bucolic, that's your spot. >> washington, d.c., the cherry blossoms? >> the festival starts on march 20th. they're expecting the peak day to be march 26th. this is a great spot, the liaison capital hotel, located, the closest hotel to the capitol, within walking distance

of the national mall and the smithsonian. they'll do a great deal for you. $175, they throw in all sorts of picnic stuff and cherry and chocolate cookies and it's a really great and fun deal. >> you can go to the gym, too. and jackson hole, wyoming. >> if you're looking to get one last-ditch effort down the slopes, this is your place, they had 28 feet of snow this year. it's really beautiful. this is spring creek lodge, so if you're looking to go skiing and to explore the wilderness, they have an on-site naturalist who can point out the fox and bald eagles. $87 per person, per night. they throw in a free ski pass. it's a really affordable way to get down the slopes this spring. >> she did it again. >> thanks. coming up, two women battling colon cancer and the information that could save your life, right after this. start with the best. use only natural ingredients.

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time for today's health. information that could save your life. if you haven't heard, march is colorectal cancer awareness months. the cancer that's preventible and treatable when it's caught early. >> that's the message from two amazing women who are living with the disease. we'll speak to them in a moment, but first, their stories. >> in 2009, 48-year-old terry agreeing was the picture of health, accomplishing things women half her age could not, but a colon os copy revealed the mother of two had stage 4 colorectal cancer. >> i can't think of anything more difficult to do than to tell your children that you've been diagnosed with cancer. >> after surgery and while receiving chemotherapy, she continued to pursue her dream and in 2011, finished the ironman world championship. attorney gloria borgess was 28 and ready to conquer the world when she was diagnosed.

>> i thought i had a bad case of food poisoning, i had stage 4 colon cancer. by all accounts i wouldn't live to see my 30th birthday. she's done that and more launching her foundation, wonder glow, with the goal of funding cutting-edge cancer research. >> every day i am defying the odds, every day i am beating cancer. >> how inspiring are these two? terry greeg is a volunteer with the colon cancer awareness and the chairman of the wonder glow foundation. >> and dr. is the director of gast gastr gastroenterology. >> i've been very fortunate, i feel for the most part wonderful. i have some weeks when i'm going still through treatment that are a little rough. but i continue to train and run marathons and do half ironmans

and hopefully another ironman in the fall. >> that's unbelievable, if you don't mind my saying. it's incredible. >> thank you. >> and you were just 28, how are you doing? >> doing well. i just finished my 46th round of chemo on monday and flew here on tuesday. but i'm doing well, running the foundation and working out. lifting weights, playing basketball. >> and the doctor, we have to ask this. we know that the guideline is the age of 50 to start getting your colonoscopies. and a lot of people are terrified of them. but the truth is, the thought of them is much worse than the actual treatment. the preparation is the bad part and that's nothing. but if it's caught early, it's so easy to cure. >> yes. >> and these ladies, they were caught quite late. and they're doing so well it seems, are we making huge strides now? >> tremendous hope with this disease. the first point is as you say, don't wait until you get symptoms, when you're well is the time to talk to your doctor about screening and prevention. colon cancer is one of the most

preventible and curable of all cancers that we know of. the earlier we catch it, the greater the chance of curing it. >> when you got diagnosed and learned about it you spoke to some of your family members and we have your sister is over there. and tell us what happened when you talked to your sisters when they got checked. >> i was 48 at the time and screening is at 50 and my sisters were over 50 and had never been screened. immediately after i was diagnosed. they went and had colonoscopies, my one sister had precancerous polyps and my other sister was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. this was all within two weeks of my diagnosis. >> so it's familial then in this sense, it's genetic? >> exactly. there's about a 20% to 30% chance of it being spread from a family member. so you have a family history of colon cancer, young people in the family with colon cancer, sometimes uterine or ovarian cancer can be related. polyps or colon cancer is a

family issue. >> you are so young. did you have, what symptoms if any did you have? >> i had plenty of symptoms, because i was so young. i think people sort of wrote them off, including myself. >> so i went to the bathroom frequently and they weren't impressive performances. >> you had a lot of diarrhea. >> i felt myself bloated at night, things like that it didn't stop me, i was working 14-hour days and working out. and when things got to really severe point i thought i had food poisoning, i couldn't keep anything down. even in the hospital, it took six days for me to get a colonoscopy and that's when they found the massive tumor in my colon. >> did you have bleeding? >> no. >> so it's not always bleeding. >> no. >> actually the symptoms can be very, someone could just feel tired and have anemia as a presenting form. >> and 50 is a magic number. just like with breast cancer screenings, they say wait until you're a certain age there are people who are exceptions to this? >> absolutely. if there's a family history. the key is not to make the decision yourself.

but talk to your doctor about it. >> any bowel disease, my sister had acute colitis, the more you talk about it and get it out in the open. it's nothing to be ashamed of. but bowel issues are called the silent diseases. nobody wants to talk about them. if you don't talk about them, you can't fix them. >> you guys are amazing. >> thank you for coming in. >> and thank you, doctor. >> we'll take you to today's kitchen for some down-home irish cooking. >> but first, this is "today" on nbc.

we're back with what's cooking on st. patrick's day. and this weekend, everybody is irish, so we're making traditional irish comfort food. >> apparently this dish needs a little coddling. chef rachel allen has a brand-new cookbook.

rachel's new irish cookbook. >> aren't you like -- you're beautiful. like an irish spring commercial. >> we're going to make some coddle. dublin coddle. which is like a big cuddle in a bowl. but it comes from a term to simmer slowly. it's one of those economical dishes, that's always made on a thursday before the no meat day on friday. to use up all the bacon and bacon we've got, ham as you call it and potatoes. really simple. you have to have potatoes. >> so basically the first thing you do, i've got finely chopped onion. and throw those in. and i've got some breakfast sausages chopped up. like this. and then peeled, chopped potatoes. i'm using your russets, actually they are work quite well. >> and some stock. >> or you could use your ham cooking water. >> if you cook your ham.

all do you is put this on. allow it to simmer for about ten, 12 minutes, until you come to this. >> a little boil. >> a little boil and you can see here, that the potatoes are just soft, i think. and then i'm going to add in ham and i love it when it kind of shreds, this cooked ham. this is traditional irish food, really simple as you can see. hearty, nutritious. you know, if you're feeling poorly, if you're feeling cold, this is the thing. this is the thing to eat, comfort food and some chopped parsley. >> there we go. >> and a little salt. >> i'm going to give it a little taste. because the ham and the sausages. >> we might not need any salt. >> this is, this is great as it is. >> actually i'll put a bit of salt in at the beginning, but -- >> oh! >> and then, you just -- that is

about as easy as it gets. >> hey, hey. you know, something, it's quite, this kind of food is quite cool again in northern ireland. but it's traditional and lovely. >> what about the dessert you have on the table? >> porter, porter being stout, it's got stout in it. and actually sometimes people even used to pour some begin he is into the coddle. but i don't like that. >> don't guesseinness your codd. >> it looks delicious. >> and you two kind of like having a little -- >> we like having a little bit earlier in the morning. >> while you're making us your drink, we're going to go over a little okay or not okay. so this -- we rant out of time. is it okay or not okay to kiss your tv guests on the lips? >> here's what we had to say

about that. >> absolutely. i still haven't gotten over my kiss from tom sellick in 2,000. >> yes, it's okay, but only if it's george clooney. >> or tom sellick. >> oh yes. >> thank you so much for this. delicious. all right. tomorrow -- we have a great performance by the group, the celtic thunder and we also want to warn you -- >> we want to warn you now. >> hide the children tomorrow. >> you will discover things about -- hoda -- >> and you. >> never dreamed possible. if you like shrimp, then you're going to love

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right now at 11:00, a mass celebrating newly elected pope francis is just wrapping up in rome. we'll show you how he spent his first day as head of the catholic church and the unusual thing he did right after being elected. we now know how a registered sex offender was allowed to join a high school field trip in the south bay. i'm bob redell. that story coming up. we take you north to san francisco. how about a nice live look at the transamerica building. a beautiful day outside. we're expecting a very pleasant one but rain could soon be on the way. meteorologist christina loren will have your complete forecast coming up in a matter of minutes. good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us.

i'm jon kelley. >> i'm marla tellez. it has been a very busy first day for pope francis. he began his morning with a private prayer service and less than 24 hours on the job, he's already turning heads for his unique style of leadership. nbc's tracie potts has more from rome. >> reporter: ducking in a side entrance, pope francis made his first public appearance this morning at santa maria, a handful of well-wishers among the first to greet the new pontiff. this afternoon, celebrating mass with the cardinals in the sistine chapel where he was elected, humble, yes, but the vatican says he also has a sense of humor. >> he said, may god forgive you for what you've done. >> reporter: the simple jesuit from argentina riding the public bus, the pope's humble lifestyle now on display all over rome. >> i think they're going to all be in shock. this may not be a man who wants to wear silk and furs. >> reporter: last night after