i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. let's get started. >> the man who left george zimmerman walk free is still effectively on the job this morning. it was a sucker punch, the northeast is cleaning up after a powerful late april snowstorm socked the region with over a foot of snow in some areas covering the roads, runways, and the flowers that had already blossomed. and first there was bountygate, now there's spygate. the general manager of the new orleans saints is being accused of bugging the superdome to listen in on visiting coaches. there's talk of criminal charges, but mickey loomis is saying the report is 1,0000 plu false. >> a police dog sent in to end a

high speed chase. apparently he worked it out. >> that's some nice maneuvers. up first this morning a dramatic turnaround in the trayvon martin case. the sanford, florida city commission voted to reject the police commissioner's resignation. last month he was blasted for not arresting trayvon martin immediately after the shooting, but now they question the fairness of removing him. >> chief lee is paying for the sins of past police officers. the police chiefs. he's been here -- he has been in office ten months. how do you steer a boat that big, mr. mayor? how do you steer a boat in ten months to a complete turnaround? you don't. >> heated discussion, in the meantime these pictures are the last we've seen of george zimmerman. he's charged with second degree murder and is out on bail.

we have no idea where he is his attorney, mark o'mara, says his client is relieved. >> he's doing well. glad to be out. trying to get settled in. worried about his safety, but talking to his family. >> martin savidge is live in sanford, florida following this story. a lot of developments, seemingly political, but what we saw with the council and the police chief does it have any effect on the upcoming litigation in the case? >> well, it doesn't have a direct impact, but you can't ignore the fact that it will have an impact on the periphery. let me give you a point of context for what was going on last night. the passions were flowing. chief bill lee had been on the job only about ten months when the trayvon martin case erupted in sanford it was about a month ago that the city commissioners voted no confidence in him and he stepped down temporarily because of the way it was

thought he handled the trayvon martin investigation. and yesterday he decided, well, maybe i should make that temporary resignation a more permanent thing. and that's when the city commissioners, the same ones that had voted no confidence, came back and said we're not going to accept your resignation. it was a heated and spirited thing. so what does it mean? it means chief lee stays on as the chief of police, but he's not really the chief of police because he has stepped down. he is still getting paid, so the city will find a temporary chief of police, paying two chiefs of police, only one of them is going to be on the job. in the meantime, though, you have trayvon martin's family and attorneys speaking out saying the city missed an opportunity to move on. listen. >> i feel that if chief lee recognized the need to turn in his resignation so this city can heal, the city commissioners should have accepted it and moved forward so the city could move forward and unite.

>> reporter: and there you have it. there are going to be some saying, look, the city needs to move forward and heal. it cannot do that as long as chief lee is around. others say there is still an investigation underway as to how the city's police force investigated the case. you cannot let him go until it's solved. >> thank you. the nfl team that put bounties on opponents is now accused of eavesdropping on them as well. the saints are denying a report that mickey loomis intercepted radio communications between opposing coaches for nearly three seasons. loomis is saying it just didn't happen. joining us live from new orleans this morning is larry holder, he carries the saints for cbssports.com and co-hosts a

talk radio show in new orleans called "the sports hang joefove" it was anonymous sources that talked to espn, the fbi, the u.s. attorney's office aware and are looking into it. you covered the saints for six years. what do you think? >> it's hard not to believe some of these things considering what you're seeing with the bounty progr program, because they lied to the nfl. the nfl believes they lied about that. it's almost hard to believe the saints when they say they're 1000% innocent because they have been proven liars before. they have come out more on the offensive with this than the bounty scandal. when you saw the bounty scandal, it was more apologies. this, they're coming backfiring. it may be a different case. i know it has people in new orleans again up in arms. it's something that was not expected at all. >> absolutely. you actually say a source at the saints told you specifically

that it wasn't true for a particular reason. that is that the nfl would have actually known about the eavesdropping. could you explain that? >> right. the nfl on game day, they have a frequency coordinator that checks every frequency that goes on in the superdome. this occurs in every nfl stadium. a team source told me said if this would have happened, they would have been caught by the nfl originally. that's one of the reasons why they're vehemently against this. i think we're in the infancy of this story. there's probably more that will be coming out. maybe today. who knows. i know more people and more ears will be all over this story as well. >> we know this is the third scandal with the saints and mickey loomis in as many years. they're talking about criminal charges. what do you think will happen here? >> that's a curious question because, look, you didn't see -- you heard maybe possible criminal charges with the bounties. i don't think that will occur.

for once we have a gate attached to something that actually has to do with some sort of spying and espionage. so that's another aspect of this that will have to play out. i know that investigators -- i know the u.s. attorney's office here in new orlean also have to look into the allegations. >> i think you said it right when you said there will be much more on this. larry holder, thanks for joining us this morning. it's seven minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. the warm winter giving way to a bizarre spring. i know you saw these pictures. nearly two feet of snow falling in some places. around the country heavy, wet snow causing power outages and the snow and the wind wreaking a bit of havoc on those travel plan fors bit of havoc on those travel plan for for everyone. jacqui jeras in for rob marciano. tell me this is over. >> i hope so. i don't see anything in the

long-range models that would indicate anything less. we will a book ended winter. our snowtober and our april snow. there's the two-footer park, laurel summit, pennsylvania. ten inches in newfield, and covington, about six inches of snow. for the most part the snow is winding down. still a bit of action coming in off the great lakes. there's a bit of wet weather moving up into parts of maine. our big low is there in ontario. it's pulling away. the winds will be a bit stronger. this could be impacting your travel if you're going to the airports. one other consequence of the wind. check out these pictures. they pushed the waves up. incredible rocking waves off of lake erie. there you can see it. this is in cleveland, ohio. those waves will continue to be strong for today as the winds are kicking still around 25 to 30 miles per hour.

the rest of the country still quiet. a big flip-flop in temperatures. way below average in the east, and way above in the west. >> wow is all i can say about that video. >> isn't it amazing? >> it really is. >> you don't want to be anywhere near there. >> do they put up warning signs to say don't stand near the shore? >> nobody was standing there. >> all too often you see people who gaze at that stuff and there's a crises afterwards. dangerous stuff. gas prices are going down. the new national average, $3.85 a gallon for regular unleaded. it's down 0.9 cents in the last 24 hours. we are now at the level of where gas prices were a year ago, below them slightly, actually. so, good news for you this morning, folks. like a whiplash, to be honest with you. just ahead on "early start,"

a star takes the stand and it is devastating. singer jennifer hudson's tearful testimony at the murder trial of the man accused of killing three members of her family. plus a rough ending to a crazy car chase in california. police call in a canine to end the standoff with a suspect. did he succeed? you'll see next on "early start."'t now do it,was gonna to but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now.

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it is 13 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to check our top stories with ms. christine romans. >> just when you thought he was out, they pulled him back in who am i talking about? the sanford city commissioners rejected the police chief's offer to resign over his department's handling of the trayvon martin shooting investigation. lee has been on paid leave. sanford's mayor said he is not ready to have lee return or to show him the door.

the government's star witness will be back on the stand this morning in the trial of disgraced former senator john edwards. former aide, andrew young, testified yesterday for two hours telling the court he had suspicions that edwards was having an affair with videographer rielle hunter in 2006. there won't be much drama, but five states are holding republican primaries today. polls open in less than an hour in connecticut and new york, and at 7:00 a.m. eastern, voting begins in delaware, pennsylvania and rhode island. presumptive nominee, mitt romney, already showing signs of shifting towards the middle, coming out in favor of extending low-interest rates on student loans. that plan is backed by the president and opposed by most republicans. a canine unit ends a standoff after a wild car chase in california. during this chase, a woman is

seen jumping into a white minivan with patrol cars in hot pursuit. the woman quickly surrendered when the chase ended. but the driver only came out after a police dog was sent into the van and shall we say convinced the fleeing driver that perhaps he should put his hands up and surrender. >> this is the second video in two weeks. a few weeks ago, a guy with the same problem. a man in the street and a dog attached to his rear. >> i hold my breath when i see a dog jumping into action like that. >> in this case, the bark was as bad as the bite. >> romans. romans. that should be the title of your new book. >> thanks, christine. singer and actress jennifer hudson broke down in tears as she gave testimony in the trial of the man accused of killing her mother, brother and nephew.

william balfour is the estranged husband of her sister, julia. we know she was incredibly emotional what effect did that have on the courtroom? >> well, it had a dramatic effect on the courtroom, specifically the jury here. any prosecutor wants the victim family members to be there during a trial. when that victim family member is jennifer hudson t compounds it. she was the first witness out of the gate. she broke down several times. she broke down talking about her mother, how close she was to her mother saying that the day her mother was murdered, she was worried because she didn't get a text when she first woke up and that was odd because every single day she got early texts and phone calls from her mother. she said she slept with her until she was 16 years old that had an effect. the real effect was how she felt about william balfour, the

defendant. she told the court and jury that her family did not want her sister julia to marry balfour. she said we told her not to marry him. when the prosecutor said why, she paused and said because of the way she treated her. she started to cry again. very dramatic. very beneficial for the prosecution. >> i was living in chicago at the time, the search for julian king's body, that little boy, from the very beginning everybody was pointing a finger at this man, william balfour. what is the defense strategy in this case? >> they're saying that because everybody was pointing the finger from the very beginning like you were saying, that they missed out on the fact that balfour didn't do it and there's no physical evidence to back this up. this is the crux of their case. a lot of times at a triple murder you would expect a lot of physical evidence. not in this case. william balfour is not tied with dna, fingerprints or anything

else scientifically to the murder weapon, to the vehicle he supposedly took julian king in. this is an uphill battle for the prosecution having jennifer hudson in the courtroom helps them with that battle. >> i'm sure you will continue to follow this for us. ted rowlands, thank you very much. it's now 5:18. it's a good chance to get an early read on some of your local news that is making national headlines. papers from all over the country. they're heavy when we drop them. let's start with the dallas morning news. hello, dallas. miss you. here is a story about deion sanders, big hero in that town. yesterday the nfl hall of famer was involved in a domestic dispute. he tweeted about the incident as it was happening. here are the tweets he was sending out. pray for me and my kids now. they just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. she's going to jail and i'm pressing charges. minutes later, another tweet coming out.

filling out police reports now. thank god for this platform to issue the truth. and then out came the photo. here it is. a tweet including a picture of sanders and his two sons. >> wow. >> filling out forms. sanders' wife pilar has been arrested and charged with assault in the case. there is no accounting for the value of actually chronicling this with your children. i just can't speak to that personally. not sure how those children are going process that stuff later. >> unbelievable. >> a nice, innocuous description. "los angeles times" here, this is a dangerous new trend you need to know about teens are getting drunk offhand sanitizer and are winding up in the emergency room. six teens in l.a. have been treated in the last few months from alcohol poisoning from drinking hand sanitizer.

why? it's cheap and easy to get and you can google how to distill the alcohol from it. it makes 120-proof liquid, the equivalent to hard liquor, like a shot of whiskey origin. it only takes a few swallows for the kids to get drunk. experts say parents should buy foam instead of gel hand sanitizer because it's harder to extract the alcohol, of course until they figure that out. the things you have to worry about as parents. >> kids, you can make liquor in a jail cell toilet, too, doesn't mean you should do it. don't go googling that. >> you haven't heard that? >> no. >> little secrets from prison i learned. >> do tell. >> 20 minutes past 5:00 a.m., they said it could create 1,000 overnight millionaires, as facebook gets ready to go

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[ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] 24 minutes past the hour. minding your business this morning, the stock market taking a nosedive yesterday because of concerns about europe's financial stability. >> look at those arrows. >> markets are poised for a bounce this morning. facebook prepping for its initial offering. growth actually slowing in the social network. what's the story? >> growth is slowing, but any company would kill for the facebook growth, 45% revenue growth, but that's down from last year. why do we care? we're all waiting for this huge social network to go public sometime later this spring or early summer.

we are all scrutinizing every regulatory filing they have. another piece of information we have now about facebook, it tops 900 million users. 900 million users. how many people log in every day? 526 million people log in daily. that's why facebook is such an important technology movement. number two is twitter. twitter has about 500 million, about only 140 million of those are active users. you can see how big -- >> it's faster, too they got those users much quicker than facebook did. >> facebook has been doing interesting things. they've been buying up patents. i say sprucing up around the office, getting ready for this ipo. buying up patents. you know about instagram. some reporting about that deal, mark zuckerberg has been running the show. he is in charge there. he did that deal with instagram on his own.

he informed the board about it later. that was a billion dollar hole to fill some mobile weaknesses for facebook. so we made a map for you to show you how many people is that. if you thought about how many people facebook has, 900 million users, that's equivalent to the population of the u.s., japan, indonesia and brazil. >> a fifth of the wordld's population and growing. >> and growing. the fact that growth is slowing may cool the hysteria about the coming ipo in the next month or two. we will see if that slower growth cools that down. >> i read some of that cool hysteria about apple and i thought i would get you yesterday. >> okay. faking pregnancy at planned parenthood. what the birth control organization believes is behind a surge of what it calls hoax visits. [ female announcer ] to get a professional cleansing system

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it is 30 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. time to check the stories making news this morning. taking the $35 a week food stamp challenge. leaders in philadelphia are trying to show how hard it is to live within the limits of government benefits with thousands set to lose their lifeline under a new review. we're talking to one lawmaker who is taking that challenge. planned parenthood worried that it is the target of a new undercover sting. fearing an acorn like attack from opponents on abortion. where are you going with my dinner? fishermen find themselves in a

tug of war, look at that, with a sea lion. >> from wheeling and dealing to doing dishes. new information about life behind bars for blagojevich. >> thanks. think about this for a second. do you think you could feed yourself for $5 a day? $5. philadelphia community members as well as elected officials are going to try this out. they will find out if they can do it as part of something called the greater philadelphia food stamp challenge. food stamps are provided by s.n.a.p., supplemental nutrition assistance program. that program could be scaled back in pennsylvania and on the federal level to the $5 level. the food stamp challenge is this thing that is kind of meant to send a message to republican lawmakers not to make those cuts and make it as difficult as $5 a day for a lot of people out there trying to make ends meet.

representative bob brady is a democrat from pennsylvania and taking part in this $5 a day food stamp program. currently he's on day two. congressman, tell me how you're doing so far if this is day two, i don't know if you're up and at it at breakfast, but so far how is it going? >> i didn't have my breakfast yet. i'm looking for a scrumptious all-grain cereal for breakfast. >> that sounds healthy, but the message here that you and the others are doing the challenge, it's very, very difficult at $5 a day, you know, on that budget, to try to get healthy food to feed your family. run through a list of the things that you were able to fill up your shopping cart with at five times seven, $35 grocery bill? >> rice, pasta, bread, eggs, cereal, scrumptious peanut butter and jelly. that's about it. >> no fruits? no vegetables?

>> well, i had some lettuce, some carrots. you know. didn't have enough money for toma tomatoes. i'm going to try it. i think it's just a shame that -- the worst part about it, we'll do it for one week. but there's many families who have to do it for much, much longer than that. and it's repeating. it's the same menu over and over again. >> i think a lot of people who are listening now would probably agree with you, this is not an easy thing to do. at the same time other people listening would say, hold on a second, it's not as though the food stamp program is the only thing out there for people in need. that's why they call it a supplemental program. so, is it fair or is this hyperbole to suggest that you have to suggest on just $35 a week? >> no, it's ridiculous. you can't survive on $35 a week. some people do rely on it. some families have to rely on that. you are just talking about food. there's other bills people have. you have to buy soap. you have to buy toothpaste,

deodorant. this is for food to live on $35 a week for food, and there are a lot of families in the united states and in the city of philadelphia who rely solely on that s.n.a.p. program and they want to cut it back. >> i think my question was this was a supplemental program, it's meant to bolster other social safety net programs out there. is it fair to suggest that people have to survive on $5 a day for the groceries and soap? >> my point is it's not a supplemental program for some people. it's a sole program for people unemployed, for people who have families, single mothers. it's not a supplement, it's the only way to get your food. we hear stories of people running out of food. people eat noodles, that's all they eat every day. it's not nutritious and it's wrong. we are thinking now about cutting it back which is ridiculous. we feed the whole world. let's feed ourselves. >> one of the other issues is

the legislation is look doing an asset test for those who qualify for the food stamp program. the numbers are at about $5,500 for a family if that family has a disabled or elderly person they look after, that asset test will go up to $9,000. the assets don't include one car and your home and your retirement savings. but, you know, for people out there who are exhausted by our budget deficits, ballooning budget deficits and are struggling to make ends meet in this country, is the asset test a fair way for people to qualify? >> not at all. they put the asset test in because some people are taking advantage. it shows that there are -- there are people not taking advantage of this. that they need it what if your car breaks down? what if your heater breaks? people, when they are working to

save some money, for a rainy day. now you're saying if you have any assets other than your car, if you have two cars, then it becomes an asset, you can't qualify for the s.n.a.p. program. it's ridiculous. you have that money in case something should happen. what if there's a medical bill? if a heater breaks or you need a transmission in your car? totally ridiculous. there's no need for it because there's no abuse of the program. >> congressman brady, good luck with the challenge this week. i would love to know how you are doing by sunday. >> give me a call, i'll let you know. >> good luck with breakfast this morning. >> thank you, appreciate it. >> thank you, congressman. 36 minutes past the hour. the number of mexicans immigrating to the united states is dropping dramatically. accord together pew hispanic center, 1.37 million mexican immigrants came to the united states between 2005 and 2010. that's about half the total from the previous five-year period.

and from 2005 to 2010, 1.39 million mexicans and their families left the united states to return to mexico. more than doubling the exodus of the previous five years. planned parenthood officials are worried they're being targeted. a spokesman says there's been a series of suspicious incidents at planned parenthood clinics in at least 11 states with two dozen or more hoax visits reported in the past several weeks. those hoax visits involve women who claim to be pregnant, asking a particular pattern of leading or provocative questions, raising concerns that the visits are being recorded as part of an organized anti-abortion sting campaign. it's now 37 minutes past 5:00. still to come on "early start," a ferocious fight over a fish. that looks like a nice moment, doesn't it? then you find out they hooked a sea lion.

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♪ love, love that never gets old. that's a gorgeous tower cam picture of good old new york city. 42 degrees right now, but we're heading up to 60. that's nice to hear after the last couple of days. pouring rain, cold and nasty. maybe we're headed towards spring and summer after all. >> hopefully you are headed towards some spring-like weather as well. time to check stories making news this morning. here is christine romans. good morning. good morning. he offered to go, but sanford's city commission said not so fast. they rejected the proposed resignation of police chief bill lee. the attorney for george zimmerman, charged with murdering the florida teenager, says zimmerman is relieved to be out on bail. the fbi has told the family

of of anten patz that the investigation of a basement in new york city has turned up empty. he disappeared 35 years ago. defense secretary leon panetta is dismissing claims by iran that it reverse engineered a u.s. spy drone. that drone went down in the iranian desert last year. the iranians claim they brought it down. panetta insisting the rq170 sentinel is designed with very limited intelligence value. >> i would seriously question their ability to do what they say they have done. >> officials have suggested that much of the data gathered by the sentinel is not stored on the drone. some salmon fishermen in portland, oregon got a big surprise last friday on the columbia weekend.

they netted a wild chinook salomon, and were about to release it, but this sea lion had other ideas. the net broke and the sea lion won. and rod blagojevich is settling behind bars. he is washing dishes in federal prison and plans on teaching shakespeare. here's my to be or not to be, that is the question. >> to be or not to be free. >> how do you do that in the chicago accent? >> he does that all the time. whenever he called those crazy news conferences or found himself in front of cameras, he would quote off the cuff not all kinds of literature, just not shakespeare. he knows his stuff. weird that he would know it. >> he has a long time to share it to his new friends in the pen. >> a big elvis presley fan, so i thought for sure he would be singing tunes. >> jailhouse rock.

christine, thank you. 44 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. call it life imitating art or the other way around, a new revival of an old play on broadway is getting attention. >> it is called "the best man." alina cho sat down with members of the cast and i'm excited to learn more. >> i was excited to meet them. we are talking about two icons, james earl jones and angela l s lands buland lan landsbury. they steal the show. what they see on stage is what they also see in real life. >> reporter: "the best man" is set in a philadelphia hotel room in the midst of a bitter fight for the presidential nomination. james earl jones plays arthur hoxteter, angela lansbury is a political power broker who tells

the dueling candidates what women want. >> women don't like you trying to be funny all the time. >> abraham lincoln was a bit of a humorist. >> well women weren't voting in 1860. >> we both play big, loud-mouthed characters. we come out and we're on. >> reporter: the play debuted on broadway in 1960 and once again is playing to the crowds during a heated election year. politics is still a dirty business. what do you think about what is going on in the political dog fight that we see today? >> it's great drama. great comedy, too. you can make anything of it if you watch it. that's what happens in our play. >> reporter: a big reason this

show is such a crowd pleaser. >> you will hear somebody saying amen to that. you know, oh, don't you know it. and isn't that the truth. and wow. you know? you hear that down the rows. >> reporter: which begs the question what do they think about the presidential contest? >> i'm voting for barack obama. >> i have a line in the play, keep your vote between you and your god. >> ah. >> oh. >> so you're not willing to say? >> i prefer not to. but let me say this, obama is just a man. it's not that he didn't do enough. it's that we didn't do enough. >> reporter: they appear to have just as much energy and appeal now more than ever. >> can i get a photo with you, please? >> yeah. >> reporter: eight shows a week, 81 years young. >> it's an attractive show, not only for the audience but for us. i love doing it. i could do two a day.

we do that twice a week. but i could. i don't know where the energy comes from. i don't know and i don't care. >> what a thrill to meet them. they were just adorable. keep in mind that the inspiration for this play was the 1960 presidential fight between nixon and kennedy. back in those days, the conventions were high drama, a lot of suspense in the battle for delegates. today a bit of a different story, though we almost had that this time around until mitt romney locked it in. interesting side note, when the film was made back in 1964, rumor has it that ronald reagan auditioned for the part of the president. he didn't get the part, apparently because it was thought he wasn't presidential enough. >> that's awesome. >> quite a cast, also. >> unbelievable. >> john raroquette.

i said that voice that wonderful booming voice, the one you are so known for. he said i didn't have anything to do with that. i was just born with it. >> but the "this is cnn." i get chills when i hear it. >> that was wonderful. still ahead, the glorious nation of kazakhstan thanking borat? why they're warming up to their most hated fake citizen. this is "early start." look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com.

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welcome back. 51 minutes past the hour. james murdoch, the son of rupert murdo murdoch, testifying in front a british panel investigating a phone hacking scandal. murdoch denied knowing about the scale of illegal activities at the papers. >> in hindsight, knowing what we know now, whatever controls were in place failed to create the sufficient transparency around those issues and the risks around it. however there were senior legal managers who had a lot of experience who were working closely with the editors and with the -- and with the newsrooms. and at the time i didn't have a view that those were

insufficient or not. >> these are live pictures from london right now as james murdoch's testimony continues. rupert murdoch is scheduled to testify tomorrow. 52 minutes past 5:00 a.m. on the east coast here in the united states. time to look at what's trending on the web. this is called the real life captain's log. you are ready? william shatner, better known as captain kirk to the rest of us, sending a message to six astronauts who are living 240 miles above the earth on the international space station. it's a message, yes, but it's really a shameless plug for his album. his album, by the way, or the covers of all the space-themed songs, it's called "seeking major tom." come on, it's shatner. it's shatner talking to astronauts. he's like a rock star. have a look. ♪ >> i wish you really good luck, good health, get some good work done, and we'll look forward to

you coming back. i hope you enjoy "seeking major tom." ♪ i'm floating in a most peculiar way ♪ >> can you hear him singing? ♪ the stars look >> funny. in case you're wondering, we just did a segment on two octonegarian, he is the third. >> borat boosted tourism for kazakhstan after all. according to the kazak website, visa applications are up tenfold with a flood of people waiting and wanting to visit the country. most with a potassium deficiency. we made that last part up, but all of the nation has inferior potassium. they have to deal with stuff like this, when the fake national anthem was played

during a national medal ceremony. look at her. she didn't break face or anything. she just withstood it. that was tough. >> that is tough. >> it wasn't intentional. it was a mistake. somebody downloaded it off the internet. >> how is that a mistake? >> downloaded it off the internet. happens all the time. 1,700 pounds of beef and cheese on top of 600 pounds of tortilla chips, you have serious nachos. look at that trough. that is trough eating, folks. the biggest serving of and a half choose dished out at the kansas relays over the weekend. >> does not look appetizing. >> does not, does it? though if i were there, i would probably like tchlit. served on an 80-foot tray that was almost a foot deep. that was a whole trough of food. 2,000 pounds of it spoiled because of the warm weather. oy yoy-yoy. so this easily beat out previous

records set, one just set in october. organizers saying 70% of this big trough of food, despite much of the spoiling was consumed any way. what the heck? just scrape the spoiled stuff off the top. >> at what point does it become spoiled? how many people ate that spoiled? ick. >> i think maybe a couple cocktails involved. i don't know. i'm not the best judge on that one. i got my joke in there. it was to raise money for a kitchen that feeds the hungry. still ahead on "early start," spygate round two. the new orleans saints find themselves in the middle of another big scandal. did their general manager bug the superdome to get an unfair edge over the competition? will y get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly

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. good morning to you. welcome to "early start" on cnn. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> we're happy to have you this morning. i'm zoraida sambolin. we're bringing you the news from a to z. it's 6:00 in the east. first bounty gate and now spygate on steroids. the general manager of the new orleans saints accused of bugging the superdome to listen in on visiting coaches. there's talk of criminal charges. mickey loomis is saying that report is 1,000% false. another shocker in sanford, florida the man who let george zimmerman morning. the city is refusing to let its police chief resign. jennifer hudson in tears. testifying against the man accused of killing her mother, her brother and her nephew. saying where he was, i tried not to be.

and he would not come out, so they sent rambo in. take a look, jumping into the van, police dog taking a suspect down literally by the butt. look closely. we're not kidding. all of this after a high-speed chase. people hanging out of the vin dou windows. the nfl team that put bounties on opponents is denying allegations it spied on them as well. the saints are challenging a report that mickey loomis intercepted radio communications between opposing coaches for nearly three seasons. loomis firing back with a statement saying, quote, it just didn't happen. the saints' gm is already facing an eight-game suspension for his role in the team's bounty scandal. joining us live from new orleans this morning is larry holder, he covers the saints for cbssports.com and cohosts a show in new orleans called "the sports hangover." thanks for being with us again. i want to make a couple of things clear here. it's an anonymous source that's

familiar with saints game-day operations that actually talked to espn. the fbi, the u.s. attorney's office are aware now, they say that they're looking into it. you have covered the saints for six years. what do you think is going on here? >> it's curious because every other day covering this team this off-season has been chaos, another bombshell has dropped. and i can understand that the saints are coming out and vehemently denying this. and it's a different approach than what they did during the bounty scandal because there it seemed like the nfl, they had all their evidence, and it was done. the nfl said, look, you're guilty. these are accusations, and the saints are trying to defend themselves saying they are trying to have legal actions against espn. we're far from over with this story. i'm sure things will be developing, but it's extremely disturbing because you guys said it, spygate to another level when it's literally bugging

another coach's box and trying to listen into plays. >> but larry, we don't have any tape-recordings or anything, right? >> exactly. and that's one of the reasons that this story -- is still kind of up in the air because espn in their report even said that they have no evidence that mickey loomis even used a device. we're s it's still a work in progress as far as the developing story. >> i find this interesting. you said you have a source at the saints that told you this wasn't true. and the reason why is that it would be impossible for the nfl not to know if there was eavesdropping going on. could you explain that? >> right. the nfl, they have a frequency coordinator who tests every line during each game. and according to the source, he says that they would know in the nfl if the saints were doing this, that they would have been caught already. now, this is coming from the source within the team, now. the saints have been proven by the nfl that they have lied

about certain things with the bounty scandal. so you can only take that so far with this story as it develops. >> and, you know, we mentioned the criminal charges in the beginning. you know, this scandal, of course, hurting the saints but in particular, mickey loomis. so what do you make of those criminal charges? do you think maybe he'll be fired? >> you would think he might have been fired already because of the bounty scandal, but in new orleans and the saints, it's curious that it seems like mickey loomis and, say, sean payton, they're bulletproof. that might not be the case with a lot of other nfl organizations. it would not surprise me if mickey loomis survived this especially how much the saints are willing to go to bat for him saying he's 1,000% innocent and that sort of thing. >> all right. larry holder, thanks for joining us this morning. i'm sure there will be more unfolding. and at 7:30 eastern, dan marino will join soledad o'brien on "starting point." we'll ask him about bounties,

eavesdropping, tomorrow's nfl draft and his new partnership with the aarp. it's now four minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. and what a difference a month can make. back a month ago, sanford, florida's, city commission gave their police chief, billy, a vote of no confidence for his handling of the trayvon martin investigation. so let's fast forward to last night when they voted to reject his offer to resign. lee had been under fire for his decision not to arrest and charge george zimmerman immediately after the fatal shooting. the supporters say they cannot make him a scapegoat. >> chief lee is paying for the sins of past police officers. he's police chief. he has been here -- he has been in office ten months. how do you steer a boat that big, mr. mayor? how do you steer a boat in ten months to a complete turnaround? you don't. >> all of this has george zimmerman walking out of jail, charged with second-degree

murder, but out on bail and whereabouts this morning unknown. his attorney, mark o'mara, says his client is relieved. >> he's doing well. he's very glad to be out. trying to get settled in, still worried about his safety, but, you know, talking to his family and feeling much better than being in. >> cnn's martin savidge is live in sanford, florida, following this story for us pretty much every single day since it has been breaking across the country. we should mention, martin, right off the bat that while patty maheny who was heard just a moment ago, she was not the -- it was not a unanimous decision on the city council. they were split, weren't they? >> reporter: right. it was divided. it was a 3-2 vote that eventually made the decision to keep the chief in place. you know, it shows you that even after so much time, the trayvon martin case still raises huge passions within this community. chief billy had only been on the job ten months when the whole trayvon martin case erupted.

and as you say, a month afterwards, he stepped down as a result of the no-confidence vote that he was given. yesterday he decided to sort of make that temporary step-down a more permanent solution. that's why he wanted to hand in his letter of resignation. but the same city commissioners that gave him that vote of no confidence then turned around and said, you know what? we're not accepting your resignation. and that turned out to be quite a surprise for many. for lawyers for trayvon martin, they say that the city really missed an opportunity to move on. >> i feel that if chief lee recognized the needs to turn in his resignation so that this city can heal, then the city commissioner should have accepted it and moved forward so that the city could move forward and unite. >> reporter: and, of course, all of this took place on the same day that george zimmerman came out of jail on bond and then has disappeared. his whereabouts, though, continue to be monitored by

florida authorities. a ashleigh? >> one clarification. a lot of that vote last night was based on the severance package to give chief lee if he were to step down? >> caller: correct. >> can it be said in any avenues that maybe this was a money decision? they didn't agree on the severance package, therefore the whole thing got tossed out, or was this a political thing only? >> reporter: well, i think it's a bit of both. i mean, you have to understand that there is finances involved here. the chief continues to get money even though he's not being the chief. somebody else is going to have to be brought in. and this is probably going to continue for many months. so i think the city manager said, look, financially, it would be better for him to resign, and we get a new chief. and that way we don't pay two people for the same job. apparently the city commissioners didn't see it that way. and it will continue. >> they're still looking -- i mean, they've got an interim chief right now who is a captain, but they're still looking possibly for his replacement? >> reporter: that's right, yeah. in fact, the city manager says they'll go ahead with that search. >> messy. all right.

martin savidge, thank you for that live in sanford, florida. and coming up a little bit later, 7:00 this morning with "starting point" and soledad o'brien, she's going to speak with the sanford city manager, norton bonaparte, and the complications for the upcoming possible trial. eight minutes past the hour. coming up, jennifer hudson relives the horrors of her mother's death. the star takes the stand in the murder trial of the man accused of killing three members of hadder family. and some dogs chase cars. others chase carjackers. take a look at that. an unusual ending to a california car chase. and let me tell you this. you're going to want to see this outcome. it's quite funny and it's quite satisfying. s a lot of beautiful makeup out there. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics.

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>> the secret service sex sc scandal grows. a 12th member admitteds misconduct. at least 24 people now, 12 secret service members and 12 military personnel, are being investigated for the incident involving prostitutes in cartagena. the wife of former football great deion sanders under arrest for allegedly attacking him. authorities say pilar sanders was charged with domestic violence. her arrest coming just hours after sanders tweeted he was filing a police report against her for assault. ted nugent pleading guilty to hunting down too many black bears in alaska. this goes back to 2009 during taping for his show, "spirit of the wild." prosecutors say footage shows him shooting two different bears while the law only limits hunters to one bear per year. supplies even though he only wounded one of the bears. this comes right after the secret service investigated him for a rant against president obama. nugent could avoid up to a year

in jail if he -- if the judge accepts that plea deal. an incredible surveillance video coming in from china. watch this. can you see it? whoa! it shows a teen girl walking and talking on her cell phone and just being swallowed up by the sidewalk, almost like she went down a trap door. a cab driver who witnessed it rushed to the hole found the girl lying at the bottom of an 18-foot well. the area apparently weakened by underground water. firefighters rushed to the scene and pulled her up. they keep coming up with new variations of the police car chase in california. this one starts with a girlfriend of a man who robbed a credit union, hopping into a stolen minivan with cops on their tail. it ends with the girlfriend -- she gave up quickly, but the driver refused to get out of the van until a police dog, shall we say, convinced him. chasing him out, cash falling out, and the suspect falling to the ground as the dog attached to his leg. yep, that's cash. >> wow! >> for an expanded look at all

the top stories, head to cnn.com/earlystart. there you go. man's best friend, criminal's worst enemy. >> that's why i said that was such a satisfying story to get bitten in the butt. you know? sorry. >> alleged credit union robber. >> exactly. with the cash all around rim. >> he'll have his day in court and that video will be played. it is 14 minutes past the hour. singer and actress jennifer hudson broke down in tears as she gave testimony in the trial of the man accused of killing her mother, her brother and her little nephew. william balfour is the estranged husband of hudson's sister, julia. hudson was the first witness prosecutors called yesterday. ted rowlands is live in chicago with more on this incredibly emotional testimony. i know there were a lot of concerns about how the jury would react to hudson. so what impact did she have in that courtroom? >> reporter: well, i think clearly having her as the first witness, having her sitting in the courtroom after she testified does have an effect on the jury because whenever you

have a victim family member in the courtroom during a trial, it helps the prosecution because there's empathy from jurors to that victim's family. so having jennifer hudson in the courtroom only pushes that even further. and she was very good on the stand, very emotional. she broke down several times, as you mentioned, talking about what happened to her family and about the relationship. she showed real anger when talking about the defendant, william balfour, here saying that she urged her sister not to marry balfour. and her whole family didn't want this relationship to continue because of the way that balfour treated her sister. so very effective yesterday for the prosecution was jennifer and her sister, julia. >> i've got to tell you, ted, i was following this story when i was living in chicago. you know, for three days, we were wondering what happened to her nephew, julian containing, and they finally found him in an suv, and he was dead. and all fingers pointed at

balfour. how is the defense handling this case here? >> reporter: well, you would think that there's a lot of physical evidence in this case because there were three dead bodies, and there were two different murder scenes, and there was a transportation of a body in julian king in an suv, but there isn't. and the definition seized on that. that was their theme in the opening statement, saying that, yes, william balfour may have made threats, but there's no physical evidence tying him to these murders. and they also harped on this theme that jason hudson, julia hudson and jennifer hudson's brother, was a drug dealer and that his business is the reason that this all happened. we'll have to wait and see. but this is not a slam dunk for the prosecution by any stretch of the imagination. >> no, i know that theory was floating around early on well. ted rowlands live in chicago, thank you very much. coming up next, the most valuable company in the world about to report another monster, monster quarter. will apple be juicing the markets?

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21 minutes now past 6:00 a.m. hi, welcome back. minding your business this morning, apple will report its earnings this afternoon after the closing bell and oh, to get in on the germinal stages of that stock. >> you know who's all over this.

>> if i hold up, you have to acknowledge it. thank you. >> bravo, ashleigh, bravo. >> i'm telling you, the word of the day, the applause, i would applaud you if you bought it at $5. no one ever gets tired of looking at the five-year chart of apple shares because this is a stock that has rewarded its investors so handily. i mean, the stock is up dramatically. 371% over the past five years. it's had a little bit of a dip lately, which has some people saying ooh, it's time to get this again. and others saying the big run is over. we won't know unless we keep watching it, but we know earnings are expected to come out today. and profits for the first quarter forecast at $9.2 billion. imagine, a tech company printing as much money as an oil company. i mean, this is a huge company. $9.2 billion would put it roughly in line with exxon mobil. it will report after the close. everything that this company has done -- well, it's been good for the economy.

about 30% of s&p 500 earnings are because of apple. and the 10% run-up in the s&p 500 this year, about 1.5 percentage points of that is apple. so it's been a big driver of the economy. but if you look at the carriers, the wireless carriers who actually are trying to process all the demand from those smartphones on their networks, it's not quite so great for them. verizon over the past five years down about 5%, its stock. at&t, the first carrier of apple -- >> that's not prize isurprising. you must have at&t. >> sprint nextel down 89%. so there's a lot of talk about how what apple, what has been very good for apple, for its investors, for the company, it's taking bites out of everyone else's apple to do well. so we'll look for those earnings after the close. >> that doesn't make sense. when everybody gets these devices and then gobbles up all the bandwidth, you would think -- >> they have to invest money in their networks to be able to handle it. you can't not have it. but when you have it, it's

very -- you know, it's changing -- >> they're charging me, you know? >> i'm telling you, just think, five years ago, how different the whole system -- i mean, we're doing things on our phones today that we wouldn't have even thought of five years ago. and we have kind of this creaky old infrastructure that's trying to keep up. apple shares, there are people calling for 1,000, there are others saying that the apple bulls have been wrong. look, there have been people buying apple all the way up, and they've been right. everything this company touches, it changes. is that pipeline going to keep churning out new products every year, every six months? and are they going to continue to wow us? what's next? are they going to keep upgrading what they've got? >> the smaller ipod. we were just talking about it the other day. >> didn't i see some headline yesterday, the iphone 5 going to blow your mind or something like that? >> i know, but then there's a worry that that could be a little later. apple's got a lot of pressure and a lot to live up to when you

have $9.2 billion earnings. >> oh, to have the pressure. christine, thank you very much. 25 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. we love this one. still ahead, shark boy. shark boy live. we're going to speak with the 9-year-old fishing phenom who was behind these incredible pictures we brought you yesterday. he's going to be with us with the latest catch of the day story. thanks for babysitting the kids, brittany. so how much do we owe you? that'll be $973.42. ya know, your rates and fees aren't exactly competitive. who do you think i am, quicken loans? [ spokesman ] when you refinance your mortgage with quicken loans, you'll find that our rates and fees are extremely competitive. because the last thing you want is to spend too much on your mortgage. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪

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inside the home of young his zell celis that caused police to get a search warrant. deputies in south carolina are looking for the burglars who turned this gun shop into a drive-thru. they made off with about 30 assault weapons and pistols. that was early monday morning. and we showed you the amazing video, a little boy and his father reeling in a shark from their little kayak off the gulf coast. the kid lovingly known as shark boy has become a web sensation, and he will be joining us live here shortly. ashleigh? it's now 29 minutes past 6:00. and the florida police chief who insisted that he could not arrest george zimmerman for shooting trayvon martin tried to resign, but the city leaders there have rejected that offer to resign. chief billy jr. had stepped down temporarily a month ago after that same group of city commissioners had voted no confidence in him. but at yesterday's heated hearing, not everybody thought that he was the one to blame.

>> chief lee is paying for the sins of past police officers. police chiefs. he has been here -- he has been in office ten months. how do you steer a boat ta bhat big, mr. mayor, how do you steer a boat in ten months to a complete turnaround? you don't. >> the martin family attorney, benjamin crump, had this to say about that decision. "if chief bill lee recognized that his resignation would help start the healing process in sanford, city leadership should have accepted it in an effort to move the city forward." m midwin charles is a criminal defense attorney and joins us to talk about this and other implications in this case. nice to see you. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> do you think there's anything to this political fight going on with the city, some of them agreeing that he should go, others not agreeing that he should go that could work its way into the criminal case? >> i don't know if it could work

itself into the criminal case, but what it does, it removes a sense of integrity in the police department for the people of sanford, and i think that's part of the bigger problem. but what will come into the trial is what sort of investigation did they do? how did they gather facts in order to prove or disprove this self-defense claim that george zimmerman is clearly going to use. >> so if it's not such an issue for the criminal trial, what about for the civil rights investigation? >> it could be. it could be. remember, civil rights investigations by the federal government are twopronged. one, they look to see whether or not the aggressor committed a hate crime. and two, they look to see whether law enforcement abused their power by not doing the proper investigation as a result of the victim's race. so it could come into play, but it would take a very long time because oftentimes the federal government would step in after the criminal trial. >> all right. so then let's go one level separate. a civil case, because if this ends up as a civil wrongful death case, is there anything to

what we're seeing play out at the city counselor's level that could play into a civil case? >> i don't think so. i mean, if there would be a wrongful death case here, it would be against george zimmerman and not necessarily the sanford police department. so i don't see how that would play into anything. >> let's move on to the whereabouts of george zimmerman. i mean, this is the guy everybody wants to know his story. they want the big interview. that's likely not to happen at this point since he's facing second-degree murder charges, and those are awfully serious. what does he have to do if he wants to leave the state of florida? >> well, i think if he has to leave the state of florida, which his attorney, mark o'mara, alluded to during that bail bond hearing, they are going to coordinate with whatever state it is he wants to go to because clearly law enforcement has to be alerted. they have to make all sorts of arrangements for him. so i think the two states, whatever state he's going to, will have to work together. >> so let's just say virginia for the sake of discussion because he's got family there. he's lived there at some point.

the folks in virginia, do they have a right to know other than the police and law enforcement, do the people of the state where he's going have a right to know that he's coming there? >> i don't think so. i really don't think so. because remember, all of this is done for the protection of george zimmerman. if anyone knows where he is, that kind of obviates the need to protect his privacy. >> it would seem. >> yeah. >> but if you're one of those people living in the state, you might want to know if an accused second-degree murderer is living amongst you. >> oh, but there are so many already. >> thanks for that. >> just think of the number of people facing second-degree murder charges in virginia that are out on bail. >> out on bail. it's fascinating to think of it that way, but you're absolutely right. >> yeah. people need to remember that this is everyday occurrences in the criminal justice system. this just happens to be the case that has rose to national prominence, and we all know about it. >> and everyone's watching. >> people make bail every single day, $150,000 is not unusual. oftentimes it's even less. for murder cases. >> but not so much first degree. when you're facing that kind of

potential life or death sentence, it's often they don't make bail. >> you no he what? it depends on facts because they look at flight risk, past criminal history. they look at the facts of the case. >> remember phil spector. >> exactly. >> he was out during that entire time. next quick question for you, and that is the discovery dump. i like to call them discovery dumps because i remember in casey anthony -- i hate to keep bringing that story up, but it was a huge florida case. >> yeah. >> discovery dumps are huge in florida because it's the sunshine state for all different reasons, and we're expecting a discovery dump on friday. so why is it that mark o'mara continues to ask to keep a lid on this zm prosecutors, too, want to keep a lid on the discovery process. >> i think mark o'mara is taking note of the casey anthony trial. remember, i think that that was such a media circus, and all eyes were on that trial, and people would take information and try to dissect it themselves. and everybody wanted to be a prosecutor in that case. everybody wants to be a defense attorney, an investigator. and i think what he's trying to do is hamper that down. i think mark o'mara has experience in dealing with media. he has experience in trying these kinds of cases.

and he knows how things can kind of spiral out of control and can possibly hurt his defendant. at least in terms of how the defendant is perceived. >> trying to protect that jury pool, which is so critical in this case. >> exactly. >> midwin, always good to see you. look forward to our next visit. it is 35 minutes past the hour. up next, we have shark boy. his legend is growing from the shores of the gulf to a reality show in his future, perhaps? the kid known for reeling in some big game is going to join us live. first, let's get a check of today's weather with jacqui jeras. good morning to you, lady. >> good morning, zoraida. we're looking at a lingering storm system into the northeast, that late-winter season storm is hanging on. so expect occasional rain and snow showers but nothing compared to what you've had. in fact, most of your day will be on the dry side. but the wind is going to be strong. so if you're traveling today, yeah, we're expecting a whole heck of a lot of delays because of that. major delays in san francisco due to low clouds.

the wind for you in new york and boston and philadelphia, detroit and cleveland also getting gusts up there around 35 miles per hour or so. it's flip-flop weather. not talking about the sandals here. look at the temperatures across the rockies and into the plains. 88 today in denver. a lot warmer than it's going to be in miami down there in the 70s. that's the latest forecast. "early start" is back right after this break. 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.

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good morning, atlanta! it is 42 degrees right now. but later you're going to get a lot of sunshine. it's going to be 68 degrees. somebody on our staff is homesick for atlanta. so we wanted to show you this beautiful shot this morning. a 9-year-old boy in texas

getting national attention for an unusual pastime. why? look at this. >> there you go. all right, shark boy. keep him up. keep him up. do what? there he is. a nice little black tip. so they're here. >> a nice little black tip. that is hunter stevens, or shark boy, as he is called with his dad, or by his dad. that was on sunday. they were catching a black tip sharp off the coast of galveston. it's his first of the season. hunter and his dad, kevin, are with us from houston. thank you for joining us. hunter, i'm going to start with you. judging by your reaction, it seemed exciting for you. what were you thinking as you were reeling in that big shark? >> i was thinking it was a fish the whole time, but then when it came up, it was a nice, big

shark. >> now, you were on a kayak, right? at least that's what we were reporting, that you're on a kayak. is this just a little kayak in the middle of a big ocean? >> no, it's a big kayak. >> a big -- are you worried at all when you have a shark on the reel that perhaps you could fall over? >> i never get worried with a shark or anything on a kayak. >> and why is that? >> because i know that none of the fish out there can hurt you. >> did you just say that the shark is not going to hurt you? >> no. they're very nice creatures if you don't hurt them. >> oh. so dad, you were telling him to hold the line tight, not to let the shark pull you over. so it's a legitimate concern i have here, right? >> well, it's a slight risk, but i think you'd be more likely to get struck by lightning than fall over and get bit by a shark on a kayak, although we did hook

on to a shark, we don't set the drag heavy enough for it to actually pull him over. i was actually just joking with him. >> okay. and where's mom in all of this? does she know that you're out in a kayak? fishing for sharks? >> she was at the beachfront -- yeah, she knows we do it. we don't just fish for shark, but that's typically what we catch this time of the year. she sits on the beachfront and watches from a distance. >> and hunter, are you surprised by all of the attention that you're getting? >> yes, i'm very surprised. >> and why? don't you think it's unusual for a little boy to be fishing for sharks? >> well, this sipisn't our firs time. >> oh. well, tell me about your first time. >> our first time we actually caught a little bit bigger of a shark. it was 7 feet. >> well, you know, somebody on facebook wanted to know why a fascination with sharks? can you answer that question?

>> why do you like sharks? >> oh. >> oh, i'm sorry, yeah, why do you like sharks? >> i like sharks because i know that they're nice, and they're very, very beautiful. and they are amazing creatures to watch. they're almost like dinosaurs when they eat and mate are very cool because you can learn more information about them every day. >> wow! and kevin, you said that this was the first of this season. how many sharks do you likely catch in a season? >> well, it depends. last year it wasn't that great. we caught about 50. >> and do you typically catch and release? because that's another big question that folks are asking on facebook. >> yes. we always catch and release. >> all right. here's another one of your videos because i know that hunter said this is not the first time. so i want folks to watch this because it was a bigger shark, and then i want to ask you a question about it. >> there he is.

>> yes. oh, yeah. oh, yeah, daddy. >> there's the shark. >> that's a big boy. >> keep the video on him. >> got him. beauty, huh? >> yep. there he is. >> oh, yeah. >> let me get his teeth up. >> oh, my goodness! how big was that one? >> seven feet. >> seven feet! what were you thinking when that happened? >> we were -- that was my first year at kayaking. so i was nervous. i was nervous, scared and happy combined in. >> okay. so i've -- first of all, how big are you compared to the size of that shark? do you know how tall you are? >> probably 4 1/2 feet.

>> okay. so a lot smaller than that shark. so i've got to get back to this concept of being on a kayak. and dad, this question is for you. is this safe to do? >> if you know what you're doing, it's safe. it's relatively safe. you know, every adventure has a little bit of a risk to it. but it's not something you do -- you don't go out and buy a kayak and go off the beachfront and fish for sharks, i'll tell you that. you need to know what you're doing. you need safety first and take all the precautions like, you know, number one, wear a life jacket. >> yeah. that's very good advice. so what's next? i hear perhaps a reality show? >> we have something in the works. so it looks like it's actually going do -- they've been working on it for a while, but it looks like it's going to happen. you'll have to stay tuned. >> this is the beauty of live television. hunter's a little tired so he was yawning there. and kevin, i've got to congratulate you because i know that you instilled this passion in your child. and at the end of the day, that's what we always want to see is that passion shine

through. so thank you so much for joining us. good luck to you, hunter. when you catch the bigger one, come back, okay? >> okay. >> all right. nice talking to you both. thank you. ashleigh, back to you. >> bye. >> i'm changing his name from shark boy to shark man. that's a great kid. holy moly. shark hunter, soledad o'brien. >> he's so cute and sleepy. >> could you imagine doing that with your child, though, on a kayak? >> no. and if their dad took them out on a kayak -- >> i'd kill him. >> pretty much. pretty much. >> that's the mom in us. so you have a big show coming up. >> yeah, lots coming up. we're going to talk about the police beating caught on tape. remember, it sparked the los angeles riots. that was 20 years ago. it put police brutality and questions of race relations into the national spotlight. rodney king has written a book about it. he's going to join us live, talk about his book. also, we'll talk to a mom who says the school district isn't doing enough to protect her daughter from a bully, so she's had to take it to court. we'll tell you what she's doing. and former nfl quarterback dan marino will talk with us

about accusations of spying made against the new orleans saints and much more. we're going to play word association with him. if you're going to head to work and you can't make the show, check out our live blog, cnn.com/startingpoint. otherwise we'll see you at the top of the hour. cuban cajun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at restaurants. it pays to discover.

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it is 50 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news this morning. here's christine romans. good morning. >> thank you. special k-9 dogs from the fbi are being used in the search for a missing 6-year-old girl in arizona. isabel mercedes celis was reported missing saturday morning. investigators think she may have been snatched from her bed in the middle of the night. police say that a scream that was removed from a window at the time at the home appears to be suspicious. a key feg y figure in a bri scandal testifying under oath this morning. james murdoch insists he was not aware of the scale of the illegal phone hacking at the now defunct "news of the world" tabloid. >> i wasn't in the business of deciding what to put in the newspapers. so it was really there, and then i was given, you know, assurances by them that sometimes proved to be wrong,

that i'm sure we'll go into with respect to the risks that they were taking. >> murdoch's already appeared twice now before the judicial inquiry. his father, ruperturdoch, is scheduled to testify tomorrow. shocking foelt t ining phot that looks like it's being dragged behind a truck, but the owner says that's not what happened. he says he was trying to get this horse back in its barn after it got loose. when the horse resisted, he tied a rope to its neck and tied that rope to the truck. the owner says the horse bucked and fell over. >> it was a bad moment. you know, i'm sorry it happened. it wasn't premeditated. i had really no choice. i had no other way to get it up. >> he went on to say neighbors chose to take pictures rather than help him get the horse back in the barn. the horse is now back safe at home suffering only minor scratches and cuts. police are, though, considering filing criminal charges. wild video. a truck slams into a gun shop in

richland county, south carolina. police looking for the people who rammed a vehicle into a gun shop and then they took off with half of the store's inventory. deputies say the bandits stole 30 assault weapons and pistols and caused $100,000 worth of damage. and actress lindsay lohan is set to portray a hollywood icon in a lifetime tv movie. lohan will star as elizabeth taylor in the film "liz & dick" based on taylor's roller-coaster romance with actor richard burton. can you see the resemblance? filming begins in june. it's expected to premiere in the fall. two very famous women, one who had a very long career. lindsay lohan, it will be interesting to see if her career will be as long as liz taylor's. >> change her hair to black and spitting image. >> that's interesting. i don't see it at all. christine, thank you. >> you're welcome. up next, they advertise it's a burger to die for. apparently another close call, too, at the heart attack grill. get it, burger to die for?

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so this is a great chance to take a look at what's trending on the intrawebs, and we have a real-life captain's logs from captain kirk sending a message to two astronauts who are 240 miles above us at the international space station. it is really a shameless plug for his album, yes, he has an album. it's cover songs of all the space-themed songs called "seeking major tom." we thought we'd play a little bit. take a look at his message. >> i wish you really good luck, good health, get some good work done, and we'll look forward to you coming back. and i hope you enjoy "seeking major tom." and i'm floating. >> can you hear him singing? "and i'm floating in a most

peculiar way." so there you go, a message to you folks up in space. >> it's not really singing, it's talking. >> yeah, he talks his song up. when your waitresses are dressed as sexy nurses, you'll get attention when this happens. it's the heart attack grill in vegas. a place that gives free meals to people over 350 pounds. it's lived up to his name once again. the owner says a woman suffered an apparent heart attack and collapsed while eating a double bypass burger saturday night. she was rushed to a hospital. she is expected to recover. a man in his 40s also had an apparent heart attack while chowing down on the 6 #,0 6,000-calorie triple bypass burger back in february. >> and they have the quadruple bypass burger, too. >> which is what you get when you have it. >> i wonder what casualty is coming next. where's everybody going? hey, where's everyone going? a company in the uk accidentally fired every member of its staff last friday. it was an accident, but here's

what happened. reuters says 1300 worldwide employees of the company aviva investors which, by the way, is the uk's second biggest insurer, they all logged on to their computers and checked their morning e-mails and saw shocking news, an e-mail to them ordering them to hand over their company property, their security passes before leaving the building. that's a bit of a painful message. it went out to people in 16 countries including the united states. but apparently the e-mail was meant for only one employee who was leaving the firm. human resources realized the mistake, but it didn't -- they didn't do that until 25 minutes had passed. so they sent out another e-mail unfiring everybody except for the one person who had to hand over the security pass. >> that's a big, awkward moment there. >> can you imagine, you know, all the people, what they said to their bosses? >> yeah. >> well, if i'm fired, then -- oops. >> yeah. all right. that is "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin.

>> i'm ashleigh banfield. "starting point" starts this minute. >> our starting point, admitting to sins but no crimes. it is day two of the john edwards criminal trial. and today he'll come face to face with the man who took the fall for him when rielle hunter had a baby. spygate number two. the saints find themselves in the middle of another scandal. did their general manager bug the superdome to try to get an unfair edge? hall of fame quarterback dan marino's going to speak to us this morning. we'll talk a little bit about how serious this is for the league. plus incredible video of a wild high-speed chase. a woman dangling from the window. the dog named rambo steps in to save the day in a cloud of cash. we'll bring you that story. and what's your best side? i like to say all my sides are equally good. but actually, apparently we have one side on your face is better than the other side. one side's hotter they say than the other side. we'll tell you which way you should start turning for your photos. it's tuesday, aprilt