>> its name is the "ss united states," and she's been here for 17 years because she is not done yet. >> reporter: sarah hoye, cnn, philadelphia. >> beautiful boat still. i'm don lemon at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. have a great night and a great week. good night breaking news overnight, a frantic search for two children buried at a construction site. it is grim news from the scene this morning. she died trying to make a difference. americans mourn a young diplomat killed in afghanistan. >> i told her, it's pitch black. i told her, if we don't get out of here, we're going to die. >> two lost teens with an incredible will to live. a hiker's firsthand account of surviving a three-day ordeal in the woods. >> two teams on the edge of glory.

louisville/michigan tonight with the ncaa title on the line. >> go michigan! >> come on. >> go louisville! >> now you want both. >> i'm conflicted here. >> welcome back. >> thank you. >> welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's monday, april 8th. >> we start with breaking news, a frantic search for two small children buried when a dirt wall collapsed. it's now turned into a recovery effort. it started sunday afternoon, rescuers have been working around the clock digging by hand but they now fear the worst. a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy were playing in a hole being dugout for the basement of a new home when the dirt wall gave way. after hours of digging this morning, rescuers say what had been a rescue effort is now a recovery effort. they dug down 20 feet with no sign of the children so far. we will bring you the latest as we learn more. >> a developing story, a

murdered american diplomat coming home from afghanistan today. most of us never heard of anne sm smedinghof before this weekend, barbara starr is live from the pentagon with the latest developments for us. good morning to you, barbara. >> good morning. everyone says this is a young woman who was doing exactly what she wanted to do, serving her country. >> 25-year-old foreign service officer anne smedinghoff volunteered to go to afghanistan. her family said she was doing the work she loved, trying to make a difference in the world. her father tom. >> we thought she was relatively safe in the embassy compound. she was always, you know,

finding projects and assignments that took her outside. that was what she wanted to do. that was what really drove her. >> reporter: on saturday she was killed in this attack when a suicide bomber smashed into her convoy. three soldiers and another civilian were killed. they were trying to deliver school books. her chicago neighborhood now decorated with flags and flowers. smedinghoff is believed to be the first u.s. diplomat killed since last september's attack in bengahzi, libya. secretary of state, john kerry, traveling spoke of the young woman he met on his recent trip to kabul. >> she was someone who worked hard and put her life on the line so others could live a better life. our hearts go out to anne's mother and father, with whom i spoke yesterday and to the two sisters and the brother who survive her. >> reporter: smedinghoff had been in afghanistan since july,

as her facebook photo shows, confidently traveling with troops around the country. >> anne and those with her were attacked by taliban terrorists who woke up that day not with a mission to educate or to help, but with a mission to destroy. >> reporter: of course our condolences to the families of the others who lost their lives in this attack. we're waiting for the pentagon to release their names. afghan civilians still paying a huge price, an investigation underway into a weekend air strike that may have killed several afghan children. >> we know the u.s. troops are scheduled to ship out of afghanistan by the end of next year. what about diplomatic and civilian aid? could attacks like this change our policy moving forward? >> at this point there's no indication of that. there's a commitment to try to continue with this type of work. you know, it will be very

difficult because right now the way it looks is security will be in the hands of afghan security forces, and that may be probl problematic in some areas. >> at 8:00 a.m. eastern, we will be joined by the parents of anne smedinghoff. some breaking news in the korean crisis, just moments ago, the north announced it is pulling all of its workers out of the kaesong complex it shares with the south. the north may be preparing for a possible nuclear test as early as this week. there are no unusual signs at this point, still a south korean lawmaker says sites are

preparing. also developing this morning, authorities in new hampshire are searching for a man who took hostages six years ago at one of hillary clinton's campaign offices. 52-year-old leeland eisenberg was reported missing from a halfway house in new hampshire. six years ago, he claimed to have a bomb and held several hostage force hours. four men trying to row from west africa to miami overtaken by a massive wave that actually capsized their boat. they're about 400 miles north of puerto rico trying to set a world record for human powered row across the atlantic when the water overtook them. the two canadians, two americans, got in a life raft and set off a locator beacon. the coast guard found them a few hours later. >> we had a plan in place for what to do if this happened. it was successful.

we are getting the guys home safe. but it's too bad we have to end now. >> the rowers were 73 days into the journey that began in senegal. >> 73 days. >> can you believe it? >> crazy. president obama heads to connecticut later today to continue his push for tougher gun control laws in the state that is still grieving from the sandy hook elementary school shooting. some possible movement on a deal to expand background checks for gun sales that include gun shows and online sales. two lawmakers are trying to break the stalemate. they would like to have a vote as early as this week. and funeral services this morning for legendary film critic roger ebert. the church service will be open to the public on a first come first serve basis. ebert's family says a memorial distribute will be held on thursday. ebert lost his long battle with cancer last week at the age of

70. john kerry is in jerusalem trying to kick start israeli/palestinian peace talks. this is the latest stop of his ten-day overseas trip. earlier this morning sirens sounded across israel and the country marked holocaust remembrance day. spring is here, you can finally feel it. new york could be close to 70 degrees today, but a different story somewhere else. >> out west, guys, not the same. blizzard conditions in the rockies and northern plains. jennifer delgado is live at the cnn weather center with this. good morning. >> good morning. it's hard to believe we are in spring and talking about winter conditions out across parts of the west. this will be happening through the central plains. some of these locations could see more than a foot of snow across the dakotas, nebraska. denver a possibility of six to 8

inches of snowfall. right now we're looking at all rain. you move up towards the north, you see that wintry precipitation moving through parts of northern wisconsin, even that far edge of michigan. what we're dealing with today, once we see more of this activity, severe storms setting up. this will effect areas like oklahoma, kansas, as well as into nebraska. out to the west, here comes the energy to provide our next big winter storm. you saw the numbers there, we're talking more than a foot. in addition to the severe weather, talking a multiple day event. this is for wednesday. this goes into tuesday. this is monday. it's going to be progressing over towards the east. that means even the possibility of a few isolated tornadoes. on the wider view, here's the set up to give you an idea. rain to the north, severe storms, the snow. temperatures are warming up. if you want to pick an area that will be winning with the weather, it's going to be the east as well as the south. in atlanta, very close to 80

degrees by tuesday. it will be our first 80s for new york, you are finally getting spring weather. 79 degrees today, 79 tomorrow. >> no way. >> 79, a few more clouds around tomorrow, and that will stick around through thursday. i see that smile. >> girl, i'm seriously happy. >> you are loving it. >> but i feel bad for the folks on the west coast. >> i can tell. you're doing a dance over here about the good weather. they're getting a blizzard out there. >> it is time. >> they will get some good weather, too. >> they had it last week. only two teams are left standing, louisville and michigan tangling tonight for college basketball's national championship. >> a win by the cardinals, a four-point favorite would cap off an unbelievable run for louisville coach rick pit tepa ,

he just got inducted into the basketball hall of fame. joe, how do you think these two teams match up? >> good morning to you. i think they match up great. we have the two best teams in the country facing off. the number one offense in the wolverines, against the number one defense in the louisville cardinals. the sense we got from louisville yesterday is that this team has been here before. they've been in the final four. they were in there last year. they came up short. they don't want to leave with that empty feeling again. rick pitino said in the presser yesterday that he feels this team is more united than before, given the fact they've been with each other so long and you have to throw in the kevin ware factor. as far as michigan goes, some said louisville is the team of destiny, i disagree. i think michigan is the team of destiny. when you think of how this team is turning it on now, beating

teams in the tournament like vcu, kansas, florida, syracuse, this team has "the fresh five" trying to do what the fab five did 20 years ago. >> let's talk about kevin ware, the louisville player we watched as his leg was broken, which was horrible. what is the latest on his recovery? >> we know it's going to be about 12 months, doctors say, until he can get back on a basketball court, which is incredible if you had seen the video or you would like to unsee the video. but he's with the team. when they flew into atlanta on wednesday night. he was with the team the last couple of days, on the sidelines with them when they played wichita state. there was one point, guys, in the game against wichita state where louisville was down by 20 points, ware got up on the crutches, hobbled over to the team huddle and gave these guys a pep talk and said let's do this. the guys said we looked at ware

with these big bright eyes saying what are you doing standing up? that was enough motivation to get them into the title game. tonight, we'll see if the same is true. we have a little time to talk about the game. a little bit more time. >> use that time well, joe carter, the self-professed czar of destiny. michigan he says is the team of destiny. >> i will go with you, mr. cater. >> let me give you a recap of the standings in the cnn bracket. ashleigh banfield in first place, she has louisville. if you hone in there, you see zoraida is ahead of me in the pool, she has ohio state winning. >> gone. >> if louisville wins, i will stage a dramatic comeback and finish ahead of zoraida. jack tapper is in last place there. embarrassing? >> really?

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for anything. >> the hikers went missing during an easter afternoon hike at the cleveland national forest. they called police for help but their cell phone battery died before authorities could track them. before making the call, cendoya remembers a spur of a moment decision to climb a mountain. it was a decision that almost claimed his life. we were expecting a helicopter that never showed up. i told her it's pitch black if we don't get out of here, we'll die. >> reporter: the doctor who treated him said cendoya is from amnesia. >> he has evidence of suffering blunt force drama, probably from a fall. which can explain his amnesia from the event. he is recovering well, probably because of his good, physical makeup and his youth.

>> reporter: but it may have been youth that led to the saga. >> tell people where you're going, bring a map, i think the number one thing is tell people where you're going. >> reporter: nick valencia, cnn, los angeles. >> tough lessoned learned. >> hallucinating tigers? sharpened sticks to kill the tigers that were going to get him. >> kind of crazy. you have to see this, dozens of endangered sea turtles releashed to the ocean at a florida beach on sunday. this was the last major shipment of the threatened species to arrive in the south. hundreds were reahhabilitarehab. the best and worst choices when you fly, in a just released report. that's coming up next. 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor.

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profits expected to soar this year, but it may be at the expense of our comfort. customer complaints are up 20%, according to the latest report. united airlines the worst offender again, taking in more than four complains per 100,000 customers. southwest has the fewest number of complaints. fliers are mostly griping about tight seats, crowded planes, customer service, but on-time arrivals improved for 8 of the 14 airlines in the ratings. if you wanted to get somewhere on time, hawaiian airlines is tops for time limits, and lost luggage is at a four-year low. >> because nobody is checking bags anymore. >> american eagle came in last. people are saying they're mickimick i making millions of dollars in

profit and it comes at the expense of our comfort. >> and the martha stewart pillow fight continuing today, we'll watch that today. and i'll be watching to see -- i'll be forecasting this morning how many people call in sick tomorrow because they watched the game. >> which starts at 9:23 eastern tonight. >> i read a report that 80% of workers have confessed they have called in sick because of a sporting event. >> haven't tried that. that's a good idea. 25 minutes after the hour, investigators trying to find two kidnapped boys, keeping their eyes out now for a sail boat. more on that coming up. g, you're yellowing. crest whitestrips whiten as well as $500 professional treatments. guaranteed. crest 3d white whitestrips.

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breaking news, tragedy at a north carolina construction site. two children gone after a wall of dirt collapses around them. >> remembering a quiet american hero. right now it's a long journey home for the body of a young diplomat killed in afghanistan. and nasa's ambitious new mission, capturing an asteroid in space. imagine that. >> no problem. >> welcome back to "early start." glad you're with us. i'm zoraida sambolin me. we start this morning with breaking news, the search for two young cousins in north carolina trapped when a dirt wall collapsed on top of them. it has now become a recovery effort. after hours of digging, authorities in rural lincoln county say there's no way, no way that the children, a

6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy could have survived that. they were playing in a hole at a construction site when the dirt wall gave way. the public information officer with lincoln county emergency management is on the phone with us this morning. thank you for joining us. we know you're busy. we understand the workers have been digging all night. at one point we heard they had gone down more than 20 feet with no sign of the children. where does this stand right now? >> right now, with this -- just like you said this is a systematic, slow, tedious process to get to these children. we have to go down layer by layer through the dirt to try to get down to the children. the efforts have been ongoing overnight, they will continue until we can bring closure to this family from this tragic incident. >> let's backtrack a bit. woe we're watching pictures of the recovery effort that's underway.

we see a big black hole. can you explain how the children got there? if you have details on that. >> right now the didn't is in its infancy from the standpoint of an investigative stance. the local sheriff's department will be conducting the investigation, so they will be the ones that will be able to answer the circumstances surrounding how this incident occurs. right now we are concentrating on recovering these two innocent children's bodies from this situation that they're in to get them back to their parents so they can have a proper burial. >> we can only imagine how difficult this must be for everyone involved in this search. what kind of manpower is being devoted to try to find these two little kids? >> right now we're looking at approximately 75 rescuers actively working on the scene. and those are rescuers from all around the surrounding areas and from the surrounding counties

that are coming in and helping the crews here from lincoln county. you're right. it's tough on the family members but also tough on the rescuers. whenever they go out to an incident they're used to going and making a bad situation better. this is one of those situations where it's out of our control, and we can't fix it. so, it has taken its toll on the rescuers as well. a lot of these guys have children of their own that are young, it hits home. >> we certainly wish you well. we really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. good luck with that. dion burleson, thank you. 32 minutes after the hour. new developments in the korean crisis. north korea announcing within the last hour it is pulling all of its workers out of the kaesong industrial complex that it shares with the south. pyongyang says it may shut down

the plant which is the last symbol of corporation between the two countries. the body of a slain american diplomat is expected to arrive home from afghanistan today. 25-year-old anne smedinghoff of chicago was killed along with four other americans on saturday when a suspected taliban suicide bomber slammed into her convoy with a car. s john kerry just meet her during a recent visit to kabul. >> she was someone who worked hard, and put her life on the line so that others could live a better life. anne and those with her were attacked by taliban terrorists who woke up that day not with a mission to educate or to help, but with a mission to destroy. >> later on "starting point" at about 8:00 eastern time, we will be joined live by the parents of anne smedinghoff.

33 minutes past the hour. with the senate showdown nearing over guns, the president is starting an all-out push to put pressure on congress now. later today he will be in connecticut where lawmakers just pushed tough new laws requiring stricter background checks. more from brianna keilar. >> reporter: the president is heading to connecticut where the governor just signed some of the nation's toughest gun laws, requiring universal sabackgroun checks and imposing limits on the number of bullets in a magazine. the president will again say that lawmakers in washington have an obligation to the 20 children killed there. >> every senator will get to vote on whether or not we should require background checks for anyone who wants to purchase a gun. >> reporter: despite polls showing 90% of americans support universal background checks, even getting that vote is increasingly uncertain. republican senator rand paul is leading a growing group of

republicans threatening to block any vote. a total of 13 signing on to this letter to senate democratic leader harry reid saying any new gun restrictions would violate the second amendment. >> they deserve a simple vote. >> they deserve -- they deserve a simple vote. >> white house officials respond by saying every member of congress applauded the president's call for a vote at the state of the union, with newtown families looking on. but officials won't say whether the president would sign a watered-down bill without background checks. >> we won't make predictions here. >> reporter: the looming question remains, can president obama win the gun control battle? he kicks off a week-long white house campaign joined by vice president joe biden and even first lady michelle obama. brianna keilar, cnn, washington.

connecticut senator richard blumenthal will be among those listening to the president's speech at university of hartford. he will join us later at 7:30 p.m. eastern. rick warren's church grieving with the pastor over the suicide of his younger son. 25-year-old matthew warren apparently shot himself over the weekend after a struggle with depression. the sermon on sunday at the saddleback church was called "surviving tough times." it was planned before matthew's death. boaters from key west fr, flori florida, are asked to be looking out for a sailboat that may have two young boys. a father broke into the house and took the two young boys.

it sounds like science fiction, but nasa has plans to capture an asteroid and place it in orbit around the moon. florida senator bill nelson says the mission is part of president obama's new budget plan. nasa would first catch the asteroid with a robotic spacecraft, and then tow it back towards earth. this is real. it would be placed in a stable orbit around the moon. nelson says the asteroid could be used for research, mining, developing technology for future deep space missions that would be cool, i guess. millions are in the path of a spring blizzard that's on the way. jennifer delgado has the who, when, where and why from the cnn weather center in atlanta. >> why is right. everybody wants the warm weather, right now it's all in the east and and the south. the west is suffering. we have winter warnings and

advisories in place for 16 states. winds will be picking up later into the evening. some of these locations, not even far away from denver, could see a foot of snowfall. it's not going start until later this evening, once we get more of that cold air wrapped in. right now mainly looking at some rain, you can see a line making its way through st. louis, that wintry mix for areas including wisconsin. what we're dealing with today is the potential for severe storms to develop this will be a multiple-bay event. we're talking today, tomorrow, wednesday. late tuesday into wednesday things will get active. we will see some wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour this will effect an area from los angeles, phoenix, towards mexico and texas.

you are probably asking yourself what is causing all this madness in the west and the beautiful conditions in the east? it's the jet stream to blame. it always is. i want to point out to you how temperatures will be dropping down. for kansas city, monday a high of 71. by wednesday, 43. new york, i think i hear bells and chimes, 74 today. nearly 80 tomorrow. today in atlanta, 79 degrees. a lot of people in town for the final four. those who are not crying over their teams losing over the weekend. i can tell you, we're not losing in the weather here. we're winning. >> thank you. >> thank you, jet stream. miranda lambert and luke ryan were among the big winners last night at the academy of country music awards in los angeles. luke brian won the make vocalist

of the year award. for the fourth year in a row, miranda lambert was named female vocalist of the year, her song "over you" won song of the year. little big town was named best vocal group. congratulations to all of them. talk about high adventure. coming up, meet some thrill-seeking skiers. this is insane. they're going where no one has gone before. pteeth.g this could lead to further tooth loss. try new poligrip® seal and protect denture adhesive. it stabilizes your partial to help reduce movement against gums and supporting teeth. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth with new poligrip® for partials. also try polident® clean and protect denture cleanser to kill 99.9% of odor causing bacteria. this has been medifacts for polygrip® for partials. [ woman ] i feel like i'm barely wearing anything! [ female announcer ] the only pad made from a revolutionary material. it absorbs up to 55% more.

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free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! 43 minutes past the hour. for some people it's enough to get to the top of the world's tallest mountains, but that won't do for a brand new group of extreme athletes called heli-skiers. they prefer the ride down. they use high-altitude helicopters to get to places where no skiers or snowboarders have gone before, including mountains in the himalayas. ♪

>> reporter: it's the world's highest mountain range, but that hasn't stopped a team of extreme free ride heli-skiers from taking it on. brice is leading the team. in 2003 he climbed everest and skied back down. now he's set for his biggest challenge yet. >> this is the biggest, highest mountain range in the world. you have a unique terrain. it's so big, so high and so completely undiscovered. the place we flew today to, nobody has been there. nobody ever stepped foot there. it's exciting. just an adventure to start. >> reporter: some of the world's best skiers and snowboarders have flown in from russia, canada, france, serbia and switzerland for the pioneering project. there are no resorts or commercial heli-teams here, so the team is working with the pakistan military to get them to the top of the mountains. we're just trying to scout out a

location, and the helicopter can land where it's safe to go heli-skiing. and when they found a spot -- ♪ sami rashid is the only woman and pakistani on the team. >> it's absolutely incredible. i can't tell you what a thrill it is to have had the opportunity to come here in this area of outstanding natural beauty to bring people from abroad all over the world who have skied everywhere and myself. i mean, we're all blown away. there's been nothing like it ever anywhere. >> reporter: were you nervous? >> extremely nervous. absolutely petrified getting up there in the really high regions was terrifying but incredible. >> reporter: the mountain range in northern pakistan is home to the highest concentration of peaks. over 8,000 meters to be found anywhere in the world. the team that's come here has

500 kilometers of mountain peaks to discover. >> returning here would be a dream because what we discovered here flying around the last two days is basically that you could spend a full life or even ten lives discovering terrain here. >> reporter: with untouched slopes where nobody has ever skid before, this international team has plenty of adventures ahead. while locals are hoping this will be the kick start they need to boost pakistan's winter sports and tourism industry. ♪ saima mohsin, cnn, in pakistan. >> not in a million years. >> only because i knows there no possibility of never doing it, i would say, sure, in a second. my goodness. >> scary. bill clinton pouring a little fuel on the 2016 fire

this weekend. the former president in isn't li st. louis when asked if he would rather be president for eight more years or keep doing his charity work. >> i would rather keep doing what i'm doing because -- because i think america will have some very good choices for president. >> what was he saying? some very good choices for president? could he mean his wife will be one of those choices? >> that's what everybody read into it. >> the speculation continues. jay-z and beyonce's island vacati

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. welcome back. 50 minutes past the hour. breaking news from north carolina, firefighters in lincoln county are trying to recover the bodies of two young children trapped after a dirt wall collapsed around them. after hours of digging, authorities say there's just no way the children, a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, who are cousins, could have survived that the children were playing in the basement of house that's now under construction when the dirt wall gave out. the body of anne smedinghoff is coming home from afghanistan today. the young american diplomat from chicago was killed saturday along with four other americans by a suspected car bomber. smedinghoff was bringing books to afghan school children when t incident occurred. >> two boaters are missing on the mississippi after some windy

water. a 10-year-old boy was pulled from the water. he was wearing a life vest but the boy did not know if the missing men were. >> a wall of mud and debris pushing an amtrak train off the tracks this happened on a southbound train to seattle. the dining car and two coach cars derailed. no one was hurt. train service in the area is canceled today so workers can fix the track. hot times in havana for beyonce and jay-z. they were celebrating their fifth anniversary with a cuban holiday, but not everyone is raising a glass. two florida republicans wrote a letter to the treasury department demanding to know who approved the couple's trip and why since travel to the country has been banned since the 1960s. you can go on some cultural visas. >> maybe they know somebody? frnlg>> a 7-year-old runs for a

touchdown and scores in the hearts of sports fans everywhere. i can not watch it without getting misty here. we'll see that story coming up. of course, i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning like i was walking on hot coals to like a thousand bees that were just stinging my feet. i have a great relationship with my doctor. he found lyrica for me. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eye sight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica.

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welcome back to "early start." a look at what's trending online this morning. former porn star jenna jameson arrested on suspicion of battery. police say jameson was doing some early celebrating for her 39th birthday over the weekend when she attacked someone in orange county, california. the alleged citizen made a

citizens arrest. last may jameson was arrested for a dui. you would be hard-pressed to find a more heart-warming story than this one. 7-year-old jack hoffman has brain cancer, he's wearing number 22 there. he's running during the university of nebraska's annual spring football game. look at this. little jack is a die-hard cornhusker fan. he ran 69 yards for the touchdown in front of 60,000 fans. >> they were all going nuts when he was doing it. >> when it was all over, the entire nebraska team celebrated with him in the end zone. what an amazing moment. >> lovely. simply, simply wonderful. >> we wish him well. to check out our other top cnn trends, head to cnn.com/trends. melissa mccarthy host ed "saturday night live" this weekend and took on the rutgers

coach and the abuse scandal. >> tonight we investigate on outside the lines. >> sheila kelly has had a fiery reputation among her peers, but this week, outside the lines has received practice tape at how far she's gone. cursing at them, shooting t-shirt guns, throwing bricks at them. >> guess what? >> threatening them with a baseball bat. >> you take that ball, put it through that hole, and i won't hit you with the bat. >> while on roller skates. even forcing players to serve her meals. >> where's the bread? where's the bread? [ bleep ]. >> you eat that. you eat that.

that was awesome. >> "early start" continues right now. breaking news overnight, a frantic search for two children buried at construction site. we have grim news from the scene this morning. >> she died trying to make a difference, she made a difference, americans mourn a young diplomat killed in afghanistan. >> so i told her it's pitch black, i told her if we don't get out of here, we'll die. >> two lost teens with an incredible will to live. a hiker's firsthand account of surviving a three-day ordeal in the woods. >> and two teams battling it out for the championship tonight. louisville versus michigan, who is going to come out on top? michigan fans, start rejoicing. >> wow. >> a dramatic call there at top of the 6:00 hour. >> good morning to you. welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolinment. >> i'm john berman.

we begin this hour with breaking news a recovery effort is underway in north carolina where authorities belive two young children were killed when a dirt wall collapsed on top of them. it started late sunday afternoon in rural lincoln that was being the basement of a new home. the dirt wall there gave way. a short time ago we heard from the lincoln county department of emergency management. >> this is a very systematic and slow, tedious process to try to get to these children. we have to go down layer by layer through the dirt to try to get down to the children. the efforts have been ongoing overnight, and they will continue until we can bring closure to the family from this tragic accident that has occurred. the incident is in the infancy from a standpoint of an investigative stance. the local sheriff's department will be conducting the investigation, so they will be the ones that will be able to answer the circumstances

surrounding how this incident occurred. right now, we are concentrating on the recovering these two innocent children's bodies from this situation that they're in. to get them back to their parents so they can have a proper burial. >> we want to get more now from the scene, we're going to hear from andrew dowd from our affiliate wfoc. >> one fire official told me it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. they only have a general idea of where these children are buried. crews have been working to find the missing 6-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy all night. the two became trapped after dirt collapsed on them around 6:00 last night. it's not clear this morning how that happened. from the air we can get a better look at the area search crews are working in. you can see that large, dirt hole which we're told is the foundation for a construction project. officials haven't said if the two children are related. but we know the father of one of the children is who called nooin

one one. i'm andrew doud reporting. >> one nient past the hour here. new developments in the korean crisis. north korea announcing just over an hour ago it is pulling all its workers out of the kaesong industrial complex it shares with the south. cnn's jim clancy is live with the latest on these mounting tensions. what can you tell us? >> well, zoraida, as expected the north put the blame on the u.s. and south korea saying it was their move. it was their affront to the dignity of north korea that caused this decision to be taken. but 53,000 of their workers are going to be pulled out, they say. but they hedged their bets. think used the term temporarily suspend the manufacturing operations here at the kaesong joint industrial complex, which leaves the door open for a reversal at some point. but for now it would appear that the 500 or so south korean managers and supervisors, specialists, if you will, in manufacturing, are also going to be leaving the complex, and it

will be completely shut down. now this is going to cost some money for the south koreans. but for the north koreans it's going to be the loss of really what has been reliable source of hard currency. a lot of people hope that they could prevent this from happening. this is the only symbol that there is, a real cooperation between north and south, and tonight, it looks like it's going to be shut down. zoraida? >> jim, there is some confusion around north korea's nuclear test site. are there any signs that the country is planning another test? >> well, this came from the unification minister. he made some comments about seeing activity had been observed around that north korean nuclear test site, quite close to the chinese border in the north of the country. and some people assume that that meant that they were preparing perhaps for another nuclear test that's been clarified now. no, they're not. but it has been ongoing activity since the first test that was conducted back in february.

the latest test was conducted back in february. meantime south koreans still on watch waiting for that medium-range missile or missiles that may be launched like an exclamation mark behind all of the rhetoric that's been going around the peninsula, as early as wednesday. zoraida? >> all right, jim clancy live in seoul, south korea for us. thank you very much. a tragic story this morning. an american hero coming home from afghanistan today, in a casket. anne smedinghoff and four other americans died saturday. the 25-year-old state department worker from chicago was delivering books to schoolchildren in southern afghanistan when a suspected taliban suicide bomber slammed into her convoy. barbara starr live at the pentagon right now with the latest developments. good morning, barbara. >> good morning, john. well, her family says she was doing exactly what she loved to do, serve the country. 25-year-old foreign service officer anne smedinghoff volunteered to go to

afghanistan. her family said she was doing the work she loved, trying to make a difference in the world. her father tom. >> we thought she was relatively safe in the -- in the embassy compound. she was always, you know, finding projects and assignments that took her outside, and that was what she wanted to do. that was what really drove her. >> reporter: on saturday she was killed in this attack when a suicide bomber smashed into her convoy. three soldiers and another civilian were killed. they were trying to deliver schoolbooks. her chicago neighborhood now decorated with flags and flowers. smedinghoff is believed to be the first u.s. diplomat killed since last september's attack in benghazi, libya. secretary of state john kerry, traveling, spoke of the young woman he met on his recent trip to kabul.

>> she was someone who worked hard and put her life on the line so that others could live a better life. our hearts go out to anne's mother and father, with whom i spoke yesterday, and to the two sisters and the brother who survive her. >> reporter: smedinghoff had been in afghanistan since july. as her facebook photos show, confidently traveling with troops around the country. >> anne and those with her were attacked by taliban terrorists who woke up that day, not with a mission to educate or to help, but with a mission to destroy. >> reporter: and of course, our condolences go out to the other families who lost loved ones in this attack. their names expected to be released perhaps as soon as today. and afghan civilians, also, continuing to pay a very high price, now an investigation under way into an air strike over the weekend that may have inadvertently killed several afghan children. >> barbara, so u.s. combat

troops are supposed to be out of afghanistan by the end of next year. then there's the issue of the diplomatic and civilian presence there. could attacks like this have an effect on our policy going forward? >> well, the question will be, after u.s. troops leave, as you say, what kind of security, what assurances can be provided to diplomatic personnel from all countries -- who have missions in afghanistan to protect them as they move about the country. can they actually still do their work, or are they going to have to stay hunkered down inside their embassies in kabul? >> barbara starr, thanks so much. later on "starting point," we're going to hear from the parents of anne smedinghoff, thomas and mary beth. a manhunt is under way in new hampshire for 62-year-old leeland eisenberg who six years ago took hostages at one of hillary clinton's campaign offices. eisenberg was reported missing yesterday from a halfway house in manchester. in 2007, he entered clinton's campaign office in rochester,

new hampshire, with road flares strapped to his chest. he claimed it was a bomb and held several hostages for five hours. hillary clinton was in washington at the time. president obama heads to connecticut later today to ramp up his push for tougher gun control laws in a state that is still grieving over the sandy hook elementary school shooting. meantime, a deal is being worked on in the senate to expand background checks for gun sales to include gun shows, and online sales. democrat joe manchin of west virginia, and republican pat toomey of pennsylvania are trying to break the stalemate and have a vote as early as this week. happening right now, secretary of state john kerry in jerusalem trying to re-ignite israeli/palestinian peace talks. this is the latest stop of a ten-day trip overseas. kerry will meet with israeli leaders including prime minister benjamin netanyahu. earlier this morning sirens sounded across israel and all activity stopped for a moment of silence as the country marked holocaust remembrance day. an incredible story, four men trying to row from west africa to miami overtaken by a

massive wave that capsized their boat. they also managed to walk away from the ordeal unhurt. that's the good news. they were about 400 miles north of puerto rico trying to set a world record for a human powered row across the atlantic when the water sank their chances. the two canadians and two americans got into a liferaft, they set off a locator beacon. the coast guard found them a few hours later. >> had a plan in place for what to do if this happened, and it was successful, in that we're getting the guys home safe. but it's too bad we have to end now. >> it's too bad. you know why? the rowers were 73 days into their journey. in began in senegal. a cargo ship dropped them off last night in san juan. so spring has sprung in the northeast here, at least. >> yep. >> you can finally feel it here. that is a different story out west. >> jennifer delgado is live in the cnn weather center in atlanta. she's got the good news and the bad news this morning. >> i do. we'll start off with the bad.

the bad is out west. we are looking at snow developing as we go later into the evening, as well tomorrow. we're talking a foot of snowfall. in fact we're also looking at potential for blizzard conditions to develop late tonight and that is for parts of colorado, as well as utah. what are we talking about? all this snow out there. but there is still some spring showers out. you can see moving through parts of illinois, chicago, you're going to be looking at some of that wet weather for your morning commute. you can see some lighter shower activity and a little bit of a splintery mix up towards the north. of course right along areas including parts of arkansas still dealing with some showers. that will come to an end for a little while. then severe storms are going to pop up later into the afternoon, as well as into the evening. anywhere you're seeing in red, along with that very strong wind providing a fire threat for the southwest. but, as we go through today tomorrow and wednesday the weather is going to go down here. look at the area that we're talking about for severe weather. for monday the area in yellow, tuesday gets even wider,

including areas like dallas, we're talking potentially some of these areas developing tornadoes, as well as damaging winds, and then on wednesday, includes the area in red. that includes st. louis. now high temperatures today are going to be very nice for the northeast. for washington, d.c., a high of 79 degrees, just in time to check out some of the cherry blossoms. let's get a live view this morning. a beautiful shot, there it is. you're going to see sunshine out there and temperatures are just going to keep warming up. you're going to be sneezing and enjoying the cherry blossoms throughout the day today, as well as tomorrow. zoraida, john? >> washington looks like such a nice place when you look at it like that. >> thank you, jennifer. >> all right. so the wait is almost over. louisville, michigan, battling for the ncaa college basketball championship tonight. it is really a killer match-up. >> yeah, louisville say four-point favorite and cardinals coach rick pitino is on a heck of a run. he was just inducted into the basketball hall of fame and if his team wins tonight, that's a

big if, he becomes the first coach ever to win national titles with two different teams. >> joe carter joins us now live from atlanta where it all tips off in about 16 hours or so. good morning, joe. >> good morning, guys. yeah, truly believe that we have the two best teams in the country battling for the national championship tonight. we've got the number one offense in the country in the american began wolverines against the number one defense in the country, the louisville cardinals. and as you guys said, rick pitino, the coach of the cardinals on the doorstep of history trying to become the first coach to win two national championships in two different programs. back in '96 he won one with kentucky. then he left for the nba game for awhile, came back to college and really built, rebuilt louisville to where it is today. they obviously were in the final four last year, and here they are just one win away. but as pitino said yesterday, it's not about him. it's all about the team. >> well, i'll be honest with you, i haven't thought about it for one second until you mentioned it, and it's really not that significant to me.

we have built a brand on louisville first. everything we do is about the team, about the family. so i'd be a total hypocrite if i said it's really important. and it really is not important. i want to win because i'm a part of this team. that's it. >> well, if he wants a piece of college basketball history he's got to get through michigan. there isn't a team that's hotter right now than these guys. they've certainly turned it on at the right time beating basketball powers like kansas, florida, syracuse. the fresh five as one fan coined them trying to do what the fab five, the most famous names since michigan basketball history were unable to do some 20 years ago, guys. the fab five came up short twice in 9 final four. the fresh five, as zoraida would like to say, is in for the national championship game tonight. >> joe, you and zoraida are both sort of picking michigan tonight. but louisville's got kind of a secret good luck charm on their

bench, kevin ware. we saw him all over that game on saturday. how is he doing? what's it look like for his recovery? >> well doctors have said it's going to be 12 months before he gets on the basketball court again. and if you've seen the injury, it's pretty amazing that he's actually going to get a chance to play basketball again. he's been a big inspiration for the team. the country has really tapped in to his story. how he handled himself immediately following that injury and how he carried himself on social media and in the media all week long. you see these signs during the game. win it for ware. certainly the emotional and sentimental favorite for the country is for kevin ware and louisville cardinals. >> that's the problem. i really want louisville to win because of that but i want to beat sow michigan needs to win. so i'm with you, mr. carter. >> joe carter, thank you so much. just to recap, if louisville wins i finish ahead of zoraida in the pool. if michigan wins, it's a great tragedy. >> i win. >> 14 minutes after the hour. he'd been lost in the woods for

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new developments in the rescue of two teenagers in the mountains of southern california. they spent three harrowing nights lost in the woods b batleing injuries, even has use naturing. now one of them tells nick valencia exactly what happened. >> i knew i was going to die. >> reporter: after five days in the hospital, two days longer than he was lost in the wilderness, rescued hiker nicholas cendoya talked about his near-death kerns. >> i'm going to be honest with you, i was seeing tigers. i thought tigers were talking me like raccoons, everything. i just wasn't scared. i had a stick sharpened ready for anything. >> reporter: cendoya and his hiking companion kyndall jack went missing during an afternoon easter sunday hike in southern california's cleveland national forest. they called police for help but their cell phone battery died. cendoya says one of the last thing he remembers is a spur of the moment decision to climb a mountain. it was a decision that almost cost him his life. >> we were expecting a

helicopter, never showed up. so i told her, it's six blocks, and i told her if we don't get out of here then we're going to die. >> reporter: the doctor who treated him said cendoya is suffering from am teesh yeah after being knocked out from a nasty foul down the mountain but he expects him to fully recover. >> he has all the evidence of having suffered a significant blunt force trauma. probably from a fall. which can explain his amnesia for the event. he's been doing well, and he's recovered remarkably, probably because of his good physical makeup, and his youth. >> reporter: but it may have been youth and inexperience that led to the problem. any lessons he learned from the experience. >> definitely bring a compass, water, tell people where you're going, bring a map. i think everyone needs to tell people exactly where you're going because i didn't even tell my parents exactly where i was going. >> reporter: nick valencia, cnn, los angeles. >> we are glad they were found. 19 minutes after the hour. and it is a legal tug-of-war over towels and sheets. all kinds of linens at stake

here with martha stewart right in the middle. why it could be make or break in the court case coming up. >> my father thought i was nuts for taking the job. but i took the job working at burger king. so i became operations manager and director of burger king in europe. one it is for a very strong corporate sector and he says he's now paying for his sins. but now i want to use the knowledge that i gained and give it to others. so i'm creating this living university here so that people can come enjoy themselves, and by osmosis, if nothing else, take over everything that we know. >> hello, everyone. my name is juan stockton and i'm the owner and founder of rancho margot.

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who tops the list? oracle. larry ellison, far and away the highest paid ceo in the country yet again, he made more than $96 million in 2012 up 24%. it's all stock and options, his actual salary is a dollar. but you know, hey, when you have a stock market rally like this it's good. ellison's perks include $1.5 million for home security. number two, richard backen of the hospital corporation of america thanks to a $22 million special dividend. hca had a great year. gained 45% last year up another 24% this year. number three, bob iger, walt disney. he got an 18% raise after disney posted record profit sales. lots going right, cable networks, big box office attendance, theme park attendance. okay another ceo many of you another well we'll say corporate executive many of you are familiar with martha stewart as the pillow fight continues in

court today for her macy's and jcpenney could be back over the rights to sell her merchandise. the judge pressed the pause button on this trial. forced jcpenney and macy's back into mediation. he said you guys are the business gurus, you figure it out. if there's no settlement though today the trial will go on. we reached out to both those companies. we've yet to hear from jcpenney and macy's says no comment. watch this space. >> what's the one thing we need to know about your money? >> tax day one week from today. you got one week, folks. here's a tip for some of the stragglers. if you make less than $57,000 a year you're entitled to free software from the irs. free file, irs free file program gives you access to your choice of 15 software providers, turbo tax, h&r block. lets you e-file at no cost. the irs tells us 70% of taxpayers qualify for this free software. do it. >> get going. >> good information. >> all right, thank you. >> 26 minutes past the hour.

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breaking news this morning. tragedy at a north carolina construction site. two children gone after a wall of dirt collapses on top of them. remembering a quiet american hero. right now it is the long journey home for the body of a young diplomat killed in afghanistan. and it could be nasa's next ambitious space mission, capturing an asteroid in space. welcome back to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it is monday, april 8th. thanks for being with us this morning. >> breaking news coming out of lincoln county, north carolina, where firefighters are trying to

recover the bods of two young children who were buried when a dirt wall collapsed. the 6 and 7-year-old were cousins, playing in a hole that was being dug out for the basement of a new home yesterday when the dirt wall just gave way. we're going to get the latest from richard devane from our affiliate wcnc. >> we're seeing a little bit more activity out here. i'll tell you god monday morning. there have been a shift change. some crews are coming in. some crews are going out. just about 10, 15 minutes ago, i was walking up the road. spoke to a couple. it was the brother of the father of one of those kids. he said right now the family is trying to deal with all of this. they thanked the public for their respect of their privacy and also for their prayers. we can tell you that as you said yesterday, as we look at this scene right here that the police -- the emergency workers have said that they were trying to save the children. but then they made that grim

announcement last night that this was now a recovery effort. that's after hours of frantic digging, and hoping on sunday afternoon, after those two cousins were trapped under loads of dirt. now this all happened when a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl played in a large hole that was dug as part of some sort of home construction project. the support walls apparently gave way, trapping the two beneath at least 10 feet of dirt. emergency workers tried to save the kids using their hands, shovels and eventually larger equipment but around 9:00 last night they realized that there was nothing they could do. >> 75 rescue workers were told on hand trying to recover those bodies. our thanks to richard devane. we're going to have more on developments as they come in. the body of an american hero is returning home today. 25-year-old u.s. diplomat anne smedinghoff of chicago was killed along with four other americans. this happened on saturday, when a suspected taliban suicide bomber slammed into her convoy

with a car. smedinghoff was delivering books to schoolchildren when she was killed. secretary of state john kerry remembered meeting her during a recent visit to kabul. >> she was someone who worked hard and put her life on the line so that others could live a better life. ann and those with her were attacked by taliban terrorists who woke up that day, not with a mission to education or to help, but with a mission to destroy. >> and later on "starting point," at 8:00 eastern, we're going to hear from the parents of anne smedinghoff, thomas and mary beth. new developments in the korean crisis this morning, as well. north korea says it will pull all of its workers out of the kaesong industrial complex that it shares with the south. the north also threatening to permanently sut down the plant that is the last symbol of cooperation between those two countries. last week it banned workers from

the south from entering the plant, which lies just inside its border. >> battle over gun control heats up on capitol hill this week with president obama pushing for tougher background checks yet again. later today, the president will be in connecticut, where lawmakers have just passed tough new laws calling for stricter background checks. cnn's brianna keilar has the story. >> reporter: the president is heading to connecticut, where the governor just signed some of the nation's toughest gun laws, requiring universal background checks, and imposing limits on the number of bullets in a magazine. speaking not far from the scene of the newtown shoogt, he'll again say lawmakers in washington have an obligation to the 20 children killed there. >> every senator will get to vote on whether or not we should require background checks for anyone who wants to purchase a gun. >> reporter: but despite polls showing 90% of americans support universal background checks, even getting that vote is increasingly uncertain.

republican senator rand paul is leading a growing group of republicans threatening to block any vote. a total of 13 now signing onto this letter to senate democratic leader harry reid. saying, any new gun restrictions would violate the second amendment. >> they deserve a simple vote. they deserve -- they deserve a simple vote. >> reporter: white house officials respond by saying, every member of congress applauded the president's call for a vote at the state of the union. with newtown families looking on. but officials won't say whether the president would sign a watered down bill without background checks. >> not going to make any predictions here. but we're going to try to get the strongest bill we can. >> reporter: the looming question remains, can president obama win the gun control battle? he kicks off a week-long white house campaign, joined by vice president joe biden, and even first lady michelle obama.

brianna keilar, cnn, washington. >> connecticut senator richard blumenthal will be among those listening to the president's speech today. he will join us later this morning on "starting point" at 7:30 eastern. >> 35 minutes past the hour. rick warren's church grieving with the pastor over the suicide of his younger son. 27-year-old matthew warren apparently shot himself on friday morning after a lifelong struggle with depression. an autopsy is planned for this week. the sermon sunday at warren's saddleback church in southern california, was surviving tough times. it was planned before matthew's death. family friends and fans get to say a final good-bye to legendary film critic roger ebert. a funeral service this morning in chicago will be open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. he lost his long battle with cancer last week at the age of 70. his family said a memorial tribute will be held on thursday. >> there's a picture with his wife chazz who has taken such great care of him.

voters from key west to pensacola asked to look out for a sailboat that might have two kidnapped boys on board. cole and chase have been missing since last wednesday. there's a picture of them. they're from the tampa area. authorities say their father was armed when he broke into their grandmother's home, tied her up, and took off toward a pier where the family had a sailboat. the boy's parents had lost custody because of drug charges against the father. a new report this morning breaking down the best and worst in airlines. discount carrier hawaiian airlines handed at the top of the list of the 14 largest carriers for on-time performance. express jet and american tied for last. the virgin america has the lowest percentage of lost bags and southwest had the fewest number of customer complaints. trending online this morning, it sounds like science fiction, but florida senator bill nelson claims that nasa now has plans to capture an asteroid and place it in orbit around the moon. now nelson, himself a former

astronaut, says the mission is part of president obama's new budget plan. this is how it would work. nasa would first catch an asteroid with a robotic spacecraft and tow it back toward earth, sounds simple, right? then it would place it in a stable orbit around the moon. senator nelson says the asteroid could be used for mining, developing technology for future deep space missions, also asteroid research. >> makes me want to learn more about that, right? >> sounds cool. >> it's just like armageddon. technology from the film armageddon. >> all right. miranda lambert and luke bryan were among the big winners last night at the 48th annual academy of country music awards held in las vegas. luke bryan took home the coveted entertainer of the year award. also shared the vocal event of the year award with jason aldean and eric church for their song "the only way i know." miranda lambert was named female vocalist of the year. her song "over you" earned

awards for single record of the year and song of the year. jason aldean won the male vocalist of the year award. 38 minutes after the hour right now. answering a question about himself, former president bill clinton managed to touch off even more speculation about his wife, the former secretary of state. is she running? all the answers, maybe, coming up. departure. hertz gold plus rewards also offers ereturn-- our fastest way to return your car. just note your mileage and zap ! you're outta there ! we'll e-mail your receipt in a flash, too. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind...

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welcome back, christine romans joins us with a look ahead on "starting point." >> a young american diplomat

killed by a suicide attack in afghanistan. she is remembered this morning. anne smedinghoff being honored as a hero for helping the people of that country, despite the danger. we're going to learn a little more about this young woman and what drove her. we're going to talk to her parents live, only on cnn. then the search widens for two florida brothers believed kidnapped by their parents. now boaters in the state are being asked to stay on the lookout. we'll talk to the detective trying to track down these boys and return them to their grandparents. who are their legal parents. plus, the hit show refer wonsters back and we're getting a look at the exclusive clips of this season. i can't wait to meet host jeremy wide. anthony bure dane is going to join us with a look at his new show debuting on cnn. >> is he bringing food? >> i hope so. >> if he's not we better get him on the phone right now. >> thank you so much. so it finally happened here in new york. it is spring. finally.

we got some warm weather here, millions are breaking for snow. really heavy snow out west. >> can you believe it? >> you've got some explaining to do miss jennifer delgado. >> you're right. so does mother nature. it is going to be cold out in the west. and we're talking snow in your future. that's going to start to rise later this evening. you can see we're talking 8 to 14 inches of snowfall, and guess what? potential for blizzard conditions to rise this morning going in place late tonight and that is through tomorrow. we're talking for parts of northwestern colorado, as well as into utah. right now, we're looking at mainly just some rain, again we've been following this. you can see moving through parts of iowa, as well as in chicago. even some lightning there, but the real activity comes later this afternoon, as well as into the evening. what we're looking at, the threat for severe weather. this across parts of kansas, as well as nebraska, oklahoma, with the possibility that we could see some isolated tornadoes along with some damaging wind, and that is going to be around

today, tomorrow, as well as through wednesday. and here's what's going to happen. as we put this in the future for you. we started off tonight, again as i said, some of that snow works in and then the line of storms comes through really late tuesday, wednesday, that's when we're going to thank our greatest threat for severe weather is going to arrive. of course when you have the clash of the air masses, you get some problems out there. but look where the problems are going to be for today. very cold out in the west, over towards the east. temperatures getting very close to the 80 degree mark. that includes washington, d.c., new york, and atlanta. and then tomorrow, it drops off once again for the west. back over to you. i have to tell you, i am really excited about river monsters. jeremy wade? i love him. >> jennifer delgado, thanks so much. >> 45 minutes past the hour. will hillary clinton run in 2016? there's a loaded question. no one knows for sure, but her husband sure keeps pouring fuel on the fire. the former president in st. louis for the annual clinton global initiative.

he was asked if he'd rather be president for eight more years, or continue with his charitable work. listen to his answer. >> i would rather keep doing what i'm doing. because -- because i think america will have some very good choices for president. >> hm-mm. >> so there you have it. was that the big hint? the audience sure loved it. but we are all going to have to stay tuned. >> hint, hint, hint. 46 minutes after the hour. a lovely story. a 7-year-old runs for a touchdown and he scores in the hearts of fans everywhere. good for him. this is just an awesome story coming up. a customer thought? describe the first time you met. you brought the flex in... as soon as i met fiona and i was describing the problem we were having with our rear brakes, she immediately triaged the situation, knew exactly what was wrong with it, the car was diagnosed properly, it was fixed correctly i have confidence knowing that if i take to ford it's going to be done correctly with the right parts and the right people.

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50 minutes past the hour. the final four is now officially down to two, louisville and michigan play tonight for the ncaa championship. >> jared gleanberg is here with this morning's "bleacher report." >> good morning, zoraida and john. you want reality tv? who doesn't like grown men showing true emotion? tonight, one side will be sobbing while the other side crying tears of joy, and a week after suffering a horrific leg injury, kevin ware was courtside in atlanta cheering the cardinals to a saturday night win. multiple media reports are saying that later today, rick pitino will be selected to the basketball hall of fame and tonight pitino has a chance to win his second-ever championship. led by the national player of

the year tray burke michigan can also capture a second title despite a poor performance by burke in the semifinals game michigan was able to get past syracuse. check out bleacherreport.com. so here it is, and my sources tell me, not a minute before 9:23 p.m. eastern time, louisville, against michigan, in the 75th ncaa men's basketball championship game. and the louisville ladies aren't making it easier on broadcasters from the northeast. stay with me. louisville upset cal last night in the women's final four leaving the cardinals to play for the women's national championship. what this all really means is you can expect a baseball bat production delay over the next few days in louisville. and the college career of one of the all-time greats came to an end. notre dame got upended by connecticut. tuesday night it will be utah against louisville in the women's title tilt. los angeles belongs to the

clippers, john stop laughing it's true. the long suffering franchise beat their rivals the lakers for the fourth time this season. it's the first time the lakers have never beat the clippers during the regular season. and while the clippers have a spot reserved in the playoffs. the fate of the tradition rich lakers are still very much in doubt. and the video of the weekend comes from nebraska. spring football has never meant as much. a 7-year-old battling brain cancer got the opportunity to live out his dream duringed scrimmage at nebraska, jack hoffman took a handoff and there he goes, 69 yards. a feeling he could only describe as awesome. a crowd of more than 60,000 cheered him on the entire nebraska team stormed onto the field. you see here. they lifted him up on their shoulders truly at least for one day making the huskers team jack. >> special. i mean it was very special. and you know, i told coach and all these coaches they've given

jack so many once in a lifetime opportunities. and to just have another one of those once in a lifetime opportunities, i think speaks volumes about the coach and the program that he has. >> with all the negativity surrounding college athletics these days we needed a story like that. >> there were three things i love about that. three things i liked about it. number one the kid was running so fast. >> look at the video, yeah. >> the second thing i love is just when everyone picked him up in the end zone. and the third thing i mean college football is such a big deal in nebraska, spring practice is such a big deal but the entire stadium was going nuts for this kid. it was like the whole world was cheering for him. >> look at him go. he is really, really fast. >> that's all they care about is nebraska football this time of the year gearing up for the fall season and now their attention on a 7-year-old, truly amazing. >> i agree with you that it's nice to see you know college sport doing something like that. really appreciate it. thank you. >> all right, guys.

comedian melissa mccarthy takes on snl for the second time. here's her rendition of the rutgers coaching scandal. >> investigate coach kelly's reign of terror on outside the lines. kelly has long had a fiery reputation. but this week outside the lines obtained practice video showing exactly how far she has gone. to motivate them. cursing at them. throwing basketballs. [ bleep ] shooting t-shirt guns. throwing bricks at them. threatening them with a baseball bat. >> you put it through that hole and i won't hit you with the bat. >> while they were on roller skates. >> even forcing the players to serve her meals. >> where's the bread? where is the bread? [ bleep ] [ bleep ]

[ bleep ] >> am i the only one who feels bad laughing at that. >> it's nice to get to laugh about something so horrible. >> all right. "early start" back after the break. >> and "starting point" is on deck with north korea's latest act and rising international tensions. we're going to have a live report on what's going on over there just minutes away. is hels expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes at ducktherapy.com.

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take a look at this live picture. new york city, columbus circle. i have good news for you, new york city. 70 degrees today.

tomorrow, it is going to be 79 degrees. and i wish i could show you a picture of the west coast. the rockies and the northern plains, not so hot. you're expecting a blizzard this morning. thanks for joining us this morning. that's it for us on "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" begins right now. good morning, everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. our "starting point" this monday morning. a breaking story from north carolina as rescue workers desperately search for two children buried alive after a dirt wall collapses on them. new this morning, north korea now threatening to remove its workers from a complex it runs with the south. we are live in seoul with what this means for the strained relations between the two nations, and the united states. plus, they were trying to be the first-ever to row, that's them, to row from africa to north america, but after 73 days their boat capsized. the rest is coming up. it