settling sexual harassment allegations and we now know who made the complaints, a former reality television contestant. how will wall street react? we'll find out today, monday, august 9th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television live from studio 1a in and good morning. welcome to today on a monday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm ann curry in for meredith this morning. good morning, everybody. this manhunt that you were talking about earlier is obviously unsettling for the thousands of people who flock to parks. in fact my son is expected there in a couple of weeks. it's very unsettling. >> it reallies. the men escaped from a private prison in arizona back at the end of july. the police have tied the two along with their female accomplice to the murder of a husband and wife in new mexico. that happened last week. and now they believe that this group is trying to fully to canada. also ahead, exclusive video as police are carrying out a new search tied to the kyron horman case in a wooded area just a short disappearance from where the 7-year-old boy was last seen. we'll get the latest coming up. a little later in the show, an emotional union 34 years in the making. a mother says she received a call back in 1976 that her two children had been killed in a tragic accident. take a look, this morning they are together again. just ahead, they'll tell us how it all unfolded in an exclusive live interview. but we begin on a monday morning with that intense manhunt for two escaped inmates and their female accomplice. nbc's george lewis has the latest on this story. george, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. law enforcement officers throughout the west are looking for the three fugitives and they warn these are extremely dangerous individuals who have killed before and who could kill again. police say inmates tracy province and john mccluskey broke out of prison in arizona with the help of casslyn welch, mccluskey's cousin and fiancee. there's evidence tying the fugitives to this crime scene in santa rosa, new mexico, a burned-out trailer where police found the charred bodies of linda and gary haas from oklahoma. since then, the two escapees and the woman are believed to have traveled to the area around yellowstone national park, although investigators now say province may have split off from mccluskey and welch. >> we want the public to understand and be aware that they are violent and extremely dangerous. >> reporter: the two inmates got out of this privately run medium-security prison in kingman, arizona, last month. a third inmate involved in the escape, daniel renwick, was captured a week ago after a shootout with police in colorado. now the question, why were such dangerous men in a medium security facility where they were able to cut through the perimeter fences? >> it appears to have been a human error on the part of several of that staff. >> reporter: an error that had deadly consequences for an innocent couple from oklahoma. authorities are offering $30,000 in reward money for information leading to the capture of the fugitives. they're warning people if they see anyone who looks like the escaped prisoners, they should call police immediately. matt. >> all right, george lewis on this story for us this morning. george, thank you very much. now let's get a check of the rest of the top stories from natalie morales at the news desk. >> good morning to you. today secretary of state hillary clinton will speak out about the weekend murders of medical workers in afghanistan, including six americans. nbc's tom aspell has more now from kabul. tom, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. well, a hail of bullets ended of lives of foreign aid workers in northern afghanistan last week. the international community here is in shock. the bodies of ten murdered medical volunteers, including six americans, have been flown by helicopter to kabul. the taliban has claimed responsibility for killing them, claiming they were trying to convert afghans to christianity. >> these were selfless volunteers who devoted themselves to providing free and much-needed health care to afghans. >> reporter: the dead americans have been formally identified. they are tom little, an optometrist from delimar, new york, who had been working in afghanistan for 30 years. >> we lived with danger all our life there one way or another. >> reporter: another victim, sheryl beckett, from knoxville, tennessee, had spent six years in afghanistan. dr. thomas grands quit his dental practice in durango, colorado, four years ago to work full-time in giving free dental care to children in nepal and afghanistan. glen latt was a nurse from lancaster, pennsylvania, along with brian cardarelli and dan terry. they were killed in a remote area of northern afghanistan last week. a british doctor and a german national and two afghans were also killed. the medical team was sponsored by international assistance mission, which intends remaining in afghanistan despite the tragedy. the bodies of some of the medical workers will be flown in in the next few days, others will be buried here in afghanistan. natalie. >> such a tragedy. tom aspell in kabul, afghanistan, thank you so much. contradictory testimony this morning at a war crimes trial in the netherlands where actress mia farrow said naomi campbell told hershey received a huge diamond. campbell testified she received dirty-looking pebbles but did not know where they were from. taylor is accused of taking diamonds in return for weapons that were used in massacres and mutilations. new details this morning about the sudden forced resignation late last week of hewlett-packard's ceo mark hurd. melissa francis joins us with more. melissa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. yeah, we're learning more about the woman at the center of the scandal. her name is jody fisher and she was formerly a reality show contestant turned hp marketing consultant. she apparently greeted people at ceo functions from 2007 to 2009. she sued mark hurd for sexual harassment and that suit was settled but the probe revealed expense irregularities. hurd resigned and is walking away with $34 million. the stock was hammered 10% on friday. he was a well respected an fiscally respected leader until this and stockholders are wondering what is next for the company. natalie, back to you. >> we'll have to wait and see what happens today. melissa francis, thank you. and an incredible sight caught on tape in western minnesota. take a look at this. a tornado ripped through an area near the north dakota border destroying a farm and a house and sending debris flying through the air. the house was fortunately empty at the time. there were no reports of injuries. that thing is huge! that is scary. it is now 7:07. back over to matt and ann. >> thanks, natalie. here's a problem. al is off today. >> right. >> stephanie abrams. >> supposed to be here. >> his partner, is here. we have an empty chair here because, see the building across from us over here, 30 rock. stephanie is stuck in an elevator in that building right now trying to get to the studio. stephanie, good morning. >> hi, guys. we do "wake up with al" from 6:00 to 7:00 on the 6th floor. we get in the elevator on the 6th floor. all of a sudden it jostled around around dropped and we all kind of grasped. it did that on every floor. all of a sudden we got stuck on 1m in "a" car. we're just sitting here hanging out. we're fine but just sitting now waiting. >> could you do the forecast anyway, steph? >> why not. >> go ahead. >> here we go. we're talking about the heat wave that's returning around the country and it's going to be hot, above 100 degrees for a lot of you today. it will feel very, very warm. triple-digit readings from basically the mid-mississippi river valley all the way down to the gulf coast. that's where it >> how things look outside the elevator this morning. san jose, out towards city hall. we have lots of clouds off to the east, and some drizzle in a few spots this morning. 50s outside. clouds and drizzle along the coast this morning. clearing inland today. that all-day long sea breeze, temperatures having a tough time getting into the 70s inland. upper 70s around the tri valley. 60s for oakland and san francisco. trending a bit warmer heading towards the weekend. >> all right. so, matt and ann, we're just hanging out here. hope free i'll see you at 7:30. i'm trying to post pictures on twitter and facebook. >> worst case scenario, you're stuck there four or five days. at least you have your hair and makeup people. you'll look great when they rescue you. >> great point. >> actually that worked out pretty well. thanks a lot to stephanie for that. now let's make a turn to politics. president obama hitting the campaign trail with less than three months to go until the mid-term elections. nbc's chief white house correspondent chuck todd explains, however, that it's been a little bumpy out there for the president. chuck, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, ann. that's right, it has been. but that doesn't mean the president isn't a political asset when it comes to fund-raising. so he's off to texas today to raise money in austin and dallas. now, don't expect any major texas democrats like bill white who's running for governor to be seen with the president. you don't want a photograph with him this close to november. it's actually a big week politically for the white house. a bunch of primaries tomorrow, including one in colorado, where the white house's choice for senate is struggling to survive a primary. [ bell ringing ] >> reporter: with what appears to be a stalled economic recovery and the unemployment rate stuck at 9.5%, republicans see an issue to rally around for the fall campaign. >> the american people are screaming at the top of their lungs to washington, stop! stop the spending, stop the job killing policies. and yet democrats in washington refuse to listen to the american people. >> reporter: but returning to the campaign trail today, mr. obama is expected to hit the themes he's been trying to drive home again and again for weeks. that republicans put the car in the ditch and don't deserve the keys pack. >> when you get in your car, when you go forward, what do you do? you put it in "d." when you want to go back, what do you do? you put it in "r." you don't want to go in the reverse back in the ditch. >> reporter: the president's weakening political strength gets a major test tomorrow in colorado, where the white house is pulling out all the stops to rescue freshman senator michael bennett. >> i've never run for office before. i've spent my life turning around distressed companies and then most recently working in local government. >> reporter: bennett is facing a tough liberal challenge from former state house speak er andrew romanoff who claims even though his opponent has been in the senate less than two years, he's already become part of the establishment. >> i would have fought for the public option. my opponent did not. i would have voted for banks becoming too big to fail. my opponent voted against that proposal. >> reporter: before first lady michelle and daughter sasha got back from a private visit in spain, a trip that's got panned by some for looking out of touch, the president got in some quality basketball time sunday with stars joakim noah and derrick rose of his beloved chicago bulls, lebron james and magic johnson were also there. it was followed by a white house barbecue that included gulf coast shrimp. the president with his family in tow returns to the gulf later this week for a mini vacation to show the country that the region is coming back and is open for business. now, it's not all politics today in texas. in austin the president is going to give a major speech on education, touting his goal to get -- to be the leading country in the world when it comes to college graduates. by the way, also tuesday, wrestling executive linda mcmahon finds out if she becomes a republican nominee for u.s. senate, matt, in connecticut. >> chuck todd at the white house. chuck, as always, thank you very much. former virginia governor tim kaine is the chairman of the democratic national committee. governor kaine, good to see you. good morning. >> matt, good to be back. >> so the president is out campaigning for some candidates, others don't want anything to do with him. i want to take you back to election night 2008 and that scenic grant park when the president walked out on the stage. can you imagine back then, democrats had to hope this was going to be a president who was going to open up new political territory for the party and here you've got a president and some candidates don't want to be seen with him. what happened? >> well, i think the candidates who are worried about it are making a mistake because i think this president still is doing the great work that the americans expect of him. the president and i met a month after that in grant park and we talked about the fact that mid-terms will be very tough because they always are, since teddy roosevelt was president, the average mid-term involves the party in hour losing 20 house seats, four senate seats and it's a tough time economically and that means it's volatile. but the democrats have been doing the work necessary to get the country going again. as the president says the car was in the ditch. we're getting it out of the ditch with new strategy. >> you bring up jobs, let's talk about that. here's what frank rich wrote in the paper over the weekend concerning the democrats' prospects for the mid-term election. he said, quote, they are doomed to fall short if they don't address the cancer in the american heart, and that's joblessness. we saw the latest figures come out, 9.5% unemployment as of friday. even if there is a series of small miracles between now and the mid-term elections, governor, you know that number is going to be unacceptably high when people go to the polls so why shouldn't they hold democrats accountable? >> because, matt, look at what is the alternative? when the republicans were in control during the lost decade, americans lost eight million jobs. we joined 700,000 private sector jobs this year, we're growing again. what is the republican strategy? they're saying they just want to go back to doing what they did during the lost decade, relax regulation, tax cuts for the wealthiest and stand by as the economy collapses. that's no strategy. we built a ladder we're climbing. we have to keep climbing and we're going to do it with smart investments and a green energy economy, infrastructure investments. america needs to go forward, not backward. >> we've just heard from you in the last few minutes and from the president as of late what seems to be the developing strategy for the last three months of this campaign season. in many ways -- >> right. >> -- trying to attach the republican party to the more extreme elements of the tea party, but also as the president has said, there's a lot of blame bush going on, looking back to those eight years. is that what the voters want to hear in your opinion? >> well, i think, matt, what they mostly want to hear is the record of accomplishment. so whether it's health reform that helps the middle class with medical bills, credit reform, wall street reform or recovery that's investing in green energy and made in america jobs, we always lead with the things we've done. but you have to draw a contrast. when the republican party says that their main strategy is to go back and do the things that put the american economy in a freefall, the election in november is about a choice. it's a choice between going forward or embracing the policies that put the american economy in the ditch that we're still climbing out of, and that's the choice that we're going to make clear. >> real quickly, governor, i'm going to give you a new job. you are now a political travel agent. if you had the chance, if you had a do-over here and could have planned the first lady's vacation with sasha, would you have planned the trip that we've just seen her take, given the current economic conditions or do you think that was much ado about nothing? >> matt, i think it's wrong to talk about the first lady's family vacation as a politician. she's a mom. and you know, look, i've been in elected office and political life for 17 years and i've got a wife and i've got three kids. when you're in office, you don't give up being a mom and a family member too. this was an opportunity for michelle to join friends and friends' daughters with a vacation with her kids and give them some exposure to a part of the world that they hadn't been before. i don't think you talk about that, give it political analysis. i'm glad that both the president and first lady are so focused on being good parents. >> dnc chairman tim kaine. governor, thanks so much for your time this morning. appreciate it. >> you bet, matt. it's 17 after the hour. once again, here's ann. >> matt, thanks. oregon police spent the weekend carrying out a new search for missing 7-year-old kyron horman in a spot very close to the school where he was last seen nearly ten weeks ago. miguel ais here with the story. >> reporter: ann, good morning. detectives won't talk specifics about their investigation so we don't know what was or what wasn't discovered during this weekend search. we do know officers are clearly following new leads and are focused on a small group of people. sunday investigators searched this property, a heavily wooded area just ten minutes from the elementary school where 7-year-old kyron horman was last seen back in june. according to kgw, the nbc station in portland, this is where dee dee spicher, a good friend of kyron's stepmother, terri horman, told investigators she was gardening the day the 7-year-old vanished from school. >> on june 4th, kyron disappears. terri is gone for a period of time. dee dee is gone for a period of time. you have to connect all the dots. >> reporter: according to kgw, on the day kyron disappeared, witnesses at the property where spicher was gardening say she disappeared for an hour and a half and didn't answer her cell phone. >> dee dee is a real central figure in this case, and i think that more is to be revealed. >> reporter: authorities also searched spicher's home last month. at that time she was also called before a grand jury. back then spicher's lawyer said she was cooperating with authorities and denied any wrongdoing. >> she was not in any sort of communication with terri horman by cell phone when she was at the property where she was doing some gardening. >> reporter: spicher's lawyer couldn't be reached for comment on this weekend's search. so far authorities have not named any suspects in the case, but kyron's parents have become more and more vocal in pointing the finger at spicher's friend, terri horman, the last known person to see kyron before he disappeared. >> i believe she's been involved the whole time. >> i feel that she has information that she's not sharing. whether or not it could wring him home, i don't think we know. >> reporter: but horman's lawyer has called speculation about the case a witch hunt. dee dee spicher and terri horman have been close friends for years. in fact when kyron's father moved out of the home he shared with his estranged wife, dee dee spicher moved in for several days. ann. >> all right, thank you. it is now 7:20. once again, here's matt. >> all right,ann, thank you. now toeanup crews in the gulf that are touching lives all around the world. nbc's anne thompson is in venice, louisiana, to explain this for us. an anne, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. the war in afghanistan and the oil disaster are some 7,000 miles apart. two major news stories with seemingly