Hours away, horse racing fans watching to see if he can take the next step to the elusive triple crown. Today, saturday, may 17th, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with lester holt and erica hill live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning and welcome to today on a saturday morning. Im lester holt. And im erica hill alongside jenna wolfe, dylan dreyer and all eyes on the horses today. Did i just say horse facing fans a moment ago . I think you might have said horse facing. I love horse faces. Big fan. I often dont listen to the words coming out of my mouth but i thought i said horse facing. Horse walks into a bar. Why the long face . There we go. Ill be here all morning. Anyway, weve got on that note, should we get to the top story of the day . Lets get to the news of the day. Lets do that. On a more serious note, nonstop efforts to get the upper hand on those Southern California wildfires, firefighters continuing to attack them from the sky and also on the ground. Today, a change in the weather should help them in that battle. Joe friar is on the scene in san marcos, california. Joe, good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. Firefighters still at work. Theyll continue to assess the massive amounts of damage left behind. Weather conditions are expected to improve. That will make a big difference, especially to the north of here. The Camp Pendleton fire still raging, more than 20,000 acres burned with more evacuations. Here in san marcos, the cocos fire remains a top priority. Eight homes destroyed in this fire. That number should grow. Nbc news crews have spotted a couple dozen burned structures in this area. 11 significant brush fires north of san diego this week, the cause of all 11 still under investigation. Its unclear if any of them were intentionally set. Three people have been arrested, though, for arson. Two teens accused of setting a couple of smaller fires that were quickly put out and a third man is accused of adding brush to a fire that was already burning. Well also get a look at incredible video that was taken on wednesday in carlsbad during the heart of this fire. A giant wall of flames came just within a few feet of cars that were trying to escape as quickly as possible. This fire in carlsbad is now under control. All of those who were evacuated have been allowed to return home. This weekend, we are expecting a significant drop in the temperatures and those dry, warm, hot santa ana winds that have been fueling these fires have died down. And that should give firefighters the upper hand as they try to put all of these fires to rest. Erica . Hope so. We know theyre working hard. Joe friar, thanks. Big trouble for auto giant General Motors. The federal government hit gm with a 35 million fine on friday, the maximum the government can impose, for failing to notify customers or the government about serious safety defects in millions of its vehicles. Tom costello has more. Reporter its the Safety Culture at gm that federal regulators say has been broken for years. The clearest evidence, the 2. 6 million cars under recall for faulty ignition switches and air bag that is failed to deploy. What we will never accept is a person or company that knows danger exists and says nothing. Reporter government investigators say in 2009 gm was told by its supplier the defects were related, the ignition switch defect could prevent the air bags from deploying. It makes me sick. I dont understand how they could hide this and not tell. Reporter marie buzzards sister and grandmother died after their chevy cobalt lost power and steering seconds before they were hit by a drunk driver. 12monthold trenton in the backseat was paralyzed. Today, 6 years old, he must use a wheelchair. He will never be able to be that football star or that, you know, baseball player or, you know, anything like that. His life is changed forever. Reporter so far, gm acknowledges 31 crashes and 13 deaths associated with the defects. In a statement, Ceo Mary Barra said we have learned a great deal from this recall. We will now focus on the goal of becoming an Industry Leader in safety. Many victims advocates believe General Motors has only been hit with a slap on the wrist. It will not make gm think twice again. They can make that 35 million back before the end of todays business. Federal regulators are asking congress to eventually raise the maximum fine it can levy from 35 million to 300 million. Gm is also paying a 700,000 a day penalty for failing to provide all of the documents the government has demanded. Meanwhile, its facing mounting lawsuits and a Justice Department criminal investigation. For today, tom costello, nbc news, washington. There is more fallout this morning in a growing scandal over health care for veterans. Friday, undersecretary for health, Robert Petzel resigned from his post at the va under the request of secretary eric shinseki. Reporter the center of the va controversy is arizona where the phoenix medical director Sharon Helman has been put on leave. At the illinois va, former social worker, now union rep tells nbc news that back in 2011, at least three years before the current scandal surfaced when helmann was in charge there, records were falsified to make wait times appear shorter. This all started here. Were not surprised. It continued when she went to arizona. Reporter she says employees were too afraid to speak up. Theres a culture of fear, retaliation. Employees dont speak up. Theyre very afraid. Reporter in Washington State at the walla walla va when she was director there, a psychiatric nurse filed and then settled a whistleblower retaliation complaint over wrongful termination. The level of intimidation among the staff was unbelievable. Retaliation and intimidation was the name of the game. Reporter in phoenix, nbc news attempted to reach helmann, but was turned away. She has declined wrongdoing and refused to be interviewed. A whistleblower who says helmanns personal ambition, falsifying documents to look good for higher ups in washington. I think it was Career Advancement for Sharon Helmann, our director. She was looking to get a promotion, i believe. Reporter Veterans Affairs has declined to comment publicly, pending the outcome of the inspector generals investigation. Kelly odonnell, nbc news, phoenix. Lets get you caught up now on some of the mornings other stories. Jenna is here with that. Good morning. Hey, guys, good morning. In turkey anger is sweeping the country following that deadly mine disaster as the death toll climbs and a fire hinders rescue efforts. Richard engel joins us with the latest. Good morning. Reporter good morning, jenna. Turkish Officials Say theyve recovered about 300 bodies from the mine. They dont believe there are many bodies down in the shaft and certainly no survivors, they say. The Recovery Efforts are hampered because, once again, a fire has broken out inside the mine. There is still a lot of anger in this community. And for the second day in so much in the miners hometown, gas and water canons. People had taken to the streets to protest the governments response. Many here believe that the government has been insensitive and callus to this mining tragedy and also angry because of a video thats gain aid lot of attention in this country that appears to show the Prime Minister slapping a man while the Prime Minister was mobbed by a crowd during one of those demonstrations. The turkish newspaper today is quoting the Prime Minister as saying during that altercation, quote, you boo the Prime Minister, you get slapped. Many miners believe that instead of sensitivity, the government here is sending in the riot police and physically assaulting the miners and their families. The Prime Minister says theres no evidence to show that he slapped anyone. All right. Richard engel. Richard, thank you very much. Details are trickling in about a tragic plane crash near vietnam that involved senior officials from the southeast nation of laos, several people were killed including the defense minister. Getting a heros welcome on the streets of new delhi and also an invite to washington. Modis victory friday marks the first time in 30 years voters backed a single party. President obama called to congratulate modi and invite him to the white house. He was denied a visa years back because of violence in the country at the time. Cant we all just get along . Motorola mobility unit have agreed to drop lawsuits against one another and say they will Work Together to reform patent law. This is separate from microsoft products that use google software. You got all that, right . The driver behind this semi cant believe his eyes as the truck nearly overturns on an unbelievably windy highway. Look at that. We dont know if it was luck or skill behind the wheel. Maybe a little of both, but it did make for some this is where you want to look, right where the truck is right there. Crazy. But thankfully, everyone was all right. Finally, babe ruths daughter, now 97 years old, still a huge baseball fan, but a very specific baseball fan. Julia ruth stevens threw out the ceremonial first pitch in chicago as part of the cubs yearlong celebration commemorating the 100th year anniversary. She also performed take me out to the ball game with her son during the seventh inning stretch. Who is her Favorite Team . Not the cubs, the boston red sox. Thats where her father started his career. Once a fan, always a fan. Youre a cubs fan and eric and i will just be spectators. Well get the beer and hot dogs. You spec at a time so well. As for the weather, moving on, we will see heavy rain. Speaking of boston, up through new england right now. It is pouring. You can see right out ahead of this cold front, this is where we have our heaviest rain. Its not going to get that cold once this cold front passes through. Its going to race through. The rain will last for another hour or two in new england. And then well start to see a good amount of sunshine. Looks nice as you go throughout the entire weekend up and down the east coast where some areas had already picked up three to six inches of rain. Down in baltimore, it was pouring yesterday. They picked up about two inches of rain. The track will still be a little sloppy. Weatherwise today looks fantastic, 70, 73 degrees similar to what the weather was in louisville for the derby a couple of weeks ago. No Severe Weather in the forecast. Just spotty showers, isolated thunderstorms and out west we are starting to notice temperatures cool down finally. And were seeing some low clouds back thanks stronger sea breeze. 40s and 50s outside route now. First pitch weather for the grind, 62 degrees. Game time just after 6 00. We will see low clouds moving in and there you see the winds coming onshore once again. Thats going to keep our temperatures nice and comfortable as we go through the weekend. Upper 70s around san jose, some low 80s inland around saratoga. The north bay, highs in the 70s and also 70s towards the trivalley. And thats your latest forecast. Lester . Dylan, thank you. Nearly a year ago when Edward Snowden ignited a worldwide firestorm. Glenn greenwald has a new disclosure, revealing the story of how those intelligence files ended up in his hands in a new book called no place to hide. Nbc news has a Collaboration Agreement with First Look Media where Glenn Greenwald works as a contributor. Good morning. Thanks for coming on. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Fascinating read. I was particularly struck. You have these governments, go to hong kong to meet this guy. You never met him. Hes not at all what you expect. He talks about his love of video games, how it shaped his identity. Did you have reservations when you met him that, a, he was the real deal and, b, he knew what he was getting into . Zblsk. Of course. I had serious reservations of both when it was revealed what he was willing to expose. I knew the story would inch upon our ability, were the reasons he said what he did the real ones . He was a very truthful source on whom we could rely. Nsa contractor with the express purpose of getting these classified documents so a lot of people think that kind of compromises his some see him as a hero, but others look at that and go well, you planned this. Not like you were working and found this stuff and decided to share with it the world. A, does that matter . And b, how does he feel about those that look in as a traitor . That narrative and isnt quite accurate. He had been at nsa and over the course of time come to see the capabilities of the spying apparatus pointed at fellow citizens and there were last minute documents that he thought the world should see that he could om get getting this other job but he had been working at nsa several years when he became a whistleblower. Being accused of a traitor his hero leaked the pentagon papers. He was accused of being a traitor and we think as a country come to now regard him as someone who did the right thing. The cry from washington this is going to damage National Security. You dont believe that. Is it too early to say . And will we ever know if National Security was damaged by these releases . Federal court in washington, a president ial Advisory Panel appointed by president obama and numerous members of the senate said there is no evidence that these programs even help or are about stopping terrorism. Every time you have a whistleblower bring transparency to people they make the same accusations without evidence including in this case we were extremely careful with what we disclosed and zero reason to believe that happened. There is more coming out. Going by the same standards of whether you think this will cause damage or not . We have tens of thousands of documents i think Everybody Knows we published a small percentage in the last year because weve been careful about what were publishing and that will continue to be the case. Glenn greenwald, great to have you. The book no place to hide. Again here is erica. Thank. 60 years ago today the Supreme Court outlawed segregated Public Schools. Michelle obama spoke about that to students reminding them that they are the future. Every day you have the power to choose our better history, by opening your hearts and minds, by speaking up for what you know is right, by sharing the lessons of brown versus board of education, the lessons you all learned right here in topeka, wherever you go, for the rest of your lives. Six decades after that ruling chief education correspondent look at how some things havent changed. Here at middle school in greenville, mississippi expectations are high. Nothing but as and bs. Test scores are not. This Public School has an f rating by state standards. It sits in the heart of the mississippi delta where cotton once was king, now its the poorest region in the poorest state in the nation. 95 of these students are eligible for free and reduced price lunch, nearly all of them are black. Whites are only 2 of the citys Public Schools, even though they make up more than 20 of greenvilles population. This 60 years after a ruling that declared segregated Public Schools in america were unequal and illegal. Willie, does it look like brown versus board of education happened . No. You see a school with all blacks and no whites, then you see a private school where most are white and a few blacks. You think this is the way its supposed to be . No. Those private schools are open to students of any race, but most black families cant afford the tuition. Mayor john cox says its not totally a race issue and Race Relations have been improving here. Socioeconomic factors are some of the biggest contributors to the poor school grades. Would you send your children to the Public School . No. And they both went to the private schools. The quality of education was not up to what i felt that they needed to have. Some parents want the government to do more to level the playing field. The parents have to fight for equality education for our children. We shouldnt have to fight. Rally for a quality education for our children and for our teachers. Listen up. No matter the challenges, the assistant principal dave miller believes the sky is the limit for his students. They are smart, they have passion, they are amazing people who have amazings potential. The principal diane is a delta native and alumni. These children i treat them the way i would want my child treated. I have to explain i did have a lot growing up. I grew up with my moma driving a bus, a head start bus and stopping after she finished the head start bus to pick cotton. As children we went with her. No matter what goes on in your home in this day, you determine what you will be in life. It starts right here you guys. The students get her message. Thought for the future . I want to be a pediatrician. I would like to become an obstetrician or a lawyer. I would like to become a lawyer or a teacher. Teachers committed to helping students bridge the past and the present to create a better future. Still to come on today what really ticks you off when youre behind the wheel . Your biggest pet peeves on the road. This is today on nbc. Millions of americans will be hitting the road next weekend for memorial day. Maybe youre one of them. Its annoying enough when youre driving. It turns out theres a lot of other things that could give people a potential case of road rage. Jenna is in the orange room to explain. This is based off the results of expedias 2012 road rage report. After interviewing 100 million americans, the most annoying or offensive driving behaviors. Number si