good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we're very happy you're with us. we're bringing you the news from "a" to "z."

it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. we'll start with the top stories. the sound and the fury. he was screaming, they're going to take us down and ranting about the middle east and a bomb. new tape this morning of a jet blue pilot and what's being called a mental breakdown at 30,000 feet. you're going to hear from the hero copilot and the passengers who literally grabbed him by his neck to save the flight. and the more you hear, the more you realize just how close they came to disaster. the supreme court, set for a critical final day of arguments in the historic health care debate. today's session focusing on whether parts of the president's plan can even remain law if the individual mandate at the heart of the overhaul is deemed unconstitutional. an emotional plea for justice. the parents of trayvon martin speaking to lawmakers on capitol hill, as supporters continue to insist the florida teenager was killed because he was black. newt gingrich is scaling back. the former house speaker cutting

campaign appearances and laying off staff, leaving many observers wondering if the end of his presidential campaign is indeed near. and laker legend magic johnson ready to bleed dodger blue? a group led by magic has agreed to buy the bankrupt l.a. dodgers for a cool $2 billion. it's the biggest price tag ever for a sports franchise. up first, those terrifying moments on a jet blue flight. we're seeing new tape this morning of a man's mental breakdown at 30,000 feet. not just any man, the pilot. >> unbelievable sound. listen in. >> i feel like it! >> just incredible. we're also starting to hear from the air traffic control recordings as the copilot guided everyone to safety. >> we've definitely got an emergency, and we're going to need authorities and medical

assistance. >> we're standing by for you. can we have the airport police standing by? you want them to enter from the right or the left? >> probably the front. >> flight requests medical and security as soon as able. >> we've got medical and security standing by. >> simply incredible. alina cho is here with what happened and what one person did on board that probably saved a lot of lives. >> it is incredible. if you think about it, this is on the heels of what happened with the american airlines flight attendant a couple of weeks back with the rant about 9/11 and fears about the plane going down. i think it's a safe bet -- >> mental breakdown, right? >> that's right. to have it happen twice in a couple of weeks is pretty extraordinary. i think it's a pretty safe bet that, ever since 9/11, airline passengers know there may come a time when they have to take matters into their own hands. that's exactly what happened on board flight 191 from jfk to las vegas on tuesday. >> oh, my god!

i am so distraught. we've got israel. we've got iraq. we've got israel. we've got iraq. we've got to get down! >> you have to listen very carefully, but if you can, you can hear in that video, he's distraught, mentioning israel and then iraq, and then saying we've got to get down. that man was the captain of the plane. unbelievable. witnesses say he left the cockpit, then came back and started banging on the door. he was locked out at that point. that is when two flight attendants and some passengers, six or seven large men, we're told, jumped in and restrained him. get this, it turns out that many of the people on board that flight, they were headed to a convention in vegas, a security convention. good thing. >> wow. >> the plane was diverted ultimately to amarillo, texas. that's where it made an emergency landing. here are pictures of the pilot being wheeled off the plane, restrained with his hands behind his back, and in some sort of yellow chair.

that was before he was taken away in an ambulance to a medical facility. >> i saw about two or three guys right next to him jump up and another like four guys rush right past me toward the front of the plane. >> he started to curse at me and try to tell me, hey, you better pray, iraq and iran. so i say, you know what, i'm going to show you what iraq and iran is, and i took him if a choke hold. >> apparently, there are a lot of heroes in this case, but there's one person who's being credited with really quick thinking. >> i was so surprised by this. but i guess, when you think about the turn of events, it all sort of makes sense, right? it really was the copilot who first noticed something was wrong. in an interview with our piers morgan last night, one of the passengers said it was the copilot who was the hero. it appears the copilot was the first person to spot there was something wrong with the pilot, odd behavior. he was somehow apparently able to trick him into leaving the

cockpit and then locked him out. >> the copilot of the flight, he really, i think, is the hero here because he had the sense to recognize that something was going horribly wrong, and he was able to persuade the captain out of the cockpit. that was really the first step in allowing this to play out the way that it did. thankfully, we're here to be able to talk about it. >> that's right. 153 passengers and 6 crew members. meanwhile, federal investigators say this is not terror related. they are, of course, looking into the pilot's background, flight history, medical records, training to see if there was any clue at all about his behavior they may have overlooked. we should mention, in order to fly on a commercial airliner, you have to have what's called a first class medical certificate. if you are under 40 years old, that needs to be renewed once a year. if you are over 40 years old, 40 or over, it needs to be renewed every six months.

that includes a physical examination by an faa medical examiner. and if there is the need, they do ask for additional psychological training. but a lot of the passengers on board this flight said that captain seemed really calm, and then all of a sudden he snapped. obviously, there are going to be a lot of questions going forward. we're going to be watching this story very closely. >> i can't wait to see the tapes, if we ever get to see the tapes of what happened inside the cockpit before he got locked out. >> that's what everyone wants to know. >> what was being said before he got locked out. alina, thank you for that. >> you bet. the third and final day of the historic health care debate unfolds before the supreme court. this happens five hours from now. based on what we heard yesterday, the centerpiece of president obama's affordable care act could be on life support. the individual mandate appears now to be in trouble. it requires nearly every american to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty. listen to a skeptical justice antonin scalia. >> how do you define the market

that broadly, health care? it may well be that everybody needs health care sooner or later, but not everybody needs a heart transplant, not everybody needs a liver transplant. >> that's correct, justice scalia, but you never know when -- >> you define the market, everybody has to buy food sooner or later. you define the market as food, and therefore everybody's in the market and you can make people buy broccoli. >> kate bolduan is in washington. i know we said we're not going to get any answers until june, but we're definitely getting a clearer picture here. >> reporter: definitely getting a look into the window of the justices. oral arguments are not the final word. the justices can induce surprises, but oral arguments are important because they give us a little clue of the line of questioning that the justices take on and where they're maybe leaning and where they're kind of leading the attorneys that are in front of them.

i just want to take a second to listen a little more to sound from the more conservative justices because it does give a clue of just how skeptical they are that they may think this health care law goes simply too far. listen here. >> what you're saying is the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous cases. that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way. >> once we say that there is a market and congress can require people to participate in it, as some would say, it seems to me we can't say there are limitations on what congress can do under its commerce power. all bets are off. >> reporter: those are just some of the tough questions they were throwing at the solicitor general, the top lawyer for the obama administration, in front of the high court. but moving on to today, it's becoming a very critical final day. two issues are going to be

debated, the issue of severability and the issue involving the medicaid program under this law. severability, we like to think of it as the domino effect. if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional, can any of the law survive? do some provisions also need to fall? or does the entire law need to fall? critical questions that will be debated today, this morning, and then this afternoon the justices are going to be taking a look at whether the expanded medicaid program under the health care law unfairly steps on state powers by requiring that states pay more of a share in the expanded cost of the expanded eligibility program under this law. so two critical questions again today. yesterday, of course, was the big centerpiece, but today will also be critical as well, zoraida. >> kate bolduan, live in washington for us. ten minutes past 5:00. newt gingrich's bid for the presidency, is it nearing the end of days? the former house speaker is cutting back appearances, laying off a third of his staff, and the layoffs include his campaign

manager. all of that fueling the speculation he may be pretty close to p ddropping out. if you ask the majority of republican voters what they think, they think that's precisely what newt gingrich should do. take a look at the new cnn/orc poll. 6 out of 10 think he should end his campaign. nearly 500 firefighters called into battle. a fast moving and deadly wildfire near denver, colorado. that wildfire has destroyed close to 2,000 structures, including the home where the remains of an elderly couple were found. another woman who lives in the area is missing. strong winds have died down, but the fire is still not under control. at one point officials recommended evacuating 6,500 homes as a precaution. >> there's always one more thing that you can go back for. i'd load the car and look the plume of smoke, bigger, bigger, bigger, and at some point you just have to draw the line and say, you know what, it's time to get out. >> let's go down to rob

marciano. he's live at the weather center in atlanta. rob, will the firefighters in colorado still have to battle the gusty winds? yesterday when we talked to you, you said they were dying down a bit. >> they were lower than the day before, low enough to get air support in there. they don't have a lot. one seat single tanker air in there, one heavy tanker, and a couple of choppers. that's about it. they do have about 400 firefighters on scene. winds are pretty light. they'll get a better handle on it again this morning. as the afternoon wears along, we're looking for gusty winds. again, most of those winds will be, once again, north of colorado in through wyoming and montana and western parts of the dakotas, where winds could gust 30 to 40 miles an hour. could see gusts 20 to 25 in the fire zone, and that will give them a little more of a headache. zero containment there. as you mentioned, 4,500 acres burned so far. down to the south, thunderstorms, and some of these could be severe rolling across

i-35 just south of san antonio. and a little white on the map across the northeast. it was a chilly day to start yesterday morning. temperatures got to 50 degrees across parts of i-95. once again on the chilly side. temperatures rebound with a return flow of heat and humidity this afternoon from the south. guys, back out to you. >> rob marciano, thank you for that. still ahead on "early start," everybody off the bus. are you ready? fire forcing dr-- look at that. fire forcing a pretty hasty exit for greyhound passengers in california. plus catching up with the castros. pope benedict xvi meeting with the current and former leader on his visit to cuba. and a man with a big problem. take a look at your screen. honestly, it is a remarkable story. this is the tallest man in america, and a simple thing like shopping for shoes is like nothing you'll imagine. we're going to take you into that life in a moment. quickly s.

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it's now 16 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to check the stories making top billing with christine romans. >> thank you. a new report says the lead detective in the trayvon martin shooting wanted to file manslaughter charges against george zimmerman, but his recommendation to file charges was rejected by the state attorney general's office. florida prosecutors believed there simply wasn't enough evidence to convict zimmerman. pope benedict meets with former leader fidel castro this morning in cuba. yesterday he met with raul castro, the current president. the pope is making his first visit to the island nation. later he's going to celebrate mass in havana's revolution plaza. passengers on a greyhound bus in california escaped a fiery finish to their ride. the bus was blocks away from the

finish in stockton when the driver saw flames coming out of the back of the bus. ae le he alerted the driver. everyone got out safely thankfully. and the tallest man in america needs a new pair of shoes. igor of minnesota, look how tall he is. he stands 7'8". he thinks he wears a size 26, but he's not sure. he says no one's made a shoe that fits him for the last six or seven pairs. he contacted reebok, but they said it would cost $15,000 to make him a custom pair. he has started a website, and he's raised almost $25,000. call shaq. there's got to be somebody out there with very big feet who feels this guy's pain. >> i interviewed shaq once, and i told him to take off his shoe so i could see what everyone is talking about. it was the size of my arm. >> only one pair of shoes. i feel terrible for that guy. one pair. it is unfair.

18 minutes past the hour. here's an early read on the local news making national headlines. >> want to start with "the new york times" because there was this story that came out a while back of a real smart kid who used his smarts for bad and evil, helping other kids cheat on the s.a.t.s and the a.c.t.s, and he wasn't the only one doing it. because of a rash of this kind of cheating, guess what's about to happen? if you want to sign up for the s.a.t.s and the a.c.t., you need to upload a photo or mail in a photo when you get your admission ticket. that's what they call it. your photo is going to be on the admission ticket, and officials who let you in for the test are going to check your photo against your face and your photo i.d., and it's going to be a lot tougher for someone to hire a gun and take the test for you. all of this announced in the aftermath of cheating chaos. if you think you're immune, this is going to happen nationwide, folks. kids, hit the books. l.a. times now.

dennis rodman could face jail time over child and spousal support. the nba hall of famer faces a 20-day jail stint for contempt of court unless he comes up with nearly $1 million in child and spousal support. he owes this to his ex-wife. m rodman's lawyer says he's broke, sick with alcoholism and can't make payments. he made just under $27 million in his nba career. he's known for lavish spending and dating madonna. >> and wearing a wedding dress. >> he was also on "celebrity apprentice." >> i hope he gets better. i never like hearing someone has an addiction problem. >> but that's a lot of money. still ahead, new details for you, pretty surprising, in fact, in the trayvon martin case, as well as new photographs of the victim and of the shooter. it may just change the narrative in this case for some people. we're going to take you live to sanford in just a moment. christine interviewed the

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23 minutes past the hour. we are minding your business. the markets rally losing some steam. the dow, nasdaq, and s&p 500 all in the red. remember markets are up stronger. so far this year. >> let's talk about oil, shall we? the light sweet crude, nice breakfast talk. about $106 a barrel in overseas trading. that's down about 75 cents. still pretty expensive, though. $106. christine romans interviewing the ceo of fedex. who would care more, other than a company of drivers, about the cost of gas? >> imagine if you're running something like fedex where your business is basically dependent on the price of oil. i was talking to the ceo of fedex at the national economics business summit yesterday, asking about whether he sees the price of oil coming down, the

answer is no, and asking him who's to blame. in this country, you hear the conversation blaming presidents, blaming congress, blaming speculators. your business is literally run on oil. is there somebody to blame? >> i think the someone to blame is all of us. as the world has become rich and the new emerging economies have an appetite for oil, as we did, it's created significant demand for a finite number of resources, which are increasing more expensive to get. >> it's not about us anymore, guys. it's about the rest of the world. we use about 90 million barrels a day, and quite frankly, a worldwide demand for oil is expected to go up 1.5% next year. it means you're going to be coming up with a lot more oil. we're going to be burning more oil even next year. it's a lot about transportation. this is about trucks and cars and the way we use transportation around the world. what he is doing in their

business is looking at long haul trucking using natural gas, which is cheaper. got to build out liquid natural gas facilities along the highway system. and then in towns, very short haul kind of deliveries, they're looking at electric and hybrid type vehicles. there's a lot of things they're trying there because they think that higher oil prices are a reality. >> how about price increases? did he mention that at all? that makes me nervous. >> he did mention price increases. i'll tell you what's interesting. the economy is still -- the economy is not growing well enough in this country, he said. it's still subpar. he would like big investments in this country to get the economy to do a little bit better. that's what he's worried about, that the economy is not growing strongly enough. of course, his business is very economically sensitive. >> does he think we all still have the rapacious appetite for gas we used to now that we have such high prices? >> it doesn't matter if we do anyway. it's for the rest of the world. the rest of the world wants to be like us, and that means they're going to build an awful lot of oil. >> thank you very much.

26 minutes past the hour. coming up on "early start," a school bus goes on a really wild ride. it's a high speed police chase. and guess what? the chase was only the beginning. wait until you see the frightening finish. it's like nothing stopped them. >> lord. and ghost ship drifting in the pacific. sign of what's coming perhaps from japan? we'll explain this one. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. [ female announcer ] new aveeno skin strengthening body cream helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. reveal healthy, supple skin. homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives?

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it's now 30 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. it's the final day of

arguments in today's health care supreme court debate. today's focus is severability on whether parts of the health care bill can remain law even if parts of the plan are determined to be unconstitutional. newt gingrich's presidential campaign may be on its last leg. he's cutting back appearances, laying off a third of his staff. and when a new cnn poll showed that 60% of republican voters believe he should exit the race, it's thought that's what he should do. this ghost ship, take a look, marking the arrival of debris from last year's tsunami in japan. there's no one on board, and it's drifting off the coast of canada right now. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration is telling reuters debris could start washing up on north america any time now. and listen to this. >> mega millions. the lottery jackpot is growing by leaps and bounds. no one won last night's $363

million jackpot. so it's now up to $476 million for friday's drawing. you still have time. it's the largest lottery jackpot in u.s. history. >> close to $500 million. and we're in on the office pool as well. can't imagine there aren't a lot of office pools out there. it's 31 minutes past 5:00. there are new details coming out in this trayvon martin shooting story. an abc news report says the lead detective on the case wanted to charge george zimmerman with manslaughter in that teenager's death but he was overruled by the state attorney general's office. at the same time, there are new images that are emerging that paint somewhat of a different picture of the people involved in the story. the only photo seen when the story first broke showed a young trayvon martin and george zimmerman in a mugshot. zimmerman's photo was from a 2001 arrest which made him appear menacing.

now pictures with martin at 17 years old. he's older, bigger, and more grown up. and at the time of his death, he was 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. to the right, you can see zimmerman's subsequent photo. he appears much different. he's better dressed, smiling, and he's closer to what his friend joe oliver says he looks like now. in the meantime, trayvon martin's parents are speaking out in support in the halls of congress yesterday, addressing a democratic house forum on racial profiling, hate crimes, and stand your ground laws. george zimmerman, by the way, still not arrested, still in hiding, conflicting versions of what actually led to the fatal shooting are playing out. >> told that trayvon approached zimmerman, asked zimmerman, did he have a problem? zimmerman told him, no, and trayvon supposedly said, well, now you do, homey. and zimmerman supposedly was

reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. at that point, trayvon punched him and the scuffle ensued, which, again, knowing trayvon, trayvon -- those are not the words of trayvon. trayvon is not confrontational. he would only be trying to get home. >> i believe, when all the evidence comes out, this will clearly show this was a case of life or death for either trayvon or george, and sadly, for the martin family, it was trayvon that we lost. >> cnn's martin savidge is live in sanford, florida, on this story. martin, as we've been covering the story the past two weeks, a lot of people have come forward either with leaked information or a fact they say they know to be true, almost as though they were there at the moment of confrontati confrontation, and we've heard the state attorney weighing in on this saying stop, everybody stop with the facts. what else is going on in terms of keeping the pressure on this

story because of the tragedy that happened? but then also keeping it real and keeping it based on the facts. >> reporter: part of the problem with this, ashleigh, is there is this kind of vacuum. you have not had an arrest. as a result of not having an arrest, information that might have come out through police reports and other official means have not come out. george zimmerman is in hiding. he doesn't speak. he says he cannot speak. so this creates this huge informational vacuum. when you have a vacuum, you have all sorts of people that step forward and try to fill that void. not all of them have good intentions or accurate information. that's part of the problem you're having now. you get these leaks. that's a problem for the investigation. it's a problem for eventually if there's a trial because both sides now are being implicated in negative ways. take a listen as both the family and friends of george zimmerman and also trayvon talk about the whole leak situation, what it's doing.

>> this investigation has been botched from the beginning, and people other than me knew it was supposed to be an arrest made. >> as we saw with the casey anthony case, there was a preponderance of evidence released to the public where she was convicted before the trial even started. if george had been arrested, then we would have seen more of this evidence come out. >> reporter: both the family and, of course, george zimmerman would say they have been painted badly by the leaks that have occurred, and the leaks will continue until there's some official ruling one way or another. >> martin satisvidge live from sanford, thanks so much. it is 36 minutes past the hour now. just released, wild video of a police chase in new mexico that

brought traffic to a standstill on interstate 40 in albuquerque earlier this month. it happened the morning of march 9th. so the cops respond to a call about a stolen bus. you're taking a look at pictures there. the officers unsuccessfully tried to ram it. so what did they do? they added more police officers in pursuit, dozens of them. road spikes slowed down the bus thief. the tires shredded, but the suspect, nathaniel shipman, just kept on going. the officer in pursuit, his tires also shredded. he had to pull over. check out the police dash cam view of the final moments of the chase. a trooper finally able to get that bus to spin out. look at that. >> classic move. >> the bus crashes into the divider. the cops finally are able to rush in. several shots were fired. the suspect was hit twice, survived with nonlife-threatening injuries and was taken into custody.

>> that's the classic maneuver. you see the high speed chase, and the cop tries to take out the rear corner of your vehicle so you spin out. look what happens when the bus spins out. i always worry about the police officers. they're engaging in a crash. that's difficult. boom, boom, boom, one side, game over. you think you're smarter than the cops, but you're not. ahead on "early start," don't take my wife, please. the heroic husband who saved his wife from an armed carjacker. >> got to love that. and this. magic johnson now the owner of a pro sports franchise. it's not the lakers, folks. it's not even hoops. who's behind all thf?

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this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. battle speech right? may i? capital one is issuing a venture double miles challenge. 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. 40 minutes past the hour. >> christine romans doing the job for us. good morning, christine. >> good morning, ladies.

the end may be near for newt gingrich's white house bid. the former house speaker has laid off campaign staff and cancelled aappearances. it's all fueling speculation he's preparing to exit the race. the communications director for the gingrich campaign will join soledad live in the 6:00 hour to answer that question. a korean war veteran stopped a carjacker in michigan from taking off with his car and his wife. it shows the 39-year-old suspect getting into a car in a gas station in lincoln park. he allegedly held a knife to the wom woman's throat. the husband struggled with the carjacker, and he eventually took off. 81-year-old veteran. a group led by lakers legend magic johnson won a bidding war to buy the dodgers from frank mccourt, who had driven the team into bankruptcy.

the price $2 billion, the most ever paid for a sports franchise. >> is it worth it? >> $2 billion for a sports franchise? better sell a lot of jerseys. >> is he the first african american owner? christine will find out. time to put you in the pop culture loop. a look at what's trending on the web and social media. tim tebow apparently the most marketable man on the planet. >> he looks marketable, doesn't he? >> look at that stride, that strut. his popularity is surging, even more now that he landed here in new york. he's landing right on madison avenue. the davy brown index -- have you heard of it? apparently, it measures things like trust and sincerity and appeal and influence, and it puts him fourth overall, but he trails these three women on the right. he trails oprah. he trails adele.

he trails the duchess katherine middleton, duchess of cambridge. how about that? talk about landing right up there among the very popular and the very wealthy. not bad. that's nice when you want those endorsement deals. >> it is indeed. this is one tiny puppy. she's a female dachshund mix named beyonce. she could set the world's record for the tiniest dog. animal rescuers in northern california say beyonce was so small at birth that she could fit into a spoon. >> is that a polaroid? >> no, that was an iphone. now in about two weeks, she's the size of a business card. just like the beyonce song, she's a survivor. beyonce was born without a heartbeat at the shelter. i've got to add this. who does this? she was not breathing. her heart was not pumping. so she was given mouth to mouth. >> come on. >> that is how she made it. >> look at mommy. >> chest compressions and mouth

to mouth. >> seriously, who did that? that's remarkable. >> that was her doctor. >> her doctor. little beyonce. adorable. so we like this one. this is the lighter side of mitt romney. did we ever think we were going to say the lighter side of mitt romney? he was on "the tonight show" with jay leno, and the talk turned professional, talking to running mates and who he might consider. have a look. >> talk to me about the vice president. who are you looking for? >> i haven't actually put a list together at this stage. it would be presumptuous, number one. >> not even with the wife, you know, honey. really? it's never come up? i'm not even running, and i discuss it with my wife. i'll give you a list of candidates. you give me one word on each person. chris christie? >> couple words maybe? >> chris christie? >> indomitable. >> indomitable? >> yeah. >> all right. >> a man of strong will. great strength.

indomitable. >> a man of girth. >> if you attack chris christie, you're going to get more than you bargained for. he comes back hard and strong. indomitable. >> marco rubio. >> i'll try for smaller words next time. >> marco rubio. yeah, we don't want to -- marco rubio. >> the american dream. >> donald trump. >> huge. >> huge. rick santorum. >> press secretary. >> that's great. quick wit, right? that was good. >> this is the best i've seen him in this way. especially coming back so quickly, i'll try for smaller words. >> and maybe that would be a good running mate next to him. he brings out a lighter side of him. >> i love jay leno. best part might be, though, he suggested, by choosing a vp, perhaps he could help leno out by taking david letterman out of

the talk show circuit and putting him on the political circuit. david letterman for vp. still ahead, trayvon martin's parents going to capitol hill. his mother saying, they killed my son. now they're trying to kill his reputation. we'll talk to the former director of the miami dade police department who testified about race and racial profiling in this country. i'm always looking out for small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in. [ female announcer ] introducing new nature valley protein bars.

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the story of trayvon martin is shifting from florida to washington. the parents of trayvon martin were on capitol hill yesterday. in emotional remarks, they spoke before a house judiciary forum. >> trayvon was our son, but trayvon is your son. a lot of people can relate to our situation, and it breaks their heart just like it breaks mine. >> florida democrats federico wilson and craig brown were among those who asked for the hearing. they were quick to jump on the sanford police department. >> i don't know whether it's incompetent or cover-up or all of the above. >> trayvon is the victim of a botched police investigation full of incompetence or

intelligent mismanageismanageme. >> robert parker testified before that committee. he's the former director of the miami dade police department, and he served there for 33 years. he's also program coordinator and mentor for the 5,000 role models of excellence project. that is a dropout prevention and intervention program for at risk boys. robert joins me now from miami. thank you so much for being with us this morning. i want to start with your 33 years of experience. how do you think the sanford police department is handling this investigation? >> i think most of the public believes the investigation was somewhat of a rushed investigation or that there's a possibility that it was not concluded before a determination of anything that's going to proceed with this case, a premature determination on how to proceed. >> you just heard congresswoman federica wilson. she said that trayvon is the victim of a botched investigation. would you go that far?

>> i would say in the normal scheme of things something certainly did not happen the way that it should happen. by that i mean, there should be an investigation that includes the primary law enforcement, a trained team of homicide investigators -- i don't mean a single investigator, but a team of investigators. it should also include a representative or a person from the state attorney's office. of course, any witnesses that are potentially there on the scene or in the immediate vicinity should be interviewed immediately before a determination is made on how to proceed with the case. i'm just not sure all that was done in this case. >> abc news is reporting the lead homicide investigator -- and his name is chris cerino -- actually wanted to arrest zim r zimmerman on the night of the shooting, but the state attorney nixed the idea. do you find that surprising? >> i do find it surprising, especially when a trained law

enforcement officer, homicide investigator would make that determination. i'm sure he didn't make it arbitrarily. he probably made it based on his experience and the factors and circumstances involved in the case. and, yes, i'd be surprised that in an option to either proceed with the charge, which is what's normally done, some form of charge in the death or not, that a determination was made by a state attorney's representative not to do that. especially if that representative was not on the scene and an active participant in the investigation. i'm not sure whether they were on the scene or not, but that would be a concern, any consideration. so, yes, it's very surprising. >> i want to ask you about some leaks. in addition to the abc news report, a lot of leaks. the orlando sentinel got the police report. the miami herald got the school suspension reports. a child rights' attorney and

advocate who has no relation to trayvon said this. i want you to tell me what you think has happened here. >> we can't imagine that anything was intended by those records except to malign this young man's character and to now paint a picture that he's not the good kid that we've been hearing about for the last 30 days or so, and that really troubles me. kids have a right to privacy. their records are protected by law. and i think in this case, in particular, the police department should have acted with more integrity. >> what do you think happened there? did the police department leak this information? >> well, if you're referring to the high school records of trayvon martin, i would not think that it's the police department, as those records are typically in the hands of school officials, not police officials. if there is a leak, i would think that it came from that direction as opposed to the police department. if the situation were to -- >> how about the details in the

police report? >> the details in the police report should be public record. unless you're talking about the police report involving trayvon's actions at the school. >> i want to ask you one last thing. mr. zimmerman's friend was on soledad o'brien's show yesterday, and he made a comment about perhaps the gun went off. do you think that is something that is contained within the police report as well, when they talked to mr. zimmerman, or do you think that perhaps they're setting up their defense? >> well, that would be speculation on my part to say that it's something that came out of the police report. it may be just an arbitrary statement by this friend as opposed to a factual depiction or a possible factual depiction. however, if we do now have the circumstances that says the gun went off, then if the gun went

off, then it wasn't an intentional defending of oneself, as is the position by mr. zimmerman. it's one or the other. it's either he defended himself and shot this child or that gun accidentally went off. it can't be both. >> robert parker, former director of miami dade police department. thanks for your time this morning. >> my pleasure. coming up at 6:30 eastern, we'll talk live with trayvon martin's parents, sabrina fulton and tracy martin, along with their attorney. we like to look at the cover of the papers. the cover of the new york post reading "this is your captain freaking." a captain of a jet blue flight freaking out at 30,000 feet. real scary, and the passengers had to come to the rescue. turn left.

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good morning to "early sta" i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. he was screaming "they're going to take us down" and rant being the middle east and a bomb. there's new tape of a jetblue pilot's mental breakdown at 30,000 feet. you'll hear from the passengers who literally grabbed him by his neck to save that flight. and the more you hear, the more you realize how close they came to disaster. newt gingrich laying off his campaign manager and not stopping there. laying off a third of his staff as well. while cutting back dramatically on his campaign appearances and this is all leaving a lot of people to wonder if the former speaker is about to bow out of

the race. as trayvon martin's parents take their fight for justice directly to lawmakers in washington there are reports the lead investigator wanted to charge george zimmerman with manslaughter but was overruled. a woman is still missing in an area outside of denver, colorado, where an awful wildfire has already claimed two lives. at least 23 different structures have been completely torched. 4,500 acres have been scorched. calmer winds are expected today to slow down the spread of that wildfire. laker legend magic johnson ready to bleed dodger blue. a group agreed to buy the bankrupt l.a. dodgers for a cool $2 billion, the biggest price tag ever for a sports franchise. up first, terrifying moments on board a jetblue flight. we want to take you inside and let you listen.

we are seeing new tape of a man's mental breakdown at 30,000 feet and not just any man. it was the pilot. we're also hearing the air traffic control reports as the co-pilot guided everyone to safety. >> alina cho is here with what happened. it's kind of like a deja vu moment. >> a couple of weeks ago i was talking about the american airlines flight attend who went on a 9/11 rant. you see the cover of "the new york post" and "the daily news"

"this is your captain freaking" "jet ready to die." the plane landed safely. i want to tell you what happened. you remember "let's roll" from around 9/11, a lot of people were thinking about this ever since 9/11, airline passengers really know there may come a time when they'll have to take matters into their own hands and that's what happened aboard flight 91 from jfk to las vegas tuesday. if you listened carefully could you actually hear in that video saying he's distraught, mentioning israel and iraq and then saying, we've got to get down. that man as zoraida mentioned a moment ago, was the captain of the plane. witnesses say he left the cockpit and came back and started banging on the door but at that point he was already locked out. that's when two flight

attendants and some passengers, we're told six or seven large men jumped in and restrained him. turns out many of the people on board that flight were headed to a security convention in vegas. it's a good thing. >> unbelievable. >> that's why those large men were aboard. the plane was diverted to amarillo, texas, and here is video of the pilot being wheeled off the plane, restrained with his hands behind his back. as he gets to the bottom he's in some sort of yellow chair, he was taken away in an ambulance to a medical facility. >> he's throwing his head back. >> he's being evaluated so a lot of questions as to why he did this, a lot of the passengers aboard saying he was calm and then suddenly he snapped. >> i don't know if we'll ever get it but the tape, the cockpit control, but the tape of what was being said in that cockpit when the co-pilot started to say, i smell a rat here,

something's bad. >> that's exactly right, the co-pilot noticed something was wrong, in fact in an interview with piers morgan last night one of the passengers said it appears the co-pilot was the first person to recognize that something was wrong with the pilot, that he was exhibiting some sort of odd, erratic behavior, so much so he was somehow able to trick him into leaving the cockpit and ultimately locked him out. >> the co-pilot of the flight he really i think is the hero here because he had the sense to recognize that something was going horribly wrong and he was able to persuade the captain out of the cockpit. that was really the first step in, allowing this to play out the way it did and thankfully we're here to be able to talk about it. >> federal investigators say this is not terror related right now. of course they're looking into the pilot's background, flight history, medical records, training to see if there were any clues at all they may have

overlooked. this man was said to be a veteran pilot, well respected by his peers but obviously something just snapped. >> you know what's great to know, everybody jumps to action. it's the one thing we've learned here. >> especially when you're trained in security. half the flight was going to a security convention. >> what are the odds? >> what are the odds? four hours from now, about 10:00 eastern on the west coast the third and final day of geekdom, the historical health care debate unfolding before the supreme court. i love it. severability, the centerpiece of president obama's affordable care act legislation could be in critical condition. the individual mandate is what we're talking about. looks like it's in big trouble. this is the thing that is the essence of the act, it requires almost every american if they don't already have health insurance from their employer or something else, they got to buy it. of course there are a couple of exceptions if you can't afford

it but essentially everybody's got to pay. listen here to justice anthony kennedy, because he's usually the supreme court's swing vote, and he was hard on the case, skeptical about the constitutionality of the mandate. >> and here the government is saying that the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous cases. that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in the very fundamental way." >> yeah, that had a lot of heads turning in the gallery. kate bolduan was at the supreme court and listened in on the arguments all day. we had a wonderful, long talk trying to parse what this meant. what it gets down to today, two issues on the docket, the big one is the severability. if the mandate is in trouble, kate, what does it mean for everything else that kind of hinges on it? >> reporter: that is the key

question. two final issues are going to be debated today and the big one is severability and that ties directly to the question of is the individual mandate constitutional. the big question from yesterday as you heard from the sound from the key swing vote anthony kennedy, he offered some really strong questions. he along with the other more conservative justices seemed skeptical that the law went -- skeptical of the obama administration's argument signaling they might think the law goes too far. that ties in today and that is why today is important. severability is how we like to think of it is as the domino effect. if the mandate is found unconstitutional can any of the rest of the law survive or must it all fail or some provisions can they stand or some provisions fall? that is the key question. many people in the court will be listening in to the line of questioning and where the justices go to see if we can get

additional clues on what they're thinking in terms of the fate of the individual mandate. the second question they're debating is the issue of the medicaid program. the medicaid program under this health care law is expanded. the question is, does the law unfairly step on states' rights in that it is pushing and forcing states to pay more, share more of the cost in terms of the expanded eligibility under the medicaid program in this program. two final questions, two issues we'll be hearing today, very important still and of course i do always have to remind our viewers we'll not get the final opinion yet probably until june. >> it's a two-fer, double day, two sets of arguments. >> reporter: a very good day for me. >> buckle up. kate bolduan, thank you for that. newt gingrich is canceling appearances and laying off a third of his staff, including his campaign manager.

that is fueling speculation he may be ready to withdraw. the majority of republican voters in america agree, six out of ten say he should get out of the race. an unfortunate by-product of the shooting of trayvon martin an elderly couple was forced to move out of their sanford home, while everyone waits to find out if this man, george zimmerman may or may not be charged in the case. passengers head for the exits after the back of the bus starts burning up. you're watching "early start." okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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13 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news this morning. here's christine romans. good morning to you. >> good morning, you guys. an elderly couple in sanford, florida, have been forced out of their house. they had to move out of their house and living in a hotel

after someone tweeted their address claiming that george zimmerman lived there. george zimmerman does not live there. zimmerman is of course the neighborhood watchman who shot and killed trayvon martin. the couple has a son named william george zimmerman. her job, lunch lady at the school now living in a hotel because someone tweeted george zimmerman lived there. a smoky fire in a greyhound bus in california forces passengers to make a mad dash to the door. everyone got out safely and the fire's cause appears to be mechanical. expect some really long lines at your local lottery retailer. the jackpot for friday night's mega millions friday night is a whopping $476 million. that's the largest lottery jackpot in u.s. history. i have ten bucks, i'll give it to you tomorrow morning, let's

not wind up in court when we win. you ladies in? >> yes, i think the entire newsroom is in. >> we'd still keep getting up for our job at 1:00 in the morning. >> how many people are in it, i don't know, 30 people i'm told. >> thanks. we'll look forward to the headlines. 14 minutes past 6:00. there are some in congress calling for regulations in new laws in light of the shooting of trayvon martin. trayvon's parents attended a hearing on capitol hill yesterday on hate crimes and racial profiling where they spoke emotionally about their son. >> trayvon was our son, but trayvon is your son. a lot of people can relate to our situation, taken breaks their heart just like it breaks mine. >> texas democrat and the democratic caucus senior whip

sheila jackson lee was one of the organizers and joins us live. you used to be my congresswoman. i used to live in texas so good to see you. >> oh, my, good to be with you this morning. >> you're a voice of reason so often and i really want to talk at heart about what's going on here. yesterday it was a critical issue, hate crimes and racial profiling a serious problem in this country and clearly at issue in the trayvon martin shooting. what do you feel you accomplished in the forum yesterday? >> ashleigh, as i indicated in my opening remarks yesterday, this was a significant moment for the members of congress. over 21 members of congress participated in this hearing, some nine members of the judiciary committee, to really indicate that the federal government did have a role and responsibility to the american people, certainly to the family of trayvon, but the family of trayvon, as trayvon's mother has said and the father has said really symbolize families across america and if they cannot get

relief in their own local jurisdictions even though we had just noted that one detective, rightly so, thought mr. zimmerman should have been arrested then it is important for the federal government to interject and as we know, mr. obama's justice department, eric holder, rightly decided to assume the investigation under the civil rights law and hate crimes law. the american people deserve that kind of responsible action, because, frankly, everyone is baffled why mr. zimmerman was not taken in that night, because that does not mean that he would have been convicted. an arrest is not a conviction, and that is an important statement for parents and maernts across this country. >> when you say everyone i can say one person who isn't baffled, the state attorney at the time who felt there wasn't enough evidence to take him in under arrest based on the law. now that we have a new state attorney there may be a different finding. it's clearly up to the state attorney and her staff to figure

all of this out and to that note, i want to play for you part of the testimony, i don't know if we can call it testimony in a forum but part of what was said on the mike and into public record from representative fredricka wilson, the democratic representative from florida. she was very specific about what she believes happened and stated as fact what she thinks happened in her prepared statement. let's have a listen. >> this investigation is laced with racial profiling, lies, and murder. trayvon was hunted, chased, tackled, and shot. >> representative jackson lee, when i heard that, i was very concerned. i have a background in law, and i don't like to hear people stating as fact things that happened during a crime, if they weren't absolute eyewitnesses. but ms. wilson did so in her statement.

she went on to say "the eyes of the world are on florida and wash wash today because a little black boy is dead." i want to ask you to weigh in on this, and whether you think it's responsible of representative wilson to say the things that she said, and to characterize one of the people in this case as a little black boy. >> here lies the problem. if the police department at the moment of the action, the killing of trayvon martin, had effectively proceeded and it seems as if someone did, and they proceeded with the arrest, we would begin to have the facts unfold, not only in the public domain but throughout this process of investigation. >> absolutely my point. we would have more of the facts and we don't have them, so what are your thoughts about what ms. wilson stated as fact in this crime, that trayvon was hunted, chased, tackled and shot? >> and let me put on my lawyer's hat and tell you that i first, any lawyer will recognize the emotion of anyone that is

intimately involved in this and as you well know, miss wilson lives a couple of blocks, a couple of doors down from trayvon's family, his mother, and him, at that time, but if you live to the, if the layman listens to what was released as the tapes, you'll hear the commentary of mr. zimmerman. "i see him. he's suspicious, an a-hole, so you can glean from that --" >> we don't hear eyewitnesses say he was hunted, chased, tackled and shot and the representative said those words as fact. an gentlemen rah corey asked all public statements be limited to the process and facts. do you think it was right or wrong? >> first of all i think it was built upon emotion and what i will say to you is that when a member of congress makes those statements in the public domain, they are expressing their opinion. i want the facts to come out. i think miss coralee is right,

she has to take the facts she's left with, no dna, no reports, you're a lawyer you understand what we're missing but she'll have to use her prosecutorial discretion. members of congress have the right to express themselves. those facts will not drive the case. >> but they do drive the public and this is a highly charged public debate and that's why i'm asking you. i and the dough want to harp on the issue. >> no but can i say this -- >> it is critical how the public is reacting to responsible leadership. >> you're absolutely right and we've called for nonviolence. we know people will be out there, pages and pages and listings of cities and counties that people are out in the street asking for justice, but it is an expression of emotion but what i will say to you is out of that particular proceeding not only did we have comments reported in the newspaper by the speaker of the house who indicated it was a

tragedy but members talked about changing law such as the neighborhood watch, registration, certification, reviewing the state's stand and defend in terms of the 21 states that have those kinds of laws, even the republican state author of the bill says maybe you should not have immunity right at that point. >> legitimate questions. >> so that was the good that came out of that. what i would say is the emotion will drive the action, but the action is what counts, and as a lawyer and a member of the judiciary committee i'm very impressed by the members who were there yesterday who made a commitment that this kind of act should not happen not only to trayvon's parents but to parents around this country. that's the commitment that we made yesterday and the reason why i initiated and called for this forum and i'm delighted that ranking member conyers joined that. >> thank you, representative jackson lee. i look forward to our next outing. >> likewise, thank you for your

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i'm going to say good morning and then i'm going to give you the bad news. we're minding your business this morning. gas prices national average $3.91 a gallon, up 17 cents just this month according to aaa. >> wow. probably because the cost of oil is the number one factor driving the gas prices. christine romans speaking with the head of fedex. >> he assumes that oil prices are going to stay here or keep going higher for a lot of different reasons. here is the big one. listen. >> a lot of the oil producing countries like the saudis need a high level of income because of

all of the social commitments to their population they've made. that's probably about $95 to $100 a barrel right there. >> oil prices are $106, saudi oil $100 is baked in the cake, what they need to do to take care of the country. you think about drill baby drill he said that costs mo are to get oil. you're talking $60 to $70 a barrel to get it deep out of the water, the arctic. "it's hard to see prices declining much." >> speculators, let's not forget. >> according to a federal report, speculators is 15% of the cost of oil. it is demand. it is the cost of getting it out of the ground, a lot of demand, put speculators on top of it. for you and i, we see is going up 19 days in a row, a lot of people say i live in ireland, it's $10. i live in canada, it's $6 a

gallon. why are you complaining? we use a lot of gas. >> i feel really good about that now. thank you, christine. still ahead, trayvon martin's mom and dad are taking their call for justice and change right to capitol hill. they're going to join us live. you're watching "early start." c'mon dad!

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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. it is 31 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." time to check the storiies makig news this morning. newt gingrich's presidential campaign may be on life support. he's cutting back appearances and laying off one-third of his staff fueling speculation he may be preparing to drop out. firefighters in colorado hope calmer winds will help them get the upper hand on a wildfire

that has killed at least two people, torched 23 structures so far. one person who lived in the area where the fire's been raging is still missing at this hour. and lakers legend magic johnson is a new coowner of the l.a. dodgers baseball team. he agreed to pay a whopping $2 billion to buy the dodgers from frank mccourt, and the sale is subject to approval in federal bankruptcy court. ashleigh? in less than four hours the supreme court is said to begin their last day of arguments on the president's affordable health care act, opponents call obama care. justice kennedy expressed skepticism about the individual mandate leading some to believe the law may be headed for defeat. >> and here the government is sig that the federal government

has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous cases. >> well -- >> that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way. >> in today's final arguments of the court case, the justices are going to take up two remaining issues, the act's very broad expansion of medicaid and whether the entire law, in fact, is going to have to be scrapped because that mandate is causing a problem. it's called severability. i know it's complex. we'll try to break it down a little about congressman michael burgess, the republican from texas, the vice chairman of the subcommittee on health and an obgyn and joins from us capitol hill. congressman, thank you for turning out at this hour. this is complex. you and i have to bring it on down. the bill is 2,700 pages and tricky dickey when you get into the supreme court. >> 10,000 pages in the federal

register of new regulations and rules that people have to live by so it's a big deal. >> it is and i already have a headache thinking about all the reading sanjay gupta actually did complete because he's that smart. let me ask you about the politics. i know you're no fan of it and i know there's not many republicans who are. in fact there was not one republican who voted for the affordable health care act, which leads a person like me, a joe taxpayer, to say, well why should i believe that any of your thoughts are based on the merit of the bill instead of just the politics of it? >> well, maybe you won't but i did live through the process as it came through this house and senate two years ago this month, and i watched this thing from the inside, and the best i can describe it was god awful from start to finish. the process was so desperately flawed. why did you think you'd get a good legislative product out of the other end. >> the mandate stood out the

worst? >> the mandate is the big problem, it was budgetary sleight of hand. it's essentially twice what we were sold two years ago and honestly double that figure in. when the subsidies kick in and the exchanges, this is a raid on the federal treasury unlike anything you've ever seen. the mandate itself is problematic and you heard it played out in court yesterday, where there were several serious questions. it does change the fundamental nature between the federal government and the governed. >> here is where i get confused so bear with me. when i go back to 2009 i heard a parade of republicans who actually thought the mandate was a great idea. i've heard mitt romney talk about the mandate, clearly that was his whole issue in massachusetts when he was governor. i've also heard newt gingrich talk about an individual mandate as a great idea. fast forward three years it's democratic legislation, and it's an election year and all i ever hear now are the same people who

said it was a great idea saying it's awful. why is this? >> well you never heard me say it was a great idea to have a -- >> but i did hear your colleagues, other republicans who voted in lock step. >> well, again, i can't speak to their talking about it, but again, justice kennedy, seen as the pivot person, the swing man on the supreme court i think laid it out very well. it changes the fundamental nature and does that not necessity require a very high bar. i was pleasantly surprised by justice kennedy's line of questioning. i was disturbed by some of the facts presented to the court yesterday and i will tell you, i think there's a less than 50% chance that the law is struck down but still i thought -- >> i think a lot of court watchers probably agree with you. jeffrey toobin characterized this off the bat of a train wreck in terms of the government. senator patrick leahy, chairman of the house judiciary committee had reaction to the whole notion

of unconstitutionality of the mandate as really unfair given that social security and medicare are somewhat similar. let me play what he had to say and get your reaction after that. >> you say this is unconstitutional, then you got to say social security and medicare are also unconstitutional. i'm not sure the court's prepared to do that. >> congressman burgess, why is that argument wrong? >> well in fact that was the argument made by justice breyer yesterday morning and i wasn't here in 1932 when the social security act was passed. my understanding is it did, the supreme court did look at that as well. social security is an annuity payment. it is an insurance payment that is, that people make in order to have that benefit at the end of their working lives. maybe it's good, maybe it's bad, but at the same time, we're entering into an entire new realm with this law, and as a consequence i think it does

require everyone from a legislative branch to the executive branch to the judiciary to be very circumspect how it's enacted. >> excellent of you to join us, doctor, thank you for your perspective, congressman michael burgess joining from us capitol hill. thanks again. still ahead, trayvon martin's mom and dad are taking their call for justice and change to tap toll hill. they'll join us live shortly. it's not typecasting in a new movie set in the white house, you might be surprised to find out who is playing nancy reagan. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪

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welcome back. it is 41 minutes past the hour. we are learning new details about the accounts of the night

17-year-old trayvon martin was shot dead by neighborhood watchman george zimmerman. according to abc news the lead homicide investigator may not have brought zimmerman's account of self-defense and was pushing for charges the night of the killing but he was overruled by the state's attorney's office. joining me now, trayvon's parents and their attorney and joined by crystal high, editor-in-chief of politic365.com. thank you for joining us. first of all i express our condolences on the death of your son and this horrible tragedy that brings you to us this morning. we're hearing from the lead investigator now saying that perhaps they should have brought charges, that's what he wanted. he wanted an arrest. how do you feel about that this morning? >> we always had a feeling that something wasn't done properly, and that's why we sought to a counselor because we didn't feel

like something wasn't right at the time. >> so our piers morgan spoke with the florida attorney general, pam beyondi will the legal issues florida faces with arresting george zimmerman. zimmerman has to go to trial within 175 days. i would like to you listen and weigh in on this. >> a thorough investigation is being done to ensure that justice is sought for that family, but you can't make an arrest until you interview all the witnesses, piers, nor do you want that to happen because speedy trial could run and we don't want that to happen. >> pam bondi also said she had spoke within all of you, including your attorney, so tracey, what did she say to you? >> she talked about just giving us, seeking justice, seeking the truth in this matter. >> but did she say specifically

what happened? >> no, no details were given to the family, no. >> all right, i want to talk about something that i think is very sensitive to the both of you, to both of the parents here, there's a lot of information coming out about your son, right, and his record at school. it's being reported that he was suspended three times. there's reports also that jewelry and a screwdriver were found in his backpack, perhaps a suspicion of theft there. how do you feel about this information that's being leaked and why do you think it's happening, sabrina? >> we just feel like it's being leaked just to hurt the case. our son was just a teenager. he wasn't doing anything wrong. he wasn't committing any crime and this is what we keep going back to, the night of february 26th. they're just trying to look for stuff, sort of like throw mud on us because we think we have a case. >> and i have to make this clear, he did nothing criminal

or violent as we said, the whole time, and now they're trying to blame the victim or demonize the victim. why has this been leaked? it goes back to a lot about this whole police side and for whatever reason the lead detective said it best, he didn't buy zimmerman's story, it wasn't credible but ever since then, zoraida, they have had an open campaign to try to be almost the legal defense attorneys for zimmerman and say his claim was self-defense is going to be what we put out to the world, and people look at these facts and say, the 911 tape says it all. he chased him. the 911 tape talks about why he went up to him. that is the crucial point. he don't have to go back and say look at the past. look at what zimmerman's actions were. >> i don't know if you can see the. ic tour we're showing but it is of a smiling zimmerman and there

are reports online, tracy and sabrina, about your son and who he really is and the. ic topicture painted of him. here is a 16-year-old man or a young man, six feet tall, 160 pounds, can you tell us who about your son was? because a lot of people are speculating here. >> i think that the speculation is basically coming from all the negative publicity that they're trying to pin on our son. trayvon was, in fact, he was my hero. he saved my life, of course, and he was just a typical teenager, nothing -- he didn't deserve what, the sentence that he got for his life. he was our -- he was inspiring to be an aviation mechanic. he wanted to reach goals. he wanted to please his family.

he wanted to make us proud of him, and for the public to, for the media to try to paint a bad picture of him, i think it's very disrespectful to him, and i think it's very disrespectful to his family. >> this has become quite a movement across the country. dozened dozeneds of rallies, a lot of marches. you've called him "our son" and a lot of people are taking ownership of him. >> it warms our heart to know other people are feeling our pain but we not only speak for our son, we're speaking for other people's son who have passed away by violence as well. >> and do you feel that the prosecutors here are doing a good job here, calling for everybody to step back, wait, take a deep breath and have some patience. how do you feel about that?

>> i feel confident that they are going to do a thorough investigation. we're trying to be patient, even though it's been over a month. we're still trying to be patient and still trying to press on for justice. >> and we need to remember that it has to be equal justice. had this be trayvon we wouldn't be here because he would have been arrested that night and that's the question everybody keeps asking in america, how long is it going to take for george zimmerman to be arrested for killing trayvon martin. everybody knows what we heard on the tapes and we know what happens in regular cases and had they arrested him, none of this would be here. >> crystal, i have a question for you. politic 365 is holding a reception tonight which actually honors trayvon as a game changer. can you tell us about that? >> sure, so if you think about trayvon, he really has become

emblematic of what it means to be young and a person of color in this country and the call for social change that's come about as a result of his untimely death really is game changing in that you're seeing a new emergence of energy behind equal justice, people really interested in making sure that we're all treated fairly, that trayvon and kids like him have the same opportunities as anyone else regardless of their color, regardless of where they live, regardless of whether or not they're walking through the street in a hoodie at night trying to go home. he's really sparked this new flame in our country around making sure that we do our utmost to protect our kids, to protect the future that we have in front of us. >> sabrina, i want you to have the final word here today. if zimmerman ends up not arrested, what do you hope the outcome is here? >> i just hope america changes

their mentality. i just hope things change in general as far as racial relations, and that we all take something away from my son's death. >> i think we all join new the you in the sentiment. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> soledad o'brien will join with us a look ahead at what's coming up on "starting point" later on. >> ahead on "starting point" at the top of the hour we'll be talking about the race for the republican nominee. newt gingrich lays off a third of his staff, replaces his campaign manager, a new cnn poll says 60% of republicans would like him to leave the race all together, this morning i'll talk to his communications director, joe disantis and find out what of the next steps for the candidate. bishop t.d. jakes will join us for the full two hours, heads up the 30,000 member church the potter's house in dallas, texas. his new book "let it go" talking

about the power of forgiveness, we'll get his thoughts on the kill of trayvon martin and how to forgive in the toughest of circumstances. and i get to chat with nba all-star carmelo anthony, the face of a new got milk but it's got chocolate milk campaign. we'll talk jeremy lin, talk the nicks a knicks and why he doesn't think can he get president obama on the phone. all of that at the top of the hour. see you then. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us.

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53 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news this morning. here's christine romans. >> good morning, ladies. firefighters in colorado hope calmer winds will help them get an upper hand on a wildfire that's killed at least two people and torched 23 structures so far. one person who lives in the area where the fire's been raging is still missing this morning. newt gingrich's white house bid may be nearing its final hours. the former house speaker has laid off one-third of his staff. he is canceling campaign appearances, all fueling speculation that newt gingrich may be preparing to quit this race. a los angeles basketball legend coming to the rescue of the city's baseball team. a group led by lakers' great

magic johnson has agreed to pay $2 billion to buy the l.a. dodgers from frank mccourt, who bought the team in 2004, eventually drove it into bankruptcy. the sale price is a record for a north american sports franchise. jane fonda landed a plum movie role, reportedly play nancy reagan in the film "butler" about a real life white house staffer who served eight u.s. presidents including ronald reagan. interesting to see the pictures side by side. >> also one of the lead girls in aaron sorkin's movie coming out this summer. she's going to make the ted turner roll which is the best part of it. >> aaron sorkin is a cable news junkie. >> yeah, yeah, you're right. he ain't up at this hour on the west coast. "this is your captain freaking" the cover of "the new york post"

a pilot freaking out at 30,000 feet. coming up after the break, the new tape, breaking down what happened and how the passengers played an integral role and could have saved people from a terrible outcome. [ director ] cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes.

and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. i get my cancer medications through the mail. now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions.

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soledad o'brien will have a lot more on the story of the captain that wigged out on board a jetblue. >> wigged out, a good way to explain it. >> that's it for us, "early start the news from a to z." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. trayvon martin's parents are taking their call for justice right to congress. >> trayvon was our son but trayvon is your son. >> the family will join us live this morning. also some new information about just who stopped the local police for arresting george zimmerman. in this story, he was screaming "they're going to take us down." let's watch this for a moment. this is a flight in air at 30,000 feet on jetblue. a pilot having a complete mental collapse. can you imagine if you're a