paid off. sounds like bill's bill may have been substantial because it isn't just the all you can eat fish fry that has him hooked. >> they do have some of the best pizza in town if you like deep dish pizza. >> quite an endorsement. the restaurant isn't taking the bait. he's reportedly been banned. between the unpaid tab and calling the police and picketing, unlike bill himself at the all you can eat fish fry, they'd simply had enough. that's what we call the scales of justice on the ridiculist. that's it for us. thanks for watching. "early start" starts now. right now history being made in the middle east. for the first time in 5,000 years egyptians get to pick their own president. plus facebook stock is dropping. let the finger pointing begin. morgan stanley is accused of wrongdoing, and it's fighting back. and he wants gay people rounded up and placed inside

electrified fences until they die. extreme words from a pastor -- yes, a pastor in north carolina. we're going to play the tape for you on cnn this hour. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. look who's here. >> i'm christine romans. zoraida sambolin is on assignment today. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's get you started. it could be a day that brings a brand new era in the middle east, but we're not sure what kind of era it's going to be because this is election day in egypt. millions of people going to the polls for a historic vote. their first chance to cast a free vote for a leader in that country in its 5,000 years of existence. this is what they fought for last year in tahrir square. remember these images, the people toppling their leader, hosni mubarak? there's so many unknown ins this story? will women have more freedom? will egypt go to the islamists? will the attitude toward israel

change for the better or the worse? and one of the candidates backed by a terrorist group? all of this as we consider fears there could be more bloodshed if the military leaders in power don't like what the vote tells them. our ben wedeman is live in cairo. i know we have a very long delay in our connection with you, but get me up to speed on how things are going so far, ben. >> reporter: actually, so far voting has gone very smoothly, very calmly. there are no real reports of any sort of violence. what we have here is a gentleman casting his ballot. people by and large very positive, very enthusiastic about this process. we spoke with one woman who was 2 1/2 hours waiting on a plastic chair outside the voting station to vote for the first time, and this woman was a spry 70 years old. for most egyptians, the

elections of the past for hosni mubarak, there was one september of 2005, it was a farce. before that, all they had every six years was a referendum, and you could either say yes to hosni mubarak or no. one man told me this morning, even if you wrote no in the referendum, they would go and change your vote. so this is truly a historic day for egypt. >> one of the questions i have for you. i scanned through about 13 contenders. 4 of them are leading. one was a former arab league chief, one a former prime minister, one candidate from the muslim brotherhood, and another candidate a modern islamist. any of these candidates, are they going to be capable of doing what many in egypt think is the most important thing? that is just restoring security. it is awful on those streets, and it wasn't this bad when mubarak was in power. >> reporter: well, i think things really aren't as bad as they may have been portrayed

recently. but certainly a restoration of security is a priority for almost every egyptian you speak with. they want to see law and order reestablished. they want to see the economy reinvigorated. this is where the economy was growing 6% a year before the revolution, and it's come to a halt. are any of these candidates capable of fixing egypt? they all will claim they are. this is an important time for egypt. all are given the choice of deciding for a civil route, a nonreligious future for egypt, and the other is with the muslim brotherhood, or the other islamist candidate, and that is to follow a route for egypt where islam is a very determining factor. most polls would indicate there's a narrow margin in favor

of a civil egypt. >> ben wedeman reporting for us live in that polling station as the actual vote gets under way. stay with us, if you will, ben, and keep us posted as the day goes on. appreciate that. big development this morning in the facebook ipo fiasco. the state of massachusetts serving financial giant morgan stanley with a subpoena after it was reported by reuters, the lead underwriter for the ipo cut its revenue forecast for facebook in the days before the offering. this was information that they're investigating whether it reached all investors before the stock was listed or just some big, high profile investors. morgan stanley telling cnn in an e-mail statement "morgan stanley followed the same procedures for the facebook offering that it follows for all ipos. these procedures are in compliance with all applicable regulations." facebook shares have already dropped 18% from the debut of the ipo on friday. strong on foreign policy but

weak on the economy. that is how voters feel about president obama according to the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. 52% disapprove of the way he's handle the economy, only 43% approve. only 33% expect an improvement next year. that's down seven points since march. president obama does get high marks from voters on his handling of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. a wildfire in nevada. more than 700 homes destroyed. hundreds of homes, structures, and utility lines are threatened at this moment. a woman is undergoing a mental evaluation this morning after causing a scare on an international flight, saying she had some device implanted inside of her. she was on board a u.s. airways flight from paris to north carolina yesterday when she made that claim in a note to the flight attendant.

fighter jets had to scramble yesterday to put that plane down in a different location. the flight was diverted to bangor, maine, and she was taken off of that plane. >> we were down within minutes. i've been flying my whole life, i've never been from that altitude to landing that quickly. >> it was just weird. no one really knew what was going on. we thought it was a medical emergency. then they told us they were low on fuel because there were strong headwinds. then as we were landing, you could see all the ambulances. >> it may have seemed like a medical emergency because federal officials say that doctors who were on board actually checked her out but found she had no recent scars. of course, don't forget, she did say it was an implanted device in her body. they did say that she did not, however, pose any threat. >> and is undergoing a psych eval as we speak. sullivan expected to testify

today and tell there was no security breach in that prostitution scandal in cartagena, colombia. the agents plan to fight their dismissal. the four agents and five others engaged in serious misconduct while in clolombia before the president's trip that month. on "starting point," soledad speaks to senator ben johnson, who will be grilling him at this hearing today. have you heard about the pastor in north carolina? if you have not heard him speak, have we got something for you. he says he has a plan for gays and lesbians. take a listen. >> build a great big large fence, 150 or 100 mile long and put all the lesbians in there. >> it doesn't stop there. boy, does it ever not stop there. more ahead and why this sermon -- yes, it's a sermon --

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a north carolina church could be in serious trouble, could lose tax exemption status after a pastor there is accused of mixing politics with preaching during an anti--gay sermon. his name is pastor charles worley, and he preaches in the providence road baptist church. he proposed putting gays and lesbians behind an electric fence and then letting them die out. >> build a great big, large fence, 150 or 100 mile long, pull all the lesbians in there, fly over and drop some food. do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. and have that fence electrified till they can't get out. feed them. and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out.

>> while that might be troublesome, it is really what he said about voting during that sermon that could give him all the trouble with the feds v. have a listen. >> i tell you right now, somebody said, who you going to vote for? i ain't going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover. >> that is troublesome. another reverend apparently says he's planning to file a complaint about that, about pastor worley's words. that pastor's name is barry lynn, and he's an advocate for the separation of church and state, and he told "ac 360" that pastor worley really crossed the line with that one. >> nobody would have mistaken that for an endorsement of barack obama. these are so far over the line. there's nothing nuanced about it. and there's no guarantee under the first amendment that you can say anything you want and keep your tax exemption. >> that may be how reverend lynn feels, but members of that church in question are certainly standing by their pastor. listen.

>> he would give you the shirt off his back. he would do anything he could for you. >> takes a real firm stand on the bible and what it says about different things. whether i like it or not or whether anybody else likes it. >> being gay and lesbian or whatever, homosexual, is wrong according to the bible. we love the people, hate the sin, okay? point blank. you need to lay off my pastor. >> you need to lay off the pastor, he says. local activists are saying they're going to plan a peaceful protest this coming sunday. >> what part of that is loving the people, hating the sin? putting people behind an electric fence and letting them die out doesn't sound very loving. >> doesn't sound like what would jesus do. >> they didn't have electrified fence in the old testament. i don't know, i'm not a bible scholar. >> or the new testament either. >> that's true. also new this morning, more americans support same-sex marriage. watch this polling. a new poll finds 53% of

americans feel same-sex marriage should be legal. 39% said it shouldn't. >> 14 minutes now past the top of the hour. get up, get out of here. it's getting late. egyptians heading to the polls. exciting news overseas. right now they're going to elect their first president since the fallout and the fall of hosni mubarak just a year ago. by the way, hosni mubarak held that dictatorship for 30 years. this is new. live pictures, take a look from our reuters short this morning. if all goes as planned, this is going to end the year long military transition that egypt has been in for a year. this is being closely watched not only by this country but also israel to the north. not a whole lot of suspense left. mitt romney picked up two more primary wins, and he's in position to officially clinch the republican nomination next week. taking kentucky by 67% and

arkansas by 68%. romney now less than 100 delegate as way from the magic number, 1,144. >> you think it's going to come in texas? >> i think it's going to come in texas. not another good day for this guy because verdict watch continues for john edwards in his corruption trial. back again. it is the third day that ended with no answers, no verdict, but a request, though, of a review of some more evidence. they're going to have to decide whether money funneled by two supporters to edwards' pregnant mistress rielle hunter were campaign contributions or merely just gifts. days before he was scheduled to graduate, the body of a missing harvard business school student was found in portland, maine. 31-year-old nathan bielmer was last seen celebrating with friends outside a waterfront bar in portland. police say there doesn't appear to be foul play.

a man held on the death of his traveling companion in aruba was arrested for indecent exposure. they found gary giordano naked in his car in a parking lot on friday with a woman. authorities retained him in august over the disappearance of this woman, robyn gardner. he was released due to a lack of evidence. he claims gardner was swept out to sea while snorkeling. she has never been found. if you commute to work on two wheels, why not take a work at portland, oregon? bicycling magazine has ranked portland the best city to bike to work in the country. 2010 census figures show 5% of the population in portland pedals to work on their bikes. san francisco in second place, seattle third, washington, d.c., fourth, and denver fifth. >> rob marciano would cycle into work if he wasn't going into

work at 2:00 in the morning. >> that's true. good morning. i used to live in portland, oregon. it's a beautiful spot. >> i spent some time there. i really like it. >> if you cut off a bike, you're going to get an earful. they're very protective. >> they'll get the coffee houses after you. >> and the micro-breweries. we're looking at showers in the northeast again today. it's going to rain but not as much as yesterday. for you tough guys, you can probably leave the umbrella at home. might have to dodge rain drops from time to time. showers and thunderstorms. these got a bit rough. this is going to be the area where we think we're going to see severe weather again today. this area is not moving. we have to wait for it to break apart and dissipate that way. once it does that, we'll get into somewhat drier air behind it. the northwest, where things are being controlled, deep trough here, even snow in the mountains. things continue across the southwest. fire threat is going to be high.

windy conditions, and heat and humidity is going to be a factor as well. very dry conditions and hot as well. winds will gust 45 to 50 miles an hour. firefighters there, especially at the gladiator fire, are going to have their hands full. 80 degrees in chicago. so it was cool. temperatures well above normal in the northern plains. a quick check on tropical storm bud here in the eastern pacific about 600 miles southwest of manzanillo. it was forecast to be a hurricane. now keep it a tropical storm status and maybe have it dissipate before it hits the mexican coastline. that would be a good scenario for the tourist industry there. guys, back out to you. >> mr. marciano, thanks for that. this is the time of morning we like to get you up to speed on your newspapers even though they're not on your front doorstep yet. how far would you go to help somebody find a missing cell phone? >> to the ends of the earth. >> what if you're a police chief? this is a good one. there is a police chief in berkeley, california, who has

apparently been accused of going too far and ordering officers on the drug task force to help him find his son's cell phone. it's an iphone, of course. apparently stolen from school. the san francisco chronicle is reporting that chief michael meehan had ten officers try to go after his son's phone through the built-in tracking signal. they couldn't find it, though. ten officers couldn't find the iphone. apparently, four detectives were also paid overtime to assist in the search. i think there's some trouble brewing. american catholic nuns are being criticized by the vatican for spending too much time helping the poor and nursing the sick instead of fighting against same-sex marriage and birth control. let me say that again. american nuns being criticized by the vatican for spending too much time acting like jesus and not getting into politics. nuns in new york city held a prayer vigil and a protest last night. "usa today" has a new vatican report slamming the u.s. nuns dedicated to helping the poor

through missionary work. the vatican calls them radical feminists who spend too much time on helping the sick and not fighting against birth control. the nuns have a long history in this country of rubbing up against the vat cal. by the way, more follow up today from the facebook ipo. regulators want to know if some investors had an unfair leg up, like some secret information that the rest of us should have all had. [ male announcer ] this is corporate caterers, miami, florida.

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point i think that europe is going to make a move. >> it sends my 401(k) down even lower. the nasdaq was up just a bit. we want to bring in felicia tucker to talk about facebook. facebook down for a variety of reasons. >> demand. >> there's 421 million shares out there. how much demand can there be? >> and now you've got federal regulators looking at morgan stanley. >> they're looking at what an analyst might have been telling the institutional clients about revenue for facebook, that's not okay. if you're going to share information, you have to share it with all of your clients and make it public, especially before an ipo. one thing that people may have overlooked is on april 23rd the company did release information about the fact that its revenue

had slowed down. >> facebook. >> facebook did, from the fourth quarter to the first quarter. there was information out there, but the question is whether or not it came from morgan stanley. did they do the right thing? this is about confidence in wall street. at the end of the day, it's just a fine for morgan stanley. there's no criminal investigation here. if they're found guilty, it may be a $10 million fine, but for individual investors, this is a serious thing. >> now you've got the stock basically at the beginning range. >> $30 a share. >> remember they had said $28 to $35 was their original price target, and then they raised it. >> here's a dumb question. is this a good time to buy facebook? >> there's no such thing as a dumb question. if you think this company is make money when it comes to ad sales, and that's what this company is about, then absolutely, you can get in. we do have a statement from morgan stanley about this filing. they do say on may 9th they provided additional guidance

with respect to business trends, and a copy was forwarded to all of ms's institutional investors. that is significant because it basically says they did their job, they did it actively, and they informed everybody. so it's a question of who said when and what. >> people don't know how many shares they have yet. they don't have confirmations yet. >> they're trying to figure out if they own facebook shares. it really has been a mess. >> if you put in an order at 42, you're happy. >> how about that? >> felicia, thank you. >> it's 27 minutes past 5:00. what do mitt romney and plumbers have in common? no, not joe. oh, yes, joe. the always quotable joe biden is going to fill in the blanks for us. my cut hurt! mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. (female announcer) most life insurance companies

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new this morning, former first lady nancy reagan recovering from several broken ribs. we've got the details just ahead. plus 64 high school students suspended all because they rode their bicycles to school one morning with a police escort. we'll explain straight ahead. and a terrifying situation. a woman in the middle of an emergency situation with her husband calls 911, and guess what she hears? yeah, the operator snoring. kid you not. we'll show you what happened coming up next. welcome back to "early start." nice to have you with us. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> christine romans. zoraida sambolin on assignment today. a brand new poll of polls, cnn poll of polls. it shows the race for the white

house is as tight as it gets, folks. the poll of polls averages the three major national polls all released within the last 24 hours. it's got president obama really cling to going to a two-point m over mitt romney. cnn political editor paul steinhauser joins us. it's got president obama doing pretty well when it comes to foreign policy, not so much when it comes to the economy. what have you got? >> let's talk about the economy, and let's talk about what's been going on the last week and a half. and that is bain capital. mitt romney runs for president and says, i can do a better job at creating jobs than president obama. he points to his time at bain capital, his time at the private equity firm. you've seen president obama and the campaign attacking romney over bain, saying bain destroyed a lot of businesses, not just creating them. you've seen commercials. you've seen ads. you've seen the president say this is a very legitimate part of the campaign.

the vice president backing the president up when he made these comments yesterday in new hampshire, a battleground state. take a listen. >> your job as president is to promote the common good. that doesn't mean the private equity guys are bad guys, they're not. but that no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber. it doesn't -- and, by the way, there are an awful lot of smart plumbers. all kidding aside, it's not the same job requirement. so it's totally legitimate for the president to point this out. >> the president almost getting in trouble with plumbers there, but he got his way out of that. listen, ashleigh, every poll indicates the economy the number one concern for voters, and the top economic concern, jobs, jobs, jobs. >> got something for you. you ready? you know how you said he got out of that one. apparently not. apparently joe wurzelbacher, the

plumber from ohio, is now a congressional candidate. "the fact that joe biden would make a quip about plumbers shows he has no respect for the working men and women of this nation." how about romney? are they getting on the remark about plumbers? >> they're going after bain capital ads, saying this is attacking free enterprise. donald trump was also on tv backing mitt romney. >> he did so well that he set records over there. this is what we need in this country. you look at what china is doing to us. you look at what opec is doing to us. you look at what virtually every country is doing to us. we need someone who has this ability. his record was great. he did an amazing job. take a look at solyndra and some of the deals this country has been making the last couple of years. it's disgraceful.

>> donald trump speaking his mind. he thought about running for the republican nomination last year and of course is not, but he's backing romney. look at this. 33% of americans say next year things will get better when it comes to the economy. down from 40% back in march. >> what's interesting is that trend, march, april, may, dropping as actually economic indicators seem to be getting better in those three months. >> true, but optimism seems, at least according to the news poll, to be going down. >> by the way, kentucky and arkansas, we have a winner, right? >> we do have a winner. his name is mitt romney on the republican side and the president on the democratic side. primaries are all over. let's move to the general. the president does fund-raisers in colorado and california. colorado a battleground state. what about mitt romney giving a speech right here in washington,

d.c., to a latino group. he had troubles with latino groups, maybe tough talk during the primaries about illegal immigration. the president has a wide range among latino voters. we'll see what happens in november. former first lady nancy reagan slowly recovering this morning. she fell six weeks ago in her california home and broke her ribs. mrs. reagan was supposed to attend a speech by house budget committee chairman paul ryan last night at the reagan presidential library in simi valley, but we're told her doctor doesn't want her attending any large gatherings right now. this is an unusual one. a panicked woman calling 911 after her husband collapses. this is what she heard on the line. >> hold on one second, ma'am. we're trying to get them on the line again. >> you are hearing a snore, a sleepy dispatcher snoring as she was trying to get help for her

husband, and her husband at this point is turning blue. another operator took over, but the guy who was snoring stayed on the line and caused all sorts of confusion because the second dispatcher had to ask if it was the victim making all that noise. listen. >> i don't know what to do. >> is that him i hear in the background? >> excuse me? >> is that him i hear in the background? >> yes, uh-huh. >> how old is he? >> 43. >> and the snoring just continued. the maryland dispatcher eventually woke up, eventually woke up, and then asked for the caller's address unaware that she'd actually been on the call for six minutes. that person was placed on administrative leave, and the patient was hospitalized. fire department said that he did not suffer any adverse effects as a result of the fellow who was snoring. >> oh, my. a parent-child soccer game pulled in hilton head, south carolina, after a giant

alligator grabbed the ball. it was 13 feet long, the alligator, not the soccer ball. almost 1,000 pounds. parents had to run and call gator control to get him to finally spit it out. look at that. the ball was covered in bite marks, but it didn't pop. >> wow. >> we had to go find another ball, let's say that. >> he was just being a nuisance gator and playing a little bit of soccer. >> heck of a goalie, i heard. check this story out. dozens of high school seniors suspended right before graduation. this is why they were suspended. they were suspended for riding their bicycles to school. that's right. find out what got them into so much trouble after a very quick break. today, we stand against the tyranny of single mile credit cards. battle speech right? may i? [ horse neighs ] for too long, people have settled for single miles. with the capital one venture card, you'll earn double miles on every purchase, every day!

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good morning, detroit. >> what a picture. looks like something from batman. >> storm blowing in. but later 77 and sunny if you're in the motor city. suspended from school for a bike ride. that's what happened to a group of high school seniors from michigan after school officials didn't take kindly to their senior prank. they rode three miles, escorted by police and met by the town's mayor, but when they arrived at school, the 64 students were told they were in trouble. here's the school principal recorded by a senior on a cell phone. >> if you let your parents don't have sense enough to know your could be hurt, maybe it's my responsibility. >> parents of two of the students sent home for the bike ride. so the principal didn't know you were going to do this, even though you had a police escort and the mayor knew about it, the principal didn't know. is that why she was so angry? >> she had absolutely no clue.

i mean, that was the whole point of it. >> right. >> the whole idea was -- yeah. >> they have a zero tolerance policy for a senior prank. your senior prank was harmless, but the principal didn't take kindly of it. cody, tell me what was happening that day. you had parents lining the route. you had doughnuts from the mayor. you had a police escort. so it must have seemed like a really fun senior prank. >> it wasn't even a prank but a celebration for our last day. we had nothing else to do. it wasn't meant to be harmful in any way, and the way that it was reacted to was completely absurd. >> what was the punishment for you guys? after being pulled into the auditorium and having the principal so angry she didn't know about it. what was the punishment then for you guys? >> the punishment was instant suspension. everybody that went to the auditorium and rode bikes had to be sent home. >> and you missed sort of the

senior walk-through. tell me what that is. >> the senior walk-through is when the seniors walk through the halls before the end of school and get to cherish the memories that they had at our school. and most of the students got to miss out on that. a lot of the students that were still there that didn't participate in the bike ride had to do it without their friends. >> was it worth it, trevor? was it worth it? >> yes, it was worth it. >> it was worth it to miss the walk-through for the fun of the ride. i guess it's a senior prank that really worked. rachel, the town has kind of erupted after this, i'm told, with administrators and a big emergency hearing with the school board and all that. what has been the fallout? >> well, what it comes down to is most of us senior parents did know about it. we found it harmless. it's ride your bike to work week. so there's just a lot of things that went along with it. the kids did every precaution

they could think of to be safe and to follow the instructions. as you can see, they wore bright colors, police escort. again, the mayor went along. not so much on the mayor and the police as for the fact that the kids actually really did take as much safety precautions. i don't know how much safer it would have been if they'd have notified the administration, but that's exactly what was brought to us. they did say that it was because the kids had impeded traffic and they were tying up traffic. >> but you had a police escort. >> well, and they were brought in because so many kids were riding bikes. again, the police are the ones that police the roads, and they felt the kids were in the wrong, again, they would be the ones issuing citations, not the school. >> you'll all graduate, right? >> yes. >> you missed the walk-through. you'll be able to walk to get your diploma. is this principal going to hand

you your diploma? >> i hope so. >> she's supposed to. >> we did get to reschedule the walk for next week. >> they did reschedule as a change that they would be able to do a walk-through, a senior walk again on the day of the 30th. so we'll see how many actually participate in that also. >> i sure wish we had the principal on with you. she didn't want to come on. or she wouldn't even return our calls. i don't know exactly what was her reasoning other than maybe it was just a zero tolerance policy for the senior prank. but nice to know you say you would do it all over again. cody nicks and trevor, happy graduation. good luck to you in the fall. cody is attending university of michigan, trevor is going to be attending michigan state. there you go. and cody's mom rachel nicks. thanks to both of you. >> thanks. >> thanks a lot. >> it is 47 minutes past 5:00. let's get you updated on the top stories of the day.

this is a the great one. live event for you. egypt's future being watched closely, not just on live cameras, but u.s. and israeli officials watching this very closely. egyptians heading to the polls since the fall of hosni mubarak a year ago. and if all goes as planned, it should end the military transitional period in the country. there is, of course, fear of bloodshed. if the military doesn't like what the ballots say and decides not to step aside. massachusetts serving morgan stanley with a subpoena after it was reported by reuters, the lead underwriter for the facebook ipo cut its forecast for the company in the days before the public offering, information that may not have reached investors before the stock was listed. that's what the investigation is all about. morgan stanley is insisting it followed all applicable regulations. the fda has a warning for

dog owners this morning about treats made in china that could sicken and even kill. it's very disconcerting. take a look at the products on the screen. health officials are saying since november of last year there have been nearly 1,000 complaints associated with products from china known as chicken jerky strips, treats, and nuggets. >> the problem is the fly by night organizations that are supplying different ingredients. sometimes you don't even know what those ingredients are. sometimes it's the cheapest thing. >> take a look at the packaging and obviously check the fda website as well. it's not your run of the mill dui. when police in dubuque, iowa, arrested john ryder for intoxication, they found the baby zebra along for the ride. the girlfriend says they're like family. >> they love going for rides. they come in the house.

we take them outside, take them for walks. we take them for car rides. they go and get the mail with me. >> maybe they go to the bar. this was a dui. police say they were called to a local bar when the couple tried to take the parrot and the zebra inside. >> don't tell me the bar was called the dog house, and they couldn't take an animal inside? >> it gets better. >> you can't make that stuff up. so sad story for you. a television pioneer has died. eugene poly worked for zenith back in 1955 when he invented the wireless tv remote. his creation was first called the flashmatic remote. he was 77 years old, and we thank him for his work. now back to the kids suspended by a senior prank. i wanted to read to you the statement from the principal of the high school. this is an e-mail to staff and parents, this statement. "while i believe the students' intent was not malicious, this activity was extremely

disruptive to traffic flow and the beginning of our school day. it was also potentially dangerous due to the traffic lanes that were used due to that activity." didn't mean to not include that. >> what's odd about that is her concern was due to everything the police had under control because they were escorted by a cruiser. >> the students said they didn't want to tell the principal because that's a point of a senior prank. a lot of schools have zero tolerance policies for senior pranks. >> coming up, america's biggest super models, singers, and actresses right alongside amanda knox. what could they all have in common? it's an odd one. kiwi. soy milk. impulse buy. gift horse. king crab. rhubarb pie. lettuce shower. made by bees. toucan sam. that's not cheese. grass fed. curry. gingersnaps. soup can tower. 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at grocery stores. it pays to discover.

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and the tabloids call her foxy knoxy. you probably know her as amanda knox. now she is one of maxim magazine's hot 100. i kid you not. can you believe it? foxy knoxy. a jury last year overturned her conviction in the murder of her british roommate, meredith kircher, all happening in italy. now "maxim's" editor in chief saying the hot 100 is always unpredictable and exciting, highlighting celebrities and news makers alike. others on the list, lois. get this, go, peter. and stephen colbert, the only guy ever to make the list. he's on it. "maxim" saying that -- >> when i think hot, i think stephen colbert. >> this is the quote. "democracy isn't always pretty. sometimes it's down right handsome for mansome."

how about that? >> marvel trying to one up d.c. comics in the race for a same-sex super hero headlines. a gay x-man would be marrying his boyfriend. north star and his longtime boyfriend kyle. >> it's northstar? >> sure. >> i thought it would be robin. >> is going to be june's astonishing x-men 51. marvel has a strong group of same-sex couples, but this is the first one to get married. she knows a lot about this. facebook ipo. if you had been listening, you probably wouldn't own that stock right now. that was the open information. what about the information that wasn't being shared? >> there's an investigation under way right now and a full report on what the facebook fallout is now for investors. sure that we were on schedule.

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let the finger pointing begin. the facebook stock dropping. morgan stanley is accused of wrongdoing, and the investment firm is now fighting back. and he wants gay people rounded up and an electrified fence until they die. extreme words from a pastor. a pastor. a pastor, in north carolina. we'll play the tape for you this hour on cnn. >> was it a pastor? >> i'm sorry, i couldn't stop saying it. >> unbelievable. live pictures on your screen. it's live on your screen right now. history in the making in cairo, in egypt, for the first time in 5,000 years people of that country are being allowed to pick their very own president. that's what you cause history. >> that is really history. >> and we quip about our elections all the time.

how about 5,000 years? hey, 6:00 a.m. in the east, get off the treadmill. >> get out of bed! or have a bare claw. the facebook ipo disaster and the big question, what did morgan stanley know, when did it know it, and who did it tell. reuters reporting the state of massachusetts has subpoenaed the financial giant. it's been reported facebook executives advised underwriters to reduce revenue and earnings forecasts for the company before it went public. but it appears not everyone got the word on this. cnn's felicia taylor is finding your business this morning. reporting from reuters has reverberated to a very messy ipo story. >> you can't tell some people some of the information and not everybody the same kind of information. everybody should have access to whether it's individuals or institutional investors if there's different guidance about the stock about to be issued. but do you know what's really interesting about this story for the nasdaq there's a big problem

here because 80 million shares were traded at the open and they weren't able to has bendle the cancellations and corrections in terms of the volumes, a lot of the orders didn't get filled. if you were a seller, you may not be so happy. if you were a buyer at $42 and you got filled at $38, you're doing fine. >> listen, if i'm upset and i put in an order -- for instance, you did some testing on this, right? >> i put in a test order, i wanted to know how e*trade was going to work. just a test for journalistic purposes, that will be interesting to put on my account, by the way. >> can we cover that? >> who knows? i'm about to find out. but, you know, there was no word on whether there was an order placed. it was very unclear and all of a sudden -- >> you weren't alone. >> -- and all of a sudden there was a fill at $38.01. and other people who were also doing the same kind of test were filled at $42 -- >> at the very same time? >> at the very same time. but no one knew for hours, it was a mess.

>> can she get her money back? say i don't want the trade? >> her trade was confirmed on the day of the ipo, so you don't have a recourse. evidently if you don't still have a confirmation, you have a recourse. here's where the nasdaq has a major, major problem. we don't know how much it's going to cost them. they have $13 million in reserves, which is nothing. if they can't handle the cancellations and corrections in trade, obviously the stock was going down the day of. the other thing that compounded this was the number of day traders that were in there literally hammering the stock all day long and pushing it down. but they should be able to handle those cancellations and confirmations and retrades, absolutely on an open like that. they should have been prepared for that. so, when we talk about going back to, you know, the problem with morgan stanley and what kind of information they did or did not disseminate, morgan stanley has come out with a statement saying that facebook released a revised s-1 filing on may 9th providing additional guidance with respect to

business trends. a copy of the amendment was forwarded to all of ms' institutional and retail investors. they are standing by they did guidance properly. the question is will regulators agree with them. >> there could still be people today trying to figure out what their trades are, right? >> it could be. it's a major problem. >> i heard the story about kids that launched their life savings and went in and bought these and lost their shirts. >> ipos are risky. a kid or one of the little neighborhood groups, the investment groups, have no business messing around with this ipo. that's why we say ipos are risky. >> that's not why the stock is going down. it's not the nasdaq's problem as to why facebook shares are not trading higher. >> this was the one who told us all along, if you have no business doing it, you should pay down your student loan instead. >> thank you, mom. >> you're welcome. >> boring, boring, boring. 4 minutes past 6:00 on the morning on the east coast, great nups for you, sort of.

egypt and the future of egypt is being closely watched by u.s. and israel, because look at the live pictures, heading to the polls since the fall of hosni mubarak a year ago which ended 30 years of his dictatorship and 5,000 years of not being able to choose their own president, it should end the military transitional period that's been in effect since mubarak stepped out of office. but there's this concern that one downtick at the end of what seems like a pretty good story, there could be a lot more bloodshed if the military does not like the result of this vote. so, not much mystery remaining but mitt romney picked up two more primary wins last night and he's in position to officially clinch the republican nomination next week. romney taking kentucky with 57% of the vote and arkansas with 58%, a total of 75 delegates up for grabs between two states. romney now less than 100 delegates from the total number he needs to clinch it, 1144. a woman undergoing a mental

evaluation this morning after causing a body bomb scare on an international flight. a woman was on on board this us airways's flight from paris, to north carolina, it didn't get to north carolina, though, because she claimed to have a surgically implanted device in her body. fighter jets had to be scrambled and the flight had to be diverted to bangor, maine, where it landed and she was taken down the plane. >> we were down within minutes. i mean, i've are flying my whole life. i've never been from that altitude to landing that quickly. >> it was just weird. no one really knew what was going on. we thought it was a medical emergency. then they told us they were low on fuel because there were strong headwinds. then as we were landing, you could see all the ambulances. >> yeah, a bit of a scare for the 179 people on board and 9 crew members as they were all ushered off the plane. federal officials say doctors on board actually had a chance to check this woman out and found she had no scars. again, she said she had a

surgically implanted device. no scars. and ultimately they determined she did not pose a threat. all right, strong winds are fueling a wildfire in northern nevada, it's already destroyed several homes. officials say the pre fire has grown to nearly 3,500 acres there. hundreds of homes and other structures, utility lines being threatened right now. a north carolina pastor says that he has a plan for gays and lesbians. you will not believe it. you have to hear it. >> build a great big, large fence, 100 -- 50 or 100-mile long, put all the lesbians in there. >> yes, well, he doesn't stop there. the plan continues and it is morbid. find out why this sermon may be getting him in some serious trouble with the federal government coming up. a party?

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a church in north carolina could lose its tax exemption status because its pastor is accused of mixing politics with religion in a fiery anti-gay sermon. pastor worley outside of charlotte advocated locking up gay and lesbian people and letting them die. >> build a great big, large fence, 100 -- 50 or 100-mile long. put all the lesbians in there. fly over and drop some food. do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so

they can't get out. feed them. and you know what, in a few years they'll die out. >> again, that's pastor worley weighing in on what he thinks should happen with gay and lesbian people, but he also decided to weigh in on voting as well. have a listen. >> i tell you right now, somebody said who you going to vote for? i ain't going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover! >> you can probably hear members of the congregation many of them are supporting his sermon and they spoke with cnn's gary tuchman, have a listen. >> reporter: on tuesday night, a special meeting was held, a prayer meeting. scores of members of the church came out supportive of the pastor, supportive of the church, praying for the best of their church and their pastor. as far as pastor two areally goes, we don't know if he participated because he kept a low profile since it all happened and we're not allowed on church property. church security and sheriff's deputies have told us we cannot

step foot on the property. we did want to talk to him, though, we went to his house earlier in the day. members of his family were standing outside his house. we parked our car and they left so quickly that one them left a lighted cigarette on the windowsill. and this is a small town, but there are many who are not affiliated with church are embarrassed and aghast at what the pastor said, but among the pastor's friends and congregants he has a lot of support. >> he would give you the shirt off his back. he would do anything he could for you. >> reporter: i mean, he said in church he wanted to put gay people behind electric fences and have them all die out, what do you think about that? >> that's not really what he said, yes, he said some of that, but he was going to feed them and everything else and -- >> reporter: but you're saying it's okay if you feed them. >> well, i'm not saying it's okay one way or the other when i -- >> probably the most

compassionate man i've ever known. i don't know. he's just got a big heart for people. takes a real firm stand on the bible and what it says about different things. whether i like it or not or whether anybody else likes it or not, i mean, he stands for the bible. >> being gay and lesbian or whatever, homosexual is wrong according to the bible. it's wrong. >> reporter: well, even if you believe that, though, his words that they should be put in an electrified fence, don't you think it's a little dramatic and a little -- >> no, because his point and reason was to see if they reproduce. like it is, adam and eve -- >> reporter: there's a lot of heterosexual couples that don't reproduce. >> that was what in the beginning, now, adam and steve -- >> reporter: it's just mean and

it's not what the bible or god wants for man to be mean to their fellow man. >> he's not saying it to be mean. >> reporter: if that's not mean what is it, though? >> we love the people, hate the sin, okay? point-blank. you need to lay off my pastor. >> reporter: pastor worley is more than aware, he's done it for years, that his sermons go on the worldwide web, so we expected he'd talk to us and defend what he had to say. but we can see two reasons, two possible reasons for him not talking to us. one, he doesn't have the guts to talk to us, or, two, he doesn't really care what we think. >> gary tuchman, thank you for that. also want to let you know that an advocate for separation of church and state is now planning to file a complaint against pastor worley and that man's name is receiverend barry lind and he thinks they should lose their tax exempt status. >> it's so far over the line,

there's nothing nuanced about it and there's no guarantee under the first amendment that you can say anything you want and keep your tax exemption. >> now, local activists are planning a protest outside of worley's church set for this sunday. the reality, though, you covered a lot of stories on tax exemption status. >> every election year it comes up. usually a baptist church is talking about abortion and that's -- where they stand on the pulpit and they talk about who you should vote for if you are against abortion and that's what usually comes up. and the irs in my reporting the irs is careful about picking which churches to proceed against for electioneering from the pulpit, there's a whole host of legal precedent here as well, but in general it's a very tricky separation between the irs and the tax exempt status and these churches and sometimes ministers are careful not to say here is your slate of candidates. i'm going to send it home to you on a piece of paper and you go home and vote for these. they're careful not to go that far. >> is it also really difficult

to figure out when they are making an endorsement and when they're not making an endorsement? >> and when they are saying based on my belief and the bible, and what it tells me -- when it comes to social issues, the ministers believe they have a right to tell their congregation what social issues they should be inspired by when they get into the voting booth, but the connection from the pulpit to the voting booth is tricky legally and free speechwise. >> pastor worley's speech was on tape, how many do you think every sunday not on tape? >> there are thousands of churches around the country where there are ministers telling their small, medium, and large congregations -- >> that's what ministers do, they talk about current events and the bible and what it means for your life and that's when it starts to get tricky. >> in an election year. 17 minutes past 6:00. >> cars that drive themself are not just found in sci-fi movies, the technology is out there and companies are testing it behind the wheel. we've got this technovation.

>> reporter: the 1980s tv show "knight rider" featured kitt the self-driving car. >> i drove around the truck and it steered itself. >> reporter: driverless cars are no longer just on tv or the movies, the technology is closer than you think. google has the first driverless car approved to be tested on state roads. it can literally drive itself. the car sees what's around it using gps, a spinning laser scanning and radar sensors. continental automotive is designing another car to drive on its own. >> you are much more relaxed when you are driving this car, you are still monitoring but you're not working on the driving task itself. >> reporter: this car steers, accelerates and brakes on its own using radar sensors and cameras that give it humanlike vision. >> you are looking up the street with two eyes, in this case, two

cameras, so it's very similar to what your brain is doing. >> reporter: self-driving cars could be on the market in five years. they're designed to make roads safer and decrease the number of accidents. >> when you are in a traffic jam people get distracted, but we strongly believe adding the computer vision, radar sensing that supports the driver and makes the car safer. >> all right. to see more technovation head to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. historic day in the middle east, if you haven't seen this yet, it's fantastic. more high stakes going on right now especially for the united states. egyptians, live pictures, voting in their first free election in 5,000 years. i'm not kidding. 5,000 years. we're going to take you live to cairo and tell you why this is significant to you. and it is. ♪ ♪ why do you whisper, green grass? ♪

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a tragic end to the search for a missing harvard business school student. the body of 31-year-old nathan bihlmaier was found yesterday in portland, maine. police divers recovered him from a portland harbor not far from where he'd been celebrating his upcoming graduation with friends. here's what's odd, they said there was no sign of foul play and they plan to do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. the suspect in the disappearance and presumed death of a traveling companion in aruba has been arrested in annapolis, maryland, on a charge of indecent exposure. police say they found gary giordano naked in his car in a parking lot on friday and he wasn't alone. that woman was with him allegedly. aruban authorities detained him

you might remember back in august for the disappearance of this woman, her name is robyn gardner, and giordano was released because of the lack of evidence in that country. he does claim, though, gardner was swept out to sea while they were snorkeling together but robyn gardner's body has never been found. thousands of the world's most elite athletes will make their way to london for the summer games to go for the gold. one u.s. athlete hoping to make the trip, helan gosdey a two-time national hammer champion, 16 all-american track and field and also a transgendered athlete. he was born kelly, a female, but identifies as a male. it is election day in egypt. a day that could begin a new era in middle eastern politics, what era that is we still don't know quite yet. millions going to the polls for a historic vote. their first chance to cast a free vote for a leader in 5,000

years of existence. this is what they fought for in tahir square, when they toppled hosni mubarak, will its attitude toward the u.s. and israel change. one of the contenders backed by a terrorist group and there's fear there could be more bloodshed if the military leaders in power in egypt don't respect the result of this vote. ben wedeman is live on the phone in cairo. ben, this is -- when we talk about making history, this is making history. what's the status there right now? >> the status here is that voting is going ahead and largely without any major disturbances. there has been sort of a steady number of people coming. this vote goes on for two whole days from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. so, by and large, turnout has been good, but not heavy at this point.

government employees have been given a day off to vote. tomorrow, of course, is the last day of the working week in egypt, so many people are going to take tomorrow off, vote, and then go for a three-day weekend. but by and large, no complaints. when speaking to voters some say they're going to be voting for the muslim brotherhood, others for the candidate who are affiliated with the old regime of hosni mubarak, but much enthusiasm, not too much trouble. >> and the ramifications for the u.s., you can't really overstate it. it's a country that gets a billion and a half dollars of aid from the u.s. it's long been a partner and ally in the middle east and we are ushering in a new era of middle eastern politics, quite frankly. what are the ramifications for the u.s. here? well, i will read nothing into the click on the end of the line.

at the end of my question. that's just a lost connection, no worries there. but that was ben wedeman, of course, on a very historic day. just last year people were watching the pictures of tahir ca square and now comes the messy beginnings of real democracy in the region and then it's fascinating to watch. fascinating. >> and it's fascinating because the four leading candidates out of the 13, the former arab league chief, mubarak's last prime minister, one of the old guard, a candidate from the muslim brotherhood that ben was talking about and then a muslim but a moderate islamist also leading those candidates and also women's rights are a huge issue. >> absolutely, absolutely. a lot of people want to see if there's a new era for women in politics and women in society, so, you know, all bears watching and it means something for everyone who is interested in democracy and freedom. we'll see if we can reconnect ben wedeman to get another live update but we're continuing to watch the live pictures.

in the meantime what do you think mitt romney has in common with a plumber? tax returns? >> no. >> we'll let joe biden fill you in on exactly what he meant when he put those two thoughts together, the vice president in his own fabulous words coming up. [ thunk ]

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if you're just waking up and getting ready for work. guess what? the bacteria in the break room at the office, yeah, there's a problem. we've got a new study that shows you that your break room and your desk are a little bit funkier than the bathroom at work. >> oh! >> i kid you not. sorry about that breakfast announcement. >> did you bring the hand sanitizer? >> i know, right? and it's almost 32 minutes past the hour. let's get you started on the top stories today. while the white house and mitt romney battle over bain the race for the white house actually couldn't get tighter because the polls are showing it like it is. a brand-new cnn poll of polls averages three major national polls released within the last 24 hours and here's what it shows that the president is clinging to a two-point lead over mitt romney. and this just in, a new quinnipiac poll shows mitt romney six points ahead of president obama in florida, that state is so critical. think 2000, folks. think elections in election

2000. cnn's political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington, d.c.. there's so much to talk about, the numbers, the polls and then there's joe biden who starts talking about plumbers and mitt romney and how the bain issue factors into mitt romney's ability to be president. can you sort this out for me? >> sure. let's take a stab at this. all right, so mitt romney running for president, his big argument is i can do a better job creating jobs than president barack obama and he points to his time in the business world. especially bain capital, that's the private equity firm that he co-founded. the obama administration, the obama campaign, i should say, has really been fighting back over the last week. 23 you've not been watching over the past week there are a lot of ads and videos showing obama attacking mitt romney over bain capital. the vice president campaigning yesterday in new hampshire battleground state backed him up. take a listen -- >> your job as president is to promote the common good.

that doesn't mean the private equity guys are bad guys, they're not. but that no more qualify you to be president han being a plumber. it doesn't -- and, by the way, there are a lot of awful smart plumbers. all kidding aside. it's not the same job requirement. so, it's totally legitimate for the president to point this out. >> now, vice president almost getting in trouble there with plumbers but i think he made a joke and hopefully got out of it. we'll see. one of the thing, listen, every poll indicates the economy is the top issue in the mind of the voters and what's the top economic issue, jobs, jobs, jobs. >> what is ed gillespie saying about this the top republican strategist? >> he's a big romney backer and he said the president also has it wrong on romney when the president says mitt romney doesn't want to talk about his years in massachusetts. here's gillespie on "the situation room." >> the president was also wrong, by the way, governor romney

loves to talk about his record in massachusetts where he balanced the budget, where he took office when unemployment was nearly 6% and by the time he left unemployment was below -- at 4.7%. that's in sharp contrast to 39 months of 8% or higher unemployment that we've seen under president obama. >> also let's go back to one second for the quinnipiac poll brand-new out of florida the registered voters, six-point advantage for romney. their last survey was conducted three weeks ago and it was pretty much dead even. florida, you said it, that and ohio pretty much the granddaddies of states, a lot of electoral votes at stake. >> what about pennsylvania? i remember pennsylvania being one of the most critical states like that. now i don't hear about it as much. is it much of an issue this time around? >> it wasn't a battleground state last time around, and romney would love to put it in play. president in colorado has the commencement address at the air

force academy but then he does some campaigning. he does some fund-raising in colorado and california, and mitt romney right here in washington, d.c., today, ashlee, he's giving a speech to a latino voters. and he had a pretty stuff stance on illegal immigration, ashlee? >> ten seconds in primary math because we had two wins last night. >> uh-huh, yes, we did. romney, obama. both won, but not spectacular wins in kentucky and arkansas. primaries are over. let's move to the general. >> i'm with you. all right, paul steinhauser, good to see you as always. thank you, sir. >> thank you. all right, a panicked woman calls 911 after her husband collapses and she hears this -- >> hold on a second, ma'am, let me try to get him on the line again. >> okay. >> wow. a sleepy dispatcher snoring as this woman was trying to get help for her husband who was turning blue. another operator took over, but

the snoring one stayed on the line and caused all kinds of confusion. the second dispatcher asked if the victim was the one making all this noise. listen. >> i don't know what to do. >> all right. is that him i hear in the background? >> excuse me? >> is that him i hear in the background? >> yes, uh-huh. >> how old is he? >> 43. >> the man eventually woke up and asked for the caller's address unaware that the caller had been on this line for six minutes. he was placed on administrative leave. the patient was hospitalized and the fire department said he did not suffer any, quote, adverse effects as a result of the call. >> thank god for that. all right, you got to see this video. it's from china. the little speck on the circle on your screen is a little 3-year-old boy driving a little toy motorcycle in the middle of the traffic. unbelievable. buzzed by, buses and cars, amazingly the little boy was okay. police apparently spotted him. they were able to rescue him.

of course, the question is how did it happen? police say the grandfather was watching the 3-year-old but had to go to the bathroom. when he came out of the bathroom, he noticed the boy had driven off on his toy bike right into the busy intersection. >> the man's dotter came home from work and said, dad, what are you doing? >> you are done. >> i can't trust you! >> or, do you know, they kept her away from all television, she has no idea this went on. >> don't tell his mother. when it comes to germs at work, there's only one place worse than the bathroom, the break room, that's right, where you eat! >> nice. >> we'll tell you what is lurking there. but, first, we have a weather update with rob marciano. >> heading to south florida, rainfall yesterday, record-shattering stuff, miami saw over 9 inches of it. the old record was 3 inches. they need some of this across the northern part of the state where it's in a severe drought. get more showers from miami to key west today, maybe as far north and west as naples. all part of a system falling apart across the northeast.

this will keep the threat for showers in the forecast for the next couple days across the northeast. severe weather in the northern plains and the fire threat continues with windy conditions across the southwest. 88, warming up, in kansas city. also getting toasty in chicago, 80 degrees. 73 degrees and a threat for showers in new york. you're up to date on werthwise at 38 minutes past the hour.

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42 minutes past the hour. time to get you caught up to speed here. massachusetts serving up a subpoena to morgan stanley after it was reported by reuters the

lead underwriter for the facebook ipo cut its earnings and revenue forecast for the company in the days before the offering but may have told only some institutional investors, at least that's what they're investigating. the one thing you need to know today about your money, the housing market is showing more signs of life. >> yay! >> mortgage rates are superlow. the latest housing numbers showed home values are up sharply from a year ago and home affordability is at record levels. and here's the key if jobs can truly pick up a recovery in housing will be under way. the one thing you need to know about your money today. >> that's a really big thing. here's something else you need to know, egyptians heading to the polls right now to elect their first president since the fall of hosni mubarak and 30 years of his dictatorship, if all this goes well, it will end the military transitional leadership. it's being watched by this country and israel to its north. bringing down a disturbing child porn ring. 55 people have been arrested in

20 different countries including the u.s., and 12 abused children have been rescued. some of them babies. in investigation began back in 2010 when authorities in new zealand discovered numerous images of child sex abuse being exchanged on facebook and other websites. officials say facebook helped in this investigation. this morning this is not good news and this is something christine will probably be reporting on. tech company hewlett-packard announcing plans for massive layoffs cutting about 25,000 jobs. most of the cuts expected to come from hp's printing unit. hp says the cuts will help streamline its computer and tech services business. i always wonder if that will show up in the jobs report at the month. a big black snake on the loose in columbia, south carolina. >> come on. >> 15 to 20-footer spotted slithering around the tree. >> it looks like a tree. >> it was in a tree in andrew bilson's backyard, they think

it's a python, whatever it is, it's really icky. >> it truly does look like part of the tree. i don't think i would have noticed walking by. andrew, good luck with that. hello, sailors! it's the first week of fleet week in new york city, the parade of ships, sailing up the hudson river beginning at 9:00 a.m. eastern, so squint, look out your windows if you are in manhattan and stay tuned to cnn if you're not. it commemorates the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812. a live look at the statue of liberty, but later we'll have a camera trained on the "the intrepid" sea, air, and space museum. soledad o'brien joins us to talk about what's ahead next. >> it's like jessica rabbit over

here. >> hello, sailor. all right, ahead this morning on "starting point" we'll be talking -- >> sorry. >> we'll make it through. we'll talk about mitt romney's time at bain capital. it's the hot topic on the campaign trail. ed canard is a former bain capital employee. mitt romney was his boss, the managing director, ran the new york office. he has a new book out called "unintended consequences, why everything you've been told about the economy is wrong" we'll talk about that straight ahead this morning. and the transgendered athlete fighting for a spot on the u.s. olympic team, born a female, identifies as male in the hammer throw. gosdey's going to compete alongside women. there's a new "sports illustrated" on gosdey that we'll talk about, that article and gosdey straight ahead. and she's sort of the woman in black, isn't she, she'll stop by with a preview of the new "men in black iii" movie.

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we're with you when you need us. so you can be there for your customers. wells fargo. together we'll go far. okay. are you sitting down? because i have some news for you, you may not want to hear if you think your office restroom is the dirtiest place in the building, think agen. alina cho breaks down a brand-new report that tells us where the real germs are lurking. first of all, alina, tell me you are not in our break room. >> i am. yes, i am. >> the one we use every morning? >> the one right outside the studio. just as all of you were waking up, just know that this is cringe worthy news that you're about to hear. good morning. you know, that mouse you use every day in your office or the phone, if you think that's dirty, think again. you haven't looked closely at the break room. everybody has these at their workplace.

this is the place, remember, that when you don't have time to go out to lunch, you take your lunch out of the fridge, you put it in the microwave, you take it back to your office. get this, according to a new report, the break room is crawling with contaminants so much so, listen to this, it's actually safer to eat your lunch off the toilet seat. that's right, that's right. now, if you think about it, here in this room, there's a lot of traffic. a lot of people touching the same small spaces over and over again and the germs can be transferred up to six times, the company kimberly-clark that makes kleenex and other household products, they took 5,000 samples from company break rooms here's what they found. get this. high levels of contaminants in 75% of sink faucet handles. right, ever use this here? 75%. 48% of microwave door handles. so, that's this right here, you know? right there. and 26%, refrigerator doors.

ever take your lunch out of the freezer, take it out and nuke it in the microwave. >> did you have the hand sanitizer with you as you do the story? >> i'll go right there and wash my hands. we'll get to that in just a minute and what you have to do to not get sick. but just remember, ashlee, these are germs that can make you sick, colds, the flu, something called norovirus which can cause stomach pain and vomiting and mrsa, this is the cringe worthy part. cnn talked to experts that backed up the study's findings. and, remember, nobody is suggesting if you come here and use the sink and use one of these contaminated surfaces that you're going to automatically get sick. but keep in mind, that, yes, if you use this, you do have the potential of getting sick so -- >> alina, there's a difference, though, between big companies and small companies, because big companies actually have staff that go through several times during the day and clean things

up and maybe little companies expect you to follow the sign that -- >> your mother doesn't work here so clean up after yourself. >> yeah, yeah. that's right, that's right. but, i mean, listen, i think it's safe to say that there's not much you can do when you're talking about so much traffic and so many people coming through this. you can try to keep it clean, but the big question is how do you protect yourself? well, 9 best thing you can do is wash your hands, a lot. thankfully this is something i don't have a problem with, but this is something you may not know. after you take your food from the fridge or the microwave, wash your hands before you take it back to your desk. this i did not know. if you don't have access to soap and water, of course, as you mentione ed mentioned, ashlee and christine, hand sanitizer is the trick. finally if you come into contact with one of those spaces try not to touch your eyes, your nose, your mouth right away, that's the easiest way for germs to get into your body and make you sick. make sure you wash your hands first and then go back to your

desk and enjoy your lunch. >> all right. we showed the pictures of little kids, we tell you not to put your mouth on the water fountain, it's the button on the water fountain and not the water fountain. i would like to not introduce mrsa in my system and test it. thank you very much, alina cho. if you're leaving the house, you can watch us anytime on your desktop or mobile phone, go to cnn.com/tv. look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com.

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it is 57 minutes now past 6:00. american catholic nuns are being criticized by the vatican, yes, i did say criticized, apparently for spending too much time helping the poor and the sick

and not fighting same-sex marriage and birth control. "usa today" says that a new vatican report slams the 80% of u.s. nuns who belong to catholic groups dedicated to helping the poor and performing missionary work. vatican calling the sisters, quote, radical feminists who spend too much energy on social justice and not enough time promoting the church's teachings on reproductive issues and the right to life. saw the signs. >> there you go. "starting point" less than a minute away, we wrap it up every day with "best advice." >> the best advice anyone gayve me was not to listen to other people. can i do it and apply it to what you're saying? weird. >> best advice, does listen to other people. so i'm not listening to other people. it could go on forever. >> very confusing. >> i can remember many moons ago

getting into this business, and someone gave me similar advice, but tempered, if you struggle through this career, there will be a lot of haters. listen to half of the good people say about you and half of the bad that people say about you. >> that's good advice. can i pick the half? >> it would be nice if you cherry-pick it. i think that defeats the purpose. nice to have you here. >> thank you. i think i'm subbing in on friday, too. >> we'll do it all again on friday. for now with just about a minute to go, it's "a" to "z," but "a" to "c" today. >> i'm ashlee banfield -- >> and i'm christine romans. and "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts now. we'll talk to mitt romney's former partners at bain capital that is out with a new book that adds fuel to the fire that suggests income inequality is a good thing. pulling the hoodie over our eyes, facebook stock is going down. even mark zuckerberg is