"cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins right now. happening now in the "newsroom." >> i'm very grateful i'm free. >> tearful thanks from the arizona mom locked in a mexican jail for more than a week on a trumped-up drug smuggling charge. also, for the first time, video of what tamerlan tsavraev and his little brother dzhokhar were doing 72 hours before the bombing. they were working out. >> there is your wall cloud. coming straight at us. >> tornadoes, flooding, fires, and now come the heat. and amila earhart's plane?

found? you are live in the cnn newsroom. good morning. thank you for being with me. i'm carol cost tello. an' mom walked out of a mexican jail and into the arms of her husband. right now, back on american soil hours after a mexican judge threw out accusations of marijuana smuggling. yanira maldonado screamed, you heard her, when she was told. >> i'm free. i'm free, i'm free. i was innocent. so i was very, very happy. so to be out. >> we're covering all of the anners.

rafael romo is in nogales, and we also have a reporter in good year, where the family is from, awaiting her return. what was it like in securing her freedom? >> it was a very important piece of evidence that the defense attorney introduced into evidence. a video showing the couple, gary and his wife boarding the bus, getting into the bus, only carrying a couple of blankets, a couple of bottles of water and her purse, and you couldn't see any other packages, you couldn't see them carrying anything else. when the judge saw that, that's when the prosecution's case began to crumble, and the defense attorney says that was the piece of evidence that we needed to conclude sil show the judge that yanira is innocent and that eventually that was

going to help us set her free. very happy family back on american soil. >> why didn't mexican police look at the security video before they threw her into jail? >> they had to go through a process. the video had essentially to be subpoenaed, and it took a couple of days before they had access to it. part of the had to do with technical problems. the software, being able to transfer video to the courthouse, but we had an opportunity to actually sit down in the courtroom when the video was shown to the family, to the defense attorney, and the prosecution, and it is -- it was very clear, carol, that there was no way inside two very small blankets they would carry more than 12 pounds of marijuana. >> wow. rafael roma, thank you. casey wian in good year.

do we know when she is due to arrive home? >> we don't know exactly when, carol it will be sometime later this morning. perhaps early afternoon. we believe they are getting very well deserved rest in nogales, arizona, about a 2 1/2 to 3-hour drive from here in good year. what i can tell you, yanira maldonado's daughter, i spoke with her overnight as she was preparing for her mother to arrive home. she was ecstatic. you remember the video she gave us earlier this year, this family has maintained all along that she was 100% innocent. and as this court case proceeded throughout the week, their hope, and rafael talk ed about this. members of the mexican military who arrested yanira maldonado did not show up to give up their

side of the story earlier this week, that gave the family hope that this case would reach a -- a positive conclusion. they were expecting that it would happen sometime later today. kind of a positive surprise it happened so quickly overnight. >> casey wian, from good year, waiting the family to arrive home. new chilling video shows boston bombing suspects together working out at a boston gym. image is taken on surveillance camera 72 hours before the attack. could the brothers have been prepping for the boston bombing? national correspondent deborah freyerick in boston. >> the only time we saw the brothers together before now is when they were walking down boylston street to plant the bombs. now we see them together again, three days before those attacks took place. they appear relaxed, calm,

mellow in terms of what they are doing. an interesting glimpse into the days before. 72 hours before the bombs detona detonated, almost to the minute, tamerlan and dzhokhar tsavraev are shown working out. they arrive at a gym with a friend. we spoke with a manager who only wanted to use his first name, michael. tamerlan, in the hat, looked different. noticeably missing? tamerlan's full, bushy religious beard, which he had about two years. the manager describes tamerlan as extremely opinionated and outspoken. he didn't ask tamerlan why he had shaved, he didn't want to engage in what would be a long, heated debate. now he wonders whether him shading the beard would have been part of an islamic ritud pe

purification prior to death. >> it may have been a way not to stand out. >> reporter: he trained several times a month for free, a professional courtesy to the nationally ranked golden gloves boxer. dzhokhar rarely came, showing up two or three times in roughly two years. >> we've seen with western militants, want to be jihadists, a real emphasis on physical training, physical fitness, wanted to be prepared for jihad. >> reporter: almost immediately, the manager off screen to the right, asks the men to follow posted gym rules and take off their shoes. younger brother dzhokhar complies right away. tamerlan does not. arguing instead. not giving any ground. the manager later e-mails the owner asking him to bantamer lan. call him arrogant, sellisfish, never helping anyone else.

his years of training are evident. watch how skillfully he handles jump rope. sfwlok dzhokhar, less stamina. the friend in the video questioned, released by the fbi. tamper man remains focused, barely missing or breaking stride. the brothers interact. seem relaxed. dzhokhar resting at times, tamerlan moving, moving, working out 72 hours before two bombs explode before the finish line at the boston marathon. >> carol, the fbi agents who went to this gym days after to question the owners say that they did get a snapshot of the video. they were in such a rush, they didn't get the video in its entire, just still shots to pursue the investigation. one lead, one strong lead from there, was this man who was recently shot and killed in

florida. todashev, who knew tamerlan as well. >> we just got these pictures in to cnn. bloody crime scene photos from the scene where oscar pistorius shot his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, on valentine's day. joining us from johannesburg, south africa, is robyn kurnow. describe the photos to us. >> reporter: the key photograph is that bloodied bathroom in which reeva steenkamp shot. blood on the floor, blood on the toilet seat. key is the door. you remember oscar pistorius shot his girlfriend through a closed door, markers indicating where the bullet holes went through. that's key, forensics, ballistics will be able to determine at what height. what trajectory the bullets went

in. and, of course, that will either disprove or pro-oscar advertise for yus' version of events he didn't have his prosthetic legs on and that it was a tragic accident. if they prove from the direction of the bullets through the door that he did have his prosthetic legs on, that's a whole other story. essentially, are you loyou are key piece of evidence, leaked or sold to another news organization. the legal ramifications of that? will it delay the case? what kin of impact will it have? perhaps not the same as the u.s., where this is not a jury system in this country. so it's just a judge, as legal expert telling me, it might not have as much of an impact in terms of contempt of court. and issues around bribery, corruption, and criminal charges, both for the person who leaked the information and the organization that might have bought it.

>> a word about the photograph. it's difficult to see at all. the picture in black and white. in color, too grisly to show in the morning. but it's unusual that a crime scene photo would be released to the public. i know that you exclusively got into the uncle of oscar pistorius -- the uncle's house of oscar pistorius, where oscar is staying right now. what does he say about the case and evidence that is continuing to leak? >> first of all, remember, this is so startling, the release, and the evidence is so startling, even oscar pistorius' own legal team has not seen these photographs until today. they have literally been put in the public forum before the defense team had a chance to analyze them. highly irregular, and as for oscar pistorius, and he is

staying in his uncle's home, where he's been living the last three months since released from police custody. and oscar looked very sad, he had grown a beard, and i know that when i put the question to his uncle later who is speaking for him, because pistorius is not giving interviews, pistorius said he had a lot of photographs of reeva and that he was still in deep mourning, and his uncle said, yes, his state of mind, very, very shaky essentially. that he's -- you know, very worried about him. and he really is still very much battling to get over this issue, not only his girlfriend is dead, but he was the instrument that led to her death. and his uncle felt oscar will never get over this, and something he will have to cope with beyond the fact that there is a big trial ahead. >> robin current now reporting live for thus morning. wait until you see this. here it is. look at that. a two-passenger airplane poking out of the roof of an apartment

building in herndon, virginia. remarkably. only minor injuries among the two people on board. one person was hurt in the building, the plane went into somebody's apartment. a witness said, person in the apartment, the pilot stumbled out of the wreckage, and said to the stunned resident. i think we hit your apartment. you think? a crane was brought in to remove the plane from the apartment building. you see that? sources tell wjla that the plane was coming in from philadelphia and ran out of fuel. also following severe weather. areas from oklahoma through the ozarks bracing for storms today. this after homes ripped apart and several reports of tornadoes on thursday. at one point, areas from texas to michigan were under tornado watches. and it wasn't just the high winds that had residents on alert. many residents saw torrential rain and even golfball sized

hail. and, again, rain would be a welcome sight in southern california, where 500 firefighters were battling a 1,000 acre fire in santa claritia. a man tore evacuation. investigators don't know how the fire started. taking a look at your money now. a roller coaster week on wall street. all three major indices closed higher on thursday, but the months' long momentum seems to be waning now. alison kosik in new york to tell us more. good morning, allison. >> good morning, carol. get ready for stocks to fall at the open. today's concern is europe. unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone climbed to a record 12.2%. more than 19 million people in europe without a job, many of them young people. here is why all of this is spooking our markets. it means less demand for our goods. for american goods that are exported to europe. the eu is our second biggest customer, second only to canada and exports to the eu, down by 5

$5 billion in the first three months of this year, compared to the first three months of last year. so, carol, that's why you see stocks under pressure today, but the dow still on track for six straight months of gains, and the average up more than 3% for may, all that in a month that usually sees investors sell stocks. that old sell in may, go away, not applying this year. >> alison kosik in new york. 3.6 million miles away. today, a huge asteroid will zip by the earth. the space rock, 1.7 miles wide. nine cruise ships wide and also has its own orbiting moon, which nasa calls a potential city killer on its own. don't worry, the asteroid won't come anywhere close to hitting the earth. the fly by, just before 5:00 p.m. eastern time if you want to be on the alert. just ahead, an american killed fighting alongside syrian rebels. what drove her to risk her life

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now, college student will join president obama at the white house as he presses kongs to stop student loan rates from doubling, without action, interest rates on federally subsidized stafford rates will jump on june 1st. house republicans want loan rates to fluctuate with the market. capped at 8.5%. the white house wants fixed rates, no cap. every photographer has been laid off at the "chicago-sun times." every single photographer, according to "the chicago tribune." "the sun times" will use freelancers and have reporters shoot photos and video as well. a new national spelling bee winner, 13-year-old arvind mahankali, from new york, and won by spelling knaidel, a german derived yiddish word for document bling. >> knaidel, k-n-a-i-d-e-l,

knaidel. >> and he might have been a little nervous, get this, took third place at the spelling bee twice and eliminated on german words both times. price package includes 32,000 in cash and savings bonds. a 33-year-old flint, michigan, woman dead. killed fighting alongside syrian rebels. nicole mansfield. her passport and driver's license shown on tv, along with the identification of a british woman. mansfield's family confirmed her identity last night. both victims were found with weapons. nick payton walsh joins us now. what else are syrians saying about mansfield's death? >> reporter: they were killed in

a city in the north of the country, hotly contested between the regime and rebels. they have shown grisly pictures of their corpses and the car they were driving, the driver's license and alleged passport of ms. flynn and the british passport of what seems to be a british man as well. syrian state tv, seizing upon this, what they have long claimed to be foreign involvement, fueling what they say is a tristin sur jency. most conceive it to be the result of oppression. people fighting back against that. we don't know much more in terms of allegations, but we know from speaking to the grandmother in the united states that that nicole it seems converted to islam in the last three tofy years. she hadn't seen her with six to eight months. didn't know how she came to me in syria, and three years ago, went to dubai for "religious

reasons," had to cut that trip short. we're hearing allegations made by the syrian state to have a clear agenda to push here. >> carol. >> you have been inside syria. it must be unusual to see an american woman fighting alongside rebel forces. >> we don't know if she was fighting. it's interesting. it would be interesting she was in a contested area and she was in an ambush. many access groups, and has been working alongside those. we don't know much about that. of course, the issue really is the broader won of foreign involvement inside the syrian role. the government, syrian state, says there are lots of foreign fighters, fighting along side al qaeda affiliated groups in the country. the west partially agrees with that. and the syrian side, we've seen hezbollah group, a large military group inside lebanon, fully throw their weight behind the assad regime.

it's curious in this week, where so many other nations are accused of that, this one particular american female that the syrian state chooses to tout as an example of foreign influence here, carol. >> nick patton walsh, live this morning. still ahead in the "newsroom," a fire sale at the city's museum. they are seriously thinking of selling degas, rembrandt, and van gogh to raise billions of dollars. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

fire sale in detroit. potentially on the table, van gogh, rembrandt. detroit is in a couple billion dollars debt. >> reporter: matisse, renoir, deego rivera's detroit industry. treasures at the detroit institute of art. >> this is a monet. >> reporter: a month inday mon

sold. kevin orr, detroit's emergency manager, asked to appraise the collection. >> the collection is not off the table. >> reporter: what makes detroit unique, the city owns all of the art here, making vulnerable for sale in most cities, a nonprofit owns the art. in a statement, orr insists there is no plan on the table to sell any asset of the city. but says if it is possible that the city's creditors could demand the city use its assets to settle its debts. that's if detroit files for bankruptcy. what did you think when you heard this is your honor consideration? >> he has got to look at what assets detroit has, what they are worth and whether they should be sold. >> would it be irresponsible not to do this? >> absolutely. >> the possibility of selling off beloved masterpieces is sparking heated debate. >> i cannot imagine this not

being here. >> one of the things to me that makes the city worth going to. >> i hope it doesn't get sold off. >> reporter: what would the sale of this mean? >> it would be a tragic irony. the first u.s. museum to acquire a van gogh, in 1922, and then 90 years later, we sell it? >> some works were donated with the mandate they not be sold. most, though, are on the table. >> how in the hell are you going to sell a renoir or a van gogh or a jacob lawrence painting to pay our bills? >> reporter: but this city more than $15 billion in the hole. >> but selling artwork should not be one way to fix it. it's like selling your kids there are other assets we can leverage, get the money we need. >> what power do you have? >> we have the power of the courts. we will defend. we'll do everything we can to defend the integrity of this collection, yes. >> as have people in three

counties, who voted last year to increase their own taxes to support the museum when the city no longer could. but if detroit goes bankrupt, nothing may be able to save these masterpieces. poppy harlow, cnn, detroit. and the detroit news is reporting today that a state lawmaker has introduced a bill that could prevent the sale of those priceless works of art. that bill will be up for discussion next week. we'll keep you posted. still ahead in "the newsroom," the fed moves in, investigation bears down. we're live in texas for the latest on the ricin investigation. le announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore.

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there's a new way to fight litter box odor. for more information including cost support options, introducing tidy cats with glade tough odor solutions. two trusted names, one amazing product. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for being with us. 32 minutes past the hour. an arizona mother is free this morning, after mexican authorities dropped drug charges against her.

yanira maldonado's attorney says surveillance cameras showed that she could not have boared a bus with 12 pounds of marijuana. she spoke earlier and said she is not angry. >> i love mexico. my family is still there, so mexico is not mexico's fault. so it's -- a few people who, you know, did this to me, and probably too other people, who knows? so i probably will go back. >> maldonado thanked the news media for calling attention to her story. also this morning, federal investigators converging on a small texas town, questioning a man about potentially deadly letters sent to president obama and the new york city mayor mikael bloomberg. those letters contain ricin and are the latest ugly turn on the

debate over gun control. ed lavende vnclavandera in texa. >> reporter: fbi agents staked out at this house throughout the night. more agents are expected this morning. a strange twist that this national investigation is focusing here on the town of new boston, texas, population 4 s,5. law enforcement officials are questioning a man at this new boston, texas, home. about threatening letters believed to contain ricin. sent to president obama, new york city mayor michael bloomberg and a gun control group. >> hits home a little more when it could be someone just down the street. >> reporter: three suspicious letters were postmarked in shreveport, louisiana, the ones addressed to the president and mayor bloomberg never reached them. both intercepted at separate offsite mail facilities where herself screened.

white house spokesman jay carney emphasized in this the past when other letters are sent to the president. >> the mail sent here is screened and tests undertaken at remote sites to mitigate risk to the recipients and general population. >> reporter: the fbi is testing the letters sent to president obama, and meanwhile, the new york cityolice department says initial testing on the bloomberg letters came back positive for ricin. a potentially deadly poison made from castor beans. the third letter sent to washington, d.c., the office of mayors against illegal guns was opened by the director. the police report says that letter contained a whitish/orange substance and contained an ominous message. you will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns it read. anyone wants to come to my house will be shot in the face. the right to bear arms is my constitutional god-given right, and i had exercise that right until the day i die. what's in this letter is nothing compared to what i've got planned for you.

is the battle over gun control really behind the threats? >> that's what it seems. but it could also be someone on the other side trying to make their point by, you know, blaming the people who believe in gun rights. >> reporter: the latest round of threats has some wondering if ricin is the threat of choice? >> ricin is the worst ways to try and kill somebody, so i don't see it as a real threat in the actual capability to kill, but to intimidate and attract publicity. >> reporter: fbi investigators have not made official comments about what they are doing in the town of new boston, texas. but neighbors tell us they saw a swarm of fbi agents descend on this house yesterday afternoon and at one point, they were removing a lot of electronic equipment. we'll see what we can dig up in the rest of the day in the northeast corner of texas. >> i was wondering if you were able to tell us about the

suspect. >> >>. >> reporter: very little at this point. we're not naming -- not naming the person that we suspect, investigators are interested with and focusing on a great deal. a couple of tidbits from neighbors, the family had just moved into this neighborhood about a year and a half ago, and kept to themselves for the most part, so no real clues or signs of any kind of anger or issues. kind of obvious clues that might lead someone to be capable or send a letter like this. continuing to dig on that front. very early here just starting to wake up quite frankly. up next in the newsroom. heat wave. get ready to broil after weeks of lousy weather. (cat purring)

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from severe storms to serious heat, we have seen some wild weather across the united states and we're not seeing signs that it is going away soon. indra petersons here with the forecast, and you might not like it. >> unbelievable, the storms in the midwest and in the northeast, still dealing with the heat. turbulent tornadoes in tulsa and cushing, oklahoma, thursday night. >> look at the wall cloud, dude. coming straight at us, look at that mesocyclone. >> both just north of the city of moore, pummeled by a devastating tornado last week. and over in arkansas this tornadoes swirling into a waterspout over lake washtetaw.

in wichita, floodwaters are the issue. some were left stranded and others just looking for a place to keep dry. >> l.a. county fire responded quickly. you can see the number of fire trucks out there. >> and then there is the heat out west. firefighters battling a raging wildfire that scorched at least 400 acres of land. >> this fire fight very active and probably will be for some time. >> reporter: in the east, the first signs of summer in new york central park. from the splashes to the scoops to the first slathers of sun block, the heat wave has officially arrived. >> i guess it wasn't the smartest idea to get ice cream. it melted. >> reporter: welcome ice cream. a welcome site after a late season snowstorm over labor day.

it had vermont measuring in feet. it broke 40-year-old records. >> freezing like three days ago. >> all seasons in one week. >> yeah. >> we're still dealing with wild weather. instability right now, usually in early morning hours we get a break, but look at showers we're still dealing with, as we go through the afternoon today, it will be another day with severe weather, also including a moderate risk. about 40 million from the great lakes to texas dealing with severe weather, with the bull's-eye over moore and joplin, hard to believe we're still at it. >> you're not kidding. indra petersons, thank you so much. a mystery that fascinated millions. what happened to amelia earhart. research may have found the answer. what they found at the bottom of the sea. spokesman i have to look my so bbest on camera.sing whether i'm telling people about how they could save money on car insurance with geico... yeah, a little bit more of the lime green love yeah...

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so you are sleeping and you hear this loud bang and then you see this. yeah. a lot of fwrat tgratitude and df in herndon, west virginia. this image isn't the most amazing part of the story. the most amazing part, no serious injuries. we'll get more from john gonzalez of wjla. >> reporter: the operation to remove the plane is completed this morning. what have you in herndon, virginia.

25 miles in d.c., a gaping hole in the roof. imagine waking up at around 12:30 to a loud explosion and opening your bedroom door and the nose of a cessna plane in the living room. what happened to the ventura family. a wife and husband inside with two small children. 1-year-old boy and 6-year-old boy. the pilot walked away with scratches and bruises. a 61-year-old pilot and copilot. they were taking infrared pictures up above late last night into the morning when their plane started having electrical problems and ran out of gas. they tried a distress call to dull he is airpo dulles airport. obviously, they never made it. take a listen to what the pilot told the ventura family. >> we heard like explosion and

come out to the door, and it was like, all the dry wall, wood, you know, like that, on the floor and so two guys came out -- i don't think -- i didn't know that an aircraft was stuck in my roof. said what's going on? oh, we hit your apartment. >> reporter: miraculously, only three minor injuries, including the pilot. >> john froze. but you get the gist. and mr. ventura said, i don't know if you caught that the pilot stumbled out of the cockpit, into his apartment, ran into him in the hallway and said i think we just hit your apartment. you think? miraculously, no one injured. a week ahead of walmart's annual shareholder's meeting, about 80 walmart employees infu. more expected to walk off the job in coming days. they want full-time work for no less than $25,000 a year and other concessions.

but the nation's largest retailer, well, doesn't seem phased. alison kosik in new york tells us more. >> carol, in fact, walmart saying this happens every year, they won't let it overshadow the annual shareholder's meeting. protests we're talking about here, not grassroots. a snazzy pr agency behind them and led by a professional activist group called our walmart. this group is affiliated with a union, the united food and commercial workers international union, but, remember, walmart associates, they are not unized. so here is what a walmart spokesman told bus this. saying our walmart, the activist group, is comprised of a small number of people,whomost of who aren't walmart associates themselves. so a small number of people walking off the job. protesters say it's 80, walmart says less than 50. either way you cut it, a small fraction of the more than 1.3 million

so why bother? why do those workers bother? >> exactly. you think about it. either the activist group, walmart or the union claims to represent walmart employees in these negotiation so they can protest all they want. but they won't be able to negotiate with walmart. they aren't unionized. walmart isn't a union shop. i think what they're trying to do is build public support for their cause. as for their demand of $25,000 a year for their salary. it's just not realistic. it's not what sales associates make in stores like walmart. in fact, i want to show you this, walmart associates actually make more on average tan people with similar jobs at target and k-mart. remember, the federal minimum wage is $7.25. so that's higher than the average of federal men muslim wage. carol. >> so they make less than the poverty level for a year? >> reporter: true. but these kind of jobs, this is,

listen, this is what they pay. walmart wind up paying a little more than say target or k-mart. so many can say, listen, if you don't like it at walmart, go to target, go to k-mart to get a little bit more. >> all right. alison kosic reporting live from new york. take a look at this. this grainy sonar image may be the key to a decades old mystery. researchers believe they have found amelia ehrhardts plane in the south pacific ocean. she was missing. this image they say is quote the right size tarc thing at the image on the bottom of the ocean. they say more money will be kneeled as well. they need $3 million to investigate further because they have to dig underneath the ocean floor to get to whatever it is down there. maybe it is amelia ehrhardts planes we'll have to wait and

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it was a long night for baseball in st. louis and the heat bring it in the second half. joe carter is here with the bleacher report. hi, joe. >> lebron james, he certainly

changed everything in the third quarter last night. he turned a potential loss into what can you call a defining win. indiana seemed to have the upper hand in the first half. in the third quarter, lebron james gave the team a pep talk. which seemed to take the tone. lebron james took the people team, put them on his shoulder. they outscored them. miami broke it open and won by 11 points t. heat now lead the series three games to two. game six is saturday night in indiana. well, speaking of that long night at the ballpark for the royals and if cardinals, boy, oh, boy, this game started an hour late because of rain and was delayed during the 9th inning because of more rain. 10:32 central time tarps rolled out on the field. ten they would wait, 4 hours, 32 minutes later, they were able to get back onto the field.

can you see, nobody has left in the ballpark. at 3:14 a.m. central time, the last out was made. the game was originally scheduled to start at 7:15, ended almost 8 hours later. for those that stayed, they certainly got their money's worth. >> go on! >> the royal's won, too. >> it's cool. it's not from the top of the building from a window washer, it is actually an expensive football coach. les myles, they call him, wore a helmet cam, recorded this looid ride. he is repelling in downtown baton rouge as a part of a charity function he was hosting. he was raising money and awareness for adoption in the state of louisiana. the program actually helps more than 500 foster children in the state. it was all for a good cause and sparing life and limb, if you will, for others. yankees centre fielder curtis

granderson is raising $5 million to help them build a new baseball stamd in 2002. he graduated from the university of illinois at chicago. this past february the school retired his jersey. he vowed to help them. he is. his $5 million do nation will cover most of the $7 million cost u. you see the video, it will seat 1,200 people. it is expected to open in three years. when the university is not using the stadium, local sports teams will be able to use the stadium. i don't know how much money you make, carol, $5 million as a contribution is a good contribution. >> he is very into the quality of education. his parents are teachers. he has a business degree. so you go, curtis. thanks, joe. next hour cnn "newsroom." john boehner after this. a saturday crowd.

>> happening now in the newsroom, free at last! >> thank god that i'm free now. >> an american mom released from a mexican prison. we're there for the reunion. also, a fewly shaped faith, intense workouts, chilling new video of the tsarnaev brothers allegedly prepping for the boston bombing. plus, crash landing.

imagine wake up to this, or this. small planes collide and not in midair and asteroid. russian repeat? no. but close enough to pay attention. you are live in the cnn newsroom. good morning, thank you so much for joining me, i'm carol costello. this morning, the nightmare is finally over. an arizona mom walks out of an mexican jail into the arms of her husband. right now, she is back on american soil, just hours after a mexican judge threw out accusations of marijuana smuggling. yanir maldonado said she screamed when she was told. >> i am free! leak i am free, i am free!

and i was innocent. so i was very, very happy to be out. >> what was your life like? >> rafael romo is in arizona where yanir maldonado spoke to us a short time ago. rafael, what did she say? >> reporter: well, first of all, the first thing she wanted to say was that she is very grateful to all those people who prayed for her, who supported her and her family during the more than a week, the time she spent in the prison across the border here in mexico. i had the opportunity to be one of a handful of reporters of attending a hearing yesterday during a very crucial moment a. moment that might have been the defining moment when the defense attorney asked the court to play a video showing yanir maldonado

and her husband gary board the bus in which you can clearly see that they only had two small blankets, two bottles of water and her purse. no drugs, no other packages and so the defense attorney was trying to show with this video that it was impossible for the maldonados to smuggle drugs onto the bus. it was a very powerful moment and it was perhaps the defining moment, carol. now was out of the prison last night. once she crossed the border, one of the first questions she got asked, what would you ever go back to mexico? she still has family there, family whom she loves very much and this is what she had to say. >> i love mexico. my family is still there. so mexico is not mexico. it's a few people who, you know,

do this to me and probably to other people, who knows? you know, so i probably will go back, mexico is a beautiful country. >> reporter: now, carol, yanir has had a very difficult time the last two weeks. first of all, her aunt died. she had to go to xhoex for her funeral. on her way back, she got arrested and charged with drug smuggling. then last saturday, it was her first wedding anniversary. she and gary had big plans to celebrate that. instead, she found herself behind bars, carol. >> hopefully, they'll have a belated celebration. i am sure this one will be much more special. ra foley, romo, thank you very much. the big question in everyone's mind is how can this thing happen? a colleague, a well known anchor on cnn es spanniol.

a lot of my friends say, i'd love to go to mexico. after that, i ain't going there. how did this happen? >> i think it was an unfortunate situation. i got a lot of friends, they ask me the same. i want to go to mexico, to latin america. i want to give you my personal experience. i travel all over latin america. i never have any problem. but there is a fact. there are place, they are dungeon, you got to be very careful. especially if you are a tourist. there are people waiting for an opportunity to take advantage. there is also here in the usa. they love americans. >> a lot of americans would take exception to that. mrs. maldonado's husband said when she was placed under arrest, police asked for a $5,000 bribe. this is a normal thing that happens in this area of mexico. >> that is a particular situation. corruption is a problem.

in latin america, we improve a lot. say for example chill she as kruptd as germany. there is no kupgs. other countries, maybe mexico, maybe venezuela, even maybe my country argentina, it is still a problem. we are working. government is trying to do certain thing to avoid that, but it's a problem to normal people like her, hike the police, like i was listening to cnn domestic. one of your analysts was saying, it happened to me, i was in mexico. i was crossing alt a red light, police stop me and ask for a bribe. it doesn't happen as much as in the past. but it's a reality. it is nothing that happens in the usa. police never respond to a bryant. the other thing, mrs. maldonado said they chose to ride the bus in mexico, because she thought it was safer. we reached out to the state department this morning. there are warnings on the state department website, never,

never, never take a bus in mexico. >> let me tell you something, when we were on the production teach i am from argentina, i said, why? they have a certain economic situation. why talk to us? why drive over there? some worker from mexico said because there is more dungions to bribe in that part of mexico. you don't know what you can find. those people that are mexican, they say if you travel on a bus, it's safer. in the for her. she went through a big problem. but i laugh because she was on a bus and they found those 12 pounds, 6 kilos of marijuana. that's an unfortunate situation. then the police, absolutely the bribe was something. but she was sitting in a hard spot in the room in the wrong place in that bus. >> she was, hopefully, we'll work those problems out. carlos, thank you so much for joining us. >> i thank you. we have new video into cnn

this morning, it shows the boston bombing suspects working out at a boston gym. these images were taken on a under surveillance camera 72 hours before the attack. could the brothers have been prepping for the boston bombing? cnn's national correspondent deborah feyerick is in new york to tell under the circumstances hor. hi, deborah ra. >> well, the video is a rural piece of the time line. it's also the first time we see the two brothers together before the attack. it's amazing, they look relaxd, calm. they don't look like thinking about what authorities are accusing them of having done. 72 hours before the bomb's detonated, almost to the minute, suspect's tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev worked out together in a gym if boston. security cameras show the brothers arriving with a friend just before 2:45 friday afternoon. we spoke to the manager, who ask we only use his first name michael. he says tamerlan, who you see in

the hat, was different, noticeably missing, his full bushy religious beard he had had for about two years. the manager describes tamerlan as extremely opinionated and didn't ask him why he shaved because he didn't want to engage in what was likely a long heated debate. now he wonders if him shaving the border may have been involved in a ritual purification prior to death. >> shaving a beard may have been a way to blowned in, not to attract scrutiny from security services in carrying out the boston attacks. >> reporter: tamerlan trained at y crew smpl times a month for free. a national courtesy to the nationally ranked golden gloves boxer. jahar roughly cameb. >> which seen a real emphasis on physical fit it is, wanting to be prepared for jihad.

>> almost immediately the manager off screen to the right, asks the men to follow posted gym rules and take off their shoes. the younger brother jahar complies right away. tamerlan does not, arguing, instead, not giving any ground. the manager later e-mails the owner asking him to bantamer larngs kaublg him arrogant, sivl, never helping anyone else. the argument doesn't seem to phase tamerlan, who is the first one in the ring. his years of training are evident. watch how skillfully he handles the jump row. jahar has less stamina as he struggles to hold up the oversized shorts. they say the man in the middle was introduced's a friend. he was later questioned and released by the fbi. tamerlan remains focused, barely missing or breaking stride. it's right here that the brothers interact. they seem relaxd, jahar resting at times. tamerlan moving, moving, working

out, 72 hours before two bombs exploded near the finish line of the boston marathon. >> carol, the manager of that gym says the fbi did come. they looked at the under surveillance video. this is right at the beginning of the investigation. they took several screen grabs, more like still photos. the manager also says that fbi asked whether, who was known to these two brothers and one of the names the manager gave todashev, the man killed during questioning by the fbi. a legal fight could be building between boston's fire chief and his command staff. the 13 deputies sent a letter to the mayor saying the fire chief showed no leadership after the boston marathon bombings. the group plans on testifying at a hearing next month. now the fire chief is threatening to sue hits own deputies to stop what his lawyer

calls defamatory attacks. in a few minutes, president obama is in the rose garden along with a group of college students, they will be urging congress to prevent student loans from doubling. without action, interest loans on federally subs diedz stafford loans will jump to 6.8% on july 1st. christine roman, host of cnn "your money." what would this mean for the borrower's bottom lean? >> it means they will have higher interest rates every month. this would affect a third of 81 graduates. a third would face a higher bill to pay for college. let me tell you what that rate is right now. the interest rate is 3.4%. these are the federally subsidized student loans. it would go up to 6.8%. mean, take a look, a bill, a monthly payment is $155 today, carol, would be $206 under the if you payment. these are for the loans you take

out next year. so all of those undergrad, juniors, senior, their loans would be more expensive. now, the president wants to keep these at a fixed rate. he does not want them to rise. others in congress would like to see a rate tied more to the ten-year treasury notes, it would be kind of variable. a lot of people on both sides of the aisle are getting a lot of heat from their constituents about rising student loan bills. here's why, carol, because this is a really big part of young people's budget. it could hold back the economy a long time. kids now have more student loan debt than we do credit card debt in this country. when you talk higher interest rates for 7 million people, that's money out of young children's pockets that they aren't paying on something else, carol. >> i'm not going to ask you why they can't come to an agreement. we all know. >> you know, they can't agree with anything. >> i know. christine roman, many thanks to you. >> you are welcome.

>> cnn will bring you the president's remarks live. he is expected to start speaking in about about five minutes. a texas man, now a person of interest for sending ricin-laced letters to the president and new york city's mayor.

just about 17 minutes past the hour. it's time to check our top stories. in southern california, 500 firefighters are battling a 1,000-acre fire near santa clarita. one structure is burned. a neighbor community is under a mandatory evacuation order. tornadoes ripped lieu the mid-west on thursday. you are looking at a destroyed home in garland, arkansas. nine people were reported injured in that state during yesterday's storms, including two struck by lightning. in money news, it soon could be hard finding a subaru. the "wall street journal" says strong demand for some of the popular suvs could lead to a shortage. right now, sales are up 20% this year t. japanese car makers only had a 40-day supply here in the united states that, is below the industry average. this morning, federal

investigators are converging on a small texas town and questioning a man about potentially deadly letters sent to president obama and the new york city mayor, michael bloomberg. those letters appear to contain ricin, another ugly term in the bitter debate over gun control. cnn's ed lavandara is in the tiny town of east new boston. good morning, ted. >> reporter: good morning, carol. a tiny town. many people wake up to the news that the house you see behind me is at the centre of this riens investigation, where fbi agents have spent a great deal of time over the last 24 hours collecting evidence. law enforcement officials are questioning a man at this new boston texas home about threatening letters believed to contain ricin sent to president obama, new york city mayor michael bloomberg and a gun control group. >> it hits home more when it could be someone down the street.

>> reporter: the letters were postmarked to shreveport, louisiana. the ones to addressed to mayor bloomberg and the president never reached them. both were screened at offsight facilities. white house spokesman jay carney emphasized this in the past when other threatening letters were sent to the president. >> the mail is screened t. mail sent here is screened. these are tested at remote sites to e mitigate the recipients. >> the fbi is testing the letter 10 sent to president obama. the new york police department says preliminary testing on the bloomberg letter came back positive for ricin, a potentially deadly poison made from castor bones. the office of mares against illegal guns, it was opened by its director. a police report says that letter contained a whitish-orange stance substance. the letters say you will have to kill me and my family before you get my gun, it read, anyone who

wants to come to my house will be shot in the face t. right the bear sarms my constitutional god-given right and i will exercise that right till the day i tie. what is in the letter is nothing compared to what i've got planned for you. is the with thele over gun control behind tease threats? >> that's what that seems. it could be somebody on the other side trying to make their point by blaming the people who believe in gun rights. >> reporter: this latest round of threats has many wondering if ricin is becoming the weapon of choice for intimidation. >> rice isn't probably one of the worst ways to try to dill i kill somebody. so i don't see it as a threat in an actual capability to kill but rather to intimidate and attract publicity. >> reporter: now we just got off the phone with an fbi spokesperson, they say there have been no arrests and there are still no suspects labelled officially. so we'll wait and see how that continues to develop throughout

the day. carol. >> so, are authorities actively questioning the people who live in that house behind you and, if so, how long has that been going on? >> reporter: well, that's our understanding. however, we have been trying to get details to what is going on around there. they are being very cautious, not offering a lot of details. investigator, who they are questioning, how they are going about that. it is difficult to pass along the absolute information we want to pass along. so at this point that's the best we have. >> all right. understand. ed lavandara reporting live from east new boston, texas. the president live in the rose garden. at issue, student loan, interest rates set to double if congress doesn't act. .

washington, d.c., isn't it? in any minute, we are expecting president obama to step behind that podium in the rose garden. college students are already out. you see them standing awaiting

the president's arrival. right now if rates are 34.4% and if congress doesn't act by july 1st, they could rise to 6.8%. this affects 7 million people, 7 million college students and as you might expect, if those interest rates double, can you imagine the student loan payments? let's listen to the president. >> one of my favorite things about the job is that i get to spend some time with remarkable young people from all across the country. it inspires me. it makes me feel good. those of you who have had to put on suits and ties and show up at the white houses first thing on a friday morning may not feel the way i do. but i appreciate all of you being here. you cleaned up very well and these students and graduates are here to talk about something that matters to millions of

their families. it isn't critical to their future. it's critical for america's futures. over the past four.5 years, we have been fighting our way back from a financial crisis and an incredibly punishing recession, the worst sense the great depression and it costs millions of americans their jobs and their homes, the sense of security that they'd spent their lives building up. the good news is today our businesses have created nearly 7 million new jobs over the past '8 months -- 38 month, 500 u 00 of those jobs were in manufacturing. we are producing our own energy, we are consuming less energy. we are importing less from other countries t. housing market is coming back. the smarnth has rebounded. our deficits are shrinking at the fastest pace in 50 years. people's retirement savings are growing again. the rise of health care costs are slowing. the american auto industry is

back. so we're seeing progress and the economy is starting to pick up. the goers are starting to turn again. we're getting some traction. but the thing is, the way we measure our progress as a country is not just where the stockmarket is, it's not just to how well the folks at the top are doing. it's not just the aggregate economic numbers. it's about how much progress ordinary families are making. are we creating ladders of opportunity for everybody who is willing to work harold? are we creating not only a growing economy but also the engine critical to long lasting sustainable growth, that is a thriving, rising middle class. that's our focus. that's what we have to be concerned about every day. that's our north star. means there are three questions we have to ask ourselves as a nation. no. 1, how do we make america a

macnet for good jobs -- magnet for good jobs in this competitive 21st century economy. no. 2, how do we make sure our workers make the skills to do those jobs and, no. 3, how they make a decent waej and salaries so the people can save for retirement, send their kids to college. those are the questions we got to be asking ourselves every single day. so, we're here today to talk about that second question. how do we make sure our workers earn the skills and education they need to do the jobs the companies are hiring for right now and are going to keep hiring for in the future? we know that the surest path to the middle class is some form of higher education. a four-year degree, a community college. a degree. an ad vansd degree. you are going to need more than

just a high school education to succeed in this economy. and the young people here today, they get that. they're working through college, maybe just graduated and earning their degree isn't just the best investment they can make for their future. it's the best investment that they can make in america's future. but like a lot of young people all across this country, these students have had to take on more and more and more debt to pay for this investment. since most of today's college students were born, division and fees at public universities have more than doubled. these days, the average student who takes out loans to pay forfour years of college graduates owing more than $26,000. how many people are on track here for $26,000?

that doesn't just hold back our young graduates. it holds back our entire middle class. because americans now more than on student loans than we do on our credit cards and those payments can last for years, even decades. >> all right. we're going to jump out of this as you can see, president obama appealing really to congress to act to stop interest rates on some student loans from rising to 6.8%. right now, they are 3.4%. if those college student loan rates rise, it will affect 7 million college state of the union. we will see if congress takes the bait and acts. we will take a break and come back with much more in the "newsroom.". just like a tabl. so easy to use, it won a best of ces award from cnet. and it comes inside this beautifully crafted carrying case. introducing the all-new 2014 chevrolet impala with the available mylink system. ♪

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interviewing a person inside that house on three letters believed to be laced with ricin. they were sent to mayor bloomberg and president obama and a gun control lobby in washington. they say you will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. new video of the boston bombing suspects working out at a gym 72 hours before the attack him tamerlan tsarnaev and his brother jahar were seen jumping rope with a friend and shadow boxing. hopefully, we'll have that video for you come up soon. the manager said tamerlan had religiously shaved off his beard. they say it could be a part of jihadi separation for an attack. an arizona mother is free this morning after mexican authorities drop drug charges against her. yanir maldonado show this suspect would not have boarded a bus with 12-pounds of marijuana.

maldonado speak spoke earlier with an affiliate and said she isn't angry. >> i love mexico. my family is still there. so mexico is not mexico, so it's a few people who, you know, do this to me and probably to other people, who knows? you know, so, i probably will go back. >> maldonado also thanked the news media for calling attention to her story. wait until you see this a two passenger airplane pokes out of the roof an aapartment building in herndon, virginia. remarkably, there were only minor injuries aboard two people on that plane. the witness says the pilot actually stumbled out of the wreckage, he is inside the apartment now. he said to the stunned residents, i think we hit your apartment. a crane was eventually brought

in. it removed the plane. sources say the plane was come income from philadelphia and it ran out of fuel. now to a second crash in washington state. investigators are trying to determine how this small plane crashed into a home about an hour outside of seattle on thursday. amazingly, the two men on board were fought badly hurt. no one inside the home was, no one inside the home was at home at the time of the crash. the pilot says he was trying to avoid a rain squall when the plane went down. imagine, you made it all the way to the top of mount everest. you are excited what you have just done, more excited you did it all for carty. daniel hughes knows that joy. he took out his smartphone to take pictures. that's when he got if trouble. >> it's a special day. one, this is the hardest thing. i stick it on to my face and

then it's the highest point now. >> all that res nose is assembled for the british charity come ec relief. but hughs didn't make history as i said, he actually broke the law in nepal. according to government there, it is illegal to make a live telecast from the pound taintop without -- mountaintop without first obtaining a perm. now he could be blocked from doing it again for ten years dandz blocked from the country for five years. welcome. >> reporter: all right. good morning. >> first of all, tell us about your excitement. that's the first thing i would want to, do take my smartphone and take picture. >> reporter: absolutely. i had been on a journey the last two.5 years, basically, training for that moment. i'm trying to raise a million pounds for the charity. one red nose, 1 million people. 1 pound each. as you may have seen in that

video the red nose is an acouldn'tic symbol. basically, i'm trying to help children and people in poverty across the world. all i was trying to do is share my journey. from my moif point of view, i have spoken to the government in january. unfortunately, they didn't get back to us. we have bermts for all tear gear. -- perms for perms for all their gear. so as far as we were concerned, like hundreds of other people at base camp, i was sharing my journey by a video call. it's not as if i was alone in terms of making video calls. >> you are not exactly making a movie out of your smartphone footage, right? you were taking it to show people you had done it. you raised money. it was on the bbc. that's a good way to do it. >> it's so reasonable, to raise money for charity. three years ago, everest wasn't in my horizon if you can call it

that. i have been on this journey trying to raise a million pounds. i'm trying to get $2 off a million people everest doivenlg go to help the children, which i'm trying to help. >> you are a fabulous spokesperson. so, tell me, when nepal, the government of nepal called you, what did they say and are you still trying to fight this charges? >> it's an issue, actually. they haven't gotten in contact with me. even on my website, they haven't physically gotten in contact with me. they have been speaking to the climbing company and as far as we're concerned, we were literally making a video call all for charity purposes, actually the charity i am trying to help. they have three projects in nepal. all the exposure is helping the people in nepal. so it's unfortunate, really. >> i really love that. still, you are a mountaineer.

this is what are you doing for a living. if you are blocked from entering nepal, that must hurt? >> actually, mountaineering isn't actually my full-time job. i have a wife. all this stuff which i have been doing, i have been doing in my spare time. so actually, i have a normal job. i am looking forward to going back in a couple week. it's been a long burn two years trying to raise this money. it's unfortunate. it's not something that i envision, really, it's not something i would like to be in this position. but as far as i'm concerned, it's all about raising a million pounds. i never need everyone to go to everest tobacco to smash that target. >> we are glad to help. daniel hugh, thank you for speaking to us this morning. great. for more information on dan yam's charity go to evestmillion.com. up next, an american woman killed fighting alongside syrian rebels. what drove this michigan woman

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a 33-year-old flint, michigan woman is dead, reportedly killed while fighting alongside syrian rebels. her passport and driver loons were shown on syrian tv along with the identification of a british woman. nick walsh joins us live. what else have you discovered about this nicole mansfield, why would she do this? >> reporter: we don't know a lot, really. what we do know is what certain state tv is saying that they found her ambushed, in fact, her in a volkswagon along what appears to be a british man, showing grisly pictures of their bodies and the british man and her driving license and american

passport, ammunition, state tv saying this is all a part of foreign fueled insurgency fighting. they suggest terrorists from outside are coming to syria to ferment this particular unrest. we don't know much more from syrian state tv apart from that. we know from the grounds mother saying she converted to the islamic faith about three to five years ago. it appears to have not spoken to her grandmother for about six to eight months. we don't know how she became to be inside sirria. and her mother related a trip to dubai which appears to have ended slightly more quickly t. real mystery here is how she ended up to be there. a whole variety of reason, carol, to how many foreigners have ended up on the syrian battlefields. >> the government is somehow now using her? >> reporter: that tends to be what the syrian state tv does when it comes across instances like this, seizing upon this one example as a suggestion they're

really not fighting a repressed and unhappy syrian population, they're instead fighting an array of outsider extremist was have come into syria to ferment problems. there are a variety of reasons why we see foreigners coming in. there has been recently a british doctor killed who went in simply to deliver medical aid. we woo seen libyans come in, wanting to help their revolution. we have seen al qaeda-linked extremist, some from a front described by the united states, a terror organization. a different panoply of people who have gone to ii assist them. the government says they are terrorists. >> nick walsh reporting live. we are back in the newsroom in a machine. we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer,

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this is kate. she likes a man with a little hair on his chest. but definitely not on his back. whatever style she likes, make sure it looks perfect. trim, shave and edge with the proglide styler. gillette. the best a man can get. . >> an asteroid will wiz by earth this afternoon with its own moon in tow. i'm telling you, this is huge. this asteroid is nine cruise ships wide. it's moon is gigantic, too. that's the white dot you see there. scientists call that moon, quote, a city killer. joining us from los angeles is bill nye the science guy. he is also ceo of the planetary society. good morning. >> good morning. good morning. >> i can wait to hear about this. when you hear about city killer or a single asteroid wiped out

the dinosaur, it makes you a little nervous. so please calm us down. >> well, you should be very calm about this asteroid, a 1998 qe-2. we are the first humans as far as i know that can do something about an asteroid that had our name on it. like we like to say, we live in a cosmic shooting gallery. if you look at the surface of the moon, there are a lot of craters. if you look carefully to the surface of the earth, there are a lot of craters. so we don't ever want to get hit by unof these things, it would be a nice thing if the ung or nasa got very motivated about this, we worked with our colleagues around the world to develop a system. this would be some sort of spacecraft that could deflect an asteroid, but the first step in all this is detecting tell. you see how even with our best instruments, this image is still

blurry and the moon is squished in the doppler access. so this is all we could do better with this if we worked at it. >> and it's important, because we all remember the meteor that hit russia but a few folks out there don't remember. here's the sonic boom. okay. so that was really scary. asteroid was much smaller him it broke apart as it entered the earth's atmosphere. scientists actually did not see that one coming some why can they see this latest one and why didn't they see that one? >> well, that one was estimates are vaerks but there are about 14-metres across, barely from the home plate to the pitching mound. but this asteroid is almost 2 point, so it's 3 kilometres across, it's well over a mile, a mile and a half across.

so it's a much bigger thing. you can see it. see it are radar. so what we are hoping to do today aboutlet see, it's i guess 5:00 p.m. eastern, 2:00 p.m. pacific time people with telescopes very skilled will be able to get a look at it. this thing is one of hundreds of thousands of these objects that are about the same distance from the sun as we are. many of them cross the earth's orbit. we hardly know a very small percentage of them. so it's an opportunity for space actions and amateur astronomers around the world to work together to perhaps and i'm not kidding, save the world. we save the world for us humans. >> i'm with you. i'm with you. but no danger of it hitting earth this time at least. bill nye, the science guy. >> no this one will miss. >> thanks, bill nye, the science guy. >> thank you. coming up in the newsroom,

mickey d's ceo says come on, eat that big mack. he worked it off with a work skwout. we'll share his mcdiet. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. i take bayer aspirin. [ male announcer ] so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. see your doctor and get checked out. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

>> how about losing weight on the mcdiet, voilla, you are

pound lighter. their ceo said he lost 20 pound that way in the past year. alison kosic is here to tell me if he she believes him. >> reporter: all i can believe is what i heard and the transcript from that conference that happened in new york this week. the catch here is that don thompson began exercising again. also, we don't know specifically what he's eating from mcdonald's every day. so listen for yourself. listen to what he said at this conference when he was responding to a question about healthier foods. listen to this. >> i eat at mcdonald's every day, every single day. in the last year or so i'm down to about 20-some pounds, i'm sharing my personal stuff now. so how are you down, don? what did you do? you know what, i didn't change eating at mcdonald's every day. i got my butt up, started working out again. >> reporter: he goes on to say all of us have to make personal

choices. he said he stopped working out when he got into ceo. now he got back into it. >> we know what happened to morgan spurlock, need i remind you? didn't work out so well for him. although, mcdonald's severance sammed a. maybe he's eating a mcdonald salad. >> reporter: who know, you see he eat agency variety of mcdonald's foods. as ceo, don thompson, he hasn't shied away from these questions of owe bowsty that have come up. at the company's annual meeting, he actually defended mcdonald's. they made changes, they got more salads, smooth thinks, wraps, added apple slices to the kids meals. he said yesterday he recognizes the company may have to some extent have a social responsibility to provide more fruits and vegables for kids, but says we are not the parents of everyone's child. >> thank you for joining me.

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has a lot going on in her life. wife, mother, marathoner. but one day it's just gonna be james and her. so as their financial advisor, i'm helping them look at their complete financial picture -- even the money they've invested elsewhere -- to create a plan that can help weather all kinds of markets. because that's how they're getting ready, for all the things they want to do. . advisor

. good morning, everybody. i'm ashleigh banfield in new york city. with egot a busy show ahead, the day's main news stories and as always our take on american justice, daytime justice. first up, astonishing video of two most