to do with that forensic evidence, it's worthless. >> forensics pretty much saved my life. >> if it's not for that pizza box, if it's not for the dna under karen's fingernails, you have a guy who potentially is framed, and you have another guy framed, and you have another guy who gets away with murder. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com big developments overnight in the search for flight 370. do these satellite images show wreckage of the plane? and the stunning report the plane might have flown for four hours after its last reported contact. big implications in this mystery. we are live with the very latest. the death toll rises. six killed, dozens more injured when two new york city buildings suddenly just explode. this morning, investigators are on the scene trying to figure out how it happened. the northeast bracing for a blizzard, a powerful winter storm canceling hundreds of flights, shutting down highways,

ripping trees from the ground. indra petersons tracking who will be the hardest hit this morning. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman. it is thursday, march 13th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. a lot going on this morning. >> absolutely. we do begin with breaking news from the south by southwest festival in austin, texas. at least two people are now dead after a car plowed into a crowd outside a club where a musician was performing. the car apparently barreling through barricades right into the crowd, leaving nearly two dozen people hurt, five of them critically. look at these pictures. this happened just after midnight. you can imagine how crowded it must have been. police say the driver just sped off, had sped off from a dwi stop, racing the wrong way down a one-way street before crashing and trying to run away. the entire thing -- this entire episode took less than a minute. the driver is now in custody. as of now, his name is not being

released my. all right, also this morning, investigators and rescue crews still on the scene of that horrific building explosion in new york city. and overnight, the death toll has risen. at least six people are now dead, six people. more than 60 people have been hurt. several others still unaccounted for. after the blast destroyed an apartment building and another building nearby, damaging some buildings, shaking the ground so strongly, it showed up on earthquake sensors. this is what it looked like before the blast. this is what it looks like now. >> wow. >> the local utility, con ed, says it started getting calls a little after 9:00 a.m. about the smell of gas. con ed sent crews, but just 18 minutes later, the building was gone. >> boom! >> it was so powerful that you heard the boom, and then it rocked the whole apartment. >> my neighbors came banging on my door telling me to get out, that i guess they were evacuating the building. and i couldn't get out. my door was jammed. everything off my windowsill fell, and i guess the impact of

the explosion jammed the door as well. >> as i was walking, getting ready to go down the stairs, i smelled like gas. and i said, let me go inside, because i might have just left the stove on, but when i went inside, it wasn't my stove. it wasn't. >> we will be looking at all reports. we'll be looking at con ed's call logs to see when the first calls started coming in. >> some in the neighborhood say they had been smelling a gas odor for weeks, not a strong gas odor, but they had been smelling gas on and off for weeks. new york's fire chief says the fact crews had not yet made it to the building may have actually saved their lives. >> again, there are still people missing in that disaster. all right, we have breaking, new developments overnight in the search for malaysia air flight 370. it has now been more than six days since that boeing 777 disappeared. these satellite images, these are the ones offering the latest clues as to its whereabouts. at least, that was the hope. the photos from sunday show large pieces of something

floating in the south china sea along the plane's planned route from kuala lumpur to beijing, but overnight, vietnamese planes flew over that area looking for evidence of just what happened to the jet. they found nothing. now, this happens as there's really a stunning, new report from the "wall street journal," suggesting that engine data shows the plane may have flown for four more hours after it disappeared from the radar. just think of the possible implications there. how far could the plane have gone? why would it have kept flying without contact for four more full hours? so many questions raised by this report. we are awaiting a live briefing from malaysian officials about the search efforts as they stand at this hour. let's go now to jim clancy live in kuala lumpur with the latest. a lot to discuss, jim. >> reporter: john, some disappointment there with the vietnamese reports coming back from the scene of where they should have found some debris spotted by a chinese satellite.

the chinese aren't dissuaded at all. the premier says they're going to pursue every clue. they've moved, i think, about ten satellites in to assist in this effort. of course, most of the victims, most of the people aboard that aircraft are chinese nationals. now, on to the "wall street journal" report, which is really creating waves here. it says that it carried on for about four hours, the plane, on the same route, basically, that cnn revealed in an exclusive this week using an air force officer as a source here in malaysia, saying that it was malaysian radar records that confirmed that that plane was flying away from the south china sea, flying toward the indian ocean. now, of course, malaysian radar only goes so far. well, now we're hearing that the engines, the rolls royce engines were sending back data twice an hour for four hours. that's perhaps 2,000 miles or

more that this plane could have traveled that would put it well out into the indian ocean or some other destination, if it changed course again. now, we have talked to the ceo of malaysian airlines, who said there's no comment about this. the director general of civil aviation here and a spokesman for the prime minister's office both told me that they were trying to confirm these reports and trying to make sure that they were accurate. they said they could not do that. we have been pressing them, trying to get this data, not just for today, but for days, to find out if this plane completely left this area of the map and was moving someplace else. now, if it's true, this raises the spectorer of all kinds of hijacking theories or other theories that may come up, so it's a very important point. we're hoping to hear something in the press briefing coming up here in about an hour and 20

minutes time. we're going to be closely following that, trying to get all of the information that we can for you. john? >> jim clancy, as you said, stunning implications here, because if it flew on for 2,000 miles, that's almost an inimpossibly large search area, and as you said, it raises so many questions about why or who may have been flying it for four hours after the fact. jim clancy for us in kuala lumpur. again, we are awaiting new word from malaysian officials and we'll bring that to you when it happens. happening today in washington, attorney general eric holder is set to endorse a plan to reduce mandatory sentences for some drug crimes. holder will speak before the u.s. sentencing commission as it moves ahead with proposed changes in how long nonviolent offenders do spend in prison. holder's expected to say that the move will make the criminal justice system more effective and efficient. president obama today is set to order the labor department to strengthen its rules regarding overtime pay, changing the definition of what constitutes a supervisor so more people, more people can be eligible for time and a half if they work more than 40 hours.

as it stands now, supervisory employees can be exempt from overtime if they earn more than $455 a week. the new rules likely would not take effect until next year. today on capitol hill, the house could start debating changes to how medicare is funded, this as they work to repair a $138 billion hole created when lawmakers agreed to hold off a cut in payment to doctors. house republicans want to include a five-year delay in penalties for failing to sign up for health coverage over obamacare in this, but the house says that's -- the white house says that's a nonstarter. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius told lawmakers that health premiums are likely to rise in 2015, but at a slower pace than in the past. meanwhile, the obama administration facing another lawsuit over the health care overhaul's contraceptive mandate. a group of some 200 catholic employers looking to stop parts of that law requiring them to provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance plan. they say doing that violates their religious beliefs.

the supreme court is set to hear two other similar challenges to that provision later this month. fresh off his victory in a special election to fill a vacant house seat in florida's 13th congressional district, david jolly is being sworn in today in washington. the republican will serve out the term of longtime florida congressman bill young, who died last year. jolly's win is seen as a very big blow to democrats. his race against democratic rival alex sink was considered an early test of obamacare as an election issue going into the 2014 midterms. all right, tough, new questions for general motors, now that the automaker has revealed it knew of ignition issues on some models as early as 2001, but a federal filing does not make clear whether that issue is related to a defect that prompted a recall of more than a million cars last month. general motors previously said it learned those problems linked to 13 deaths back in 2004. both congress and the justice department are investigating. more disappointing economic news out of china has investors

on edge this morning. today it's word that china's industrial production retail sales growth eased. japan's and hong kong's stocks closed lower. stocks in shanghai added a little bit of ground. european stock markets off to an okay start, i would call it this morning. futures here flat, but you know, they might lean a little higher. we'll watch that. the dow closely slightly lower yesterday, lower every day so far this week, by the way. >> that's not good. >> no, it's not, but it has been a relatively quiet week, i think, overall for wall street after all the volatility last week. lower, but quiet. a little erosion, but the dow stands close to its record high, about 1.4% away from a record high. all right, better than the weather, we should say today. >> that's true. >> spring is just a week away, but taking a big detour today. rain and snow falling on the northeast as temperatures plummet. this is a stark reminder that we still do have a week left in this winter. >> parts of western new york already feeling it. this is what it looked like along lake erie. wow, looks like christmas.

the winds, though, made this all but impossible to see anything. the winds really crazy. some areas near buffalo got more than a foot of snow already. we have some snowy conditions blamed for dozens of accidents in ohio, including crashes like this pileup on the ohio turnpike. parts of that road were closed for hours. at least three people died in accidents there and a state trooper was seriously hurt. in the south, high winds were toppling trees, this one near atlanta fell on to a home. >> oh, wow. >> luckily, no one was hurt inside there. the winds really something here this morning. indra petersons tracking the late winter blast. good morning, indra. >> good morning. right? it's rough enough that the temperatures are dropping so much, but then you talk about these winds this morning. makes it feel so much worse. it's so easy to see this huge temperature drop that we have seen in just 24 hours, guys. i mean, this morning, notice the difference. new york city is only 21 degrees. but like you said, once you add in these winds -- and they are strong -- we're talking about gusting as high as 40 miles per hour out towards new york city, philly also seeing gusts about

43. now we talk about the feels-like temperatures, right? many places feeling like subzero again. i mean, it's march! what is going on? detroit feels like 4 below. pittsburgh right now feels like 7 below. it is a rough day. the good news, it's not going to last long, but let's talk about what we have seen from the storm that's already been out there. cleveland, ohio, about 4 inches, detroit saw about 6 inches, but again, out towards buffalo, they had a blizzard, saw over a foot of snow and more snow still expected on the way, but you can tell it is winding down and pushing off toward the northeast. still some places could see heavier amounts. i doubt we're talking about almost over a foot of snow here still, but it looks like 3 to 5 inches still expected in the northeast, more likely than what we'll take from this model. keep in mind, it is cold. it is not going to last. by tomorrow, thank god, a lot better temperatures. they will go up where they should be, maybe 40s, 50s and even some 60s out towards d.c. >> that will help melt all this stuff. >> please. >> there's still a lot of snow in the northeast that needs to go. >> please melt it. >> thank you, indra. as we said, there's a lot going on this morning, including the crisis in ukraine. days away from a crucial vote

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allowed him to identify and better address the issue. then drive off into the sunset. experian. happening today, ukraine's prime minister goes to the united nations where he'll speak before the u.n. security council, and there's a big question this morning if russia's ambassador will show up to hear what he has to say, this three days before crimea votes, that important vote on seceding from ukraine and joining russia permanently. the u.s. and europe working on sanctions, and secretary of state john kerry says it's important russia make the right decisions here. >> i don't want to go into all of the detail, except to say this, it can get ugly fast if the wrong choices are made. >> many in crimea are choosing now to get out, heading for ukraine and elsewhere with the referendum on the horizon. diana magnay is there for us this morning. diana, you've been to the train station there.

you know, what are you seeing? how are people dividing here before, three days before this vote? >> reporter: hi, christine. well, it's true that many are choosing to leave, but most are deciding to stay. and really, you get the sense that the majority here do want to join russia. the choice that they'll have on sunday is whether to stay a part of ukraine or whether to join russia. this is a pre.cdominantly ethni russian or a russian majority. when you speak to them on the streets, they will tell you, we are looking forward to going home, back to mother russia. but of course, there are ethnic minorities here, there are ethnic ukrainians, there are tatas and some of them are leaving, not within the tata community, who have been in exile for 20 years and only back in their so-called motherland for 20, so they are very keen to

stay, but a lot of worried people three days before this referendum, a referendum the west consider illegitimate. but christine, it looks like it will happen anyway. >> illegitimate, although some are saying illegal, but certainly proceeding. thank you so much, diana magnay. 17 minutes after the hour this morning. an indian diplomat is no longer facing charges in the united states that she exploited her housekeeper. a federal judge dismissing the claims against devyani khobragade because she had diplomatic immunity. khobragade was at the center of an international controversy when she was arrested, drawing fierce condemnations from the indian government. she's since gone back to india. prosecutors say they may refile the charges. arizona's governor is calling it quits at the end of her term. jan brewer announcing she won't run again this fall. brewer has been in office since 2009 when she took over for janet napolitano. she was re-elected in 2010. under arizona law, governors can only serve two terms, but some had argued brewer was eligible to run again since she had not served two full terms. new details this mrning

about the big san francisco fire that destroyed an apartment complex under construction in the city's mission bay neighborhood. fire investigators are now looking at welding work as a possible cause of the fire, which was really the biggest the city has seen in years. two firefighters were injured battling the five-alarm inferno. the intense heat forced hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate. all right, behold, a year's worth of sausage and bacon, berman. you're looking at right now a 500-pound -- >> wow! >> 8-foot-long wild hog, bagged by north carolina hunter jett webb. >> no! >> hunters in the area have known about this beast for years. they have captured pictures of it, but no one has ever been able to bring it home until now. so, what was it like to come face to face with the mother of all hogs? >> it was very surreal. it was a shock. it was very humbling, to say the least, when you walk up on a beast that big and you say, oh, my gosh, i had no idea that there could be something that big running around the woods of eastern north carolina.

>> webb says he set out to just put a little meat in the freezer and came on home with enough pork to feed his entire family for the year. for the record, i feel kind of bad for that big hog. the hog survived over man for so long, and then -- >> decidedly bad ending for the hog, but look how big he is! was. >> that's unbelievable. >> oh, man! >> all right. all right, coming up, kobe bryant officially shut down for the season, but not without some really brutal words for lakers management. wait until you hear what he has to say. andy scholes breaking it all down in the "bleacher report," coming up next. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources

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because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. [ sneezes ] bad news for lakers fans, kobe bryant done for the season. now he's calling out the team's front office. >> yeah, this is not the way it's supposed to go down. andy scholes explains it all in the "bleacher report." hey, andy. >> hey, good morning, guys. this has been a frustrating year for kobe. he worked his way back from that torn achilles only to hurt his knee after playing just six games, and now kobe is questioning the direction of the franchise going forward. >> it's my job to go out there and perform. no excuses for it, right? you've got to get things done. same thing with the front office, the same expectations they have of me when i perform on the court is the same expectations i have for them up there. >> kobe's comments come just a day after his former coach, phil jackson, is reportedly close to a deal to run the new york knicks. "the sporting news" is reporting kobe has no interest in playing for current lakers head coach

mike d'antoni next season. nets and heat squaring off last night in miami. game tied with two minutes left to go. paul pierce, the driving layup to give the nets the lead. brooklyn goes on to get the win 96-95. they are now 3-0 against the heat this year. all right, out west, the l.a. clippers continue to be red hot. check out blake griffin with the monster putback slam! he had 30 points and 15 rebounds as the clippers get their ninth straight win, beating the warriors 111-98. trending on bleacherreport.com right now, revis island relocating to new england. according to reports, nfl star cornerback darrelle revis is going to sign a one-year, $12 million contract with the patriots. not to be outdone, the denver broncos continue their spending spree, the team inking former cowboy defensive end demarcus ware to a three-year deal. looks like the denver broncos are going all in next season

with peyton manning getting up there in age, but i'm sure you're happy with your patriots making the biggest splash in free agency, getting darrelle revis. >> it's hard to bring a former jet to new england, but i'm trying to come around to it. he's so good, i think i'll allow it. >> they always find a way to keep that rivalry interesting, the jets and patriots. >> indeed. andy scholes, thank you. >> have a good one. a tragedy at a popular music and tech festival leaves two people dead, almost two dozen more injured. the very latest and all your headlines after the break.

breaking news overnight. a deadly accident at a popular musical festival. there are deaths, there are many injuries. why did a car just plow into this crowd? the death toll rising this morning after two new york city buildings came crashing down. what investigators now believe could be to blame. and stunning, new clues in the search for flight 370. does this satellite picture show wreckage? and then this question about the shocking report that the plane may have flown for four hours, four hours after its last point of contact. big implications there. we are live. >> wow. >> welcome back, everyone. a lot to talk about this morning. this is "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it's 30 minutes past the hour. let's start with this news this morning, a tragic car crash at the south by southwest festival in austin, and police say it took less than one minute to inflict horrifying destruction. at least two people now dead,

two dozen others hurt. a driver plowed into a crowd at south by southwest, gathered outside a music venue. at least five of those hurt are said to be in critical condition at this hour. this happened on a busy street packed with people just after midnight. police say they tried to stop the driver for an apparent dwi, when he sped off the wrong way down a one-way street and crashed. they say he then tried to run off, but they caught him. the driver now in custody. his name is not being released. also this morning, the death toll rising after the devastating building explosion here in new york city. the blast in east harlem leaving at least six people dead, more than 60 hurt and several others still unaccounted for. a gas leak is being blamed for destroying an apartment building and another building right next door. this is what it looked like before the blast, and this is what it looks like now. the local utility, con edison, says it started getting calls a little after 9:00 a.m. about a gas smell. they sent crews, but just 18

minutes later, the building had been leveled. >> boom! >> it was so powerful that you heard the boom and then it rocked the whole apartment. >> my neighbors came banging on my door, telling me to get out. i guess they were evacuating the building. and i couldn't get out. my door was jammed. everything off my windowsill fell, and i guess the impact of the explosion jammed the door as well. >> as i was walking, getting ready to go down the stairs, i smelled, like, gas. and i said let me go inside because i might have left the stove on. but when i went inside it wasn't my stove. it wasn't. >> we will be looking at all reports. we'll be looking at con ed's call logs to see when the first calls started coming in. >> the blast here was so strong, it showed up on earthquake sensors. some in the neighborhood say that they had been smelling a gas odor for weeks, not a strong one, though. new york's fire chief says the fact crews had not yet made it to the building may have actually saved their lives. again, there are still people unaccounted for in this disaster.

all right, now to this stunning development. we're following the latest breaking news in the search for malaysia air flight 370. it has now been more than six days since the boeing 777 disappeared, and here is the stunning development this morning. the "wall street journal" now reporting engine data shows the plane could have been flying for up to four hours after it dropped off radar. and search crews are now using these satellite images, right there, as a guide, as they look for large pieces of something seen floating in the south china sea on those radar images. now, the pictures are from sunday. and overnight, vietnamese officials say they saw nothing when they flew over the site. right now, malaysian officials are updating the media about the search effort. jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur with the latest. jim, so much to go through here, and i think it's fair to say, let's start with this "wall street journal" report that the rolls royce engines on this plane were sending data for four more hours after the last known contact with the plane. what can you tell us?

>> reporter: well, that's according to u.s. investigators, and "wall street journal" correspondent andy paxter didn't name them, but they're saying that this went on for four hours, which means this plane would have been still aloft. that opens up all kinds of theories about mechanical failure, theories about a hijacking, all kinds of theories. so, it's very important to follow through on it, and that's what we've tried to do all day here in kuala lumpur, talking with the ceo of malaysia airlines. he told us, i can't comment on it, you've got to go to the government officials. we went to the government officials, we went to the director general of civil aviation, and we also talked with a spokesman for the foreign minister's office. they both told us that they're trying to verify the details of all of that, verify whether or not this data is really out there. malaysia airlines may or may not receive them, but that data also comes down from those engines to a recording center, a boeing

center in the united kingdom, so they would have the data. some people have it on their smartphones that work for the airlines. they can tell how planes are doing all around the world. very important fact. we're hoping that we get something on that here, but it really goes to the whole point of what we've been talking about. cnn broke the story earlier this week that this plane was on a path into the indian ocean. authorities here in kuala lumpur said they can't verify that the blip on their radar was actually flight 370, but someone, a source inside the air force told us that, yes, it was. so, we're hoping to get some developments here. >> right. >> reporter: important note. you know, a lot of times we talk about this and it's only confirmed by actions. the indian navy is set to put two ships that are on the andeman and nicobar islands into the search. >> and now, jim, we're listening to this press conference from malaysian officials, and we can tell you they've updated on that

particular lead, john. >> yeah, they suggest at this point that that "wall street journal" report that these rolls royce engines were sending signals back for four hours. right now, malaysian officials say that report is not accurate, that coming from the man standing at the podium right now. now, we are looking into this independently, into this "wall street journal" report, quoting unnamed u.s. officials saying that this plane may have flown for four hours after its last known point of contact, based on rolls royce engine data. however, as we said, that malaysian official is saying that report is not accurate. so far, the information coming from the investigators here and malaysian officials, it has been inconsistent. >> yeah. >> so, i think there is a need to follow up here. >> and vietnamese officials have complained that the lack of information has thwarted their attempts to go out there and do some searching. i think what's so interesting about this and why we're looking for so much information from this plane, this is one of the most high-tech pieces of equipment out there, right? it's got triple redundancies for all of the information, electronic signals it's sending,

and there was nothing. a transponder shut off and there was nothing, which is why investigators are combing through every possible electronic fingerprint, i think is fair to say, of this plane, and figure out what happened, which is why, you know, the trail led to those engines in the first place. >> we'll be listening more to this news conference for any developments. a new endorsement for shortening drug crime sentences. attorney general eric holder set to speak before the sentencing commission and give his okay to reducing mandatory sentences for some nonviolent offenders. holder is expected to say the move will make the criminal justice system more effective and efficient. president obama today is set to order the labor department to change who may be eligible for overtime pay, requesting new regulations altering the definition of what constitutes a supervisor so more can get overtime pay. as it stands now, supervisory employees can be exempt from overtime if they earn more than $455 a week. the new rules likely would not take effect until next year. this morning, general motors facing tough, new questions that the automaker has revealed it

knew of issues with car ignitions as far back as 2001. now, it is not clear whether that issue is related to a defect that prompted a recall of more that n a million cars last month. general motors said it first learned of that issue linked to 13 deaths back in 2004. both congress and the justice department are investigating. general motors stock taking a hit this week, down 6% so far. i say so far, because the markets haven't yet had a chance to react to the news that gm knew about an ignition switch problem before it earlier admitted. down day in asia. renewed concern about china and its economy. european markets trying to shrug off disappointing numbers on china's retail sales and industrial production. things looking up now for the u.s. early indications are for a positive start to the day after three days this week of losses. big losses for the stock of nutritional products distributor herbalife. word it's being investigated by the federal trade commission. >> the backstory there, oh, man,

oh, man. hedge funds involved. >> yep. >> all right, 38 minutes after the hour. if you thought winter was over, think again! yes, we are just a week away from spring, allegedly, but in the northeast today, it's cold, it's snowy, it's icy, and it's just plain ugly. and you know what? it's not spring yet. >> no, it's not, but it's almost here. it's almost here. but you would never know that by looking at these pictures from western new york. along lake erie, i think, look at this. heavy snow in western new york, and it's not static. it's snow, making it all but impossible to see. some areas near buffalo, berman, buffalo got more than a foot of snow! >> it was all over that part of the country. deadly accidents along highways in ohio. snowy conditions leading to crashes like this one, shutting down parts of the ohio turnpike for hours. at least three people were killed and a state trooper there was seriously hurt. this system also bringing some pretty high winds. take a look at these, huge tree down near atlanta. >> yikes! >> fell on to a home. no one was inside that home, but you can guarantee they're calling the insurance adjuster

this morning. >> i'll bet you they are. all right, indra petersons is tracking all of this for us. a lot to talk about, indra. you know, it was so nice like two days ago. i wish we could just stay there, but today, it was painful walking outside, because not only was it cold, but the winds were really kicking up out there. you can tell the difference as the temperatures have significantly dropped, especially into the east coast. all that cold air finally pushed its way in. you can actually feel it. new york right now 12 degrees -- or i should say 21 degrees right now, but that is without the windchill. winds are gusting 30, even 40 miles per hour this morning. philadelphia gusting about 43, new york city gusting to 41, and we know what that does, it makes it feel so much colder. even subzero. pittsburgh feels like 7 below right now, detroit feels like 4 below, now new york feels like single digits once you factor that in, and boston just into the teens. so, yes, it has been rough. a lot of snow's already fallen, over a foot of snow, especially out towards buffalo, where they had blizzard conditions yesterday. still dealing with the leftover remnants of the system as it's kind of pushing off towards the northeast, but still expecting more snow out towards vermont

and even maine today, but not looking for too much. anywhere from 3 to 5 inches still left as the system tries to pull out of here. the big thing will be the temperatures. this is the good news, guys. we'll actually rebound by tomorrow. today's not great, only 28 is your high new york city, but 40s by tomorrow, 50s by saturday. d.c.'s going from 30s to mid-60s by saturday. so, hello, on the weekend drk. >> shorts weather after all we've been through. >> we need it. it's not a want, it's a need. >> thanks so much, indra. >> a milestone for the pope, marking one year as leader of the catholic church, facing many new challenges in the year ahead. we're live after the break. [ female announcer ] grow, it's what we do. but when we put something in the ground, feed it, and care for it, don't we grow something more? we grow big celebrations, and personal victories. we grow new beginnings, and better endings. grand gestures, and perfect quiet. we grow escape, bragging rights, happier happy hours. so let's gro something greater

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vatican. delia gallagher is in rome with more. what a year it's been for this pope. >> reporter: yes, quite a year. i think the general consensus is that, indeed, he has managed to renew worldwide interest in the papacy and give some hope that some of the pressing problems of the catholic church might be addressed anew, christine. now, the pope is not in the vatican today. celebrations are somewhat subdued because he is on retreat, which is a tradition this time of year, but the pope has put his own spin on it, as by now we've become accustomed to, and he's decided not to hold his retreat inside the vatican, but to take his staff about 60 miles south of rome until the end of the week. the vatican is commemorating the eoccasion with a special e-book on their website, which has some pictures and quotes from the first year of this papacy, emphasizing some of the themes that this pope would like to highlight, the themes that we've heard about, such as poverty, justice and mercy.

christine? >> all right, delia gallagher, a decidedly modern flourish to a very age-old institution. thanks, delia. >> such an impact already, but a lot of people are saying he's got very big expectations now to meet in this next year and moving forward, so it will be interesting to see what he does. let's look at what's coming up on "new day." so much news. brooke baldwin joins us now. >> hi, brooke. >> hey, good morning, guys. a lot happening. breaking overnight, first, beginning with a horrible, horrible tragedy at that south by southwest music festival in austin. i mean, you see the pictures here. this guy apparently plowed through barricades, this driver, straight into a crowd at south by late, late last night in austin. as of right now -- and obviously, this could change -- two dead. we're hearing something like 23 injured? rapidly developing situation. we'll have the latest and also talk to an eyewitness from austin this morning. also ahead, ugh, the mystery continues, day six. we'll have the latest on the search for that missing malaysia airlines flight. overnight, a search plane did

not find anything after satellite images indicated a possible debris field maybe from the plane. that's what some were thinking earlier yesterday, as they saw this image over the ocean. could there still be hope? we're talking with aviation experts. we have reporters live on the ground, so we're all over that this morning. but still so many questions. you know, you guys have been covering the reports from the "wall street journal" as to whether or not this plane was even flying multiple hours, you know, after it lost contact with the ground. so, still a lot of questions here, day six. >> trying to understand these bursts of data this plane should have been sending, you know that it wasn't. and it just is frightening. >> big questions. stunning implications there. all right, thanks. also, tune in tonight, 10:00 p.m. eastern/9 oom central for "chicagoland" here on cnn. don't miss that. >> it's a great, great show. a convicted killer and member of the manson family cult could be soon out of prison? how did this happen? and when could he be free? that's next. captain obvious: i'm in a hotel.

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all right, you're looking at live pictures right now from kuala lumpur, where malaysian officials are updating the media about the search for flight 370. still a giant, giant mystery. these officials now are denying a "wall street journal" report that the plane may have been flying for four hours after it lost contact with radar. that would just have giant implications. it would mean the plane could have flown thousands of miles beyond where they're searching right now. and then the question would be why, why was it flying for four more hours? malaysian officials are denying that "wall street journal" report. the acting transportation minister is now saying his country will turn over its radar data to the u.s. and china so the u.s. and china can help figure out where the plane went. he insists that malaysia has nothing to hide. he says that country's committed to finding that jet with 239 people on board.

it's now been missing for six days, and there are beginning to be serious questions now about how malaysia has handled this investigation. >> and the families are just outraged. the families want to know something. every day there's a new report and confusion about where the search and the investigation is heading. all right, a convicted killer and former follower of charles manson now closer to being freed from prison. bruce davis has been granted parole again. the 71-year-old has served nearly 42 years for two 1969 murders. he has been granted parole twice before, both decisions shot down by california governors. only in recent years has davis acknowledged his role in the murders. after a 120-day review period, the governor has 30 days to make a final decision. a court appearance today in los angeles for former nfl star darren sharper, as prosecutors in louisiana move to extradite him on rape charges. sharper is being held in california, where he has been indicted for rape and drug offenses. the pro football veteran is also -- was also just charged with drugging and raping two

women in arizona. a new jersey teenager has apparently reconciled with her parents a week after a judge denied her claim that they pay her expenses. 18-year-old rachel canning had sued her parents, demanding child support and high school private school tuition, claiming they kicked her out, they abused her and kicked her out. canning's attorney says the teen has been pressured into coming back home, but a lawyer for her parents called it a private matter that never should have gone to court. >> well, if this family can fix it themselves, that, of course, the best solution. >> absolutely, and that's what the judge said, too, this family needs to work harder about getting back together instead of fighting each other in court about who pays for what. coming up, more americans may decide to become home buyers! really important new numbers for first-time home buyers that makes me much more enthusiastic about the housing recovery than i've been in some time. >> we love when you're enthusiast yak! salesperson #1: the real deal's the passat tdi clean diesel

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all right, welcome back. it's "money time." stocks in the u.s. look to start the day higher. futures up. stocks in europe trying to reverse some losses from yesterday. asian markets closing mixed. real important information for first-time home-buyers.

that dream of home ownership may become a reality for millions more people this year. 4 million would-be first-time home-buyers are saying they want in. nearly 10% of renters in a new survey say they'll buy their first home this year. cities where a higher percentage of renters say they'll buy this year -- miami, phoenix, denver and atlanta. this is great news for so many who have been missing out on the housing recovery, but will creeping mortgage rates erode that dream? mortgage rates are currently about 4.3% nationally, according to freddie mac. it's a full percentage point over last year's lows of 3.3%, but more than two points below the average. >> you giveth, you taketh away. >> as the interest rates are rising, banks are more likely to let first-time home-buyers get a loan. now, you could buy a house with a bonus, did you know that? the wall street banker bonus checks looking very good this year. the average bonus on wall street $164,000, up 15%. >> wow. >> bankers haven't seen bonuses like this since before the 2008

financial crisis. $164,000! what that kind of money could buy outside of new york, a house in cities like -- just the bonus could buy a house in nashville, tucson, las vegas, or you could send two kids to a four-year public university, all costs included, still have money left over for grad school, or you could send one kid to a four-year private university, just with one bonus, and pay for spring break. it is spring break. how about passes to disney? $164,000 could buy you 1,666 single-day passes to disney. >> now, that's an investment in your future right there. way to go. >> most people in america i think are shocked how big the wall street bonuses are $164,000, biggest since the crash. >> glad it's working out for them. thanks for watching us. thanks for watching us. "new day" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com yrp everywhere you look, somebody's been hit. multiple people down. >> breaking news, a horrible situation at the south by southwest festival in austin when a suspected drunk driver being pursued by police plows

his car into a crowd, killing two people. nearly two dozen injured. we have the latest. also, growing frustration overnight. search crews coming up empty in an area chinese satellite images showed possible debris. also this morning, new questions about how long this ill-fated flight was actually in the air. we'll have the latest. death toll rising. now at least six people killed, dozens more injured when a gas explosion destroyed two new york city buildings. this morning, investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong as the search for more victims continues. >> your "new day" starts right now. we have breaking news, but good morning and welcome to "new day." it's thursday, march 13th, 6:00 a.m. in the east. michaela and