aurora, colorado. cnn "newsroom" continues right now with randi kaye. >> hello, everyone. it's 1:00. we have a busy hour ahead. let's get straight to the news. michigan this morning, maryland moments from now. president obama wrapped up his education speech on ann arbor. he called on colleges to keep tuition in check. later in this hour, the president speaks to the democratic issues conference on maryland's eastern shore and we'll bring you some of those remarks. with just four days to go until the biggest republican contest to date, mitt romney appears to be getting traction and newt gingrich appears to be slipping. the voters polled from yesterday to today, 38% back romney. gingrich is 9 points behind him. ron paul and santorum are still fighting for third. in the 19th debate of the season

and the last before florida votes next tuesday, the front-runners tangled over investments and campaign rhetoric. much more in fair game. a day after the captain admitted that he made a mistake and wrecked the ship, $14,000 is being offered to the passengers. but this ordeal is far from over. a 16th body was recovered on tuesday while another 16 passengers are still missing. the rescue operations chief says crews are trying to open up new passages so rescuers can access more areas. a surreal experience to be condemned to die. those were the ominous words of joshua komisarjevsky before a judge sentenced him to death less than two hours ago. he was convicted in october for

brutally raping and killing three people and dr. william petit managed to escape from the basement. he said, i miss my entire family. i had 26 years with jennifer, 17 with haley and 11 with michaela. we were robbed of this for what? money. we will hear more of his words in court in a few minutes. twitter played a critical role but they could soon be sense what exactly does that mean? twitter will begin deleting users' tweets in country that require it. until now, if twitter deleted your post, it would be erased globally, meaning nobody could see it in any country.

if silly string teaches you anything, let it teach you to do not do this. a boston bruins fan and bosses from the tampa bay lightning got wind of it and according to the tampa bank time rge the woman got for this but the silly string incident wasn't the only reason for firing frank. cnn has calls out to frank but we haven't yet heard back. we all know the x-games are extreme but what happened in aspen left many horrified. before we show you this, be warned, this is a freestyle jump on his snowmobile when, just watch, amazing stuff. moore is okay and walks away. not only that he advanced to the finals and won the gold. set your watches because colton moore will be speaking with brooke baldwin at 2:50 p.m.

about the crash and his win. the breakup of heidi klum and seals seemed shocking. many asked seal about their separation. >> how can two people who have it all as i described, have their careers, the love for each other, the beautiful family, have the respect and the honor and the friendship for each other, how can it all of a sudden take a left turn? so, no, it doesn't really make sense. >> you can catch piers entire interview at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. a picture of perfection, or are they? we'll ask the author of the new book, jodi kantor. plus, she dishes on what it's like inside the white house. an amazing story of the

community coming together. a hardware store came under hard times and was on the brink of closing after more than 150 years. that all changed after a resident posted an online rallying cry, asking members of the community to come to the store and spend at least $20. he called it a cash mob. it saved that store. not only did people flood in, so did calls to all those who gave, you are today's rock stars. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief?

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when it comes to the first family, americans really only get to see the exterior, the polished presentation and perfection, it so often seems. in fact, life inside the white house is not only ridiculously demanding, it can be downright grueling. author jodi kantor joins me from new york. nice to have you on the program. read the book. really interesting read. i understand that you interviewed 200 people, many who surprised you most about the obamas in your research? >> he will well, i think the most interesting thing is watching these two interesting people from chicago but turn themselves into president and first lady of the united states. i really wrote the book to answer voter's questions that

they had coming up to 2012. what has the effect been on them of being in power, of living in the white house? what is their true experience and behind the scenes adjustment been like? >> and in the book you describe the obamas as pretty much isolated, introverted in a way. they don't socialize very much. why do you think that is and does that surprise you? >> well, part of it is the effect of being in the white house. president obama revolutionized ab ou online campaigning and michelle obama used to be a real neighborhood person. now her moves are so restricted. when she went to a beautiful art museum, she was shocked to discover that it's only a block from the white house because she doesn't get to walk around the neighborhood. >> how would you say their

relationship has changed? >> well, i think what is interesting is their relationship means so much politically. when i talked to them in 2009, i said, we see all of these beautiful images together. are you in any way marketing your marriage for political gain and they really pushed back. they really disagreed with even the premise of the question but a year later they are sitting in a meeting in the oval office and the president's approval ratings are way down, the mid--term elections in 2010 were very tough for democrats and they are basically told democrats love seeing you together and it has a positive effect on elections. >> there is no question the president has the toughest job in america but if you look at the first lady, that can't be easy either. i know you write a little bit about how michelle obama struggles with that. >> the scrutiny is incredible. the first summer they were in office, they went to the grand canyon, a typical thing to do and they were told to dress very

lightly for safety. so michelle obama wore a pair of shorts, just a remember pair of mom shorts and an uproar ensued, days of video commentary and pictures and debate about whether it's okay for a first lady to wear shorts and she actually went to robert gibbs and she was very contrite. she was worried that she had caused days of negative headlines simply by wearing shorts. he assured her, no matter what you do, people will pick you apart. >> i've seen mixed reviews. some are positive and some are quite negative. you've been shocked by what you call tabloid treatment of this. >> well, maybe not shocked but a little bit surprised. the book reviews have been very good. the thing that i've been surprised by is i have been covering the obamas for a long time, oftentimes writing sensitive stories. what i think that has never happened before is this story

really blew up and there was a lot of tabloidy sensationalized treatment. there were statements that were skewed, the facts that i reported. as an author i don't want to complain about attention but that was a little strange to write. >> this story got me. there is this window that laura bush pointed out to michelle obama. where is it? >> it's upstairs in a private residence and it's a little inconspicuous window. laura bush took michelle obama there after the 2008 election and laura bush said, my mother-in-law, barbara bush, showed this window to hillary clinton who showed it to me and i'll show it to you and one day you'll point out to your successor. she used to stand slightly to the side so nobody could see her and look out. to me it was such a powerful

metaphor for what first ladyhood is. these women experience the presidency so intensely yet they are hidden in a way as well. >> have you heard from the president or first lady since the book came out. >> reporters almost never do. sometimes you hear through aides and ind immediate areas. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, jodi kantor. appreciate it. he's been convicted of killing two young girls and their mother before setting the house on fire. but what drove him to commit such a horrible crime? the latest about joshua komisarjevsky and from his sentencing. .'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer.

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joshua komisarjevsky convicted in a brutal home invasion in connecticut was sentenced to death just a few hours ago. he killed jennifer hawke-petit, then tied up her two young daughters and set them on fire. dr. william petit said in court today, i lost my wife, my family, my home, my partner. for what? money. why did komisarjevsky do it? i got some insight when the murders first happened in 2007 from one of komisarjevsky's friends. >> reporter: a hint of violence, a disturbing prediction of what might come buried in this letter from prison. >> i need someone like you who knows a little bit about my past to keep me grounded in the future when my criminal demon wants to wander. >> reporter: days after the attack, we interviewed this woman who told us she was a

close woman. she shared the letter he says he sent her from prison years before. >> prison was a hard pill for me to swallow. there isn't a day that goes by that i don't get angry or the pain of being taken from my daughter. >> reporter: he writes about his dreams of becoming a real estate developer. >> my daughter needs me and i can't accomplish my goals when i am locked up. >> reporter: police say komisarjevsky followed mrs. petit owe one of her daughters from the grocery store and chose him as his next victim. they are hardly strangers to crime. in fact, between the two of them, they have been arrested nearly 50 times. on hayes' rap sheet, 27 arrests, including possession of a firearm and burglary. komisarjevsky's past is just as ugly. burglary and larceny. police say he sometimes used

night vision goggles. both have served time in prison but it was here at the halfway house in hartford, connecticut, where they first met. they were roommates for four months. what might have driven them to sexually assault and strangle jennifer hawke-petit and leave her two beautiful daughters to die in a fire that they set? a forensic psychiatrist has studied cases like this. >> they were consumed with the unfairness of their lives, so to speak. >> reporter: komisarjevsky was adopted as an infant. his grandmother, a well-known modern dancer. a family friend says his parents had trouble controlling him. his friend told us that just five days before the murders komisarjevsky was distraught over a breakup. >> he was really, really depressed. she said if he did kill jennifer

and her kids, he snapped. >> he put the terror into these poor girls hearts and he was the person that he spent the last hours in fear of their lives and left them to burn. >> reporter: a senseless act, not even a history of crime can explain. now let's go straight to the connecticut court where komisarjevsky was sentenced our brian vitagliano was there. i can hardly imagine what that atmosphere was like in that courtroom today. can you tell us? >> yes, randi. hi. the courtroom ran high with emotion. it was a very somber hour and 45 minutes. joshua komisarjevsky at 10:00 a.m. was led into the prison in an orange jumpsuit and shackles. he had to sit there and listen to jennifer hawke-petit's father, mother, and sister speak

video for the victim impact statements and then dr. petit got up and spoke and it was extremely, extremely emotional. afterwards dr. petit and the entire petit family and friends left the courtroom. they did not want to hear anything that joshua komisarjevsky had to say. and he did in fact speak for roughly about eight minutes. he said that he, quote, was honest in my confession, then and now, and knew the result is the same one that he did it and he was going to spend his life in prison. he didn't want to look innocent when he died and didn't need 12 people to tell him what his motivation was. i covered the steven hayes' verdict as well and it was extremely emotional. when you sit in court and listen to a judge basically say your fate is now in the hands of others, may god have mercy on your soul, it's extremely powerful. >> do you think the family -- i don't like to use the word closure and i know dr. petit didn't. but this is sort of finally

coming to an end for them. how much would you say that means to this family? >> i think it means a lot. they have had to endure two trials now. and sit through evidence and horrific testimony about what happened to his wife and daughters and keep photographs of the remains of charred and burned bodies and that is taxing on anyone and, you know, during last october when dr. petit came out, someone asked him about closure and he says, quote, it's not clear to me that time heals all wounds but you form some form of scars. so, you know, there is a sense that he's moving on. he just recently did get engaged over the holidays. so, you know, he seems to be moving on. but this, by no means, will ever be forgotten for the family or the people in connecticut. >> certainly not. not a crime that brutal. brian vigtaliano, thank you.

we've been talking about the impact of concussions all week. coming up, we'll discuss how brain injuries are detected. dr. sanjay gupta is even going to put me to the test. you'll see it live next.

police in a suburb of pittsburgh are investigating a high school accused of putting football ahead of students' safety. coaches at peters township pressure students to play hurt. the district disagrees and no

one has been charged with anything. getting hit in the head hard can cause some serious problems. dr. sanjay gupta has reported on those risks. all day we are talking solutions. my first question to you is, how can parents continue to let their kids play sports while still protecting their brains? is it possible. >> the athletic trainers need to be on the side of the kids' safety and at let trick trainers are one of the solutions. they can diagnose and recognize concussions so players don't get back into the game hurt. if someone has a second concussion while healing from the first, it can turn into a terrible, catastrophic problem. you think about practices, just so many repetitive head injuries in practices because of the drills. coaches and staff alike saying, do we need to be having a kid hit their head that meantimes in practice in football, soccer, or lots of different sports.

also, you watch football. the three-point stance. you have your head down and that was designed to move people to quickly with their headfirst. focus on a two-point stance first. your chest and arms and hands to do the tackling. a lot of people focus on helmets, for example. and they are important but request also be a false sense of comfort. these cannot prevent concussions necessarily. if you think specifically about what a helmet does versus what is happening to the brain when someone takes the hit. the brain is moving back and forth within the skull and that's what really causes the concussion is the brain stretches and twists and a helmet can't prevent that from happening. that is a way to address this problem. >> is it possible that some players don't even know when they've been hit hard enough? is it possible for the coaches to know for appearance? >> yes. and this is an important point. because the players themselves may not be the best judge at the

time. they have just had a brain injury. and even if they do know, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that because of the culture of football, they want to get back into the game. more than half of the players lie about this to get into the game. they have been trying to do a lot of things to try and standardize the playing field. they do these cognitive exams and if someone has a head injury, they can test them again. everybody else watching at home as well, if you take a look -- we have a list of words -- just take a look at that list for a few seconds there, randi. this is part of what a cognitive test would be like. you try to remember those and keep in mind if you had a head injury or playing concussion or you say, look, i'm fine, everything is resolved, i'm good to go, they may put you through you through these exams again.

>> do you remember those words? >> that was a long time ago. mirror. >> this is a list of more words and now pit out the words that you see there on the list. >> this is easy. ladder, parent, mirror, forest, stove. >> you did go. they have the word hot in there so people will confuse the word hot with stove. tree and forest. this is a much more sophisticated. that is a trend in terms of trying to not only give the player the benefit of the doubt but really rather test them. >> yeah, it's frightening because obviously they want to keep playing. i understand that. it's scary that the parents and others may not have any idea unless they gave them a test but may not know to give them a test. >> right. and hopefully 35 states and the

district columbia are taking these tests. hopefully it will be more common. >> thank you for the great reporting on such a serious issue. big hits, broken dreams airs this sunday, 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. definitely tune in for that one. the gloves were off in last night's debate. gingrich took most of the hits. is the battle for the hit gingrich's last stand? that is fair game next. but, first, a political junkie question. which party won florida when the state voted in the first presidential election in 1848? a long time ago. i'll give a shout out to the first person who tweets the right answer to me @randikayecnn. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home.

before the break i asked which party won florida when the state voted in its first presidential election in 1848 and the answer is the whig party. congratulations to charles from columbia for tweeting the right answer. newt gingrich was outperformed in the debate last night. take a look at this poll.

mitt romney has opened up a nine-point lead over gingric according to a quinniac poll. joining us is roll land martin and will cane. >> hey, randy, what if we had the we party. >> that's a good idea, roland. >> you had your time. >> i'm going to start with will here. to you first. this new poll that we showed before roland chimed in there doesn't bode well for beginning ric gingrich. >> i think last night kind of exposed him as a fancy boxer with the glass jaw. he really got whooped last

night. that's just plain and clear. >> roll laand, i know you want say something. >> whoever was his debate coach needs to give them a serious bonus for cooking them up with the performance last night. here's the piece. this is only the fourth state. it might be a tough month for newt gingrich but the key is going to be what happens on super tuesday, march 6th and then what happened a week later. we have a lot more southern states as well. so i'm not one of these folks saying, he's out. maybe he's likely going to lose florida. you never know. we have 46 to go. >> i want to replay one very sharp exchange between gingrich and romney.

>> sure. >> governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac. >> mr. speaker, i know that sounds like an enormous revelation but have you checked your own investments? you also have investments from mutual funds that invested in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> as they say in that commercial, the look on gingrich's face was priceless, wasn't it, will? >> absolutely. here's the deal. i appreciate roland's patience in his political analysis. if you sell yourself and if you've been sold and the public has bought you as this premier debater, you better keep one in debates and last night mitt romney played him on that clip, randi. it's not about 11 million grandmas, another great moment, he turned newt gingrich's ambition and into pandering, you shouldn't go to every state

promising that state their own little political interest. he got him so many times last night the end result is that the future does not look bright. >> at the end of the day, randi, this is steel. this is a delegate game. you still have to get 1,144. you might not do well in one state, might do well in another. this is going to go on for a long time and we've already seen in these four states ups and downs, mitt real hot, newt losing. it's this state and then on to the next one. >> a lot of people are weighing in. former candidate bob dole is a romney supporter and blasted gingrich for being one man band who rarely took advice and goes on to say if gingrich is the

nominee, it will have an adverse impact on nominees running for county, state, and federal offices. will, what do you think? >> i think you need to add bob dole could conservatives saying the same thing. it includes esteemed members of the circle. the closer you have been to newt gingrich, the more negative things you have to say about them. >> roland, will it make a difference? >> no, i think rick santorum will always be they need santorum in this race because, again, if he gets out, then gingrich can say, i am the true conservative and if you're

romney, you're pulling people away from gingrich to help you out. >> people, as you know, can vote early in florida. if they've done that, many of them have. who does it benefit, do you think? they are big fans of each other. 25% of the florida vote came in early and meaning before newt gingrich and mitt romney was flying high. if 25% of the vote came in early, you have to guess that that hurt romney a lot. >> roland, you agree, i take it? this is why you do it beforehand. this is why you have to have a full program, if you will, a full campaign where you are working before you arrive there. remember, on march 6th, gingrich

not on the ballot in virginia. couldn't make it. several other things the same way. mitt romney's infrastructure could be the difference when it comes to getting those delegates. >> i love having you guys here on a friday. that was fun. that was fair game. >> the we party. >> i'm all over it roland. >> get it going. days after their rescue from somali pirates. the new stunning details of a compromised officer in just a couple of minutes. plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

two days after u.s. special forces swept into somalia and rescued jessica buchanan and paul, we are getting new details about who may have been behind their kidnapping. brian todd is joining us. we are getting word that the people hired to protect them may have been involved. >> that's right. disturbing details. this is back in somalia back in october. we have spoken with the man named frederick paulson according to mr. paulson, they were being guarded by a group of possibly seven or eight policemen affiliated with the somalia government. they were part of the spu,

special protection unit. they were moving between regions patrolled by different clans, changing vehicles as they moved from one area to another. paulson says the leader of that police unit was compromised, that he was paid by the kidnappers to turn on buchanan and to aid in their capture. i spoke with paulson over skype this morning from his home in sweden. >> he was sold out and he had a mission to capture ex patriots and had change of some of the ordinary spu guards that we utilized into guards that were -- they were just not part of the and came close to the

position and then they were stopped and then they were moving into other vehicles and driven away. >> pallson would not give us that police officers name. at this time they believe that one other officer, the lead officer was the only person involved in the kidnapping plot. he says that the man is still at large and has essentially disappeared. we pressed him repeatedly whether other units were in on that plan, whether they resisted, if they ran away. he has said that that is unclear. >> any other details about not only who was involved but how they were actually able to pull this off? >> he said that they were transiting from one region of somalia to another and when they do that they are going from an area controlled by one clan to an area patrolled by another clan. at that time he said they were switching vehicles. it's not clear whether that's a practice in that region or not

but we're told that it's sometimes part of the practice. that you have to switch vehicles as you're switching areas to let the one clan know that you're coming into their territory. they were in that kind of a transition period when that happened and getting out of one vehicle when the operation essentially turned and the picture that we're getting is that it was very, very fast. that they essentially shuttled them into one vehicle and drove away. it was that quick. they probably had little or no time to react. >> it's incredible and they are so lucky to be free and alive now. brian todd, thank you very much. special delivery, the connecticut mayor getting national attention for making an insensitive surprise. wait till you see what showed up at city hall, next. but, first, in case you missed it, last night's debate went nowhere that it had gone before. a space odyssey.

echos of 2001 in 2012 with the candidates launching an attack on newt gingriches idea to colonize the moon. gingrich called it bold thinking but his critics were quick to point out the dark side. >> i've spent 25 years in business. if i had a business executive that wanted to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. >> i don't think we should go to the moon. i think we should send some politicians up there at times. >> talk about a giantly backyards. sorry, newt. unless you're president, it seems like the moon colony 15 minutes may have to play out in the movies. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we were determined to see it through. here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs.

bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment. thousands of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. and the tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp.

time now to check stories making news at street level. in cincinnati, part of a casino collapsed this morning. at least 20 people were injured life threatening. police say they don't know what caused the collapse. an investigation is under way. east haven's mayor got a surprise lunch delivery, oh, just about 500 warm, soft tacos. they were hand delivered to his office by a group of protesters after he told a reporter that he would eat tacos to improve relations with the latino community after four police officers were accused of miss treating latinos. >> what are you doing for the latino community today? >> i might have tacos when i go home. i'm not quite sure yet. >> he later issued an apology and promised to deal sensitively and compassionately with the challenges currently facing our town. they plan to donate the tacos to local food kitchens and pantries.

an institution started by jane adams in 1989 is closing its door in financial ruin. they offer daycare and all kinds of services. its 300 employees now have to look for work. boys aged 16 and 18 are accused of planting bombs at a school assembly. he said he was fascinated by the 1990 shootings at columbine high school. a college fraternity at university of memphis is making waves, and for all the right reasons. the historically black community now has a white member. christian monte said he did it to get the college experience.

his friend says this is a move in the right direction. in ocala, florida, a girl was severely beaten on a school bus. they are facing expulsion from school. the girl's mother said she apparently just asked them to scoot over so she could sit down when she was attacked. school officials said they are conducting an investigation. in rochester, new hampshire, a school principal showed what true dedication to her students means. a 10-year-old autistic boy from her school was out for a walk with his teacher when he ran away. when he rushed out onto a frozen river and fell through the ice, principal gwynn rhodes jumped in the water and rescued him. his parents say shees shesls a . how hard is it to corral a sh shetland pony? well, pretty hard.

this guy kept cops on the run for two hours, hiking, running, hanging in a local neighborhood. finally after lots of snacks and sweet talk, the pony boarded a trailer and rode off into the sunset. we don't know where he came from, but he is now at a county shelter. do call if you recognize that pony. that's legit. what does this have to do with last night's debate? stick around. we're heading up, way up, next. who was the last democratic presidential candidate to win florida prior to 2008? that's our political junkie question. be the first person to tweet me the right answer at randikaye t randikaye@cnn and you will get a shoutout right after the break. [ male announcer ] this...is the network.

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before the break, i asked,

who was the last democratic presidential candidate to win florida prior to the 2008 election. the answer is bill clinton who was reelected fire second term. congratulations to e.t. who answered me first. the people watching cnn were scratching their heads he was talking about sending men to the moon. lego man soared 188 miles above earth. peter, there you see it, lego man. what do you think, could laeg l man give newt gingrich a lesson or two on the moon colony?

>> frankly, it would be way too much for the nasa budget right now. but maybe. maybe. >> you heard the five things we learned in this florida debate. i want to go over a couple with you. one of the things you said we really learned from this debate is romney came to play. can you expand on that a little bit? >> absolutely. he hired a new debate coach after south carolina when he stumbled through a couple debates. last night he really came prepared. he hit gingrich quickly and bounced back. when romney tried to hit him about making money on freddie mac and fannie mae, and he came back and said, guess what, you also have investments in fannie mae and freddie mac. romney really did his research and came in with an air of confidence, randi. he came in early and it set the

tone for the evening. >> it sure did. another thing you said we learned was that gingrich stepped in quicksand. >> you noticed him soften there, the hardware rhetoric. this is what really sunk perry's hopes and said people who don't favor a humane immigration policy don't have a heart. look, you don't want to drift too far to the left of the conservative debates, which despite the hispanic voters in this state, most of the republicans in this republican base have a really tough stance on immigration. gingrich stood out of position on the left and that made romney look really conservative, so that didn't help gingrich, randi. >> and that really helped romney in the end. >> absolutely.

absolutely. he came in with a comfortable lead, and i think he cemented it last night. you could tell it was a bad night for gingrich when even his advisers couldn't explain what he did and he didn't have a good debate. that's a win for mitt romney. >> thank you, everyone for watching. if you want to continue the conversation i'm on facebook and twitter at cnn. brooke? >> as always, hello, i'm brooke baldwin. top of the hour. let's get you caught on everything making news. rapid fire. let's go. at least one of the republican presidential candidates is campaigning outside florida today after last night's huge cnn florida debate. ron paul speaks this hour to a town hall in maine. we're going to dip into that live as soon as that happens. also, newt gingrich rallies with the republican coalition this afternoon, and mitt romney visits nasa's home in cape canavaral, florida later today. rick santorum has an appointment

with wolf blitzer in the situation room. 4:00. we'll be watching. also, president obama wants more middle class families in places like michigan to be able to send their kids to college. he told a crowd in ann arbor today that he wants federal spending on perkins loans to increase from 1 billion to $8 billion, among other things. >> we are putting colleges on notice. you can't keep -- [ applause ] >> you can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. if you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down. we should push colleges to do better. we should hold them accountable if they don't. an operator of that cruise ship that crashed off the coast of italy are now offering money to the survivors of the disaster. each survivor could end up getting about $14,500. so far 16 bodies have been

recovered. another 16 people remain missing today. apple under fire now after this new wave of investigations into conditions at the chinese plant where the most popular gadgets are made. here's one of the stats from a british report. at one plant, chinese workers clocked in 15-hour days and were paid a whopping $50 a month to make ipods. apple says it will look into the allegations, but current and former employees tell the "new york times" that apple ignored the poor working conditions in china just to meet all the demands. one of those two men behind that horrific home invasion in connecticut from a couple years ago has now been sentenced to death. he and his police, steven hayes, are to be executed by lethal injection for the 2010 killings of jennifer petit and her two young daughters, dr. william petit the sole survivor of that attack. petit's father spoke after the sentencing. >> we're happy and relieved that

this day has come. justice has been served, and we can now try to get on with our lives and hopefully build upon the future. >> and great news for ford. a record year here. the automaker today reported net earnings of $20 million. it's the best amount of earnings since 1988, and ford of the only u.s. automaker did not take that government bailout. denials and lies for the maintenance man who murdered a 7-year-old girl just released from prison showed ryan brunn before his arrest in atlanta. brunn repeatedly said he didn't kill her and didn't dump her body in a trash compactor.

>> did you participate in any way in causing the death of that girl? >> no. >> he said no. brunn pleaded guilty to murder last week, and then he hanged himself with a sweatshirt in prison two days later. cocaine in a united nations mail room. more than 35 pounds were found in hollowed-out books shipped to mexico. it was made to look like a diplomatic pouch. the police are all over this. they're investigating. no one knows who or how they got this in the pouch. a near miss today, this asteroid, just about the size of a school bus passed within 37,000 miles of earth. i know that maybe sounds like a huge distance. it's actually not, it's less than one-fifth the distance between the earth and the moon, and astronomers say we were in no danger, but -- here's a but -- it was one of the 20th closest approaches ever reported in history. we are just a couple minutes

in to two hours. here's what else we have in store for you today. police say two students wanted to attack a school columbine style. it was a plot months in the making. now we're getting details on their whole escape plan and the one mistake that led police to their door. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. chilling video of a killer denying a little girl's murder. >> i've never been in trouble before. >> you'll hear what ryan brunn said during his polygraph. a soldier dies in afghanistan and then is buried next to his brother who was also killed in action. now the family is opening up about a mother losing two sons. >> i just kept saying, he's not going to die, he's not going to die. one of the little girl's mother is suing the media for sexualizing her daughter. we're on the case. nigfrightening moments duri

an x-games stunt. wait until you hear what happened after this crash. i'll speak with the daredevil, live. [ female announcer ] investing for yourself isn't some optional pursuit. a privilege for the ultra-wealthy. it's a necessity. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. quickly. easily. i use pre-defined screeners and insightful trading ideas to dig deeper. work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself the one person i do trust to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ]

this alleged plot to blow up a high school in utah with two students at the center of this whole thing. this is 18-year-old dallin morgan. police aren't naming the other suspect simply because he's only 16. these two teens are conspiring to set off a bomb during a school assembly there in roy, utah. police say they had this

elaborate plan complete with maps of the school, marking cameras, blind spots. obviously investigators are taking this very, very seriously. >> this was not idle chatter, and that was early on recognized that there was significant thought, there was significant purpose, and there had been some preplanning and training to the extent of how do i fly a plane that i want to steal? >> hear that, fly a plane? they were thinking of stealing a plane to make a getaway. the younger one had spent hundreds of hours with this on-line flight similarity, according to police. this whole thing started to unravel when a fellow student came forward with tons of text messages allegedly by the 16-year-old student saying an attack was imminent. quote, i've just been kind of planning my get back at the world thing and i figured if you had anyone you wanted revenge

on, i could perform it, end quote. thelma, first things first. where are these two teenagers now? >> reporter: brooke, the 18-year-old, dallin morgan, is out on bail right now. the 16-year-old is still in detention, lots of questions being asked at this moment. brooke, you had gotten to the point about what could have possibly possessed these people to have wanted to carry out such a thing? and that is what the police chief is looking at right now. >> so far are police saying anything as far as a motive goes, or nothing yet? >> reporter: you know, brooke, you alluded to one of the texts, and in it one of them says, the 16-year-old tells another 16-year-old student, i've just been kinda planning to get back at the world, and i figured if you had anything you wanted to get revenge on, i could see if i have anything planned. besides that, you know, it's not well written, but besides that, he also says to that student, he

says, if i tell you not to go to school one day, make damn sure you and your brother are not there. so was it a question of revenge? that's what he's alluding to. that's what that 16-year-old is alluding to in that text message. >> and again, the 16-year-old, the one doing the texting, apparently, one more text from the 16-year-old, quote, i just don't care. i'm pretty much a lying, cheating manipulator with everyone except seven people. everyone else is just a piece. he makes it sound like he, the 16-year-old, is the mastermind here. does it appear that way to you? >> as a matter of fact, brooke, just a short time ago, i talked to the roy police department and the police chief said that's exactly the sense they're getting. after all, this was a person who other kids at school had said would be the next einstein. he was very smart. this is somebody who had knowledge of building a pipe bomb, somebody who had plotted out this entire thing, according to police, and i thought what

was really interesting about this, brooke, is that the 16-year-old, according to the police chief, actually went to columbine high school in denver back in december. he met with the principal there. he flew in one day, took a limo, met with that principal, interviewed him, he said, for a school newspaper, and then flew back to utah that very same day. >> so, clearly, there is some sort of fascination, at least with the 16-year-old, and what happened in columbine, the fact that he went to talk to this principal. but to take it a step further, thelma, this 16-year-old, i guess, sort of wanted to emulate that plot, but he thought he could have done better. >> reporter: you know what, brooke, that's what the police chief said. he wanted to one-up the people from columbine. thought he was much smarter and was almost offended that they

had only carried out one-third of their plan. he felt he was smart enough to be far more effective. >> it's tragic that someone so bright would take it this way. thelma gutierrez, thank you. we're going to dig much deeper into the psychology here. peter wrote a book about "killing minds, school shooters." stay tuned for that. now this. >> imagine you speak to fidel castro. what would you say to him? >> well, i would ask him what he called about. >> i don't know if you watched, i hope you did. he was full of one-liners in last night's debate. the crowd loved him. here's live pictures of ron paul speaking. he's already in maine getting ready for the caucus. we'll listen to a little bit of it. should we listen right now? after the break. after the break. much more. stay here.

before we talk a little about our own debate in jacksonville last night, i want to eavesdrop just a little bit on ron paul in maine. he's red did fady for the maine caucuses which comes after the florida debate. let's listen for a moment. >> it's major. we're not getting out of this mess. the jobs aren't available and people are deeply concerned. fortunately, though, it isn't like we haven't done anything new. look at our traditions. the understanding of the rule of law protecting liberty, protecting property rights, protecting civil liberty. our government is not doing a very good job in protecting our

civil libertys. if you look at what's happening today, and i am amazed how many people are aware of it because i think everyone is lackadaisical, and we really need to repeal that portion that allows the u.s. army that says u.s. citizens should be held without trial indefinitely. [ applause ] >> the republican presidential debate, as i mentioned a moment ago, last night certainly had its share of favorable and memorable moments, but one candidate's answer stood out to us. this man, ron paul, he is certainly one to always speak his mind, so we strung a few of these sound bites together. his answers starting off with his response to wolf blitzer asking about his age -- he's 76 -- and if he'd be willing to release his medical records. here we go. >> are you prepared to release

your medical records so voters out there know what your health is? >> obviously, because it's about one page, if even that long. i'm willing to challenge any of these gentlemen up here to a 25-mile bike ride any time of day in the heat of texas. >> imagine you're in the oval office. you speak to raul castro. what would you say to him? >> well, i'd ask him what he called about, you know. >> it seems that they both acknowledge they both made money from fannie and freddie. should they return that money? >> that subject really doesn't interest me a whole lot. >> there are few prominent republicans who think ron paul could be president, but even some people who support his rivals are recognizing the value of paul's candidacy. case in point, jeff welch, former chairman of chief

electric. here's what he said just today on cnn starting point. >> ron paul is going to exit left on this stage sometime down the road before august or in august, and the gop doesn't want to lose those wonderful voters that he's brought on board. so how well they treat ron paul going forward is a very big deal. >> coming up, i want to bring in our cnn political reporter peter handby there in jacksonville the day after the debate. jack makes a point. mitt romney supporters are so, so loyal. could they be won over by someone else? >> he loves all the republican candidates, it seems like. look, ron paul is in a delegate chase at this point. as you saw, he's in maine. there's 24 delegates staked there for the caucuses on february 4. their aim is to get into the

platform committee, possibly get ron paul a big national speech, and if the republican nominee doesn't make nice with the ron paul supporters who make up between 10 and 15% of the republican vote, that could hurt around the margins if they antagonize him come next november, because this is going to be a close race no matter what. people say it's going to come down to a few states, as it always does. welch is exactly right. there is no point in antagonizing these voters. >> what about this, it's ron paul's supporters that could mean he could stay in this race indefinitely. i mean, could that be an option? >> yeah. it certainly could. i mean, there are primaries and caucuses all the way through june, so he could stay in as long as he wants. they are peppered with caucuses here and there. ron paul is the only candidate other than mitt romney who made

the ballot in virginia on march 6. remember, all the other republican candidates didn't make all those really intense qualifying deadlines. so, yeah, he is organized, he is ready to go in all of these states, and he's basically given up florida because he knows he can't win here, it's a winner take all state. he's focusing on the caucus states like colorado, nevada, maine where he can get his really supportive voters out to the polls. it's easier than a big primary state where he has to run a bunch of tv ads and setting up just like a word of mouth facebook, grassroots sort of organization book. >> let's move on, peter hamby. i want to talk about newt gingrich here, newt gingrich in florida. the super pack that supports him is airing another trailer for another anti-romney documentary. here's just a part of it. >> they never do any work for

the government like medicare? >> we didn't do any work with the government. >> saw the title, "blood money." can you just explain to me what this documentary is about, what specifically they're going after romney on? >> yeah, it's a pretty brutal ad. the super pack that gingrich has -- excuse me, outside this campaign has have been running some very tough ads like that bain ad we saw in south carolina. this is basically about a medical aid in california romney served on the board of. they took over this company in 1989, and eventually this medical company had to pay $119 million in civil and criminal feels for fraudulently billing medicare. romney has never been accused of any wrongdoing here, but his

company, bain capital, did make money when they sold off this company. so the argument from the newt gingrich super pack and now today from the democratic party is that mitt romney profited off the backs of people who are harmed by this company. it sort of plays into that narrative they're trying to build that he's this corporate raider making money off the backs of regular working class americans, brooke. that trailer goes up today in florida, and again, it's supposed to tease to a web site where there is going to be a longer documentary about this medical company in massachusetts. >> all right. well, we'll see, i guess, on tuesday how these ads resonate with the florida voters. tuesday primary, tell me quickly here, how are the candidates spending their final days? >> the final days are really going to be focused around the tampa-orlando area. republican rich area. lots and lots of republican voters. and on monday, because it is such a huge state, both candidates, romney and gingrich, are going to fly around and try to hit every major media market

here in their last effort to get out the vote, brooke. >> peter hamby, thank you so much. we're taking the show on the road monday, tuesday, wednesday. should be exciting. now an asteroid the size of a city bus zoomed by earth today. next, the track of the big flying rock. plus, the northern lights that caused them to appear. how did this happen? >> chad meyers is going to get all space geeky with me, next. ♪ tonight ♪ we are young ♪ ♪ so let's set the world on fire ♪ ♪ we can burn brighter ♪ than the sun ♪ carry me [ male announcer ] the all-new chevy sonic. from your first time... to the time of your life.

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no one got hurt, but have you heard about this asteroid today? it got a little too close for comfort, but as i understand it, it's already zoomed on past, so any bit of danger is over. >> correct. it was only the size of a bus. >> only? hello? >> i know. as an asteroid, it would have

literally broken up in space as it came from the atmosphere. that's why nasa and all of them said there really would be no danger even if it came through, it would take something significantly bigger than that. i'll show you what happened and then i'll come right back because i know we have three stories to do. walk with me. walk this way. here is the -- right there, that's the big circle of earth. earth would be right there. today a bus-size asteroid had this planetary thing right around there, and the two of them, where we are right there, that is the x marks the spot and that is only 17,000 miles away -- 37,000 miles away from us right here as it passed on by. this thing is going to be out there a long time and the earth is going to keep going around and around and around, so we could encounter this again. >> we were talking about a bus-size asteroid a couple months ago.

these happen all the time. >> all the time. speaking of celestial phenomena, let's talk about this. how did this happen? >> the ionofear, the color we had as far south as marquette, michigan with this, and literally as long as an hour, two hours ago, there was another big flare that came out of that same sun spot. this is an x-2 class player. the good news is this is not facing the earth, it's pointing away, but there could still be more radiation in the atmosphere. we could still be seeing these green skies, red skies at night -- >> is it really green or is it just the camera color? >> green is a common color, red

is an uncommon color. every picture i've seen has been green. and we have to get this lego man in the stratosphere. what are they doing? >> they bought a weather balloon. they went to the party store and bought $160 worth of helium just to blow up like happy birthday balloons, but they blew up an entire weather balloon. it went up 80,000 feet. the balloon popped. it was 7,000 miles away. how did they find it? they had a gps phone attached to this guy, and when it landed, they drove back to it and found all the parts and now they have 97 minutes of video of this thing going all the way up into the stratosphere. you can see the black sky. i'm thinking like the guy from virgin. branson? richard branson has to be interested in this. >> i love that story.

one of my favorites of the day. chad meyer, thank you so much. now to the race for the white house. we are now four days here from the florida primary. we're going to go live to florida with the big debate moderato moderators, did a fantastic job last night. wolf blitzer talking to me next. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above.

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we're here to talk to the man, wolf blitzer. i know you watched our gop debate last night, i know i did, and was tweeting up a storm the whole two hours. wolf was right there in the middle. he was their moderator. kudos to you. really excellent job last night. first, give me your bottom line impression. you were there on stage. what was your impression of what happened in jacksonville? >> over those two hours, brooke, i thought that mitt romney did an excellent job. i thought ron paul from his perspective, very strong, very funny. a lot of people saw a little

different side of ron paul. this is probably rick santorum's best debate that he's done so far. it may be a little too late in florida for him to go very far. the numbers here in florida don't seem to show that he's getting much, although i suspect he'll get a little surge over the next few days. he'll be spending the next couple days away before the next primary going home, dealing with his taxes and for all primary purposes, he doesn't expect to win this next debate. it wasn't the best performance for newt gingrich. i thought after monday night's debate he would come bac back swinging. it wasn't his best performance. it wasn't the newt gingrich we know on a lot of these debate performances. >> you pointed out we're in the middle of this campaign.

there have been a lot of heated ads, including this ad. this is a radio ad in spanish. you have to follow the subtitles here, just a note to our viewers, and listen for the word ghetto. >> okay, so that's just some of the background. you had quite the revealing exchange with governor romney last night. let's listen to that. >> i'm not looking for a colony on the moon. i think the cost of that would be in the hundreds of billions, if not trillions. i would rather focus on housing here in the u.s. >> you've had an ad running saying that speaker gingrich calls spanish, quote, the language of the ghetto. what do you mean by that? >> i haven't seen the ad, i'm sorry, i don't get to see all

the tv ads. i doubt that's my ad, but we'll take a look and find out. there's been a bunch of ads organized by other people. >> we just looked, governor, that ad i talked about where i quoted you as calling newt gingrich saying the language of the ghetto. it is one of your ads, it's running here in florida, and at the end you say, i'm mitt romney and i approve this ad. >> you said it was his ad, you came back with him on that. is it not a practice for the candidates to review and approve the ads that go out under their names? >> there are so many ads that go out. he should have known better and i think he'll acknowledge that if he does have a radio ad, even if it's in spanish, even if he says i'm mitt romney and i approve this message in spanish, he should know it's his ad. he eventually recovered from that mistake by suggesting the ad was true, that at some point newt gingrich did say spanish

was the language of the ghetto. we fact checked that as well. newt gingrich didn't actually say spanish was the language of the ghetto. he said all the foreign languages, when people come to the united states, they should deal to english and not deal with the language of the ghetto. he said they can keep those languages, but he did make reference to language of the ghetto. not necessarily spanish, although that was the implication that was said earlier. it's a little more complicated than romney suggests. >> in coco, florida, newt gingrich talked about his idea of kohl ncolonizing the moon. t a lot of takers when you ask about that. >> i'm not looking for a colony on the moon. i think the cost of that would be in the hundreds of billions, if not trillions, i would rather be rebuilding housing here in the u.s.

>> i don't think we should go to the moon. i think maybe we should send some politicians up there. >> there he is with another one-liner. you know they used to call jerry brown governor moonbeam. does this gingrich notion of colonizing the moon maybe opening him up to a little bit of ridicule, wolf? >> yes, it has, although he stands by it. i asked him, i said, it's not only colonizing the moon, establishing a permanent base or colony on the moon you would like to achieve by your second term if you're elected president, you also went a step further and said once there are 13,000 american citizens living on that permanent base or colony, they could apply for statehood and a lot of people are ridiculing that and he's getting a little grief. but he's not backing away from it. he said, you know, you have to have bold, grand visions, gra

grandiose screams, if you wihem. if you don't, china will grab ahold of that. so he's holding face with what you pointed ought was ridicule, not only from his public challengers but other folks out there. >> wolf, thank you. ju mitt romney is scheduled to appear in cape canavaral, florida in a couple ours. he's endorsed an open letter. i want to bring in our go-to guy on everything space, john zarrella. as i understand, these are heavy hitters in the realm of space. >> yeah, they are, pretty influential. to pick up on what you and wolf were discussing, a localit of t folks inside the space program have been saying to me at least if you believe in what newt gingrich said or not about colonizing the moon, he got the conversation about space exploration going, and it really has become sort of a pivotal issue, at least being talked about here in florida. this open letter we received just a little bit ago from the

romney campaign. it is a letter written in support of mitt romney. it is signed by, and i'll give you a few of the names. gene cernin, bob cripin, who was the pilot of the first space shuttle program and was director of the space program for a while, griffin and several other heavy hitters both in the commercial space industry and the private space industry. the letter says this in part, and it is a real shot at the administration as well. quote, we have watched with dismay as president obama dismantled the structure that was guiding both the government and commercial space sectors while providing no purpose or vision or mission. it goes on to say, restoring the u.s. space program to greatness will require the leadership, management skill and commitment to american exceptionalism possessed by one candidate only in this race, mitt romney. and i also just got off the

phone with al warden who was the command module pilot of apollo 15, and he said, you know what? he said, a lot of guys are missing the point here. you can't go to the moon without developing technology, you can't go into space. what kind of motivation do kids have without the space program? and i think that in many ways, newt gingrich has said that on the trail. so we have really gotten now to where we're seeing the space program being put front and center, you know, which, as you and i both know, has largely suffered really deep budget cuts and has been ignored. >> yeah, i'm glad the question was certainly raised during the debate last night. it was interesting to hear all four responses. it's a huge endorsement for mitt romney. i appreciate you popping in front of the camera and giving us that news. that was significant. also here, three men fighting in the united states military, three men not only brothers in service, brothers in real life. but one of the brothers was killed in action back in 2009 and now their mother has to bury

a second son. all the while, a third son continues to serve his country in the marine corps. coming up next, we're going to hear from a widow about her late husband and the strength of this entire family. don't miss this. ind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪

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you know, for some folks, it's easy to forget that we are at war in afghanistan, but not for the wise family in little rock, arkansas. today the family buried benjamin wise next to his brother jeremy. jeremy, a former navy seal working as a security contractor who was killed in afghanistan in 2009. ben died this past sunday from

wound he, too, received in afghanistan. we wanted to play this story. this is from andy fox from our affiliate wjby speaking with jeremy's widow, dina. >> lots of prayers and hope. >> reporter: you cannot expect more from an american family than what the wise family has already given. >> what can you say to someone who has already lost two boys? there's really no words. i don't know that she even has words. >> reporter: dana wise knows all about lost words. her husband jeremy, a former navy seal, killed two years ago in afghanistan. >> their family is so close. even jeremy would talk with the family every day. there would be at least two members. gene and mary or he would be on the phone with heather, their . sister, been an and beau, just much a part of their lives even

though they were all over the country. >> reporter: so you can imagine their horror when brother ben was struck down by six bullets in afghanistan. dana called her mother-in-law, mary. >> she was just so heartbroken. we had prayed and she said, he's not going to die, he's not going to die. >> reporter: but five days later, ben did die. mother mary has now lost two sons. >> she's always been so supportive, and it's hard to believe, actually, that anger doesn't reside in her heart, just sadness. it's taken this kind of sacrifice. >> reporter: here's dana, her husband jeremy on the left and ben on the right. three brothers, ben and jeremy on the right, and a third brother, beau on the left. he's in the marine corps. the wise family benefit fund has set up this tribute for ben's family, his wife tracy. it reads, it takes two men to make one brother. here you can see pictures of this american family, ben with

his parents. proud parents. >> she wants this country to know who these men were and how wonderful they were, and appeal to the american heart just on this was my loss but your gain. i know that she is -- her hope lies that they're together now. this meter's on me. with all the hundreds i've saved at progressive, this meter's on me. thank you. de nada. with all the hundreds i've saved on car insurance this year, this meter's on me. there's a catch? there's no catch. nothing but savings. thank you very much. have a great day. you, too. you're sexy. [ laughs ] i had[ designer ]eeling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin.

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fans of the nbc comedy "the office" know actor dwayne wilson as dr. shoop. he was so moved by people changing the world, he decide to do lend a hand, and still, five years later, he's involved and inspir inspired. watch this. >> i was literally sitting in my trailer at "the office," and i was looking at the cnn web site and they had the cnn heroes, i think it was in the first year. i saw this story on this guy aaron jackson. this is a young kid from florida, worked on a golf course. really didn't have much direction in his life. then he went traveling in the third world and he saw poverty. and he decided to just devote his life to making the world a

better place. >> today we dewormed estimated maybe a little over 100 people. >> it's been great to be able to help out aaron jackson by doing fundraisers. i've gotten introduced to people to help raise money and help his organization really get moving. he's the amazing guy doing all the really hard work. give him the cash and just let him go do what he does best. they have four or five orphanages in haiti, and i also went out when they distributed the deworming medication out in the rural villages and towns. >> you're distributing food, aid all around the country. some of the kids can be, you know, eating their cereal, but if it's so full of worms, they're unable to digest it so the food is a waste. >> when you see a kid that's

highly anemic, not alert at all, and once you rid them of worms, they come back to life. that's what's so amazing, you see this immediate impact. >> since we started this in 2007, we actually raised enough money, with his help, to help 180,000 kids in haiti. >> if there's one thing i could take away from my experience with cnn heroes, is that these stories are incredibly inspiring. they inspire me to step up my game and try to do more to help the world. >> did you hear that? they raised enough money to deworm every child in haiti. here's how you can help. you can tell us about somebody making a big difference in your community. here's how. just go to our web site and nominate a 2012 cnn hero.

did you see this guy? he's on a snowmobile and now he's off. ouch, right? we couldn't help but imagine it. the guy who fell, alive, walked off with a gold medal. we're going to ask him some questions after this break. [ jody ] four course feast. man it's great. the guests love it. [ male announcer ] red lobster's four course seafood feast is back. get soup, salad, cheddar bay biscuits, dessert and choose one of 7 entrees. four courses for only $15. offer ends soon. i'm jody gonzalez, red lobster manager and i sea food differently.

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>> you can hear the announcer's reaction, we're reacting here in the studio. watch him again. boom. and while you're watching, let me tell you this, the guy on that snowmobile, colton moore, he got up. he walked away. this is winter x-games, aspen, colorado. there he is, hands in the sky. how is he today? let's ask. colton is on the phone with me from aspen, and first off, ouch. how bad -- how hard was that hit, colton? >> it was really rough. i mean, i know it is snow, but with those landings, they're packed in really hard, so flying 100 feet through the air and landing with nothing but yourself, it's a pretty rough hit. i was just happy i could get up and keep going. >> we were talking on the commercial break, i asked you if it was powder and you said, i wish, that's packed snow. i want to ask you, though, what exactly happened? this was your second run since heat one of the elimination

round. everything was going smoothly and then what happened with the snowmobile? >> basically, i just wanted to go out there and put in a really big run, and went for that trick and was going to throw it as big as i possibly could and ended up throwing it a little too big. normally you, like, float back and grab the seat. well, when i jumped off, i jumped off too hard, completely missed the seat and then i just got to try to fly for a little bit. >> so as you're flying and miss the seat, you duck, you flip, and some of this -- i don't know, it probably was just like less than even a second. did it feel like an eternity? how did you know how to tuck, how to roll like you did? >> definitely, flying through the air without your sled it feels like a long time. and i just knew i was coming in head first, and it's way better if you can get your head out of the way, so last second i was able to tuck and land on my back and ended up turning out pretty good for me.

>> ultimately pretty good for you. you won. let's roll your successful jumps. we're not seeing you wiping out every time when we roll the video. in fact, you're competing against your brother caleb. you finish. i'm told there is a tebow somewhere in here. how sweet was the victory? >> oh, it's great. the third year here, you know, i haven't had a medal yet. then coming in this year, i knew i had a good chance for it, and i just got done throwing a solid, clean run, and i knew i had put in a good run. just nothing better than to go out there and celebrate, give grace and throw a little tebow. >> final question, 30 seconds. i did some homework on you. you and your brother are from crom, texas. is there enough snow in texas to learn how to do this on a snowmobile? >> definitely not. we're luc t