tonight honors two founders bob dole and howard baker for a century of service. a great event for two great men. >> i like that. pressure is on. >> nfl one of the businesses most susceptible to group think. we'll see if winning is a big deal. will tim tebow get another job? not the best quarterback but he won. >> starting job. >> all right. "cnn newsroom" begins right now with carol costello. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. carol, good morning. >> good morning to all of you. i'm carol costello. here are stories we're watching in the "newsroom" right now. widespread delays for justice for trayvon martin. supporters rally. they want the man who killed the unarmed teenager arrested. president obama leaves this hour to go on a four-state tour where he'll announce plans to speed up the permit for the southern half of the keystone oil pipeline. critics say he gave into pressure from rising gas prices.

mitt romney is in maryland today fresh off his decisive win in the illinois primary. halfway to the delegate finish line. hundreds of french police surround an apartment where a gunman remains holed up. he's accused of killing seven people in a series of shootings. authorities say they expect him to give up soon. another strong aftershock in mexico. it measured 5.0 on the richter scale. it's the latest of several aftershocks to follow yesterday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake. 500 homes were damaged and 11 people injured. you won't be able to find that so-called pink slime at safeway anymore. the grocery store chain says it won't sell anymore ground beef made with it. safeway says customer concern drove its decision. you're looking at a picture of atlanta under all that pollen. this is what you need to know about pollen counts.

a reading of 120 is considered extremely high. levels above 5,000 have been registered in many parts of the southeast this week and no relief is expected until a storm system moves through at week's end. we begin in depth this morning in florida. the growing outrage over florida's stand your ground gun law and how that law may have played into trayvon martin's death. an 11:00 a.m. rally is scheduled in sanford rally to protest the gun license given to the shooter and in sanford, florida, demonstrators called for arrest of george zimmerman. zimmerman is the neighborhood watch leader who claims he shot the teenager in self-defense. the city commission will hold a special meeting at 5:00 eastern with the public invited to talk and a grand jury is scheduled to hear the case on april 10th. this morning we want to talk more about that gun law in florida known as stand your ground.

john zarrella is in sanford, florida, where the governor is talking about giving stand your ground a second look. tell us more, john. >> reporter: you know, back one year ago, 2011, the number of cases of justifiable homicide in florida were 40. in 2005 before this law was passed, the number was a third that number. it's tripled since this law took effect in 2005. with that as the backdrop and all of the mounting pressure, governor rick scott in tallahassee said, look, if this law is being abused, then maybe we need to take another look at it. >> i think it's good to go back and look at an existing law and see how the impact and the consequences of it so i think once we finish this investigation if there's something that we need to adjust, i'm hopeful that the legislature would be interested in taking that up.

>> reporter: there's already one south florida legislator talking about looking at the law and getting amendments to the law through. the bottom line in essence what the law says is that if you have a reasonable belief that your life and safety is in danger as a result of an act or a threat, then bottom line, you can use force to protect yourself. so the question, of course, is as governor scott is saying now and as others have been saying, you know, is this law being abused? is it being applied properly? and going forward, i think we'll see some movement at least to take another look at this law given that you have the governor now saying it as well. >> that line reasonable belief. who decides that and what exactly is that is the sticking point? john zarrella, we'll talk more about this -- go ahead.

>> reporter: you're right. that's one of the sticking points. >> john zarrella live in florida. stand your ground type laws are on the books in 21 states. the national rifle association lobbied for those laws. law enforcement in general lobbied against them. beth karas, you have been studying this law. was george zimmerman in imminent danger by trayvon martin. how do you prove or disprove this in light of stand your ground law. >> three things have to occur if you're going to get immunity from prosecution. you have to be engaged in something lawful or the statute says you can't be engaged in lawful activity. zimmerman better be carrying that gun lawfully because if not, stand your ground doesn't apply. you have to be somewhere where you have a right to be.

he is in a public place. he has a right to be there. so did trayvon martin have a right to be where he was as well. there may be a sticking point because the dispatcher says you really don't need to go out. just stay. wait for the police. you don't need to be there. my question is whether or not factor two element number two, right to be where he is somehow challenged because of that. the third thing is the language that john just read. you have to have a reasonable belief that your life or your body is threatened in some way or you have to perceive it reasonably. did he really think -- was he reasonable in thinking that martin was reaching into his waistba waistband. he had nothing on him but iced tea and skittles. people do shoot and they are reasonable in believing they're about to be attacked and sometimes the person they kill doesn't have a gun on them. this is a controversial law because you don't have to retreat to safety. zimmerman could have retreated

to safety but he chose to continue following martin. this law allows that. that's why it's controversial. one could argue he provoked martin. if they had some sort of a fight, maybe he provoked martin. that's why martin said what are you looking at me for? maybe threw a punch. you can't provoke and say i was justified in killing him. >> still, it puts police in a strange place. reasonably believing your life is in danger is not a high standard and it's very hard to prove. to prove that the person saying that is possibly lying. >> it is hard to prove when the other person involved in the altercation is dead absolutely. that's probably why as john just reported the number of justifiable homicides have tripled. there are witnesses that saw things and heard things.

we don't know all the facts. zimmerman is not under arrest. they need to talk to these witnesses. that's what the grand jury will do. people are sworn to tell the truth before the grand jury and that will be an investigative grand jury determining whether or not to bring charges. >> beth, many thanks this morning. trayvon martin's death is prompting outrage in washington too. congresswoman fredricka wilson is speaking out about the case on the house floor and here on cnn. we'll talk to her live at 9:30 eastern. the case against the u.s. soldier accused of killing 16 afghan civilians could enter a new stage tomorrow. staff sergeant robert bales is expected to be charged with homicide. he could face other charges as well. he met for the last two days with his lawyer in ft. leavenworth, kansas. john browne says he doesn't see much evidence against his client so far. >> i don't know what the evidence is. we all heard what the allegations are, right? i'm a defense lawyer. i deal with the evidence.

i don't know about the evidence in this case. i don't know the government will prove much. there's nop fre forensic eviden. there's no confessions. i'm not saying that we're not taking responsibility for this in the right way at the right time. right now, you know, i am interested in what the evidence is. >> browne says it could take two years to prosecute the case. french police are on high alert this morning as they surround an apartment house in toulouse. the man suspected in a series of killings over the past ten days including a shooting outside of a jewish school on monday. police raided the apartment yesterday but pulled back after the suspect wounded two officers. diana, to police believe the suspect will give himself up at some point?

>> reporter: well, carol, he said he would a couple hours back and he hasn't. the question is whether he's still in negotiations with the police who are surrounding the house. this siege has been going on for near hours now. police say they believe the suspect is a heavily armed and has an uzi with him. he threw a pistol out of the window earlier and said to police he would hand himself over but that doesn't seem to have happened. he alerted them to a car he had loaded with weapons parked nearby the house which they have found. very tense situation here with man who has told authorities that he was responsible for the murders that terrified this neighborhood and france over the last ten days. he says that he's associated with al qaeda and that he killed those children in that jewish

school on monday to avenge the deaths of palestinian children. >> diana magmay reporting for us from toulouse, france. mitt romney can add the land of lincoln to his win column. questions for independent voters. is pressure of rising gas prices getting to the white house? the white house changing course or appears to be changing its course on a key pipeline project. we'll talk more about that in a few minutes. when bp made a commitment to the gulf,

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mitt romney is in maryland this afternoon after a decisive win in yesterday's illinois primary. he captured 47% of the vote and despite momentum from his wins in the south, rick santorum only grabbed 35% of the votes. this win brings mitt romney's delegate count to 562. of the 1,144 he needs to win the presidential nomination. jason johnson is independent analyst and joins us now because independents were an important part of the process in illinois and they came through but 60% said they voted for mitt romney because he could beat president obama. in a perfect political world where we all did what we're supposed to and we're all responsible, is that the great

reason to vote for a candidate? >> that's not a ringing endorsement. i went out with you because you're the only person home on friday. you can't win presidential elections voting against the other guy. people have to want to vote for you. it's the same lesson. they aren't voting for romney. they're voting against obama. >> with a can he do? he can fashion his message in another way to appeal to independents because he'll go to wisconsin and pennsylvania and maryland where he should do well. >> he's going to do better but here's the problem. mitt romney with obama is kind of like a boxer who knows he can't win. he'll keep trying to hug the guy and hope he gets in body blows at the end. romney knows he can't beat obama on charm. he can't beat obama on presentation. he can't beat obama on intensity but if he can keep the race close talking about the economy and gas prices, maybe an october surprise and he can pull off a knockout at the end. >> funny you should say that. we have something that romney said a couple days ago that

really illustrates what we were just talking about. let's listen. >> we once built an interstate highway system and the hoover dam. now we can't even build a pipeline. we once led the world in manufacturing and exports, investment. today we lead the world in lawsuits. when we replace a law professor with a conservative businessman as president, that's going to end. >> so that seems to be resonating especially with president obama because guess what? he's embarking on a big energy tour and it will end in oklahoma right by that keystone pipeline. >> you know what's interesting? he's fast tracking certain parts of it. the problem is that mitt romney had difficulty using the proper space. they want to talk about afghanistan and middle east and obama has already killed osama. they want to talk energy and obama talks pipeline.

it's hard to find something that republicans don't want him to do any way. >> the keystone pipeline he's speeding up permits on the southern portion of the pipeline and not the northern portion where the controversy lies. it's sort of a bit of political gamesmanship. do independents realize that sort of thing? >> the thing about independent voters there aren't many real independents. most are leaning left or right one way or another. ultimately it will come down to who do we believe as american citizens can fix this economy? doesn't matter who started it. it matters who will end it. do people believe mitt romney will do a better job or can barack obama do a better job? 8.3% unemployment is not good. anyone who thinks they can fix it relatively soon will win. >> if gas price keep going up, that's more troublesome. up another penny today. thank you so much for coming in. we appreciate it. is the pressure of rising gas prices getting to the white house? today the president will announce he's speeding up

approval for part of the controversial keystone pipeline. dan lothian will tell us what this is really about coming up. witnesses tell what they saw after an unarmed teenager's killing and they question what the shooter said. >> i didn't believe it was self-defense. when wei if it was self-defense, why was he on trayvon's back? >> more from a cnn exclusive interview with those witnesses coming up. but what about your wrinkles. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it has the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce wrinkles in just one week. "why wait if you don't have to." rapid wrinkle repair. neutrogena®. recommended most by dermatologists. the passat is one of nine volkswagen models

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the keystone pipeline. president obama saying he wants to fast track the southern portion of the controversial project. we'll talk about that as he heads out on a four-state swing to push his energy program. he will hit nevada, new mexico, ohio and cushing, oklahoma, where the southern part of the pipeline begins. republicans quickly pounced on the move. house speaker john boehner saying only a desperate administration would inject the president of the united states into this trivial matter. the president's attempt to take credit for a pipeline he blocked

and personally lobbied congress against is staggering in its disingenuousne disingenuousness. it's built in spite of the president and not because of him. let's bring in dan lothian. put this in perspective. what's going on here? >> reporter: there's obviously politics at play here. the president is under enormous pressure. there are environmentalists concerned about these pipelines believing there could be leaks and impact that this could have on the environment. on the other hand, there's pressure on the president as well because of the high gas prices. while gas prices are not directly connected to these pipelines, i think the american public has a hard time seeing the difference there. the president is going there to show that he's doing something not necessarily to bring down the gas prices now but to help the nation in terms of the future and the energy problem but politically as you see, you just pointed out, republicans

are taking shots at the president here saying that this is just a pr stunt, that it's essentially as one person described it, one official described it, it would be like a governor issuing a fishing permit but nonetheless the white house saying it's an important trip that the president is taking to talk about a long-term energy fix for this country. >> okay. just so we get it. there was already a permit for the southern portion of this keystone pipeline. president obama is just speeding up the process so he's already in favor of this part of the pipeline being built. it's the northern part of the pipeline that's controversial that he's holding up. republicans charge it's because of the president's environmentalist friends that he's doing that. >> reporter: i think it's important to point out that there are two portions of the pipeline that we're talking about. back in january is when the president denied that permit for that pipeline that would run across the border from canada

into the united states because of environmental concerns. at the time republicans attacked the president saying that this was an opportunity for him to create jobs by allowing this pipeline to happen. the president concerned about the environmental issues knocked that down. the second portion of the pipeline is the ease of glut of oil that needs to be refined down in the gulf coast in texas. this oil flows from cushing, oklahoma, down to the gulf coast. that's what the southern part of the pipeline will do. that's something that the president has supported and in fact in february the white house put out a statement saying that they would expedite permitting for that portion of the pipeline. >> got it. dan lothian, we'll talk more about the keystone pipeline in the next hour of "newsroom." the death of florida teenager is stirring up outrage across the country and the halls of congress. >> stand up for trayvon martin!

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so in the blink of an eye it will have performed more active safety measures than most cars will in a lifetime. introducing the all-new 2012 m-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. stories we're watching right now in the "newsroom." the president will announce plans to speed up the permit for the southern half of the keystone oil pipeline, which will stretch from canada to the gulf. he's promoting his energy plan but critics say he's caving into pressure from rising gas prices. a pair of smaller aftershocks have rattled southern mexico after yesterday's 7.4 magnitude quake. hundreds of homes were damaged. nearly a dozen injuries reported. authorities say the damage estimates will continue into today. hundreds of french police have surrounded an apartment where a suspect remains holed

up. mohammad marah is expected of killing seven people in a series of shootings including four people outside of a jewish school on monday. authorities say they expect him to give himself up soon. a new development in the trayvon martin case. ben jealous, president of naacp is calling on sanford police chief to resign. martin was shot to death by a neighborhood watch leader in sanford, florida, last month. george zimmerman says he acted in self-defense. zimmerman has not been charged. two witnesses who saw what happened after the shooting are casting doubt on george zimm zimmerm zimmerman's claim about what happened with trayvon martin. >> you didn't hear or see any altercation, any struggle? >> no. >> you only heard the cry or the whimpering as you describe it and then the shot? >> yes. >> you believe whatever altercation or tussle or

whatever there was, you believe that happened elsewhere but you didn't witness it? >> i believe that it had to have started from where the first person that called 911 saying there's a fight outside of my door. that's a couple doors down. from that point to where his body was, two or three doors down, it's hard for me to believe that at the time that we heard the wining and then the gunshot, we did not hear any wrestling. no punching. fighting. nothing to make sound like there was a fight. >> outrage over trayvon martin's death is being voiced loud and clear on capitol hill. fredericka wilson delivered an impassioned speech on the floor of the u.s. house calling for justice and an end to racial profiling. >> mr. speaker, i am tired of burying young black boys. i am tired of watching them

suffer at the hands of those who fear them and despise them. i am tired of comforting mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters after such unnecessary crimes of violence. no more hiding your criminal racial profiling by using self-defense to get away from murder. stand up for trayvon martin! stand up for justice! stand up for our children! >> congresswoman wilson joins us now live from washington. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> thanks for being here again. the family of the shooter, the family of george zimmerman, denies race was a factor here saying that he has many minority friends and family. he's of mixed race himself. how do you respond to that? >> well, the more i hear the evidence coming through and trayvon is my constituent, his

family are friends. i've known them all of their lives. i have been speaking with them over and over and everything i hear sounds racist to me. it has racial overtones. even the conduct of the police and the investigation has racial overtones. it took the family three days to get the body released from the coroner's office to be shipped back to miami for the funeral and the burial. just the things that they have done. >> the naacp is calling for the sanford police chief to resign. would you like to see it happen? >> not only would i like to see it happen, i'm joining to make sure it happens. >> how are you going to do that? >> i will call also. i represent miami-dade county. that's where trayvon lives. that's where his family lives. the people there are outraged.

they are collecting signatures. they told me they need 1 million signatures. they are outraged. they are seeking justice. they want justice to be delivered for trayvon. i will join in with whatever cause for resignation of the police chief because i think and all of the evidence and all of the conversations i've had with the family members, that's where it began. with the police chief and mr. zimmerman who i believe was racially profiling trayvon and then he murdered him. >> we know that federal prosecutors and the fbi are now investigating this case. a grand jury in seminole county, florida, is convening in three weeks. it seems the wheels of justice although they move slowly, they are moving now. do you think that charges will eventually be brought against this mr. zimmerman?

>> let's hope that charges will be brought against him. i think with the involvement of the justice department and the fbi, charges will probably be brought against him. i'm not sure about that grand jury. i have to make sure that the grand jury at least represents some people who looked like trayvon and then i'll have some faith in the grand jury and the kind of indictment that they will bring forth from their convening. that particular -- florida has a history of racial profiling of young black boys. i buried too many. >> the last question i would like to ask you about is this controversial state law. this stand your ground gun law, which allows people to meet force with force if they feel they or someone else is in danger. what's your opinion of that law? >> i think that law does not apply in this particular incident. i don't think that they can

convince anyone with good common sense any of the justice department that stand your ground law has anything to do with this. this is racial profiling. this is murder. >> do you think -- some people are calling for the law to be revoked. the governor of the state of florida says we need to look over this law and see if it works or not. >> i think that's always important in laws when you put new laws on the book and they don't work and they work against the people, i think it should be looked at and repealed and perhaps that bill started out as a bill called the castle doctrine. as it moved through the house and the senate, things were added onto it. i think that too much was put into this legislation and it probably needs to be repealed. i think the florida legislature is already discussing that and the governor is discussing it. so in florida or any other state

where laws have passed, there's always a mechanism to repeal them. >> congresswoman wilson, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> strange booming sounds are keeping people up at night in clintonville, wisconsin. >> sounds like a bomb going off. >> it was like little tremors. >> house was shaking. windows was shaking. it was quite loud. sounded like it was in the house almost. >> it's a mystery. nobody knows yet what's causing them. we'll talk about that. >> i'm often asked if i was granted a wish from a magic fairy, would i wish my biological legs back? i always say absolutely not. bionic limbs are part of my creation and part of my identity. what's really fun is they are upgradable. so every few months i get a hardware and software upgrade and as my biological body ages,

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the situation dealing with some real life drama off the set of "jersey shore."

please, fill us in. >> carol, the "jersey shore" gang always in the news. the situation is publicly denying reports he's in rehab for drug abuse. one spokesperson says that he has spent the last several weeks in an undisclosed location for much needed rest and recuperation after his extensive production and apaerns schedupe schedule. sounds like rehab. he's tweeting about it. don't believe everything you read or hear. whatever is going on with the situation, the team from "jersey shore" is being uncharacteristically tight lipped about it. the popular mtv show will have a different look this season with snooki being pregnant and now this bit of mystery to deal with. how can we handle the suspense, right? >> i don't know. i'm dying right now. different kind of drama in rosie o'donnell's life. her talk show was canceled. she held a celebration.

>> she did. a little bit. a big one in fact. the talk show veteran was able to get over her cancellation on own to celebrate her 50th birthday. in a scene out of the hangover, rosie wound up partying with mike tyson who just taped one of rosie's last episode before the party so he stayed on with his family to enjoy the birthday bash and reportedly led the crowd when it came time to sing "happy birthday." other guests included some of rosie's staff and 50 other women turning 50. as for her talk show, rosie is saying that oprah was supportive of her and when it came time for oprah to cancel the show, she treated her with dignity. a personal life and death battle revealed by kathy bates in the next hour of cnn no"cnn newsroo newsroom". sneezy, watery eyes, itching

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♪ the southeast is coated in yellow. record levels of pollen have been common place throughout the region this year but the yellow dust is conducting the allergy prone across the united states. high pollen levels are driving many people to their medicine cabinet. in atlanta, you can literally scrape the pollen off the ground

with a shovel. the city has experienced two straight days of record pollen. i mean record pollen counts. rob marciano is putting his sinuses on the line out among the trees in atlanta's piedmont park. i guess much of the southeast is praying for rain. >> reporter: that's one thing that will help wash things away. what brought all of this on and not just in the southeast but across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country is the ridiculous warmth we've seen the past couple months. spring has sprung early to say the least by a good two to three weeks in many areas and on top of that people have seen record breaking heat and dry conditions. that's just caused everything to bloom and blossom early and if you are out here and you have any sort of sensitivities to pollen, you haven't packed your zyrtec or allegra or claritin, you have an uphill battle for sure. it's not just atlanta. let's look at the top five cities.

the top five worse cities as far as pollen count is concerned today birmingham, alabama. we're in the same climate regime. huntsville. gulfport, mississippi. meridian, mississippi. folks out here in the morning, folks will work out here across piedmont park in the morning. not everyone is sensitive. we ran into a few folks dealing with it here in atlanta. >> mostly in the morning. get a few sneezes and sniffles and a little bit of wiping of the nose, tissues and stuff like that. it's not too bad in the morning. >> nose and eyes and everything. that's the worst one. i have to, you know, go to the doctor. >> everything is dusty and sneezing and red eyes are starting. >> everyone you talk to will tell you they're having issues with the pollen. >> reporter: i'm one of those guys. i did take my medicine this morning. i'm okay for now. another reason i might be okay

is pollen although record shattering the past couple days, over 9,000 particles per cubic meter, old record was 6,000. normal is 1,000, maybe 2,000 this time of year and that would be high. ridiculous levels. just over 5,000 is the number today. how about the forecast for today across the u.s.? you can see the red on this map. that indicates where pollen counts are going to be high and culprit this time of year typically in the way of some trees across the south you have oak and up to the north you have maples and elms as far north as connecticut as you pointed out. here in atlanta, they are blooming just a little bit. mid town. piedmont park. i've seen a number of red maples that have bloomed and you know what you deal with here, carol. we're looking for some rain. it won't come today. it's more humid.

that may have helped things out just a little bit. >> okay. rob, get indoors. protect yourself against that evil pollen. thanks so much. checking stories cross-country now. the arson squad in texas investigating a firebombing at a state senator's office. some threw a couple molotov cocktails at her office. a huge debris field is still smoldering in alabama this morning. the fire is threatening homes rebuilt after last year's devastating tornadoes. debris from that tornado is fueling the fire. people in clintonville, wisconsin, aren't getting a lot of sleep because they keep hearing lost mysterious booms. nobody knows what's causing them. the city ruled out gas leaks, military activity or mining explosions. >> it wakes you right out you have your sleep. i don't care how heavy a sleeper you are, you hear that bang. you're up. >> it happens for a split second

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it is official. denver broncos quarterback, yes, his name is peyton manning. it may take a while to get used to that, jeff fischel. >> peyton manning wanted a home where he thought he could win a super bowl. he picked the broncos. they're used to having great quarterbacks. they think they have the guy to get them to a super bowl.

peyton manning introduced yesterday as the new broncos quarterback. it took a five-year, $96 million deal to get it done. manning spent his entire career with the colts. he thought he would finish his career with the colts. he needed to find a new home when the colts released him. he now has one in denver. he missed all last year with the neck injury. you have to wonder if the broncos are worried about that. they have written that into the contract. yesterday at the press conference, manning wrote about the man he's replacing at quarterback, tim tebow. >> if tim tebow were here next yeerks i'm going to be the best teammate i can be to him and he and i are going to help this team win games. if other opportunities present themselves for him, i'm going to wish him the best. he's going to be a great player wherever he is. >> that's the big question. what happens to tim tebow now? now one question is answered, now the next one. where does tim tebow go? you have to think he won't be in denver much longer. some spots he could land, the jets maybe, where he plays maybe part time as a quarterback, not the full-time starter. the big spot, jacksonville, back to his roots.

he was a florida gator. they would go nuts to see him in jacksonville, even if they didn't necessarily win a ton of games. nba last night, check out utah jazz guard jamal tinsley, right between the legs. and the hoop. watch again. muhammad can't believe it. tinsley scores, the jazz win 97-90. the women's ncaa basketball tournament going on now. bayl baylor, the heavy favorite. watch, their leader, britney brianer dunks. she dominates college women's hoops and she dunked in the game. she's just the second woman to dunk in the ncaa tournament. >> that's awesome. >> incredible. she's the best player in women's college hoops. >> congratulations on the new baby. >> thank you, we're very happy in the fischel home. >> i saw a picture. that's one cute baby. >> thank you. >> thanks, jeff. we're following a lot of developments in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom." let's check in first with diana magny.

>> i'm in toulouse where police are surrounding the house of a man they say is the gunman who killed seven people in the last ten days. that siege now in its 12th hour. we'll have the latest coming up. i'm john zarrella. two women tell what they saw the night treven martin was shot. i'll have that story at the top of the hour. i'm dan lothian at the white house. president obama hits the road to promote his energy policy, but republicans see it as a pr tour. i'll have that story at the top of the hour. >> thanks to all of you. if you want pink slime in your ground beef, you'll have to go somewhere else to shop other than safeway. it is the latest grocery store chain to kick it out of the meat department. pink slime sounds growth but does the nickname make the beef filler sound more awful than it really is? we'll explore that issue next.

a hockey game makes history during intermission. cnn's jeanne moos explains. >> reporter: hockey and romance go together like beer and kissing on the kiss cam. ♪ ain't no particular sign >> reporter: guys bending their girl over, once and a while someone famous like tom hanks smooching his wife. ♪ kiss >> reporter: it is all usually very heterosexual.

except when pseudo gay couples ham it up or a girlie tease. but wait a minute, this is no tease. this is love. love on center ice at the toronto maple leaves versus ottawa senators hockey game the other night. it was the ottawa team's very first gay proposal, complete with lovey-dovey jumbo screen message. my love for you is a journey, starting at forever and ending at never. they used a roost to get alisha walton in the blue out on to the ice. her girlfriend, christina beonte, surprised her, reaching in her jeans pocket. the crowd cheered. after all, this is canada. and gay marriage has been legal here for seven years.

♪ there's not a thing i would change ♪ ♪ because you're amazing just the way you are ♪ >> reporter: christina, by the way, picked the bruno mars song "just wait you are." no matter where you stand on same sex marriage, there is something sinful about this union, something unnatural. alisha is wearing tront oronto' jersey while christina is in ottawa's. an online comment, there was plenty of booing. someone posted, i would rather have my kid seeing a hockey fight than two lesbians kissing. well, at this game, fans got to see both. there was a fight. guy on guy, girl on girl, girl on girl on lion mascot? jeanne moos, cnn. >> congratulations to christina and alisha! >> reporter: -- new york.

and good morning. i'm carol costello. just ahead in the "cnn newsroom," french police are surrounding an apartment where a suspect in a shooting outside a jewish school is holed up. they tried to raid the apartment yesterday but backed off after two officers were wounded. authorities expect the man to give himself up today. the ground rattling under the feet of nervous citizens in mexico after the quake. a 5.0 aftershock was reported a few hours ago. hundreds of homes were damaged. 11 people reportedly injured in the initial quake. widespread demands this morning for justice for trayvon martin. supporters in florida, new york and online are rallying. they want the man who killed the unarmed teenager arrested. the naacp wants the sanford florida police chief to resign. mitt romney is in maryland today, fresh off his decisive win in the illinois primary. romney is now almost halfway to the delegate finish line. we begin this morning,

though, in depth with gas prices. i know i sound like a broken record. gas prices went up another penny today and just minutes ago president obama boarded air force one for an energy policy tour. first stop, nevada. last stop, kushing, oklahoma, and the keystone pipeline. the interesting thing about keystone, the president will announce he'll expedite the permit for the southern half of the keystone pipeline. but not the controversial northern part of that pipeline. dan lothian is at the white house. so, dan, republicans already bashing the president, calling his visit staggering in its disingenuousness. ouch. >> reporter: that's right. some tough talk there from republicans. and as you pointed out, there are two pipelines here. the one that the president rejected, his administration rejected in january, saying that the people who own this pipeline or were planning this pipeline should go back to the drawing board. that one runs from canada in -- would run from canada to the

united states. the president, this administration concerned about some environmental issues. that's why that was rejected. then there is this southern part of this pipeline which would run from cushing, oklahoma, to texas that would take oil to be refined. that oil is now transported by trucks or by trains. so this would be seen as a more efficient and safer way to transport that oil. now what republicans are pointing out is that this really -- this particular pipeline within the united states is nothing that really involves the president, does not really require his approval, but for him to get involved in something like this would be like a governor issuing a fishing permit. so some very political back and forth going on about this pipeline. and at the center of all of this we have high gas prices. so there is a lot of pressure on the president. one from environmentalists who stay away from these pipelines,

but also there is this continued push to do something to bring down the gas prices and while gas prices aren't directly related to those pipelines, i think it is hard for the public to see the difference here. >> i think you're right about that. dan lothian, live at the white house for us. now to florida and the growing outrage over florida stand your grou ground gun law. at 11:00 a.m. eastern, a rally is scheduled in sanford to protest the gun license given to the shooter. and also in sanford, the hometown of martin, demonstrators are calling for the arrest of george zimmerman. he's the neighborhood watch leader who claims he shot the teenager in self-defense. the city commission will hold a special meeting at 5:00 p.m. eastern and the public is invited to talk. also a grand jury is scheduled to hear the case on april 10th. john zarrella joins us from sanford, florida. and, john, we just learned last hour that the naacp is calling for the police chief to resign.

and what other i was has martin's death affected that community? >> well, you know, carol, there have been a lot of things coming out very recently now, a lot of movement on the witness front. we know that yesterday the 16-year-old girlfriend of trayvon martin's came out and said she was on the phone with him minutes, even seconds before he was killed. and she said that he was walking away, he was going to run, she told him don't run, then she hears him fall to the ground. she says that. and then last night, anderson cooper had an exclusive interview with two women from that gated community where trayvon martin was shot, talking about what they heard and what they saw. >> so you saw mr. zimmerman on top of trayvon martin. >> exactly. >> when you say on top of, how so? >> he was -- >> straddling him. >> his legs were straddling him. >> one on each side, on his knees with his hands on his

back. >> and i don't believe it was self-defense because what we saw when we walked outside on the porch. if it was self-defense, why was he on trayvon's back. >> reporter: police here say they're completely confident in their work and they're welcoming the department of justice, the fbi, and the florida department of law enforcement to come in and take a look, quote, at what they have been doing. now, as far as the community is concerned, there is still a great deal of outrage. there was a rally last night. there is that meeting you referred to this afternoon, the emergency meeting of the city council, because many people within this community do not feel that justice will be done until george zimmerman is arrested. and we have to point out that zimmerman has not been arrested, and has not been charged with any crime at this point. carol? >> that's right. his family says he shot trayvon martin in self-defense and as you say, all of these entities are now investigating that. john zarrella, thank you, live

from florida. trayvon martin's shooting is raise new questions about florida's controversial deadly force law stand your ground. this type of law is on the books in 21 states. the national rifle association lobbied for the laws. law enforcement in general lobbied against them. the florida governor now says he's reviewing it. >> i think it is good to go back and look at an existing law and see how the impact and the consequences of it. and i think once we finish this investigation, if there is something that we need to adjust, i'm hopeful that, you know, the legislature would be interested in taking that up. >> we're going to have more on the shooting death of trayvon martin coming up late er the "newsroom". tired of getting a mailbox full of junk mail? the u.s. postal service wants you to get more junk mail. lots of it. we'll explain why. next. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance...

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there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. you know what's exciting, graduation. when i look up into my student's faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i am committed to making a difference in peoples lives and i am a phoenix.

most of us can't stand junk mail, coupons and catalogs and flyers that clog our mailboxes still. but now the u.s. postal service says it needs just that. your mailbox needs more junk mail. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. why? >> it is a fight for survival. that's why, carol. what the usps is doing is trying to generate more mail to deliver and the usps is actually looking for businesses to do that. they're making it easier for businesses to actually send out marketing materials. also known as junk mail you're talking about that winds up sitting and piling up on your kitchen table. so what the usps has done is developed a tool so companies

can find you easier, so they can send you more stuff. what this new tool does is it i.d.s customers by zip code so they don't need your name or address to do it. usps says it could bring in a billion dollars so you see the postal service getting creative, finding new ways to make money because it has to. look how it did last year, it lost $5 billion because people and businesses aren't sending out as much mail anymore. also the usps is getting hit with really high retiree health care costs. >> that costs the small businesses sending out the junk mail money too. is that really a great line of attack? >> you know, that is the question that i actually had. what the businesses get out of this, though is that they get that marketing that they need to bring in business, so it is sort of one hand, kind of washing the other. don't you think, carol? >> we'll see what happens. we're hearing that a new housing report was released a few minutes ago. tell us about it. >> no improvement on previously owned home sales. home sales fell about 1% in

february. it is a big disappointment because what wall street expected was an increase. there is good news f you look at sales overall, they're up compared to last year. also, the median sales price for a home rose from a ten-year low back in january. and what you want to see, to see that housing recovery is prices kind of stabilize and to start to go up and you're not going to really see a housing recovery until you see those prices stabilize. it is a good sign that median sales, the price of median sales prices for homes rose. right now, stocks are kind of treading water, the dow is down 18. the nasdaq and s&p 500 are flat at this point. >> alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. if you want pink slime in your ground beef, and who does, you won't get it at safeway anymore. it is the latest grocery store chain to kick it out of the meat department. it sounds gross, but does the nickname make the beef sound more awful than it really is?

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french police were prepared to wait out a suspect in a series of shootings that culminated with four murders outside of a jewish school. the suspect's name is mohammed merah. he's been holed up in the city of toulouse for two days now. this is the second day. authorities describe him as a self-styled jihadist. police raided the apartment yesterday, pulled back after the suspect wounded two officers. diana magnay is at the scene of this tense standoff. where do things stand now, diana? >> reporter: well, it is now in its 12th hour. it started at 3:00 a.m. this morning. some very heavy gunfire was exchanged, which involved two policemen being injured. at one point the suspect did actually say that he would hand himself over to police. but he hasn't done that. police say that he still has

weapons with him. he also told them that he had a car full of weapons close by the house, which they also found to be true. all the information we're getting about the raid, we're getting from the interior ministry. the interior minister was here for much of the night. nicolas sarkozy came and just left, he came to the site to find out how the operation was going on. and the suspect is being in talks with the hundreds of police who are here. there are 50 police surrounding the house, about 300 police involved in the operation. he's a 23-year-old french national of algerian origin. he's been in pakistan and afghanistan on several occasions. he describes himself as a jihadist, affiliated with al qaeda. and he says that he went into that jewish school, gunning down those children and their father, a jewish teacher at the school, because he wanted to avenge the

deaths of palestinian children. so some very sinister details coming out here, carol. and one more thing. as the siege continues, as you can imagine, there are interested, worried neighbors standing around. and we have been speaking to quite a lot of the muslim people who live around here, who are very worried by the fact that the man, the serial killer who toulouse has been -- and what that will do for the reputation and the name of the muslim community here. >> diana magnay reporting from toulouse, france, today, thank you. relatives escorted the -- a group representing french jewish communities said the decision to bury the victims in jerusalem will ensure that their remains are not tampered with. 40% of practicing french jews are buried in israel. the case against the u.s. soldier accused of killing 16

afghan civilians could enter a new stage today. staff sergeant robert bales is expected to be charged with homicide. he could face other charges as well. he's met for last two days with his attorney in fort leavenworth, kansas. john brown says he doesn't see much evidence against his client so far. >> i don't know what the evidence is. we all heard what the allegations are. right? but i'm a defense lawyer so i deal with the evidence. i don't know about the evidence in this case. i don't know the government is going to prove much. there is no forensic evidence. there is no confessions. i don't know. i'm not -- i'm certainly not saying that we're not taking responsibility for this in the right way, at the right time, but right now, you know, i don't -- i'm interested in what the evidence is. >> brown also says it could take two years to prosecute the case. on a side note, secretary of state hillary clinton will meet with the afghan foreign minister in the next hour to talk about

how the shootings have affected relations between washington and kabul. javelin and petris, those are a couple of secret service code names for the republican presidential candidates. find out who those names belong to. and we'll get some other suggestions from our political buzz panel. that's coming your way next. lett that door for you... [ man ] i loved my first car... sometimes the door gets stuck... oh sure. ooh! [ man ] ...and then, i didn't. um... [ sighs ] [ man ] so, i got a car i can love a really, really long time. [ male announcer ] for the road ahead, the all-new subaru impreza. ♪ experience love that lasts. two. three. one. two. and, three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn more cash back for the things you buy most.

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this story just coming into to cnn. look at this. this is in athens, ohio, a boulder has broken free from a hillside and landed on two cars and a house. since no one was hurt when this happened, the family was in the back of the house when the boulder hit the house. of course, this thing doesn't happen every day. can you believe that? that is crazy. we're going to continue to monitor the story as it develops. we'll find out exactly what loosened that boulder. there has been heavy rains in ohio. i don't know if the rains were coming down in exactly that part of ohio. but we'll get back to this story and tell you more about this. but talk about scary. that's a big boulder next to that house, unbelievable, athens, ohio. stories we're watching in the newsroom right now, other

stories. a four state swing today, the president will announce plans to speed up the permit for the southern half of the keystone oil pipeline which will stretch from canada to the gulf. he's promoting his energy plan, but critics say the president is caving to pressure from rising gas prices. a pair of smaller aftershocks rattled southern mexico after yesterday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake. hundreds of homes were damaged, nearly a dozen injuries reported. authorities say damage assessments will continue into today. a new development in the trayvon martin case. ben jealous, the president of the naacp, is now calling on the sanford police chief to step down. martin was shot to death by a neighborhood watch leader in sanford, florida. the shooter, george zimmerman, says he acted in self-defense. zimmerman has not been charged. she flew into the american public eye at the controls of her plane and she flew into history when her plane disappeared over the pacific ocean without a trace. but a new clue could mean finding the last resting place of amelia earhart.

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political buzz, rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing today, cnn contributor maria car dona. for the funny side, dean ogadala. and boris eppsteen, the opinion columnist for "u.s. news" and

republican strategist and former aid to the mccain/palin campaign. thank you for being here today. >> good morning. >> let's get first question. energy secretary steven chu says he gives himself an a minus on helping to control gas prices. gas prices that are up almost 18% so far this year. an a minus. are we grading on a curve here, maria? >> well, i think you can say that he certainly is an optimist, carol. but i think what he's trying to say is that this administration's focus and his focus has always been the long-term vision of where we need to go when it comes to energy policy. his approach and the administration's approach has always been an all of the above approach that doesn't just focus on giving oil and gas companies these massive tax subsidies that they have enjoyed for over 30 years, while at the same time having record profits. we need to focus on solar, on wind, on biofuels, on biodiesel and all of the above approach. >> a good time to bring in

boris. >> a great spin by maria. a really great spin. i'm really almost dumbfounded at how strong that was to put the focus on the oil companies. but really, here is the issue. the energy secretary shows he's out of touch with american people. american people now are struggling because the gas prices keep going up and up and up and the president and energy secretary and the rest of the cabinet seem to be able to do absolutely nothing about it. especially in an election year. we'll talk about the keystone pipeline later on. the last time an incumbent president was voted out of office was 1992. last time 1.77 gas prices, this year, $3.83. how does that feel? not good. >> dean? >> to me, you have to look at the context. steven chu giving himself an a minus, the man is a nobel prize winner. that's like giving yourself a c to me and you to be honest. i don't think he's touting himself as being some superstar. he realizes it is a struggle now. probably a sad day in the chu house coming home with an a

minus. i agree with boris. the american people want gas prices to go down. and this whole drill, baby, drill, or rhetoric on the issue is not helping any of us. give us a real answer. we have a problem. we're like a drug addict looking for a new drug dealer. we have an addiction to oil. >> talking about drill, baby, drill, president obama softens a little on the keystone pipeline, fast tracking the southern half of the pipeline. did he cave? boris? >> just another example how this president has shown his inexperience over and over again. comes out strongly on one side of the issue. like guantanamo, i'll close guantanamo. what happened to that? or not taking money from super pacs. now, hey, please give to my super pac. on the keystone pipeline, i'm against the keystone pipeline, i'm for the keystone pipeline. maybe the new champion flip-flopper is not john kerry, but barack obama, the champion flip-flopper of the left. >> maria? >> look, let's be very clear. this president and this administration have never been against keystone based on its

merits. they were against the timing of what the republicans tried to put in several bills last year to ram it down the americans' throats for purely political reasons. this president understands that we need an all of the above approach and frankly what he's focused on now is that all of the above approach and wants to include keystone in it in a way that does not destroy our environment. >> dean? >> this say real battle today, carol. i'll be honest with you. to me, if you look at the real facts, president obama has never opposed the keystone pipeline in the southern portion from oklahoma to the gulf. he's expediting the permits. that's the real facts. he will get criticized from the right that he's somehow pandering or flip-flopping. i think obama should turn this into a positive and say i'm doing the world's biggest water slide from oklahoma to the gulf of mexico until it is expected. bring the family, i would -- if i was a kid, i would love to go to this. i think obama should turn this into a positive, my advice. >> time for the buzzer beater.

30 seconds each. the secret service has code names for the top candidates in the republican presidential race. i'll let jimmy kimmel take it from there. >> in an article in gq magazine revealed the code names for mitt romney and rick santorum, which i guess aren't a secret anymore. romney is javelin after the stick he has up his butt, i think. and santorum's code name is petris which means peter in latin. by the way, they get to choose these themselves. i think my code name is super man. >> i didn't hear that before it went on the air. oh, my gosh. okay. so javelin and petris, come on, they are kind of boring. you tell me what you think some of the code names should be. dean? >> i think for santorum it should be cave man. that's where his views come from. he's one step above grunting at this point. i think he would be great as caveman. mitt romney, i like silly putty. he can twist himself into any shape he needs to.

like silly putty, you can stick him to an issue and pull him up and he'll be on both sides of the issue. so caveman and silly putty. >> boris? >> for santorum, something like sexy beast. that's one option. another option is sweater vest. and the third option, which will be what his nickname is after november is who? and for mitt romney, it will go with something like zoolander because of his looks or rogaine because of the strength of his hair. at 65, he has better hair than i do at 30. after november, his nickname should be mr. president. >> boris, boris, you've been thinking about this. maria? >> let's see, for mitt romney, maybe it is mittens because i think the majority of the american people think that's what his first name is anyway. and i would also go with pancake because he's flip-flopped more than the international house of pancakes. for santorum, it should be his holiness because it seems like he's running for pope in chief as opposed to commander in chief. for gingrich it should be happy to go with his own self-image,

he called himself cheerful in the last debate. >> gingrich doesn't even get one in reality. 8% gets you nowhere. >> it's been fun, as usual. maria, dean, boris, thank you for playing this morning. >> thanks, carol. >> thanks for having us. have a great day. >> great having you. back to the pictures coming out of athens, ohio, right now. this is incredible. that's a big, huge boulder. it broke free from a hillside. it landed on two cars and then it rolled into a house. luckily there was someone home. but luckily they were in the back of the house and they didn't get hurt. but you can imagine -- you can imagine how it felt when this big boulder rolls into your home. that's just bizarre. the boulder is about 25 feet in diameter. when we know more about this, of course, we'll bring more information to you. trying to get in touch with the family because they have a story to tell this morning. from boulders to mysterious

loud booms, they're becoming a big problem in one wisconsin town. >> this, like, constant boom, boom, boom. >> almost felt like a heavy duty thunderstorm. >> didn't know what was going on. >> just a weird, weird feeling. >> so what is causing the mysterious booming noises in wisconsin. we'll ask a city official what she knows. and no more pink slime on sale at safeway. don't know what i'm talking about? it is likely you've been eating it all along. we'll explain. jobs leaving am. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now. do about medicare and social security...

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french police are still surrounding a home in toulouse, france. inside, holed up, as he's been since 3:00 this morning is the man suspected in a series of shootings in france. the one we all heard about was the shooting at the jewish school, where four people were shot, shot down in cold blood, by a man on a motor scooter with a gun. that man apparently is inside this house. he's connected somehow to al qaeda. we have a reporter from france 24 on the phone right now, eba colando. she's talked with that manholed up inside that house in toulouse. what can you tell us about this man? >> i would say he was probably one of the politest, what i thought, suspected crime call i got at 1:00 in the morning. >> he called you? >> he called, yes. >> and what did he want to tell you?

>> he said good evening. and he wanted -- he said he wanted to claim responsibility for the shooting and the french paratroopers and at the jewish school, the shooting at the jewish school. >> did he tell you why? >> he said he -- he said it was necessary to reclaim islam after the affront done to it after the french, after they enacted a law outlawing the wearing of the full veil here in france. and he also said he wanted to protest against france's continued military participation in the war in afghanistan. and also he said that thes in t in toulouse was to avenge palestinian children. >> is he a french national? >> well, yes. french citizen, yes.

>> and i understand he's of algerian descent. how exactly was he involved in al qaeda? >> i'm not quite sure. somebody said that he belonged to a group that was linked to al qaeda. i asked him whether that group had a distinctive name. he said he didn't want to answer that question. but that the group that he was allied -- that he was linked to had links with al qaeda, but operated from france. that was -- he made it very clear that his group had links with al qaeda. >> we understand too he traveled at one point either to pakistan or afghanistan. do you know? >> apparently to kandahar and that he was part of a massive jail bust out of afghanistan at one point, yes. >> i know that french police keep saying that he'll come out

of his own free will. why do they believe that? >> your guess is as good as mine really. i'm not sure -- i think the situation in france challenges every possible type of political hostage or even terrorist situation in recent memory. and i think they just want to take him alive. so it a certain extent, they want to negotiate with him because they would like to get more answers as to his motivation and to why such a young man, young frenchman, would want to do this to his citizens. >> you said that he was upset by a recent french law that outlawed women from wearing the full veil. how is france reacting to this

news? >> with shock and a little bit of consternation as to what to do with it. really, it is a bit of a double whammy. it is a shooting that targets elite french paratroopers. two of them of the muslim faith. the third one was a west indian orange origin. and then the second shooting was of a father, a schoolteacher, with his two small children, jewish, jewish faith. and then point blank range he shot an 8-year-old girl of the jewish faith. for the first time you have, i think there is a bit of soul searching going on in france as to how to -- how to talk about race and how to talk about anti-semitism. and just how quickly these things could turn to terrible disaster, especially at a time

like this of french electoral campaign where issues of faith and the jewish community and islam has been very much at the forefront. so there has been quite a lot of hand wringing as to how to take the national conversation forward. >> thank you so much for joining us and telling us your story. we appreciate it. we'll be back after a break. [ female announcer ] here in california, our schools need help.

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visit ourchildrenourfuture2012.com today. people in clintonville, wisconsin, keep hearing strange booming noises. and nobody knows what's causing them. >> this like constant boom, boom, boom.

>> almost felt like a heavy duty thunderstorm. >> we didn't know what was going on. >> just a weird, weird feeling. >> the city ruled out mining explosions, the military, even natural gas problems. people have put up with these sounds since sunday. again it happening in clintonville, wisconsin. look at the map. the green dots are the homes where the booms have been heard. so you see it is widespread. it is all over the place. it is not really concentrated in one area. and, of course, the problem is a great annoyance for everyone. it really falls on lisa kusic's shoulders, the clinton city administrator. welcome this morning. >> welcome, carol. thank you for having me. >> so do you have any guesses as to what these booming sounds mean? where they're coming from? >> it clearly seems to be coming from underneath the earth's surface. and unfortunately we really haven't determined anything that it is. we have tried to determine what it isn't. >> did you call a geologist in?

>> we have not had them actually located in clintonville yet, but we have been speaking to them from the university of wisconsin, milwaukee, and madison. >> does it appear these booms indicate anything dangerous? >> after the third night, we have not seen any sort of property or damage to people. and so we do not believe that it is an eminent danger to our citizens. >> so you've ruled out, you know, mining as a cause. >> that's correct. >> because, you know, in ohio there was that earthquake in youngstown and it was because of -- it was because of mining. but no mining is taking place in wisconsin. >> no, not in our area. >> have you felt the booms? >> i have. >> what do they feel like? >> the loudest one i experienced was two nights ago at about 10:00 p.m. i was with our police chief and public works manager. and it was a very loud sound of a boom and just sort of the floor under you jolting, just

one loud boom and you could feel it under your feet. >> did it squacare you? >> it startled and you have that -- your heart racing after it happens because you're not expecting it. >> okay, and i suppose it would be difficult to record the sound because they happen -- they don't happen at prescribed times, so you can't exactly record them. >> our utility building is actually in the zone that is most concentrated in. so we did set up audio and video last night, but i received word that nothing was monitored at either our 8:00 p.m. or 5:00 a.m. occurrences that people report. and each property doesn't seem to have the same experience each time something occurs. >> we'll check back with you. lisa kuss, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. in today's daily dose, the safeway grocery store chain says it will stop selling ground beef with a filler known as pink slime. let's talk to our cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth coh cohen. this sounds so gross.

it sounds so gross. i can't even believe it was sold in grocery stores. >> it is just meat. it is like connective tissue and other stuff all ground up and put into ground beef used sort of as a filler. it is less expensive than the ground beef is. and so a lot of people object to it and publix, whole foods and costco said they won't have any part of it in anything they sell. part of is is the yick factor. one of our bloggers at cnn.com says it resembled strawberry froyo. so it is -- some of it is the yickiness. some people say it is a health problem because it is treated with ammonium hydroxide and some people have some had health issues with that even though the fda says it is fine. >> you can eat the pink slime and it won't hurt you? >> the fda says it is perfectly

fine. the people who don't like it are not specific about what they say is unhealthy about it. it may be just this yick factor you you this i you're getting ground beef and you're getting connective tissue and other stuff. >> so if i'm looking at a package of beef in the grocery store, it is not going to list pink slip. what should i look for? >> the industry calls it lean finely textured beef. they don't call it pink slime, just so you know. >> if you see that on the package, don't buy it. >> it won't say anything. you have no idea. you can't look at it. i've been told if you look at just regular ground beef without pink slip and ground beef with, you couldn't tell the difference. it is not labeled. you have no idea. but publix, whole foods and costco and safeway don't have it in their products. say they don't. it may not be right at this minute, but they're going that way. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you. please don't ever describe this to me again. she flew into the public eye at the controls of her plane and

flew into history when her plane disappeared over the pacific ocean without a trace. a new clue could mean finding the last resting place of amelia earhart. [ male announcer ] this one goes out to all the allergy muddlers. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. well, muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. zyrtec®. love the air.

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much of the east coast is coated in pollen and desperate for rain. in the meantime, the midwest is facing flooding and just wants excite to clear. rob marciano is in piedmont park where two straight days of record pollen levels have people reaching for the antihistamines. rob, when we're talking about

pollen counts, we're talking about big time pollen counts. >> reporter: we are. but, you know, it is -- most of the pollen that affects us, you know, breathing, is a microscopic kind, the green stuff you see flying all over the place, that's from pine trees, that doesn't affect people as much as the really tiny stuff. and we talk about pollen counts and yesterday in atlanta we had a pollen count over 9,000. 9,000 little bitty parts per cubic meter. that's huge. the old record was 6,000. extreme levels are 1500. so you can just imagine what that feels like if you do suffer. it is not just atlanta. look at some of the top five cities today that will have some of the highest pollen counts in the country. places across the south, birmingham, places through mississippi, even places as far north as cape girardeau, missouri, will experience this stuff. the map indicates that we'll have red all the way up through the mid-atlantic and in some cases as far north as connecticut and new york where the oaks, the elms are

blossoming there. here, in atlanta, we have got the oak -- the dogwoods. isn't that pretty? now, before these came, the old bradford pears, they're beautiful white flowers. the problem is the dogwood festival is next month. this is blooming way, way too early. the cherry blossom festival in d.c. happening now. but they pretty much have already bloomed. this san oak tree. this is one of the trees here that is pollinating. you see the leaves just beginning to sprout there. and the red flag, the dreaded red flag, carol, you know what that means, a red flag, pollen warning here, no, i'm kidding. that's not what that means. parts of the park are closed to playing sports on the lawn. you get the idea. we need some rain. temperatures have been 80 plus for seven straight days. we may do it again today. in chicago, they have been 80, 85 degrees for the past week. so unusually strong heat wave very early. spring has sprung. >> at least we're all suffering together, right? rob marciano, live in atlanta's

piedmont park. amelia earhart disappeared 75 years ago but some people have refused to give up the search. she flew west to east around the globe and vanished on july 2nd of the same year over the pacific ocean. neither earhart nor her plane have ever been found. one group says they now have a new lead. here's more from lisa sylvester. >> reporter: amelia earhart was attempting to scircumnavigate te globe. she was roughly 20 hours into the trip, flying from new guinea to holland island. when she and her navigator vanished over the pacific ocean. now a new clue may solve the decades old history. this picture was taken a few months after earhart disappeared. it is off gardener island. rick gillespie spent 20 years searching for earhart. >> this is the ship that went aground on the reef in 1929, an

old wreck then. what struck us is that there is something sticking up out of the water over here. this is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle that fits right in with the other pieces we had. so, yeah, i think it is probably the landing gear of her airplane. >> reporter: forensic imaging specialists say it could be part of her plane's landing gear. and there are more clues. items common in the 1930s were found on excavation sites on the island. >> the artifacts we found on this site are bottles from personal care items that an american woman in the 1930s would have, the parts of a mirror and makeup from a woman's compact. >> reporter: navy planes searched around the island in the days after she went missing, but found no sign of her lockheed aircraft. gillespie believes most of it had already slipped below the ocean's surface. at a news conference at the state department, gillespie, whose group recovers historic aircraft, announced a high tech deep water search will begin this summer off the pacific island, using a small robotic

submarine. the u.s. government is lending its support, secretary of state hillary clinton said she's been captivated with amelia earhart since her mother first told her the aviator's story. >> she embodied the spirit of an america coming of age and increasingly confident, ready to lead in a quite uncertain and dangerous world. >> reporter: gillespie says the photograph gives them a starting point of where to look. >> the only thing we can do is make a best effort to go and search and look and see what we can find. it is the searching that's important. >> reporter: the search for earhart has been like looking for a needle in a hay stack. but the hay stack may be a lot smaller now. that expedition trip this summer is privately funded. it will take off from hawaii. they will spend ten days open the site scanning the waters off the coast. so fingers crossed, just maybe we'll have some answers. lisa sylvester, cnn, washington.