essentially at news international that's been taken in to custody. carol? >> matthew chance live in london, thanks. now kyra with much more on this later, i'm sure. >> that's right. i'm kyra phillips. 8:00 out on the west coast. we have a pretty busy hour ahead. let's get straight to the news. another day of outrage in afghanistan over the massacre of afghan civilians allegedly by a u.s. soldier. hundreds of protesters filled the streets of jalalabad today adding their voices to those of afghan leaders demanding justice and the taliban who vow revenge. we are still learning more about the suspect. a soldier in country in january after three tours in iraq. no word on a possible motive for gunning down 16 afghan men, women and children but the u.s. commander of multinational forces promises a full investigation by u.s. military authorities under u.s. law. and the u.s. defense secretary says that the death

penalty is a possibility. leon panetta is in afghanistan now. all u.s. forces pass through there when they leave and enter afghanistan and told reporters and i told, war is hell and terrible events like this one on sunday are going to take place. we'll get live reports from the pentagon and the afghan capital moments from now. super tuesday, it's not not. what happens today could focus the gop race for president. finally, or give all the contenders something they can call victory. the deep south is key to newt gingrich's hopes of challenging mitt romney from the right. polls show that he and romney are neck and neck in both states with santorum in a solid third, ron paul in single digits. 84 delegates now at stake in alabama and mississippi. hawaii caucuses. awards 17. well for now at least voters in texas and wisconsin will not have to bring photo i.d.s to the polls. both states passed measures last

year aimed at ending voter fraud but the justice department and a wisconsin judge say the laws unduly rightful voters especially minorities and the poor. the feds blocked the south carolina law for the same reasons late last year. and an hour from now, opponents of a steep hike in student loan interest rates will hand deliver tens of thousands of letters to leaders of congress. if lawmakers don't intervene, rates of so-called stafford loans which the government subsidizes will double in july. right now, they're just 3.4%. students don't have to pay while they're in school. president obama proposed keeping the rate frozen for at least the next year. and it's day of mourning in syria after a year of government attacks on syrian dissidents and innocent bystanders alike. activists say more than 9,000 lives lost and that number grows by the hour. the government claims it's

battling armed protesters and promoting reform. today, the president scheduled parliamentary elections for may 7th. new images in to cnn of people being rescued of a ferryboat crashes in south bangladesh. about 100 people are missing. the packed boat carrying 150 people when it capsized. it collided with another vessel early this morning. ferry accidents are accident in bangladesh killing hundreds of people every year. well, the obama administration says rare earths are a whole lot rarer than they should be and it blames china. rare earths are minerals that are vital ingredients of all sorts of high-tech components and smartphones and wind turbines to guided missiles. china produces 97% of the world's supply and it's slashing exports. the u.s. is complaining to the world trade organization and president obama plans to talk about it moments from now at the white house. we'll bring you his comments live. parts of southern louisiana

under water this morning. you're looking at lafayette pairish right now where water is pouring over sidewalks and forcing home owns to vacate. 12 to 18 inches fell across the region. state of emergency has been declared in lafayette. hundreds of people have been rescued. people still stranded. there's a flood warning until later today. now, a disturbing story, a massachusetts man is charged with biting off the ear of a sixth grade basketball coach. timothy forbes reportedly got angry after the holy name school lost the championship game on friday. well, originally, he was believed to be a coach on the losing team but according to our affiliate wshm the youth organization says that forbes isn't a coach. cyo speculates he may be the father of a player. forbes was arraigned monday, facing multiple charges including mayhem, a felony and it carries a maximum sentence of

1 ye 15 years in prison. an american soldier is accused of going on a killing rampage. now, the taliban threatens to behead americans. there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer,

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the backlash in afghanistan is escalating, reignited by a shooting rampage that killed 16 afghans and seems that the al bn is making good on the promise for revenge. mill about thes reportedly opened fire on an afghan government leader who was visiting the panjkai district. the afghan delegates were attending the victims' funerals when they were attacked and according to a council member, at least two afghan security forces were injured. earlier in the day, the scene in eastern afghanistan. hundreds of protesters taking to the streets in gentlemjalalabad. you can see a glimpse of the fallout. sara sidner in afghanistan. the taliban ramping up the threats saying they would behead americans to avenge the deaths of the 16 afghans. what more can you tell us about the threat?

>> reporter: basically, just that. that sent an e-mail today saying that they had to take revenge for this incident. that involved u.s. soldier. that u.s. soldier has been detained as you know but they're saying that they will behead any american anywhere in afghanistan. and so that's the latest very strong threat from the taliban. so far, we don't know of anyone claiming responsibility for that attack that happened while the funeral was going on but still a very difficult situation there. lots of difficulties getting information out of that area. we did see protests for the first time since this incident happened a couple of days ago in jalalabad and quite far from kandahar. kandahar is in southern afghanistan. jalalabad in eastern afghanistan. 400 to 500 people did show up, most of them university students. the road, an important route, shut down between jalalabad and kabul and since reopened. this certainly, though, this

threat from the taliban has people quite nervous and you might imagine and not just talking about the troops. we are talking about those agencies on the ground trying to give aid to the people of afghanistan. and so, there is a lot of concern about what we're hearing from the taliban at this point in time, carol. >> what about the afghan people? are they calling for u.s. troops to pull out? >> reporter: yes. you are hearing some of that and you heard some of that in that protest there but we should point out just last month you saw the protests just explode after the korans were burned by u.s. forces who said they apologized for it and it was a mistake. you saw 40 people killed in those protests, including u.s. service members. and this time, we've only seen one protest, 400 or 500 people happening in a different part of afghanistan and we haven't seen it pop up all over the country, so a contrast there between the

two incidents. there's worry there may be more to come and certainly this taliban threat has people worried about what may happen next from their point of view. and how this might play in to any peace negotiations that might have gone on between the taliban, afghan officials and u.s. officials. carol? >> sara sidner in kabul, thanks. as calls for justice grow louder in afghanistan, u.s. lead earls are scrambling to contain a potentially explosive situation. let's get to barbara starr at the pentagon working the sources. so barbara, when's the state of the invest right now? >> reporter: it is fully under way. the army criminal investigation command in charge of this gathering all the information they can. certainly, i think it's fair to say one of the things they're looking at is this man's medical records. he suffered a traumatic brain injury two years ago in iraq involved in a vehicle rollover accident. not combat. a vehicle rollover and he apparently suffered a traumatic

brain injury. treated and deemed fit to return to duty so one can only imagine they'll look at the records, looking at all soldiers do, they fill out their own mental health survey. what did he say on that survey? were there any indications, any signs that this man was perhaps extremely troubled? all of that will play in to it. talking to people he knew in the army. others in his unit. trying to assemble whatever facts they can. and it may and i think expected to lead to charges. his name will be made public at that point and then the military will have to make a decision whether to try him in afghanistan in the military justice system or perhaps bring him back to the united states. kyra? >> i was thinking he's a father of two. what's the situation with his family? >> reporter: oh, you know, your heart has to go out to them, doesn't it? we now know that his wife and children have been brought on the base at lewis mccord in washington state for their own

security so they don't face any harassment or unpleasantness from the community outside the military has brought them over the weekend we're told to live on base. and that is all we're told. they're really trying to shelter his family from any public view, especially his children. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks. afghans are calling for an open trial against the u.s. soldier suspected of this killing spree but that won't happen. we'll tell you why when i talk to a former military prosecutor up next. ♪ ♪ wow... ♪ [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. ♪ werther's original caramels.

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exports. the obama administration is complaining to the wto, the world trade organization, and we're going to bring you the president's remarks as soon as they happen. all right. today we're taking an in depth look at a man who decided to bake his way out of a financial pit. he was unemployed, out of cash and living on credit cards for more than a year. but a dinner party changed everything for him. christine romans tells us how that party helped dave reboot his career. >> reporter: dave tuttle has a passion for pie. >> let's face it. pie is wonderful. makes people feel great. >> reporter: a passion born of necessity in 2009 after this former film and tv producer couldn't find work in an industry that's shedding jobs. >> for about a year i really made it full-time to get a job to get back in the business. that's what i was doing for 20iers. >> living on the savings and 401k. >> 401k and came to a point

where, you know, depleted the funds. >> reporter: then an idea. >> we were sitting at a dinner party one night and i brought one of my pies and sitting around with our friends and they said, dave, you should start to sell these pies. my wife's like, yes, you need to do something! i said, well, okay. that's cool. you know? maybe i'll try it. i'll bake on average of 16 to 18 hours. straight. only use what's in season here in the hudson valley. i do everything by hand. i'll peel my apples, i mix my crust. roll them out by hand. the name of the company is tuttle's homemade. >> reporter: the unique cost-saving measure bartering for kitchen space. you have the space for pies and nor advertising for you. >> bingo. >> reporter: brilliant. >> right. >> reporter: he sells and hand delivers up to 200 pies a month. but now tuttle's ready to take the next step. >> i could see tuttle's homemade

up there. no problem. a sign out of here, fresh baked pies. i would have to do a lot of work. >> takes money. >> all going to take money. >> reporter: a hurdle as years of living on credit cards hurt his credit score and not alone. demand for small business loans is up but lending is still tight. tuttle says he could help the economy grow if given the chance to grow his business and start hiring. >> our government needs to take advantage of that. there's a huge, huge amount of people doing this. >> reporter: while he hopes the business will continue to heat up, tuttle says the experience has given him a new recipe for life. >> before it was about making that paycheck. now it's more about family. it's about being connected back to my community. what i was doing before wasn't -- it was great but it wasn't as real as what i'm doing now. >> nothing more real than a real good apple pie recipe.

>> exactly, exactly. >> all right. if you're interested in starting a business, there's free help out there. check out the small business administration's website to get a few ideas. go to sba.gov. well, afghans are calling for an open trial against the u.s. soldier suspected of a killing spree there. but that's not going to happen. we'll tell you what is more likely to take place when i talk to a former jag and military prosecutor. that's up next. also, a live picture from the rose garden waiting for the president of the united states to walk up to the mikes, talking about rare earths. and they're rarer than they should be he says and blaming china for that. why you should care about the minerals and we'll explain straight ahead. ( whirring and crackling sounds )

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time now to go to stories making news at street level. new brunswick, new jersey. closing arguments in the trial of dharun ravi accused of spying on his gay roommate. the roommate tyler clementi died by suicide in 2010. three days after officials say ravi spied on him during an intimate encounter with a man.

he is charged with invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence. he could be sentenced to ten years in prison. heading south now to sanford, florida, the emotional case of a 17-year-old african-american shot to death by a white neighborhood watch captain. trayvon martin was walking to his dad's home in a gated community around sunset. zimmerman said he called 911. by the time police arrived, martin was dead. zimmerman says he fired in self defense. no weapon was found on or near martin's body. the black community is demanding to know why zimmerman isn't arrested or charged. the state attorney general is investigating. moving now to atlanta. where a delta airlines jetliner undergoing maintenance veered off the runway at the airport early this morning. there were no passengers on board and no injuries to the crew. the pilot was experiencing brake problems when the accident

happened. let's head west. colorado springs. students of palmer high school are outraged at their faculty yearbook adviser for pulling a photo of two lesbian students holding hands. the couple was booted from the yearbook staff. one of the students says the adviser told her, quote, you cut the gay couple or i cut the page. the school district spokesperson denies discriminating against the students saying the photo was cut because of policy against excessive public displays of affection. who knew things would come to this? reports say police are dealing with a crime spree and thieves stealing tide laundry detergent, supposedly so out of hand that some stores are putting the detergent under lock and key. one report claims a minnesota man-made off with $25,000 worth of tide over a 15-month period. tide sales up $20 in the store. it's reportedly going for half

of that price on the streets. there's a totally different problem in trenton, new jersey. city officials are dealing with a toilet paper shortage. they have enough to deal with until friday. disagreement between the mayor and the city council. they're refusing to sign a $42,000 contract to buy more supplies. now on to dayton, ohio. president obama and british prime minister cameron will get in a little march madness. they'll conduct a joint interview during halftime during the game. president obama has a bracket challenge on his campaign website. no word if cameron's picks. the visit will get serious tomorrow when the two discuss afghanistan and syria. so with all that march madness talk, are you filling out your bracket? if so, why not go ahead and go head to head with me or my team? we have our picks in. go online to cnn.com/brackets and join the march madness.

all right. will today's contest down south do what super tuesday couldn't? up next, the fight for mississippi and alabama. will they make it a two-man race. now football. mitt romney fumbles his way back in to an out of touch gaffe. you'll hear the interview next. and they love my spinach dip. five foot ten... still doing a little exploring. but... my sign is sagittarius, i'm into spanish cheese, my hairline is receding but i'm getting a weave. getting a weave. there's an easier way to save. who wants some ronald tonight!? who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning...

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now time to get to the heart of the political debate with all sides being fair game and the primaries in alabama and mississippi are in full swing. heerl's a look at the current delegate count. mitt romney in the lead. rick santorum in second. newt gingrich and ron paul still trailing behind. 119 more delegates among places holding primaries and caucuses today so let's get right to it. joining me, anna novaro and maria cardona. talk alabama and mississippi first, guys, and where the

candidates stand. likely vote earls in mississippi now stand behind gingrich over mitt romney. then in alabama they're neck and neck. only two percentage points apart at this point. anna, rick santorum says it's a two-man race between him and mitt romney? >> well, that's what he wants it to be. i don't think newt gingrich is in on that line and i think as far as -- as long as mitt romney does not win, it's a good thing for rick santorum but i just don't think that anybody would have thought talking about march madness we would be talking about the republican primary and seems that this is going to continue going on and on. the states proportionate the way they'll allocate the delegates and everybody will get a piece of the pie tonight. rick santorum, newt gingrich and mitt romney and going on for a while longer. >> maria, you agree? >> i think it goes on for a while longer but look, when's so ironic is the reason it goes on

is because the republicans put in place mechanisms for exactly that to happen. anna mentioned the proportional delegate count, that was all rules that republicans changed, as well as the citizens united supreme court ruling that republicans were all in support of have also given rise to the super pac to give those candidates who might have had to leave the race earlier because of lack of money has given them the ability to continue this race going on and on. and i think what it shows is two things. romney's inability to close the deal with critical southern religious conservative voters, as well as the fact that he's the presumed front-runner but what a weak presumed front-runner he's turned out to be. >> i'm not a fan of romney but we have to give him a little credit for the mere fact he's splitting it three ways in alabama and mississippi. which are, frankly, just foreign to him and what we all thought he was going to get clobbered.

so i think, you know, he is showing to be resolute and eaten grits. he's shown he can do a little pronunciation of southern colegal quellisms and worked there and though i'm not a biggest fan, i give him credit for what he's done. >> listen to you. all right. but at this moment, it's romney and santorum with the most delegates. talk about how that stacks up against obama. most "the new york times"/cbs poll showing obama beating romney. obama trumping santorum in this poll. so, maria, what do the numbers tell us about obama's standing at this point? >> well, you know, it is still a long ways off to the election so i don't think we should read a whole lot in to that. and i can tell you the president and the white house certainly aren't reading a whole lot in that. they're going to be continued -- they're going to continue to be focused on dealing with the problems that middle class families have, workers have, creating jobs.

continuing the economic growth that we have been on this path right now. and i think that what it also shows, though, is that the republican message isn't really getting through and the more that this goes on regardless of whether, you know, mitt romney able to be resolute in all of this, the issue is, if he isn't the nominee, i think most people think he will be the nominee, how damaged is he going to come out of this prolonged republican race where he himself has shown that he does not have the ability to connect with exactly those middle class families, those working class voters that will be so critical going in to the general election? and that right now president obama is winning. >> you know, while i have you guys, i'll step aside for a moment. we have a live picture at the white house and let you both know we're waiting for president obama to step out of the rose garden and he's expected to mince no words in blaming china

for the shortage of rare earth minerals. now, a lot of people are thinking, rare earth minerals? please tell me why i need to pay attention to this. and what the heck -- oh, is it the president coming snout i wanted the get your take on this but the president is coming out to the podium now. when we talk about rare earth minerals, we're talking about vital ingredients in all kinds of high-tech components. let's listen to the president. >> i want to make an announcement about the efforts to stand up for u.s. businesses and u.s. workers. i'd like to say a few words about the situation in afghanistan. over the weekend, as many of you know, there was a tragic incident in which a number of afghan civilians were killed. i have made to president karzai when i spoke to him is that the united states takes this as seriously as if it was our own citizens. and our own children who were murdered. we're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life.

the killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and it's unacceptable. it's not who we are as a country. and it does not represent our military. for that reason, i have directed the pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. i can assure the american people and the afghan people that we'll follow the facts wherever they lead us. and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law. yesterday, i met with general allen and ambassador crocker who are here in washington and i have extraordinary confidence in them and in the many americans who are serving in afghanistan and who have made extraordinary sacrifices to be there. today, i'll be meeting with prime minister cameron who's part of our broad coalition

serving in afghanistan. and we'll have an opportunity to consult about the way forward as we prepare for the nato summit in chicago later this spring. so make no mistake. we have a strategy that will allow us to responsibly wind down this war. we're steadily transitioning to the afghans who are moving in to the lead. and that's going to allow us to bring our troops home. already we're scheduled to remove 23,000 troops by the end of this summer. followed by -- following the 10,000 that we withdrew last year. meanwhile, we will continue the work of devastating al qaeda's leadership and denying them a safe haven. there's no question that we face a difficult challenge in afghanistan. but i'm confident that we can continue the work of meeting our objectives, protecting our country and responsibly bringing this war to a close. now, one of the things that i

talked about during the state of the union address is making the u.s. more competitive in the global economy. the good news is that we have the best workers and the best businesses in the world. they turn out the best products and when the playing field is level they'll always be able to compete and succeed against every other country on earth. but the key is to make sure that the playing field is level. frankly, sometimes it's not. i will always try to work our differences through with other countries. we prefer dialogue. that's especially true when it comes to key trading partners like china. we have got a constructive economic relationship with china. and whenever possible, we are committed to working with them to addressing our concerns. but when it is necessary, i will take action if our workers and our businesses are being subjected to unfair practices.

since i took office, we have brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration. and these actions are making a difference. for example, we halted an unfair surge in chinese tires which has helped put over 1,000 american workers back on the job. but we haven't stopped there. two weeks ago i created a trade enforce union to investigate any unfair trade practices taking place anywhere in the world. and as they ramp up their efforts, our competitors should be on notice. you will not get away with skirting the rules. when we can, we'll rally support of allies and when it makes sense to act on our own we will. i just signed a bill to help american companies that are facing unfair foreign competition. these companies employ tens of thousands of americans in nearly 40 states. and because of subsidies from foreign governments, some of

their foreign competitors are selling products at an artificially low price. that needs to stop. this morning, we are taking an additional step forward. we're bringing a new trade case against china and joined by japan and some of our european allies. this case involves something called rare earth materials used by american manufacturers to make high-tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid carls to cell phones. we want our companies building those products right here in america. but to do that, american manufacturers need to have access to rare earth materials which china supplies. now, if china would simply let the market work on its own we would have no objections but their policies currently are preventing that from happening and they go against the very rules that china agreed to follow. being able to manufacture advanced batteries and hybrid cars in america is too important for us to stand by and do

nothing. we have got to take control of our energy future and we can't let that energy industry take root in another country because they were allowed to break the rules so our administration will bring this case against china today and we'll keep working every single day to give american workers and american businesses a fair shot in the global economy. we're going to make sure that this isn't a country that's just known for what we consume. america needs to get back to doing what it's always done best. a country that builds and sells products all over the world that are stamped with the proud words "made in america." that's how we create good, middle class jobs at home and create an economy that's built to last. thank you very much, everybody. >> live from the rose garden, the president of the united states. trying to make this simple for you. basically, bottom line, new trade case against china. the president wants u.s. companies to be able to make

things like smartphones, wind turbines, guided missiles, high-tech components that are made up of rare earth minerals and those come from china. produces 97% of the world's supply and slashing exports so the president wants to get control of our energy future as he says now filing this new case against china. we'll follow it. all right. frustrated parents want to take over their kids' school and it's all legal. it's called the parent trigger law and triggering a lot of controversy. one woman in the fight joins me next. [ man ] predicting the future is hard.

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with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! so how many of you out there think that your kids' school is just plain awful? if you had the chance to take control, would you do it? in at least three states you can. it's called the parent trigger law. the idea is that parents with kids in low-performing schools can literally take over. they can actually vote to replace the teachers, principals and other school staff. they can make sweeping changes to who and how the school is run. but the parent trigger law, of

course, doesn't come without controversy. it's an issue that we feel is undercovered. christina sanchez, the deputy director of parent revolution knows about this, joining me now. the law passed in california and now the group is campaigning to implement it at an elementary school. a parent revolution succeeds, i understand this would be the first school in the u.s. to be taken over by parents. so, tell me, if you do succeed with this effort, how exactly will parents take over this school and what changes do they want to make? >> thanks. yes. so we at parent revolution believe that the reason our public education system is broken is because it's not designed to succeed. it's designed to serve the interest of adults and not children so parents whose only interest is education and future of their children now have real formal power under the parent trigger law and at desert trails

where parents organize united to not run the operations of the school but to actually be equal partners in deciding the key strategies at the school's going to use to educate their children will have that ability to guide the vision and the direction of the school. >> but explain to me exactly what the parents would do. i mean, have you decided exactly how -- who would run what? who would make the critical decisions? the criticism is what gives the parents more qualifications than a principal or a teacher or other staff members that have been trained to do these jobs. >> right now as you and i are speaking the school district is verifying the parents' petition and since we've turned in our e petiti petition, the parents called more a partnership with the district. they want to have say over the principal, who's going to run

the school, they want to be able to make changes to curriculum and to some of the basic operations of the school. make sure it's safe, make sure that the children are being prepared for college and for a career. and so, right now, the actual plan that's proposed is still being designed by the parents and the district and we're hopeful that the district will continue to engage in conversations with the parents and put together a partnership. >> now, from what i understand, as i've been reading the many articles written and everybody that's involved here, there are a lot of parents that actually signed this petition saying that they were deceived, that they were lied to, that they didn't get the whole story of how this would unfold and that they're worried about the way that the kids will be educated if, indeed, this happens. so, what do you say to the many parents that don't want to be a part of this anymore and are not in support of this and very

concerned? >> yeah. so like with any other social movement, change is difficult to have happen. unfortunately, after the parents submitted their petition, there was a heavy rescission campaign led by the california teachers' association where operatives came in and gave parents forms to sign, but misinformed them and in some cases harassed them, told them lies that the school was going to shut down and so sign this form and we even uncovered some cases of forgery where parents signed the form and then someone else, we don't know who, but someone indicated some allegations of misinformation from the parent petitioners and so we're thankfully also represented by some great probono lawyers and hoping it will be cleared out as i said earlier. the school district is right now verifying the petitions and we are confident we continue to

have the majority. we have a strong base of parents and in constant communication t. and if there is any miscommunication, we've been clarifying it over the past few weeks. >> we reached out to the california's teachers association, because you mentioned something about the misinformation out there. and this is what cta says. "both places the parent trigger have been invoked, we've seen school communities divided by political-style campaigns, heavily funded by outside groups with an agenda like parent revolution. school reform should come about in an atmosphere that allows for open discussion, debate, exploration of all the options, and involvement of parents, educators, and all stake holders. reform efforts that begin and end with a petition shortchange students, parents with and meaningful education reform." how do you respond to that? >> when you talk to any of the parents at adalanto, they'll be

the first to tell you that they sign a memorandum of understanding. and they reached out to us and invited us in. they were the first to start their own pta. they've served on counsels. so they tried to work within the district and just got frustrated with the long, bureaucratic process. we've constantly worked with them, and as i mentioned earlier, we want to build a partnership and certainly we want the union and teachers to be part of that partnership. >> christie, only about 51% of parents have to agree to sign the petition for the parent trigger law to go into effect. what about the other 49%? i mean, that leaves out a lot of parents. >> well, our aim is always to reach as many parents as we can. right now, when a petition, the group that's circulating the petition doesn't have a formal official list from the district, we'd like one. and any smart campaign would aim

higher than the 50% requirement. desert trails, we submitted more than 70%, in mckinley and compton, there was 60%. and so the same is always to reach as many parents and that's what the parents and desert trails did. they knocked on doors, they held public meetings, they did everything they could within the law to make sure that this was an open and transparent process. >> christina sanchez, we'll follow it for sure. thanks for your time. >> thank you. the race for the gop nomination hasn't exactly been a smooth one. now the front-runner's saying it's time to end it. could today's southern primaries do just that? that's next. sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need.

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8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health.

i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! a quick check at the big board. right now, dow industrials up 109 points. analysts attributing today's surge to strong retail sales last month and today's meeting with the fed, by the way, which is expected to keep interest rates near zero. good news. all right, voters going to the polls right now in alabama and mississippi, and the outcome could mean a number of things. maybe a candidate dropping out

of the race. and if that happens, okay, who would benefit? paul steinhauser is at a polling station in gardendale, alabama. beautiful gardendale. hello, paul. >> reporter: you sound like you've been here. you know gardendale. >> as a matter of fact, i do. howe's voter turnout so far? >> reporter: not bad, actually. we got here way before the polls opened, we were early birds, but at 7:00 a.m. local time, there were about 50 people lined up behind me. this is a civic center here in gardendale, about 50 people lined up to get those first votes and it's been a steady stream since then. take a look at this. this is from the alabama secretary of state's office. they're predicting turnout around 29%. that's pretty solid, but you can see four years ago, when you had both the democratic and the republican primary, a much higher turnout. but it has been a steady stream. and i guess that could help romney. i guess some of his supporters aren't as fevered and would, you know, have a higher turnout, may help mitt romney. the polls indicate it's all tied

up between romney, gingrich, and santorum not too far behind, kira. >> we'll keep tracking it throughout the day and into the ve evening. it's going to be a late night. thanks for watching. you can continue the conversation with me on twitter at kiracnn or on facebook. cnn newsroom continues with suzanne malveaux after a quick break. heir clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

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live from cnn headquarters in atlanta, where it is 12:00 noon, 9:00 a.m. on the west coast, i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to the get you up to speed for this tuesday, march 13th. defense secretary leon panetta says the soldier that allegedly opened fire on innocent civilians in afghanistan could get the death penalty if found guilty. the fallout has a lot of people wondering if the war in afghanistan is even still worth the fight. president obama, he is not changing course. here's what he said just moments ago. >> obviously, what happened this weekend was absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. but when you look at what hundreds of thousands of our military personnel have achieved, under enormous strain, you can't help but be proud generally. and i think it's important for us just to make sure that we are not in afghanistan longer than we need to be.

>> meanwhile, the taliban are expressing their outrage with grenades and gunfire. vowing revenge for the attack, threatening to behead americans. in syria, explosions are terrorizing the besieged city of homs. opposition activists are calling this a day of mourning. they say more than 9,000 people have been killed in government attacks over the past year. the u.n. puts the death toll lower at 8,000 plus. the candidates turned on the southern charm. now voters get to have their say in alabama and mississippi, where the primary elections, they are underway right now. the latest polls showing mitt romney with a slight edge over newt gingrich in mississippi. but gingrich still has a slim lead in alabama. rick santorum trails in both those polls. now, romney is trying to downplay expectations now, while gingrich and santorum are counting on conservative southern voters. here's president obama

reacting to the massacre in afghanistan. this took place in the rose garden just a moment ago. let's play that sound. >> we're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. the killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and it's unacceptable. it's not who we are as a country and it the does not represent our military. and for that reason, i've directed the pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. i can assure the american people and the afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us. and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law. >> but despite the efforts of the white house to the try to smooth the situation over, the actions of one rogue soldier threaten to put a whole war effort in jeopardy. that is the situation in afghanistan. sara sidner, she is joining us

from kabul. and sara, the afghans, understandably, are furious over this shooting. you have 16 people who are dead. what are the afghans telling you now? >> reporter: what we're hearing from some of the afghans is that they are furious. they are very angry. they are saying, down with obama, down with the u.s. services. down with nato. very upset. we saw some protests today in jalalabad, in eastern afghanistan, a far bit away from kandahar, which is in southern afghanistan, where this massacre took place. however, 400 to 500 people went out in the streets, many of them university students, and they were chanting all these kinds of slogans. they managed to shut down the important route between jalalabad and kabul for a bit. but then the road was reopened. however, there was no violence there. but there was violence in the very village where the this massacre took place, during a funeral. several high-level officials with the afghans had been in that village to try and show

their condolences, be there for the villagers who lost loved ones. and during one of the funerals, there were two rocket-propelled grenade attacks and some small arms fire that went off. people went ducking for cover. no one from the official delegation was hurt, which included one of president hamid karzai's brothers. but we do understand at this point in time that some afghan soldiers have been wounded, three of them in total, suzanne. >> do we know, are the afghans responding at all to the statements that are coming out of the united states? whether or not it's from the defense secretary or even president obama, who we heard from just moments ago, saying this is tragic, that this is an accident, that there are condolences that are being expressed. are the afghans hearing any of that? >> reporter: they're hearing it, but i'm not sure that they're responding to it and agreeing with it. i think they hear the condolences, but a lot of them are saying condolences and their

sadness is not enough. 16 of the afghan people are dead, including nine children and three women. hamid karzai has called this unforgivable. he's also said in a statement, talking about late-night raid. now, the nato forces have said this was the work of a lone soldier, working on his own. but you're hearing a lot of things from villagers and a lot of accusations that there were more soldiers involved, though. that has absolutely been put down by u.s. officials, saying it was only one person acting alone. but you are seeing the repercussions of all of this from afghan lawmakers, who are saying, we want this person tried right here on afghan soil, in front of the afghan people. a spokesman for the pentagon is saying that is not going to happen, that there's already an agreement in place and any u.s. service member accused in a case will be tried through military means. suzanne? >> all right. sara sidner, thank you very much. appreciate it. we're going to have more on this story in a few minutes. i'm going to talk to former diplomat jamie ruben about just how deep the impact of this attack would be on the war in

afghanistan. can newt gingrich revive the southern strategy? will rick santorum put another dent in gingrich's plan? and can mitt romney win over southern conservatives? it's primary day in alabama and mississippi. we are taking an in depth look at the republican race for president. and of course, as always, great to see you, wolf blitzer, my colleague here. tell us a little bit about what's at stake today. >> well, for newt gingrich, a lot is at stake. if he doesn't win at least one of these two southern states, his campaign will be in deep trouble. i think he himself acknowledges that as well as his campaign supporters. he's got to do really well. and from his perspective, you know, he did win south carolina, he did win georgia, if he can't win in alabama and mississippi, you know, people are going to wonder, can he go on. >> wolf, do you eat grits? >> no. i have -- >> there's been a lot of talk. >> i'll be honest, i have tasted them over the years, but i can't say i'm a major grit eater. >> there's a lot of talk about cheesy grits and cat fish, and this is coming from mitt romney.

>> i'm sure it's delicious. >> it is delicious. i grew up on grits. do you think it's working for romney? he's trying to turn on the southern charm. >> i don't think it's working. a lot of southerners are probably saying, why is he pretending to talk like that, y'all and stuff like that. but he's trying to be friendly and nice and trying to compliment the folks in the south. that comes from the territory of being a politician. but from my perspective, i don't think it necessarily works. >> and you're going to be talking to mitt romney live at -- >> we're not going to be talking about grits. >> much more substantiative things, i would hope. >> right. >> what do you want to focus on? >> i want to focus in on the most important issues facing the country right now, afghanistan, which is a critically important issue. i want to see where does he stand. is he still in favor all of this money that american taxpayers pretending every single week. i keep pointing out, it's $2 billion a week, $100 billion a year. if this timetable that the president of the united states has put forward, keeping most of the u.s. troops there through end of 2014, that's going to be at least another $300 billion

that american taxpayers are going to be spending. and the question is, will it make any difference if the u.s. forces get out now, in six months from now, or in three years from now, given the history of afghanistan, given what's going on. and i think that's a good subject to discuss with a man who wants to be the president of the united states. >> and that would really kind of get away from the horse race kind of talk that we've heard before. how does he perform? what does he need to do today? >> i would not be surprised -- i, personally, would not be surprised if romney actually manages to pull out a win in mississippi. alabama would be more difficult than mississippi, because i think santorum and gingrich are really going to split up that conservative evangelical christian social, you know, element that's out there. they'll both do well, but it might give an opening for romney to actually pick up a win in one of these two southern states. now, if romney were to win both, then both santorum and gingrich would have to ask themselves really serious questions. my suspicion is that it will go

on, until at least next tuesday, illinois, that's going to be an important state. and let's see how santorum and gingrich and romney fare up in illinois. i think ron paul is going to stick it out. he keeps on going and going and going. he's like the energizer bunny. he comes in third or fourth. he's right to educate the american public on domestic and international issues he's so passionate about, so he's going to keep on going. >> looking forward to your interview, 5:00 today, you're not discussing grits. we like that. >> but i'll discuss it with you. can you make grits? >> i can make grits. >> you've never prepared grits for me. >> i will bring in grits tomorrow. >> please! i would like to taste some. i'll be here tomorrow. >> i will too. we'll do it over grits. >> if we do it live on the show, at noon tomorrow. >> cheesy grits, though. you've got to have cheese. >> hmm. >> no, it's good. i promise you. they're telling me i've got to go. >> okay. here's a rundown of some of the stories we're covering

first. a teenager holding a bag of skittles gunned down by a neighborhood watch captain in florida. the community is outraged. and you may want to, yeah, drop the hamburger after hearing this. a new study says that eating just a little bit of red meat a day can increase your risk of premature death. and then i'm going to tell you what caused this passenger jet to skid off the runway in atlanta. is this what we're doing now?

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should change? should we expedite this and get out sooner? >> well, i don't think we should change our timetable because of the actions of a rogue soldier, who obviously wroub comm, you k committed an act of mass murder, for which he should be punished. that shouldn't, however, dictate american foreign policy. the president has stated for several years now that there's an important mission in afghanistan. that is to make sure that there's enough strength and enough security in the afghan government so that when americans leave and american forces leave, that osama bin laden's type, given that he's dead, and al qaeda and other extremists, including mullah omar, the leader of the taliban, do not regain control of the country. that's the national security mission here. that's been the mission of the united states for a decade now. unfortunately, the burning of the koran, this act of mass

murder by a rogue soldier, and many other things that have happened there have created a situation in which the public has lost support here at home, the length of time means the public has lost support here at home, and the afghans themselves are losing can confidence in the united states. that's a big problem. >> right. >> but i don't believe we should change our timetable because of the actions of a rogue soldier. >> at what point, jamie, does this war reach the point of diminishing returns? >> well, i don't think there is any single day in which you say, okay, we lost. now it's time to come home. i think what you have to do is weigh the costs of continuing military activities, of trying to secure some remnants of a safe afghanistan and see whether, and this is what's the tragedy, for a year now we've had increased forces there in afghanistan, designed to put the taliban and the extremists on the defensive, so that perhaps we can negotiate an outcome for

stability for the people of afghanistan. and that hasn't gone so well. but there are still signs that the taliban realize that we are not walking away completely from this country. that we are, even when our troops leave, we're going to be providing military support. and that's extremely important. if the taliban think we're picking up and leaving, then i can't imagine any negotiations succeeding. >> jamie, i want to play some sound here for our viewers. this was the president just moments ago from the white house. and we'll talk about it on the other end. >> i'm heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. the killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and it's unacceptable. it's not who we are as a country and it does not represent our military. and for that reason, i've directed the pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. >> jamie, i know that the united

states, as well as nato allies, have been involved in tu discussions with the taliban. is reconciliation with the taliban, is that still possible? >> well, i don't think reconciliation with the likes of mullah omar is likely for the government of afghanistan, certainly huge chunks of it, the so-called northern alliance, they're never going to reconcile with mullah omar. but if, indeed, there are signs, and there are such signs, that some taliban operatives and commanders do not want to fight indefinitely and can find a way to have some sort of national unity government, i don't think we should rule that out. and i think we should remember that the kind of mass murder that we saw happening over the last 48 hours in afghanistan committed by this rogue soldier is what the people of afghanistan faced, primarily from the taliban over the last several years. and if we leave that country in a situation of civil war because

we rushed to the exits, i think we're going to see on our tv screens some pretty horrible sights in the coming years. and people like you will be rightly asking the administration whether we rushed out too quickly. >> jamie rubin, thank you, jamie. appreciate it, as always. a florida family is desperate for answers and justice. their son, 17-year-old treyvon martin was shot and killed about two weeks ago. he was walking towards his father's home in a gated community, carrying a bag of skittles and iced tea. the neighborhood watch captain, george zimmerman, says he shot the teen in self-defense. but the martin family would like to see him arrested and charged. gayle pascal brown of our affiliate wesh has the story. >> i see that white man, can i stop and detain that white man, get in an argument, and shoot that white man to death? >> what do you think? >> i'm saying no! absolutely not! i would be in jail right now! >> reporter: residents have been

outraged by the killing of 17-year-old treyvon martin. during all-star weekend, treyvon martin was walking to his stepmother's home in sanford when the neighborhood watch captain, george zimmerman, called the non-emergency line and reported the teen as suspicious. the two apparently got into a confrontation, and before sanford police arrived, the teen was dead, shot 70 feet from his stepmother's home. >> i think that it's been 15 days since treyvon martin was killed, and i think that the family deserves answers. so it's not fair to keep everything secret. we're asking for the 911 tapes and the non-emergency record tapes. >> in this case, mr. zimmerman has made the statement of self-defense. until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don't have the grounds to arrest him. . >> reporter: do you think this was a racial issue? >> i don't know if the whole thing was a racial issue. it may have been a "zimmerman wants to be a hero" issue.

it became racial because zimmerman thought that black males with hoodies are criminals. >> reporter: george zimmerman told the police that he shot the victim in self-defense. the police chief says on at least one 911 call, you can hear the confrontation and the fatal gunshot. >> this is a tragedy. i hate it for the family, for the martin family, and for the city of sanford. >> what do you think should happen? should the neighborhood watch captain remain free? send us your thoughts at facebook.com/suzannecnn or on twitter @suzannemalveaux. so a strip club trying to be a good corporate citizen by donating money. well, wait until you hear who they tried to give it to. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories.

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all right. it's happening again. gas prices on the rise. according to aaa, the average now $3.81 a gallon. president obama's critics are putting the blame on him. here's what he had to say in an interview with our orlando affiliate, wftv. >> two-thirds of americans today said that they don't feel as though you're doing enough to control gas prices. it's huge for the florida economy. >> well, look, as long as gas prices are going up, people are going to feel like i'm not doing enough. and i understand that. because people get hurt when

they're going to the gas station and seeing those prices rise every day. >> your opponents say that they can get gas prices down in the $2, $2.50 range. what do you think americans should be okay with? >> well, first of all, nobody believes that. they know they're, you know, that's just politics. >> all right. alison kosik is joining us from the new york stock exchange. alison, i guess i think there are some people who do believe that the president can actually control gas prices. that's not necessarily true, though, however. >> it isn't necessarily true, suzanne. you know, no one can just wave a magic wand and impact gas prices, not even the president. if it was that easy, someone would have done it already. you know, policy actual fiscal policy can have an effect. but the thing with policy, there's a lot of red tape, there's a huge lag time. you wouldn't see the results happen for months, maybe even years. case in point, president obama passed higher fuel efficiency standards back in 2010. they're not going to be kicking

in until 2016. so you know what, it sounds great in a campaign speech, but the reality is is that there's really no easy fix to bringing down gas prices. and bringing down gas prices fast, to make consumers happy. >> what's the bottom line here, though? why are gas prices so high now? >> okay. so gas prices are high, suzanne, because oil prices are high. look what goes into the price of gas. 76% of that gas price is really driven by what the price of oil is. and oil is traded on the open market. it's impacted by everything going on in the world. and right now, the biggest driver that's driving up the price of oil are those tensions with iran over its nuclear capabilities. there's another factor in this. you know, the economy, here in the u.s., is recovering. it means the demand is rising. now, we do have a sufficient supply of oil to meet the demand, but a stronger economy and higher oil and gas prices, they tend to go hand in hand. and then, of course, i've got to mention the speculators here. i'm talking about the banks, the hedge funds, other investors who

bet on the price of oil and bet on the price of oil and gas. they're betting that prices are going to rise, and that, of course, drives prices higher. so there you go. it's going to drive prices higher, at least for the time being, suzanne. >> and how far are we from breaking record prices here? >> you know, we have been at higher levels. back in july, the average praise for gas, for a gallon of regular, was at $4.11 a gallon. so the silver lining in this, as we see these little incremental rises in the gas prices, day after day, is that analysts say you may wind up seeing prici in peaking soon and then stop going any higher, because gas prices are really strong right now. but it's really going to depend on what happens with iran. if iran keeps on stirring it up, that could continue to pressure oil to go higher. suzanne? >> all right. alison, thank you. battling for votes in the deep south. we're going to take a look at what's at stake for the candidates in today's primary matchups. we're talking about alabama and mississippi. i care about my car because...

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here's a rundown of some of the stories we're working on. first, is tonight do-or-die for newt gingrich? we're breaking down what you need to know about the southern primaries. and also, don't order that burger just yet. you've got to hear this. harvard researchers say a daily serving of red meat can shorten your life. and i want you to check this out. this is so cool. in 25 minutes, we're going to show you a little magic and science. what actually makes this broom stand up. we're going to show you. and the republican presidential race, taking on the southern accent today, voting underway in the alabama and mississippi primaries. joining us to talk about what's at stake for the candidates, cnn contributor, john avalon, senior political columnist for "newsweek" and the daily beast. hey, john, great to see you. it's going to be another fun night. let's talk about it a little bit here. you've got a week after romney describes alabama and mississippi as this away game, now you've got this three-man race, essentially, fiercely

contested. what is at stake for today? >> it's a fascinating three-man race, and it really is too close to call, which adds to the drama. mitt romney has moved up in the polls. but the big surprise is newt gingrich. a lot of people thought he was dead. he captured his home state of georgia, but he's continuing this theme of being the candidate who can most connect in the deep south. seems to be doing very well in the polls. but of course, there's rick santorum. he's had the evangelical community rally around his candidacy. so he can't be knocked out of contention. bottom line tonight, a fascinating fight for the delegates in the deep south. this is the core of conservative base. and one of the real challenges that mitt romney has had throughout his presidential quest is showing that he can connect with voters in the deep south. so this is a real test, 90 delegates at stake. >> and john, what do you think of the fact that santorum is now pushing this idea that mitt romney is not going to get the 1144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. he says these votes are going to

be split among the three candidates that are going up against him. so do you think we could see an open convention here, where nobody has the number? >> suzanne, this year is different. it's different for two reasons. super pacs and proportional delegates. and the way those two new innovations intersect changes the fundamental rules of getting the republican nomination. proportional delegates, meaning, it's no longer winner take all, as republicans have always done in the past. but as santorum pasts out, candidates split the votes according to their proportion of the popular vote. that's a significant factor in making it much more difficult to clinch the nomination, with 1144 delegates. the other piece is just as important. super pacs. in the past, candidates would be forced out of the race, effectively, because they ran out of cash. but now with super pacs, those campaigns can be sustained almost indefinitely. you add those two new dynamics together, and rick santorum's got a real point. it's not just whether mitt romney's in the poll position in terms of having the most delegates. he could very easily not be able

to reach that 1144 to clinch the nomination. and then it goes on to the convention, where it becomes a real protracted negotiation and something we haven't seen in american politics since 1952. could be fascinating. >> wow. for months and months, it could be fascinating. if it's an open convention, who do you think republicans would go for? >> well, look, i mean, mitt romney has the strongest case to make. in other roles, he would be the clear nominee. he's got the organization, he's had the money in the past, it seems like he's got an argument about being the most electable. but you can't buy love. and that's the most difficult thing he's had to do today, is win over those conservative activists into his corner. santorum has some of that enthusia enthusiasm. gingrich has the memory, the successful revolution. ron paul supporters are intense unlike any others. the real question will be is whether negotiations can be made to help romney solidify his lead, maybe using some of the party leader delegates and undeclared delegates or whether, and this is possible but certainly not likely, the party

ends up casting its votes with someone else. that gets way far ahead of where we can say at this moment. what we can say is that the romney camp's argument that they are in poll position, that no other candidate can beat them, exceed them in delegates, that may very well be true, but it's not the critical test. it's whether the other candidates sticking in the race and sticking together can deny romney the nomination. >> all right. john, good to see you. it's going to be a fun night. thanks. >> it is. >> cnn tonight, republican presidential hopefuls turning their attention to alabama and mississippi. our coverage of the primaries begins at 7:00 eastern with erin burnett followed by cnn's complete live coverage of the results at 8:00. join wolf blitzer, anderson cooper, and cnn political team. and there's talk in the south, what are they talking about? grits. how this food became a must-say vocabulary for presidential candidates. >> i'm learning to say "y'all." e has lots of discounts

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mitt romney's been criticized for being out of

touch with the so-called 99% and his critics are pointing to another comment he made, showcasing his wealth. he was asked on a sports radio show about what he thought when quarterback peyton manning was cut from the colts last week. well, first he said that he hoped that manning would not be picked up by rivals of his home team, the new england patriots, and then that's when he talked about his friends. >> i got a lot of good friends, the owner of the miami dolphins and the new york jets. both owners are friends of mine. >> last month, he made a similar comment. he said he didn't follow nascar closely, but he said that he had some great friends that are nascar team owners. presidential candidates were talking about eating grits and y'all ahead of today's southern primaries. jeanne moos reports. with 84 delegates up for grabs in alabama and mississippi, newt gingrich and mitt romney showing off their southern vocabulary. >> reporter: yankee candidates down south feel like they have to grit and bear it. >> i like grits. >> i understand grits.

>> what is a grit, anyways? >> reporter: grits are what some call the latest primaries after mitt romney fell into a steaming pot of grits. >> creamy, perfect grits. >> reporter: all governor romney is tried to joke around about grits. >> i'm learning to say y'all and i like grits, and strange things are happening to me. >> reporter: and if you think that's cheesy, it got cheesier. >> morning, y'all! good to be with you. i got started it right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits, i'll tell you. >> reporter: then newt gingrich started to stir the pot. >> unlike one of my competitors, i have had grits before. >> stir it continuously. >> as a georgian, i understand grits. i even understand cheese grits. i even understand shrimp and grits. how's that? >> caller: and once the grits were bubbling hot -- >> going to add a few dashes of hot sauce. >> if you don't understand grits, there's a pretty high

likelihood that you don't understand the rest of the south either. >> reporter: for those of us who don't understand grits, they basically consist of ground corn. >> i always like butter on mine or gravy. some time tomatoers. >> reporter: you say tomato, i say tomatoers. and if you've never tasted grits, the author of "gone with the grits" cookbook says -- >> you'll learn to love them. >> reporter: better learn fast before the southern primaries are over. cousin vinnie came south, and after only one serving of grits, he was able to use what he'd learned to cook his adversary on the witness stand. >> how could it take you five minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes? >> reporter: now newt is trying to trap mitt with his grittiness. >> with shrimp, with cheese, with gravy. i get it. >> reporter: and mitt, next time newt mocks you about grits, just tell him what flo the waitress told her boss in the tv show,

"alice." >> kiss my grits! >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. >> i got it started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits. delicious. it's about lunchtime. are you in the mood for a burger? hold on a sec. i'm about to tell you something that could change your mind.

if you eat even one serving of red meat a day, you're increasing your risk of an early death by as much as 20%.

that startling finding, it is the headline from a new study by harvard researchers. but you don't have to give up red meat all together. here's elizabeth cohen. >> suzanne, there have been a lot of studies on red meat and health, but this new one is particularly large, about 120,000 men and women. what the researchers at harvard did is they asked them, how often they ate red meat and how often they ate processed meat, and for about 25 years, they followed these folks to see who died during that time and who didn't. so before i tell you what the results are, let's take a look at what they mean by a serving of meat. this is a serving of red meat. that's right, that's a little piece of steak. it's just 3 ounces. that's counted as one serving with, and the serving of processed meat was the equivalent of two slices of bacon. let's see how these folks did. the study subjects who ate just one 3-ounce serving of red meat a day had a 13% increased risk of dying during the course of

the study. folks who had just one serving of the processed meat had a 20% increased risk of dying. so what's in red meat that might possibly make it not particularly healthy? doctors tell us it's the saturated fat, that that's the number one culprit. one 8-ounce steak has all the saturated fat that you're supposed to have in an entire day. you're getting it in one steak, and that's all the saturated fat you're supposed to have that day. plus in the processed foods, you have things like sodium and nitrites. people want to know, if i want to eat meat, how much can i eat? how much is healthy? there's no quick and easy answer for that, so we'll give you three answers. here's the first one. this is from dr. dean ornicsh. he says, is red meat bad for you? in a word, yes. and the american meat institute says red and processed meat continues to be a healthy part of a balanced diet. we want an opinion in the middle. we asked the doctor who wrote this new study. he says, you don't have to be a

vegetarian. that's not necessary to achieve optimal health. but he said, if you can replace any given serving with a serving of chicken or fish or nuts or beans or vegetable, you are going to be healthier. you will live a longer life. he says, that's the way to think about it. every time you can say no to red meat and yes to one of those other things, you will increase your life span. suzanne? >> thanks. checking the stories our affiliates are covering across the country. a delta airline boeing 737 ran off the runway at atlanta's heartfield jackson airport this morning. no passengers were on board, fortunately. mechanics were testing the engine when something happened to the plane's breaking system. no one was injured. remember this deadly pipeline explosion in san bruno, california? this happened a couple of years ago. killed eight people, destroyed dozens of homes. well, the city is getting $70 million in settlement money from the pacific gas and electric company. that's outside of separate lawsuits from victims' families. officials say a faulty pipe and

inaccurate oversight led to that blast. and little league baseball teams in need of money are offered an unlikely donation. $1,200 from a los angeles strip club, yeah. but the "los angeles times" reports that the league is not going to accept the money. the money would have helped keep about 300 kids on the field for another season. all right. so you might think our weather guy, chad myers, has too much time on his hands, trying to make a broom stand on its own. but the there's a reason behind all of this science and magic and cool stuff. it has to do with spraying and the planets lining up. we're going to show you. just stay with us and we'll show you how it's done and why. people with a machine.

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time now for the help desk, where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour, jack

otter. he's the executive editor of cbsmoneywatch.com, and the author of "worth it, not worth it," and stacy frances is a financial adviser and the president of frances financial. let's get to the first e-mail from gerald in north carolina. he's asking, i bought my house in 1996 for there are 141,000. i still owe about $106 on a 30-year fixed loan at 5.7%. i have about $70 nour,000 in a regular savings account. should i take that money and use it to pay down the home loan? >> i think his first step should be looking into refinancing. he could get a 15-year loan for less than 4%. he's been on this loan for so long, he's already paid a lot of interest, so he'll have to run the numbers on a financial calculator. but please, go to something like hsh.com, run the numbers. the question of paying it out of. you know, it depends. on the one hand, from a purely financial perspective, it's not

the best move. he's better off saving that money, maybe putting it into a 40 401k where he'll get a better return because of the cash advantages, or just sitting on it so he's got cash flow. in an emergency, the money's there and it's safe. >> let's go to another one from mike in maine. i have a roth i.r.a. and an online brokerage account for investing etfst. where should i park my different investment types such as bonds and etfs? >> that can really eat into your overall return. we put all of the tax-inefficient taxable bonds in our i.r.a.s, in all of our retirement plans. so that is actually saving you a lot of money in taxes. then we take any of those stocks that have a lot of capital appreciation that might be taxed at 15%, and we put it in that online brokerage, maybe a taxable account. because, again, remember, interest from a bond is taxed at your federal tax bracket.

guess what. the growth and long-term gains on a stock are taxed at 15%. so if you can, again, try and put that high interest in your retirement plan and then put your stocks in your taxable accounts. >> some great advice. thanks for coming in. if you have a question you want answered, send us an e-mail anytime to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com. spring officially starts next week. the planets lining up for the vernal equinox. and you know what it means? well, it's not just warmer weather, but also, it is a time when brooms can actually stand upright. i don't know how that works, but chad does. chad, you can explain what you've got over there going on. because this is really bizarre to me. >> this started on facebook and twitter a couple of weeks ago. people were standing brooms up all by themselves. nothing here, no strings attached. people were saying, it must be those stars, those planets that are out there. if you look out today, they're very close to each other. as the sun sets today, you'll

see jupiter and venus about that far apart. people are saying, that must be why these things are standing up by themselves. actually not. if you go buy a broom and stand it up on its own, all it is about balance. i made a line down here where the center of gravity is. now i'm not touching it anymore. there's the center of gravity of the broom right here, it's right over the bristles. and if you can make the bristles make a small little tripod down there, they'll stand up any day. not just today. and you know why the eggs stand up, typically, because that's the only time people try to stand eggs up. if you set the egg up long enough, the joke will coyolk wi to the bottom of the egg, and that will be your center of gravity. keeping a low center of gravity will make a fast race car and also make brooms -- >> you don't have magnetics or anything -- >> nothing up my sleeve. nothing up here, nothing up here. they just stand up all by themselves. it's not a hoax. it happens. but people are saying because the planets are lining up. no. it's -- you can do this. we'll come back in a month, it

will still work. >> you burst my bubble there. i thought it was all about the spring and the equinox. >> that's the tease i gave you. >> you had me! you had me there. thanks, chad. >> you're welcome. march madness, gop style. we are live in mississippi, where the candidates are duking it out for a win in today's primary. and more durable. you'd use edge-to-edge gorilla glass for a stunning display in a more compact form. and you'd choose an intel® core i7™ processor for maximum processing power. everything that you could ever want in a laptop. introducing the dell xps 13 ultrabook™ everything. and more. ♪

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captain shoots and kills an unarmed teenager. 17-year-old treyvon martin was shot to death last month, walking to his dad's house. the shooter, george zimmerman, claims he acted in self-defense. zimmerman has not been charged, which brings us to today's "talk back" question. what do you think should happen? jazmine says, "he needs to be in jail. the teen was carrying some snacks, not a weapon. this is very sad and my prayers go out to this young man's family." ben writes, "this is a difficult case. i think the tapes should be released so people can get a clear idea of what happened. it seems he was at fault and should be arrested as he had the gun and he confronted the teen. but those tapes need to be released." gary says, "deadly force is used when lesser means of force have failed. pepper spray, billy clubs, stun gun, and taser gun. that neighborhood watchman should be in the neighborhood jail." keep the conversation going online. we'll have more of your responses in the next hour.

top of the hour. i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed. from the deep south to the pacific, voters having their say. primaries underway in alabama, mississippi, and hawaii also holding its caucuses tonight. latest polls show mitt romney with a slight edge over newt gingrich in mississippi. but gingrich has a slim lead in alabama. romney is trying to downplay expectations, looking ahead to the next contest. he's campaigning in missouri. [ people shouting ] the afghan people are outraged. 16 civilians, mostly women and children, died this weekend when an american soldier allegedly went on a shooting rampage. well, now the taliban are vowing revenge, threatening to behead any americans they can get their hands on. president obama offered his