zwroo good morning, everyone. i'm carol costello. we begin with a story affecting millions of us. we learned that the jobless rate held steady if february. 227,000 jobs were created. that's fewer than in january. christine romans breaks down the latest numbers and what they say about the overall economy. alison kosik looks at the ripple effect. christine, i ask you this every time. >> i know you do. >> so give us the big picture here. >> the big picture is that the economy is adding jobs. companies are hiring and the government lost only about 6,000 jobs last month. so it was private sector hiring. companies hiring that drove the jobs number. this is the last year, carol. 2011 i want to show you. last spring things are pretty strong. we were having 200,000 jobs gained every month. in the summer it got real slow. we were worried about a double dip recession. picked up again in the fall. now we have revisions. the bigger picture is a little

bit better. you have better than expected january, february, now it's 8.3% the unemployment rate. there were jobs created in business and professional services. there were jobs created in mining. we see that every month. there were jobs created in health care, in social work. there were jobs created in computer systems design and technical consulting. you saw jobs last in retail, for example. so overall you're seeing a broad base of job creation. you want to see 200,000 plus again and again to show you that it is a trend, and what this tells us is that in an economy that was really realing, quite frankly, from the greet recis n recession. this is july 2008. the last months of the bush administration. coming into the beginning of the obama presidency. this is terrible. this felt horrible. then you had some setbacks. last summer worried about a

double dip recession. you have a little bit of pickup in the trend. that's something you want to see overall, carol. >> so should i be doing the happy dance? >> well, you know, if you are in the job category, yeah. the people who have a job category. i'll tell you that the under employment rate is still 14.9%. that's a little better than it was the prior month. 14.9%, that means people who are unemployed, people working part time but want to be working full time. people who tested the waters for a job last year but are available to work but not really looking. 14.9%. that's double digits. that still hurts. there are a lot of people out there when i say things are getting better, they tell me, not at my house. a job and the jobs data is really personal, you know what i mean? it's a very personal number. depends who you are, where you live, what kind of education you have. that's why this is so tricky and so political. >> i know. but you're right, we can throw numbers at people all day but it's really how they feel about

the economy that matters. >> your job market is one person. you're either 100% employed or 0% employment. >> let's go to the new york stock exchange an alison kosik. the numbers seem to move the market but today greece is also making headlines for an apparent bailout deal. so is it likely to be a rocky day or not so much? >> it looks like we're going to -- that stocks are going to begin on a high note because the jobs picture is going to still play a role in the trading day today. the way wall street sees it is this jobs number is really a solid number, but as you say, it's really not the only reason that's going to give stocks a lift. greece is the word on wall street. an important agreement happened overnight to restructure greece's debt. this is the last major step for greece to get its $170 billion bailout. now here's what happened while you were sleeping. bond holders, they agreed to take a huge loss on their investments so now greece is

going to owe those investors less money, it's going to get its bailout. it may avoid a default. then you wonder, gosh, why did these investors agree to take this big loss? that's because the alternative is worst. default. that is the market's worst case scenario. here's why. there is this ripple effect that could have happened if greece defaulted. clearly greece, it's kind of a plip on the screen some people would say. it's a small country, but the reality is greece is intrinsically linked to all of europe. it's sort of one of the dominoes of many. more than 20 countries use the euro. you know how this is. you're only as strong as your weakest link. if greece defaults, europe could slip into a recession if it's not in a recession already. if europe goes down, the u.s. would get hit. remember, europe is our biggest trading partner. this is why we've had our eye on greece and the fact that greece is one step closer to getting that bailout and try to get its debt situation in order, that's good news. the way wall street sees it,

it's good news for wall street as well. >> you keep watching the numbers there. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. president obama will hit the campaign trail later today to talk about the economy and jobs. our political editor paul steinhauser is hot on their trail. i understand mitt romney is in jackson, mississippi. he's either speaking or just about to. what do you think he'll say? >> reporter: i think he could be a little bit critical of the president when it comes to jobs. romney, rick santorum, and newt gingrich all have events this morning, carol. we expect all three of them to weigh in on the new jobs report. but the republican national committee didn't even wait for that. they had a statement out about 20 minutes ago. this is from the chairman. he says today's jobs report is another reminder that too far -- that far too many americans are out of work and the situation is clearly not improving. millions of families continue to feel the pain of the sluggish obama economy and the rising costs of gas, groceries, and health care. as for the president, carol, you mentioned that he's got a manufacturing event in virginia later this morning. we expect he will probably talk

about the economy and it could come up again, the jobs report, when he's in texas. i always say the unemployment level and the number of new jobs created probably the two most important economic numbers when it comes to politics and this re-election. we were talking about the republican candidates. most of them in alabama and mississip mississippi. those two states having primaries on tuesday. here's what mitt romney had to say about his time in the south. take a listen to what he said yesterday on a radio station in alabama. >> well, i realize that it's a bit of an away game, but i also think we're going to pick up some support in these -- in the states that remain this month. we obviously had a terrific super tuesday and got a good head start but i'd like to get some support from folks in alabama. >> reporter: sounds like he's downplaying a little bit. i can understand why. it's not considered his strong suit down there in alabama and mississippi. he hasn't performed that well in southern states. more social conservatives that romney may not appeal to.

as for rick santorum, well, he's hoping for good results both in kansas this saturday, tomorrow, at a caucus there, and he's hoping if he beats newt gingrich in the south maybe gingrich will be out. take a listen to what santorum said on the campaign trail yesterday, carol. >> if you go out and deliver a conservative victory for us on tuesday, this race will become a two-person race and when it becomes a two-person race for the republican nomination, the conservative will win that nomination. >> reporter: gingrich has said basically he's got to win alabama and mississippi to keep going. we'll see what happens on tuesday with that. the gingrich campaign, as you can imagine, starting to pick up their attacks on santorum. carol, its a all politics. >> i know. paul steinhauser, thanks. the candidates will be speaking this morning about the jobs report. we told you that. we're there with them. mitt romney is up at 9:25 eastern. we'll bring you his remarks live from jackson, mississippi. join us tuesday night for the

battle of the south. our coverage of the alabama and mississippi primary starts at 7:00 p.m. complete coverage begins at 8:00 eastern here on cnn. in syria today more bloodshed. the opposition claims government forces are storming villages and killing soldiers who defected and now the assad government says it's found weapons from other countries. cnn's nic robertson is in beirut. nic, the government says the weapons are coming from israel? >> reporter: there's nothing better that the syrian government would like to say that israel is somehow behind the opposition. why? because israel is the enemy of pretty much everyone in their minds in syria at the moment. to say that would cast a huge shadow of doubt over the opposition and who was funding them and certainly try and build support for himself, bashar al-assad. the reality is that we haven't seen any evidence from the

syrian government that there is any wholesale export of weapons coming from israel into syria. there's real possibility there may be some israeli made weapons there now. the free syrian army is trying to get its hands on any weapons as possible. the borders between lebanon and turkey into syria are all quite porous. a few weapons have been getting across. even if the syrian government has found a few israeli made weapons, it certainly doesn't add up to their implication that israel is somehow supporting the opposition. it just doesn't seem to hold water right now, carol. >> okay. and what about this other report that government forces are going after army defectors? is that true? >> reporter: they certainly have been. there have been cases where they have killed, according to activists at least, up to 40 defejtors at one time. the defectors are the most effective part of the free syrian army. they know how to fight. they're trained. they often deserve and take their weapons with them.

there have been reports that we can't verify but three senior army officers deserted the syrian army, went across to the opposition, the free syrian army, and this is what the government has been trying to do. it tries to kill them before they can dessert. when the activists say that the government is going after officers and soldiers from the syrian army chasing them down, it's often because they've jumped sides and they're with the free syrian army now. >> nic robertson reporting for us from beirut, lebanon. syrians are under attack by their own government. learn what it's like to be trapped in terror in 72 hours under fire sunday night at 8:00 eastern. former mississippi governor angered a lot of people when he pardoned more than 200 prisoners. now the state's high court weighs in. the ruling and the reaction after a break. plus, a dangerous confrontation between a sheriff's deputy and a suspect captured on a surveillance camera. the unexpected ending to this next.

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to help business do more for customers. ♪ checking stories cross-country now. seven people injured in a shooting at a pittsburgh psychiatric hospital are expected to survive. authorities say a gunman opened fire inside the hospital lobby killing one person before he was shot and killed by police.

no word on the gunman's identity or a motive. a federal appeals court temporarily blocks two provisions of a controversial alabama immigration law. one voided contract signed by illegal immigrants. the other prevented them from driver's licenses. and in florida, not one but three good samaritans come to the rescue. surveillance video captures a brow ward county deputy in a dangerous struggle at a fast food restaurant. the officer says he was in real trouble until three homeless men helped him subdue the other man. a group of prisoners in mississippi are expected to be released today after a controversial ruling by the state supreme court. in a 6-3 vote justices upheld the pardons of more than 200 prisoners by outgoing governor haley barbour. ed laf ven dare ra has been following the story. we know that some of those pardon convicts were murderers who have been free. >> four of them that worked at the governor's mansion as

trustees. there's also another one who was convicted of accessory to murder who will be released here by tomorrow. there are five more in prison. >> this ruling means they will remain free? >> exactly. this is done. the supreme court and the state has spoken. it's a big victory for haley barbour. his reaction was he said he was grateful for the decision that the supreme court had made. he also had gone on to say that he had settled -- reaffirmed more than a century of settled law in our state. he said it wasn't about the power of the pardon or the power of the office but the ability of the governor to grant mercy. that's what he's been saying all along is that he knew these men. he felt that they had repented and were ready to get a second chance. there are a great deal of other questions that the governor has not answered about how this process was done and he is's simply refused to answer the questions. >> some state legislators want, you know, this to be changed, that the governor should not be able to pardon, especially murderers. why did the court side with

barbour? >> essentially what they're saying is that the supreme court, it is up to the governor, the law that was fought about was whether or not these inmates had posted their notices for pardon 30 days before the pardons were granted. the supreme court is saying that it is the governor's decision and his only to determine whether or not that was complied with. essentially in the vast majority of these cases it didn't reach 30 days according to the attorney general and the supreme court is saying, well, it's up to the governor to decide whether 25 or 28 days is good enough. if the governor says that's fine, it's a technicality, that's good enough. >> so those folks in mississippi are probably sitting back and listening to you and saying, that doesn't make me feel any better. >> no, it doesn't. for the victims' families that we've gotten to know very well over the last two months, this is a real blow. they had a real hard time taking this news yesterday. we listened to randy walker, who was a man who was shot in the head by a man named david gatlin, one of the men who worked as a trustee at the governor's mansion. he's been one of the most

outspoken critics of haley barbour. he spoke last night with us about what this decision -- how this decision affected him. you could see and hear the emotion when he told us. listen to it. >> david gatlin only served 17 years 6 months and 3 days for a life plus 30 sentence. he should have never gotten out of jail. it happened for me. i'm still living it every day. i can't be pardoned from the scars i have. i can't be pardoned from the nightmares. i can't be pardoned from look being over my shoulder wondering where this guy is. you know, none of that. there's no magic pill for me to take. there's no magic pardon pill for me. >> like i said, there's five more inmates that will be getting out here. all that had been frozen. they'll be out by tomorrow. gatlin is living in mississippi. one of them is living in wyoming. a couple others we've lost track of. >> ed, thanks for being here. we appreciate it. last week most americans probably never heard of joseph kony. that's changes a at the speed of youtube. now he's becoming infamous

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an american filmmaker is trying to make a ugandan warlord

and his so-called army of kidnapped children famous or to be more accurate, infamous. it's working. he posted a short documentary on youtube. it's already gotten 50 million views. brian todd says the film has its critics. there are graphic pictures in this story. >> reporter: he's a warlord who experts say is responsible for the kidnapping of up to 70,000 people, many of them children, operating in uganda, now in three other african countries. they have killed and disfigured tens of thousands of villagers, forced young boys to become child soldiers, forced girls into sexual slavery. joseph kony and his so called lord's resistance army have been doing this for a quarter century trying to overthrough the ugandan government. he's on the run. joseph kony is getting more attention now than ever. >> stop the rebel group, the lra, and their leader, joseph

kony. >> reporter: that's thanks to a new video called kony 2012, a half hour long, it's gone viral. tens of millions of views on u tube in a few days. they used the activist group anonymous to blast it out over the internet. they sent tweets to george clooney, rihanna, lawmakers. the film highlights kony's atrocities through the eyes of a former soldier who according to the video saw his brother murdered. >> i saw my brother once again. >> reporter: the video's produced by a nonprofit activist group called invisible children. filmmaker jason russell's goal, to gather momentum for kony to be captured and brought to justice. >> he's been getting away with murder. what he does is he brainwashes them, makes them kill their parents, slaughter people, cut off people's faces. >> but some say this popular crusade is misleading. critics say the film manipulates

the facts ignoring the ugandan's human rights abuses, ignoring the fact that joseph kony and his forces have been significantly reduced in number and have committed far fewer attacks. >> reporter: the head of invisible children responds. >> the scale has decreased and that's a good thing. it's the result of this effort. >> reporter: analyst richard downie a plauds their effort. >> i take issue with their approach. very much focused on the white westerners' ability to parachute in and resolve a problem that africans are unable to deal with themselves. i think by portraying westerners as the only people who can crack this problem of joseph kony, it's simplicity, naive and condescending as well. >> reporter: invisible children issued a statement saying they're not naive, never claimed a desire to save africa. they want western youth to do more than watch. brian todd, cnn, washington. now the filmmaker says the united states basically has ignored kony's crimes for years.

in october president obama said he would send 100 u.s. troops in africa to help hunt him down. barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, has that happened? >> reporter: well, it has indeed, carol. we know an awful lot now. those 100 troops are on the ground as advisors training, helping, and assisting african forces. the goal of the pentagon is to put those african forces in the lead. these are military forces in africa that very much want to do something about this but, let's face it, they need some help. the u.s. trainers are there. u.s. special forces on the ground in uganda. you see the map in the central african republic and south sudan operating out of some of the most remote areas in africa. they are not in combat themselves although they are equipped if the threat comes but they are working with the african forces, especially with the ugandans who have made some progress by all accounts.

you know, until they get kony the job is not done. and there is an effort on the part of the u.s. military to get some more reconnaissance equipment, communications gear in there, things that they can do to help the african forces. that's really the strategy for the u.s. military across the continent. >> barbara starr at the pentagon for us. coming up, we'll take you live to wall street. the opening bell just about to ring. how will investors react to this morning's new unemployment report? we'll have the answer for you. that's just minutes away.

the syrian opposition reports regime forces are storming villages to chase down military defectors. in the meantime, they have recovered israeli made weapons. the last of 214 pardoned convicts could be released today in mississippi. four convicted murderers have remained free since their release in january. the state supreme court has upheld the controversial pardons

made by the former governor, haley barbour. the ncaa says it has contacted the fbi about point shaving allegations regarding auburn. auburn contacted the fbi. nobody is commenting in detail. the opening bell is about to ring on wall street. investors have had about an hour to digest the latest jobless numbers. the unemployment rate holds steady at 8.3%. christine romans breaks down the latest jobs numbers. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. she'll look at the ripple effect. christine, i wa nt to start with you. the opening bell, did it just ring. >> in 20 seconds. >> you have 20 seconds and you can do the opening bell, christine. >> you've got it. what do you want to know? breakdown by race, where there was jobs created, long-term unemployment. you tell me and i'll show you first? >> where did we -- okay let's do

the opening bell first. go ahead. take it away, christine. do that opening bell. >> all right. there's the opening bell on wall street on friday big jobs day for february, right? look, the jobs report was good, carol. 8.3% unemployment. 227,000 jobs created. we have a visual representation for you. we'll take you inside the jobs report here. i guess let's start with where are the jobs, okay? let's take a look at where we saw job growth. the big one here, 82,000 jobs in professional and business services. those are things like office jobs, technology consulting, things like computer systems designers and the like. retail jobs saw a loss but you saw manufacturing pickup jobs, mining pick up jobs, whole sale trade and employment and health care also picked up a lot of jobs. i want to talk to you a little bit, too, about some of the breakdowns here. take a look with me. men and women about 7.7% unemployment rate overall. 7.3% for whites. 14% for african-americans. that's up just a little bit but down from a year ago.

and 10.7% for hispanics. it's been an interesting thing that we've seen this two to one ratio between white unemployment and african-american unemployment overall. i want to give kind of a bigger picture here as well of what this looks like when you take it all the way out, the politics. this is something we touched on 30 minutes ago. this is that big downdraft at the end. last half of the year of the bush administration, huge. 8.8 million jobs lost. this is trying to rebuild. trying to crawl out of that huge jobs drought. anyway, if you want to see any of this yourself, carol, and pick your own thing go to cnn.com. we have it all out for you so you can see where the jobs are, long-term unemployment, what kinds of breakdowns there are for education and demographics, all that stuff for you. >> that's very cool. thank you, christine. thanks for playing today. let's head to the new york stock exchange. alison, the bell rang and it's up a little bit.

>> it's up a little bit. kind of a lukewarm response, right? look, stocks are in the green and you're wondering, okay, this is a solid number. wall street actually sees this jobs report as pretty solid. but the reality, the way wall street sees it is that 227,000 number, the number of jobs that were added, it's close to what was expected. so, yeah, it's definitely good but the way wall street sees it, there needs to be more and more growth like this. you look at the job gains that have happened. there have been 200,000 job additions for three months. that's a great trend. then you look at february. last month wasn't as good as january where you saw 284. so we had 227. the way the market sees it is it wants more, especially with the risks waiting in the wings meaning greece. greece reached a debt deal overnight. yes, it's likely to get its next bailout. the markets are kind of a forward looking indicator. those risks are still out there that could rattle the global economy. greece, yes, it's ready for its

bailout. shoring up its balance sheet. the reality is it's still years away from shoring it up. it's still a fragile situation, carol, that could wind up impacting europe as a whole and wind up impacting us here in the u.s. you look at that unemployment number. it's still high. 8.3%. it's sort of the realistic picture that wall street is taking but we are in the green. stocks are in the green and that's a good sign to start the day. carol? >> well, the unemployment rate remains high even though we're adding jobs over the past several months because we have so many jobs to make up, is that a fair statement? >> yeah. well, also the unemployment rate remained high because the labor participation rate actually went up. that's a good sign because if you see the unemployment rate, this sounds kind of skewed, if you even see it go up, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. it means that discouraged workers are getting back out there and handing out resumes and looking for a job. they are talented in the labor force. they get counted in the unemployment number.

that's probably why you're seeing the unemployment rate kind of hover and stay around 8.3%. the discouraged workers are feeling less discouraged and getting back out there trying to find a job. that is a good sign. >> alison kosik, thanks. a saint's preserved heart. a religious relic stolen from churches across ireland. the bizarre crime wave and the possible motivation behind it. that's just ahead. and in an interview with oprah, whitney houston's sis ter in law makes a startling statement. they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. w outlld hap pen to whit neyl. ♪

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whitney houston's sister-in-law opens up to oprah and says she worried drugs would kill the singer. showbiz correspondent kareen wynter has more on the oprah interview. she's in los angeles. tell us ore, kareen. >> hi, carol. we're starting to get more details about this interview that oprah had with whitney houston's family. yes, her sister-in-law did admit she thought ultimately drugs would be the cause of whitney houston's death. you've got to listen to what she said. >> did you think that drugs would end up taking her? did you think that? >> the handwriting was kind of on the wall. i would be kidding myself to say otherwise. >> wow. you know, carol, this interview looks pretty interesting. we haven't heard yet what whitney's daughter,back has to say. this all airs on sunday on the oprah winfrey network.

you can bet so many people will be watching. >> let's talk about something more uplifting. britney spears, she's back, better than ever. >> better than ever. so i'm thinking from performer to judge. will she actually make that move, carol? that's what the hollywood reporter is saying this morning, that britney spears is very, very close to a deal to join simon cowl and la read as judges on "the x factor." bring the any's record deal is with rca records. it's the same company that works with the show. get this, some reports say she'll be getting $10 million a year in this big deal. no one's willing to go on the record to talk about it just yet though but "showbiz tonight" has reached out to everyone's reps. if it becomes official it will be huge news. we'll have all the details for you, carol. what's also interesting is a few weeks ago cowl was pressed by reporters. i was on that conference call about the possibility of spears joining the show. he carefully dodged the questions but certainly did not say no. so he's teasing all of us. we'll have to see if this big announcement actually happens.

>> 10 million bucks, huh? >> big ratings for "the x factor." >> kareen wynter, thanks so much. she returns in the next hour with more showbiz headlines. remember this popular tv series from the '80s? sure you do. "hill street blues." critics loved it. now it has won a top honor, one you may disagree with. we'll have that coming up. and a saints preserved heart stolen from an historic catholic church, alter candles lit by the suspects before they fled. may sound like elements of a suspense novel, but it's actually a real life crime. hear more next. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers.

♪

checking stories cross-country. a federal judge tells new york city to pay $128 million in back pay to firefighters. minority firefighters accused the city of using an entrance exam to keep african-american and latino americans off the force. city has to hire 300 minority applicants. utah the state senate approves a bill from prohibiting schools from teaching contraception. they'll have to teach abstinence only. an online petition urges the governor to veto the bill which is expected to land on his desk today. in new bed ford, massachusetts, check this out. after a strong gust of wind, nothing good. you see the canopy toppled over. it fell on a mini van. thankfully the driver was not inside the vehicle at the time.

now to a bizarre mystery in ireland that's baffled police and outraged the catholic church. several priceless religious relics have been stolen across the country. most recently thieves made off with the preserved heart of dublin's patron saint. police say the thieves cut through an iron cage at chri christchurch ka theed gral to get to the relic. then they lit prayer candles. >> it seems contradictory, someone would steal a relic from a church because in my understanding, that's desecration. >> adding to the mystery, several valuable items near the relic were left untouched. joining us now from new york, kenneth woodward, former religion editor from newsweek magazine and author of making saints. thank for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> kenneth, this is my latest theft. a bone from saint bridge gid were also stolen. why would someone steal these

items? >> well, catholics have a long, long history of venerating saints and relics. in rome the christians used to steal after the lions had left the coliseum, pick up the relics, put them in the cat a combs and then say mass at those tombs. they have a long history of stealing relics from one another. one mon nas stair ri the amongst might steal the most important relics from another one and that way they would attract crowds and of course that commodifies relics. stealing relics today for the sake of relics doesn't make a lot of sense. my guess is that they're looking at the reliquaries, the cross or whatever else that held these things because those are usually made of precious metals and might have precious stones.

>> you think they're doing it for money. it was bizarre because when they stole this preserved heart the thieves lit candles at the alter. so is it possible, we're speculating here, but could they be stealing these items because the thieves really believe they had healing powers? or are they going to sell them on ebay? >> well, good luck on ebay. i mean, i have to ask myself, what could you do? you could keep the heart in the basement mp as soon as you tell your neighbor your neighbor is going to tell somebody else. very soon you'll be found out. it's like having a very expensive picasso, you know, that you've stolen but you can't sell it to the metropolitan or do anything with it. >> do you think the church is taking steps to protect other artifacts. >> if you've ever been through the vatican museum, you see a lot of goodies out there. i'm sure they're protected. you know, i guess they feel you shouldn't have to. it occurs to me that maybe what they're trying to do given the

economy in ireland today, that maybe they want to hold up the church. maybe they're asking for a reward for the return of a petrified petrified heart. if i say i have some plinters from the true cross, they're going to look like splinters from a toothpick. you can't tell. they're only really relics when they're in the church, you see what i mean? otherwise you can't authenticate them in any way. >> sad and fascinating at the same time. kenneth woodward, thank you for joining us. homecoming queen on the football field. her kicking is impressive. we will show you in sports that's seven minutes from now. the best part of any great meal?

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stories we're working on later today in the cnn newsroom. at 12:30 eastern, president obama gives a speech about the economy which almost certainly will touch on the monthly jobs report. at 2:15 eastern, eric holder will talk about federal efforts to protect americans, especially the elderly from getting scammed. at 3:30 eastern there will be a press briefing at the united nations about six-party talks aimed at ending north korea's nuclear program. let's check in first with arwa damon. coming up at the top of the hour, an inside look at the challenges of reporting from syria. i'm christine romans in new york where we're taking a close look inside the jobs report. you know the unemployment rate is steady at 8.3%, and you know 227,000 jobs were created and

i'll tell you exactly where at the top of the hour. i'm jason carroll. we told you about james cameron and his attempt to get to the deepest point on the planet. now we'll tell you how he plans on getting there. i'm going have that for you coming up in the next hour. >> thanks to all of you. the ncaa getting set to start its march madness and while fans are focusing on the tournament the fbi is looking at one school's alleged point shaving. we'll talk about the potential scandal in the next hour. ♪ made with only milk... cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. ♪ who knew being natural could be so delicious? coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally. oh!

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i know we should be talking basketball, but let's talk about what's capturing the nation. this girl's got game. >> lsu is looking for a place kicker, right? and they may have found one in the homecoming queen. isom is her name. she isn't just the homecoming queen, she's all the goalie on the women's soccer team. she scored a 90-yard goal and she said don't worry about her on the football field. >> do you see my size? everyone thinks i'm the average size and weight of a female. i am 6'1" and weigh about 190 pounds. yes, i just said that on camera. it is all muscle. i'm working on becoming an avatar. that is the goal with theed abouty type. i can take a hit. i'm just fearless. i'm not bound by fear, and i

think i can handle a hit just fine. >> it is easy to see why people have been following her. >> she's been making 40 and 50-yard field goals. he has no problems with her making the team if she's good enough. good luck to her. >> peyton manning is hoping to choose his new home within the next week. waiters and waitresses all over the country are hoping he chooses their town after they hear about this. peyton manning left a $200 on top of an 18% gra duity. the restaurant manager was not happy. he was fired, but -- a huge tip is good to know payton spreads it around, doesn't it? >> i hope it goes far for that poor waiter. >> defendaustin johnson teeing

d'orral. it's coming right at you. hits the top of the camera operator. the camera crane, fine. all right. now we can top it. now in the west conference tournament, san diego state with the ball, tied. final seconds against boise state. jamal franklin with two guys in his face and buries it at the buzzer and that's good. he shows why he's the conference player of the year, right? san diego state moves on. i would say the as techs are headed to the tournament. that's a great buzzer beater. that's awesome. >> i wish i could do that. >> when we talk tournament, you're studying, i know you are. 68 teams down to one. you know exactly who will win the title. >> i'm going to cheat. we'll put brackets together and we'll compete against you so check out cnn.com. i'm actually cheating to tell me the best way to choose teams to put into the brackets.

he's got cool suggestion, jeff. >> colors? >> nothing like that. it has to do with statist beings. this is all very mathematical, jeff. >> it's beyond me. i just close my eyes. >> that's probably the best way. >> thank you, jeff. >> okay. what's 340 tons and has its own twitter account? a giant boulder making its move to the los angeles museum. cnn's jeanne moos has the story. >> move over the rock, because the real rock is coming through. >> it's billions of pounds. >> 340 tons, actually. it dwarfs mere man. >> isn't it big? >> god, i've never seen anything like that. >> actually, she still hasn't seen it. it's covered in shrink wrap. they're calling it the biggest mega move since the pyramids. the rock came from this quarry in riverside, california, where it's unluckier relatives are turned into gravel, but not this bruiser. >> the piece is actually called levitated mass. >> it's destined to become part

of an art work at the los angeles county museum of art, but first it has to get there. it only moves at night when roads can be closed and traffic signals temporary le removed. fans come out to shoot video of it even at 2:00 in the morning. >> here comes the rock making the turn. >> there's a lot of truck and engineering nerds. >> they want to know that 196 wheels are helping to carry the load. usually there's one truck pulling from the front, two pushing from the back. the speed ranges from 5 to 8 miles per hour. the whole trip of 105 miles is supposed to take 11 days. when it stopped in long beach it was an excuse for partying and puns. >> definitely there's a party going on. they're playing music with the songs rocking it, i guess, right? >> people pose in front of it. people paint it. the security guard made a that's a big rock sign to deter people to keep asking what is it? >> sarah cohen was inviting

questions with the ask me text shirt and she's with the museum where the rock was headed. >> there was a little bit of trouble making the turn so we stopped here instead. >> it's parked right in front of the church called roca de salvacion. >> i had somebody ask me if it was going to be earthquake safe. >> it will be because museum goers will be walking underneath. >> a rock this week can make a kid's imagination run wild. >> i imagine that it will knock all of the houses down. >> reporter: no houses, but just moments later there was a rubbernecking rear ender. chock it up to the rock. a rock star, queen would appreciate it ♪ we will, we will rock you >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york.

there's a hint of growing optimism in the job market this morning. new government figures show the unemployment rate held steady in february and in fact we saw more jobs created last month than expert his predicted. christine romans breaks down the latest numbers and what they say to the overall economy and alison kosik looks at the ripple effect on wall street. let's begin with you so give me the big headline. you have the private sector creating jobs for two years. carol, look at this. where are the jobs? they are in the private sector. 223,000 private sector jobs created in february. 6,000 public sector job losses and that's actually pretty good because the government, as you know, has been shedding jobs over the past year or so. so this is important to see a small number here and a big number here, some 25 months in a row of private sector jobs creation. when you look it was health care jobs, leisure and hospitality and look at manufacturing, 31,000 jobs created here and in

mining, 7,000 jobs created there. we lost 7,000 jobs. i like to look at underemployment. these are the number of people that are discouraged. they're not looking for work, but they could come back into the labor market quickly if they think things are getting better. 2.6 million people and it's one reason why we could see the unemployment rate tick up a little bit because so many people will be left behind by this nascent economic recovery that they can start to come back in because they're feeling more confident about things and that's an important number to keep on watching and 14.9% is the underemployment rate even as we talk about 8.3% being the overall unemployment rate in the labor market, carol. >> at least we're headed in the right direction, though, right? >> christine, thank you. >> now let's head to the new york stock exchange and check in with alison kosik. we expected the marks to go --

but really they're not. >> kind of a ho-hum response. wall street is a funny thing, carol. the good news as far as wall street sees it on jobs. the good news it's baked in, the 227,000 jobs that were created, the way the market sees it it was already priced in. the number was a blowout number and if it was 300,000 you would have seen an extra bang in the market and clearly you're not seeing that even though wall street does see the jobs report as solid even if it wasn't as solid as january's number which came in at 284,000 jobs created, but this does mark the third straight month where you're seeing this 200,000 jobs or more being gained. the way wall street sees it, it's a trend and the down side to that is the markets and wall street will want more. it will have higher expectations in the months ahead. carol? >> alison kosik, thank you. >> president obama hits the campaign trail later today and

he's sure to boast about those encouraging jobs numbers, but his republican opponents are not impressed. mitt romney railed against the economy and mr. obama's handling of it just in the last hour in mississippi. >> you see that sign up there, you see less jobs, small debt, smaller government. that's what we want and that's not what we've got. with this president we have fewer jobs, we have more debt and bigger government. that's what's wrong with this president. that's why we have to get him out of office. >> president obama is due to talk about the economy in just a couple of hours when he visits a factory in virginia. in syria, more bloodshed. the opposition says more than 60 people have been killed just today. [ speaking foreign language ] >> they're also accusing government forces of chasing town and killing military

defectionors. the assad regime says weapons from israel and turkey are getting into the country and into the hands of terrorists. that's the word the government is using. journalists are restricted in syria. some have have gotten in have died trying to report stories and others who made it back like cnn's arwa damon says there's so much more that needs to be told. >> reporter: it hit us. it hit our house. there is something burning. the voice on the tape cries out. the media house has been hit. >> turn off the live camera, someone shouts. they have discovered our position, but nothing, they swear, will shut them down. >> there was one time when they were typing on the computer and a rocket hit the house and the lights went out and the place shook, and we just carried on typing like nothing had happened. >> we survey the damage. to get to the upper floors you

really have to hug the wall because there's the one window that's exposed, but this is where you really see the full impact of the damage that was caused by the incoming rounds. i mean, this right here, it just speaks for itself. >> one of the neighbors was in, and she was there with her father and she was this 9-year-old girl and the rounds were impacting pretty closely and the guys were all on their computers and she was just kind of in the corner and at one point i called her to come sit on the couch, but she sat frozen, and i tried to go over to hug her, but she was so frozen she couldn't move. she just sat there like this and then tears were streaming down her face. >> this floor has be on obviously completely trashed. the bombardment, you keep hearing it over and over again, the sounds of artillery firing and it's nothing like what they've been through before.

this was once an ordinary home, an ordinary family lived here and we don't know what their story was. there's just bits and pieces of their lives that have been left behind including this children's toy. what happened to that family? what exactly was it that made them flee? are they alive? there's so much still that we don't know and so much that still needs to be told. >> arwa damon reporting. cnn sunday night at 8:00 eastern. syrians are under attack by their own government. learn what it's like to be trapped for 72 hours under fire at 8:00 eastern. janmes cameron is about toe more the deepest point of the earth serve miles below sea. we'll tell you how he plans to get there next. some of the leading names in the tech industry and the people who put up money for new ideas are hitting austin, texas for the

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expected to survive. a gunman opened fire inside the hospital lobby killing one person before he was shot and killed by police. no word on the gunman's identity or motive. >> a federal appeals court temporarily blocks two provision of a controversial alabama immigration law. one voided contact signed by illegal immigrants. the other prevented them from obtaining driver's licenses. and in florida, not one, but three good samaritans come to the rescue. surveillance video captures a broward county deputy in a dangerous struggle with the crime suspect. the officer says he was in real trouble until three homeless men helped subdue the man. everybody is okay today. filmmaker james cameron is about to attempt a dangerous and unprecedented mission to the deep of the point on the planet, a place only two people have ever set eyes on. the bottom of the trench off the coast of guam. nearly seven miles beneath the pacific ocean. yesterday we told you about the uncharted territory he's attempting to explore.

tell we'll tell you exactly how he's going get there onboard a high tech deep sea submersible. cnn's jason carroll was the only news reporter invited on camera and shipped for a tour and he's back from new york and joins us live. this is insane, jason. that would be a scary thing to do. >> cameron is used to deep sea exploration. it's not so scary for him, for the rest of us, scary definitely. when you talk about the submersible they had to design, there were so many things they had to consider. they had to consider pressure that the device would shrink by two and a half inches once it's down at those depths and that's just one of the factors that had to be considered in designing this type of sub. in this story james cameron isn't the only character taking a voyage to the mariana trenches deepest point. >> you want to see how we're going do it? >> yes. >> reporter: this, in cameron's eyes, is the other.

his submersible, deep sea challenger. it took a team of scientists and the national geographic society more than seven years to make a sub able to withstand pressures at the trench's depths. 15,000 pounds per square inch. >> so it does stay vertical like a seahorse. >> see how it stays upright. >> tell us more about the deep sea challenger as it's docked and rested. it weighs 12 tons and even though it's on its side it's actually 24 feet high and powered by these specially created lithium batteries and its body is made up of a syntactic foam and that color he calls it kawasaki green. >> it's a one-seater designed to have cameron encased in a protective pod. >> how tall are you? >> 6'2". >> reporter: and it would be easier if it was built for me. >> it is a tight fit. >> i'm pretty much like this for

about ten hours. >> you're not worried about cramps or anything? >> not yet. >> cameron expects time will pass as he captures 3d images and hopefully sea life from the trench's floor as he has already done on previous test dives. >> i can actually slurp up little critters or i can suck on to an animal and pick him up and drop him on to a biobox. if something goes wrong there is a fail safe system, a series of weights released with the flip of a switch. it brings little comfort to cameron's morgue who worries. >> i love my family and my children and nothing i love more, but i also have to do this. it's like jimmy stewart, how the west was one. sometimes you have to go see the critter. the challenger's frontier awaits. and though, carol, there's nothing official in terms of a dive date, we are hearing that cameron is expected to attempt the dive to challenger deep some time before march 26th.

>> i wouldn't be concerned about cramps so much, but i would be concerned about becoming clauft ro fobbic in there, but you're not only in the tiny space, but deep underneath the sea. how do you prepare yourself mentally for that? >> reporter: that's a great point, and i asked him about that. you think about james cameron's size, he's 6'2" and that pod, he's got to sort of be in a crunch position. he says he is so focused on the tasks of what he has to do when he's down there, finding sea life, taking samples and taking 3d imagery of what he's seeing down there. he says that's what consumes his time. the point where he does start to feel claustrophobic is once he's brought back to the surface and he's waiting for the divers and the team to get him out of the sub and it's at that moment and that's when it starts to get tight. >> it would be fascinating, though. >> i hope you have a follow up. >> oh, i have plenty.

>> jason carroll, thanks so much. >> mitt romney likes a honey nut cheerio as a late-night snack. that's a very important question in our political buzz and you'll find a lot of venture capitalists and tech industry leaders in one place today, that would be the south by southwest festival in boston. a will i velshi is there, too. so what's the buzz,al? i. >> did you just say snack? i'm going to come back and tell you why south by southwest in austin, this great interactive music and film festival, what it's got to do with the steaming, delicious plate of mac and cheese when i come back as soon as i finish eating. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

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the south by southwest interactive festival in austin, texas, combines fun with a futuristic look at the tech industry. watching a time lapse video of the cnn grill going up, you get a relative idea of the pace set by the event. it attracts entrepreneurs and vefrn -- and start-ups, and there's music and a film festival, too. >> ali velshi was there with the team and at last check you were eating a bowl of mac and cheese.

where did it go? >> that was totally a 19ing out. this has nothing to do with mac and cheese. i was just looking to put food down my belly. they think it's a music festival which may have emerged into a bit of a film festival and it's the largest interactive conference or festival in the world, quite possibly. things like four square got started here and twitter got here about eight months and they got to south by southwest and this is where it exploded and it's a place you come if you're a start-up and you've got a great idea and looking for funding. last night i got here with the cnn express, and i got off the bus and this guy, the sort of hipster dude with open shoes comes up to me with flip-flops and comes up to me and says hey, dude, i have a swivel in my pocket. do you want to see it? he's got this swif knell your pocket and it's this device that you put your ipad into and you wear a lanyard and it follows you around and it uses

bluetooth. it's stuff like this. just cool stuff. >> he had it in his pocket? >> it sounded like he was trying to sell me weed. that's how it is around here. people are just -- they have ideas and they want money for it and they want to hire people. so i went to this start-up crawl and it has a little bit of a drfrnging element to it and it's these start-ups with venture capitalists looking for them in different venues around austin and i talked to the organizer. listen to what he told me. >> austin is the center of the world right now with west by southwest, and we have 50 of them total all around austin. they're all throwing one simultaneous party. >> are you in the business of vetting these people to know whether they have viable ideas or is this just a public marketplace? >> it's a little bit of both. >> you can see when someone comes here versus this one makes sense versus you've got to be kidding me. everyone thinks they have a

sense of that. historically, nobody is that good at it, some people are better than others, but that's part of what makes it fun, too, right? >> that's why i'm here. i'm looking for the next big thing like everyone else is, the only thing is i won't be investing on it and getting rich. i'll just be reporting on it. >> where do the organizers want to take this festival? because it's become about so much more than music. >> the interactive part is now the starts today and then it moves into this music festival, so it's -- i've got to tell you, carol, it doesn't have that easy, relaxed counter culture vibe that it used to. this thing is set up like the olympics. we have this big operation here at cnn with our cnn express. it's hard to get into. the credentials are hard to get now, but it is still the best place if you've got great ideas. by the way, at that start up thing, anybody trying to get money for their idea was also aing we're looking to hire software developer, the top end,

really experienced ones can get about $150,000 a year, carol. >> wow! >> let's talk about star power because we must. i know matthew mcconaughey just moved to austin. have you spotted him yet? >> i haven't. i haven't. i've seen the roster of a whole bunch of superstars that are going to be here because obviously the film part of it and even the tech part of it, these hollywood types do like the tech side, but i haven't seen him yet. if i see him, do you have any message for him? >> tell him i love him -- no, just kidding. no, i don't have a message. i'm too shy. >> i'll send him your greetings. >> thank you, ali. i appreciate that. mitt romney says his preferred late-night snack is a bowl of honey nut cheerios. i wonder what the other candidates are munching on at midnight. that's just one question i'll can the political buzz panel that's coming your way next. [ woman ] dear cat, gentle cat,

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checking our top stories now. the job market keeps growing. the labor department says

employers added 3 between,000 job in february. not as much as january's n but more than analysts expected. the last of 2011's pardoned convicts could be freed in mississippi. four convicted murderers have been freed and the supreme court has overturned the partness on so they will remain free. a gop measure with the much disputed keystone oil pipeline has died in the senate. it will bypass the obama's administration to delay construction on the pipeline. opponents say the line could leak creating an environmental disaster. backers call it an important jobs creator. time for your political buzz, it's your rapid-fire look at the best topics of the day. 30 seconds on the clock. playing today maria cardona, jason johnson, professor at hirum college any politics 365 and ron banjean. i'm sorry.

>> that's all right. >> first question, the supposedly scandalous video through the late andrew breitbart showing barack obama embracing a professor that's a socialist. is this a big story? we decided to ask that, too. let's start with you, ron? >> i'm not sure it is a big story because we already know that president obama's a very left-wing leader. you know, last night he was calling -- yesterday he was calling senators, democratic senators trying to defeat the keystone pipeline that would have created thousands of jobs. that's why the house majority went to republicans in 2010 because he keeps going left. and i don't think this is a surprise that he in college was hanging around communists and socialists. >> maria? >> when i saw this clip, carol, i had to avert my eyes. i thought it was the most scandalous thing i'd ever seen. we should call for impeachment right now.

i can't take this. i can't do this anymore, carol. oh, my god. this is so ridiculous. a harvard law student introducing a harvard law professor? i don't think the american people will be able to handle that, carol. seriously. >> the most scandalous thing about this video is obama was still rocking an afro in 1990. that was the weirdest thing i saw in the video. he's doing something political and he's chat waying bunch of people. to be honest, the sad part of this and not to speak ill of the dead and the idea of promoting these scandalous videos that will change the landscape of american politics and it's not that big of a deal and i wasn't shocked except for the haircut. >> what will it take for newt gingrich to drop out of the race? maria? >> well, it's probably going to take god fathered aelson to cut him off because it's really the only reason now that newt gingrich can go on is because he's got maybe a little bit of

money, but even if that happens, carol, i don't know that there really is anything that anybody can do because it's new. newt's not going to listen to anybody except himself and he wants to go on apparently, until the convention. he wants to be a spoiler, but you know what? that's the democratic process. >> ron? >> yeah. he's going to keep going, i think, throughout this process, you know? i think at the end he'll get guaranteed a prime spot on "dancing with the stars" after the photos of he and calista dancing in a hotel ballroom or if the federal government made a chairman of the board position because he's probably not going to be president of the united states. that would probably be the only way they would be able to get him out of the race. >> jason? >> newt gingrich is angry wnat ands revenge. he's like liam niece em. this campaign will be pulled from his cold, dead hands some time in august when the convention happens and that's

the only way you're going to get newt gingrich to stop and even then he may make a lot of noise at the republican convention. >> okay. third question is your buzzer beater, 20 seconds each. mitt romney was asked about his late-night snack of choice. here's what he said. >> well, you know, i like honey nut cheerios, and i like honey nut chex. i like krispix. anything with sugar in it, i like it, sugar pops and honey smack, but i don't like any of that as much as honey nut cheerios. >> honey smacks? is that still for sale? we want to know what you guys think. would it be the late-night snack of choice for the other candidates? >> ron paul probably has meat and mutton. it was what the founding fathers eat and newt gingrich. the man probably eats charcoal for dinner. he spits fire every time he talks. i don't know what rick santorum

doesn't have, and he probably picks it for his wife because women don't have the right to choose. >> ow! ron! >> i think newt gingrich although he did give up desserts for lent i think he'd pour guinness all over his bowl of cheerios. in terms of santorum, santorum probably eats a bowl of choeeto and the guy that get the orange stuff all over his fingers. ron paul would eat a big bowl of ice cream because he deserves it. he's been in this race and hasn't picked up many delegates or won any states. >> maria? >> i think rick santorum's going try to say that he eats grits, maybe some etouffee or sweet tea. he has to appeal to the southern state which is are coming up. i think ron paul will probably have a couple of bowls and maybe some special brownies, perhaps, and then gingrich, i'm going say he's going to stick to fig newtons.

>> okay. thanks for playing today. it was quite enjoyable. maria, ron, jason, hope to have you back. >> thanks so much. just a couple of hours ago we learned the nation's jobless rate held steady at 8.3% and we saw more jobs created last month than experts expected, but millions of unemployed americans still waiting for the good news to trickle down on them. cnn money spoke to job seekers battling frustration and despair at a manhattan jobs fair. >> i mean, i don't know exactly what's going on with the whole rest of the country, but for me, it's just that i -- i'm just finding it more difficult to find work at this point. >> february '09 the company down sized and i've been looking. i've been sending my resumes online, going job fairs, putting myself out there. the money that you're bringing in is pretty much like half of what your rent is. >> for a few months i wasn't really serious.

i was just kicking back, but now after a while six months in you start saying i have to find a job. >> sometimes you go for the minimal job, the minimal job that doesn't require a degree, and you still don't get it. >> my skills need to be updated so right now what i'm working on is doing that, but for now i need to get some work. i've been looking for two months. >> it's time to learn to do things for yourself. you start going as far as cutting my own hair, cutting down on the dry cleaning bill. you don't eat as much and you go on special diets and do what you have to do to survive. >> sometimes it's very discouraging coming to these job fairs because you see the same recruiters every time. >> i do have confidence i will get something, though. a good chance that i'll get something over the next few weeks. i'm going to make it. i know i will. >> that's the spirit.

cnn money's poppy harlow joins us from new york. the jobless numbers were fairly strong today, but the long-term unemployed, they are really struggling still. >> they are. so if you dig into this report you've got 12.8 million americans, 12.8 million that are still unemployed and of that you have 5.4 million that have been out of a job for six months or longer. all the data shows that when you are out of work six months or longer, you're considered long-term unemployed and it is much harder for you to get a job and whether some companies want to admit it or not, there is discrimination and many people have been so long trying to get that job. you also have to look thea the number of part-time workers that are involuntarily working part-time and they want full time jobs. that number is 8.1 million americans and then you have to consider discourage workers and people giving up looking for work and they're not counted in the unemployment rate and that's

still 1 million americans and you've got this persistent problem with the long-term unemployed. some of the folks that we met at the jobs fair said they were frustrated because the jobs being offered were the contracting jobs, sales job, commission-based jobs and jobs that don't offer a steady pay check. jordan alter who shot that piece said look, all i want is a job that will pay the rent and something i can count on, carol. i have a long way to go and the job market has changed dramatically and it's not the steady work so many people were used to. >> poppy harlow, live in new york for us. >> point shaving scandals is the dark side of sports and the basketball program may be under that cloud. we'll talk about that in teb minutes and coming up next we'll tell you which tv program has been called the most influential ever. can you guess which it is? "all in the family," "seinfeld," "hill street blues," "mash," the

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would end up taking her? did you think that? >> i saw the writing on the wall. i would be kidding myself to say otherwise. >> carol there's been so much talk following houston's death whether or not drugs led to her demise. so many spoke out saying houston had been clean for years and it offers an interesting glimpse into what happened here. we're still awaiting the toxicology results that will determine the cause of death. oprah sat down with houston's daughter, bobbi kristina and it airs this sunday night on the oprah winfrey network. >> shall we hear the theme music first? >> let's listen. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> do you all remember that show? "hill street blues."

it takes you back. >> i cannot believe it was named the most influential tv show ever. like, says who? >> you're want alone. so here's the deal. there's a panel of tv critics and college professors who were contacted by cnn, carol. not sure if this show is one of your past favorites. it doesn't sound like it is, but they say the ground breaking 1980s drama with some of the best theme songs in tv history changed the direction of programming history, and the inner city crime paved the way for so many drams to have the more substantive content over time. it wasn't a popularity contest, though. "hill street blues" never cracked the top 20 in the ratings and you can see the influence on so many that followed "nypd blue" and "i love lucy" would argue that is the most influential show and many would argue it basically invented the sitcom as we know it. "the sopranos" was the first

show to make the protagonists evil and unsympathetic. i love that theme song. i can listen to it it all day. it will probably be playing in my head all day. >> these are shows that had an influence on the industry and not necessarily on the popular culture. >> "hill street blues" is part of the shaky camera that makes you nauseous when you're watching television. >> you still see that in some crime shows. >> and in movies. >> great observation. yes. yes. >> you too, kareen. thank you. >> want information on everything breaking on the entertainment world, a.j.'s got it on "showbiz tonight" on hln. >> on the eve march madness a college basketball program makes news for the wrong reason. we talk about point shaving allegations at auburn. >> coke is changing its formula again and this time so is pepsi.

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that's right, i said her. mo isom is homecoming queen at

louisiana state university and she's also the goalie on the lsu's women's soccer team and she once scored a 90-yard goal and now she's trying to be theic canner on the nationally ranked tiger football team and she's not scared about ticking a hit on the field either. >> do you see my size? everyone thinks i'm the average size and weight of a female. i am 6'1" almost, and weigh about 190 pounds. yes, i just said that on camera. it is all muscle. i'm working on becoming an avatar. that is the goal with the body type. i can take a hit. i'm just fearless. i'm not bound by fear, and i think i can handle a hit just fine. >> don't you love her? she's been seen booting 40 and 50-yard field goals in workouts. the coach has no problem with her being on the team if she proves she's good enough. we will keep you posted.

point shaving scandals are rare and one basketball program may be under such a cloud. >> mike pesca covers the sports stories for mpr. welcome. >> hi. >> thanks for being here. can you explain to us exactly what's going on at auburn? >> right. so federal investigators are looking at their paint guard who allegedly shaved points, and what this means is shaving points technically means we don't play as well as you can, you score fewer points than you can so that your team doesn't cover the point spread and that betters who paid you off are able to make money on the team to play as best as you can. one against arkansas and one against alabama. the odd thing is that ward himself cannot play significant minutes and in one of those games he got hurt and it was terrible in ago game and it doesn't matter what the outcome was. what matters is if he actually was on the take to shave points and an important thing to note,

and we should credit yahoo for being on top of this story. by all accounts, auburn itself is fully cooperating and as soon as it got wind of it, they turned it over to investigators who are now looking into it. this isn't an ncaa violation. if you shave points you can, and people have done federal jail time for this. >> what could happen to the program itself at auburn? anything? >> well, yes. because it seems that they were pretty quick to say we have a situation here and call in federal investigators. they themeses might be off the hook. this year they're not even a 500 team and they're not going to the ncaa tournament and they haven't been a good team for a while. this is, of course, a setback, but as far as sanctions, they might avoid those. >> college basketball, march madness is almost upon us and i was actually checking out this tip from bracketeering author andrew clark. he wrote that book.

depict the teams for your bracket and you should look at the scoring margins. is he right? that's the most important factor. >> well, what he's saying is if you -- if a team is 20 and 10, but there are ten losses that came by a point or two, that's actually pretty significant. some of the factors i look at are a little more esoteric. i look at the true shooting percentage which is how well you shoot the ball and you get extra credit for shooting three pointers, and i also look at something called turnover by rate of play, so sometimes teams have a lot of turn ores and they just have a fast rate of play and look at the fast rebounding percentage, it's not that exciting, but i'm telling you one of the reasons why teams do well in the tournament. >> how many times have you won? >> every time. i only let myself into the pool. maybe i'll let my 4-year-old join me, too, who picks my nascar. >> sometimes the 4-year-old can win, too. i know it's early and we don't

know which team is in the dance until sunday night, but is there a final four that you would love to see? >> oh, yeah. there's a final four and a couple of the teams i'll name. i think kentucky will be a name that every pontifficator will mention because they're a great team top to bottom and they have anthony davis who will be the player of the year, the defensive player of the year and he might win the nobel prize for literature and he'll win every award and be the number one pick in next year's draft and everyone will pick kentucky. another team that will be popular to pick is syracuse. they're great at forcing turnovers and they themselves don't turn the ball over and both of these teams will be number one seeds so that means they're likely or the favorites in their brackets to make the final four. there are a couple of teams and you want to talk about who i'd like, i'd like to see wichita state. they have the scoring that spread throughout the team and the nickname is the shockers and their mascot is a piece of wheat or wheat shaft. i think that's worth two or

three points a game which the opponents looks at the side line and they're shaking a fist at you and the next thing i would mention is belmont, brad paisley went there, and they have a lot of the subtle little things and they've only been playing basketball for several years, but why not? we love upsets and that's why we love march madness. >> we love the underdog. mike pesca, it was a lot of fun. thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> selection sunday, just two days away. we want you to join the bracket challenge, see if you can pick the ncaa winners better than any of the folks here at cnn. california was ready to slap a warning label on some coke and pepsi products. ahead on daily dose, i'll tell you how they got out of it. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military,

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>> today's daily dose, coke is changing its formula again and this time so is pepsi. nothing to do with taste. it's all about avoiding having to slap a cancer label on their product. they've added a chemical of 4m ito its list of carcinogens. they've been using that compound in the caramel coloring even though the warning label only would have applied in california, the formulas are changing across the country. sarah palin's pac pushes back against the hbo movie "game change." your political ticker is coming your way next. i'm always looking out for small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot.

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a new jobs report, red meat for republicans. preston, the attacks on the president came quick le. didn't waste a minute. >> they didn't waste a minute. you wonder if these were written the night before, and i have to tell the viewing audience. in fact, many of these staples are written the night before. both democrats and republicans and they hit send. let's take a quick look at what the house speaker john boehner said once the jobs report was released. he said today's report provides some encouragement for millions of families and small businesses, who continue to struggle in this economy, but unemployment remains too high. he said it is the american worker who should be applauded for the turnaround, so to speak,

in our job problem that we're facing right now and not the administration who is weighing things down with regulations, but politically, carol, it just shows you that this jobs report, the economy is a political football as we're heading into november. the fact of the matter is we talk about this in somebodies and i think you and christine have been doing a great job talking about how we discuss this in numbers, but unemployment is really a very, very personal thing. >> that's right. it's all in how you feel about the economy, too and if most americans have a positive outlook on the economy and i'm not sure the numbers fare so well when you ask americans those types of questions. let's talk about "game change." people will get to see it saturday night. we got to talk to julianne moore who stars as sarah palin and we wondered what she thought about sarah palin, so let's listen. >> it really is about our system and the way we choose our candidates and choose our leaders, actually. i think this campaign was

notorious for being a difficult one and one that was pretty disorganized. i think anyone will tell you who was involved in the campaign. that to me was a real surprise. it's almost like working in an independent movie when you have no budget and 30 days to shoot it. the ground was shifted under them every single day. they weren't always prepared for what happened. it was a real eye-opener for me. >> so, mark, what is palin's camp saying? did she come out to say anything new recently? >> they've gone on the offensive and just last week they released a two-minute video. her political action committee did which says that "game change" is actually distorting history. let's take a quick look at what they put out to counter the debut of the move owe saturday. >> we planned events for 6,000, 000 people and we've had 50,000, 60,000 people and she gets that reception everywhere she goes. >> so there you have it. that is just a little clip of the 2:30 video that her