morning. tyrese, nice to have you join us. "newsroom" with carol costello starts right now. >> good morning to all of you. i'm carol costello. stories we're watching right now in the "newsroom." a tea party marine gets political on facebook and now he reportedly might be getting the boot. he's facing demotion after saying he would not follow presidential orders he thinks are unlawful. we're going to talk with him live in one minute. rare and amazing video of a helicopter crash in afghanistan. a look at whether the pilot was performing stunts. amazingl amazingly, the crew survived. a gun battle and tense 32-hour standoff with an al qaeda terrorist finally over. the suspect killed in a police raid just hours ago. this morning we're learning more about the man wanted in the killings of three french paratroopers and three students

at a jewish school. outrage and anger at the mayor of sanford, florida. a tense town hall and new calls for the police chief, bill lee, to step down. accusations that he mishandled the case by not charging the man who killed an unarmed florida teenager. and i'm very sorry about tyler. that's a quote. the former rutgers student, dharun ravi, opens up for the first time since his conviction. he tells a new jersey newspaper he was not bias and was not uncomfortable with his roommate being gay. new orleans this morning stunned after a bounty program sidelines their head coach for a full season. now they want to know who the snitch is. we begin this morning with tea party sergeant gary stein. this morning at least two california newspapers are reporting that the marine corps

is taking steps to boot him out of the service because his armed forces tea party facebook page violates defense department rules. i interviewed sergeant stein in the "newsroom" last week and was highly critical of president obama and said he would disobey a military order in the u.s. president decided to send troops to syria. >> if the president of the united states ordered military action in syria without first getting the approval and authorization from congress, that in fact would be an unlawful order. that's unconstitutional under article i of the constitution. >> could the military kick you out for not following orders? >> they can kick me out for not following lawful orders, yes, they could. i have never refused to follow a lawful order. >> sergeant gary stein is on the phone right now. good morning, sergeant. >> good morning. >> what have you heard from the marines? >> yesterday i was basically

pulled into a senior officer's office where i was read an order -- not an order. i was read a preliminary finding from my commander officer stating that he's going to move to have me discharged from the marine corps for violating article 134, which i made comments that were about the president of the united states and then violating d.o.d. directive 1344.1 which i have been running the armed forces tea party page for the last two years. >> were you surprised? >> yeah, i was surprised. i looked at these allegations and i see them but i'm not seeing in the law where it states these things. in article 134 under

court-martial manual it doesn't say the word president in article 134. i was surprised by that. and, you know, two years ago i went through the same investigation and the marine corps found that i was doing nothing wrong by running the armed forces tea party page and as long as i had a disclaimer on the page, there was no problem. now two years later they are telling me that i've violated a directive and even to go further than that, my unit has known about this since i've been here. i've been in my unit for eight months now. they've known since the day that i checked in. i let it be known this is who i am. this is what i do on my spare time. and so if this was -- if i had actually violated a directive why charge me two years later? why wait? >> let's go back to article 34. it says that you're accused of making statements about the president that are prejudicial

to good order and discipline. you said on this show a week ago that if the president ordered u.s. troops to syria and you determined yourself that that was an unlawful act against the constitution, you would not go. this means you are disobeying the commander in chief. >> disobeying an unlawful order. we found in case law people be tried for following orders that were unlawful. >> that may be the case, sergeant. but when you join the military, you have to obey orders for obvious reasons, don't you? >> very true but they have to be lawful orders. you can't tell a military member to -- are you telling me that my officer in charge of me can say, sergeant stein, go down to qe store and break in and steal the money. do i follow that order? no. what's going to happen? i'll get caught and i'll get tried for burglary, larceny and

i'm going to be in jail. don't tell me you have to follow every order. if an order is unlawful or illegal or unconstitutional, it is my right as an american and my duty as a service member to uphold and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> but you can understand, sergeant, why individual marines can't make their own determination on what's constitutional and what's not when you're fighting on the battlefield. >> i can't understand that. you're telling me that i swore an oath to defend the constitution but i don't have the right to interpret it? i am an american. that constitution is part of the founding documents of my country. just because i signed a document saying i'm going to join the military doesn't wave my right to interpret the constitution. >> don't you think that's why the marines are reviewing your case? because of your -- >> that's not why the marines

are reviewing my case. i personally feel and i think that all people that are in my corner think that they are reviewing this case as a pr thing. they have to make some kind of stand with this. they can't just let it go off. they can't just let it fizzle into the airwaves. they have to make some kind of stand and they have to make some kind of statement. that's what they're trying to do. the marine corps has every right to do what they want to do. it's going to be their job to prove that i did that and it's going to be my job to prove that i did not do that. >> sergeant gary stein, we'll keep following your case. thank you for being live with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> no problem. thank you. we don't everyooften see vi like this. helicopters spinning out of control at an outpost in afghanistan. you can see the apache helicopter flying low before it crashes lands in the snow. we'll see it in a second.

it's taking off. flying low and then you'll see it shortly hit the ground. and it spins out of control. listen. it was actually spinning and slipping toward a group of people but missed them remarkably no one on the ground or in the chopper was seriously hurt but we don't know how this happened or what the pilot was actually doing. coming up, our pentagon reporter chris lawrence will join us wit military. the standoff in toulouse is finally over. the suspect in a shooting rampage that left seven people dead including three jewish schoolchildren is dead. police storming the apartment of mohammad merah just after 30 hours. french officials saying he jumped out the window with guns blazing. zain verjee is in london with more. so this must be a relief.

this crisis of him being holed up in this house is finally over but the story certainly is not over for the french people. >> it isn't. you know, what's been the most fascinating just a few hours ago was that the interior minister shortly after we heard these massive bursts of gunfire and then it was reporting and confirmed that the gunman was dead, the minister basically gave us all this detail about two minutes that gunfire was going on and what had happened. basically french special forces, the elite force had gone in. they ripped open the door. they also went in through the windows. they had blown out of the shutters the night before. they had this very sophisticated video technology and so they used some stun grenades and some gas we're hearing also to try to paralyze the suspected shooter. and then they managed to locate him using technology inside the bathroom and at that point he just came out guns blazing. the chief of the special forces said he had never seen anything

that violent before and what we heard was that the shooter jumped out of the window, still firing his gun and hit the ground and he was pronounced dead. >> the shooter supposedly said he wanted to bring france to its knees. what do we know about him? >> he said he wanted to bring france to its knees. he regret the only thing that he didn't kill more people. he also said that if he was going to die, he was going to do it with weapons in his hand which is exactly what happened. we know that he's 23 years old. he's of algerian dissent. he said that he worked in conjunction with al qaeda. he had been trained by al qaeda. one of the things that's going to be focused on now, carol, is people are going to go through his cell phones. they're going to do forensic analysis on his computer and look around his apartment and see if he had any accomplices. this is critical. rad right now police think this guy operated alone. he was a lone wolf which raises

a lot of different questions and concerns for france, for europe and even here in london with the olympics coming up because it's much harder to thwart one guy who is conducting these terrible attacks than a cell of people who communicate with each other and information can be leaked. so that is what they're going to focus on now. >> zain verjee live in london for us. just a note for you, that video we just saw of the suspect has identified him as the terror suspect, mohammad merah. looks like the soldier accused of going on a rampage in afghanistan will be charged tomorrow. staff sergeant robert bales is in prison at ft. leavenworth. the military is expected to file charges on friday. bales allegedly shot and killed 16 afghans, many women and children. saints fans are outraged. we'll talk about suspensions after the break.

i'm walt gale, i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. [ male announcer ] aggressive new styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior.

♪ the new c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. [ zipper, heavy breathing ] ♪ [ male announcer ] linens and duvet washed fresh for every guest. real value. from your friends at hampton. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network.

[ female announcer ] new aveeno skin strengthening body cream helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. the killing of trayvon martin has parked a civil rights movement in the streets and online. protesters wore hoodies as they marched in new york demanding justice for the unarmed florida teenagers. 900,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the

arrest of martin's shooter, the block watch captain george zimmerman who is claiming self-defense under florida's stand your ground law. ref and al sharpton is headed to florida today. rally ten hours from now. right now focus of outrage is sanford's police chief. there are calls for his resignation. >> 3-2. >> amen. >> the sanford city commission voted 3-2 that it has no confidence in the police chief, bill lee. that vote came after the head of the naacp demanded lee's resignation. good morning, george. >> reporter: carol, good morning. we reached out to the police department to get some sort of reaction to that vote of no confidence and we're told at this point the police chief has no comment. the decision carries a great deal of weight in this community.

first of all, it is welcome news for many in this community who feel that there is a long history of tension between the black community and the police department. secondly, it's very important to the man who has the power to fire the police chief. in fact, there was a very interesting exchange between the city manager and the head of the naacp this morning on "starting point." take a listen. >> my comments consistently have been that i would like an independent review by law enforcement agency that will tell me did the city of sanford police do something they shouldn't have done or did they not do something they should have done. based upon that information i would make a determination as to the future of chief lee. >> mr. jealous, would you like to see the police chief fired? >> yeah. he needs to go right now. >> reporter: certainly we're going to have a lot of people here later today with this rally. a lot of focus on the police department and certainly a lot of focus on george zimmerman. we have a new picture of george zimmerman back in 2005 when he worked as a security guard at a

house party. zimmerman has not been seen since the shooting. he's gone into hiding but zimmerman says on that particular day he acted in self-defense. many in this community believe it was murder. >> george howell reporting live from sanford, florida, this morning. dharun ravi is speaking out about his webcam spying crile and h trial and his conviction. ravi tells the new jersey star ledger why he didn't take the plea deal saying "if i took the plea, i would have had to testify that i did what i did to intimidate tyler and that would be a lie. i won't ever get up and tell the world i hated tyler because he was gay or tell the world i was trying to hurt or intimidate him because it's not true." ravi also says he's sorry about clementi's suicide. who dat nation wants to find a snitch.

their head coach is sidelined for a full season. fans want to know who told.

ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! what were you looking for when you bought your edge? um, i was definitely looking for fuel economy. that's the whole reason we, we wanted to look at the ecoboost. can you talk a little bit about the style of the edge? um, well, i think it's very hip. i even have several guys were like "whoa, do have twenties on those". like, don't even know what that means, but i guess it's cool. (laugh)

>> i'm sure you've been talking about this a lot. nfl is bringing the hammer down on the new orleans saints. major suspensions, fines, draft picks lost, all punishment for the bounty programmed that rewarded players for knocking opponents out of the games and injuring them. ed lavandera has been working with our special investigative unit on this story. he joins us from new orleans. what have you found out, ed? >> reporter: we're working on the special for this weekend sunday at 8:00 called "bounty hunters kw erers " taking a clo into the nfl. the news of yesterday is rejeve ra reverber atting across the city. the main hit that everyone here is so angered about is that their head coach, sean payton, a beloved figure in this town is suspended for the entire season. the general manager of the team,

suspended for half the season, mickey loomis. the man at the center of this, a man by the name of gregg williams has been suspended indefinitely. that doesn't necessarily hurt the saints because gregg williams now coaches for the st. louis rams so it hurts that team. the commissioner says he'll figure out at the end of the season what to do with him. all of this is coming at a time where the city of new orleans had visions of watching their saints play in the super bowl, which will be hosted here next year. many people in this city had this dream being able to watch saints win the super bowl in their hometown game. that is now very much in question. question about whether or not the saints will be able to rally from this punishment. we talked to many people, former players who played for gregg williams and the overwhelming question that everybody gets and everybody who is close to the nfl seems to be getting is they don't understand why this is such a big deal in a sport that

is so violent and based on hard hits. we talked to "sports illustrated's" peter king about that. >> because the nfl players pride themselves on being such a fraternity and when we get together on sunday, boy, we go at each other's throats but we're all brothers. i don't know any other fraternity where somebody tries to knock out and break the leg of one of his brothers or do whatever to one of his brothers. it's just over the top. it's wrong. >> reporter: some of the former players we spoke to who played for gregg williams on other teams say this is not the kind of pay for performance programs that they were accustomed to. many players say what has gone on in the league for many, many years is this idea of players exchanging money and paying each other for fumbles, interceptions, big hits, tackles and that sort of thing. the consensus seems to be

whatever happened in orls wenews went to another level and there's no evidence that other teams across the league were guilty of a similar type of bounty program with their teams. >> you know what's going on now, don't you? new orleans wants to know who the snitch and who told on these guys for their bounty program. warren sapp accused jeremy shocky of being the snitch. he tweeted that he would be willing to take a lie detector test. the fraternity continues to be not so friendly. >> reporter: exactly. we had one former player who actually was a former quarterback of the saints. i asked about that. what will happen to these guys if we ever find out who kind of got the ball rolling on this nfl investigation? they better watch their backs. this is a situation that has angered and what has always gone on in the locker room has stayed in the locker room to borrow a

cliche there. this is something that is going to have deep repercussions for the team. interestingly enough, carol, there are still players who will be punished for their role in this bounty gate if you will. commissioner says he'll speak with players union to figure out what will be the best punishment but there is still likelihood of saints losing a few players for perhaps a good chunk of the season if not all of the season is very much up in the air. >> ed lavandera, thanks so much. in just about half hour we'll talk to a former saints quarterback. he has a lot to say about this and the mood in new orleans and it ain't pretty. the naacp demands arrest of the man who killed unarmed florida teenager trayvon martin but shooter george zimmerman has his defenders and you'll hear from one just ahead. carfirmation.

only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

>> okay. the opening bell just about to ring on wall street. hi, patricia. >> hi there, carol. we're getting ready for that opening bell but before we get to that, i think we're going to talk about student loans. is that what you want to talk about first? >> sure. let's do that. >> reporter: all right. student loans believe it or not we have a sobering number for you. $1 trillion. that's the number that we have hit. you might want to know how do we get to this $1 trillion milestone? in a word, the economy. a lot of people having trouble finding work so they are taking out loans to go to college hoping they'll have a better shot at finding that job when they graduate. two, you've got tuition going

up. opening bell there. tuition going up because state budgets have been crunched for cash. you'll see cuts in higher education. many people can't make the payments on those loans so their debt load is growing. when you think about it, carol, if you don't have a job, you're probably more worried about keeping your house, putting food on the table than putting off those student loans. it hit the $1 trillion mark coming from consumer financial protection bureau. >> unbelievable. let's talk about stocks. they fall in the past two days. any hope for a rebound today? >> well, our futures were lower but since we saw the bell let's take a look. the live numbers that i'm seeing right now, the dow is down about a half percent. nasdaq down a little over half a percent. s&p also down about half a percent. this is all because of investors' fears that global economy is slowing down specifically china and europe. we had data showing that manufacturing in both places

contracted this month. that is the widening effects of europe's debt crisis. >> patricia, live at the new york stock exchange, thank you. good morning to you again. i'm carol costello. stories we're watching right now in the "newsroom." a tea party marine gets political on facebook and now he reportedly might be getting the boot. he's facing demotion after saying he would not follow presidential orders he thinks are unlawful. i talked with sergeant gary stein a few minutes ago. >> i look at these allegations and i see them but i'm not seeing in the law where it states these things. in article 134 under court-martial manual, it doesn't say anything about the president. it doesn't even state the president word in article 134 in the court-martial manual. i was surprised by that.

>> rare and amazing video of an apache helicopter crash in afghanistan. the army looking into whether or not the pilot was performing stunts. amazingly the crew survived. a gun battle in intense 32-hour standoff with al qaeda terrorist over. the suspect killed in a police raid just hours ago and this morning we're learning more about the man wanted in the killings of three french paratroopers and three students at a jewish school. growing anger over the killing of an unarmed florida teenager. protesters wore hoodies for a march in hook. trayvon martin was wearing one when he was shot. the shooter george zimmerman, does have his defenders despite the anger over martin's killing. this exclusive picture shows zimmerman working security at a party. his family denies race played a part in the shooting. speaking to anderson cooper, a neighbor said zimmerman did keep their community safe.

>> you say he stopped a potential burglary at your house a couple weeks ago before the shooting? >> that is correct. >> and were you surprised that he was carrying a gun? were you aware he carried a gun? >> i was extremely shocked to the fact that he was carrying a gun, yes. >> what shocked you? how did it shock you? >> the lethal weapon. it wasn't george. as i said, he was a very congenial man. the use of a lethal weapon, a deadly lethal weapon as .9 millimeter that he used was shocking to me. it just didn't fit the person. >> zimmerman's defense has centered on florida's so-called stand your ground law. that law says a person who is doing nothing wrong has the right to defend themselves to prevent being seriously injured or killed. in other words, if you think someone is going to hurt you, if

you even think it, you can defend yourself with a gun. groups like the national rifle association want to see laws passed in all 50 states. roland martin is here with more. the state lawmaker who passed florida's law say zimmerman shouldn't be able to use their law as a defense. they say the law is being perverted in some way because of this case. >> it is being perverted. first and foremost, how was trayvon martin coming after george zimmerman? zimmerman is in an suv. he gets out of his vehicle. he goes up to trayvon martin. this makes no sense whatsoever. the nra should be shameful for what they are trying to do. you have seen justifiable homicide shoot up dramatically in florida. here's what i also want to know. where are law and order people prosecutors across the country do not like these laws because they say it makes it even more harder for them to prosecute

cases where someone guns someone else down. >> you say you agree the law is being misused but you are complaining about the nra wanting to pass it in all 50 states. >> absolutely. first and foremost, we should not be sitting here saying, hey, if you think somebody is going to hurt you, then you should shoot them? how do you know what somebody else is thinking? what? you're walking around paranoid and suspicious and i can tell you right now as an african-american man, if i'm wearing a sweatsuit, do i want someone saying, i don't know what that guy might do to him so let me pull my weapon out. it makes no sense. we have a vigilante society and that's last thing we need. more folks thinking somebody is going to hurt them so therefore whip my gun out and let me take them out. >> it's interesting that we haven't heard much from nra about this issue. >> the nra again, they want this pushed in 50 states.

if you want this pushed in 50 states, you're not going to jump in this conversation right now and say, george zimmerman, way to go. they'll use their lobby to push these laws. what i think needs to happen, we saw this with gena 6. a lot of people are upset right now. 500,000 signing these petitions. people should be able to mobilize themselves who are angry with this trayvon martin case and get involved in public policy to combat these kind of laws because that's the last thing we need. you don't want to handcuff prosecutors to sit here and say, man, we think this person was wrong for shooting someone but they're going to use this law as justification. we don't need these laws on the books. protect your home. protect your property. protect your family. but to be able to walk out in public anywhere else and shoot someone because you think they might harm you is problematic, carol. >> all right. we'll be discussing this issue much more over the days to come.

roland martin, thanks so much. former saints quarterback joins us to talk about the scandal and the snitches surrounding the current team. and movie goers working up a big appetite for "the hunger games." the ticket selling frenzy next. i want healthy skin for life.

[ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

the movie hasn't even opened yet and the "hunger games" already a huge hit. kareen wynter live in los angeles. are these the biggest advance ticket sales ever? >> carol, try historically big.

they are huge according to hollywood reporter, "hunger games" has already presold more than $15 million in tickets making it one of the top five presold movies ever. rounding out the list of the top five presold movies are "harry potter" and "twilight" film franchise. they are jumping out to holiday experts. frankly because this is seen as an ordinary weekend in march. it's not a holiday weekend. the thousands of people who are heading to the theater overnight for the first shows probably still have to be at work or school tomorrow but forget about tomorrow. it's about screenings tonight. industry experts anticipate "hunger games" will sell more than $20 million in overnight sales. huge numbers. it's really impressive how much hollywood films rake in once they are successful. >> good for the author who wrote the trilogy. you know what movies are based on. man, i admire her. >> mind-blowing. >> she's reclusive and doesn't

really talk to the media. we don't know much about her. we'll get into that tomorrow. >> it's about her books and reeling in fans and when you see it on the big screen you are really taken in by the whole story line. >> absolutely. let's talk about jeff foxworthy. he's going to host a different kind of game show. tell us. >> this is so unique. the origins of this new show was series we all know this show. are you smarter than a fifth grader which i did lousy at. jeff foxworthy is trying to bring some light to the bible. that's right. he's praying his new game show called "the american bible challenge" will be a huge hit. contestants compete on their knowledge of the bible. if you're up to speed this may be the game show for you. competitors don't get rich. it will go to a faith based organization. foxworthy says he's excited to

host a show about the bestselling book of all time. we'll see how that one does. >> i know ten commandments. i think i would probably lose the game. >> a lot of people would have to brush up on the bible. we'll see how this does. his other game show was a hit. >> we'll see. >> he may be onto something here. >> wikareen wynter, thank you. other showbiz headlines in the next hour of "cnn newsroom." lucky people live here. one person woke up to find police and a giant boulder at his door. that's coming up. he perfect lap, you'd use carbon fiber and machined aluminum, to make it more beautiful, 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. ♪

not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.

in today's health for her, maybe aspirin really is a wonder drug. it just got another boost. two new studies add to mounting evidence a daily dose of aspirin could cut cancer risk by 25% after just three years. a daily dose of aspirin is used by many people as a heart drug. experts caution the results haven't been fully confirmed and taking aspirin still runs the risk of causing stomach and bleeding. as always, see your doctor first. checking stories cross-country now. look at these pictures from louisiana. that's a car underneath that enormous tree. it suddenly collapsed on top of robert's honda. incredibly he not only survived, he's fine. >> it was down on top of me.

when i first seen the tree come down, i kind of thought it might be one of the smaller trees but the tree kept coming. >> by the way, he says he will be in church on sunday. in athens, ohio, another near disaster. we know it will take time to break up and remove this huge bowleder you're about to see. it slid off a hill on tuesday crushing two cars and rolling into a house and damaging it. again in spite of what you see, nobody was hurt. >> i sensed the pop and flash of light, which i think was the transformer going and thought we had some lightning. i'll wake up in the morning and figure out whether i've got power or not. i just went to bed. and then about 45 minutes later, the fire department was pounding on my door and the guy said, hey, do you realize that part of your hillside let go? >> there's a big boulder on the side of your house. that boulder measured 25 feet in diameter. in clintonville, wisconsin,

a theory but no solid answer to the booming noises and shaking that have plagued the town since sunday. they are likely caused by shifting layers of granite rock underground. the city has ruled you the everything else. we'll keep you posted. president obama heading for oklahoma city. actually for the state of oklahoma. and the town of cushing, oklahoma. during a visit to the keystone pipeline, he'll announce he's fast tracking part of that controversial pipeline. we'll take his speech live at 10:55 eastern.t hat about your w? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula visibly reduces wrinkles in one week. why wait if you don't have to. neutrogena®. water, we take our showers with it. we make our coffee with it. but we rarely tap its true potential and just let it be itself.

flowing freely into clean lakes, clear streams and along more fresh water coast line than any other state in the country. come realize water's true potential. dive in-to the waters of pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ 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. ♪

are touts his energy policies. can he convince american voters who are really feeling the pinch at the pump. i'll see you at the top of the hour. i'm chris lawrence at the pentagon. you're minutes away from seeing frankly incredible video of a helicopter going down. you may not even believe how the two military folks on board walked away from this crash. >> or what exactly they were doing. thanks to both of you. also the head of the ncaa will join us to talk about students athletes. should they get paid legally and should there be a football

playoff. we'll talk basketball with them, too. we'll be back. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk.

imax now showing on the big board.

i know. we've been talking a lot about the saints punishment for their bounty program. there's something else going on. what can it be? >> another big nfl story. where should tim tebow end up? where will he fit in, things go

smoothly? it's going to be a circus. tim tebow is going to new york. denver broncos completed a deal sending the qb to the jets. he became expendible after broncos signed peyton manning. check out the headlines in the "new york post." god him! >> please. >> the statue of liberty doing the tebow thing. so the jets didn't have to give up much, just a couple of low draft picks they sent to denver. have you to listen to the fans talking about now the jets having tim tebow. >> i am so excited. i love tebow and i love the jets so this is awesome. >> i think it's dumb. >> they are bringing a lot to the locker room by getting tebow and we have the power of jesus christ on our side. >> you're going to get some interesting responses. as long as he's in new york, you're going to get fans taking hard stands. >> if he's winning, they will love him.

if not -- >> you'll hear people say, i think it's dumb. you know what, really, again, one of the things no one talks about really when you talk about tim tebow on your team and wins and losses, there's also the money factor. they are already printing tim tebow jerseys like crazy because he's so popular across the country. see how jets fit tebow into their offensive team and how fast the fans say, you know what, i don't think we want mark sanchez to start anymore. let's see what tebow can do. that team was already nuts. it was already a three-ring circus. now tim tebow is there. all right. nba hoops. mavs and lakers last night. watch this one. pal gasol throws the ball up. kobe bryant catches it, the reverse layup. >> wow. >> it's incredible. kobe gets the free throw as well for three-pointer play. lakers one 109-93. mavs four-game winning streak over. march madness resumes tonight.

we're down to the sweet 16. syracuse plays wisconsin. ohio state. look at the in-state battle. marquette and florida. after tonight two teams -- four teams in regional finals battling for two of the final four spots. speaking of the sweet 16, watch every game life. attach the action only at ncaa.commarchmadness. more than 13,000 fans competing in the brackets right here on cnn.com. i know you're doing oh, so well. i told her go with missouri. i know you like the tigers. >> i'm last. i don't think i'm going to win. although i did choose ohio state to win it all. if they win it all, at least i have that to crow about. i'm sad about it, jeff. why did you mention it? >> always here to make you feel better. >> thanks so much. finally this hour bad timing for

two firefighters in minnesota. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: if you think fighting a car fire could be a drag, imagine fighting a car fire in drag. two burly firefighters in gowns, ted in the pink. >> did you realize you were fighting a fire in a dress? >> it kind of dawned on me when we were fighting it. >> when did it dawn on ben in the green gown. >> i remember looking over to my right and seeing people with cell phones up to their face. i thought oh, my gosh. >> the firefighters didn't have much choice. sedan, minnesota, fire department had a fluke in the st. patrick's day parade in a nearby town. the firefighters dressed up to promote a beauty pageant that they hold every year as a fund-raiser. when a pickup truck caught fire they leaped into action. even if it meant fighting not just the fire but falling straps

on ted's gown. as for ben -- >> you didn't seem to have any trouble with your straps. >> that's because i didn't have any. >> reporter: he wore a strapless access arrived with hose. >> he did a great job handling it in his pretty green dress. >> reporter: fire chief has a name for his men. >> i call them my girls now. >> reporter: they may look like rupaul of firefighters they managed to put out the blaze in minutes. the chief points out though they lack normal protective gear the firefighters played it safe and stayed focus. >> these guys could stand out there in underwear and wouldn't care. they are that way. >> reporter: though some angles were less than flattering, still, you looked very pretty. you're the prettiest fireman i ever saw. one burning question remains. gentlemen, who were you wearing? >> i'm pretty sure they got 'em from jcpenney. >> now, that's hot.

jeanne moos cnn, new york. and good morning to you. i'm carol costello. just ahead in the newsroom the president will give a speech later this hour saying he's going to speed up the permit for the controversial pipeline project. he's on an energy tour. rising gas prices are forcing the president to support a project he first lobbied against. rare and amazing video of an apache hbt crash in afghanistan. now looking into whether the pilot was performing stunts. amazingly enough the crew survived. speaking out for the first time since he's trial dharun ravi convicted of spying on his roommate with a web cam. he apologizes but does not regret turning down a plea deal. we'll tell you why just ahead.

we begin in oklahoma. president obama now in curbing, oklahoma, home to part of the keystone pipeline. the president is using that controversial project to push his energy policy and to show he really does care about the rising price of gas. brianna keilar, our white house korntd is in cu correspondent is in kurk. brianna, is oklahoma happy to see the president. >> reporter: you know of all the places president obama is visiting on the energy tour, oklahoma is the least friendly politically. solidly red state. state lawmakers have criticized president obama's energy policies which he is coming here to tout and trying to describe as an all of the above approach, a combination of renewable energy and oil and gas. and the oklahoman, the largest paper in oklahoma has called this trip of his disingenuous. frankly the president isn't here to win over voters in oklahoma. he's here for the visual.

this is cushing. a major oil deposit ory in the u.s., a transport to the gulf. he will be announcing today that his administration is doing everything it can to expedite that southern part of the keystone xl pipeline which would go from cukushing down to the gulf. the federal government has very little involvement compared to the northern part his administration rejected the initial proposal for. >> he's fasttracking permits for southern portion of the pipeline, a part of the pipeline he's always supported. exactly what does he want that to say to voters? >> reporter: you know, i spoke with one energy analyst who said one of the ways you can read it is that when he's talking about

expediting this part of the pipeline, it almost translates to i'm not standing in the way of it. that's really the message that can be taken away because he's facing so much republican criticism over the northern part of the pipeline that would have brought oil down from the oil sands of canada, something that environmentalists were very much opposed to because of the carbon footprint. really it's just sort of his message to rebut republican criticism that he's actively standing in the way of oil and gas production. the truth is when it comes to what the federal government can do in terms of expediting a project like this, it's pretty negligible. >> brianna keilar live in oklahoma. more for us later on the day on cnn. keep it here on "cnn newsroom." president's speech for 10:55 eastern. of course it will come from cushing and cnn will cover it live. civil rights leader al sharpton on the way to florida with an unarmed teenager was killed by a block watch captain.

he will lead a rally calling for justice. anger over the killing has spread far from florida. in new york protesters took part in a million hoodie march. martin was wearing a hoodie at the time he was killed by george zimmerman. he remains free, zimmerman i'm talking about, claiming self-defense. that doesn't wash with many people in sanford. last night the city commission voted they had no confidence in bill lee, who was sanford's police chief. >> three-two. [ applause ] >> you heard that three-two no confidence vote. cnn was at the meeting. he joins me from sanford. it seems the community meeting -- doesn't seem the community meeting was pretty darn rowdy. >> there were a lot of people, many people sharing personal stories about tensions they say exist between the police department and the black

community here in sanford. that vote of no confidence was welcome news to them. the vote does another thing, very important for the city manager, the person who has the power to fire the police chief. in fact, you get a sense of the pressure the city manager is under in this interview, exchange between the naacp president. you hear it here. take a listen. >> my comments consistently have been that i'd like an independent review by law enforcement agency that will tell me the city of sanford police do something they shouldn't have done or did they not do something they should have done. based on that information i would make a determination as to the future of chief lee. >> would you like to see the police chief fired? >> he needs to go right now. >> so there is a great deal of pressure on the police department, certainly the city manager and obviously george zimmerman who has not been seen since the shooting. we did find a picture of zimmerman taken in 2005. this is when he worked as a

security guard at a house party. again, zimmerman has not been seen but says he acted in self-defense. many in this community believe it was murder. carol. >> george reporting for us live in sanford, florida. as george said we haven't heard a lot about the shooter, george zimmerman. the block watch captain was dedicated to protecting his neighborhood. he has his defenders. we've only seen a mug shut but we have a picture of him working security at a party. that's him in a white shirt. frank taffy lives in the neighborhood where the shooting went down. he says zimmerman kept him safe. >> you say he actually stopped a potential burglary at your house a couple of weeks ago before the shooting? >> that is correct. >> were you surprised that he was carrying a gun? were you aware he would carry a gun? >> i was extremely shocked to the fact he was caring a gun. yes. >> what shocked you?

how did it shock you? >> the lethal weapon. it wasn't george. as i said, he was a very congenial, amiable man. the use of a lethal weapon, a deadly lethal weapon, .9 millimeter didn't fit the person. >> the family said race had nothing to do with the shooting and he shot martin in self-defense. we don't often see video like this, a military helicopter out of control at a remote outpost in afghanistan. this video is in insane. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> you can see the apache helicopter flying low before it crash lands in the snow. shortly you can see it spinning

out of control. there it goes. it was spinning toward a group of people. amazingly enough it didn't hit them. no one was hurt. how did it happen? what was the pilot doing? our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence has been studying these pictures. what can you tell us, chris? >> reporter: carol, i just spoke with a defense official who gave me a little background on what they were doing. the big question, that's still out there. he says basically what happened was this is a pretty remote area. it's in the southeastern part of afghanistan. they had air dropped some supplies down to some of the troops on the ground. so a patrol went out there to pick up some of the air dropped supplies. there were two of these apache helicopters out sort of doing an overflight. in other words, keeping a lookout for any insurgent activity while the patrol was on the ground picking up their supplies. this one helicopter, as you just saw, almost clips that building before sort of pulling up, hits

the snow. the rotors and momentum sent it skidding across the snow. you can see people running after it hits. then it pops up in the air, spins wildly and back down. the investigation going on i'm told is looking at whether there was any error by the pilot, whether they were doing something they weren't supposed to or if something went wrong with the actual apache itself. carol. >> i was going to ask you. there are reports out there that the pilot was hot dogging it. >> yeah. in other words, flying too low, dangerous, risky, low altitude maneuvers there. you can see it's a very icy area. this was back in early february. a lot of snow on the ground. that is one of the things that the investigation is looking at, what the pilots were doing. were they following protocol? they are looking at everything as it pertains to this

particular crash. >> chris lawrence live at the pentagon. thanks. tea party sergeant responding to the marine corps. marine corps taking steps to boot him out of the service. military officials taking the action because stein's armed forces tea party facebook page violates pentagon rules. he's accused of making statements about the president prejudicial to good order and discipline. i asked sergeant stein about the controversy in the last hour of newsroom. when you join the military you have to obey orders for obvious reasons, don't you? >> that is very true. you cannot tell a military member -- are you telling me that my officer in charge of me can say, hey, starnergeant steio down to the convenience store and break in. do i follow that order? no i'm going to be tried for

larceny and go to jail. if an order is unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, it is my right as an american and duty as a serviceman to uphold and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> you can understand, sergeant -- you can understand, sergeant, why individual marines can't make their own determination on what's constitutional and what's not when you're fighting on the battlefield. >> no, i can't understand that. so you're telling me i swore an oath to defend but i don't have the right to interpret it? i mean, i'm an american. that constitution is part of the founding documents of my country. just because i signed a document saying that i'm going to join the military doesn't wave my right to interpret the constitution. >> as i said, the military is thinking about booting sergeant stein out of the military. we'll keep you posted. the suspect in a shooting

rampage that left seven people dead including three jewish school children is dead. police stormed the apartment of mohammed merah after 30 years. he opened fire on police. french officials say he jumped out of the window with a gun still in his hand. here are some pictures from near the apartment as that raid took place. france, too, has identified the man in this video. you'll see it. there he is. as the suspect mohammed merah. our diana is in toulouse. the standoff is over but so many questions remain. >> reporter: so many questions, but we're building up a psychological profile of this man, a ruthless killer. those gunshots you heard, they sound as if they are coming from some kind of automatic weapon. in fact, that was just the speed

he was firing. the guy who led this raid said he's a specialist on this kind of thing, he's never seen anything so violent as the way mohammed merah was when he came out of the bathroom shooting at policeman and out on the balcony. apparently he was shot by a shot to the head by police in the end. we had a lot of detail really. he spent a lot of time discussing with negotiators. many, many hours. basically not asking them for anything. sorry about the noise. this the way it's been for the last 30 hours. not really asking them for much but just using his opportunity to talk about his convictions, tell them the kind of weapons he'd amassed, about his time, training in al qaeda, wazirstan, pakistan, why he did what he did to avenge the death of palestinian children, for example. then he pointed them in the direction of a camera where

investigators found he actually filmed every one of the three crimes he did, running up, gunning down paratroopers, calling out, some sick videos they had to pull through. >> live in toulouse france. the former rutgers student convicted of spying on his roommate apologizes as dharun ravi tells his side of the story in a revealing interview. more on this ahead. we'll actually talk to the reporter who interviewed ravi. nfl said packers quarterback aaron rodgers was just one of the high-profile targets in the saints bounty program. we'll talk about the severe punishment the league has now handed down. that's coming your way next. cannot be contained. [ clang ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer.

two. three. one. two. and, three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn more cash back for the things you buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% cash back on groceries. 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. it's as easy as one.

-two. -three. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

the nfl has come down hard on the new orleans saint for their bounty program. head coach saep peyton has been suspended one year without pay, that's a hit of $7.5 million. quarterback drew brees reacted on twitter. this is his tweet. he said i am speechless. sean payton is a great man, coach and mentor. the best there is. i need to hear an explanation for this punishment. commissioner roger goodell provided one to the nfl network. >> i don't think you can be too hard on people that put at risk our players' health and safety. that is a critical issue for us going forward and has been in our past. we will always protect that. we will always make the decisions best for the game long-term and our players. >> bobby adar played quarterback with the saints, he now co-hosts a talk show on wll radio in new

orleans. bobby, welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> we appreciate your being here. do you think the punishments were too severe? >> well, i think it's so severe because it all goes back to not addressing it from the get go when the commission erika to the sports organization. really, if you look at the nfl and the way it's structured with commissioner goodell, if you are confronted with a problem you have to deal with it. you can't sweep it under the rug, lie to the commissioner. it's similar why the nfl came down so harsh on the saints, what happened with michael vick. it's almost like you growing up, you have that father figure, dad in my life, you might do something i don't like or i'm wrong but if i confront you, you better tell me the truth. i think that was the problem with the saints organization. i think from the get go, if they would have addressed it, this probably would have been taken care of behind the scenes.

the ongoing process going back to 2009 when the saints won the super bowl, that's why it had to come forth in the public to nip it in the bud. the commissioner to say as far as always being concerned with players safety, that's as of late in the potential lawsuits and what's going to come about kind of looking into the the future. the commissioner taking the approach it's about player safety. he has to take that approach because of the potential lawsuits and liability of that. that's where all that comes from. >> you're saying it was more the cover-up that angered the nfl, not so much the bounty program? >> that's what i think as far as the stiff penalty with sean payton. we all thought realistically he was going to be probably four games, maybe eight games a season of that's a real fine. sean payton has basically paid

between 7, $8 million. you look at players with big hits get fined $50,000. you're making millions, how significant is that? when you're talking about taking away a man's living for a year, 7, $8 million that speaks volumes. where does that place the fans, who dat nation fan base, where does that leave us? growing up, you're a fan of the rolling stones, you don't mind to pay $100 to go see milk jagger perform on the rolling stones. all of a sudden he's not available. i want a refund. what about the saints fans going forward next year. we're hosting the super bowl. everyone thinks we're as good as it gets to go to the super bowl, now one hand tied behind their back. >> let me ask you something e e else. some players are upset, some are really upset about who snitched. warren sapp responded to a

twitter follower who asked who was the snitch. >> sapp tweeted just heard who the snitch was jeremy shockey. as you know he tweeted back and said how about i take a lie detector test on espn. there's all this ugliness going on in the world of football, too. how much damage has this done? >> a lot of people might take the approach the troops out, is there any wrong exposing something that's not right. all i know in a locker room, you hear the commercial what happens in vegas stays in vegas. basically as far as players are speaking, what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room. all i know is whoever that snitch is, you do not want to be a snitch. the players will look upon that like you got to be kidding me. they would view that person as sellout. like i say, i don't know warren sapp's sources but a lot of

players do trust an individual like warren sapp. they both went to the university of miami. i don't know if he has a beef to pick with shockey. for him to say that. he said he trusts his sources. at times shockey has not always been the most upstanding citizen as far as how he's been in the locker room. he was outstanding in the saints locker room. i don't know if he was bitter when they got rid of him. i know the players look upon that -- >> we can only speculate. thank you so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> still to come on newsroom, the trayvon martin story and 1.6 seconds with the 911 case that leaves some saying race has everything to do with the shooting. coping a plea. dharun refuses to do it and faces prison time for spying on his roommate via web com. he explains this decision in his first interview since the trial. regenerist wrinkle revolution, it's possible to reduce the look of wrinkles

in just 10 minutes. now you've seen it. experience it for yourself. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist. now you've seen it. experience it for yourself. there's another way litter box dust:e purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan was designed with near-perfect weight balance from front to back...

and back to front. ♪ giving you exceptional control from left to right... and right to left. ♪ the cadillac cts. ♪ we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs.

the killing of an unarmed florida teenager. trayvon martin shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain

named george zimmerman. no charges filed and zimmerman claimed self-defense. federal charges depend on whether investigators think this is a hate crime. the family denies race played any part. those mourning martin are denying that. they point to 1.6 seconds on the 911 call where zimmerman is heard muttering a phrase. studied the tape with a cnn sound engineer. we must warn you the phrase in question is played several times and may be offensive. >> edit room 31 at cnn center in atlanta. this is one of the most sophisticated audio edit suites in the broadcast news business. here is one of the best audio experts in the business. rick, if you can, i haven't listened to this portion of the 911 tape at all. i want to hear it raw, if you can play 10 seconds before and listen. >> which entrance is that he's heading towards. >> the back entrance.

>> you may not have heard the moment in question because it was so quick. >> how long does that portion last that everyone is talking about? a second, 18 frames. >> that's about 1.6 seconds. >> correct. >> let's listen to it ten times in a row if we can. what we're listening for is racial slur followed by the f word. some say they hear it, others say they don't. >> it's certainly a lot clearer when we listen to it this way. >> correct. is there anything else we can do to the audio to make it clearer. >> i did boosting at 2.2 kill hertz and 4.t2. >> what he's done is get rid of the base. why do you want to get rid of the low end, the base. >> minimize the joys.

>> that takes away the noise and allows us to hear the voice more correctly. >> that's correct. i'll boost it up a little more there. we'll give it a shot here. [ inaudible ] >> that does sound clearer to me. sounds like this allegation would be accurate but i wouldn't swear to it in court. that's what it sounds like to me. >> very difficult to really pinpoint what he's saying. >> rick, can we just play that second word, what we think the second word is and see if it sounds any different. [ inaudible ] >> it certainly sounds like that word to me but you can't be sure. sounds more like the word using it with the f word before that. >> that's correct. >> only george zimmerman knows if he used the slur but he's not talking. so the phone call, like so much of his case, remains a mystery.

gary tuchman, cnn, atlanta. how do you go through 3,000 sweater vests in a month? rick santorum's campaign did. we'll talk about why with our political buzz panel next. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. so skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] from neutrogena® naturals. and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. and don't get heartburn in the first place! homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief i have an opportunity

to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at

closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ [ sizzling ] ♪ [ male announcer ] free hot breakfast. with fresh waffles. real value. from your friends at hampton.

political buzz is here rapid-fire, look at the best political fire of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. robert zimmerman, patricia murphy, editor of citizen jane politics and contributor to the daily bice and cnn contributor will kane. welcome to all of you. >> good morning. >> first question, president goes on a four-state tour to promote his energy policy and how it will create jobs. newt gingrich goes on the attack. listen. >> he went to nevada to a site in which five people -- five have fulltime employment for an average cost of $10,800,000 a

job, a solar power site, absurdity economically, has nothing to do with the price of gasoline, which is the number one concern of the american people. >> okay. so is newt gingrich right? is green technology practically creating jobs? robert. >> newt gingrich is not only wrong on facts he's wrong on principle and policy. this site he's making reference to has produced several hundred jobs according to the labor statistic and providing power for 17,000 homs. so successful they are developing another one in the region. i only wish newt gingrich could show the same passion and focus when it goes to taking on subsidies from gas companies making record profits at our expense. >> will. >> it's not the right question, is green energy good at creating jobs. you could theoretically put people to work doing anything, digging ditches, the question whether you have real

sustainable, economically viable jobs. the jury is out on green energy investment for that question. issues like solyndra, cases like solyndra only add to that analysis. the worry is we could be at worst funding the modern day equivalent of the jet pack or at best really, really insufficient sustainable jobs. >> newt gingrich is not right. nevada has more geothermal. i think more than five people work at those plants. i certainly hope they do. i do agree with -- i don't think there's conclusive evidence the green jobs are sustainable but has a lot to do with american consumers. until that energy, wind, solar, geothermal, all that is plentiful and less expensive, americans just aren't going to use it. until there's a major change at every level, federal, state, local, people aren't going to use it. until they do, it's not a sustainable place to put jobs. >> okay. second question. an anti-abortion advocate uses

space in the idaho state legislature to give an ultrasound demonstration on a living, breathing pregnant woman to show ultrasounds are not intrusive and should be required before women get an abortion. ultrasounds at the state house, what's next? patricia? >> i think it's a really bad showing for republicans in november unless there are also ultrasounds on men's reproductive parts and the idaho legislature. this is totally mind boggling, what women are so concerned about. independent moderate women, this is nothing that belongs in politics. it doesn't belong in the state house. it belongs in your doctor's office. guess what, an ultrasound is invasive. anybody who has had one knows it. there's no place for politics. republicans are digging their own grave if they were talking about the economy not talking about this they would have a much better chance in november. >> will. >> well, as to the state house aspect of this question, the showmanship of politics here, let's not forget that a year ago the people of wisconsin filled up the state house there to put

forward a political mental. this lady is using the state house to put her own political message forward. i don't know if it's that odd. the particular message, substance, i've said this on your show before. i am pro-life but i don't think the response to ending abortions in the united states is to put other mandates on free citizens. so i don't particularly like her remedy, her message, but other people have used this as their forum. >> robert. >> this story really speaks to the hypocrisy and deceit of the right wing in america today. they are all against -- they are all for big government when it comes to coming into our bedrooms or on the battlefield. the only time against big government is when it comes to big business. state senator linda turner from ohio is my choice for legislator of the year. she put legislation up that will hold men up to higher standard to receive viagra. they will answer public questions whether they are qualified, go through psychological examination and

have to fill out public disclosure information about whether they are really qualified and eligible to receive it. >> enough said. your buzzer beater 20 seconds each. third question. here is rick santorum in his signature sweater vest. his campaign ordered 3,000 vests for campaign contributors. what would you like to see other candidates give out as swag? will? >> just a consistent principled message is that good enough? is that sanctimonious enough for you? >> that's all you've got? >> i've chosen the path of sa t sanctimony. >> his favorite plush animal, everybody loves that. people will settle for a much better economy. >> robert. >> in fairness to the right wing, newt gingrich is working

with rick santorum on the sweaters vest working with child labors. >> what was fairness? >> they are working together. ultimately mitt romney should be giving out pink slips in addition to flip flops. ron paul's crowd seems so cranky they should be giving out metamucil, maybe put them in a better mood, make them feel better. >> i'm glad you remained sanctimonious. >> and fair by robert's. really fair. >> thanks. coping a plea dharun ravi refused to do it, now he faces prison time for spying on his roommate via web cam. he explains his decision in the first interview since his trial. we'll talk about that. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property."

and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

for the first time former rutgers student dharun ravi is speaking out about his web cam spying trial and quibs. he faces 10 years in prison for spying on his roommate having a sexual encounter with another man. he tells new jersey star ledger why he didn't take a plea deal saying, quote, if i took the plea, i would have had to testify that what i did was to intimidate tyler and that will be a lie. i won't get up and tell the word i hated tyler because he was gay or tell the world i was trying to hurt or intimidate him because it wasn't true. joining us, mark di donno. you did the interview, thanks for being here this morning. >> good morning, carol. thank you for having me. >> what was your impression while you were interviewing him? >> i thought he was a very

thoughtful and intelligent young man. i think he has been worn down obviously by this ordeal. he struck me as sincere. he answered some questions with blunt honesty. at one point i asked him about the second night where he was setting up the web cam, what were you thinking, he said, i wasn't. he said my ego basically -- my ego got the better of me. i thought it was funny. he admitted to wanting to be the center of attention with his friends. so i do think that he was sincere. >> what struck me reading your article he doesn't regret not taking the plea deal. that plea deal did not involve any jail time. now he could go to jail for 10 years. >> i think -- his father first told me last week about the family decision not to accept

the bias intimidation plea under any circumstances. they would have pled guilty. according to his attorney he would have pled guilty to invasion of privacy. he might have pled guilty to invasion of privacy. middlesex prosecutor's office was firm he accept the bias intimidation charge as part of the plea. the family was just vehemently opposed to that. and in the conversation i had with dharun yesterday, he basically said it would have been a lie to go up and admit i did what i did out of bias or against tyler. i didn't feel that way. i didn't do it because i was biased. i did it because i was -- it was a prank. i was being an idiot. idiot was my word, by the way, not his. >> seeing pictures from your newspaper. i assume that's ravi's father sitting beside him on the couch, right? >> yes. >> who was that?

>> yes, the family was there for the interview as was his attorney. honestly, dharun did all of the talking and steve altman only interrupted about once or twice. i don't remember exactly at what point they were on. it was very minor. >> gotcha. i want to talk about clementi's suicide and what ravi had to say about that, if he felt he had any part in causing the suicide. >> you know, he was very careful to say he was very sorry for the suicide and that he regretted tyler committed suicide. but i don't believe that he thinks that what he did led to it directly in any way, in any way, shape, or form. he doesn't believe that -- he doesn't believe that tyler was

that fragile. this was part of the interview that didn't make the paper. basically for space reasons. tyler was being unfairly portrayed in the media as being very fragile and committing suicide over this -- at the time tyler committed suicide, he was very well aware of what had happened. it had -- the image had gone from one computer to another computer for a short amount of time and only a handful of people had seen it. the idea that this was broadcast over the internet and went viral and the shame of it drove this kid to jump off the bridge was not true. i think i know that dharun is pretty firm in his belief that he did not drive tyler clementi to suicide. >> star ledger columnist mark di donno, thanks for joining us.

i'm sure everyone can read the article online. the head of the ncaa is getting ready to join us. we'll ask if the men's basketball tournament should be expanded. hi there. of course we'll talk about march madness, too. i'm good. we'll get to you in a second. we'll be right back. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, 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, and women who are, or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep, and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com

and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. what are you waiting for? whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. college basketball fans are excited about march madness. ncaa wants us to remember who the heroes are. they are honoring service

members and families at championship games. president of ncaa joins us from indianapolis. >> good morning. >> tell us how ncaa is honoring military families? >> wve joined forces with white house and u.s. military more broadly around a program called joining forces, a program intended to send honor and dignity to our armed forces an also recognize the sacrifices their families make while all of the men and women in service are abroad. the program has been extremely well received. our audiences love it. it's off to a great start by combining those two things with the ncaa. >> do you broadcast the games to the battle fields? do you get free tickets to military families? >> well, we do do those things. we also make sure for all of the audiences at each of our venues in the men's and women's tournaments we tell them about

the services going on and being made available to these families of our servicemen. we have recognition of armed forces in the arena. we have them stand up and be recognized. we thank our men and women in uniform. it's been extremely received. everybody loves to have a chance to thank you and support the families that are there. we use military veterans and people in uniform for our national anthem salutes. we're generally using the power of sport just to recognize all the people out there serving us and give everybody a chance to applaud them. >> i've been at games where that happened of it's a great feature. >> great moment. >> it is a great moment. let's talk about a not so great moment for a second. ncaa tournament, such a popular event. i want to ask about a blemish at one game where a derogatory

comment by a southern miss fan, some members had their scholarship revoked. is that punishment enough? >> i'm very pleased at how the university responded. i thought they were quick and decisive. when the tournament is all over, we'll go back and look at the incident and see whether or not any further action needs to be taken. but right now i was quite pleased at the university. i thought they handled it quite well. we all hate those kinds of things in the middle of what is one of the iconic athletic events. it was very unfortunate. >> it was on national television which made it maybe 10,000 times worse. >> well, that's right. that's just completely inappropriate behavior. there's no place for that kind of activity in college sports. mr. emmett, thank you for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. the ncaa sweet 16 gets under way today. watch every game live on tbs and cbs. if you're away from the

television no worries catch action only at ncaa.com/marchmadness. more than 13,000 are competing in the bracket challenge. check out this link to see where you are on the leaderboard, cnn.com/brackets. we're minutes away from the president's speech in cushing, oklahoma where the southern portion of the keystone pipeline begins. stay tuned. we have live pictures now. see those big pipes? the president will soon be near them. we'll bring you remarks live. scheduled for 10:55 eastern. today, we stand against the tyranny of meager travel cards. battle speech right? may i? capital one is issuing a venture double miles challenge. show us how much you spent last year and we'll give you 2 miles

for every dollar spent on your travel reward card. up to 100,000 miles! hawaii, here we come. claim your miles at capitalone.com today! what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no. can you play games on that? ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪

is moving backward. [ engine turns over, tires squeal ] introducing the lexus enform app suite -- available now on the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer.

and as i told you before the break, we are waiting for the president to speak in cushing, oklahoma. you see all the people gathered waiting to listen to him. he's going to be speaking by the southern portion of the keystone pipeline project. he's going to be pushing his energy policies and talking about how many jobs that green technology has created. as i said, he was supposed to speak at 10:55 eastern. he's a little late. when the president appears we'll bring him to you live along with his remarks on cnn. in today's daily dose, the perception of aspirin as a wonder drug got a new boost. two new studies published in the

medical journal the lancet add that aspirin could cut cancer risk. it's also used by many as a heart drug. experts caution it's not confirmed. taking aspirin still causes the risk of stomach bleeding so check with your doctor. coming up, an update on mysterious booming sounds in a town. an interesting theory coming up. details next. uncover stronger, younger looking skin. [ female announcer ] new aveeno skin strengthening body cream helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. lemon burst, blackberry harvest, pina colada... i can't imagine where she is... orange creme... [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight.

found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. you'd use carbon fiber and machined aluminum, to make it more beautiful, 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. ♪ 14 clubs. that's what they tell us a legal golf bag can hold. and while that leaves a little room for balls and tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls. not a single pocket to hold the stress of the day, or the to-do list of tomorrow. only 14 clubs pick up the right one and drive it right down the middle of pure michigan.

your trip begins at michigan.org. two. three. one. two. and, three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn more cash back for the things you buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% cash back on groceries. 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. it's as easy as one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.