top of the hour, i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed. sick-minded american savages. that is what the taliban is calling the u.s. military. president obama and defense secretary leon panetta are now in damage control mode offering condolences to the afghan people and promising to find out what caused all of this. in syria, a high-stakes diplomatic situation cannot stop the slaughter. more than 100 people were killed yesterday even after the u.n. special enjoy met with syria's

president to try to end the bloodshed. the open possession says the victims include women and children slaughtered in cold blood. at least 45 civilians were massa occurred in the city of homs. the details, they are shocking. children were stabbed to death in front of their mothers. women and girls were asexually assaulted before being killed. jerry sandusky's lawyers want prosecutors to turn over more information before the pennsylvania state coach faces trial sampbd's trial is set for may and he denies molesting young boys.

bobbi kristina talks about her grief. >> i can hear her voice and spirit talking to me tealg telling me, keep moving, baby, i got you. >> hear more of oprah's interview at 1:35 eastern. what could make an american soldier kill 16 innocent people, the people that he's supposed to be protecting? chris lawrence is joining us from the pentagon. first of all, what do we know about this american soldier? >> well, suzanne, he's a combat veteran. he's about 38 years old. he's married with a few children. he was based at a base in the state of washington. we mentioned that he's a combat veteran, did several tours in iraq. this is his first tour in afghanistan and we believe he just got into the country

probably no more than a couple of months ago and what is allegedly believed to have occurred there? what happened? >> basically, we know that he left the base about 3:00 in the morning. he was someone who did security. so he worked somewhat near the perimeter dealing with security procedures at the in and out points of the base. he left the base by himself at 3:00 in the morning. afghan forces also working the gate noticed that he left. he went to this village, about a kilometer to half a kilometer away and that's where we believe the shooting occurred. >> what happens to him now? where is he now? >> he's been taken out of this combat outpost. again, when i say he left this base, don't think of some sprawling base like kandahar air field. these outposts are small, very remote areas sometimes.

he was taken out of that combat outpost and is now at a larger base. now the investigation will kick in. normally an investigation like this, they've got about two weeks to come back with findings or recommendations for charges. the military does have the death penalty. president reagan instituted that for the military but no servicemen has been executed since 1961. to do that, the president himself would have to sign off on the execution. the execution has been put on hold. >> many times you spend a lot of times covering story. one of the things that stood out was the need for trust, between the americans there and the afghan people. is the trust broken? is it gone? i mean, how do they manage to

work with each other and not see each other as enemies? >> well, the thing about afghanistan, you hesitate to make any sweeping indictments of the country because it's so fragmented. what is true in one area may be completely different a village or two over. i noticed incidents where they were extremely well together and a lot of respect flowing in both directions. i noticed others where the afghans were high as a kite on duty. the soldiers looked at them with disdain. they left their uniforms around. they showed no professionalism. you know, so that trust is frayed because of the incidents that have gone on. the order hasn't come down from on high but individual bases and outposts have the authority to

institute certain security precautions if they deem fit. they may decide to put a 24-hour watch on the barracks while they are sleeping in case there is some treachery. that order is coming from these individual bases and they have the authority to do what they see fit to protect the soldiers and marines. >> all right. chris, thank you very much. here's your chance to talk back on the biggest story of the day. is the afghan war worth it? the u.s. inevaded afghanistan after the terrorist attacks that kill canned almost 3,000 people. the aim was to go after al qaeda and the taliban that supported them and the number one target, osama bin laden. 60% say the war in afghanistan has not been worth it. that's according to a new abc wark be ton post poll. newt gingrich says it is time to reassess the u.s. mission there.

>> i think we need to reconsidering the whole mission. our being in afghanistan is probably counterproductive. we are not going to be ruthless enough to force them to change. >> the taliban is vowing revenge for the weekend's attack but some lawmakers say that the shooting rampage allegedly by this american soldier should not change this mission. >> i understand the frustration and the anger and the sorrow and we should not forget that the attacks on the united states of america originated in afghanistan. and if afghanistan dissolved into a situation where the taliban was able to take over or a chaotic situation, it could

easily return to an al qaeda base for the united states of america. >> so that brings us to the talk back question of the day. is the afghanistan war worth it? twitter or facebook. we'll read your responses later in the hour. here's a rundown of the some of the stories we're kurveg in the next hour. dozens of women and children are stabbed and burned in syria. a deadly school bus wreck kills a child and the driver. and then a jury awards a couple millions of dollars after they had a baby with down syndrome. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol

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[ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. women and children murdered in cold blood. syrian opposition activists say that is what happened yesterday in the city of homs. the details are very disturbing here. i want to bring in our arwa damon who is following the story from beirut, lebanon. first of all, i don't understand where to begin here. what actually happened over the weekend? >> well, the images themselves are incredibly disturbing as

well. most of them are so disturbing we can't even air them. according to the human observatory for human rights, government thugs went into the neighborhood. this is a mixed sunni neighborhood but in recent months it's become divided and they are accusing government forces and its supporters of going in, rounding up a number of sunni families, separating the men from the women. based on the account of one man who says that he survived, they were tortured for two hours, shot at, and a number of bodies were set on fire. the women were kept in the room with the children at which point the opposition is accusing the syrian government of murdering the children in front of their mothers and raping a number of the women as well. one of the victims as young as 5 years old, a little boy who was killed in all of this. now, the syrian government is

saying that this was an act that was carried out by terrorist armed gangs who kidnapped a number of people throughout the city of homs, massa occurred this, filmed it so they could insight even more international action and condemnation of the syrian regime. >> can we sort out what it s actually true on the ground there? do we know who is responsible for this and why are they going after women and children? why has this become part of this fight here? i don't understand. >> reporter: well, that's the big challenge when it comes to reporting syria because the government will not allow us official access into the country. even when they do, in the past they have accessed these sites, it's incredibly difficult. we have to rely on activists, on these youtube videos and the accounts that we hear from the syrian government which most of the time being entirely contradictory.

and that is what is so disturbing about what is happening in syria, is that a lot of these events exist in this gray space. there is one thing, though, that both sides are warning of. and that is, that this type of violence is only going to increase because it isn't tragically the first time that women and children have been targeted. in this very same neighborhood in january there was the massacre of an entire family one week and a week before that a massacre of another family as well. they are no stranger to this kind of violence. >> we saw over the weekend, there was a meeting with bashar al assad. was there any progress? did anything come of that? >> they met twice saturday and sunday and there was no deal. saying that you have to have a

certain level of hope, because they want to return to stability and find a peaceful solution. it's incredibly difficult to see how that is going to be realized. a lot of activists on twitter were quite incensed at his comments saying that he's wearing humanitarian blinders. they have not for months believed that this is a regime that is really going to reform getting both sides to the negotiating table. that would be something of a mission impossible. the opposition says there is a cease fire and until any sort of deal would remove bashar al assad. >> arwa damon, thank you. obviously a very difficult situation occurring on the streets of syria. thank you. i'm sure you've seen

kony 2012 by now. many are questioning the motive of this group. it's clear that 30,000 children were abducted by joseph kony and his lords resistance army in uganda. >> reporter: so there's a lot of criticism saying that this is simplified and too late. is that unfair? >> to me it's unfair because that would mean that i would be here like right now i would not have been ever to go to school, be able to cause the suffering. and in southern sudan, and i

feel like it's not good for any human being or any child to be going through this. a couple is awarded $30,000 for what is being called a wrong. birth award. ok! who gets occasional constipation,

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a jury has awarded a couple $3 million after their daughter was born with down's syndrome. the couple sued a health center and lab for allegedly botching a test that would have shown that the child had down syndrome. elizabeth cohen is joining us. elizabeth, explain to me the position of the mother here. >> the position of this mom, deborah in oregon, is that she would have aborted this fetus if she had known that this child had down's syndrome. so this test, which is called cvs, you take the test around 10 to 12 weeks.

it's early on in the pregnancy. and she contends that she would have aborted if she had known that her child had down. >> what is the reliability of these kinds of tests? obviously they are not fool-proof. >> right. they are about 99% reliable. so if you get caught in that 1% where an error can be made, you can be caught in this situation. and i think different couples would decide different things. i think other couples may not have had the same feeling that she had. other couples would have said, you know what, i took the test not to make a decision about an abortion, i took the test to be forewarned that i was going to have a child that would have certain issues. but this family says that they would have aborted. >> all right. elizabeth, thank you very much. appreciate it. so what can cause an american soldier to allegedly go on a massacre on innocent civilians? we'll talk with a psychologist up ahead. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust.

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here's a rundown of some of the stories we are working on. the taliban are already talking

about revenge. are american lives in danger after a u.s. soldier is accused of going on a killing spree. whitney houston's daughter speaks with oprah winfrey. >> 16 civilians were gunned down allegedly by an american soldier. we could be in for some very tough days ahead. captain john kirby is joining us to talk to us about this. captain, first of all, there seems to be a lot of tension. we talked to reporters on the ground there. sara sidner says, look, the afghan people don't trust the u.s. military and the u.s. military, they don't trust the afghan people. how do we fix this? >> well, first, suzanne, i think i would take issue with that characterization. certainly there has been some isolated incidents over the last

six to eight weeks where we've done things to them and they've done things to to us. it would be a leap to say that pretends a larger number of mistrust between our two forces. the truth is, we're doing partner operations with the afghans every single day. thousands of them a month. they are quite successful. i want to stress that the confidence between our two forces is actually pretty good. witnessed, quite frankly, by the memorandum of understanding that we we signed last weekend at the detention facility. to your specific question, though -- >> you've got koran burnings, attacks, afghan -- some afghan soldiers turning on american soldiers recently and now this attack. >> right. >> there is trouble there. how do you get beyond that? >> the way to get beyond that is continuing to engage john allen

gave direction to his commanders on saturday right after hearing about this incident to continue to engage, to keep getting out there, to keep partnering with the afghan forces. it's absolutely vital that we try to move past this. the only way to move past this is to continue to engage with the afghan partners. >> what can you tell the afghan people when they see this and don't believe the u.s. military when you say this is an isolated incident, this is someone who has gone rogue. there are afghans who believe this had to come from up above, from the top brass. >> well, i have no doubt that there's probably some people that believe that and i'm sure that the taliban is going to try to take advantage of this to send that similar message but we're being as honest and open as we can with the afghan people and we were with president ar i karzai, that he was a lone person, not part of an

operation, and we're going to hold this individual accountable to the fullest extent of the u.s. law. >> to the extent that president karzai said it's unforgivable and it's a terrorist attack, do you think you're getting through to him? >> first of all, we believe this kind of heinous murders are unforgivable acts, of course. and in our conversations with president karzai and general allen spoke to him personally and without getting into the details of the conversation, it was a good conversation and i think president karzai understands the seriousness with which we are taking this and with which we are going to act. >> and finally, cap ptain, is there any concern about the safety of american soldiers in light of the tension and anger coming from the afghan people? >> well, we'reville la vigilant afghanistan. i can tell you there hasn't been

any reaction in terms of, you know, forcing up or increasing force protection level as a result of this particular incident. again, general allen's guidance to his commanders was to continue to do the mission every day, continue to partner, continue to engage. >> captain kirby, thank you very much. appreciate your time. american soldiers in afghanistan are stationed thousands of miles away from their families, their friends, they are thrust into dangerous, difficult situations every day. many of them have seen their friends die on the battlefield. some are on their third, fourth tour of duty. how do they handle all of this, the mental, psychological as well as the physical pressure? i want to talk about about the psychological impact, jeff gardere. jeff, what do you make of somebody who goes on this kind of rampage and doesn't shoot soldiers, doesn't allegedly shoot soldiers, but goes and targets women and even children? >> well, obviously someone who

has an extreme amount of rage to the point, of course, where they engage in these sorts of murders or homicides. it could have been, we know, that the rate of ptsd is extremely high off of veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan. in fact, some studies show one in five returning vets from those areas have had ptsd. and we also have to look at, suzanne, the possibility that this is a person who maybe became psychotic or maybe was some sort of a murderer to begin with. in other words, an extreme personality disorder, a psychopath. right now we just don't know. and i think you're going to hear a lot of people throwing around that term, ptsd, because it is such, such major issue for soldiers. >> do we think it has anything

to do with the tour of duty, that this was his fourth, that the longer someone stays out there, the more prone they are, susceptible to just snapping? >> well, absolutely. we're talking about this particular soldier supposedly maybe had three tours of duty in iraq and now in afghanistan. but you had an expert on your station this morning from the military who said that perhaps that's not a lot of time. those tours are not something that are out of the ordinary. i as a psychologist would think that going and fighting in any war, just doing that once, is enough to produce some ptsd, or extreme emotional combat fatigue. >> jeff, in my very brief time in afghanistan, one of the things that really struck me was one of the most tense times of when we were in those humvees, traveling the neighborhoods among the afghan people. that's when they seemed like they felt like they were most vulnerable. if you're in that constant state of feeling vulnerable, does that

make everyone feel like the enemy? how do you deal with that? >> well, that is very difficult and it's a great point because you are hyper vigilant at all times. you are roused at all times as to what is going on around you and that stress on you 100%, 24 hours a day wears you down emotionally. if you have pre-existing psychological issues or developing that ptsd, then it exacerbates that wear and you can can become psychotic and paranoid. talk about what is going on. that's very healthy. and the armed forces provide debriefing so you can talk about some of the pressures. the problem s. some of our soldiers are afraid to talk about it because they feel they will be kicked out of the military if they admit that they are having severe psychological

issues. >> jeff gardere, thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you very much. whitney houston's only child is talking about the impact her death has had on her. hear what she has to say to oprah. have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering.

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whitney houston's only child is talking about her mother's death for the first time publicly. jeff gardere joins us from new york and kareen wynter is joining us also. i want to start off with you. give us the headline. >> well, the 19-year-old told oprah winfrey that grief comes in waves and sometimes it really doesn't seem real that she's actually gone. she also told oprah that she can still hear her mother's voice. take a listen. >> i can sing her music but to hear it right now -- >> you can't? >> i can't right now. i can hear her voice, you know,

in spirit talking to me and telling me, you know, keep moving, baby, you know, i'm right here. i've got you. >> such a gut wrenching interview. bobbi kristina also told oprah that she's doing as good as she possibly can and that her mother's legacy is important to her. listen to what she also said. >> i still have a voice. >> yeah. >> i still -- >> you're going to sing? >> yeah. yeah. we're going to do the same thing. we're going to do some acting, you know, some dancing, you know. >> that's a lot of pressure for you, though, don't you think? >> it's a lot of pressure but she prepared me for it. >> suzanne, houston's daughter was interviewed briefly by beverly hills police the day her mother died. she was too distraught to offer

any helpful information and was taken to a los angeles hospital briefly after her mother's death. she is still, you can see, grappling with the loss of her mom. >> obviously. that's a lot of pressure to put on yourself to follow in your mom's footsteps like that. we wish her all of the best. i want to bring in jeff here. one of the things we talked about this morning at our morning meeting, we were all a little surprised that this interview was happening already. she's only 19 years old. it's been a month since her mom's passing. does it seem like it's fairly soon? >> i do think it was a little bit soon for her to come out of the gate and talk about this, especially as kareen has said, she was hospitalized briefly, she had some suicide id idealizations. we know that this is a very fragile young woman. i think in speaking with oprah winfrey, who is a family friend,

they have a pre-existing history, this is a person who, in speaking with kristina, actually propped her up, actually gave her support, was actually very loving. so i thought it was a very cathartic kind of situation and actually helped bobbi kristina to be able to talk about her issues, her grief, her loss, and if nothing else, get the support of not just oprah but everyone else out there because she was so empathetic about it. >> and, jeff, when you see her out there and she's doing this public interview, does that indicate to you that people around her are allowing this to happen and that she is getting guidance or she's not getting proper guidance here, that she's on her own? >> it sounds to me like being a -- first of all, any 19-year-old doesn't want anyone telling them what to do and now that her mother, who was her best friend, who was her world, who was her everything is gone, i believe that bobbi christikri

feels like she needs to make her own decisions and if nothing else, defend her mother's reputation who became, in some ways, a character tur of someone abusing drugs. it's almost her job to not only work through her issues about the loss of her mother but to go out there and defend her mother and set the record straight as to who her mother really was, a loving individual who was a great parent to her. >> jeff, last question here. she talked about, you know, singing and acting and dancing and falling in her mother's foot steps. obviously all of that noble but that's a whole other level of pressure that she puts on herself. >> you see, this does concern me and this is a great comment on your part. here's a person who we know who has some emotional issues, is a little fragile, as i said earlier. so to take on that kind of pressure, especially while you're grieving, to make that announcement to the world, it kind of puts you in a position

now where you have to prove it and that's bringing in a lot of other stressors. that's why i've always said, suzanne, i think it's important, that this young woman, bobbi kristina get a lot of support from family, not be allowed to live by herself. and get in counseling. she may make it as an entertainer but that's always a lot of pressure. we know what happens with pressure, especially if there have been issues within the family around chemical abuse. it could be disaster rouse. >> we wish her the very best, whatever she decides to pursue, that she's happy and successful and surrounded by love. jeff and kareen, thank you. 100% of americans getting some kind of government benefit once health care reform is in effect. that's what rick santorum says. we'll find out whether that fact passes the politico fact test. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪

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checking some of our stories our affiliates are covering today, an upscale manhattan brothel is heading to court today. they are trying to decide if she should keep her court-paid lawyer. she boasted about making millions of dollars and has money hidden away. she's pleaded not guilty to prostitution charges. in new mexico, a man says he

stole this and there was a pit maneuver and the guy wouldn't surrender and he tried to start the bus again. an officer shot him but he's expected to recover. tiger woods makes an early exit near the and he will get it looked at this time. >> sometimes it's tough to separate fact from fiction. we are putting those claims through a test. with the tampa bay times, a researcher for politicofact.com, an gee, i want to start off with this one here. you got this claim from an ad by the red, white, and blue ad. the ad accusing mitt romney of leaving massachusetts $1 billion in debt. true or false? >> we rated this one false.

massachusetts, like many states s. not allowed to have debt. the budget projections this ad used to try to make its claim weren't as bad as $1 billion. that's also false. and more details on our report on our website. >> good plug for the website there. rick santorum says, after the health care reform law takes 1 effect, 100% of americans will depend on some form of federal payment, some form of government benefit to help provide for them. is that true? >> we rated this one false, too. >> another false, all right. >> another false. >> when you look at the people who get some form of government benefits, medicare, social security, unemployment, veterans benefits, it's just under 50 prz. the health care law is going to help more people giving them subsidies for health insurance but it's tested by their income

and it's only going to go up somewhat to about 60%. those are the projections. but definitely not 100%. that got a false. >> finally, what about this one for mitt romney. he says in the 2012 state of the union address, president obama didn't even mention the deficit or the debt. how is that state rate? >> this one got a pants on fire. >> geez. who is telling the truth? >> suzanne, some of our fact checks are very tricky. this one we just went to the video and the text for the state of the union address. we found the deficit or debt mentioned six times. so it got our pants on fire rating. president obama did mention it. >> all right. angie, thank you for setting it all straight there. none of them were true today. we're going to have to get on these guys. all right. thanks. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> saturday night live takes on the rush limbaugh firestorm. advertisers in today's punch

line, s&l pokes fun at the fallout. >> i am not worried because i have new better sponsors, great american companies like sherman's imitation mayonnaise. it may not be mayonnaise but it is a bargain. the syria tourism board. ahh. no. there's nowhere to hide. syria. all right. you're about to see a feeding frenzy upclose. we're talking about sharks. they don't come this close to the shore that often but when they do, watch out.

we're signing off on our talk back question, was the afghanistan war worth it? michael says, the war was just

and needed to be done. it's sad this latest incident happened but we seem to forget all the taliban suicide bombers who killed civilians. and here's one that says, not worth it at all. the mission changed from finding osama bin laden to trying to civilize a backward country that does not want to be civilized. and michelle says, seems to me that the s.e.a.l. team should have been used at the very beginning. i don't see why we needed to invade any country when we have specialists to do the job quickly and effectively. susan says, not when we are letting them take back women's rights, close schools and having the taliban in power again. it's a slap in the face. now, this from australia. really.

hungry sharks. beaches closed off the coast of perth yesterday. that's when these guys showed up for a feeding frenzy. experts tell us it's pretty unusual to see sharks feeding like this so close to the shore. but 50 sharks were spotted chowing down. dangerous stuff. don't want to be anywhere near that. we're going to test your march madness. brackets for cnn anchors. blitzer, king, costello or even me? we're going to tell you after the break, and here you want me to pick a certain team? i don't know. i don't think it's going to happen. >> oh, come on, suzanne, i got the biggest bracket. look at that thing. that means i have first dibs on who wins the entire tournament, and it better start with ohio state university. i'm a convincer. it's going to take a break to do it, though. we'll be right back. well, online dating services can get kind of expensive.

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show us how much you spent last year and we'll give you 2 miles for every dollar spent on your travel reward card. up to 100,000 miles! hawaii, here we come. claim your miles at capitalone.com today! what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no. have you filled in your brackets yet? carol costello and i have filled out our brackets.

but carol, that's the biggest bracket behind you i've ever seen. >> i'm in the atrium in atlanta, and that is one big bracket, isn't it? >> yeah. >> people have been coming by taking pictures of the bracket and not me. people are having a lot of fun with it. the real fun starts tomorrow when the play happens. 2, 4, 6, 8, those teams will compete to get into the final 64, and then the real fun will begin, because as play continues, the cinderellas will emerge. i was hoping my cinderella team would be loyola university of maryland, because i most recently lived in baltimore and that is my team, but unfortunately, they play ohio state. ohio state will probably beat them, and i picked ohio state to win the whole darn thing. so suzanne, will you join me in -- >> no. >> why? >> michigan state is my dad's

alma mater, so i'm all about michigan state. i don't think they'll get all the way through the end there, but, you know, a little trash talk in here. i want to see them do well. but michigan state, i'm telling you, carol. >> come on, i want it. >> that's the best i can do. tell us about that wall. does it actually update in realtime the game? >> yeah. but this is the thing. we want our viewers to participate in our bracket challenge. it's easy to do. go to cnn.com/brackets. you'll see a place to sign in. fill out your bracket. we've already filled out ours, and then we'll compete, and at the end of the thing, i don't think we're going to send you money or anything, because that would be illegal. but we'll give you a big shout-out on the air, and isn't that enough? >> invite them down to the studio, take them down to lunch or something. >> give them a little mug, yeah. i'm still waiting for my c thnn

mug. it takes a lot around here. i can't believe you're going to pick michigan state. that kind of makes me a little nauseous. >> are you kidding me? if my dad is watching, he'll never forgive me for going another direction. >> i'm going to e-mail your dad tonight. >> i have to stick with the original plan, carol. sorry. it's not too late to test your skills there. all you have to do, like carol said, is just go and fill it out. you have to do it, though, before half time of tomorrow night's opening game, the opening round there, to join the bracket challenge. you have to head to cnn.com/brackets. join the cnn group. you can pick the name, send the games, better than cnn anchors. cnn continues now with brooke. hey, brooke. are you going to weigh in? >> go, tar heels, go. i filled out my brackets. i'm drready for my heels to tak it all the way, thank you very much. but we're not talking brackets, we're talking south/southwest.

we're at the south by southwest festival. we're going to get you caught up on everything we're doing here in just a moment. let's get caught up on all the news. rapid fire. let's go. and an american soldier accused of leaving his base in afghanistan to shoot and kill and burn 16 afghan men, women and children have been taken now to a large detention center in that country. the army staff sergeant turned himself in after the killings. he is a married father of two based in washington state. the taliban vows revenge for the killing of those civilians there. we've got much more of that story coming up for you in just a couple minutes. meantime, to politics here. mitt romney, happy birthday to him. he is the big 6-5 today, turning 65. he's celebrating it with comedian jeff foxworthy, who

just endorsed him. >> we're going to get this and it will make all the difference in the world, and you guys by voting multiple times can make all the difference. just kidding. great to be with you? thank you! >> the "washington post's" e-poll out today show romney and rick santorum pretty much neck and neck. candidates now reporting voters in the deep south today. we're going to be watching mississippi and alabama on cnn tomorrow. as for southerner newt gingrich, he has won two states so far. he vows to stay in the race even if he doesn't win tomorrow. at least 45 men, women and children have been killed in a brutal massacre in syria. activists say they are only a fraction of the 108 people killed across the country sunday, and all of this comes as peace talks between syria's

president, assad, and u.n. special envoy without a cease fire. opposition groups are announcing tomorrow will be an official day of mourning. to indiana here, a school bus crashed into a support pillar of a bridge. this is in indianapolis. killing the driver and one child. ten other students were injured this morning. two of them, we're told, critically. right now we don't know why the bus driver lost control. investigators say it was raining at the time. you can see some of the slick streets there, but they are not saying whether or not they think that was, in fact, a factor. a phoned-in bomb threat prompted a jetblue flight to make an emergency landing just this morning. there's the plane. it was on its way from chicago to boston when it had to divert to buffalo, new york. we're told one passenger was questioned, but at least everyone on board was a-okay. and whitney houston, her

daughter, bobbi kristina, remembered the tender final moments she shared with her mother in the first ever tv interview since houston's death on last night's own, oprah winfrey's cable channel. take a look. >> the very last day, it was so, so early in the morning, so early. i went to go get her, and i said, you know, mom, will you just come lay with me? she stayed with me all night and all day. all night and all day. then she was rubbing my head, holding me, you know, everything. and i slept in her arms all night. all day, all night long. >> bobbi kristina says she plans on following in her mother's footsteps singing, acting ask dan -- and dancing in the future. the obama administration just blocked a controversial law here in texas that required voters to show personal

identification before going to the polls. in this letter, they told officials the law could have a discriminatory effect on hispanics and others in the state. they did block a similar law in south carolina and that was back in december. the board of trustees at penn state says the way joe paterno was fired for, quote, unquote, lack of leadership, despite the fact that paterno failed to call police after hearing about jerry sandusky's alleged misconduct with a boy in the showers. paterno died just last month. this is the distance i like to have from sharks. check out these pictures. this is obviously aerial video. very clearwater. you can see all the sharks in there. this is from a beach that's known for shark attacks, actually. this is from perth, australia. we're told a higher than normal

tuna population triggered this shark frenzy. experts say this happens once every couple years. back here in austin, thank goodness, no sharks. just awesome music, amazing barbecue. we've been working, working, working here at the cnn grill for you. we're going to premier south/southwest for you. you have film, you have great food, you have music here in austin. it involves skateboarding, by the way, and some pretty cool apps. but first, watch this. a teenager is on his way home from buying candy when, for some reason, police say a neighborhood watchman whipped out a gun and pulled the trigger. >> i'm hoping that one night, one day he's going to walk through the door and this is going to be a nightmare. >> now as racial tensions heat up, his family wants answers.

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an american soldier is being held this hour in afghanistan. he allegedly left his base in the middle of the night. he walked to two nearby villa s villages, broke down doors, shot, stabbed and burned civilians. in total, 16 people are dead, and those 16 include nine children. a absolutely horrific turn of events. i just want to warn you here, our report reflects the horror. here it is from cnn. >> reporter: just outside a u.s. military base in western canada h -- kandahar. a dead child. in a pickup truck, a blanket is pulled back to reveal charred remains of another individual. one guy came in and pulled a boy from his sleep and shot him in this doorway. then he came back inside the room and put a gun in the mouth

of another child and stomped on another boy, this mother says. u.s. officials, including president obama, have all expressed their condolences and sadness. but that has little meaning to the victim's families. a local minister said one family alone lost 11 family members in the incident. look at these bodies. they all belong to one family, this villager cried. men we want openly, barely able to speak through their tears, while investigators siftd through the grisly scene, picking up shell casings, the evidence that something terrible happened, overwhelming. the walls and floors of these homes stained with blood. as the day went on, the sorrow was replaced by anger at american forces. this base told us to come back to our villages. they said, we won't bother you. this is your land and your own village. then those dogs come and grab us, another mother shouted. some of the villageres claim

there was more than one soldier on the ground when the massacre happened around 2:00 in the morning on sunday. but the officials refused that, saying this was the work of a single soldier who walked away from base and was acting alone. >> now i want to bring you in, sarah, and let me display a little sound here. we are now hearing from secretary of state hillary clinton. she's expressing the horror as well here at this one u.s. soldier's actions. let me display that for our viewers. >> i, of course, with president obama, secretary panetta and other representatives of our government and the american people in expressing our deepest regret and condolences. a full investigation is under way. a suspect is in custody, and we will hold anyone found responsible fully accountable. >> sarah, i know you're there on the ground. so far, i know the reaction among the afghan people hasn't

quite reached the level that we saw recently after the recent koran burning, the explosion there among the afghans, the fury, the anger. i know you have u.s. officials saying justice will be served, the afghan government repealing. are those messages getting through right now? >> reporter: it's hard to say and it's hard to speculate, but a lot of times we've heard an appeal for calm and that just hasn't worked. if you look at the situation of the burning of korans, not long after those images became clear, there was an explosion of violence. there were eventually 40 people killed, four u.s. service members included in that. we are not seeing the same kind of reaction immediately following this killing of 16 civilians by an alleged single soldier. what you are seeing is a lot of people who are there on the ground who are directly affected

calling for action against the soldier, and the taliban are saying it's going to seek revenge, but we're not seeing the kind of protest and violence that we saw following the koran burning. will that come in the future? no one knows, and yes, there is a call for calm. there is also a call for afghan lawmakers to have whoever is responsible tried right here on afghan soil in front of the afghan public. we heard from a spokesman in the pentagon responding pretty much with, that's not going to happen. a u.s. service member will be tried properly by the military as per the agreement and they will not be tried in the afghan judicial system. brooke? >> okay. as you mentioned, perhaps another future fallout there. afghanistan remains in mystery. but a mystery here, exactly how this happened. here is just a little bit more of how much we know.

this army staff sergeant reportedly left his base in a district called penjwai. he allegedly incurred two other villages. out of the 16 dead, there are reports that indicate half or more may have been in one single home. a lot of questions this hour yet to be answered. chris lawrence is at the pentagon for us. chris, what do you know? what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, we know he was a combat veteran, brooke. this was a staff sergeant who had served at three tours in iraq. this is his first tour in afghanistan. he had only been in country for maybe two months or so, not much longer than that. he was assigned to force protection, so he was a conventional army soldier working with the green berets there on that combat outpost, working to sort of stabilize a village. think of it as sort of a neighborhood watch sort of operation. he was not with special

operations forces but he was working with them to protect the force. he left that base about 3:00 in the morning. some of the afghan forces who control that base and who do security, they saw him leave. they called their american counterparts and said, hey, a soldier just walked off base by himself, so the u.s. then did a head count of all the troops on the base, figured out that one soldier was missing, they mounted a patrol to go after him but this soldier had walked back to the base by himself, and that's where he turned himself in to the authorities there on the base. since then, he has been moved to a larger base while the investigation is taking place. brooke? >> chris, you've been on some of these military bases in afghanistan. talk to me about the security. we're talking what, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning he allegedly left? how hard would it be for one single soldier to up and leave

the base in the middle of the night? >> no one is supposed to go anywhere by themselves, brooke. that's sort of the golden rule. no soldier or marine ever walks out by themselves without another soldier or marine with them. that in itself will draw a lot of attention, and the afghan forces would have known something is wrong there. there are no military missions going on in that area at the time that he left. but when we say "base," sometimes for people at home, that conjures up camp victory in iraq, kandahar air field, huge stra sprawling bases with 5,000 people on base. these are nothing like that. i've been to several of them not too far from where this happened. sometimes an army captain may be the highest ranking officer on the entire base. these are remote areas, very small bases. they don't have some of the same apparatus that you see at some

of these large, sprawling bases. so walking out of a combat outpost very different than, say, one of the other bases we've seen in iraq and afghanistan. >> i see. as far as who he is, i know we don't know the soldier's name. he touched on this earlier. do we know specifically where he goes next, what happens to him next? >> reporter: right now, again, he's being held at this larger base while the investigation is going on. typically, an investigation like this by the army will take about two weeks or so before some sort of findings need to come back. charges then would have to be recommended. ultimately where that goes is still very much up in the air, it's so early. the u.s. military does have the death penalty. soldiers on so-called military death row ultimately would be held at fort leavenworth.

the method of execution is lethal injection, but no soldier has been executed since 1961, so it's been quite a long time. and for that to happen, the president himself, president obama, would have to sign off on the execution if president obama was still president when it got to that point. but it takes the president of the united states to sort of authorize the execution of any american service member. and again, that has not happened since the early '60s. >> wow. chris lawrence from the pentagon. chris, if you get any more information, please pass it along. thank you so much. gas prices. here we go again. they're up, up, up. meantime, president obama's numbers, they're going down just a little bit. now the republican is really trying to fit in with one very

specific group before tomorrow's contest. can you guess? we're going live in austin inside the cnn grill. that is next. i think it's a cool car. i think it's stylish and it makes a statement at the same time. and i've never had a car like that. people don't totally understand how the volt works. when the battery runs down the gas engine operates. i don't ever worry about running out of battery power... because it just switches over to my gas engine. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i love my chevy volt and i've never loved a car. ♪

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talking flooding. apparently 10 to 12 inches of rain have fallen in this area in the last six hours, so we'll talk to chad, we'll get a heads up as far as how much more rain you could be getting in just a moel moment. but i do want to talk about a big day tomorrow. a couple primaries to talk about here. just a quick reminder, if you're wondering why i'm not sitting in the studio, we are sitting inside the cnn grill live in austin, texas. part of the action of the festival south by southwest. i'm sitting with mr. peter hanby. we want to show some numbers. this is the national polls. we have mitt romney and obama practically tied. this is from the "washington post" and abc. you can see obama just a smidge lower than romney at 47 versus 49%. when you look at that, the question is why.

i know economy. it's a huge issue for a lot of voters, and i have to believe sitting here talking about gas prices up and up and up, it has to be what a lot of voters are blaming obama for. >> this strongly disapproved number on the economy is the largest it's ever been. but you're absolutely right, gas prices is the ultimate pocketbook issue and they're hovering around $4 in some parts of the country. this is another reminder that as much as we're focused on the republican primary right now and the likely nominee, mitt romney has problems connecting with the electorate, immigration, birth control. obama still has some problems here. >> i can't remember where he was speaking the last through weeks and he says, a republican

candidate controlling gas prices, forget it. it's like a bumper sticker, but americans believe he has that control. >> the reality is he might not have that much control over the price of energy. if the middle east explodes, then there's nothing they can do about that. they say even if it does get enacted immediately, it won't start for a couple more years to inject anything into the economy. >> we're talking deep south primaries, right, and it will be interesting to see how they do. i want to break down the candidates here in just a moment. but first we have a little mash-up. we were talking earlier, this is mitt romney playing through the southern vote. >> i got started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits, i tell you. delicious. i'm learning to say y'all.

morning, y'all. i like grits, and strange things are happening to me. >> i sell john deere tractors. >> so former massachusetts governor, right. once lived in michigan, talking grits and catfish. is this going to work for him? >> it's certainly interesting. i know this provoked some growns and some eye rolls. they're still in the. you lost, but heading into that, it's a three-way race, but a large share of the evangelicals came out. the romney campaign looks like a better organization. they're. i intend to see it better. but still, not so fine with them. what i'm looking for is, can he

take alabama and mississippi, but he said yesterday even if he doesn't, he's still in it. >> and i think he's in for the long haul. but rick santorum said, hey, newt, you need to get out of the race so we can fight against mitt romney. but if santorum loses to newt, that undercuts dan foreman's rationale to remain conservative to mitt romney. gingrich understands southern politics, and whether beginningrich has all the latest. >> it proves each one is there is no slam dunk yet again when it comes to tomorrow's primaries. sgrz no.

>> as we wait until tomorrow. this is supposed to be a slam-dunk for rob knee. you can see exactly what we're talking about. things not too far behind. i think it's one in two voters, at least half the voters there saying, you know what, i might change my mind. >> right. and we're seeing that a lot in this race. late deciders have had a huge impact on the race. >> florida was the same way. >> yeah. illinois, we've seen the firewall for romney. it's not a conservative state. but remember, while most of the vote is counted, there is a huge area on march 20.

>> i wait -- >> i love my son dealer. my heart is broken and i don't know what else to say. i'm hoping that one day -- one day -- he's going to walk through the door, and this is going to be a nightmare. >> police say her teenage son bought candy, and on his way home, a neighborhood watchman shot and killed him. he was just 17 years old. there is still all kinds of mystery here, though, including what exactly happened that night and why police will not release those 911 calls. that's next. e at the age where you don't get thrown by curveballs. ♪ this is the age of knowing how to get things done. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have.

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a florida family is desperate today for answers. their son, 17-year-old trevon martin, was shot and killed two

weeks ago. the man who shot him hasn't been arrested, and they report the neighborhood watch captain, george zimmerman, caught at the scene and called 911 on a report of seeing a suspicious person. when police got on the scene, martin had been fatally shot in the chest. i want to bring in david mattingly. he's been making calls on this for us today. david, i know we have very, very few details. not a lot of reporting on this. you had a very brief conversation with the police chief down there. what did he say? >> reporter: well, brooke, we're hearing today that the police department is ready to come out and have -- talk to the public about what they've been doing over the past couple of weeks. they feel like their investigation has gotten to the point now where they can possibly turn it over to the state's attorney to determine what kind of charges will be filed, if any, in this case. we're waiting to find out later this afternoon what might be the next step here. in the meantime, the chief did talk to cnn late last week, and

he was saying that they were listening very intently to the 911 call made by george zimm zimmerman and they were listening to that tape. and on that tape they were able to hear arguing and they were able to hear the gunshot. the chief was saying that there appears to be some evidence supporting the story that zimmerman was saying, that he was acting in self-defense. but again, we haven't heard a definitive word from the chief or from the state attorney on this, and we expect to hear something a little later today on that. right now, still so many questions how such a peaceful afternoon where this young man was walking to a convenience store and walking back home to his father's house, how he encountered mr. zimmerman and how this encounter somehow turned violent and ended up with mr. martin ending up dead. so a lot of questions to be answered. the police department taking their time, listening very intently to this, canvassing the neighborhood multiple times, talking to the neighbors to make sure they talk to every possible

witness in this case to see if there was anyone out there that saw or heard anything that might help them make sense of this case. brooke? >> david, can you help at all, and i know you said there is a lot of questions here, help fill in the blanks as far as that night just about two weeks ago, circumstances, what exactly happened when this alleged shooter, this night watchman, george zimmerman, actually encountered this teenager? do we know? >> filling in the blanks, it's going to depend on that 911 tape. the public hasn't been able to hear this because the police department has been taking it as their most important piece of evidence. they feel like if they played it for the public, any potential witnesses might hear it and it might affect their story, affect their recollection. so they wanted to hang on to that until they talk to all the potential witnesses. so filling in the blanks, that's going to be up to the police department, the police chief and the state's attorney who is handling this case, and right

now we're possibly waiting to hear a little bit later today, to hear from the police on exactly where they stand with this. and, you know, they are under a tremendous amount of pressure from martin's family. they say the weeks have gone by. they're not getting answers, and they believe zimmerman should be charged with something in this case. >> david mattingly, we will look for those answers potentially coming as early as this afternoon. thanks so much. in the meantime, we mentioned reports of flooding across louisiana here. chad myers is standing by with more details. he'll explain what's happening, what people are seeing in louisiana, what they can expect. looking ahead to a whole lot of rain. next. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪

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just in, as we mention aid moment ago, there are all kind of flooding issues for folks in louisiana. i want to bring in chad myers who has been watching the radar. chad, where are we talking, specifically lafayette and the

surrounding area? >> correct, and just north of lafayette. but you know what, all that water is going to have to go down through lafayette before it gets to the gulf of mexico. let's just give you a lay of the land here. biloxi, baton rouge, i-10 all the way to charles. right there, even more rain coming down right now, brooke. i'm going to take you back. this is not going to be a live radar. this is going to be a look at what has been added up by the radar over the past 12 hours, and i'm going to take you to lafayette right here. it's going to be a little hard to see but i'll do my best. there is lafayette. there's i-10 right through there and the line of i-49 right there, and that white spot, brooke, believe it or not, come over here to the side, you'll see that is 15 inches of rain and that's only been in the past eight hours. they are sending dump trucks to get people from their homes that are under water right now. brooke?

>> wow. 16 inches? 15 inches? when is this going to end? >> we thought it was going to end now, but it's called training. if you think about a train track where one car goes over the same spot as the car in front of it went, and this is what's happening now. we have storms that are going over the same road that just happened about an hour ago. another storm behind it and another storm behind it. you could see some spots easily, brooke, that will have 24 inches of rain in 24 hours. i know it's the bayou, but it's not that hilly. things flood significantly when you get almost two feet of rain in one day. >> don't drive in it, don't drive through it, don't drive anywhere through it, chad myers. i know we say that time and time again. keep an eye a the radar. let us know what happens next. meantime, back here at the cnn grill, i want to introduce a guy to you. there is a guy who ate mcdonald's for an entire month. he also videotaped his mission

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that's why we extended $6.4 billion in new credit to small businesses across the country last year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. the priceline negotiator went down in that fiery bus crash. yes i was. we lost a beautiful man that day. but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale every day. so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding.

is it hard for you to think back to that day? oh my, this one has an infinity pool. i love those they just... and then drop off, kinda like the negotiator. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! for your family at e-trade. south by southwest is really about getting everything first, be it stories, songs, gadgets, what have you, and one of the

sneak peeks here at south by southwest this particular week is happening right now, actually. the second season of this documentary is a series. it's called "in the day of the life." but guess what? you don't check out your tv listings to find it, this material is actually exclusive to the web. you can get access to tv shows and movies, including this series with the guy next to me, morgan spurlock. it's such a pleasure to meet you. >> you, too. >> thanks for joining us in the grill. >> yeah. >> i want to start with "a day in the life." it's like a window on mostly famous folks. >> people who are thought makers, game changers, people who are changing our world in ways we may not realize. we had folks like richard branson, missy copeland, the dancer in the theatre.

we have the man who has the podcast. >> check out a little bit of the trailer. >> when you see richard branson in the show and he's talking about how many more planes he's going to be on in the next four or five days, it's remarkable. >> would you like a ticket? >> really? >> they all are very focused. they're so goal oriented, it's incredible to see. that's one of the things that really comes across in the show is that you see these people who have really pinpointed, this is who i am and this is what i'm about. >> i actually saw it last night before i went to bed and i watched the girl talk episode. i guess looking at this, how do you choose which day to profile and also the person? >> we try and find people who, you know, i think are innovators. that's the biggest thing. is this a person in no vanovati

world in which they work? we're working with joel mchale where we follow him as he goes to the community and juggling his family life amid all of this. >> do you ever say, this is morgan spurlock. i'd like to follow you for a day. click? >> i get that all the time. usually from my parents. >> it was actually your mom's idea, right? >> i was talking with my mom about -- i was traveling somewhere during a promotion. it might have been when i was looking for osama bin laden and traveling all over the planet. she said, gosh, your life is so crazy. if only people knew what happened in a day of your life. i said, that's a show, mom. she doesn't get a percentage of what i make, though. she gets my affection. >> of course.

this is original content, and it's on the web. >> yeah. >> why? >> well, i think that the internet is an incredible place to try new things. just as elvis was innovative, radio was innovative, it went to cable tv pushing the envelope. this is kind of the next rage where you'll try new and exciting programming. google took a chance, yahoo. >> and now your big show here. >> we just said it was coming on line and now people all over the world will be able to see it. >> on line. >> on line. >> i look at you, i think super size me. i think of those moldy containers. i was told you were tweeting about something you had at the grill. >> i just had the black angus burger right now. i had the burger, the fries and the sliders.

>> wow, i'm full just thinking about it. >> i love a good burger. here it was fantastic. you can't do that at a fast food restaurant. >> what's next for you? >> the next film we're putting out is my new movie. we produced the film with stanley and josh weedin. we follow people as pop icons. it will be everywhere. it will be on ondemand, it will be everywhere. >> we cannot get away from morgan spurlock. congratulations. >> thank you very much. this woman's communion, it happened at her mother's own funeral. she spoke with me recently about her efforts to get the priest removed. and get this, the church has now made a decision and you're going to hear it here next.

a spare tire strapped to the front grill... and the seat was more of a small couch made of green pleather. it was hideous. it was loud. it was my mom and dad's way of forcing abstinence i'm sure. and it worked....sadly. [ male announcer ] animate and share your first car story at firstcarstory.com. courtesy of the 2012 subaru impreza. experience love that lasts. ♪ but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. yeah. you're not... filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive.

a maryland priest who denied a lesbian communion during the funeral mass for her own mother is no longer now working at that parish. officials from the archdiocese of washington say, after learning of how father marcel treated bar vertebra johnson back in february, they chose to place him on administrative leave. the archdiocese says, and i'm quoting here, the action was taken after bishop barry received credible allegations that father guarnizo had engaged

in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry. we spoke to her days after, and this is what she told me. >> we believe the only reason to keep talking about this still is that we wouldn't want any family to go through what was the worst experience on the very worst day of all of our lives. so we believe that it's important that father marcell is removed from parish life. >> johnson also told me that father guarnazo, the same day of her mother's funeral mass, actually walked out during the eulogy. today we are actually making music monday history f. for the first time ever, we're making music monday live. standing by is ashton brown. he's got the moves, he's golt

t got the pipes and he happens to be michael jackson's nephew. do not miss this. ashton brown is next. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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it is music monday here, and singer ashton brown has a blood line he really can't deny. his mother is reggie jackson and

his aunt is janet jackson. check it out. ♪ >> live at the cnn grill, i get to sit right next to him. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> like we mentioned, music is in your dna. >> yeah. >> your parents kind of wanted to keep you out of the spotlight. >> 43 years. >> 43 years. how did you say, all right, i got to do this? >> i just left home and did it.

you know, i always knew my love for music and i knew what i was passionate about, so i just kind of told them, i'm going to do my own thing, and i left when i was 18 years old, started working on it organically and tried to find that love and my own natural sounds where i could articulate it to the world my own way. >> so your uncle, michael, i understand he really did help you hone your voice and your moves. >> yeah, he kind of helped -- he spent time with me and all my cousins to really show us why music is important and where to kind of put the elements to make the right message. so really honing in on what type of moves you're doing and what message you want to portray when you're singing, including my mom and the rest of my relatives. >> you can tell just a little bit seeing you perform. let's watch one more clip. >> okay. ♪

>> austin brown, you have the moves, my friend. you have the moves. >> that is awkward seeing that. >> is that hard seeing yourself? >> yeah, because i don't like watching myself. >> the way you move like that, how did you learn that? >> dancing was always something that came kind of natural. you take the elements that you have and you try to enhance them your own way to create your own unique vibe, and you take elements from everything you like. not just watching michael, it might be james brown or john travolta footage from grease. just anything. you take elements that you like and ah pyou apply them your way. >> and janet jackson, you're close to her, i hear. >> yeah. she's my heart. >> what do you mean by that? >> she's a great person, and a great person to talk to about anything. we really have that relationship to where she's the one that no matter what i say to her, she

never judges and i can talk to her about completely anything. it's really cool to have that and to have people in your family who share the same passion for what you love to do that you can really go to for anything. it's really cool. >> it is really cool, but you also know, i'm sure, you have the people who sairks y, oh, my, we look at his family, he's going into it, he doesn't have to earn it. what's your comeback? >> my comeback is the proof is in the music. you can have all those things that you feel about me. listen to the music and see if you feel that way after. >> let it speak for itself. >> let it speak for itself. >> dream collaboration. if you could meet one person. >> andre 3000. >> andre 3000, if you're watching -- >> andre, call me. >> austin brown, it is wonderful to meet you. >> thank you very much. >> our very first live music monday. you're making cnn history. >> thank you, cnn, for having me